The Hallway Stairs | 𝓢.𝓑. & 𝓡. 𝓛.

1 - Welcome Home

| Welcome Home |

The bright sunlight filtered through Dianes' bed curtains as she felt someone shake her awake. She opened her eyes groggily, only to be welcomed by the view of her redhead best friend, smiling down at her excitedly. Then she remembered: today was the first day of their 6th year.

"Wake up, you lazy arse! It's our first day, we're going to be late!" Lily Evans yelled, as she rushed to the toilet. Marlene McKinnon screamed and ran to the bathroom of the other girls' dormitory, but not before flashing a smile at Diane.

"Well good morning to you too, Lily and Marlene " muttered Diane.

"Hey, what about me? Playing favourites, are we?" joked a voice from beside her.

"Lizzie!" she jumped up from her bed, and hugged her other best friend tightly.

"When did you arrive?" Diane asked, letting go of Elizabeth Kim, after the latter complained that she couldn't breath.

"Late last night. I walked in and you were already asleep."

"That's alright," she replied, making her way to the bathroom that Lily had already left.

After half an hour of getting ready, Diane was in front of the mirror when, suddenly, she gasped, very unnecessarily loud.

"THE BOYS!" she yelled to herself, making Lizzie and Lily jump.

She ran out of their dorm, hearing a faint 'You ruined my eyeliner!' behind her. She quickly went down the girls dormitory stairs and strode to the boys' stairs. After sprinting up those, she knocked on the first door to the right three times, and barged inside.

She was greeted by James Potter putting on his shirt by the bathroom door, Remus Lupin putting on his socks and a shirtless Sirius Black looking through a drawer. She suspected Peter was in the toilet.

"Bonjour!" she smiled at them. James gave a grunt in reply, Remus offered a sleepy smile, and Sirius coughed.

"Come on, boys, lighten up! It's the first day of our 6th year, you should be a bit more excited," she explained.

"Well the only thing I'm excited for is breakfast, Lynx." her brother replied, putting on his glasses. Then, as if he'd just realized she was there, Sirius beamed, "Bonjour, ma chérie," he greeted flirtatiously, mostly to annoy James.

"Hey, hey, hey! Merlin, Padfoot, it's 8 in the morning, lay off it, will you?" came the voice of James, as they both predicted. Diane rolled her eyes playfully as Sirius laughed. They both had made this game of flirting with each other to annoy her brother, starting it during 4th year.

After Remus finished putting on his shoes and robes, Diane pulled him down the stairs to go eat breakfast before 'all those giants come and finish it'.

"You know I'm the tallest out of all the five of us, don't you?" he asked smiling fondly at his best friend.

"I know, but most of the space in your stomach is filled by all that chocolate you eat, Moony."

On their way to the great hall, they passed by the transfiguration teacher, Professor Mcgonagall. "Good morning Professor," both Diane and Remus chorused. It was a well-known fact that they were the motherly Professors' favourites.

"Good morning Miss Potter, Mr Lupin," she smiled at them. "Do you have everything you need for this year?" she asked.

"Yes, Professor," the both replied.

"Good. Please Diane, try and humble your brother a bit, us teachers are getting old and grey, and he's not helping one bit. And Remus, you handle Mr Black and Mr Pettigrew." she reminded, sounding not at all hopeful in the boys changing their ways. Remus and Diane were the only two students she addressed by their first names, clearly showing her affection for both, and treated them as her own children.

They said their goodbyes and carried on to Gryffindor table. As Diane put some bacon and toast on her plate, Lily and Lizzie sat down on both sides of her.

"Should've known you'd leave us for the Marauders," teased Lizzie, after she waved to Remus.

"Oui," Diane replied simply.

"Yeah, I don't know what you see in them. Potter is an arrogant toe rag, Black is a self-centered snob, and Pettigrew is just as mischievous as the other two but gets away with everything. No offense, Remus, there's nothing wrong with you." Lily ranted, but not as passionately as last year, Diane noted. She smiled to herself, noticing that the redhead was warming up to them a bit.

"Don't say that about them, Lily, you don't even know them that well," she defended.
"James is annoying sometimes, yes, but he's really fun and loyal. Peter is really sweet and kind most of the time, too. And Sirius- well he's- he's..." she stopped, realizing how amazing and important of a person he was to her.

"Je suis quoi?" drawled a playful, cocky voice from behind her, just as two hands covered her eyes.

"You're an idiot, that's what." Diane snapped, covering up for her little moment of vulnerability. Her brother, Peter, Lily and Lizzie laughed, however, Sirius pouted, removing his hands from her eyes, with a fake hurt expression.

Diane, then, met Remus' eyes as she spotted a worrying knowing smile on his lips. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at the werewolf. He looked between her and Sirius, smiled to himself and looked down at his food.

Hey guys, I hope you liked the chapter. Her animagus is a cat, but I haven't decided which breed yet, though.
Anyway comment and don't forget to vote! Next chapter in a couple of days, hopefully🤷🏻‍♀️