Not a minute had passed by that Professor Kumar entered the classroom, in her long velvet robe and her books hugged to her chest as usual.
"Good morning, class," she said brightly as everyone took their seats, falling quiet.
The professor made her way to the front of the class and toward the teacher's desk, but just as she was about to put her books and wand down on the table, her eyes fell upon Diana and Remus who were sitting next to each other.
Her smile immediately widened happily, and it became hard for her to contain her excitement and hide it from the expression on her face.
She tried to shake her head, clearing her throat. "Please take out your books, everyone. We're a bit behind."
Although as she began the lesson, her eyes kept wandering toward where Remus and Diana were sitting together, smiling to herself every time.
Remus and Diana couldn't help but to glance at each other sideways as they grinned mischievously, trying to hold themselves back from bursting into laughter.
***
Throughout the next few days, Diana seemed to be in a better mood than the weeks before. The only bad part about her week was having to sit in the Divination classroom, where she tried to avoid even looking at Professor Tenebris's direction. She wanted to forget about the conversation she'd had with him all together, as well as the two visions she had experienced in the past months.
Diana was grateful that they were no longer working on Crystal Gazing for the rest of the year. Instead, they had started Dream Interpretation. For homework, they had to keep a dream journal and write their previous night's dreams in it, along with what they might mean.
"But all my dreams are absolute rubbish!" Lyla groaned after the class, as they were sitting in the Great Hall for lunch. "I only dream nonsense. I doubt any of it means anything."
"Don't worry. We can make up fake dreams easier than seeing stuff in the crystal orb," said Diana, piling her plate with fried chicken.
"Why would you even take Divination?" Regulus asked, frowning. "It's a useless branch of magic. Everyone knows that."
"We took it in our third year because we knew getting an Outstanding in Divination is easy. You just have to think of fake predictions, and you'll be good to go," Layla reasoned.
"I took Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures last year," said Regulus. "At least they're more fascinating. I've also heard that the Divination professor is really creepy."
"That one's actually true," said Layla, nodding.
Not wanting to start talking about Professor Tenebris, Diana set down her fork and cleared her throat before looking up at Regulus. "We should better get going or we'll be late for Quidditch practice."
"Yeah, okay. Let's go," said Regulus, wiping the edge of his mouth with his napkin before raising to his feet.
"Do you wanna come with us to watch the practice?" Diana asked Layla with a grin. "I'm sure Tom Walker would like to see you there."
"Nah, it's fine." Layla shrugged, taking a sip of her drink.
"What? You don't like him anymore?" Regulus asked blankly, not really interested in the newest drama or gossip.
"He's already asked me for Valentine." Layla rolled her eyes. "Valentine's day is a month away! I shouldn't have promised that I would go with him. He's a bit clingy."
"No, he's really not that mad," said Diana bluntly. "Why do you keep looking for faults and flaws in every single guy you date?"
"I don't look for the flaws. The flaws are right in front of my eyes! It's hard to avoid them."
"Not if you genuinely like someone," Diana said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Oh, look who's become the expert in relationships!" Layla said mockingly, before letting out a sigh. "Look, I like going on dates and having fun. I really do. But I... I've never been with a guy I could fall for. I've never fallen in love with any of them. Not even close."
"Guess you'll just have to wait for the right person," Diana tried to say comfortingly before waving her goodbye and leaving the Great Hall along with Regulus.
"The right person. Sure. Like the right person would just appear out of thin air in front of me," Layla mumbled to herself mockingly after they were gone.
She sighed again, placing her elbow on the table and resting her chin upon her palm as she looked around the Great Hall out of boredom, watching the other students wearily.
Although her gaze lazily wandered over where Lily Evans and her three other friends sat at the Gryffindor table, her eyes lingering on the blonde girl who was laughing the loudest among them.
***
The next week on Monday, Diana was excited to have Ancient Runes again. When she got to the classroom, Remus had arrived earlier than her as always, already sitting at the front of the class with his books neatly placed in front of him on the desk.
Trying to suppress her smile, Diana made her way over him and took the empty seat beside him.
"I see you beat me into getting here again, Lupin," Diana said with a teasing grin.
"Well, good morning to you, too," said Remus returning the playful smile.
"Oh, come on. Don't change the subject."
"What subject?"
"The subject of how you get to class so quickly!"
"Ah, I see." He grinned.
"Well...?" Diana pressed on. "Are you never going to tell me?"
"No, not really," Remus said wittily and gave a little shake of his head.
Before Diana could retort, she had to close her mouth shut again when Professor Kumar walked into the classroom, throwing a quick knowing smile at Diana and Remus's direction as she was passing them by to reach the teacher's desk.
"All right," Professor Kumar clapped her hands together, looking at the class with her usual bright smile, "as you all probably know, your O.W.Ls are only a few months away. Naturally, all the teachers take a few tests from you after Christmas break to prepare you further for the real examinations."
Everyone groaned, a murmur falling over the classroom.
"Quiet, please," the Professor said loudly, catching their attention again. "I'll be taking a quiz from you in two weeks, pretty similar to the questioning system of the O.W.Ls. It's a perfect way to test yourselves on your skills, and see where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Now, please open your books to page forty-seven. Today, we'll be starting on Viking Runes."
After the lesson came to an end and Professor Kumar dismissed the class, Diana and Remus raised from their seats as well, packing their books and leaving the classroom together.
"All the teachers have started taking quizzes ever since we returned from the holidays," said Remus as the two of them walked down the corridor. "We have an exam tomorrow for our Care of Magical Creatures class. Professor Kettleburn is testing us on unicorns."
Diana snorted. "I'm glad I didn't take that class, then. I much rather stick with classes like Ancient Runes, when you don't have much practical work."
"Why is that?"
"Dunno." She shrugged, pondering the matter. "I guess I enjoy reading way more. And I'm good at memorizing stuff."
"You sure about that?" Remus said with a smirk at the edge of his lips, and Diana could easily detect the sass in his tone.
"What do you mean by that, Lupin?" Diana asked as she stopped walking promptly, raising a brow at him.
"Nothing." Remus shrugged, though he was still grinning as he turned to face her. "Although, if I recall correctly, you embarrassed yourself pretty badly in our first Ancient Runes class when you got a translation wrong in a terrible attempt of correcting my answer. But turns out, my answer was right all along."
Diana gritted her teeth together as the memory came back to her, making her cringe at the thought. She could remember it too perfectly.
Professor Kumar had been asking Remus questions on their first lesson of the year to test him. The professor had drawn a triangle with its tip pointing downward, asking Remus what that rune meant. Remus answered, saying that it meant earth. Diana was quick to jump in and blurt out that the correct answer was actually air. But when Professor Kumar had said that Remus was right, everyone had laughed at her, making her feel pretty furious.
So, folding her arms as she right stood in front of Remus in the middle of the corridor, Diana said stubbornly, "What? You think you're better than me at Ancient Runes?"
Remus gave her a teasing smile. "It's not the fact that I think I'm better than you. It's that I know it."
"I've been top at this class for two years straight, Lupin."
"Maybe. But that was before I showed up."
"Ugh, you're so arrogant!" Diana snapped, her competitive side resurfacing. "You know what? It's good that we have an Ancient Runes test in two weeks. Because now we can see who's actually better."
"Good idea."
"Good." Diana gave a curt and stubborn nod. "And if I win... you'll have to show me the secret passageway you take to get to the classroom."
Remus laughed. "All right. Deal. But if I win..." his grin widened, before saying, "You'll have to go on a date with me."