It was near the end of the lesson. Slughorn had instructed them to turn to page ten of their Potions books and attempt to make the Draught of Living Death, which was more advanced to brew than any of them had ever imagined.
In the end, even though Snape's potion wasn't perfect, it was still better than any one else's in the class, much to James and Sirius's annoyance. Snape was sitting with the rest of the Slytherins, and Diana had seen him scratch lines or write notes on the margins of his book throughout the class, with his face bent over his book and his greasy black hair falling over his face.
Near the end of the class, Diana was writing down the homework which Slughorn had assigned them in her notebook. Although she suddenly pulled her quill back in surprise when she saw that words were magically being written at the top of the page in a beautiful cursive handwriting, as though an invisible hand was writing it.
Stay behind in class after everyone leaves
Confused, Diana looked behind her shoulder. A smile crept through her face when she saw that Remus had his wand in hand underneath the table. He was using a spell to write the words in her notebook from afar.
"Well, that was some stunt they pulled today," said Layla once the class came to an end and everyone started packing their bags.
Diana had to hold back a snort of laughter when she looked back at her friend, seeing that her afro had grown twice its normal size and had become extremely whizzy.
"What was?" Diana asked, placing her book in her bag and zipping it up.
"Um, did we not just see that thing between Potter and Evans?" Layla said knowingly. "I always admired Potter's determination on getting the yes out of that girl. I mean, how long has it been? Five years?"
"I suppose." Diana shrugged, getting slightly distracted when she saw Remus leave the classroom along with James and Sirius.
"Ready to go?" Layla asked, throwing her bag over her shoulder.
"Er... you go ahead. I want to ask Professor Slughorn a question," Diana said the first excuse that came to her mind.
"All right... I'll go to the library, then," Layla said and gave Diana a curious look, before waving her goodbye and leaving the classroom along with the other students.
Diana could feel that her friend found this quite hard to believe. Despite trusting her with everything, Diana didn't want to tell Layla about Remus, knowing that she would make a big deal out of it.
"Miss Greengrass? How may I help you?" Diana turned around as Slughorn called her from the front of the classroom, where he was using his wand to magically erase the white chalk from the blackboard.
"Er..." Diana started, not sure what she was supposed to ask him. She turned around to glance behind her shoulder over at the door, wondering where Remus had gone and when he was going to return.
"Well?" said Slughorn, snapping her out of her thoughts as he put his wand back in his briefcase and turned to face her with a smile.
"I — um — I was wondering what that potion was, Professor," she said, pointing at a small cauldron on his desk, with a mother-of-pearl sheen to it and a steam which rose from it in characteristic spirals.
"Ah!" Professor Slughorn chuckled, walking up to the cauldron. "This, my dear, is Amortenia. I assume, you know what it is?"
"Sorry, sir, but no."
"Amortenia is of course the most powerful love potion in the world," he said. "Far too advanced to be brewed by students, but I thought I would brew it for my seventh year students for observation. Fascinating potion. It smells differently to each individual, according to what attracts them the most."
"Woah! That's so cool!" Diana exclaimed with a big grin. But remembering how her mother always scolded her about speaking boyishly, she cleared her throat, speaking more gently, "I-I meant to say that's very fascinating, sir."
Professor Slughorn chuckled again, amused at her particular way of speaking. "Would you like to take a closer look and see for yourself what you smell?"
"Yeah, of course!" Diana said with an excited smile, walking closer to his desk, where the cauldron was placed. She took in a deep breath through her nostrils, taking in the amazing scent.
"And? What do you smell?"
"Knitted clothes..." Diana said thoughtfully. It reminded her of snowy days by the fireplace. "And there's something else. I can also smell old books, and..."
She suddenly felt a blush run over her freckled cheeks as the realization hit her.
"And chocolate," Diana whispered.
"A chocolate lover, are you?" Slughorn said in amusement.
"Not really," she muttered, her face heating up as she took a step back from the potion.
"I am," a voice said at the door.
Turning to look behind her, Diana saw Remus walking back into the class, wearing his usual smile.
"Ah, Mr. Lupin. Good, good, you're here," said Professor Slughorn, going back to grab his briefcase. "I think you left your book on your table."
"Yes, sir. That's actually why I came back," said Remus before sending a small wink at Diana's direction when the professor wasn't looking.
He had left it behind on purpose, so he could have an excuse to escape his friends and return back to the class to meet up with Diana as promised.
"All right, you two. See you next week," said Slughorn as Remus made his way through the room to grab his book. Slughorn then left the class, leaving the two of them alone.
A short silence fell between them as Remus walked back to where Diana stood, holding his Potions book in hand.
"Hey," he said softly, smiling. Although Diana couldn't help but realize that he looked rather ill again, his skin pale and the dark bags under his eyes darker than ever.
"Hey." She smiled back, trying to hide away her blush as the scent of chocolate and book reached her again as he got closer to her. "What's up?"
"Um... well..." Remus started sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "We have a free period now... and, um... I was wondering... do you wanna study together, like we did last year? Cause um... you know... they've already given us a lot of homework and it will kill us if we let them pile up."
Diana chuckled. "What about your friends? Won't they get suspicious if you're gone for too long?"
"Not really. James has decided to spend all the free periods this year in the library to study, which is honestly surprising. On the other hand Sirius won't step a toe inside that place. So if James asks where I've been, I'll tell him that I was with Sirius. And if Sirius asks, I'll just say I was with James. Easy."
Diana laughed as Remus kept on smiling goofily.
"So? What do you say?" he asked again.
"I really want to, Remus, I really do," Diana started, a sad smile on her lips, "but I don't have a free period right now. I have Divination."
"Oh..." Remus's face fell, but he quickly tried his best to bring back his smile. "It's fine. It's cool. Maybe some other time, then."
"Well, how about Wednesday? We can get together after our Ancient Runes' class, which is in two days, and then we can study," Diana suggested, but Remus went even paler.
"N-no. Wednesday's no good." He shook his head briskly, as though suddenly remembering something. "I've got a — um — I'm busy that day."
"Busy?" Diana frowned. "Busy doing what?"
"I — well — I'm not in the castle at that time," he said quickly. "I have to visit my mother. You see, she's been feeling a bit ill lately."
"Oh... I'm really sorry to hear that," Diana said sympathetically, although something then occurred to her. "So... how long has she been ill for?"
"A few weeks now."
"Well, I really hope she gets better soon," Diana said after a short pause.
"Thanks." He nodded, pursing his lips together. "W-well... I should better get going."
"Right... see you later," said Diana, waving him goodbye as he left the classroom, leaving her alone.
Diana remained standing on the spot, her mind wandering far off. Remus had been missing classes for as long as she could remember, leaving the castle for whatever reason. It couldn't have been because of his ill mother, because if what he said was true, she'd been sick for only a few weeks.
This still didn't explain why he disappeared for a few days each month, and Diana's curiosity was starting to get the better of her.