Defeated and angry, the Slytherin players walked back toward their locker room as the Gryffindor students ran down to the field to celebrate their team's victory.
"Sorry you lost the match," a soft voice said behind Diana. Turning around, she saw Remus walk through the locker room's entrance with a sympathetic smile on his lips.
"You're not supposed to be in here, you know," said Diana teasingly, though she couldn't help but to smile at his sight.
"I know, I know." He nodded lightly, walking closer to her. "I just came to say you did great today. The weather was terrible."
"Thanks. But speaking of which, how come you're dry?" Diana questioned, looking at him up and down.
"Water repellent charm and conjuring a transparent umbrella," Remus explained with a little proud grin.
"Nice. I could've really used —"
"What the hell is he doing in here!?" A sharp voice cut her off. Looking back, they saw Finn Martin walking forth with a deep frown upon his forehead.
He was one of the players on the Slytherin Quidditch team and the person Diana despised the most at Hogwarts, now that Evan Rosier was gone.
"I just came here to s—" Remus began, but Finn broke him off again rudely.
"Why don't you crawl back to your little hellhole, Gryffindor?"
"And why don't you mind your own business and go take a shower? You smell like a dead fish," Diana snapped at him fiercely.
"You're siding with him?" Finn said gravely before letting out a mocking scoff. "You do realize that he's only using you, right? Probably wants to spy on our team."
"You've never sounded more ridiculous to me. Must be a new world record."
Finn glared at her. "You better hope I don't become the Quidditch Captain next year, Greengrass. Because I don't let naive girls like you on my team."
With another deadly glare at the two of them, Finn walked back into the locker room.
"Naive girl? That stupid bitch! I'll kill him!" Diana began to move forward angrily, but Remus was quick to grab onto her arm and hold her back. "Let go of me!"
"There are better ways to deal with this situation," said Remus, trying to calm her down.
"Like what?"
Remus only smiled. "Leave that to me."
Diana gave him a worried look. "What's on that mind of yours, Lupin?"
"Just trust me." Remus shrugged, still smiling mischievously.
"All right," Diana mumbled. "Anyway, I think I'll go to my own dorm to change. I really don't want to see Finn for the rest of the day, if I can help it. Otherwise I'll end up in Azkaban before I can finish sixth year."
Remus laughed at that. "Well, at least let me accompany you down to your common room."
"Don't you want to get back to your own common room to celebrate?"
"No, it's fine. Gryffindors throw way too many parties. I'm used to them at this point."
After putting her broomstick inside her personal closet in the locker room, Diana left the Quidditch field along with Remus and walked back to the castle. All the way, Diana was shivering in her wet robes, her whole body trembling because of the cold. The halls were as empty as it could get. Everyone had already returned to the warmth of their common rooms and away from the chilling corridors.
"Are you sure it was a good idea to change in your own dorm? You must be freezing," Remus told her as the two of them walked down the empty hallways toward the dungeons, which was the coldest part of the castle.
"Nah. It's fine," Diana said even though her whole body was shivering.
"Are you sure?"
"Ye—" Diana was saying, but she was broken off when she let out a sneeze.
"You're going to catch a cold like this! We still have to walk twenty minutes to get to the Slytherin common room and it's too late to get back to the locker rooms!"
"Well, what do suggest I do!?"
"Take off your robe!"
"What!?" Diana exclaimed her eyes widening.
"N-no, I didn't mean for it to come out that way." Remus quickly shook his hands in reassurance, starting to get very nervous. "I — I just meant that — well, you're really wet."
Diana raised a brow at him, folding her arms.
"Again, not what I meant!" He shook his head briskly. Diana then had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from giggling when she saw him blush.
"How about you relax first and then continue talking?" Diana suggested, trying not to snigger.
"Right, right. Let me try this again." Remus cleared his throat awkwardly. "Your robes are soaking, and as long as you're in wet clothes, you can't get warm. And if you're not warm, you will catch a cold in this weather. So, I though that maybe you could... er... take your Quidditch robe off and wear my sweater instead. You know... to keep you warm until we get to your common room. I'm taking us from a shortcut which I'm pretty sure almost no one knows about it, so no one will walk on you while changing."
Diana couldn't help herself anymore and finally let out a chuckle. "Then what about you? You'll freeze to death."
"Don't worry about me. I'm wearing a long-sleeved shirt under my sweater. It's warm enough."
"Don't you know any drying spells?"
"I don't know the incantation."
"All right." Diana sighed, though she then went on playfully, "But you better turn around, Lupin. I might be as flat as a paper, but that doesn't mean I want you to take a peak."
At those words, Remus's whole face suddenly turned as read as a tomato. "I — I didn't — I wasn't going to—"
"Oh, relax! I was only kidding!" Diana laughed. "Just turn around."
"R-right." Remus nodded awkwardly again, turning around.
He could hear her fumble out of her robes behind him. He had to guiltily shake his head when unwanted thoughts started to make their way through his mind, but he was quick to snap them out of his head. Remus was just glad that she couldn't read minds.
"Okay, can you give me your shirt now?" Diana asked from behind him.
"Oh — yeah — right," Remus said nervously, taking his knitted sweater off and handing it to her without turning around.
"All right... I'm done," said Diana after a short while.
When Remus turned around, he almost let out a chuckle at her sight. She was still wearing her green Quidditch trousers, though the baggy sweater she was now wearing came down to her knees.
"It fits perfectly!" Diana said in mock-cheerfulness, holding up her hands which were now invisible inside the long sleeves. It was simply too large for her.
"Yes. It definitely does." Remus laughed. It was the most adorable thing he had ever seen.
The walk down toward the Slytherin common room was spent in laughter and small jokes every now and then. But when they finally reached their destination, they both fell silent, as though neither of them wanted to depart.
"So... this is it," said Diana with a little grin, coming to a stop at the entrance of her common room. "I'll give back your dorky sweater tomorrow."
Remus laughed. "It's okay. No rush. I have tons of dorky sweaters, as you call them."
"Okay." She chuckled. "Anyway, what did you mean when you said leave Finn to me? What are you planning on doing?"
"You'll see." Remus winked at her mischievously.
"You know, I could never wink. My eyelids get weird when I do it." She then tried to wink, which made a strange sight as both her eyes kept closing.
Remus laughed, shaking his head. "That was the worst attempt of winking I've ever seen in my life."
"Yeah, I know." Diana sighed. "Layla does it really good though. Meanwhile, Regulus has a talent for rolling his eyes. But I guess I can make my eyes really creepy if I want to."
"Like how?"
"Like this," said Diana with a grin. She then pulled down the skin beneath her eyes with her fingers, rolling her irises upward so that her eyes became completely white.
"Urgh, stop making your eyes like that!" Remus grimaced in disgust.
"Like what? This?" Diana did it again, laughing.
"Knock it off!" Remus cried out as he laughed.
He then grabbed her wrists and lowered them forcefully to stop her, but both their laughter slowly faded away as they realized how close they were standing to each other, with Remus's hands still holding onto her wrists.
It was as though she forgot how to breathe for a second as Diana looked up into his chocolate brown eyes, their lips only inches apart.
But as soon as it had happened, Remus suddenly cleared his throat, snapping her back to reality as he took a step back from her.
"Well... I'll see you tomorrow, I guess," said Remus, and then, waving at her with a little smile, he turned around and left the corridor.
Diana returned back to her dorm, still in Remus's knitted sweater that smelled just liked him, warming her whole body up. For a moment she wished that it was his arms wrapped around her body this way to keep her warm. But she quickly shook her head, blushing at the thought.