Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Red, that’s my favourite colour.” she responded to the boy with messy raven hair’s question.

“Well, then you must be a Gryffindor, right?”

“As long as I’m in the same house as Remus, I don’t really care.”

“Who’s Remus?” a boy with well styled, jet black hair asked.

“Oh, he’s my brother and you are?”

“Sirius, Sirius Black.” he stuck out his hand for her to shake, she found it very odd but shook it anyway.

“Diana Lupin.” she then looked to the door of the compartment to see no one other than her twin brother sliding in. “There you are Remus.” she sighed.

“Who are they?” he asked in a hushed tone, so only Diana could hear.

“They are James Potter and Sirius Black.” Remus looked at the other boys in the compartment and gave them a small smile and wave.

“Hi, I’m Remus.” he said sheepishly, but the other boys didn’t really seem to notice.

“Well, Remus, what house do you reckon you’ll get sorted into?” asked a very eager James Black, who in his mind the only right answer was, of course, Gryffindor.

“I don’t know, I guess Gryffindor or Ravenclaw would be cool.” Remus responded with a shrug. James only nodded slightly, which made eleven year old Remus fill with anxiety, not wanting to already be disliked by the first people he’s met. His leg started to bounce and was only calmed when he felt the familiar squeeze on his hand, he looked to his right and saw Diana give him that warm smile that was solely reserved for him, it was one of the only things that could calm him down.

“Why did he say something wrong?” Diana asked with a slightly bitter tone.

“Oh, of course not, but Ravenclaw? Well, I mean anything’s better than Slytherin. But, are you serious?”

“No, I think that’s me.”

The entire compartment was filled with the laughter of joyous children, who didn’t quite know just what they’d signed up for. The expressions on their faces were the ones that still held pure joy and happiness, their eyes still filled with hope and their hearts still intact.

~~~~~~~~~~

Later on, they’d been joined by a boy named Peter Pettigrew, who’d fit right into the group, sure he was shy at first but once he’d come out of his shell a bit they all saw the sweet and innocent boy he really was.

When they arrived at Hogwarts, the compartment was emptied faster than any other as they practically ran to the boats at the edge of the lake. There was a man probably three times the size of any first year there, that was calling them over. They were about to get into the boats when a ginger haired girl almost fell and James leapt forward and caught her, a boy to her left with greasy black hair looked appalled at the sight.

“You should probably be more careful, you know.” James said smugly.

“Thanks for the advice.” she responded, her and the other boy had now boarded a boat.

“I bet you 10 galleons, I’ll marry her one day.” James said turning to Sirius.

“Well, alright I’ll take that bet.”

“Really, you catch a girl once and now you think you’re destined to be together.” Diana rolled her eyes at the boy's dramatic antics.

~~~~~~~~~

The group of first years walked inside the school and were all amazed, the castle looked like the most magical and beautiful place in the world to them. A woman dressed in emerald green robes suddenly walked towards them and gave her annual speech about the sorting and Hogwarts. The group of five were uninterested in the professor’s speech, not knowing how much this woman would mean to them during the years to come. They walked inside the great hall and all heads turned to the opening doors as the first years flooded in. They all stood in a group while the witch they now knew as Professor McGonagall, held a piece of parchment calling out each of their names in alphabetical order.

“Black, Sirius.” she called, Sirius looked at his new friends apprehensively but still went to sit on the stool. The hat was placed on his head and looked as though it was debating with itself before it called out.

“GRYFFINDOR!” Sirius froze at the word, eyes widened, slowly but surely he made his way to the table full of applauding Gryffindors, the Slytherin table looked full of faces that seemed more surprised than Sirius himself.

A few more names were called before the ginger haired girl that James had caught earlier.

“Evans, Lily.” she moved from her spot in the crowd and sat down on the stool.

“GRYFFINDOR!” Lily smiled brightly and moved towards the Gryffindor table, James who had been holding his breath let out a relieved sigh and Diana who’d been watching James out of the corner of her eye suddenly felt a pang of jealousy, even if she was only eleven.

“Fortescue, Alice”

“GRYFFINDOR!”

“Longbottom, Frank.”

“GRYFFINDOR!”

“Lovegood, Xenophilius.”

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Lupin, Diana.” Professor McGonagall called, Diana looked at Remus with a reassuring glance, he let go of her hand and she walked up to sit on the stool. The sorting hat was placed upon her blonde locks and had to be pushed up due to it slipping down in front of her eyes.

“Oh, a Lupin, let’s see. Maybe Slytherin, quite the ambitious one you are.” Diana instantly cringed at the thought of being in the one house that her newly found friends had hated on.

“What, too good for the house of snakes, are you? Well, nevermind that… possibly Hufflepuff, you’re quite loyal, but definitely not patient.” Diana let out a small giggle at that last remark.

“Ah, maybe a Gryffindor, always brave and helping others, but the nerve isn’t there so it must be. . .

RAVENCLAW!” Diana got off the stool with a smile, just hoping that Remus was sorted into the same house.

“Lupin, Remus.” Remus nervously walked up to the stool and had the had placed upon his head, it took maybe thirty seconds before it called out

“GRYFFINDOR!”

And then it was like Diana’s whole world stopped, she didn’t know what life was like without Remus, they were always side-by-side, one right beside the other. Remus’s eyes widened the moment he realized the sorting hat didn’t call out the word “Ravenclaw”, his sister was his protector, his calm against the storm that he faced every full moon, his (in his words) better half. Diana zoned out for the rest of the sorting missing when James Potter, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Marlene Mckinnon, Mary McDonald, Peter Pettigrew, and Rory McLaggen were sorted into Gryffindor, Dorcas Meadowes and Sturgis Podmore get sorted into Ravenclaw and Severus Snape getting sorted into Slytherin.

Diana claimed this as the worst day of her life.

Oh, how wrong she was.

Chapter Text

Five years later:

“COME ON, LET’S GO.” Lyall Lupin yelled towards his children. “We’re going to be late!”

Both Diana and Remus were rushing down the stairs as they were more than ecstatic to finally get to Hogwarts after spending all summer at home. Finally being able to see their friends again because writing letters just doesn’t have the same effect. They both reached the bottom of the stairs with their trunks in hand, ready to go. Lyall grabbed Diana’s shoulder and apparated to the station, he quickly left and reappeared with Remus.

“Don’t get in too much trouble this year, I don’t want any more letters from your heads of houses.” Lyall said to both of his children.

“But getting in trouble is so much more fun.” Diana said, dramatically flailing her arms.

“I mean it, Diana. No getting in trouble, study for your OWLs.”

“Fine, yeah, I’ll just follow Mr. Prefect over here’s perfect examples.” she said with an eye roll, Remus nudged her in the ribs with his elbow, getting her to emit a small shriek. The horn signaled that the children only had a short amount of time to get onto the Hogwarts Express.

“Well, that’s our signal, bye dad.” Remus said, but Lyall just ignored him.

“Goodbye Diana, should I be expecting you at Christmas?”

“I don’t know, it depends.” she said with a shrug of her shoulder. “If you stop being an absolute dick” she muttered under her breath.

“Alright, well, write home.”

“You know I won’t!” she exclaimed, running to catch up with Remus who had walked away once Lyall ignored him.

“Hey, hey, don’t mind him,he’s just being a git like always.” she said, intertwining her arm with his while pulling her trunk behind her. They both dropped off their trunks and headed onto the train.

“Come sit with me and my friends.” Remus stated, trying to pull Diana towards the marauder’s usual compartment.

“I wouldn’t want to disrupt anything.”

“But you wouldn’t.”

“No, no I think I would.”

“Please, for me.” he said, batting his eyelashes, still trying to pull Diana along.

“Ugh, fine, but only for you.” she sighed, only doing it because Remus was the only person, other than James Potter of course, that could make her do anything.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, pumping his free arm in victory.

“On one condition, if any of your friends question why I’m there or ask me to leave, you do not fight them on it and I get to go sit with my friends. Alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” he pulled along a strangely strong Diana and they finally made it to the compartment. Remus slid open the door and pulled her inside, the other three marauders looked up at the sound of the compartment door opening, fully expecting to see their best friend, but certainly not his twin sister as well.

Remus pushed Diana inside first and she grudgingly sat in the seat beside Sirius Black, whom she didn’t really like because well he was a ladies man, almost every girl she knew was desperately in love with Sirius Black, well obviously with the exclusion of her. She knew Remus had fallen hard for Sirius when he talked about him all summer long after their third year, it drove her insane, but of course she couldn’t say anything and make him feel bad about it or feel like she wouldn’t accept him if he did admit to it. She wished he didn’t fall for the boy because every Hogsmeade trip you would see him with a new girl attached to his hip, every morning at breakfast you could see girls staring at him. She just wanted Remus to be happy and

she didn’t think Sirius could be the one to do it.

“Boys.” she said with a nod, James and Peter gave her a smile but Sirius looked unamused.

“What’s she doing here Moony?” Sirius asked.

“And… that is my cue to leave.” Diana said, standing up from her seat.

“No, no, wait, just sit down.” Remus pushed Diana back into her seat. “She’s here cause I asked her to be here Pads, so she’s gonna stay.” He sat down between Diana and Sirius, hoping that they wouldn’t fight.

“Just leave it Padfoot.” James said, sending a smile towards the girl that made butterflies flutter in her stomach and a blush cover her cheeks.

“Thanks.” she replied, trying to act calm and collected, hoping no one saw the blush that had crept onto her cheeks, she looked out the window, admiring the scenic view. Remus had obviously seen his twin sister’s cheeks turn pink and he couldn’t help but wonder “Does she fancy James?”.

The Marauders talked about pretty much everything from their summers to different prank ideas they’d come up with to James Potter’s never ending love for Lily Evans while Diana spaced out. Her ears perked during the topic of Lily Evans, but once she heard James say

“I think I’ve fallen more in love with her over the summer.”

her heart sank and she hated it, she didn’t want to be one of those girls that was desperately in love with a guy, yet here she was desperately in love with James fucking Potter.

She realised she was when he came up to her in fifth year asking her for help on a “secret project”, at first she was very confused, but when he told her that he and the other marauders were trying to turn into animagus for Remus, her heart melted. Of course he failed to mention that they’d been trying since third year and somehow couldn’t get it, but it really wouldn’t have made a difference, with Diana’s help the boys successfully transformed into their animagus forms in under a month, Diana included. Diana includes that moment in her “Top ten things to happen at Hogwarts”. Diana decided to include herself in this somewhat dangerous experiment and when they transformed she was a fox, she was a bit disappointed she wasn’t something more fun, but was happy she could still be useful on full moons. James had come up with the nickname “Vixen”, he and Peter are the only ones to ever call her it, seeing as she and Sirius don’t really like each other.

“Anything from the trolly dears?” she hears, snapping Diana out of her thoughts.

“I’ll take two Chocolate Frogs please.” she hands the trolley lady the galleons and grabs the frogs from her hand.

“Here, take one.” she says, passing her second frog to Remus as he was about to ask for his own.

“No, I’ll just buy my own.”

“Remus, I bought that specifically for you, just take it.” shoving the frog into Remus’s hands.

“Fine.” he says grudgingly.

“I want my card though.” she reminds him, you see, her and Rory McLaggen have a bet going to see who can get the full set of Chocolate frog cards first. Diana, hoping she’ll win, has made Remus swear to keep every card he gets and give them to Diana. Remus just rolled his eyes at Diana and turned back to his conversation with his friends.

Diana continued to look out the window and daydream about pretty much everything and anything, she could hear the chatter of the fours boys faintly and she could feel Remus’s shoulder against her own, but most importantly she could feel the burn of someone’s stare on the side of her head. She whipped her head around to see no one other than Sirius Black staring her down and if looks could kill, she’d be six feet under.

“What do you want Black?” she asked, grabbing the other three boy’s attention.

“Nothing, Vixen.” he said with a smirk.

“Don’t call me that you imbecile.”

“I’ll call you what I want, freedom of speech and all”

“You’re such an idiot, I can’t believe Remus is in-” she caught herself before revealing her brother’s secret that she didn’t know if it was true or not, her eyes widened a bit, but she knew she had to recover fast. “Is even friends with you, you’re such an arse.” she finished angrily.

“You shouldn’t even be here, this is our compartment! Not yours and your stupid friends.”

“Call my friends stupid one more time and I won’t hesitate to get thrown into azkaban for murdering you!”

“You think you’re so tough.” he said as he rolled his eyes, the other marauders were all watching the scene play out with wide eyes. “You’re just a weak and annoying little insufferable Ravenclaw who needs to be with her brother at all times, like Merlin, get a life! Leave us and Remus alone, no one even wants you here Lupin!”

“Fuck you Black.” she sneered as she got up, took her things and left the compartment in search of her friends. While walking she wondered why the fuck Sirius had snapped at her becuase before today, she had never been outwardly rude to him, sure she’d not really paid him much attention, but she was never rude. She walked further down the train when she heard the infamous laughter of her best friend, Rory McLaggen. She sped up and reached the compartment to see her three best friends, Rory McLaggen, Fabian and Gideon Prewett.

It may be weird that almost all of her friends are Gryffindors, but Diana just got along better with them, sure some of her dorm mates are nice, they just all got along super well during first year and left Diana in the dust. She spent most of her time with these three boys or with Remus, sometimes even with Regulus Black, he was a nice friend to have when you just wanted some peace and quiet.

She slid open the compartment door and stood there as the three boys, who were previously laughing at a joke that someone had made, looked over to see Diana Lupin looking at them with mischievous filled eyes and her signature smirk, leaning against the door frame.

“Well, would you look at that, puberty did you boys some good.”

“Oh shove off, like you didn’t show up to King’s Cross looking sexy as hell last year.” Rory said as he looked her up and down in a playful manner.

“Shut up Rory, why are you so horny all the time?” Fabian asked, even though he already knew the answer.

“I don’t know, but maybe someone… should fix that.” he said, pointing to Diana, she shoved his arm and went to sit down beside Gideon.

“Never in a million years.”

“You weren’t saying that in fourth year.” Gideon mumbled, but still loud enough so everyone in the compartment could hear. Fabian was trying to hold in his laughter, but once he saw the embarrassment on Diana’s face he just couldn’t help it anymore, many chuckles emitted from his mouth and he looked as though he couldn’t breathe.

“Wow love, the more you know.” Rory stated.

“I definitely was NOT pining after you, we all know I’ve been after Potter the same amount of time he’s been after Evans.”

“Yes, yes we know the tragic love story that never got to be.” Gideon said in a mocking manner.

“Right like you’re not hopelessly in love with Mary McDonald.” Fabian retorted, Diana and Rory’s eyes went wide at his comment.

“I- Fab, you weren’t supposed to tell anyone about that!” Gideon said in disbelief, Fabian just raised his hands in surrender.

“Oooo, Giddy’s got a little crush.” Diana cooed, pinching his cheek, he swatted away her hand and slouched backwards into his seat.

“You know I absolutely hate it when you call me that.”

“Well, why do you think I do it?”

“Maybe cause you’re annoying.” Rory suggested in a playful manner with a shrug of his shoulder.

“Ugh, I do not need another Gryffindor boy telling me how annoying I am.”

“Another?!?” all three boys asked in unison.

“Yeah, pretentious little Sirius Black, being the git he is, decided to yell at me for existing.” she sighed.

“But, this does NOT mean you go and make his life hell.” she added quickly after seeing the anger in her friends eyes.

“Well, why not? He’s being a prick and he should pay for it.” Fabian stated, earning murmurs of agreement from the other two.

“Because, his opinion means nothing to me and I can stand up for myself.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to Ana.” Rory said, using the nickname only he uses.

“I know you guys are trying to be manly men and protect me but there’s no need.” she said softly, the three boys relaxing in their seats, knowing she was right. “Great to know we’re on the same page, I’m gonna go change into my robes before there’s a line for the bathroom.” She stood up from her seat, grabbed her robes and made her way to the bathroom, when leaving the boys seemed to have started a different conversation.

Chapter Text

She went inside the bathroom and locked the door, she set her clothes down, grasped the sides of the sink and looked herself in the eyes.

"Suck it up Diana, Black's words mean nothing to you, don't let him get under your skin. They. Mean. Nothing. To. You." she said to herself in a firm voice that didn't waver one bit, she broke her stare and shook her head like it would make her emotions leave. She started to change and was putting on her skirt when a tear had fallen onto it, a tear that had reluctantly escaped her eye.

"A weak and annoying little insufferable Ravenclaw" The words that Sirius had said would not stop repeating themselves in her head, she hated how easily someone could get under her skin, sometimes she wished she wasn't a witch so she wouldn't have to go to Hogwarts and be in a specific house or have people hate her for the was she was sorted into.

She didn't choose to be a Ravenclaw, she just wanted to be with her brother, but apparently that wasn't acceptable either. Remus really was her only friend growing up, she didn't have any muggle friends and neither did he, it was them against the world. Well, it was until they came to Hogwarts, he'd found his three best friends that he said "Would be my friends forever.", but Diana was the black sheep in her dorm. Her dorm mates were Lessie Edgecombe, Mabel Fletcher, Maddison Daniels, and Annabeth Kinoshi; they had become really close during their first two weeks at Hogwarts and have been ever since. At night, they'd all be huddled together on one of their beds, giggling and whispering about some stupid things, Diana assumed they were usually whispering about Annabeth's crush on Robert Chang, a boy who was in the year above them. They always looked at her like she had three heads when she would hang out with her friends, she wondered if it were because they were Gryffindors or because they were boys. In first year, she'd tried to become friends with them, but they pretty much just ignored her, it hurt little eleven-year old Diana's feelings, but it was worth it because the next day when she was sitting out by the lake, she met three boys that would become her family.

She didn't realize it but when she was lost in her thoughts, the tears were now flowing freely down her face "No one even wants you here Lupin!" rang through her head, so she finished getting dressed and went back to the sink. She splashed water on her face to hopefully look like she hadn't been crying over some stupid git's annoying comments, she looked at herself in the mirror and saw that her eyes were still a bit red but she'd have to make do. She grabbed her old clothes and opened the door only to be faced with James Potter.

"Oh, sorry." she said, trying to push past him so she couldn't embarrass herself, but he just grasped onto her shoulders when he saw the weird look on her face.

"Hey, are you alright?" James asked, seeing her slightly red and puffy eyes.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be Potter?" she shrugged.

"Well, I thought maybe you were hurt by what Sirius said. Just ignore him, he's been moody all week and he won't tell me why..." he continued to ramble about Sirius, but Diana couldn't bring herself to listen because all she could focus on was that James' hands were on her shoulders. She was screaming internally, this was what she'd dreamed about all summer well, not this exactly, but you get it.

"...are you sure you're ok? Diana?" these words snapped Diana out of her lustful trance, as James looked at her with a worried expression.

"Yeah, I ignore most of what Sirius says anyways." she said with a small smile.

"Touché, touché" he chuckled. "Well, I'll see you at the feast." with that he dropped his hands from her shoulders and went into the bathroom. When he closed the door she allowed herself to smile as big as she could while making her way back to her compartment. She slid into the compartment, clothes still in hand and sat down in her seat, still smiling like mad.

"Well merlin, what the hell was so exciting about a trip to the toilets?" Fabian teased.

"James Potter." she stated simply, all three boys looked at one another with bewildered expressions, all obviously having the same dirty thoughts.

"You shagged James Potter?!?!" Rory asked.

"I- What, no! Of course not! What the hell makes you think that?"

"Choose your words more wisely next time Diana!" Gideon exclaimed.

"Sorry, I forgot to acknowledge your horny boy minds." she said with a roll of her eyes, getting chuckles from all three boys.

"Well, what happened then?" Fabian asked, genuinely interested in what James Potter could've done that was making her smile like a sociopath.

"Um, I may or may not have cried a bit-" Diana started hesitantly, only to be cut off by her friends.

"YOU WHAT!?!" they all exclaimed, embarrassingly loud. The boys were very protective of Diana, sure she had Remus, but they'd noticed it was more of Diana protecting and making sure Remus was happy than the other way around. They collectively decided that she deserved to be treated that way so they took on the role themselves, Fabian and Gideon had some experience with it, but since their sister Molly was older than them, they really didn't get to have the full package because she was already married and had three children. Rory on the other hand has two older brothers, so he was excited about getting to play the role of a big brother.

"Why were you crying?" questioned Gideon.

"Was it because of Black?" Fabian asked.

"It was about nothing, but when I got out, James was right there, like 5 inches from my face, right there. Then he put his hands on my shoulders and-" Diana had started to ramble, but was interrupted by sounds of snoring that came from all three boys.

"Whatever, you gits can suck my dick." she stated with a humph, her comment made all their eyes shoot open.

"Snappy today are we?" Rory asked with a smirk. "Thought you'd be nicer considering the absolute god that is James Potter touched you today." he said dramatically draping his hand across his forehead.

Diana quickly turned into her animagus form and pounced onto Rory's chest, he shrieked in such a high voice that you'd think there was a 7-year old girl on the train. Gideon and Fabian were roaring with laughter, so hard that they couldn't breathe and had to clutch their stomachs. This was a recurring event, yet never failed to make whoever wasn't the victim laugh their arses off.

"Get off me, you animal!" Rory shrieked, still caught off guard. Diana turned back into a human and just laid on top of Rory while he still squirmed underneath her.

"You called me an animal, so I'm not an animal anymore." she smiled as innocently as she could, a glimmer of mischief glossed over her eyes.

"Well could you get off now?"

"Ehh... I'm pretty comfortable right here." she shrugged

"You guys look like a couple." Gideon pointed out, making Diana fake gag and quickly return to her seat beside Gideon.

"Gid, that's disgusting, Rory's been with so many girls that I'd probably be the 200th one." she retorted.

"No I have not!" Rory exclaimed. "You just simply haven't been with anyone, so I look insane in your virgin eyes."

"Oh yeah, tell that to McKinnon." Fabian stated, reminding them that just last year Diana was in an on-and-off relationship with Marlene McKinnon, one of Gryffindor's beaters.

"Ah yes, the good old days when all Rory ever asked me about was if he was better at snogging then McKinnon."

Rory and Diana had kissed a few times, surprisingly enough they were each other's first kiss, back in third year they were at a party in celebration of Gryffindor's win against Slytherin when they decided to play the muggle game truth or dare. Diana very desperately wanted one of her friends to dare her to kiss James, but James had made a rule that the only person anyone could dare to kiss him was Lily Evans. Gideon being Gideon, decided it would be hilarious to see Rory and Diana have a good snog, so when he had the chance he dared Rory to kiss Diana. Remus was very opposed to this idea and if looks could kill, Gideon would've been the new ruler of the underworld. From then on anytime Diana had kissed anyone Rory wanted to know if thirteen-year old him was better at kissing or not.

"You know, I never got the answer to that question." Rory realized.

"Maybe because you're too nosy." Diana retorted.

"No, no, that can't be it. I think you're just too scared to admit that I'm the best snog you've ever had."

"I'm pretty sure that was Fab." Diana admitted, making the ginger's cheeks turn pink.

"No way it was Fab, it had to have been me." Rory defended.

"Or maybe it was Giddy." Diana stated just to get under Rory's skin. "Perhaps it was McKinnon, I reckon even Snivellus is a better snog than you."

"Ok, I get McKinnon, but there's no way greasy Snape would ever be a better snog than you're very own." he said, motioning towards himself in a cocky manner.

"Yeah Di, I'm gonna have to agree with Rory on this one." Fabian admitted.

"Maybe I'll have to test that theory." she said teasingly, all three boys getting shivers sent down their spines at the thought of their best friend snogging Snape.

"Please don't ever do that Ana." Gideon pleaded.

"Don't worry Giddy, I won't." she said, pinching his cheek, he slapped her hand away and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Will someone switch seats with me?" he asked pleadingly, but the other two boys just shrugged.

"Oh come on, we're almost at Hogwarts anyways, then you get to get rid of me because Dumbles makes me sit with the most annoying girls in our year."

"You'll be fine, we're just a table away anyways." Fabian said to reassure her.

"Yeah, meet me at the Black Lake after the feast?"

"Of course love."

"Wouldn't miss it Ana."

"Where else would we be?"

They all responded at the same time, making Diana's heart flutter knowing that she had three best friends that she'd do anything for and that would do anything for her.

Chapter Text

They arrived at Hogwarts and were now in the great hall for the sorting and feast. Diana was sitting at the Ravenclaw table surrounded by people, but she'd noticed over the years that times like these were the ones that felt the most lonely. Her dorm mates were huddled against one another, whispering and she figured they were saying something about her because every so often she would see them send glances her way, they'd been like this since first year, but Diana never really knew if her paranoid assumptions were true or not.

She looked over to the Gryffindor table to see Remus and his friends talking in hushed voices and she just wondered what had happened after she left their compartment on the train earlier that day. She wondered if anyone had said anything to that prick Sirius Black or if they just let it slide.

●――――♙――――●

Back on the train

Diana had just stormed out of the compartment, leaving three out of four of the marauders stunned. Remus had been the first to break out of his surprised state, but had to take a second to register what had just happened.

"Sirius! What the actual hell was that?" he exclaimed, catching Sirius off guard because Remus was never angry at him like this, well only if you exclude around full moons, Remus was always kind and calm with Sirius.

"She was getting on my nerves." he shrugged.

"So just because MY SISTER was "getting on your nerves", you decided to insult her in almost any way possible?" he asked angrily, there was no hint of Remus' usual calm and rational side in sight.

"Yeah, well maybe she should stop being a bit-" Sirius started, but was cut off by James' hand slapping itself on Sirius' mouth.

"I'm going to advise that you stop now before Moony murders you in cold blood." James said, nodding his head towards Remus who's eyes were filled with fury and if you looked any deeper, betrayal.

"What's gotten into you Sirius? You've been weird all summer." asks Peter, who had been trying to find the right thing to say in order to not make matters worse. Sirius started to say something, but his words were mumbled by the fact that James had neglected to take his hand off of his friend's mouth.

"Oh, sorry." he said, removing his hand from Sirius' mouth and Sirius let out a sigh, the boys couldn't tell if it was from relief that James had removed his hand or exhaustion from some outside factor that they didn't know about.

"I guess I'm just stressed about seeing Reggie again after running away." he lied, though there was some truth to his statement, it was just that it was too complicated to explain even if he wanted to, which he definitely did not because Sirius was always very selective about what he tells the boys and what he doesn't. Sirius had just been raised to appear as though he had it all together, he just couldn't will himself to break away from this and he knew it wasn't healthy, but "Well, 'Toujours Pur' right?" was the thought that always crossed his mind when having an internal debate with himself. He regretted not forcing Regulus to come with him that night he finally ran from his personal hell, he can't believe he'd ever called that place home because it wasn't, it was just a house that he had been unlucky enough to live in for most of his life. This summer at the Potter's had been a wake-up call to him that this is what home should be, it should be loving and caring not painful and cold. He stayed awake most nights to think about Regulus and his regrets about not dragging the younger boy out of his bed and dragging him to James' house, he regretted ignoring him at school and not being close with just because of something as unimportant as a house, and worst of all he hated that Diana Lupin had done just that, she'd been a friend to Regulus despite her being a Ravenclaw and he hated her for it, he hated that she was what he wished he was.

Sirius and Diana had never been friends, they had limited interactions and the ones they did have were always in a group setting. He didn't know what she was like except for the things Remus had said or the tiny things he'd observed when she was around. Remus had always been nice to Regulus and hasn't said mean things about him, but Sirius had never gone out of his way to be nice to the Ravenclaw girl because frankly he didn't like the way that she could just show up in a room and Remus' attention was on her or the way that James had a nickname for her like she was a marauder when she most definitely was not.

"I get that you're stressed, but that doesn't mean that you should take it out on Diana like that." Remus sighed, he knew it was irrational to get mad at Sirius because he always lashed out when he was stressed, but he couldn't help it considering whenever Diana was hurt he was hurt.

"I know and I'm sorry Moony, I really am." he said, looking Remus directly in the eyes to let him know he was genuine, but to Remus it just made his heart flutter and make him fight the blush that so desperately wanted to make its way onto his cheeks.

"It's alright Sirius." Remus replied.

"Maybe you should apologize to Diana, she seemed pretty upset, Pads." Peter suggested, feeling deep pity for the girl.

"Yeah, yeah you're right, once we get back to Hogwarts I'll talk to her." he said, lying again because Sirius knew that if he talked to Diana alone he'd probably have word vomit and confess every feeling of jealousy he has towards the girl.

"Uh, I'll be back." James said quickly, getting out of the compartment hoping to find Diana because he could tell from Sirius' demeanor that he most likely wasn't going to apologize to the girl and he didn't want her to be hurt by his words. He knew his best friend and he knew that Sirius never really thought about what he says before he says it, usually leaving someone's feelings hurt or sometimes hurting his own feelings in the process. He knows that Sirius has built these walls around himself just like Remus had and he knew they were too stubborn to take them down for people that they can't 100% trust, Remus had Diana, but Sirius didn't have anyone he trusted completely except himself and sometimes James has doubts about that too.

He was walking down the train when he made his way to the compartment that Diana and her friends were usually situated in, but when he got closer he realized that Diana wasn't there with the boy, so he just assumed that she'd maybe gone to the bathroom. He waited until he heard the lock click, which made him perk up and then Diana walked out, the first thing he saw was that her eyes were slightly puffy and her face slightly red as if she'd been crying.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked, hoping that Sirius didn't make her cry.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be Potter?" she shrugged, but James could see that something was off, she had the same tells as Remus because she avoided eye contact and always shrugging off her problems like they were nothing. He placed his hands on her shoulders to get her attention.

"Well, I thought maybe you were hurt by what Sirius said. Just ignore him, he's been moody all week and he won't tell me why, but I think it has to do with Regulus, you know Regulus right? Of course you do, Remus says you're friends with him. I just think he's worried because he ran away this summer and he's been living with me, so it's been quite a bit of fun and-" James had started to ramble but stopped himself when he saw Diana spacing out.

"Um, are you sure you're ok? Diana?" he asked, his voice filled with concern because James Potter was not one who liked being out of the loop, he liked knowing he was someone people could trust and open up to.

"Yeah, I ignore most of what Sirius says anyways." she said as she plastered on a fake smile.

"Touché, touché" he chuckled. "Well, I'll see you at the feast." he dropped his hands from her shoulders and went into the bathroom even though he had no intention of doing so in the first place, he just didn't want Diana to think he was a creep or anything like that. James decided to use this time to think of other ways he could possibly impress Lily Evans this year and hopefully finally get her to go out with him, he'd been in love with her since first year but didn't want to constantly ask her out or seem like he was harassing her in any way, so he decided to try and get her to come around on her own. He'd asked her out a handful of times throughout the five years they'd been in school together and she'd never hesitated in saying no, but that just fueled his fire because to him that was just her way of hiding her true feelings for the boy. This year felt different for some reason that James couldn't explain, he couldn't tell if maybe this was the universe's way of telling him that Lily Evans was finally going to agree to a date or maybe something else would happen, more specifically

someone else.

Chapter Text

After the (in Diana's opinion lonely, yet delicious) feast, she made her way to the Black Lake to meet up with Gideon, Fabian and Rory, but was displeased at the sight of Lily Evans and Severus Snape sitting together against one of the trees. Severus had never given Diana the time of day except when he was so persistent of exposing Remus as a werewolf that he almost got himself killed, Diana couldn't figure out why someone as nice as Lily Evans could be friends with such a dick like Snape. Lily was the golden girl of the school, top of all of her classes, silky auburn hair that every boy loved, yet she was still friends with Snape who had an ongoing rivalry with the marauders and was horrible to anyone who crossed his path.

"Having a good snogging session?" she yelled out in a teasing manner, at the sound of her voice Snape and Lily whipped their heads around to look at Diana.

"Shove off Lupin." Snape sneered, glaring towards her.

"Sorry am I interrupting, I can leave if you'd like." Diana states with a mischievous grin.

"We were having a conversation and if you'd let us get back to that it'd be lovely." Lily states, her tone full of irritation.

"I'm just waiting for my friends, so I don't have to do anything for you Lily."

"Do you not understand the meaning of shove off?"

"Oh Snivels, I understand perfectly, I just don't take instructions from pricks." Snape was absolutely furious with the nickname that Diana had given him, but it seemed that Lily Evans took more offence than him.

"Would you leave him alone!" she exclaimed. "He has done nothing to you!" she yelled while approaching Diana and pointing her finger in her face.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, that is where you are wrong Evans. Doing something to my brother is doing something to me and boy, oh boy, has Mr. Snivels has done many things to my brother. I'm not one to forgive and certainly not one to forget, so remember that." she stated in such a calm manner that it was unnerving.

Flashback

Severus had done many things to Remus and his friends, but the worst one was last year. He was set on the fact that Remus was a werewolf that he decided he wanted to come to the Whomping Willow on a full moon after overhearing Sirius talking about their plans for the next full moon. The moon had been at it's fullest point when Severus arrived, Remus had been distracted by Sirius and Diana at first, but once he caught Severus' smell, he was out for blood. He started to run towards him, Sirius, Diana, and Peter were trying their hardest to keep him back, but he was just too strong for them. Severus had not moved from his stance, frozen in shock and Remus was about scratch and most likely bite him, until James came out of nowhere and tackled Severus.

"Run!" James had yelled, but Severus still wasn't moving. James just shoved Severus as far away as he could then transformed back into a stag and helped the others get Remus back into the Shrieking Shack.

The next morning they were all furious with Snape, he'd deliberately tried to get Remus expelled without thinking of any of the consequences because one, he could've gotten himself killed and two, he would've made Remus a murderer. Severus never showed any gratitude towards James for saving his life or to the others who had gotten injured themselves trying to protect him, he couldn't deal with the fact that James Potter, his enemy, had saved his life.

His retaliation to the Marauders' pranks had gotten worse and they all knew that he'd never be able to let go of the grudge that James had saved his life

Present time

Lily's face got about as red as her hair when suddenly you could hear Diana's name being called in the distance, both girls turned their heads to see Rory, Fabian and Gideon running towards the scene.

"Ana, what are you doing?" Fabian asked, pulling Diana away from Lily before anything escalated and knowing the girl it was bound to happen if they hadn't shown up.

"What, need your boyfriends to come and rescue you?" Snape hissed, but his comment certainly caught the attention of Rory as he approached the Slytherin boy with his fists clenched against his sides.

"She definitely doesn't need our help, as she could easily take down both of you before you even raised your wands." Rory sassed back, Diana wanted to be the one to defend herself but found her arm tight in Fabian's grip and he was definitely strong enough to hold her back.

"Yeah right." Lily scoffed under her breath, so no one seemed to notice it.

"Let's get out of here." Gideon said, motioning for his friends to follow him towards the castle.

"Goodbye Snivels-" Diana yelled out, she was going to continue but was muffled by Fabian's hand covering her mouth. They found themselves sitting against the wall of the castle after their brief, yet unsettling encounter with Lily Evans and Severus Snape when Gideon decided to ask the age old question.

"Why must you always be fighting with someone?"

"It's just in my nature to be fiesty." she stated simply.

"But two fights in the span of six hours has to be a record Di." Fabian commented.

"No, no, remember when I got into a fight with Snape, Remus and Podmore all in the span of like two hours."

"Ah, yes the famous day when you were just the snappiest little thing Hogwarts has probably ever seen." Rory chuckled.

"Me? Snappy? Never!" she exclaimed.

"Ha! Yeah right!" Gideon stated.

●————♙————●

They talked for a little while longer until something moved around the entrance of the Forbidden Forest that caught Diana's eye, she continued to stare at the spot until she saw a very familiar pair of antlers sticking out from behind a tree. The boys were too preoccupied in the conversation to notice it, but Diana, who had only been half paying attention noticed it right away.

"Um, I'll be right back." she muttered quickly, getting up and speed-walking towards the Forbidden Forest.

"What do you think that's about?" Gideon asked.

"I don't know, we never know with her, do we?" Fabian admitted, even though they were Diana's closest friends, she was very selected with what she told them because she was a very private and secretive person.

When Diana got to the forest there was a stag just standing there and staring at her. She hoped she was right about her assumption that this was indeed just James Potter going for a stroll in the forest, but she could never be too sure, so she transformed into her fox form and approached the stag.

"Potter?" she asked in her head, the stag tilted it's head at her but she didn't get a response. "Prongs?" she tried and this time the stag's eyes widened and then she heard his voice.

"Diana?" he said and immediately she knew that James Potter was hammered on the first day back at Hogwarts.

"Yeah, it's me. Can you transform back so I can bring you back to your dorm?" she asked and James could detect a slight hint of worry in her voice.

"Uh... that may be easier said than done."

"Why? We do this at least once a month."

"Well, I kinda forgot." he said bashfully.

"How could you forget!?!" she exclaimed.

"Well, Sirius dared me to transform into a stag after we'd had some Firewhiskey to celebrate being back at school, but then I came outside so McGonnagal wouldn't catch me and then I just couldn't transform back." he stated worriedly, because in his drunk mind he thought he was gonna be stuck as a stag forever and to him that meant he could never date Lily Evans because no one in their right mind falls in love with a stag.

"Oh, I've been there before, just imagine you becoming yourself again, your human self and will yourself out of the form."

"Uh, ok, yeah let's try that." from Diana's point of view or someone that was walking into this situation, it looked like a random stag had closed his eyes and was trying to take a massive shit while a fox just stood and watched him.

After a solid few minutes James had finally willed himself out of his stag state and he looked so proud of himself, Diana transformed back into herself and started to walk away when James called her name. She turned on her heel to see James following her.

"I thought you said you'd bring me back to my dorm." he said, with a pout.

"Well, that was before it took you ten minutes to become you again." she shrugged.

"Aww, come on. Bring me back to the common room at least?" he asked, practically begging and in his drunken state, there was no way Diana could say no.

"Fine, let's go." she huffed, she started walking towards the castle and waved her hand for him to follow.

They walked in complete silence, except for the times where James would trip and Diana had to grab his arm to restabilize him then remind him to be quiet if they didn't want to get caught. They had finally made it to the Gryffindor common room and James was about to tell the Fat Lady the password when he remembered that Diana was there with him.

"Cover your ears." he stated simply.

"What?"

"Cover. Your. Ears. Can't have you knowing the password can we?"

"Well, you could." she shrugged. "It's not like I'm gonna do anything about it." James just sighed and covered Diana's ears with his own hand and muttered the password to the Fat Lady, the portrait swung open and James stepped in with Diana's head still in his hands, dragging her inside.

"Will you let go of my head?" she asked with a laugh.

"Oh shit sorry." letting go of her head and rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"'S fine, just be more aware of other's heads next time" she joked, earning a chuckle out of James. She swore that she could listen to his laugh for eternity, it just warmed her heart in a way nothing ever had before.

"Thanks for helping me tonight." he said, the smile still lingering on his face.

"Of course, anytime James."

"You haven't called me James since first year."

"Huh, I guess I haven't, just gotten used to say Potter I suppose." there was an odd tension that lingered in the air, neither knew what it was, so they just stood in silence, but not an awkward silence, one that they would both be fine with staying in for hours.

"Well, uh, g'night." Diana said awkwardly, deciding she should probably make her way back to her dorm before it was too late.

"Wait." he said and she spun around and then the one thing Diana never thought would happen, happened.

James Potter had crashed his lips onto hers.

Chapter Text

At first she was stunned, but then she melted into the kiss and was weirdly aware that both of his hands were cupping her face. It was intense due to the force of which James crashed his lips onto hers, but soft and gentle, it was a weird combination yet somehow those are the only words she could use to describe this moment. Her hands found their way onto the back of his neck and she pulled him closer, neither of them letting go or taking a moment to catch their breath. They finally pulled away and rested their foreheads on one another's, breathing heavily.

"You don't know how long I've waited for you to do that." she said, a huge grin spreading across her face. They both just stood in that exact position for a while, savouring this moment and this feeling before it was ripped away by someone catching them or by it growing awkward.

Then they heard the sound of a door opening and quickly put some distance between them before turning towards the noise, they both let out a sigh of relief when all they saw was a first year coming out of his dorm. He had stuck his head out of the door, eyes wide at the two sixth years standing in the common room. He made eye contact with Diana then quickly shuffled back into his dorm, earning chuckles from James and Diana.

"Uh, well I better get going then." she shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah." he sighed, Diana still being able to smell the firewhiskey on his breath. It had grown awkward quickly, so without another word Diana made her way out of the Gryffindor common room and to her dorm.

●————♙————●

Diana woke up the next morning with the dopiest grin on her face, surprising the other girls in her dorm as she didn't usually look too happy to be there with them. She quickly got dressed and ready for the first day of classes before making her way to the Great Hall. When she entered the Great Hall she quickly looked towards the Gryffindor table and her eyes quickly met the ones of Rory, he saw the giddy look on her face and raised his eyebrow in curiosity. She made her way over after receiving her timetable from Flitwick and sat beside Gideon and across from Rory, she filled her plate with fruit and started eating happily, all of her friends looking at her in curiosity.

"What's got you so happy?" Fabian finally asked after all three boys just stared at her for a solid 5 minutes, waiting for her to say something.

"I snogged someone." she shrugged, making all three boy's eyes go wide because usually when Diana had done anything like this she'd always tell them immediately.

"Is that where you ran off to last night?"

"Was it good?"

"Who was it? Are they nice?"

They all asked at the same time, making Diana chuckle at just how different the questions were.

"First thing's first, you cannot tell anyone, alrighy" they all nodded. "Ok, it was James."

"As in James Potter?" Gideon asked in shock.

"No, the other James we all know." she said, rolling her eyes. "Of course it was Potter!"

"No way, little Ana's got game." Fabian getting hit in the head by a bagel for calling her "Little".

"How in the hell did you manage that when you can barely hold a conversation with the boy?" Rory asked, perplexed by his primarily shy friend's out of the ordinary bold actions.

"Learned from the best." she smirked, sending a wink his way.

"No, I'm actually serious... I genuinely would love to know how you did that." and with that Diana explained all of the events that had occurred last night which led up to her finally kissing her 4 year long crush.

"Ana, there's your new boyfriend now." Fabian stated, a mischievous smirk making its way onto his face, Diana just rolled her eyes and kept eating.

"Di, he's actually coming over here." Gideon said, bumping his shoulder against her's.

"What? Why would- why would he be coming over here?" she asked frantically as she saw James say something to the other marauders and start walking towards her and her friends.

"Maybe he wants round two of what he got last night." Rory teased.

"You're just jealous." she retorted.

"Of who? Diana or Potter?" Gideon joked under his breath, but loud enough that Rory had heard it and started arguing with him. Diana couldn't hear what they were saying because she was too preoccupied with focusing her gaze on James.

"Hey, um, could I talk to you?" he asked as he approached, feeling very nervous with the eyes of her friends and his own all on him.

"Uh, yeah sure. I'll see you guys later alright." they all nodded and she grabbed her things, getting up to leave. They walked in complete silence until they made it to an empty hallway when James stopped and faced her.

"I just wanna apologize for last night." he admitted.

"Oh, it's quite alright."

"It's just, I was absolutely plastered last night and was pretty embarrassed by what happened." he said with a timid smile Diana had never seen before.

"Again James, it's fine."

"For you maybe." he chuckled and that comment in itself had Diana very confused.

"But having to have someone coach you out of your animagus form is not something that inflates the ego." he laughed and that's when Diana realized that they were not talking about the same thing, she felt her heart lurch, but covered it up with a fake laugh and smile.

"Well, um, I seem to have forgotten my charms book, so I'm gonna get that from my dorm. I'll be seeing you Potter." she said quickly, turning away and heading to the Black Lake. She didn't even have charms today and her first class didn't start for another two hours, but she needed to leave and she needed to do it quickly.

"Of course he wouldn't remember." she said to herself in her head.

"Maybe he just didn't wanna mention it." another voice said in hope.

"Nope, he just doesn't remember." she'd said out loud, sitting against a tree, a cigarette between her lips. "Merlin, I'm so stupid." she muttered, lighting it with a quick spell and took in the beautiful fall morning where James Potter had unintentionally hurt her again.

James' POV

James was left stunned and confused after Diana's abrupt exit, but he chose to ignore it when he saw Lily Evans walking towards the Great Hall.

"Oi, Evans!" he called out, catching her attention. He'd made a promise to himself that this year he wouldn't be so headstrong in his attempts to impress the Evans girl.

"Potter. What do you want?" she sneered, James had always been nice to the girl, only trying to impress her, but not ask her out so many times it was harassment. She'd rejected him every time and to be honest, it was starting to get to the raven haired boy, he just thought that this girl was amazing and now he thought that he wasn't good enough for her.

"I just wanted to see if you had a good summer?" he asked with a friendly smile.

"Oh, well it was actually quite enjoyable and my family and I went to Italy, thank you Potter." she said, the corners of her lips turning upwards in such a small manner that if you weren't paying close attention you'd miss it.

"No problem Lilypad." he smirks and they both make their way into the Great Hall. When they stepped in, he saw the heads of two redheads and one brunet turn his way, he kept walking towards the marauders, but was stopped when someone's hand caught his wrist.

"Where's Diana?" Gideon asked.

"She said she'd forgotten her charms book and went to get it from her dorm." he stated simply, Gideon letting go of his wrist.

"Don't lie to us Potter." Fabian growled, James' eyes widened in shock, he'd never seen Fabian Prewett mad before, only as his usual happy go lucky self.

"I'm not lying to you Prewett, that's what she said to me."

"Well, she doesn't even have charms today, so that means you're lying." Rory shrugged, but the look in his eyes was enough to tell you he was angry. He knew James had said something that hurt Diana, he didn't even know what yet and he was already angry.

"I don't know then McLaggen."

"What'd you say to her?" Rory asked bluntly.

"What do you mean?" James questioned.

"I mean, what did you say to her that made her upset?" he explained.

"I didn't say anything, I swear." going over their entire conversation in his head, making sure he hadn't said anything hurtful to her, especially after what happened on the train. "Why do you think I did something?"

"I just know you did, Diana rarely lies Potter and when she does, something is extremely wrong." Rory admits, Diana had only ever lied to him when someone else's feelings were on the line or when she felt like she had to go through something alone. He knew her too well to not know when she'd lied, even when it was through someone else.

"Oi Prongs! We've gotta go!" Sirius had exclaimed from
down the table. James looked at the three boys in front of him with an apologetic look and turned towards his friends.

"I'll see you guys in Potions." with that James walked away with his friends, leaving the three boys to worry alone.

"She'll come around, yeah?" Rory asked, his angry facade vanishing with James Potter.

"She always ends up talking to someone, hopefully this time it's one of us." Fabian sighed, they all knew Diana was pretty secretive, sure they'd been friends for years but the walls that Diana had put up were only half down, always prepared to be rebuilt.

"Yeah, but after what happened with Black and her mum, I don't know if she will." Gideon said worriedly, they'd noticed from the train ride and her letters that there was more wrong than they'd thought.

"We've just got to have hope that she'll come to us or we can just hex Black and Potter." Fabian stated.

"I reckon we do the second option." Rory said cheerfully, maybe a bit too cheerfully.

"But do we really want to have all of them after us." Gideon added, making Rory's smile drop and Fabian shake his head. "See this is why I'm the smart one between us four." Rory and Fabian bursted out laughing.

"What? I'm smart!" Gideom exclaimed, only making them laugh harder. "You guys are idiots, absolute idiots." he muttered, picking up his things and leaving.

"Oh smart and wise one, please come back and embark us with your presence!" Fabian yelled towards his brother, Rory doubling over in laughter and almost falling off the bench, but luckily caught by Fabian.

Chapter Text

"You know those are bad for you right." someone called out, Diana whipped her head around to see Regulus Black walking towards her.

"Oh, hello my dearest Regulus." she said dramatically, trying to bow from her sitting position.

"Shove off." he said jokingly, sitting down beside her. "I was serious about those being bad for you." taking the cigarette out of her mouth and smashing it with his foot.

"Hey! If you're gonna scold me about that, scold your slimy git of a brother too." slapping his arm, obviously oblivious to the fact that Sirius had run away that summer, leaving Regulus behind.

"Can't do that." he shrugged and Diana looked at him in confusion.

"Why not?" she asked, but he just stayed silent and kept his eyes on the floor. "Reggie what happened? Hey, look at me." she cupped his cheek, making her look at him and that's when she saw the tears in his eyes.

"He left." he sniffled. "Left me in that wretched house with my horrible parents a-and he didn't even ask me to come with him. I wanted to leave too y'know, I'm not like them, my parents, I'm not the snobby little pureblood he thinks I am." his voice breaking, Diana could hear the imminent pain in his voice.

"I know you're not, trust me."

"I just wanted him to be proud of me." he whispered, finally breaking down and Diana pulled him into a tight embrace that he so desperately needed. She let him cry out every tear of anger, sadness, hurt or any other feeling he may be having because she knew that it's exactly what she would need in that situation.

"I know it might not mean much, but I'm proud of you." she shrugged after finally letting go of the teary-eyed boy. "I know that it's not the same as hearing it from Sirius because I'm not him, but you're the closest thing I have to a little brother, other than Remus of course. I just want you to know how proud I am because the Regulus I met four years ago would never have done what you just did, being vulnerable, it's just-" she rambled, but was cut off by Regulus crashing body into hers again and clutching her so tight that it was like if he let go, she'd disappear.

"Thank you." he mumbled into her cardigan covered shoulder. "Really, thank you." he said after pulling away.

"Anytime my dearest Regulus." she said, getting up from her spot on the ground and holding her arm out to him. "Shall I escort you to your next lesson?" she asked dramatically, while he got up and grabbed her arm, linking the two together.

"That'd be nice." he smiled, moving closer to her because to Regulus she was the only real family he had left. Sirius had shown him that you can pick your family, so that's what he did, he found the best big sister he could ask for. She'd been there for him when Sirius had drifted from him after he was sorted into Slytherin, even though they barely knew one another. Now, she was here with him after Sirius ran away, leaving him in his worst nightmare, it was like facing a boggart everyday, but a simple spell couldn't make it go away and he didn't know if he'd have been able to get through it if she wasn't there with him.

As Diana walked Regulus to his Transfigurations class, they laughed and joked with one another, but little did they know a previous Black heir was watching them with envy and a heavy heart.

●————♙————●

After dropping off Regulus at his lesson, she started walking to her potions class that she unfortunately shared with James Potter due to it being a NEWT level class. She didn't really want to see him, but she was glad she had other people in the class to talk to like Rory, Gideon, Fabian and Remus. The Marauders were the type of people that didn't study once and got Os in all of their examinations. Remus could do so if he wanted to, but he didn't want to disappoint their father, meaning he spent a lot of time studying even when it wasn't necessary.

When she got there it looked as though everyone was inside already, obviously early for class seeing as today was the first day and they wanted to make a good impression, but what she didn't expect was to see Sirius Black standing outside the classroom looking like he was waiting for someone. When he heard her footsteps he whipped his head towards her and a scowl replacing his usual mischievous smirk.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" she asked, which seemed to piss him off more.

"Stay away from my brother." he stated, no hint of amusement in his voice. Diana crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto her right hip.

"And I should do this why?"

"Because he's my brother, you've got one of your own, so there's no need to take mine." he retorted, her calm nature only making him more angry.

"Well, he stopped being your brother the day you left him in that nightmare of a home all by himself, he's only fifteen years old, Black! He needs someone and I've been there for him when you weren't, but if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go see my brother since you so desperately want me to do so." she sassed, pushing past him and walking into the classroom, leaving him stunned before he could get another word in and make a scene.

She walked into the classroom with the plan to talk to Remus because she hadn't been able to do so since the train ride yesterday, but when she saw him standing with James, she threw that plan out of the window. She redirected her line of sight and saw that there was an open shot next to Rory, so she quickly went over there before anyone else had the chance. Professor Slughorn walked in and looked around the room with a displeased look on his face.

"None of this friends only stuff, I will be assigning your partners for the year." you could tell that not a single person was happy with this idea, but seeing as it was the first class of the year no one wanted to make a bad impression.

"Alright, Ms. Fortescue and Mr. Prewett."

"Which one?" the twins asked in unison, something they did often and would usually cringe at.

"Sorry m' boys, Fabian and Ms. Fortescue." he said with an apologetic look on his face, like most teachers did when messing up their names which happened more often than not.

"Ms. Edgecombe and Mr. Lupin." Lessie, Diana's dorm mate, looked way too happy to be partnered with Remus than Diana would've liked, but Remus on the other hand looked like he'd rather get paired with Snape.

"Mr. Diggory and Ms. Evans." Diana looked over to James and saw his usual happy-go-lucky expression drop, Amos Diggory and Lily Evans had dated for a few weeks back in fifth year and that crushed James, so now this wasn't any better.

Slughorn went through the list until there were four people left, Rory McLaggen, James Potter, Sirius Black and Diana Lupin. Every person remaining had their ideal partner in mind, but obviously Slughorn knew this and wanted to change that.

"Alright then Mr. McLaggen and Mr. Potter, which leaves Ms. Lupin and Mr. Black." all four of them groaned loudly, looks of displeasure taking over their features.

"Uh, Professor?" James started.

"No switches and that's final." Professor Slughorn stated, still turned around, getting his things together for the lesson. Everyone went to the appropriate tables, Diana and Sirius making sure they were as far away as they could be while still using the same table.

"Today we're going to be learning about Amortentia. Can anyone tell me what it is?" Lily's hand shot straight up into the air before anyone else could get the chance. "Yes Ms Evans."

"Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumoured to smell different to each person, according to what attracts them."

"Very good Ms. Evans, 5 points to Gryffindor. Would you like to tell us what you smell?" Lily instantly looked nervous, but James had a very hopeful look on his face.

"Uhm, alright. Well, I smell marzipan, cherries and freshly cleaned robes." she admitted, a slight blush creeping up onto her cheeks while James tries to hide the smile that wants to spread across his face.

"Anyone else?" Slughorn asks and almost everyone raises their hands except for a small number of people that included Snape and Remus. Diana had a very strong inkling as to why Remus didn't volunteer, but Snape, she had no clue.

"Alright, Mr. Potter." he beckoned James towards the cauldron.

"I smell pine, my mother's perfume and citrus." Once he was finished, there was a confused look on his face as though he had envisioned one thing in his head and something was there that he hadn't expected.

Many people had gone up and smelled the potion, telling the class what they could smell, for some it was very obvious what or who they could smell, but others like Rory, left everyone confused. He'd smelt freshly mown grass, strawberries and one other thing, but he'd just trailed off and mumbled it under his breath. All three of his friends made eye contact with one another, the looks in their eyes full of worry because if something made Rory this upset, it was something big. Diana was one of the last ones left and she was scared shitless, she didn't know who she was gonna smell, she was hoping it would give her a nudge as to if she should really start working on getting over James.

"And finally, Ms. Lupin." Diana walked towards the cauldron and was overwhelmed with many different smells.

"Alright, well, I smell citrus trees, old books, and. . . Sleekeazy's hair potion?" The last smell confused her greatly because she didn't know a single person that used Sleezeazy's, except for maybe Rory on a rare occasion.

She stepped back to her table where herself and Sirius were supposed to be brewing their own cauldron of Draught of Living Death in order to win a vial with Felix Felicis in it, she was in a weird daze that she was often in, one where her thoughts ran faster than usual and she couldn't hear a single thing going on around her. She grabbed her book and started getting to work, ignoring Sirius, not intentionally because if she's being honest, she couldn't hear a single word he was saying. She made some adjustments to the potion like crushing the Sopophorous bean instead of cutting it, seeing as it released more juice or adding a clockwise turn every seven counterclockwise ones.

Little did she know, someone that named themselves the "Half-blood Prince" was watching her very carefully and writing down every change she made.

She was snapped out of her trance when Slughorn approached her table to take a look at her and Sirius' potions. He looks down at Sirius' and grimaces when he sees the odd green colour it had become, but when he turns to Diana's potion his face lights up.

"Wow, would you look at that!" he exclaims, a wide grin spreading across his face.

"What is it Sir?" she asks, genuinely confused on why he was so happy with it because she was just experimenting with it.

"You've made a perfect Draught of Living Dead!" he says giddily, taking Diana towards the front of the class and presenting her with a small vial of Felix Felicis. "It may be small, but it's very useful when needed." he stated.

"Thank you very much Sir, I really appreciate it." a genuine smile on her face, Professor Slughorn had always been one of her favourite teachers. She didn't really have any she disliked except maybe Professor Binns because of his long and boring lectures. That marked the end of class and seeing as it was a double potions day, it was lunch, so Diana made her way towards her friends, the smile still on her face.

They all congratulated her on winning the luck potion, except Rory was awfully quiet the entire time and it worried her tremendously.

"Hey, um, save us some seats at the table. We'll meet you two in the Great Hall." she said to the twins, both of them nodding and continuing towards the Great Hall. Diana pulled Rory by the elbow and into an empty classroom, casting a silencing charm so no one could hear them.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine." he stated, but Diana knew better than to believe his badly constructed lie.

"You're still a horrible liar, you know. But after smelling the Amortentia, you've been off." she stated. "Hey, look at me. You can tell me what's going on." she said, cupping his cheek to make him look at her, just as she had done with Regulus that morning. When she saw the sad look in his eyes, all of her protective senses were going off like crazy.

"I smelled the Burrow." he admitted sadly, it took Diana a second, but then she realized that the Burrow was Fabian and Gideon's sister Molly's house aka where Gideon and Fabian spent almost every summer and Christmas holiday at.

"Which one?" she asked bluntly, catching Rory off guard.

"I- um, well, you know, there's Fabian and there's also Gideon and they have that sister Molly, they've also got all those nephews-" Rory started to ramble, which he almost never did, trying to change the subject.

"Is it Fabian or Gideon, Rory? I won't judge you, I promise you." she reassured him.

"Fabian." he mumbled quietly, but just loud enough for Diana to hear, she pulled him into a tight embrace that he gracefully accepted. "I- I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to do Diana?" he asked after pulling away from the embrace.

"I don't think there's anything you can do... unless you want to tell him." she suggested, but Rory shook his head almost instantly after hearing those words.

"No way in hell am I telling him and neither are you."

"You really think that low of me Rory." she teased, mouth agape earning a small laugh from Rory, which in her books was worth more than anything.

"Yes, yes I do." he joked, Diana converting her face into one full of mock-offense, placing a hand on her heart dramatically.

"Oh shove off you prick, let's go to lunch I'm starving." looping her arm with his and leaving the empty classroom, heading towards the Great Hall to see their friends.

Chapter Text

The past few weeks had gone by so quickly that Diana didn't even realise it was Halloween until she entered the Great Hall. Throughout these past weeks Diana only had two conversations with James and they were both after full moons making sure the other was alright and not injured. She'd told her friends what happened between them because they'd kept teasing her about it until she did, but of course she had no intentions of ever telling Remus that she snogged his best friend.

While entering the Great Hall she saw that the teachers had put up the necessary decorations for Halloween which included floating Jack-O-Lanterns instead of the usual candles and black and orange banners hung up throughout it. Diana quickly made her way over to where Remus had been sat alone, wanting to talk to him without his idiot friends around, with the exception of Peter because he was always so sweet to her. When she got closer she saw he was holding a letter in his hand and had a solemn look on his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she sat down, startling him and he rushed to put the letter in the pocket of his robes.

"N-nothing."

"You're the worst liar I know Rem and that's coming from someone who's friends with Fabian." she chuckled thinking back to all the times the four friends had snuck out of their dorms to sit outside and gotten caught leading to them all trying to lie their way out of it. Then of course Fabian would say the weirdest things like "Oh, we were going to look for unicorns in the forest." or "We're all collectively sleep walking." and it would lead to them getting in more trouble.

"Let's talk about it later." he said, trying to brush her off.

"Why? What was in that letter?" she asked, growing more and more suspicious of her brother.

"Nothing." he was avoiding eye contact and playing with his fingers.

"You can't say we'll "talk about it later" if there's suddenly nothing in the letter." she retorted.

"Leave it Diana." he snapped. Remus rarely snapped at others, especially Diana, unless it was around the full moon.

"Look, I get that the full moon is in a week, Rem, but it doesn't excuse you keeping things from me." she said quietly, making sure nobody heard her.

"It's from Dad." he said simply, shocking Diana because their father never sent letters to Remus.

"Well, what's it say?"

"He said something about Mum and how-" he started, only to be cut off by someone calling his name.

"Hey, Moons!" Diana and Remus both turned to see Sirius walking towards them. "Come on, we've got to go to Hogsmeade and get our costumes." Remus sent Diana an apologetic look, grabbed his things and left with Sirius. Diana huffed and decided to find her friends so they could go to Hogsmeade together, walking out of the Great Hall she crashed into someone's chest, she almost fell but they grabbed her shoulders to keep her up. She looked and saw James Potter "Oh, you've got to be shitting me?" she thought to herself, he had this cocky smirk that he always wore on his face but his eyes held something that Diana couldn't understand. After a moment, James' hands were still on shoulders, she looked down at them and he quickly jerked them away.

"You alright?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. James looked like a confident and cocky boy, but deep down he had major social anxiety that he just covered up better than most.

"Uh, yeah, thanks." she replied awkwardly, the two of them hadn't been alone since the kiss and only one of them remembered it anyways.

"Are you coming to the party in the common room later?" he asked, trying to defuse the tension. [ a/n iykyk :) ]

"Is this you inviting me to the common room, Prongs?" she retorted, getting her usual confident demeanour back.

"As long as you've got a costume and you're there by 9, then yeah." he smirked and the butterflies in Diana's stomach were going crazy.

"I'll see you there." she winked and tugged on his tie before walking off towards her common room where her friends had agreed to meet her.

●————♙————●

James' POV

I watched as Diana walked away and something felt different, like when I would watch Lily walk away, but it was also not like that it was better. It was something he'd never felt before, not even when Lily decided he was worth her time once in a while. Everything had been different since the first night back, Diana was ignoring me like crazy and just when I thought we were getting close. I hoped she would come tonight, so maybe we could finally talk without her avoiding eye contact and running away anytime me and her would potentially be alone in a room together.

I could tell there was something missing from the night she helped me out of my animagus form, but I couldn't quite pinpoint it. I mean, McLaggen and the Prewetts didn't go crazy on someone for no reason, they were reasonable people, right? I don't think I'd done anything wrong, but then again I was plastered.

"Hey Prongs!" I whipped my head around to see Sirius and Remus standing there looking a bit disheveled, but I decided not to question it. "You coming or not?"

"Yeah, yeah." I replied, rushing towards them so we could find Peter and make our way to Hogsmeade to get our costumes.

●————♙————●

Third person POV

After meeting up with the boys, Diana and her friends were finally at Hogsmeade. It was rather nice out for an autumn day so Diana decided to wear a long white satin dress with a long brown cardigan and her favourite doc marten oxford shoes. They were walking towards the Three Broomsticks in a comfortable silence when Rory decided to break it.

"You're coming to the party tonight, yeah?" he asked her, putting his arm around shoulders.

"If you mean the one Potter invited me to then yes, yes I am." she stated simply, all three of her friends stopped in their tracks.

"You talked to Potter?" Gideon asked and she just nodded.

"I thought you had this "I'm ignoring him" thing going on." Fabian smirked. "Your master plan to get him to love you not working out?" he teased.

"It's not a "master plan" and it's not my fault I knocked into him when I was leaving the Great Hall this morning." she remarked.

"Yeah, yeah, master plan or not. Can you guys believe our little Ana held a solid conversation with her life long crush?" Rory exclaimed, earning chuckles from the twins and an eye roll from Diana.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Oh absolutely."

"Why yes! It's such an honourable achievement."

They all replied at the same time, Diana slapped her hand on her chest and held a look of fake offense on her face, turning to face her friends. "Well then you'll find this even harder to believe, I even tugged on his tie to tease him and winked right at him making him blush." she stated coolly.

"Oh Fab, they grow up so fast!" Rory fake sobbed into Fabian's shoulder while the twins just laughed.

"Oh shove off, you're the one that taught me that anyways." Now Rory's face twisted into one of mock betrayal and he sighed dramatically.

~~~~ time skip ~~~~

It was nearing the end of the annual feast and Diana was so ready to leave, she hadn't eaten much and she told herself it was because she was anxious for the party. Dumbledore approached his podium and said his annual speech about nonsense nobody really listened to, but at the end something caught their attention.

"Alright, have a fun night, but not too much fun." his eyes peering over his half-moon glasses and glancing towards where the marauders were seated at the Gryffindor table. "Off to bed." he concluded and everyone hurriedly got out of their seats, making their way to the common rooms.

Diana was the first out of her dorm mates to make it back to the Ravenclaw tower so she could get ready for the party. Diana and her friends were all going as ABBA from the Mamma Mia vinyl that the boys had gotten Diana for her 16th birthday earlier that year. Diana put on her white dress with the blue cat in front, tied the belt in the front and slipped into her knee high white boots. When she came out of the bathroom after changing, all of her dorm mates had shown up and started getting ready. She'd done her hair how she wanted before the feast, styling her sandy blonde hair so it framed her face the way she wanted to and moved onto her makeup. She had a bright blue eye-shadow and light blush. She looked around and saw that her dorm mates were all dressed up as angels, because obviously they were just that.

Diana grabbed her things and turned around to face the other girl. "See you guys at the party?" they all murmured agreements and Diana walked out of their dorm. She made her way outside the common room to see Fabian standing against the wall wearing tight white overalls that flared out at the bottom and a mustard yellow long sleeve underneath.

"Merlin, you look amazing Fab!" she exclaimed, looking him up and down, he just chuckled and linked his arm in hers.

"Would you say I look 'Fab'?" he teased, making Diana slap his arm.

"You sound like a 40 year-old dad with your horrible jokes, y'know?" he let out a hearty laugh as they made their way to the Gryffindor common room. They approached the Fat Lady and she gave them both a smile.

"Evenin' Elizabeth." Diana smiled, she'd always quite like Elizabeth because even though she technically wasn't allowed in the Gryffindor common room, she always made an exception for Diana.

"Evening dear. Password?" she asked and Diana gestured to Fabian, of course Diana herself would have memorized it herself but she just didn't want to.

"Astrum." Fabian stated firmly because the Fat Lady always liked to pretend she couldn't hear the students. The portrait swung open and the two of them were met with automatic noise, there was music blasting and people dancing everywhere, drinks and food were set out on a table pushed against the wall, everyone seemed to be having such a good time.

The two of them walked through and immediately spotted Rory and Gideon, the two boys waved them over. They were decked out in their ABBA costumes, Gideon wearing a white one piece with a blue shirt underneath and a blue bandana tied around his neck. Since Diana was the only girl, Rory was wearing a dress like Diana's but with a yellow cat on it instead and he was wearing white shorts with it as well because of the dress' length.

"Wow, you two look astonishing!" she breathed, taking in their appearances.

"Thanks Ana, you look amazing as well." Gideon smiled.

"I know." Rory stated, flipping his imaginary hair.

"I am never giving you compliments ever again." she scoffed and Rory's once cocky face morphed into one of mock offense.

"You're quite rude." he gasped, holding his hand up to his chest. "It's my life source."

"Maybe your ego's and we know that it doesn't need to live much longer." Gideon muttered under his breath, but they all still heard it and bursted out laughing.

They all chatted for a bit longer before the marauders came down from their dormitories dressed as the Beatles from the Sgt. Pepper's record. Three out of the four looked absolutely ecstatic, but Remus had this glum look on his face that left Diana confused because, well, Remus loved the Beatles. They made their way around the room and were now headed towards Diana and her friends, well except Sirius, he stated that he so desperately needed something to drink because he was "parched".

"Hello boys, looking good." Rory complimented, all three muttering a thanks.

"You guys look great as well." Peter replied.

"Thanks Pete." Diana smiled, glancing over at Remus who looked apprehensive and was avoiding eye contact. The others had gotten into some casual conversation, but Remus was just looking at his feet and fiddling with his fingers. "Could we talk?" she asked and his head shot up, obviously not realizing Diana had been watching him.

"Uh... yeah sure, let's go up to the dorm." he stuttered which was so unlike the Remus that Diana knew, making her nerves skyrocket. The two awkwardly walked up and into the marauders dorm and Remus sat on his bed, gesturing for Diana to sit on James' unoccupied one.

"Remus, what's wrong? Was it dad's letter?" she asked hesitantly, not wanting to strike a nerve.

"Y-yeah it was. It's about Mum." he said, finally looking Diana in the eyes for the first time that day and she could see the tears that filled his eyes.

"Why? What's wrong with Mum? Is she alright? Did it get worse?" she asked hurriedly, searching his eyes for any sort of answer.

"She's in hospice." he sniffled, breaking eye contact and returning his gaze to the ground.

"You mean like "caring for someone at the end of their life" hospice?" she asked in disbelief, desperately not wanting it to be true.

"Uh huh." he whispered quietly.

"No... no no no no no no, this is not a funny joke Remus, I get you and your friends love pranks but this, this is not funny." she laughed anxiously, getting up from her spot on James' bed and pacing around the room.

"Diana, I'm not joking." he said firmly, turning to look at her pacing figure and emphasising the "not".

"But she was getting better Remus, she was walking around and cooking a-and helping tend to the garden. She was better." Diana cried, turning towards Remus, tears streaming down her face. She felt as though the tears were on fire, burning lines onto her face that would leave scars for everyone to look at.

"Dad said that the doctor told him it was calm before the storm." Remus replied softly.

"Screw Dad! Screw the doctor!" she yelled and Remus internally thanked himself for putting a silencing spell around the dorm. "W-why don't we just bring her to St. Mungos and maybe the healers can help her, I'm sure there's got to be a way they can fix it." she stated, more-so reassuring herself than Remus.

"Diana," he started, but she'd begun pacing again and muttering things to herself. "Diana!" he exclaimed, raising his voice ever so slightly that it had snapped her out of her own thoughts. "Healers can't heal muggle diseases, they're only trained in magical ones." he said simply.

"Well, that's bullshit if I've ever heard it. So my mum has to die just because muggles aren't advanced enough to cure her?!?" she argued, throwing her arms outward.

"Yeah, pretty much." Remus sighed, but Diana just scoffed and took off towards the common room. "Where are you going? Don't you want to talk about it?" he exclaimed, getting up from where he was seated on his bed. In truth, Remus had wanted to talk about it, he needed to talk about it and he knew it needed to be with Diana, the only person that had any idea what he was feeling.

Diana walked out of the marauder's dorm and headed straight to the table that held all the drinks, she grabbed an unopened bottle of firewhiskey, unscrewed the cap and started to chug. She felt the familiar burn in her throat and it was like she could feel the alcohol seeping into her veins. After probably thirty seconds someone pulls the bottle from her mouth and she glances to see none other than James standing in front of her looking with worry filled eyes.

"What'd you do that for Potter?" she asked irritably, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why are you suddenly trying to chug an entire bottle of firewhiskey?" he retorted.

"You can't just answer my question with a question!" she huffed, rolling her eyes. "And, even though it's absolutely none of you business, I was just aiming to drink my body weight in alcohol."

James eyed her suspiciously, taking in her tear stained cheeks and slightly red and puffy eyes. He didn't know Diana as much as he wanted to, but he knew her enough to know something bad had happened during her talk with Remus. He'd seen the two of them walk towards the dorm and wondered what they'd been talking about because had been on edge all-day. During their trip to Hogsmeade, he'd been awfully quiet and not giving any witty or sassy comments when on of the other boys said anything stupid. If you asked him, he'd deny it, but James Fleamont Potter was the mom friend. He made sure his friends did their homework, made sure they ate, slept, if they were ok, and reassured them that if they needed he was always there to talk. He cared about his friends more than anything, they were his family, his brother, they were a part of him and he knew he couldn't live without them.

Diana looked him in the eyes and he could see the pure pain they held, his expression softened and he cupped her cheek with his hand. "What happened in there?" he asked sincerely and Diana softened into his touch.

"World's not fair." she whispered, biting her bottom lip to stop herself from crying. James used his thumb to wipe away a stray tear Diana hadn't even realized escaped her eye.

"Look, I know we're not as close as maybe you and McLaggen, but I'm here to talk whenever you need, alright?"

"Yeah, okay." she sniffled. "Could I have my firewhiskey back?" she asked softly and he let out a hearty chuckle, he removed his hand from her cheek and was about to pass her back the bottle, but he decided against it.

"How about we share the rest of this, so you end up having a better chance of remembering tonight?" he questioned hopefully. James desperately wanted to get to know Diana, he'd known her for over five years and she was always known as Remus' sister. She was kind of like this mystery girl that he knew almost nothing about, yet it felt like they knew every small detail about each other, every secret the other never told anyone, every feeling of doubt or anger the other had felt.

"I mean as long as you don't hog it, I'm down." she teased, her familiar playful smirk making its way onto her face.

"Can't make any promises." he laughed, grabbing her wrist and pulling her out of the common room and to the astronomy tower, luckily no one else had been up there so he thought it was the perfect spot. The two sat down, shoulder to shoulder in an oddly comforting silence.

"You sure your girlfriend isn't going to mad we're so close together?" Diana asked, James turned his head towards her, wearing a confused expression.

"Girlfriend? What girlfriend?"

"Evans or any of the hundred girls that fancy you, even though we all know you've been pining after Evans since first year." she shrugged, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Nope, no girlfriend for me, it's not like Evans wants me anyways." he admitted, thinking about all the insults she called him like "arrogant toe-rag" or "pretentious arsehole" and of course, his favourite "a big-headed, small dicked prick".

"Why wouldn't she want you? You're great." she said, trying to cheer him up, taking a swig of firewhiskey.

"She certainly doesn't think so." he sighed, looking down at his hands.

"I personally think you need to stop worrying what others think of you, especially Evans, I mean she's best friends with Captain Grease ball." Diana's new nickname for Snape had gotten a genuine laugh out of James, automatically making Diana smile.

"Wait, wait." he said, after having a good laugh.

"What?" she asked worriedly, hoping she hadn't said anything wrong.

"How did me trying to cheer you up end up with you cheering me up?" he asked, turning his body towards her and she just shrugged.

"It's my special talent." she smiled and James got an odd feeling in his stomach.

"Well, we're going to change that. What's wrong?' he questioned genuinely, pulling the bottle of firewhiskey out of her hand and taking her hands in his. She looked into his eyes, searching for some sense of false sincerity, but she couldn't find any so she took a deep breath and decided to tell him.

"Mum's in hospice." she whispered just loud enough for him to hear and her eyes welled with tears.

"Oh merlin, I'm so sorry Diana." he said, bringing her in for a hug. James had met their mother the summer after second year when she'd come to drop Remus at his house so he could stay over for a few weeks. Hope Lupin had become like a second mother to him, she was so caring and kind to all three boys, so grateful that Remus had found friends. He was informed that she'd been diagnosed with some muggle disease after they'd returned to Hogwarts in fourth year, but Remus had said that there were treatments for it because it wasn't really bad. When he found out she got worse even with all the treatments, his heart broke. How could such a kind woman be cursed with such a horrid thing?

"She's gonna die James." Diana sobbed into his shoulder and all he could do was hold her tighter. "I don't know what I'll do without her."

"You'll get through this, trust me." he assured her, well, more so himself than her. "And I'll be right here with you, Diana."

The two sat there until Diana had cried every last tear and then out of exhaustion, she'd fallen asleep with her head in his lap. He stayed there for a bit before gently picking her up bridal style and taking her back to the Gryffindor common room. It was about 3am when he'd gotten through the portrait, all three of her friends stood up from where they'd been seated on the couch.

"What happened?"

"Is she alright?"

"Where were you guys?"

They simultaneously asked, concerned looks etched across each of their faces. "One, it's not my stuff to tell. Two, she'll be ok eventually. And three, we were at the astronomy tower."

"Alright, well, thanks Potter." Gideon smiled softly, his eyes still full of worry.

"Yeah, thanks, we can take her to our dorm for the night." Fabian said.

"Oh ok, yeah, that'd probably be best." James replied, feeling awfully nervous in front of them. Rory came forward and took Diana out of his arms, she snuggled into his chest and took her towards their dorm.

"Thanks for bringing her back Potter." Rory called out, offering a curt nod.

"It was nothing," he replied. "Night guys." he said to the twins and then he headed up to his own dorm. He tried to be as quiet as possible because he knew Remus was a light sleeper.

"Hey Prongs, get some action or what?" Sirius asked in a hushed voice, coming from Remus' bed, but James was too distracted to notice.

"Sure, something like that."

Chapter Text

Diana jerked awake the next morning and found herself in a Gryffindor dorm, she looked around frantically, trying to figure out who's dorm she was in, not paying any mind to the splitting headache she had. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Frank Longbottom exit the bathroom.

"Morning." he said with a smile. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, I guess." she shrugged and he raised his eyebrow in curiosity. "I just have no memory of getting up here." she said, looking around the room again as if she hadn't been up there hundreds of times over the past five years.

"Wish I could tell you how, but I woke up this morning and you were already sleeping and the boys said not to wake you. They also said they'd tell Slughorn you were ill so you don't have to go to class this morning."

"Oh ok, thanks Frankie." she said, using the nickname she had for him that he'd never admit to it, but he secretly loved it.

"No problem, I'll see you later." he waved and left the dorm, leaving Diana alone and with her thoughts, which in her opinion was the worst thing to do.

She flopped back onto the bed and her mind traveled to last night, her memory got foggier as the night went on, but she remembered her fight with Remus like it had happened two minutes ago. She felt so guilty for screaming at him when she should've been there for him, he was going to lose his mum too. She knew she'd beat herself up for this all day because at five years old when Remus got bit, she vowed to always protect him and be there for him and she failed.

She let her mind wander to later that night when she and James had gone up to the astronomy tower and shared such an intimate moment. She felt grateful that he'd been there, but also so embarrassed that she'd cried in front of him. If she was being honest, she felt pathetic for letting her feelings control her. She had the tough exterior and reputation that she fought to keep afloat, it rarely broke because in her mind suffering alone was better than being a burden.

It was almost lunch when her friends came back from their doubles potions class to find her absently staring at the ceiling, they all exchanged worried looks and approached her carefully.

"Ana, love, we're back." Rory said softly, snapping Diana out of her gaze. She sniffled quietly and sat up in her bed, well technically it wasn't hers, but she'd used it enough over the years that it practically was.

"Oh, I swear I just layed down." she admitted, looking around confused, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

"Love, it's well past noon." Rory said, sitting down beside her. "Have you eaten anything today?"

"Um, well, no." she stammered, her voice so small it sounded like a child's. Diana had done this before when her mother was first diagnosed, she'd simply "forget" to eat or "accidentally" miss dinner. It had gotten quite bad, she always wore baggy clothes to cover up the fact that her arms were pretty much only bone or that you could see her ribs sticking out in her torso. Her uniform hung onto her skinny body like a dirty pillowcase hung off the body of rich wizard's elves.

Her friends found out after their DADA class when Professor McGonagall came up to them and told them that they were needed in the hospital wing, they tried asking what happened but McGonagall just told them to go and go fast. They ran down the halls as fast as their legs could take them, keeping in mind that they were all at least 5 inches shorter than they are now. When they arrived at the hospital wing they swung the doors open and saw Diana unconscious on a bed looking paler than Moaning Myrtle, they all pulled chairs next to the bed and waited until she woke up. After she woke up and Madame Pomfrey had given her the potions she needed, the boys had asked every question imaginable and made her explain everything, leading to them being extra protective and conscious about what she ate.

"Did you have anything at the party last night?" Gideon questioned Diana and she just shook her head, her gaze at the floor.

"What about the rest of yesterday?" Gideon asked, Diana couldn't will herself to look up and see the pity laced across all of her friends' faces or at least what she thought was pity.

"No, I was just too anxious to eat yesterday." she said softly, her voice barely audible.

"You've got to eat something Di." Fabian said softly, his eyes full of concern. He knew Diana wasn't one to take care of herself, she was a giver not a receiver, she always took care of everyone else in her life. Hell, he knew that if something happened to any of them she'd drop everything she had going on and be there for whatever you needed.

"I know, I know," she sighed. "I swear to you I forgot, like genuinely forgot." she looked up at them, her eyes darting from boy to boy so she could avoid seeing the looks on their faces.

"What happened that was so important that you forgot your own basic needs?" Fabian asked, cocking his eyebrow.

"It's just, I was going to and then Remus pulled me aside and we went into his dorm. Then we got into a huge fight because earlier he'd gotten a letter from my dad saying that mum's in hospice, I mean, are you fucking kidding me? And Remus, he's just accepted it when I know there has to be something we can do like there must be some wizarding world thing that we can use to treat it. I had no idea he'd just give up on mum like that, so I left and then James caught me chugging a bottle of firewhiskey so we went to the astronomy tower and then I just broke down in his arms, then I guess I fell asleep. I just feel like such a dick for not being there for Remus." she rambled and in the middle of it she'd gotten up and started pacing around the room. When she stopped, she turned to face her friends who looked utterly shellshocked.

"I, um, I have so many questions." Rory stuttered, shaking his head, the other two boys humming in agreement.

"Well, ask away I guess." she shrugged, gesturing for him to go on.

"Ok, one, Hope's in hospice?" he started, his eyes filled with worry.

"Mum." Diana stated.

"What?" Gideon asked.

"Call her mum, she hates it when you guys call her Hope or Mrs. Lupin, loves it when you call her mum." Diana explained.

"Alright then, so mum's in hospice, you got in a fight with Remus because you think there's a way to cure her and he doesn't?" Rory asked and she just nodded.

"But you feel bad because you weren't there for Remus even though it goes both ways?" he questioned, knowing that Diana always looked after Remus, but he rarely looked after her.

"He doesn't need to look after me, I can take care of my own shit. I promised myself that I would always look after him and I didn't because I was being selfish. I didn't take a second to think about how she's his mum too-" she stated, defending Remus like she always did.

Over the years her friends had noticed the dynamic between Diana and Remus, the protector and the protected. She shielded him from every glare someone sent his way when they saw the silver scars littered on his face, every time someone dared to utter the words "Loony Lupin" she'd hex them into oblivion, every time he got into a fight with one of his friends, she was there. She exposed herself to horrible things because she didn't want him to experience it, there wasn't a single thing Diana Lupin wouldn't do for the ones she loves.

Remus had never been this way or at least not to anyone's knowledge, when someone would throw heinous insults her way because she was only friends with boys, she dealt with it herself. If anyone ever brought up the fact that she dealt with everything alone, she defended Remus saying that "He doesn't need to protect me" or "You just don't understand", but they did, they knew that Remus was the only thing Diana cared about before coming to Hogwarts. He was the one thing she vowed to protect until her last dying breath and beyond, in her mind, he was her responsibility and she had to shield him from the horrible things that life threw his way.

There was no denying that Remus Lupin loved his sister, but he just wasn't the one that protected, he was always going to be the one being protected. He never even really realised what she did for him because she never wanted him to find out, she kept every deep and dark secret in the dark corners of her mind, so no one had to find out. Did she struggle with things? Yes, but in her head Remus' problems were more important. Her friends couldn't think of a single time she put herself first and if there was one where she came remotely close, she would regret it immediately.

"Diana, stop." Rory said sternly, making her eyes snap towards him. "You cannot feel bad because you needed to sort out your feelings about this situation, you can't always be there for him and be there to protect him from things."

"No, I should've been there." she argued, her gaze not flickering. Rory scoffed and got up from his spot on the bed.

"No, you shouldn't have. Remus is a big boy and he can take care of himself." Rory said, making Diana roll her eyes. "I'm serious Diana. Do you think he feels bad that he didn't go after you last night? Really, tell me."

"Why would he have to feel bad? He's dealing with stuff too."

"Exactly my point Ana!" Rory exclaimed, raising his voice ever so slightly. "You need to start thinking about yourself, your life purpose isn't only to take care of your brother, you can't keep neglecting yourself to be there for him."

"And why not?" she sneered, crossing her arms and resting on one hip.

"Because it's going to get you killed one day and I won't be there to watch it happen!" He yelled, jabbing his finger at her chest.

"Then why are you even here?" she screamed, throwing her arms out to the side. Rory sucked in a sharp breath and locked eyes with Diana, she could see the tears welling in his eyes, but she was too stubborn to back down.

"I uh, I don't know." he whispered, grabbing his bag and walking out of the room. Gideon and Fabian made eye contact, both of them with matching worried looks on their faces, Fabian quickly ran after Rory leaving Gideon with Diana.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." she mumbled under her breath, pacing back and forth. Without saying anything, Gideon got up and wrapped his arms around Diana's petite figure, she melted into his touch and rested her head in the crook of his neck.

"Oh merlin, I really messed up didn't I?" she asked quietly, neither of them pulling out of the embrace.

"Just worry about you right now, Fab'll get it sorted out." he said, pulling her into him tighter.

●————♙————●

Fabian had just ran out after Rory and when he got to the common room he saw the portrait swing close, he quickly looked around the common room and realised that Rory must've been the one to leave. He ran out of the common room and saw the familiar mop of dirty blonde hair in the crowd.

"Rory!" he called out, running towards him, Rory whipped his head around just as Fabian reached him, he bent over with his hands on his knees panting. "I really need to exercise more." he sighed, standing up straight. Rory and Fabian made eye contact, both of their cheeks turning a scarlet red.

"You alright?" Fabian asked, looking at Rory's tear filled eyes.

"No." he sniffled, Fabian grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards an empty classroom, once they entered he pushed Rory towards a table and he sat on it, Fabian sitting on the one opposite of it.

"What's wrong?" he asked simply, Rory looked up at him and had this look in his eyes that Fabian didn't recognise.

"I just, with everything going on in the wizarding world, I can't lose any of you guys and she just makes it so damn difficult when all she does is put others first and forget about herself." he sighed. "And it's not just her, if I lost any one of you, I don't know what I'd do with myself." he said, in Rory's mind all he wanted to say was say "Especially you, I can't live without you Fab." but he couldn't, not when he didn't know if Fabian was even attracted to guys, it was too risky.

"Look, that's how it's always been, Diana's the most selfless person I know and that's why we're here, to make sure she doesn't get herself killed doing so." he smiled, placing a hand on Rory's knee, sending butterflies through both of their stomachs. "And I promise you, that I'll do everything in my power to make sure you never lose any of us. C'mon, it's us four until the end."

"Yeah, right, I was totally irrational-"

"Rory McLaggen, do not even try to discredit your thoughts, they're just as valid as anyone else's." Fabian reassured him. Rory came off as this cocky and confident boy, kind of like James Potter just more of a ladies man persay, but he was just like any other teenage boy, filled with insecurities.

"Right, sorry Fab." he said sheepishly, looking up to see Fabian's comforting green eyes staring into his own. "Can I tell you something?" Rory asked, feeling a random burst of confidence.

"Yeah, you know you can tell me anything." Fabian furrowed his brows.

"I like you."

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

"I like you." Rory blurted out.

"I-I-, you w-what?" Fabian stuttered, his eyes wide.

"I fancy you, Fab." he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. Suddenly, the burst of confidence he once had was gone.

"Are you sure? I mean, you really like me?" Fabian asked frantically, gesturing towards himself. Sure, to the rest of the school him and Gideon just seemed like those funny pranksters that all the professors loved. In reality, Fabian could never see himself going off and getting married like Molly or having a bunch of kids, he couldn't even really imagine himself with a wife.

"Why wouldn't I be sure? I mean, you're funny and smart and, well, I'd say you're pretty handsome." Rory admitted, counting his fingers. Fabian looked down, hoping Rory couldn't see the blush that had spread across his cheeks.

"I wish you didn't." he said glumly. "I wish you fancied somebody who wasn't me because I can never give you what you want and I know it."

"Fab, all I want is you." Rory cupped his face. Fabian melting into his touch.

"That's all I want too... you, I mean, not me. I obviously don't want myself, that's actually really weird and-" Fabian had started to ramble nervously, so Rory leaned in, crashing their lips upon one another's.

"I know what you meant, Fab." he whispered once they'd detached their lips, their foreheads resting on one another's.

"Great, that's good, really good." Fabian said, smiling bashfully.

●————♙————●

It was around dinner when Rory and Diana had made up with each other, both of them knew there was no way they could stay mad for more than six hours. Diana was walking into the Great Hall when she saw the familiar mop of light brown hair shoot up from the Gryffindor table, there weren't many people around yet, so she was happy they wouldn't be making a scene. He'd walked up to her quickly and enveloped her into his warm embrace.

"I'm so sorry, Ana." he mumbled into the top of her head, as she wrapped her arms around his torso.

"Don't be fucking sorry you prat, I'm the one that was being a bitch." she said into his shoulder, her voice muffled.

"Yeah, you really were." he said and Diana could practically hear the smile in his voice, she pushed him back and playfully slapped his arm.

"Ugh, you prick." she scoffed jokingly, a wide smile on her face.

"What? I'm just being honest." he held his hands up in mock defense. "Come one let's eat." he slung his arm around her shoulder and brought her back to where the twins were sitting. They both sat down and Diana could see the looks Rory and Fabian were giving one another. As the Hall filled with students, the chatter in the air was one thing that really calmed her down. Just knowing that others were having a good time with their friends or significant others was something that filled her up with immense joy.

The conversation flowed so naturally between the four friends, it was easy to tell just how close and comfortable they were with each other. By just looking at them, an outsider would never know that two of them just fought hours earlier or that two had just revealed their feelings to each other or that they were all struggling with things that they didn't want to burden their friends with. All they would see is four people who just got each other, they knew what got on their nerves and what could put a smile on their face after a horrible day.

●————♙————●

Remus and Diana hadn't had a proper conversation since Halloween and today was the full moon, they'd said a few words to each other like "Excuse me." or "Dad wrote today.", but nothing more than that. Diana even dealt with the dirty looks she got from Sirius everytime she went to potions class, he'd glare at her and not say a single word to her, yet she could feel his eyes burning into her skull all class long. She was surprised it seemed as though only Sirius knew of the fight because to her knowledge, Remus had always been closer with Peter, but Peter still sent her kind smiles and small waves.

Peter was always just genuinely kind to Diana, he was never rude or snarky. They'd had some great conversations over the years, even though Peter was the shyest of the bunch. James, on the other hand kept sending her looks of pity, she knew he was just trying to be nice, but it made her feel like absolute shit. She was really grateful for what James had done for her on Halloween, when she knew he'd rather have been partying with his friends all night instead of taking care of his best friend's sister.

Remus had been avoiding her any time she'd tried to talk to him, he'd either walk away or just blatantly ignore her. She knew he was mad at her, but she couldn't fathom why he was this upset. All she wanted to do was talk about what happened that night. Couldn't he understand that she was going through the same thing as he was? Or would he just forever ignore her thoughts and feelings.

The four of them had made a pact in fifth year that no matter what they'd always be there for Remus on full moons because that was more important than any silly little fight they might've had. So, it was nearing the moon's peak when Diana decided to still tag along with the Marauders on this full moon, she was apprehensive but knew that Remus was the priority right now. She quickly got out of the castle, despite not having a map like the boys, and she hadn't gotten caught. She made it to a batch of bushes near the whomping willow where she saw the three boys standing.

"Hey, room for one more?" she asked, startling them. All three jumped in surprise and turned towards her.

"Yeah, of course!"

"Obviously."

"No."

They all responded at the same time, James and Peter's faces looked as though they were happy she decided to come after all, but Sirius' held an expression of pure displeasure.

"Alright, majority rules." she sighed, looking up at the sky to see a clear full moon. They could all hear Remus' screams, their faces contorting into those of agony.

"Come on, let's go." James ordered, transforming into his stag form, the other three following suit. They all ran towards the tree, letting Peter get through to hit the knob situated at the trunk of the tree and the branches stopped swinging mindlessly all around. They went through the entrance and down the hall where they could hear the grunts and scratches coming from Moony. They went through the door to see the werewolf that every other day of the month was just their beloved Remus.

He seemed angrier than usual today, his teeth looked somehow sharper, his claws bigger. As he scratched himself, his claws cut deeper into himself like he was torturing himself for something he didn't know he did. His cuts were as deep as his mental wounds, his subconscious wanting to make his outside reflect his inside. His grief and sadness showed up in the long lacerated lines that cut across his now gray skin.

None of them had ever seen Moony this angered or torturous towards himself, they'd seen him scratch himself, but once they entered the shack he always stopped. Too distracted by the sudden arrival of his new friends, but today. Today was different, scary different, there was calm in the storms that clouded his eyes, no interest in playing with his new friends, not even any interest in hurting anything but himself.

They all stood wide-eyed for a moment before deciding they needed to get him to stop hurting himself. They sprang into action, jumping and trotting around trying to get the werewolf's attention off of himself. The bright ginger fur of the fox caught the werewolf's eye, Diana's eyes widened and she could feel her heart beating in her chest. He started to slowly approach her and she felt like her feet, or well, paws were stuck to the ground. She could hear the barks from Sirius, the squeaks from Peter, and the sound of James yelling in her head, but she didn't move. She just held her head up high and kept eye contact as the werewolf came closer.

He started to lift up his lanky and bony arm when Diana suddenly bolted out of the Shrieking Shack and ran towards the forest. She knew she could possibly get hurt, but it was worth the risk rather than getting brutally murdered by the werewolf form of her brother in front of his friends. It was quite an embarrassing way to go and she knew Remus would never ever forgive himself. She was running so fast that she had no time to comprehend what was in front of her before she was there, which resulted in her stripping over a log and getting thrown about two feet away.

Strings of curse words went through her head as she tried to get up on all four legs, only to realize that her front right one was most likely broken due to her landing on it. She could see the werewolf approach and this time she said to herself that she wouldn't move and if she did it would direct back to the shrieking shack where no one would accidentally catch him.

He brought up his long and lanky arm and swung at her, just slightly missing. She could hear the footsteps of James, who was frantically searching for her and Remus, but they were behind a batch of bushes, so he couldn't see them. She stumbled a bit as he swung again, almost getting her right in the face. The blood that dripped down his arms was splattered around everywhere each time he swung his arm at her small figure.

All of a sudden, she heard this weird grunt noise that came from just outside the entrance of the forest. She assumed it was James, due to a dog or rat not being able to make that noise, and she hoped it wasn't anything else that lived in the forest. She looked away, distracted by the peculiar noise and the werewolf took advantage of that.

Abruptly, the long and sharp claws made contact with the fox's body, all of Remus' pent up anger and sadness was put into the strong swing of his arm. The claws cut deep, deeper than his own, but not as deep as the mental scars she already had. When the claws cut her torso she looked up at the werewolf hoping to see the comforting green eyes of her brother, but all she saw were the cold, remorseless, almost dead eyes of the werewolf standing in front of her. She stumbled back and fell to her side in agony, the werewolf seemed content enough with the damage he'd done, so he left, leaving her laying on the cold forest ground in pain.

Once she saw he was far enough away, she transformed back to her regular and human form. She looked down at her side to see her favourite blue dress drenched in crimson red blood, she could see the cuts that the claws left, her skin torn and inflamed. The pool of blood grew around her as she checked out her arm, her normally pale forearm now purple-ish yellow and crooked.

She heard more footsteps and frantically looked around to see if maybe the werewolf smelt her and came back for round two. A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she saw the familiar stag approach her, he quickly turned back into James and ran towards her.

"Oh shit, oh shit. Are you alright?" he asked, kneeling down in front of her.

"No, my favourite dress is ruined." she pouted sarcastically.

"I- we can get you a new one, but I mean like are you about to die?" he said anxiously, not wanting to touch her because he didn't want to hurt her anymore than she already was.

"Well, if this doesn't get healed, then probably yes." she stated, trying to shrug but only one shoulder moved due to her being sprawled out on her side.

"Oh right, obviously. That was a genuinely stupid question." Diana hums in agreement, James' hands hover over her body trying to figure out how to pick her up without hurting her. "Alright, I'm going to have to lift you up so we can go somewhere to clean you up." He put his left arm under her knees and his right under her chest, he carefully lifted her up into his arms, Diana letting out a hiss of pain.

"I'm sorry, really sorry." he apologized, readjusting her in his arms, resulting in strings of curse words in english and welsh to fall out of her mouth. He starts to run as fast as he can with Diana in his arms, so he could get back to the castle and hopefully to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey never asked questions when any of the marauders came in with injuries after a full moon, they all suspected she knew what they were doing, but wholeheartedly knew she would never say anything.

As he ran through the halls he didn't care if they got caught by Filch or a random prefect doing their rounds, all he cared about was making sure that Diana didn't bleed out in his arms. He'd finally gotten to the Hospital Wing and was utterly out of breath, he pushed through the doors and called out for Madame Pomfrey. She frantically came out of her office, in her night robes and her hair let down.

"Oh merlin, get her on a bed!" she demanded and James put down Diana in the closest bed. "Alright, move out of the way." she pushed James over to the side and started to heal Diana. Using spells then going to retrieve the necessary potions, she lifted Diana's head and put the bottle up to her lips, making her drink the potion. A look of disgust covered Diana's features as she swallowed the potion, making James smile slightly in his state of panic.

"You can come back over, Mr. Potter." Madame Pomfrey beckoned James back over to the bed.

"Hey." he smiled, grabbing her hand.

"Hi." she said sheepishly. "Uhm, will you stay with me?"

"Yes, of course. Well, that is if I'm allowed." he looked over to Madame Pomfrey to see her smiling at the two, he gave her a pleading look making her sigh.

"Just get yourself cleaned up in my office and you can sleep in the next bed." she said, giving in to them.

"Yes! Thank you Poppy." James exclaimed, going off to her office to clean up his blood-stained arms. Madame Pomfrey had closed the curtain so she could bandage up Diana's wounds, he came back from cleaning himself up to see Diana laying in her bed and staring at the ceiling. Madame Pomfrey had gone back to her office and told them to get some rest.

"Hey, room for one more?" he asked, repeating her words from earlier that night. She chuckled slightly and shifted over so there was room for him on the small bed. Neither of them said a word, but the silence around them wasn't awkward, it was comforting and quite soothing. Diana snuggled into his chest, her head resting where his heart was, James brought up his hand and started playing with her hair to get her to fall asleep. Both of them fell into a dreamless and peaceful sleep that night, tangled in each other's arms.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

Diana woke up the next morning when she heard hushed voices around her, she reached to her side hoping to find comfort in James' arms again, but was disappointed to feel the vacant space beside her. She opened her left eye to see the space beside her completely empty and it looked like no one had slept beside her last night.

She could feel the stinging pain in her side as she took a deep breath, she knew the potion Madame Pomfrey had given her the night before could only help her so much. Considering Remus had been in his animal form, powdered silver and dittany only did so much. Of course, she didn't blame Remus at all for what happened, she knew he wasn't in control, but she also knew that them being in a fight didn't help.

Diana finally turned her head to see Regulus Black and Pandora Greengrass sitting beside her bed. She smiled at the two, but was definitely not expecting to see them there instead of Rory, Fabian, and Gideon.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?" she asked the two fifth years.

"Well, we don't have class till next period and when I heard you were in the Hospital Wing I thought I should visit you, so I dragged Dora with me." he smiled, it was odd to hear such casual language paired with Regulus' posh accent, but Diana had learned to adapt to it.

"As long as it's what you'd rather be doing then I guess you can stay." she teased Reggie, making him chuckle. "And I'm sorry the first time we've officially met is when I'm in the Hospital Wing." she apologized, looking towards Pandora with a polite smile on her face.

"Oh, it's quite alright." she responded, her voice soft and airy. "Your injuries are quite odd, it seems they haven't healed even after Madam Pomfrey's charms and potions."

"Yes, well, that's what happens when you sneak out after curfew to explore the forest." Diana quickly covered her tracks, laughing off her situation. She tried to sit up straight on the bed, wincing in pain as she moved her torso from the position it had been in all night.

Madam Pomfrey apparently had super hearing because once Diana had winced once she came rushing over to her bed to help her get comfortable and rebandage her wounds. She tried to shoo away Regulus and Pandora, but Diana insisted that they could stay if they wanted to. She let Madam Pomfrey bandage her up in silence while she secretly looked around to see what bed Remus was lying in.

"He's alright, he's just resting." Madam Pomfrey assured her, as if she could sense exactly what Diana was doing. "Alright, I'll keep you here for the rest of the day, you should be able to go to the feast tonight."

"Thank you Poppy." she smiled, Diana was so familiar with Madam Pomfrey since she would visit every time Remus was in the Hospital Wing that she became a second mother figure to the two Lupins.

"Of course dear." with that she walked away and back into her office.

"If you don't mind me asking who's the "he" that Madam Pomfrey was referring to?" Pandora asked.

"Just my brother Remus."

"Why would he also be here?" Pandora asked, Diana could tell she was quite the curious girl; she reminded her of Xenophilius, a fellow Ravenclaw in Diana's year. The question itself had partly stunned Diana, no one ever dug deeper than the surface level of knowledge that Diana displayed.

"He gets ill quite often." Regulus quickly covered for her after seeing her eyes widened the slightest bit. Diana had never told Regulus that Remus was a werewolf, he'd figured it out all by himself. That was one thing that Diana loved about Regulus, he was always the type of person to sit back and observe, taking in all the information he could get from people's mannerisms. He always picked up on the little things, figuring out things faster than others, putting all the puzzle pieces together in his head to see the bigger picture.

"Oh, well, I hope he's alright, but Regulus we must go. It's almost time for class." she smiled at Diana and got up from her seat, walking towards the doors.

"Feel better, I'll come visit later." Regulus reassured her, placing his hand on her shoulder, his usual kind smile taking over his features.

"Of course, have fun in your lessons my dearest Regulus." she smiled back at him, placing her hand on top of his, using her mock posh accent which of course, was horrible mixed with her Welsh accent.

"Bye Diana." he called out, walking out of the Hospital Wing.

●————♙————●

Diana let out a huff and rested her head against the wall behind the bed before hearing stirs from a few beds over. She looked around to see if Madam Pomfrey was around before getting out of bed, painfully she wanted to add. She limped over to Remus bed, seeing as the scratch went from her ribs to her hip, the size of her animagus form was not in her favour in this aspect.

She saw he was just silently sitting in his bed, staring ahead of him, she cleared her throat and motioned for him to move over, so she could sit down. Neither of them talked for the first few minutes as they sat in an awkward silence, which was quite odd for them, sure they've sat in silence but it was never quite so awkward.

"I'm sorry for not being there for you after everything happened with mum, it wasn't right that I overreacted." Diana apologized, breaking the silence. Remus was grateful for it, but couldn't help the doubts that creeped in his mind "What if I had killed her last night?" "How can she ever forgive me?" "I'm such a monster" all ran through his mind.

"How, how can you forgive me? I fucking hurt you Diana." he said, refusing to look in her direction. Diana softly grabbed his chin in between her index finger and thumb, forcing him to look at her, Remus, being the stubborn boy he is, refused to look her in the eyes.

"Hey, look at me Remus," she ordered in the softest voice she could. "You did not hurt me, you did not do this Remus Lupin. I need you to understand this because I know in my heart that you did not do any of this."

"But I'm a monster, everyone knows you. Do you hear how everyone talks about werewolves? I thought I was different, everyone told me I was different, but I've just proven their point." Remus said, defeated, she knew of his doubts when it came to his self-worth and people calling him "Loony Lupin" certainly didn't help.

"Do you never listen to a single word I say?" she asked, perplexed at how Remus continued to doubt himself even after she'd just given him a whole pep talk. Diana let go of his chin and looked at him in disappointment.

"What?"

"Remus John Lupin, I will scream this until the day I die. You did not do this, you are not in control of what you do when you are in that form and most importantly. You. Are. Not. A. Monster." she stated, emphasizing the "Not", she wished Remus saw himself the way she saw him or the way his friends did. He'd be able to see just how wonderful and loved he truly is.

"Right." he scoffed, obviously somehow not believing a single word Diana had just said.

"Remus, do you understand?" she asked sternly, reminding Remus almost scarily of his mother.

"Yes, yes." he gulped.

"Say it then." she huffed, crossing her arms and leaning against the headboard of the bed.

"Say what?" Remus asked, she'd never asked him to do anything like this before, but Diana decided it was worth a shot.

"Tell me that you're not a monster and that you don't blame yourself for what happened last night." she said defiantly.

"What? Why would I-" he stumbled over his words, certainly she wouldn't make him say things that she knew he didn't believe himself.

"I was being stupid last night thinking I could take you on all by myself, it was my fault for ending up in that bed last night, not yours. Do you hear me?" she looked over at Remus, her posture still strong and dominant, but her eyes told a different story. Her eyes were filled with sympathy and understanding, not pity, never pity when she looked at Remus. He would never know how much he truly meant to her because in his head he thought everything she did for him was out of pity or because she felt she had to, but she did it out of love and because she knew deep down that if her only purpose on this earth was to protect Remus, she'd be ok with it.

"Yes, I understand, but you know I don't believe it. I'll never believe that you didn't get hurt because of me and I can never forgive myself for it." Remus said in a quiet voice, looking down at his fidgeting hands.

"Tell me something then," Diana started, Remus humming in agreement. "Who jumped in front of me when we were five to save me from Fenrir Greyback?" she asked.

"I did." Remus whispered.

"Exactly, and what would've happened if we were in the opposite situations right now. What if I was the werewolf and you had just been attacked by me?" she asked, in hope that she'd catch him in his tracks.

"Well, it wouldn't be your fault because you have no control after you transform and it wouldn't be fair for anyone to blame it on you." he said casually, not noticing what he'd just confessed. Diana waited a moment before Remus finally caught on, his eyes widening in protest. "No, no, no, that's not what I meant-" he started to argue, but Diana cut him off.

"-There's no backing out of that one Remmy, you just said it wasn't your fault." she smirked mischievously, using the nickname she'd used all the time when they were young.

"Well, that's not fair you tricked me!" he exclaimed, looking at her, exasperated.

"Tsk Tsk Remmy, I just gave you the situation and you gave your reasoning as to why the blame should not be placed on your skinny little shoulders." she teased, bumping her shoulder against his. "Come on, just accept your defeat, for me?"

"Fine, fine, you win." he sighed, rolling his eyes. "Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah, you know you can tell me anything." she smiled at him.

"Uhm, I- wow, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be." Remus stuttered, his hand practically shaking with anxiety. He'd wanted to tell her this for a while, but never found the courage to do it. After seeing how he almost killed her last night- yes, he knows Diana doesn't blame him, but still - he decided it was the right time.

"Just take your time Remus." Diana placed her hand on his shaking ones and squeezed it comfortingly.

"Alright, yeah, so I've wanted to tell you this for a long time and since I almost murdered you last night-"

"-Remus, don't-"

"-No, no, let me finish. I just wanted to tell you that I'mgayandIfancySiriuswelltechnicallyI'mbisexualbutthatdoesn'treallymatter." He finished quickly and it took Diana a moment to decipher what he'd just said, but when she did, she couldn't help but let a huge grin come across her face.

"Okay, first of all I knew all about your little crush on Black when you came back blabbing about him all summer after third year and every time you look at him your cheeks get all red." she grinned, pinching his cheeks at the last part, he swatted her hand away, but couldn't help the small smile that made its way onto his face.

"So you don't hate me for it?" he asked.

"Remus, why would I hate you for it? I know me and Black don't exactly get along, but if he makes you happy there's no way I'm getting in the middle of that unless he hurts you then I'll kill him." she stated, all traces of humour leaving her voice.

"I mean, you think it's ok that I like boys?" he questioned somewhat fearfully, hoping he would hear the response he wanted.

"Let me get this straight, you want to know if I think you fancying other boys is alright after I spent half of last year snogging Marlene McKinnon and various other girls?" she asked dumbfounded, her face deadpanned after hearing, in her opinion stupid, question.

"Right, I may or may not have not considered that fact." Remus sucked in a sharp breath, nodding his head slowly.

"I think mum and dad should've named you Remus "I'm an idiot" Lupin instead of it being John." she teased, lightly nudging his shoulder, trying to not touch anywhere where there could be new scratches from the night before.

"Like you're any better than I am." he scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"What do you mean? Of course I am!" she exclaimed, whipping her head towards him and throwing her arms out to the side in defense.

"Yes, because deciding to take on a pretty much full grown werewolf when your animagus form is a FOX is absolutely brilliant in my opinion." he stated, gesturing towards himself at the end.

"Wow, alright, rude. It's fine anyways, now I have a badass scar to prove I was in a fight with a werewolf." she gloated half-heartedly, shrugging her shoulders with a smug look on her face.

"You do know there's going to be side effects that come with it right?"

"Of course I do Remus, I'm no stupid." Remus laughed quietly, Diana slapped his arm and he hissed in pain. "Anyways, I can deal with whatever it is as long as I don't become hairy or anything like that." she grimaced and Remus laughed, but this time it was a real laugh. One she'd missed even though they'd only been fighting for about a week, that was too long to go without hearing his laugh.

"What is it?" he asked, his smile still bright on his face.

"I just enjoy hearing you laugh Rem, I bet Black does too." she teased, earning a shove that almost sent her off the small bed.

"Oh shove off, tell me then, who do you fancy?" Diana froze at the question. Quickly weighing out her options. She could tell him that she fancies his best friend or she could bullshit her way through this, she figured that the second option probably had a higher success rate.

"Me? Who do I fancy?"

"Yes, you. Do you see anyone else here?" he sassed.

"Uhm, well, I- I don't know, there's a lot of good looking blokes around here." Diana stuttered, struggling to come up with a lie.

"Come on Diana, there's got to be someone!" he insisted. "There's a look in your eyes that tells me there's someone you're thinking about and you just don't want to tell me."

"There's no 'look in my eyes' Remus! It's just that no one's caught my eye yet this year."

"Pfft yeah, sure, but whatever I guess I'll leave it. You'll have to tell me one day though." he shrugged, leaning back against the headboard. They both sat there in a comfortable silence, soaking in each other's presence. It hadn't been long since they were apart, but it was so unusual that neither of them were really used to it.

"How's mum doing?" Diana asked hesitantly, she didn't want to move onto such a harsh topic, but she knew that their dad had been writing to Remus a lot recently and she hadn't read a single letter. Remus sighed and shut his eyes briefly before answering.

"Dad says she's alright, he also says that we should go home for christmas holidays just in case. He also says that mum misses us, asked him to tell us for her." he stated, looking straight ahead, so he wouldn't have to meet Diana's gaze.

"Ok, alright then we'll go home for the holidays." She sighed, rubbing her hands over her face. "We'll find a way to bring your friends over right by the full moon so they can still help-"

"-No, we can't risk it, I can't have them be arrested by the ministry because I made a stupid decision."

"Remus, that's not fair to you-" Diana started to argue, but was interrupted by the doors of the Hospital wing being swung open. Her three best friends marched in, angry yet concerned looks on their faces. They all looked around as if they were searching for her while Diana and Remus watched in amusement.

"Diana, what the hell is wrong with you!" Rory exclaimed, spotting her sitting with Remus on his bed. He used her full name, so she knew he was serious.

"What ever could you be talking about?" she joked, hoping to get under their skin and well, she succeeded.

"We're not kidding around here, Ana." Gideon said, more concerned than anything.

"We had to find out from Potter that you were sat here injured from, and I quote 'a creature she found in the forest'." Fabian chuckled slightly. "Prick has no idea we know." he said, looking in Remus' direction and sending him a slight smile, not in pity, but just plain old kindness.

"Look, I didn't mean for you to find out like that, I was going to tell you when I came to dinner tonight." she shrugged innocently.

"Wait, wait, wait, you were going to wait all day before you told us you'd been injured?!?" Rory exclaimed, flailing his arms around, almost hitting Fabian and Gideon.

"Can we maybe do this later? I don't need to get scolded by Madam Pomfrey because she hears you yelling." Diana sighed, giving the McLaggen boy a pleading look.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, but I will get my scolding in before the end of the day." he said pointedly. "I'll see you later, love." he came up to her, bringing her into a side-hug and kissing the top of her head.

All four of them had always been affectionate towards each other that people assumed at least two of them had to be dating each other, with the exception of Gideon and Fabian. Well, Diana thought maybe a few purebloods might think that, but no one knew if any of them were dating any of the others.

"Bye D, we'll see you at the feast." Fabian said, waving at her and following Rory out into the halls.

"See you, Ana. Get some rest, alright." Gideon pulled her into a tighter embrace than Rory had and kissed her cheek before following his friends out of the Hospital Wing.

"Is it Gideon?" Remus asked, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Is what Gideon?" Diana asked, confused.

"The bloke you're crushing on." Remus stated, a teasing smile playing at his lips. Diana knew that there really was no good ending to this, so she decided to roll with it anyways.

"Yeah, yeah it is." she admitted, trying not to break out into laughter.

"Aha! I knew it! Wow, I'm feeling very perceptive today." Remus said with a cocky expression, Diana was trying her hardest to not burst out laughing and expose her actual crush.

"Well, I knew you'd find out soon enough." she smiled at him.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

It was a few hours later when Madam Pomfrey finally let Diana out of the Hospital Wing, she said Remus had to stay another night, but Diana was free to go. All she had to do was come in tomorrow during her free period, so she could get the scar checked out. Diana made her into the Great Hall and saw her friends sitting at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table and decided to join them.

"Hello boys, lovely day innit?" Diana asked as she approached the Gryffindor table. She sat down beside Fabian and across from Gideon, she seemed happy to be back until she saw the look on Rory's face. "Are you seriously upset with me?" she asked, only to be ignored by the boy.

"Real mature McLaggen, real mature." she sighed, shaking her head. Gideon and Fabian were both trying not to laugh at their friend's antics.

Food appeared on the tables and they all dug in, conversation flowed easily between Diana and the twins, Rory was still being stubborn so he ate in silence. Diana knew that Rory cared deeply for her, as she did him, but they were both way too stubborn for their own good. The two had the tendency to let their stubbornness get in the way of expressing how they felt. They were nearing the end of dinner when Diana decided she'd had enough, she put down her fork that she'd previously been using to eat some treacle tart and looked directly at Rory.

"You know, I wanted to tell you, I got hurt." she said.

"Well, what stopped you? Because I didn't appreciate having to hear about it from Potter." he scoffed, raising his eyebrow.

"Maybe for one, I was unconscious and couldn't exactly just walk off into the castle looking for you three idiots. Also, James was the one who brought me to the Hospital Wing after being attacked anyway, so I'd say what he did was pretty nice." she argued, getting progressively more angry with her friend.

"Look, I get you were hurt, but I just didn't appreciate hearing about it from somebody else." he sighed, his angry gaze softening. "You could've died last night and after hearing it from Potter, I was so fucking worried, we all were."

"I'm alright guys, I really am." she assured them, smiling softly. "On the brightside, now I've got this badass scar to show off." she laughed, earning a slap on the back of the head from Fabian.

"Can you ever be serious?" Gideon laughed.

"No no, I'm pretty sure that's my brother's shit friend." Diana teased, all three of her friends looking at her dumbfounded. "Ok, ok, I get it was a horrible joke, but just go with it."

"Your humour is so fucking terrible." Fabian said between laughs.

"Fuck off, you love it and you know it." she said, her smile wide, she looked around at her friends and realized that this was really all she needed. These three people made her happier than anyone else could and she wouldn't trade this feeling for anything else in the world.

"Oh, I also have something else to tell you, especially you Gid." Diana stated, looking nervously at Gideon. Gideon made eye contact with Diana and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Why 'especially me'?" he asked, resting his chin on his fist. Diana let out a nervous laugh, not helping to ease Gideon's anxiety. "What did you do?"

"Well, I wouldn't say I particularly did anything-" she started, her eyes going back and forth between all three of them to avoid eye contact.

"Diana Lupin, what did you do?" Gideon asked, using her full name to express how serious he was about this.

"I may or may not have lied to my brother and told him I very desperately fancied you, so he didn't know I fancied James." she said quickly, once she was finished she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. All three of her friends stared at her, dumbfounded at how Gideon was the only person she could come up with to lie about having a crush on.

All of a sudden, Fabian bursted out laughing, clutching his stomach. "Bloody fucking hell, you did not!" he exclaimed, tears forming in the corner of his eyes, resting his forehead on Diana's shoulder. At this point, Rory had started laughing alongside Fabian, but not as hard, just like a hearty chuckle.

People surrounding them at the Gryffindor table had started to stare at Fabian, who was still laughing at the fact that she thought of Gideon... Gideon! But mostly he was laughing at the stupid look that was plastered on his brother's face, sure he knew that Gideon had the tiniest crush on Diana when they were in fourth year. Surely, he was over that already he thought to himself. Right?

"Fab, people are staring!" Diana scolded, nudging her bony elbow into Fabian's side, soon enough he calmed down and they all ate the rest of their meal in peace. Gideon was uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the meal, but none of the friends really paid much mind to it. He was like this sometimes, he told them that once in a while his, what he called his social battery, ran out so he didn't like to talk much and they respected that.

●————♙————●

The feast had now ended and everyone was heading back to their common rooms or wherever they planned on being until curfew. Diana was walking back to her common room for the night when she heard her name being shouted from down the hall.

"Diana! Diana over here!" James yelled, running down the stairs and towards her. When he finally reached her, he hunched over, out of breath. "Hey." he smiled, after catching his breath.

"Hi." she smiled back, a slight blush creeping to her cheeks when he flashed her his usual cocky grin.

"I just wanted to check if you were alright after last night," he said. "I was worried there for a second." he added, trying to make the conversation less awkward.

"Yeah, no, I'm alright, just a few scars and perhaps a new love for rare cooked meat." she joked, shrugging her shoulders. "I also wanted to thank you for last night, staying with me, it helped calm my nerves and all." she added sheepishly.

"Oh, it was really no problem at all, I know you'd do the same if it were me in that bed." he waved her off, not taking credit for his actions, which Diana noticed he did a lot. "That reminds me, I want to ask what you were doing for christmas holidays."

"Uhm, well, me and Remus were planning on going home to be with mum, but other than that nothing else. Why?" Diana explained, but why would James Potter want to know what she was doing over the holidays.

"My parents, they throw this big party every year and I wanted to see if you'd come. Apparently they want to go all out, you know with Sirius living with us now." he stated, looking quite anxious for a reason Diana couldn't pinpoint.

"That sounds quite cool actually, never been to a pureblood party before." she said, smiling lightly.

"So does that mean you'll come?" he asked hopefully, leaning back and forth on the balls of his feet. "I mean, you totally don't have to, I just think it'd be nice, and all."

"Do I have to wear red? I don't pop in red." was all Diana said, trying her hardest not to freak out. James Potter had just asked her to a party, her!

"That's fine, as long as you don't wear something like I don't know, blue." he teased, grabbing her tie when he said "blue", a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Wow, real low Potter, real low." she laughed, grabbing her tie by placing her hand on top of James', the butterflies in her stomach had gone haywire. "Just because I'm a lowly Ravenclaw I can't wear my precious house colours." she said dramatically.

"Maybe I can make an exception for you," he shrugged smugly. "Ann."

"Hm, Ann, never been called that before." she smiled, her bottom lip between her teeth and her head tilted downward. James took his other hand and grabbed her chin between his index and his thumb, tilting her head up towards him.

"Don't do that." he whispered, making eye contact. Diana could practically feel his breath on her face, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.

"Do what?" she questioned, bashfully, her cheeks rosy.

"Look down and hide your smile, it's too pretty to hide." he replied instantaneously, making Diana's heart flutter, she couldn't think of a single person who'd ever called her smile pretty.

"I think yours is quite pretty too." she said, making James smile in return. It wasn't his usual cocky smile that everyone in the school knew, it was one that was heartfelt and sincere.

"Oh do you?" he teased, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, I'd say it's alright, reckon it's a bit crooked." she shrugged. James dropped his hands and took a step back, a look of mock offense covering his features.

"Crooked? I thought you said it was pretty?" he exclaimed, his hands going up to his heart.

"Who said pretty things couldn't be crooked?" she edged him on, they both stood there for a moment, soaking in each other's presence before Diana's face broke out into a wide grin. "I was just pulling your leg, it's not crooked."

"Good because we wouldn't want that would we?" he grinned. "I should be heading back, my friends are waiting for me, we were going to visit Remus before curfew."

"Alright, well, tell him I said hi. I'll see you 'round." she waved at him and started heading in the direction of her common room.

"Yeah, see you 'round, Ann." he called out after her.

"Bye J." she called back, the wide grin still plastered on her face. James' face lit up at the new nickname, perhaps things might go a bit different this year than he anticipated.

●————♙————●

The past month had been quite blissful for Diana, her and James had hung out a few times before curfew, just sitting either by the black lake or in the astronomy tower and talking about whatever they needed to talk about. She would always come back to her dorm with a wide grin on her face and a blush covering her cheeks. Her dormmates were left confused but never asked about where she was, all they did was sit on one of their beds, draw the curtains that surrounded it and whisper to each other. Usually this would bother Diana, seeing as they still hadn't made an effort to include her even after all these years, but after being with Jame, she didn't have a care in the world.

December's full moon had gone by smoothly, Remus had told Diana to stay back, but the stubborn Lupin DNA she had was determined to go. Diana had never missed a full moon since their transformations to their animagus forms and she never planned on missing one. Moony had been perhaps the gentlest she'd ever seen him be before, he seemed hesitant to be violent with any of them that night, so they decided it was a nice night for a stroll in the forest. It had been quite a euphoric full moon for the five, they all just strolled through the forest in harmony.

Diana's anxiety had been increasing each day that Christmas holidays approached, she was worried about going home and seeing her mum in this state. It would be the total opposite of how she'd last seen her in the summer, she was happy and wanted to go out to do things with Diana and Remus. Thinking back to the summer, Diana wondered if she knew she was getting worse and wanted her and Remus to have some last good memories with her.

As she packed up her trunk, she became more and more anxious at the thought of seeing her father again, he had taken it harder than anyone when her mother was diagnosed. He became distant and cold towards herself and Remus, acting harsher when he was even the slightest bit angry. Lyall Lupin was an expert in boggarts and even though he was facing his own everyday, he didn't think that maybe his children had the same one.

She finished packing her trunk and sat on her bed for a moment, hoping nothing would go too wrong during the holidays and that her mum would make it through her favourite time of the year. Letting out a long sigh, she picked up her trunk and headed down towards the train.

Boarding the train, she saw a familiar mop of jet black hair heading down towards a compartment. She followed him down the train and stopped at the compartment he entered.

"Hey Reg, seat taken?" she asked, making his head snap towards her, his lips curled upwards into a small smile.

"No, come in. What's up?" Regulus questioned once she sat down.

"I just wanted to check on you before you went home, make sure you're safe." she said, leaning forward and resting a hand on his knee.

"Don't call it that, don't call it home, it never was and never will be." he stated, rubbing his hand across his face.

"Alright, well then I wanted to check on you before you went there." she said, as if the word home associated with Number 12 Grimmauld Place was taboo. In Regulus and Sirius' mind, it was, that dark and cold house would never be home to those boys even if they were taught it should be.

"Yeah," he sighed deflating back into his seat, Diana saw his state and got up to sit next to him, knowing he'd be deprived of physical affection for the entirety of the holidays. "I should be fine as long as I don't act like Sirius in any way shape or form." he stated, leaning towards Diana, taking in all the affection he could get before returning to his personal hell.

"I'm sorry, about everything you go through because of those pieces of shit." she sighed, putting her arm around his shoulders. Regulus let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, putting his head on her shoulder.

"Your mum going to be alright?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"Let's hope so." Diana inhaled a sharp breath, her shoulders tensing ever so slightly. The two spent most of the train ride sitting and chatting about classes or really anything they could think of.

Regulus checked his watch and realised they should be arriving at King's Cross in 15 minutes, so he made Diana fix his hair the way that would look acceptable in his mother's eyes and make sure his outfit had not a single wrinkle in it. His father cared less about physical appearance like a hair out place, instead he cared about connections like Regulus solely being friends with any pureblood Slytherins who could benefit in the future. His mother was all about appearances, making sure they looked like the perfect family, wizard royalty, if you will. Neither him nor Sirius liked this about their mother, to them she could be even scarier than their father because he was rarely around, but when he was it rained hellfire on them.

Making him look like the Black family heir he was supposed to be, Diana smiled slightly at her ability to make Regulus look so proper, his looks matching his accent. Diana always worried about Regulus when he went back to Grimmauld Place, he never told her what would happen in detail, but she knew it wasn't good. She knew that Sirius had taken most of it when he still lived there, leaving Diana to tend to a small amount of bruises when they came back to Hogwarts.

"Look, if anything and I mean ANYTHING happens while you're there, either floo yourself or maybe get Kreacher to apparate you to Lupin cottage, alright?" she insisted, putting both hands on his shoulders.

"Yeah, alright." he sighed, shoulders deflating.

"I mean it, Lupin cottage. I'll make sure you're safe." she cupped his cheek, a reassuring smile on her face. "Take care of yourself my dearest Regulus." she said softly before walking out of the compartment, but not without casting his one last glance.

"Lupin Cottage, Regulus, Lupin Cottage." Regulus muttered to himself, before smoothing down his suit and walking out of the train, hoping he would make it through this Christmas.

Chapter Text

Diana got off the train and went to get her trunk, she craned her neck to see if she'd be able to spot her father and brother on the busy platform. This Christmas was the second one they'd spent at home since they'd enrolled at Hogwarts, the other being in first year seeing as a full moon had fallen on New Years Eve. Lyall Lupin wasn't one for having a big traditional Christmas, but it was Hope's favourite time of the year.

She loved having the big tree in the sitting room, with stockings hanging from the chimney, a multitude of gifts wrapped in brightly patterned wrapping paper, drinking hot chocolate by the fireplace, and just being together as a family. It was Diana's favourite time as well because they just seemed normal, there was nothing abnormal about them to the public eye, like two regular muggle parents with two regular muggle children. Diana thought perhaps that was what her mother wanted for them in the first place, so having these big Christmas celebrations each year was her way of trying to bring some normal into their abnormal lives. After they went to Hogwarts, she tried, tried to still have those holidays for them, but hearing them go on and on about the part of their lives that Hope had no connection with mustn't have been easy for her. Knowing that she'd never be able to experience the starry ceiling of the Great Hall or hear the talking portraits that littered the walls of Hogwarts was heartbreaking to eleven year old Remus and Diana.

Hope was the light of the Lupin family, always lifting everyone's spirits, making sure they knew just how important they were, reminding everyone of their worth. When she got ill, somehow she was still the ball of light even though she was the one that got ill. Everyone's mood went down and the usual bright and welcome aura that was in the Lupin cottage was replaced with one of gloom and sorrow, as though sunlight didn't hit the small cottage the same way anymore.

Diana finally spotted the familiar mop of sandy brown hair of her brother and headed towards him, when she got there he was still talking to the marauders. She didn't want to barge into the conversation, so she stayed back and continued to look for her father. Obviously she didn't want to eavesdrop, but when she heard her name being brought into the conversation, Diana just couldn't help herself.

"I invited Diana to the Christmas party, by the way." James said, making Diana's ears perk up.

"Like my sister Diana?" Remus asked, confused because he'd never seen James and Diana interact alone before.

"No, the other Diana I know," James replied sarcastically, Diana thought perhaps she was rubbing off on him. "Obviously your sister, Moony. Who else would it be?"

"Maybe someone interesting." Sirius suggested, a smirk on his lips, Remus slapping him on the back of the head.

"We've been hanging out for a bit, so I invited her." he shrugged, Peter smiled slightly, glad he wasn't the only other marauder that got along with Diana. Remus and Sirius both gave each other wary glances.

"Well, that's nice, what do you guys do?" Peter asked, a smile on his face, genuinely interested in the things his friends had experienced together.

"You know, we usually just..." James had started to ramble to Peter about what he'd been doing with Diana over the past month. Remus and Sirius still had wary looks on their faces and turned towards one another to start their own hushed conversation. Diana finally turned away when a hand was placed on her shoulder, she turned her head to see Lyall Lupin looking back at her.

"Hey, dad." she smiled softly, hoping he was in a good mood that day.

"Cariad," he smiled back. "Where's your brother?"

"Oh, he's right over there," she pointed to where the marauders had been standing. "Let me go get him." Diana walked over to where Remus had been speaking to Sirius just a moment before.

"Sorry to break up the party, but we've got to go Rem, dad's here." she stated, Remus said his farewells to his friends and followed Diana to where their dad had been waiting with Diana's trunk.

"Ready to go Remus?" Lyall asked, Remus just responded with a curt nod. Diana could practically feel the tension between the two of them, she could remember just how close the four of them were before Greyback's attack.

She held resentment towards her father because the only reason Greyback had attacked them was because of him, yet couldn't help blame herself either, she was the one Greyback had set out to attack, not Remus. Lyall had a framed picture of Diana on his desk at the ministry, so Greyback already knew what she looked like. When he'd arrived at their house that night, he made a beeline to Diana's room, which Remus had decided to sleep in that night along with her. He tried to bite Diana but was still equally satisfied when Remus pushed her out of the way and was bit instead. She hated herself for letting Remus get bitten instead of her, having to see how much pain he was in each full moon and the time surrounding it, she wished it was her in his place.

Lyall put his hand on Remus' shoulder and apparated him back to the cottage, coming back and doing the same thing to Diana. She landed harshly on her feet, legs almost buckling under themselves, she still didn't like the sensation of apparition and hoped it would change when she could apparate by herself.

Diana looked around, in hopes of seeing the once warm and comforting home she remembered, but instead she was met with this cold and somewhat unnerving home. She picked up her trunk and headed towards the stairs, looking into the practically empty sitting room (the exception of furniture), it was like she could see young her and Remus sitting eagerly with big presents in their laps, eyes wide in awe. Waiting for someone to say "Go!" as their cue to rip the brightly patterned wrapping paper off the boxes to see what was inside. She could almost feel the love that young her had felt that day, she almost couldn't believe just how much things had changed.

Wiping her eyes after she could feel tears threatening to fall, she made her way upstairs and into her bedroom. The walls filled with the familiar music sheets, posters, painting, sketches, and pages from her and Remus' favourite books. It gave her a sense of nostalgia that she could only feel in this room, she could see the dents in the wall where Remus had thrown a book at her head, but missed ever so slightly. She knew that under all the things put up on her wall lay the claw marks that reminded her of one of the worst days of her life, that if you looked close enough she was convinced you could see where they had used bleach to remove the blood on her clean white walls.

This was the place where Diana and Remus had learned that their mother wouldn't be there to watch them grow up. Where Diana blasted Bowie on her record player, hoping to drown out the horrendous thoughts that plagued her mind. This was the room where she'd grown up, the environment always adapting around her as she grew, being the one solid thing she had during every hard time. She felt weird having such strong feelings about a room because that's all it was, four walls and a ceiling, but they were her protection when she was busy protecting everyone else. Diana always knew that no matter how draining a day would be, she always knew that this room was still there, it was still going to provide what she needed most. A place to just be her, not "Remus' sister" or "That ravenclaw who's always hanging around the gryffindors" just Diana Laurel Lupin.

She set down her trunk and headed towards her parent's bedroom. From the letters her father had written, she knew Hope had chosen in-home hospice. She knocked lightly, waiting for a response, once she heard a faint "come in" she made her way into the room.

Her mother was sitting on her bed, her head resting against the tall, wooden headboard. Diana held in a grimace when she saw her mother, her skin was sickly pale, cheekbones sunken in like she hadn't eaten in weeks, her arms were merely skin and bone, and Diana was pretty sure she could see her collar bones sticking out the top of her nightgown. Hope smiled lightly at Diana, gesturing for her to come sit on the bed next to her, Diana got on and shuffled up really close to her mother, resting her head on her shoulder

"How've you been, dear?" Hope asked her daughter, subconsciously raking her fingers through Diana's hair.

"I've been alright, school's a bit stressful, but all in all, it's been good. What about you mum?" she responded, cuddling closer to Hope.

"Oh, you know, I can definitely say I've been better." Hope joked, a smile present on her face. One she hadn't had for a long time, one she always said was caused by being around her children.

"Mum, don't joke about that." Diana scolds, in a half-hearted manner because of course, Diana didn't have the balls to actually scold her own mother.

"Love, you need to be able to find humour in any grave situation, it's not healthy to be serious all the time. My father was stubborn and serious, yet that got him nowhere, especially after coming home from the war." During Hope's spiel, Diana had shifted her head, so her chin was carefully resting on Hope's bony shoulder in order for her to look at her.

"Huh, I didn't know Grandpa was in the war." Diana said, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"Oh yes, he fought in Italy. He was a great soldier, but he came back a different man." Hope admitted, Diana nodding along. Her mum never really talked about her childhood to Diana and Remus, they always assumed it was a tough subject especially since she was growing up during the war.

The two of them continued to talk for the next hour or so, but to Diana it felt like maybe ten minutes. She couldn't remember the last time she and her mum had been able to talk to one another, alone and uninterrupted for so long. It made her heart swell, hearing stories about Hope's childhood and the adventures she went on before she met dad. Having this conversation made Diana realise that her mum was really just a regular, muggle girl before Lyall entered her life and everything changed. Hope commented that it was "obviously for the better" and that she "wouldn't trade anything in the world to give up what I have.", if Diana was being honest, it didn't really help calm the doubts swirling in her mind. She thought that maybe if Hope had never met Lyall, then she wouldn't be sitting here in this bed so ill that she knew she was going to die soon.

Diana was snapped out of her thoughts when her mother started coughing harshly, her entire body shaking with each cough. She quickly sprung off the bed, opening the door and running into the hallway.

"Dad! Help, Dad!" she yelled frantically, searching for Lyall. He swung open his office door, eyes wide and full of panic.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked urgently, looking at his daughter's tear stained face.

"It's Mum, you need to help her!" she said and he started running up the stairs. "I-I don't know what happened, everything was fine then all of a sudden she was coughing really hard and it looked like she couldn't breathe." Diana rambled, following her father closely. When they finally got to the room, she tried to follow him inside.

"No, cariad, you stay here and wait until I'm finished all right?" he said.

"But Dad-" Diana started, only to be cut off.

"No, you are staying right here until I'm finished with your mother." he snapped, pointing a finger at her, she just nodded slightly and watched as he went into the room and shut the door in her face. Remus' door opened slowly, peeking his head out he saw Diana worry stricken face and his stomach dropped.

"Diana, what happened?" he asked, gentler than her father had done just moments before.

"I don't know Rem, she was fine then suddenly she had this really bad cough and I got really freaked out." she stuttered out through shaky breaths, Remus stepped towards her and wrapped his arms tightly around her petite figure. Diana wrapped hers around Remus and held on tightly like he was going to disappear if she let go, they stayed like this until they heard a door open. They both looked over to see their father exit the room, looking exhausted, yet relieved.

"She's alright, but she's just resting, so we should leave her be." he said to the two of them, both of them nodded and started to head off to their respective rooms until Diana turned around.

"Um, Dad, could I use the owl? I wanted to send a letter to one of my friends." she asked quickly, like she didn't want him to hear it.

"Of course, just make sure he's fed before he leaves." Lyall brushed her off dismissively and re-entered his office. Diana wasn't completely sure why they even had a family owl, neither her nor Remus were allowed to bring it to school, she was sure it had something to do with her father's old job at the ministry.

She went back into her room and sat down excitedly at her desk, she pulled out a piece of parchment from a drawer, she couldn't find her quill anywhere, so she settled for a black pen that was laying on her desk. Diana hesitated for a moment, wondering how to start off the letter. She didn't want to sound too formal and say "Dear, Mr. Potter", but she also didn't want to not say anything at the top, she'd never sent a letter to James before so she was a nervous wreck. "Fuck it" she said to herself and just started writing down whatever she wanted.

James,

Hey, how are you? I just wanted to see how everything's been

"No way too boring." she muttered out loud, crumpling the piece of parchment and throwing it in the bin that was located on the left side of her desk.

James,

Hey, I wanted to see how you were doing and make sure that invite to the party was still extended to me and not just my brother. I also wanted to know if your "No blue" comment still stood because I had this dress that I really wanted to wear. (I think you would like it)

You never specified where this huge party was going to be held, so if I'm actually invited, that might be vital information for me to know. If it is going to be at your house, I hope it's HUGE because I certainly know that the amount of people you said were going would not fit in my house.

Anyways, hope you're doing well.

Diana xxx

PS. you're not allowed to discriminate against me because I'm a Ravenclaw, that's just rude and not fair.

PPS. don't feed or touch the owl [his name is taten (no, you may not ask what it means)], he may bite you :)

Diana sighed softly once she finished the letter, not allowing herself to read it over because she knew that her anxious mind would always find a problem with it. She folded the parchment, slipped it into an envelope, and scribbled a quick "J" on the back. She quickly went downstairs and fed Taten some prepackaged food her dad had bought from the Owl Emporium. Tying her letter into his foot, Diana sent him off with a quick "Give this to James Potter.", she hoped that he would respond soon or even at all.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

James had just been eating dinner with his parents and Sirius, catching up after being away from home these past few months, when suddenly there was pecking at the window, all four of their heads snapped over towards the noise to see a familiar owl flying outside.

"Oh, it must be a letter from Remus." His mother Euphemia practically beamed, she adored Remus. He was probably her favourite out of all of James' friends, he always assumed he liked Remus more than him.

"I'll get it." Sirius said quickly, getting up before anyone else could, opening the window and letting the owl inside. When he tried to grab the letter off the owl's leg, he was bit harshly by it. "Ow! You stupid owl, I was just trying to grab the letter." he said, but the owl just ignored him and flew right to James, landing on his arm.

"Why would Moony send me a letter?" he asked aloud, glancing at Sirius who just shrugged. He took a look at the letter, only to see a small "J" on the back and that's when he knew exactly who it was from. A small smile appeared on his face, but he quickly hid it so no one would be suspicious. "Weird, anyways, I'll open it later. Off you go." he untied the letter and sent off the owl, who grudgingly obliged.

●————♙————●

After dinner, he grabbed the letter and went into his room to read it. Sitting on the maroon quilt that lay across his mattress, he ripped open the envelope and was immediately engrossed in the letter. Diana's messy scrawl that he had to focus a bit more on to figure out what was written on the piece of parchment, the way he could smell her perfume, one that was a mix of pine and citrus. James had realized there was this feeling he got when he was around Diana, it was one he couldn't quite pinpoint, it was different than when he was Lily, but he still didn't know what it was.

Once he finished the letter he wondered why Diana had doubts about being invited to the christmas party, I mean he invited her himself! James doesn't just go around inviting random people at Hogwarts to this party, sure his parents already had invited plenty of people, but they were all old and boring adults. James hoped when he was his parents' age, he would still be fun, like his dad, but more fun. Also he wondered what the hell "Taten" meant and why he wasn't supposed to ask about it, so he sought out his father, who he knew understood welsh, for a translation. He finally found him reading in the sitting room, next to the lit fireplace.

"Hey, dad." he said, sitting down beside him on the couch. "I wanted to ask for a translation for the word Taten," saying the last word slowly in order to get its pronunciation right. "It's Welsh by the way, if that helps."

Fleamont closed his book, folding the corner of the page to keep his place. "Oh, Diana would kill him if she saw that." James thought to himself. Fleamont thought to himself for a moment before saying "Potato."

"What?"

"It means Potato. Why are you asking anyway?" his father asked skeptically, eyeing the letter in his hand.

"Oh, Di- Remus, I mean, said that the owl's name was Taten and since he grew up in Wales I thought you might know what it meant." James lied quickly, hoping his father didn't ask too many more questions.

"Odd name for an owl," Fleamont chuckled. "Well, tell Remus your mother and I say hello and we can't wait to see him at the party this weekend." he said, emphasizing Remus' name, hoping that his son would know that he knew he was lying.

"Yeah, I will. Anyways, see you." James got off the couch and headed back upstairs into his room. He retrieved a piece of parchment, envelope, quill, and ink from his trunk and sat down at his desk to write a response.

Ann,

It was great hearing from you, I'm doing pretty well, it can get kind of dull around here just the four of us in this house, it was even worse before Sirius moved in. I'm confused why you would think that the invitation didn't extend to you because didn't I invite you myself. Anyways, the "No blue" still stands, I will NOT have any non festive colours at this party, well maybe I could make an exception for you, especially if you think I'd like it so much.

The party will be at my house, I'd say it's quite big, but you'll have to judge for yourself when you show up. It starts at 7, but mum says that you guys should show up early so we can all get ready together, just bring your stuff with you and all that. There's some girls from my house coming as well, I promise you won't be lonely, if you don't want to that's fine too. Apparently your friends have been invited as well, the Prewetts and McLaggens are invited every year, they don't usually bring their kids, but perhaps you can change that.

How are you doing? I know it must be hard to be at home with your mum and everything, update me if anything happens, alright? Writing this has made me realize that I've never seen your house, I bet it's nice your mum looks like she has good taste.

The little comment about your owl biting may have been nice to know before I opened the letter because Sirius has got a nasty bite on his finger now. He was nice to me though, so I guess that's a plus. He thought it was a letter for him from your brother, as if everything's about him. (I am rolling my eyes as I write this by the way)

I also very much enjoy that you've named your owl "Potato", it's an interesting choice but I personally like it, very unique. If you try and tell me that you didn't name it yourself, I will not believe you one bit because there's no way Remus did that, he's too proper and that's coming from me. Please tell me he eats chips because that would make my day, maybe even my whole holiday.

I'm excited to see you on Saturday,

James xx

PS. I think you're rubbing off on me too much, but I don't mind ☺

He neatly folded the piece of parchment and put it into the envelope, he wrote down a neat "Diana" on the back in his signature cursive that Diana always complained she couldn't do and went downstairs to his father's office.

"Hey dad, I'm using the owl." he shouted before tying the letter onto it's foot and sending it on its way. Making his way back up to his room, James was startled when Sirius abruptly opened his door and poked out his head.

"Merlin Pads, you scared the crap out of me." he said, holding a hand to his heart.

"Sorry, just wanted to see what Moony said." Sirius shrugged.

"Oh, he just wanted to know when the party was going to start on Saturday." James lied, knowing that Sirius wasn't fond of the fact that he and Diana were friends.

"Well, that's weird because we were talking about it on the train." Sirius raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Maybe he just wanted to confirm details?" James suggested nervously.

"Yeah, alright..." Sirius nodded slowly, clicking his tongue before retreating back into his room. "G'night Prongs." he called out, closing his door.

"Night Pads." James responded, once Sirius' door was closed he let out a sigh of relief. Sirius had either believed his lie or just didn't care enough to pry any harder to find out if he was telling the truth, James didn't care as long as Sirius stayed out of his business. Obviously, James loved Sirius, but he was getting quite annoyed with his constant need to tell James what a bad idea it was to become friends with Diana.

James thought that having some friends outside of the marauders was a good thing for him, it's not like the others were doing any different. Remus was friends with Lily, Sirius was friends with practically everyone, but especially Marlene, even Peter had other friends, you could often see him talking or studying with the other Gryffindor boys in their year like Frank Longbottom. He always felt like being friends with Diana was different, he felt like he could say things to her that he just couldn't tell the other boys. It was weird, there was this sense of familiarity when he was with her, they hadn't been friends for long, yet to him it felt as though they'd been friends his whole life. Perhaps there could even be something more for them.

James just shook the thought out of his head "You're being stupid" he told himself, going back into his room. He thought that maybe a shower could wash away his absurd thoughts, he couldn't think of Diana that way, right? She was his best friend's sister for Merlin's sake and he was still in . It just wouldn't be right, it wouldn't be morally right, he tried to convince himself. Stepping into the shower, he let the scalding hot water run down his body, hopefully it would help rid of these new thoughts and feelings that James really didn't want to deal with now.

●————♙————●

The Lupin cottage had been a relatively quiet one that Thursday morning, Lyall had been in his office doing god knows what, only ever coming out to occasionally check on Hope, Diana hadn't seen Remus all morning, she assumed he was busy writing letters to his friends or studying way too far in advance for OWLs. Diana had spent most of the morning sitting on her windowsill, sketching whatever she could see from the view of her window, she made sure she had breakfast knowing Rory might murder her if she didn't. It was weird, Diana had gone downstairs into the kitchen to have breakfast and it was empty, completely silent, it felt as though someone had abandoned it years ago and she was simply finding it again. The countertops were covered in a layer of dust, same with all the cooking equipment, Diana could tell they hadn't been touched in months, she knew they hadn't been used since the summer when her mother was feeling better "the calm before the storm" Remus had called it. Looking at the kitchen left an achy feeling in Diana's stomach, so she quickly grabbed an apple that lay in a bowl on the kitchen island and went back to her room. She'd finished her apple and resorted to mindlessly sketching on her windowsill, it wasn't the most comfortable, but the light rain had made it more appealing to stay right where she was.

It had been an hour, maybe two since Diana had sat down here, most of the time she'd just stared out into the distance imagining what could've been. What her life may have looked like if Remus didn't jump in front of her that night, if her mother had never gotten ill, or even if she was never there and Remus had been an only child. She stayed on that last one for a while, thinking that maybe it would've been better for him, not having Diana to hover over him or be overprotective. The sound of flapping wings was the thing that snapped her out of her quite depressing thoughts. She looked up to see an unfamiliar brown spotted owl flying towards the house with a letter tied to its leg. Once it got closer, she could see that the letter was addressed to her, her name written in a beautiful cursive, one she recognised from the multiple study sessions she's had with James.

"Wait here," she instructed the owl, as she read James' letter, hoping she could send back a response. Reading his letter brought her great joy, outweighing that odd feeling she had right before it showed up. She got off the windowsill and headed towards her desk, ignoring the ache in her legs from not moving for so long, and started writing her response.

James,

I'm quite excited for Saturday now that you've confirmed my invite, sorry I doubted your invitation, if I'm being honest I'm just not used to all this. I'm also going to take you "maybe" and turn it into a "definite exception", but I can promise you that there are festive-ish colours on the dress. Making sure that there aren't any miss communications, this is a fancy pureblood type of party right? I just don't want to be the only person looking like I'm attending a gala or some shit like that.

I'll talk to Remus about showing up early, he'll probably accept the offer because all he does is stay in his room and write letters to you guys. I swear I've barely seen him since we got back. Oh shit, I've just realised this is the first time I'm going to meet your mum, I mean you've met my mum, but I don't recall EVER meeting yours. Alright, well, there's a first time for everything, y'know?

I'll definitely owl Rory, Fab and Gid to convince them to come to the party, especially if that many people are going. The whole "girls" thing doesn't really comfort me, but thanks for trying I guess, you know Evans doesn't like me already and let's be honest, I've really only talked to two of the girls in our year from your house. I really do appreciate your efforts, it means a lot ☺

I'm doing as well as I possibly can in this house, I've mostly been sketching in my room or worrying about Regulus, you know probably better than most what it's like there. Mum's been alright, she had a bit of a coughing fit the first day back, it really freaked me out seeing her like that. Thanks for checking up on me and everything. Also, in my opinion, I'd say my house is pretty nice overall and you're right mum does have great taste, didn't let dad have a single say in anything that wasn't in his office.

Did Black actually get bit?!?! Because if he did, I find that absolutely hilarious, there's this muggle thing called "Karma" that's basically if you do something bad, something bad happens to you, so let's just say he had it coming. I am pretty sure that Remus has been writing to Sirius loads, so his assumption would've probably been correct if I didn't write to you.

Who did you ask about Taten's name? I told you that you weren't supposed to ask! I swear to Merlin, that the next time I see you James Potter, you will be dead. Don't make fun of his name and also he's been around for as long as I can remember, so my dad most likely named him, if you ever get the pleasure of meeting him, you'll see he's a pretty weird bloke that would name his owl Taten or "Potato". Sadly, he doesn't eat chips or crisps or any potato related thing, sorry for being a dream crusher.

I would very much like to know what your owl's name is because if it's something simple and basic like "Steve" I will be utterly disappointed in you James.

See you soon,

Diana xxx

PS. I'm for one, glad that I'm rubbing off on you. Personally, I think I'm a pretty great person (most of the time).

Diana eagerly folded and put the letter into an envelope, tying it to the owl's leg and sending it off back home. She sat down on her bed, a wide smile on her face, flopping backwards and smiling up at the ceiling now. She had this fluttery feeling in her stomach and for once she didn't want to get rid of it.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

It was the night of the Potter's Christmas party and Diana felt as though she couldn't be so nervous yet excited at the same time. Taking a few deep breaths, she shook out her nerves and went to check up on Remus.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked Remus, sticking her head in the doorway.

"Yeah, almost." he replied, he was about to grab his bag, but hesitated. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Uh, alright, what's wrong?" Diana stepped into his room and set down the garment bag that held her dress, which she'd taken from the hallway on a lounge chair in the corner of the room.

"I wanted to talk about you and James..." he stated, running a hand through his hair.

"What about me and James? There's nothing going on." she tried to defend herself or more like reassure Remus, but he looked more upset after her comment.

"I've seen the letters coming to the house, Diana and I know you've been talking to him. Sirius sent me a letter asking why I needed to confirm the details of the party today with James." Remus admitted, Diana rolled her eyes.

"So what if I've been talking to him Remus, Merlin forbid I talk to my friend." Diana commented sarcastically.

"Can't you see he's ashamed to be friends with you!" he snapped. "Why else would he lie to Sirius about you sending him that letter or any of them?"

"Maybe because that idiot Black hates me for no fucking reason." Diana concluded, tapping her index finger against her chin.

"Oh please, all this "no reason" bullshit." Remus scoffed. "You took his brother away from him!" Remus exclaimed, tossing his arms out to the side, making a slapping noise against his thighs when they fell back down to his sides.

"I did not TAKE his brother from him, how dare you say that to me, Remus! What I've done is be there for Regulus when no one else was. Black had the three of you there for him when he lived in that vile place, so tell me why it's a crime that Regulus has me?" Diana felt like she was fuming, how the hell could Remus be using such a double standard. "How did this conversation go from James to me being friends with Reg" she thought to herself.

"You're always taking everything you want. First, you take away Sirius' brother, then you take my best friend." Diana laughed bitterly and muttered a "Holy fuck" under her breath. "You don't see me trying to be friends with those immature twins or snobby little McLaggen." Remus sneered, this was when Diana decided she'd had enough, so she strided over to Remus and jabbed her finger into his chest as she said.

"Fuck you, Remus, you have NO RIGHT to say that shit about my friends considering you know absolutely fucking nothing about them."

"Well, who you're friends with says a lot about a person." Remus shoved her arm away from him.

"Right and you're one to talk." she chuckled darkly, walking away from Remus and leaning against his desk.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" he retorted, snapping his head towards her.

"Aren't you still friends with little ol' Lily Evans who, if I'm correct, is still best friends with the prick who tried to out you as a werewolf just last year?" she questioned, looking smugly at Remus' enraged face. "Says a lot about a person, don't you think?" she added, mocking his previous words. Both of them stayed silent for a few moments before Remus broke it with

"He was my friend first."

"Yeah, well, you were my brother first." she retorted almost immediately, grabbing her dress from the chair. "We're going to be late, so I'm leaving with or without you." she said as she walked out the door.

Sniffling slightly, she went to grab the rest of her things from her room, tears impairing her vision ever so slightly. Everyone's moods had been down these past few days, Hope's state had been diminishing and they all knew it. As much as she tried to play it off, tried to be her happy and witty self, Diana knew she was more tired and reserved than ever, always taking naps and never coming out of her bedroom unless necessary. It was heartbreaking to see her mother's face become more and more sunken in and gaunt each time she saw her. Everyone in the house was kind of isolating themselves, none of them knew what to do without Hope, Diana fears the day when she's finally gone because each one of them is going to be lost.

They hadn't had a single meal together the entire holiday, grabbing whatever was in the pantries or ordering take away and they'd all just retract into their own rooms to eat it. It always felt so dull and empty around the house, if someone came inside they wouldn't see that anyone lived there unless they came searching. The mood was depressing, the usual bright sage green cabinets looked faded, all the lamps looked dim no matter how many times you changed the light bulbs, every painting hung up on the wall had a layer of dust on it, covering up its beauty.

●————♙————●

Diana headed down to the fireplace, she could hear Remus rummaging around upstairs. She grabbed a handful of floo powder and exclaimed "Potter Manor." being thankfully engulfed in green flames. Diana didn't expect the sight she'd been met with, James definitely hadn't been lying when he said his house would be big enough for this evening's party. It was large yet elegant, extravagant yet ever so simple. This looked like the mansions you see in films, Diana thought to herself.

Snapping her out of her thoughts was the sight of an older woman making her way towards Diana, a warm smile on her face. "Hello dear, I'm Euphemia Potter. Are you one of James' friends?" she asked once she was close enough to Diana.

"Oh, yes, I'm Diana Lupin, Remus' sister." Diana stuck out her hand, Mrs. Potter taking it and beaming at the girl. "It's lovely to meet you Mrs. Potter, you have a lovely home." Diana smiled, but Mrs. Potter just waved her off dismissively.

"None of this "Mrs. Potter" nonsense, it makes me feel old. Call me Euphemia, dear." Mrs. P- Euphemia stated, an older man walking into the room next.

"Oh hello there, Fleamont Potter." the man stuck out his hand, Diana shook it. The charisma was basically glistened off the man, now Diana knew where James got it from. Releasing her hand, Mr. Potter draped his arm across Euphemia's shoulders.

"I'm Diana Lupin, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Potter." Diana smiled, finding it difficult to be polite after she had just fought with Remus minutes before, but she wanted to make a good first impression.

"She's Remus' sister." Euphemia added, earning a small "Ah." from Fleamont.

"Your accent is very familiar, are you by any chance Welsh?" Mr. Potter asked her, an eyebrow raised in question.

"Technically yes, but that's a long story. Why d'you ask?"

"This may be a very odd question, but do you happen to have an owl named "Taten"?" he grinned amusingly. Diana could feel her face growing hot and hoped they didn't see how red her face was.

"Oh Merlin, James told you, didn't he? I'm so embarrassed, were you the one who translated it for him?" she asked, trying to change the subject off of her owl's childish name.

"Yes, I learned Welsh as a young boy and it's stuck with me ever since. I always wanted James to learn, but he's so bloody stubborn and impatient." he chuckled. "Yet when he came to me asking about the word "Potato" in welsh, I was quite confused."

"Monty, leave the poor girl alone." Euphemia scolded, pushing his arm off her shoulders.

"Come one Mia, it's just a bit of fun." Mr. Potter defended, holding up both his hands in surrender.

"Let's go, dear, I'm going to show you where all the girls are and get you away from my husband because apparently, he's gone mad." She took Diana's arm and looped her own through it, reminding her of Regulus, ignoring her husband's protests over her last comment.

They walked up a flight of stairs and down a few hallways, Diana's thoughts racing the entire time. Thoughts of Regulus and what he's going through at that house. How she wished she could whisk him away, so he would never be found or touched again by those psychopaths. Euphemia stopped, breaking Diana out of her downward spiral. "All right, this is where the girls are and James' room is just at the end of the hall." she said, gesturing towards the rooms.

"Thank you for everything, Mrs. P-" Euphemia cut off Diana with a stern look. "Sorry, Euphemia, old habits." she grinned sheepishly.

"Have fun, dear." and with that Diana was left alone in the hallway, debating whether or not to knock. So she decided on the knocking because she figured if she was already being polite, why not keep the streak going. Diana knocked three times before the door swung open and a very familiar face appeared in front of her.

"Diana!" Marlene beamed, embracing the girl in a tight hug. "I didn't know you were coming!"

"It's nice to see you too, Marls." Diana replied sarcastically, wrapping her arms around the blonde's frame.

"Whatever." she could practically hear the eye roll in Marlene's voice. They stepped out of the embrace and into the room, Marlene closing the door behind them. Diana briefly forgot they had kept their relationship relatively hidden, with an exception of super close friends and Diana didn't know just how close Marlene was with these girls. Instead of standing in awkward silence, Marlene led her to an empty space to put down her things, which was conveniently beside hers.

Once Diana had put her stuff down, she turned around and was engulfed in another embrace. "Hi, Alice how've you been?" she hugged the shorter girl, whom she'd known more than the other girls, with the exception of Marlene, because she was dating Frank.

"I've been great, how 'bout you?" They pulled away from the embrace and Diana saw Alice's warm smile that she always used when she was worried about someone and trust me she'd used it on Diana before.

"Y'know, I'm as good as I can be." Diana lied, but smiled back anyways. She didn't feel like talking about her deep feelings in front of everyone right now, so she turned towards the other two girls.

"Dorcas, nice to see you again." Diana smiled, Dorcas grinning back. "You too."

"Evans." she nodded, her smile falling ever so slightly and she hoped no one had noticed, even though it wasn't reciprocated. "Alright, well, don't stop what you were doing just cause I've turned up." she said walking back over to where she had put her things down.

Diana thanked Marlene as she sat in the empty space beside her, Marlene waving her off dismissively and going to turn on the radio. Looking over at the radio while David Bowie's voice filled the silence of the room, she realized it was a muggle radio and assumed Lily had brought it along with her. Knowing that James wasn't exactly an expert in muggle technology.

Diana and Marlene caught up on everything that had happened in their lives, well almost everything, while they got ready. It seemed as though the other girls were happily chatting as well, until Lily interrupted with. "Who invited you here, your brother?" making everyone go silent.

"Actually it was James, why?"

"Oh, I didn't know the two of you were even friends." Lily said and well, it stung, Remus' words from earlier rang through her head.

He's ashamed to be friends with you!

Then you take my best friend.

Why else would he lie to Sirius about you sending him that letter or any of them?

He was my friend first.

Diana cleared her throat "Yeah, yeah we are." she trailed off, getting a mere "Hmph" in response. They continued to listen to music as they got ready, Marlene and Diana hardly talking anymore because Diana had gone uncharacteristically quiet. One by one, they all went into the bathroom to change into their dresses.

Marlene went first, she came out in a floor length, maroon, satin gown. Her wavy blonde hair fell flawlessly on her shoulders and down her back. She stepped confidentially out of the bathroom and while she was putting on her shoes, Diana understood why she was attracted to her so much before.

Dorcas went next, she came out in an olive green, silk dress, it had a slit on the left side and Dorcas' braids went down her back. Diana looked over at Marlene, who was in complete awe of the girl in front of her.

"Have a little crush do we?" Diana teased quietly, as Lily and Alice complimented Dorcas on her dress."You're practically drooling there, love. Close your mouth." Diana reached over and closed Marlene's mouth with the knuckle of her index finger.

"Sod off." Marlene, shoved Diana to the side. Lily had gone into the bathroom now, Alice and Dorcas were still talking off to the side.

"If it makes you feel any better, she looked at you the SAME exact way when you stepped out." Diana smirked, Marlene's head snapped towards her.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she went all googly eyes on you." Diana couldn't help but laugh slightly at Marlene's nervous state. At Hogwarts, Marlene was this badass beater that everyone and their mother was scared of. Diana knew that she was just a huge softie on the inside and cared more about her family than anything else.

Lily had come out in a simple, yet elegant white silk dress with a high neck. Her auburn hair was curled and fell mostly down her back, the rest was in a braided crown. Alice had gone in next, Diana almost had to fight her to go in before her.

She came out in a blush pink dress that cinched at the waist with flower detailing along the body and skirt. Her brunette hair was styled naturally and fell slightly above her shoulders.

Diana had finally gone in and changed into an embroidered tulle gown with multicoloured flowers along the entire thing. Once she put her heels on the dress was floor length, but long enough that she'd trip on it while walking. Her hair was curled in a way that was much better than she ever could've done because she convinced Marlene to do it for her. She took a few deep breaths before opening the door and was relieved to only have been met with Marlene.

"Godric, you look bloody beautiful." Marlene beamed at her, helping Diana with the back of her dress. "If Potter doesn't get on this, I will gladly do it... again." Marlene had said, but it took a minute to register in Diana's mind.

"Wait, what d'you mean by that?"

"Oh, come on, Di, it's so obvious that Potter's got the hots for you. Everytime he looks at you it's like he's undressing and fucking you with his eyes." she scoffed, like it was some common knowledge that Diana should've known.

"There's no way that's true Marls, he's still head over heels in love with Evans." Diana rolled her eyes. "Where even are they anyway?"

"They're all downstairs, Mary's just arrived, but I said I'd wait for you. Also, don't change the subject." she said pointedly. "It's obvious you fancy Potter too, which I don't understand because going from me to him seems like a big downgrade in my books, but that's besides the point."

"Yes, I do fancy him alright, but everything's too complicated. I mean, we can't even be friends without everyone getting fucking mad at me for it." Diana sighed in frustration.

"Fuck them and fuck their opinions, if you fancy him that much, I say go for it, make your move and do it tonight." Marlene looked so proud of herself, she'd crossed her arms and was wearing a cocky smirk.

"Tonight, are you mad?!?" Diana was staring at her with wide eyes.

"Yes, tonight! There's no better time, it's fancy and romantic c'mon. I mean, you're literally at a gala it's like reading one of those romantic muggle books." she tried to convince Diana to do it because, well, she was bored. There was nothing exciting going on in Marlene's life and getting her friend, well ex, into a relationship seemed like a good idea.

"I'll do it," Diana started.

"Hell yeah!"

"If you do the same with Dorcas tonight." Diana smirked and Marlene was now thinking that maybe this wasn't the best idea.

"I-, y'know what- fine." Marlene grumbled, from an outside look she may have seemed upset, but she was just a nervous wreck.

"Haha, yes!" Diana pumped her arm in triumph, a wide smile on her face.

"You do realize this means that you have to take your shot with James, right?"

"Oh fucks sake."

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

It had been about five minutes after Mary had arrived, some of the other girls had come down as well, but all James could think about was where Diana was. Remus had come in looking sullen and slightly angry if anything, he didn't say a single thing about Diana and just sat there as the three others were in deep conversation, only adding in a comment here and there.

It wasn't odd for James to see Remus like this, he was always one to let whatever was bothering him eat him up inside instead of confiding in his friends or talking to anyone else about it. This was something that bothered James deeply, he felt the need to always be there for his friends and take care of them to some extent, sure this meant that he would get teased about being the "Mom of the Marauders", but he didn't really care. Being there for his friends was one of his top priorities, it didn't matter when they needed him or if he was busy, he would be there. After having a few long talks with Diana, he realized that they had that in common, both of them would drop anything if their friends needed them or were in any sort of trouble.

"Hey, Prongs, what's wrong?" Peter asks, a concerned look on his face. "You were kind of spaced out there."

"I'm just worried about Moony, he seemed upset earlier." James was half telling the truth, was he concerned about Remus? Well, yeah, he always is, but he wondered what was taking Diana so long or if she'd even come. What if she decided not to show up and that's why Remus was upset? No, don't think like that James, of course she'd come, she said she would , he told himself.

"Yeah, he was acting a bit weird earlier. Maybe it's got something to do with his mum." Peter suggested, looking slightly glum at the thought of that being true. Not a single one of the Marauders had taken it lightly when they found out about Hope's illness, but they all tried to push their own feelings aside to be there for Remus. It had been harder for Peter to do so than James and Sirius because he and Remus had been closer to one another just like Sirius and James were. Peter and his mother were never as close as James and his mum, so Hope Lupin was like a breath of fresh air to the boy, she was like a second mother to him, she always made sure Peter knew how much he was loved and valued by everyone.

"I hope it's nothing too s- bad." James had to stop himself from accidentally making a "serious/sirius" joke, why couldn't his friends just have normal names?

"Well, he always opens up eventually, if not to all of us than at least to Sirius." Peter shrugged. "When do you think people are going to start showing up?" he asked, obviously trying to change the subject and lighten the mood.

"Uh, should be soon." James looked down at the watch on his wrist to check the time, but was interrupted by people flooing in and could hear others apparating outside. "Nevermind, I guess the answer to your question would be, now." Peter chuckling slightly, James' parents emerged from the kitchen to greet all the guests. The music was now playing, food appearing on tables, drinks at the bar and it seemed like the party was in full swing.

Suddenly, someone coming down the stairs caught James's eye. Diana walked carefully down the stairs, holding her dress up ever so slightly to make sure she didn't trip and looking down the watch where she was going. Godric, James hated when she looked down at her feet and hid her face from view, he'd told her this on multiple occasions, yet she never listened, well this may have been a moment where it was alright to do so, but that didn't really matter.

James felt like he had to physically hold his jaw from dropping at the sight of her in that dress, it wasn't as blue as he was expecting, but Merlin was she beautiful. When Lily had come down those stairs just minutes before he'd thought "Wow, she looks great", but now looking at Diana, there was a different feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Peter nudged him slightly and had a small smirk on his face. "What?" James asked him, eyeing his odd expression. "Oh, nothing, nothing at all." Peter trailed off and went to join Sirius and Remus when he saw Diana approaching the two of them.

"Hey James," she smiled at him, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet in what seemed like nervousness. Why would she be nervous around me? James asked himself, but brushed away the thought by reminding himself that it may not even be about him. "You, uh, you look great."

"Eh, it's not my best look, but thank you." he tried acting smug in order to hide the blush he could feel creeping onto his face. "You look amazing though, really." Now it was Diana's turn to blush, he knew she was blushing because she'd averted her gaze to the floor and no one's shoes were just that interesting.

"Hey, don't do that," he scolded lightheartedly, putting his index finger under her chin and lifting her face so she was looking back at him. "I've told you not to hide your face from me."

"Yes, well, I've never been good at listening." she teases him and they both laugh lightly, once their laughter faded out they both stood in a weirdly comforting yet tense silence. All James wanted to do was lean down and crash his lips on her, but he was interrupted by a very familiar voice.

"Ana, I thought you said this party was going to be fun." Diana's head snapped towards the voice, Rory McLaggen stood there with his usual cocky smirk, Godric did James hate that smirk.

"Rory!" Diana exclaimed, running towards him and into his open arms. They hugged each other fiercely and it seemed like they were whispering things to one another, James felt awkward just watching them so he turned on his heel and headed towards the dining room.

●————♙————●

Diana's POV

Diana practically lept into Rory's arms, both of them embracing the other as if they hadn't seen the other in longer than just a week. She felt instantly more relieved once she was in his embrace. "You look beautiful." he said quietly, only loud enough for Diana to hear.

"You too."

"Aww, you think I'm beautiful?" Diana could see the smug look on his face so clearly in her head and was now regretting feeding his massive ego.

"Yes, you egomaniac, I think you're beautiful." she rolled her eyes and they pulled away from the embrace. Rory's eyes searched Diana's face with concern as he held her in front of him at arm's length.

"Hey, are you ok?" his gaze softened, his usual cocky smirk replaced by a warm and comforting smile.

"No," she whispered, barely loud enough for Rory to hear. Her eyes glossed over ever so slightly with tears. "I'm not ok, I'm really not ok."

"Hey, you'll be alright, c'mere." he pulled her back into an embrace, muttering soothing words into her ear as she tried to calm down. A few people had asked her how she was doing that night, but she knew with everything in her that Rory meant it and she trusted him enough to tell him that she wasn't ok.

●————♙————●

After a few seconds both of them drew out of the embrace, Diana brushing Rory's shoulder to make sure none of her makeup got on it. More people had arrived and more were coming in as they just looked at each other, both gazes saying things words never could.

"I'm going to go clean myself, alright?" Diana said and Rory just nodded, she headed upstairs to the only room she knew the location of, the one Euphemia had shown her to earlier that evening. She was walking down the hallway when she heard someone... crying?

The sound was coming from behind a slightly open white door, Diana peaked her head in to see a ginormous bathroom, but something caught her eye. It was Peter Pettigrew sitting against the far back wall, knees bent up to his chest, arms wrapped securely around them with his face resting on his knees. She could hear his breath hitching and his shaky exhales, Diana knew he was having a panic attack, she'd had her fair share of them herself. She walked over to him as quietly as she could in her heels and dropped down onto one knee, placing a hand softly on his arm.

"Peter," she said gently, his head snapped up and his eyes met hers. "What's wrong?"

"There's too many people, too loud." he stuttered out, his breaths getting faster.

"Hey, hey, you'll be alright. Breathe with me, ok?" Diana inhaled and exhaled slowly a few times before Peter's breath had started to slow down. "Can you tell me five things you see?"

"Uh, you, the mirror, the door, my hair," he glanced up slightly at the honey blonde hair that seemed to have stuck to his forehead and into his view.

"One more thing." Diana reminded him softly, his eyes darting all over the room again.

"The uh, the bath."

"Good, now four things you can feel." she instructed, eyeing him carefully.

"My shoes, your hand on my arm, the wall, my trousers." he blurted out like he was prepared for the question.

"Alright, great, good, three things you can hear?" this question seemed to throw Peter back into the deep end, his breathing quickened. "Hey, hey, hey, you're alright I'm right here."

"I- I can hear," he took a deep breath, cheeks puffing as he exhaled. "I can hear my voice."

"Good good." Diana encouraged him to go on, a reassuring smile on her face.

"Your voice and uh, the music from downstairs."

"Just one more step, alright?" she asked and he nodded slightly. Diana hated the way she felt as though she was treating him like a child, but she couldn't help the way her protective instincts got in the way of her consciousness sometimes. "Last step is one thing you can taste."

Peter contemplated his answer for a second before panic filled his eyes again. "I, I can't taste anything."

"It's fine, just tell me one taste you like. How about that?"

"Yeah, yeah ok. Um, butterbeer I guess." he'd replied slower this time and Diana could practically see some of the tension leave him as his shoulders relaxed.

"Feeling a bit better?" she asked as she sat down in front of him and crossed her legs, her hand leaving the place where it had been settled on his arm.

"Yeah, thank you, it really means a lot." Peter smiled at her, though it didn't quite reach his eyes, she knew it was genuine.

"It's really no problem, I'm always happy to help." she returned the smile. Her and Peter had always been friends, 一 well sort of 一 they'd never been rude or hostile towards one another, it was always polite and friendly. Neither of them had seen the other as vulnerable as they had today and Diana hoped it was just the opening to a new level of friendship.

"How'd you know what to do anyways?"

"I used to get them, panic attacks I mean, still do. They were hard at first, but it made me realize that even though we can wave around a wand and do other magical things, deep down we're all just human." she shrugged. "Well, I'm going to head back downstairs," she got up from her place on the floor. "Anything you want me to tell people if they ask where you are?"

"Eh, it's fine, no one'll ask anyways." he shrugged halfheartedly, making Diana turn back around on her heel. "What? I'm not lying, it's not like they came to look for me when I didn't come back from the bathroom. James is probably out there socialising with everyone while Remus and Sirius are too busy pining after each other-" he stopped himself mid-rant, looking at Diana with wide eyes. "Shit! I shouldn't've told you that."

"It's alright Peter, Remus already told him he fancied Sirius." hearing her words made Peter visibly relax, his shoulders dropping as he leaned back against the wall. "Well, I'll just say there was a line to the bathroom, sound good?"

"Yeah, thank you again, I, uh, really appreciate it." he smiled sheepishly and she headed back downstairs.

●————♙————●

When she arrived back downstairs there seemed to be double the people there had been before she left, the huge living room had been turned into the main party area with a dance floor of sorts, a bar filled with drinks and table mounted with food. Diana looked around to see a multitude of happy faces, everyone around seemed to be enjoying themselves, dancing to the music or chatting with the other guests.

She turned around with a wide grin to have a hand placed out in front of her, Diana looked up to see James was the one offering his hand. He beamed up at her and asked "May I have this dance?" she replied with a small nod and they went off to the dance floor.

Blue Moon by Dean Martin played loudly from the large record player set up in the corner of the room as they swayed to the beat. Diana had her arms around James' neck, hands clasped behind his head, his arms placed right above her hips, one hand on each side.

"Did I tell you, you looked beautiful tonight?" he asked in the middle of the song, beaming at her.

"You may have said something of that sort." she replied shyly, feeling the blush creep up her cheeks.

"Yes, well, it's true, though I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in you." he tsked, but Diana could see the mischievous glint in his eye, so she wanted to see where this was going.

"Please James, tell me why you're oh so disappointed in dear old me." she begged him jokingly with a bright smile on her face.

"In your letter you said that you wanted to wear a blue dress and frankly, this dress isn't blue." he stated simply, shrugging his shoulders just enough so Diana's arms bounced up and landed back on his shoulders with a small thud.

"So all the blue flowers embroidered in this dress aren't blue enough for you?" she teased, raising an eyebrow in question.

"I guess it'll do." he sighed dramatically, making Diana laugh lightly. The last note of the song rang out and the two of them parted, smiling broadly at one another.

"Thank you for the dance James, it was wonderful." she blushed as they walked off the dance floor.

"Anytime, oh I wanted to ask if you'd seen Wormy- I mean, Peter."

"I saw him earlier when I went upstairs, he was in line for the bathroom." she lied smoothly, but had a bad feeling in her gut about not telling Peter's friend that he was suffering. "You should check up on him more, Peter, I mean, make sure he knows you're there for him."

"He knows we're always here for him, it's just a marauders thing."

"It's still nice to hear every once and awhile."

●————♙————●

James' POV

James walked over to where he spotted Remus, Sirius and Peter standing together off to the side, all three of them looking in one direction, Diana's words still ringing through his head. He was always worried for his friends, but looking back maybe James had focused too much on Sirius and Remus, not seeing that Peter wasn't doing so well either. He shook the thought away and as he got closer to the boys Sirius extended his hand and passed James a cup, not tearing his eyes away from what he'd been looking at.

"What's this?" he asked, sniffing the liquid. Definitely firewhiskey, he thought to himself, grimacing slightly.

"Just something to take the edge off," Sirius shrugged.

James took a sip, trying to ignore the familiar burn of the alcohol in his throat. He moved beside Peter to see what they were all looking at. "What're you guys staring at?" he asked Peter, craning his neck to hopefully get a better view.

"I don't really know, Moony was staring at something when I came down here, so me and Pads decided to join him." Peter replied, turning to Sirius, starting their own conversation about some random topic.

"Hey, Moony," James said, trying to get Remus' attention, but Remus didn't even budge, it seemed as though he'd spaced out. "Moony!" he said louder this time, reaching out to punch Remus on the arm, breaking him out of his daze.

"What is it James?" Remus asked, looking slightly annoyed.

"The hell are you staring at?" he questioned, eyebrows raised and both arms gesturing out to the side.

"Look over there." Remus sighed, James' eyes following where he had pointed. He was met with the sight of Diana, who was currently dancing with Gideon. "See who she's with?"

"Yeah, that's Gideon Prewett, what about it?" James replied. After hanging out with Diana this past while, James had heard a multitude of stories about her friends and he knew they were just friends, the whole lot of them.

"You think they're a good match?" James choked on his drink at Remus' question.

"'M sorry, what?"

"Well, Diana fancies him and I think they'd be good together. What d'you reckon?" James' heart dropped when those words left Remus' mouth. Ok, maybe James was wrong, I mean, she did talk about her friends and what they did a lot, but he just assumed that's how close they were.

"Yeah, I guess." he replied grimly, shooting back the rest of the firewhiskey that remained in his glass. Regretting it almost immediately because it reminded him of the first night he'd ever really talked to Diana Lupin, after he found her chugging a bottle of firewhiskey in his common room.

"Wait, how do you even know she fancies him?" James asked, hoping that Remus was just making assumptions and come up with some bullshit like "brother's intuition".

"She told me after the um..." Remus swallowed bitterly and cleared his throat. "The uh, full moon incident. We were just talking in the hospital wing and she told me."

James could tell Remus was lying about how he found out, but his gut told him that Remus was telling the truth about what Diana had told him. He looked back to where Diana was dancing and he realized that she looked happy. She had a bright smile on her face, laughing at something Gideon had said, then she put her head on his shoulder and tightened her arms around his neck. All of a sudden there was this feeling of jealousy bubbling up inside of him. This whole time he had tricked himself into thinking that maybe, just maybe Diana thought of him in the way he thought of her and this just felt like a punch to the gut.

"Potter." Lily greeted with a small smile. It was then when James realised that all three of his friends had abandoned him, leaving him to stare at his missed opportunity in solitude.

"Evans." he nodded, wanting to plaster on that fake cocky and confident smile that he always wore around her, but his brain wouldn't let him.

"Thanks for the invite by the way, I know I haven't always been the nicest to you these past years." Lily looked down at her fidgeting hands.

"All in good fun." James sighed, thinking back to everything she had screamed in his face when all he wanted to do was have a conversation. Lily was right, she hadn't been nice to him over the years, it wasn't like James harassed her to go out on a date with him every five minutes. He just wanted to get to know her, show her that he was enough for her, that he could be worthy of her love and affection.

James didn't know how to handle a crush, Lily had been his first one, he just wanted to show her what a great guy he could be for her. His eleven year old self had decided that he was in love with Lily Evans and he'd never doubted it before. Even now he could hear a voice in the back of his head telling him this was his chance, his chance to be with the girl he'd been pining after since first year.

"Do you want to dance?" she asked James, there was a glint of something in her eyes that James just couldn't place.

"Sure, why not?" he held out his hand for her, Lily took it and led them to the dance floor, placing his empty glass on a hallway table as they passed it. He placed his hands on her waist and her arms went around his neck just as Diana had done with him earlier that night. They moved side to side as Slipping through me finger by ABBA played, their voices dancing around the large open space. As they danced neither one of them said a word, the silence wasn't comfortable as much as it was weirdly deafening. "If I was with Diana right now," his mind started. "No, stop that." he thought to himself.

Ever since he and Lily stepped on the dance floor he could feel someone watching him, he looked at the people around him, but not a single one was looking his way. Most were having hushed conversations, all of them in their own worlds. He looked towards the dining room and his eyes met Diana's, who had already been staring at him and Lily. All of her friends were talking to one another around her, but Diana, Diana was looking at him.

"The feeling that I'm losing her forever" the song rang out and James felt as though he was truly hearing this song for the first time.

"And without even entering her world." It was one of Diana's favourites, he realised, she'd played it for him before and he'd caught her humming the melody on many occasions.

"Slipping through my fingers all the time."

He was snapped back from his thoughts when Diana's eyes moved from his onto Lily. She smiled with what seemed like glossy eyes. "Nonsense" he told himself and Diana gave him an encouraging thumbs up paired with a few nods. James smiled back as big as he could, hoping it would cover the hurt he felt.

Finding out Diana didn't reciprocate his feelings hurt him, he should be used to it considering the girl he was currently dancing with had been rejecting him for years. Somehow this hurt worse than any insult Lily would throw in his face to undermine his confidence in any way she could. He felt like he'd been stung, but it shouldn't feel that way, right? They were only ever friends, but when he looked at Diana from across the room, he had this fluttering feeling in his chest.

He couldn't help but wonder if she ever had the same feeling when she looked at him.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

The party was dying down, people had started to leave as the night roared on. Diana had parted from the still very loud and energetic group of people to go to a more quiet place. She found a small sitting room and decided to head in, thinking it would be a good place to clear her head.

A blond head whipped around when she entered the room, making Diana jump when she spotted the young boy, he looked around 10 or 11, making her think that maybe he was a first year. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." she said sheepishly.

"It's ok, you can still sit here if you want." he smiled shyly, Diana went and sat on the couch opposite of the one he was sitting on. "I'm Marvin by the way."

"Hello Marvin, I'm Diana. Why were you in here alone?"

"Just worried." he stated simply, shrugging his shoulders.

"Worried about what?"

"Well, you see I'm turning eleven in February, which hopefully means I'll start my first year at Hogwarts next year. My sister's already there and my brother graduating this year, but what if I'm not in the same house as them and they don't like me because of it or I am in the same house, but they don't think I'm good enough to be in it." he spat out so quickly that it was hard for Diana to grasp every word he said.

"Who's your sister Marvin? I might know her," Diana was looking at the boy trying to figure out if he looked like anyone she knew, there was a familiarity there, but she couldn't quite figure it what it was.

"My sister?" he asked, Diana nodded her head. "Her name's Marlene, Marlene Mckinnon."

"Well, you're in luck, I am actually a very good friend of hers. Marlene would never hate you for being in a different house and I promise you that even though I met you like thirty seconds ago, you would make a wonderful Gryffindor, they'd be happy to have you." Diana stated, Marvin practically beamed at her before his expression morphed into one of confusion.

"Wait, why'd you say 'they'd be happy to have you' and not 'we'd be happy to have you'?" he asked and Diana leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

"Let me tell you a secret," she started, Marvin scooched forward to the edge of the couch cushion. "My brother is a Gryffindor and I'm actually a Ravenclaw, that's why I knew your sister wouldn't be mad." Diana met Marvin's eyes as he gaped at her.

"But I thought you were supposed to be friends with people in your house only." he exclaimed, flopping backwards to rest against the back of the couch.

"Nope, that's all a lie, almost all of my friends are from different houses, well I don't believe I have a Hufflepuff friend. Maybe you'll be a Hufflepuff and complete my collection."

"So not just your own house?" he questioned, getting a hum of approval in reply. "Even in Slytherin?"

"Yes, even in Slytherin. I have some very good friends in that house, they're not all mean just make sure to give them a chance, but if they're rude those are the ones you don't want to be friends with." Marvin looked super concentrated on what she was saying, as if he was taking mental notes. Marvin opened his mouth to say something else when his name was called from outside the room.

"Marvin! Marvin, are you in here?" someone stuck their head into the doorway, a mop of brown curly hair sat atop of his head and a smile of relief on his face when his eyes found the young boy. "Merlin, we've been looking for you everywhere. What're you doing in here all alone..." he trailed off when his eyes locked with Diana's.

She couldn't deny that he was attractive, but her mind rang out James, James, James, she internally shook off the thought, not wanting to think about him right now.

"I don't believe we've met, I'm Maxwell Mckinnon." he smiled, stepping into the room, Diana got up to meet him halfway and shook his hand.

"I'm Diana, Diana Lupin." Diana's hand fell back to her side. "I'm assuming you're the brother Marvin was talking about."

"Well, I would hope so, otherwise we'd have some problems." he joked, earning a breathy laugh from Diana. "You said your last name was Lupin?"

"Yeah, that's right, why?"

"Ah, so you're that Diana." he concluded, not sharing what "that Diana" meant which left her with an eerie feeling.

"What's that mean?" she asked nervously.

"Marlene used to talk about you loads," he started and Diana's eyes went wide, she could feel the heat creeping up her cheeks. "Also, your brother is currently on a drunk tangent in the main room." he added so casually that it took her a moment to realise what he'd said.

"He's what?!?" she exclaimed, snapping herself back to reality, a string of welsh curse words flew from her mouth as she quickly left the room, muttering only a "Come on" to the two others in the room.

●————♙————●

Diana got there just in time to hear Remus say "Did you know that when I was five-" only to be stopped by her shout of "Remus!" that pulled his attention onto her. There weren't many people left, but there were enough that didn't know about his lycanthropy that she just couldn't risk it. She walked over to the group of people surrounding her brother and nudged James with her elbow, causing him to jump.

"Why haven't you stopped him?" she hissed as Remus sauntered over towards them.

"Because one, it's really fun to see him like this and two, have you tried to stop Moony during a rant, he gets murderous." he shivered after his last words, looking like he was recalling the last time it had happened.

"Diana!" Remus practically shouted in her face. "You're here!'

"Yes Remus, I've been here all night." she sighed, shaking her head as she heard James snicker from beside her. "C'mon let's get you home so you can sleep."

"No, I want to stay here." he practically pouted, Diana hadn't seen Remus drunk many times, but when she did, it never ended well for her.

"Remus, we've got to go home," she urged him to go with her.

"I don't want to go home, it's too sad there." he exhaled, sagging his shoulders. Diana's mouth felt completely dry, sure she'd noticed the mood change in the house, but she never thought Remus would just announce it to a bunch of people.

"I- just," she swallowed the lump in her throat and turned to James. "Is it alright if he stays here tonight? I promise I'll come and get him tomorrow." she had already been wearing out throughout the night and Diana just didn't have it in her to argue right now.

"Oh of course, it's no worries, I'll show you to a room upstairs." he responded quickly, walking towards the stairs.

"Let's go, Remus, you win, you get to stay here."  she sighed, guiding a drunken Remus to follow James. A small, yet giddy "Yay!" came from Remus as he practically bounced towards the stairs.

The two of them followed James towards the hallway of rooms where his was, James opened the door to a guest room. He held it open, Diana pushed Remus towards the bed and he flopped face first onto the bed.

"I'll uh, give you two a minute." James smiled awkwardly, hovering at the door ever so slightly.

"Yeah, I think that'd be good, thank you." Diana stammered, James nodded curtly and shut the door. She took off Remus' shoes and his jacket with more than a small struggle. "Roll." she ordered and Remus almost rolled off the bed, only being saved by Diana grabbing his arm and pulling him back. "Roll back."

"Diana?" Remus asked quietly as he snuggled under the covers.

"Yes, Remus?"

"I like our mum," he admitted, taking a deep breath in.

"Uhm, me too?" Diana responded hesitantly, she wasn't exactly sure where he was going with this and to be honest, she didn't really feel like finding out.

"I'm going to be sad when she dies." he mumbled through his exhale, his eyelids drooping as he cuddled up to the pillow. Diana's eyes filled with tears, yet her mouth was completely dry, all she wanted to do was break down, but she knew she couldn't.

"I know n'wasi, I am too." she sighed, her breath shaky, Diana sat on the side of the bed next to him, running a hand through his hair. Remus muttered something into the pillow that sounded somewhat like "I love you" before his breath evened out and the tension eased from his body. Diana got up from where she was sitting on the bed, whispering "Sweet dreams" before heading out of the room.

At least she waited until the door shut to let out the first sob.

●————♙————●

James was exiting his room when he saw Diana close the guest room door and break down into tears. He quickly made his way over to her and wrapped his arms around her figure, one around her shoulders and the other hand cradling her head. She melted into his touch, returning the embrace and pressing her head against his chest.

It broke James' heart to see her like this, so fragile and broken when she was just the opposite in his eyes. She was strong and courageous, witty and just plain old amazing, he'd never wanted to see her hurt in any way.

He'd always been protective over the ones he cared about and James knew she was the same way. They were both protectors in desperate need of protecting, they shielded others from the world, no shields for themselves.

They stayed in the embrace for a bit longer, James murmuring soothing and comforting words to her, hoping it would help calm her down. She finally pulled away and looked up at James, gratitude written on her face to mask her pain.

"Thank you, James." she smiled softly, glancing down at her feet. James put his index finger under her chin and made her look up at him.

"Why are you thanking me? It's just the decent thing to do."

"Not just that, everything that you've done for me 一 and Remus too 一 I uh, I really do appreciate it. And I promise, I'll be back in the morning to take him home, I wouldn't want to burden you guys with someone else to take care of." she rambled, James loved it when Diana went on these tangents, wether when she was nervous or excited, but he loved it when she was really passionate about what she was talking about.

"Hey, hey, it's not a burden, my parents don't mind at all, I mean they practically said to invite everyone anyways. You don't have to come super early either, he's safe here." he reassured her, knowing that Remus' safety was always one of her top priorities.

"No, I'll come and get him, it's just easier for everyone." she rebutted.

"Everyone, but yourself Diana." he stated, making Diana sigh in defeat. "Y'know, you could just stay here, that would eliminate multiple flaws in your plan."

"I really should be getting home, at least so they know where Remus is." Diana declined the offer which made James frown ever so slightly, he was really hoping she would accept and they would get more time together. "I'll see you tomorrow James." she smiled at him and walked down the hall.

Godric, did he hate watching her leave.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

It was now the next morning and Diana's alarm went off, telling her to wake up because she had to go get Remus from the Potter's. She groaned and shut off the alarm, taking off the covers and swinging her legs over the side of her bed. When she returned home last night her mum was already asleep, so she went to her father's study to tell him she was back and that Remus was staying at the Potter's. He just smiled and nodded, telling her to have a good sleep.

Diana didn't really know what her father did while he was in his study; he'd quit his job at the ministry once Hope went into hospice, wanting to spend as much time with her as possible. Lyall always seemed like he was working on something, but neither of the Lupin children knew what it was.

She slipped on a jumper that she stole from Remus and a random pair of trousers she found on the floor, heading downstairs. She got a pair of boots from off the shoe rack and headed towards the fireplace. Diana grabbed a handful of floo powder from its pouch and exclaimed "Potter Manor!".

Once again met with the elegant house, she stepped out of the fireplace and went in search of her brother. Diana could hear chatting coming from the dining room, so she went towards the noise. When she got to the dining room, the table was full of people, well, not full, but there were all of the marauders and James' parents. As she got closer, her eyes met Remus' and a few heads turned towards her, she smiled at Remus and he waved her over.

Diana was hesitant to go further into the room, honestly she just wanted to get Remus and go home. That's when her and Euphemia Potter eyes, the older witch smiles brightly at Diana and stands up from her spot at the large dining table.

"Happy Christmas, would you like to join us dear?" Euphemia asks, her hands resting on Diana's arms, a bright smile on her face.

"N-no, I'm alright, thank you though." she weakly smiled back, now that Euphemia had approached her, everyone was looking at her. She looked slightly past Euphemia's head and met eyes with James, the nerves bubbled in her stomach, all of the emotions from last night came rushing back to her. "Me and Remus should be going, Mum's not up yet, but I wanna make sure we're home when she is." she added, looking back at Euphemia.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" Fleamont asked from the table, not hearing her last comment.

"I haven't, actually." she admitted sheepishly, looking towards him to see his face light up the same way James' did. "Stop thinking about him." she scolded herself in her head.

"Well then that gives you the perfect reason to join us!"

Diana was apprehensive, but then she looked at Remus who, for the first time since they left Hogwarts, looked happy. She hated how she caved in from just one look, Remus smiled at her, but his eyes were practically pleading for her to stay. "I guess I can stay for a bit."

"Wonderful dear!" Euphemia exclaimed, guiding Diana towards the table. She sat down in the seat beside Peter and across from James, who sent her an apprehensive smile, which she very awkwardly returned. "Speaking of your mother, how is she?"

"Well, obviously she's seen better days, but she's doing alright." Diana answered, glancing at Remus, who had a sad look in his eyes that Diana assumed she had as well. "She's a bit lonely though, in the house all by herself, dad's there but that's different, I reckon she'd probably enjoy a visit."

"We should definitely do that Effie, Hope always was lovely." Fleamont smiled at the idea, Diana knew that her mum had always enjoyed the company of the Potters, Euphemia agreed with her husband and continued to make light conversation. She grabbed a waffle from the platter in the middle of the table, taking a bite she thought to herself. "Holy fuck, these are amazing." Apparently Remus could read her thoughts because she could see him smirking at her in the teasing way he always did.

"Do you have any plans for after Hogwarts Diana?" Euphemia asked, Diana froze for a second before mentally shaking off the initial surprise.

"Urm, well, I'd been thinking that maybe being a professor would be cool, y'know getting to teach kids all about magic." she answered, flustered. "Maybe Remus and I will be like a professor dynamic duo." Diana teased, she'd known Remus had wanted to be a professor since they were young, but he had more doubts about being one with his lycanthropy.

"Wait, Moony, you want to be a teacher?" James whipped his head towards Remus, eyes wide in astonishment. When Remus turned away from the quiet conversation he was having with Sirius, he sent Diana a harsh glare.

"Y-yeah, I guess, but it probably won't even happen-"

"C'mon Moony, don't doubt yourself, you'd be an amazing professor." Peter reassured him, a bright smile on his face. Just this conversation alone made Diana one hundred percent sure that if anything happened to her, Remus would be in the best hands possible.

They talked for a bit longer about mundane things before Diana glanced up at the clock and thought that her and Remus should be heading out. Remus went upstairs to grab his things while Diana waited for him at the fireplace, Sirius waited there too, so it was awkward for the both of them as neither of them wanted to talk to the other, until she noticed something.

"Why are you wearing one of my brother's jumpers?" she asked accusingly.

"Why are you?" he shot back.

"Because he's my brother and this has been in my closet for years." she reasoned, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at the boy in front of her.

"Well, he's my friend and he gave it to me." Sirius defended, looking somewhat smug, but Diana could sense the nervousness in his tone.

"Sure, friend." she muttered under her breath as Remus and everyone else came through the doorway. "Thank you for everything, Mrs- I mean, Euphemia."

"Of course dear, you and your brother are welcome here anytime." she replied as Sirius exclaimed. "Why does she get to call you Euphemia?"

"Sirius, darling, you call me mum." she rolled her eyes as Sirius humphed and leaned against the wall. They all said there goodbyes and went to the fire place, the last thing they saw were bright and warm smiles directed right towards them.

The two Lupins left the Potter manor and shared what they hoped wouldn't be their last Christmas with their mother. It was joyful to say the least, but it seemed like there was a dark shadow looming over them. Everytime they reminisced on the past, there was a sour feeling in Diana's mouth or when they opened gifts and she felt a deep feeling of sorrow take place in the pit of her stomach. She didn't know what it was, but she certainly didn't like it.

Both received vinyls of their favourite artists, books, and clothes, things that neither of them really needed, but loved nonetheless. Diana had gotten her mother an annotated version of her favourite novel that she'd been trying to get Diana to read for years.

All was well, until it wasn't.

●————♙————●

A few days after Christmas and Diana's just sitting on the old brown couch in the living room when all of a sudden the orange flames in the fireplace turned green. A tall and lanky boy with floppy black hair stumbled out, Diana sat up in surprise, raising her wand in defense. No one was supposed to be over that day, she thought to herself.

Regulus Black looked up and met her eyes, it was then when she lowered her wands, she quickly scrambled off the couch and towards him. She grabbed onto his torso to stabilize him and looked at him from head to toe, she could see the green and purple bruises peeking out from underneath his turtleneck.

"Diana?" he asked, his voice groggy.

"Yeah Reg, it's me." she reassured the younger boy.

"I did it? I remembered?" he questioned, a dazed look in his eyes that Diana didn't miss.

"Yes you did Reg, I'm so proud of you." she smiled, letting go of his torso and cupping his cheeks. Suddenly he latched onto her torso and buried his face in her neck, sobbing quietly, his breath hitching and Diana could feel the tears soaking through her shirt. Diana wrapped her arms around his thin body, realising it was thinner now than before and rested her head on top of his.

Diana could feel Regulus still crying, so she planted a kiss to the top of his head and held on to him tighter. "You'll be alright, love, you're here now." she whispered to him.

After a few minutes Regulus' breath had evened out and Diana couldn't feel any more tears soaking through her top, yet his grip was still as tight and firm as before. "Hey Reg, why don't we get you cleaned up?" she suggested in a gentle tone, knowing how to handle this situation, hell, she'd been doing it since she met Regulus. Regulus nodded slightly, his head was still wedged in the crook of her neck. It must be uncomfortable, she thought to herself, Regulus was a bit taller than Diana, so he was hunched over in order to hug her from that position.

"Alright, let's head up to my room, shall we?" she unwrapped her arms from his frame, but he didn't do the same. Regulus was latching on to her as though if he let go, she'd disappear. "Reg, in order for us to properly walk up the stairs, I'm going to need you to let go." she said and he reluctantly did, lifting his head up from the crook of her neck. Diana quickly examined his face, he looked exhausted, dark bags under his eyes, yet red and puffy from crying, his face so skinny and gaunt, he looked like he'd been tortured and Diana wouldn't put it past the Blacks to do such things.

She offered him her arm, just as she did every time she walked him to class or vice versa. He looped his own through hers and they walked upstairs, When they passed Diana's parents room, she quickly ushered Regulus into her room. "I'll be right back, promise." she said reassuringly as he sat down on her bed. He nodded slowly, so she went to go find her father.

As usual, he was in his study, she knocked on the door three times, entering when there was a faint "Yes, come in." in reply. She stuck her head through the opening of the door and smiled at her father.

"Urm, I was wondering if we had any healing potions left. I rolled my ankle funny when I was on a walk." she lied, Lyall Lupin didn't need to know that she had a fifth year escapee hiding in her room right now.

"Yes, there should be a few under the sink in the kitchen. Are you sure you're alright, cariad?"

"Oh yeah, don't worry." she brushed him off dismissively. "One swig of that potion and I'll be good as new." she stated, a fake smile plastered on her face, hopefully throwing him off her lie.

"Well, just remember to rest, come get me if you're not feeling well."

"Of course, thanks dad." she replied, the fake smile on her face turning into a genuine one.

"Anytime, cariad." he said, brushing her off dismissively, letting Diana exit the room.

Diana quickly went downstairs and reached into the dusty sage green cabinets, pulling out a small basket with around five healing potions. She grabbed two and a muggle first-aid kit that was also in the basket and headed back up to her bedroom.

When she returned, Regulus was still in the exact same position she left him in, sitting at the edge of her bed with the straightest posture she'd ever seen someone have. He was mindlessly staring at her wall filled with music sheets, posters, painting, sketches, and book pages, obviously lost in his thoughts. Diana didn't think this was a great idea because he'd had this lost and dazed look on his face since he'd gotten to the cottage. If she was being honest, she didn't want to know what ran through his brain. She cleared her throat lightly, snapping Regulus out of his imprisoning thoughts, his head whipped towards her, eyes wide in fear.

"Sorry, sorry, Reg, it's just me." she held up her hands in innocence, signaling that she wasn't there to hurt him. Once he realized it was Diana, he visibly deflated, sighing in relief. "I've got two healing potions 一 one for tonight and one for the morning 一 and a first-aid kit, so we can fix you up." she stated, putting the things down on the bed beside Regulus.

There was a small cut on his cheek and Diana brought an antiseptic wipe up to his face, he flinched and her heart dropped. It took everything in her not to cry because somehow they'd taken the boy that seemed genuinely happy at Hogwarts and locked him away, leaving this fragile shell of the boy she knew. Diana didn't know how some people were so cruel, how they could do this to their own children, it was sick and twisted.

"Regulus, could you tell me what happened?" she asked in the gentlest voice she could manage, he looked over at her with fear filled eyes.

"T-they cru-'' he stuttered, taking a deep breath he tried again.

"They crucioed me."

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

"They crucioed me."

Complete silence was all that followed his statement.

Diana was in shock, she was at a loss for words, she felt like nothing she could say to him made any of this better. "They used an unforgivable?"

"Usually Sirius is there, but..." he trailed off, though Diana knew where he was going with it.

"Hey, you're going to be alright. You're safe here."

"Right." he sighed, his shoulders sagged. Diana could see just how exhausted he was, she would bet that he hadn't had a good night's sleep since they left school.

"Get some rest, yeah?" she asked, standing up off the bed and throwing away the wipe she'd used on his face. "Remus is out right now, so I'll go take some clothes from him that you can use." She was about to walk out of the room before she heard Regulus' quiet voice.

"Where am I supposed to sleep?" he asked timidly, looking down at the floor like she might kick him out for asking a question.

"On the beds fine, Reg." she shrugged, gesturing towards it.

Regulus looked back and forth from the bed to her with perplexed eyes. "But that's your bed and  I wouldn't want to get it all dirty."

"Regulus, I promise it's fine. I can change the sheets after if you're really worried about getting my bed all dirty, alright?" a small yet sad smile on her face, Regulus took a deep breath before taking off his shoes and climbing into the bed. "I'll be right back."

She went into Remus' room and grabbed a pair of sweatpants along with one of his knit jumpers, out of the dozens he had. Remus was back at the Potter Manor with his friends, doing whatever they did with each other and whatever adventures they'd decided to go on that day. Diana went back into her room to find Regulus passed out on her bed, nestled underneath the various blankets she had on her bed, his shoes discarded on the floor. She smiled at him, though it was bittersweet because her thoughts were filled with her concerns of just how much sleep he'd missed recently. Diana put the clothes down on her desk and went back downstairs to where she was before Regulus stumbled through her fireplace.

She knew Regulus would be safe up in her room because her mum never left her bedroom and her dad rarely left his study, when he did it was to look after her mum. She was about to sit down and start reading her book again when an owl was tapping at the living room window, Diana recognized the owl, it was the Potter's.

Diana was very confused because there hadn't been a letter exchanged between her and James since before Christmas, if she was being honest it was chewing at her thoughts. Had she done something wrong? She was just trying to be happy for him, the girl he'd fancied for years was finally showing him some positive attention and as his friends she thought she should be happy for him.

She took the letter from where it was tied to the owl's leg, James' familiar cursive was printed neatly across the back of the envelope.

Diana,

I know we haven't really spoken much since the party but I hope you're doing well. I just wanted to invite you to a New Years party I'm having at my house.

You can get all the details from Remus, hope you can make it.

Write back if you're going to show up.

James xx

After reading his letter Diana was baffled, What the hell is this?, she thought to herself. It seemed way too formal to be from James, there were no jokes at the end of the letter, it didn't even take up half a piece of parchment. "Get the details from Remus." Was it so hard for him to write down what time she had to be there or who else would be there if she went?

She instructed the owl to stay there as she went back up to her bedroom to grab a piece of parchment and a pen, she grabbed a pen because she couldn't find her quill. Making sure Regulus was still asleep was the last thing she did before heading back downstairs, she sat down on the couch and started writing her response back.

She contemplated her response for a few moments before finally scribbling down.

Sure, I'll come.

D.L

Diana decided to side with her petty side that day, sure James Potter could make her do practically anything, but not being petty wasn't one of them. She had the urge to write him a long letter about Regulus escaping to her house or ask what she'd done wrong to make them not talk since the party. She put her short letter into an envelope and scribbled "Potter" on the back, tying it to the owl's leg and setting it off.

She shook her head, hoping to rid all thoughts of James as she picked up the book she'd been reading. After a few minutes, her eyes started to droop and she realized just how tired she really was. Diana layed down and allowed herself to sleep, she hadn't had the best sleep last night, so she decided that she needed this.

●————♙————●

Diana was shaken awake, her eyes peeled open to find Remus in front of her.

"Diana!" he whispered harshly, still shaking her. Diana squirmed out of his grip and sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"What Remus?"

"Why is Sirius' brother in your room?" he asked and she froze, her brain had gone haywire trying to find a way to answer Remus' question without revealing anything important.

"First of all, he has a name and it's Regulus, in case you've forgot. Secondly, I invited him over. Is there a problem with that?" Diana answered, though she wouldn't look Remus in the eye, she barely looked in his direction.

"I know he has a name Diana, but why is he sleeping in your bed?"

"Fuck, what time is it? How long did I sleep?" Diana tried to redirect the conversation, not wanting to delve into what Regulus had told her when he arrived, what he told her in confidence.

"Why is he in your bed?" Remus asked again, sitting beside her on the sofa. Diana wondered why he was so consistent on why Regulus was sleeping upstairs, did he think there was something going on?

"Because he was tired, Remus. Christ, you're such a nagger." she rubbed her face harshly with her hands, somehow already exhausted even though she'd just woken up.

"Well, Sirius is coming over for supper, so please have him out of here before then." he sighed, standing up off the sofa. It took a moment for Diana to register what Remus had said, but when she finally did there was a feeling of protection that burned fiercely through her.

"What d'you mean 'have him out of here'? You don't think I'm making him leave because of Black." she scoffed, getting up off the sofa and taking a step towards Remus.

"You know he's a Black too, don't you?" he maliciously shot back.

Diana and Remus' relationship had been on the rocks this year, after finding out their mum was in hospice, both of them were filled with anger, grief, and sorrow. They were taking out their complex emotions on each other like two fireworks crashing into one another before setting off. Neither of them knew why every time they were upset they had the urge to yell at the other, it was just that deep down Diana nor Remus wanted to confront these feelings, they weren't those types of people.

"He might be a Black to you, but to me, someone isn't defined by their last name." she sneered, pursing her lips.

"Right, because you've never treated Sirius differently because he's a Black."

"Actually I haven't Remus, I treat him differently because he's a dick, simple as that." she shrugged.

"Oh fuck off." he rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Just get him out of here before Sirius comes over."

"Where am I supposed to send him, Remus? Back to that wretched house with those horrible people?" she shot back, a feeling of pure anger bubbled up in her chest. Remus clamped his mouth shut and Diana knew she had him there, he knew what it was like to have someone he cared about be stuck in that house. Why couldn't he have the same compassion for Regulus that he had for Sirius?

The room was silent, though it wasn't a comfortable silence like usual, it was tense. All of a sudden, there was a pecking at the window, both of their heads snapped towards the noise. Diana recognized the owl as the Weasley's, his name was Agustin, which was a weird name for an owl, but Molly had let Gideon name it, so it made sense.

She walked over to the window and let the owl in, untying the letter from his leg. The letter was rolled up like a scroll, so to Diana it was obvious Fabian had written the letter, he was extra like that sometimes. She unrolled the parchment and it read.

Diana Laurel Lupin,

Hope everything's alright, I just wanted to see if you'd come over for supper tonight. Me and Gid are over at Molly's and she invited you and Rory too. Come around 5, so we can chat before eating.

Really hope you can make it! Or at least write back, I miss you.

Fab

After reading the letter, Diana turned around to see Remus heading upstairs, she didn't even realize he'd left. She still had a smile on her face after reading it, Fabian's need to use her full name in every letter always made her smile. Maybe if Sirius was coming over here, Diana could bring Regulus with her to the Weasley's, so Remus wouldn't be upset and Regulus wouldn't have to see Sirius. Fuck I'm a genius, she thought to herself, smiling like a madman.

She picked up a spare piece of parchment that was on the coffee table from when she'd gotten some to write back to James and scribbled down.

Fab,

I'll definitely be there, I miss all of you as well. Honestly, I miss Molly, Arthur, and the boys too, can't wait to see them all.

I'm bringing Regulus (I'll explain why when we're there). I hope it's alright, but he needs somewhere to be right now.

Love you,

Diana

P.S. I really hope you get this before I arrive, it would be awkward if you didn't

She rolled up the parchment, tying it in the same string Fabian had tied his in and tied it to the owl's leg. "Send this back home." she instructed, letting him fly out of the window. Diana realized she should've probably asked her dad before replying to Fabian's letter, but even if he said she couldn't go, Diana would have found a way.

She closed the book that had laid open on her chest when she fell asleep earlier and set it back on the coffee table. Trudging up the stairs, she contemplated how she was going to ask her father, there was no reason to lie, right? He doesn't even come down for supper most days, so it shouldn't be a problem if she goes over to the Burrow for tonight.

●————♙————●

Diana knocked on her father's study door like she did every time she entered, earning the same faint "Come in" as a response. She opened the door and walked inside, sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk, her father sat in his large chair, reading some sort of book.

"Uh, Dad, is it alright if I go to my friend's house for dinner?" she asked softly, knowing her mother was in the next room, probably sleeping.

"Which friends, cariad?" he replied just as softly.

"I think you know them, Fabian and Gideon."

"Ah yes, the Prewett twins." he sighed, taking off his glasses and setting them on his desk.

"But it's not at their parent's house, it's their sister Molly's. She's married to Arthur Weasley." she quickly reassured him because she knew he wasn't too fond of blood supremacist purebloods.

"The disowned one?" he asked, seeming more intrigued by the conversation than before.

"Yeah, I guess." Diana replied hesitantly, she'd never really thought about whether or not Arthur was fully disowned, it just wasn't something she had given much thought to.

"Alright, just be home by morning, yeah?" he smiled lightly, Diana smiled back and then looked at the clock, realizing it was already 4:30. Her eyes widened ever-so-slightly, but she held back her surprised expression, replacing it with a thankful one.

"Thank you so much, dad."

"Of course, cariad." he put his glasses back on and started to read the huge book that laid on his desk, Diana still had no idea what the contents of the book was, though she was definitely intrigued, but she couldn't get him away from the book long enough to see what it was. She left his study and went back to her bedroom, where Regulus was still sleeping. She felt bad for having to wake him up, Merlin knows he needs the sleep, but Diana knew it was better to have him out of there for the evening, for his sake and hers.

"Reg, wake up." she said quietly, not wanting to scare the boy, but he still shot up from his sleep, eyes wide, hands clutching the blanket. "Sorry, sorry, it's just me."

"Oh shit, I'm sorry." he sighed, his shoulders sagging and hands letting go of the blanket, letting it fall to his lap. "Why'd you wake me?"

"I'm going to Gideon and Fabian's for supper and thought you could come." she suggested, hoping he'd agree to it. Regulus' expression went slack, it looked as though all colour had left his face.

"You want me to come, they said it was alright?" he asked quietly.

"Well, it wasn't exactly in the letter, but you've been around Rory, Fab, and Gid before. You three get on great." she waved his worry off dismissively.

"But their parents will tell mine if I'm over there. They'll send me back." he'd started to freak out and Diana was scrambling her brain to try and find something to calm him down.

"Look Reg, it's not even at their house, it's at their sister Molly's." she reassured, trying to ease his nerves.

"You mean the one married to Weasley, the one that was practically shunned from her family?" he retorted, Diana couldn't take offense to his comments, he was just riled up and worried about the consequences of his actions.

"Listen, everything will be fine. We can go over there and if you feel uncomfortable then I can bring you back here, alright? I promise they wouldn't rat you out, they're not those kinds of people." Regulus sat there contemplating for a moment before nodding slightly and muttering something that sounded roughly like a "Yeah.", so Diana took the win.

"I just need to change quickly then we can go, I bet one of them has something that would fit you better than Remus' huge jumpers. Just wait in the corridor for a moment, I'll be right out." she smiled, he got off the bed, picked up his shoes and left, closing the door on his way out. Diana quickly changed into a mid-thigh length white turtleneck dress, where the sleeves went way past her hands and honestly, that was her favourite part about it. She paired it with her oxford Doc Martens and went out the door, swearing that was the fastest she'd ever changed.

Regulus was waiting right outside her door and he had the expression on his face like he was thinking intently about something and Diana didn't trust it one bit. "You alright?" she asked him, hoping he would open up.

"Yeah, just worried, that's all." he shrugged, following Diana down the stairs. They made it to the living room and Diana grabbed the floo powder off the mantle.

"Here, you go first, make sure you don't stay back or anything." she tried to joke, but it fell flat because Regulus had a deep expression of what may have been guilt, but Diana couldn't tell. He took a handful of powder and stepped into the fireplace, eyes glazed with tears.

"Reg, what're you doing? What's wrong?" she asked hurriedly, stepping towards him.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, bringing his hand up.

"Regulus.."

"12, Grimmauld Place!" he was emerged in green flames, Diana ran forwards but she was too late, the flames died down

and he was gone.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

"Fuck!" Diana exclaimed, rubbing her face harshly with both of her hands. Why did she have to be so stupid? She should've just let him stay here, where he felt safe, where she promised he would be safe. Why did she always fuck things up? Of course, she had really only left because Remus wanted her to, it seemed to be a repetitive thing in her life, doing things for his sake. She pulled at her hair in frustration, dragging her hands back down her face.

The sleeves of her dress were irritating her, so she pulled them up, she punched the fireplace, then she did it again, and again, and again, and again until the ends of her sleeves were stained red. Her knuckles were split from the bricks and her sleeves had already slid down, her vision blurry from angry tears. She wasn't angry at Regulus, why would she be, she was angry at herself.

Diana was fed up, why did she keep failing? She couldn't save Remus from Greyback, she couldn't save her mum from her illness, and now she couldn't save Regulus from his family.

She could hear Remus rummaging around upstairs and decided she needed to go, needed to get away from this house that hadn't been a home for her in years. Grabbing a handful of floo powder, she exclaimed "The Burrow" and was overtaken by the green flames that took Regulus back to his personal nightmare just moments before.

Diana stepped out of the fireplace at the Burrow to be met with the back of a ginger she knew just by the way his hair sat on his head. "Gideon," she breathed, making him turn around, he had a cut on his cheek and his eyes were puffy. "Merlin, what happened?" stepping forward, she cupped his cheek and rubbed her thumb right under the cut.

"It was nothing, I just forgot something at home and my parents weren't very happy to see me." he shrugged as if it was nothing, Diana had never met the infamous Prewetts, they were like an urban legend to her. Everything she'd heard about them wasn't good, they were typical purebloods, wanting nothing to do with anyone who wasn't one of them. Honestly, Diana couldn't figure out how these people had raised such kind children.

"That's not nothing Gid, does anyone else know?" she scoffed slightly, shaking her head lightly.

"No, and I'd like to keep it that way, you know Fabian, he'd go over there and fight them right now. I don't want any more trouble from them thank you though." he smiled thankfully, bringing his hand up onto Diana's that rested on his cheek, when they made contact he made a face of discomfort, bringing his hand away. "Diana, what's this?" he asked, looking at his hand that was now smeared with blood from her knuckles.

"Oh, that..." she laughed nervously, wishing she could go back ten seconds and take her hand away. "If I told you it was nothing, would you believe me?" Gideon looked like he was about to reply when suddenly two sets of footsteps came down the stairs, Diana looked over to see Rory and Fabian. 

"Ana, you came!" Rory exclaimed, bringing her into a tight embrace.

"Rory, we saw each other four days ago." she said in a teasing tone, a huge smile plastered on her face.

"And? Can't I be happy to see you?" he retorted, pulling out of the hug, a look of mock offense was spread across his features.

"No, I don't think that's how this works." she stated simply, shrugging her shoulders. As she walked over to Fabian, Rory bumped her shoulder slightly and muttered a teasing "Oh, piss off" her way.

"Hi, Fab." she smiled, bringing the Prewett boy into an embrace, he had an apprehensive look on his face and Diana was worried that maybe he'd seen her bloody sleeves when she hugged Rory.

"Where's Regulus?" he whispered in her ear.

"I don't really want to talk about it." she mumbled, her voice muffled by his shoulder, Diana could feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes, so she blinked them away, not wanting her friends to have to worry about her again. They pulled out of the embrace and she looked around at her friends, realizing just how messed up each and every one of them was, but they hid it well enough to have a good time with each other. "Do you have a jumper I could borrow? I didn't bring a jacket."

"Yeah, of course." Fabian smiled, walking towards the stairs. "C'mon let's go." he waved her over and she obediently followed.

"We'll be in the kitchen." Rory called out after them as he and Gideon made their way to where the others were in the garden. Fabian led Diana to his and Gideon's room, Molly and Arthur had been kind enough to expand their house so the two boys could have a room that was only for them. Diana could see Rory's things draped across the armchair in the corner, she wondered how long he'd been here with the Weasleys instead at his own house, but she guessed she could say the same about Gideon and Fabian.

Fabian rummaged through his dresser and with a little "Aha!", he threw a Gryffindor jumper at her face, she just barely caught it before it smashed into her nose. She held it out in front of her and pulled a look of disgust. "Really, this one?" she asked him, looking over at Fabian who had a mischievous smile on his face, sighing, she slipped on the jumper.

"Can we talk?" Fabian asked wearily, now sitting on his bed.

"Uhm, sure, if you'd like." she made her way over to Gideon's bed, sitting on the edge, ready to run at any moment.

"Diana, where's Regulus?" his question was met with silence, Diana didn't think she could answer without tearing up or worse, breaking down again . "Diana, why didn't he come with you?" She kept her mouth shut, avoiding eye contact by looking down at her hand resting in her lap.

"Fine, you don't want to answer that, then here's a different one. Why is there blood on your sleeves, along with your bloody knuckles?" Diana could tell Fabian was getting impatient, but she didn't want to respond, she couldn't. "Di, talk to me please."

She finally looked up at his pleading, her eyes rimmed red, filled with tears. "He went back and I let him, fuck I just let him go back there." Immediately, Fabian was at her side, pulling her into his chest.

"Tell me everything." he stated simply, and she did. She told him everything from Regulus arriving at her house in horrible condition, to James' odd letter, to her and Remus fighting again, and finally her scaring off Regulus and breaking down right before getting there. Fabian was silent the whole time, taking in every word she uttered, feeling guilty because she was struggling and no one had checked up on her. Not a single one of the three boys had written her a single letter, even after Rory seeing her at the Potter's Christmas party, none of them had done anything. Yes, he knew she hadn't written to them either, but there was one of her and three of them.

"Fuck I'm so sorry Di, I should've checked up on you." he sighed, shaking his head slightly.

"Fab, it's alright, s'not like I reached out either, y'know how I am with the whole "getting help" stuff." she shrugged, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Can we just go downstairs? I need a distraction from all of this." she gestured all around her.

"Yeah I think there's a few boys who'd like to see you." he smiled softly.

"Good because I've missed them."

●————♙————●

The two of them headed downstairs and into the dining room, everyone else was sat at the table except for Molly, who was cooking in the kitchen. When Diana walked in the room, the faces of two young boys lit up, they scrambled out of their chairs and ran over to her, she crouched down as they crashed into her, almost toppling her over.

"You're here, you're really here!" Bill exclaimed, squeezing her neck tighter.

"Well, of course I am, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." she smiled, her three friends watched as her face lit up just like the young boy's had not even a minute ago.

"When Uncle Fabian said he would ask you to come over I didn't know if you would, but you came!" Bill threw his arms out to the side and started to jump up and down, so Diana moved her arm from around his back and he went to sit on Gideon's lap.

Charlie still had his arms wrapped around Diana's neck and his head smashed in the crook of her neck, so she picked him up and started walking over to the kitchen to see if Molly needed any help. "Tell me Charlie, what's going on with you." she inquired, hoping to get him to talk, Bill had always been the more vocal of the two.

"Dragons." he said breathlessly, moving his head so he could look at her with wide and amazed eyes.

"Y'know, I like dragons too, I've even met one before." she shrugged, Charlie's mouth fell open and his arms loosened around her neck. Professor Kettleborn had let them see a baby dragon in year three and it had amazed all of them until it almost burnt the professor to a crisp.

"Really?" he asked and she hummed in agreement.

"Was it red?" she shook her head no.

"Was it blue?" she shook her head again, then he had this deep look on his face like he was thinking very hard about his next question.

"Was it green?" he asked slowly, squinting his eyes at her.

"Yes, it was." she smiled as Charlie squealed.

"Green dragons are my favourite, mummy and daddy got me a toy dragon and he's green and he flies like a big dragon in the book daddy reads to me." he beamed, his smile brightening with every word, Diana's smiled widened as she looked at the boy in her arms rambling away about dragons. She was so glad to have this other family around her that were all happy and healthy, it made her wonder about maybe having a family of her own one day, Diana knew she was only about to be seventeen, but it just made her think.

They got to the kitchen and it looked like Molly was cooking up a storm, there were pots levitating and a cookbook open in front of her, Diana felt stressed out just looking at the situation, but Molly looked happy to be doing it. "Mummy! Look who's here!" Charlie exclaimed before Diana could say hi. Molly turned around with a bright smile, surprising nothing fell to the ground even though she wasn't concentrating on it.

"Diana love, how are you?" she asked brightly, hugging the younger girl.

"I've been alright Molly, how 'bout you? These boys keeping you busy?" she asked as the two of them stepped out of the embrace, she softly tickled Charlie's sides when asking the second question.

"You know they are." she smiled, going back to the food. The two talked about just about everything, Molly asked Diana how school was and she asked Molly how life with three boys under 7 was. They chatted for a while, Charlie got bored so he went back to play with Bill, Diana's friends filtered in and out of the kitchen, always checking to see if dinner would be ready soon.

●————♙————●

Diana helped Molly serve dinner, even though she told her not to, but it reminded her of her own mum and when she and Remus would help cook. Hope Lupin always had an affinity for cooking, even wanting to own a restaurant growing up, though she didn't get to achieve that dream, she passed on her knowledge to her children and they were some of her happiest moments. Diana teared up a bit when thinking back to the happy memories of Remus and her getting in a food fight while their mother just stood back and laughed. She was nudged on the shoulder by Fabian, taking her out of her trance.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked under his breath so no one could hear.

"Yeah, just thinking about mum." she shrugged, Fabian placed a comforting hand on her thigh and gave her a small smile.

"Love you Di." was all he said, it was really all he could say. Fabian had no understanding of what Diana was going through at the moment, but he knew that all he could do was stand by her side and be there for her whenever she needed him to be.

"Love you too Fab." she smiled back softly, Diana looked around the room and saw these people in a way she hadn't really seen them before. They loved her, cared for her, worried for her when she inevitably does stupid things.

They were her family.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●
The change of scenery was nice for Diana, it allowed her to clear her mind and think about the things that happened the past few days.

She was in a nice bliss until she heard someone scream "DEAR MERLIN! GET OFF OF HIM!" from upstairs. Her head snapped up and she sprinted up the stairs, she saw Gideon standing in the doorway to his and Fabian's room, his jaw slack.

"What? What's happened?" Diana asked urgently, pushing him aside, she was met with the view of Rory sitting on Fabian's lap and both of their faces were beet red.

"Bluegh!" was all Gideon said, flinging his arms around. Diana felt like she was stuck in place, her expression was neutral, Rory got up from where he was and walked over to her.

"Ana? You alright?" he asked and it snapped her out of whatever daze she was in, so she slapped Rory's arm, gaining an "ow!" from him and her expression grew annoyed.

"Why didn't you tell me, you idiot?" she demanded, crossing her arms, Rory tried to sputter out a reply, but no fully formed word came out of his mouth. "I've been betrayed." Diana exclaimed dramatically. "Do not talk to me anymore!"

She walked past Rory and towards Fabian, a wide grin spreading across her face once Rory couldn't see her anymore. Fabian stood up and Diana stepped into his open arms, whispering a "I'm so fucking happy for you Fab, you deserve it." as he squeezed her tighter.

"Love you Di" he muttered into her hair.

"Love you more." she replied cheekily. They stepped out of the embrace and Diana gave him a quick peck of the cheek before running over to Rory and jumping on his back, he let out a yelp of surprise, which sounded more like a screech.

"I'm happy for you, you idiot." she whispered in his ear as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"So, you're not mad?" Rory asked hopefully.

"Oh no, I'm still mad, you promised you'd tell me when something happened between you two." she scolded, though she held onto him tighter, Rory knew it was her way of showing affection.

"I know, I know. It just never came up, so I kind of forgot," he shrugged meekly.

"Forget? How in the hell could you forget something like that, Rory McLaggen?"

"How in the hell could you forget that you got attacked by a werewolf?" he countered back, a smug smile now gracing his features.

"First of all, that was months ago," she stated, jumping off his back and walking around to face him. "And second of all, I did not forget, I explicitly decided not to tell you." she said smugly, before realising her mistake."

"Digging yourself your own grave, Di." Fabian chimed in from where he was still standing by his bed, Gideon had made his way over there while Diana and Rory were talking.

"Thank you Fab, I hadn't realised that." she deadpanned, giving him a cold glare, Fabian held his hands up in surrender.

"You're really stupid, you know." Rory said, the smug expression on his face still ever-so present and Diana couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips. Suddenly Diana had an epiphany, there was a gleam of mischief in her eyes that Rory could spot from a mile away. "No, no, Diana, what are you doing?"

"Something stupid." she smirked, then transformed into her animagus form and ran out the door. All three boys looked at each other for a moment, then chased after her.

They'd been through something almost exactly like this when they all played truth or dare with veritaserum in fifth year and after Diana had accidentally let it slip that she was dating Marlene McKinnon. Instead of sticking around to hear their responses, Diana ran out of the boys' dorm and into the common room as her fox form. All the Gryffindors were freaking out and Diana was pretty sure she made some first year cry, but she left the boys to explain themselves as she ran back to her dorm. Obviously the boys didn't care, but Diana didn't know that so instead of staying and facing the consequences, she ran.

The boys made it downstairs to see Diana trotting around the living room while Bill and Charlie were staring at her in amazement.

"Is that a fox?" Bill asked quietly, his mouth hung open.

"Eh, kind of?" Gideon answered nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

"Why is there a fox in my house?" Molly asked, her eyes wide. Her arrival had stopped Charlie who was about to pet the "fox"and his head snapped towards her while his hand hovered above her. Diana glanced around the room and transformed back, Molly screamed, the three boys gaped at her, Bill laughed, and Charlie gasped quietly.

"Hello...." Diana said awkwardly, waving nervously. They all stood there in a tense silence before Bill yelled out. "That was awesome! How did you do that?" he ran up to her and wrapped his arms around his waist.

"Well, that William is a secret." she smiled, ruffling his hair.

"Oh please, please, please tell me!" he begged, jumping up and down out of excitement.

"Bill, stop pestering her." Molly scolded and Bill went silent. "Diana, can I talk to you in the kitchen for a moment?"

"Uh, yeah alright." she pried Bill's arms off of her and followed Molly into the kitchen. Diana's nerves were skyrocketing, would Molly hate her for this, would she report her to the Ministry. Christ, why didn't Diana think things through?

"Look Molly, I'm sorry, I didn't think it through. I just, I did this whole process thing for fun and not for any particular reason at all, honestly. I didn't mean to scare you or anything, just please don't report me to the Ministry, I can't handle azkaban, it's just so bleak and grey and there's no books. What am I supposed to do with no books? I'm sure that I'm not fit for insanity, it won't be a good look on me." she rambled anxiously, not even realising she was rambling. She opened her mouth to ramble again when Molly stopped her.

"Diana please stop, I'm not going to report you or anything, I was just going to ask you how you did that and in your little speech you answered that question, so I don't need to ask anything." Molly smiled.

"Oh, right, okay. Well, I should get going, my parents will be wondering where I am."

"Alright love, get home safe."

"Thank you again for dinner. Molly."

"Of course dear."

Diana made her way to the living room and said her goodbyes to everyone. Arthur was upstairs with Percy, so she didn't want to bother them. She stepped into the fireplace and was about to throw the floo powder down when Fabian yelled out.

"Di, you've still got my jumper!"

"I'm keeping it." she sing-songed, a wide smile on her face. "Lupin Cottage." she exclaimed, getting engulfed in green flames.

●————♙————●

She was back at the cottage and saw Remus sitting at the kitchen island, she immediately walked over to him and hugged him from behind.

"I'm sorry," she sighed. Remus shrugged her off and stood up, he turned around to face her with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry too,"

"Remus, what's wrong?" she stepped forward and touched his arm gently.

"Me and Sirius had a fight s'all." he shrugged meekly.

"It seems like a bigger deal than that." she furrowed her brow.

"Eh, s'alright." he sniffled and Diana had a thought, she smiled.

"Wait, I've got something else I didn't give you on Christmas." she said and Remus just stood there looking at her with a skeptical look on his face. "Well, we were kind of fighting, so I didn't think it was a good time." she shrugged and headed upstairs to her room with Remus following behind her.

When they got into her room she pulled out a small box wrapped in brown parchment instead of wrapping paper, she handed it to Remus with a nervous smile. He unwrapped it slowly and carefully, as if he didn't want to rip the paper, when he finally finished he let out a gasp.

"Diana..." he looked over at her with glassy eyes.

"What? You don't like it?" she asked worriedly, eyes widening slightly. She'd worked on his gift for months back at Hogwarts during her spare time, it was special to her.

The gift was a coaster, Diana had sculpted it out of clay and engraved the words "little moon" on it. Their mother used to call the two of them her little moons when they were young, it was a nickname Diana had forgotten about until recently.

"No, no, that's not it. Christ, I love it," he smiled, tears streaming freely down his face. He stepped forward, opening his arms and allowed Diana to crash herself into him as they wrapped their arms around each other. "Thank you."

"Merry Christmas Rem." she mumbled into his chest, holding him tighter. They stepped out of the embrace and sat on Diana's bed. "I have a question."

"What is it?" he raised his eyebrow

"Is James upset with me or something?" she asked quietly, feeling a little embarrassed about asking her brother if his friend was mad at her.

"Uh, I don't think so why?" he raised an eyebrow at her. "What did he do?" he asked when he saw the apprehension on Diana's face.

"Well, he sent this letter asking me to come to his new year's party, but something was different about it. He barely used a fifth of the parchment and he was all vague about it too. I don't know Rem, it was weird, he's just never sent a letter like that before." she shrugged, letting out a defeated sigh. "What do I do?"

"I don't think there's anything to do, I'm sure James just had a bad day or something else happened. We both know he's not a bad guy, I mean you could always ask him about it, if you want." Remus suggested.

"Yeah you're right, thanks." Diana smiled up at him, even though Remus had horrible posture and was always hunched over, she still had to look up at him. "So... tell me about you and Black."

"Maybe another time Diana." his smile turned sad.

"Fine, how 'bout you get to ask me a question?" she urged him to, Diana was liking this sense of normalcy, half forgotten that she'd just transformed into a fox in what she would call her second home.

"Alright, yeah I like that." Remus nodded, looking as if he had to ponder endlessly for the question. "What's going on with you and Gideon Prewett? Because I'm getting suspicious of you and Regulus and-" Diana cut him off there.

"Ok ok, firstly there is nothing going on between me and Reggie, I see him as a brother Remus." Diana explained, Remus chiming in with a "No, I'm being replaced." and Diana slapped him on the back of the head.

"Shut up, secondly, nothing's happening between me and Gid, he fancies Mary anyways and I'm fine with that." Diana was wholeheartedly telling the truth, but Remus didn't know that, he wouldn't believe her because the only way he would was if he knew Diana liked James, well more than liked him.

"Are you sure you're fine with that? Y'know it's alright if you're not fine with it." he inquired, nudging her shoulder with his.

"Remus Lupin, I can assure you that I am completely and utterly f-"

There was a thud that came from their parent's room.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●
Remus Lupin remembers the day there was finally a monster under his bed like it was yesterday. He remembers asking his father to check for him and his father reassuring him that monsters aren't real and would never come for him.

He remembers the night when one monster came into his home and left another in its wake.

Diana had scrambled into Remus' room like she always did when they were young, their parents had put them in separate rooms but the two couldn't stay apart, especially so close to their birthday. She was about to jump into his bed when she saw something move underneath it, Remus saw her eyes widen as she muttered his name. All of a sudden his bed moves and out comes a monster.

Diana screamed for their father and the monster lunged, Remus having more courage, in his opinion, in that moment then he'd ever have in his entire life, ran forward. The monster's jaw opened wide and Remus stepped in front of Diana, it was a choice he never regretted and somehow regretted everyday of his life.

●————♙————●

Remus Lupin knew he wasn't straight when in third year all of the marauders decided to teach Sirius Black how to swim. Apparently purebloods didn't see the necessity in teaching their children this very valuable life skill.

They'd all gone down to the Black Lake one day in late May and Sirius had been trying to convince them that the lake was named after his family, of course Peter being the history buff he is, told Sirius how wrong he was and it sprouted an entire argument.

"Can you two stop fighting so we can finally teach Sirius how to swim?" James interrupted impatiently, his arms crossed, standing there resting on his hip. James reminded Remus so much of his mum,  he scolded Remus the same way she did and had the qualities of a mum even though he was only 13 years old. Both Peter and Sirius let out annoyed sighs at James' scolding, but they followed James and Remus to a big tree that sat a few feet away from the lake.

"You ready?" Remus asked him, nudging his shoulder against Sirius', he could feel Sirius' nerves practically radiating off of him.

"Yeah, yeah I think I am." he sighed, though his shoulders were still tense. Remus turned towards him and placed his hand on Sirius' shoulder when he faced him.

"You'll do great, promise. Even if you don't, I'll be right there." he smiled and felt Sirius relax under his touch which sent a feeling through him that he didn't quite understand.

"Thanks, but I thought wolves hated water." he joked, trying to lighten up the mood. Remus took his hand off of Sirius' shoulder in mock offense.

"For your information, wolves are excellent swimmers." he stated, earning a laugh from Sirius.

"Whatever you say Rem," he smiled cheekily and sauntered over to James and Peter who were already in the water, taking off his shirt in the meantime.

It was like it happened in slow motion, sure Remus had seen Sirius without a shirt, but he'd never seen him like this. The more skin that was revealed, the more Remus could feel his cheeks heating up.

That's when he knew, Sirius Black wasn't just some bloke to him, he was so much more.

●————♙————●

Remus Lupin remembers finding out his mother had cancer and was probably going to die before his eighteenth birthday.

It was just before the end of third year when Remus was pulled away from dinner by McGonagall and brought to her office. When he entered he saw Diana and Flitwick in there as well, he and Diana made eye contact and both had the same confused expression on their faces.

"I've asked you both here because your father needs to talk to you both." McGonagall informs them.

"Why? What's happened?" Diana asked, her fingers fidgeting with themselves.

"I'm afraid it's not our information to share." Flitwick answered calmly. Diana opened her mouth to say something else but promptly shut it when McGonagall gave her a look.

"Your father will be talking to you through the floo in a few moments, take all the time you need. We'll be waiting outside." McGonagall stood and exited with Flitwick leaving the two Lupins alone.

"Everything's gonna be alright Remus," Diana reassured him, though it sounded like she really needed to reassure herself. Remus' thoughts were racing and he didn't know how to stop them.

They talked to their dad and he explained, in what Remus would describe as excruciating detail, that his mum had cancer. She was given 5 years to live and was going through chemotherapy to try and get rid of it.

He can see Lily and Mary's faces when he told them, they were the only two that would understand, the rest of his friends were purebloods. He told the rest of the marauders after the summer, but he needed some time to process it before telling them. He needed to find a way to explain it to them in a way they would understand.

●————♙————●

Remus Lupin remembers the day he attacked his own sister during a full moon leaving her with a permanent scar.

Everyone says Remus isn't himself when he transforms and that's not exactly true. Yes, he's not in control but he's himself because he remembers, he remembers everything.

He remembers sensing her fear when he gave into the anger and snapped, he remembers the feeling of satisfaction when he took her down. He wishes he didn't, but he remembers the urge to bite her then and there. He remembers smelling her blood when she transformed back but being too preoccupied with Padfoot to do anything.

Remus knows James got her out of there and he's so grateful he did. The amount of guilt eats up Remus' insides constantly, he's a monster and he knows it. He could've turned his sister into the one thing he protected her from being all those years ago. He would turn her into the one thing his father hated, destroying their relationship just like his own with Lyall.

Instead of talking through it with Diana, he pushed her away. He found anything to pick at and he did, he wanted to fight. He wanted her to admit that he's a monster and that she hates him for what he did. For breaking their family apart.

Why...

Why?

WHY

His mind screams at him anytime he allows himself time with his thoughts. Why did he have to become a monster? What did he ever do to the world to be dealt with these consequences? Why must everything he loves leave him?

Now, Remus Lupin is sitting in a muggle hospital hoping his own mother isn't dead.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

Now, Remus Lupin is sitting in a muggle hospital hoping his own mother isn't dead.

Diana paced up and down the hallway of the hospital while Remus sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs that was against the wall. "Will you just sit down for a moment?" Remus asked, rubbing his eyes. "It's stressing me out."

Diana stopped abruptly and turned to face Remus. "Oh, it's stressing you out? Wow, Remus I am so sorry that it's-"

"Will you just sit down?" he snapped, Diana opened her mouth to say something else but snapped it close when she got a deathly "Lupin Glare" from Remus.

"Fine," she harrumphed, sitting down in the chair next to him. The hospital was suffocating, the plain beige walls seemed to be closing in on her, it was like she couldn't breathe. They were screaming at her going "You're going to lose her, you're going to lose everyone. You'll be all alone and it's all your fault. You should've done somethi-

"Talk about something, I can't deal with the silence." Remus broke her out of her thoughts, his head in his hands.

"Talk about what?" she sighed.

"I don't know, Quidditch or something,"

"You didn't go to my last game against Hufflepuff." she pointed out, crossing her arms and leaning her head against the wall. "We won by the way."

"I'm sorry I was studying, I'll come to the next one." Remus replied, Diana could sense his lie from a mile away but the match was in late November and she wasn't expecting such a poorly crafted one.

"'Course you will, our next match is against Gryffindor. Davies has us up to five practices a week in order to get prepared." And I've had to sneak past Filch after curfew almost every time to see James, she thought to herself but internally shook away the thought because with it came a pang of pain in her chest.

"I, fuck I'm sorry alright? I've been a dick." Remus exhaled, tugging lightly at his hair, he was still leaned over with his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry too," Remus looked up at her with confusion. "I've been a dick to Bl- Sirius," shuddering at the use of his first name, Diana went on. "If you really like him, Remus, I'm not going to stop either of you and I'll try to be nicer to him. Only and only if you tell him to be less of a prick to me as well."

Remus looked at her with a small, yet loving smile, she'd missed his smile. "Yeah, that'd be nice." he leaned back in his chair and Diana was glad to see he'd relaxed a bit.

The two of them waited for about an hour just talking about mundane things like music (more specifically David Bowie, he was Remus' favourite), how dreadful potions class was, especially now that any sixth year from any house could be in the class with them and debating over who's common room was better.

Her dad walked out of a room down the hall making both Lupin siblings stand and walk over to him. He looked dishevelled, the sleeves of his button up shirt pushed up to his elbows, his sandy brown hair that looks identical to Remus except for the white at his roots messed up and not tidy like usual.

"Dad," she sighed, walking up to him.

"Cariad." he whispered back, pulling her into an embrace. Remus stood there awkwardly until Lyall opened his arms and muttered a "C'mere fy machgen." and fiercely pulled Remus into the hug.

Lyal held them both tightly for a moment before both of his hands made their way to the back of their heads, they both pulled away and looked at him with fear filled eyes. The question loomed over the three of them "Is she gone?".

"She's alright," his voice barely above a whisper, "She's alright." he repeated over and over and over again, stroking both of their heads lovingly. Diana wrapped her arms around her father's neck and cried into his shoulder, the immediate sense of relief had broken her, she felt like she was in her own head, trapped by the thoughts of "What if?".

Lyall let go of the two of them and looked at them apologetically, "Look, you're both going to go home tonight and Mum's gonna stay here, doctor's orders."

"What? How's that fair!" Diana exclaimed, her mum went unconscious when she tried to stand up from her bed, Diana waited for hours to find out if her mother's even alive, and now she doesn't get to see her. Un-fucking-believable.

"Cariad, visiting hours are almost over, I'll be home in a few hours but they don't think it's a good idea for you two to see her." he said solemnly.

"No, I want to see mum and I'm not leaving here until I do. It's not fair that neither of us are allowed to see her, we want to see her, right Rem?" she turned to Remus to see him fiddling with the sleeves of his jumper.

"Uhm, not really." he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. Diana was stunned, "What?"

"I just don't really want to see her half-dead in a hospital bed, alright?" he exhaled, looking down at his shoes. Anger flared in Diana's chest, but she pushed it down because the hallway of a muggle hospital was not the place to have it out with Remus and she just didn't have the energy to fight with him right now.

"I- Fine, we'll go home." she grumbled. Thinking it over Diana probably didn't want to see her mother right now, she wanted to see the Hope Lupin she knew, the Hope Lupin that never fell ill and that was healthy and happy. She didn't want to see the Hope Lupin that was too pale. Her skin almost looked translucent, and her cheekbones were so sunken that you could practically see her bones. She didn't want that Hope Lupin at all. 

She just wanted her mum back.

"Look, you two go home, take the car and go to that party tomorrow with your friends." her father told them softly. Lyall handed Remus the keys and the two headed downstairs, technically and legally, neither of them could drive but Lyall had taught both of them two years ago.

●————♙————●

They were silent until they got into the car and were about 10 minutes away from the hospital."You can't actually be mad at me?" Remus asked, glancing towards Diana, who was sulking and leaning against the mirror. She reached over and turned on the radio, Changes started blasting and the sound filled the uncomfortable silence.

But I've never caught a glimpse

Of how the others must see the faker

I'm much too fast to take that test

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes," Diana sang along quietly.

"Turn and face the strange." Remus finished the phrase like he always did when the song played.

"Ch-ch-changes." A small smile graced Diana's features.

"Don't wanna be a richer man." she glanced towards Remus as he sang the line to see a smile that matched her.

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes,"

"Turn and face the strange."

"Ch-ch-changes,"

"Just gonna have to be a different man"

"Time may change me, but I can't trace time" they both sang out together, smiles on their faces and all troubles forgotten in those few moments. They sang practically every song that came on and both were in a better mood than they'd been all holiday.

By the time they'd gotten back to the cottage it was already dark out, the stars shining brightly in the night sky. Remus parked the car and they both walked out and up the path to the house. The mood of the car rested in the air. When they got inside, Diana muttered a quiet "Night Rem.", gave him a hug and went upstairs.

The stress of the day felt like it was plastered on her skin, so she went for a shower. She scrubbed her skin until it felt raw, the boiling hot water hit her back and the usual sense of relief wasn't even there. Diana hated this, she hated this constant feeling of weight on her chest, like the whole word was on her shoulders. As if she would move a certain way or part her hair differently and the whole world would fall apart. The Wizarding world was starting to fall apart at its seams and her world was falling apart too.

●————♙————●

When Diana went to bed she just couldn't sleep, she tossed and turned for about 20 minutes until she decided she needed to silence her mind. She got out of bed and grabbed the pack of fags and lighter hiding under her matress. She grabbed a sweater that was thrown on top of her trunk and put it on, popped open the window and sat on the windowsill like she'd done so many times before. She lit the cigarette and let the nicotine fill her lungs, it burned, but it burned in a good way, in a way that allowed her to forget the troubles and focus on the way it coated her lungs and mouth.

She leaned against the windowsill and snuggled into the sweater she was wearing. She brought a hand up to her face in order to wipe her nose, the cold air had made it drip, and that's when she saw it. The initials J.F.P embroidered in a deep red on the sleeve on the navy blue jumper.

When she saw it her heart dropped, a week ago it would've brought her joy but now all she could think of is what she'd done wrong. It still smelled like him, the comforting scent of cinnamon and old books even though Diana had never seen him read in the entire time she'd known him. She thought back to the day when James gave her the jumper, they'd been in the astronomy tower like usual after one of Diana's quidditch practices.

"Hi, sorry I'm late, had to dodge Filch about six time trying to get up here." she breathed, sitting down beside him on the ground. The air was chilled and there was a soft wind, the stars shone brightly in the sky.

"'S all good." he shrugged, his knees hugged against his chest and his head rested on his knees as he stared out in front of him.

"You alright?" Diana shuffled closer to James and examined his face, he sniffled quietly, his eyes were puffy and his nose red. He'd been crying. "James, what happened?"

"Nothing," he waved her off, not even bothering to look in her direction. Diana sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"You can talk to me, y'know. I've been told I'm a pretty good listener, just uh don't ask Rory to confirm that." James let out a wet laugh and Diana smiled brightly, she loved that sound, everytime it sounded so happy and joyful you couldn't help but smile at the sound of it.

"I don't want to burden you with anything," he sighed.

"James Bartholomew Potter, what did I just tell you?" she scolded in a half joking, half serious tone.

"Bartholomew?" he asked in an offended tone, looking at her with wide eyes. She took her head off his shoulder and sat up properly.

"I don't know, you're all posh and shit."

"That is rude, it's actually Fleamont." James said with a cocky smirk and Diana bursted out laughing. "What?!?"

"Do you actually think that the name Fleamont is better?" she said between laughs, clutching her stomach.

"It;s my father's name and well, I bet yours isn't any better." he harrumphed, pouting slightly and the only thing Diana could focus on were his lips.

"It's actually Laurel, I was named after my grandmother."

James looked as though he was contemplating which was better in his head before saying "Ugh, fine you win, your name is better."

"I know," she smiled cheekily, shivering slightly. She was only wearing a vest after coming from practice and the wind had started to pick up.

"Hey, you're cold, take my jumper." he'd already started to take it off when Diana grabbed his arm.

"You don't have to, you'll be cold."

"S'alright, I run hot." he smirked and took it off anyways, the t-shirt he had underneath rode up and Diana saw a glimpse of a six pack he had hiding under there. She was knocked out of her thirsting trance when he threw the jumper in her face.

"You're so annoying," she playfully rolled her eyes and put it on.

"You love it." he chuckled before the silence returned.

"Now you've got to tell me what's bothering you," she raised an eyebrow at James, he let out a sigh.

"It's really fucking stupid, you wouldn't want to hear it." he waved her off again and Diana was starting to get annoyed, why didn't he trust her? Why did he think he couldn't talk about what's going on with him?

"Have you not been listening to what I'm saying?" she scolded. "Tell me or I'll burn your jumper right now." she threatened, no real threat behind it.

"You wouldn't dare!" he gasped dramatically.

"Oh I would... Incendi-" she'd raised her wand and started to utter the spell.

"Alright, alright! Just put the wand down." She did and sat a bit closer to him so she could comfort him, he'd told her that physical touch was one of his favourite things. "It's just Sirius, he locked himself in the bathroom earlier and he wouldn't let anyone in, I knocked on the door for like 20 minutes. He kept telling me to go away which he never does. Until Moony shows up then he's let in. It shouldn't've happened that way because y'know, I'm Prongs and he's Padfoot but now they're Sirius and Remus, and I feel like such a selfish dick for being jealous because they're happy and I'm happy they're happy. I feel like I'm slowly losing my best friend, no, my brother and I don't know what to do."

"Hey, hey you're alright everything's going to be alright." Diana had moved to sit in front of him as the tears started streaming down his face and cupped his cheek, he leaned into the touch but wouldn't meet her eye. "You're not losing him, he just didn't need you then, you'll never lose him because you're you and I know you would never let that happen." James sniffled, looked up and they locked eyes. "And if you do lose him, you'll always have me."

"Good, I don't ever want to lose you."

"Fuck." Diana swore quietly and stubbed out her fag on the windowsill and threw it out into the garden. She had the urge to take off the jumper but decided against it, telling herself that she was just cold and not that the smell of James Potter brought her more comfort than practically anything else. She crawled miserably into bed and tried to focus on the coat of nicotine the cigarette had left in her mouth and fell asleep faster than she had in years as she inhaled the smell of cigarettes, old books, and the remnants of her citrus perfume.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

Diana was woken up by the smell of burning, she jumped up and ran downstairs. "Remus! Remus, where are you?"

"I'm in the kitchen!" he yelled back, as Diana reached him she saw he was waving a towel in the air as smoke came from the stove.

"What the hell are you doing?" she waved her hand in front of her face, coughing harshly.

"I was trying to make breakfast for us." he exclaimed, gesturing his arms out to the side. Diana opened a window and sat on one of her hips with an exasperated look on her face.

"Remus, we both know you can't cook for shit, all you can make is toast and you burn that constantly." she rolled her eyes and Remus sighed.

"I was trying to be nice," he shrugged.

"Why?" she furrowed her brows.

"I, uh I just know you really wanted to see Mum last night and I feel shit about being the reason you couldn't" he rubbed his face and casted his eyes down to the floor.

"It's alright, I don't think I would've been alright seeing her anyways." she admitted quietly, leaning against the wall. "I wanted to see Mum, not whatever was in that room and I know that sounds insensitive but-"

"It doesn't." he cut her off

"What?"

"It doesn't sound insensitive. Everytime we come back from Hogwarts I get my hopes up that Mum's going to be waiting for us at King's Cross or that we'll get home and she'll be baking again in the kitchen and she'll hug us and we'll all be happy again. But we haven't really been happy in years have we? Whether it's me being a werewolf or Mum being ill, us Lupins always seem to find tragedy don't we?"

"I personally like to think that the tragedy finds us, makes everything a bit less morbid in my mind." she smiled dryly, Remus breathed out a chuckle and Diana decided it might be a good idea to change the subject before they got too mushy or thought about how broken they really were. "Look, why don't I make us some porridge because Merlin knows we have that and you can make tea because it's the only thing you make that tastes good."

Remus scoffed, "You just said I can make toast!"

"I was quite literally only saying that to make you feel better." she stated as she put the pan with whatever burnt food Remus was trying to make into the sink and put a new pot on the stove.

"Whatever," he grumbled, but brought out the kettle anyway. Diana always liked Remus' tea and "liked" didn't even come close to how much she actually enjoyed it, there was something about how he made it, it just made it taste so much better. She'd tried asking before what it was, but he told her it was a secret.

The two ate breakfast in a quiet yet comfortable manner, chatting when it felt right, but the silence felt right too. They lounged until around supper when they decided to start getting ready, Diana had asked Remus about the details of the party, just like James had stated in his annoyingly short letter, he said it was formal and that they should be there around 7 or 8.

●————♙————●

It was almost six, Diana figured she could take her time and maybe be fashionably late. She did her makeup leisurely and hoped she'd be able to find something to match it.

She could've sworn that she went through all of her clothes about four times and she still couldn't find anything. Diana sat on her bed with a humph and layed back on her bed. She looked at her ceiling which was covered in sketches and photos from her childhood, and a certain photo caught her eye. It was a photo of her mum carrying her and Remus when they looked about two, her mum was wearing a long sleeve white dress with a corset with a flower pattern on it and it lit a lightbulb in Diana's head. "Holy fuck," she whispered and remembered when Hope had given her the dress.

She sprang off the bed and ran to her closet, she found the old garment bag it hung in. Diana tried it on and it fit almost perfectly, the corset was still untied and she'd have to get Remus' help to tie it but she was alright with that. She smiled at herself in the mirror but her mind was plagued with the question "Who was she trying to impress?" Diana would've loved to say herself but she knew that wasn't the truth, she hadn't tried to impress herself in a long time.

James? She asked herself, but she thought it couldn't be. Sure, over the years she'd tried to impress him but it never quite worked, he'd always been too hung up on Evans. But he called you beautiful, a voice in her head reminded her. His words from Christmas rang through her head,

"Did I tell you, you looked beautiful tonight?"

"You, uh, you look great."

"You look amazing though, really."

Fuck, she was still down bad. She looked around the room for help, as if there were other people there then looked back at herself in the mirror. Hopefully James would think she looked nice, maybe if things went well they'd end up being each other's New Year's kiss. Diana shook her head at the thought, don't get your hopes up, she told herself and went to go find Remus.

●————♙————●

When she went into Remus' room she found him fidgeting with his outfit, he was wearing an oversized button up long sleeve shirt and he kept doing and undoing the second button. "Leave it." Diana said, frightening Remus.

"I could've been naked, you can't just walk into someone's room like that." he gave her an exasperated look that she was way too familiar with coming from him.

"Let's just call it twin telepathy and move on, leave the second button open and tie my corset please." she grinned cockily and turned around, watching Remus sigh and walk over to her. "Alright, I need your help with something else. If, hypothetically, I wanted to ask the boy I fancy to kiss me at midnight, how would I go about doing that?"

"How the hell would I know how to do that?" Remus had stopped tying her up and she swore she could see the look on his face.

"Well, who else was I supposed to ask? Also, you somehow were able to get Sirius "Womaniser" Black, so I thought you might be a little helpful." she shrugged halfheartedly.

"He was never a womaniser, lots of girls just fancy him and couldn't have him so they made up rumours." he rebutted, a tone of honesty in his voice.

"Good to know, I guess, anyways how do I ask?" Diana was getting antsy, she wanted to ask James in the perfect way, hopefully helping to insure he'd say yes.

"Pull them aside, somewhere quiet. It's a Potter party, so it'll be loud and there'll be probably too many people there, so you need privacy. Who is this bloke anyways? Could I take him?"

"In a fight?" She asked in disbelief.

"No, out on a date. Yes, a fight!"

"Uh, I don't know." Diana thought of Remus and James fighting, at first it was a duel, which she thought James might win at, his magic was loud and rambunctious, meant to duel. Her mind then drifted to the thought of a fist fight, she reckoned Remus would win, sure he was lanky and awkward, but being a werewolf gave him muscles that he just hid instead of flaunting like any other teenage boy would do. James played quidditch so he was strong and aggressive, but when Remus was angry, he saw red and you wouldn't be able to stop him if you tried. "Depends on what kind of fight. Wizard or muggle?"

"Both," he answered after a few moments.

"Then no," she stated bluntly.

"What?! Well, which one could I take him in?" Remus asked eagerly and Diana rolled her eyes, turning to face him once he finished.

"I can't tell you that." she shrugged and walked out of the room, ignoring Remus' questions. "C'mon we've gotta go!" she called out, grabbing her jacket and bag.

"I'm coming, wait up!" Remus yelled out as Diana practically ran down the stairs while trying to put on her shoes at the same time. She bounced on her toes for a few moments before Remus ran down the stairs, flustered. "What are you nervous or something?"

"As nervous as you are," he shot back.

"Oh sod off," she shoved him playfully and he chuckled. "Leave the second button open like I told you earlier, it'll make Black swoon." a grin spread across her face when she saw Remus blush and undo the button.

"Shut up, let's go shall we? We're already late." he rolled his eyes trying to switch the subject.

"First of all, it's called fashionably late," Diana said, stepping into the fireplace and grabbing a handful of powder. "Secondly, you're later than I am now. Potter Manor!"

●————♙————●

Diana stepped out of the fireplace and into the familiar living room, wiping her dress clean of soot and deciding that apparating was going to come in handy whenever she wore white things. Remus stepped out behind her and did the same thing, they both looked around and realised that nobody was in the room, which was weird because Potter parties were the biggest ones Diana had ever been to, even at Hogwarts.

"Uh, where is everyone?" Diana asked and Remus just shrugged his shoulders, the two looked around awkwardly and then there was a crack in the air that made Diana jump. "Jesus fucking christ, be' ddiawl?" (what the hell) she practically latched onto Remus when the hairless-cat looking creature appeared out of thin air.

"Calm down, 's just the house elf." Remus tried to calm her, but she could see the faint smirk on his face and knew she would never live this down.

"Gus is sorry to have scared you, miss." the creat- house elf apologised, Diana had heard about Regulus' house elf through the few tales he told of Grimmauld Place, but she'd never seen one in person and she never expected them to look so creepy.

"No, it's quite alright, Gus is it?" the house elf nodded with a small smile on his face that did nothing but up the creepiness in Diana's head. "You just caught me off guard, we were wondering where everyone is though."

"Young Master James has all of his friends in the tent outside miss." he replied politely, making Diana look outside. There was a big white tent set up in the Potter's ginormous back garden, it looked like one Diana had been in when they went to a wedding for one of her mum's family members.

"Alright, well thank you Gus, we'll be heading outside then." Remus smiled at the house elf and the house elf bowed down at him.

"My pleasure Young Master Remus." with a crack he was gone and Diana could finally shake out the shiver in her spine. Remus led her outside and she could see the lights illuminating the inside of the tent, he pushed open what seemed to be the "door" and she stepped inside. Diana hoped the boys would be there, in their last letters they said they would be, but she knew that they tended to not have the best time management, not saying she did either, though she didn't feel like having to awkwardly sit there waiting for them to come.

When the two stepped inside, Remus' three friends immediately turned around and smiled at him. James caught her eye for a moment and he smiled tightly before turning back to Remus where his smile lit up to the bright one she was so used to seeing. At the united cheer of "Remus!" that came out of the three boys' mouths, Diana saw three heads turn across the room.

Diana's face lit up at the sit and she ran towards them, squealing quietly. The three boys had equally bright smiles on their own faces, Rory opened his arms and she practically jumped into them, wrapping her arms around his neck as he lifted her off the floor. Gideon and Fabian wrapped themselves around the two, creating this sort of group-hug, huddle thing.

"Fucking christ, I missed you." she smiled.

"We missed you too Di," Fabian mumbled back, Rory let Diana go and she stepped back looking at her three best friends, these were the people she loved most and she'd do anything to protect them.

"Alright, enough sappy shit, did you guys see that hairless cat looking thing? Scared the life out of me when he popped out of thin air." she questioned and the three laughed.

"Diana, that's a house elf-"

"Yes, I know this now. It was still creepy though."

"All rich wizarding families have them." Gideon explained. "I love it when you show your muggle side, makes you much less intimidating." he stated, making Diana laugh lightly.

"I think it makes me more intimidating because I know more than all of you," she teased, making the boys roll their eyes.

"Oh please, you didn't know what a house elf was." Rory scoffed and Diana pulled a face of mock-offence.

"I know what house elves are, I just didn't know they'd be so fucking creepy." she defended.

"Fine, yes you're right, they're really creepy, happy?" Rory admitted after sharing a look with Fabian, Diana had fun watching him melt under the ginger's gaze, the pure admiration in Rory's eyes warmed her heart.

"Yes, actually this makes me very happy." she smiled smugly, the four eventually sat down at one of the tables set up in the tent and chatted away, talking about how Charlie had bitten Bill because Bill tried to take away his favourite Dinosaur to how Rory's annoyingly cocky older brother had finally gotten a girlfriend after his parents having to set him up on dates for years.

"I'm going to do it tonight." Diana said out of the blue, the four had been sitting in a relatively nice silence as the party started to grow around them.

"Do what?" Fabian asked, sitting up in his chair.

"I'm going to ask "You-Know-Who" to be my midnight's kiss." she stated firmly, yet confidently. A smile lit across Rory and Fabian's face, but Gideon seemed hesitant for some reason. "What's wrong with your face Gid? You look constipated."

"Oh nothing, I'm happy for you, but shouldn't we change the code name from "You-Know-Who" sound a bit like..."

"Like the dark wizard trying to take over the world, yeah, that it does." Rory finished for him, a bitter look on his face.

"Alright, let's not talk about any of this "undeniable doom" shit and be happy for a minute, please." Fabian sighed, rubbing his face.

"We can change the nickname, I really don't care." Diana shrugged. "What I do care about though is that Giddy over here should ask Mary Macdonald to kiss him at midnight." she patted his cheek and he swatted her arm away, Rory and Fabian chuckled heartily.

"I agree, you definitely should." Fabian smiled cockily at his brother, while Gideon's face got progressively more red.

"She would never say yes, I'm just a lame bloke who's a mediocre chaser while she's this amazing seeker and she's popular and she's got guys coming after her from every direction. Plus, I'm a pureblood and she's muggleborn, she probably thinks I'm some sort of blood supremacist creep." Gideon rambled on, his hands gesturing all over the place as he spoke, something he only ever did if he was extremely nervous.

"You've got to be joking, mate." Rory rolled his eyes. "'Course she'd say yes, no doubt about it."

"Yeah, c'mon, don't doubt yourself."

"See I told you." Diana smiled and ironically Mary MacDonald walked in right then. "Well, now's your chance."

"Fuck, wait I'm too nervous, I can't." Gideon's eyes flicked from one person to the next and the three looked at each other before simultaneously saying.

"Gideon, go!" Fabian pushed him in the direction of Mary and off he went.

They watched as he approached her awkwardly, their bodies all tense next to each other. They painfully had to watch as he talked to her, rambling on about god knows what, with comments of "Oh Godric, it's getting away from him", "He was right, it's never going to happen." and "I'm going to die from secondhand embarrassment, which was not how I planned to go." coming from the three. They were silent until they saw a smile appear in Mary's face and a few words said to Gideon followed by a brief kiss on the cheek.

Gideon turned towards them a bright and wide smile spread across his pale features, a small mark of pink lipstick was on his cheek as he practically skipped towards them.

"So I'm guessing she said yes?" Rory asked just to egg him on.

"She said yes!" Gideon sighed and it seemed like all tension had dropped from his body.

"I knew it!" Diana hugged him, wearing a smile that matched his. When they broke apart, Fabian and Rory's eyes looked at her. "What?"

"Now it's your turn Ana." Rory smirked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning on Fabian slightly.

Diana glared at the two and mumbled. "I hate that you two are dating now, you're always going to gang up on me aren't you?" The two just smiled at her with flushed cheeks. "Fine, whatever, you win."

●————♙————●

She looked around the tent and almost immediately met James' eye, he smiled at her but it didn't quite reach his eyes like usual. Diana shook her hands out and walked over to him, he was currently standing by the drink table with Peter. "Sorry Pete, could I borrow James for a moment?"

"Yeah 'course, no problem." he shook his head, Diana gestured for James to follow her and follow her he did.

"Can I ask where we're going?" he asked once they'd exited the tent, he had his hands stuffed in his pockets and was leaning forwards slightly in order to talk to her. "You look very nice by the way."

"Thank you," she smiled. "And we're going somewhere private, I need to talk to you."

"Uhm, alright, am I in trouble or something?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I just need to ask you something s'all." James just nodded and followed Diana until they reached the side of the house where no one else was.

"Look, um, this is not the easiest thing for me to ask. I've actually needed to build up quite a bit of courage to even think to ask you this, which is crazy because we've known each other for awhile and-"

"Diana, calm down, it's just you and me, there's nothing to be scared of." he smiled at her, with those beautiful hazel eyes she could get lost in and that imperfect perfect smile he only ever wore around those he cared about. It's just you and me it's just you and me

"Right, yeah, just you and me." she smiled, casting her eyes down and he held her chin in between his index finger and his thumb.

"Don't look down when you smile, I've told you this." he said as he lifted her chin so her eyes met his just as he'd done so many times before. "Back to your question." he let go of her chin and it took Diana a moment before she could even process what he'd said.

"Yes, my question. Uhm, James would you like to be-" she was close, oh she was so close to finally asking him when Lily Evans turned the corner and looked right at James.

"Could I talk to you for a moment Potter?" she asked him with a small smile on her face.

"Yeah, 'course, I'll be right back Diana." he was gone, he was gone and he'd left with Lily Evans, of fucking course he was. She waited for a few moments before she decided she should just leave and that's when James turned the corner once more, now a bright wide smile that reached his eyes was spread across his face.

"What was that all about?" she asked, trying not to let her voice shake.

"Lily's just asked me to kiss her at midnight," her heart dropped, she was too late, god dammit she was too late. She felt her face drop, but caught it replacing it with a smile. Pretend, her mind told herself, pretend for him please.

"Th- that's amazing James, wow, I'm so happy for you." she tried to smile wide, she tried to make her voice sound happy and joyful for him, it was all for him.

"Finally, six years of work finally paying off." he smiled so brightly, she thought his face might just fall off. "Wait, you had a question for me, what was it?"

The question, the stupid question that ruined so much for her. "Nevermind that, you've got a chance with Lily bloody Evans."

"Yeah, yeah I do." he smiled again. "Well, I'll be off, gotta tell the boys, they'll be ecstatic." he laughed and he was gone again, gone again, but now he didn't leave with Lily Evans, he left as Lily Evans's. Diana guessed that's what he always was wasn't it? James Potter had always belonged to Lily Evans and all Diana had was unrequited love.

She started making her way towards the tent when she saw a familiar mop of curly brown hair making its way towards her. "Matthew?" she asked.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked and walked right up to her.

"What're you doing here?"

"Obviously, I'm here for the party." he smiled jokingly as his eyes scanned her face, he brought a hand up and cupped her cheek. "What's happened to you?"

"It's nothing," she tried to dismiss it, but he had this look on his face that made Diana want to reveal everything about her to him. "Tried to ask someone to kiss me at midnight, got interrupted and the person who interrupted us is now going to be kissing the person I fancy in about... thirty minutes."

"So James and Lily." he stated, dropping his hand from her face and Diana's jaw dropped.

"How in the hell did you know that?"

"I didn't but I do now," he smirked and Diana playfully hit him in the arm. "Look, if you're not going to be kissing Potter, kiss me instead. I have on good authority that I'm a great kisser."

"And whose authority is this?" she sat on her hip and crossed her arms against her chest.

"The crook of my elbow if you need to know." he stated confidently with his head held high.

"You're an idiot," she laughed, feeling much better than she was five minutes ago. "I will trust the judgement of your elbow and agree to kiss you tonight."

"Good choice." he smiled and Diana realised that the left side of his mouth curved more than his right and she thought it was beautiful. "I'm fit, you're fit, we'd make a great pair y'know?"

"Great pair? I don't even know your middle name or your favourite colour." she rolled her eyes.

"It's Maximillian and blue." he held his arm and she looped her own through it.

"Wait, so your initials are MMM?"

"Your turn." was all he said as he led them back towards where everyone was sitting in front of the tent waiting for midnight.

"Laurel and red." she smiled, they walked in silence after that and when they finally got back to the tent Diana met the eyes of her three friends who looked at her with hope. She shook her head and tilted it towards where James was sitting with Lily on a picnic blanket together.

She watched as their heads all snapped towards the two and the fury in Rory's stance, he flinched forward like he was going to go jump them, but a comforting hand from Fabian on his arm made him calm down. Fabian looked towards her with kind eyes and mouthed an "I'm sorry" to which she shrugged at and looked away.

The fireworks started and that signalled midnight, it was finally 1977 and Diana hoped this year wouldn't be as shitty as the last. She looked around and saw Gideon kiss Mary, Fabian kiss Rory, Marlene kiss Dorcas, and last but not least she caught the view of James kissing Lily. She felt the tears well up in her eyes, she wanted that to be her, that was supposed to be her.

Matthew grabbed her chin and tilted her face towards him, "Can I?" he whispered.

"Of course" she replied and just like that his lips met hers, they were soft and delicate and everything she could've wanted in a kiss, except he wasn't James.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

The last few days before returning to Hogwarts were the worst. Her mum was still in hospital, meaning her father was never home and she was pretty sure he hadn't slept in days. It was a few days until the full moon so Remus was incredibly unpleasant to be around unless she was bringing him food because his body ached so bad he couldn't make it downstairs himself, the stress of everything was weighing down on him and Diana could tell. Whenever she did bring him food, he could barely eat it, meaning Diana would make food for him and would eat his leftovers because otherwise she'd be wasting food and Merlin knows they don't have the money for that.

If she wasn't thinking of Remus or her mum all Diana could see in her brain was the image of James kissing Lily on New Years and the feeling of her heart shattering. Matthew wrote a lot and she replied to almost every letter, he was sweet and kind and well, Diana can't not admit that he's cute too.

Then there was the matter of Regulus, since he'd left the cottage Diana hadn't gotten a single letter from him and she was starting to worry. He didn't usually send many but he would at least send one every few days so Diana would know he was alive. There was no way she could write to him because his parents knew the last name Lupin, Lyall Lupin was a blood traitor and if you didn't think Walburga and Orion Black knew every blood traitor out there (dead and alive), well you're just naive.

Diana was so worried to see Regulus again, she honestly didn't know if she would see him again. Neither of them knew the consequences of Regulus going back after escaping, obviously Regulus knew better but now with Sirius disowned, the possibilities were endless. She didn't really want to think about it though, it would weigh on her mind too much, but maybe that was good because otherwise she'd think of James.

James, oh James. He somehow ended up breaking her heart even though they're not even relatively together, well Lily Evans had a big part in it too, but that was besides the point. If she thought about James then she'd think about Matthew and then she'd get confused after being sad because he was different, Matthew that is. He wasn't the boy she expected him to be and he wasn't the boy she thought would show up when she really needed him to, but she dated his sister, his sister. Could she really do that to Marlene? She decided she'd talk to Marls, tell her about everything, about James and Evans and about kissing her brother while apologising about a hundred times.

Diana didn't want to go back to Hogwarts, well she did because it would offer some distractions, but not really because she didn't think she could handle much more. The quidditch season was getting more intense, the quidditch cup was soon, so there were more practises scheduled. Ravenclaw needed to beat Gryffindor to even have a chance at competing for the cup. Diana couldn't fathom the thought of losing the cup to Gryffindor, they'd be all smug and walk around the school acting like they're better than everyone else (well, more than they do now anyways).

Diana was snapped out of her competitive thoughts when she heard the familiar crack come from downstairs, Lyall had returned home to bring her and Remus to the train station, he'd spent probably 20 out of the 24 hours in a day at the hospital everyday with their mum. She grabbed her trunk and went into the hallway to grab Remus', placed them downstairs then went back up to help Remus down the stairs, he tried to refuse help but Diana just tightened her grip around his waist and helped him down the stairs.

"What's wrong?" her dad asked when he saw her and Remus come down the stairs, looking more dishevelled than Diana had ever seen.

"He's hurt, moon's coming up." she replied, grabbing her trunk as Lyall grabbed Remus'. Lyall placed his hand on her shoulder and with a crack they were suddenly at platform 9 ¾ which, as usual, was filled with parents and children bustling around.

Lyall pulled Diana into an embrace and she let go of Remus for a moment to fully wrap both arms around her father, physical affection was rare with him, so she had to soak these moments up as much as possible. "I love you, cariad." he whispered. "Be safe."

"I will dad, promise." she let go and let Remus and Lyall embrace just as she did with him a moment before, she saw the whispers and wondered if another tragedy was all they needed to bring them closer together because this was all Hope Lupin ever really wanted, her family together.

Remus leaned back against Diana when he and Lyall let go of one another, her arm holding him up once more. "Write to us, 'kay?" Remus asked.

"Of course fy machgen, of course. Anything happens, you two will be the first to know." her father smiled, (smiled!) and with a farewell he was gone again. Diana was about to ask how Remus wanted to get his trunk on the train when she heard the oh so familiar shout of "Moony!' from behind them.

The two Lupins turned to see James, Sirius and their parents coming towards them, Diana moved Remus' trunk with her foot so the two could turn fully.

"What happened?" was Blacks first question, coming over to search Remus' face for any cuts or bruises or anything.

"Pads, it's almost, y'know..." Remus explained quietly and badly, trying not to say anything too suspicious in front of James' parents.

"Right, sorry Moons." Black seemed to back off a bit, taking a step back and falling back into the clump that was the Potters.

"Diana dear, how are you?" Euphemia asked, the warm smile on her face somehow helped ease Diana's worries.

"I'm alright thank you, obviously better than he is," she joked, gesturing to Remus. "fell down the stairs a few days ago." she lied, Diana hated lying, especially people as nice as the Potters who have done nothing but help her and Remus.

"Oh goodness, are you alright love?" she asked Remus, worry painting over her usual warm expression.

"Don't worry, I've just hurt my hip s'all." Remus smiled at her. Diana looked past the Potters to see Gideon and Fabian with Aurthur by the train waving her over.

"I should be going, my friends are calling me over. Help him will you?" she asked James and he immediately took her place beside Remus. Diana grabbed her trunk and had started to leave when she turned back around to face Sirius who was still standing with Euphemia and Fleamont. "Take care of him, 'kay Black?"

"Yeah, 'course," he responded instantly.

"I'm trusting you to tell me if anything's wrong or if he's being too much of a prick to ask for help." she stated, well more threatened, then walked off towards her boys.

She greeted both Prewett boys with an embrace, both boys not letting go until she did. All three of her friends had written many times over the past few days once she informed them of her mum's condition and Remus' too, it was refreshing to see them again even if they just spent days apart. They were like this breath of fresh air, fresh loving air.

"Dumb question but how are you?" Gideon asked and Diana smiled sadly.

"Everyone's alive so I'm alright," she sighed and both boys looked at her sadly.

"We're always here for you y'know," Fabian reminded her like he always did.

"I'm here for both of you, always, I love you guys." she let her sad smile turn into one full of affection.

"And we love you,"

"Well, obviously. What's not to love?" she asked smugly, flipping her hair back jokingly,

"I don't know, maybe it's your temper, stubbornness..." Gideon had started to list things off but something behind him caught Diana's eye.

"Shut up," she said sharply and Gideon's light expression twisted into one of confusion.

"Look, Ana, I was joking don't take it to heart-"

"Yeah whatever, just shut up and look this way." she practically ordered and grabbed his shoulders twisting him around.

"Is that-"

"Rory? Yeah, that's him," Fabian confirmed, his voice dripping with disgust.

"The fuck happened to him?" Diana was bewildered, he looked nothing like himself.

Rory, who was usually wearing a cocky smirk, now had a hardened expression. Rory, who was a light in the halls of Hogwarts, seemed dark and different. Rory McLaggen, who cared about every person who hadn't done him wrong, now walked past people without sparing them a glance. Their Rory Theodore McLaggen, who loved so openly and used physical affection like words, now only had his father's hand on his shoulder because of control, not love.

"His father took the break off work, first time he's done that since Tiberius got married." Fabian practically seethed, his hands were clenched in fists as he glared at Rory and his father.

"He'll be fine, Fab." Diana placed a hand on his arm and watched as he relaxed slightly.

"How can you be sure?" Fabian's previous angry manner was replaced with one full of worry and concern.

"He's Rory, he's gotta be." Gideon shrugs, trying to play off his concern. Diana was worried, Rory's father was an odd man, not a single one of them had ever met him before. All they know is that Rory hates him and that he's never been around meaning Rory's oldest brother Finley basically raising him and his other brothers. Rory's mother was no better, she enjoyed Rory's fathers high salary that he receives and spends it on luxury vacations for herself.

The train whistled, warning everyone that it would be leaving in 5 minutes. All three of them glanced at Rory who was saying goodbye to his father then glanced at each other, communicating without words and stepping onto the train. They sat in their normal compartment, waiting for Rory to get on the train.

●————♙————●

When Rory finally got to their compartment, his hard expression was gone and he slouched as he walked, he slid open the door and walked in without looking up at any of them. He closed the door and leaned back against it, the other three looked at each other not knowing what to do. Rory was supposed to be the strong one, the one who was always there to make them feel better.

Suddenly, his body started to shake with sobs, he brought up his hand to cover his mouth. Fabian stood up so fast Diana barely even registered it before his body collided with Rory's, his arms wrapped around him so tightly and Rory's hands gripped the back of Fabian's shirt so hard she thought he might just tear it.

Diana and Gideon got up just as fast as Fabian did and wrapped their arms around the two boys, individually all four of them were physically affectionate, but they'd never really had a moment like this before. Diana guessed it had been coming for a while, considering how cursed they seemed to be lately. Rory's father suddenly being present, Gideon and Fabian's parents starting to shun them away just as they did with Molly, and Diana's mum being in the hospital.

There was only so much they could all take before they broke.

They finally let go of one another when Rory's body stopped shaking, All four of them settling into their usual spots, Diana and Gideon on one side, Rory and Fabian on the other, but now Rory was cuddled against Fabian as Fabian's arm was wrapped around his shoulders.

"Rory, what the hell happened? Why...why was he here?" Gideon asked nervously, looking anywhere but at Rory himself. The aspect of his family, other than his brother Finley, was a touchy subject for Rory, if he never brought it up, neither did they.

"He's back... he's fucking back!" Rory yelled, ripping off his tie and throwing it against the compartment's door, frightening some random first year girl who was walking by.

"Rory, love, calm down tell us what happened." she said softly, grabbing his hand just as her mother did for her when she'd get angry at Remus or just scream to scream.

When Rory met her eyes, he folded, he told them everything. He told them how when he got home from Kings Cross, his father was sitting at the head of the dining table, seemingly waiting for him to show up. How he'd been sat down and told he'd be marrying Anastasia Greengrass as soon as he was done at Hogwarts, he refused of course which made his father angry, angry enough to grab Rory by the collar of his shirt and slam him against the wall. He told them how he had to agree to it or he wouldn't've been able to see them at all and how he was going to find a way out of it, no matter what his father says.

"Why don't you just come stay with one of us? Like indefinitely," Gideon suggested, his eyebrows furrowed like he was in deep thought.

"No, no I couldn't do that. He'd- he'd find me and he'd drag me back and force me to marry someone way worse than Anastasia like the Parkinson girl and he'd probably tell the people at the ministry that you kidnapped me and you'd all get arrested." Rory rambled on, a panicked look in his eye, he sat forward and Diana's eyes fell on Fabian. He hadn't said anything since they'd got on the train, he looked somewhat heartbroken, but Diana could practically see the rage bubbling up underneath it.

"Look, why don't you go to the loo, calm down and change out of your robes. Gideon'll go with you, right Gid?" Gideon turned towards her with a confused glance and she gestured to his brother ever so slightly, his face lit up in recognition and he ushered Rory out of the compartment with his robes in hand.

Fabian let out a shaky breath as soon as the door slid closed behind his boyfriend and brother. "Arranged marriage?" was all he could say, his eyes casted down and hands gripping onto the seat tightly.

"You heard him, he won't let it happen. We both know Rory and he's stubborn as hell, never lets anything happen if it's not his way," she said with a slight chuckle, as she moved to sit beside him.

"We also know his father-"

"Do we?"

"Di, we know enough. He has this sort of control over him, he can make him do anything. What if he breaks it off with me? It would destroy me and the four of us would never be the same." Diana grabbed his hands in hers and tried to look him in the eyes but his eyes stayed glued on the floor.

"You need to stop worrying, he's not going to break up with you. Rory loves you so much, he's not going to leave you because of his fucking idiotic father, who by the way I think is a stupid little bitch, you two are perfect for each other."

"But-"

"Fabian Prewett, stop this overthinking thing, you need to get out of your head." she said sternly and Fabian finally looked at her. "If you keep doubting things, it's going to happen. Also, if you're so worried about it just talk to Rory about it."

"Right, yeah, I should just talk to him." Fabian sighed, leaning back against the seat.

"Yes, please talk to him, when he gets back go find an empty compartment, and there are lots because half the goddamn school stays at the castle for holidays, then talk to him about everything." Diana huffed, dropping his hands and going to sit back on the other bench. Gideon and Rory returned a few moments later with Rory in his uniform pants and a jumper.

Fabian's head snapped up when the door slid open, "Hey, could we go somewhere and talk?" he asked Rory nervously.

"Yeah, 'course darling, let's go." he replied almost instantly, his eyebrows furrowed in concern, he put his neatly folded robes down on the seat and left with Fabian.

Gideon sat down beside Diana and she scooched over, cuddling into his side, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her gently. "You alright? How's your knuckles?" he glided his fingers across her knuckles.

"Fine now, healed up nice, the muggle way." she shrugged, snuggling deeper into his chest. Most of the time Diana didn't need words when she was going through something, just the presence of someone, the knowledge that someone was there for her was enough.

"What even happened to them?"

"Punched my wall a few times," she whispered in reply, deflating with guilt.

"Diana," he started, his voice filled with concern. "Why in the hell did you punch your walls?"

"Regulus came round mine, was going to escape. I couldn't save him, he went back, he could be dead, and it's all my fault." her voice was hushed, but wavered with fear and guilt and she couldn't stop the pang of guilt in her chest.

"In no way is this your fault, I promise you that. Regulus made his choice, he went back on his own accord." Gideon tried to comfort her, tried to explain the situation but Diana didn't want to hear it, it was her fault and she knew it.

"I should've been fast enough to stop him or I should've gone with him, I shouldn't've let him leave." she tried to argue. Gideon just hugged her tighter to him, knowing that there was no stopping her self-deprecation.

"You would've died, the bitch that is his mother would've Avadaded you the moment you showed up in that house. I know that, you know that, and even though I don't know him well you can trust me when I tell you that Regulus knows that too." he continued his attempts of reassuring her, Gideon knew how stubborn Diana was, but he'd been trying to break her streak of stubbornness since they were eleven and he'd still had absolutely no luck.

"I don't care, I would die for him." she smiled sadly, Diana was a girl who would die for you if she loved you or even cared about you at all.

"Trust me, I know you would. I do however think that you need to shorten the list of people you'd die for and I don't wanna lose you anytime soon, 'kay?" he whispered into her hair as he felt her relax in his arms.

"Eh, you wouldn't miss me that much." she muttered and it made Gideon's heart break, he placed a kiss to the top of her head before something outside caught his eye.

James Potter was stood outside the compartment looking at Diana in Gideon's arms with narrowed eyes, to Gideon he almost looked annoyed. Gideon met his eye and James' glare seemed to harden, he raised an eyebrow in confusion towards the glaring boy, but James just looked him up and down. Gideon moved Diana, who was now fast asleep on his shoulder, to rest gently on the bench as he got up and walked out of the compartment.

He slid the door behind him and looked at James. "D'you need something, Potter?" he asked with genuine confusion, Gideon didn't really understand the other boy's attitude right now, but all he knew was that Diana didn't get her chance with James on New Years and he couldn't help but think that Potter may have been at fault.

"Are you two going out?" James asked bluntly.

"And that's your business why?"

"Well, I mean Diana's my," James paused for a second as if he was looking for the right word. "Friend, she's my friend and I wanna know if you're dating? S'all, harmless question really."

"Harmless question my ass." was what Gideon wanted to say but instead he went with a "Uhm, ok, well we're not together together, so... yeah." he nodded slowly as he watched the confusion wash across James' face. Gideon didn't want to date Diana in any way, he just wanted to mess with James, it was the natural prankster in him.

"Wait, what?"

"Ok, bye Potter!" Gideon smiled like an idiot and waved at the boy before stepping back into the compartment. Once he saw James walk away, a look of pure confusion still on his face, he broke down into laughter. "Oh, Godric, that was a good one!" he bent over in laughter until he realised that he was currently talking to himself. He quickly straightened up and fixed his robes, flinching when he saw Diana sitting upright in her seat.

"Merlin's balls, you scared the shit out of me!"

"Why were you talking to James?"

"Alright, wow, you guys are the same person like he just did the same thing to me out there all big an-" Gideon chuckled slightly as he was about to imitate James.

"Why were you talking James?" Diana cut him off and asked sharply.

"He was staring at us all weird from outside the compartment, so I went out and asked what his problem was. He just asked if we were going out, that's all." he explained, flopping down into the seat across from Diana.

"Well, what did you say?" she asked frantically. "You said we weren't, right?"

"I- Well... You know, it's a funny story really," Gideon laughed nervously, his voice almost squeaky.

"Merlin's tits, fuck me," she slumped back in disbelief, her thoughts running a mile a minute.

Oh my god, he's going to think I'm a slag, a proper fucking slag. He saw me kiss Matthew at the party and now he thinks I'm dating Gideon. He already knows I've dated Marlene and oh Christ, he probably thinks I'm dating Reg because we're always together. But why would he even ask Gid that? Why couldn't he have just asked me? Does he not trust me? Remus was right, he doesn't care about me, he's ashamed to be friends with me and he cares about who I'm dating because it could ruin his reputation... 

As her thoughts filled her mind, she didn't even hear Rory and Fabian return. They'd both looked a little ruffled and messed up, but the smiles on their faces were enough to distract you from that.

"Move." Fabian stated looking right at Gideon.

"Why? I'm comfy and Diana's having an existential crisis over there." he all but whined, pointing towards Diana who was sat with her hands tugging at her hair as she slouched in her seat. Rory sighed and sat down beside her, pulling her into his side.

"You alright, love?"

"Eh, not really. You?" she asked as she rested her head on his shoulder.

Rory thought about it for a moment before answering. "Yeah, yeah I think I am." he sighed and Diana smiled at his relaxed expression.

"Good, that's what matters." Fabian and Gideon came to sit on either sides of Rory and Diana, trying to fit all four of them on one bench like they used to do when they were younger. Now, it was much more of a tight fit when Fabian sat at Rory's side and Gideon at Diana's.

The four of them heading back to where it all started, sitting as if they were 12 years old once more, but with experiences their twelve year old selves could never imagine.

Heading back to the place where the four became one.

●————♙————●

Diana was used to seeing Regulus come back to Hogwarts with a spacey look in his eyes as if they'd taken away his soul and replaced it with a blank void. She was used to seeing him with bruises all over his body except for his face, the prestigious Blacks wouldn't dare harm the face of their heir, or anywhere that couldn't be covered by clothes. Regulus Black wore long sleeve turtlenecks and long pants to cover the damage his own parents had done to him. Damage he'd been conformed into thinking was out of love.

When she saw Regulus sitting under their tree she let out a sigh of relief, he was alive, thank Merlin he was alive. Diana ran over to him with a small smile because she didn't want to come on too strong, he usually needed time to adapt a bit before getting back to his normal sarcastic, dark humoured self. Except, he wasn't reading one of the muggle books Andromeda had transfigured to look like a textbook, he was just staring blankly out in front of him.

"Thank fuck you're alive, Reg. I'm so sorr-" she cut herself off when she realized he didn't even react to the sound of her voice. Usually, he had his moments where he was so caught up in his own mind that he was practically dead to the world, but a familiar could snap him out of it.

"Hey, Reggie? Reg? Regulus Arcturus Black?" she looked into his eyes and it was as if there was no one behind them. Diana felt like she was in a horror film where Walburga finally won and just took Regulus' soul and mind for good.

This was different than any other time, he wasn't even here, he couldn't even look at her. "Are you under the Imperius curse or something? What's going on? Hey! If you're in Reg's head, you can fuck right off!" Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a flinch, blink, nothing but the steady rise and fall of his chest, Diana's only way of knowing he was still alive.

Diana felt like she was losing her mind, she thought she was in a nightmare except it wasn't hers, it was Regulus'. "Regulus! C'mon please, I know you're in there." her voice broke and shook which was something she tried not to do in front of the younger boy. "Please, please, I can't- I can't lose you." as she pleaded with the boy, her hands made their way down his arms. When she went to hold his hands, she noticed he was gripping his wand so tight that his knuckles were white. She put one of her hands on top of his that was holding the wand and Regulus finally reacted, his arm flinched up and suddenly his wand was pointed at Diana's throat.

"Don't hurt me again, please" Regulus pleaded, his broken voice was like a stab to Diana's heart. Again? Again, again, again. Regulus wasn't talking to Diana, that she knew. Who Regulus thought he was talking to, well she had some guesses, but couldn't quite pinpoint the right one.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm not the son you wanted. I'll be better, I-I can be perfect for you, I promise." Now, there were tears streaming down the younger boy's face and his breath kept hitching from his attempts to hold back sobs.

Diana liked to argue that she knew Regulus well. Though she could tell when something upset him and whether or not it made him sad or angry, but nobody really knew Regulus Black. Nobody knew what haunted his dreams or what he did to comfort himself. Most importantly, not a single soul really knew exactly what he did to survive in that place, the things he sacrificed, the people he had to push away, or the pain he was made to endure.

"Reg, hey. It's me, you're safe ok? You're not there anymore." Diana held up her hands in surrender, hoping that her words could bring him out of his own nightmares. "Look, we're back at Hogwarts." she motioned around, but Regulus didn't look around, he still looked like he was in pain, the tears not subsiding.

"Can, can you please take your wand away from my throat?" Diana's breathing started to get ragged as Regulus pushed his wand deeper into her skin.

"You'll hurt me again, you'll hurt Sirius."

"Regulus, you're here with me, Diana, we're under our tree, and you're safe! I will never hurt you or Sirius." she promised and a small flicker of hope touched her chest when she saw a small spark of recognition in his eyes at her name.

"C'mon Reg, it's Diana, Diana Lupin. You know me, I know you know me." she was now pleading with everything in her. She placed her hand on top of the wand that was still being jammed into her throat and it seemed like that was Regulus' final straw. He seemed to snap awake, his chest jerking back, flinging his neat hair in front of his eyes.

"Diana?" he asked frantically, his eyes wide in fear. "Is it really you?

"Yeah Reg, I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere, promise." she smiled warmly at the boy, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off her chest. She would've been alright to die or get injured by Regulus' hand when she knew it wasn't really him, but she was glad he came back.

Back from whatever Walburga or Orion put him in.

"Prove it, prove it's actually you." he stated firmly, though his voice shook and Diana knew that his parents had used his friends against him. Mental torture wasn't something Diana was surprised to find out the Blacks used, but more often than not, they appreciated physical torture.

"Oh my dearest Reg, what have they done?" her eyes started to get glassy and she sent the boy a sad smile. His was almost immediately taken away from her throat and he launched himself at her. She held him like he was going to disappear if she let go and he held her with the same amount of fear and love.

His sobs racked his body and Diana could feel the tears getting the collar of her shirt wet as Regulus had tucked his head into the crook of her neck. She didn't care, not one bit because he was back. She got her Reg back, even after not being fast enough, not being good enough. Somehow after failing him, she got him back and she couldn't believe it.

Chapter Text

●————♙————●

Diana woke up with an odd feeling in her gut, like something was going to go wrong, but that's how she woke up the morning of every quidditch game. Davies had worked the team extra hard before the holidays in order to prepare for the match. The Ravenclaw team needed this win to be able to even have a shot at the house cup.

Diana got up and got herself ready, changing into her gear, plaited her hair, and put on the chain she always wore to matches. Her mum gave it to her when she made the team, telling her a story about how her nan had given it to her as a symbol of good luck or something like that.

She walked out of the bathroom and was surprised when she was met with a "Morning!" from Mabel Fletcher, one of her dorm mates. Diana had barely talked to them in the six years they'd all lived together.

"Er, morning." she smiled at her awkwardly, the other three girls smiled back at Diana with the same amount of awkwardness. "Watching the match today?" she asked as she got the rest of her gear out from her trunk.

"Yeah we are, Robert asked me to come, we're kind of a thing now." Elizabeth Kinoshi, another of her dorm mates, answered.

"Oh nice going, good guy." Diana nodded awkwardly, she was perplexed at the amount of effort these girls were making to have a conversation with her.

"Yeah he is. He's a seeker, right?" she asked and iana wanted to laugh right in her face. Robert Cho, a seeker? In no universe could Robert or anyone with his blood be a seeker, he had the agility and grace of a hippogriff with three legs.

Instead of that, she just replied with a polite "Nah, he's a beater." her statement being met with four identical confused stares. "Don't know much about quidditch, do you?" she smiled and they all shook their heads.

"He's one of the ones with the big bat, he hits bludger away from us and towards the other team so we can score points and not get hit off our brooms." she explained as simply as possible.

"Sounds dangerous." Elizabeth mumbled.

"Oh yeah! It's very dangerous, makes the game thrilling." A few "Huh"s here heard and Diana looked at the clock realising she should go eat breakfast while she still had the chance."Alright, well I'm out. See you at the match." she waved and practically dashed out of the dorm, hearing "See you!" and "Good luck!" from the girls as the door shut behind her.

She got to the great hall pretty quickly, the corridors mostly empty seeing as they were about halfway through breakfast already. When she walked into the great hall, she immediately saw the rest of the team sitting together at the Ravenclaw table. They saw her enter and called her over, she happily walked over and sat beside Edgar Bones, a fellow Chaser on the team.

The team ate and held light conversation, trying to save their energy for on the pitch, as the great hall got louder and louder. Looking over at the Gryffindor table, she saw James, Sirius, and Peter all conversing quietly. Which was unusual for them and unnerving, it was also unusual for Remus not to be there with them.

Before she could get too deep into thought, Davies had poured pumpkin juice into everyone's goblets and demanded a toast. They all clanged their glasses together and before Diana took a sip, she met eyes with Matthew who was sat at the Gryffindor table with his friends. He smiled at her brightly and mouthed "Good Luck", she smiled back mouthing "Thank you".

The whole team took a drink then there were some yelps of surprise. Diana looked around to see the entire team's hair had been charmed a bright Gryffindor red. She pulled her plait from behind her back to over her shoulder and was immediately enraged when she saw her was red as well.

The Ravenclaw team looked around in confusion, even though their antics had slowed down a bit recently, Diana knew her brother's friends were behind this.

"Those fucking twats, " she murmured, getting up from her seat and walking over to where three out of four of the marauders were hunched over laughing their asses off. "Oh you've got to be shitting me." she stated angrily as she walked up to the three boys.

"Why hello there Diana, nice new hairdo. When d'you get that done?" James asked with a cocky smile on his lips. One Diana would usually fawn over, but she was too angry at him right now and there was a hint of mockery in his tone, so it didn't do him any favours.

"Now, why the fuck would you do that Potter?" she asked, pretending not to see the hurt glaze across James face when she didn't use his first name, it happened so quickly she wouldn't have noticed it if she didn't know him.

"Oh come on, it's just a little prank Lupin, don't be a priss." Sirius teased. Diana ignored Sirius' comment, put her hand on the table and leaned towards James who was sitting on the other side of the table.

"Why didn't you at least tell me first?" her gaze softened, but his eyes were suddenly colder than before.

"Look, it was just some fun before the match, I thought you would've thought it was funny." he shrugged.

"Well, I didn't and neither did the rest of my team. Now, we're all just pissed at you, so haha and thanks a lot." she rolled her eyes and leaned away from James. "How do I get it out?" she asked bluntly.

"What?"

"How do I get the red out of mine and my teams' hair?"

"Uhm..." he laughed nervously under her annoyed glare. "You don't,"

"I'm sorry, what?" her eyes widened.

"You can't get it out." James began looking at the other two for help.

"There's a time limit on the charm, it should wear out before the match starts." Peter explained and honestly if Diana hadn't been the one pranked, she would've taken a second to admire the genius behind the spell.

"I- Are you- Y'know what? Thanks Peter, see you on the pitch." she began to walk away before turning on her heel and walking back.

"Is Remus gonna be there?" she asked nervously, not really wanting to know the answer. She felt like a kid asking if their absent dad was going to watch their rugby game. He'd promised he would be there so he had to, right?

"Uh- No, he's not really feeling up to it." James smiled wryly.

Alright, well apparently his promise didn't mean he had to come. "Oh, right, ok. Well, I'll see you during the game." she nodded smally, again feeling like a little kid.

Diana walked out of the great hall and kept walking for a bit before she felt like she was truly alone. She slid down against the wall of the corridor letting her tears flow. She wanted to – no, she should – be empathetic and understanding because Remus had to go through hell and back every month and she was crying?

Diana thought that was bullshit. That she was bullshit. She knew Remus didn't like quidditch so why would she even ask him in the first place? Because you wanted him to come, a voice in the back of her head said. That was all she ever really wanted wasn't it? For someone in her goddamn family to care enough to show up, show up for her.

Yes, Remus has so much that he has to go through every month and yes, Diana hates that he has to so much and wishes she could go through it instead of him. Sometimes though, she wished someone would show up for her instead of blabing on about keeping Remus away for his safety, so they had to watch him and couldn't come to a single primary school concert or parent-teacher interview. Sometimes she wishes people would feel a little sorry for her too.

Those thoughts made her feel like a dick , like absolute fucking garbage, selfish, selfish garbage. Deep down she knew she'd do anything for Remus, no matter her condition or feelings. Remus cared more about the marauders, about his brothers than he did Diana and she knew this. Remus made it abundantly clear even without realising it sometimes.

Most of the time Diana tried to banish these kinds of thoughts, but there were moments where Diana let herself be consumed by them. Occasionally, she lets all the feelings of abandonment come forward wishing that her life was normal and not the surreal life it is now.

Diana had her head in her arms when someone sat beside her and had their shoulder against hers. She expected it to be Rory, Fabian and Gideon but no one sat on her other side so she raised her head up in suspicion. Diana would have probably guessed a handful of other people before guessing she'd see Matthew McKinnon sitting beside her.

He gave her one of his signature wide grins and asked. "You alright?"

"Been better," she shrugged nonchalantly and he chuckled, he had his knees tucked to his chest and his arms around them.

"You really that upset over red hair? Cause I think it looks cute." he asked, he picked up her plait and played with it.

Diana sniffled "No, I just- It's whatever, I don't wanna bore you with my problems."

"Oh come on, tell me. Won't judge, promise." he knocked their shoulders together, getting a small smile from Diana.

"Fine, I just found out Remus isn't coming to my game even though he promised me he would. I know that makes me seem incredibly selfish." she sighed, ducking her head down.

"Hey, I get it. This might make me seem like the biggest nerd, but I'm in the chess club and we've had tournaments where Marls promised to show and then she ends up hanging out with her friends instead. I'm pretty sure she used you as an excuse once and I was so pissed off that she'd choose her girlfriend over me. I mean, I understood, I'm a nerd with a more popular jock sister. It's just my life y'know?" he explained, smiling sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Hey, no need to apologise. The past is the past." his smile was less sad now and Diana ducked her head down to smile as well. "Don't look down when you smile, I've told you this." James' words rang through Diana's head, urging her to lift her chin.

"You're good at this y'know? Cheering people up." she looked at him and felt a weird fluttery feeling in her stomach.

"You're not too bad yourself." his wide grin had returned.

"How did I cheer you up?" she lifted an eyebrow in question.

"Your smile did all the work for you." she looked at his face to see him already staring back at her.

"You know, your letters were probably the best part of my holidays." she whispered, both of them leaning in a little closer.

"Really?

"Uh huh,"

"Well, mine was our kiss. Don't think anything could top that." his eyes kept flickering down to her lips.

"I think we should test that theory." she stated, smirking at Matthew.

"Oh yeah, me too." if he was going to say something else Diana didn't care, she just crashed her lips upon his.

●————♙————●

The whole team was in the entrance of the field, huddled together, listening to Davies' speech. He finished it off with a "And let's beat some lion ass!" which got a cheer out of everyone. The red hair had disappeared, except for Robert Chang's which frustrated him endlessly, but they were all still pissed about the prank.

They needed this win, Gryffindor did not.

Was Diana friends with people on the Gryffindor team? Yes she was. Was she still going to put everything into this game? Hell yes, because Gryffindors hadn't been treating her well lately, with the obvious exceptions of her best friends and now, Matthew Mckinnon.

The others weren't too great in her eyes, Sirius Black and her never got along, James had barely spoken to her since returning and was almost always seen with Evans. Remus promised he'd come to her match, but yet again he lied to her and she was tired of it. Tired of being the second choice when she would drop anything in a heartbeat for Remus, it didn't seem fair.

Her team lined up at the entrance of the field and mounted their brooms waiting for them to be announced by none other than Barty Crouch Jr.. She talked to Regulus about him and Reg just said he likes attention and being loud which Diana couldn't deny, that boy was always doing something to piss off his dad.

"And here we have the Ravenclaws!" he called out and they flew up and around the field. The Ravenclaws were so loud, Diana thought she'd go deaf after flying by their section.

Barty introduced every member of the team and when Diana's name was called, she was flying by the Sytherins, hearing Regulus call out "Let's fucking go! Kick some ass!" making her laugh.  After that day under their tree Regulus had a bit of a slow recovery from whatever happened during the holidays, but quidditch always got his spirits lifted. Most of the Slytherins cheered loudly for Ravenclaw simply because they just didn't want Gryffikndor to win.

She looked over at the Gryffindor section to also see Matthew and Fabian cheering loudly. Rory and Gideon were both chasers for Gryffindor, so Fabian had to cheer for both, he liked to claim neutrality. Diana always called him "Switzerland" but since all three of them were purebloods, they never appreciated her joke.

The players took their places on the ground waiting for Madame Hooch, once she blew her whistle, they flew up and were off. The Ravenclaws had gotten the quaffle first, making their way through a very practised play. Both teams were determined to win for different reasons, the Gryffindors wanted to keep up their winning streak and the Ravenclaws wanted a chance at the cup.

The rest of the game was intense and hectic, Diana had smacked into James multiple times in order to get ahead or get the quaffle and almost made him fall off his broom. That resulted in quite a few penalty shots but thankfully Davies was an amazing keeper and only a few of them made it in.

They were ahead, not by a lot, but enough that it mattered. All they needed was for Margot Douglas, their seeker who was a fourth year, to catch the snitch and they'd win the whole thing. If MacDonald happened to catch the snitch, Gryffindor would win, so as the rest of the team fought to keep their lead, they hoped Margot could pull through for them.

Now, both teams were playing slightly dirty, smacking against each other and hitting the bludgers with extra force. Madame Hooch hadn't made any calls for it and Diana assumed she was either super invested in the game or decided if they were going to play dirty, she was going to let them.

James had just gotten possession of the quaffle and Diana flew forward smacking into him once she got beside him, the quaffle slipped so slightly from his grip that Diana was able to grab it. She turned around and headed back for the Gryffindor goal, James flew forward and smacked into her as she did him. They continued this as they made it down the pitch, Diana saw her opportunity and threw the quaffle to Edgar Bones, he caught it and sped down the pitch.

Diana and James were still smacking against one another even though neither of them had the quaffle. She hit him a little harder, sending him more sideways and flew away when he gave her a weird look. Diana was hungry for a win as Edgar scored, growing the gap between the scores, she could feel it at the tip of her fingers and the quaffle made its way back towards Davies at the goal. Her hunger vanished only a few moments later.

"MacDonald catches the snitch. Gryffindor takes the win and is moving onto the house cup finals!" Barty called out, not sounding too excited and Diana instantly flew down with the rest of her team. They were all disappointed and upset, this was almost half the teams last year and it was supposed to be their year, their year to finally prove that Ravenclaw was more than just brains.

The Gryffindors cheered and made their way onto the field. She touched the ground, got off her broom and practically threw it. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! We should've won that. This is so stupid!" she yelled, throwing her gloves off, fuming.

The Gryffindors were carrying their team in the air, Diana sneered and picked up her broom from where she threw it and stormed off to the change room. She stripped out of her gear and went into the shower, letting the water fall down her face.

She needed that win, not just for the team, she needed that win for her. Her life had been falling apart lately and all she really needed was a win. Something people could be proud of. She also felt bad, bad about playing dirty, bad about almost knocking James off his broom which would've ended his future career and she knew it's what he really wanted.

She wanted it so badly that she let the want take over her.

●————♙————●

James POV

James felt like he was flying, well he was flying just moments before, but this was different. Everyone was proud of him and everyone else on the team, they were celebrating him and it made something warm fill his chest.

As he was being lifted in the air, he saw Diana walking or it looked more like storming off to the changing rooms. It made his smile drop slightly, she was acting weird today, it was like she was extra angry at him for no reason and he didn't understand why.

After the whole prank thing earlier, she was different and it made James feel something weird in his stomach. It pained him to tell her Remus wasn't going to show up today, he honestly didn't know why Remus didn't feel like coming because he was walking around the dorm all morning and he was one of the most stubborn people James knew. Well, obviously Remus will hide anything that is bothering him, but wouldn't coming to the game better hide his problems, James didn't really get it.

He got the "hiding everything that bothered you", it was something James did because if he wasn't the James Potter then what was he really? James also knew how strained Diana and Remus were lately, he'd heard very little from both of them but there were times that he could see exactly what their off-hand comments really meant.

James was glad he actually got to know Diana, all of their talks on the astronomy tower and in all the secret hallways of the castle. She was pulling away, she was pulling away from James and he didn't know why. What did he do?

Everything was fine at Christmas, they danced together and it left James with a smile on his face and a feeling he wanted to keep forever. Lily also gave him an olive branch at Christmas and it was something that made his eleven-year-old self's heart and brain explode. New Years was a moment he never imagined coming true, James Potter kissing Lily Evans was not something any of his friends seemed to think would ever happen.

There was something that was bugging him, right before Lily asked to be his New Years kiss, Diana had pulled him away and wanted to talk to him. She was going to ask or tell  him something and he wanted to know what it was. What was so important that he had to be taken away from the party? Was she going to tell him she wasn't dating Gideon Prewett?

That was something he hoped for, but after what happened on the train it didn't seem likely. He was also wondering why she didn't celebrate a little for Gideon, or any of the team for that matter. But that wasn't his biggest concern right now.

Everything was going smoothly before the holidays.

Now, everything was messed up and James didn't know how to fix it.

●————♙————●

"Why do I always find you trying to drink your body weight in firewhiskey?" James asked with a smile.

"I'm just trying to achieve a goal that you keep getting in the way of." Diana snapped, earning a laugh out of James.

Diana was now at the celebration party for Gryffindor's win and she definitely didn't want to be there. She was walking — well, more like sulking — back to her dorm when Rory ran up to her with a wide grin. Diana was happy that her friends had won the match, but hated that it was at her team's detriment. He told her about the afterparty that his team was throwing and Diana flat out refused immediately. She didn't want to have to go somewhere that people were going to be celebrating her downfall.

Rory is a persuasive person though, especially when in regards to people who love him, like Diana. In the end, she agreed to go as long as she could get as drunk as she wanted and stay in their dorm. He agreed because Diana knew as long as she came to the party, Rory'd be happy with her. 

Did Diana really want to hang out with a bunch of Gryffindors all night? Not really, but she hoped Matthew would be there so they could talk a little about earlier and the firewhiskey was a plus too.

"I would say I'm sorry, but I don't really like it when my friends don't achieve goals that would severely put their health at risk."

"Always the mother hen Potter," she hummed, contemplating drinking more from the bottle, but decided against it and put it back on the table.

"Yeah, well my friends are my family, y'know?" he shrugged as he eyed Diana cautiously. She watched as his eyes looked her over.

"You alright there, Potter?" she asked with a raise of the brow. James seemed to snap out of whatever the hell he was looking for to give her a weird look.

"Why are you doing that all of a sudden?"

"Doing what?" she asked with genuine confusion.

"Potter, you keep calling me Potter. You haven't called me that in a while."

"Why'd you come over here?" she ignored his previous statement.

"I just wanted to talk to you, you seem off lately." he stated simply, but it wasn't simple to Diana. She came here to talk to Matthew and when she found out he'd not decided to join the party, she found her way towards the drink table.

"Can we not talk about this here?" she asked, almost begged him desperately. Diana didn't need James trying to meddle in her business right now especially in front of everyone at this party because she knew she'd break down and nobody needed to see that.

"Why don't we go somewhere else then?" he suggested, holding his hand out. Diana hesitated for a moment before grabbing his hand. "Leave the firewhiskey, c'mon." she rolled her eyes and put down the bottle, following him to the astronomy tower.

While walking, Diana's emotions are stirring in her stomach and mind, the events of the day and the holidays had caught up to her. Her emotions were rising in her chest and she just felt like she needed to sit down and look at the stars for a solid hour.

They got to the astronomy tower after successfully sneaking around all professors and students somehow. She did in fact go and sit by the railing, neither Diana nor James said anything for a few minutes and Diana wasn't complaining.

"What's wrong? You've been off all day and what the hell was that during the game?" James asked, sitting beside Diana on the ground and breaking the silence.

"I'm just fucking sick of it." she found a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and took one out, lighting it with her wand.

"Sick of what?"

"Y'know he promised he'd come today, but he lied, he lied again not even bothering to tell me himself." she took a puff of her cig, knowing she was being unreasonable but right now, she couldn't be bothered.

"Oh come one, you can't blame Remus for that. It's not fair." Diana continued to stare forwards even though she could feel James' eyes on her.

"I think I can actually because it's been like this my whole life. Remus this, Remus that and I'm over it! I'm sick of Remus and I'm sick of you and I'm sick of everyone else who keeps somehow being better than me for everyone!" she snapped, standing up and leaning on the railing.

"Sick of me?" James asked quietly.

"What?"

"You said you're sick of me, is that true?" Diana's heart wanted to scream that no, she's not sick of him, that she doesn't think she has it in her to be sick of James Potter. She doesn't let her heart talk though so she screams.

"Yes I'm sick of you! I'm sick of Remus caring more about you than he ever has about me and I'm sick of being thrown to the side for people like Lily Evans." she threw her hands out to the side, her cigarette flew out of her fingertips, flying off the tower. Diana turned around to see James standing there with a broken look on his face.

"Why is Lily suddenly a part of this? Diana, Lily wanting to finally hang out with me has been my dream for years. How can you be mad at me for that?" he looked puzzled.

"Because she's always been better than me. For Remus first a-and all of a sudden you are doing everything with Lily bloody Evans. It's like nothing ever happened between us, like I was never important enough to you." she went quiet at the end, hating her temper for making her so honest.

"But you were — are — important to me." he defended, taking a step closer to her.

She scoffed "If I'm so important to you then why am I so easily replaced?" the question had stunned James, he opened and closed his mouth a few times to speak.

"I-I haven't replaced you, nobody's replaced you. What are you on about?"

"Listen to me, there are about four people in my life who have not replaced me with someone or something else. You, James Potter, are not one of them." nwo she had strode up to him and pointed a finger to his chest.

"Why are you being like this? First, it was whatever the hell that was during the match, almost sending me flying off my broom. Now, you're playing this lonely girl act, Diana. Why are you so desperate for someone to pity you?" they were both in each other's faces, their emotions high.

"Because everyone has someone who cares about their shit but me!" All she wanted to do was rip open her brain and let James hear her thoughts.

"Really? What about me? Who the hell cares about me, not "James Potter quidditch extraordinaire", the real me." he pointed his finger into his chest right where Diana had before.

"Me, I did. I've fucking cared about you since we met, I swear I l-"

"Please don't say you love me." James looked away, seemingly ashamed. "I can't deal with this right now, not with everything that's going on." he started slowly.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry. I'll wait until it's more convenient for you." she bit out.

"C'mon, you know that's not what I meant." he stepped forward to place a hand on her arm. Diana swerved out of the way and shoved him slightly as she walked past him.

"Fuck you James. You can go to Evans now, I'm done with you." she walked out of the tower, angry tears streaming down her face. Leaving a practically frozen James all alone. She didn't want to be done with him, Merlin knows she might never be.

Usually your first love is magical, a story you can tell your grandchildren about. For Diana, it was something she hoped to never talk about again. She needed to get over James otherwise she'd let herself be consumed by the pain. Frankly, she'd had a bit too much of that lately.

Chapter Text

●----♙----●

James felt the air breeze past him as Diana shoved him and walked away, walking out of his life, he couldn't lose her he just couldn't. All he wanted to do was run after her and tell her how important she was to him, that she's the light in every room he walks in, that she's the moon to his sun, yet he can't seem to move at all. He feels like he's stuck, stuck in a place of misery and he thought that maybe he deserved it. Maybe the James Potter deserved a little hardship and loss.

He hadn't lost much in his life, but Merlin, did he love. James Potter loved with his whole heart no matter who the person was, so when he lost it felt like he lost a piece of his heart. He felt as though his tears were the blood from his bleeding heart. He felt his knees buckle beneath him and hit the ground, but it felt like the world around him disappeared. James just wished he could go back to before he screwed everything up, before he got so caught up in childish giddiness that came along with Lily Evans' attention and forgot about the girl he had realised was right there the whole time.

He didn't know how long he'd sat on the floor when Sirius came through the door and hurried to his side. "Prongs, mate what happened?" he asked, his eyes full of worry, James' gaze shifted towards him and it was like the world had reappeared.

"Pads, I fucked up. I wanted her so bad Sirius, but I've wrecked it."

"Who? With Lily? She was looking for you all night, so I don't think anythings fucked up, to be honest." Sirius tried to reassure him and even though there was a small voice in the back of his head wanting to ask about Lily he pushed it down.

"No, no, not Lily." he shook his head with a sigh.

"How could it not be Evans? You know who I'm talking about right, the Lily who you've been in love with for six years, the one who you said you'd marry one day after a singular interaction, that Lily?" Sirius asked with his eyebrows raised before he gasped dramatically. "Oh shit, it's the girl you shagged on Halloween isn't it?"

James' eyes widened, he'd forgotten about the little whit lie he told Sirius after his conversation in the Astronomy Tower with Diana. "Uh- Well, we didn't actually do anything-"

"That doesn't matter right now," he waved off James' weak protests. "Is it her?"

"I- yeah, it's her." he exhaled, wiping a hand over his face.

"Well, who is she?"

"It doesn't matter, not anymore." he shook his head again, Sirius went to say something else but a sad grimace from James made him stop.

"Do I care too much?" James asked in a broken voice after a few moments of silence.

"James, mate, what are you talking about? You have the biggest heart out of anyone I know, well lots of people I know basically have no soul, but that's besides the matter." he smiled at James and it spoke so many words.

"But does it make me care too much? I haven't even known her for that long and we fought once and-and it felt like my heart had gotten a piece ripped out of it. It seems like I just cannot stop losing people because-"

"Am I a bad person?" Sirius cut him off abruptly.

"What?" James was puzzled, of course he wasn't a bad person. How could he even think that about himself?

"You heard me Prongs. Am. I. A. Bad. Person?" Sirius emphasised, it seemed like he was getting emotional and James rushed to his aid.

"That's crazy Pads, you could never ever be a bad person."

"It seems as if I keep losing people because of all the stupid shitty things I do and I grew up around so many horrible people that I can't help wonder if I'm bad aswell." he had gotten quiet near the end and James pulled him into his embrace.

"Of course you're not a bad person, there's no way." James tightened his embrace.

"Then you don't care too much." Sirius said into James' shirt and he let out a huff of laughter, there's no one else except Sirius that could trick him into something like this. "Y'know I love you right?"

"Yeah, 'course I love you too, Pads." Sirius pulled away and both boys smiled at each other.

James thought that maybe this was all he needed, just him and Sirius together no matter what. All he needed was his brother, - and James knows Sirius has a real brother, but there's no better word for it because that's what Sirius is, his brother - the two of them were special, their bond unique and James wouldn't change it for the world.

Blood rarely is thicker than water even if there's a whole river of blood and James thinks it's quite funny that that's how the world works, but he's kind of glad for it as well.

●----♙----●

"Diana! Hey, Diana!" Marlene called out, running up to Diana, who had been walking back to her dorm.

Diana turned around with a bright smile. "Marls, hi. What d'you need?" Marlene stopped beside her with a nervous expression crossing her face.

"Can we go to the astronomy tower or something? I wanted to talk to you in private and it's early so it should be empty." she asked and Diana agreed immediately because there was a serious glint in Marlene's gaze. "Yeah, yeah 'course, let's go."

The two made their way to the astronomy tower which was just a single moving staircase away and when they entered Diana was hit with the sounds of her and James' fight from a few days ago. They hadn't spoken since, in fact she hadn't seen him at all, not even in lessons, and it's not like she could've asked Black about him in potions. She hated that she might have ruined her favourite spot in the whole castle (sans the quidditch pitch of course) all because of her stupid jealousy.

"I have good news and bad news." Marlene declared as the two leaned against the railing, saving Diana from her own depressive thoughts.

"Start with good news, I think we all need some of that right now." she smiled sadly, the second part of her sentence hitting both girls hard. There was a war emerging and they both hoped, along with many others, that it would be squashed before they graduated Hogwarts. Or at least that was the dream.

"Yeah okay, I uh- You know Dorcas, right? Beautiful Slytherin, always hanging around Sirius' brother and his friends, hated me from Year 3 to 5 because I messed up a spell and burned a few inches off one side of her hair. That Dorcas." Marlene rattled off facts anxiously and Diana chuckled softly.

"To be fair, I didn't know that's why she hated you, but yeah babe, I know Dorcas. What about her?" she leaned her face onto her fist and watched Marlene with a fond smile.

"Well, we kissed and stuff on New Years so I decided to tell my parents I'm a lesbian during Sunday dinner." she mumbled the last part so quickly Diana almost missed it.

"Oh Merlin, Marls. I'm so proud of you!" Marlene's face lit up at Diana's excitement. "How'd they take it?" she asked in a softer tone.

"Uhm, that's some of the bad news..." her previously lit up face was quickly dimmed with her answer.

"Fuck, I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. I mean, Marvin was fine about it, didn't really understand what it meant at first but once I explained it to him, he didn't seem to care much. Which, he's ten so I didn't expect much anyways. Matthew just said 'nice, cheers' fucking arse." she laughed slightly and Diana smiled, but Marlene's smile dropped a bit as she started speaking again.

"Dad was surprisingly supportive, just mentioned how it made me more like my brothers. Telling me to get a nice girl like Micheal did or ask him advice about and these are his words, birds." Both girls cringed at that word, some girls enjoyed being called that but when it came from someone's father, it was a bit odd in Diana's opinion. At least he was trying, that's what mattered.

"Mum wasn't happy about it, she told me I should try and be a better lady. Y'know the whole, marry a nice bloke, pop out eight wizard kids, never work a job that I'm passionate about, that "lady". Then I started yelling, telling her I wasn't going to marry some boy because she wants me to be whatever the hell normal is to her. Called me gobby, said I better change my mind by the time I go back home for the holidays then she stormed off." Marlene was fuming and Diana felt her heart break as she watched the angry tears roll down her face.

She pulled the blonde into her arms, "If you would let me fight your Mum, I totally would." gaining a watery chuckle out of Marlene, much to her relief. "I mean it and you can stay at mine over the holidays if you'd like."

The two pulled away and Marlene smiled softly at Diana. "Thanks, I just might, especially if telling my other brothers goes as badly. That wasn't the only thing I wanted to talk to you about though." she said a bit nervously."

"Oh, alright, what was it?" Diana said with a furrowed brow.

"Matthew told me about, uhm, y'know..."

"Huh?"

"Well, he told me about the, I get you might not want to really talk about it but we can y'know."

Diana contemplated for a few moments before it clicked. "Matthew told you we kissed?"

"WHAT? You kissed my brother?!?!" Marlene's eyes were so wide, Diana thought they might pop out.

"Is that not what you were just talking about?" she exclaimed, in horror. Oh God, this was not how she was going to mention it, she had a plan and everything.

"No! Of course not! Why on earth would that be what I'm talking about?" Marlene looked dumbfounded.

"Well what else would it be?"

"I was talking about that nasty fight you and James got into after the party and look James is like my best mate but he's just been moping for three days. I hate seeing him like that." Right, her fight with James, how could she forget that?

"He's been moping? I haven't seen him since."

"Yeah he's seriously messed up about the whole thing and I only know it's about you because somebody told Matthew they were coming up here that night and heard you two yelling, then he told me about it. It's just you seem fine but he's like majorly fucked up, I had to sneak into his dorm just to see him." she stated and Diana felt like a dick, she acted fine because otherwise she'd let the feeling of the fight overtake her.

"Trust me I'm not fine, I just have to move on because look, I fancy him, like really really fancy him but he'll never see me like that. And I can't talk to my mates about it because they've got their people, well maybe not Gideon but he could have anyone he wants really, it really fucking sucks that they'll just never get it. I thought there was something but I forgot that I'd never be her, never be who he's always wanted, I was just me." she felt the tears in her eyes and rubbed them away harshly.

"Shit sorry, didn't mean to dump that on you." she tried to laugh, but it was weaker than she wanted it to come off as.

"Hey, you let me cry on you, so the same goes for me. Cry on my shoulder all you want, I know life's shit right now." Marlene smiled and it sparked some warmth in Diana's heart. Maybe they were never meant to be, romance just wasn't in the cards, but was Diana Lupin grateful for Marlene McKinnon or what. "I'm still weirded out about the whole kissing my brother thing though."

Diana laughed loudly at the disgust on her face. "Look, I want to say I'm sorry but he's special. I guess it runs in the family."

"Damn right it runs in the family." Marlene stated smugly. "If he makes you happy go for it but I won't be opposed to kicking either one of your asses if you hurt the other."

"Yeah, yeah." Diana teased with a smirk. "Love ya Marls."

"Love you too Di." she swung an arm around Diana's shoulder and they walked away from the astronomy tower feeling lighter in both of their hearts.

Chapter Text

●————♙————● 

It was now approaching Diana's least favourite holiday, Valentine's Day. As someone who'd never had a partner for a single valentine's day in her life, it just never tickled her fancy. 

This year, she was in a completely different situation. There was the whole James situation, they hadn't spoken in weeks but no one missed the lingering glances during classes and in the great hall, well, except for Diana and James of course. 

It was horrible, every time she saw James all Diana wanted to do was run up to him and apologise and tell him that she does know he cares and that she was just having a shitty day. Then she sees Lily Evans walk by and her and James smile at each other and boom, the pit of jealousy is back like a boulder in her gut. Right then, Matthew McKinnon grabs her wrist, pulls her around making her gut fill with butterflies replacing the jealousy. 

Matthew McKinnon was what had sparked a bit of hope for Diana this year. He was everything she could've possibly asked for, he was amazing and Diana really liked him. What they had was light and different, it wasn't like her and James where Diana felt raw and it was so complicated. 

"Can I kiss you?" Matthew asked with a smirk that made her heart swoon, it reminded her so much of Ja- No, shut the fuck up she told herself and put her focus back on the boy in front of her. 

"Of course," she smiled, their lips connected and it made Diana's head spin.

The two pulled away from each other and Matthew smiled at her "Go out with me." he whispered, catching Diana off guard. 

"What?" 

"Go out with me, I'll take you out for Valentine's day and we can try this, try us for real." he grinned, Diana's insides twisted. How could she go out with Matthew when she still fancied James? Well, of course she did because it's hard to get rid of feelings she's had for six years. But Matthew was wonderful and maybe trying this with him would help Diana with what she needed to do, get over James Potter. 

"Yeah, alright." she agreed and Matthew's gaze was now full of shock. 

"Wait, really?" he asked. 

"Yeah, let's go out and try this because I fancy you a lot and I don't think just kissing in the corridor is going to satisfy me much longer." she tried to say nonchalantly but couldn't help the grin that made its way onto her face. 

"Y'know, I fancy you too." Matthew whispered as he leaned in closer to her and grabbed her chin in between his index finger and thumb. 

"Well, Christ I hope so." Diana laughed and leaned in to connect their lips. They pulled away and Mathhew had a smile on his face. 

"Mhm, you're funny." he laughed quietly.

"Oh trust me, I know." she smirked at him and they continued to banter not noticing a boy with raven hair watching the girl with a longing gaze. 

●————♙————● 

James watched as Diana and Matthew McKinnon practically put on a show for everyone in the corridor. Lily had just asked him to hang out with her on their next Hogsmeade trip (which was conveniently on Valentine's Day) and it should've made him ecstatic, his heart should've been jumping for joy, but instead all he could think about was the girl with the sandy brown hair. That's how he knew it was getting bad, he had to talk to someone about it and he had the right person in mind.  

Peter was lying on his bed with a book in his hands and one of Remus' records playing when James barged in the room. He looked around frantically before exclaiming. "I think I'm in love with Diana even though Lily likes me now and it's wrong because she's also Remus' sister!" 

To say Peter was shocked would be an understatement, well he wasn't shocked about the whole "in love with Diana" thing because frankly, Peter was an attentive person and it wasn't that hard to see. He was shocked about the fact that a) James finally realised it and b) he decided to declare it loudly to the world. 

"And what would you like me to do about it?" he asked James with raised brows, sitting up on his bed. 

"Ugh, I don't know Wormy." James groaned, flopping onto Peter's bed face first. "I just need someone to console me." he all but whined. 

Peter then started cooing things like "There there" and "Aw my poor baby" at James and patting his head like a doting yet overbearing mother would. "Not like that!" James started to slap Peter's hands off his head and rolled over so he was facing the ceiling. 

"I-I just- It's just wrong!" he tossed his arms out to the side. 

"Why is loving someone who is smart, kind and likes you back wrong?" Peter asked knowingly. 

"It's not, except Diana definitely does not fancy me whatsoever, Pete you're delusional." James huffed and Peter wanted to stab him. 

"You're taking the piss, right?" James stared at him, confused. "Come on James, you've got to be taking the piss?"

"Why would I joke about this, Wormy? You know what, I came here for some comfort, see you later." James started to walk away when Peter all but yelled. 

"You're an idiot Prongs, I love you but you're an idiot. How do you not see the way she's looked at you for years or how she melts whenever you're around? You could not have been that obsessed with Evans that you didn't notice?" Once Peter finished his little speech, James had turned around and was staring at his friend with wide eyes. 

"Are you serious?" 

"No, he's the dog, I'm just a-" 

"Peter." 

"Right, sorry, not the time. But of course I'm serious, I wouldn't bullshit you, Prongs, you know I wouldn't lie to you." Peter looked at James with the same serious look he'd given him when James came out to him last year, so he knew he was serious. 

"She likes me?" James asked in an almost desperate voice.

"Yes! That's what I've been trying to tell you! Godric, James, you really are daft sometimes!" Peter exclaimed exasperated. 

"Well, we knew that already!" James threw his hands up in frustration. "I've really fucked it all up, haven't I?" 

●————♙————● 

It's been a month since Regulus returned to Hogwarts with no sense of how he got there or the day's events. He'd gotten like that a few times but thankfully his friends haven't really left him alone since they'd returned. Evan and Barty would never leave his side other than at night when they were just a bed away on each side of him, Pandora gave him the space he needed and wanted which Regulus was very grateful for, and Dorcas hadn't been around as much as usual. She'd been getting quite close with the girls in her year from Gryffindor recently, especially the McKinnon girl Diana had been with last year, so she'd been a bit more distant. Not that Regulus would blame her in any way for it, he had his days where only Diana would understand what he was going through or when he just wanted to be left alone. 

Everything was weird, it had changed and Regulus hated it. He hated that now the Daily Profit was something people were frightened of at breakfast every morning and that Slytherins had been getting more dirty and sceptical glances in the corridors. What he hated most was that some of them deserved it, some of the seventh years like Avery and Mulciber were doing undeniable dark magic in the common room at night, picking on innocent first years and Regulus didn't stop it. 

He figured he deserved the scepticism too. He was a follower, a sheep always had been, he'd followed Sirius' lead for most of his childhood, he followed along with his friends, and now he follows what his parents believe in out of fear, out of pure unbridled fear. The one time he wasn't a follower was when he decided to let Sirius go, let him escape from the hellhole that was their home, because he gave Regulus his entire childhood, so Regulus thought he'd return the favour and give Sirius the rest of his life to be free. At first he was upset that Sirius didn't ask him to leave, but then Regulus knew it was for the better, so then Sirius could go and live his life without the responsibility of having to raise his little brother. He deserved it. 

Diana had given him hope that he could do the same for himself, that he could let her save him, but yet again he followed that fear and ran away. Or more specifically, ran back home, ran back to the everlasting cold hearts of his parents, his mother who attacked with her words and wand, and his father who watched and ignored. Maybe underneath his facade, his father was just like him, afraid of his mother's wrath so he complies, maybe Orion Black even has a warm and beating heart under his expensive personally tailored robes. Yet no one's heart was warmer towards Regulus than Diana's – Sirius' might have battled that a few years ago, but Regulus thinks that fight is an irrelevant one now – she was the moon for his star. 

"Hello my dearest Regulus," Diana took a seat beside Regulus, where he was sitting underneath their tree, swung her legs out to the side and placed her head in his lap. Regulus loved when she did this, it was as if she was shielding him from everyone else, like she was claiming him. It was so intimate, yet Regulus knew it was so platonic that if anyone suggested it was romantic, the people of Hogwarts would see Regulus Black smile for the first time away from the Quidditch pitch. "I've brought you something to celebrate." 

"And what are we celebrating?" he raised an eyebrow in question, closing his book and placing it in his bag. 

"We are celebrating the fact that a boy has made me happy today! Which we both know is rare in my life." she smiled up at him and pulled a tin out of her bag. Today her bag was white with a painting of a vineyard on it, he presumed she painted on it herself, she constantly had new bags and totes with random yet beautiful pictures on it. 

"Do I not constantly make you happy?" he smirked at her, gauging a reaction. Her mouth fell open in fake shock and betrayal. 

"Wow, alright I see how it is." she huffed and sat up. "Just take a biscuit and let me wallow in my shame and humiliation!" she shoved the open tin towards his face dramatically and Regulus fought the urge to laugh. 

"You're an idiot," he chuckled, taking one of the deformed biscuits from the tin. Diana was never much of a baker, she said her mother didn't give her the baking gene. Regulus wished he could meet her one day with all the whimsical stories Diana told him from when she was young, but now the only stories he'd heard around the school was that Loony Lupin and his sister had a dying mum and were going to be orphaned. Some nights he prayed to Merlin to give whatever happiness he may have had planned for Regulus to the Lupins. 

"Yes, but I'm your idiot." she sighed happily, moving to sit right beside him, her back against the tree trunk. 

"Not anymore, you're now this random boy's idiot." he shrugged, a smile st taking a bite of the biscuit. "Shit, this is really good, Diana." 

"Why thank you," she smiled that eternally warm smile at him. "And he's not a random boy, you know who he is-"

"No way you're with Potter now!" he turned to her in shock. It had to have been a miracle if Diana Lupin finally raked up the courage to ask out James Potter or that James Potter finally got the balls to get over Evans and find someone who actually fancied him. 

"Say that louder would you? And no, I'm not." she let out a breathy chuckle "Trust me, I'm definitely not, it's um Matthew McKinnon." 

"Shit, I heard he was seen snogging with some girl today." Regulus said matter-a-factly and Diana looked over at him with wide eyes. 

"What the hell, how did you hear about that already? It happened an hour ago?!" 

Regulus scoffed lightly, "Oh please, I live with Barty and he's the biggest gossip in probably the history of this school." 

"Oh yes, I seem to forget that constantly." after a beat of amused silence "Are you not freezing your arse off?" Diana looked at him accusingly. 

"No, I'm fine." Regulus lied but Diana just looked at him now unamused. 

She took off her cloak and handed it to him "Just put this on, would you?" 

"I'm fine really." he tried to deny it but Diana was having no part of it, Regulus was practically shivering in just his button-up and tie. 

"Well, I've already taken it off and I will just toss it on you even if it's unwillingly." she shrugged and Regulus sighed dramatically and snatched it from her hands, putting it on himself as he relaxed visibly into the warmth of it. Diana had figured out how to add a semi-permanent warming charm on her cloak for winter, it took many tries and once she almost set her bed's curtains on fire, but now it's as if seeing Regulus all warmed up made it seem like her risks finally paid off. 

"You're a dramatic git, you know that don't you?" she nudges his shoulder then rests her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I know, I'm pretty sure it's a family trait or some shit like that." he said with a sly smile, and Diana couldn't help but let out a chuckle.