Diana and Remus left the secret passageway long after curfew, deciding to return back to their common rooms. Remus suggested taking a longer path so they coule avoid running into Filch, or worse, Peeves.

"I forgot to ask, by the way," Diana started as they were walking down a dim hallway, "did you get the badge?"

"Badge?"

"Yeah. You know, the Head Boy badge."

"Oh!" Remus nodded in realization. He had been so distracted that he hadn't understand what she was referring to at first. "No, I didn't."

"Then who got it?"

"Lily and James."

"Oh... Well, Lily deserved it. She's wonderful," said Diana. "Who's James?"

Remus gave her a funny look. "What do you mean who's James? James is James."

"Hold up!" Diana stopped walking, putting her hands up. "James Potter? The James Potter is the new Head Boy?"

Remus chuckled. "How many other Jameses do you know?"

"I know James Conan; he's a second year Slytherin boy, but even he's more likely to get the badge than James Potter!"

"True." Remus laughed. "But he's really changed, you know. He'd been studying all year, last year. Got top grades. Stopped fooling around and getting into detentions. Sirius was disappointed in him, of course, but it seemed as though James finally decided to grow up."

"Well, now that's a surprising turn of events." Diana grinned. "Although, I thought only prefects could become Head."

"We had all thought so, too. But turns out, it's not a necessary factor," said Remus.

He then sniggered as he remembered something. "Believe me, James was more shocked than any of us. At first he thought we were pranking him. But then when we swore in the letters that it wasn't us, James sent a letter to Dumbledore, because he thought the badge was supposed to be given to me and was accidentally sent to him instead."

"Did you get disappointed that you didn't get it?"

"Not at all." He shook his head, smiling. "I was actually really happy when I found out he got it."

"How come?"

"Well, James has been head over heels in love with Lily for ages. This actually gives him a good reason to spend more time with her, and honestly, I think Lily is starting to come around."

"About time." Diana sniggered, remembering the look on Evans's face whenever Potter made a move on her in classes or in the Great Hall.

"They're actually together right now," said Remus, checking the time on his watch. "They must be patrolling the corridors."

"So are you still a prefect?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, aren't you supposed to be patrolling the corridors tonight, too? I feel like I have taken you away from your duties."

"It's fine. I'm sure the other prefects are handling it." He shook a hand at her reassuringly. "Besides, you... you were more important," he said the last part more quietly as he looked away from her shyly, a blush descending on his cheeks.

Diana found herself smiling again, and so she reached out to hold his hand as they walked down the hallway.

When the path began to get dimmer, Remus took out his wand and muttered, "Lumos!" and lightened the way.

"You sure Filch won't be around this part of the castle?" Diana questioned, looking around her cautiously.

"I have six years of experience in this field, darling. So it's safe to say I'm pretty sure," Remus said smugly, grinning at her sideways.

"Well, someone's getting a little cocky," Diana said teasingly, making him laugh. "And what if one of the prefects catches us?"

"Easy. I'll tell them that I found you lurking around in one of the upstairs corridors, that I have already taken points off you and given you detention, and I'll tell them that I'm escorting you back to your common room to make sure you won't be escaping again."

Diana laughed. "You know, Lupin, for someone who looks really innocent, you're a really good liar."

"Yea, well. I've had a lot practice. Lying to get yourself out of detention-related trouble is the first lesson you'll learn as a Marauder."

Diana smiled. She wasn't going to admit it to the rest of them, but she actually loved their friend group.

"By the way, you don't have to come all the way down to my common room with me," she said. "I don't want Avery and Mulciber to see us together all alone and go reporting back to Rosier. Those two rats were the ones who told him about us in the first place. They're the only friends Rosier has who are still at Hogwarts. Although, I wouldn't exactly call them friends."

"Are you sure you don't want me to accompany you down to the dungeons? It might be dangerous at this hour of the night."

Diana stopped walking and smiled, raising her arm to place a hand on his cheek, gently caressing his scarred skin with her fingertips.

"I'll be fine, Remus. I can take care of myself. You don't have to worry about me," she reassured him softly.

Remus tried to smile back, though it was half-hearted. He couldn't help but to worry. Perhaps it was the wolfish side of him, but he had begun to grow a sense of protectiveness toward her.

The two of them parted ways in the entrance hall, Remus walking up the marble staircase and up to the Gyrffindor tower, while Diana went down to the dungeons.

When she said the new password and walked into the Slytherin common room, she found Layla sitting there all alone, staring into the fireplace. She was still awake, probably waiting for Diana all this time.

At her friend's sight, Layla shot to her feet worriedly. "Well? What happened? Did you talk to him?"

Diana gave a small nod of her head as she went over and joined her on the black leather couch. "I talked to him."

"And...?" Layla asked impatiently, sitting back down without taking her eyes off Diana.

"And he promised to help me come up with a way to prevent this wedding from happening, without triggering my prediction."

"But how?"

"I don't know," Diana whispered, sighing deeply. "Even if neither of us finds a way in the end, it's still a comfort to have him by my side for the time being. I... I don't know what I would've done without him."

Right at that moment, however, their conversation was broken off when the entrance to the Slytherin common room opened and four boys walked inside, their footsteps echoing through the enormous room.

Looking up, Diana felt her whole body tense up when she saw Mulciber, Avery, and Snape walking inside, and behind them was Regulus.

Grinding her teeth, Layla jumped to her feet angrily, and this time, Diana was too late to stop her from bursting in fury.

"So that's it? You're running along with these gits now?" Layla yelled at Regulus, her hands turning into fists at her side.

Snape gave her a indifferent look and walked up to the boys' dormitory without a word. Avery and Mulciber, however, didn't follow. Instead, they stayed back, grinning at the girls' direction.

   "How's your daddy doing? Still in hiding?" Mulciber asked, his evil eyes looking over at Layla.

     "How dare you!" Layla snapped.

     She sprang forward, but Diana was in time to hold her back. Avery and Mulciber knew dark magic, whereas Layla didn't even have her wand with her. She would've ended up hurt.

"Black, go calm your little bitch," Avery told Regulus with a sneer. "Or we'll handle the situation ourselves."

      Sniggering, Avery and Mulciber went upstair and disappeared out of sight, but Regulus remained standing on the spot, looking down at his feet with a frown, not daring to meet Layla's eyes.

     "How could you?" Layla whispered, her eyes filling up with tears. "They're murderers, Regulus! How could you be friends with them!? How could you leave us like that!?"

     Feeling too cowardly to be confronted by her — or perhaps feeling too guilty — Regulus turned around to walk away from them and go upstairs, but Layla had sprang free from Diana, grabbing onto the back of Regulus's clock and pulling him back.

     "Stay back and talk to me, you coward!" Layla cried out, her tears now streaming down her cheeks like a river. "H-how could you? Do you have any idea what these people have done to me and my family?"

     Regulus still refused to look up at her. With a shaky breath, Diana quickly went forward to stand between them. She placed a hand on each of their arms to separate them, but she retrieved her hand from Regulus in shock, as though she had been electrocuted only by touching him.

     He looked up at Diana in fear and she held his gaze, until the realization finally hit her.

     And so, before Regulus could resist, Diana grabbed his wrist firmly in her grip and pulled up his sleeve, gasping when she saw the Dark Mark inked into the skin of his forearm.