***

With Layla Miller on one side of him and Diana Greengrass on the other, Regulus was forced to accompany the two older girls down toward the Black Lake.

     The snow had stopped falling and the sunlight was peaking through the grey clouds which were starting to forsake the sky. The water had frozen throughout the previous night, and now that the students were free for the day of all their classes, many of them had left the castle to play.

     They passed a group of young Hufflepuffs who were building a large snowman and placing a carrot on its face as the nose, with black buttons as its eyes and two pieces of wood for the hands. They had even wrapped their yellow and black scarf around its neck. The only fascinating thing about it was that they had placed a charm on its wooden hands to make them move.

    As they passed by, Diana and Regulus both rolled their eyes when they sighted a few Gryffindor first years laying down on the snow and making snow angels.

    "All right! Here we are!" Layla boisterously announced when they finally reached the edge of the frozen lake.

     "I can't believe you talked me into this," Regulus said reproachfully.

     "She didn't talk you into it. She dragged you into it," Diana corrected him, but Layla was already in the process of placing a Slippery Charm on the bottom of her shoes with her wand.

     "Come on, you two. You don't have to be so grumpy all the time," Layla said with a little laugh as she placed her wand back in her pocket, before finally stepping on the ice, gliding over gracefully.

     "I don't even know the spell!" said Regulus with a shrewish face.

     "I do. She's been dragging me here for years," said Diana, taking her wand out of her pocket to put the charm underneath her own shoes.

     "Foot up, Black," she demanded after she was done, turning to face him with a grin. Regulus sighed, obliging.

     Once the spell was placed on his shoes as well, the two of them cautiously walked over on the ice, trying to keep their balance as they slid over.

     Layla knew better not to go to the middle of the lake, aware of the fact that the ice was thinner there. But she was already way ahead of the other two, gliding with no difficulty. Diana and Regulus, on the other hand, were still struggling not to fall flat on their backs.

     "Woah!" Regulus gasped as he nearly lost his balance, but managed to hold himself up in the last moment.

    Diana snorted with laughter. "I see you're a professional ice dancer," she said sarcastically.

    "As if you're any better," Regulus retorted, skating alongside her slowly.

     "I can definitely beat you."

     "I would like to see you try."

     "Are you challenging me, Pretty Boy?" Diana said crossly, feeling her competitive side surging from within her once again.

     "It's not a challenge when I'm certain you're going to lose, Greengrass," Regulus said with an arrogant sneer spread across his face.

     "Oh, yeah? Well, get ready to break your hip," said Diana with a smirk. "I'll race you to where Layla is. Whoever reaches her first wins."

    Regulus grinned. "You're on."

    "All right, then. On the count of three," Diana started, standing beside Regulus as they got ready to go. "One... THREE!"

    Diana took a sudden head start, sliding forward with the best speed she could manage without falling.

     "OI! CHEATER!" Regulus yelled after her as he tried to catch up quickly.

     When he got close enough to her, Regulus grabbed her sleeve and held her back, trying to advance on her.

     "STOP, YOU IDIOT!" Diana cried out with a laughter as Regulus managed to slide past her.

     Diana tried to reach out for him to pull him back, but she let out a squeal when she slid over and fell on her back painfully. Startled at the loud thud, Regulus lost focus and his balance, falling down as well with a yelp.

    Layla, who's attention was caught at all the noise, quickly glided toward the two, who were laying flat on their backs on the ice. Although when Diana and Regulus looked up at each other, they both burst into laughter.

     Layla sighed, shaking her head at them. "You two are a lost cause."

***

They were now in the second week of December, and Layla's birthday had arrived. Unlike Diana who couldn't care less about her own birthday, Layla loved it and always made a big fuss about it. But the one think that pissed her off was that she had to sit through classes on her birthday.

"Why couldn't it have been Saturday or Sunday right now?" Layla groaned as they left the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom after the lesson ended.

"You'll just have to survive Potions, and then we'll have the rest of the day to ourselves. We'll do whatever you like," Diana tried to comfort her, but it didn't have much of an effect on her mood.

Layla opened her mouth to reply, but she was broken off when someone called them from behind. Turning around to see who it was, Diana's heart skipped when she saw that it was Remus Lupin, walking toward them with Potter, Black, and Pettigrew right beside him.

Remus paced quickly through the corridor, leaving his friends a bit behind as he reached the two girls.

Diana glanced at Layla sideways, only to see an amused grin playing on her lips as she looked up at Lupin, completely forgetting about the tragedy of having to spend her birthday in boring classes.

"Yes?" said Diana, trying to ignore his friend's presence right behind Remus, who were all looking at her curiously. Though the expression on Black's face was pure despise.

As it seemed, he still wasn't over the fact that Diana had kicked him in the groin when he had tried to kiss her on their fake date.

Diana noticed that Remus sent a quick glance over his shoulder at where his friends were waiting for him, all of them watching the scene grudgingly.

Remus had already told James, Sirius, and Peter about how their Ancient Runes' professor had set him up with Diana Greengrass for a project, though he left out the part where he didn't actually mind being paired up with her. He knew well enough that Sirius already hated the girl for some unknown reason and that James despised all Slytherins in general.

But it didn't matter. Remus had come to the conclusion that he couldn't allow himself to be around her anymore, afraid of his own emotions which he had tried to contain for a while now. This kind of ordinary life wasn't meant for him. The less time he spent with her, the better.

     Remus then cleared his throat, finally turning to look back at her again.

"Listen," he started, avoiding Diana's eyes. "I just wanted to say that I finished our assignment on my own."

Diana gaped at him. "What?"

"It didn't take long." Remus shrugged, but when he saw the frown on her face, he quickly added, "But don't worry. I'll give you credit. You helped too. We can give it to Professor Kumar next week."

Diana felt a pang in her heart as she blinked a few times, trying to take a grasp on what he had just said.

     She felt like a fool for thinking for a second that Lupin was any different from his friends. But he was just like them. He hated Slytherins and Purebloods like her. Was he really that keen to get rid of her that he did all the work himself, just so he wouldn't have to work with her?

     Was he trying to use her and play with her emotions that night in the library, just like Sirius Black had? Was that why he had almost kissed her?

"I don't want the damn credits, Lupin," Diana said blankly, trying to keep a stern face, though her heart was aching inside. "Why would you do it all on your own? I thought we were supposed to work it together."

"W-well," Remus fumbled with the words to find the right ones to say, trying not to sound too harsh, "you've got to admit that we don't work well together. We're always arguing. We would drive each other mad."

A long silence fell between them, as though the world around them had faded into nothingness. As though silence was all that existed.

     Diana then smiled coldly, looking away. "Right... right."

"So... are we good?" Remus asked, looking at her unsurely.

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" Diana said flatly before turning on her heel and storming out of the corridor, with Layla following right after her.

"I swear, all Slytherins are mental," said James once the two were gone, and Peter nodded in agreement.

"C'mon, Moony," said Sirius with a grin, nudging Remus on the arm, "we should head down to Potions. We don't want to keep Snivellus waiting. An exploding toffee is awaiting to be dropped into his cauldron."

"Hell yeah!" James clapped his hands together enthusiastically, laughing with his usual vim.

"Right... can't wait," Remus whispered, his eyes longingly fixed at the end of the corridor where Diana had disappeared off to.