***

Diana gaped at Remus, sure that she had heard him wrong. It was more probable that Filch would dance around the Great Hall naked than to hear Remus Lupin ask her out.

     "Wh-what?" Diana stared up at him, trying desperately not to show how shocked she was, and yet failing miserably.

    "Well, just to be clear, this won't be a real date," said Remus with the same mischievous smile, making Diana even more confused.

     "What in the name of Merlin's balls are you talking about, Lupin?" Diana snapped, making him chuckle at her choice of words.

     "Last week you told me that you hate the idea of going on a date, and that cheesiness is your nightmare," Remus explained, grinning. "If you lose the bet, you'll have to agree to go on the worst fake-date that has ever existed in the history of dating, on the next Hogsmeade trip."

    Diana wanted to sigh in relief that he wasn't actually asking her out. But then why was she feeling slightly disappointed deep down?

     "Be more specific, Lupin," she said sharply as she folded her arms again, trying to hide away all the emotions in her voice. "How bad of a date are we talking about here?"

     "Oh, don't worry. It's going to be a living nightmare," said Remus, smiling sweetly. "One that will make you regret ever suggesting the bet in the first place. It will be a day you'll never forget, so it can be a reminder that I beat you at the Ancient Runes test."

     Diana pursed her lips together, thinking this through and pondering the matter. She was afraid to know what Remus had in mind. But then again, she was curious to see what would happen if she said yes.

     "Well?" said Remus after a long pause. "Do we have a deal?"

     Sighing in defeat, Diana finally nodded. "Fine. Deal."

     Holding on a stubborn face, Diana raised her hand. With a confident smile, Remus took her hand and held her gaze as they shook on it.

***

The realization of what Remus had done didn't hit him until later that night, when he was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with James, Sirius, and Peter.

    What was I thinking? Next Hogsmeade visit is on Valentine's day! Remus thought to himself gloomily, feeling the urge to hit his head against a wall. I can't be around her with James and Sirius snooping around.

    James and Sirius were already curious about who Remus had started to like lately, after Peter had let it slip. This was just going to make everything worse.

     Remus didn't even know why he had suggested that to her in the first place. All he knew was that each time he talked to Diana, she brought out a different version of him; someone bolder. More confident. More daring.

     Remus knew he couldn't back out of the bet now. The thought crossed his mind that he could answer the test's questions wrong on purpose and let Diana win; this would save him a lot of trouble. But for obvious reasons he really wanted to win, even though it was going to be a fake and terrible date.

     The only option that this left him was that now Remus had to think of a strategy to get Sirius and James out of the way.

     While Sirius, James, and Peter were sitting on the couch near the fireplace, Remus was slouching on an armchair beside them. He had his legs stretched out on the table before him and was resting his Care of Magical Creatures' book on his knees, though he wasn't reading through the lines at all.

     "I still don't get it," said James, who had been babbling about Lily for the past twenty minutes, "it wouldn't kill her to say yes!"

     "Something tells me she would rather die than to go out with you, but sure, whatever you say, Prongs," said Sirius wearily, staring into the fire out of boredom.

     He hated having to stay somewhere without doing anything to spike his excitement, and that included doing his homework or studying.

     "Valentine's day is coming up, Prongs," said Peter, trying to be helpful. "Why don't you get her a lot of flowers before asking her out? She might say yes."

     "Yeah, I guess." James shrugged. "All girls like flowers."

      Not all girls, Remus thought to himself.

     But just then, the idea finally popped into his head.

     With that, Remus raised his book up to hide his face behind it so they couldn't see him grinning, before saying in a casual tone, "I wouldn't count on it though, Prongs?

     "Why not?" James turned his head toward him sharply, sounding offended at the discouragement.

     "I've heard Lily's going out with someone else on Valentine's day this year," Remus lied easily, trying to control his voice so he wouldn't sound too obvious.

     He wasn't surprised when James jerked up to his feet, crossing his arms. "Who the hell asked her out!?"

     Suppressing his smile, Remus finally lowered his book to look up at James from where he was sitting, before shrugging. "I don't know. I just know they're not actually going to Hogsmeade for their date."

     Sirius's attention was now caught, grinning up at James in amusement, finding entertainment in the way James gritted his teeth together angrily, ready to burst from fury.

     "And where exactly are they going for this so-called date?" James investigated, looking as though he was ready to hex whoever had dared to ask out the girl he liked.

      "No idea. Probably somewhere inside the castle," said Remus.

     James was so mad that he didn't even think to question Remus about how he had managed to get this piece of information. He just started pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace, thinking.

     "Then we'll just skip this Hogsmeade trip. Yes, that's what we'll do," said James, robbing his chin thoughtfully. "And then we can use the Marauder's Map to find where they are."

     Remus made a mental note to hide the map that day.

     "Ugh, for Merlin's sake! I don't want to miss Hogsmeade!" Sirius groaned. "Come off it, Prongs!"

      "No. Not gonna happen." James shook his head stubbornly, still pacing around.

      James wouldn't go to Hogsmeade if he knew Lily would be staying at the castle, and Sirius wouldn't go without James, and Peter always followed the two of them around wherever they went.

     Remus raised his book up toward his face again to hide his satisfied smile. This was going exactly as he had planned.

***

Throughout the next two weeks, Diana studied Ancient Runes and nothing else. She carried her notes in the hallways, she went through the chapters at meal times, and read the books under her table during classes. She had to win the bet, for the sake of her dignity.

     Layla and Regulus had become extremely suspicious of her odd behavior lately, but they didn't question her.

     After the Ancient Runes' test was taken from them, Diana felt pretty confident that she would get an extremely high score. She knew she had done great in the exam.

     The week after that, Professor Kumar came to the Ancient Runes' classroom with the results already calculated.

     Diana sat at the edge of her seat beside Remus in the front of the class, waiting eagerly to know how she had done in the test.

     "All right, everyone," Professor Kumar started with all the examination papers in front of her on her desk, "I was actually happy with the results. You still have a few months till your O.W.Ls, so you've got time for more improvement."

     Please say the results already, Diana thought to herself, her racked nerves almost sending her into a frenzy.

      "Now, I've written your scores at the top of your papers in red. The complete score starts from a hundred," Professor Kumar explained. "If you've gotten between 91 to 100, that's the equivalent to Outstanding. 81-90 is E, 71-80 means you've gotten an A, and so on. Those who've gotten a score under thirty get a T."

     Diana could no longer get a control over her nerves, losing her patience. But her heart skipped when she heard the professor mention her name, saying,

     "The two of the highest scores belonged to Mr. Lupin and Miss Greengrass. They only had a few points apart," said Professor Kumar, gesturing at the two of them with a bright smile. "One of them got 93 on the exam, and the other received a score of 95."

     The students clapped for them, but both Diana and Remus were at the edge of their bench, eager to know who had won the bet.

     With that, Professor Kumar took her wand in hand and gave it a swish, causing the examination papers to float toward the students, so they could see their own results.