Diana stared back at the letter in her mother's hand, recognizing it immediately. It was the one she was writing to send to Remus, but had thrown it in the rubbish bin.

     "The real question is why you've been looking in the bin, Mother," said Diana wittily, folding her arms as she desperately tried to change the subject.

     "I was trying to see if you had thrown away your flower crown in here — and yes, I did notice that you had taken it off a few hours into the ceremony. Now, who is this Lupin boy?"

     "It's not a boy. It's just Layla," Diana said the first thing that came to her mind. "It's our inside joke. It's my nickname for her."

     Diana had always been sly and cunning when came to thinking of excuses on the spot, as though having strict parents all her life had made her a practiced liar.

     Mrs. Greengrass raised a brow at her. "And you refer to Layla as Mr? What part of that is sensible?"

     "So? What part of calling someone chocolate is sensible? It's just a joke between us, Mum. Nothing more," said Diana firmly, walking toward her mother quickly and snatching the letter out of her hand.

     Mrs. Greengrass sighed, her face softening. "I'm sorry, Diana. You must know that I love you, which is why I worry about you."

     "Sometimes you worry too much," Diana said in a small voice, looking away from her.

     "I'm a mother after all. I only want what's best for you," said Mrs. Greengrass, finally smiling as she placed a hand over Diana's cheek.

     You only want what's best for your own, Diana thought to herself as she always did, though she never said it out loud.

    Diana might've been smart, cunning, and sly when it came to it. But she wasn't like Sirius. She could never find enough courage to stand up to her family like him, let alone leave everything behind and run away.

***

It was near the end of summer. Diana had given up writing to Remus, knowing that her mother would get suspicious. But mostly because he still hadn't written back to her.

     One morning Diana was sitting in the dining room with her parents for breakfast. Darwin had moved out with his new bride for a few weeks now, so the meals were more quiet than ever.

      Mr. Greengrass had that day's copy of the Daily Prophet in hand as he occasionally took a sip of his black coffee, placing it down on the table afterward. Mrs. Greengrass was going through that day's mail which had arrived with different owls. They were still getting many congratulation letters from family members after the wedding.

      Diana was just about to take a bite of her toast that her heart suddenly sank when Mrs. Greengrass said, "Diana, this one's for you."

     Her head snapped up. She quickly put down her toast, though she didn't dare to move. Was it from Remus? Diana knew she would be in so much trouble if her mother saw who the letter was from.

    So, in a quick motion, Diana got to her feet and snatched the letter out of her mother's hand.

     "Manners, please," said Mrs. Greengrass scoldingly, but Diana was barely listening.

      She was still standing on her feet, her heart hammering in her chest. She looked down at the letter, but disappointment washed over her.

     It was just her Hogwarts letter.

     But then, the realization hit her in a rush of stress. This letter contained her O.W.Ls results. Diana had hoped to receive this letter in private and burn it in case she had done terribly in her exams, in order to save herself from her parents' disappointment and their lectures on how she should've had studied more.

      "What are you waiting for, Diana?" Mrs. Greengrass urged her on, putting down the rest of her letters to look over at her daughter. "Open it."

     Gulping, Diana sat back down behind the table, hesitantly opening up the envelope. At last, she managed to detach the envelope and took out the parchment inside.

Ordinary Wizarding Level Results

Pass Grades
Outstanding (O)
Exceeds Expectations (E)
Acceptable (A)

Fail Grades
Poor (P)
Dreadful (D)
Troll (T)

Diana Astoria Greengrass has achieved:

Astronomy A
Ancient Runes O
Charms E
Defense Against the Dark Arts A
Divination O
Herbology A
History of Magic O
Potions A
Transfiguration E

     "Huh..." Diana muttered under her breath in confusion as she stared down at the unfolded parchment.

This was not what she had expected. For one, she was sure she had failed Divination after the chaos she had caused at its practical exam and the way she had run out of the room. Even her other results had turned out to be better than she had expected.

Diana couldn't deny that she wasn't surprised to see that she had received an Outstanding in Ancient Runes and History of Magic, but she was proud of her other results as well.

"Well?" Mrs. Greengrass spoke up, catching her attention. "How did you do?"

With a little proud smile on her face, Diana handed the letter to her mother. Although her smile disappeared when she didn't see the satisfaction on her mother's face.

"Hmph... I suppose it is not as bad as I had thought," said Mrs. Greengrass, her eyes wandering through the page from one line to another, reading the results a few times. "Darwin had received eight Outstandings, you know. But I hadn't expected anything less from a prefect."

"Right. Thanks for the reminder, Mum," said Diana blankly, rising to her feet before leaving the dining room.

"Diana! Diana!"

But she ignored her mother's calls after her as she went back upstairs into her room. Her father hadn't even raised his eyes from the newspaper and her mother didn't pass down the chance to bring up how her brother was better than her. It always made her wonder what it felt like to be supported and loved.

***

Diana didn't visit Diagon Alley that year with her mother. Mrs. Greengrass had sent their house elf to buy the new Hogwarts books for the start of Diana's sixth year. Mrs. Greengrass didn't tell Diana the reason, but she could guess the reason. The war had grown worse in the Wizarding World in the past few months, making it unsafe for everyone; Muggle borns, Half Bloods, Muggles, and even some Purebloods.

Even when Diana arrived at platform nine and three-quarters, she could sense the tension among the students and families, as though they were hesitant to send their children to school in such situation, though they knew that Hogwarts was the safest place there was at the moment.

After saying a cold goodbye to her mother and giving her an even colder hug, Diana carried her trunk into the train, glancing into the compartments in search for Layla or Regulus.

"Oi! Greengrass!"

When Diana turned around to see who had called her, she saw Sirius walking toward her from the other end of the train's long corridor.

"Hey." Diana couldn't help but to grin at his sight once he reached her. "I guess I owe you a thank you, Black. You know... for getting disowned. You did me a favor."

"Did us both a favor." Sirius smirked. "How did your mum take the news that she wasn't going to have me as her future son-in-law."

     "Pretty furious, actually," said Diana. "Not gonna lie, I did feel a bit guilty for a while. Are you sure that was the best idea? Maybe we could've come up with a better idea to stop the marriage without you having to leave home."

"Trust me when I say that was the best idea I've ever had. And I've had many genius ideas in my life," Sirius said with a smug face.

Diana rolled her eyes. "Anyway, where did you go? Hopefully you weren't spending your nights on the wet grounds of Knockturn Alley."

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" Sirius said jokingly, but he then smiled, putting his hands in his pockets handsomely. "No, I actually moved in with the Potters. They took me in."

"So it wasn't a bad summer, huh?"

"Are you kidding? It was the best summer of my life!" Sirius laughed. "All of us actually went to see the Quidditch World Cup in France."

"Oh?" Diana muttered as her mind started racing. She tried to go on as casually as possible, saying, "Who did you go to the game with?"

"A few friends." Sirius shrugged. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing." Diana shook her head briskly, bearing a careless expression. "Well, it was good seeing you, Black — for the first time."

"Gee, thanks." Sirius chuckled, his expression then softening. "You know what, Greengrass? You're not as bad as I had thought."

Diana grinned, clapping a hand behind his shoulder so hard that he almost hurtled forward. "You too, Black."