"Why have you been so quiet lately?" Layla asked Diana as they were sitting in the Great Hall for breakfast, snapping her out of her thoughts.

      "Yeah, it's freaking me out," said Regulus from beside Diana, giving her a playful look. "I miss being called Pretty Boy."

      Diana forced a little grin as she looked back at him. "You know you'll always be my Pretty Boy," she said, raising her hand to ruffle up his black hair.

      "Ugh, I take it back." Regulus groaned, dodging his head away from her.

      "If you're done with breakfast, can we go to Charms now? McBrady is looking my way and I don't want him to come over and ask me to Hogsmeade," said Layla, getting to her feet as she tried to avoid the eyes of the seventh year Slytherin boy who was sitting a few feet over at the table.

      "I thought you missed snogging someone — your words, not mine," said Diana, raising up as well.

      "I do. But I've got bored of dating. Maybe I should look for a friend-with-benefit," said Layla, sending a teasing grin at Regulus.

     "Get the hell away from me," Regulus said blankly as he remained seated, taking a sip of his tea.

      "Oh, relax. I was kidding. You're not my type."

      "Yeah, right. Like that's the problem." Regulus scoffed.

      "Oi! If I wanted to, I could have you!" Layla retorted.

      "Sure. Go for it," Regulus said mockingly, casually picking up a toast from the dish before him and placing it on his place.

      With a stubborn grin, Layla suddenly walked toward him and lowered herself, holding his face with her two hands and kissing him on the lips.

      Pulling away the next moment, Layla grinned to herself with satisfaction. Diana's eyes had widened and Regulus was left transfixed on his spot with his jaw nearly dropping in shock.

     "Told you." Layla smirked.

     "Ew! What is the matter with you!?" Regulus yelled, wiping his mouth with his napkin in disgust.

      Layla rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Don't pretend like you didn't enjoy it."

      Regulus blushed even though he tried to keep on frowning. He didn't like Layla that way, but no boy in their right mind would be kissed by her and not enjoy it.

      "Diana, get this lunatic away from me," said Regulus, sending a glare at Layla who kept on laughing.

     "Yes, sir," said Diana with a grin, grabbing Layla's arm and dragging her out of the Great Hall as they both sniggered at Regulus's reaction. 

     "Poor kid," said Diana, smirking.

      "What?" Layla shrugged, still laughing. "He told me to go for it!"

      Diana began to speak, but she froze when she spotted Remus from afar, walking toward them from the other end of the corridor. She wanted to turn around and escape, but he had already sighted her.

      Diana felt her heartbeat speed up as he approached them. Even Layla had realized that she was acting strange, but she just thought that her friend had developed a little crush on the Gryffindor boy.

      "Hi," said Remus breathlessly once he reached them, before looking directly at Diana. "I — I was looking all over for you."

      "Right..." Diana gulped, looking down. "Sorry, but we should better get going. We have Charms right n—"

      "I really need to speak with you," said Remus, his eyes roaming her face longingly, as though there were a thousand words he wanted to say to her right there and then. "Please?" he whispered.

      "Of course she'll speak with you!" said Layla enthusiastically, nudging Diana to push her forward.

      "Layla, we really have to get to cla—" Diana was saying desperately, but her friend cut her off.

     "Oh, nonsense. I'll let you copy my notes later. This seems more important," said Layla, and then winking at Diana, she left them alone.

       "Can we — can we speak outside?" Remus said after a long pause filled with silence.

      Diana hesitated at first, pursing her lips together. She now knew his deepest and darkest secret, but it made her wish she had never figured it out. She wished she could look at him the way she did before. But now, all she could think about was that he was a werewolf.

      "Can't you just say it here?" Diana mumbled, looking around to make sure enough people were passing through the corridor, not sure if she could feel safe being alone with him.

      You've been alone with him many times before. He would never do anything to hurt you, she thought to herself.

      But no matter what she did to forget about his condition and to see him as he always was, the words of her parents kept coming back to her.

     They can be walking among us, looking like any other innocent Wizard, while searching for their next victim...

      Blood-thirsty half-breeds such as them aren't deserving to live, when all they do is attack the innocent...

      "Actually, I'm trying to avoid my friends." Remus chuckled nervously. "They think I'm supposed to be at the hospital wing, and I don't want to bump into them in the castle."

      "Why would they think you're in hospital wing?" Diana asked, trying not to show her fear on her face.

      "Oh — um — because of this," he said, pointing at the red bump on his forehead. "I fell down the stairs today."

     "I see," Diana muttered, although she couldn't help but to notice the fresh wound across his neck which looked like a terrible scratch.

      She knew last night the moon was full.

      "Well?" Remus asked again, giving her a little smile. "Can we go outside?"

      "Er..." Diana looked around her again, still hesitant. But at last she gave up and nodded worriedly. "Sure."

With her heart beating rapidly, she followed Remus outside the castle. The weather wasn't positively rainy, but darkened by the grey clouds that were covering the sky and hiding away any hint of sunlight. The leaves on trees had began to change color, falling off the branches whenever a chilling wind swept by.

Diana hugged her cloak more closely around her to shield herself from the cold mist of that morning as she walked alongside Remus across the courtyard.

He wasn't wearing his school uniform even though it was a Thursday, and Diana realized that his clothes looked rather odd, as though they had been ripped and mended many times.

He looked slightly better than the last time she'd seen him two days ago, though still pale and ill, already exhausted and out of breath after walking a few minutes in a reasonable pace.

Ever since Diana had found out about Remus's secret, his scars somehow looked deeper across his face. The dark bags underneath his eyes had become more visible to her.

But the look in his eyes is still the same, said a voice inside her head, despite what she had been taught to believe. And so is his smile, his baggy sweater, the scent of chocolate and books...

"Listen," Remus started, coming to a stop in front of her with his hands in his pockets to cover them from the cold, though he wasn't looking up ay her. "The thing is —"

He suddenly stopped in mid-sentence. Diana realized he was looking at something in the distance behind her.

"What?" Diana questioned worriedly, turning her head to see what he was looking out. But there was nothing there. She felt on guard and cautious of his every move, glad that she had her wand with herself just in case. "What are you looking at?"

"Is that a — that's a bird," said Remus, pointing over at the ground underneath a tree nearby.

Without waiting for Diana's response, Remus moved forward until he reached the little bird on the ground, almost hidden beneath the fallen leaves of yellow and orange.

Remus knelt down on his knees, trying not to wince and hiding away his pain. He then gently reached out for the bird. It tried to fly away and escape, but it couldn't.

"Looks like his wing is broken," he said with a frown on his face as the little bird remained helplessly in his soft grasp. "Here, help me," he called out to Diana.

Without thinking, she walked toward Remus and knelt in front of him on the ground, close enough to smell the scent of chocolate off him.

"Hold him for a minute," said Remus, handing the bird gently to Diana, who sat there wordlessly.

She watched him warily as Remus took out his wand from inside his pocket and pointed it at the bird's broken wing. Then, as carefully as possible, he started mumbling the incantation for the healing charm he knew.

All the while, as Remus cautiously kept his eyes on the bird and performed the spell, Diana kept glancing at him with a pondering mind and a racing heart.

He's the same Remus, she thought to herself again sorrowfully.

At last, she was snapped back to reality when Remus placed his wand away again, gently taking the bird back from Diana. He softly started rubbing its wing, making sure it was healed.

"I think you're okay now," he whispered to the bird. The moment he opened his grasp, the bird flew away. Although it didn't leave and instead landed on a tree branch above them, letting out a song of gratitude.

Remus chuckled as he watched the bird with Diana, both of them still sitting beneath the tall tree.

"So what did you want to tell me?" Diana asked, grabbing his attention to herself. She felt calmer in his presence again, just as she always used to feel around him.

"Right." Remus cleared his throat lightly, the nervous look returning to his face. "I — um — I needed to speak with you about something. This might come as a shock — but please don't freak out."

"What is it?" she mused, already guessing what he was about to say.

"W-well, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while now — mind you, I haven't even told my friends about this secret," he went on, fumbling with the words as he tried to find the right way to break this to her. "The thing is — I — I'm —"

"A werewolf," she said, cutting him off.