For the rest of the day, Diana went to her classes gloomily, unable to listen to any of the lessons or to take notes. She shared most of her classes with Remus, but she tried to completely ignore his presence.

Remus wasn't feeling any better than her, if not worse. He barely ate anything at lunch, nor did he laugh at Sirius and James's jokes, which they were highly offended by and took it personally.

     They tried cheering him up, but nothing they did seemed to work. They were lost as to its reason, but no matter how many times they asked, Remus either changed the subject or gave them a small shrug of his shoulders.

James, Sirius, and Peter assumed that Remus's moodiness was due to the upcoming full moon and the pressure of their classes, as well as all the school work they had to catch up with. But to top it all off, the sixth years' first Apparition lesson had at last arrived.

The lessons were going to be held on Saturday mornings so that no normal lessons would be missed, and they took place in the Great Hall instead of in the grounds.

When Remus arrived in the Hall along with James, Sirius, and Peter, he saw that the tables had disappeared, emptying an enormous space for the sixth year students to gather in.

  "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for these lessons." James grinned with anticipation, rubbing his hands together gleefully.

"Don't get your hopes up. You won't be able to start Apparating today. It takes a lot of practice," said Remus rather grumpily. "Besides, there's a chance you're going to leave an arm or a leg behind, so don't get too excited."

"Awesome!" Sirius exclaimed with a smirk, getting even more excited after hearing Remus's words.

Remus rolled his eyes. James and Sirius had been looking forward to these lessons, although Peter looked extremely nervous.

"It's not awesome!" Peter cried out, biting his nails anxiously out of habit. "I don't want to be torn in half!"

  "Don't worry, Wormtail. That's what the professors are here for. They'll quickly put you back together if you get Splinched," said James, pointing at the front of the Great Hall, where Professors McGonagall, Slughorn, Flitwick, and Sprout were gathered, who were the Heads of Houses. There was also a small wizard present whom Remus figured was the Apparition instructor from the Ministry.

"Good morning," said the Ministry wizard, when all the students had at last arrived. "I shall be your Ministry Apparition instructor for the next twelve weeks here. I'm here to prepare you for your Apparition Tests, by which time, many of you will hopefully be ready."

Remus tried to listen to what he was saying, but he found himself easily distracted as his eyes kept wandering around the hall, looking for Diana.

     He finally found her standing close to the wall with her friend, her curly blonde hair looking messier than usual and her clothes worn far from neat. She had her arms crossed across her chest, looking highly uninterested and bored in the lesson.

"As you may know, it is usually impossible to Apparate or Disapparate within Hogwarts," the small wizard continued. "The headmaster has lifted this enchantment only inside the Great Hall for one hour, so you can practice. You will not be able to Apparate outside the walls of this Hall, and that you would be unwise to try."

McGonagall glanced warningly at Sirius and James, who looked very disappointment.

"I would like each of you to place yourselves now so that you have a clear five feet of space in front of you," said the wizard.

There was a great scrambling and jostling as everyone tried to take their place, arguing and pushing others. The Heads of Houses moved among them, trying to create order and put them into position.

The wizard then waved his wand, and the next moment, old-fashioned wooden hoops instantly appeared on the floor in front of every student.

"The important things to remember when Apparating are the three D's!" he said. "Destination, Determination, Deliberation! Step one: Fix your mind firmly upon the desired destination. Step two: focus your determination to occupy the visualized space! And step three: Turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation! Although you must only do so when I give the command. On my command, now... one, two, THREE!"

The whole Hall was suddenly full of staggering people who had tried to turn on the spot, only to lose their balance and nearly falling flat on their back.

Nothing seemed to be happening for the next few minutes as everyone tried and kept on trying, but their attempts seemed to be completely hopeless. But then, after long minutes, a loud cry erupted from James's direction.

Remus turned around briskly, afraid that something terrible had happened to him. But he snorted with laughter when he saw that James had Apparated, though he had left all his hair behind, now completely bald. The professors ran forward to help him, while Sirius was roaring with laughter, receiving a deadly glare from James.

"You're lucky it was just your hair, Prongs," said Peter after the lesson came to an end and the students began to leave the Hall. "Splinching is horrifying. And my mum says it's really painful, too." He shuddered at the mere thought.

"Pretty sure Prongs would rather lose both his legs than his precious hair," Sirius said in a lofty voice. He then pouted his lips, trying to mock James, "Oh, no! My hair! My beautiful hair! Now Evans won't look at me ever again! What shall I do no!"

James glared at him. "I hope you leave your dick behind the next time. That will shut you up."

Remus and Peter burst out with laughter as Sirius punched James in the arm, though they both joined the laughter soon after.

***

After the Apparition lesson, Diana and Layla joined Regulus in the library, who was busy studying for his O.W.Ls. The two girls managed to force him off his seat and dragged him out of the castle, sure that some fresh air and ice skating on the frozen Black Lake could certainly do him some good and brighten his mood.

The three Slytherins decided to leave all their homework for Sunday morning and enjoy the beautiful day for the time being.

All through dinner, Regulus kept asking the two girls questions about their Apparition lesson, wondering how hard it actually was.

"Nothing fun happened," said Layla, finishing her pudding. "It was pretty hard. I felt something happening near the end, but I think it's the fear of Splinching that's holding me back. I feel like I can definitely do it next time. It just needs the three Ds."

     "The what?" Regulus asked curiously as the three of them got to their feet after their dinner was over.

      "Destination, Determination, Deliberation," Layla explained, walking toward the double-doors of the Great Hall along with Diana and Regulus. "That's what the wizard told us. I think I definitely need to work on my determin —" Layla's words were suddenly broken off.

      "Diana! Diana, please wait!" someone yelled from behind them.

     Diana went pale at the sound of Remus's familiar voice, calling after her. She tried ignoring him and kept on walking, but he was already running toward her.

      "Diana," Remus called out her name, softer this time, now walking right behind her.

      "Leave me alone, Lupin," Diana grumbled, trying to get away from him. But he took a hold on her arm, stopping her right in the middle of the Great Hall.

     Diana turned around briskly to argue with him, but she was caught off guard when the next moment Remus held her face in his scarred hands and leaned in, kissing her.

      At first, Diana wanted to push him back, but it seemed as though the mere touch of his soft lips against hers had made her forget that she was mad at him, or that they were standing in the middle of a crowded Hall, all eyes watching them now.

     But for a second, she had stopped caring, as though he was all that mattered in that moment, and that everything else had lost its importance. She didn't want him to pull away, but to hold her closer as shivers ran down her spine, his lips moving against hers in sync.

      When Remus finally broke the kiss and pulled back, Diana was out of breath, her freckled cheeks pink and blushed. She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her into it.

     "You're wrong," said Remus, his voice a mere whisper as he looked down into her eyes with nothing but passion and love. "You're wrong to think that you don't mean anything to me or that I'm ashamed of you. I know I could never be good enough for you, and I know you deserve someone who's way better than me, but you mean everything to me."

      Diana felt frozen on the spot, feeling everyone's eyes on them; from her own friends to the Marauders, who were sitting at the Gryffindor table, staring at them in shock.

     Even the professors were now watching them with wide eyes; Professor McGonagall looked as though she was about to rush toward them to stop a scene from happening, but Professor Dumbledore had stopped her, smiling warmly.

     Although the biggest smile belonged to Professor Kumar, who, for the first time, had witnessed her two students together. She looked as though she was about to explode from happiness any moment now.

"I'm sorry for what I did, Diana. I know it was horrible, but I thought I was doing it for your good. I was clearly wrong, and I'm sorry for that," Remus went on, his fingers planted against her rosy cheek. "I said I couldn't change what my friends thought of you or us together. I might never be able to, I don't know. But I know that I don't care about what anyone else thinks. I..." he paused, his eyes devouring her face, drinking her in. He then whispered, "I only care about you."

      Diana felt a smile slowly creep through her face like a thief, stealing away her anger. Her heart was throbbing in her chest as she looked back at him in silence, her soul bearing the burden of a thousand words that she wished to say.

      But all she did was to wrap her arms around his neck and go on her tiptoes, bringing him into kiss. She felt his arms tighten around her, as though he never wished for this moment to end. As if he never wanted to let her go.

       "Does that mean I'm forgiven?" Remus smiled goofily as she pulled back, placing his forehead down against hers.

      "Well, that really was a moving speech," she said with a grin, still holding onto him. "I almost forgot to be angry at you."

    "Well, in all fairness, you look cute when you're angry." He chuckled.

     Diana gave him a look. "I can beat the hell out of you right now."

     Remus smiled lovingly and then placed a little kiss on top of her head as he held her tighter, bringing her into a hug. "I know."