Eyes wide and hearts beating fast because of the sudden shock, Remus and Diana jolted away from each other, their heads snapping toward the dorm's doorway, where a girl with red hair stood, staring at them with horror in her green eyes.

"Lily?" Remus said breathlessly, taking a step back from Diana. "What are you doing here?"

"Me?" Lily retorted angrily, throwing her gaze away from him as her face flushed red. "You're the one who needs some explaining to do! And for the love of God, could you just please cover yourself up!?"

"Wha — oh, shoot!" Remus cursed under his breath when he realized that he was still standing there shirtless, with his sweater thrown on the floor.

He quickly went and picked it up, wearing it while Lily had her back to the two of them, grumbling to herself angrily. Diana tried to tidy her messed up hair as well, but it seemed absolutely pointless. She felt like her face was on fire as it heated up in embarrassment. She wished that she could just melt into the ground and never reappear again.

"Okay," Remus said awkwardly after he had put on his baggy sweater, his cheeks a deep shade of pink. "Lily, how about you just leave for now and I — I'll talk to you later."

"Leave?" Lily repeated, turning around sharply to face him again. "I'm not leaving until you explain yourself, Remus Lupin! You're a prefect! I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one!"

"I know, I know —" Remus was trying to say, but Lily cut him off as she rambled on.

Meanwhile, Diana slowly backed away toward the dorm's window, looking down at it to see if it wasn't too high to jump.

Damn it, she thought to herself grimly. Better face the wrath of Evans than break my neck, I suppose.

"Remus, you should know that we're not allowed to bring anyone here from other Houses, let alone get this cozy with them!" said Lily, placing her hands on her hips. "Taken a page out of the Sirius Black book, have you?"

I take it back. Maybe a broken neck wouldn't be too bad after all...

"A few of the students in the common room told me that they saw a Slytherin girl run up the boys' dormitory," Lily went on, slightly calmer this time. "I came up here to ask you if you had seen anyone, and apparently you have."

Remus opened his mouth in an attempt to explain himself, but this time it was Diana who beat him into it, finally speaking up as she mustered all her courage.

"Listen, Evans. I'm really sorry for coming up here. I know what I did was wrong and it's completely reasonable if you take points off me," Diana began to say, looking over at Lily, "but that doesn't justify the fact that you're here."

Lily raised a brow at her, crossing her arms. "Excuse me?"

"Girls aren't allowed up in the boys' dormitory, and that includes you," said Diana, a little smirk now playing at the edge of her lips. "That's the school rule. It was mentioned in Hogwarts: A History, chapter four, to be exact. But you probably know that, don't you? Being a prefect."

Remus immediately threw his gaze away, biting the inside of his cheeks hard to prevent himself from bursting out with laughter. The shocked and furious look on Lily's face was absolutely priceless.

"Fine," she finally said after a long pause, glaring between the two of them before leaving the dorm and disappearing out of sight.

Remus and Diana stood there facing the door for a moment longer, before they both burst into laughter.

"Merlin's beard! That was the most stressed I've ever been!" Diana said between her roars of laughter, placing her hands on her knees as she took a deep breath out of relief.

"You know, I'm actually impressed," said Remus, grinning. "You actually handled it pretty well."

"Pretty well?" Diana repeated, scoffing. "I would like to see you come up with something as good as that on the spot."

"I can't." He shrugged, still smiling broadly. "Which is why you're in Slytherin and I'm not. You've got the wit."

"Yeah, I guess that's one of the perks of being a Slytherin." Diana smirked proudly. "Anyway, I should better get going before Evans asks a prefect boy to come up here and kick me out."

Remus chuckled softly. "Lily's actually a really nice and sweet girl, if you get to know her better. She just freaked out when she walked in on us like that. And honestly, it's understandable. Anyone else would've reacted the same way if they walked in on two people doing — what we were doing."

"True." Diana laughed, nodding. "But I definitely didn't leave a good first-impression. I'll have to talk to her later, even if I die of embarrassment in the process of it."

"You don't have to explain anything to her if you're not comfortable."

"No, it's okay. Don't worry about it." She shook a hand at him. "I know she's your friend, so I want to patch things up with her."

"Well, good luck with that, cause you'll need it," Remus said jokingly, making her chuckle again.

"See you later, Lupin." She finally gave him a small wave and turned on her heel to leave.

But she then stopped and suddenly turned around, quickly walking up to Remus and holding his face in her hands, leaning him down for one last kiss. She then pulled away and sent him a wink before leaving the dorm and closing the door behind her.

Remus let out a breath, leaning his head against the wall behind him as a little smile stretched across his lips. His heart was still beating fast from the passionate moment they had shared, and he knew that it was going to be hard to get it out of his mind.

***

That day, Diana could barely remove the goofy smile off her face, which raised many curious glances from Layla and Regulus during lunch.

When they were done with their meal, Regulus left them to get to his advanced Potions' class, and soon Layla and Diana left the Great Hall as well to head toward the library and study. The professors hadn't held back on giving them as many homework and essays as they possibly could, and so the students had to work hard to keep up.

The two girls had gotten up to the corridor outside the library when Diana suddenly sighted Lily Evans walking a few feet ahead of them with one of her friends.

"Look, there's Evans," Diana said, coming to a halt.

"So?" said Layla.

"I have to talk to her," said Diana, and so, without any more explanation, she left Layla's side and quickened her pace to catch up with Evans. Curious as to what Diana was on about, Layla followed after her as well.

"Hey, Evans!" Diana called after the girl, grabbing her attention.

Lily whispered something to her blonde friend when she saw Diana approaching them, but they fell silent when she reached them.

"Listen, I really wanted to talk to you about what happened today," Diana began without any introduction, directly getting to the point.

"What? What happened today?" Layla asked.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Diana went on, ignoring Layla's curious glances. "I know I might've come off a little... er... let's say annoying. I know you and Remus are friends, so I would really like to start over."

Lily's face softened at those words. She let out a little sigh. "Well, I'm sorry too, for lashing out like that. I was just shocked when I saw — you know."

"What? Saw what?" Layla questioned impatiently, but Diana didn't answer her.

"I understand." Diana chuckled. "Anyway, I'm Diana Greengrass."

"I'm Lily Evans. It's nice meeting you. Officially, at least." Lily giggled. "Anyway, are you and Remus —?"

"Dating? Yes." She nodded, grinning. "We're not just fooling around, I promise."

"Ooh, so that's what it is!" Layla said with a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. "Finally got some action, did you? I'm actually proud of you!"

"Layla!" Diana scolded angrily, blushing. She then turned to face Lily again, trying to regain herself. "Don't you two have a class right now?"

"No. Our other friends have Care of Magical Creatures, but the two of us have a free period right now," Lily replied. She then gestured at her blonde friend, saying, "This is Marlene, by the way."

"Hey," the blonde girl threw a small wave at them, though she didn't say anything else.

"Not that anyone asked, but I'm Layla Miller," Layla said with a confident grin.

"Yeah, I know," the blonde girl mumbled, but she then suddenly blushed and looked away, as if regretting saying those words.

"Anyway," Lily shook her head after glancing curiously at her friend, "Marlene and I were going to the library and study for a while. We'd love it if you two joined us."

"Sure. That would be nice." Diana nodded delightfully, and so the four of them walked to the library together.

Diana barely knew the two girls, but she already loved being around them as the day went on and she spent more time with them. Remus had been right. Lily Evans was certainly one of the sweetest people she'd ever met.