Diana woke up with a start, her heart racing and her breathing unsteady. A week had passed since her nightmares had begun, and every night, she had the same dream.

     It was the grim.

     For seven nights in a row now, Diana would dream on as she normally did. But every time, her dream would be cut to darkness, and then she would suddenly find herself in the middle of a dark forest which was buried in a cloak of fog.

    It felt too real to be a mere dream. She could feel the cold wind gushing against her face. She could feel her legs hurting as she ran through the woods. She could even feel it in her fast-beating heart that someone was running after her as she tried to escape.

    That night was just the same as the six before it. As Diana was running through the dark and misty forest, she suddenly tripped down and fell to the muddy ground, her panic rising even more. She then looked up at the sky, and there she saw the omen of her doom.

     She could see the grim again; it was like a black hound, its dark figure outlined against the sky, its eyes as red as blood.

     A thunder roared against the sky and Diana shot awake, gasping for air. As she sat in her bed, Diana tried to look around her and reassure herself that she had only been dreaming. It wasn't real. It couldn't be.

Afraid that if she fell asleep she would continue to see the nightmare again, Diana forced herself to get out of bed, wore her long robe, and quietly left the dorm. She walked down into the empty Slytherin common room, where the only sound that could be heard was the crackling flames in the fireplace.

She sat on an armchair before the fireplace and hugged her knees to her chest as she stared into the dancing flames. She still felt cold, as though the chilling fog of her nightmare lingered with her.

"I'd seen that forest before," Diana whispered to herself, lost in her own thoughts.

But where...? she thought as she continued to shiver.

***

Diana tried to forget about her strange dreams and the grim. The black dog she had seen in Hogsmeade had scared her, and that's all it was. She had to believe in this, because she couldn't bring herself to accept that her nightmares were actually an omen of death; a warning that death was near.

It was a good thing that the Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor was taking place that way, because it could take her mind off certain things and distract her.

"Gryffindor lost their last match against Hufflepuff, but if they win against Ravenclaw with a good score, they can actually win the Quidditch Cup this year," Regulus explained as he sat at the Slytherin table for breakfast that morning, with Layla and Diana in his company.

"And if Gryffindor loses?" Layla asked almost carelessly, pouring some orange juice into her cup.

"Then Hufflepuffs will win," Diana said with her mouth full.

Regulus grimaced, glaring at her sideways. "Can you not speak when you've got something in your mouth?"

Diana gave him a look as she swallowed the food. "It amazes me how much you sound like my mother sometimes. It's annoying."

"You call manners annoying?" Regulus raised a disapproving brow at her.

"I call annoying things annoying!" Diana retorted wittily.

Layla sighed, rolling her eyes as she muttered to herself, "Every damn day..."

After breakfast, the three Slytherins walked out of the Great Hall. It was a beautiful sunny day and the weather was getting warmer, so they left their cloaks and scarves behind in their dorms and went down to the Quidditch pitch.

     "Everywhere is full," Regulus said grumpily as they walked up the stands, looking for good seats which were now hard to find.

     "We could've got here earlier if someone hadn't started flirting with that Gryffindor boy, Davis," Diana said grudgingly, giving Layla a look.

Layla only smirked, shrugging. "I'm not even sorry. He was hot."

Diana shook her head at Layla in disappointment and Regulus rolled his eyes as they walked on, trying to find three empty seats.

"Diana!" She turned around when she heard someone calling her name, and the moment she saw who it was, a little smile grew on her lips.

"Hello," Diana said brightly, waiting for Remus to catch up with her.

"Of course. He gets all the smiles and all the 'hello's, but all we get are the eye-rolls and sarcasm," Layla said grimly, and Diana gave her a silencing look in response.

  "Hi." Remus smiled at Layla and Regulus shyly, giving them a small wave before turning to face Diana again. "How are you?"

"I'm all right. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's okay." He nodded, chuckling nervously. "I just — I wanted to ask if you wanted to sit with me during the game."

"Oh..." Diana's voice trailed off, her smile slowly fading. "I'm sorry, Remus, but I promised my friends that I would watch the game with them."

"You can go, you know. We don't mind," said Layla, before turning to look over at Regulus with a sharp look. "Right?"

Regulus grumbled something under his breath, but when Layla nudged him with her elbow, he said, "Right."

Diana chuckled, looking back at Remus again. "Don't you want to sit with your friend?"

"Peter's in hospital wings," said Remus.

Diana's eyes widened in worry. "Oh, no! What happened? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine." He chuckled lightly and then leaned in closer to Diana to whisper something so only she could hear him, "We snuck in the kitchen last night and he had too much Butterbeer and sweets to eat, and he got sick." Diana sniggered at that.

"Well, why don't you join us?" Layla asked Remus, causing Regulus to shot a glare at her direction.

Regulus didn't mind that Diana was dating Remus, and in fact knew that he was a good person. But that certainly didn't mean that he would want to spend time with the Lupin boy.

"Really? Would that be okay?" Remus asked cheerfully, his smile broadening.

Diana and Layla turned to look over at Regulus with an arched brow, both of them grinning. Knowing that he had no choice, Regulus let out a sigh in defeat.

"Fine," he said resignedly, rolling his eyes. "But don't expect me to look happy about it!"

"Of course." Remus nodded sincerely, biting the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from laughing at the grumpy expression on Regulus's face.

***

Once everyone had gathered, the two teams walked onto the field, their brooms in hand as the crowd chanted. Madam Hooch asked the captains to shake hands, and on the sound of her whistle, the players mounted their brooms and shot to the sky.

     Marlene McKinnon was playing better than ever, and Diana noticed that she flew with more confidence than the previous year. But there was no point denying that James Potter was the best Chaser in the whole field. Perhaps even the best Chaser at Hogwarts.

Half-way through the game, the scores were seventy points to forty in the favor of the Gryffindors, James Potter having scored more than half of them.

Diana and Regulus both knew that if Gryffindors wanted to win the Cup, their Seeker had to catch the Snitch after they had gotten twenty more scores. So in order to distract the Ravenclaw Seeker, the Gryffindor Seeker suddenly dived forward on her broom to pretend like she had spotted the Snitch.

The crowd erupted, and Diana shouts were the loudest, cursing all through the game. She even jumped to her feet at one point and kept shouting at the players as if they could hear them.

"YOU IDIOT! IT'S A TRICK! IT'S A FUCKING TRICK! ARE YOU BLIND!?" Diana bellowed angrily.

Remus placed a hand over his mouth, trying to muffle out the sound of his laughter as he watched her, hiding his smile. He always thought she looked cute when she was angry.

When the Gryffindor chasers had made two more goals, their Seeker at last zoomed down in the direction of the Golden Snitch. The sound of the audience's cheers and angry shouts mingled together, booming through the air.

The Gryffindor Seek raised her hand to catch it. The Ravenclaw seeker was right behind her. Seeing how close she was to getting the Snitch, the Ravenclaw Beater waved his bat and sent the Bludger flying toward her.

But Sirius Black abruptly flew forward and skillfully sent the Bludger in the direction of the Ravenclaw Seeker with his bat, knocking him off the broom.

The Gryffindor Seeker stretched her hand even more, speeding up. And the next moment the stadium exploded with the sound of cheers as she caught the Snitch.

"NINETY POINTS, WITH FIFTY POINTS AHEAD! NICELY CALCULATED!" the commentator yelled. "GRYFFINDOR WINS THE CUP!"

***

After the Gryffindors' celebration in the Quidditch pitch came to an end, everyone began to leave the stands one by one, making their way back to their common rooms.

"Congratulations on the win," Diana told Remus after the two of them had parted ways with Layla and Regulus, leaving the field together.

He grinned. "You don't look too sincere about it."

"Obviously." She scoffed. "It wasn't my House that won the Quidditch Cup."

"Well, I know a way or two that can make you feel better," Remus said cheekily, giving her goofy grin.

Diana raised a teasing brow at him. "Oh?"

Remus suddenly blushed, briskly shaking his head as he laughed. "That's not what I meant."

"Then what?"

"There's a party at the Gryffindor common room," he said. "Why don't you come with me? It could be fun."

"Really? But how do you even know there's going to be a party? No one came here to tell you about it."

"No one needed to." Remus shrugged, grinning. "We always have a party after we win a game. James and Sirius sometimes insist on throwing a party even after we lose, so they can lift everyone's spirits after the loss." He scoffed. "As if those two need a reason to throw a party."

"That does sound fun. We never throw big parties," said Diana, though she sounded hesitant. "But I don't think I can go there with you, Remus."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a Slytherin! They would kick me out of your common room!" Diana reasoned. "I might be in good terms with Evans now, but that doesn't mean that the rest of your House would allow me to stay there."

Remus smiled, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. "I have an idea on how we could manage."