Queen of Disaster | 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑢𝑠 𝐿𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑛

Chapter 49

It was a bit past midnight as Diana paced back and forth down in the dungeons. That's what she had written to Remus in the letter; to meet her there at midnight. She had guessed that his friends would give him hell if they could read the note, so she'd decided to write it in runes.

She had been standing there now for ten minutes, turning around anxiously at any small noise, afraid that it would be Filch lurking around or someone to get her into trouble for being out after curfew. The longer she stood there, the more she thought that Lupin wouldn't even show up.

Just as she was about to give up and return to the Slytherin common room, she heard light footsteps approaching from the next corridor. She quickly hid herself behind the wall, sneaking a glance to see who it was.

Diana let out a small sigh of relief when he saw Remus walking down the corridor with his hands in the pockets of his oversized jacket, glancing behind his shoulder every once in a while, as though making sure he wasn't being followed.

"Oh... hi." Remus smiled the moment Diana walked out of hiding from behind the wall, appearing before him in her usual trousers and Hogwarts sweater.

  "Hey." Diana sent him a sheepish grin. "Heard it was your birthday."

Remus chuckled. "How did you know?"

"Your friends made a big show of it today at breakfast. It wasn't much of a secret," Diana replied wittily.

"Ah, right. I almost forgot about that." Remus's face flinched at the embarrassing memory, though he kept on smiling. "Sorry I got here a bit late, by the way. My friends were with me when I got your note."

"Yeah, I figured that would be the case. Which is why I wrote the note in runes."

"Smart move."

"Anyway," her grin then widened, handing Remus the small shopping bag she was holding in her hand which he hadn't noticed until that point. "I know we're still somewhere between arch enemies and friends, but... I thought I would get you this."

  "You — you got me a gift?" Remus said in a hollow tone with his eyes fixed on the shopping bag.

"Don't make a big deal out of it, Lupin," Diana said jokingly, handing it to him when he hesitated for too long. "Go on, then! Open it! I don't have all night, you know. And I'm not really keen on spending time in detention with Filch."

Chuckling lightly, Remus opened the bag, only to see a pair of long wooly socks in them.

"Socks?" He laughed.

"What? It's a great gift!"

"I didn't say it wasn't," Remus said brightly, but the moment he took out the socks to observe them more closely, his smile dropped.

They were long and woolly, knitted in dark blue. But there were small yellow moons all around it as the pattern.

"You don't like it, do you?" Diana winced at the expression and frown on his face. "I thought it would be funny to get you socks... stupid idea..." she whispered the last words, scratching the back of her head unsurely.

"So..." Diana cleared her throat, taking a step back from him, "happy birthday, Lupin. May you live long enough so that your beard turns as long and white as Dumbledore's," she joked, trying to loosen a bit of the awkwardness.

Cursing herself in two different languages, Diana quickly turned around to leave the corridor, but she came to a halt when Remus grabbed her wrist, holding her back. "No, wait!"