Throughout her life, Diana Greengrass was raised to hate all Muggles and Muggleborns, fear half-breeds such as werewolves, believe that Divination was a useless class, and to detest the idea of romance and falling in love. Although Diana never expec...
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The Christmas spirit was aglow at Hogwarts, the whole castle decorated with ornamented trees, mistletoes, wreaths, and tinsels. A large tree had been brought by Hagrid and placed inside the Great Hall, and Professor Flitwick had done everything he could to make it look absolutely magnificent, with a shining star on top of it.
Snow fell from the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall without landing, making the place look more magical than ever as the students had all gathered for one last dinner before heading home for the Christmas break the next morning.
Earlier that week, the students had once again visited the Hogsmeade village to buy their Christmas gifts and to have some warm butterbeer at Three Broomsticks with the fireplace warming the pub against the cold weather outside. But Diana didn't mind the cold at all. They were approaching her favorite season of the year.
With the first fall of snow, Diana had taken out her long woolly socks to wear as she did every year. All she needed now was a hot drink, a fireplace, and a cozy armchair in front of it to read a book. But her happiness was short-lasting, for she knew she had to go back home tomorrow. She missed her parents and brother, but she certainly did not miss being told to act like a lady or to be preached at about every little thing she did.
But Diana tried to put all those thoughts away and to just enjoy her last night at Hogwarts with her friends.
Remus, too, didn't want to go back home this year for Christmas break, though for a completely different reason. There was a full moon coming up in around two weeks, and he wouldn't be at Hogwarts during his next transformation, accompanied by his friends. Instead, he had to spend the full moon inside a bewitched room that could barely contain him, all alone.
As Remus sat in the Great Hall that night for dinner, he was quieter than usual while Sirius, James, and Peter kept joking around and laughing. This was rather odd yet heartwarming, because this was the first Christmas that Sirius actually looked cheerful, seeing as he didn't have to go back to his awful household ever again.
Sirius was now staying at the Potters' house, who were hosting a Christmas Ball this year and had invited Remus and Peter as well, along with their families.
Remus was almost finished with his pudding that something caught him my surprise. Right beside his plate, a note had just appeared out of nowhere.
With his mouth full, Remus glanced up at his friends to see if they had realized it, but they were too busy laughing at Sirius's mocking impression of Snape.
Swallowing the food, Remus sneakily took the small note off the table and lowered it onto his lap to read it without anyone else seeing it. It said,
Meet me in our corridor
A smile crept through his face as soon as Remus recognized the handwriting, his heart fluttering. He found it sweet how she had called their corridor.
Being a Marauder, Remus had naturally become a master at lying his way out of everything. So, he placed the little note in his pocket and said to his friends, "I'm going up to the library to give my books back to Madam Pince. Does anyone wanna tag along?" He already knew the answer to that question.
"Hell no!" Sirius snapped, as if Remus had said the most offensive thing possible.
"Ugh... I ate too much. I can't move." Peter groaned, placing a hand over his belly. "The library is too far."
"We're having fun, Moony! Can't you just give the books back when we return from the break?" said James, reaching out for a cupcake and placing it on his plate.
"I can't. Madam Pince will take points off me if I have delay in giving back the burrowed books," said Remus, already getting up to his feet. "I'll see you guys back in the dorm."
With a wave at them, Remus left the Great Hall. Lately, he always made sure to carry the Marauders' Map with himself so he could meet up with Diana whenever he wanted, without having fear his friends finding out. It wasn't that he was ashamed of dating her, but James detested all Slytherins and Sirius hated purebloods such as the Greengrass family. Remus simply didn't want them to tease him about Diana or to give her a hard time.
Walking up to the secret corridor in which they always met up to study, Remus found Diana there with a goofy grin and her hands behind her back. She was holding onto something.
"Watchu got there?" Remus asked with a smile, walking up to her.
"Well, I won't be able to send my gift to you during the break, because my mum would try to nose around, so..." Diana then showed Remus what she was holding behind her. It was a beautifully wrapped box with a red ribbon on top of it.
"Woah! Thank you!" Remus laughed heartily in happiness, walking forward to take it from her.
"Well, go on! Open it!" Diana said excitedly, urging him on.
"All right." Remus chuckled, opening the wrappings. He then took the lid off the box, his eyes widening and smiling at what he saw inside. "A sweater! Merlin's beard! I love this!"
Laughing, he took the sweater out of the box, which had knitted chocolates all over it as the pattern. "This is unbelievable!"
"What? Why are you laughing?" Diana asked with a smirk.
"Well... I'm kinda going to give away my surprise for your present, but... I actually bought you a pair of knitted socks with chocolates on them."
Diana laughed, before shrugging. "I don't know what's so bad about that. Now we'll match."
Remus chuckled. "Look at you... talking about cheesy matching clothes... bringing me scrambled eggs on toast when I was sick... What happened to the grumpiest girl in Hogwarts history? Looks like you've gone soft."
Diana gasped mockingly, acting offended. "How dare you! Take that back, Lupin!"
But Remus only laughed, placing the gift box on the floor so he could put on his new sweater with adorable little chocolates on it.
"Well?" he said sheepishly. "Do I look good?"
Diana could no longer held on to the grumpy expression on her face as she glanced back at him. He looked dorkier than ever. She let a smile form on her lips and wrapped her arms around Remus, hugging him without saying another word.
Remus chuckled, bringing her into his warm embrace and hugging her even tighter as he whispered, "I'll take that as a yes."
