Queen of Disaster | 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑢𝑠 𝐿𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑛

Chapter 103

After arriving at Hogwarts and entering the Great Hall, Diana noticed that the castle somehow seemed emptier. Even the population of first year students during the Sorting ceremony was half of what it usually had been.

As it seemed, many families had decided to keep their children at home, thinking that they would be safer with them. Diana wasn't sure if this was true; no one was safe if the Dark Lord wanted them dead.

As Dumbledore stood to his feet after the feast to give his usual speech, Layla nudged Diana with her elbow.

"What?" Diana mouthed.

Layla gestured her head down the Slytherin table. Following her gaze, Diana saw Regulus, sitting with Avery, Mulciber, and Snape. Something seemed different about him, though Diana couldn't quite put a finger on it. He seemed sadder, somehow. Anxious. Lost.

After the rather gloomy feast came to an end and students were asked to go to their common rooms, Diana left the Great Hall with Layla, both of them silent. Just as they emerged into the entrance hall, Diana turned around when she heard someone calling her name.

A smile automatically made its way over her face when she saw Remus approaching her, but it faded the next moment when she remembered everything. For a second, she wished that someone would Obliviate her so that she could forget all of it. So that she could even forget herself and the life that awaited her.

"Hello," Remus said brightly as soon as he reached them. He waved at Layla before leaning in to place a little kiss on Diana's cheek.

"Hey." Diana tried to return the smile. She then looked back at Layla, saying, "I'll see you later in the common room."

"Oh... okay..." Layla mumbled, giving her friend a sympathetic look that meant 'good luck'.

"So how come you didn't write back to me over the summer?" Remus asked Diana once Layla had walked down the marble staircase in the entrance hall and toward the dungeons. "I was beginning to worry that maybe your parents had seen me sneaking out of the house and that you'd gotten into trouble." He chuckled.

"Oh, I got into trouble, all right," Diana whispered, mostly to herself.

"Well? How are you doing?" Remus asked, his smile still over his lips.

"Listen, can we go somewhere to talk? Somewhere private?" Diana said, looking around the crowded hall to make sure Avery and Mulciber weren't anywhere nearby.

"All right." Remus nodded unsurely, his smile slowly fading away. "Here. This way."

Without questioning him about where he was taking her, Diana followed Remus away, going through one corridor after another, to places in the castle that didn't seem too familiar to her.

At last, Remus stopped when he reached a dead-end hallway. He raised his hand and began to knock at a certain brick on the wall, in a specific rythme.

Tap. Pause. Tap. Pause. Tap, tap, tap.

The next moment, Diana had to take a step back when the wall began shaking and its bricks started to crumble apart from each other to form an archway; just like the entrance to Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron.

"Where is this place?" Diana questioned when a long passageway appeared in front of them.

Remus gave her a sheepish smile. "This is the secret passageway I always go through to get to our Ancient Runes class."

"You git!" Diana laughed in realization, playfully punching him on the arm. "I knew you always took a secret shortcut! I've been begging you for two years to show it to me!"