Queen of Disaster | 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑢𝑠 𝐿𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑛

Chapter 36

Diana kept staring down at the name on the back of the letter, trying to make sure she had seen it correctly and that her eyes hadn't duped her.

     With her heart throbbing uncontrollably, she then threw a glance behind her shoulder to make sure she was alone in the hall before quickly opening up the envelope.

     She was taken by surprise, however, when she opened the letter to read it, seeing that only two very short sentences were written inside it.

I hope you can accept this as my apology. Merry Christmas.

     Diana blinked a few times with her eyes fixed on the words. For a moment, she considered that this was a prank sent by Layla. But there was no mistaking that neat handwriting in cursive. It belonged to him.

     Trying to ignore the odd feeling in her stomach she was starting to get, Diana put down the letter and picked up the thin box, which was wrapped up beautifully with a red ribbon on top of it.

     Gulping nervously, she opened up the wrappings, only to see that he had sent her a box of chocolates.

    And then, before Diana could stop herself, a smile crept over her face.

***

On the day the Christmas break came to an end, Diana had woken up early enough that her father and older brother still hadn't left to work at the Ministry of Magic.

She was relieved to get back to Hogwarts. After all the news that had been dropped on her like an exploding bomb, Diana now thought that she could endure coming face-to-face with Remus Lupin, and she was sure she could make it through Professor Tenebris's creepy lessons for the rest of the year.

Still feeling rather sleepy, Diana joined her family in the dining room, where their house elf had already set the breakfast table.

There was never anything exciting on their table for breakfast, because Mrs. Greengrass didn't think it was healthy to eat something heavy for the first meal of the day. As Diana sat on her usual seat, she looked around at the things set before her; coffee, tea, toast, eggs, and avocados.

She couldn't wait to be back at Hogwarts and have as many sausages for breakfast as she wanted, with as much ketchup as she wished.

"I'm sorry you couldn't meet Jade over the holidays," said Darwin, taking a sip of his coffee. "She is a wonderfully polite and intelligent girl. You would've liked her."

"Is she anything like you?" Diana asked him.

"Yes, I suppose we do have many similarities."

"Then I highly doubt I would like her," Diana mumbled under her breath, almost inaudibly.

"I guess you'll get to meet her over the summer," Darwin went on. "Before the wedding, surely. The ceremony would be in mid-August."

Diana then heaved a long sigh, hoping that summer would never come. She placed her elbow on the table, resting her chin upon her palm as she glared down at the avocado on her plate with disgust.

"Diana, please don't put your elbows on the table. It's unladylike," said Mrs. Greengrass.

"That's why I do it," Diana muttered grumpily, removing her hands from the table.

She then suddenly got the uneasy feeling that her mother and brother were glancing at her direction, before looking back at each other knowingly.

Mrs. Greengrass cleared her throat to catch her husband's attention, whose face was hidden behind that day's copy of the Daily Prophet. When he looked back at her questioningly, she gestured at Diana's direction with her head.

Here we go, Diana thought to herself with an eye-roll, preparing herself for what felt like a long speech.

"Right." Mr. Greengrass cleared his throat rather awkwardly, before turning to look at Diana. "Your mother told me about her intentions on our future union with the Black family. And I must say, I quite agree."

"Father, please not you too!" Diana groaned miserably. "Besides, there's no guarantee that their family would even want to have this stupid union with our sacred family." She couldn't help tacking on the last few words.

"Of course they will," Mrs. Greengrass started. "We're part of th—"

"The Sacred 28. I know. I know." Diana sighed again, running a hand over her forehead. "But Sirius Black isn't a saint! We both loath each other! Do you really have no pity on me that you want to force me into a marriage with someone I hate? Someone who hates me mutually?"

"Marriage isn't a game, Diana," her mother said firmly. "It's not so much about liking one another as it is about keeping tradition."

"How can you live with someone until the day you die if you don't even like them in the first place?" Diana retorted.

"You'll learn to live with it. The affection will grow between the two of you eventually."

Diana pulled at the ends of her hair out of fury, otherwise she would either storm out of the house forever or take her wand and curse her family into oblivion.

"What about you and Dad?" Diana asked her desperately. "Is that what it was with you two as well? Your parents forced you to marry, in hopes that the affection would eventually grow between you?"

"I wasn't forced to do anything. And neither are you. Like me, you just have to come to the realization that this is your duty to this family and our bloodline."

"So you're telling me that you were never in love with anyone?" Diana snapped, and at those words, she saw her mother's face fall as she looked away.

For a moment, Diana thought that she was saved, but then her mother cleared her throat, her face attaining that sternness once more.

  "We should better get going," she said, wiping her mouth graciously with her napkin before raising from her seat. "You don't want to miss your train."

As she left the dining room, Darwin fell into an awkward silence and her dad raised the newspaper again. Diana sighed.

Maybe the reason she never believed in love was because she was raised in a household where her parents showed no affection to one another. But she could never marry someone without having feelings for them.

Although now she knew for certain that there was no way she could talk her mother out of this. She either had to find a way out of it, or end up marrying Sirius Black after all.