Mischief Managed Y2 Part 2: The Truth of the Tournament

Chapter Eighteen: The Empath

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Sirius stopped his arm wrestle contest with James, one he was winning, as Remus came into the dorm and rushed over to his drawer. The last time the swot had come in as excited as he now seemed to be, he had told them about the fire, earth, water thing with the tournament. Needless to say, Sirius no longer cared about the arm wrestle which was the only reason why James won.

"Hah! Told you it wasn't luck. I beat you, Black. Oi, what's up, mate?" James asked, raising an eyebrow at Remus whose normally well-groomed hair was sticking all over the place. This gave the typically put-together boy a rather unfortunate frayed appearance as if he had just been struck by lightning.

"She's still here," Remus held up something Sirius had completely forgotten about.

"Oh, the egg! Blimey, did you figure out how to open it?" James asked excitedly as Peter came into the dorm looking breathless.

"Remus, you weren't making any sense...I couldn't find Gideon anywhere. But why do you need to talk to him?" Peter asked, looking as baffled as James did. 

"The eggs have something to do with the second task then?" Sirius grinned as Remus glanced at him.

"OH!" James and Peter exclaimed together and the excitable energy in the dorm could not have been higher.

"I think so. I...overheard someone mentioning them. But I need to talk to Gideon," Remus explained, a bit breathless as well.

"Talk to my brother about what exactly?" Fabian asked, leaning on the doorway to their dorm, their door left open by both Remus and Peter in their haste.

"I looked everywhere for you and Gideon," Peter gasped, face pink. Fabian laughed and poked Peter's nose before entering their dorm room as if it was his.

"You don't find me, little tykes, I find you," Fabian replied, and would have succeeded in sounding mysterious if he didn't wink at them.

"I think that's my line, Fab," Gideon interrupted before Fabian could get too far into their room. Gideon waited for Sirius to nod before entering, unlike Fabian who had strolled right in. The Prewett's presence seemed to be physically holding Lupin from blurting out what he looked so eager to say, a wild mischievous gleam in those amber eyes that Black was very pleased to see there. It wasn't there in his friend's eyes enough for Sirius' liking but when it was Remus was the one who needed to be stopped from causing mischief. Whether they did or did not hold the werewolf back when he was like that was a different story...

Gideon put a hand on Fabian's shoulder who was looking around the room with a smirk as if thinking about how to prank it. Sirius resisted the childish impulse to ask Fabian how he had managed to once catch three Slytherins in a levitating ball of foul gas and watched the oldest Prewett twin with fascination. If Patricia was the queen of pranks then Fabian was the King followed closely by Gideon, at least in the past. If any of the stories their mentor had told them were real. Sirius watched as Gideon approached Remus who still seemed to be shaking with energy. It was a little weird but no weirder than James who had turned into a statue at having both Prewetts in their dorm and Peter who looked ready to faint for the same reason.

Remus was just excited by the Prewetts that was all...

The lucky bastard was going to get to help Gideon again! It wasn't fair.

"Wotcher, Remus. What's up?"

"Gideon, the egg, it has something to do with the secondtaskandIthink--" Remus rushed in an explanation, speaking so fast Sirius could hardly understand him. The werewolf still seemed to be shaking with excitement. Or was he shaking because of something else? Normally Sirius would have paid a bit more attention, but he too was very happy and could hardly contain it. Again something tugged in him that his friend was not okay right now even if he appeared to be but once more he shoved it away. Remus was fine and Gideon Prewitt was in their dorm which was a much more pressing concern. James was in the midst of trying to kick his dirty clothes under his bed while still trying not to tear his eyes away from the Hogwarts champion, who as far as the awestruck boy was concerned, had saved his life.