Mischief Managed Y2 Part 2: The Truth of the Tournament

Chapter Twenty-One: A Provoking Petition

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When James, Sirius, and Peter reached the Quidditch field they thought Remus had left the area or Patricia had been pulling their legs. Peter had suggested in a horrified whisper that Remus might have gone into the Whomping Willow but Sirius was sure that was the last place the werewolf would be and seemed nervous about checking.

James figured the most sensible thing to do would be to turn back since it was more than likely Remus had already returned to their dorm.

"I don't know why he'd be near the Quidditch pitch anyways. Patricia probably just wanted to make us do something mundane, you know how she can be," Sirius pointed out, taking off with a long stride to the Quidditch pitch with a grin. "Might as well get some flying in before dinner, yeah? Apparently, no one's using the pitch today."

James decided this would be fine. He had personally memorized all of the practice times of the teams since he was planning some way at causing mayhem during the Slytherin practice. Only he hadn't told Sirius yet because anytime Slytherin was brought up Black could turn downright insane. James despised some Slytherins but Sirius seemed only too happy to cause harm to any of them who weren't his own brother and ended up picking on Regulus sometimes even then. James knew it had something to do with the letters Sirius had been receiving, so many of them that the heir had actually opened one and then proceeded to open all of them. Luckily Remus had noticed and James was sure the only other person who seemed to grasp some of the turmoil of Sirius' life would be better equipped to talk to the heir about it than him. In all honesty though, James just didn't want Sirius blowing up at him, he had experienced enough of that while Remus was gone for break.

"The last one to the brooms is Snivellus' crumpled tissue," Sirius called out loudly and took off running. James stopped thinking about complicated things like the Black family and bolted after his friend, nearly overtaking him.

"HAH!" Sirius laughed, looking pleased with himself. James had noticed that as soon as the git had won one race against him there had been more and more foot sprints lately.

"You enjoy it while you can, Black. I can beat you at a competition on our brooms any day," he gloated as Peter reached the door. Pettigrew and Potter noticed at roughly the same time the entrance to the shed was cracked slightly.

"...anyone in there?" James called since Sirius was trying to come up with a clever swear and had not yet noticed the irregularity with the supply shed.

"Yeah...I'm stuck..." came a familiar yet surprising voice.

"Remus? Is that you?" Peter called out, sticking his face in the crack.

"...yeah..." the werewolf sighed, sounding tired.

"What are you doing in there?" Sirius asked playfully, perhaps expecting some sort of trick. James grinned, wondering if Remus was going to pop out with fireworks or something. Maybe that's what Patricia had been teaching him, how to initiate pranks more. James knew Remus was clever; they just hadn't gotten their friend to fully use his talents for mischief...yet.

"Got stuck...can you guys help?" The werewolf's voice sounded a bit muffled and grumpy. James was about to enter but Sirius put a hand on his shoulder grinning mischievously. The chaser raised his eyebrows but didn't enter.

"What's this?" Sirius asked with mock surprise, "the Remus Lupin asking for help. I don't believe my ears."

Peter giggled and James bit back a smile unsure if this was something they should be teasing Remus about or not. Since finding out about Remus' secret, James' correspondence with his own parents had nearly doubled and while Fleamont and Euphemia had no idea what the actual situation was they had been giving him advice on what to do.