Mischief Managed Y2 Part 2: The Truth of the Tournament

Chapter Thirty-One: An Uncomfortable Utterly Perfect Mess

.................................................

Sirius was unsurprised to find that the aftermath of Valentine's day shook the castle and probably resulted in the most breakups in Hogwarts' history in the span of a few days. One of these breakups was the 'official' break up of Marlene and Peter. The mental girl delivered the news with a solemn severity about the whole matter as if she expected Peter to get down on his knees and beg. She did not seem happy when Pettigrew didn't seem particularly upset. Peter had instead started laughing, because he had glanced at Sirius who had mimed a noose around his neck with his best expression of a dead guy. Marlene had not been pleased about it, instead wanting more of a reaction, more drama. 

She shot a glare at Peter, then Sirius, who didn't care enough to stop his dramatics, then back at her 'ex' before muttering "boys" under her breath in a rather Lily-like manner and stomping off. In his own humble opinion, the prat shouldn't have made the whole thing public if she didn't want Sirius making his own commentary. She should just be lucky he kept his comments of the nonverbal sort. After all, the Marauders had each other's backs. Well...Remus wasn't currently present. But he could be forgiven considering, according to James, Madam Pomfrey had gone full-on matron on him and was making him stay in the hospital wing until the full moon.

"Tough break, mate," James patted Peter's shoulder with a knowing smile. "Alas, not all of us can be as lucky in love as me."

Peter elbowed James' side as Sirius commented about the extent of 'luck' the arrogant twat seemed to have. James went red and three of the Marauders began bickering in the common room to the annoyance of some and the amusement of others. The whole thing was all fun and games. Sirius and James got really into it since it was allowing them to expel some of their more negative emotions in a playful manner. The topic of their play-argument was none other than Marlene, who Sirius declared that James 'had won over with his fat head and had consequently driven Peter to jump off a cliff with a broken heart.' Sirius was, of course, the loyal friend coming to Peter's defence. Pettigrew seemed to enjoy this, sitting in a chair watching since he had supposedly died.

"Hey! Why am I the villain?" the poor sport protested, breaking character as Sirius continued to spin the tale of how James had actually murdered Peter.

"Because 'not all of us can be as lucky in love as you.' Isn't that right, you git?" Sirius teased, running to hide behind Peter as James picked up a cushion from the couch and chucked it. The projectile hit Peter instead of Sirius.

"First you murder me. Then you beat me up," Peter cried out, trying to suppress his giggling. James looked offended but Sirius started laughing and thumped Peter's back approvingly.

"I'm not like that though," James reiterated, coming over to sit beside Peter.

"That's why it's acting, you dimwit. I think Peter has more talent for it than you do!" Sirius scoffed, sitting down as well and tipping back in his chair so he could prop his feet on the little table where their homework lay forgotten.

"That's not true! I just think you shouldn't be the one coming up with the story," James protested. Sirius set his feet on the ground so he could poke James' cheek.

"Quit your griping. Come on, Jamesy, you can't be good at everything," Black mocked Potter who whacked away his hand with mild annoyance. Despite the good mood they were in due to Ravenclaw beating Slytherin in Quidditch yesterday, their bickering would no doubt have continued in substitution of their homework if they hadn't been interrupted. Prefect Frank, who had entered through the Fat Lady with an air of importance usually absent from the humble young man, cleared his throat, gathering the attention of all those in the common room.