Mischief Managed Y2 Part 2: The Truth of the Tournament

Chapter Forty-Four: The Cost of Being A Kid

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As Remus rushed back to his dorm so he could talk to Ryan about everything that had happened lately, he was interrupted before he even got very far.

"Hey, you're Remus right?" some girl called out to him with a thick accent as he headed back. Remembering Ryan's warning about students having been attacked and weary after the last time he ran into a female foreign student, he turned around with his hand already wrapped around his wand.

"Why do you want to know?" he asked calmly, taking in the older student a decent distance further down the hall. There wasn't enough space between them that Remus could run without being overtaken though, so he chose to stand his ground. The young woman looked to be about Patricia's age, a fifth or maybe a sixth year. She had white-blond hair like Fiona's but it was curly, and light green eyes- one of which was enlarged by some sort of gold-rimmed monocle that wrapped around her ear.

"It's good to be cautious. You don't need to be though. I'm Christine Roberts, the older student who will be running your group. I came to tell you I've finalized the members. It will be you, James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, and Regulus Black." If Christine had any inkling of the absolute hellish team she had devised she gave no sign of it. There was a confidence about her and she didn't seem to find any need to stay around talking to some second-year which was fine by him.

"But isn't Lily on another team?" Remus asked, vividly recalling the girl talking about how the foreign student who was running her team had already met up with her and seemed nice.

Christine gave a toothy grin. "She was, but we Digore and Abraesalts have been swapping you kiddies around like collector baseball cards. That's why none of the teams have been 'officially finalized yet.' Until yesterday that was. I meant to find you then, but if I'm being honest, I forgot. Glad I ran into you. Do me a favour and inform your two friends, for me."

"Which two?" Remus asked in surprise since Lily, James, and Sirius were all his friends. He hadn't hung out with Lily as much as he might once have but he was busy and she was becoming fast friends with Mary and her brother ever since her birthday back in January.

"Aren't you friends with both Black brothers?" Christine asked, cocking her head to one side. Remus got the feeling she was searching for some information from him but he wasn't sure what or why. Was she trying to put together a team that would fail? Because between Sirius and Regulus and James and Lily it sounded like the worst team known to man.

"How about I tell Lily, James, and Sirius since they are in my house," Remus suggested, giving no direct reply on his friendship with either Black. Christine didn't look bothered and Remus wondered if he really was becoming paranoid of the foreign students and had simply imagined how pointed her question was. How was Christine supposed to know who he was friends with anyways? Maybe she just got Sirius and Regulus confused and was hoping Remus would clarify that information with her.

"That's fair enough. I'll be trying to get in contact with them myself at some point, though let's face it, I suck with time management," she seemed amused by this fact and grew rather off-topic, "if I was better at it this whole year would have gone much smoother. Oh well. You see, I'm also really good at cleaning up my messes. So you let them know. Apparently, the official start date is the twelfth and we are supposed to meet only twice a week until the end of April I think...which is when we will all gather in the Great Hall to show off what we create. I'm still debating what we should do since some stuff like the Drought of Death is strictly off-limits. Armortia seems too boring. Oh, there I go again running my mouth. Basically, I'll figure something out."