Mischief Managed Y2 Part 2: The Truth of the Tournament

Chapter Fifty-Three: The Bad, the Good, and the Brilliant Liars

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Meet me in the owlery.

Remus hadn't hesitated to scribble a quick confirmation to Ryan and pocket the enchanted parchment they often used to communicate with. He hoped that his friend had found a lead and was going to inform Remus of it so that they could, with any luck, have proof so adults could get involved. It hadn't surprised the werewolf that last night, after galavanting around, the Marauders were nowhere closer to finding the orb. At least Sirius was enthusiastic about 'treasure hunting,' though Remus wasn't entirely sure this was a good thing.

"Where are you going, Remus?" Peter asked, looking up from his half-finished Transfiguration assignment, little smudges of ink on his nose and cheek.

"I thought I'd get us some snacks since we've been working so hard on our assignments," the liar pointed out smoothly.

"Ooo, get me some cauldron cakes please," Peter piped up happily. Remus could feel Sirius' eyes on him and forced himself to take a deep breath, sounding calm.

"Can I get you anything, Sirius?"

The dizzying boy had been unhappy with Remus since he had told the other Marauders about the wolves and not how he had left home over break. Which was ludicrous since it should be Remus upset at Sirius for not keeping his big mouth shut about the secret in the first place!

"No, I'm good. Make sure you're back soon, we're still seeing Hagrid after dinner, yeah?" Sirius said innocently enough, but Remus had to look away from the gleam of suspicion in his friend's eye.

"Right...I'll be back," Remus replied a bit coldly, feeling defensive.

"Oh, and get some sugar quills and dipped cookies for James, he'll be plenty famished after practice," Peter called out as Remus left, feeling Sirius' eyes on him until the door closed. Remus resisted the impulse to kick the door and headed for the owlery right away, relieved when he didn't run into anyone he knew in the halls. As he climbed the stairs he made sure to call out who it was so that Ryan didn't freak out. When Remus walked into the little room where the avians hooted their greetings, he found Ryan absentmindedly stroking a small black owl.

"You came," Ryan beamed at Remus, sounding as shocked as always when he wasn't ignored or blown off.

"Of course I did," Remus replied easily, understanding his friend's surprise more than he cared to admit. "Did you find out anything?"

Ryan's smile slipped some and he shook his head then launched into a rushed explanation of how it did seem like the contestants were looking for something throughout Hogwarts, though it was being kept secret. Remus' confusion grew the more Ryan struggled to explain based on little tidbits he had overheard about Michaela, the Digore's champion.

"That doesn't make sense though, Ryan." Remus pointed out, figuring his friend had somehow overheard something wrong since there was no reason for the kind Slytherin to lie to him. Before Ryan could protest, as it looked like he wanted to, Remus set to catching his friend up. Ryan sat, listening quietly, though his expression was torn between annoyance and worry by the time Remus finished his explanation.

"You...went into the forest? I thought you were going to leave matters alone." Ryan shook his head, his eyes widening in horror. "And you saw inferi? You're sure?"

Remus nodded and pointed out to his friend that he had gone into the Forbidden Forest with Sirius for a completely unrelated reason, though this seemed to stress out the Slytherin even more.

"But you're looking for the orb now? Remus, you have to stop, it's too dangerous!" Ryan pleaded, going rather pale. Remus winced, feeling guilty to be distressing his friend so much, and very gently hinted at how students from one, or both, of the other schools looking for the orb, could be bigger than the Triwizard Tournament.