Mischief Managed Y2 Part 2: The Truth of the Tournament

Chapter Fifty-Four: Professors at War

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Sirius felt he had won the biscuit war but they gave up arguing about who the champion had been as they re-entered the castle. They chattered amicably on their way back from Hagrid's and once they reached their empty common room James explained The Order had to do with the war against Voldemort. Of course that set them off on wild fantasies about what their two professors could be up to.

"Do you think they've killed people?" James asked with wide-eyed astonishment as they entered their dorm. "I don't think my mum ever had to but she wasn't in a war."

"Probably," Sirius smirked, earning a squeak of horror from Peter. "That would explain why McGonagall has been such a bit--"

"Sirius, that's not nice at all! I'm sure it's been really hard for both of them," Remus interrupted quickly. In response, Black snatched the bag of goodies from Lupin's hands and jumped up on the werewolf's bed, tossing out snacks one by one as Potter and Pettigrew dramatically fought over them. Remus sighed heavily and sat on his bed in his usual posture, back pressed against the headboard. Before Sirius could think things through he had shaken the rest of the contents onto the floor with a delighted exclamation of "fight, Nifflers fight," then squeezed himself beside Remus.

"You alright?" Sirius asked quietly, unsure where the anger at his friend had gone. Only, it was hard to be mad at Remus when he looked so pale and unsure.

"Do...do you think we ought to tell a professor? If this has to do with Voldemort...What if we put everyone in danger by not saying anything? I was thinking and we could write an anonymous letter--"

"That's mental, Remus! Did you forget how quickly Dumbledore figured out it was Bellatrix writing those nasty letters to me last year, and she had magically enchanted her handwriting--"

"To blame me...yes, I remember," Remus sighed.

"She's not your biggest fan, mate," James declared, flopping onto his stomach on the bed, sugar cookie sticking out of his mouth.

"At least she hasn't hunted you down like she said she would," Peter mumbled nervously, gulping down the last bit of a pumpkin pasty. Sirius wondered briefly if there would be any snacks left for him and Remus.

"Yeah, it's bloody lucky you move around so much. I reckon you'll stay safe that way," James pointed out casually, but Sirius shot him a look knowing what he was doing. It seemed that for once Remus was not three steps ahead of his friends though, thoughts probably still focused on the noble mission of saving the school from Voldemort. The werewolf only nodded absentmindedly. "Must be hard being in the woods all the time...you must like camping a lot."

Peter, usually the slowest of the group, bit his lip and focused on picking apart his second pumpkin pasty so Remus wouldn't pick up on anything.

Remus sighed, reaching under his pillow and pulling out a very basic old map of Hogwarts, with their additions marked onto it. "I suppose. What if we left...a drawing of the orb in danger...then Dumbledore couldn't tell who--"

"That's not a bad idea, mate, but we should probably figure out what you're going to do for summer...leaving and all..." James turned on his side so he could watch their shifty friend while casually resting his head on his hand. Potter might be a piss poor liar but he could be a sneaky little bastard when he wanted. 

The chaser's tone was so matter-of-fact that Sirius didn't blame Remus, already lost in thoughts, for not picking up on the trap. Instead the werewolf continued on in a preoccupied tone, "I'll go back, I suppose, so it's fine. We should head out in about an hour to search for the orb but we ought to work on Herbology and our Defence Against the Dark Arts assignment."