Mischief Managed Y2 Part 2: The Truth of the Tournament

Chapter Sixty: Shocking Results

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ryan asked frantically, following Remus quickly. It was the middle of the day but you wouldn't have known it from how jumpy Ryan was. The werewolf understood though and was as nearly on edge himself. If they were caught there was no telling what would happen but they couldn't use the invisibility cloak as it was currently being used by James. Remus knew it was a risk walking anywhere with his Slytherin friend, let alone leading him to the orb. But he felt bad enough for looking into things without Ryan realising or being included. It just had all sort of happened and Remus had tried to include Ryan a few times but the boy was still terrified protecting the orb would land them in trouble and seemed bent on making him drop the matter entirely. But last night his Gryffindor friends had fallen asleep early, too worn out from a long day of classes and waking up at 4 am. With some time on his hands, Remus had written to Ryan for hours. 

By the time the werewolf felt tired enough to sleep he knew he owed it to his friend to show him the location of the orb. But the idea hadn't become solidified until the Marauders had woken up on the 7th to see on the bulletin that James, Lily, and Remus' potion group, now absent of both Blacks for differing reasons, had passed the younger student trials! No one could believe it and Remus had puzzled over why Christine would do such a thing, thinking perhaps it was her way of apologising. It wasn't until Dumbledore's announcement in the Great Hall that it all made sense.

The headmaster had explained to all the students gathered for breakfast that due to the limited number of students passing the potions competition, the younger students who were in groups that even halfway successfully made their potions, provided they were of a complexity fifth year and above, would all be chosen to participate in the Third Triwizard Tournament. And with them the older students from the other schools who ran the groups, that way it wouldn't just be Hogwarts students getting to participate. Of course, it was also mentioned that anyone who did not wish to participate in the third task for any reason could opt not to and the older foreign students could even give their spot to a fourth or fifth-year student if they wished to and got approval to do so ahead of times. Only by the chatter that accompanied that proclamation anyone choosing not to partake in the third task who had gone through all the trials and worked so hard to do just that would be seen as a coward and a moron. 

Dumbledore had continued on once the murmuring had quieted down that the list of students, whose Sirius' and Regulus' names were not on, would be spending an evening with Slugghorn on the 20th. Apparently, the potions professor had been so impressed and wanted to 'get to know them better.' The Headmaster had also announced all the names out loud and had given 20 points to each younger student from Hogwarts, before talking for a while about how pleased he was with the cooperation between their school, the Abrasalts, and the Digores. In total there were 30 students fourth year and below that were helping in the Third Task, over half from Hogwarts. They were informed by a prefect that on the day of the Triwizard Tournament they were to report to McGonagall's classroom early in the morning so as to be informed of their roles and reach the arena before the champions.

Remus had never expected to have made it so far nor would he have expected to feel so crummy about it. But the fact of the matter, no matter how you looked at it, much to James' chagrin, was that Christine had cheated so they would be out of her group's hair when they stole the orb. The werewolf had considered dropping out but doing so would have been suspicious considering the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament wasn't near the full moon. James had obviously been elated and it had taken a lot to convince him he hadn't made it through on his prowess alone. And Remus still hadn't managed to get his friends to seriously consider the implications for only Sirius and Peter being able to move around freely to stand up to a group of four or more fourth years and older! It would have been hard enough with the four of them.