Mischief Managed Y2 Part 2: The Truth of the Tournament

Chapter Seventy-Seven: Stupid is Contagious

Summary: Patricia doesn't get paid enough to deal with this shit. James would surrender all his money if he could solve his friend's shit. He's as worried about his friends as his mum is about him. It turns out almost drying from Inferi freaks one's parents out. Whoops.

Song: Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana

With the lights out, it's less dangerous

Here we are now, entertain us

I feel stupid and contagious

/

I'm worse at what I do best

And for this gift I feel blessed

Our little group has always been

And always will until the end

/

Ooh well, whatever, nevermind

/

A denial

AN: The broken-up parts of this song show the fractured mindsets of our two POVs. There's a lot of meaning to this song. Do you think you can guess them all?~ ;)

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

Life was an absolute load of rubbish! Even after the Triwizard Tournament shit show, the fifth-years had to take their OWLS. She wished she had been among the few students sent to St. Mungos. It was just her rotten luck! She dreaded the tests' results because she knew damn well after learning so much concerning information, she hadn't finished strong. Not that she cared about the Marauders a great deal...she just needed them for next year. So she conceded to an annoyingly amused Gideon that she'd watch those boys like a hippogriff.

At least the visiting schools departed on a good note, most students unaware that anyone but David, Daniel, or whoever the prick was had tried to damage Hogwarts. She had gotten to know a few of the Abreasalts and Digore students, and most of them were decent. It bothered her to no fucking end that the annoying second-year tykes had gotten tangled up in something so dangerous. She'd been filled in after threatening Peter because she knew how to target the weak link.

While impartial to the visiting schools leaving, she didn't mind admitting how crushed she was that Gideon and Fabian hadn't tremendously failed their NEWTS. However, during the conversation with Fabian about the most concerning Marauder, he confided his extreme worry. At first, she brushed it off because what else was new? Get in line twat. But then he had revealed Remus' drowning in self-hatred while in the hospital wing, which, yeah, that tracked. And he'd mention the second-year' resigned despair, rather than surprise, over how badly the Inferi poisoned him ran disastrously deep. That piqued her interest. She now suspected there was more to Remus than some abused kid. Although maybe his lack of shock could be blamed on his crap immune system because, holy shit, he got sick constantly. But something about readily accepting the Inferi affecting him much worse than James... bothered and intrigued her. She was missing... something, she knew that much.

Other than cornering Peter, or perhaps as a result, she hadn't gotten much time to speak to the other dumbasses. She had even challenged Remus to chess since she could spot his misery a mile away, even with their minimal interactions. But the git's had turned her down in his gentle, polite way. She had the nagging notion Remus was giving her and the Prewetts a wide berth, almost as if he knew he'd be in for one hell of an intervention. The absolute fool certainly needed one. Upon finding he'd been in the process of descending into hell when the Prewetts arrived...well, she was fucking pissed. Then again, maybe Remus wasn't clever enough to hide; perhaps the kid was preoccupied with enjoying the remaining day before summer. Yeah right. However, she had to admit all the Marauders had been scarce, off doing who knows what. They better limit themselves to a sane amount of trouble to avoid winding up dead...again!