Mischief Managed Year Two Part One: The Poisoned Truth

Chapter Twelve- Dapper Dancing Dumbledore

TWs: Mentions of Injuries and Self-Hate and Brief Mention of Panic Attack

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"It's quite unusual for me to make announcements during lunch and I'm sure many of you are wondering why," the headmaster spoke up nonchalantly. Dumbledore waited for a few seconds, which is all it took until all eyes were on him. The hall was dead silent. Patricia and Remus were no exception. Sirius let out a silent cheer for Dumbledore for his great timing, though mostly he was dying to know what was going on. In the back of his mind, he considered the possibility something bad had happened to Professor McGonagall but dismissed it quickly.

"Excellent. Well, you see I just couldn't help myself as this is quite good news to be sharing."

Again silence, until Fabian Prewitt, stood up and shouted, "Well, what is it?"

Professor McGonagall shot her house's table a stern glare and Gideon yanked Fabian back into his seat, looking embarrassed. Dumbledore merely smiled, enjoying the silent anticipation.

"For the first time since 1792..."

Lily suddenly gasped and Sirius resisted the urge to chuck a roll at her stupid head. Bloody know-it-all.

"...Hogwarts will be attempting to host the Triwizard Tournament!"

A loud cheer exploded across the school. Even the Slytherins and their usual bad attitudes were affected. Someone, a Hufflepuff, stood up on their bench and started clapping loudly, and soon practically the whole school was doing the same.

Sirius gestured for Remus to join but he shook his head, looking upset and possibly not even knowing what the tournament was. Gideon started a cheer of "All hail Dapper Dumbledore," though most people were just shouting his name. What a feat!

"You know what that is, right?" Sirius asked Remus. His friend gave him a strained smile, and this time Sirius resisted the urge to throw a roll at Patricia.

Sure, it had only been a few days since Remus arrived, but it was still a very hard task, nearly impossible, to not hound him on why he'd been late. Or not to pester him on why his disappearances seemed to be at the end of the month, or at least the second half of the month. That seemed to be significant somehow, yet it was never the same day in a row! Argh, now they'd probably never get the truth out of Remus. It was entirely Patricia's fault, and Remus' as well.

When he looked up from Remus, whose mood had definitely been spoiled by Patricia, he found that Dumbledore had started dancing a little jig to the explosion of clapping, which just led to more cheering and laughter, even some catcalls. Truly, it was like the tension amongst the entire school had evaporated! Sirius even saw some Slytherins and Ravenclaws, their tables being next to one another, giving high fives and smiling.

It was baffling, and Sirius tried to find Regulus amongst the first-year Slytherins. The lot of them were crowded around so tightly that he didn't have any luck, since there sure were a lot of new Slytherins this year. Professor McGonagall finally cleared her throat, which brought an end to Dumbledore's little dance.

"Yes, it is quite the cause for celebration. We will be hosting students from Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, both prestigious schools. These are the two other primary schools of wizardry in Europe, and I trust that if you don't already know about them that you will hear from students who do shortly, as the rumors fly. Tomorrow I will give the rest of the details, but until then let your imaginations run wild. Now off to class, pip pip!"

Everyone bustled to leave. Friends of students who weren't at lunch took off quickly to fill the others in. Dumbledore sure was right about the rumors! By the time Sirius reached the door leading into the hall, he had already heard from students that wood nymphs serenaded the Beauxbatons to that they were all half nymphs, and that all the Durmstrang students had their own dragons that they rode like brooms!