Chapter 77.5- Doom Days

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“Good to see you’re still alive” I said to Sirius on walking into the hotel room.

“Told you the Goblins wouldn’t dare attack me once the dueling started” he said.

“Fair enough. They must have been hoping Okonkwo would pull something off.” I said, not adding that in a different tournament without an apprentice of a literally immortal alchemist there, they probably would have found some way to try affecting the outcome. Of course, with the House running a scam of their own, the gamblers weren’t going to get anything out of it.

“Indeed. You should go get ready for the trophy presentation tonight" He said when he noticed me undoing my shoes.

“It’s in five hours” I told him.

“Yeah, but don’t you want to get the best seats?”

“I won, Sirius. We’ll have the best seats in the House” I said, and that was that, because I needed to get some sleep in my body. Some sleep. A lot of sleep, I amended as I had to drag myself to my bedroom.

“Gee, you sure look tired. Surprisingly tired considering the medwizards said you were fine and didn’t even go to the clinic with them.” He said.

“If you want to know what I was up to, just ask Sirius. I haven’t the energy for this.”

“What were you up to?”

“When I wake up” I said cheekily, smashing my head into the pillow. It took me less than a minute to fade off to sleep even as Sirius went on about something I couldn’t quite focus enough to hear.

—

“You should smile” I whispered to him as I took my seat next to him at the final banquet. Like I’d said, we had the best seats in the house reserved for us, even if we arrived about fifty minutes after the nominal start time. Considering guests were still streaming in, we were just late enough to be considered fashionable. Not so late as to be considered rude, thankfully.

“Something’s wrong” He said instead.

“What? What do you mean?” I asked, beginning to look around. Was there some sort of danger I was blind to.

“The drinks, the food arrangement, the decorations. They’re all sloppy.”

“Sloppy?” I asked, not able to see anything particularly out of place.

“Look at the champagne fountain. It’s off to the left of the room .Too close to entrance. When people were flowing in en-masse, it probably caused more than a few delays. Then there’s the food. It’s too far from the drinks. And the way the platter is arranged makes no sense. The decorations are askew as well. Just look at those lights” he pointed out, bringing each thing to my notice. They were subtle, not the kind of thing you’d see without an eye for detail.

“Wow.”

“What?”

“I didn’t know you were gay” I said with the straightest face imaginable.

“Oh fuck you”

“The decorations are askew? Really Sirius?”

“Not my fault that shrew of a woman made sure we learned how to set up a good party.”

“Okay, so they’re a little sloppy. That’s not reason enough to ruin your night”

“No, no. Every party usually has something off. But the previous three banquets have been damn near perfect. It’s just that for them to go from that level to this one in a matter of hours just feels strange.” Well, strange if one didn’t know the head organizer of this whole shindig was dead as a doornail.