Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 36

Mrs. Potter didn't seem too satisfied with the twins' promise, but she only let out a sigh, knowing that the best she could do was to hope that her children would behave better after returning to Hogwarts again.

"Can we go an eat now? We're starving!" said James, and Jenna nodded in agreement.

"All right. But only after you've taken a shower and changed!" said Mrs. Potter, and the twins groaned. "I'll ask Mickey to take up your trunks."

At the mention of his name, the next moment the young house elf suddenly appeared out of thin air in the middle of the hall, looking around to see who had called him.

"Oh, young Master James and Lady Jenna!" Mickey squealed in happiness before bowing down, his long nose almost touching the ground.

"Hello, Mickey!" James waved at him enthusiastically with a big smile as Jenna went forward to hug the house elf, who immediately burst into tears.

"Oh, how much M-mickey missed his l-little angels around the house!" he said between sobs, sniffing loudly as Jenna pulled back. "The house was indeed very quiet! For the first time after eleven years!"

"True. My ears weren't used to the silence," said Mr. Potter, and Mrs. Potter chuckled.

She then turned to face the house elf, saying, "Mickey, could you please take the kids' trunks upstairs?"

"Yes, of course, my Lady!" Mickey squeaked in glee, happy to help and excited that James and Jenna were home once again, after months of being away.

With that, Mickey snapped his fingers together, and the next moment he disappeared out of the hall along with all the trunks.

"Oh, bless him," said Mrs. Potter, although when she looked back, she saw that James and Jenna were missing.

Turning around sharply, she saw the two of them sneaking toward the kitchen, going on their tiptoes so they wouldn't make any noise to catch their parents attention.

"Going somewhere!?" Mrs. Potter called after them loudly, causing them to come to a sudden halt.

James and Jenna slowly turned around, looking even guiltier than before.

"Nowhere?" Jenna tried shrugging innocently, but there was no way they could get away with it this time.

"Nice try." Mrs. Potter grinned. "Shower. Now. You can have dinner afterwards."

Mumbling grumpily to themselves, James and Jenna made their way up the staircase, too stubborn to admit that they really had to change out of their clothes, seeing as they had been wearing them for half a day on the train.

"Ugh! I hate taking showers everyday!" James groaned as they walked to the second floor, tired and exhausted from the long day.

"Boys are so sloppy." Jenna rolled her eyes in disgust.

"What!?" James frowned, as though irritated. "And girls are — they're —"

"They're what?" Jenna folded her arms, looking back at him challengingly.

"I don't know, okay!? I'm too tired to come up with good comebacks!" James retorted before walking into his bedroom and closing its door with a slam.

"That's what I thought," Jenna said to herself with a triumphant smile, making her way over to her room.

"I heard that!" James shouted from his room.

"Yeah, that's because I wanted you to!" Jenna yelled back before slamming her own bedroom door shut as she kept on grinning.

They both loved arguing playfully with each other, though neither of them would ever admit to it out loud.

***

After finishing the enjoyable meal which Mickey had prepared for them, the twins rushed to the living room, excited as ever to decorate their Christmas tree for this year.

They knew they had to do it perfectly, because their traditional Christmas Ball was going to take place in a few days. Although as usual, if they didn't make the tree look elegant enough, Mickey would take it upon himself to make a few changes every here and there.

So James and Jenna soon got to work once Mickey brought their old ornament boxes. They used tall stools to decorate the middle parts of the tree, although the top areas which were out of their reach were Mickey's responsibility, who was going to use magic.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter had offered to help as always, but this year the twins insisted and told them that they could handle it all on their own, seeing as they were now old enough.

"I can't reach any higher than this," said James, stretching out his arms as one last attempt to place the silver ornament on the tree, though he failed.

"That's not fair, you know," said Jenna with a tone of disappointment. "Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to put the star on top of the tree. But Mum and Dad always do it with magic."

"Yeah... I mean, we could use a ladder... but I don't think we have one," said James thoughtfully. Although then his grin widened as a thought made its way through his head, his hazel eyes glimmering with mischief. "But I have a better idea."

"What?" Jenna mused with curiosity.

"We can use brooms to fly up to the ceiling and set the rest of the ornaments ourselves!" said James with excitement.

"But Mum says we're not allowed to fly brooms inside the house. You know the rule," said Jenna, hesitant at first.

"And...?"

Jenna smirked. "And I'm in."