Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 41

Feeling the disappointment surge from within him, Sirius grumbled to himself before turning around to go and find his friends. James had certainly arrived already, but he wasn't sure if Remus and Peter were there yet.

    He didn't know what he had expected. Was he really waiting for Jenna to say she could somehow smell his shampoo or something?

    Sirius shook his head. This is pathetic.

    Regret washed over him. He shouldn't have sent her the present in the first place, and he certainly shouldn't have acted so obvious by asking her those questions. He had only made her uncomfortable.

     That's why her hair turned pink, Sirius thought to himself as he walked down the train's corridor. I probably freaked her out.

    Before he could blame himself any more than he already was, Sirius sighted Remus in one of the compartments, sitting by the window alone.

     Sliding the compartment door open, Sirius walked inside, catching Remus's attention who smiled at him warmly.

    "Hi," Remus said softly, immediately recognizing the disturbance on his complexion.

    From the look on Sirius's face, Remus could tell that he probably wasn't in the mood for a enthusiastic greeting, and it was pointless asking him if he had a good time over the holidays; the answer was either going to be 'no', or a sarcastic remark.

    "Hey." Sirius gave him a wary wave, sitting in front of him. "Where's James? I assumed he would be here already."

    "He was. He just went out to search for Peter," he replied, holding himself back from asking Sirius what was troubling him, because Remus didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

    Although it was Sirius who had decided to speak up, "Do you think Jenna is cool?"

    "Er..." Remus took aback. He certainly hadn't expected Sirius to ask this question when he had opened his mouth to speak. "Yeah, she seems nice."

    "That wasn't the answer I was hoping for," Sirius groaned, turning his gaze outside the compartment window bitterly, watching the kids hug their parents goodbye.

The sight always made Sirius's heart ache even though he would never admit to it out loud, to see everyone this way with their parents. Maybe it was jealousy, or just the longing of a mother's embrace. But right now his mind was far away, and he had other things troubling his thoughts at the moment.

    "Then what answer were you looking for?" Remus questioned curiously.

    "I don't know!" Sirius huffed in annoyance, giving an irritated shrug. "Maybe I was hoping that you'd say she's annoying — or — or that she has a bad quality or something."

    Remus found himself being confused by those words. But he had a feeling Sirius was even more confused than he was at this point.

    "Why are you trying to look for faults in her?" Remus asked softly.

    "I don't know," Sirius said stubbornly, "maybe because I don't want to start liking her! With her stupid blue hair — and her — her stupid perfect laugh!"

    Remus couldn't deny that he was surprised to hear those words, but he chuckled all the same, saying, "Is it so bad to like her?"

    "Yes!" Sirius said with no logical reason in mind, but then he sighed. "I mean... I don't know..."

     Perhaps he just didn't want to start liking someone, only to end up being starved of their affection, just like how his parents had treated him while growing up.

    Just then, the compartment door opened once again and James entered with Peter following him right behind, as they all greeted each other cheerfully.

Without anybody else noticing, Sirius caught Remus's eyes for a second and they held each other's gazes, as though silently agreeing that this conversation would remain between them for the time being.

***

Jenna had found her friends all gathered in a compartment near the end of the train, and they all shot to their feet once they saw Jenna, bringing her into a group hug.

    "Oh, I missed you so much!" said Lily, who had held on to the hug a bit longer than the others.

    "Did you have fun over Christmas?" Alice asked in her usual dreamy voice, taking her seat again by the window.

    "Yeah, we —"

    "Cool hair!" Marlene said excitedly and cut her off, pointing at Jenna's pink hair.

    "Oh... thanks," Jenna muttered distantly. She purposely left out the part that she couldn't really control it at the moment, and she had no choice than to be stuck with the pink hair for now.

     Jenna was never the type to blush, or for her face to turn red. Instead, her hair always gave her away. And not just when it came to the feeling of embarrassment, but also whenever she felt any other extreme emotion as well, whether it was anger, sadness, excitement, or happiness.

    And now, just a few minutes ago, her own hair had betrayed her. Jenna hadn't realized until then that it was Sirius's scent she had smelled in the candles. Jenna didn't want to believe that she had actually started to like the boy who kept teasing and annoying her.

    She also didn't want her friends to find out about this either, sure that her little crush on Sirius would soon go away.

     What's wrong with you? she thought to herself sternly, as though the voice of her conscious could bring some sense into her. He's just an annoying boy. You don't like him.

     But Jenna soon came to realize that it took more than lying to yourself to stop liking someone. Because no matter how many times she told herself that she didn't like Sirius Black, all the way to Hogwarts, she couldn't stop thinking of his stupid face without smiling.