Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 43

"YOU LIKE HIM!" Marlene suddenly yelled, causing all eyes in the Great Hall to turn toward them curiously.

    "Shh!" Jenna glared at the blonde girl, who had now pursed her lips together in embarrassment, though her blue eyes still glimmered in excitement. "Keep it down, will you?" Jenna hissed angrily at her.

     "Ha! So you confess that you do like him!" Marlene said proudly, her grin widening.

    "I think her hair confessed on its own, Mar," said Lily, chuckling along with Alice.

     "Look, I don't like him," Jenna started, speaking more quietly, "I just — I just think that he could be — you know — cool."

     "Nah. You totally fancy him." Marlene smirked.

     "I think you two would look cute together," said Alice with a giggle, and the other two girls nodded in agreement.

    "No! I'm not gonna — I'm not gonna— go out with him," Jenna said the last few words in a small whisper, glancing around carefully, as though she'd even become embarrassed at the mere thought.

     "Does he like you back?" Lily questioned.

     "No... I mean... I don't know..." Jenna shrugged, trying to seem as careless as possible. But that actually made her suddenly wonder if Sirius liked her or not.

    "Well, I think —" Alice started, but they never got to hear what she wanted to say next, because right at that moment Professor McGonagall stepped toward them with her usual stern expression.

    "Are you four ladies planning on spending the night at the Great Hall?" said Professor McGonagall, looking at them one by one in a disapproving manner. They all shook their heads, but Lily looked away, afraid to meet McGonagall's eyes. She hated being scolded. "Well, then I suggest you go back to your dormitories along with your other peers."

    Quickly, the four girls got to their feet, murmured their goodbyes to Professor McGonagall, before hurrying out of the Great Hall along with the other students. Jenna was secretly glad that McGonagall had interrupted their conversation, because she didn't want to talk about Sirius anymore, knowing that her hair would turn pink again.

But little did she know that Lily, Alice, and Marlene were nowhere near letting it go.

***

"So how long have you liked him?"

    "Shut up, Mar."

    "What do you even see in him?"

    "Shush!"

    "Do you want to kiss him or something?"

    "Marlene!"

    "Miss Potter, Miss McKinnon," Professor Flitwick called upon them, as the two girls were sitting beside each other in Charms class, "could you please keep it down?"

     "Sorry, Professor," Jenna mumbled under her breath, sending one last quick glare at Marlene before looking down at her parchment.

    Although throughout the rest of the class she could still feel Marlene's curious eyes on her.

    This state continued for another whole week. Jenna regretted how her friends had found out about her little crush on Sirius Black. Because each time they saw him in the common room or literally anywhere else, the three girls giggled, causing Jenna to wish she could melt away into the ground.

That day, the four girls had gone outside the castle, walking the snow-covered grounds. With their cloaks and scarves wrapped around them tightly, they talked and laughed, enjoying their weekend in the beautiful snowy weather.

"I'm telling you, everyone's saying Jenna's the prettiest girl in our year," said Lily, who was convinced by the others to leave her homework for the evening, and just enjoy the day for the time being.

"I think Layla Miller looks pretty," said Marlene, trying to sound casual, though her cheeks had turned slightly pink unknowingly.

Although Marlene's lightly flushed face went completely unnoticed by Jenna, who had taken those words to heart.

Jenna scoffed, shaking her head. "The Slytherin girl? But she can't really turn her into cool colors, can she?" she said jokingly, flipping her hair back as she turned her to purple to green and back to blue, making them chuckle.

But just then, the sound of their laughter faded away when Alice pointed at the distant, saying, "What's going on there?"

Looking over, Jenna saw many students gathered around in a safe distance from a large tree, which she soon noticed was the Whomping Willow.

     While Lily and Alice shared worried looks, Marlene and Jenna's grins widened, and so the four girls hurried forward, trying to take a glimpse of what was going on.

    "Oh, God!" Lily gasped when they finally reached the group, only to see that everyone was cheering on a few boys who were trying to near the Whomping Willow.

    "Is that — Jen, is that your brother and his friends?" Alice said with wide eyes, watching James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter in horror.

    Although the four Gryffindor boys weren't the only ones trying to reach the tree; there were also a group of second year Slytherins there, standing closer yo the tree than the others.

    "What's going on?" Jenna asked a girl who was standing near them, cheering James and the others on.

    "Davey Gudgeon bet that Gryffindor boy over there that he couldn't touch the Whomping Willow's trunk," said the girl with a smirk, pointing at James. Jenna assumed that Davey Gudgeon was the second year Slytherin boy.

     "You should stop him!" Lily told Jenna hastily in a urgent whisper, her eyes fixed on the tree, which still hadn't moved.

     "I thought you hated James," said Marlene with amusement, grinning.

     "So? I don't want him to die from being crushed by a tree!" Lily snapped, but before Marlene could answer, the cheering crowd gasped and shrieked when the Whomping Willow's large branches started moving, jerking forward.

    "DUCK!" Sirius yelled, and the other three boys dropped to the ground. The tree missed them by only a few inches.

     Jenna's hair had turned suddenly turned white in horror, thinking for a second that the tree had certainly hit her brother. She shook her head, trying to turn it back to blue.

     It was James and Sirius who made a run forward, as Remus and Peter stood back. Peter was cheering them on along with the crowd, but Remus looked more worried than anybody else as he kept his eyes on the Willow.

The tree starting moving again, launching forward as James and Sirius tried dodging it, throwing themselves in different direction to miss the heavy and large branches. Everyone let out another gasp of horror as James leapt forward and past the branch, trying to near the tree further. But when the tree started moving faster and even more barbaric, James ran backward.

"Is that what you call bravery? Why did they even bother putting you in Gryffindor?" Davey Gudgeon scoffed loudly, taking a few steps forward as James and Sirius returned back and stood at a safe distance from the tree, panting heavily. "Let me show you how it's done."

The crowd watched with a mixture of excitement and fear as the Slytherin boy started running toward the tree, the smug look never fading from his face. But not ten seconds later, everyone let out a scream and Gudgeon shrieked when the Whomping Willow's enormous branch suddenly hit him in the face, throwing him ten feet away.