Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 42

All the way to Hogwarts, as the girls talked and laughed and shared sweets, all Jenna could manage to do was stare outside the window with a goofy smile on her lips. Her hair remained pink and there was nothing she could do to get Sirius out of her mind.

    "Jenna!" Her head finally snapped up when Lily called her sharply.

    "What?" Jenna asked, blinking a few times to get herself back to reality.

     "I've called you like four times," said Lily, as Marlene gave her curious looks. "You okay?"

     "Y-yeah." Jenna nodded briskly.

     Alice suddenly giggled. "Looks like Jenna's in love!"

     "What?" the three girls exclaimed, turning to look at Alice with raised brows.

     "Are you?" Lily mused with a little smile, glancing at Jenna.

     "No! Of course not!" Jenna said defensively, frowning, though her heartbeat had sped up.

     "Good. There's nothing lovable about boys." Marlene rolled her eyes. "They're all so annoying! Even my brother is a little devil! And I'm sure he'll just grow out to be just as annoying as any other guy."

     "Not all guys are bad, Mar," Alice tried to reason, and it was hard to argue with her soft and dreamy voice.

     "I dunno... James Potter and Sirius Black are pretty annoying too," said Lily grudgingly. Although she then glanced at Jenna rather guiltily. "Sorry, Jen."

    "Nah, don't worry 'bout it." Jenna shook a hand at her with a casual grin. "I know my brother can be a pain in the arse sometimes."

    Lily looked as if she was about to argue that it was more often than sometimes, but she said nothing.

***

From the moment Alice had commented that Jenna was probably acting weird because she liked someone, Marlene had made it her mission to find out who Jenna liked.

    "Is it Remus?"

    "No."

    "Is it Sirius? It's Sirius, isn't it?"

    "No."

     "Then it's Peter!"

     "No. Let it go, Mar!"

    "I don't know anyone else in our year! It's gotta be one of these three!"

     "Oh, yeah?" Jenna grinned, folding her arms in a challenging manner. "And what makes you think it's someone from Hogwarts? It could be a neighbor, or a friend from back home."

     "Is it someone from back home?"

     "No."

     "Damn it, Potter!" Marlene huffed out loudly in frustration. "Tell me who it is!"

     "No."

      Lily kept trying to change the subject, tired of all the bickering that was going on, meanwhile Alice only watched them in amusement. Although Lily was completely unsuccessful, seeing as this went on until the train arrived at the Hogsmeade station and came to a stop.

     The four girls left their trunks behind — which were going to be transported into their dorms magically — as they made their way toward the horseless carriages.

     "Lily!"

     The four girls turned around before they could reach one of the carriages when they heard someone call Lily. Looking back, they saw Severus Snape walking toward them.

    "Sev!" Lily said happily, walking forward to bring him into a quick hug. "How are you doing?"

    Jenna rolled her eyes. Snape spared one glare at her direction before looking back at Lily.

    "I'm all right." He shrugged. "Had fun back home? I didn't get to see you over the holidays."

     "Oh, yes, it was great." Lily nodded with her usual bright smile. "We actually —"

     But her words were cut off when from behind them Avery and Mulciber showed up, looking as grim as ever.

     "Come on, Snape, leave the Mudblood alone," said Avery with a sneer.

     Jenna's hair suddenly turned red and she made a move and sprang forward, as though wanting to punch the boy in the face, but Marlene and Alice were quick to each grab ahold of one of Jenna's arms, holding her back with difficulty as she fought to break free.

     "I'll — I'll see you later, Sev," Lily whispered with all that she had left in her, trying to prevent her voice from breaking. She then turned around sharply, pacing quickly toward one of the empty carriages.

     Smirking in triumph, Avery and Mulciber walked away. Snape stood there for a moment longer, the expression on his face a mixture of sadness and guilt. But then he frowned and shook his head, following after his Slytherin friends.

     "Damn, Jen. How are you so strong?" Marlene huffed out in exhaustion when she and Alice finally let Jenna go, only once the three Slytherins were out of sight.

     "Stupid gits," Jenna grumbled, shaking her head to turn the red color back to blue. It was no longer pink.

     "Come on, let's get going," Alice said softly, and so the three girls followed Lily into the empty carriage.

     With a loud lurch, the carriage hurtled forward and started its way up to the castle. All the while, Lily was gazing outside the window, the sadness visible in her green eyes.

    The other girls shared a knowing look, none of them sure what they could possibly tell Lily to make her feel better. They felt sad that their friend had to go through such hate because of an old and stupid prejudice, and over something she had no control over.

     Jenna, Marlene, and Alice tried cheering Lily up all the way up to Hogwarts, changing the subject quickly and hoping to get her mind off the other things.

     Once they reached the castle and walked toward the Great Hall, their worries were soon forgotten as their breath was once again taken away at the sight of the magnificent hall. The Christmas decorations were taken down, but the ceiling remained like the beautiful night sky and hundreds of candles floated above the four long tables.

     When the dinner was finally over, the students got to their feet one by one, hoping to get a good sleep in their cozy beds which awaited them. Although Lily, Alice, and Jenna had to remain in their seats a bit longer because Marlene insisted that she wasn't done eating yet.

     "How are you not exploding?" Jenna looked at Marlene in both astonishment and disbelief as the blonde girl filled up her plate for what seemed to be the third time. "I'm actually jealous of you."

    "Eating is my hidden talent," Marlene said with a proud grin.

     "I wouldn't really call it hidden," Jenna said wittily and smirked, causing Marlene to send her a death glare.

     Just then, all eyes turned when a group of four noisy boys passed them by, talking and laughing loudly as they made their way toward the doors of the Great Hall. But just as they were passing the girls by, in a split moment, Jenna caught Sirius's eyes before they both briskly looked away.

    Jenna pursed her lips together to stop herself from smiling as she sneakily watched the four Gryffindor boys leave the Great Hall, feeling her face heat up, unaware that her hair had turned pink.

    Jenna then tried clearing her throat and turned around in her seat, but she came to a halt when she saw that now Lily, Alice, and Marlene were all grinning at her direction knowingly.

     "Uh oh..." Jenna muttered under her breath.