Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 46

Eventually, Sirius and Jenna made their way back to the Gryffindor tower, and Jenna had managed to turn her hair back to blue. She realized that it was late in the afternoon, but her appetite hadn't returned yet.

"That must've been one crappy birthday, huh?" Sirius chuckled as they walked up the stairs.

  "Oh..." Jenna suddenly stopped walking. "I forgot it was my birthday today..."

Sirius gulped, thinking of something to say in order to distract her. "Er... anyway, if you're hungry we can go down to the kitchen to get you something before dinner."

"No, I'll be fine," Jenna turned down the offer with a little shrug, walking up to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

The moment they said the password and walked into the common room, Jenna's breath was knocked out of her chest when Lily sprang forward and brought her into a tight hug.

   "Oh Jen, we were so worried!" Lily said quickly, pulling away to make sure she was all right.

   "I'm fine," Jenna said earnestly, though the smile that she offered her friend was rather forced. By the sympathetic look in Alice's eyes, Jenna could tell that she wasn't too convinced.

"Are James and Marlene gone already?" Sirius asked Lily and Alice.

   "Yes, they just left." Alice nodded softly.

"Well... I should better get going too," said Sirius, and so with a little smile at Jenna, he left the common room again.

  Jenna frowned in confusion, turning to look back at Lily and Alice questioningly. "Where are they going?"

  Lily and Alice shared an uncomfortable glance, before Lily said hesitantly, "Apparently, after you left the entrance hall... McGonagall came to see what was going on. She gave Avery and Mulciber three months of detention and took fifty points off Slytherin."

"But what about James and Sirius and Marlene?" Jenna mused, looking between her two friends.

"W-well..." Alice started awkwardly. "Marlene sort of... punched Avery. And... James and Sirius jinxed them. They got a week of detention."

  Jenna started to feel even worse after hearing that, the guilt filling her up. She didn't want her friends and brother to get into trouble because of her, or rather, because of two worthless idiots.

***

Throughout the rest of the year, Jenna's hatred for those two Slytherin boys never ceased, and she never missed the chance to glare daggers at their direction each time she saw them in the Great Hall or in the classes.

Jenna tried to distract herself with her studies, seeing as their exams were approaching. In the week before their exams, Lily kept the other three girls in the library. Alice kept dazing away and starting out of the window dreamily, Marlene always rested her head on the table and fell asleep, and no matter how hard Jenna tried, she kept losing focus after some while of studying.

Throughout those last three months, Jenna realized that Remus kept missing the classes every once in a few weeks, and disappeared for a day or two each time.

"Where does he keep going?" Jenna asked James once. "Is he feeling all right?"

"He's fine," said James, a tone of pity in his voice. "It's his mother that's sick. He goes home once month to visit her. Poor bloke... I feel really bad for him."

"But he seems so tired each time he returns," said Jenna.

"Probably seeing his mother so sick gets him like that."

"But what about the wounds on his face? What explanation is there for that?" Jenna asked, but then her face fell when a horrible thought made its way through her head. "You — you don't suppose someone's hurting him, do you?"

"No, I don't think so," said James, though he went slightly paler at the thought. "He says he fell from his broom."

"Every time he goes home he falls from his broom?"

"Look, I don't know, J.P! I'm just telling you what Remus himself told us." James sighed. "I've been suspicious about this whole thing too, but I never question him. He's probably in too much stress already with his mum sick and all. I don't want to bring her up and investigate him about it. It'll only make him feel worse."

Jenna let the matter go, but her curiosity resurfaced when Remus went missing the night before their Charms exam. He even missed the exam the next morning and returned back to school a day later, looking more worn out than ever with dark circles underneath his brown eyes.

  Remus reasoned that his mother was feeling worse than ever, and he just had to go back home to visit her, despite their exams. It was urgent. He said his mother was his first priority, and her health came before any exam or classes.

His friends understood completely, and tried being there for him. But Remus wouldn't tell them anything else, so they just let him be, not wanting to make him uncomfortable.

After their examination ended a few days later, Jenna was satisfied with the results that she had gotten. Although James and Sirius had surprisingly gotten the best scores in the whole year. Even Lily's results weren't as good as theirs, which left her slightly annoyed because those two boys hadn't even bothered to study at all.

Once the school year came to an end, they all boarded the train. Jenna knew that she was going to miss Hogwarts, but she couldn't wait to go back home and see her parents.

"I'll miss you guys so much," said Lily when the train had finally stopped, and they were saying their goodbyes in platform 9 3/4. "Promise that you'll write."

"Of course!" Alice nodded brightly.

"Okay, I'll write." Marlene shrugged, but then she grinned. "But only of Jenna promises to bring me some of her mum's home-made pumpkin pies."

     Jenna chuckled. "All right."

     "Ready to go, J.P?" They turned around upon hearing James's voice, approaching them with his trolley.

     "Yup!" Jenna said cheerfully. After saying her final goodbye to her friends and waving at them one last time, Jenna pushed her trolley toward the red brick wall after James, appearing at the Muggle side of the King's Cross station the next moment.

     "Can you see Mum and Dad?" James asked, trying to search the crowded station for them.

     "Not yet," said Jenna, going on tiptoes to get a better look. But then her eyes widened and her jaw nearly dropped at what she saw next. "What the..."

    "What?" James questioned.

     "Look over there." Jenna pointed at the distance, and when James looked over, he was shocked when he saw Remus greeting his parents.

     Although his mother looked completely normal. She looked so healthy and happy that it seemed impossible that she was horribly sick only a few days ago.