Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 12

After the dinner was over and Jenna felt like she couldn't eat anything else for a whole week, the dishes of food and the desserts disappeared off the tables and their goblets emptied.

Their attention was once again caught by Professor Dumbledore and the hall went quiet automatically the moment he got to his feet, all eyes falling on him.

"Now that we've all enjoyed the feast, our cozy beds await us," he said, smiling at the students' tired faces. "Now you may return back to your dormitories. Prefects, please show the first years the way. Now off to bed! Pip pip!"

With that, one of the fifth year Gryffindor prefects stood up from her seat, turning over the crowd sitting at the end of the table.

"Gryffindor first years, please follow me!" She called out, and so the sleepy eleven-year-olds got to their feet, following the girl out of the Great Hall.

While the Slytherins went toward the dungeons and Hufflepuffs climbed down the marble staircase, the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws went up the staircase until they eventually departed to go their separate ways.

"This is the most direct way to your common room. Although a little bit of warning: the staircases tend to change sometimes, so be careful," the prefect called out to them as the Gryffindor first years followed her up the many stairs.

    The short and chubby boy behind them at the back of the line was already panting, breathing heavily with each step that he took. "Why — do they — have — so many — stairs?" he said between gasps for air.

    But the rest of the students were now busy looking around in awe, their jaws dropping and their mouths hanging open as they saw the many portraits hung around the castle.

The portraits whispered and pointed inside their frames at the passing students, and some of them waved. Jenna wasn't surprised like her Muggleborn peers, but she still found the whole hall mesmerizing.

"Look at that one!" Jenna told her brother, pointing up at a portrait full of Quidditch players that zoomed around on their brooms, sneaking glances at the students.

But then Jenna jumped out of her skin when at the front of the line, water bombs suddenly fell from the ceiling on top of them, soaking the young students all from head to toe as they let out a scream.

"Cool," Jenna and James whispered at the same time, going on tiptoes to get a better look at what was going on. They were lucky to have been too far behind to get wet.

"Peeves!" the prefect girl yelled, glancing around angrily, as if looking for something invisible. To the first years she turned to say bitterly, "he's the school's poltergeist."

But then they all let another squeal when out of thin air a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air appeared with a pop.

"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! Ickle Firsties! Now what should old Peevsey do with them?"

But then without warning, he let out a loud laughter and dropped another water bomb on top of them before disappearing, this time James and Jenna and the others getting soaked all over as well.

The prefect then moved forward and performed a spell with difficulty, managing to dry them almost completely. So then with a long sigh, she asked them to keep following her.

"Stupid git," James mumbled grumpily, running a hand through his jet-black hair and ruffling it up, as if to fix it. "He ruined my hair!"

But Jenna only let out a snort, to which James glared at her. "Don't make such a fuss, J.P. Your hair looks just the same."

"Easy for you to say!" James grumbled. "Not all of us have the ability to fix our hair whenever they want."

But Jenna only flipped her blue hair smugly and kept grinning as they followed the rest of the Gryffindor first years down the corridor, until they reached the portrait of a corpulent woman in a silk pink dress.

     "Everyone," the prefect started, gesturing at the woman inside the portrait, "this is the Fat Lady."

     "Oh, now that's a mean thing to call someone," Lily whispered with concern, her beautiful green eyes glimmering with kindness.

     "Password?" The woman inside the portrait asked, raising a brow.

     "Mandrakes," said the prefect, and on cue, the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall.

      With excited murmurs running around, they all scrambled through the portrait hole and soon found themselves in the Gryffindor common room. It was a cozy, round room full of squashy red armchairs and old scarlet curtains over the large windows. It was her first time in here, but Jenna already felt at home.

     "Your dormitories are upstairs," said the prefect as she came to a stop. "Girls, the staircase to the right. Boys, the one to your left. Your trunks have been already brought up and are awaiting you in your dorms. The rules are pretty simple; everyone should be back in their common room at curfew. Please be down at the Great Hall early tomorrow. Professor McGonagall — the Gryffindors' Head of House — will be giving you your class schedules."

     But before they could go up the stairs, James leaned in and whispered in his sister's ear, "Meet me down here in ten minutes."

     Jenna nodded and with that she went up the spiral staircase and entered the door which had a sign for first years. There, she found four large beds hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up, just as the prefect had told them so.

     Quickly, Jenna ran toward the best bed which was located right next to the room's window, that had a beautiful view to the school grounds. Before the other girls had even come into the room, Jenna took out her cloak and placed it on the bed, as a sign that the bunk was now taken.

     So feeling reassured that she had already reserved the best bed for the rest of her seven years here at Hogwarts, Jenna left the dorm just as the other three girls were entering it; Alice Fortescue, Lily Evans, and a blonde girl that Jenna didn't recognized.

     But she didn't care about introducing herself to her roommates just yet. That could wait until tomorrow. For now, she wanted to spend her first night at Hogwarts by exploring the castle with her twin brother.

     Jenna walked back down into the common room and sat on an armchair in a corner, because the best seats at the fireplace were already taken by the older students.

     After a few minutes, James walked quietly down into the common room just as promised, a playful grin on his lips and a mischievous twinkle in his hazel eyes.

     "Ready to go, J.P?" said James.

     Jenna returned the grin. "Ready as ever, J.P."

     So looking around the common room to make sure the Gryffindor prefect wasn't around, they gave each other a nod and tiptoed toward the the portrait hole.

    But before they could even open up the portrait, a voice startled them as it said sharply, "Where do you two think you're going?"