Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 18

"What is he doing here?" Jenna gestured at Sirius rudely, her eyebrows furrowing.

     "Ouch," Sirius said with a mock-hurt look on his face. "Why do you have to be so harsh with me, Jenny?"

     "Don't call me Jenny!" Jenna snapped angrily, folding her arms.

     Sirius only grinned. "Why not, Jenny?"

     "Listen here, you little —!"

     "Okay, cut it out, you two!" James broke her off. "We have to keep this quiet, unless we want to be caught by Filch. Now, c'mon. Let's go. I've been asking around for the fruit bowl portrait and I think I know where it is, more or less."

     And so without waiting for the other two to say another word, James started walking down the corridor. Jenna glared at Sirius's grinning face before following her brother away.

     As they were making their way down the marble staircase, Jenna quickened her pace to catch up with James so she could talk to him.

     "Why would you bring him along?" she whispered angrily as they kept walking with Sirius behind them. "I thought this was going to be our thing!"

     "He's cool. Trust me. Besides, he was there when we heard those Hufflepuffs talk about the kitchen and was awake when I wanted to leave the dorm," James tried to reason quietly. "What did you want me to do? Leave him there?"

     "Yes!" Jenna hissed.

     "Um, hello?" said Sirius from behind them. "In case you have forgotten, I'm still here."

     "Yes, that's exactly my problem," Jenna said grimly.

     "What's with the bad temper, Jenny?" said Sirius, for some reason determined to annoy her even more.

     "Okay, that's it!" Jenna snapped, making an angry move forward.

     But thankfully James grabbed her arm to stop her from leaping forward and punching Sirius, meanwhile the boy only laughed.

      "Could you two just stop acting like an old-married-couple already?" James huffed, finally letting go of Jenna.

     "Ew!" Jenna grimaced at those words, stepping away from him.

     "What do you mean 'ew'?" Sirius gasped dramatically, as if personally offended, before smirking. "I can make a great husband, Jenny."

     He then made a kissy face at her, to which Jenna responded by making a fake puking sound.

     The rest of their journey down the marble staircase went in silence, so they could cautiously look around them for any sign of the grumpy caretaker or anyone else that could get them in trouble and catch them.

     But at last, they got down to the basement. The corridor was lit up with torches all along the way and full of different portraits.

     "You sure we're in the right place, J.P?" Jenna questioned uncertainly, looking around her. "Chances are those older students were only lying to you to get us down here, only to tip someone off to catch us. It could be risky."

     "I'll take those chances." James shrugged, his lips tucked up into a smug grin. "Besides, the risk is what makes it fun!"

     The three made their way down the corridor, looking at each portrait in search for the bowl of fruit and listening carefully just to make sure no one was around them.

"Look! There!" Jenna whispered excitedly, pointing down the corridor, where the portrait of the fruit bowl was hung.

"Wicked!" said James, walking forward with Jenna and Sirius right behind him.

With that, he went on tiptoes and stretched out his hand, tickling the pear with his forefinger. On cue, the pear began to squirm, chuckling, and suddenly turned into a large green door handle.

"Yes," said James triumphantly, punching the air with a glint of excitement in his eyes. "C'mon, guys."

James then reached out and opened the door. It only took them a brief glimpse of what was inside to gasp and look around in awe.

The kitchen was an enormous, high-ceilinged room, large as the Great Hall above it, with mounds of glittering brass pots and pans heaped around the stone walls, and a great brick fireplace at the other end. The place was filled with dozens of house-elves, running around and working hard.

"Whoa..." Sirius breathed out as they walked in and the portrait door closed behind them.

The next moment, two house-elves rushed forward, bowing at their sight. "Haw can we help you?"

"What do you say, guys?" James started, turning to face Sirius and Jenna. "I've always wanted to try Butterbeer. It's nothing strong, obviously, but Mum and Dad said we better wait until we were thirteen to try it."

"Great idea!" Jenna agreed excitedly before glancing back at the two house elves. "We'll all have Butterbeer."

The house-elves bowed and then four of them came along as well, getting the hot drink ready and carrying them back toward James, Sirius, and Jenna on a tray.

"Awesome!" Sirius cheered, taking a large sip from his bottle.

"Thanks, this is great!" Jenna told the elves and they looked thoroughly delighted as they bowed deeply and retreated.

"I gotta say, I never liked house-elves, but this Butterbeer really is something," Sirius confessed.

"What do you mean you don't like house-elves?" Jenna frowned at him. "They're really sweet creatures."

"Sweet creatures?" Sirius repeated and scoffed. "Then you haven't met our house elf, Kreacher. There's nothing sweet about him, I'm telling you."

The three spent an hour in the kitchen, finding a cozy place to sit by the warm fireplace as they sipped on their drinks, talking and laughing. Jenna wasn't going to admit it, but Sirius Black really did seem like a cool kid just like James had said. She was starting to really like him.

After they had finished their drinks and had eaten the cookies that the house elves had brought them, the three bid the elves goodbye and finally got to their feet, yawning and rubbing their eyes after the long and tiring day.

They couldn't wait to get back to their warm beds and sleep, knowing that waking up tomorrow for their second day at Hogwarts was going to be difficult.

"I'll definitely would be visiting the kitchen more often from now on." James sighed happily as they were walking down the corridor, tapping on his belly.

     But just then, a dark and grim voice startled them as someone said,

"You will never be able to visit this place again if I get you expelled tonight." They all yelped out when they suddenly saw Mr. Filch appearing from the next corridor, a nasty grin on his lips.