Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 20

Soon, the class that both James and Jenna were most looking forward to arrived; their first ever Quidditch session. The first years had lined up, making their way down to the pitch.

Although the Potter twins had pushed their way through to stand at the front of the line, ready to prove themselves better at flying than anybody else. Without doubt, the pair of them had a better level than the other students at flying, even though their instructor told James that he was holding the broom wrongly, to which Jenna snorted.

     Among the Gryffindor first years, Sirius wasn't too bad either, but the rest were still nervous to be flying. Those student who were from Wizarding families knew how to ride the broom a little, such as Marlene and Alice. But Muggle-borns were struggling the most in the class.

     Although there were a few students who obviously weren't too fond of flying, even though they came from wizarding families, such as Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Remus didn't seem to like flying at all, and Peter was the most nervous among all of them, sweats dripping down his forehead each time he tried to kick off the ground with his broom.

     The class ended earlier than Jenna had hoped it would. She wished it could go on all day long, but instead they had to go to their first History class of the year, which turned out to be the most boring and tiring hour of Jenna's life.

    Throughout the entire lesson, Jenna tried to keep herself busy by thinking about what was going to happen later on that night. She and James had agreed to sneak out of the common room again after midnight, so they could go see the Dark Forest up close.

     At the beginning of the term, Dumbledore had said that the forest was forbidden for students. So naturally, the Potter twins saw it upon themselves to go and explore it as soon as possible.

     James had asked Jenna and she'd agreed for Sirius to come along with them again. She was starting to really like the boy, seeing as he was so much like herself and James when it came to mischief.

     Even though the detention for their last journey to the kitchen hadn't been done yet, that didn't stop them from breaking the rules again. Only this time, they had to be more careful.

     That night after dinner, everyone returned back to their common room to do their homework before going to sleep. Although as always, Jenna decided to leave her essays for the weekend.

     James and Sirius had both changed into their pajamas and were laying under the scarlet blankets of their beds, although neither of them fell asleep and they tried to stay awake.

     After a long while, Sirius glanced at the clock on his nightstand. Seeing that it was already one o'clock, he raised his head from his pillow and looked at the direction of James's bed, calling out, "Psst!"

     On cue, as if waiting for the signal, James briskly pushed the blankets off himself. With a mischievous grin playing at the edge of his lips, James picked his lopsided glasses off the nightstand and put them on, pushing it up the bridge of his nose with a finger.

     Sending one last nod at Sirius's direction, James got off his bed along with his friend, wearing their shoes as quietly as possible without bothering to change out of their pajamas, and then wore their black Hogwarts cloaks on top of it.

     They tiptoed across the room and were just about to open the dormitory's door, but they hadn't even turned the handle that they both jumped when someone behind them suddenly said,

     "Where are you two going?"

     Turning around, the two boys saw Remus on his bed, rubbing his eye as he sat up straight with a yawn, looking at their direction curiously.

    "Nowhere. Go back to sleep," said Sirius.

     "How convincing," Remus said sarcastically, making James grin.

     "You can come along too, if you want," said James. "We're off to the Dark Forest."

     "Why?" Remus frowned.

     "Cause it's supposed to be forbidden," said Sirius with amusement, shrugging.

     "Well?" James raised a brow at him. "Will you come or what?"

     Remus hesitated at first. But at last, he let out a sigh in defeat and got out of bed. "Fine, but we'll have to be careful. The gamekeeper of Hogwarts lives at the edge of the Forbidden Forest."

     "Oh, thanks for the heads-up, mate," said James with an appreciating nod, waiting while Remus put on his shoes and wore his black cloak.

     "Okay, let's go," said Sirius, turning to open the door again.

     "Wait!" Remus suddenly said, bringing him into a halt.

     "What now?" James sighed.

     "Well... aren't we going to take Peter?" Remus mused worriedly. "He might feel left out."

     James and Sirius hesitated, glancing at the fourth bed in which the blond chubby boy was sleeping, snoring lightly and seeming unbothered by all the noises.

     "Look, he's a nice kid," Remus tried to reason. "Trust me."

     James and Sirius glanced at each other sideways, trying to decide on the matter wordlessly. Sirius shrugged, as if he couldn't careless if the other boy joined along or not.

     So with that, James turned to face Remus and finally nodded. "Yeah, fine. Let's wake him up."

     Remus nodded, feeling relieved. He would've felt guilty if they had left Peter behind without even offering him to go along with them. He then walked toward the fourth boy's bed, gently trying to shake him awake.

     "Peter," Remus called out, "Peter!"

     With that, the boy suddenly shot awake. Looking around him in confusion as he blinked rapidly. "Whas' goin' on?"

     "We're going for a stroll around the Dark Forest," said Sirius, his usual grin on his face. "Wanna tag along?"

     "The — the Dark Forest?" Petter stuttered, looking around at the three boys as if they had gone mad. "But — but there are dark creatures in there! And it's night! And — and we could get caught!"

     "We'll be careful," said James. "C'mon. It would be fun!"

     "I-I don't know..." Peter mumbled under his breath, looking away unsurely.

      "All right, suit yourself," said Sirius coolly, turning the doorknob and opening it up.

    Although before the three boys could step outside, Peter quickly jumped out of bed. "No, wait! I'm coming too!"