Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 33

Soon, the Christmas break arrived and the students were happier than ever to go back home and see their families after months of being away from them.

All, except for Sirius.

The closer they got to Christmas, the gloomier he got. His friends knew that it was because Sirius despised his family, and he dreaded to go back home. But none of them mentioned this to him and didn't push him into talking about it, seeing as it was obvious Sirius wasn't one to speak about his feelings.

    Although both James and Jenna were excited to go back home for Christmas, because they were going to have their usual Christmas Ball over the break at the Potter Manor.

    They both went on and on about how glamorous and glorious their traditional party was held each year. Marlene's personal favorite part was when Jenna told them about the various snacks and foods at the Ball.

     The Potter twins both promised their friends to invite them one year for their Christmas party in the future, sure that they were going to have a lot of fun there together. Although Lily didn't seem too thrilled about spending a Christmas Eve with James and Sirius at a party. But she thanked Jenna all the same and said she would be looking forward to it, so she wouldn't break her friend's heart.

     "So what are your plans for this Christmas break?" Jenna asked the night before they were supposed to go back home.

    The girls were in their dorm. Lily and Alice were packing, meanwhile Jenna was laying on her stomach on the bed and watching them, and Marlene was sitting crossed-legs on the floor while eating sweets.

    "It's mostly about family time," said Lily, folding her black cloak neatly and placing it in her trunk. "I'll be spending time with Mum and Dad and my sister, Petunia. Although, I'll probably meet up with Severus a few times during break. I don't think his family is going on a trip either."

    Jenna held back the urge to roll her eyes at the mention of Snape's name. For some unknown reason, she didn't like the boy much. Although unlike Sirius and James, she didn't like to get into any arguments with him.

    "What about you, Al?" Jenna asked her.

    "My family and I are going to Romania!" Alice answered with excitement. "Although more specifically, we're going to Transylvania. It's said to have many old castles that used to belong to powerful witches and wizards, and even vampires!"

    Marlene shivered at the thought. "I'd never like to come across a vampire. They're scary. And so are trolls and werewolves! Heck, even goblins creep me out sometimes!"

    "Well, I'm sure not all of them are bad," Lily tried to reason unsurely, even though they had read horrible things about such creatures in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

    "What? Have you even been to Gringotts?" Marlene shook her head. "The way a goblin looks at us... it's like we're stealing the money from them."

    "Well, apparently goblins are the original creators of Wizarding gold and money, and they believe that it is rightfully theirs." Alice shrugged.

     "Exactly my point!" Marlene exclaimed defensively. "They're weird."

     "Anyway," Lily cut them off as she closed her trunk, looking from Marlene to Jenna, "aren't you two planning on packing your stuff."

    "I'll do it tomorrow," Jenna said with a groan. "I'm not in the mood right now."

    "Yeah, me neither." Marlene nodded with her mouth full.

     "Marlene, I've only known you for a few months, and even I know that you're incapable of waking up early!" said Lily, getting to her feet and giving the blonde girl a knowing look.

    "I don't have much to do!" Marlene groaned. "I mean, I'm just gonna throw some stuff into a trunk. How hard is that?"

    But the next day, it was proven to her that it was pretty hard.

    Just as Lily had predicted, Marlene had a hard time waking up, and she nearly burst into tears while Lily forced her to pack her trunk.

    Jenna wasn't too fond of packing either, seeing as she always had Mickey to help her. Now she understood what her mother meant whenever she used to make James and Jenna to do their own stuff.

   Jenna was now picking the books she needed over the holidays and placing them in her trunk. Although all four girls jumped out of their skin when they heard a loud thud coming from downstairs.

    "What the hell was that?" Marlene mused, now wide awake.

    Without saying another word, the four girls ran toward the room's door and walked outside, leaving the dormitory along with other girls who were curious to know what was the source of that sound.

    When they had gone outside and Jenna looked down, she suddenly burst into laughter when she saw that the spiral staircase which led to the girls' dormitory had now turned into a slide, and at the bottom of the stairs James was lying flat on the floor on his back, looking in pain.

    "What — the — ouch — what the hell happened to the stupid stairs!" James groaned, trying to get up to his feet.

    "Boys aren't allowed up the girls' dormitory, Potter," Lily said blankly, rolling her eyes. "Have you not read Hogwarts: A History?"

     "No. Why would I waste my precious time reading a stupid book?" James scoffed as he stood up, wincing in pain.

     He then glared at Jenna, who was having a hard time controlling her laughter.

    "But that doesn't make any sense!" James went on angrily. "I've seen girls walk up the boy's dormitory."

    "Well, I guess that's because the Hogwarts founders knew than girls were more trustworthy than the guys," said Lily, folding her arms.

    James huffed and shook his head, looking as though he was personally offended. "Double standards!"

    "What were you doing climbing up here, anyway?" Jenna asked once her laughter had faded out into a smirk.

    "I was coming after you," said James, now grinning.

    "Why?" his sister questioned.

    "There's a fight right outside the Slytherin common room between two seventh years!" said James excitedly. "It's the coolest dwell I've seen! I wanted to come and get you so you could watch to!"

    "Ooh, really?" Jenna's grin returned to her face. "I wanna see!"

    "You better hurry, then, before a Professor comes and stop them! They were using the coolest jinx ever!"

    "Cool! Let's go!" Jenna exclaimed, running down the stairs, which had taken their old form.

    "What!?" Lily called after her. "But you haven't packed your stuff yet! The train is leaving in less than an hour!"

    Jenna glanced back at Lily right before she was about to leave the common room, looking hesitant. "Can you just — could you please do it for me? It's just this one time! I promise!"

    "I — sure, but —"

    "Thank you, Lil! You're the best!" Jenna waved at her cheerfully before running out of the common room after James.

    Lily sighed to herself before turning to face Alice and Marlene, saying, "Something tells me this isn't going to be the last time."