Mischief Attained [The Mischief Attained series - part 1]

Chapter 2

George raised his hand for a quick wave. Jayla knew them, even though they were Gryffindors. And how could she not? She doubted there was any student – or teacher – that hadn't heard of the two mischief makers causing all sorts of trouble.

"And you are?" Fred asked.

"I...oh sorry...I...," Jayla stuttered. Fuck. Why did she always get so nervous talking to people she didn't know? She took a deep, steadying breath. "I'm Jayla."

"Alright, as that's settle now. Let's go." George had hardly finished his sentence, when the two boys had already turned on the spot and started walking.

"Go where?" Jayla shouted after them.

Both boys looked over their shoulders. "Just wherever," they responded, again simultaneously – was that a twin thing? – before just continuing walking. "Seriously, what's wrong with those two?" Jayla wondered, hesitant if she should follow or not.

But curiosity got the better of her and she jogged after the two boys, trying to catch up with them. As soon as she had reached them, Fred and George parted, signalling her to walk between them. Without talking, much to Jayla's relief as she still needed to wrap her head around what had just happened, they led her to one of the trees next to the Great Lake and made themselves comfortable in the grass. Jayla sat down opposite the two.

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"So...," George started. "Wanna talk about what happened earlier?"

Jayla rolled her eyes before she could stop herself. "Just the same as always," she replied. "I've not exactly been friends with anyone from my house ever since I started rejecting the views they have. I usually know better than to waste my energy on fighting with them, but sometimes my mouth is just quicker."

"Ha! I like that," Fred exclaimed. "You must be the first Slytherin we've ever met that's friends with students from other houses."

"I wouldn't say that," Jayla said with a heavy sight. "I don't exactly have any friends here to be honest," she added hesitantly.

Why was she telling them that? She had learned to hide her feelings since her early childhood as no one had ever cared anyway, so why was she suddenly sharing something so personal, so embarrassing with two random Gryffindor students?

Fred and George, who had always kinda been going along well with everyone, were so taken aback by that revelation that they didn't know how to respond immediately.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you with that," Jayla said, slightly panicking that she had already scared away the first people that actually wanted to talk to her, and jumped up, ready to leave.

This time, the two redheads reacted more quickly and stopped her before she had even stood up completely by grabbing her arm and gently pulling her down again.

"Please wait," George pleaded. "We didn't mean it like that. It just took our slow brains a while to process how someone so cool could have no friends," he added, half serious, half joking.

Jayla rolled her eyes at him but still felt a smile forming on her lips.

"Others are usually not known to be prone to making friends with Slytherins," she said, trying to sound casual about it.

Fred just shrugged, a huge smile back on his face. "Their loss."

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"Sooooo...what else do you like to do, other than putting Draco in his place?" he inquired and the conversation soon drifted off to all kinds of fun topics.