Mischief Attained [The Mischief Attained series - part 1]

Chapter 4

As she was walking up the staircase from the dormitory she already spotted Fred and George around the corner. As always she found a smile forming on her lips, which soon vanished as she realized they were standing with a huge group of other students from different houses, except Slytherin, of course. It took all her willpower to not turn around at the spot and hide in the darkest corner of the dungeon. Instead she just stood there, not knowing if she should get closer or not. Maybe Fred and George had just met the others by chance and didn't want them to know they had anything to do with her? But as she was standing atop the last stair, Fred and George spotted her and waved her over enthusiastically. Hesitantly, Jayla came closer. She could feel all the others from that group turning towards her with expressions of either curiosity or disdain. Fred grabbed her and drew her closer as soon as she was within reach. "Everyone, this is Jayla!" he announced with a huge grin on his face. Unable to look at the others in fear of their reaction, Jayla's eyes darted back and forth between Fred and her shoes.

"Isn't she a Slytherin!?" One of the Gryffindor girls asked with obvious disagreement in her voice.

"Yeah, so what!?" George glared at her, daring her to challenge him.

Jayla had never seen such a stern and angry expression on the usually smiling Weasley. This was followed by a moment of tense silence.

One of the other girls broke the tension by taking a step towards Jayla and extending her hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Juana. I'm in Hufflepuff," she said with a genuine smile.

Jayla shook her hand gratefully. Now, most of the other students came forth and quickly introduced themselves. There were mostly Gryffindors, including Fred and George's best friend Lee Jordan, who actually hugged her instead. Jayla was so surprised by such an unusual gesture that she almost couldn't stop herself from following her instinct and take her wand out in defence.

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Jayla tried to stay a few feet away from the group while walking down to Hogsmeade. Noone paid her much attention, but she still felt like an intruder on their conversations. George, who was walking closest to her, threw her some sideway glances, which she responded to with an assuring smile. She would definitely try to be social with the others for their sake. There was no way she was going to destroy their Hogsmeade trip. About halfway through the Hufflepuff girl from earlier suddenly appeared at her side.

"Don't pay Angeline too much heed," she whispered. "Somehow she always seems threatened by new girls. She's acted like that with all of us, but she'll eventually calm down and then she's actually really fun to have around." Juana threw her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, I'm used to it," Jayla replied. This sounded sadder than the girl had intended. To hide her emotions she quickly added: "I'm actually really excited about today! I haven't been to Hogsmeade in ages."

"Have fun then! And don't spend too much money," the girl said with a wink before she walked back to the other girls.

The village was already bursting with students when they arrived. After the group had stopped shortly to discuss when they'd meet at the Three Broomsticks, they split up. Some had to get some school supplies, while others just decided to check out some of the shops.

"Well, I for one could use some Cauldron cake!" Fred mentioned.

"Didn't you just have breakfast?" Jayla asked.

"Breakfast was an hour ago!" Fred exclaimed. "Plus, dessert NEVER counts as part of a meal!"

Jayla just rolled her eyes and chuckled. "I'll never understand how you Weasley boys can eat that much." She threw him a mischievous smile.