Mischief Attained [The Mischief Attained series - part 1]

Chapter 7

Even though the next day was a Sunday, Jayla got up early. She grabbed her books and headed straight to the library to study. The castle was unusually quiet. Everyone was probably sleeping in after their parties yesterday. Surprisingly, the Gryffindor Quidditch team seemed to already be up, as Fred, George, Wood and Angelina, all of them still discussing yesterday's game, were passing her on their way down, just as she had reached the first level. Jayla just greeted them with a "Good morning" and went on. She was a bit unsure how to react to the boys after yesterday and thought it was better to just leave them to their Quidditch talks. Apparently, they had other plans though, as she soon heard someone running up behind her and, before she could turn around, got hugged from behind, lifted off her feet and turned around. A squeal escaped her.

"What the hell was that?" she asked, half laughing, half annoyed, after she had turned around to face her attacker, who still held her close.

George was beaming from ear to ear.

"Have you seen the game yesterday? I still can't believe we've won!" he exclaimed. "You should see the Quidditch Cup! It's huge! And the party afterwards was such a banger! I've heard even the other houses had their own parties to celebrate Slytherin's defeat!"

"Yeah, I'm sure they were awesome," Jayla mumbled, her mood considerably darkened by that thought.

"Oh." Apparently, George had just realized that Jayla's evening had consisted of everything but a party. "Fuck, we completely forgot about you."

That did not help Jayla's mood at all.

"I mean...no...we didn't...but we also kinda did." The boy was clearly lost for words and Jayla's patience was running out.

She pushed his hands away that were still holding her hips.

"I have to go to the library and study. See you," she said and turned around.

George grabbed her arm. "Wait, please. I'm..."

"I don't even want to hear an apology," she bit back at him, angrier than she had intended. Jayla took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Look, George, I get it. I really do. And I'm sorry I'm acting that way. That game was super important for you and I'm so happy for you guys. In fact, I was so happy you won, all I wanted to do was run to you guys and celebrate with you. So..." Her voice began to break as she bit down some tears.

"So?" George pressed on, taking a step closer to her.

"So it hurt okay?" Jayla was almost screaming by now. Luckily, no one was in the same corridor as them and Fred and the other had already walked on as well. "It hurt just being left there like the disposable idiot that I've been my whole life!"

Tears were streaming down her face by now. Jayla hated showing her weakness like that as it has always been used against her. She hadn't meant to leash out at George like that, but all the emotions that had been bubbling up inside of her since yesterday had just got too much. She half expected George to push back, but he just stood there dumbstruck.

Jayla was just about to turn around again, when she was pulled into a strong embrace. Her first instinct was to push him away, but then she just found herself leaning against him. She hid her face in his jumper, taking some deep steading breaths.

George dared to let his chin rest on her head.

"We didn't mean to hurt you," he whispered. He pulled away from the hug slightly. "But just because we can't do everything together because of the circumstances doesn't mean our friendship is any less valuable, okay? After all, neither of us wants to miss our little evil pureblood witch." George exaggerated the last words.

Jayla chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Be careful I don't hex you next time. You don't know the evil spells my classmates were inventing after their defeat yesterday."

George seemed visibly relieved that the tension was broken. He pulled her into one last quick hug before asking her where she had actually been heading.

"Ehm...to the library?" Jayla gestured at the pile of books she was still holding. "We do have some O.W.L.s coming up, remember?"

"Oh, right." George said. "Mind if we join you later? You know, so we can help you." He winked at her.

Jayla rolled her eyes again, smiling. "Fine. But only if you don't distract me with any new plans for your products or pranks."

"Promised." George smiled before he headed down to the Great Hall.

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Jayla's mood had considerably increased after that encounter and studying actually went better than she had expected. Even after Fred and George had joined her. They were almost constantly talking about anything but the subjects they had to study, but somehow Jayla just managed to blend them out and enjoy not having to sit in the dark library on her own. Jayla was also surprised to see how good the boys actually were in some subjects. They had definitely mastered Transfiguration, probably because that was part of a lot of their fun little gadgets and pranks, and Jayla actually got some pretty useful tips from them.

"Colour me surprised," she admitted after they had helped her solved one of the most complex spells.

"Told you we're geniuses," Fred shrugged.

"It's actually kinda annoying, you know that, right?" Jayla mentioned. "I'm working my ass off and you just seem to not care at all about any school stuff and you're still great at it."

"Why do you care about it so much anyway?" Fred asked.

Jayla sighed. "Because I want to stay at Hogwarts as a professor. I can only do that if I get enough good grades in my O.W.L.s and pass on to N.E.W.T. level in almost all the major subjects. This has been the only place where I haven't been treated like a piece of shit all the time, so I wouldn't know where else to go." Jayla looked down at her notes. She had never shared something so personal before. To lighten the mood, she added. "Otherwise I'll have to ask Hagrid to make me his apprentice."

That made Fred and George snort loudly, which earned them some angry looks from the librarian.