Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 04

The following day, it was impossible to tell who was more excited to go to Diagon Alley; James and Jenna, or their parents. For the first time ever, they had all woken up early in the morning and showed up at the breakfast table on time, already in their robes.

"Now, don't forget your Hogwarts lists," said Mrs. Potter as she got to her feet after breakfast. "Fleamont, do you have our Gringotts key?"

"Right here," said Mr. Potter with a smile, patting his pocket.

"Mickey, could you please clear out the table?" Mrs. Potter asked the young house elf.

"Of course, my Lady!" Mickey squealed happily the way he always did whenever he was given an order, and then he snapped his little fingers together, causing the plates to fly toward the sink magically.

With that, Mrs. Potter took out the bowl in which they kept their Floo Powder and brought it toward the living room, where the others were gathered around the fireplace, waiting eagerly.

"James, you go first," said Mrs. Potter, walking forward.

"Why does he get to go first!?" Jenna frowned, crossing her arms. "Aren't ladies supposed to go first?"

"Yes, but you hardly count as a lady," James told his sister with a grin.

At those words, Jenna's dark brown hair suddenly turned red and she leaped forward to punch James in the face, but her mother caught the back of her robes and held her back just in time as James ducked and took a step back in horror.

"You are supposed to at least try to behave yourselves today!" said their mother with a sigh, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Sorry, Mum," Jenna whispered with a guilty look upon her expression, but the moment her mother looked away, she turned to face James angrily and mouthed, "You're dead."

Not only James did not get scared, but he took that as a challenge and smirked, mouthing back, "You're on."

After that, Mr. Potter was first to take and use the Floo Network so James and Jenna would stop their bickering over who got to go first. Afterward it was Jenna's turn.

She took a handful of the Floo Powder and walked inside the fireplace. With that, she said loud and clear, "Diagon Alley!" and then released the powder.

The next moment, she vanished into the green roaring fire and moments later when she finally opened her eyes, her jaw dropped when she found herself in Diagon Alley.

     Jenna stepped out of the fireplace that had gotten her straight into Diagon Alley and looked around her in awe as she stepped forward, a smile creeping through her face.

      "Step out, Jenna, or James will fall right into you," said Mr. Potter with an amused grin, grabbing his daughter's hand and leading her forward, because Jenna felt like she had been petrified.

      Jenna had come here to Diagon Alley with her parents once or twice when she was younger, but she had never felt this excited before. After all the stories that her parents had told them about their time at Hogwarts, she couldn't wait to start her own journey to the castle and to make some memories.

      Once they were joined by James and their mother, the Potters made their way up the alley. Jenna turned her head toward every direction and glanced at all the different shops and all that they were selling, from broomsticks to cauldrons and many strange equipments that she had never seen in her life before.

     Although just then, Jenna was snapped out of her thoughts when she caught a group of passing witches look at her direction strangely. At first Jenna thought that she was being paranoid, but then a family passed them by and their kid pointed at Jenna's direction in surprise. The girl's mother then lowered the girl's arm scoldingly as she whispered something to her.

      With a little frown upon her forehead, Jenna stopped and turned around, looking at a shop's window to look at her own reflection, only to see that her hair had turned orange again from excitement, and she wasn't even aware of it.

     So with that, she briskly tried to change it back to her usual messy dark brown hair, but then the color changed to pink out of the embarrassment she was feeling and no matter what Jenna did, she couldn't change it.

      Realizing that their daughter was no longer walking alongside them, Mrs. Potter came to a stop and walked back toward where Jenna was standing before the shop's window, staring at her hair's reflection with furrowed brows. Her hair color kept changing.

     "Jenna, honey..." Mrs. Potter started with a sigh, getting down to her knees to level up with her daughter's height, "you shouldn't feel embarrassed of how you are."

     "But they all think I'm a — a — a freak," she whispered the last word in a small whisper, as if it were taboo. "What if they don't like me? At Hogwarts, I mean..."

     "Okay, first of all, who cares what other people think?" said Mrs. Potter, smiling. "They can just stick their opinions up where the sun doesn't shine."

      "Mum!" Jenna giggled.

     "What? I didn't say 'arse'!" Euphemia said defensively.

     "Well, now you just did!" said Jenna, now laughing.

     "I know," Mrs. Potter shrugged, "but at least I got you to smile, didn't I?"

      Jenna chuckled, nodding.

      "And secondly," Mrs. Potter went on, placing her hands on Jenna's shoulders as she smiled up at her, "why does it matter what they think? The only people whose opinions matter are the people you care about and those you love. And you know what I always said?"

"What?" Jenna muttered in a small voice.

"Don't be with someone who wants your normal side. Fall for the idiot who enjoys your craziness," she said. "I know you're too young to understand this right now... but one day you will see. So just try to be yourself."

Jenna only responded with a mere shrug, but then she finally managed to change her hair back to brown again. So she just offered her mother a little smile and kissed her on the cheek, saying, "Thanks, Mum."

Even though deep down Jenna knew that if it were up to herself, she would turn her hair all sorts of crazy colors every day, she didn't have the courage to do it just yet. Jenna knew that perhaps one day she would stop worrying what others thought about her.

For now, all she had to worry about was to get through the day. Jenna didn't see the need to worry about the person she was going to fall for right now, like her mother had said. Because she knew that she wasn't going to meet him for years, until she was all grown up.

But little did Jenna know that she was going to see him on that very day.