Chapter twenty-seven; Compartment prank
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Jasmine's head lolled to the side as she was losing herself in sleep against the window of the compartment. Her body was slumped sideways as her coat was jumbled up cushioning her head leaning on the glass. On the seats across from her, Robyn was laying across all three with a Witch Weekly magazine in her hands, eyes scanning the pages. The Hogwarts Express was riding across vast fields all covered with a thick layer of snow.
The train was booming with laughter and joy as students were expecting their arrival to their family homes. At times like these Jasmine wondered if maybe staying at Hogwarts would be a good enough idea as well, but if she were alone then it would be worse than going to her house. No matter the difficult behaviour of her father and William. A tough week was behind them as professors wanted to get some final grades for the first semester.
Jasmine managed to pull an all-nighter the last day as she procrastinated all the way up to that. The feeling when she left a certain exam was never good but she could care less of what grade she would get, as long as she passed. She did though see a slight improvement ever since she spent her time studying with Remus. He was just that much good of a tutor. This is also the reason why Jasmine fell asleep in the first hour of the train ride back to King's Cross.
Then all of a sudden the door of the compartment slid open in a rush and a person stepped in before closing the door and closing the curtains as well. Robyn lowered her magazine and rolled her eyes as she saw Lily standing there with a panicked looking facial expression. Jasmine was still asleep against the window.
''Jass,'' Lily said loudly.
The brunette stirred awake and looked confusedly across the small space. Her eyes landed on Lily and her eyebrows furrowed as she pushed off the wall so she sat up straighter. ''Lil? What's the matter?'' Jasmine stretched her arms and yawned immediately after she spoke.
Lily peeked through the slit in the curtains and then her scared eyes looked back at her friend. ''Potter was following me as I wanted to get to the trolley and talking my ears off when I saw Severus on the other end of the corridor calling out to me. I opened the first door to hide and luckily it was your compartment. Can I stay?'' The redhead said it all in one breath.
Jasmine nodded and patted the seat beside her for Lily to sit down. Lily took another fearful glance back before she hastily sat down. Robyn went back to reading her magazine while Jasmine tiredly leaned her head back on the wall. It was quiet for some time and Jasmine felt herself slowly going back to dreamland when Lily suddenly moved from beside her.
''Did you...?'' Lily started with a thinking facial expression. Jasmine opened her eyes slowly and looked at the redhead. She couldn't bother to move even slightly. ''Did you say something to Potter? As in anything at all?''
Jasmine furrowed her eyebrows at the question. She sat up straighter as Lily turned sideways to lean on the back of the seat. ''I did, but it was nothing major,'' Jasmine answered back cautiously.
''What did you say?'' Lily asked with one of her eyebrows quirked up.
Jasmine looked away and recalled the little speech she gave Potter and Black in the middle of the hallway. ''Potter tried to convince me to help and set him up with you to which I refused. Then I just discreetly told him he should pull his head out of his ass and stop annoying you.'' She shrugged nonchalantly.
Lily rolled her eyes and let out a deep sigh. ''Well, he only became more talkative now. At any given point he wants to spark up some kind of conversation even though I told him to leave me alone.''
Jasmine smiled lightly at the frustration of her friend. The never-ending frustration. Her thoughts went over Potter's words and couldn't help but wonder why Lily found him so annoying. She did say that it's not true that she hates him at least she did so at the game. The wonders of Lily's mind will yet have to be uncovered.
''Why don't you just give him a chance? The guy really seems to be trying.''
Jasmine's and Lily's heads turned to the other side of the compartment. Robyn dropped the magazine as it did not interest anymore and she picked herself up to sit directly across from the two girls. Lily sent her a questioning glance while at the same time she couldn't believe Robyn was talking to her.
''I don't like him, why would I give him any chance at all,'' Lily complained further.
Jasmine could swear that she added and he's annoying under her breath like a broken record player. It seems like the Hufflepuff and the Gryffindor could only shoot each other nasty or mean looks both with their arms crossed over their chest. Every hope of them actually talking or getting along died inside Jasmine as she watched the two.
''Have you thought about it this way? You give Potter what he wants. One date. Just one and then maybe he'll stop annoying you from that on.'' Robyn said her voice trying to be sincere.
It left Lily speechless as she opened and closed her mouth a couple of times like a fish out of water. The wheels started turning in her head as she thoroughly thought over the idea Robyn was suggesting. She couldn't imagine going on a date in a million years, let alone a date with Potter but she would be willing to do that if that would shut him up. Though the probability of that was not a hundred percent, the act was risky. When she recomposed herself she proceeded with crossing her arms.
''Fine then.'' She looked straight at Robyn, deciding to play her little game of judging each other's lives. ''What about you and Black?''
Robyn rolled her eyes as her initial reaction. ''I'm dating Caspar.'' Was the dark brunette's response, getting that the conversation turned back to sarcastic comments and judging thoughts.
''Poor Caspar in my opinion.'' Lily shrugged and continued talking before Robyn could interfere. ''He doesn't see all the lingering glances you sent to Black.''
''Hey!'' Robyn pushed off the seats and stood in the little space in the compartment with a harsh glare centred on the redhead.
Jasmine in the moment of shock didn't know what to do. She was extremely unhappy that her two best friends couldn't stand each other. It used to be only avoiding and ignoring but now even Lily became snarky with Robyn as the latter wanted to get into her business. Jasmine knew Sirius Black wasn't a good topic of conversation for Robyn at all, so Lily managed to push just the right buttons. Jasmine since the night they talked about their feelings didn't interrogate her about him anymore, she let her do her own thing even though she knew what she was doing to Caspar wasn't fair. She just hoped it would all end soon.
No one knew what Robyn had in mind when she yelled and shot up but she didn't have time to do it either as the door slid open abruptly. All three girls turned their heads to the open door when a small box flew in and landed in front of Robyn's feet.
''What the-?''
The small brown box exploded leaving the girls in gasping shock. Out flew a bunch of cockroaches and worms all crawling over the ground. That send Jasmine, Lily and Robyn screaming in very high-pitched voices. They jumped up on the seats, still screaming as all of the compartment floor became covered with small insects. Jasmine and Lily grabbed onto each other watching with wide eyes as the roaches started crawling up the bottoms of seats.
''Get it off! Get it off!'' Robyn screamed on the other side of the seats, jumping around and shaking every part of her body trying to remove the insects from herself. Since she was the closest to the box some of them landed on her.
Over all the panicky yelling a voice called out. ''Wrong compartment guys!''
''No, I think it was the right one.''
Jasmine over her heavy breathing removed her eyes from the insects to the door seeing James, Sirius and Remus standing there, two with the biggest smirks on their faces while the third with a surprised look. Then a laugh followed through the small space emitted from Potter and Black. That notified Lily and Robyn that they were there and immediately they shot nasty looks to the doorway.
''Oh look they've reached the seats.'' Potter pointed his hand in.
Jasmine quickly turned her head back down only to see one of the cockroaches started crawling on her shoe. She let out another scream shaking it off before making a rash decision. She jumped the small space that was between the seats and the door, nearly knocking Potter over and successfully made it to the corridor which was uninfected with insects. The two girls inside the compartment started yelling at the two jerks looking into it, making the two of the double over in more laughter. A shudder went all over Jasmine as her thoughts replayed what just happened and she felt sick.
''Jass, you have one in your hair.''
''What?! Where?!'' The girl panicked quickly shaking her hair and ruffling through it to get it out quickly.
She stopped when she heard the person next to her laugh. When she looked up she narrowed her eyes at a chuckling Remus. If she wasn't terrified at that very moment she would smile at him as he looked cute with a smile of his own. The yells continued to come out of the compartment as Robyn and Lily wanted the cockroaches to disappear, but Sirius and James refused to do it.
''Whose idea was this?'' Jasmine turned to Remus with a horrified expression. The other four were distracted enough so the two could talk without them noticing.
''James' idea, I created the box, Sirius just threw it,'' Remus explained, though instead of a smirk on his features he was rather apologetic.
Jasmine figured he didn't know what exactly James and Sirius had in their minds. Then Jasmine's lips tugged up in a small smile, which relaxed Remus' nerves at least a little bit. She let out a scoff as her head turned to Potter and Black. ''I can't believe these two. I know exactly what they're doing.''
She shook her head disapprovingly. Remus furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he watched Jasmine while having no idea what was on top of all going on. Jasmine turned on her heels feeling a suffocating feeling and needing to get away from the scene. She pushed by Black and Potter wanting to walk to the other end of the train and back.
''Pearson!'' Jasmine halted in her steps and turned her head to James Potter, an unpleasant expression on her features. ''Are you going to help or will we have to keep pranking you?'' His voice was half-joking and half-threatening.
Jasmine couldn't believe to what extent the Gryffindor was willing to go. Potter expected Jasmine to back down and give in. She smiled then. ''You're not achieving anything with this.''
With that she kept on walking away, leaving the angry yells and the stunned boy behind her. Jasmine didn't even reach the end of the train when it began stopping slowly, meaning they reached King's Cross. She quickly rushed back before the hallway would become crowded with students eager to get home. When she came back to the compartment the boys were gone and she collected all her belongings as the train stopped. She said her goodbye to Robyn with a tight hug while still on the train, knowing the two of them will lose each other in the crowd on the platform. She did the same to Lily wishing her happy holidays before she found herself amidst the busy train station.
Jasmine stood on her tippy toes trying to spot someone familiar that would pick her and William up. Her features brightened as she neared a middle-aged woman with the same light brown hair cut shorter standing there with open arms.
''Mum!'' Jasmine shouted over the noise with a big smile and ran into her hug.
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