James, Sirius, and Jenna followed the grumpy caretaker up the marble staircase and made their way up to the first floor, where they would be spending their detention for the night.
"Cleaning the broom closets... Ridiculous," Filch mumbled under his breath, scoffing. "They were times when they would hang the naughty children from their knuckles in the dungeons... oh, how I miss the good old days."
The three kids glanced at each other knowingly as they were following the caretaker right behind, containing their grins. They doubted that such thing had ever happened in the history of Hogwarts, and that Filch was simply just trying to creep them out.
"You'll be starting here," Filch growled, stopping at the beginning of the corridor. "As your detention for your crime, you will clean all the broom closets on the first floor tonight. You better be done before curfew, if you know what's good for you." He then gave them a dark glare and left the corridor.
Sirius made a face at him the moment Filch turned his back on them, and then rolled his eyes when he was gone.
"Crime!" Sirius scoffed, shaking his head. "You would think we've murdered a dozen people, the way he speaks."
"Well, c'mon," said James, grinning, "the sooner we get this over with, the better."
"Yeah, all right," Jenna said moodily, walking toward the first door on her way.
They each took responsibility for a different broom closet and started cleaning. It was taking them longer than they had expected, and the closets seemed as though they hadn't been cleaned for centuries.
It was that night when they realized how big the castle actually was, seeing as they weren't expecting to find so many broom closets and different classrooms only on the first floor. Even the thought of having to do this for the rest of the week and for the other floors made them exhausted.
"Wish we could use magic," said Sirius miserably, groaning once he was done with his fourth broom closet and closed its door.
"What are you talking about? I'm having the time of my life!" Jenna said sarcastically.
James was currently in another corridor, meaning that Sirius and Jenna found themselves alone in the narrow hallway. Sirius then put his hands in his robe's pockets, walking over to her
"Are you almost done, Jenny?" He smirked, planning to annoy her a little, out of boredom.
Jenna rolled her eyes at the nickname, but she didn't say anything this time. The two hadn't stopped their bickering yet, but they both secretly enjoyed being in each other's company, being so much alike in many ways.
Jenna was gradually accepting Sirius into her team with James, thinking that he really belonged with them. This, for an eleven year old girl, was as though sharing her whole world with someone.
"If you're done, you should come and help me instead of standing there and distracting me," Jenna said playfully, suppressing a smile.
"Nah, I would much rather watch," said Sirius, his grin broadening when Jenna turned and glared at him.
Although when she turned her head around to keep on cleaning, a smile was formed at the edge of her lips unknowingly.
"Okay, I'm done," said Jenna after a minute or two, retreating from the broom closet and closing its door. She then dusted her hands off my clapping them together. "Ugh... I think I've cleaned enough cobwebs for a life time. I'm done."
"We've still got six more floors and six other miserable nights. Keep your spirits high, comrade!" Sirius said with a mock-motivational voice, making her chuckle.
"Let's go and find James," she then suggested. "He must be done by now."
Sirius nodded in agreement. But they hadn't even left the corridor that they suddenly saw James running toward them in the opposite direction, a strange expression across his face.
"Guys! Guys! You're not going to believe what I just saw!" he said rapidly the moment he reached them, slightly panting from the running.
"What?" Sirius asked curiously.
James grinned. "I opened a door, thinking that it was another broom closet. Turns out, it was just a deserted classroom —"
"Woah! How exciting!" Jenna cut him off with a sarcastic gasp, receiving a look from him.
"Let me finish!" James glared at her. But then he shook his head, his mischievous grin returning back to his face. "I was going to leave the classroom, but then I saw a girl and a boy in there! And they were snogging!"
"Cool!" Sirius exclaimed, bursting into laughter.
"Yeah, and they jumped apart and started yelling at me, and so I ran for it!" James went on, sniggering.
But Jenna shuddered. "I really don't understand them! That's disgusting!"
"We'll see if you'll feel the same way in five years." Sirius winked at her, but he took a step back and gulped when James gave him a deadly glare.
Soon, the three of them started to make their way toward the marble staircase so they could get to the Gryffindor common room. As it seemed, everyone else was done with their dinner as well and they were returning back to their common rooms before curfew, seeing as the halls were all crowded with students.
Sirius, James, and Jenna were passing through a corridor, and at the same time two first year Slytherin boys were walking in the opposite direction. Seeing the three Gryffindors whose robes were all covered in dust and cobwebs, the two boys sniggered while passing them by.
Although James, who didn't like the way the two had looked at them, turned sharply around, calling after them, "Was something funny!?"
Jenna closed her eyes shut for a second, groaning to herself. "Here we go..."
The two slytherin boys turned around, facing the three Gryffindors. The one with darker hair shrugged, though his sneer was still visible on his complexion.
"No," he said, smirking. "We just felt sorry for you, that's all."
"Meaning?" James snarled, taking a step closer toward the two Slytherins.
Jenna was expecting Sirius to stop James from a fight that was certain to happen. But she gulped when she realized that Sirius had stepped forward as well, just as eager as James to fight.
"We pity you, because you have to do the servants' stuff," said the other boy, not even bothering to hide away his mocking smirk. "Although... I think you're probably used to it by now."
"My family has more money than your whole ancestors put together!" James snapped, gritting his teeth together.
"Well, sometimes a Wizarding family's value is not just about the money," said the first boy. "It's the pride of wizard kind, which people like your family lacks, Potter. My parents have told me about you lot. Your parents are nothing but a bunch of blood-traitors!"
In a blink of an eye, all three Gryffindors drew out their wand, glaring daggers at the direction of the two Slytherin boys.
The boy snorted. "What are you gonna do? Throw sparks at me?"
"No." James shrugged, a sweet smile appearing on his face. "I'm gonna do this," and then, before any one of them could react, James dropped his wand and leaped forward, punching the boy in the face.