Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 75

But the moment they pulled away from the kiss to catch their breath, Jenna felt the familiar feeling of anxiety surge once again from within her as she looked up at him.

    Someone was at Hogwarts right at this moment, planning a plot to get her nephew and godson killed. Jenna was worried for Harry beyond belief, an to top it all off, Sirius was back here and was in the danger of being sent back to Azkaban if he were exposed somehow.

     Even the thought of losing either of them made her feel sick, because Jenna had already lost enough. She couldn't afford to lose anybody else. So she just tried to shake her head off the matter, deciding to change the subject as quick as possible.

"So what took you so long to get here, again?" she questioned, looking around the cave as she pulled away from his arms.

"Buckbeak fell sick on our way here. We had to stay low for a long while," Sirius explained, moving forward to pet the Hippogriff softly on his feathers. "So what have you been up to these months?"

      "Er... you know... just hanging around," she said, shrugging casually.

Sirius gave her a knowing look.

"Oh, fine!" Jenna chuckled, rolling her eyes playfully as she grinned. "If you must know, this year turned out to be quite fun, to be honest."

"How so?" Sirius questioned.

"I went to the Yule Ball!" she said enthusiastically. "I really wish you were there, though. It was amazing. The Great Hall, the decorations, the music... Everything."

"Wait — then how did you go there?" Sirius cut her off curiously. "In your cat form?"

"Funny story," Jenna let out a nervous laughter, "I actually went with one of the Weasley kids."

"What?" Sirius raised his brows in surprise, his eyes widening.

"I transformed to one of the Hogwarts girls who was trying to ditch the Ball, and turns out, her date for the night was George Weasley. Poor kid... the next day he tried to kiss the girl, and ended up being slapped in the face."

Sirius laughed, shaking his head at her in disbelief. "I'm glad you're not taking advantage of your abilities," he said sarcastically.

"Hey! I hadn't been to a dance for nearly fifteen years! You can't blame me for going, Black!" She pointed a finger at him playfully.

"Okay, but all jokes aside," Sirius started more sternly, sitting on the ground beside Buckbeak. "What's new with Harry? Has anything else happened lately?"

Jenna's smile slowly faded at those words and an expression of worry replaced it upon her pale face. "We still have no idea who put his name in the Goblet of Fire. Even Dumbledore doesn't know."

  "I guess he must have some idea who's behind it all," he said, frowning.

"At this point, the only suspicious person is Karkaroff, because he used to be a Death Eater," said Jenna. "But other than him... I don't know."

"Look, it can't be Karkaroff." Sirius shook his head, thinking. "He wouldn't do anything unless there's something in it for himself. And I don't see any reason why he would want to put Harry's name in it."

"Well, whoever has done it was hoping to get Harry killed, that's one thing for sure. This damn tournament is a great way of killing him and making it look like an accident."

"No luck so far, then," said Sirius as Jenna went and sat down beside him. "The Death Eaters have been more active lately too... Have you been reading the Daily Prophet? I've been stealing the paper each time someone throws a copy away."

"I've been reading it every now and then." Jenna nodded. "But only when there was a copy of it in the Gryffindor common room."

"Well, first it was the Death Eaters attacking people at the World Cup, then the Dark Mark appearing across the sky that very same night, then Bertha Jorkins goes missing, and now there are rumors in the Daily Prophet about Crouch falling ill... I don't know... all this sound very fishy, don't you think?"

"I know..." There came a long pause, before Jenna finally broke the silence again as she said unsurely, "You don't think Snape can be behind this, do you?"

The mere mention of that name was enough for Sirius's expression to darken. "As much as the accusation suits him... I doubt he would do anything right under Dumbledore's nose. He's a coward. Always has been."

"But he was a Death Eater!" Jenna tried to reason. "After I came back from my mission, I gave Dumbledore all the names of the Death Eaters I had seen there, and Snape was one of them. But Dumbledore still asked him to teach at Hogwarts and he still trusts him, for some reason! Why do you reckon that is?"

"No idea..." Sirius mused, but then shook his head. "But forget about that — do you think you can run down the village and buy something to eat? I'm starving.

     "Yeah, of course." Jenna smiled. "Did you run out of the food I had packed for you over summer?"

      "Yeah, it's been quite a while." Sirius nodded, but then he grinned. "I know I've been acting a lovable stray so far, but I can't steal food for too long. They'll get suspicious."

Jenna laughed. "All right, but I don't have any money on me. Do you?"

"Yeah, hold on," said Sirius, walking toward the corner of the cave where a small bag lay; it was the same one Jenna had packed at the beginning of summer for them, casting an Undetectable Extension Charm upon it.

He then dug into the bag with his arm deep in, and then took out two Galleons from inside it, handing them to her. Flashing one last grin at him, Jenna transformed herself into a random witch and Sirius turned back into a big black dog, and so the two of them left the cave together, heading down toward Hogsmeade.