Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 100

***

Throughout the next few weeks, Jenna always seemed to be tired, seeing as she usually had to take the night duties for guarding the door of the Hall of Prophecy. She would leave Grimmauld Place after sunset, and return back from the Ministry before sunrise and tiptoe to their room where Sirius was fast asleep on the bed.

Jenna couldn't even enjoy her free time with Sirius in the mornings either, because she had to appear through the house in her cat form and as Crookshanks, which left little time with him.

The only few hours that they got alone together was when Sirius would excuse himself after lunch for some afternoon nap and would go back up to his bedroom. Although neither him nor Jenna would do much sleeping during that time.

    Jenna tried her best to keep Sirius cheerful, but there wasn't much she could do to make him happy. With each passing day, he was growing more and more bitter for being stuck in his horrible childhood house. And Snape certainly wasn't helping his mood.

"Evening," said Severus, joining the meeting which was being held that night. Once he sat down, he then turned to face Sirius with an obvious sneer spread across his face. "How is the cleaning going, Mr. Black?"

Sirius opened his mouth to retort, but Jenna grabbed his hand from under the table to stop him from saying anything. So with a deadly glare at Snape, Sirius decided to let this one go for now.

"Any news, Severus?" Dumbledore asked him, trying to quickly change the subject and prevent an argument from happening between the two men.

The Order members were by now used to their bickering. Neither of them could stand breathing the same air as the other, and this was obvious from the grimaces of hatred on their face whenever the other spoke.

"The Dark Lord has sent the Death Eaters to the giants, Headmaster," said Snape. "Just as the Hooper girl had informed us."

"Very well." Dumbledore nodded. "I'm sure Hagrid will know what to do. Please, do carry on..."

Jenna didn't pay attention to rest of Snape's most recent report, because she had just started hearing whispers and murmurs from outside the room.

     Curious to know what was going on, Jenna quietly excused herself by telling Sirius she was going to use the bathroom, and so left the meeting's room after transforming into Crookshanks.

Jenna hadn't even gone too far that she took aback when she suddenly saw an ear attached to a string, floating near the dining room's door.

"Turn it a little bit to the left." Jenna heard one of the twins whispering from the top of the stairs.

"Let me hold it! I can get it down on a better angle," Ron muttered to them. They all seemed to be gathered upstairs.

"No. You don't know how to work the Extendable Ear," one of the twins countered, trying to speak as quietly as possible.

Oh, you little devils... Jenna thought to herself with amusement. She would've smirked if she weren't in her cat form.

With that, Crookshanks went forward and forcefully got the ear between her teeth, pulling it.

"No! Stop!" George hissed at her from the top of the stairs as his brother tried to hoist up the string.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione groaned, desperate to know what was going on in the meeting.

But the ginger cat had already detached the ear from the string, and so she walked back toward the dining room with the Extendable Ear still between her teeth.

"Ugh, Hermione, I hate your cat!" Ron huffed loudly.

Once Jenna was back inside the dining room, she caught everyone's attention as she transformed back to her human form, and held up the Extendable Ear in her hand.

"You know, I really admire your sons, Molly," Jenna started with a grin. "They really remind me of myself and James, when we were younger."

"Dear Lord..." Molly groaned in disappointment. "What have they done this time?"

"Extendable Ears, apparently," said Jenna amusingly, putting the ear down on the table. "I guess they've invented it themselves, so they could eavesdrop on the meetings."

"Oh, really now! They've done it this time!" Molly got to her feet furiously and stormed out of the room the next moment. But Jenna, Sirius, and Tonks were all laughing while they could hear Molly's shouts from upstairs, scolding her children.

"I — um — apologize," Arthur said awkwardly to the whole room.

"No need, I assure you." Dumbledore chuckled. "You and Molly should go easier on Fred and George. This is actually ingenious. Inventing such artifacts at this young age... They can truly go places."

***

It was another night at the Ministry, though tonight Jenna's shift was going to start and end a little bit earlier than usually, seeing as there was an Order meeting taking place that same night.

     Once she returned back to Grimmauld Place after leaving the Ministry, Jenna didn't bother to walk through as Crookshanks, knowing that the kids weren't allowed downstairs anyway because of the meeting.

     For some reason, the noises coming from the dining room were louder and more chaotic than ever, as if a loud argument was going on. Frowning in confusion, she walked toward the room.

     Although the moment Jenna opened the door to the dining room and walked inside, everyone fell silent as their eyes fell on her.

     "What's going on?" Jenna asked, closing the door behind her. "And where is everyone else?"

     She had just realized that a lot of the Order's members were missing, including Remus, Tonks, Kingsley, Moody, Dedalus Diggle, and a few others.

    "Er... Jenna... you're back early," Sirius acknowledged, looking slightly nervous at her sight.

    "Of course I am. Because of this meeting, remember?" said Jenna. "If anything, I'm running a little late. But forget about that!" She shook her head briskly. "Where are the others? Has — has something happened to them?"

     Her heart sank at the thought. What if they had been attacked? What if Remus was one of them? Even Dumbledore was missing. He was never late. Jenna looked from one worried face to another, waiting for an explanation.

     "There's — there's something you should know," Sirius spoke gently, getting up to his feet to lead Jenna toward a seat, placing a hand on her shoulder so she would sit down.

     "Sirius, get to the damn point! You're freaking me out here!" Jenna retorted angrily, glaring up at him as her heartbeat sped up.

     Sirius was still stuttering and searching for the right words, but Snape finally blurted out in a cold voice, "Your nephew has gotten himself expelled from Hogwarts."