Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 106

The moment the kitchen door was closed behind Harry and Arthur, Jenna leaped forward and transformed back to her human form. Startled and surprised due to the suddenness, Tonks knocked off her cup of tea, spilling it all over the table.

     "Shoot!" Tonks huffed, taking out her wand to clean up the mess. She then turned to face Jenna with a goofy grin on her face. "How do you do that, anyway?"

     "What?" Jenna raised a brow at her. "You mean you can't do it?"

     "Nah, the best I can do is to change my nose into a beak or a pic snout, or to turn my hand into lobster claw," she said with a little shrug.

     "Have you ever really tried it, though?" Jenna asked, sitting back on the chair beside Sirius. "It might take a lot of practice."

     "Yeah, I've tried a few times in the past. But I was stuck with a tail for a whole week!" She shuddered at the thought. "It wasn't a pretty sight."

     Remus chuckled. "Better luck next time, then."

     Tonks laughed at that, before turning to face Jenna again. "I've never heard Metamorphmagi be able to transform into a full animal."

    "Guess I'm special, then." Jenna winked at her playfully. But she went on more seriously, "Actually... I was able to transform fully into an animal since I was around sixteen, I think."

     "Damn!" Tonks grinned with amusement, looking impressed. "How did it happen?"

    At those words, Remus, Sirius, and Jenna shared a knowing look, a smile forming on all their faces. The memories of their old school days flooded back to their minds like a flowing river.

     "We were in our fifth year," Remus started to explain, still smiling knowingly. "The boys were as always accompanying me on the full moon. But apparently, Jenna saw them sneaking into the Whomping Willow — that was the entrance to the Shrieking Shack, where I used to transform into a werewolf."

     "Yeah..." Jenna continued, nodding. "So I followed them through the Shrieking Shack. But there, I witnessed something I never thought I would ever see in my entire life."

     "What did you see?" Tonks with a teasing tone. "Sirius and Remus kissing?"

     Jenna snorted, and the two men's eyes widened, staring back at Tonks in horror.

     "No, but that would be the bloody day," said Jenna, smirking. "I saw a werewolf, a rat, a black dog, and a stag, all huddled up inside the room. But then, when the werewolf saw me, he tried to attack."

     Remus looked away and threw his gaze down at those words. Even to this day, his guilt had travelled everywhere with him, refusing to leave his mind. He sometimes thought about all those horrible times when he had nearly hurt his friends.

      "And then, out of pure fear and shock," Sirius went on, "Jenna suddenly transformed into a cat. She didn't even notice that she had done so. It was fully automatic."

     "Why a cat though?" Tonks mused.

     Sirius grinned, glancing sideways at Jenna playfully. "Because I used to call her Kitten, and no matter what she says, I know she used to love it."

    "What!? No!" Jenna retorted, shaking her head at him as she tried to suppress her own smile. "My Patronus is a cat, which means that it's my spirit animal. So when I automatically transformed, I took the form of a cat. And so I decided to stick with it from then on."

     "It's still awesome, if you ask me," Tonks said excitedly, but she broke down into another yawn, which made Jenna yawn too.

     "Oh, I miss the good old days at Hogwarts," said Molly with a dreamy sigh while she was clearing out the desk with a swish of her wand. "The war hadn't been so horrifying back at our time there. We were carefree and happy..."

     "Who's we?" Tonks asked with a mischievous grin.

      "Me and Arthur, of course," Molly answered with a light chuckle, going red on the face at the memories while everyone went silent, listening to her story. "We really enjoyed our midnight strolls around the castle... although my two brothers were always protective of me, you know. Fabian and Gideon... but they were killed in the first war. Both of them."

     Jenna's smile dropped and her heart sank as she stared up at Molly. "Did you say Fabian and Gideon? As in — as in Fabian and Gideon Prewett?"

    "Well yes, of course." Molly nodded, giving her a sad smile. "They were both in the original Order of the Phoenix back then."

     As it seemed, Jenna was the only one at the table who didn't know about this relation between Molly and their old Order members.

     "I — I didn't know your maiden name was Prewett..." Jenna whispered, talking mostly to herself as she blinked a few times, looking down at her lap. "I'm... I'm really sorry for your loss, Molly. I really am."

     "Oh... i-it's quite all right, dear. I'm sorry too..." said Molly, her eyes filling up with tears as she tried to hold on to her smile. "I'm sure they died heroically."

     They really did, Jenna thought to herself sorrowfully, feeling unable to look Molly in the eyes.