Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 110

The little party went on for the rest of the evening. Molly had bought Ron a new broom, and he was showing it to everyone and talking about it rapidly to anyone who would listen.

Crookshanks had jumped on the counter next to where Sirius, Remus, and Kingsley were speaking, listening to their conversation. Jenna found herself easily bored. Gatherings like this were her favorite, and she always used to enjoy talking to everyone and just having a good time. But now all she could do was to appear as a ginger cat.

"But I don't understand why Dumbledore didn't make Potter a prefect?" said Kingsley quietly.

"He'll have had his reasons," Remus replied.

"But it would've shown confidence in him. It's what I'd've done," Kingsley persisted, "especially with the Daily Prophet having a go at him every few days..."

     After the dinner was served and everyone enjoyed the meal to the fullest, Molly yawned widely. "Well, I think I'll sort out that boggart before I turn in... Arthur, I don't want this lot up too late, all right? 'Night, Harry, dear."

     She left the kitchen. Harry set down his plate and wondered whether he could follow her without attracting attention.

     "You all right, Potter?" grunted Moody.

     "Yeah, fine," Harry lied quickly.

      Moody took a swig from his hip flask, his electric blue eye staring sideways at Harry.

     "Come here, I've got something that might interest you," he said. From an inner pocket of his robes Moody pulled a very tattered old Wizarding photograph.

     "Original Order of the Phoenix," Moody. "Found it last night when I was looking for my spare Invisibility Cloak, seeing as Podmore hasn't had the manners to return my best one... Thought people might like to see it."

      This caught Jenna's attention. So going unnoticed, she approached them from behind in her cat form, looking up at the old photograph in Moody's hand. It was a picture of a small crowd of people, some waving at the camera, others lifting their glasses, looking up at them.

     Jenna remembered that Sirius also had a copy of this same picture and he had shown it to her years ago. Although Jenna wasn't present at the Order when this photograph was taken, seeing as she was away on her mission. And therefore she was missing from the picture.

     "There's me," said Moody unnecessarily, pointing at himself. "And there's Dumbledore beside me, Dedalus Diggle on the other side... That's Marlene McKinnon, she was killed two weeks after this was taken, they got her whole family."

      Jenna felt her whole body freeze and her stomach clenched at the mention of her name. But Moody certainly didn't help as he pointed at another couple in the picture and went on, saying,

     "That's Frank and Alice Longbottom — Poor devils," growled Moody. "Better dead than what happened to them..."

     Jenna could see Alice's round and friendly face, and the familiar kind smile on her lips as she waved at the camera. None of them deserved such an end.

     "And that's Emmeline Vance, you've met her, and that there's Lupin, obviously," Moody went on. "Benjy Fenwick, he copped it too, we only ever found bits of him... shift aside there," he added, poking the picture, and the little photographic people edged sideways, so that those who were partially obscured could move to the front.

      "That's Edgar Bones... brother of Amelia Bones, they got him and his family too, he was a great wizard... Sturgis Podmore, blimey, he looks young... Caradoc Dearborn, vanished six months after this, we never found his body... Hagrid, of course, looks exactly the same as ever... Elphias Doge, you've met him, I'd forgotten he used to wear that stupid hat... Gideon Prewett, it took five Death Eaters to kill him and his brother Fabian, they fought like heroes... budge along, budge along..."

    The little people in the photograph jostled among themselves, and those hidden right at the back appeared at the forefront of the picture.

     "That's Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, strange bloke... That's Dorcas Meadowes, Voldemort killed her personally... Sirius, when he had shorter hair... and... there you go, thought that would interest you!"

     Harry's heart turned over. His mother and father were beaming up at him, sitting on either side of a small, watery-eyed man Harry recognized at once as Wormtail. He was the one who had betrayed their whereabouts to Voldemort and so helped bring about their deaths.

     "Eh?" said Moody, as of expecting a cheerful reaction from Harry.

     "Yeah," said Harry, attempting to grin again. "Er... listen, I've just remembered, I haven't packed my..." but without completing his sentence, he stepped out of the kitchen.

     "What's that you've got there, Mad-Eye?" Sirius asked, walking toward him with a drink in his hands.

     "An old photograph from the Order," Moody answered, handing the picture to Sirius.

     "Ah, will you look at that..." he said quietly, a faint smile on his lips.

     "It's really something, eh?" said Moody, a crooked grin forming across his scarred face.

     But Sirius then laughed, turning to look at Remus who was standing on the other side of the room. "Hey, Moony! Come see this!"

     Remus apologized to Kingsley whom he was talking to, and made his way over to where Sirius was standing. He chuckled the moment he saw the picture.

     "Oh, Lord..." Remus shook his head in amusement. "Look at us!"

     "I forgot how immensely handsome I was," Sirius said jokingly, making everyone laugh.

     "Yeah, but you certainly looked just as arrogant as now," said Tonks, who had joined their little huddle over the photograph.

     "I had a reason to be arrogant! I mean, look at me!" Sirius said smugly, pointing at himself proudly. "Should I cut my hair a little bit? It was shorter back then."

     "Oh yes, because the only reason you look older now is because your hair is slightly longer," Remus said wittily, receiving a glare from Sirius.

     Tonks chuckled, turning to face Remus with amusement. "I never took you as a sassy one, Lupin."

     "He can't help it," said Sirius, grinning. "It's a habit by now."

     Remus opened his mouth to protest, but they all froze on the spot when they suddenly started hearing loud screams coming from upstairs. It was Molly.