Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 116

As it turned out, Seamus wasn't the only one who thought Harry had gone mental and that Dumbledore was a fool. Lavender and Parvati had a little spat with Hermione in the girls' dormitory that same night, which ended when Hermione told them to shut their mouth.

Jenna had difficulty sleeping that night. Each time she closed her eyes, the feeling of anxiety attacked her thoughts once more. Memories of her past, terrors of her old nightmares, they all kept her awake all through the night.

She knew it was mostly because she no longer had Sirius by her side. Little did she know that he was just as miserable without her, if not more. He had a hard time falling asleep that night too, feeing the empty space beside him on the bed, where Jenna used to lay.

Although the next morning the whole common room fell quiet once again when everyone went to their classes, and Jenna was able to enjoy the peaceful room to take a nap before the fireplace.

Just then, when she opened her eyes, for a split moment she could've sworn that she saw Sirius's face appear through the flames. But when the cat got up and approached the fireplace, looking intently into it, she found it empty except for the glaring red flames.

Maybe I was just imagining things, Jenna thought to herself gloomily.

She then hopped up on the empty armchair before the warm and cozy fire. Although she could no longer fall asleep as she kept her eyes open and fixed on the flames, in hopes of seeing him again.

Despite telling herself that she was being paranoid, deep down she couldn't help but believe that Sirius was actually checking up on her every now and then, even though it wasn't safe for him to stay for too long.

Jenna stayed in the common room for hours on end. It was only the first day at Hogwarts and she was already bored out of her mind. Or rather, she was going crazy for not knowing what was going on in the Order.

Even though back over summer she used to guard the Prophecy for long tiring hours, at least she had felt more useful back then. Now, all she could do was to lay around anxiously, unable to even talk to anyone. But she kept reminding herself that someone had to be close to Harry and look after him. It was necessary.

Once the students' classes were over, they one by one came back to the common room to leave their bags and other equipments in their dorms, so they could all go back to the Great Hall for dinner.

Jenna's attention was soon caught when she saw an anxious-looking Hermione walk inside the common room alone, without Harry and Ron by her side.

Once the girl spotted Crookshanks, she became even more nervous. But gradually, she walked forward to where the ginger cat was laying on the scarlet armchair.

Hermione then looked around the common room to make sure nobody was looking in their direction. Once she became certain that no one was paying attention to them, she turned to look at Crookshanks once again. With that, Hermione started to gesture Jenna to follow her.

Curious to know what was going on, Crookshanks got up and hopped off the armchair, following Hermione through the portrait hole and out of the common room.

They walked for nearly ten minutes through the empty corridors of the castle until Hermione finally stopped once they reached a deserted classroom. Looking around her carefully, Hermione opened the room's door and gestured the cat to go inside.

Crookshanks did as she was asked and waited inside as Hermione walked into the classroom as well and closed the door behind them.

On cue, Jenna transformed back to her human form and abruptly took out her wand, casting as many protective charms and spells on the room as possible. Once she was sure that nobody could hear them from the outside or to get inside, she placed her wand back in her pocket and turned to face Hermione.

"What's going on?" Jenna asked as she folded her arms. By the obvious nervousness on Hermione's face, she could tell that something wasn't right.

"W-well — we — our classes started today," Hermione begun, avoiding Jenna's eyes. "We had a class with Umbridge today, and — well, she's a horrible woman!"

"Yeah, that much I figured." Jenna nodded bitterly, remembering what she had done to Remus and people like him.

"She's not allowing us to practice magic!" Hermione went on, now speaking so quickly that it became hard for Jenna to catch up on what she was saying. "Her books are not even suitable for first years! There's no mention on how we are supposed to practice spells! She says this is not the real world and we wouldn't be needing them! It's as if she's scared we would use those spells against her or something! But then Harry started arguing with her! He told her that we needed to know these spells to learn how to defend ourselves from what's out there! And when she started to deny that anything dangerous was out there, Harry got really mad and started shouting at her about how You-Know-Who was back! And Umbridge gave him detention for later and sent him to McGonagall!"

Jenna said nothing after Hermione had finished talking. A long-lasting silence fell among them as Jenna gazed at the wall with her mind wandering far off, as if trying to analyze all that Hermione had said in less than a minute.

"We were right, then," Jenna finally said, speaking so quietly as though she was talking mostly to herself. "The Ministry really is trying to interfere at Hogwarts. There's no doubt to their plans now."

"But what plans? What could their plan be that they're not even allowing us to use magic?" Hermione asked briskly.

"I don't know... maybe Fudge is afraid that Dumbledore wants to create an army against the Ministry," Jenna guessed, shrugging.

"But that's insane!"

"Well, that's because Fudge is insane," said Jenna. "But Harry shouldn't have lost his temper with Umridge. The Ministry is looking for reasons to discredit Harry and Dumbledore even further. Ignoring her at the moment is the wisest thing to do."

"That's what I told Harry, too!" Hermione nodded.

"Please talk to Harry," said Jenna, her eyes filled with sadness. "I know I can't, but he has to know that he has support. He needs the comfort, specially coming from his friends. The boy has been through so much."

"But why can't you?" Hermione suddenly asked.

"What?"

"Why can't you speak with him yourself?" Hermione repeated herself. "I'm sure he needs you in his life, now more than ever."

"I want to. Believe me, I do. But..." Jenna sighed under her breath, pursing her lips together as she gazed away. "Look, Dumbledore is almost always right, even though the things he does might seem harsh at times. I mean... I was so mad that he didn't tell me Harry was alive all those years back. But as much as I hate to admit it, he had the right reasons... both the Death Eaters and the Ministry were looking for me at the time. I couldn't have taken care of Harry back then. I would've put him in more danger. I wasn't even mentally stable at the time, when I had lost almost everyone in my life. I needed time to cure my own wounds, before taking care of Harry."

Jenna went on, and Hermione listened in silence.

"And now... Dumbledore assumes that Voldemort has created a connection between himself and Harry, by using his blood last year in the graveyard. This connection means that Voldemort might be able to access Harry's thoughts. Dumbledore thinks it's best if Harry doesn't know I exist, for two reasons. Firstly, everyone thinks I'm dead, which might give us an advantage in the future if I ever wanted to spy on them."

Hermione had so many questions, but she could understand these reasons. So she remained quiet and let her go on.

"Secondly," Jenna continued, "Dumbledore thinks that if Harry gets to know me and becomes attached, Voldemort will be able to see through his thoughts and use me against Harry. The boy's greatest weakness is his love for others, and his dire need to rescue everyone and to be a hero."

Hermione nodded. "Just like last year in the second task of the tournament... he could've gotten first place if he hadn't stayed underwater to make sure the others were rescued first."

"Exactly," said Jenna, nodding lightly. "So... as much as I hate not being able to talk to Harry... I know it's necessary to keep my identity from him. Or at least, until the time is right."