Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 119

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the common room that night by the fireplace, waiting for everybody else to go up to their dorms and empty the room. Fred, George, Lexi, and Lee were last to leave, but at last the three found themselves alone in the common room.

     Crookshanks had situated herself beside the fireplace, not taking her yellow eyes off the flames for even a second. Hours passed and it was way past midnight, but there was still no sign of Sirius.

    But just then, Ron, who was dozing lightly in an armchair, gave a muffled grunt, awoke, looked blearily into the fire and exclaimed, "Sirius!"

     Jenna's head shot up and the cat stood on her four paws, staring into the fireplace longingly. She had forgotten how much she actually missed him.

    "Hi," Sirius greeted them with a light grin, his eyes traveling toward the ginger cat for a short second.

     "Hi," Harry, Ron, and Hermione choruses, all three kneeling down upon the hearthrug.

     Crookshanks purred loudly and approached the fire, trying, despite the heat, to put her face close to Sirius's. Hermione got scared for a second that she would burn her furs with the fire.

    "How're things?" said Sirius, doing everything in bis power to stop stealing glances at Jenna.

     "Not that good," said Harry, as Hermione pulled Crookshanks back to stop her singeing her whiskers. "The Ministry's forced through another decree, which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams —"

     "— or secret Defense Against the Dark Arts groups?" said Sirius. There was a short pause.

    "How did you know about that?" Harry demanded.

     "You want to choose your meeting places more carefully," said Sirius, grinning still more broadly. "The Hog's Head, I ask you..."

     "Well, it was better than the Three Broomsticks!" said Hermione defensively. "That's always packed with people —"

     "— which means you'd have been harder to overhear," said Sirius knowingly. "You've got a lot to learn, Hermione."

     "Who overheard us?" Harry questioned demandingly.

     "Mundungus, of course," said Sirius, and when they all looked puzzled he laughed. "He was the witch under the veil."

     Of course, what the three young Gryffindors didn't know was that it was Jenna who had told Dumbledore about their meeting in Hog's Head, and so that's why he sent Mundugus to spy on them in the first place.

     "That was Mundungus?" Harry said, stunned. "What was he doing in the Hog's Head?"

     "What do you think he was doing?" said Sirius impatiently. "Keeping an eye on you, of course."

     "I'm still being followed?" Harry asked angrily.

    "Yeah, you are," said Sirius, "and just as well, isn't it, if the first thing you're going to do on your weekend off is organize an illegal defense group."

     But he looked neither angry nor worried; on the contrary, he was looking at Harry with distinct pride. And that was exactly what worried Jenna the most. As she had suspected, Sirius thought this was a good idea, unlike her who still had her doubts about Harry teaching this secret group.

    "First of all, Ron," Sirius went on, "I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother."

     "Oh yeah?" said Ron, sounding apprehensive.