Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 124

Sirius sighed. For some reason, Fred and Lexi reminded him of Jenna and himself. He remembered how he would lose his temper after the smallest inconvenience happened, and would start yelling at her for no reason at all.

"I'll be back. Why don't you — why don't you all sit down?" Sirius suggested softly, but then sending Fred a look, he left the kitchen and went back upstairs.

Sirius walked toward the room in which Lexi used to stay in for the summer, wanting to comfort her. The girl reminded him so much of his childhood friend, toward whom he always used too feel a brotherly protectiveness.

Taking a deep breath, Sirius knocked at her door and opened it slowly, peering inside with a sad smile.

"Lexi?" At Sirius's voice, the girl raised her head while sitting on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest. "Can I come in?"

Feebly, Lexi nodded her head, trying to quickly wipe her tears away so he wouldn't see them.

"You okay, Kiddo?" he asked gently, walking toward her.

Lexi then hid her face on her knees and looked away once the tears left her eyes once more helplessly. Sirius felt a pain in his chest to see her this way. For some reason, he felt a strong connection toward her.

Thinking quickly, Sirius was suddenly reminded of a way which always worked on Jenna whenever he wanted to cheer her up.

With that, Sirius transformed into his dog form and barked playfully to get her attention. Lexi immediately broke down into a smile at his sight, as Padfoot ran around and chased after his own tail.

The dog then jumped on the bed and sat down next to Lexi, nudging her with his snout, making her laugh. Lexi then wrapped her arms around the black dog and next moment, Sirius turned himself back into human and hugged her back.

When he pulled back, Lexi's tears were all gone and yet her eyes were still red and puffy. He smiled sadly down at her, saying, "Don't blame Fred. He's just scared for his father."

"I don't blame him." She shook her head, frowning. "I blame myself."

"Yourself?" Sirius repeated, raising a brow. "Why?"

"Because this is all my fault." She sniffed again. "I could've stopped it. I could've saved Mr. Weasley. I-I could've saved Cedric... but I didn't. I'm the reason he's dead."

"Look, Lexi," Sirius started again firmly, though a hint of a grin was on his lips, "unless you were the one handing Voldemort his wand to kill the boy, then I highly doubt you had anything to do with his death."

"But I could have stopped it from happening," she reasoned. "That makes me guilty enough."

Sirius sighed, looking down. "I know how you feel."

He looked away, losing himself in his thoughts once more. Even after fourteen years, he still blamed himself for Lily and James's death. If he hadn't suggested Pettigrew for their Secret Keeper, they would've been alive right now. It was all his fault, and the thought still haunted him to this day.

"I know what you're thinking, Lexi," Sirius spoke again after a long pause, still looking away. "But sometimes, you just can't save everyone. Some things are meant to happen, and you can't you stop them from happening."

Lexi silently broke down into tears once more, without being able to control herself, as if those words had triggered something within her.

"But what you can do," Sirius went on, finally looking back at her, "is to go down to Fred and the others and tell them what you know is going to happen to their father; I know you told Dumbledore he's not going to die. But they don't know that. And they deserve the truth."

     "But Dumbledore said —"

     "Oh, to hell with Dumbledore!" Sirius shook his hand with a grin, making her chuckle. "Let's go then, shall we?"

     Lexi nodded weakly. Sirius then helped Lexi up from the bed and followed her downstairs to the kitchen where the Weasleys were sitting around the table along with Harry.

     "Lexi, why don't you sit down?" Sirius smiled at her reassuringly and she obeyed, taking the seat next to Ginny.

     "That's right," said Sirius, "come on, let's all... let's all have a drink while we're waiting. Accio Butterbeer!"

     He raised his wand and with that, half a dozen bottles came flying toward them out of the pantry, skidded along the table, and stopped neatly in front of the seven of them.