Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 127

Jenna was forced to leave the ward soon, in fear of being caught there by one of the Healers. So with the tears still streaming down her eyes, she transformed herself back to the random witch and went down to the cafeteria to get some tea for Molly and Bill.

    Once she returned to their room with the tea tray, Arthur had already gone back to sleep, so she quietly gave the cups to Molly and Bill along with some cauldron cake.

    "I should probably get going," said Jenna, wanting to get out of that hospital as soon as she could, unable to forget about Alice.

    "Where would you be going?" Bill asked, taking a large bite of his cake.

     "Back to Hogwarts," Jenna explained. "I'll take a look around to see what's going on there with Umbridge. Besides, I can't go to Grimmauld Place in my cat form without Hermione. It will look suspicious."

    "Well... I should better get going too..." said Molly, looking tired and exhausted as she got to her feet. "The children would want to know that their father is doing good."

    "I'll stay with Dad, then," said Bill. "I'll take a day off work tomorrow."

     "Thank you." She gave her son a warm and appreciative smile.

     With that, both Molly and Jenna left the hospital, though they Disapparated off to different places.

Molly arrived at Grimmauld Place at around ten past five. Hearing low mumbling sounds from downstairs, she assumed that everyone was gathered in the kitchen.

The moment she stepped into the kitchen, everyone briskly got to their feet, looking pale and tired, but most of all anxious.

"He's all right," said Molly, her voice weak with tiredness, though she was smiling in relief. "He's sleeping. Bill's sitting with him now, he's going to take the morning off work."

Fred fell back into his chair with his hands over his face. George and Ginny got up, walked swiftly over to their mother, and hugged her. Ron gave a very shaky laugh and downed the rest of his butterbeer in one.

"Breakfast!" said Sirius loudly and joyfully, jumping to his feet. "Where's that accursed house-elf? Kreacher! KREACHER!"

But Kreacher did not answer the summons.

"Oh, forget it, then," muttered Sirius, counting the people in front of him. "So it's breakfast for — let's see — eight... Bacon and eggs, I think, and some tea, and toast — definitely not pancakes, though," he added the last part quietly.

"When are we going to visit Dad?" Ginny asked her mother hopefully.

But Molly only smiled and shook her head, looking sideways at Lexi, "That won't be necessary. He's going to be home tomorrow."

"He — he is?" Lexi stammered in surprise, looking at her with raised brows.

"Of course, dear," Molly smiled at her. "Dumbledore told me what you did... told me so much more damage was going to happen if it weren't for you. So thank you."

And with that, she came forward and pulled Lexi into a tight hug as she fought back her tears. She'd never felt so grateful.

Molly then let go and turned to Sirius, "Thanks for taking care of the kids."

"It's all right, Molly," he said reassuringly. "I'm very glad that I could have been any help."

"Oh, Sirius, I'm so grateful... Of course, Dumbledore thinks it's better that we all stay here until Christmas..."

"The more the merrier!" said Sirius earnestly and Molly beamed at him, threw on an apron, and began to help with breakfast.

Although Sirius made a mental note not to make pancakes. It had been a while since he'd last made pancakes, and so he reckoned that he still needed more practice.

***

The Christmas break soon started and Hermione went to Sirius's place with Crookshanks as planned. Tonks had picked her up at King's Cross station, and they used the Knight Bus to get to Grimmauld Place.

The moment they arrived, Hermione let the cat out of her basket. Crookshanks followed Sirius upstairs after he gestured her to follow him. The moment they entered his room and he closed the door, casting protective charm, Jenna transformed back to human and sprang forward, wrapping her arms around Sirius.

"I missed you so much," she whispered, hiding her face in the crook of his neck.

Sirius smiled, holding her even tighter. "I missed you more, Jenny."

"It was horrible there without you," she muttered, pulling away to look up at him with teary eyes. "I... Sirius, I saw Alice and Frank."

Sirius's face fell at the mention of those names, his heart sinking painfully in his chest. He didn't know what to say or even do, except for staring down at her in disbelief.

"She couldn't even speak... she... it was as if she couldn't even understand what was going on around her," Jenna went on, biting her inner cheek to prevent her tears from falling down. "I doubt if she even recognizes her own son."

Jenna's efforts turned out to be helpless, because her tears started to stream down her eyes.

"It just makes me so sad and frustrated..." Jenna sniffed, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. "All I can think about is that... she would've been a great mum. And so would Lily. All of them were going to be the greatest parents anyone could have ever asked for, and so would Frank and James. But... they couldn't even watch their kid grow up."

Sirius was at loss for words, so all he could do was to bring Jenna into his embrace once more, holding her tighter than before as he caressed her long blue hair and placed a kiss on her forehead.

It pained Sirius to think about what it would've been like if they were just a normal family; if Lily and James were here, along with Alice and Frank, and only if Sirius and Jenna had become parents, their kid would've been around a year younger than Neville and Harry.

They could all have gone to King's Cross station together to send their kids to Hogwarts, and they could throw big Christmas parties when they returned. Their lives could've been so different, if there had been no war to begin with.

But Sirius tried to shake these thoughts away. The past was in the past. All that mattered to him now was to keep his loved ones safe, even if it meant dying himself in order to protect them.