As it seemed, Hogwarts wasn't meant to remain in peace. A few months had passed that Harry received a box of chocolates from a girl named Romilda Vane. Hermione had already warned him that she was planning on slipping him some Love Potion. But Ron, who was oblivious to this fact, found the chocolates and ate them all, finding himself madly in love with a girl whom he barley knew.
Harry had taken Ron to Slughorn, hoping that maybe he could brew an antidote for the Love Potion. Slughorn had managed to save Ron from his dazed state, but afterward he had offered Harry and Ron a drink, which turned out to be a strong and fatal poison.
Luckily, Harry had remembered to use a Bezoar, saving Ron. But what had terrified everyone was the fact that Slughorn was meant to send the drink to Dumbledore as a gift, yet he couldn't remember how he had ended up with the bottle in the first place.
If one thing was clear, it was that someone was desperately trying to kill Dumbledore.
But despite all the horrific things that were going on, love always found a place even in the darkest of times. After winning the Quidditch Cup and brining the glory to the House of Gryffindor, Harry and Ginny finally got together. Jenna made a mental note to tease him about it later, seeing it as her moral duty. Even Ron and Hermione had gone back to being friends.
After passing their Apparation test in the following months, the sixth years were nearing the end of the school year. With the approaching examinations, the students spent most of their times in the library, which meant that Jenna usually found herself alone in the common room for long hours.
That night was no different. Crookshanks was laying on the cozy rug before the warm and blazing fireplace, resting her eyes and purring in comfort. Although she jumped when suddenly a small note appeared beside her out of thin air. Crookshanks looked down and read the note.
Please come up to my office
That was it. Nothing else was written on the note, but Jenna knew that handwriting well enough. It was from Dumbledore. The next moment, the note magically caught fire and disappeared in a second.
Looking around carefully and making sure no one was in the common room, Jenna quickly transformed into a random student before leaving the common room and making her way up to Dumbledore's office. When she reached the entrance, Jenna said the password and the next moment, the statue of the gargoyle came to life, revealing a staircase behind it.
Once she reached the office's door, she knocked and opened it up, walking inside, where she saw Dumbledore, McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Remus, Tonks, Bill, and Sirius gathered. Although her look of surprise when she saw everyone there was nothing compared to McGonagall's face.
"Miss Patil! What do you think you're doing here?" McGonagall scolded, her face as stern and firm as ever.
"Ah, yes," Dumbledore smiled, "I forgot to add that Miss Potter would be joining us tonight as well."
With that, Jenna closed the office's door behind her and transformed into herself the next moment. Her eyes caught Sirius's for a second longingly, before looking back at Dumbledore again.
"What business?" Jenna questioned.
She couldn't stop herself from glancing down at Dumbledore's hand for a quick moment, which seemed thoroughly damaged, as though it had been burnt or hit by a curse. It had been that way all year, which made Jenna wonder how come it hadn't been healed yet. It must've been a powerful dark magic if not even Dumbledore could heal it.
"As I was saying, I'll be leaving the castle for the night," Dumbledore started explaining. "Each time I leave, I ask a group of well-trained witches and wizards to patrol the corridors. Tonight, as it seems, most Aurors have been called up to the Ministry. So I wanted to ask you if you could keep an eye on everything while I'm gone."
"Of course." McGonagall nodded firmly, not questioning where he was going and why. "How long do you think you'll be gone, Albus?"
"I'm not sure." They all saw the worried expression on Dumbledore's face, but it faded away so quickly that made them wonder if they had just imagined it.
***
Two by two, they left Dumbledore's office, setting off to patrol a different part of the castle. McGonagall and Flitwick had gone off toward the dungeons, Bill agreed to go to the direction of the Astronomy Tower, and Remus and Tonks were assigned together, though neither spoke a single word to each other.
Sirius and Jenna left for the west side of the castle, patrolling the empty corridors with their wands out and at the ready. Even though it was near curfew and so all the students were inside their Houses, Jenna had transformed into an Auror she had once seen at the Ministry, so no one would recognize her.
"You look tired," said Jenna, glancing sideways at Sirius, but he only smirked.
"And you look manlier than I remember," said Sirius mockingly, pointing at Jenna's face, which looked like another wizard.
Jenna laughed. Even her voice sounded different.
"Tell me. What's the secret behind your beard? I'm starting to feel jealous." He then ran a hand over his short beard, which looked great across his sharp jawline and long black hair.
Jenna grinned. "If you like it so much, how about I come over and give you a kiss?"
"Now, you stay away from me," Sirius said in a playful warning tone. "Kissing Filch was bad enough to traumatize me for a lifetime. I don't need to kiss a middle-aged Ministry Auror too." Jenna couldn't help but to laugh again.
The two of them went on for long hours, strolling the castle and patrolling the corridors to make sure everything was in order and everyone was safe. Jenna was growing exhaustion and her legs had started hurting from all the walking.
"That decides it. All the napping I've been doing all year have finally made me lazy," said Jenna in the Auror's voice, heaving a loud sigh.
"Or maybe it's because —" Sirius started, but Jenna never got to hear the end of his sentence. Because right at that moment, a loud crash came from outside the castle and a scream followed.
Looking at each other for a quick second, Jenna and Sirius rushed out of the castle as fast as they could, with their wands raised.
"Oh, no..." Jenna breathed out in a hollow voice when she saw the Dark Mark, splattered across the night sky, right above the Astronomy Tower.
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Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬
Fanfiction{𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝟰} By the time the first Wizarding War came to an end, Jenna Potter had lost everyone she had and the love of her life was sent to Azkaban for a crime he hadn't even committed. And so, she ran away in order to forget all about her painful...
