Jennifer Potter and the marauders (book 2) Jenny and Harry

A helping hand

Jenny paced the room, desperately trying to think of a way to escape. She had no idea what she would face on the otherside of the door. There could be a maze of corridoors out there, that she would get lost in. Or a dangerous creature of some sort, just waiting to eat her.
Jenny rolled her ring around her finger, thankfull that the Death Eaters hadn't taken anything other than her wand. She was certain that Harry would be feeling cold, due to the ring knowing the danger that she was currently in.
She hoped that Harry wouldn't do anything rash. She knew that he behaved erratically when she was in trouble. Jenny began to wonder if giving Harry the ring, was not such a good idea after all.

After several hours, Jenny was beginning to feel rather tired, and thirsty. She collapsed onto the floor, and leant her back against the wall. She had no idea what time of day it was, and she wasn't even sure if it was the same day as when she had arrived. For all she knew, she had been there for a few days already.
The door suddenly opened, and a masked Death Eater entered, carrying a tray. Jenny jumped up, to face him, but he ignored her. The tray held a piece of bread and a green coloured soup. He placed the tray on the table in front of Jenny, and turned to go.
Jenny saw her chance, and took it, not knowing the next time her door would be opened. She decided to try and escape. Knowing that if she failed, the consequences would be severe.

Jenny transformed into a squirrel and darted out of the open door, surprising the Death Eater, who did not know that she was an Animagus. Once out of the door, Jenny continued to run, too scared to turn and look behind her.
She ran down corridoor, after corridoor, hoping that she was going the right way. Just as she saw a door that appeared to lead outside, a Death Eater blocked her path.
Even though he was masked, Jenny could tell that it was Jack. The way he stood, and the way he smelled, was all too familiar. Jenny had been able to tell that he hadn't been in the room earlier, something that had made her happy at the time. As she didn't want him to see her suffer.
Despite the fact that he had betrayed her, and handed her to Lord Voldemort. Jenny, still couldn't help her feelings towards him.
Love was not always logical, nor did it always make sense.

Jack removed a wand from his pocket, and Jenny thought that he was going to stun her. Instead, he placed it on the floor in front of her. Jenny looked closer, and realised that it was her wand.
This confused her. She was sure that Voldemort wouldn't have given her wand to Jack, in case he decided to help her escape.
Jenny transformed back into a human, and faced Jack. Neither of the said anything for several seconds. Even though she couldn't see his face, she stared into his eyes, the only part of his body that was on display.
"I duplicated your wand before handing it to the Dark Lord. I took it from the Death Eater who took it from you, I've had your real wand all along" Jack explained as his eyes looked away from her, and he looked down at the wand on the floor. Embarressed to look at her.
"Well, don't just stand there. Go" Jack demanded.

Hesitantly, Jenny picked up her wand and pointed it at the doors, opening them, so that she could make her escape.
"Jack..." she started.
"Just go. Hurry, before they find you" interupted Jack.
Jenny nodded and placed her wand into her pocket, shrinking back down into a squirrel and running off into the distance.
Jack watched her go, and closed the door, stopping the Death Eaters from following her. He hoped that his aide in her escape would help her to forgive him.

As soon as she was safe, Jenny apparated directly to the Burrow, to inform Harry that she was safe. She hoped that his ring would have returned to normal by now, but she wasn't taking any chances. She needed to get to him, before he did anything stupid.
"Oi. Who goes there?" Asked Molly Weasley as Jenny approached the house.
Molly had her wand raised at Jenny, needing to make sure that she was not a Death Eater in disguise.
"It's me Molly. Jennifer Potter, sister of James Potter" said Jenny stepping forward.

"Prove it" ordered Molly.
Jenny sighed.
"My nickname is Ash, and I'm an unregistered Animagus. My animal form is a squirrel-"
"All right. But I had to check didn't I. You didn't tell us you were coming today"
"I didn't plan to. But I need to see Harry, it's urgent. I haven't missed him have I?"
"No. They are just getting ready to travel back to Hogwarts, via the floo network. They're in the living room".

Jenny followed Molly inside and saw Harry nervousily pacing accross the room. Once he saw his aunt, he ran forward and threw his arms around her neck and hugged her tight.
"You scared me" he whispered, as Ron, Ginny and Molly were standing very close to them.
And he hadn't told anybody about the Potter ring that she had given him.
Jenny let go of Harry and took a step back.
"I'm fine" said Jenny.
"Well you're clearly not. Can we talk?" Asked Harry.
"I don't know if we've got time. You need to get back to school"
"We've got a few minutes, right?" Asked Harry, looking over to Molly.
Molly nodded, and Harry dragged Jenny into the kitchen, shutting the door behind them.

"So. Are you going to tell me what happened?" He demanded.
"If I tell you the truth, you'll only worry" replied Jenny.
Harry swore.
"I don't care. I want to know the truth. This ring went stone cold. I thought you were dead" said Harry as he showed Jenny the ring on his finger.
"I'm fine. I just ran into some Death Eater trouble"
"Would this have something to do with the friend Dumbledore told you to move on from?".
Jenny looked away from Harry, not trusting herself to reply.
"Well?" Continued Harry.

Jenny sighed.
"Maybe. But listen Harry, I was doing as Dumbledore suggested. I planned to sever ties with my friend. Unfortunately, it didn't go as smoothly as planned".
"Obviously" replied Harry.
"Look Harry, I have a job to do, and it's a dangerous one, so you need to accept that. Anyway I can't sit around chatting all day, I've got things to do. Besides, you've got to get back to Hogwarts"
"I know, and I do understand, I really do. Your job is dangerous, I get that. I just wish you would be more careful. Will you write to me?"
"As often as I can"
"Then that's all I can ask".

Jenny nodded, and Harry made his way to the door.
"Wait. I had a thought. We need a way of identifying each other in emergencies. We need a code word that only the two of us know. So that if someone tries to impersonate one of us, we can tell" Jenny said.
"What kind of code word?" Questioned Harry.
"Hmm. How about you say Prongs when we meet, after your father. And I say Padfoot, after Sirius" she suggested.
"Prongs and Padfoot. O.K. Sounds good".

Molly began to cry as she said goodbye to her children. Admittedly it took very little to set her off lately. Ever since Percy stormed out of the house on Christmas day, covered in mashed parsnip. For which Fred, George, and Ginny all claimed credit for.
"Promise me you'll look after yourself, and stay out of trouble" she sobbed as she hugged Harry goodbye.
"I always do Mrs Weasley. I like a quiet life, you know me" replied Harry. Looking directly as his aunt as he said the last few lines, and she raised an eyebrow.
"Be good then. All of you" continued Molly.
Once Molly released him, he made his way over to the fireplace, and stepped into the emerald fire.
"Hogwarts" he shouted. Taking one last look at his aunt, before he was engulfed in flames and transported to the fireplace in Professor McGonagall's office.