Potter | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 51

Muffled voices...

That was all Jenna could hear as she woke up, feeling an ache throughout her entire body.

The massive headache she had was bending her down on the bed, enabling her from even opening her eyes.

"She should've woken up hours ago..." said a girl's voice, concerned.

"We can bang a brick on her head... maybe that will wake her," said a second voice, and Jenna didn't have to be fully conscious to know who it was.

"Geez, thanks, Mar." Jenna rolled her eyes, but then groaned when her head started aching again.

"What do you know!? That did wake her up!" said Marlene triumphantly. "Still counts."

It took her a minute until Jenna was finally able to open her eyes, which was almost impossible to her, considering that the daylight had crept through the countless windows of hospital wing, blinding her.

She looked around, only to see her bed surrounded by Lily, Alice, and Peter, along with James, Sirius, and Marlene, who were in their Quidditch robes.

Quidditch robes... Jenna thought to herself, Quidditch... the match!

She jumped up, gazing around in horror. "The match! The match! I need to go — ugh, my head... oh, forget it! I have to go! We can't lose this!"

She groaned in pain and James quickly came forward, pushing her down so she would lay back again, looking highly unlike his cheerful self.

"Let me up, James," Jenna huffed. "We've got a game!"

They all shared uneasy looks, avoiding Jenna's gaze. "What?" Jenna asked in horror.

"Well..." James started, gulping. "You've been passed out for hours now... and... you know... no one can cancel Quidditch..."

"Wh-what are you saying?" Jenna asked even though she already knew the answer, her lips trembling.

"I — I tried," James went on awkwardly. "I really did. I talked to Gwenog Jones and she agreed to postpone the match, which was really nice of her. But... I told McGonagall and Madam Hooch... and... well... they didn't really agree. And I offered to play as seeker, but you know the rules... there's no replacing—"

"We lost the match!" Marlene cried out, cutting him off.

"Hey! I was getting there!" James retorted.

"We would've turned to skeletons before you could finish it!" Marlene snapped back.

      She then sighed, turning to face Jenna. "I'm sorry, Jen. We really did try. But there was no way that we could possibly win without the seeker."

"You okay, Jen?" Alice asked, looking worried as she caressed Jenna's hair, which had gone back to brown ever since last night.

     Jenna felt a sharp pain in her chest as she thought about Quidditch. But she forgot all about that soon, when she looked around and realized Remus wasn't there.

     "Can — can you guys give us a moment?" said Jenna, looking apologetically at the girls.

     "No," said Marlene.

    "Oh, c'mon," said Lily, trying to drag Marlene away with Alice.

     "But — but we're her friends! Why should we leave!?" they heard her protesting before the three girls left the hospital wing and closed it's door behind them.

     "Jenna, about the match..." Sirius started, looking guilty. "I'm so sorry that I —"

      "What happened to Snape?" Jenna quickly asked, cutting him off. "And where is Remus?"

     "Snape is fine," said James, pulling his chair closer to Jenna's bed. "I got him out in time."

     "And Remus?" she asked again. "Snape found out about him, didn't he?"

     "Yeah," James nodded with a frown. "But Dumbledore made him promise not to tell anyone."

     "And did Snape find out about you guys being Animagi?"

     "No," Sirius shook his head. "James and I didn't turn, and Peter had already transformed into a rat and so Snape didn't notice him either, seeing as he was small."

     "But he did found out about you being able to transform into an animal," said James. "But I think that's fine. I mean... you're a Metamorphmagus; it's probably a normal thing that you can transform."

     "What about Remus, then?" Jenna asked again, looking around the hospital and not sighting him on any of the beds.

     "He's locked himself up in the room..." said Peter, shivering. "He won't talk to any of us. Dunno why..."

     Jenna made a move to stand up by those words, but James pushed her back down again, "Where do you think you're going? You need to rest!"

     "I need totalk to Remus!" Jenna argued. "He probably thinks that all this is his fault!"

     By that James cast a nasty look at Sirius, which went unnoticed by Jenna. He then sighed, saying, "Just let him cool off for some while, Jenna. He's feeling too guilty at the moment for harming you."

     "But he didn't do it knowingly —"

     Jenna tried to say, but she was broken off as a calm voice said behind them, "Good afternoon."

     Turning around, they saw Professor Dumbledore standing there, looking down at them with twinkling eyes.

     "Gentlemen, do you mind if I had a word with Miss Potter?" he said softly. "Meanwhile, I think it's best if you attend to your friend, Mr. Lupin. I should believe that he's in great need of company right now."

     Without another word, the three boys hesitantly got off their seats and glancing suspiciously at Dumbledore, they left the hospital wing.

     "I'm sorry you lost the match, Miss Potter," said Dumbledore with a sympathetic smile, sitting on the chair next to Jenna's bed. "Professor McGonagall told me how much it must've meant to you to win it."

     "Yeah," Jenna nodded sadly, but she was sure that that wasn't the reason Dumbledore had come to visit her.

     As if reading her mind, Dumbledore said, "I should probably get straight to the point, now. I wanted to ask you something, Miss Potter."

     "Yes, sir?"

     "Is it true what Mr. Snape says?" he asked, his blue eyes looking into hers intently. "Can you really transform into a fully grown cat?"

     Jenna gulped, staring at him. "Er... yes... but, I mean... it's probably normal for someone like me though, right?"

      "No, Miss Potter," Dumbledore lightly shook his head. "It's not normal."

      Jenna took aback at those words. But just as she was about to open her mouth and ask him about it, Dumbledore beat her into it and said,

     "You seem to be very advanced of your kind. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a Metamorphmagus to be able to do that in such a young age," he mused.

     But when Jenna remained quiet, he went on,

     "Miss Potter, there're something I need to ask you. A small favor..." said Dumbledore, more sternly than before. "And I need you to think about it fully before giving me an answer. But no one can know. Not yet."