Potter | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 130

That night, Jenna found it impossible to sleep. So she went back to the common room, sitting on her usual armchair, and gazing onward.

        James had sneaked out of the castle that same night to go see Lily. They knew that it was for the best if he did it alone, because it would've been too suspicious if seven Gryffindors disappeared in one night.

       It was near dusk as Jenna was still wide awake in the common room that the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and James stepped inside, looking more worn out and exhausted than ever.

         Jenna immediately got to her feet at his sight. "How was she holding up?" she asked in a quiet voice as James approached her.

         "She wouldn't even talk," he said, sighing as he dropped himself down on the couch, and so Jenna took the seat beside him.

        James then buried his face miserably for long second before he finally dropped his hands and turned to face Jenna again.

        "I wish I could somehow help her," he whispered. "But when something like this happens... there's nothing anyone can do to make it better."

         "You did your part for being there for her," Jenna tried to reason. "All you could do to help was to at least be a shoulder to cry on."

         "Yeah, but it didn't seem to be enough. It was like torture, watching her like that," he said, shaking his head. "But that's the thing. She wasn't even crying. She seemed too in shock to even speak. Whenever I think about her I just —"

       James grimaced, pinching the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes in agony. Jenna said nothing, feeling the sorrow fill her up.

         "Do you know what I kept thinking while I was there?" James asked, looking up again.

          "What?"

         "That what if it was our parents?" he asked and at those words, Jenna's heart sank painfully. "What if they become the Death Eaters' next victim?"

        He expected Jenna to push that thought away. To tell him that he was being unreasonable and to comfort him. But she only nodded.

       "I've been thinking about the same thing for some while too," Jenna muttered, gazing into the fireplace as its flames crackled into the deadly silence of the room.

        "We'll make it through this, won't we?" James asked her hopefully, even though he didn't seem too sure himself.

       Jenna didn't answer. All she could do was to move forward and bring her brother into a hug. James decided to say nothing either as he held her tight in the silence which spoke a hundred unsaid words.

***

After that night, James left the castle after curfew frequently to visit Lily. After being over the shock, she had finally gotten to the stage that she cried her eyes out day and night, showing no sign of getting better as the weeks passed by.

      James and Jenna's birthday soon arrived. But for the first time in eighteen years, the twins weren't excited about it in the slightest.