Potter | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 143

Upon seeing the two figures, the three women ran forward across the yard toward them, their hearts beating fast in worry.

       But when they got close enough to make out their faces, they saw that Sirius was supporting James up, whose face was covered in blood.

Lily gasped loudly and Mrs. Potter clapped a hand to her mouth as they both ran forward to help, but Jenna was unable to even move as she stared at them with widened eyes.

It was as if someone had put the Full Body-Bind curse on her. Jenna couldn't blink. She couldn't speak. She even found it hard to breathe as she watched them.

"What happened!?" Mrs. Potter questioned anxiously as they all helped James inside, who was barely conscious.

Jenna followed them in, still finding it hard to utter a word as they laid James down on the sofa in the living room.

Lily immediately took out her wand and kneeled on the ground next to the sofa and started healing his wounds; half of James's face seemed to have been cursed, bleeding unstoppably.

Lily was sobbing softly by the time she was done healing his wounds, but remained there, now cleansing his bloody face.

"Sirius, what happened?" Mrs. Potter demanded again, but Jenna was too busy staring at her brother to pay attention.

"The Death Eaters — they attacked us," Sirius said breathlessly, his eyes fixed on James in horror.

"I thought Dumbledore had warned you not to pick up a fight!" Mrs. Potter was almost yelling.

"It wasn't us!" Sirius retorted, now finally looking back at her. "They knew we were there — I don't know how — but they knew. It was more than Rosier and Rockwood; other Death Eaters arrived. We were cornered. We wanted to fight back, but there were too many of them. We tried to Dissaparate as soon as possible, but James — he took a curse before we could escape."

"They already knew you were going to show up there?" Mrs. Potter repeated in a hollow voice, gaping at him. "But how could they? Dumbledore had just given you the mission a few hours ago."

"I don't know," Sirius said in a small voice, before sighing in regret. "I told James we should've brought the Invisibility Cloak with us."

"The what!?" Mrs. Potter exclaimed. "But that Cloak was stolen years ago."

"Uh oh..." They heard James muttered under his breath at that as he laid on the sofa motionlessly, his eyes still closed.

Mrs. Potter then turned to face him angrily. "James Fleamont Potter! Were you or were you not the person who nicked your father's old Invisibility Cloak?"

"Oh, come now, Mother, don't be too harsh on me now," James started cheekily, even though he was still weak, "your son has just been brutally hurt. You should have more pity on me."

"Oh, wait till your father hears about this," Mrs. Potter said and shook her head, but Jenna was chuckling now, relieved and happy that her brother was all right.

"Dad would probably high-five James," said Jenna, making them all laugh lightly, the mood slightly picking up.

***

Jenna was having trouble sleeping that night. She kept turning, shifting, and moving around on the bed, but she was kept awake for hours on end, her mind too messed up.

But when she finally fell asleep purely out of exhaustion and the stress she had experienced that day, she soon came to regret falling asleep in the first place as nightly terrors started haunting her again.

Sirius then woke up to the sound of Jenna whining and sobbing as she writhed on the bed. She was mumbling in her sleep. Sirius couldn't make out exactly what she was saying, but he thought he had caught her begging someone to stop hurting them.

"Jenny?" Sirius whispered, moving carefully closer to her and shaking her gently by the arm. "Jenny, wake up."

"No... p-please... don't..." Jenna started sobbing even harder. Now Sirius could clearly see the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Jenna, wake up!" he said louder this time, finally shaking her awake.

Jenna jerked up to a sitting position, panting heavily with widened eyes as she stared around, her eyes then finally falling upon Sirius.

"It's fine. It's me. It's me, Jenny," said Sirius, trying to move closer to her, but she pulled back, still feeling terrorized. "It was just a nightmare."

Jenna was finally coming back to reality as she kept staring around, her heart throbbing fast against her chest.

"Come here," Sirius whispered, leaning toward her to bring her into his arm.

Jenna felt still in shock, but leaned her head on Sirius chest nonetheless, trying to slow down her breathing.

"What was it, Jenny?" Sirius asked quietly, stroking her long hair which had now turned silver.

"It was — it was you — they had you — but — but I was with them — they were making me t-torture you..."

Sirius didn't know what he could possibly say to that to comfort her. So he just held her tighter, as if silently telling her all the unsaid words.

Jenna just yanked onto Sirius's shirt softly, trying to pull him closer to her even though no space was left between the two, as if scared that he would disappear any second.

She didn't want to admit it to him, but deep down, Jenna thought that she knew the reason to that specific nightmare which she was having for a few nights now; although this time it was worst than ever.

After leaving Hogwarts and joining the Order, Jenna had started to have nightmares every once in a while, all of which consisting her as a Death Eater.

But this time it was worst than all the other times, because in her dream, they were forcing her to use the torture curse on Sirius. She couldn't even help herself, as if she was under the Imperius Curse and all she could do was to cry and beg them to stop her.

But Jenna knew that there was only one reason as to why she was having these night terrors.

Because just like in her nightmares, she was going to go under cover as a Death Eater in the future. And all she could hope for was that it wouldn't happen any time soon.