Potter | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 173

Jenna was standing in a circular dark room. Nothing further than a few feet could be seen. But there was someone before her. A man. He was writhing on the ground, as if in pain. Just then, Jenna raised her wand. But she felt different. She was different.

But when she stepped forward and the man looked up, she saw that it was Sirius, his grey eyes filled with tears as he glanced at her, as if begging her to stop. But she only raised her wand, empty of all emotions and she cried out, "Crucio!"

But then, as soon as Sirius let out a triggering scream, Jenna shot awake from her nightmare, panting.

She found herself on the couch in the living room of their flat, with Sirius by her side, trying to shake her awake as he called out her name.

"What — sirius — you — you're here — how —" Jenna said between pants, staring down at him with widened eyes, her cheeks wet with tears and sweat dripping down her forehead.

"It was just a bad dream, Jenny. It wasn't real," Sirius was trying to say, stroking her hair comfortingly as she stared around in horror. "It's okay. Everything's okay."

"Just a dream... just a dream..." Jenna was muttering to herself, trying to calm herself down.

"I couldn't sleep and then I heard you sobbing out here so I came after you," said Sirius after Jenna had slightly calmed down and now they were both sitting back on the couch. "I thought your nightmares and night terrors had stopped. What happened?"

Jenna said nothing and only stared ahead. She knew the reason behind her nightmare, and it was because she didn't have Sirius by her side. She was just too stubborn to say so.

But Sirius was just as stubborn as her if not more, because the reason that he couldn't sleep until four a.m, was because Jenna wasn't sleeping next to him, in his arms.

Sirius then sighed, putting a strand of her brown hair behind her ear. "Please come to bed."

Jenna looked up at him, and all she could see was those eyes. The same that were begging her to stop with their glance in her dream.

She felt a shiver run down her spine. Jenna always had the same nightmare; she was always killing and torturing the ones she loved. But with each time, she felt more and more distant from her own self, more emotionless. She felt different. More alike Alecto Carrow.

So trying to shake her head off the thought, Jenna nodded at Sirius. With that, he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

But before Jenna could get up to her feet, Sirius held Jenna up in his arms bridal style, causing her to let out a gasp, carrying her back toward the bedroom as her body was still trembling after that horrifying dream.

***

Throughout the months that passed, even though Sirius and Jenna went back to normal, Remus and Sirius still weren't talking.

And to make matters worse, a rage of terror had surged within the Order and between all its members. No one seemed able to trust one another like before.

Although it wasn't just the Order that felt so unsafe. The rest of the Wizarding World was at the same state. They didn't know who was a traitor, or who was under the Imperius Curse. They were scared for themselves and their loved ones.

But what they feared the most was going home to see the Dark Mark splattered on the sky above their house. That's how they knew a murder had taken place.

But Jenna had finally had enough. As March arrived and it was hers and James's birthday, she came up with a plan and let Lily and James in on it.

      On the day of her twenty first birthday, Jenna asked Sirius to go with her back to her childhood home, saying that she wanted to be reminded of her old memories.

       Although when Sirius Apparated alongside her to the Potter Manor's yard, he was bewildered when moments later he saw many others appear out of thin air around them.

      Everyone was arriving one by one; Alice, Marlene, Lily, James, and even Remus. Alice had left Neville with his grandmother and Frank was away on mission. But James and Lily and brought Harry with themselves, seeing as Bathilda was currently out of town and couldn't keep him.

      Both Remus and Sirius tensed up at the sight of one another, apparently neither of them knowing that the other was going to show up that night.

The truth was, Lily and James had told Remus that it was just going to be the three of them, but here they were, all seven of them.

"Where's Peter?" Jenna asked James after she took turns in hugging everyone as they wished them a happy birthday.

"Wormy couldn't make it," said James sadly. "He said his mother wanted help with something, but I assume he's just too scared to leave the house at this point. I don't blame the poor guy, to be honest."

An eerie silence followed. Nobody said anything as they all stood around uncomfortably with their hands in their coats' pockets to keep them warm against the bitter cold.

"So... I... um... It was nice seeing you guys," said Remus awkwardly. "But I — I think I better get going —"

"You're not going anywhere, Remus," Jenna said firmly, but then she sighed, continuing more softly as she looked around at the rest of them, "I know these aren't good times... which is why I'm sure we need a break from it. All of us. Can't we just take a night and pretend that there's no war? Pretend that we're just back in our old days at Hogwarts?"

No one said anything for some while, but then at last, it was Alice who broke the silence to say in her illuminating and bright voice, "Of course we can, Jen. What are friends for?"

That was the end of it. No one dared to say anything else or to protest. So with that, James took out his wand and summoned seven Butterbeers. Meanwhile Jenna casted a small bonfire in the yard and so they all sat down around it, its blazing flames warming them up.

    They were drowned up in an eerie silence at first, but Marlene was first to break it by cracking up a joke. And from then on, they started talking about their old school memories as they drank their butterbeer and laughed.

     And at that moment, Jenna felt so happy that she knew if she casted a Patronus, it would be the most powerful one ever yet.