Potter | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 174

The seven Gryffindors sat there around the fire for hours on end in the enormous yard and under the starry sky, mostly talking about old memories they had back in their Hogwarts days.

Although the only people who hadn't uttered a word yet and weren't joining the others were Sirius and Remus.

"... and that, my little Dorky," said Marlene as she was holding Harry in her arms, "is how your Aunt Mar got the nickname 'Marlene Cool McKinnon'."

"Yeah, right." Jenna scoffed sarcastically. "No one ever called you that except for yourself, Mar."

"Hey, I'm a very important person! Therefor it counts!" Marlene argued, making them all laugh.

     "You know what I can never get over?" James started, catching everyone's attention. "How Sirius here actually kissed Filch."

       There was an uproar of laughter as Sirius rolled his eyes playfully at them. "Let it go, Prongs!"

"Never — hey, where are you going, Moony?" James asked when Remus suddenly got to his feet.

"Er... just wanna use the loo," Remus said in a quiet tone, making his way toward the house.

But as everyone else went back to talking, Jenna realized that even after fifteen minutes, Remus still wasn't back yet.

So she got to her feet when everyone else was too busy laughing and joking to notice her, and with that, she started walking toward her childhood house.

When she opened its large front door and stepped inside, an overwhelming feeling of sadness filled her heart as she saw the soulless and quiet home.

      But her attention was caught by the sound of someone sobbing. So with her heart pounding against her chest, she followed the sound to the kitchen.

       "Remus..." Jenna whispered as she saw him sitting down at the kitchen table, his face buried in his hands.

At her voice, his head shot up and Jenna saw that his eyes were red and puffy, her heart sinking at the sight.

Remus immediately got to his feet and turned around so she wouldn't see his face as he tried to quickly wipe the tears away.

"I — I was just — um —" Remus was trying to say with his back to her.

So with a pained expression upon her face, Jenna moved toward him hesitantly, biting her lower lip as she placed a hand gently on his shoulder to get him to turn around and face her. But he was still avoiding her eyes.

"We — we better go back —" said Remus, trying to leave the kitchen. But Jenna was quick to take a hold of his arm, preventing him from taking another step.

"Remus, please... just talk to me," she whispered desperately, but he still wasn't looking back at her. "Please."

"What do you want me to say, Jenna?" Remus asked, his gaze down on the floor.

"Tell me what's wrong," she said, letting go of him.

Remus scoffed. "As if you don't already know."

"Yes, I do. But I want to talk it out. This — this is not right. This is not how it's supposed to be," she said quietly, her eyes still upon him.

"Okay, you want to talk it out? Well, fine. Here it goes," Remus said more harshly, now finally turning to look at her with his eyes still red and full of tears. "I don't have a proper home. I live in cottage miles away from any living soul. I'm alone on full moons and the pain is growing with each time. But to stop myself from attacking the others and leaving the cottage, I bite myself over and over again! I'm unemployed, because nobody in their right mind would give a job to a werewolf and I don't have any money to even go along with my daily life!"

"Remus —"

"— But I can't go to my parents, because I'm too afraid that if I go there, the Death Eaters would go after them! And my mother's sick and she's at the verge of dying and I can't even go see her without putting them in more danger!" he went on, raising his voice angrily. "But to top it all off, my old best friend accuses me of being the spy in the Order, meanwhile every evidence points at his direction! But he's not alone in thinking so in the Order, because nobody trusts a werewolf!"

Jenna fell silent, staring up at him with teary eyes, her heartbeat picking up. "I'm so sorry, Remus..."

He just shook his head, wiping his fallen tears with the back of his hand as he looked away.

"They all think its me," Remus muttered, pursing his lips together as he looked back at her again. "I know you won't believe me — but it's not me — I would never —"

"I know," Jenna cut him off in a whisper as she sprang forward and brought him into a hug. "I know."

Remus hesitated at first, but then he melted into it and so he wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her closer to him as she held him tight, trying to comfort him.

But they both pulled away when a cold voice behind them suddenly said, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

When they turned around abruptly on the spot, they saw Sirius standing a few feet behind them, his dangerous eyes upon Remus.

But he then glanced at Jenna, saying, "You okay?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" Jenna shrugged, frowning. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Sirius mumbled, again narrowing his eyes down at Remus.

"What? Don't you trust me with her?" Remus asked with a mocking scoff.

"You really want an honest answer?" Sirius said blankly.

"Okay, stop it you two!" Jenna snapped, but it was as if they couldn't even hear her. So Jenna moved back toward Sirius, placing a hand on his arms gently to get his attention. "Please let it go."

Sirius glanced back at Jenna, his face softening at her touch and her calming voice. So he just nodded, turning on his heels to leave alongside Jenna.

But they both came to a halt when Remus suddenly said, "You do know she never used to like you, right?"