Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 28

In the next few days that passed, Harry was kept in the hopital wing by Madam Pomfrey. At night times, Jenna would either sneak in the ward as Crookshanks or she would transform into one of the Healers just to check up on Harry after his accident.

     Jenna was now starting to like Ron and Hermione more than ever, because they refused to leave Harry's side on the weekend other than their bed times. But after a day or two, Madam Pomfrey finally let Harry leave the hospital wing when she had made sure that he was fully back to his healthy state and that he had recovered.

      Two weeks before the end of the term, the sky lightened suddenly to a dazzling, opaline white and the muddy grounds were revealed one morning covered in glittering frost. Inside the castle was already decorated with Christmas trees and even fluttering fairies.

     Both Ron and Hermione had decided to remain at Hogwarts, and though they both kept bringing different excuses, Jenna knew that neither of them wanted to leave Harry alone in the castle, given the state of things.

     It was only two weeks left to Christmas that Jenna once again snuck out of the castle in her cat form and got herself into Hogsmeade, where she could freely Apparate.

It was the day of the Hogsmeade trip, and Harry was as sad as ever that he couldn't go. Jenna really wished she could sign his form as his legal godmother, but she obviously couldn't do such thing.

Jenna had decided to go to Hogsmeade on this specific day when the other students came as well, so she would be less noticeable if she lost herself in the large crowd.

     So with that, once Jenna got herself into a deserted alleyway on that afternoon, she turned herself back to human form and, taking her wand out of her robe's pocket, she Apparated out of Hogsmeade.

     When she opened her eyes and looked around, Jenna found herself at the front door of number twelve, Grimmauld Place.

     The building was rather old and stood tall between number thirteen and fourteen, although Jenna knew that just as Sirius had told her, his father had placed enchantments on the house, preventing Muggles from seeing it.

     Jenna still had her wand in her hand, although she looked far from herself. She had transformed herself into none other than Narcissa Malfoy, or at least what she remembered of her from when she had gone undercover as a Death Eater.

Even though Narcissa wasn't an official Death Eater back then, the Headquarters was still at their manor, so Jenna saw her there from time to time and so knew pretty well how she used to look like.

     Sirius had warned Jenna about his old house elf, named Kreacher. Sirius wasn't sure if he was still alive or not, but just to play it safe, Jenna had decided to turn herself into one of the members of the Black family, just in case Kreacher turned along her way. If he believed that she was a Black, he would even help her find the key to Sirius's family vault.

     So carefully and quietly, Jenna pushed open the door to the house. No sooner had she stepped inside the house than she nearly let out a cough as she breathed in the dusty air inside the old house. It was obvious that the place hadn't been cleaned for years.

     "Lumos," Jenna muttered under her breath and soon the tip of her wand lightened up the corridor before her.

    Jenna took slow steps inside, looking around at the dusty grounds and the cub-web-covered ceilings. With each step that she took, the floor gave a slight cracking sound. But other than that, the old house was drowned in silence and no other sound could be heard around her.

    Jenna just walked on, glancing behind her shoulder every once in a while, until she finally reached the staircase that could lead her to the second floor of the house.

    But she had barely taken two steps upward that she jumped out of her skin and abruptly jerked around when she heard a noise behind her.

     Someone was speaking. A woman.

     Gulping, Jenna walked toward the direction of the voice, into the parlor. But no one was there except for a few portraits that were covered up with old and dusty curtains.

     Jenna sighed in relief and turned on her heels to leave, but just then she let out a gasp when the voice came again. This time she became sure that she wasn't being paranoid.

    "Kreacher, is that you?" said the woman's voice, firm and emotionless. It was coming from one of the portraits.

    With that, Jenna decided not to waste any more time. So she just went back up the stairs as quick as possible, until she finally found the room belonging to Sirius's parents.

     Jenna stepped inside with her wand raised before her to light the way. She looked around the room before making her way toward the drawers. Although, she was smarter than that to search everywhere for it by hand. So instead, she raised her wand even higher and muttered, "Accio Gringotts Key."

     Not a moment later, she heard the sound of shuffling coming from the closet at the end of the room. But before she could take another step toward it, the key forced the door open and burst out toward Jenna, and she caught it with her hand in a quick motion.

    She smiled to herself as she glanced down at the key, happy to know that she still had got her Seeker skills even after all those years of not playing and practicing Quidditch.

     So feeling triumphant, Jenna placed the key in her robe and with her wand still clutched in her other hand, she turned toward the bedroom's door to leave immediately.

     But the moment she turned around, her heart sank when Jenna saw a grim and old-looking house elf standing at the doorway, staring up at her suspiciously with his narrowed eyes.