Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 29

Jenna came to a halt at the doorway, staring back at the house elf. But then she reminded herself that if she played it cool, she could get away easily. Because thankfully she was still in Narcissa Malfoy's form.

     In her youth, Jenna had spent months undercover among the Death Eaters as an imposter, so she had gotten pretty accustomed to acting realistic even in troublesome moments that were even worse than this.

     "You must be Kreacher," Jenna said, holding her head up and firm as she glanced down at house elf in a superior manner, the way she remembered Narcissa talking to others.

     "Kreacher recognizes the woman from the family portraits, oh yes..." the house elf mumbled under his lips, still glancing up at her. It was as if he were talking to himself, unaware that he could be heard. "She is one of Mistress's nieces. But what is she doing here?"

     "I'm here to take something that belongs to my deranged cousin," Jenna said in Narcissa's voice. "I'm taking it for safe keeping, so it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands."

    Kreacher watched her for long seconds carefully in silence, until he finally bowed down deeply, his long and wrinkled nose almost touching the ground.

     Jenna knew that the house elf was taught to respect a Pureblood witch or wizard, therefore she didn't have to worry either way. So with one last glance at Kreacher, she made her way down the stairs, feeling his narrow eyes on her as she went.

     Jenna soon left the house and let out a heavy breath before closing her eyes and Disapparating out of there and returning back to Hogsmeade's empty alleyway. It was still daytime, and so she then pulled her cloak's hood over her head to partly hide her face as she made her way down the Hogsmeade village and toward the Owl Office.

The village was so crowded that no one even glanced twice at her direction. It was the best time for going on with her plan without being noticed or suspected. Although just in case she couldn't be recognized, she transformed her face into a Muggle woman who was her neighbor all those twelve years.

     Jenna had already written a note and had placed the key to Sirius's vault inside the envelope which she was planning on giving to the Owl Office that day.

     As Sirius and Jenna had already discussed it, the letter was instructed to be sent to Diagon Alley, asking them to take the money for the Firebolt out of vault number 711 with Sirius's key.

     Afterwards, the Owl Office was supposed to send the key back so Jenna could fetch it again later, though they were supposed to send the new broomstick to Harry Potter on Christmas morning.

  So after giving the Owl Office the order for the broomstick, Jenna left the place with her cloak's hood still covering half of her face. She was just about to return to the deserted alleyway and transform back to Crookshanks, but she stopped in her tracks when she sighted a notice stuck on the wall outside the Owl Office.

With a frown on her face, Jenna walked closer toward it to take a better look and so she read it through, her heart sinking.

꧁ BY ORDER OF ꧂
THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

Customers are reminded that until further notice, dementors will be patrolling the streets of Hogsmeade every night after sundown. This measure has been put in place for the safety of Hogsmeade residents and will be lifted upon the recapture of Sirius Black. It is therefore advisable that you complete your shopping well before nightfall.
Merry Christmas!

Jenna had to control herself so her hair wouldn't turn red from the anger which was surging quickly from within her. Although a part of her was still scared that they would once again take Sirius away from her.

     But she immediately tried to shake the thought away. Because even the mere idea of being separated from Sirius again brought her an immeasurable pain each time she thought of it.

Jenna then shook her head and was just about to leave that she noticed Ron and Hermione walking down the village, in the middle of a heated argument.

     Although what caught Jenna's attention was the footprints of someone invisible being left behind on the snow.

It soon became clear to her that her father's Invisibility Cloak which had been left to James, was now passed down to Harry in some way.

"Tell you what," Jenna heard Ron say, his teeth chattering, "shall we go for
a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks?"

And so she saw Ron and Hermione walk to the direction of the popular pub, Harry's footprints following them on the snowy ground.

Jenna wanted to go back to the castle, but it was an urge she could not resist. She couldn't remember the last time she had visited the place with her friends, but she wanted to rewind her old memories. So with that, still in the form of a random Muggle woman and her hood low on her head, Jenna walked toward the Three Broomsticks.

It was extremely crowded, noisy, warm, and smoky. Although she was welcomed by the sweet smell of Butterbeer, just like how she remembered it. Jenna then saw Ron and Hermione walk toward a table near the Christmas tree.

Before settling down, Jenna went toward the bar to give her order. She saw Madam Rosmerta there; the bartender couldn't have been more than ten years older than Jenna, though she was just as curvy and pretty as Jenna remembered her.

Back then, Madam Rosmerta was only in her twenties and was much younger and prettier. Jenna couldn't count all the times Sirius and James had gone up to her and flirted with her, making her laugh and giggle each time they visited the Three Broomsticks.

After getting her Butterbeer, Jenna found an empty table and sat down alone, sipping on it with a smile. All her memories were floating back to her; like the time her and Sirius had planned to distract James by bringing Lily, so they could sneak away for a date, before James had known about them being together. Although they had been caught soon and their plan had failed.

Jenna felt herself blush like a young girl when she remembered how Sirius had sneaked her out here on her seventeenth birthday for some Fire Whiskey. But even though the rest of the night was kind of a blur, Jenna could still remember the weird effect that the drink had on her and what she had almost done that same night in the common room with Sirius.

Although just then Jenna nearly choked on her drink when the door to the Three Broomsticks opened and she saw Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Hagrid walk inside, accompanied by the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.

Soon after the four of them had sat down, Madam Rosmerta went forward with their drinks on a tray and sat their orders down before them on the table.

     "Thank you, Rosmerta, m'dear," said Fudge. "Lovely to see you again, I must say. Have one yourself, won't you? Come and join us..."

"Well, thank you very much, Minister," Madam Rosmerta said as Jenna watched her sit down beside them from the corner of her eyes. "So, what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?"

Fudge's thick body twisted in his chair as though he were checking for eavesdroppers. Then he said in a quiet voice, "What else, m'dear, but Sirius Black?