Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 30

Jenna put her Butterbeer down on the table, listening carefully to what they were saying as her heart was throbbing hard against her chest.

"I daresay you heard what happened up at the school at Halloween?" Fudge asked the bartender.

"I did hear a rumor," Madam Rosmerta admitted in a whisper. "Do you think Black's still in the area, Minister?"

"I'm sure of it," said Fudge shortly.

"Do you know, I still have trouble believing it," said Madam Rosmerta thoughtfully. "Of all the people to go over to the Dark Side, Sirius Black was the last I'd have thought... I mean, I remember him when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If you'd told me then what he was going to become, I'd have said you'd had too much mead."

Well it's true, Jenna thought to herself grimly.

"You don't know the half of it, Rosmerta," said Fudge gruffly. "The worst he did isn't widely known."

"The worst?" said Madam Rosmerta with curiosity. "Worse than murdering all those poor people, you mean? What could possibly be worse?"

"You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta," Professor McGonagall whispered. "Do you remember who his best friend was?"

"Naturally," said Madam Rosmerta, with a small laugh. "Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here — ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!"

Jenna's heart sank at the mention of her brother's name. Now she wished that she had ordered Fire Whiskey instead of Butterbeer. It would've made this conversation more bearable.

"Precisely," said Professor McGonagall. "Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Both very bright, of course — exceptionally bright, in fact — but I don't think we've ever had such a pair of troublemakers —"

"I dunno," chuckled Hagrid. "Fred and George Weasley could give 'em a run fer their money."

"You'd have thought Black and Potter were brothers!" Professor Flitwick chimed in. "Inseparable!"

"Of course they were," said Fudge. "Potter trusted Black beyond all his other friends. Nothing changed when they left school. Black was best man when James married Lily. Then they named him godfather to Harry. Harry has no idea, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torment him."

"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" Madam Rosmerta whispered.

"Worse even than that, m'dear..." Fudge dropped his voice and proceeded in a sort of low rumble. "Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. But Dumbledore, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."

"So you're telling me that Black was the Potters' Secret-Keeper?" Madam Rosmerta whispered in surprise.

"Naturally," said Professor McGonagall. "James Potter told Dumbledore that Black would die rather than tell where they were."

Fudge sighed. "And then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed —"

"Black betrayed them?" Madam Rosmerta breathed out from shock.

"He did indeed."

Jenna was clutching the bottle in her hands so hard that her knuckles had turned white. She was breathing rapidly, her deadly glare fixed on a spot on the table.

"Filthy, stinkin' turncoat!" Hagrid said, so loudly that half the bar went quiet for a second.

"Shh!" said Professor McGonagall.

"I met him!" Hagrid growled. "I musta bin the last ter see him before he killed all them people!"

But Jenna knew that was wrong. She was the last person to see Sirius that night.

She remembered vividly how it was pouring rain and how cold it was. She could remember how she was crying her eyes our, begging him to stay, begging him not to leave her. But he left her anyway.

Jenna thought to herself that maybe Sirius would've stayed if she had told him her little secret... That maybe he would've stayed for the sake of that...

Although Jenna didn't know of it back then herself, so it wouldn't have made a difference either way, and she cursed herself for that whenever she thought of how different their lives could've been if he'd stayed.

"It was me what rescued Harry from Lily an' James's house after they was killed!" Hagrid went on angrily. "An' Sirius Black turns up, on that flyin' motorbike he used ter ride. Never occurred ter me what he was doin' there. I didn' know he'd bin Lily an' James's Secret-Keeper. Thought he'd jus' heard the news o' You-Know-Who's attack an' come ter see what he could do. White an' shakin', he was. An' yeh know what I did? I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN' TRAITOR!" Hagrid roared.

Jenna's sight was now blurred with tears as she tried to quell the tears in her eyes and the lump in her throat. It was as if the pain and ache in her heart was eating her alive.

"Hagrid, please!" said Professor McGonagall. "Keep your voice down!"

"How was I ter know he wasn' upset abou' Lily an' James? It was You-Know-Who he cared abou'! An' then he says, 'Give Harry ter me, Hagrid, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him —' Ha! But I had orders from Dumbledore, an' I told Black no, Dumbledore said Harry was ter go ter his aunt an' uncle's. Black argued, but in the end he gave in. Told me ter take his motorbike ter get Harry there."

A long silence followed Hagrid's story. Then Madam Rosmerta said with some satisfaction, "But he didn't manage to disappear, did he? The Ministry of Magic caught up with him!"

"Alas, if only we had," said Fudge bitterly. "It was not we who found him. It was little Peter Pettigrew — another of the Potters' friends."

Jenna was now sure that her hair had turned red under her cloak's hood. Her heart was pounding in her chest mercilessly, but she didn't know whether it was of anger or grief.

"Pettigrew... that fat little boy who was always tagging around after them at Hogwarts?" said Madam Rosmerta.

"Hero-worshipped Black and Potter," said Professor McGonagall. "Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather sharp with him. You can imagine how I — how I regret that now...."

"I tell yeh, if I'd got ter Black before little Pettigrew did, I wouldn't've messed around with wands — I'd've ripped him limb — from — limb," Hagrid growled.

     Jenna's whole body went stiff. She wasn't sure if she could handle listening to them anymore.

"Well, there you have it, Rosmerta," said Fudge thickly. "Black was taken away by twenty members of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad and Pettigrew received the Order of Merlin, First Class, which I think was some comfort to his poor mother. Black's been in Azkaban ever since."

Madam Rosmerta let out a long sigh.
"Is it true he's mad, Minister?"

     "I wish I could say that he was," said Fudge slowly. "Yet I met Black on my last inspection of Azkaban. I was shocked at how normal Black seemed. He spoke quite rationally to me. It was unnerving. You'd have thought he was merely bored — asked if I'd finished with my newspaper, cool as you please, said he missed doing the crossword. Yes, I was astounded at how little effect the dementors seemed to be having on him."

"But what do you think he's broken out to do?" said Madam Rosmerta. "Good gracious, Minister, he isn't trying to rejoin You-Know-Who, is he?"

"I daresay that is his eventual plan," said Fudge evasively. "But we hope to catch Black long before that. I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is one thing... but give him back his most devoted servant, and I shudder to think how quickly he'll rise again..."

And right at that moment, Jenna got to her feet. She had the urge to curse all of them at once, but instead she stormed out of the pub, fighting her tears back with all that she had left in her.