Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 52

Jenna stared back at Hermione with the same amount of horror spread across her face.

"Shh, you're just dreaming. Go back to sleep," Jenna whispered desperately, but obviously it had no effort.

Although her eyes widened when she heard the door to Mr. and Mrs. Granger's bedroom open as they rushed outside. And then, everything happened at once.

With a look of terror on her face and one last horrified glance at Jenna, who was still standing transfixed next to the open window, Hermione jumped off the bed in a quick motion, starting to run toward the door.

"Damn it," Jenna muttered under her breath, and so she briskly took her wand out of her pocket, pointing it quickly at Hermione and whispering, "Petrificus Totalus!"

With a loud thud, Hermione fell to the floor right behind the door motionlessly, her body bound together, as if she were petrified.

"Hermione! Hermione, are you okay!?" Jenna heard her parents calling as they ran through the corridor and toward Hermione's room.

So thinking quickly, Jenna suddenly transformed into Hermione, wearing the exact pajamas as her, and so she opened the door to the bedroom only halfway, peering outside at the exact moment when her parents reached the door.

     "We heard a scream!" said Mr. Granger urgently.

"Sorry — I just had bad dream," said Jenna in Hermione's voice. She was careful not to open the door too wide, for Hermione still laid on the ground motionlessly, only her eyes moving.

"Oh, thank goodness." Mrs. Granger let out a breath out of relief, placing a hand over her heart. "I thought something terrible had happened."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Mr. Granger questioned with concern, his eyes fixed worriedly on her.

"Yes, of course." Jenna nodded, trying to mimic Hermione to the best of her abilities. "Sorry to wake you — I'll just go back to sleep."

"Yeah, okay." Mrs. Granger gave her a small smile before her and her husband turned on their heels and left back toward their room.

Relieved, Jenna let out the breath she wasn't aware of holding and then closed the door to Hermione's bedroom again. She then took out her wand and casted a few spells and and enchantments on the room; one to lock the door, and the other one to prevent noises from leaving the walls around the room.

Now that she was sure that it was safe, Jenna transformed back to her own send, gulping as she looked down at Hermione's frozen body, still laying on the floor.

"I am terribly sorry," Jenna said earnestly, feeling guilty. "I know you have no reason to trust me, but please let me explain first. I'm — I'm Crookshanks."

Hermione's eyes stared up at her in shock, though the rest of her body could not move.

"I'm a Metamporphmagus," said Jenna, trying to get this all over with. But she then sighed, now talking mostly to herself. "I know I should probably Obilviate you... but I'm not sure for how long I can take this... I'm worried that you might find out my secret again, being as smart as you are... and then I might not be able to put you under a Full Body Bind curse another time, like I did now." Jenna joked, chuckling lightly.

But realizing that perhaps this wasn't the right time for jokes, she quickly shook her head and cleared her throat, trying to get back to her senses.

"Here — I'll help you up, but only if you don't act foolishly. I promise I'll explain everything," she said softly, trying to reassure her.

So with a swish of her wand, Hermione turned back to full consciousness and got control over her body. Although she quickly got off the floor into a sitting position, her back hitting the wall behind her as she stared up at Jenna, still looking terrified.

"You're — you're Crookshanks — but you — you were in the pet store — I bought you — how —"

"It's a very long story." Jenna shook a hand at her impatiently. "All you have to know is that I've been trying to help Sirius all year to catch Pettigrew. But in order to do so, I had to go undercover as a cat."

"Sirius did say you'd been helping him — but — you — you're a human!" Hermione stammered in disbelief, her eyes still wide. "It makes sense — I knew something was off — I mean, how else could you have known about Scabbers — I mean Pettigrew — and you stole the passwords for Sirius — and Sirius said you took the order for Harry's Firebolt to the Owl Office — you've been helping him — all this time!"

"Yes... but I also had another reason for being at Hogwarts," Jenna explained, trying to speak calmly as she sat on the floor before Hermione. "I — I wanted to keep close to Harry and look after him."

"What — but — why?"

"Because I'm Harry's aunt," she finally said. "My name is Jenna Potter."

Hermione looked as if she had been turned into stone once more as she kept staring at Jenna in disband, as though she had seen a ghost.

"Look... all I'm asking you to do is to trust me, even though I know it's impossible at the moment," she started. "But I've been near all of you for a whole year. If I wanted to bring you any harm to you, I already could've. But I didn't."

"You are— you're Harry's aunt — but he never said he had an aunt. Unless..." Hermione said thoughtfully. "Unless he doesn't know that he has an aunt. But why not!?"

"Please, Hermione... I'll explain everything later. I promise. But I have to go now. I need to get to Sirius. When I return... I'll tell you everything you need to know," Jenna said pleadingly. "But for now... please don't say anything to Harry. I will speak with him myself, only when the timing is right."

"But —"

"I know I can trust you." Jenna smiled, getting up to her feet. "You're a great friend, Hermione. Harry is lucky to have you."

And then, before Hermione could say anything else, Jenna took the enchantments off the room. She then went by the window and by one last wink at Hermione, she climbed down, Disapparating the moment her feet hit the ground.