Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 61

The days drew by quickly, and the next school year was approaching them soon. At nights, Jenna usually curled up on the couch at the Burrow, sleeping in her cat form. But it was the week before the start of the new school term that she was joined in the living room that night by Bill, Charlie, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

The younger kids had already gone to bed, meanwhile the others were gathered in the living room in the quiet of the night, speaking. And of course, Jenna — supposedly being a cat — remained curled up on the couch, listening to their conversation with amusement.

"So now that the kids are asleep," Mr. Weasley started, taking off his glasses to clean the with the hem of his robe, "I've got some news that I've heard from the Ministry."

"What did you hear, dear?" Mrs. Weasley questioned, busy knitting.

"Well, from the looks of it, something exciting is taking place at Hogwarts this year," he said with a knowing smile.

"What's the news, Dad? You're killing us here." Bill chuckled, stretching his legs up on the table in front of the armchair he was seated on. Although he had to put his feet back down when Mrs. Weasley shot him a glare.

Mr. Weasley then smiled, finally saying, "The Triwizard Tournament."

Mrs. Weasley gasped, placing her knittings down on her lap as she turned to look at her husband. "Really?"

"Yes." Mr. Weasley nodded excitedly.

Crookshanks was now looking between them with confusion, never having heard of such thing before and hoping that he would explain it.

"Yes, I've received an owl from my colleagues at Romania," said Charlie, nodding. "Apparently they've been approached by the Department of Magical Games and Sports, by Ludo Bagman himself, for the tournament."

Jenna was growing more and more curious by each passing moment, yet she still had no idea what was going on. A tournament involving dragons, perhaps? What kind of a madness was that?

"Well, this better remain between us. The kids shouldn't know about this just yet," said Mr. Weasley. "You know how Percy's going to get if he finds out that we've mentioned it to them.

"Yeah," Bill snorted mockingly, "he'll probably say it's 'classified information'."

***

The morning on which they had to leave for Hogwarts was pouring rain, which made it even harder to get to the King's Cross station with so many trunks. Hermione looked extremely guilty and uncomfortable for having to put Crookshanks in her cat basket and to carry her around.

One by one, they all passed the barrier between platform 9 and 10 once they reached the station, soon finding themselves in platform 9 3/4.

The Hogwarts Express, a gleaming scarlet steam engine, was already there, clouds of steam billowing from it, through which the many Hogwarts students and parents on the platform appeared like dark ghosts.

Pigwidgeon became noisier than ever in response to the hooting of many owls through the mist. Meanwhile Crookshanks laid in her basket, looking bored.

"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," said Charlie, grinning, as he hugged Ginny good-bye.

"Why?" said Fred keenly.