Crookshanks | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 62

Jenna kept staring back at the girl through her cat basket. She still couldn't understand what was so familiar about her. Jenna didn't even know that Hogwarts allowed transfer students.

     "Well, it was nice meeting you, Lexi." Hermione gave her a warm smile, saying, "Welcome to Hogwarts, then. Hope to see you in Gryffindor."

     "Yeah." Harry and Ron nodded along, before leaving her side and getting off the train.

      But all was forgotten when they stepped onto the pouring rain, having to rush forward to one of the carriages. But there was something about the carriages that had changed from when Jenna was back at school.

      In these two years that she's been back at Hogwarts, Jenna was able to see horse-like creatures carrying away the carriages. They were black, had wings, and seemed to be fleshless monsters. But the odd part was that nobody else seemed to notice these strange creatures.

     Hermione bundled up Crookshanks's basket in her cloak and Ron left his dress robes over Pigwidgeon as they left the train, heads bent and eyes narrowed against the downpour.

     The rain was now coming down so thick and fast that it was as though buckets of ice-cold water were being emptied repeatedly over their heads.

      "Hi, Hagrid!" Harry yelled, seeing a gigantic silhouette at the far end of the platform.

      "All righ', Harry?" Hagrid bellowed back, waving. "See yeh at the feast if we don' drown!"

       "Oooh, I wouldn't fancy crossing the lake in this weather," said Hermione fervently as they took a look at the Black Lake, where the first years were required to pass in boats in order to get to the castle.

       Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville climbed gratefully into one of the carriages, the door shut with a snap, and a few moments later, with a great lurch, the long procession of carriages was rumbling and splashing its way up the track toward Hogwarts Castle.

       As they reached the inside of the school, everyone left their pet's cages at the entrance, knowing that they cages would appear magically in their dorms. Crookshanks waited impatiently in her basket, bored out of her mind, as she watched the soaked students inside.

     Although she did get sight of the new girl, walking inside the castle alongside Lee Jordan, Fred, and George. She looked amazed as she looked around the enormous halls and ancient walls.

      But soon, as all the students had entered the Great Hall, in a blink of an eye Jenna magically found herself in the Gryffindor girl's dormitory the next moment, where Hermione was supposed to say.

     With great effort, Crookshanks managed to push the door to her basket open — which Hermione had left unlocked on purpose — and got outside, transforming back to her human form.

      "Oh, God," she groaned to herself in relief and stretched out, being weeks that she were stuck in her cat form.

     Quickly, she took out her wand and locked the dorm's door, even though the students weren't supposed to show up for the next few hours or so. With that, she entered the bathroom inside the dorm to take a long and warm shower, washing the tiredness and the aching of her body away with the hot water.

      With the use of her wand, she magically made her clothes wash themselves in the sink by the time was out and wore them, walking out of the bathroom.

     The students must've still been at the Great Hall, so she still had time for a quick scroll through the castle, wanting to go down to the kitchen to visit Mickey.

      Once she reached the portrait of the fruit bowl, she turned back to human form, though she took the face of a random student before tickling the pear and pushing the door open when the pear giggled as always.

      When she stepped inside, she found the house elves hard at work and busier than ever, probably because it was the first day of school and the magnificent feast was near. Jenna sighed to herself, missing to sit behind the Gryffindor table with her friends and enjoy the many foods set before them on various dishes.

      "Oh, my Lady!" Jenna heard a loud squeak and saw a tint house elf rushing toward her, bowing deeply at her sight.

      "Mickey!" Jenna said in surprise, chuckling. "How did you know who I was?"

      "From your expression, of course," he said with amusement. "I've watched my young Lady Jenna grow up for nearly twenty years. It would've been a surprise if I hadn't recognized you."

      "I'm glad to see you're okay." Jenna smiled at him warmly, before saying, "By the way, do you have any snacks left in the kitchen to eat? I'm starving."

      "Oh, of course!" Mickey squealed happily. And then at the snap of his fingers, a dish full of food started floating in mid-air toward them, landing on the table nearby.

      "Thanks!" Jenna grinned to herself, sitting behind the table and starting to eat.

      "And how is Master Black doing?" Mickey whispered quietly, so only Jenna could hear him.

     "He's... all right," said Jenna, though she wasn't too sure about it either. She had no idea where Sirius was at the moment, or how long it was going to take him to get back to Hogwarts.

      But just then, her eyes fell upon a curious-looking house elf, sitting beside the fireplace, crying with a large bottle of Butterbeer in her hands.

      "Is she all right?" Jenna asked Mickey worriedly, taking a bite of her chicken.

      "Oh, no... Winky has recently been freed by her Master." Mickey shivered at the thought, as if being freed was his worst nightmare. "Winky's been miserable ever since Headmaster Dumbledore has hired Winky and Dobby here."

       Jenna had no idea who Dobby was, but she surely did pity Winky. She seemed to have cared a lot for her old family, whoever they were.