Funestus

Funestus

A/N. I swore to myself that I'd start writing this after my SAT's so I have!!!! This is the sequel to 'There's No Turning Back' and it probably won't make any sense unless you read that first (just click on my name)!!!! I'd like to dedicate this story to my friend, Bransgorebabe because she helped me with a lot of the plot and lets me rant on to her about it whilst she pretends to listen!!!!! The title is a Latin word, can anyone guess what it means before it gets revealed???!!!! On with the show!!!!!:}

Chapter One:

Harry Potter was lying glumly on his dormitory bed, trying to do his charms homework. It was nearly Christmas but Harry was almost dreading it. Professor Dumbledore had just called an assembly saying that all students were to go home during the holidays because him and some of the staff needed to update the anti-dark spells that protected Hogwarts. Harry's 'home' was at the Dursleys and he wasn't going to get a warm welcome. This was the first time Harry's smile had been wiped off his face since the trial.

His godfather, Sirius Black, had finally been put on trial due to the capture of Peter Pettigrew. Little did Harry know but Remus Lupin and Dumbledore had been trying desperately to piece together evidence that Sirius was innocent, and their hard work had finally paid off. Sirius was free, working in Hogwarts helping Lupin, though sometimes Harry felt that Lupin perceived him as more of a hindrance than a help, and Pettigrew was where he belonged, behind bars.

Suddenly, what seemed like a small whirlwind burst through the door and began to bounce on Harry's bed, forcing the ink from his quill to splatter and his glasses to slip down his nose. When he had recovered he realised that the small whirlwind actually happened to be a person, Jenny Dumbledore.

'Honestly! You look like a wet weekend! What flew up your butt and got stuck there! Cheer up for Heavens sake! Get in the Christmas spirit!' she said, still bouncing on his bed.

'Well, if you haven't noticed we've got to go back home for the holidays!' replied Harry, irritably.

'Yeah, and?' she said, stopping her bouncing to look at him.

'I have to go back to the Dursleys!'

'No you don't, you nit! I just bumped into Sirius. He has a house now, well, he's living at Remus's.'

'Do you mean to tell me,' started Harry, catching on, 'that I don't have to go back to the Dursleys? That I get to stay at Sirius's and Lupin's?'

'Yup that's what Siri just told me to tell you. And if that wasn't enough,' she continued, sounding like she was trying to sell him a holiday, 'You get the company of yours truly.'

Harry stared.

'Yep, you guessed it. Two weeks, non stop, of…me!'

Harry gave a huge, false groan. She scowled at him so he decided to change the subject before he got turned into a hippo.

'Where is Sirius? I need to talk to him.'

'Somewhere in the castle' she replied, airily.

'Thanks a lot, great help you are!' he said sarcastically, ducking a pillow as he walked out the door.

The next few days flew by for Harry and soon it was time to leave. Ron and Hermione were just about to get on the Hogwarts Express whilst he and Jenny were going to take a portkey back to Lupin's place later on.

'See you in two weeks then Harry,' said Ron, then added in an undertone, 'Don't do anything I wouldn't do!' nodding his head towards Jenny, who was hugging Hermione.

Harry just grinned and went over to Hermione, who had just let of Jenny. They had become very good friends…unlike at the start of the year.

'Bye Hermione,' he said, 'and take care of Ron!'

She smiled as Ron helped her carry her trunk onto the train.

Harry never quite found out what happened on the Halloween Ball, seeing as he had been a little pre-occupied, but all he knew was that Ron and Hermione now stuck to each other like glue.

After Harry and Jenny had waved to Ron and Hermione until the train had disappeared round the corner, Lupin and Sirius came up behind them.

Lupin was carrying a rather large piece of wood, which Harry imagined to be a portkey. Their trunks came floating behind them.

'We'll have to use the portkey here, outside the Hogwarts grounds, because it won't work inside… well now anyway!' said Lupin.

'Yeah now!' said Harry, looking suspiciously at the portkey.

'Don't worry Harry, this one's perfectly safe. Anyway, we'll all be going together,' said Sirius, erasing any doubts in Harry's mind.

They each held on to a piece of luggage, including the portkey, so they only had to make one trip.

'5…4…3…2…1,' counted down Lupin, looking at Sirius watch, seeing as he couldn't see his own.

Harry felt the familiar jerk behind his navel, which meant they were transporting. He stumbled and landed on a trunk, as well as Hedwigs cage, and she shrieked indignantly. When it finally stopped, he was reluctant to open his eyes, the memories of last year flooding back to him.

'You're useless, the lot of you!' he heard Jenny exclaim.

He opened his eyes to the groans of Lupin who, having fallen over, was being sat on by Sirius, who looked as though he had overbalanced too.

'Gerrof!' Harry heard Lupin mutter, before Jenny, who had been the only one left standing, pulled him to his feet.

'You OK?' she asked concerned, squinting at him through the sunlight.

'Yeah thanks,' Harry replied, slightly embarrassed at having fallen over in front of her.

'Woah!' he said, staring at the small, white cottage in front of him. It was one of the very few buildings he could see. They seemed to be right in the middle of the countryside and the cottage in front of him looked like a normal Muggle dwelling.

'It's so…um, white!' said Harry, squinting from the glare of the sun on the crumbling white brick.

'So you know your colours? Ah, Hogwarts has improved then?' said Sirius, grinning like a manic, finally getting up.

Lupin unlocked the door and they walked in. The first thing Harry noticed was that the cottage seemed to be upside down. The three bedrooms and the bathroom were downstairs, where they had just walked in, and the kitchen, lounge and dining room were upstairs.

'OK,' said Lupin, looking round, 'My room is at the end, Sirius's is the middle one and Harry and Jenny, you're in this one. There's only one bed so you're going to have to take it in turns to sleep on the camp bed. Is that alright?'

They both nodded and walked into their room.

'Nice,' said Harry, sitting down on the bed, after looking round.

'Mmm,' agreed Jenny, sitting down next to him.

It was at times like this that Harry dreaded Jenny bringing up what had almost happened between them on that Halloween night. He was confused about how he felt about her. He had told Ron how they had almost kissed and now Ron was convinced that she liked him; 'She must do!' He had said but Harry wasn't so sure and he was afraid of asking her because…well…because he didn't want to be rejected.

'I…I'll go…er, get the camp bed,' said Jenny awkwardly, as she left the room.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

Sometimes the tension would grow between them, like just then, and one of them would always have to get up and leave.

When Jenny came back, hauling the camp bed with her, before she realised she was a witch and levitated it, things were back to normal between them.

They both spent quite a long time getting their room ready and Harry got the shock of his like when the wardrobe spoke to him in a harsh, Scottish, female voice.

'WHAT D'YA THINK YOU'RE DOIN'?! PUT YOUR CLOTHES IN PROPERLY OR DON'T PUT THEM IN AT ALL!' yelled the wardrobe, causing Harry to jump backwards, unfortunately crashing into Jenny.

When Sirius and Lupin arrived on the scene Harry was squishing Jenny between himself and the (now very flat) camp bed.

'Ah, yes,' said Lupin, over Sirius' sniggers and Jenny's swearing, 'I should have warned you about Mildred. She does like things done properly!'

'Too right I do, laddie! Who is this half-wit anyway? If it was up to me I'd…'

'Yes, thank you Mildred,' said Lupin, forcing the doors shut,

'Er…do you two need a hand?' he asked them, ignoring Sirius, who was now trying to talk through his hysteria.

But Jenny had already shoved Harry off her and was now straightening her robes with as much dignity as she could muster.

'You're a huge lump, did you know that Harry?' she said to him, once again helping him up, 'Just look what you've done to the camp bed!'

Harry opened his mouth indignantly but then saw she was smiling so shut up.

The camp bed was fixed in no time and Jenny had resolved to a jaw-locking curse to shut Sirius up.

A/N. Second part will be out soon.

Disclaimer: I only own Jenny, Mildred and the cottage is owned by a guy in Cornwall, England, everything else belongs to JK.