You Better Pray
Boy, you better pray
We don't seek you out, no
You better hope
We might lose control, no
Jenny
10/29/10
9:10 p.m.
I held perfectly still as Bill appeared in the doorway, wand at his side, looking cautious. Draco carefully raised a hand and touched one of my huge ears which was surprisingly fluffy, judging by the look on his face. "Jenny?" He breathed, and I noticed he was trembling slightly. I made the deep rumbling that I had made when I had first been in the moonlight; it was like a rough cat purr. Draco stiffened, and then a great grin stretched over his face as he interpreted the purr, seeing my muzzle start to grin again. "It's alright, Bill." Draco said calmly enough, turning to look at Bill for a moment. Bill nodded, and looking like a cautious school boy, stepped further onto the porch.
I slowly bowed my head more to Draco's height and nuzzled his side, making him shudder in surprise. Then he was lightly petting my head with both hands, a stupid grin back on his face as he played with my ears. When he stopped, I lifted my head back to the sky and howled again. When I looked back down, Draco's eyes were huge. He glanced at Lupin, who had sat down pretty gracefully for a wolf his size, and Bill was cautiously approaching him as Fleur and Ron appeared in the doorway, holding onto each other like old women. "I trust you, Jenny. Do you trust me?" Draco asked me, and I met his slightly frightened gaze with my much larger one. I made a very obvious nod with my giant head, and Draco asked his next question in a rush. "Can I get on?" I stared at him for a second, then a smile that turned into a huge wolfy grin stretched over my face, and I started to chuckle, which came out as little purr noises, but with a choked sounding tone. I nodded again, and stretched out lower, so that all he had to do was get on like a bike.
Draco hesitated, then his weight was suddenly on my back, his feet firmly on top of my hip joints. I was shocked; I thought it would be hard to accommodate him. But Draco was light, almost like wearing a backpack when I was human. I rose up slowly, and Draco held onto my fur tightly, his legs squeezing tight. I paused, waiting for him to either jump off or ask to be put down, but after a deep breath, he started to lightly pet my ears again, looking around. "Have you ever zeen zuch a zight?" Fleur sounded awed, and she was watching us with tears on her face, stepping outside as Ron remained firmly indoors, looking sick still. I walked in slow, careful circles, then walked briskly around the house a few times.
"Let's run, Jenny. Please?" Draco asked, sounding excited. I howled again, getting excited too, and started to jog, then run, then sprint, nodding to Lupin before bounding outside the safety boundary and up the cliffs around Bill and Fleur's house. "YEAHHH!" Draco yelled joyfully, holding on with only his legs, fist pumping into the air. I howled with him, legs pumping and stretching longer and longer to run faster and faster. I sprinted across a flat stretch, then leapt over a crevice, Draco's shout dying in shock as I landed smoothly on the other side, my tail wagging in excitement as I started to chuckle again. "That—was-amazing," Draco panted, leaning into my shoulders and wrapping his arms around my neck. He could barely do it, and there was a good two feet between each hand, even when he stretched as far as he could. I started to purr again, and knelt down to let him get off, then curled up on the stone outcropping. Draco hesitated, but then sat down slowly and leaned against me. I swished my tail over him like a giant blanket, making him start in surprise. We sat in silence for awhile, Draco lightly swirling patterns into my fur, watching the moon and listening to the ocean. It was a perfect moment; I wasn't worrying about being caught in the Ministry or Kingsley. Draco started again, and I smelled Lupin.
"Lupin," he greeted him, and I looked up, hearing Lupin's paws hit the ground on this side of the crevice. Lupin was huge; his size shocked me every time. If I didn't know he was on my side, I would have run away from him, or I would have fought him away. "Do we need to go back?" He asked Lupin, and he nodded, starting to smile. I removed my tail and Draco got up, then climbed back on me, so I stood and backed up, following Lupin back over the crevice, then bounded back down the cliffs, taking more jumps and going at faster speeds to entertain Draco. We lumbered back up to the door, and Draco slipped off, then raised an eyebrow at Ron as he cautiously stepped over, looking up at me.
"Could I get a quick ride? I mean, Bill went for a spin on Lupin, but, I mean, Lupin is kind of…reallyintenseyouknowwhatImean?" Ron babbled nervously. Trying not to chuckle, I knelt again, and Ron climbed on, trembling.
"Put your feet on top of her hip joints, like this," Draco avoided Ron's gaze, and vice versa as he helped him hold on. "Now, how fast do you want to go? I mean, Jenny is perfectly aware of you and herself, it's not like she won't stop." Draco said seriously, addressing my left paw. I nodded my head as Ron swallowed loudly.
"Go as fast as you went with Draco." He said, setting his jaw. I hesitated, nuzzled Draco's side, then started at a brisk walk, then broke into a jog, then the full out sprint that I loved. After a moment, Ron was whooping and swearing like Draco had. When I came back, Fleur was daintily jumping off of Lupin's back as he ran up, going faster than I could dream of, considering his legs were twice as long. She straightened her hair in a lady like fashion, started to laugh at Ron, and took Bill's arm. I started to laugh, and it came out as strange yipping sounds. Of course Fleur, a dainty beautiful and petite veela would have more balls than Ron. Ron's ears turned red, but he slipped off without comment.
"Where would you like ze clothes? Or rather, were should I put them zo that when you are…not wolfy you can change in private?" Fleur had reached down to pick up two different canvas bags. There was a moment of awkward of silence as Lupin and I looked at each other. Then an idea hit me, and I flicked my paw, making one claw come out, like a Swiss Army Knife. Every human in attendance flinched. I started to scrawl in the dirt, and it was surprisingly easy. I wrote: Could you tie it to our legs? Then we can choose a private spot.
"Oh yes, of course…" Bill said quickly, and Lupin and I stuck out our legs, letting Fleur tie the tiny bags onto us. After an awkward nodding moment, and a hug from Draco, which made me purr again, Lupin and I went our separate ways to sleep in private. The next morning as I crossed the lawn, Draco was waiting with a mug of steaming tea and a smile.
"You were amazing last night, and you look alright…are you?" He said, putting an arm around me as I accepted the mug and walked with him inside.
"I'm much better than last time…and I had fun last night too. I'm glad I don't have to be a monster once a month." My voice was hoarse and slightly gravelly, but that was to be expected.
"Good…because Lupin wants to talk to you about the Kingsley thing from yesterday. He's talked to the Order already." He shot me another concerned look as I sighed and wrapped both hands around the mug, the orange a surprisingly much better thing to look at than his face at that moment.
"Oh, goody." I muttered sarcastically, and let Draco steer me into the kitchen. He pulled out a chair for me on Lupin's right side, and I sat down, setting the mug on the table. "Morning," I sighed, and took a sip as Lupin stopped writing on a piece of parchment at my entrance.
"Good Morning, Jenny. How are the joints?" Lupin asked conversationally as Draco sat next to me. I stretched out my right arm lightly and absentmindedly as he spoke.
"Not so bad, all things considered. I heard you want to talk about…last night." I raised an eyebrow as Lupin rubbed his face, not answering. "But I'm not actually sure what there is to talk about, I mean, he tried, and failed, to attack us. Game over." I took a sip of tea when Lupin suddenly replied.
"Jones and Diggle aren't responding or checking in anymore, Jenny." Lupin said quietly. I slowly put down my tea, and Draco stiffened. But if they weren't responding, that would mean that they had been captured by Death Eaters, or Kingsley had got to them.
"That's impossible." I breathed, staring at him. "Hestia and Dedalus are some of the best Aurors we have!" Lupin shook his head angrily.
"I know, I know. But we have to prepare in case he got them to spill information. He might know where Bill and Fleur live, where you are, about Potterwatch-"
"What are you suggesting we do? If he's already given up the Order, it's not like we can use Grimmauld Place, if we can't stay here, then why don't we just hunt him down?" I asked weakly, the slight panic and anger I was feeling not translating to my speech.
"Because, Jenny, think about it. If he's really gone over, it won't just be Kingsley we'd be after. He might not be alone. We don't want a confrontation with several Death Eaters unless we absolutely have to." I stared down into my tea, mind whirling, making my joints feel stiffer than I knew they actually were. The work ahead seemed to weigh them down further.
"Then what are we still doing here? And where will we all go? You, Me, Draco, Ron, Bill and Fleur all have nowhere safe to stay now, not to mention everyone in the Order!"
"We were going to take a magically extending tent, a few supplies, and we were going to just disappear, go camping for awhile. And Weasel-boy left. He was gone this morning." Draco said, and I stared at him.
"Ron is gone? Did it not cross your mind that Kingsley could have-?"
"Jenny, if Kingsley and Death Eaters had been here, they wouldn't have just kidnapped Ron. None of us would be here right now. Ron is probably fine. But as for us, we need to leave, now. Ron is gone, Bill and Fleur already left…it's just us three." Lupin said, standing up. "We've got all the Wolfsbane Potions from the Order's stash, along with enough supplies to last us awhile." I slowly stood up, and as we left the now solemn looking, now abandoned cottage, I couldn't help but feel another deep spike of hate for Kingsley.
This was the second time now that he had ruined my life when things were going well. If he lived to mess with it a third time, I'd have to kill him myself.