Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Warnings: Hmm…not really sure what to warn about.

Heretic

Part the Third

When Hermione returned with Crookshanks, she was in a wonderful mood. Firenze had begun telling her about some of the other magical creatures that she had heard about. She was amazed to hear that nixies—the ice fairies she had read about in that book of travels that Farold Granger had written—were actually real.

"The Snowlands, can you believe it? Apparently it's all snow." Hermione chirped happily to Crookshanks who hissed as her Cousin Jill ran by. Hermione turned and watched her go. "Now that's odd…I wonder what's wrong with Jill. Oh Crookshanks, why are you hissing like that?"

But as soon as Jill was out of sight, Crookshanks calmed down. Hermione shook her head and went towards her study but Marlowe Granger caught sight of her and called out to her.

"Hermione." His calming voice held an undercurrent of worry that made Hermione instantly concerned. "The Head wants to see you right away."

"Why?" Hermione blinked in confusion.

"I don't want to say…" Marlowe hung his head. "I'm sure you can clear up the misunderstanding here…"

"HERMIONE!" Jane yelled down the hall as she came running up, completely out of breath, no peppermint stick in her mouth.

"Did you catch Stan?" Marlowe asked worriedly.

"No, he was too fast and I think he's gone to get the Guard." Jane's brow furrowed. "He got on one of the horses, we better hurry and see what the Head says."

"What's going on?" Hermione asked again, Crookshanks had leapt into her arms and she had caught him without even thinking. "Did something happen? Why has Cousin Stan gone off to get the Guard?"

"Your papers Hermione!" Jane waved her arms around before shoving a peppermint stick into her mouth. "You wrote all those things and everyone knows…"

"Knows what?" Hermione felt just as bewildered as ever. "What's going on!"

"You've got to come and see the Head now." Marlowe put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, before there's a big scene. She'll sort everything out, it'll all be fine."

"That's what you say!" Jane shook her head in disbelief. "I've never seen the Head so angry." She sucked hard on the peppermint stick to prevent drool going all over the place.

"Why's Grandmother angry?" Hermione let herself be ushered by the two towards the main meeting room. Whenever the Head needed to address the whole family, this is where she addressed them. Hermione had always loved the large polished doors that led into it but for once, she had a terrible feeling in her gut that something awful was waiting for her.

When they got into the room, all the most important people in the family were there, the Head was white with anger, and even Hermione's parents were there, looking twittery and unhappy.

"Hermione." The Head spoke the name so that it sliced through the air. "Come here." Hermione felt as though she couldn't work her legs right then but with Crookshanks purring reassuringly, she found herself walking forward. What was it? What had she done? What was going on?

"What is it Grandmother?" Hermione asked, looking around at all the faces.

"Most inconvenient, really…" Her mother was fidgeting with her hands and her father was playing with a pocket watch. "I must protest…why should we be here…?"

"These." The Head held up Hermione's hand-written notes and she gasped. So that was it. They had found her notes, but how could that be? They were in her study!

"Those were in my study!" Hermione looked around angrily. "Who took them? Who went in there?"

"You won't be asking the questions." The Head silenced her immediately and her eyes went down to the large furry cat in her arms. "Get rid of that cat." Hermione tried to obey but Crookshanks sank his claws into her coat and she couldn't get him to budge.

"I can't, he doesn't want to leave." Hermione shook her head.

"He's just a dumb cat." Benjamin muttered.

"He is not!" Hermione couldn't believe how she was acting. She would do better to stand there and listen to what the others said. She should have put Crookshanks down…but…but…

But I don't want to!

"You're the dumb one Mr. Benjamin Granger!" Hermione held on protectively to Crookshanks. "This cat is the most intelligent friend I've ever had and if he has to leave the room then so will I!" The other Grangers in the room looked stunned and their eyes were the size of saucers. Hermione, who had always been so well-behaved was acting so willfully! And in front of the Head no less!

"You realize what you've done?" The Head threw the papers down on the floor. "It is forbidden to learn about these things, forbidden to write them down, and the law is quite clear on how to punish those who break the law!"

"It shouldn't be forbidden!" Hermione stuck out her chin. She remembered what Firenze had said, about how they all hid in their books and let the world go on. She couldn't do that anymore. She wanted to change things. "It isn't right! We can't sit here and let someone tell us what we can think and right! We have to stand up for ourselves! Do you want someone telling you how to live?"

"I won't be spoken to like that young lady." The Head's eyes narrowed to a glare. "Are you suggesting that we act in cowardice?"

"That's right!" Hermione nodded. "We're all…we're all cowards! And I'll write about whatever I want, no one can say otherwise!"

"We're trying to save you Hermione." The Head nodded her head towards Benjamin who lit a fire. "We're going to burn all these documents, we're going to lie and say that none of this never happened, and you will keep your mouth shut and accept the punishment we give you."

Jane and Benjamin went to pick the documents up off the floor but Crookshanks leapt out of Hermione's arms and landed on the papers, hissing and spitting wildly.

"That stupid cat can go into the fire too for all I care." Benjamin started towards it.

"No!" Hermione fell forward, clasping her arms around Crookshanks. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare hurt Crookshanks! And don't you dare burn any of those papers. They're full of knowledge, and we're supposed to be collectors of knowledge. We can't just let this go on!"

"But you are doomed to become like your parents unless you grow beyond what they have become. Unless you see the outside world…"

"Get up!" The Head ordered her and Hermione almost obeyed but she knew that survival wasn't the important thing. That sitting back and letting the world go on wasn't right.

Benjamin picked up her by her arms and Hermione fought, kicking at him every inch of the way. He handed her off to another cousin and tried to go at Crookshanks but the cat only scratched him and stood there on the papers with his back arched, hissing at them all.

Oh Crookshanks…you're doing so well…I've got to help you!

Hermione made herself limp for a moment so that the cousin who was holding her would get a false sense of security and she suddenly twisted and kicked him in the knee. He let go of her, swearing and she scooped up Crookshanks and the papers, her arms full.

The doors burst open.

Three members of the Guard filed in behind Cousin Stan, Hermione knew that now there really was no going back. There were the papers, she had written about what was forbidden. The penalty was death.

But no one had ever said it was forbidden…

Forbidden knowledge is the best kind.

One of the members of the Guard grabbed a stray piece of paper that she hadn't gotten a hold of and read it.

"I see…" He looked at her with a hateful expression. "A witch."

"I'm not a witch!" Hermione stamped her foot defensively. "I can't use magic! I've only been writing about it and there's no harm in that!"

"She must be a witch sir, she's writing about magic and she's got a familiar." Another member of the Guard pointed out.

"Kill that cat." The first member, who was obviously the superior in rank to the other two, made a dismissive gesture. Hermione's arms squeezed Crookshanks one last time before dropping him on the ground.

"RUN CROOKSHANKS!" She yelled. Crookshanks didn't stop to look at her and took off, running between legs too fast to catch. The second member of the Guard cuffed her across the face hard enough that she almost fell over. A trickle of blood came out of the corner of her mouth and she quickly wiped it away. It was just another ink stain.

At least Crookshanks got away…he didn't deserve to die.

"She's a witch." The third member of the Guard agreed with the other two. "We better hunt that animal down after we finish with her."

"I'm not a witch!" Hermione snapped at them. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. You don't have any proof!"

"Er, if this would just end a little faster…I have some books I must attend to…" Her mother spoke in her usual nervous, distracted matter.

"Mother!" Hermione turned towards her. "They're accusing me of being a witch, I'm going to be taken away, and you want this to hurry up?"

"Well, you are a witch." Her father answered in a very blunt way. Her mouth dropped open. She hadn't been expecting this. Not at all. But then in a moment, it all made sense. Her being a witch.

But her parents had just declared her one and now she was doomed. How could they? How could they? And finally, Hermione saw what others saw, that in a household where the most prized possession was intelligence, the other things, the other important things had been sacrificed. Courage, loyalty…the things that every person should have. And her parents were the best examples of the Granger family that ever were. Too caught up in studying and reading to be bothered by anything else in the world.

"…they have never embraced you, because you are all strangers."

"What?" The Head obviously had not known this.

"I liked her, I really did. So fascinating." Her mother shrugged. "But you know, that thing appeared, that wand. We thought, well, we thought if we hid it, she wouldn't become one. You know, that she could grow up and be part of the family. She was doing well too, she was a good baby you know—hardly ever cried at all."

"We didn't mean any harm…" Her father shuffled his feet and Hermione had never felt so betrayed. They had never been good parents, but now they were just awful.

"So you are a witch." The member of the Guard who was in charge jeered. "You're coming with us. You'll be executed tomorrow at sunrise."

"Only time to execute them witches." The third guard was saying as they grabbed her arms and dragged her out of the room. "Sunrise you know. Burning them at night is bad luck."

Hermione saw the Granger family all standing there and knew that they would all forget this; none of them would remember this by tomorrow. Nobody would ever talk about it. They'd be there at breakfast, Aunt Alice pestering Jane about marrying, and Great Aunt Michelle not remembering a single name.

For the first time ever, Hermione dropped her head and let her do something that she had always wanted to be able to do. She cried.

She was taken to the prison. Her head had been down the entire time and she just wept. She remembered the other children taunting her for wanting to belong, she remembered the way she scrapped her knee and stood there and bled while her mother just nodded her head and murmured an, "I know, dear" every few minutes.

And now she was a witch. Now she was going to be burned at the stake. She sat in her cold, dank cell, on the old straw that was supposed to be a bed, staring numbly at the wall across from her.

I almost wish…but no. I don't. I won't say 'I wish I had never met Crookshanks or Firenze.'

I'm glad I did.

As the night grew later and colder, Hermione shivered, bundling herself together, telling herself that it would be terrible to freeze to death before they could burn her. A bitter little joke. There was nothing left to do.

A soft meow made Hermione's head jerk up. There, in the window of her cell, sat a cat with shining eyes. A ginger-colored cat. And best of all was what it had in its mouth.

A ring of keys.

Hermione scrambled over and let Crookshanks drop the keys into her hands. She knew that one of the members of the Guard came by every hour to see if everyone (she knew there was at least one other person in the jail with her because they were very loud and drunk) was still in their cell.

"Jus' a spot o' brandy for me!" The person sang and Hermione wondered what they had been put into jail for. It was best not to stop and ask—they could be a murderer for all she knew.

The guard walked by ten minutes later, saw that everything was fine, and kept walking down the hall until he turned a corner and was out of sight. Hermione unlocked her cell door as quietly as she possibly could and very carefully stepped out. She went up the stairs, staying pressed against the wall in the shadows. How she wished Crookshanks was there!

When she got to the first floor, she saw that most of the members of the Guard were drinking in the other room and so she grabbed a thick black cloak that was a bit big for her but she would need it, and turned down a hallway.

At the end of it was a door. She opened the door carefully and there was Crookshanks. The moon was out that night, not so good for cover, but wonderful to see her way in. She'd have to dash for the woods on the other side of the prison, which wouldn't be too hard, and she was wrapped up in black.

Crookshanks dropped something in the grass and Hermione knelt down and picked it up.

It was a thin piece of wood, a wand.

"Oh, Crookshanks…is this…" Hermione started but Crookshanks gave her an impatient look. "Oh, sorry, sorry! Let's go, please!" And they dashed for it. The cold air seeped in wherever it could and Hermione felt like her heart was going to stop beating until they made it to the woods.

Crookshanks led the way and Hermione had to walk carefully because it was dark and she didn't want to fall over anything. Even with being careful, she tripped over things and had quite a few nasty scratches on her palms. Her knees were banged up from accidentally running into fallen trees.

But still she kept going, Crookshanks leading the way, Hermione following. Her hands were turning blue and her face felt numb but she knew it was no good stopping now, they weren't nearly far enough away.

After a few more hours of walking though, Hermione knew she should probably rest. She wondered how far they had gotten, it was impossible to tell. She sat down, until to spring back up because she had sat on an old glass jar. She set it upright and sat down next to it, with a tree against her back. Crookshanks put himself in her lap. Hermione stared upwards and saw the stars.

What do the stars say? I wish Firenze was here, he'd know what to do.

She was freezing and she knew that it was quite possible she wouldn't last the night if this continued. She pulled out her wand and looked at it. It was strangely ordinary for something so mystifying.

I'm a witch. I bet Firenze knew. I bet Crookshanks knew too.

But why didn't anyone tell me? And now where will I go? There's no where I'd be safe…

Hermione wished she could think of a way to warm herself up. She began tapping the wand on the jar as though it was a quill and she was just working out a particularly complex problem.

"You know what we need Crookshanks?" Hermione scratched the cat under the neck with her free hand. "We need a fire. But a fire with no smoke. And no sparks. And doesn't give off as much light. We just need the heat. That would be just perfect…too bad there's no such thing, huh? But I wonder if there isn't a way to make a fire like that. Perhaps if you could just figure out what types of things to mix together or what kind of alcohols—because they are very flammable you know—you would have to mix and—I say! What's that glow?" Hermione turned to look at the jar sitting next to her and discovered that there was a fire inside it.

A little blue fire that had no fuel source that she could see, but yet it burned on. It didn't have smoke or sparks or anything. It was just a little blue fire in a jar and it was giving off heat that washed over her like warm bath water.

Hermione held out her hand to touch the jar and discovered that it was cool to the touch, yet over the jar was hot—it seemed to be where all the heat was coming from.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione shook the cat with her hand that wasn't holding the wand. "Look! I did it! I did magic! I really am a witch! And I could learn magic. I just need someone to teach me. And I don't care about ever going back to that awful house again." Tears stung at her eyes as she thought of the family members and the way her own parents had let her be dragged off to be burned at the stake. "It's alright Crookshanks, it really is. Let's just get some sleep now and we'll think about what to do tomorrow."

Hermione bundled herself into her cloak and Crookshanks curled up beside her and they fell asleep in the comfortable heat that her little blue fire was giving off.

I can't sit around and feel sorry myself…there's so much I need to do…

But where will I go to do it all?

To Be Continued