by squidward
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A/N: Many thanks to the following: artemisgirl, ddrinki4, Trym, On-A-Rainy-Day, isnani, RussellGrl15, AngelicFairy, doriansportrait, TiggerLily130, Crystal, Angulgurl, Persephone's-child, Weasley, loonygrl90, trixie009, RonLuver2005, Fugitive, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, Ngayon, AkashaWeasley, airhead14, Hydrangea777, Colin, AnnaAnother, SwishyWillowWand, Amy-Chris and buterfly9999. You lot keeps me going! Another thanks to Ngayon and AkashaWeasley for reviewing IMMLPE.
Sorry, sorry, sorry and again, sorry for the ridiculously late update. I've been very busy with school and I'm still adjusting with my new schedule. And when I say I'm adjusting I mean I spend most of my time sleeping. I envy you lot whose term starts every September…
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter.
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Chapter V: To Help Or Not To Help
'You're not an ordinary cat, weren't you?' Ron grumbled. The fact that Crookshanks knew too many things was very suspicious. Cats, even those that were magical, couldn't be that intelligent. Then a thought hit him and he looked at Crookshanks tremblingly. 'Don't tell me you're actually an Animagus!'
Crookshanks, however, just snorted. "Of course I'm not! If I am then you wouldn't turn up in that body! You would be trapped in a human's body instead!"
'But cats can't know that much! Even if those cats belong to Hermione!' Ron cried in exasperation. Crookshanks just shook his head patiently, as if restraining himself from retorting to something stupidly obvious. But Ron continued to survey him through narrowed eyes, preparing himself in case Crookshanks would attack him for unveiling his nasty secret. When Crookshanks pulled out something from his bag, Ron jumped backwards, doubling the distance between them. He glared at him angrily, ready to evade anything that he would throw on him.
"What's with that behavior?" Crookshanks snapped irritably. He was now holding Ron's copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.
'Don't dare hit me with that book, I'm warning you!' Ron roared and the furs on his back were standing up in fury.
"Books are not made to be thrown, they are made to be read," Crookshanks said haughtily. He opened the book, as if searching for something and when he found what he was looking for he thrust the book under Ron's nose. Ron looked at the book bemusedly and read the part Crookshanks was pointing at.
Kneazle: The kneazle was original bred in Britain, though it is now exported worldwide. A small cat-like creature with flecked, speckled, or spotted fur, outsize ears and a tail like a lion's, the Kneazle is intelligent, independent, and occasionally aggressive, though if it takes a liking to a witch or wizard, it makes an excellent pet. The Kneazle has an uncanny ability to detect unsavory or suspicious characters and can be relied upon to guide its owner safely home if they are lost. Kneazles have up to eight kittens in a litter and can interbreed with cats. Licenses are required for ownership as Kneazles are sufficiently unusual in appearance to attract Muggle interest.
'A-are you, d-don't t-tell me… you're a kneazle?!' Ron cried in amazement.
"Half-kneazle, as I don't have those spotted fur, outsize ears and lion's tail," Crookshanks replied through gritted teeth. Apparently, he was insulted that Ron still didn't get what kind of creature exactly he was when the book had already told everything on his face. "Honestly, you should have learned that by now since you were using this book since you were in first year!"
'Hermione didn't know about this either! She could have told us if she did!' Crookshanks ignored his last comment and glared furiously at him instead. Just then they heard the portrait hole swinging and footsteps approaching.
"Ron?" Hermione asked in a small voice. She looked from Ron to Crookshanks, her face mildly surprised. "I went here to check on you. What is taking you so long? Harry said he'll wait for us in the classroom and save us seats."
"Well, er, I'm looking for this book you see. It took most of my time, I thought I lost it forever," Crookshanks said and he laughed nervously. Ron stared at Hermione and he knew she didn't believe him. They would not be having a Care of Magical Creatures class until next week. Ron expected her to point that thing out but to his surprise, she just shrugged.
"You just have to take care of your books then. At first I thought you're fighting with Crookshanks again, I thought I saw you two talking," Hermione stressed her last word exaggeratedly. Crookshanks stared at her nervously.
"Oh," he then gave a hollow laugh. "I asked him to help me look for it actually." Hermione raised her brows. Crookshanks turned slightly red and explained hastily, "I thought I could do with some help. He's not being useful to us anyway so I thought I let him do something this time."
Hermione hooted indignantly but Ron noticed that she was smiling. Perhaps she was relieved that his answer was somewhat 'normal'. "And here I was, thinking that you were actually fraternizing with your enemy," she teased. Crookshanks looked blankly at her while Ron's face went hot.
"I guess we have to go down then," Crookshanks broke after gathering himself, "we don't want to be late for our next class."
"Yeah, you'd be missing half of your life if you're late for Professor Binns's lecture," Hermione replied promptly but Crookshanks missed the sarcasm. He glanced sideways at Ron, giving him a meaningful look. Ron couldn't decipher what was that about but knew it was highly important so he made to follow them out of the common room.
"Crookshanks, don't follow us," Hermione mumbled softly. She walked to Ron and put him on her hands. She rubbed her nose to his before stroking his fur and putting him down again. Ron's stomach flipped while Crookshanks decided not to watch them.
"Just let him do what he wants, we'll be late," Crookshanks grunted, still not looking at them. Hermione didn't raise any argument and just put Ron down, looking as though she hadn't heard Crookshanks last words.
Hermione ran to his side, sighing that her 'cat' was still following them but decided to leave him alone. Her mind was focused on her 'cat' when, to her and Ron's surprise, Crookshanks slipped his hand into hers. He did this so casually as though he was doing this everyday, which made it more surprising. Hermione looked scandalized for a moment but didn't pull away. Her face was a mixture of so many emotions Ron could have found it extremely funny if he wasn't feeling particularly furious at the situation.
He ran hurriedly after them, stretching his claws to desperately attack Crookshanks. 'How could he!' he thought crossly.He was jumping and scratching the back of his robes, but Crookshanks was ignoring him like a common mosquito. Hermione seemed oblivious to his attacks too, for she was still looking at Crookshanks with shock and confusion, her face blatantly telling that she battling herself whether pulling her hand away would be rude or not.
Ron was completely ignored he realized all his efforts were futile and just contented himself with glaring at their intertwined fingers. He was so infuriated it took him many minutes to realize that Crookshanks was already beginning his attempt to guess his 'chosen memory'. Although he already knew that Crookshanks was doing this for them, he still couldn't stop himself from hating him.
But when Ron thought that that was the only shocker Crookshanks had in stored for them, he was wrong. To his surprise, and displeasure, Crookshanks hold Hermione still, looked at her face for a moment and ran his long fingers on her cheek! Hermione and Ron stared at Crookshanks with stunned expressions but it was Hermione who recovered first.
"R-Ron, wha-what are y-you d-doing?" she stammered with difficulty, her eyes fixed on Crookshanks expressionless face. Her cheeks were acquiring a deep shade of scarlet and her ears were turning pink.
"You have something on your cheek, I'm just trying remove i-" but Crookshanks wasn't able to continue, for at that instant Ron threw himself on him, bit his leg and pierced his teeth deeply on his skin.
Crookshanks (or anybody for that matter) holding Hermione's hand as if they were a couple was annoying, yet Ron could let it pass, especially if it was intended to bring him back to his original body. But Crookshanks (or anybody for that matter again) touching Hermione's cheek was way too appalling and was absolutely unforgivable, even if it was intended to bring him back to his original body. Whether it was instinct or something that he still couldn't understand at that moment he didn't care, he just wanted to attack Crookshanks, to hurt him, and, if possible, to kill him.
"Crookshanks!" Hermione squealed and she pulled Ron away from Crookshanks. It had been hard work for Hermione because Ron seemed to not have any intentions of removing his mouth on Crookshanks' leg, completely forgetting that that was actually his physical body that he was hurting. Crookshanks leapt away, clutching his bleeding leg.
"Oh Ron, I – I don't know, Crookshanks was-" but they didn't hear what 'Crookshanks' was because Hermione's voice was drowned by a rampage of second years hurrying for their class. Hermione backed away to let them pass, too preoccupied to shout at them. Crookshanks was still clutching his leg but his face was straight and was not even wincing. Ron was struggling out of Hermione's arms, growling loudly.
"I'm okay, don't worry. My clothes absorbed most of the impact. It's just minor bleeding," Crookshanks stated calmly as though explaining the characteristics of Jupiter's moons. Crookshanks acting cool made Ron angrier.
"I'm really sorry about this Ron," Hermione said, gently putting Ron down, placing him away from Crookshanks. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wrapped it on Crookshanks wound. Ron was still growling loudly on the background but was not doing anything violent anymore.
He and Crookshanks caught each other's eyes while Hermione was busy patching up the wound on Crookshanks legs. They glared at each other for a moment but quickly broke away when Hermione was finished.
"I think it's not that fatal, but you should still visit Madam Pomfrey," said Hermione.
"Yeah, but not now. I don't want to miss a class," Crookshanks replied, "let's just hurry." Hermione nodded slowly but she was staring at Crookshanks like she had never seen him before. Ron knew what she was thinking – here was a ready-made excuse to skip Professor Binns's never cheerful lecture but he didn't grab it.
Crookshanks turned on his heel and motioned Hermione to follow. Hermione didn't move first, staring at Crookshanks with utmost disbelief. But after a few seconds she shook her head, looked at Ron with worried eyes and followed Crookshanks. Ron followed then stealthily and was still glaring at Crookshanks back. When they reached the classroom Crookshanks stopped.
"Mistr-, I mean, Hermione, you go ahead, I'll just fix this," he said, pointing at his wound. Hermione showed sign that she would fix it instead but Crookshanks shook his head dismissively. "Just go. This will just take a second."
Hermione looked at him anxiously but entered the room. Ron came closer to Crookshanks, his eyes still giving him dagger looks. Crookshanks knelt down, pretending to fix Hermione's handkerchief but was actually glaring angrily at Ron.
"What did you do that for?!" they both hissed angrily.
"I should be the only one asking that!" Crookshanks snarled.
'Don't you ever touch her again!' Ron bellowed.
"And don't act like a stupid prat again, Weasley," Crookshanks breathed angrily, "You're not helping!" He gave him one last glare before walking inside the classroom. Ron glowered at him until he was out of sight.
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