Fire and smoke surrounded him, and Crookshanks found it hard to stay calm. He dashed under a pile of rubble and did a frantic search for Hermione.

His witch had been brewing a potion when something exploded. That was when Crookshanks found himself in the middle of some battle that had rocks falling from the sky.

Something didn’t feel right about where he found himself. None of the smells were familiar and fear seemed to permeate the air. Men, women, and children were calling out in pain, fear and confusion. Crookshanks would have joined them, if he were able.

Usually he was able to understand at least some of the language around him. Now he found nothing familiar. He felt the fear in his bones. There seemed to be many people up to no good and others that were fighting for what they felt was right.

A flash of light came straight for his hiding place, and Crookshanks still trembling dashed to an orange tree that stood near by and jumped up on its lower branches to get a better look around. On one side of the tree there was a large river that Crookshanks ignored since he saw no way across it. In the distance there seemed to be very little water, but there were lots of fruit trees close around the river. The remains of a tall wall that seemed to be surrounding a city of some sort explained the rocks and smoke falling from the sky.

Something hit the branch he was sitting on and Crookshanks was shaken out of the tree and landed hard. He would have to keep moving and try to sniff out Hermione on the way. His main goal at the moment was to stay alive long enough to find his mistress.

A child was crying in front of him, and there was no one else nearby. Crookshanks couldn’t just leave her in such a dangerous place. Hoping his senses could keep him safe, he purred and rubbed against the girl’s legs. She seemed to find some comfort in his presence and let him herd her away from the crumbling walls. Together they found a small pit and huddled together for what comfort they could get in such a place.




Crookshanks stayed with the small girl until a woman was heard calling something. The girl seemed to know the woman, and jumped out of hiding to run to her. It seemed the girl had found someone to take care of her, now Crookshanks needed to find Hermione so they could take care of each other.

Night had fallen, and things seemed to have settled down. Crookshanks found another tall tree to climb and took another look around. His witch had to be here somewhere, and he was going to find her. Hopefully she would find a way to get the both of them back to familiar territory.

This place held no familiarity to Crookshanks’ normal territory. The breeze smelled alien, and though there were many citrus trees around, the smell of citrus was where the familiar ended. As he reflected on what was different from his home, he realised his eyes had found one thing that was familiar. Keeping low to the ground was a well known bushy brown head. Crookshanks quickly jumped down and ran to his mistress.

“Crookshanks, you are a sight for sore eyes!” Hermione picked up the ginger cat and gave him a few scratches behind his ears.

Purring filled the quiet night as Crookshanks realised he didn’t really care where he was, as long as his witch was there.

“I’m not sure exactly what happened, but as I cast that inquiry spell on Rowena Ravenclaw’s Pensieve something pulled at me and I found myself in the middle of some battle,” Hermione confided in her cat. “From what I can tell from my location spells, we are near Israel, but back in time several thousand years. I remember the story of the fall of Jericho from my bible studies as a child and this fits that description perfectly.”

Crookshanks nuzzled into the hand Hermione offered him as she sat covered in dust and grime. He understood that they were in a strange place and time that had her a bit baffled.

“The only thing that I think will get us back home is finding the Pensieve again. I had to run all over the place, so I have no idea where it could be.” Hermione put her head in her hands as she said this.

Crookshanks stood up, gave him self a few licks and looked around to get his bearings. He released his natural talents full out and felt an object of power call to him. He rubbed against Hermione and made sure she knew to follow him before setting off towards the call.

“Crookshanks, stop for a moment. I’m not dressed for these surroundings, and I stick out like a sore thumb.” Hermione called after a few moments.

Crookshanks stopped and limped back to Hermione. The sand and rocks of the area were unlike the ground at home and tearing up his feet. He started giving himself a bath while she took her wand out and tried to change her clothing. The sand of the region was really building up in his fur and he got caught up in picking a few stones from between his claws. A few of his pads were bleeding.

Hermione seemed to notice his distress and came to examine his feet. “This sand is tearing your feet up. Let me see what I can do for you too.”

Hermione sat down and tore a few strips from the bottom of her robes. After a few minutes, Crookshanks had some cloth booties wrapped around his feet. As Hermione put him down, he started chewing on the offending scraps.

“What are you doing? Those are supposed to protect your feet!” Hermione tried to stop his chewing.

When it became evident that she was not going to stop him, she pulled the booties off and cast a hardening spell on each of his feet. Crookshanks felt relief immediately and started to purr.

“That should help your feet. I hope we can sort this out soon so we get out of here before the spells wear off.” Hermione sighed as she watched him.

Crookshanks rested as she repaired her robes and transfigured them to look more like the garb the little girl’s mother had worn. He hoped the girl and her family had found a safe place to go, but he would probably never know.

“I hope that is close enough. I don’t plan on being here for too long,” Hermione said as she studied herself. “We better get going. I don’t feel safe here not speaking the language.”

Crookshanks headed out towards what he hoped was the object Hermione hoped to find.

Moving steady and sure towards where his instincts told him the object they were looking for was, Crookshanks suddenly felt great magic surround him. The magic seemed to pick him up and transport him once again.

Trying to shake his head proved impossible when the magic stopped. As he tried to look around, he found that he couldn’t control his body. It was then that he realised he wasn’t in his body; he was looking out of a much smaller body. Grey little legs were moving under him, but one was glowing silver about half way down.

Panic flashed through his mind as he realized that the body he was occupying was none other then the rat that had tried to hurt his witch and her friends. With no way to control what was going on, and not even being able to tighten his muscles, Crookshanks found himself fighting to keep his sanity.

He was forced to watch as the rat ran past a large snake and even managed to feel the fear the rat felt as he was forced to walk so close to the creature that usually ate rats. After entering the next room, he changed back into a human. The feel of the magic changing the rat felt foreign to Crookshanks, but he was just along for the ride.

The cowardly man paced back and forth through the room. As he walked, Crookshanks was forced to listen to his mumbling.

“It was I that brought the Dark Lord back to power, but now I am just used to fetch and carry. I’m not a dog, I’m a man. With out me, he would have never gotten his body back, let alone taken the Ministry and Hogwarts. Now I’m forced to fetch for Malfoy, Lestrange and Snape. It isn’t fair.”

Crookshanks found that he was having some sympathy for this pathetic man. He was starting to understand why he had done some of what he had done. It was fear and the want of power that had driven to where he was now, but the fear was more readable to those around him and that is what held him back.

Then Crookshanks heard through the rat’s ears the sound of Hermione screaming. Now the need for some control was panic and insanity all in one. There had to be some way that he could break free and help his witch but there wasn’t.

A blond boy he knew from the school came and told Wormtail to check on the prisoners and the man walked towards the dungeons, Crookshanks finally got a look at Hermione. The fear and pain on her face were more then Crookshanks could take. Darkness came to him when he still found himself unable to do anything.



Crookshanks woke to find himself curled into a very tight ball. He also found that he was himself again, and he almost jumped for joy. His need to make sure Hermione was ok was the only thing that kept him from doing so. Hermione was lying beside him and seemed to be having the same type of experience as he had. Walking over to her, Crookshanks pushed his cold nose into her neck.

Hermione gasped and sat straight up, and knocked Crookshanks away in her fright. “Bellatrix, NO!” she yelled.

It took a moment for the hot sun shining down on her and the sand beneath her broke through to her traumatized mind. When she realised where she was, she took a sigh of relief and stopped shaking in fright and pain.

Crookshanks slowly came up to her, and found himself scooped up and squeezed hard.

“Crookshanks, I’m sorry for throwing you. I had been inside Bellatrix Lestrange’s head and didn’t have any say in what she was doing. It was HORRIBLE! I watched as she killed Tonks and felt her love for Voldemort as he took over Hogwarts and tried to kill Harry.” Hermione shuddered in revulsion. “The entire time I couldn’t help but wish I was with you.”

Crookshanks purred to let her know he knew exactly how she felt. It occurred to him that his experience had to have happened over a year previous because the rat man was dead. He had heard his witch talking to her red headed wizard about it.

Crookshanks watched as Hermione’s expression turned to one of deep thought. It was a very familiar expression, and proved to him that she was truly okay.

“Crookshanks, I think that I know how to get us home. We need to focus on home, and those people and things that make it home. For me, that is you and Ron. Do you understand me?” Hermione looked at Crookshanks with concern on her face.

Crookshanks ran her words through his head and felt the feelings radiating off of her. After a moment, he wiggled to be put down. As she placed him at her feet, he put his front paws up on her knees and rubbed his cheeks against them.

Hermione laughed as she said, “I guess that you do!”

Together they started out one more time to find the missing Pensieve. Crookshanks led the way through the sand and stone. It only took a few more moments to arrive at the place he felt the object. When they got there, neither of them could see anything.

Crookshanks began digging over the spot he knew the object to be. It only took Hermione a moment to guess that it had been buried by debris of the falling wall. As she used her wand to lift it out of the ground, Crookshanks sat on his haunches and reflected on the day.

Hermione threw a few fragrant herbs into the Pensieve and then started chanting a few spells. When she had done all that she could, she beckoned Crookshanks over.

“Now is when we have to concentrate on home, but I think it will take a little more then that,” Hermione frowned.

Crookshanks felt a sinking in his stomach as he watched his brilliant witch think.

“I know I experienced that memory for a reason. Bellatrix might be the person I despise the most in this world, but often what we hate are faults of our own.” Hermione paused deep in thought before continuing, “I could never kill or injure as she did, but my know it all personality and drive to prove myself correct can injure others almost as badly. I don’t think we can get home until we accept all of our experiences here.”

What she said worked its way into Crookshanks mind. She had pointed out some faults she saw in herself, and he might have to do the same thing in order for them to return home.

The sand was blowing around them, and irritating his eyes and skin. He was not going to live out the rest of his life in this place. He wanted to get back to the green and watery world he called home.

The rat had become what he was because of fear. Crookshanks was fearful of very little, but he did have an arrogant streak and would hear nothing bad about himself or his witch. He didn’t even like listening to Hermione mention her own faults. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t admit they had faults, it was just that he always looked for the good or bad in people and most faults weren’t that easy to classify. The gift he had because of being part Kneazle helped him feel more about those around him, but everything wasn’t black and white. Even those that were an annoyance had parts that were never part of their outside. He had learned that the hard way by living as Mrs. Norris for a few weeks. In that time he had seen a side of Filch that no one else could ever know, because it was only shown to his cat.

After a few moments of thought, Crookshanks walked over to his bushy haired witch and rubbed against her legs. She bent down and picked him up. Her eyes asked if he was ready, and he purred to let her know he was. Then he concentrated with all his might on the small cottage they called home and the love he knew from the girl holding him.

Magic came out of the Pensieve and wrapped around them. A few moments of discomfort passed, and Crookshanks closed his eyes. When the magic disappeared, he opened them to find familiar objects all around. Together, Hermione and Crookshanks sighed in relief at being home.