Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters, or the fairy tales unfortunately.

Warning: None

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! You guys rock! And I’m sorry that last chapter might have seemed a bit weird. I wrote it at midnight when I was pretty tired, but it seems to not have been full of typos, so that’s something at least. This chapter hasn’t been Beta’d either, so hopefully it won’t be too bad, because I am awful at picking out my own mistakes.

Okay, I warn you now, I actually only vaguely remember these fairy tales myself, and I don’t remember the spelling of the names.  If I get stuff wrong, please don’t be too annoyed, but just keep in mind that I am changing certain things for the story as well. Oh and this is only going to be a short fic, so I think there will only be one more chapter after this.

Bread Crumbs

Hermione let out a frustrated moan as she saw the same twisted tree she had seen five times before. She glanced at Harry, noticing his less than amused expression. They both had realised they were completely lost, and with no magic, they had no idea how to find which way to go. Hermione walked past the tree and started stomping off into the woods when she felt a firm hand grasp her shoulder. She turned around to see Harry staring down at her, his green eyes frowning where his mouth would not.

“I think we should stop, Hermione.” Harry said as nicely as possible. Hermione figured he had probably realised how tense she was getting. She was not used to being so useless, so unable to help herself, but without her magic she was just a girl. The knowledge that they were also lost was just adding to her already frustrated mind, and so she was ready to explode.

“Okay.” Hermione said with a nod, taking a deep breath. “You’re probably right. But, Harry,” Hermione exclaimed, her voice getting louder with each word. “How on earth are we going to find where we are supposed to be going? We’ve been walking in circles all day, and we’ve been walking on the stupid path for goodness sakes!”

Harry scratched his head lightly and gazed about the dark forest. Hermione had to admire how calm he was taking this. He looked back at her, a small smile playing on his lips. Hermione suddenly felt very wary. That smile was Harry’s adventurous smile, and the last thing she wanted right now was to go careering off into another adventure where she would probably have someone try eating her again.

“We’ll have to go off the path then, won’t we?”

“But I-”

“Come on.” Harry urged, pulling her irresistibly forward by her wrist. Hermione was going to complain but Harry must have sensed it and quickly put his free hand over her mouth. “Just trust me, Hermione.”

Hermione looked into his emerald green eyes, wondering if he really did have any idea what they were doing. She had to admit that she had no bright ideas, and so really they had no choice but to leave the path; she refused to see that stupid tree again that was for sure. Harry pulled his hand away and waited for her response.

“Alright, I trust you. But let’s just be careful this time.” Hermione said more calmly.

Harry laughed and started pulling her forward again; Hermione didn’t see fit to question why he was still holding onto her wrist. She found it quite comforting actually.

“You’re the one who knows the fairy tales; if you see something that looks like it might resemble a fairy tale, than we’ll just steer clear of it.”

Hermione frowned, yes that was true, but then she remembered just how the wolf was killed. It was the woodchopper, but in this world no woodchopper had come to save them.

“Harry, I think we are the heroes.”

“What?” Harry said in surprise. Hermione sighed and rubbed her eyes again; this world really was irritating her, but it seemed clearer than ever; they were the ones supposed to be saving the poor people from the ridiculous situations.

“I mean that if you had not showed up at Grandma’s house, we would have all been eaten. You were the woodchopper from the story, which means that if we see another fairy tale, we have no choice but to help them because we are the only ones who can.” Hermione scrunched up her face in thought, “Besides, I know that you wouldn’t leave someone in trouble; you do have a saving people thing.”

Harry looked offended at the last of her words but wisely chose not to say anything. “Well, I guess that settles it then. We need to go find us a fairy tale.”

“Yeah, let’s just not get killed in the process.” Hermione muttered under her breath and once again they started trudging off into the dark forest, leaving the beaten path behind.

It was getting darker now, and Hermione was beginning to feel increasingly worried as she nervously checked behind her. Anything could be prowling about these woods, for there were so many stories that involved woods and people lost in those woods. She found herself moving closer to Harry and was just glad that he didn’t look afraid. It was just like when they walked through the Forbidden Forest: Harry would be the one leading the way, a determined expression on her face, while she would be nervously following. This time was different though, because this time she had no way to save herself if things got nasty.

“Hey,” Harry said in surprise, kneeling down to stare at something on the ground. “Are those bread crumbs?” Hermione knelt down beside him and stared at the white bits of bread that were almost glowing because of the moonlight.

“I…I think they are.” Hermione answered, holding a hand to her head. If this was true than they were sure to find a ginger bread house soon. Hermione looked about the trail of bread crumbs, noticing that the birds must have already been eating them because there were patches where the trail was barely recognisable and then it just stopped completely.

“I think we should keep moving.” Hermione said in a resigned voice. “I think we just found our fairy tale.”

Harry nodded and led her off into the woods. It seemed like hours before Hermione saw the smoke rising from the little house that was made of ginger bread. Harry’s eyes went wide but he did not try eating anything, which Hermione was profoundly grateful for; not for the first time she thought how glad she was that it was Harry she was stuck here with and not Ron.

“This entire house is edible.” Harry exclaimed in surprise. Hermione nodded her head, wondering if Hansel and Gretel were already inside, locked up and waiting for when the evil woman would eat them.

“Come on. We should be cautious though; this isn’t a friendly house.”

Harry nodded his head again and, for reasons unknown to Hermione, grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the window. “Let’s have a peek inside.” Harry whispered and looked through the candy glass. Hermione followed suit and gasped in surprise when she saw that the house looked perfectly normal. There was no cage with Hansel stuck inside, no Gretel slaving away for the evil woman…

“Hrm, this is strange.”

“What?” Harry said looking at her.

“Well, it’s just we found the bread crumbs, so I assumed that we would also find the two children, but there’s no one here.”

“What do you think it means?” Harry asked with a frown. Hermione shrugged, but before she could say anything something hard collided with her head and all she could see was darkness.

OOO

Hermione could hear shuffling somewhere close to her head. The faint smell of delicious cooking tantalised her nostrils, and her stomach rumbled in protest at being so close to food but not being able to eat it. She blearily opened her eyes, gasping at the sudden pain that surged through her head. Gingerly she reached up her hand and felt the large throbbing lump on the back of her skull.

“Owch.” Hermione muttered and pulled her fingers away. She sat up, ignoring the blood rushing to her brain and glanced about the room. It appeared to be a kitchen, but her eyes were drawn to the large oven, which could have quite easily fit a grown man in it. It made her feel very disturbed, especially when she knew that they were in the fairy tale which had frightened her the most when she was a child.

Suddenly something sharp poked her hard in the back, and Hermione turned her head to see an ugly looking woman holding a sharp stick, her clouded eyes not really looking at her but Hermione knew she was looking at her.

“Well, well, so you’re finally awake.” The woman said in a gleeful voice. “Get up and help me with this food. I need to fatten up that dear boy of yours.”

Hermione could only gape in horror. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Hansel and Gretel were the ones who were trapped, not Harry and herself. She stared at the woman holding the stick at her face and wished for about the hundredth time that she had her magic. She could have just stunned the woman and be done with it…but then it came to her? This was just some blind, old bat; she didn’t even need her magic. All she had to do was just steal that stick and be done with it. The problem was, she was terribly hungry and weak. This woman may be old and blind, but there was something about her, something magical…

“Get a move on girl and grab that tray of food.” The old woman snapped. Hermione glared at her but stood up and picked up the tray. As the old saying went, live today, fight tomorrow. She knew the old woman wasn’t going to try kill Harry anytime soon, so she’d might as well just listen to the old bat until she could find a way to get that stick.

“Right, he’s just down here.”

Hermione followed the old woman to another room, listening to the old woman mutter something about tasty boys. Hermione shook her head, almost snorting to herself when she realised this fairy tale was very familiar to the whole paedophile, ‘get in my car and I’ll give you candy’ approach.

“Hermione!” Harry exclaimed in relief. Hermione smiled at him, momentarily forgetting the old woman, as she placed down the tray and ran to Harry who was trapped in the cage. He grasped her hands in his own, holding them through the cage, his eyes swimming with relief that she was okay. Hermione stared into his face, feeling a warm feeling growing inside her at the clear worry he had felt about her. Harry really did care about her, and it never failed to make her feel comforted; however, this was her turn to save him.

“Girl, what are you doing? Hurry up and give him the food.”

“Don’t worry, Harry.” Hermione whispered. “I’ll get you out soon.”

Harry nodded, and Hermione walked back to pick up the tray and give it to him. Harry took the tray and grabbed her wrist, forcing her to look at him.

“Be careful.”

Hermione nodded, giving him a reassuring smile. Harry released her wrist and Hermione followed the old woman out of the room, giving one last glance at Harry’s concerned face before the door was shut. She turned her eyes to the blind woman and frowned. How on earth was she going to get the upper hand? This woman obviously had magic, but Hermione did have the advantage of being younger and she could see. She would just have to use all her initiative; there had to be a way to do it.

“Get the oven ready; I’m going to bake a cake.” The old woman snapped, brandishing her stick at Hermione’s face. Hermione scowled dreadfully to keep up the act, but her eyes watched the stick intently. In all appearances it would have appeared to be a walking stick, but Hermione was sure it was magical.

She walked over to the large oven and turned on the switch. She knew that in the story the old woman had been pushed in the oven but Hermione doubted she would have luck like that. Unfortunately for her, this was not a fictional story, and therefore things were not going to happen ironically or by coincidence. Hermione would have to do this herself and just hope for the best, for she didn’t have Harry to protect her this time.

She watched the old woman gathering the ingredients for her cake, the walking stick clutched in her wrinkly hand. Perhaps it was time to stop thinking like herself and start thinking like Harry? What would he do if he had to get the stick off the old woman? Hermione frowned to herself; more than likely, Harry would do something unbelievably foolish and brave, and yet still pull it off. She nodded her head in agreement with herself, finally deciding what she was going to do.

Hermione moved around to where the old woman was and suddenly leapt at her, her shoulder bowling the woman over from the impact. Hermione almost cracked her head open, as she too went flying to the ground, but luckily she was able to move fast enough before her head smacked into the table leg. She quickly scrabbled up off the ground and moved towards the stick, which was now lying only a few feet away. She reached out her hand to grab the stick, when a wrinkly hand grabbed her hair. Hermione gasped, screwing up her face as her head was pulled into an uncomfortable position, so that she could stare into the clouded, white eyes of the old woman. She felt something cold against her neck and realised that one of the cooking knives was being held to her throat.

“That was very foolish.” The old woman said in a dangerous voice, her fingers tightening on Hermione’s hair so that Hermione thought her whole scalp might be pulled off. Who would have thought the old woman was so strong?

“Perhaps it is time I taught you a lesson in respecting your elders?”

Hermione ignored the old woman, desperately trying to reach out her hand to grab the stick only mere inches away. It was too far, and Hermione strained her arm, her fingers stretching as far as they could until they closed around the gnarled wood of the stick. She felt the cool metal of the knife scrap against her skin and gasped as blood started to trickle down her neck; she had moved too far and had forced herself to be cut, but thankfully it was not a deep one.

Hermione turned her eyes up to the woman, the stick in her hand. It was clear the woman had not realised because she was blind, so Hermione pulled the stick up closer towards her. “Maybe it is you who needs the lesson.” Hermione spat hatefully and pushed the sharp side of the stick hard up into the old woman’s face. The old woman screamed and dropped the knife, as well as letting go of Hermione’s hair, as she fell back clutching her face, which was now bleeding terribly.

Hermione picked up the stick again and whacked the woman around the head, hearing the loud crack of her skull breaking. She gasped slightly, feeling suddenly very sick as the old woman’s body collapsed to the floor in a pool of blood. Hermione could only stand there watching, her free hand covering her neck where the knife had cut her, breathing deeply as she realised she had killed someone.

“Hermione!” Harry shouted from the room. “What’s wrong?”

Hermione quickly dropped the stick and ran to the old woman’s body, hoping that the key to the cage was there. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the key and ran to the door where Harry was being kept. It was locked so she gave it a mighty kick and let out a shout of joy as the door flew open. She raced into the room, tears springing to her eyes as she got to the cage, seeing Harry’s familiar face watching her with concern.

“Oh, Harry,” Hermione exclaimed tearfully, as she opened the cage door with the key. “I know she was evil, but I killed her!”

The cage door opened, and Harry quickly stepped out, pulling Hermione into a comforting hug. Hermione let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and clutched him to her, just glad that everything was over.

“It’s okay, Hermione,” Harry said softly. “You just did what you had to do. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“But-”

“Don’t worry about it.” Harry said firmly, tilting her face up to his. He gave her a small smile and pushed the hair out of her face. “Let’s just focus on the good. We’re both alive, and you managed to kill the witch. You did what you were supposed to do.”

“Thanks Harry.” Hermione said gratefully and hugged him again. Harry rubbed her back slightly and then pulled himself away.

“So what do we do now? I mean I managed to kill a wolf, now you killed the witch that tries to eat people. What now?”

“I don’t know.” Hermione said truthfully, “But whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll find out.”