UNREAL REALITIES

Chapter 1: Fighting and Waking

DISCLAIMER: Yes, ok, i admit it, i kinda stole the plot from an episode of Buffy (i'm a bad bad person) but i think it goes really well in HP world - which i also don't own - and i'm gonna try to put my own little twist on it all.

A/N - hope you enjoy:

"NO!" Hermione screamed as the Death Eater grabbed her by the hair and lifted her from the ground she lay on. The grass in her front garden was scorched as though the serpents of hell had passed that way.

This gave her a chance to witness the chaos around her.

There was fighting everywhere. It was the last battle and the faces were indistinguishable from one another. The sound of many different spells and curses mingled with the sounds of banging and crashing as people were thrown into things or objects flew across the garden and street beyond. She only hoped that her parents had gotten away safely. When Voldemort attacked the Golden Trio during their holiday at Hermione's house she'd only had time to scream at her parents to run. After that there was no telling what had happened to them.

Ron threw curses at Bellatrix Lestrange, not heeding the blood that ran down his face or the arm hanging twisted and limp at his left side, concentrating on the dark haired witch in front of him. Ginny, sweet Ginny, lay a few feet away from him, eyes shut, a growing pool of blood spreading outwards from the wound just beneath her ribs, she was breathing, but barely.

And Harry. He stood in the middle of it all, exchanging curses with a speed that impressed her, even in the midst of the entropy surrounding them.

With the Death Eater holding her face up she was powerless to stop what was going on. And nor could she turn her head when Voldemort hissed a curse which finally got through to Harry, who crumpled onto the floor.

With Harry incapacitated, Voldemort turned his attention to Hermione. The sounds around her faded to white noise as his red eyes bore into her.

"I admit that you are smart for a mudblood. And so powerful…" he ran a cold finger down her cheek, trailing through her tears.

"Join us." He said simply. "Or suffer the consequences."

Hermione was about to scream at him that she'd die first, when something moved at the corner of her eye and a Death Eater brought into view something which she'd hoped against hope she would never see.

The body of her mother.

Her voice failed her as tears racked her aching body. Her father was dragged struggling into her view and Voldemort lifted his wand till it was pointed at her dad's chest.

"No!" She screamed again. "Please, just leave him alone. Please."

She broke down. But while all eyes were on her, a boy with jet black hair twitched on the ground behind the Death Eaters.

"I'll do anything you want, just leave him alone!" Voldemort lifted his wand triumphantly and pointed it at Hermione.

"Then let's test your loyalty." He started uttering a spell but before the word was finished his knees gave out beneath him and he slid to the ground, mouth still open, wand still pointed. Harry Potter stood at his back, wand raised, aiming at where Voldemort's chest had been only moments before.

The still form of the most evil wizard ever known crumbled into dust as a cleansing wind blew. Harry barely noticed this, however as he ran to the crumpled body of Hermione.

The lights were blinding. It hurt to open her eyes. But when they finally opened, she was shocked. This wasn't the hospital wing, where was she? Was she in St. Mungo's? What had happened? Had Harry finally defeated Voldemort, or was the vision of him standing, almost glowing with power, behind Voldemort's body merely her own wishful thinking?

She had so many questions but there was no-one to answer them. Panic rose through her as she tried to get off the bed she was lying on, only to realise that she was bound to it somehow.

"Hermione? Darling. Oh thank God you're awake!"

"Mum? Mummy? You're ok? You're not dead!" Her eyes swam with tears as her mothers taut face appeared in her view.

"Oh Hermione." Tears spilled from her eyes, splashing onto the leather straps holding Hermione down.

"What's going on? Mum, what's wrong? What happened to Harry? Did he kill Voldemort? Ron…" Her voice suddenly cracked, "oh, is Ron ok?"

Her mother looked away from her, towards a man entering the cold, sterile room. His shoulder length black hair and hooked nose was familiar to Hermione.

"Professor Snape! Please, tell me, what happened to Ron and Harry? We beat him, right? Harry killed Voldemort?"

"Doctor…" her mother started. Hermione didn't understand, he wasn't a doctor, he was her potion's Professor. "Doctor, why is she still having the delusions? She's awake, she's lucid, she knows who I am. I don't understand?" Her mother sounded puzzled and the tears still hadn't stopped leaking from her eyes.

Snape walked over to Hermione and shone a pen light into her eyes. "Hermione, what is your full name?"

"Hermione Jane Granger. Professor, you know that, I…" He cut her off.

"And who am I Hermione?"

She was confused, they didn't have time for this, she needed to see Harry and Ron. Oh. God, she needed to see Ron.

"You're my potions Professor, Severus Snape."

"Do you know where you are?" Although the expression on his face hadn't changed she could have sworn that she saw a flash of triumph in his eyes when she had uttered his name.

"No, I don't know where I am," anger rose through her, "is this St Mungo's?"

Her mother gave a loud sob and turned away from her.

"Hermione," Snape pulled a chair towards the bed and sat on it so that she didn't have to crane her neck to look at him. It was funny how she hadn't noticed up until now that every bone in her body ached.

"There are a few things that we need to talk about. You are not in St. Mungo's. There is not, in fact, any such place. You are in an asylum for youngsters such as yourself who get confused sometimes."

"Confused?"

"Oh, yes. Now you are under the impression that for the past five years you have been attending a school known as," he checked a white clipboard in his pale hands, "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is that correct?"

"Professor, I have been going to Hogwarts. You've taught me for the last five years." She didn't care that she was being insolent to the teacher who intimidated her the most, she just couldn't understand why he was saying these things.

"Actually Hermione, I am not a professor, I am a doctor, and I have been monitoring your progress for 5 years. You have come to recognise me, which is a good sign, however you have also incorporated me into your episodes, making me a character in your delusions."

"Delusions?" Now she was really angry. "I have not been having delusions! Professor, please, Harry can tell you the truth. And so can Ron!"

"I'm afraid that Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley are also mere figments created by your imagination to help you cope with the less pleasant aspects of your reality."

"No! That's not right, that can't be right!" Hermione's voice was rising to an almost hysterical shriek by this time, "No! I remember everything! The troll in the bathroom. The Chamber of Secrets. The Dementors! You're lying to me! Why are you lying to me? I remember hugging Harry. I remember my first kiss with Ron! I remember our first date, he took me to Hogsmeade! I remember…Oh, God, I remember Voldemort. The fight in the garden. Mummy, I remember seeing you and Daddy die."

Unable to speak anymore, she gave herself over to the sobs that racked her body, screaming wordless screams in between breaths.

A nurse rushed in, a hypodermic needle clutched in her hand.

"No, wait." Snape stopped the woman before she could plunge the long shining point into Hermione's skin. "We may be coming to a breakthrough."

"Mrs Granger could you come over here please?"

Hermione's mother walked towards the bed, looking slightly bemused, tear tracks drying on her face.

"Hermione," Snape spoke softly to the crying girl, "Hermione, can you remember what you were doing the day you found out about Hogwarts?"

The question gave Hermione a reason to pause in her weeping to try to bully her unusually sluggish mind into working. "Yes…Dad and I were out in the park, walking," she gave a sad smile, "he was trying to tell me about boys, oh he was so bad at it. He told me that he should have just left the birds and the bees talk to mum. So he took me home and my Hogwarts letter was waiting for me. Why?"

"You never made it home that day, Hermione. There was an…incident…in the park. You're father was stabbed to death by gang members. You hid in some nearby bushes and saw the whole thing. After that incident you started to create a world where you felt safe."

"Safe?" Hermione gave a bitter laugh, "with Voldemort hanging around? It's never safe. You're the one who's delusional professor, not me."

"Then can you explain to me how your mother is standing here beside me, alive and well, when you claimed that this Lord Voldemort killed her before your eyes?"

"I…I can't…This is a trick. Some sort of trick, he's trying to get to me."

"If you mean Lord Voldemort, Hermione, then I believe you said that Harry killed him. How can he be trying to trick you?"

"I don't know." Hermione was getting even more confused now.

Her mother touched her face gently, "Hermione, my darling, please. I just want you to get better. You can feel my touch, I know you can, just hold onto that."

Hermione sobbed once more as her mother removed her hand and stepped back to talk to Snape as the nurse stuck the needle into her arm.

The last thing she heard was Snape talking to her mother, "We believe that this Lord Voldemort was a manifestation within her dreams of the gang who killed her father. Hopefully the fact that he has been defeated within her fantasies means that she has started to come to terms with the death of her father."

Sweet euphoria dragged her under and she slept an untroubled and dreamless sleep

A/N - lemme know wat u think, that's wat the pretty little review box is there for )