UNREAL REALITIES
Chapter 7: Reality
DISCLAIMER: They're all mine and i can do what i want with them! Mwahaha! Um, i mean...i don't own any of the characters or the plot...yeah...that's what i mean.
A/N - I didn't expect to finish this fic so soon but here's the last chapter, it just kinda snuck up on me. I was going to split it up into 2 chapters but i couldn't find a decent place to end so i just gave it to you all in one.
Before any of them could make a move towards her, Hermione whipped out her wand and pointed it at them.
"Don't move. Any of you." Her voice was low and calm, despite the torrent of emotions that were flooding through her as her eyes swept the faces of these people she'd known for years.
There was Ginny, tear tracks lining her pale beautiful face while she stared with haunted eyes at her best friend. Malfoy's blonde hair was messed up yet he still faced Hermione with the same cold arrogance he always wore. Harry looked startled and slightly afraid. And then there was Ron.
Ron. He hadn't shed any tears, she could tell that from the clarity of his eyes as they held her own, questioning and caring. He still cared for her despite what she'd done to him. What she was going to do to him.
"Hermione," Harry's voice was flat and tight, the type of voice they use to talk jumpers down from the roof, "Hermione, why have you brought us here?"
"Don't ask, Harry, you really don't want to know the answer," Ginny's voice trembled as she eyed Hermione warily. "There's something wrong with her, it's like she's possessed or something."
"I'm sorry, Harry, I want you to know that. I am sorry, but it has to be done." Hermione drew his attention away from the shaking redhead.
"What has to be done? What are you sorry for?"
"For everything," her voice cracked as the first tear formed behind her eyes and she raised the wand, pointing it at Malfoy. He would be first.
"Hermione? Hermione honey, what's going on?" Her wand lowered imperceptibly as her eyes widened, startled at the words.
That wasn't Harry's voice. That was the voice she remembered from happier times, the voice she was doing all this for, "Mum?"
Her hostages exchanged glances as Hermione's eyes swept the room once more, searching for a voice none of them had heard.
"Mum? Where are you?"
"I'm right here, honey, just open your eyes." The soft voice sounded so full of love yet she still couldn't see where her mother was.
"My eyes are open mum, where are you? I can't see you. I can only see them. I'm about to do it. Mummy, I'm going to get better, I promise. I'll do anything."
"Hermione, who are you talking to? There's no-one there." Ron sounded slightly panicked now.
"Shut up!" She screeched at him, "Where are you? Where's Doctor Snape?"
"She's finally lost it," Malfoy's drawl cut through the tense silence as everyone strained to hear what Hermione seemed to be hearing, "Granger, I knew reading every book in the library would screw you up one day."
"Malfoy, just shut it." Ron muttered, "Hermione, just tell me who you're talking to."
Her mother's voice had disappeared when Ron had interrupted her and she almost screamed in frustration.
"It doesn't matter, Ron. You don't need to know. Just hush and it'll all be over soon."
"What are you going to do?" Ron asked.
Hermione's body was racked with a wave of tears as she opened her mouth to try to explain herself, her voice failing her when she looked into the blue eyes of the boy she loved.
"She's going to kill us," Ginny whispered, answering for her.
"What?" Harry exclaimed, looking at Ginny like she'd lost her mind.
"I told you, there's something wrong with her, she keeps talking about her mum and she thinks Snape is a Doctor. She thinks she's ill or something – she was talking to herself before. She's going to kill us and then set Hogwarts on fire."
"ShutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupSHUTUP!" Hermione chanted, ending in a screech that caused the four figures in front of her to back up against the wall.
"I'm going to kill you. He told me that's the only way to get better. I want to get better, what's so wrong with that?" Her tears coursed down her cheeks as she ranted at them. "I'm ill. You don't exist, none of you do, Hogwarts doesn't exist, magic doesn't exist, broomsticks don't fly and dragons and unicorns belong in fairy tales. This is all an illusion dreamt up by my sick mind. I'm lying in a hospital bed somewhere and it's all your fault. I could have gotten better a long time ago but I was so happy here and it's all your fault!"
"If you're happy here then why do you need to end it?" Harry asked cautiously.
"Because for the past 5 years I've been living in a fantasy world. I might have been happy but it's all turned to shit now. Both my parents are dead here. In the real world I still have my mum. And I'm willing to do anything to get back there."
"Including killing us." Malfoy stated.
"Yeah. Now hold still, Ferret Boy, this'll only hurt a bit."
"You know what, Granger, I don't think I will." He started advancing upon her menacingly, ignoring the gasps and cries of the others to get back.
Hermione looked shocked and tried to steady her shaking wand hand, "what are you doing Malfoy? I've got the wand, don't you think I'll do it? Because I will."
"The way I see it, there's four of us and only one of you. Wand or not, we could still take you. Maybe Scarhead and the Weasels want to die in this dungeon but I don't. And, unlike them, I don't care whether I have to hurt you to get you to move out of my way so I can leave." Slow, deliberate steps brought him ever closer to her.
"Don't push me, Malfoy. I will kill you." She was breathless and her chest felt tight, she tried to attribute it to the tears and the excitement of being so close to her goal but deep down she knew she was afraid. Afraid that she would kill him. Afraid that she wouldn't.
"I don't think so, mudblood," he was right in front of her now, her wand actually touching his chest, "otherwise I would be dead already. And so would all of your little friends. So why don't you just move out of my way and accept that your filthy mudblood parents are six feet under, where they belong."
Hermione saw red. She lowered her wand, but only so she could get enough leverage to punch the smirking blonde before her.
"Hermione!" shouted someone in the room, but she didn't acknowledge them, her eyes instead on the boy she'd knocked to the floor, a hint of thick red blood congealing at the corner of his mouth.
She lifted her wand once more – even through the punch she'd held onto it – and pointed it down at him. "My mother is not dead. And you don't even exist you pathetic freak. I'm not even going to feel bad about this. Avada…"
A pounding on the door behind her and a muffled shout of "Miss Granger!" cut her off. She whirled round to see the door beginning to open. Panicking she threw her weight against it and pushed it closed again. "Colloportus," she panted.
"Miss Granger, please let us in." Hermione could hear Dumbledore shouting and the sound of others; probably various other staff members, but their words didn't mean a thing. They fell into the background like white noise as she turned to face her prisoners yet again.
This was it. She'd stalled for too long. She just had to bite the bullet – so to speak – and get it over with. Slowly she raised her wand once more.
"Don't do this, Hermione, this isn't you. You're not well," Ginny pleaded, through her sobs.
"That's what I've been telling you all along. But I'm making myself better and then I'm going back to the real world."
"This is the real world! Just listen to us! How could you have created something like this? A whole other world with so many things going on. And why would you have to kill us to get through it? Mental Hospitals have all these drugs and treatments and stuff, what you're saying sounds like they're trying to make you cure yourself, and that just wouldn't happen." Harry spoke low and carefully, his words fast but not hurried.
Despite herself, Hermione couldn't help but listen to him, her eyes fixed on him as the others in the room hung back and let him do the talking since he seemed to be the only person getting through to her. Even the pounding on the door behind her had ceased. Relieved that he had her attention, Harry continued.
"Think about it. Just before I got Voldemort he hit you with a curse. You said you would do anything to keep your parents alive and he said he would test your loyalty. How do you know that this whole thing: you thinking you're ill; thinking you have to kill us and set fire to Hogwarts, isn't just something to do with that curse?"
"Voldemort didn't finish the incantation, Harry. Besides, he's dead. Most spells cast upon a person end should the castor die – finite incantatem at its best."
"I'm afraid, Miss Granger, that Voldemort isn't quite as dead as we'd hoped."
Dumbledore's voice whirled her round to face the open doorway. Snape stood behind him, with something that looked suspiciously like a muggle hairpin clutched between his hands. Professor McGonagall stood beside Snape, her stern face showing slight sympathy as she regarded her favourite student.
"No…stop trying to confuse me. I know he's not dead," numerous shocked gasps interrupted her, "of course he's not dead, he can't die if he never existed in the first place. I just started getting better that's all, so he went away. You can't do anything to me! You're not even here, you're just in my head. LEAVE ME ALONE!" She took a step back and levelled her wand at Dumbledore, tears obscuring her vision.
"Miss Granger, forgive me," was all the tired looking old man said before raising his own wand and muttering "stupefy," at the exact moment she cried out "expelliarmus!"
Hermione's spell was no match for the power behind Dumbledore's and with a heaving gasp of tears she fell to the floor, the now familiar darkness settling round her once more.
"YOU FAILED?"
The harsh words permeated Hermione's consciousness, her eyes opened against her will to find herself once more strapped to the bed in the blinding white of the asylum.
"What?" She muttered weakly, trying to shut her eyes against the glare.
"You failed to kill them. You failed to destroy Hogwarts. Tell me girl, are you COMPLETELY USELESS?"
The owner of the voice came into sharp focus as Hermione gave up the struggle to keep her eyes closed and instead looked up into the livid face of her mother. But the look in her eyes wasn't one Hermione was accustomed to seeing in their chocolate depths. The pure hatred and revulsion she saw made her jerk back involuntarily, struggling against her bonds.
"What? Mum…no…I'm going to get better, I promise, I'll come back." Hermione stammered, her eyes wide as she wrenched her hands and legs, trying to loosen the straps.
"What use do I have for you? I set you one simple task. I even made it easier for your simple little Gryffindor mind," her voice took on a simpering air, "'I can't kill you because you don't even exist, I want my Mummy!' I made it look like I'd died, as if that silly little boy could kill me. I made you think there was nothing wrong with what you were doing, and still you were unsuccessful. "
"Stop, please stop! Where's my mum? What have you done to her?"
"Your mother's dead little girl, accept it. You were so close! I had you and you had them. You were finally going to get rid of Potter and Dumbledore and instead you decided to have an attack of conscience. Your loyalty is no longer required, Mudblood."
Hermione screamed as her mother's soft beautiful face morphed and shifted to become pure white, without a nose, although she barely noticed this as her mothers deep brown eyes glowed pure red.
Lord Voldemort leaned down, bringing that face closer and closer to hers, ignoring the jerking of her body as she tried desperately to escape.
"Say hello to mummy," he hissed right into her ear, sending shivers running down her spine.
She closed her eyes and screamed once more, louder and longer than she'd ever screamed before in her life. She barely stopped to take a breath as the scream went on and on and on, and all the while in her mind she was praying. Pleading and begging to any deity listening, to help her.
A soft voice broke through the noise, quieting the scream but she still didn't open her eyes, soft whimpers replacing the piercing shrieks.
"Hermione, wake up." The voice was insistent but she felt that nothing would make her open her eyes again and risk seeing that hideous creature. No wonder Harry had had nightmares after what had happened at the Triwizard Tournament. She knew that, should she by some miracle survive, Voldemort would haunt her dreams as well. The thought of Harry caused a niggle in the back of her mind. Something about him.
The voice had continued, cajoling her to open her eyes, but it was different, it wasn't hissing and cold, it sounded familiar, comforting. It sounded like…
"Harry?" She finally opened her eyes, wary that it might be another trick of Voldemorts, playing with her before he killed her.
"It's me, Hermione, don't worry, we're all here."
And they were. Her bleary eyes took in the familiar hospital wing, and the even more familiar faces grouped around her: Harry, Ron, Ginny, Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, McGonagall, Snape.
Snape.
"Get away from me! Get away from me you BASTARD!" She screeched, launching herself off the bed to get as far away as possible from Snape, oblivious to the concerned glances passing between her friends and teachers.
"What the hell is he doing here? He's part of it! Get him out of here, now!" When no-one moved she stared round at them all again.
"Why aren't you doing anything? He was there, he was in my delusions! Voldemort planted all these…things…thoughts…plans in my head and that evil Death Eater scum was in on it all the time!"
Snape didn't say a word, looking slightly apprehensive as the sixteen year old witch before him screamed yet more obscenities, her voice growing hoarser all the time. And still no-one did anything.
Harry understood why Dumbledore didn't stop Hermione. It was like at the end of the previous year when he'd been allowed to rant and rave and destroy the Headmaster's office, he acknowledged that Dumbledore felt Hermione needed to get all her feelings out and he put a restraining hand on Ron's shoulder as the boy made a movement towards his girlfriend. He didn't need to worry about Ginny though, she was just staring at Hermione, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide at this display.
"He's part of the reason I nearly killed you all, why don't you do something?" Hermione's voice had dropped to a whisper and she sank to the floor, unable to keep her legs steady anymore.
Ron fought off Harry's hand and went to her, giving the others an angry look. He gently picked her up from the floor, holding her frail form in his arms, and carried her slowly back on to the bed. He placed her on it and tucked the covers round her shivering, whimpering body and a surge of rage filled him.
"Would someone please tell me what the ruddy hell is going on?" He demanded, not caring that he had sworn in front of almost half the faculty.
Dumbledore sighed heavily and began to speak in his serene tones to the room at large.
"It seems that the attack on Miss Granger's household two weeks ago was a carefully orchestrated plot to allow Voldemort to manipulate her into killing Harry, Draco Malfoy, Miss Weasley and Mr. Weasley. It is well known that Harry places a lot of faith in his friends and you each have helped him best Voldemort on several occasions."
"Malfoy hasn't." Ron interrupted.
"No. Voldemort felt that Lucius Malfoy deserved to be punished for failing him in the battle at the Ministry at the end of last term. I am sure you are all somewhat familiar with the phrase: 'the sins of the father shall be revisited upon the son.' From what I was able to gather through the Legilimency I performed upon her whilst she was unconscious, Hermione has been subjected to…illusions of a sort. Voldemort caused her to believe that she had a mental illness. She thought that Hogwarts and the world of magic existed only within her sick mind, and in order to recover she had to eradicate Hogwarts, starting with the four of you."
"But what about Snape? Why was she screaming about him?" Ron spat out, his tone venomous as he glowered at Snape.
"Professor Snape, Mr Weasley." Dumbledore replied before being interrupted once more, this time by Hermione.
"He was there. In the other reality. He was the Doctor. He was the one who told me I had to kill you, he said it was the only way for me to get better," she whispered.
"Voldemort no doubt felt the transition of realities would be smoother for you if he incorporated a familiar face into your delusions, you would be less likely to question things if they had what seemed like a logical explanation – Professor Snape became Doctor Snape, an easy leap between the two, and sufferers of illnesses such as the one Voldemort attempted to make you believe you had often incorporate things or people they see everyday into their episodes.
"None of it was real?"
Ron's heart nearly cracked at the soft vulnerability of her voice.
"No my dear. None of it was real. You are at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, surrounded by your friends, and I assure you, magic does exist," Dumbledore smiled sadly down at her, "now, I feel certain that if I do not allow Poppy to administer some medicine and care to you very soon she shall cross me off her Christmas card list." He gave her another smile before ushering everyone else out of the room, allowing Ron a pause to kiss Hermione's lips softly.
Once they had all left she raised a hand to her mouth, still feeling the slight pressure Ron had left there. It felt real. She felt real.
For the first time in what felt like years, Hermione felt calm. She felt safe and reasonably happy. This was what was real. Hogwarts, her friends, her boyfriend.
This was reality.
Smiling gently she took the dreamless sleep potion held out to her by Madam Pomfrey and after a slight hesitation drank it. She wouldn't let what he'd done to her make her fear closing her eyes, because she knew that once that darkness lifted and she woke, she would be back home again.
She would be at Hogwarts.
THE END
A/N - yeah, the ending's a bit sappy, so sue me. i liked it. please review! and even if u don't review, hope you enjoyed it anyway :-)