A/N: So, I have no idea why this didn't work the first 60 times I tried to upload. Sorry about that. Disclaimers & kittens & all that,

This was written at a time when I was moving in a different direction with the plot, or non-plot. After we found out some more about canon Hermione, this got left behind in favor of something more fitting. I can pretty much guarantee scattered and unfinished thoughts-after I switched gears, I obviously didn't feel the need to develop it further. Then why, you ask, would I publish it? Eh. I guess I liked the odd angsty thought here or there.

After this, I only have one chapter thingy left, so please, please review? For every teenager? For my sanity? For... a cookie?

Outtake: Non-options

"Mum, I realize and understand your concern for my safety." She was trying to use the Counseling Models for Mediation and Talking and Listening. It was becoming more difficult by the minute.

"But you, too, need to realize that I have already been though a lot. I know you're saying it out of concern, but I feel like you're patronizing me and not giving me credit for what I have done thus far."

"I know, I'm sorry," her mother began. "I know you have. But you just don't know what these people are going to do. They're crazy." Obviously her mother knew the schematics of the Counseling Model but not how to put it into practice. It was the listening part that she fell short in.

Hermione was going to loose her temper. Or her mind. She almost wished she hadn't said anything the other night at dinner and later in the family room.. Then her muggle home would return to the peaceful serene pseudo utopia that it had once been. Now she fully appreciated her earlier inclinations to hide the year's event from her "living in another world" parents. From this point on, they would only know the essentials. The barest, most minimum of essentials. Anything beyond that—well, it would be better off remaining the grey areas.

Easier said than done, logic interrupted her thought.

Yep, she was going to loose it. Then she would land herself in the residential ward of St. Mungo's for addled brains. Only they wouldn't be addled by Magic, but by overzealous-in-all-the-wrong-ways-parents. Inward ranting calmed her.

"I know you're scared, mum, really I do. But no one knows better than I do (except Harry, of course) the severity of the situation. I was there. I lived it and handled myself accordingly thus far. I just need you to recognize that."

"Of course." Mrs. Granger replied.

But Hermione could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn't entirely believe what she was saying.

"Alright, mum. Goodnight."

"Goodnight. I love you."

"Yeah," Hermione half smiled, closing her bedroom door.

As far as Mr. Granger was concerned, well, he was livid. Ever since he had found out that Hermione was living on her own in a world where a raving lunatic roamed loose and free, well he really wasn't happy. It had taken a moment to sink in, but as soon as it did… his face turned red and he went off on a tirade of his own about how the school and government needed to protect Hermione—that was their job.

Hermione had wisely made the decision at that point to tell her parents that the government didn't actually believe that Voldemort was strong—or even alive—again.

That had done it. Up until that point, no one suggested that she shouldn't return to school. There was a lot of talk of phoning the headmaster and choosing friends carefully–she gritted her teeth—but never once did her parents mention the thought that just maybe she shouldn't return to Hogwarts. Smartest thing they did the whole vacation—or rather, had done, because after she argued that it was not popular theory that Voldemort had returned, the suggestion came to contact someone in the government followed by the suggestion that she take a few years off and go to the local university preparatory school.

She'd already had a place secured before she received her Hogwarts letter and the news that witches and wizards existed beyond fantasy novels. It would be oh-so easy to speak to the headmistress and get her back in—at least until things calmed down.

But that was laughable. They were angry, and after Hermione argued that Hogwarts was the best school for her, that subject dropped. Whether they seriously considered it or not, it was not, and would never be an option for her.