Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or it's characters. Copyright belongs to J.K. Rowling _
"So, I'm supposed to push this to turn it on?" Ron asked
Ron stared at the strange contraption in confusion. Why did he have to get up and push a button when he could use his wand to do similar things?
"Of course. You press it, it flashes, and it turns on." Harry replied.
"Why?"
"What do you mean why?"
"Why do I have to press the button?"
"To turn it on!"
"But doesn't it have trigger word or something like that?"
"It's a muggle device, it doesn't do that. At least not this generation"
"Generation?"
"You know, the old consoles versus the new consoles. All of that. Have you really never heard of this stuff?
"No, and I don't see what's so special about this 'Xbox' thing! Plus, why is it called 360? It's a box! Not a sphere"
Harry rolled his eyes, "Just push the button,"
"Fine," Ron pushed the button on the box, and jumped as it hummed to life and presented an image on the screen.
"It's just booting up,"
Ron settled down, and resigned himself to sit on the couch next to Harry. Harry passed him a, thing. It was a wand, but it was the oddest shaped wand Ron had ever seen. Pointed it at a glass on punch.
"Wingardium leviosa" The stupid glass stood still. Harry sighed and face palmed, nearly breaking his glasses.
"What kind of wand is this?"
"It's not a wand you twit, it's a controller."
"Of what?"
"What?"
"A controller of what? It's not controlling what I want it to control."
"It's for the game. Think of it like using your wand to control a broomstick, only the broomstick is on a screen"
"So it is a wand"
"No! It's a-"
"But you just-!"
"It was a figure of speech!"
"You are not making any sense"
"Never mind, let's just play the game"
The strange screen was showing now showing a "dashboard". Didn't look like you could write on it though. Harry pushed a button and it went to "Halo". Something caught Ron's eye.
"What's that?"
"What is it now?"
"That thing. 'Press Start'"
Harry pointed to a button on the strange wand.
"It means press that"
"But that's not start. That's a button"
"It's the start button"
"But-"
Harry eyed him. Ron shut up.
Ron watched in confusion as Harry worked the odd wand. Harry looked at him again.
"Press the 'A'"
"What?"
"The 'A' button. The button with the big letter 'A' on it"
Harry pointed again to the wand.
"Oh"
Ron pressed it and the screen said he was a guest.
"Why's my name not up there?"
"Huh?"
"The screen. Your name is up there. Why's mine not"
"You don't have a file"
"You know as well as I do how much Hermione filed my homew-"
"An Xbox Live file. It means you haven't played before. Which I'm trying to fix"
"But that little thing in your pocket has my name in it"
Harry checked his pocket. He sighed.
"I put your name in my phone. It didn't get there by itself. I told you this while I helped you set up yours"
"What's the point then? That takes too much time"
"Do you want to play the game or not?"
"No! I don't!"
"Then why-?"
"You thought 'video games' were sped up quidditch matches"
"How…never mind. We're here now. So I'm showing you how to play"
Ron groaned, "Fine"
Harry pressed the button a few more times and now the screen showed two guns.
Harry turned to Ron.
"Ok, you press this button to use the gun, this one for grenades, this one to jump…" He went on explaining the strange wand to Ron.
"But can't I just jump on my own?"
"It's in the game"
Ron gave up. "Ok," he sighed, "whatever you say"
Ron fiddled with the awkward wand for a few minutes. Harry was working professionally. Ron soon learned you had to use your thumbs for the sticks. How weird.
Then there was a bang and Ron side of the screen went weird. "What just happened?" he asked
"I killed you"
"I think I would have know if-"
"In the game! Just respawn"
Ron did. He was surprised he used the right button. He was getting the hang of this. There was another bang.
"Boom, headshot!" Harry exclaimed.
"What?"
"I shot you in the head with a sniper rifle. I counts for extra points"
Odd. Why would the head be worth extra points?
They went on playing. It ended up being Ron walking around the map and Harry simply running up to him and shooting him.
"You got to shoot, Ron. Push the right trigger"
"The what?"
Harry pointed. Ron pushed the trigger, "Oh". Ron respawned and went looking for Harry. He saw him and held the trigger. Harry's character fell.
"I DID IT!" Ron raised his hands in triumph, "Boom! Headshot!"
"You shot my back"
"So?"
"Nothing. Nevermind"
Ron grabbed Harry's sniper rifle and went walking. Bang! Ron got another one. Bang! Another one. Ron was getting pretty good at this. Ron's character ran up to Harry's and hit him with a melee attack. Ron crouched and stood up. Ron was astonished to see how Harry's character moved with Ron's. So he did it again and again.
"Hey, look," he said.
Harry looked and frowned, "Really, Ron?"
"What?"
"I knew we should have played Monopoly."
