QLFC Round 12 – Blurring the Lines

Cross your story with a subcategory within Games: The Sims.

Prompts;

1. (phrase) now or never

7. (dialogue) "Who the bloody hell is that?"

13. (word) letter

Hermione took a minute to herself as she waited for Kingsley Shacklebolt to answer his door. She had been running around with hardly a break for the last week. Kingsley was still working hard to make the Ministry a nicer place to work in by weeding out corruption and Hermione, who was in training to take over as Minister when Kingsley retired, had been helping. It was exhausting work.

"Come in!" Kingsley called through the door Hermione double checked the papers she had in her arms before walking through the door with a grin on her face.

"I've located the rest of the missing files," she told the man, "It wasn't easy; whoever hid them did a good job of it."

"Wonderful, Ms Granger! Have you discovered anything of interest in them?" Kingsley asked.

"Unfortunately not, there was nothing more than we already knew," Hermione told him, "but I did find this letter with the files. It's written in some sort of code, though, so I haven't been able to work out what it said. It has an anti-magic protection built in somehow so none of the spells I've used have worked."

"Never mind," Kingsley said. Hermione could tell he was trying to remain happy, but there was a certain tiredness in his eyes that showed just how much this was all draining him, "Leave it with me and I'll have one of our other operatives look into it."

"Certainly, Minister!" Hermione said as she left the papers on the side of his desk. She was just about to leave when there was a knock on the door. It opened a millisecond afterwards and a blond haired man came rushing through the door.

"Excuse me, Minister," the man said, Hermione could swear she knew that voice from somewhere – if only he would slow down a bit so she could work it out, "I know you said not to come up here without an appointment, but it's urgent. I think my father has been put under the Imperius Curse!"

As the man said this, Kingsley gave him a disapproving look. It was only when he'd finished talking that he noticed and took a look around the room spotting Hermione, who instantly recognised him from school.

"Yes, and I believe the reason you are to make an appointment is so instances like this don't happen!" Kingsley sighed, "But it has; Ms Granger I believe you know—"

"Draco Malfoy," Hermione cut Kingsley off. She was confused to see him on good terms with Draco, but more than anything she was annoyed that he was here; she'd hoped that after school she'd never have to see him again, "What a pleasant surprise."

"What, too good to take Weasley's name?" Draco asked. It had been years since he'd seen the witch, but even he knew she was no longer single.

Hermione had hoped Draco had changed since she'd known him at school, but from the question he had asked it was evident he was still the same pompous little brat she'd know at school, even if he was now working for the right side.

"We broke up, actually," Hermione told him, "and before you say anything – it was a mutual decision."

"So you changed you name back? I understand why; Weasley is a bit of an unattractive name, isn't it?"

Hermione chose not to answer and instead addressed Kingsley with a forced smile on her face.

"If that's everything, Minister, I'll be on my way. Good day," Hermione turned to leave, but Kingsley spoke up before she could exit the room. With an inward curse, she turned to face the man as he spoke.

"Apologies, Ms Granger, but I think you could be of some use to this case. Mr Malfoy, would you care to enlighten Ms Granger on the specifics?"

Draco looked rather put out by the suggestion, he had obviously decided not to speak to Hermione again, but he started telling her anyway.

"For a few weeks now many witches and wizards have been acting out, doing strange things and not knowing why they are doing them. It started out with just one or two but slowly more and more are being affected. The Minister and I have come to the conclusion that it may be an operative gone rogue."

"But why would you think that?" Hermione asked, "If someone was using the Imperius Curse on other witches and wizards I wouldn't think it would be someone from our side."

"What Mr Malfoy has failed to tell you, however, is that all of the people affected are blood supremacists and ex-Death Eaters. People that we have been keeping an eye on to make sure they don't revert to their old ways," Kingsley told her.

"What makes you think I would be of any help to you on this?" Hermione asked. While she was more than capable of getting out into the field assisting and even leading missions, she had specifically requested to help from within the Ministry. This sounded more like a case where someone would need to go out there to check.

"We need someone that can gather Intel on the other recruits. They would need to be able to fit in with them and be trusted; something Mr Malfoy here would be unsuited for, obviously."

"I understand, Minister, but why me? Why not ask Harry or Ron? I hear Luna's back in town too, I'm sure she'd be more than willing to help."

"They would all be fine choices were they not busy with their own missions. They have, of course, been asked to keep an eye on the other members of our team, but they are unaware of the reasons why. You have unquestioning morals, you know what you stand for and what it right, but the others can sometimes deviate."

"Right…" Hermione said. She was a little apprehensive of taking the job, especially if it involved working with Malfoy, but she figured she'd have to learn to work with him if she were to become Minister one day, "Well if I really am your best option then I'll help as much as I can. I just can't help but wonder why you trust me more than some of the others."

"Truthfully, I don't—" Kingsley started before he was cut off by Draco.

"It was my decision, Granger. I decided that quite frankly you were the only one I could stand to be in a room with for more than five minutes – you reactions are a lot less unpredictable than those of your friends."

"Fine," Hermione admitted defeat, "Tell me what's been happening. How have they been acting strangely?"

"Well it's nothing major yet, no jumping off bridges or anything, but it's more…" Draco paused while he thought of the word he wanted, "humanlike strange. For example, they're all very proud people, don't like to get their hands dirty, and they're doing things like cooking meals instead of letting the house elf do it or spending an entire day baking. One man spent a whole day painting; he'd never picked up a brush before in his life."

"That doesn't sound too bad. Are you sure they didn't just fancy a change?"

"Unlikely, Granger. You didn't know these people."

"That is true. Anything else, or are they all just changing career paths?" Hermione chuckled. It didn't seem like that big of a deal to her. So a few dark witches and wizards were doing things for themselves, it was about time.

"Actually, it gets stranger still."

"Go on."

"Well, a few of them have been going for naps when they didn't want them, they've found themselves getting food when they were in the middle of doing something important and one man was so desperate for the toilet he pissed himself. He'd tried to go to the toilet several times, but he was unable to; whenever he started walking he found himself back on the sofa reading like someone wouldn't let him stop."

"That is strange…" Hermione said. She'd never heard of the Imperius Curse being used like this before, "Are you sure it's the Imperius Curse?"

"Well, what other explanation is there?"

Hermione was completely clueless; it didn't sound like the Imperius Curse, but she couldn't think what else would be causing it. She stayed silent and Kingsley used this time to start speaking.

"So you see why we wanted to get someone else in," Kingsley addressed Hermione before turning to face Draco, "Now tell me, Mr Malfoy, what is happening to you father?"

Draco explained to Kingsley what was happening. It was much the same as everyone else; he'd found his father baking cupcakes, he would sit and play wizards chess when there was work to be done, he'd go to sleep at the strangest times and he'd even been out jogging – something Lucius Malfoy had never done in his life.

"But that isn't all," Draco added as he finished explaining what he'd seen, "he told me this morning that his sense of time has gone strange. For example; he'd be doing work that would normally take him hours and what felt like three minutes later it would all be done, and he can read a book in just over five minutes. He's not doing it this fast, obviously, but he said it feels like his life has been sped up. He also mentioned that the opposite has been happening too, that he can sit down to start a task and two minutes feels like two hours."

"That is strange!" Hermione said, "I'm not sure this is the Imperius Curse, but it needs some further exploration. Where do we start, Minister?"

"That's the other reason we wanted you, Ms Granger, we are going to bring some of them in for observation. Mr Malfoy will be observing as he cannot get information from our side, however, we would like your help with the observation. You weren't called the brightest witch of your age for nothing," Kingsley chuckled.

"Of course I'll help, Minister," Hermione told him, "Where are we keeping them for observation?"

"We have set up a facility in the outskirts of London; Mr Malfoy knows where it is and will take you tomorrow morning before we bring the victims in."

Hermione sighed as she entered the observation building; she had been trying to gather information on everyone working at The Ministry all week and there had been nothing to cast suspicion on any of them, most of them had only known the names of the affected because they knew relatives of them or they had been named in The Daily Prophet after the war.

"How has it been on your end?" she asked Draco as she joined him in front of the monitors. They had set up a security system much like one the Muggles would use; cameras in every room, microphones around the house, and a control room where they could watch and listen to everything that was going on. The house they were monitoring was a combination of Muggle and Magical with working Muggle appliances but also house elves and magical items too.

"Pretty quiet," Draco told her, "They've been favouring the Muggle items over the Magical, but that's nothing new. I have noticed a couple of them working as if they were on… of what's that term you used yesterday?"

"Fast-forward?"

"Yes, they've been acting like they were on fast-forward, but only ever one or two at a time, and usually when they're doing things that would take a while like reading or painting…"

"So they're still doing mundane new tasks?"

"Yes. Nott's father has spent the morning baking, his cake is turning out to be rather majestic, look," Draco told her as he switched one of the screens to show the kitchen.

"Wow! That looks like something you'd see at a wedding."

"It reminds me of the design Astoria and I had decided on before…" Draco trailed off. Hermione knew the end of that sentence was 'before she died', but she also knew it was a sensitive subject so she didn't pry.

"It's beautiful," she said with a sad smile on her face.

Hermione heard someone swear loudly from one of the other monitors, "What was that?"

"It sounded like Parkinson! Let's find out," Draco told her as he flicked his mouse to change the main monitor to the upstairs library.

Surprisingly it hadn't taken Hermione very long to teach Draco how to use a computer, and over the last two weeks he'd become rather good at using them. As the screen switch, Hermione saw Pansy Parkinson stood in the centre of the room bouncing up and down while she waved her arms around. Draco looked away, knowing what was coming next, but Hermione hadn't spent as much time watching them as Draco had so watched in confusion as Pansy swore again before looking down and starting to urinate. As Hermione watched she thought she saw a layer of dirt cover Pansy for a moment, but when she looked again Pansy was back to normal and swearing as she went for a shower.

"What was that?" Hermione asked Draco. She was replaying the scene over in her head and something was definitely off – why had Pansy been covered in dirt?

"Parkinson pissed herself; it's not the first time it's happened."

"No, not that! Afterwards, I thought I saw a layer of dirt cover her, only for a moment but it was definitely there."

"You're going mad, Granger."

"Honestly," Hermione told him, her voice was starting to show her annoyance at the man sat next to her so she tried to calm it back down, "Play the tape again – I'll show you."

Draco got the tape up again, and Hermione went through the footage frame by frame until she came to the one she wanted.

"There!" she shouted a little too excitedly. Hermione paused the tape and zoomed in on Pansy. There she was having just wet herself covered in a dark layer of grime. She flipped to the next frame to make sure her suspicion was right – it was, the grime was gone – and then flipped back to show Draco.

Hermione knocked on Kingsley's door and entered with Draco right behind her.

"Minister! We found something while…" Hermione faltered. She looked up and saw Ron sat in front of the desk.

"We found some information on the Ant's Nest you may find interesting," Draco finished for her. Hermione, who was now almost level with Kingsley's desk, saw Ron's face pale as he heard Draco speak.

"What the bloody hell is he doing here?" Ron asked. He didn't even try to hide the disgust in his voice.

"Mr Malfoy," Kingsley started, his disappointment obvious, "is working on a case for me, and Ms Granger here is helping. I had called you in because I thought you might be of some use. I can see now that isn't the case. Now, Ms Granger, how may I help you?"

"Well, we were observing today and I noticed something strange happening to Number Seven. When she had an accident, well… I think you should see for yourself," Hermione told Kingsley before handing the picture they'd printed off to him.

Ron, who had obviously seen the picture as it was handed over, piped up from his chair.

"Who the bloody hell is that?"

"None of your business, Weasley," Draco spat from where he was stood behind Hermione.

"What do you make of this?" Kingsley interrupted as he took in the picture in front of him.

"We're not sure; we thought it might be useful, though…" Hermione said. Kingsley put the photograph down and sighed.

"Can I… Can I get a look at that?" Ron asked from where he was sat. Hermione looked at him and noticed his face was screwed up like he was trying to think.

"I don't see why not," Kingsley replied before handing him the picture.

They all sat and stood in silence for a while as Ron inspected the picture. Hermione wondered why Ron wanted to look at the picture; surely he wouldn't be able to help if he didn't even know what was going on. She was about to voice this opinion when Ron's face lit up – obviously he'd just remembered what it was he'd been thinking about so much.

"The first question is why the bloody hell do you have a picture of Parkinson with you? But more importantly, why does she look like she's in The Sims?"

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked. She was pretty sure the words Ron had spoken were in English, but she had no idea what they meant. One look at the other two men in the room told her that they didn't know either.

"The Sims. It's a computer game. I was at Dean and Seamus' the other day and Dean thought I'd like it. It's a Muggle game where you create and control humans living their day-to-day life. You can make them do anything from baking to painting to building a rocket ship. It's actually quite good," Ron explained to them. Hermione shared a look with Draco, this all sounded too familiar.

"And this Sim thing, it's a Muggle game?" she asked.

"Yes, why?" he asked looking confused.

"I think, Mr Weasley, you may have just helped us more than you know. Ms Granger, can you…" Kingsley said.

"Of course, Minister," Hermione answered and left the room, Draco followed close behind her.

"What—?" Hermione started before Draco cut her off.

"I wasn't going to stay in a room with Weasel, so I thought I'd come with you instead."

"I understand. So, ready to try out a Muggle computer game?" Hermione asked with a chuckle, she couldn't wait to see him try it.

"I suppose it's now or never," Draco replied as they walked towards the entrance of the building. Hermione smiled to herself as they did, it was turning out to be a rather interesting case.

Words: 3,000.

AN: This was my first attempt at a crossover. It doesn't mix nearly as much as I wanted it to, but I hope it still works. I also want to apologise if it seems a little rushed in places, I had an upper word limit of 3,000 so had to make sure I got it all into there (I had to cut just over 100 words after I'd finished too) so sorry if it does.

I actually really enjoyed writing this (when I could actually work out how to write it) and I'm genuinely thinking about adding a chapter from Pansy's POV to get the side of the people being controlled, however I have a lot to do both on ffn and IRL so if I do do that then it will definitely be a while before I do.

Finally, I want to say a massive thank you to Amy (MissWitchx) for helping me with the plot bunny. It's one of my favourite things I've ever written, so thank you.