A/N: Okay, this was a bit weird, but I got the idea while playing Microsoft Pinball Arcade. The Cue Ball Wizard table, to be exact. I've done it again. I wrote Hermione to be like me. I can't help it – she's so much like me to start with! And don't ask where Harry is. Frankly, I don't know. Oh, I'm so happy, I've had writer's block until now! Anyway, Cue Ball Wizard belongs to Gottlieb, and just about everything else in this fic belongs to J.K. Rowling. And I just used Lynn for Hermione's middle name because it's really common, and I think it sounds good anyway.
Pinball Wizard
"Cue Ball Wizard? What does this Muggle contraption have to do with wizards?" Ron Weasley asked, and then thought of something else. "What's a cue ball, anyway?"
"A cue ball is a white ball that Muggles hit in a game called pool," Hermione Granger answered in a matter-of-fact manner.
"Okay, then what is this piece of – "
"Oh, I see you found the Muggle pinball machine," Arthur Weasley said as he came into the room where the two teenagers were.
"What does it do?" Ron inquired.
Hermione smirked to herself and waited to hear Mr. Weasley's explanation.
"Well, it's a Muggle game. I think they use these buttons," He indicated small buttons on each side of the machine, "to hit a little metal ball around inside the table."
"What's the point of hitting a ball around with buttons?"
"Well, I reckon we'll find out when we start playing it." Mr. Weasley then left the room again.
Ron walked over to the machine and curiously inspected it. "'Shoot ramp while flashing'… 'No way'… 'Side pocket'… Hermione, what does this all mean?"
It was hard for Hermione not to answer this question, but she wanted him to find it all out on his own. She shrugged and then saw Ron give her a suspicious look.
Ron didn't have any time to question Hermione about her uncharacteristic attitude, because at that moment, his father came back carrying a big and bulky plastic box-shaped object.
"What's THAT?" Ron was obviously perturbed by the overload of Muggle artifacts.
"It's an eckeltricity generator. All we have to do is put one of the plugs from my collection in the socket – "
"What's a socket?" The load of Muggle terms was thoroughly confusing Ron.
"That's the holes where the plugs go," Hermione piped up.
"Oh, okay."
Mr. Weasley, who had been fiddling around in the back of the pinball unit while Hermione was defining a socket to Ron, stepped out of the shadow of the machine. While dusting himself off, he said, "Well, I guess that just about does it. Ron, could you crawl under the table and flick the power switch under there?"
Ron sighed. "Sure, dad."
With his lanky figure, it wasn't hard for Ron to get to the switch underneath the unit. As soon as he had pushed the switch from off to on, the machine gave a slight shudder and emitted a few loud, successive dings. As he crawled out from under the table, he asked, "So, can we play it now?"
"Yes, Ron. Mind if I have the first go?" Mr. Weasley was trying to hide his childlike excitement when he stepped in front of the machine. He plucked at the spring in the front of the unit while muttering, "Well, I think this is how you're supposed to start it. But where is the ball?"
As Mr. Weasley started pressing every button that was accessible to him, Hermione took a coin that she just happened to have and put it in the slot while he wasn't looking. Mr. Weasley looked quite pleased with himself when the shiny ball appeared in the chute.
For a few moments, Hermione and Ron watched Mr. Weasley play the pinball machine. Being a beginner, his game was over in an instant. When Ron stepped up to the machine, his father said to him, "Now, Ron, don't you think it's proper to let your guest go before you?"
"But, Dad, she's probably played this before!" Ron whined.
"Ronald, no buts. Let her play."
"Fine."
Hermione went over to the table and positioned her hands over the flipper buttons after discreetly putting another coin into the slot. She'd have to tell them about that sometime, but not quite yet. She absorbed herself totally in the game, not even paying attention to the fact that Ron and Mr. Weasley were watching her intently.
"I'm TRYING to shoot the ramp you stupid piece of crap!" She didn't even realize that she sounded foolish yelling at the machine when "shoot the ramp" could be heard coming out of the speakers. It was indubitably a side of Hermione that the Weasleys hadn't seen before.
When the game was over, Hermione grinned with satisfaction. She had gotten the top score on the machine, which still had some high scores from the arcade that it used to be located at. When she entered her initials – HLG – Ron asked her, "What does the L stand for?"
"Lynn."
"Well, good job, Hermione Lynn," Ron said mockingly.
Mr. Weasley cast Ron a withering look. "Yes, that was quite a show."
Hermione shrugged. "My father was always into pinball, so I was determined to beat him someday. I guess that's why I'm good at it."
Ron snorted. "I guess so."
As soon as those words escaped Ron's lips, all the lights on the machine went out and it was as dead as it was when Hermione and Ron had found it. Reacting to that, Mr. Weasley inspected the machine, and then the generator.
"Oh! This generator only lasts for an hour at a time! Sorry, Ron, I guess you'll have to wait until it recharges," He finally concluded.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
*~*~*~*
A/N2: I know, Pinball Wizard isn't quite fitting, but Pinball Witch just doesn't sound as good. Just thought I'd make sure you know that I know that. Er, right…