Chapter 2: First Day

Original A/N: I'm sooo sorry! I have no idea what happened. Here's the real second chapter (I hope), but for now on, I plan on trying to update once a week.

Harry started to move towards the house, but found he could not move his legs more than a couple feet away. He tried for a minute, before looking at the others, noticing they were in a similar situation. They each had a box of about one foot by one foot that they could move in. He saw that Hermione wasn't moving, just looking closely at the house and yard. She started the mailbox and garbage can next to them on the walkway.

"I don't believe it," she breathed. The three of them turned to her. She looked at them with wide eyes. "I think we're in a Muggle computer game." Ron and Ginny just looked confused, but Harry looked apprehensive.

"What kind?" he asked. The only game he had seen Dudley use on his computer back on Privet Drive was one where all he did was blow up aliens.

"It's called The Sims. You're supposed to control the lives of little Sims characters that you create. You lead them through their lives. I think we may be the Sims. And that means…" She slowly lifted her eyes up into the sky. Harry followed her gaze, and at first just felt relieved that he saw no alien spaceships. Then he noticed the little arrow hovering in the sky above them. It was hovering motionlessly above them. He flinched when it started moving a few seconds later. He watched the cursor move down towards Ginny, landing on her. Ginny smacked at it, but her hand just went straight through. Harry heard a click in the distance, and a green diamond appeared over Ginny's head. Harry tried to walk over to her, but still found himself stuck in his box. Instead, he turned back to Hermione.

Hermione glanced between Ginny and Harry, and explained. "They've picked her to direct. That's what the diamond means. They will click on something, and will have choices of what to make her do." They watched as the cursor then moved to Harry. Despite having just watched Ginny try and fail, he also attempted to swat the cursor out of the air. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened, and they heard another click. This time, Ginny's head appeared with blue bubbles surrounding her. Harry read over the choices. There was 'Appreciate… Entertain… Hug…Talk… Irritate… Play… Prank…and a gray one that read Influence…'

"Are you saying it can make her do those things?" Harry asked, looking back at Hermione, who just looked aghast.

"I mean, in the game, yes," she started slowly, "but I don't understand how we could possibly be here, or what is even going on."

They all stood silent, waiting for the cursor to choose. The cursor moved to Talk, and three choices came up again. Chat, Hang Out, and Brag.

Ginny laughed. "Wow, that's it? Seems easy enough."

Hermione just shook her head. "I don't think so."

The cursor chose chat. It did the same for Ron and Hermione. Harry turned to Ginny. He tried to resist at first, curious as to if he could just ignore the command. After a second of standing there, he felt himself straighten up, and without meaning to, he started talking, "How are you doing today?"

Ginny snorted, raising an eyebrow at him. "Well, Harry, it's been a bit of an odd day so far. And how are you doing on this fine day?"

"Oh just great, fine, yeah it's a great day." As they continued the small talk, Harry discovered that as long as he was trying to talk, it wouldn't force him to say anything in particular, as it had at first. The longer they talked, the less he even thought about it, because he realized how easy it was to want to keep talking to Ginny.

He suddenly started noticing little plus signs appearing over Ginny's head. He looked over, and also saw them on Ron's and Hermione's as well. "Uh, Hermione, what are these?"

She looked over at him to see what he was pointing at. "They mean that you and Ginny's daily relationship are going up. If I remember right, there is a daily relationship, and lifetime relationship. The higher your relationship, the more choices there are for interactions." They stopped talking as the cursor moved again, clicking on Harry then Ginny, making Harry's face appear this time. Harry noticed a new bubble appear. Harry and Ginny froze.

"Flirt? Now Harry…" Ron looked over at him sternly, but Hermione smacked his arm, and he relented, cracking a smile. The next bubble came up. It said charm, and the cursor clicked it.

"Well Harry? Do you know how to charm a girl?" Ginny said, a sly smile on her face. Harry just swallowed, not sure he remembered Ginny being quite as bold in the past.

"Uh, well…er.." He struggled, but his mind drew a blank at the sudden pressure. After another couple of seconds, he once again felt himself straighten, and the next thing he knew, he said "You look like you are suffering from a severe lack of Vitamin Me."

A beat passed, then all three of the others burst into laughter. Ginny was wiping tears from her eyes as she asked "Please tell me this game made you say that."

Harry chuckled, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Well, apparently it decided I wasn't capable of being charming quick enough."

The cursor had Harry and Ginny chatting again, while it switched to telling Hermione to give Ron a friendly hug. Hermione did so, and Harry noticed a blush appear on her face.

Ginny was looking at them as well, before she caught Harry's eye and leaned forward to say something quietly. "You know, it would be something if this finally got them to realize their feelings for each other." Harry glanced back at them, a little surprised to see Ron similarly flustered.

"Huh," he said, eloquently. He couldn't say he was exactly surprised to have someone else confirm that it seemed like there was something more between them.

A short time later, he heard Hermione say, "Looks like we're hungry." For the first time, he noticed a line of bars following beside him. One was a bit low, one titled Hungry. The others read Comfort, Bladder, Energy, Fun, Social, Hygiene, and Environment. The cursor appeared again, and he was told to walk into the house to what he assumed would be the dining room. The house was fairly small, with a small living room with couches and a square television. The four of them walked through, arriving in a dining room with a large table surrounded by chairs. When they sat down, Harry looked around and noticed an older woman cooking at the small kitchen in front of the table. She walked over carrying a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches, and placed it on the table.

"Hello," Hermione called out as the woman walked away. She stopped and nodded once, but continued out of the room before any of them could ask her any questions. Hermione looked back, exasperated.

"Do you think she was a part of this game?" Harry asked her.

"I don't know, but I really wanted to ask her." Harry looked down at the plate of sandwiches, and tentatively reached to grab one. It looked like an actual sandwich, and when he tried a bite, it tasted real as well.

"I wonder if this is real?" He said aloud.

Hermione contemplated her sandwich. All we know, if that someone cast a spell on us, and it sent us here. We don't know if this is some kind of virtual reality game, or something else." They continued in silence.

After they had finished eating, all their Fun bars were low. Harry guessed that whoever was controlling them knew what they were doing, because they sent them all to watch television. Ron was quite excited, as he had never watched a working TV. When they reached the living room, the cursor had directed Harry to sit next to Ginny on one love seat, and Ron and Hermione on the other. Ron was visibly disappointed when they realized that the Television wasn't really working; pictures just flashed across the screen.

Sometime later, Harry and Ginny were redirected to talk some more. Harry was told to Appreciate…Admire Ginny. Not wanting to be forced again, he quickly blurted out "You look…. really nice today." Ginny's mouth twitched into a smile. Before they could say anything else, something happened. Pink hearts floated from their heads. Harry turned to Hermione, who was fighting to hold a giggle in.

"That means you two have a crush on each other," Hermione told him.

"Well," Ginny let out with a laugh, "if I had known it would be that easy when I was younger…" She jokingly nudged Harry's shoulder. Harry laughed, feeling his face warm up. He wasn't quite sure why he had never noticed how funny Ginny could be. He had always just thought of her as Ron's younger sister, and had never really considered anything else. Before he could think any more on that, the cursor appeared again, directing them all to sleep. The four of them stood and walked up the stairs into a room with four small twin beds in it. They each climbed in and, each with plenty to think about, fell asleep.