Chapter 12: Cheater

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or The Sims 2.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny walked back into the house after their long evening at Londoste. The two couples were holding hands as they crossed the threshold into the dormitory. As soon as they entered the room, the cursor reappeared. All four of the teens sighed; sure enough, the cursor sent each person into different rooms.

Harry walked into the sitting room, and was told to study, so Harry grudgingly trudged to the bookshelf, grabbed a book at random, and sat down in the nearest couch. His eyes glazed over the first few pages. He knew he didn't actually have to study, so he mostly spent the time thinking about the date he had just went on. The floating feeling had not lifted from his chest; he still heard Ginny's laughter in his head.

He looked up from the pages of his book, trying to find out where the cursor had sent Ginny. He heard her voice coming from the kitchen, "Ron, how can you possibly burn cereal? Here, let me, give me that bowl…" Harry grinned and looked back down at his book.

"Hello again!" A familiar bright voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked over and saw Laura leaning against the shelf near him. He moved over on the couch, expecting the cursor to have him study with her, as he had done off and on throughout the past two weeks. For some reason, she was one of the few others that the cursor seemed to allow to interact with him on more than a passing basis. She seemed easy enough to get along with, though she did ask a lot about him, which often caused him to scramble to find a convincing lie.

She sat on the couch next to him, letting her own book fall open in her lap as she turned to him. "How have you been doing, James?"

He shrugged. "Pretty good, actually."

She smiled. "You do look much happier than you did the last time we talked. It's cute, you should try to be happy more often." She shifted over closer to him. Harry tried to move away without being obvious that he was growing uncomfortable. He glanced back to the doorway, seeing Hermione walk past. She caught his eye and stopped, stepping back to look at the two of them. She caught his expression, and made to enter the room, but it looked like she ran into her movement limiter box, and then she suddenly walked briskly in a different direction.

Well, looked like he'd have no help from her. Damn cursor. He tried to get up to put the book back away as an excuse, but felt his own limiter box in effect. Luckily for him, Laura leaned back more firmly in her spot.

"I think we were interrupted by your controller the last time we were together" She grimaced. "They're such a bloody nuisance, aren't they? I swear I'm going to kill her when I get out of here." She waved up towards the ceiling. "I just hate it when you're doing something you actually enjoy, and the controller forces you to leave." Harry nodded, having trouble disagreeing with that. "So, you never told me, did you come in with just Ron, or were there others with you?"

"Well, actually -"

Laura made a noise before he could continue. "Oh wait! I forgot, I usually like to check this when I meet new real people in here. Helps to find out if you know anyone else stuck in here." She hopped off the couch and leaned against the floor. She pressed a small area in the air near Harry's knee. A translucent menu popped up. Harry watched as Laura smiled and look through a rather short list of people. Her eyes seemed to catch something that surprised her. Curious, Harry tried to see what had caused her to freeze, but Laura had already gotten rid of the menu and hopped back up to her seat.

She turned to him, her expression sympathetic. "Hey, I know sometimes it can be frustrating when the controllers force us to do things. But don't worry too much, I have learned that a lot can be circumvented, and you can ignore some aspects. So don't worry too much if it makes you do something silly. Like getting engaged to someone you don't actually like." She motioned towards the now-gone menu.

Harry raised his eyebrows at her. He wasn't sure if she was being purposefully obtuse, or if she truly had never seen Ginny and him together. "Oh, it's not like that. Ginny came with me here." Before he could continue his explanation, he caught a flash of red from the corner of his eye.

Before he could turn to see if it was indeed Ginny, he saw Laura freeze suddenly. Her eyes glazed over into a blank expression. Caught by surprise, Harry didn't realize what was happening until she was an inch from his face, and he discovered with dread that he had no option to move away. Laura's mouth reached his in a brief kiss. As she backed up, here eyes stayed close, and her mouth lifted in a small smile. Then her eyes flew open, and her mouth opened wide in shock as she brought her hand up to cover it.

"Oh no, James, I'm sorry!" Her gaze flicked between him and the doorway. Harry jerked his head to the side, seeing Ginny striding into the room, her own expression blank, her eyes glazed over. Harry felt his heart sink as a loud bonging noise filled the air, and he saw red minus signs appear over her head. Harry felt himself being pulled up to his feet as Ginny stopped in front of him.

SLAP.

Harry's cheek stung as Ginny's eyes cleared, and she stared at her raised hand, aghast. Gently, she moved her hand back to his face, the coolness of her hand easing the sting. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened. I lost control of myself. Literally," she added, "not figuratively." Her gaze turned sharp, and she whipped her head over to stare at Laura.

Laura looked very apologetic. In fact, Harry thought she even looked like she was about to cry. "I didn't mean to, I swear. She made me." She pointed at the sky, referring to her controller.

"Sorry, Ginny, I don't think Laura mean it. I definitely didn't. Er, no offense," he added, looking at Laura, who just gave him a watery smile.

Harry wanted to try and talk with Ginny more, and hopefully repair some of the lost friendship points, but he was immediately hounded by the cursor to leave and do some inane task. He wanted to pull his hair out as he slowly let go of Ginny's hand and was pushed out of the room.

Ginny made to follow Harry out of the room. Seeing Laura kiss Harry had not been on the top of her list of things she wanted to do today, but the girl had seemed sincere in her pleas of ignorance.

She had just rounded the corner when she stopped. Backing up a step, she glanced back into the room, peeking around the edge. Laura, face suddenly remarkably clear of any signs of crying, had opened up some sort of menu of hers, visible from Ginny's angle due to the transparency. She scrolled through a list until she reached a face Ginny immediately realized was Harry's. To Ginny's dismay, she saw a small pink heart next to the top bar. Apparently, Laura had no problem with this; in fact, a sly smile crossed her face.

Ginny abruptly moved fully back into the room. Laura glanced at her, removing the menu from view, her face smoothing out.

Ginny narrowed her eyes at her as she approached. "I'm not sure I believe that you didn't do that on purpose."

Laura's lip curled slightly. "I'm not sure I care."

"Excuse me?"

Laura stood up. "Listen, Jenny—"

"It's Ginny." Ginny felt her anger spiking.

Rolling her eyes, Laura continued. "Ginny, sorry. What I meant to say was I don't give a fuck what you believe. James believes me, and that's all I care about. I don't care if you are engaged to him in here. Guess what? It's just a game, sweetie, it doesn't matter. None of it is real."

Ginny felt a vein pulse at her temple, before she jumped on top of Laura.

Harry finished washing the dish he had, leaving it in the sink and watching it disappear. If he had to wash another bloody dish in this game, he might just go crazy. He noticed several people walking in the same direction, and joined the crowd, walking back towards the reading room. He found Hermione as he reached the doorway, and together they walked inside.

A giant cloud of smoke covered the center of the room. Harry watched confused, listening to sounds of snarling, until he saw Ginny pop out of the top. Alarmed, he tried to move forward as Ginny leapt on Laura's back and they fell back into the smoke. Hermione snatched his arm.

"I don't think you can do anything, Harry. One will just come out the winner."

Harry cursed and moved back, watching the smoke. After a few minutes of continued fighting, the smoke cleared away, and Harry finally saw the two girls emerge fully. Ginny was breathing heavily and had a bloody lip, but otherwise was fine. Laura spouted a bloody nose and was slightly limping. She glared at Ginny before limping past the crowd.

"Oh walk it off, it's not real, remember?" Ginny snapped out at her back as Laura left the room. Harry quickly went to Ginny.

"Are you okay?" He used his finger to gently wipe away some of the blood coming from her lip. She glared out the doorway through which Laura had just left.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She paused and looked up at him. "I don't know how, but she wasn't forced into that kiss."

Harry looked down at her, frowning. "Are you sure?" He truly hadn't thought she'd been faking it.

"Well, she was smug enough about it to me that I don't believe her. She was staring at your picture all happy you two are now crushes."

Harry groaned, reaching down to find the relationship menu. Sure enough, there she was, Laura's smiling face with a heart. He cursed.

Hermione walked over to stand next to them, looking down at the menu. "It must have happened because you two had a higher normal relationship score." She pointed to the bar showing.

Harry sighed. "Yeah, the cursor has been having me study with her every once in a while, it must have been built up my that. She really seemed nice enough, I didn't think she'd…" he trailed off, not wanting to sound like he was questioning Ginny. He glanced at Ginny's pictures, noticing that their relationship scores had taken a dip.

Ron appeared on Ginny's other side. "Did I miss my little sister kicking someone's arse?"

Ginny grinned at him. "You sure did. Laura kissed Harry. I made sure she regretted it."

Ron raised both eyebrows at her. "Of course you did." He looked at Harry. "Everything good?" Harry nodded.

"Oh, Harry, I forgot. She kept calling you James?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I told her my name was James. Just didn't feel like using Harry."

The cursor zoomed into view, and they all eyed it warily. Happily, it sent just Harry and Ginny away to chat.

"See you guys later, maybe," Harry said as the two of them left Ron and Hermione. He and Ginny walked through the building. Harry grabbed Ginny's hand. "Well, maybe the cursor will let us build up our relationship again."

Ginny squeezed his hand. "Well, I definitely need to remind you what a real kiss is like, after that fiasco." They walked through one of the hall rooms that led to a side staircase. As soon as then entered, they nearly fell on top of an object in the middle of the once-empty room.

"What the-" A giant king-sized bed now stood in the middle of the room. Harry and Ginny glanced at each other before being pushed out of the room.

After storming out of the room, Laura ended up in her own room. She jumped on the bed and threw her pillow against the wall, screeching.

"Who does she think she is? If she thinks she can fight me and get away with it…" She jumped up and slammed the door shut, sitting down on her desk chair inside her large room. She brought out her own list of acquaintances and glared down at the glowing-red picture of Ginny. As she glanced over her very long list, a name caught her attention. "Harry? Who's Harry?" She looked up at the picture attached to the name. James' face looked up at her.

Confused, she looked from the name to the face. She had been so caught up in the new crush-state earlier that she hadn't noticed the name discrepancy. Suddenly, a spark of recognition came to her mind. She jumped up from the chair and pointed at the picture. A life-sized transparent James stood in front of her. Slowly, Laura reached up and moved his hair away from his forehead, revealing a lightning-bolt scar. She narrowed her eyes and made the figure disappear. What was Harry Potter doing in her world?

Ron and Hermione sat on the couch for quite awhile after Harry and Ginny left. At some point, the TV turned on, a sports channel showing a familiar soccer game.

Hermione heard Ron talking along with the announcer, "And they get the ball again, pass down the field and, I don't believe it, they score! The score is now tied!" Hermione looked at Ron, amused.

"How many times have you watched this game?"

"I don't even know." Hermione glanced over her shoulder, a movement catching her eye. The cursor had come into the room.

"Lovely." She let out with a sigh.

The TV turned off, and Ron let out a frustrated grunt. "Aw, man!"

"I thought you said you've seen it?"

"I've never seen how the game ends. The stupid cursor always turns it off." He slouched down in his seat.

Hermione smile slowly grew. "I know how it ends."

Ron glared at her. "Well, don't tell me. I want to see it myself." Hermione just laughed, and Ron's expression shifted easily into a grin.

The cursor floated in, telling Ron to give Hermione a backrub. "Ooh, I'll take it," Hermione said, turning her back to face him. His hands worked slowly, a bit unsure, but Hermione could feel the tension in her shoulders releasing at his touch. "That was very nice," she said as he finished, looking at him to see an embarrassed smile on his face. The cursor moved to have them kiss romantically, which cause a blush to rise on Hermione's face. Ron moved closer to her, and brought his mouth to hers. Hermione lost her train of thought as he kissed her, transitioning from a timid peck to something deeper, something much more thorough, creating sparks that traveled from her mouth down through her body. She didn't even noticed when the cursor switched the interaction to a make out. She barely registered the fact that she was now laying down on the couch, with Ron above her, kissing her into oblivion.

Ron released her lips, holding himself above her with his knee and one hand.

"Blimey, Hermione." She let out a laugh, trying to catch her breath. She didn't get much of a chance before the cursor directed them out of the room. She found herself laughing again.

"Well, that was a good little distraction." Ron pulled her up and she stumbled, trying to regain her footing.

Ron grinned at her. "Kissed you dizzy, did I?" Hermione smacked his arm as they left the room. She leaned back into him as they walked, feeling content.

As soon as they entered the hall before the side staircase, they saw the bed. Or more like, ran into it.

"Ouch," Ron muttered, rubbing his shin that had banged into it. "Wasn't this room empty before?"

Hermione frowned. "Yes, it was." She moved to step around it and keep going, but when her limiter box formed, she realized this room was where the cursor had sent them. An icy feeling filled her as she stared back at the bed. Surely it wouldn't…

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ron was watching her carefully, noticing her mood change. He followed her gaze from the bed to the cursor. The cursor selected Ron, and then the bed, and a group of options appeared. Among them, Rest…Cuddle with Hermione…Make out with Hermione… and finally – Ron let out a snort. "Woohoo?" He questioned, looking back to Hermione. One glance at her, and it appeared that something clicked. He paled.

Hermione found herself staring blankly at the bed. It wasn't that she didn't want to take things further with Ron. She had been very much enjoying herself earlier. But there was a difference between kissing and being forced into having sex for the first time.

The cursor chose the Make Out option, and Hermione felt relief trickle through her. She slowly made her way over to the side of the bed, meeting Ron. He looked stricken as her turned to her. Slowly, he leaned his head towards her, meeting her lips with his in a slow, firm kiss. Hermione struggled to let her body relax from its rigid state. He moved his lips across her cheek, ending at the side of her head.

"I won't hurt you," He breathed into her ear. She held her breath, eyes darting out to the side.

The cursor hit 'WooHoo.'

Hermione felt something pushing them both under the blankets. She found herself pressed tightly to Ron, kissing his neck. Panic welled in her. This could not be happening.

And to her profound relief, nothing did happen. After just a few minutes, they abruptly stopped kissing and the blankets folded away from on top of them. Breathing heavily, they stared at each other. When nothing else happened, they both collapsed back to the bed.

"Oh thank Merlin," Ron sighed, pulling her against him, allowing her to rest her head on his chest. "Not that – I mean, not saying I wouldn't want to – I just, er –" His words stuttered out.

"It's okay, Ron, you don't have to explain. No one wants their first time to be forced. I'm grateful this game seems to have one boundary, at least." She suddenly tensed up and looked around. She didn't see the cursor, and she remembered something from the game, which caused her to relax.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked her.

"I just forgot, in the game, while in University at least, you can't have…" She trailed off as something caught her eye. She saw a white box appear in the sky, slowly filling up with words she couldn't make out.

A large tombstone suddenly appeared at the side of the bed. Hermione took one look at it and gasped. "No! I don't believe it!"

Ron's face grew alarmed. "What's going on, what is that for?"

They watched the cursor rapidly choose through several menus of the tombstone. When it reached the end, the menus disappeared.

"It's cheating."

A soft baby's lullaby twinkled in the sky.

Updated A/N: Looking at and editing parts of this story now has made me consider just how crazy some of the implications of this putting "real" people into this game are from an ethical standpoint. I stand by my original decision to not have the game force them because, hey, what would basically be forced assault isn't cool.

Original A/N: So, did you like? This was supposed to be a Christmas present, but my dad took away my computer privileges on Christmas eve (I mean come on, Christmas eve? And he has to take away the computer?) And then I realized it would take me more than a day to write this. So…Happy New Year's Eve!