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The Stupid Game and the Cocky Gamer.

Original Author: Josephine_Falnor . Any and all credit goes to her. ^^

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Author's Note:

Hello!!! I'm so happy Misseh invited me to do this! Matt really doesn't get the appreciation he deserves. Of course, I'm not alone here today. Since Misseh, ahem, ran into a little trouble regarding her treatment of certain disclaiming people, I'm going to be taking them in for now. They're living in my basement. So, ah, wait a moment, I'll go get them.

Me(JF): Audience, Matt and Mello are here to do the disclaimer!

Mello: Why the hell do I have to be here? This is Matt's stupid story…

JF: Because I'm protecting you and feeding you chocolate. Also, the audience expects it, I believe.

Matt: And it wouldn't be fair to make me do this by myself Mells!!

JF: Yup, that's right!!

Mello: *grumbles something that won't be repeated*

JF: The faster you get done, the faster you can get back to the chocolate! ^_^

Mello: Fine…

Matt and Mello: Josephine owns absolutely nothing here!

Matt: Especially the game. She is SO far off from actually having created Harry Potter or the game. If she had, she certainly wouldn't be here right now.

JF: -_- Thanks a lot Matt…keep it up and I'll hide the PS2.

Matt: No please!! I'll be good!!

JF: Alright then!! Don't worry, I wouldn't be that mean! Alright, on with the story! I hope you all enjoy it!

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A Stupid Game and a Cocky Gamer

"Waaaaahhh?!?!?!" Matt exclaimed excitedly, finding something he'd never thought he'd find.

He was at the local Game Stop, looking through their ancient PC games, trying to find something good. He spent most of his time and money there, so he tried to buy discounted items whenever he could.

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for PC? How can this possibly have been here so long with no one buying it?" he asked himself out loud, pulling the game out of the stack and turning it over in his hands.

Checking the price, he saw it was discounted way under his budget, leaving him with money to spare.

'Could this be anymore perfect?' he asked himself, heading to the counter and buying it.

"You'll have to let me know how it goes." Said the clerk who was ringing it up. "I've heard it's nearly impossible to beat the last level or so."

Matt grinned. "I'm a master of games. Of course I'll be able to beat it." He said, his voice full of confidence. "I'll be back next week to gloat." He added, taking the bag that held his precious, new game.

When he got back to the apartment, he immediately went to his room, got the game out, and put it in his laptop. He started the installation process, but even after all he did to make his computer run faster, it still took 15 minutes before he could get to the menu.

"Man, old games really do take forever to run." He said, sighing slightly as he watched the installation number slowly inch its way toward 100.

"Matt, what the hell are you doing?" said an irritated voice.

The gamer turned to see Mello standing behind him, looking exasperated as he always did when a new game was brought home.

"Hey Mello!! Listen, I got this great new game that I've been trying to get for ages and I didn't even know that was possible to find and-" he talked excitedly, stopping when he noticed that Mello's mood wasn't improving.

"Just don't let it interfere with your work." The blond grumbled, leaving the room, muttering something under his breath about "waste of f***ing time" as he closed the door.

'Too bad; his loss.' Matt thought, waiting for the installing number to go up from 98 to 100. "Mello! You really need a hobby! Games aren't as bad as you think they are!" he yelled at the door before turning back to the screen.

He watched closely, knowing that any second, the game would be on his computer and he'd be playing away, proving those people wrong that said it was indeed possible to beat, if you were skilled enough.

Eight minutes passed without him moving, his eyes glued to the screen. "C'mon, just a little more, you can do it!" he mumbled at his computer, trying to encourage it. 'It'll just take a minute. It's an old game. This is reasonable.' He worked to convince himself.

His efforts were in vain, as thirty seconds later, the screen went black. "NO!" he yelled, jumping up as writing appeared on the screen, informing him that there was a problem with the computer and it was going to shut down. "You were so close, so close!" he whispered, almost whimpering from the mental pain of losing all that time installing.

After giving the computer a few minutes, he turned it back on and let it start running while he turned on extra cooling fans to keep the computer from heating up too much. After changing a few settings, he tried installing the game again. "Ugh, this'll take forever…" he groaned, pulling out a cigarette, placing it between his lips, and lighting it. Leaning back in his chair, he inhaled as he watched as the screen display the installation screen.

"Why is it loading so fast this time?" he mumbled, watching the numbers climbing to 83. Sitting up a bit, he watched closely, counting along. "87, 88, 89…90, 91, 92……." The seconds dragged on and he couldn't help but worry it would get stuck at 98 again. Suddenly, it jumped to 96. "97, 98, c'mon stupid computer, work." He muttered, watching closely. After a few seconds, the number went up to 99, then 100. "YES!!" Matt cheered, watching as the game asked if he wanted a desktop shortcut. After finishing the rest of the process, his computer automatically took him to the menu for the game.

Matt was poised, ready to start as he clicked the game start option. Selecting a save spot, he watched as the game began, explaining the background of the story. He already knew what was happening, as he'd read the book before, but he still watched, happy that he'd managed to get the game to start.

After the five minute long intro, he was finally able to play. It was easy enough to figure out the controls; arrow buttons to move, shift and alt to jump and cast spells. It didn't take the gamer long to work his way through the early part of the game. "Haha, I can't believe he said this would be hard!" he laughed, finishing yet another spell lesson.

However, his victory was short lived, as his computer crashed again. "Damn it!" He yelled. "I hadn't saved in forever!"

Matt resisted the urge to kick the computer as he frantically took the game out of the disk drive and cleaned it, hoping it would work better.

"Matt? What in the hell happened?" Mello said, rushing into the room.

The red head turned in his chair, knowing Mello wouldn't be happy with his reason for freaking out. "Uh, it was nothing…just um, game problems…" he said, smiling cautiously.

Mello bit his tongue, determined not to lose his temper. After all, he had to have Matt there since he was better at computer hacking, and if he went crazy every time video games were mentioned, what would stop Matt from leaving?

After glaring at the gamer for a moment, the blond left, deciding it would be best to not say anything at all.

Matt let out a sigh, glad to have escaped Mello's rage that time. 'Doesn't he realize he'd be less stressed all the time if he had a hobby or something?' he thought, turning back to the computer. It took him a minute, but he was able to get the game up and running again so he could continue from his last save point.

It all went well from there. He managed to past the majority of the game in about two and a half hours without his computer shutting down again. Finally, he'd gotten to the final save point before his battle with Quirrell, then Voldemort.

"Haha, now to prove you wrong." He muttered, an image of the store clerk looming in his mind.

Entering the final stage, Matt felt the tension rising, as he always did whenever he was close to ending a game. The first half was easy enough, getting past the Professor, but once Voldemort finally showed up, he discovered the clerk hadn't been kidding.

The first part was to knock pillars down on the final boss, but after the pillars ran out, the real trouble started.

"Damn it, no…move faster!" Matt muttered over and over, dodging several deadly spells that were sent his way. Every spell he shot at the evil wizard didn't do anything.

The gamer swore loudly as he died and was returned to the start of the boss fight. "Alright, this'll work. I know what to expect this time…" he mumbled as he started again. Five minutes later, he had died again.

The frustration built as he proceeded to lose seventeen more times, each loss more irritating than the one before it. Cries of "die already!" could be heard by anyone near the gamer's lair.

At last, on attempt #19, Matt managed to get further then he had. Voldemort was down to only a few centimeters of life in the health bar. All he had to do was hurt him one more time…

The red head froze when a small notice showed up on his computer, right over the game. It read that windows had encountered a problem, which was forcing it to shut down, or something like that. Matt stared in horror as the screen went blank, all traces of the game he'd almost won disappearing like that. Sure, he could reload it and start the level over again, but that was not the point. The fact of the matter was that he'd almost beat the game, before his computer decided to betray him entirely.

The gamer stared silently at the black screen for several minutes before turning the computer on again. Once he was able to, he pressed the button that ejected the disk and took it out before shutting the equipment off again.

Putting the disk in its box, he set it down on the floor and stared at it. "No way…I'm not going through that again…" he said, his breathing changing from the quiet anger. Pulling his gun out, he took aim at the game and fired, putting a hole through the center of the case.

"Haha!! You get what you deserve for defying me!! Aha ha ha ha ha!!!" he laughed maniacally, staring at the cracked plastic.

Mello ran in for the third time that day and looking back and forth between the crazed Matt and the dead game, debated saying anything. Still, he couldn't help himself.

"It didn't go so well, I'm guessing?" he asked, trying not to smirk, knowing he was right.

"Ah ha…no, the stupid game kept killing my computer…" Matt said, calming down a bit, the adrenalin no longer rushing through him like it had been. "Just laugh…I know you want to…" he added, resigning himself to his fate.

"I'm not going to laugh, but I do have a question." Mello said, looking more serious then Matt thought he should.

"Really? Sure, what's the question?" the gamer asked, surprised he'd be getting off so easily.

"After how much you just freaked out over one little game, despite the fact that you have a high level of patience for games, do you really think that games would be a good hobby for me?" The blond asked, smirking.

Matt considered Mello's bad temper for a moment. "Fine, they wouldn't. Actually, it might be deadly if you play a game, so yeah…just stay away from them." He finally said, unable to deny that the blond had a point.

"Perfect…" Mello muttered, genuinely glad that he wouldn't be subjected to any more suggestions about him and games, leaving the room.

Matt looked back down at the game and sighed. "So much for getting a refund…stupid, defective game…" he mumbled, picking it up and tossing it in the trash.

"As if that wasn't bad enough, now I have to find a new game store." He realized, knowing he'd never be able to show his face there again since he would have to admit defeat.

Sitting back down at his computer, a new thought crossed his mind.

"…I wonder if I can get the Chamber of Secrets?"

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Ending Author's Note: Ah, so, an explanation is in order. My brother and I got this game for Christmas several years ago. It frequently gave the computer problems, but we played anyways. Even now, after playing the game for years, we still have yet to beat the final level, despite the fact that my brother beats most every game he plays. So, if you've never played this game, it's very good, but this is sort of the experience I had with it. ^_^