Disclaimer: I don't own HP or Final Fantasy. (Well, I own books 1 through 7, and copies of Final Fantasy VIII through X-2, Chronicles, and Anthology.)
Sirius: Try again, Cor.
Fine. I don't own the rights to HP or FF. Period. So don't bother suing me or anything (not that you'd get very much). Happy now, Sirius?
Sirius: Yup. Say, have you seen Harry? I thought he was supposed to be in on this whole 'muse' deal.
I don't think he's here yet. Last I talked to him, he was busy with some other author.
Sirius: Oh.
"Hey Harry, mate. You know a lot about Muggle stuff, right?" Ron asked, carrying an oblong rectangular, black object in his hands.
"More than Wizard-born, anyway," Harry quipped. "Why didn't you ask Hermione? She knows more about everything than I do - except for Quidditch."
"You're a lot closer, Harry," Ron countered. "Anyway..." He held up the device. "Do you know what this is?"
Harry grinned, almost smirking. "You're not very perceptive, are you, Ron?" He ran a finger across the engraved lettering across the top, spelling out the word 'Playstation 2.'
"I saw that," Ron snipped indignantly, "so I know what it's called. What I want to know is, what is it?"
Harry's humor stood fast. "It's a Playstation, Ron."
"What does it do?"
"It's a computer system. You can play games on it or listen to music." Harry caught the look on Ron's face. "Muggle music, Ron. Some of which is actually pretty good."
"What kind of games does this thing play, Harry? Or should I go find Hermione and ask her?"
"It'll play games that were made for it, Ron. And that takes some special tools that I'm sure even your dad hasn't come across."
"Well, I found some weird looking cases next to it," Ron remarked, disappearing for a minute and then reappearing with five glass cases stacked securely in his hands. "What do you make of these? They all say 'Playstation,' but only the bottom two say 'Playstation 2.'"
Harry took the cases from Ron and looked at them. The first had a picture of a guy in a sleeveless, purple suit, sporting spiky blonde hair and a humongous sword on his back, looking up (defiantly?) at an oddly-shaped tower in the distance. The name 'Final Fantasy VII' was written (or typed?) across the top, and Harry could make out a blue meteor in the background of the picture.
The second case had three people on it, two guys and a girl. The guy on the left (looking left) had a cold, emotionless expression on his face, topped with straight brown hair that didn't cover his face. Harry could see the beginning of a scar on his cheek, one that ran across the bridge of his nose and between his eyes.
The other guy, looking to the right, had short blonde hair, and wore a self-satisfied smirk reminiscent of Draco Malfoy (the hairstyle wasn't too far off that mark, either, though the color was different). He had a scar similar to the first guy, but running in the opposite direction.
The girl in between them was facing toward the picture. She had long, straight black hair that fell down to her shoulders (when it wasn't being blown by the wind, like it was in the picture). Her warm brown eyes were full of expression, and she had a small smile on her face. Above all three people were the words 'Final Fantasy VIII.' In the background behind the words, a woman with a headdress had her arms spread wide, looking like she was casting some powerful spell.
The third game (as Harry figured they must be) was called 'Final Fantasy IX.' There was a short blonde-haired kid with what looked like a dagger on his hip and a monkey's tail and blue eyes full of mischief; a black-haired girl with her hands clasped, looking as though she was praying; a stern, but comical-looking knight in full metal armor, and a broadsword strapped to his back; a short kid whose large, floppy and patched wizard's hat completely obscured his face in darkness, except for his yellow eyes that were filled with some indescribable sorrow; and a tall, slim man with dark hair that flowed back, as though the braids in it were locked into that position with some spell or another.
The fourth game, titled 'Final Fantasy X,' depicted a blonde guy standing waist deep in crystal clear blue water, with a tropical island in the background. In his gloved hand, he held a blue sword, the blade appearing to be comprised of some crystal material that shimmered and gave the illusionary appearance of being water.
The final game ('Final Fantasy X-2') showed a close-up picture of the faces of three girls; the first one, in the upper left corner, was blonde with green eyes and a blue bandana. The one article of clothing seeable was a tiny yellow bikini top (Harry successfully kept from blushing). The second girl, in the center stripe that stretched from the lower-left corner to the top-right, was a brunette with one green eye and one blue one. She was donning a pink hood (down) and a kept her hair short, save for a tail that trailed back down towards the un-portrayed ground. In the bottom right corner, a woman with red eyes, grey spiked up hair, and a cold expression of determination. Harry could see a pair of red suspenders over her shoulders and a black choker on her neck.
"Well?" Ron prompted, impatient (which he was about everything, except perhaps chess).
"These are games, Ron. They must be," Harry replied. He looked up and noticed the excited expression on his face. "I suppose you want to play them?"
"Yeah! How do I turn it on?"
Harry could almost laugh at the child-like enthusiasm on his friend's face. "Did you find anything else with these?" Ron shook his head 'no.' "In that case, we'll have to go out and buy a few things. A power cord, and a controller, definitely. Probably an RF switch, too." Harry looked thoughtful. "I was wanting to get a TV, anyway. This is a good excuse to get one."
Ron looked dismayed. "We need all that just to play it?"
"Yeah. Well, I suppose, technically, you could play it without a TV, but you wouldn't be able to see what you're doing or hear anything. You'd be playing blind and deaf," Harry explained. He was getting excited, too - after all, he had never played Dudley's Playstation.
The next afternoon, Harry and Hermione had finished setting up the television in the drawing room at Grimmauld Place. Ron came in, carrying the Playstation 2 with a satisfied look on his face. "What's with you, Ron?" Harry asked.
"I used Hermione's big spell book (sorry Hermione) and charmed this Playstation to not need electricity and not overheat," he explained. "I also Transfigured the games into one shiny disc instead of thirteen."
"Ron! You know magic and technology don't mix well!" Hermione nearly screeched. Harry rubbed his ear for a second, frowning.
"Yeah, that's why I borrowed your bloody big book (I don't how you carried it around without a feather-weight charm on it all these years, it's bloody heavy!) instead of using the regular spells," Ron said.
"To be honest, I'm impressed he didn't blow the place up or something trying to cast the charms," Harry quipped, making Hermione snicker and Ron glare at him.
"Oi!" Ron set the device down on the floor in front of the TV (carefully enchanted by Hermione and Professor Flitwick to not need electricity either) and plugged in the peripherals. He magicked the disc tray open (much to Hermione's consternation) and inserted a disc that, instead of the graphics such CD's usually sported, only contained the titles of the five games circling along the outer edge.
Ron was reaching for the ON switch in the back. "Ron, you really shouldn't-" Hermione began, but Ron grinned confidently at her and flicked the switch.
The screen on the TV went black, but other than that, nothing happened. For several minutes, the trio stood there with their breaths held.
Ron frowned, disappointed. "Hmph! Stupid Muggle machine!" He made to bang on it with his fist, but then the screen changed again before his hand came near it. This time, it was showing a jumbled mess of the titles of the games.
"That's weird. Hermione, do you know what it's doing?" Ron asked.
"Ron! How could I know what it's doing!? You're the one who enchanted it!" This time, Hermione really did screech.
"Ow!" Ron rubbed his ears. He turned to Harry. "What do you think, Harry?"
But Harry wasn't there. All that was left on the floor where he'd been sitting was his wand.
Although she was nearly frantic with Harry's disappearance, Hermione couldn't resist taking a shot at Ron (it was his fault, after all). "I told you magic and technology doesn't mix!"
"Yeah, yeah," Ron shot back, feeling outraged that she blamed him (had Ron still been thinking rationally, he would be blaming himself, too). "You always have to be right, don-HARRY!"
Hermione spun around when Ron cried out, but all she saw was the TV. On the screen, looking dazed and confused while sitting in a smoky train car, was a person with familiar, messy black hair.
Harry wasn't sure how or why, but he suddenly saw a bunch of stars in a night sky. His gaze slowly dropped down, the stars turning into floating embers of green fire, and a girl with a pretty face stood up and walked away. His vision then zoomed itself out looking over a sprawling, circular city, then zoomed in on a speeding train. At this time, the words 'Final Fantasy VII,' scrolled onto his vision, flashing once when a blue-green sphere snagged itself between 'Final' and 'Fantasy.'
Somehow, inexplicably and without a doubt, Harry was inside the video game.
Sirius: Oi! Harry! You made it!
Harry: Just barely. That last author was a fangirl - utterly obsessed with writing about Malfoy Jr. and me shudders in utmost disgust
shudders too I'm not saying slash in and of itself is a bad thing...I just don't care for it. I'll take guy-on-girl any day.
Sirius: nods in agreement Amen to that, mate.