Hermione's Game

* * * * *

"All right, it´s off. How´s he doing."

"You live inside somebody´s body for a few years, you get used to it. I look at his face now. I can´t tell what´s going on. I´m not used to seeing his facial expressions. I´m used to feeling them."

"Come on, we´re not talking about psychoanalysis here. We´re soldiers, not witch doctors. You just saw him beat the guts out of the leader of a gang."

"He was thorough. He didn´t just beat him, he beat him deep. Like Mazer Rackham at the-"

"Spare me. So in the judgement of the committee, he passes."

"Mostly. Let´s see what he does with his brother, now that the monitor´s off."

"His brother. Aren´t you afraid of what his brother will do to him?"

"You were the one who told me that this wasn´t a no-risk business."

"I went back through some of the tapes. I can´t help it. I like the kid I think we´re going to screw him up."

"Of course we are. It´s our job. We´re the wicked witch. We promise gingerbread, but we eat the little bastards alive."

* * * * *

All of a sudden, a noise like rushing water filled the room, and the five kids found themselves being sucked under the bed, and their screams couldn´t be heard. Even though none of them said, "nox," their lights all went out, and they were pitched into utter darkness.

* * * * *

"Hermione! Aemillia! Wake up, girls!" the voice of Minnie Granger called from the hall.

"Huh?" came the identical questions of the two girls. They sat up at the same moment-unknowingly-and got out of bed.

Hermione muttered as she kept her eyes firmly shut and jumped off her bed, shuffling to the bathroom she shared with her little sister. "I can´t believe the whole thing was a dream. God, I´ve got a terrible headache!" She blindly groped for her hairbrush, and deftly raked it through her hair. She heard Aemillia scramble into the bathroom from the opposite door.

"Hermione?" came Li´s sleepy voice. "Was it a dream?"

"I guess. Wait a second, you had the same dream? We were at the Weasley´s, and the hole, and-"

"Yeah. So it couldn´t have been a dream-oh my God! Hermione! Open your eyes very slowly, and stay calm!"

Hermione did, and her eyes darted from her sister, Li, to herself, and the screams of both girls could´ve been heard by the men working on the space station.

* * * * *

"Harry!" screeched Aunt Petunia, banging on the door to the cupboard under the stairs. "Wake up! We have to take you to the dratted doctor´s office!"

Harry rolled over and sat up, groping for his glasses. He opened his eyes, then looked around him. Wait a minute. I have my own room now. What am I doing in this freaking cupboard? This must be a dream. Then, he looked down at himself. Suppressing a scream, he got dressed as quickly as he could, then got out of the cupboard. Obviously, this is a very freaky dream. Reaching back to scratch his neck, he felt a hard box there, and when he tried to dislodge it, it sent searing pain through his body. What the heck is that?

He stepped into the kitchen, took one look at Aunt Petunia, and said, "What´s on the back of my neck?"

Dudley burst out crying, and Aunt Petunia ran to him, hugging him, and saying, "It´s okay, Duddie-kins. You´re far too special to go to that stupid school, anyway." Once Dudley stopped crying, the woman swooped down at Harry, shouting, "How dare you mention that abomination in this house! It´s bad enough we had to waste all this time going to doctor´s offices all these years because of it. Now, it´s finally coming off, and my poor Duddie-dimples won´t have to look at it anymore, right Punkin?"

If anything, this confused Harry even more, so he went over to the stove to fix breakfast, then looked at the strange device that replaced where the stove had been. "What´s this?" he asked Aunt Petunia.

"You needn´t flaunt your stupidity, boy," said Uncle Vernon, walking into the room, and speaking to the machine. "Tea. Earl Gray. Hot." [If you´ve seen Star Trek: The Next Generation, you´ll get it.] And in front of the large man, appeared a glass mug filled with the tea, with steam curling up and slowly disappearing from the top. Vernon took a small sip.

Harry felt his mouth drop open as he looked at the machine. Then he closed his mouth and said, "Waffles. Warm. With maple syrup," and it appeared in front of him. He grabbed a fork off the counter and took a bite. "This is delicious!"

"Of course it is, boy. The replicator makes everything perfectly. Now sit down and eat, we have to take you to the doctor´s office, and poor Dudley has to stay here with the babysitter," Aunt Petunia said, kissing Dudley on the head.

Harry scarfed down the waffle standing, and then said, "I´m ready to go!"

"Very well," sneered Uncle Vernon. "Come on, then."

"Dudley," Harry said, approaching the larger boy, ready to say something he´d never said before. "Punch me in the stomach." The larger boy looked confused, but than a malicious glint came into his eye, and he stood, slamming his beefy fist into his cousin´s stomach, and Harry doubled over in pain.

Okay, so it´s not a dream...what the heck is going on?

* * * * *

"Ron! Ginny! Time to wake up! Your appointment is today!" The two kids sat up and rubbed the sleep from their eyes. Looking at each other, they screamed loudly, and then Ginny fell off her bed in a dead faint.

Molly Weasley ran in, wearing a pair of denim pants, a baby blue t-shirt, and a red bandana, half-covering her red hair. "What happened?" she cried, picking up the red-headed girl.

"What happened? What happened? Where are we? Am I having a nightmare? I want to wake up! I want to wake up!" Ron cried, rocking back and forth, and pinching himself.

Molly shook awake Ginny, who looked up at her mother and said, "Mummy, what in Merlin´s beard are you wearing?" She looked over at Ron and squealed, shouting, "We aren´t this young! Are we having a nightmare, Ron?"

Ron looked at his sister and reached back to scratch his neck uncomfortably-to fill the silence-when his hand brushed against a small device on the back of his neck. "What´s this?" he asked, turning around so Ginny could see.

"I don´t believe it! It looks just like the monitor from Ender´s Game!" Ginny stepped in closer to have a better look at the device.

"I don´t know what game you kids are playing about your monitors, and I have no idea why you´re talking about Alex and Minnie´s girl, but you two had better get dressed, we have to go to the doctor´s office to get those horrible things removed. Thank God my children won´t have to go up in space, but get to stay here, and live perfectly normal lives." Molly kissed them each on the head, and then stormed out of the room, leaving Ginny and Ron to look at each other in awe.

"Ron...we somehow got sucked into the book or something. We´ve got monitors...and they´re going to take them out. I don´t understand..." Ginny said, scratching her head.

"I don´t either, but obviously, this is real, and we have to cope. I wonder what happened to the others...Hey, Ginny, in the book, weren´t they only allowed to have two kids?"

"Yeah...why?"

"Well, that´d explain why it´s so quiet...if we´re the only two kids in the family...but why us?"

"I dunno...maybe they really did have more kids, but we´re the ones they kept."

"That just doesn´t sound like Mum and Dad."

"Well, it doesn´t sound like the Mum and Dad, we know. They could be completely different. Plus, we don´t know what Dad does in this world, either. For all we know, this could be a dream."

"Naw, I pinched myself. It´s real enough."

"Well...we better get dressed. Just `cause we´re in an alternate universe doesn´t mean we don´t have to obey our parents. It´s in the Bible."

"Do they have the Bible in this universe?"

"Shut up, Ron."

"Shutting. You know, you say that an awful lo-" but Ginny sent him a venomous look and he shut up.

* * * * *

"Hermione! Look at me! Look at you! What´s going on?!?" Li cried, rubbing her hands along her face and staring in the mirror, distractedly.

"I dunno. Hey, what´s that on your neck?" Hermione walked towards the larger girl and lifted up her hair. There was a monitor on the back of her neck.

"What is it?" Li asked, frightened, unmoving.

"It´s...it´s a monitor, like from Ender´s Game. Do I have one, too?" Hermione turned around and lifted up her hair.

"Yeah. Hermione...I don´t understand what´s going on. Did we get sucked into the book?" Li said, running a hand through her waist-length, brown hair, her green eyes filling to the brim with tears.

"I...wait." Hermione looked straight in Li´s eyes. "Do you know what this means?"

Li looked confused and said, "What? We got sucked into a book? Or...whoa! You mean, Mum was talking about going to the doctor´s...we´re getting them out! Maybe we´ve been accepted...maybe we haven´t..."

"Either way, we´d better play along...this could be some kind of dark magic, or something," said Hermione, glancing over her shoulder, as if expecting Lord Voldemort, himself to apparate into her bathroom.

"I guess...we´d better get dressed. Meet you downstairs in three minutes."

* * * * *

"Draco, dear!" called Narcissa Malfoy from the bottom of the spiral staircase of Malfoy Manor-one of the oldest surviving houses in what used to be Great Britain-and continued, "time to go to the doctor!"

A pale, silver-haired boy rolled over in bed, shaking his hair from his eyes, he jumped out through the black, silk curtains, took one look in his floor-length mirror, and screamed bloody murder.

A tall silver-haired man appeared in the doorway, panting, and wearing what appeared to be some sort of blue, army jumpsuit. "What´s wrong, Draco? Scared about getting out the monitor?" Lucius Malfoy wore a sympathetic look, almost worried expression on his face as he moved towards his son.

"Don´t hit me, Father!" the small boy shouted, cowering in fear.

Lucius´ hand recoiled, as if the boy had stung him. He´d never raised a hand against the boy, and now his son was thinking he was going to hit me so badly he cowered? Sure, I.F. Common army officials were trained to look intimidating, but he was one of the most kind and compassionate men in the service. "What´s wrong, Draco?"

"Please don´t hurt me, Father! I promise I´ll be quiet! I was just frightened. I´m so..." the boy looked in the mirror and sneered, "young! It´s repulsive, don´t you think, father? What have you done with your hair!" Draco cried, looking at Lucius haircut.

"What? Do I have a cowlick, or something?" Lucius looked in the mirror at his military buzz-cut, and couldn´t find what was wrong. "What´s wrong? It´s the same as it always looks."

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked incredulously. "Have you gone mad? Your wonderful long hair, like mine! Why would you chop it all off?"

Lucius finally decided that Draco was playing a game and decided to play along. "It was chopped off years ago, Draco. I am part of the I.F. Common Army, you know."

Draco´s mouth dropped open. "This is just like that Muggle book we had to read in Muggle Studies. Fascinating." Young Malfoy cocked his head to one side and looked at his father, saying, "Am I going to go to Battle School?"

"More likely than not, yes. You´re getting your monitor off today. We´ll see now, won´t we?" Lucius gave his son a kind smile, tousled Draco´s silvery-blonde locks, and walked out of the room, his lips turned up slightly at the corners, and he hummed a song from "Snow White", a really old film, as he walked down the hall with his familiar, long stride.

"Well," Draco said, turning to his mirror. "I might as well get used to this." He slicked back his hair with a small, pale hand. "Let´s see if we can make this bend to our will, shall we? At least Potter won´t be there to steal all the glory." Silvery-blonde hair falling in his eyes, young Draco winked roguishly at his mirror, and then turned to his wardrobe to get dressed. Maybe being a Muggle won´t be so bad.

* * * * *

As they drove down the road in this new and strange London, in a hover-car, Harry´s-now five-year-old-mind was filled with many thoughts.

"Here we are," Vernon Dursley muttered, pulling the hover-car to a stop in the parking garage near a large hospital, which appeared to be made entirely of reflecting, tinted glass. "Come on, boy, I haven´t got all day."

Harry hopped out of the car and followed Uncle Vernon into the giant structure. It looked as if it had popped right out of a sci-fi book. Hover-wheelchairs, healers like from Star Trek-not that he´d ever seenStar Trek-and nurses and doctors running around in white jumpsuits, with secretaries trailing behind them. He wished he had about five more eyes.

"This way, boy," Vernon grunted, leading him to a perfectly clear, tube, with a space to walk into. Vernon stepped in and was immediately swept up in a great current of air, and Harry followed in the same fashion. "Hate those damn things," Vernon muttered as he got out, not waiting for his nephew.

"Coming, Uncle Vernon," Harry said, running after him.

They stepped into a waiting room, and Harry got the shock of his life. Inside were also what appeared to be young versions of Hermione, Aemillia, Ron, Ginny, and Draco Malfoy.

Hermione jumped up, soon followed by Aemillia and Ginny, and ran over to Harry, hugging him and shouting, "Oh Harry, you´re here!" She squeezed him and her hugging was soon joined by Aemillia and Ginny, as well.

Ron got up and walked over, then whispered, "Ladies, cut it out, nobody else knows what´s going on, except maybe Malfoy," he spat the last word as if it were the most despicable thing in the universe.

The girls stopped hugging Harry, and his eyes turned to Draco, who was looking quite smug. Harry walked over to him, and he was sitting next to Lucius. Harry offered Mr. Malfoy his hand. "Hello, Mr. Malfoy. My name´s Harry. Harry Potter. I go to school with your son, sir," he said.

Lucius stood and shook Harry´s hand heartily, much to the disgust of his son. "Very nice to meet you, Harry. The name´s Lucius. You know Draco, of course." He indicated his son. "And who are your friends?" Lucius said, turning to the other kids, who were looking at Harry in awe.

"This is Hermione Granger, and her little sister Aemillia-goes by the name of Li-this is Ron Weasley, and his little sister Virginia-goes by the name of Ginny," Harry said, indicating each person as he said their name.

"Very nice to meet you, kids," Lucius said, shaking each of their hands and thoroughly shocking each and every one of them.

Li whispered to her sister, "I thought you said this guy was a total creep."

Hermione whispered back, "He was. But look at his uniform, he´s a member of the I.F. Common Army. He´s a good guy. Apparently..."

Ginny smiled weakly at Draco and said, "Why, hello, Draco! You´re looking rather ill, are you feeling well?" she asked as if they were the best of friends.

Draco´s face reddened, with embarrassment or anger, he didn´t know, and he said, "I´m fine, Virginia, thank you for asking." Something in Ginny´s chocolate-brown eyes made him melt, and he found that he couldn´t stop the edges of his mouth from turning up in a smile. This seemed to shock her as much as it did him.

"Well, that´s good," Ginny replied, grinning largely, as Ron came up behind her, nearly a foot taller than his younger sister.

Ron whispered in Draco´s ear, saying, "I don´t know what you´re up to, Malfoy, but I´ll find out, and you will pay if this is your doing."

Just then, Draco was struck with a magnificent idea, but before he could say anything the nurse called from the door of the waiting room, "Malfoy, Draco?"

Draco stood up, and walked towards the kindly nurse. He smiled at her broadly as she asked, "Would you like your father to come?" Draco shook his head and he could´ve sworn he heard his father murmur, "That´s my boy," as he left the room, waving jovially at the other kids.

* * * * *

Far, far away, in a distant time, a terrifying man was sitting in an arm-chair and looking in a crystal ball, a small, balding man with a silver hand beside him. "Well, Wormtail," Tom said. "Let´s see how the story unfolds, shall we?"

I hope that y´all´re liking it so far, and I should have more posted soon.

Thanks to the FAmods.

Thanks to my beta-reader Kimmy.

Thanks to the Schnooglemods in particular.

Thanks to J.K., who totally rocks the world.

And a big thanks and tons of applause to Orson Scott Card, for writing wonderful sci-fi novels for years, which many of us love to read again, and again, and again, and again...