SIMple Reflections of Life

Draco strolled into the library fully expecting to find Harry on the computer again, but to his surprise Harry wasn\'t there. The muggle contraption was on, sitting on the desk, and the characters were moving about on their own. He glanced about; perhaps Harry had just stepped out to the loo.



He paused, and then pulled up the chair, sitting down and gazing at the screen. It wouldn\'t hurt to take a peek and see just what Harry was up to this time… The building was different; it was a place with a lot of modern furniture, the type that muggles seemed to favor nowadays. Draco preferred the classical styles himself. And those characters on the screen were definitely NOT him or Harry. It only took him a moment to figure out exactly who they were, though. The first one he saw brown bushy hair and was dressed in a Hogwarts Gryffindor uniform; definitely Granger. Were her eyes really that color? He\'d never noticed her eyes were that golden shade of brown. Interesting.



A second Sim in the screen was flame-haired and dressed in a Gryffindor Quidditch team uniform, bright blue; that must be Weasley. He always had trouble telling those damned Weasley boys apart, but he assumed since the redhead was currently snogging Grainger it must be Harry\'s best mate Ron. There was a third Sim in the room who was not involved in the snogging session, but clearly impatient to have his turn to interact with one of the other two. This one Draco recognized immediately; Harry had done a stellar job in reproducing his friend Blaise, even down to the stylish hairstyle and clothing that he preferred currently. Tall, handsome, dark-skinned, SimBlaise paced impatiently, images of Weasley constantly appearing in the thought bubble above his head.



"Bloody hell. What is it you\'re doing here, Harry…?" He murmured, studying the screen a long moment. He tentatively touched the mouse, and then pushed it about a bit; getting a feel for how the movements of the potato-shaped thing controlled the pointer on the screen, which currently resembled a slowly flapping snitch. Draco took up the mouse and pushed it around, seeing how it controlled the pointer on the screen.



Experimentally, he rested his hand over the thing; it was rather comfortable to rest your hand on, it kind of fit the palm of his hand. He clicked; it was controlling the Weasel. All right; this could be fun. He grinned wickedly. He could really get the Weasel in a lot of trouble. He\'d love to see him slapped about by that hideous woman with the handbag, that would be a true riot. The trouble was, where to find the old bat?



"You can play when I\'m done, Dray." Harry said drolly behind him.



Draco immediately rose from the chair, feeling a faint flush touching his cheeks. He felt like he\'d been caught peeking in the window when Grainger and Weasley were snogging for real. "Don\'t be ridiculous…! I don\'t want… it\'s your bloody game, Potter!"



Harry laughed as he strolled over, slipping easily back into his chair. "Do you want them to do anything in particular?"



"I want you to get that mudblood away from my best mate." He ordered, irritated.



"Oh come on, she\'s not even paying any attention to him; besides, he\'s the one who called and asked if he could come over." Harry answered, taking the mouse in hand, a grin on his face.



"I don\'t give a rat\'s arse. Click on him already and get him out of there!"



"Well; I could do that, but I promise you, he won\'t leave happy."



Draco scowled. "Why in Merlin\'s name wouldn\'t he be happy to leave? They\'re not paying him any attention."



Harry clicked several times, irritatingly too quickly for Draco to see exactly how he accessed where they were currently looking. A menu popped up with photos on it and little lines filled with red and percentages under photos. "See these lines here? They represent the strengths of the relationships…"



Draco saw that both the little snapshot of SimHermione and SimBlaise each had full bars under them, and also doubled hearts. "So he likes them both; what\'s the problem? What does that mean?"



"Ron\'s in love." He answered simply. "He\'s quite mad about Blaise, actually."



"Why in the world would you make my best mate fall in love with your best mate?" Draco asked, frowning.



"I didn\'t do it, Dray. In this game, the characters can interact even when you don\'t play them. They did this on their own; I tell you, they\'re in love."



Draco scowled at the screen. "What?"



"They\'ve got a triad going on. Here, I\'ll show you. Let me take off my commands and let them do whatever it is that they want to do." He sat back, erasing all the commands he had imposed on SimRon character.



SimRon released SimHermione and SimBlaise instantly moved forward, clearly eager to be the center of SimRon\'s attention. SimBlaise said something in gibberish that SimRon found quite flattering by his blush and shy giggle, then took his hand and began kissing his way up SimRon\'s arm.



"Merlin… I may be ill…" Draco looked on in shock.



"I don\'t see anything wrong with it." Harry shrugged.



"But Harry… its RON!"



"You sound like Ron when I first started thinking YOU looked interesting." Harry laughed softly. "If this bothers you, then you certainly won\'t want to see what else they get up to." Harry smirked, watching the screen, relaxed back with his arms folded.



Draco wondered how the hell Harry could be so calm watching this. SimBlaise headed to the bedroom and SimRon followed. Each of them made the rather rumpled bed, then sat with their backs against the headboard, chatting amiably. After a while, they snuggled close to each other and then began snogging heavily.



"Oh come on! You made them do that, didn\'t you…?" Draco asked.



Harry shook his head, hands in the air. "Wizard\'s honor; I didn\'t touch the mouse at all, not even magically."



Draco looked back and the two leapt under the blankets and it looked like a wrestling match, laughing and squealing. He realized what they were doing before the fireworks display began or the little purple heart with the manic grin appeared over their heads. "Merlin… they\'re shagging? But… but…"



"I looked at this Sim\'s memories." Harry clicked a couple more times and another menu came up with a picture of a head and the brain emphasized. Harry clicked there and there were a whole list of horizontally scrolling icons; several of them were Woo-Hoo hearts. "You see? I just created him as married to Hermione, but with free will enabled, this character has been with each of them more than once." Harry smirked, clearing the screen and allowing the game to proceed without his interference.



SimRon and SimBlaise emerged from the blankets again and snuggled together, sighing with contentment. SimHermione moved in and settled in a second bed against the apparently to sleep. Draco scowled at the screen. "Why doesn\'t she slap the fool out of Ron for cheating on her?! I slapped you for letting Pansy TALK to you, but it doesn\'t bother Grainger that they\'re shagging?!"



"Not in the slightest; you see, I found a new cheat." Harry answered. "It

removed all jealousy in their reactions."



"Another cheat? Do you ever just play that game without cheating?"



"It\'s more fun with the cheats." Harry chuckled.



"Well… perhaps you could turn that one off for a bit… can you?



"I could, but why would I?"



"I\'d love to watch Weasley get slapped senseless." He laughed and Harry swatted at him.





_________________LATER THAT AFTERNOON_______________________





Ron Weasley poked his head through the door of Harry\'s classroom. "Hey, mate. You busy?"



"Never too busy for you, mate. Come on in." Harry grinned softly at him, pushing the stack of grading aside.



"So…? Did he see?" Ron asked.



"Oh yes, Draco saw. Got quite an eyeful, actually." Harry chuckled. "Your Sim was quite randy this morning…"



Ron chuckled softly. "Yeah, he does get that way… so what all happened? How\'d he take it?" He prompted, sitting on the edge of his desk, grinning at his friend.



"Well, he didn\'t like Blaise around Hermione one bit." Harry said teasingly.



"You know that\'s not what I\'m worried about. He\'s never gotten past the whole mudblood - pureblood thing. Hell, he still treats Hermione like she has Dragon Pox half the time. Come on, Harry, stop holding out on me!"



Harry relented with a laugh. "They not only made out, they shagged in bed. Draco was a little shocked, but he seems to be adjusting to the idea all right."



"You made our characters shag?" Ron looked surprised.



"No. I think you did. You play that almost as much as I do… what, do you have them shag twice a day or what…?" Harry accused. "I let your character have free will and he pounced on Blaise…"



Ron blushed. "Oh, uh… yeah. Something like that…"



"Well, I think seeing that going on might get him ready for the real story; just tell Blaise to keep it under wraps for a few more days. I\'ll invite both of you over to dinner,then. Hermione is still out of town so it all works out great."



"Absolutely brilliant, mate." Ron\'s smile shone forth. "I do love them both, you know, but I was just too blind to see it. Hermione had to hit me in the head to even get me to look and to realize about Blaise."



"I told her to hit you." Harry smirked.



"That figures. Busybody." He accused.



"Prat." Harry retorted.



"Thanks." Ron smiled at his old friend.