Written for:

Ultimate Hermione Challenge II. Prompt: Hermione wakes up in her eleven-year-old body on the day she received her Hogwarts letter

Cinema Competition: Inception - Where does the dream stop and reality begin? Write about a literal or figurative change in scenery.

Bad Movie Tuesdays: Mean Girls 2 - "Green? Definitely not your colour."

So, I've always wanted to write a Game!AU, and Lynn gave me a prompt that screamed at me to write this. I know a lot of my followers are waiting for updates from previous stories I have, and I assure you all, I'll be working on those very soon!

When a pairing is introduced, it won't be Hermione/Ron or Hermione/Harry. I am unsure on the pairings at this moment, but there is a chance that it could be Hermione/Remus (IF I add a pairing that is) or something.

Pairings will only happen when characters are of age.

New Game

Hermione woke up in a daze, her head spinning, throbbing. She slowly sat up, trying to focus on the room around her, though everything seemed to be blurred.

The mattress was soft underneath her, different to the hard camp-beds that she had been sleeping on for months, and she just wanted to lay back down and close her eyes again.

It took a moment before she remembered: she had been at the castle, fighting. Others were falling around her, Remus was trying to protect her, Neville had killed the snake and Harry… Harry had been fighting Voldemort.

Her last memories were of a green flash, which hit Remus, before the next one came at her.

Hermione forced herself up from the bed, her legs shaking. She reached for her wand that was usually stashed under her pillow, before she pulled her hand away as though she had been burnt. The happy plum coloured floral pattern across the pillow was the same one she had as a child, back when her family were in their home.

Back before she headed to Hogwarts.

She reached out slowly, searching for her wand, but there was nothing there...

Hermione slowly turned around, hoping to assess her surroundings to understand where she was, but hadn't expected to find herself back in her old bedroom. It looked very much like it had before she had attended Hogwarts, due to there being no trunk at the end of her bed, or magic books on her bookshelves. Holding back the blind panic (because there had to be a logical or magical explanation), she sat down at her desk.

Sitting at the desk was clearly the wrong thing to do, because instead of her hoping that the chosen spot would calm her and help her focus, as it had always done in the past… this time something different happened. Bold words appeared in front of her eyes.

[New]

[Load]

Hermione blinked a few times in confusion, expecting the words to disappear, but nothing happened. "What does it mean, load," she murmured to herself, frowning at the words. "Why is the text greyed out?"

She shook her head, just causing the ache to increase. She looked around the room, the text not moving from in front of her eyes. Nothing in her life, muggle or magic, had prepared her for words to just appear in front of her as in that manner. She could only recall the Hogwarts song words being written in the air, and that was completely different.

Maybe it was some sort of hex?

"How do I get rid of this text?" she grumbled, blinking quickly, hoping it would fade (it didn't). She let out a sigh. The text wasn't disappearing, so she had three choices.

First, she could ignore it and hope it disappeared over time - maybe she was sleep deprived, it wouldn't be the first time she had seen things due to lack of sleep, and she had just been through a war.

Second, she could wait until she saw Professor McGonagall and find out if this was caused by magic. That is - if the Professor was still alive.

Third, she could address the issue and see what comes of it. Maybe it was some sort of puzzle?

Hermione quickly decided that she didn't want to put the issue aside, and that she at least wanted to try and work it out before heading out in search of help. She hated not knowing what was happening, and the text was annoying her immensely. With a deep breath, Hermione focused on the words, attempting to work out what they meant.

"What is new?" she wondered aloud, her mind drawing a blank.

The moment the word "new" left her lips, the words disappeared, only to be replaced by others. Hermione was quick on the uptake, understanding that vocal commands worked for the text in front of her eyes.

[Start New Game]

[Settings]

"Settings," she said, keeping her voice steady. She had no idea what was going on, but the text was saying to start a new game, which meant that… well, she wasn't quite sure, but it involved a game. Hermione silently praised herself for working out so quickly that it was some sort of puzzle.

[Difficulty Level - Default]

[Blood Status - Random]

[Creature Status - Random]

[House - Random]

[Return]

"Blood status? Why is…" Hermione trailed off as the words disappeared once more, listing the different statuses. She realised she'd have to be careful what she said, as her wonderings had been accepted as the vocal command for [Blood Status].

[Halfblood] - Being a Halfblood allows you to fit into both worlds. You will still face some prejudice, but will start with more knowledge on the wizarding world. (Easy)

[Pureblood] - Being a Pureblood gives you full knowledge of the wizarding world and an instant boost in social standing, though it will bring you closer to Voldemort and the Death Eaters. (Medium)

[Muggleborn] - Being a Muggleborn gives you no knowledge about the wizarding world prior to receiving your letter. You will suffer higher prejudice and have a slim-to-none chance of being sorted into Slytherin or of having a creature status, with the exception of Werewolf and Vampire. (Hard)

Underneath those options was a padlock, though Hermione wasn't sure what it meant.

Hermione read through the three blood-statuses, trying to understand what was going on. The text had told her about a 'new game', but it was life. Life wasn't a game. She couldn't just change her blood status that easily.

She snorted. "Pureblood," she stated, trying to prove the stray thoughts in her mind about life and computer games wrong. After all, there was no way she could ever be a Pureblood. Her eyes widened as the words flickered back to the previous, but with an altered Blood Status.

"Creature Status," she tried, curious as to what list it would provide her.

[Random]

[Human]

[Werewolf]

[Half-Giant]

[Centaur]

Underneath the list, there were more padlocks. Hermione wondered if she would have to find a way to unlock them, before frowning deeply. It wasn't a game where she'd have to unlock things. She pushed the thought aside. "Human," she stated.

The list returned to the previous, leaving only house to choose from. She used the vocal command, frowning at the short list.

[Random]

[Gryffindor]

Followed by a series of padlocks.

"Gryffindor," she stated. The screen returned, and she looked at the last option. Difficulty - Custom. Hermione figured it was because of the changes she had made herself to the other settings from the strange list.

"Return."

Hermione quickly found herself at the first screen once more. "New Game," she said, wondering what would happen. She had no other choice than to see this through, whatever it was, completely forgetting to change her blood status back to Muggleborn.

...oOo...

[Start as Preset Character]

[Customise Character]

Hermione figured that she had already spent enough time trying to work out what was going on, she wanted to find out as soon as possible. Customising anything meant more time deciding, rather than getting on with this puzzle, so she opted for the first choice.

Immediately, the world began to blur around her. As it slowly came back into focus, Hermione noticed changes in her bedroom. For starters, it was much larger than the one she had just been sitting in. Magical books were on the shelves, and various magical items that she could not name. There was a murmur from the large mirror on the wall, and her desk now contained a small amount of magical hair products.

"What in Merlin's name…?" she whispered, her eyes searching the room. She forced deep breaths, constantly reminding herself to stay calm. "If only there was a way for me to get some information as to what was happening?"

She wondered if there were additional commands, as a box appeared in front of her eyes.

[Help. Should you desire help or assistance, you can request to go to the menu at any point. Just state: menu. The menu contains your inventory, your settings (which cannot be changed in game) and the options to save/load a new game. You can use this screen to pause the game at any time, or to check your stats.]

Hermione slowly shook her head. No. It sounded like her life… it had to be a hex. She quickly dismissed the thought - what wizard would hex her life to be a computer game? Most wizards didn't even know what a computer game was. The wizarding world only had a radio after all. Computer Games wouldn't be big in the magical world for at least another hundred years.

That left only a few options. Dreaming, insanity, or that this was really happening.

Hermione was certain that she'd know if she was insane, and it felt too real to be a dream, which left her with the unwanted third option.

This was actually her life. This computer game she seemed to be in was real. She was part of it. Though, she wasn't sure how she didn't remember doing all of this before? Surely during the last run-through of the game, she had made these choices… right?

Unless the first time didn't offer the options. Hermione's knowledge of gaming was quite limited, though she considered that her first attempt was a 'trial' version or a tutorial of the game. Without some sort of 'guide', she couldn't be sure.

It all made no sense. After all, Harry was the boy-who-lived. Wouldn't it make sense for it to be about him? Wouldn't he be the one in the game. Hermione had no mortal enemy (unless she counted Malfoy, and in the future, Bellatrix) - Harry was the one with the tragic backstory and the hero complex and the two sidekicks.

She took another calming breath. Now that she had worked out what was happening, she found it easier to stay calm. She just had to work out where she was and what was going on. She glanced at her hands, noticing they were smaller than usual.

Her head shot up. The mirror on the wall - that would help her work out her age. She stood up and rushed over, her gaze falling down to the robes she was wearing as they swished around her legs.

She paused in front of the mirror, lifting her head and stared at the blonde. After a moment of shock, she was unable to stop the scream of terror that left her lips.

She looked like a Malfoy.

"What's wrong?" The door burst open, a wand pointed in her direction, before moving around the room slowly. "Are you hurt?"

Lucius Malfoy stormed into the room, anger spreading across his face as he searched for the threat, before he finally looked at his daughter. "Still in your night-clothes?" he asked. "A bad dream?"

Hermione gawked at him. Was Lucius being… nice to her? She had never in her life imagined that Lucius could possess such a soft and caring tone of voice. It scared her more than she could ever imagine.

"Hermione, dramatic as ever! Was it another spider?" Draco sauntered into her room, heading straight over to her desk to look through the bottles.

"Get… get out!" she whispered, finding her voice, though it wouldn't go any louder.

"What? Still salty over yesterday? How can you still be mad at your twin?"

Twin? Hermione's hand flew to her mouth as she tried to resist heaving on the floor.

"Are you feeling unwell? Get back to bed, I will send a house-elf with some potions. Do you need anything, would you like me to read you a story?"

Hermione shook her head. She couldn't handle the caring, loving looks the two Malfoys were giving her. "Menu," she cried out, gasping in relief as the scene around her froze and the writing appeared.

"I want… I want a new game, but I want to change the settings."

The room around her faded, and Hermione smiled in relief. She didn't even want to think how Hogwarts would have been with her as a Malfoy, or how her 'family' would have felt about her being a Gryffindor.

As she looked at the new list, Hermione found her gaze drawn to half-blood. The idea of starting with more magical knowledge was very tempting, and the idea of not being a muggleborn was even more so. Plus, she would benefit from not being hunted after the wedding… though with Harry as a friend, it was still likely.

For the first time since waking, she looked down at the spot on her arm that had previously held the slur from Bellatrix. Her arm was bare.

The thought of suffering through that again was enough. She selected half-blood.

Leaving the rest of the settings, she headed into a new game once more. She watched with bated breath as the room around her blurred, changing into a smaller, cosier room: something more like the room she had started with.

She took a deep breath, finding a full length free standing mirror in the corner. She headed over, desperate to see her reflection this time.

She sighed in relief. Apart from a slightly darker brown to her hair, she looked pretty much the same as she had. The curls were still intact, though her eyes were a darker brown than before. She looked at the more casual pyjamas she was wearing and smiled.

There wasn't a large change - not like the stranger who had stared back at her in the mirror when she had been a Malfoy, and though she didn't know who she was, she felt more like herself. Tiny changes were acceptable.

"What's my name?" she asked, hoping that this would trigger the game into giving her information.

"Something more bearable than mine," came a familiar voice. Hermione spun around, eyes widening at the sight of a younger Nymphadora Tonks. "I still don't get why I'm Nymphadora and you're Hermione. Talk about the favoured child." Her smile was teasing. "So, little sister. Hogwarts will be starting soon and I've heard from a friend of a friend… oh, okay - Charlie Weasley told me that his father told him, that the letters should be going out over the next couple of days. Fingers crossed you're not a Squib, yeah?!"

She mistook the look on Hermione's face. "Not that you being a Squib would be a bad thing, you know Mum and Dad wouldn't care. They'd probably spoil you even more than they do now. I was just kidding."

"I know," Hermione murmured, glad her voice was working. She was a Tonks. Tonks' sister. Right, she'd have to change what she called Tonks if this was the case, or things would get confusing fast. "So… Hogwarts letters?"

As Tonks walked into her wardrobe and began to pull out clothes for her, whilst talking, Hermione quickly determined that she was eleven again. She hadn't taken note of her age when looking at herself, only ensuring that she wasn't a Malfoy again. She held in a sigh. She didn't want to be eleven again.

"You're not at Hogwarts this year?"

Tonks stopped talking, smiling at Hermione. "I know you're nervous about going without me, but it'll be alright. Charlie's younger brother will be starting too, and I've heard that Harry Potter will be attending, though that's just a rumour. Also, Augusta was here for tea a few weeks back and said that Neville would be attending and would be a Gryffindor like his parents." She rolled her eyes. "He's a sweet little kid, but I can see him being team yellow like me -"

"He'll be a Gryffindor," Hermione assured her.

"And you?" Tonks raised an eyebrow. "Where will you be, do you think? A little Slytherin like Mum? Or a Hufflepuff like Dad?"

Hermione looked back at herself in the mirror. Despite the changes in her appearance, and the changes the past events had caused, she was still Hermione Granger.

Whether this was a game or real life or she really had gone insane, she had a plan. She would go into Hogwarts with her knowledge on events and what the future held. She would certainly be able to change things… and didn't the 'help' say something about loading and saving games.

She was sure that would come in useful, too.

"Because I think if you have to choose, you'd make a better Hufflepuff. I mean, green? Definitely not your colour, Hermione."

"I'm going to be a Gryffindor," Hermione stated, determinedly.

Tonks smirked. "Of course you are. We'll see! I have money on you sitting in a different tower."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "How much money?"

"Ten Galleons," Tonks stated.

"You're on." Hermione smiled innocently. She remembered that she had set her house as Gryffindor, but it wouldn't hurt to have some money behind her.

She took one more look around the room as Tonks disappeared through the door. She needed to shower and then go and meet her new family.

And once she had her letter, she decided to make a timeline and work out what she could change and where, and how she could go about stopping Peter from escaping in her third year.

And if she messed up, well, that's what saved games were for.

"Menu. Save game," she commanded.

I hope you all liked it. I may turn this into an MC.

Review Please :)

Thanks to Emily for betaing.