Crookshanks curled up on Hermione's study guide to take a nap. Ron knew that lazy old cat wasn't going anywhere, which would force Hermione to relax. Ron found his wand (it was buried under the couch cushions) and refilled the popcorn and conjured himself a Guinness and Hermione a foamy butterbeer. Hermione took a sip, but pulled away when Ron attempted to put his arm around her shoulders.

" Honestly Ron, watching some man in a blue phone box is not my idea of fun," she huffed.

" Hey that man is the 'doctor' and that's his Tardis," Ron said indignantly. " I guess we could watch a movie though, or play a board game." Hermione shook her head 'no' to each of his suggestions. Ron wanted to suggest cuddling, but he didn't want Hermione to turn him into a slimy toad.

"Hey! I've got it, my dad got this from his job," Ron cried, " Says muggles hook it up to their tellies and play games." Ron pulled a cardboard box out from under the couch. Inside was a dusty Super Nintendo console complete with controllers and a bunch of cartridges. He hooked it up to the telly like his dad had instructed and popped in a cartridge labeled Super Mario Kart. To his surprise, Hermione's eyes lit up.

" That's a Super Nintendo!" She exclaimed, snatching up a controller.

" You've played with this before?" Ron asked quizzically, grabbing the second controller.

Hermione's cheeks were flushed. " Yes, mum and dad bought me one for my eighth birthday. They told me I studied too hard." Ron raised an eyebrow; even Hermione's family thought she worked too hard!

A few hours later Hermione had beat Ron several times at Mario Kart and they had moved on to playing Super Mario World; Hermione played as Mario and Ron as Luigi. Hermione's focus on the game became as intense as her focus on her books. Ron knocked out on the couch in a deep slumber.  He woke up the next day to Hermione hyper focused on beating all the levels to Super Mario World, her study guide stuck between two couch cushions and Crookshanks firmly planted in her lap, while she hunched over the controller talking to the Italian accented plumber and the green lizard thing he was riding on.

Ron thought by the end of that day Hermione would be back with her nose in a book, yet her new video game addiction continued for the rest of the week. He had never seen her like this in all their time at Hogwarts and Ron was getting worried. Hermione even forwent their Friday night pizza and a movie dinner to play video games. In between stuffing their gobs on pineapple and bacon pizza, Ron told Harry about Hermione's video game addiction, and Harry just laughed.

"Ron, I think you're worrying a bit much," Harry chided, taking a sip of beer and waving his wand over Ron's glass to refill it. "Listen mate: the Dursley's forbid me from even looking at Dudley's Super Nintendo as a kid, but you said Hermione had one. Well, playing it now is probably nostalgic for her and nostalgia after traumatic times can be comforting."

Ron pondered that thought for a moment while gulping down some Guinness. " Guess you've got a point. Hey, maybe you should get a job at Hogwarts as a social worker."

" I think I'll pass on that," Harry said with a wry grin. " Now let's come up with a plan to help Hermione connect back to the human world: both muggle and wizard."

"Brilliant!" Ron cried. "I think I've already got an idea".