AN - I've decided to try my hand at a Gaming fic, I went with the Potterverse as I've really come to enjoy HP fics and have been meaning to write one for quite some time now. This fic will be rated M for the get-go, not set pairing in mind yet but there will be my personal favorites like Fleur and Daphne but I'm also willing to listen to suggestions.
I suppose I should also say that this will eventually be an overpowered Harry fic seeing as he's playing on Easy mode.
Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter or any video games referenced or material borrowed from said games.
Easy Mode
Tom Riddle's Killing Curse hits you for 9,999 Damage.
You have died.
Harry blinked, gawking at the words floating in front of him. He looked around, there was only a dull off-white color which he could only assume he was back in purgatory. "Well bugger me."
"Unfortunate that, I'd thought you'd learn to dodge or shield those after the first time." A cheerful voice spoke to him from his side.
Harry flinched slightly in surprise before regarding the man next to him smiling encouragingly "Hello?"
"Hi." The man said, extending his hand "Names Death, nice to finally meet you."
Despite the absurdity of the man's claims Harry took his hand nonetheless. "Harry Potter."
"I know. Now Harry, may I call you Harry?" At the boy's nod he continued "Harry to be perfectly honest, you've left me in a bit of a rough spot."
"How so... sir?"
"Well you see, you were supposed to survive and kill Tom Riddle. You didn't." He answered. "You somehow managed to muck up Fate's plans as well and now she's bitching at me to send you back."
"Fate... wants to send me back? I thought she'd been planning my demise all along." Harry couldn't help but send a dig towards the concept of 'Fate'.
"Oh she was, only you were only supposed to die just the once so to get rid of the Horcrux. Seeing as you died twice and now the world is collapsing due to a deviance in her plans well... we have to send you back. You being dead is literally breaking the universe." The man said with a nonchalant shrug.
"You don't seem too concerned."
"Harry my realm is that of death and the afterlife. Millions upon millions of people are currently suffering horrifyinglypainful and highly amusing deaths. I win either way to be honest." The man answered just as the large screen projection finally went black. "Now considering that Fate is running damage control It's up to me to give you the rundown on your new life."
"OK I'm sorry, can we address the giant screen first?" Harry said pointing at giant black screen. "Why did it seem like I died in one of Dudley's RPGs?"
"Oh like that? You humans make the most fascinating things and recently I've become quite taken with video games so that will be the theme of your second try." Death told the boy and the screen suddenly lit up into a dark backdrop with the Hogwarts castle shining in the moonlight in all it's glory all the while the Hogwarts theme song played lightly.
"The Adventures of Harry Potter..." Harry read the title before turning towards the grinning Death. "You're kidding right?"
"Nope."
"Bugger me." Harry let out an exasperated sigh "I don't even know all that much about video games."
Death waved off the boy's concerns and handed him a book "This here's the Game Manual, anything and everything you'll need for round two will be here. You can get access to your inventory, quest log, stats, spellbook and codex all from this book. It also has a few helpful hints from yours truly."
Harry gave the man a hesitant look before cracking open the Manual. 'So your life is now a video game. Well congratulations and welcome to the world of exploits, cheats and hax. Ready to grind for hours on end? No? Then get out you filthy casual-' "How is this in any way shape or form useful?"
The man chuckled good-naturedly "Well you see Harry last time around Fate kinda gave you the shaft pretty hard don't you think?"
"She was kind of a bitch, yeah." The man slapped his hands together and laughed in agreement.
"Precisely and now she has the fucking gall to demand something from my realm such as returning you from death a second time. Now us Aspects have a sort-of pact, don't fuck with my shit and I won't fuck with yours... and she's dipping into my shit, and I don't like that."
"Fair enough, what does this have to do with me?" Harry could somewhat understand the man's concerns.
"Everything." Death explained with a grin "See Fate wanted me to bring you back, but she never specified how. So I'm sending you back but you better damn well believe that I'm going to do so in a way that will piss her off the most."
"I... don't know if I want to tempt Fate."
Death scoffed "What's the worst she could do? Kill you? Nah, I'll send you right back... in the form of continues. See video games have this neat little function called a save point, essentially you save that point in time and can go back to that time but all unsaved data is lost. So if you say... fuck up and accidentally rob the wrong person 'Reload Last Checkpoint' and poof everything you just did past your save point is undone. If you fuck up, just reload."
"Isn't that cheating?"
"Abso-fucking-lutely, and why should you play by the rules? Where did they get you in the previous life huh? You died a virgin and got one rebound date from that Cho girl and a few kisses from your fan-girl, most of your 'friends' turned on you every other year and you still died nothing you did the last life mattered." Death told him vehemently "So why not play by your own rules this time?"
Harry was about to speak before he paused and thought about. "Shite... you're right."
"Ok so hear me out Harry, I'm on your side kid. Quite frankly you amuse me and it's not often I pay special attention to a mortal so that's why this time around I'm giving you a leg up on the competition. Your life will play out like an RPG and that includes all the convenient stuff that comes with it." Death explained as he led Harry towards the giant screen "Unlimited inventory, sleeping fully heals you, you can instantly learn certain things though skill books, you can directly affect your body through stat points, all kinds of shit really but it would take all day to explain it all and we're sort of running out of time."
Just as he said that part of the off-white room broke off and beyond it was just an endless black void which worried Harry slightly. "Hey, hey, ignore that. Leave that up to Fate to deal with, now we've got to get you back in the game and I'm giving you the controller so you can flip a nice V at the sky and tell Fate to go fuck herself."
"Yeah!" Now Harry was getting pumped up. "How do we start?"
"Here, use this controller to start-up the game and then when you're inside you can just use vocal commands to activate the Game Manual's features." Death explained.
"Alright... press start." Harry looked down at the controller and pressed the start button.
There were four options to pick from.
Continue - Was grayed out.
New Game - Was a normal white.
Load Game - Was grayed out.
Options - Was a normal white.
"I guess let's look at the options first?" Harry asked Death, the man just shrugged his shoulders and added 'Your call.'
Selecting options brought him to a new menu.
Difficulty - It was set to HARD.
Achievements - Was viewable but everything inside of it was question mark.
Cheats - Was currently grayed out.
"Alright well first things first Hard mode can go and bugger right off, setting that to easy." Harry said as he changed the setting before scrolling through the two other options but everything inside both menus was not yet unlocked or grayedout. "Guess it's time to start."
"Excellent, now let's create your character. I've given you the option of changing your features if you so wish." Death explained as the character creation screen came up.
Harry was ready to dismiss the idea outright before a stray thought crossed his mind. "I wonder what I'd look like with my mothers hair." The 3D image of Harry on the screen changed to red hair over black before he frowned and shook his head "What about black but straight hair?"
The image morphed once more and Harry decided he liked it over the unruly mess that was James Potter's hair only having to shorten the length a bit to shoulder length to get to how he liked. The he noticed a slide, a glorious slide with a six letter word next to it. Height. "I can make myself taller!?" Harry asked hopefully.
"To an extent, your father was decently tall at 5'8" so you can top out at 6'1" if you wanted to." Death told him and Harry immediately set 6'1" to be his max height.
Harry also messed with a few minor things as well as setting his build size to be more broad-shouldered like his father than his wimpy girly frame from before. He also made sure to fully select all of his mother's eye genes, so he wasn't half-blind like his father. "What now?"
"Pick a name. You can stick with Harry Potter if you want or alter it a bit, you know maybe make it a bit more noble sounding?" Death offered.
Harry mulled it over before entering the name 'Hadrian James Potter' as his legal name while Harry could be his casual name. "OK now what?"
"Press start then confirm that you want your character to look like that and it will take you to the next screen." Harry did just that and it took him to what he remembered was a stat screen from the few times he watched Dudley play Final Fantasy when they were kids. "I'm guessing you know what to do here?"
"I believe so." Harry read the instructions and apparently he was given a generic wizard build. High Int, low everything else. "Well that sounds dreadfully useless."
"I agree." Death said with a nod and watched Harry select the option to reset all the points. Harry screen went back to +1 on all stats with 25 points available to allocation.
"Alright lets see here." Harry tapped the info button at the top and it explained every stat.
Strength - Governs damage and ability to use melee weapons. Increases how much can be carried at once. Increases impact of physical spells.
Endurance - Governs vitality and stamina. Increases resistances to physical and magical damage as well as poisons and other toxins.
Agility - Governs dexterity and athleticism. Increases Haste, Dodge Secondary Stats. Increases ability to move around undetected.
Intelligence - Governs knowledge retention and cultivation. Increases ability to cast spells, and a requirement for higher ranking spells.
Wisdom - Governs perception and understanding. Increases mental reflex and defense.
Charisma - Governs speech. Increases ability to influence those around you by various means. Increases ability to learn new languages.
Luck - Governs the karma around you. Increases chance to find extra items or money. Increases chance of good or bad fortune to befall you.
"So Int and Wis is like book smarts vs. street smarts right?" Harry asked Death who nodded. "Well that makes sense, most magicals severely lacked in the common sense department."
"Pretty much. So what are you planning on going with?" Death asked with growing curiosity.
"I was thinking 4 into STR, 6 into END, 8 in INT, 5 into WIS then 1 and 1 into CHA and LUK." Harry answered as he checked over the allocated start points and screen.
Name: Hadrian James Potter
Title: N/A
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Level: 1 - EXP to next level 0/100
HP: 150/150
MP: 81/81
Stamina: 107.5
STR: 5 (-2)
END: 7 (-2)
AGI: 1 (+3)
INT: 9
WIS: 6
CHA: 2 (+4)
LUK: 2 (+1)
Perks: Marked as Equal
Status Effects: Malnourished, Horcrux
Skills: N/A
Languages: English, Parseltongue
"I'm guessing we're done on this screen?" Harry asked though he was curious what the perks actually did but Marked as Equal is likely some link towards Voldemort so he'd have to remember to check that out later.
"Yep, continue on adventurer." Moving on to the next screen Harry received a pop-up message asking him if he wished to start the tutorial. "Well kid, time to start your journey."
Harry smiled and nodded "Thanks for the help Death."
"No problem-o, oh and-" He leaned in closely while covering a hand on the side of his mouth "You didn't hear it from me but collecting every Deathly Hallow unlocks a cheat."
Harry's eyes widened before nodding "Got it."
"Good," Death winked "Knock em' dead kid."
Harry selected yet on the pop-up and the screen flashed, momentarily blinding him. The next think he knew he was walking out side #4 privet drive on a bright sunny day. "And don't come back until you finish those chores!" Vernon's voice called from inside.
In front of him the words Prologue: First Day of Summer appeared and then faded away like smoke. Looking down at the piece of paper in his hand, two pop-ups appeared.
The first pop-up was a welcome message, apparently he was ten years old and this was the summer before he would enter Hogwarts. The whole summer was his tutorial stage so he could get the hang of the game before moving on to the magical world. The second pop-up was a quest notification.
[Would you like to start the [Daily Chores] quest?] (Yes) (No)
"Yes?" Harry attempted the voice command and the system at play accepted it. "Quest log?"
Suddenly a small screen that only he could see popped up in front of him.
Quests 1/50
1 - [Daily Chores]
Clicking on his only quest brought up the description, mission parameters and rewards.
[Daily Chores]
[Just like every other day, Harry is being forced to do chores for the Dursleys. Same old, same old.
Wash the Car - 0/1
Mow the Lawn - 0/100%
Pulls Weeds from Garden - 0/15
Completion: +50 XP
Failure: +5 XP, No dinner.]
Harry read over the mission and it was pretty standard to what he used to do before, so he quickly set upon the tasks. Only to receive a surprise when he pulled out the first weed.
[Through a special action you've unlocked the "Herbology" skill. Herbology allows the identification and handling of certain muggle or magical plants and flowers.]
+1 Herbology skill.
Harry looked at the week in his hand in surprise before shrugging. "That's cool I guess... though I never really had any need for herbology in my last life." Without really paying any more attention to it he returned to his task of picking weeds which automatically ended up in his inventory under the Materials tab.
"Hmm... Inventory." Harry opened up the inventory tab and read its description.
[Inventory: The Player's Inventory is a personalized pocket-space existing outside of the known universe. It can store anything regardless of size, weight, amount or material as long as the Player is physically able to carry it and place it within the inventory. All items placed within the inventory are put under stasis so all organic matter stays as fresh or alive as when it was first put in.]
While doing his chores Harry had taken the time to test out the rest of his verbal commands and was able to find shortcuts to his quests, inventory, stats and map which oddly resembled a larger world version of the marauders map only most of it was blank until Harry discovered that the map slowly filled in as he explored those areas only people's names only showed up after he learned them. Turns out the mailman was named Joe where as before he was simply called Mailman.
+1 Herbology skill
Harry checked his quest log and it confirmed that, that was the last weed and the quest was now ready to turn in. Wiping his feet on the mat outside he opened up the glass door and walked into the kitchen. "Aunt Petunia I'm done with my chores."
[Through a special action you've unlocked the "Speech" skill. Speaking with other characters slowly improves this skill.]
+1 Speech.
The woman nodded as he continued looking into the fridge and writing on a notepad. "After you make lunch I want you out of the house. The members of my book club will be coming over and I don't want you around to taint the house with your freakishness."
Being out of the house suited him just fine. "What does Dudley want to eat?"
+1 Speech.
"Diddykins!"
"Yeah ma?"
"What would you like to eat for lunch?"
"Ham sandwiches!"
Turning back towards her nephew he simply nodded and went into the cupboard for the bread. "How many Dudley." He called out.
+1 Speech.
"Thr- Four!"
Harry quietly pulled out the ingredients and laid them out on the counter top before reaching for them, or at least he would have if a pop-up hadn't stopped him.
'Introduction to Crafting: Cooking]
[Crafting skills can either be used free-hand if you are skilled enough in the art or through a mini-game. The crafting mini-games vary between skills but prompts will be given along with instructions.
Cooking: Cooking is a mix of quick time events and following recipes in a certain order.]
*Beep*
Harry looked at the notification that just popped up. [Making Dudley Lunch.]
[Make the overweight pile of human feces that could be confused for your cousin lunch.
Craft Sandwich - 0/4.
(Optional)
[Make yourself lunch... but don't get caught!]
Craft Sandwich - 0/1
Completion: +50 XP main objective, +50 XP for bonus objective.
Failure: +5 XP, no dinner.]
Harry accepted the quest and glanced a look over his shoulder, his aunt was busy finish her list for groceries. He quickly took out the bread and free-handed it into a quick sandwich before putting it in his inventory under the Food tab.
+1 Cooking
[Optional objective complete!]
Harry smiled. Well at least I get to eat a little extra today. He then went on to try the quick time events which were rather simple since sandwiches didn't need proper timing just bread; condiments, cheese, ham, done.
Once he was done he plated them and brought them over to his cousin who barely acknowledged him before returning to his show.
[Quest Complete!]
[Gained +100 XP, 1 Ham Sandwich.]
Then confetti popped out of his next pop-up that thankfully only he could see. [Level Up!]
Harry grinned and went into the hallway, entering his little prison under the stairs. "My first level, this is great! Stats."
Upon his voice command the Stats screen popped up showing all of his attributes. Followed by a short tutorial explaining that each level earned him +5 status points that could be allocated wherever he wished.
"First however, let's check you out." Harry said to himself as he clicked the glowing Perks button and asked for information on it.
[Perks]
[Perks are special abilities or effects that remain permanently. You can choose 1 new perk every level or wait until someone else you want unlocks. Certain Perks have stat requirements or other prerequisites before they can be unlocked.]
"Good to know, let's see what he have now." He said while reading over the list.
Lady Killer - Rank 0/1: +10% damage to the opposite sex, and unique dialogue options with the opposite sex.
Like my Old Man - Rank 0/3: +5 Transfiguration, +5 Speech [REQ: 4 INT]
Momma's Boy - Rank 0/3: +5 Charms, +5 potions [REQ: 4 INT]
Budding Wizard - Rank 0/3: +5 Wand Skill. +1 Intelligence [REQ: 6 INT]
Surrey Slugger - Rank 0/3: +5 Melee Weapons, +1 Strength [REQ: 6 STR]
Thief - Rank 0/3 +5 Lock picking, +5 sneak [REQ: 6 AGI]
Hermoine's Notes - Rank 0/3: +10% more XP gained through all sources [REQ: 4 INT]
Olliver's Training - Rank 0/10: Gain 3 Stat points instantly [REQ: 4 END]
Harry deliberated over the choices before ultimately going with Hermoine's Notes. "If I can level up faster then that's better right?"
He then went back to the stats screen and read over every Primary Stat to learn exactly what they did.
-Primary Stats-
[Primary stats are the building blocks of your character and will influence ever other aspect of the game. Themaximum you can have in any one stat is 100.]
-Strength-
Modifies: Melee Weapons Skill, Physical Damage, and Carry Weight.
Every point in Strength adds +1 to Melee Weapons Skill.
Every point in Strength adds 0.9% to Physical damage.
Every point in Strength adds 1/4 Stone to your carry limit.
-Endurance-
Modifies: Health Points, Resistance, Stamina Bar.
Every point in Endurance adds 10 Health Points.
Every point in Endurance adds 0.5% Resistance to Physical/Magical damage.
Every point in Endurance adds 1% Resistance towards Poison/Disease
Every point in Endurance adds 1.5 Stamina.
-Agility-
Modifies: Adrenaline Mode, Sneak Skill, Haste, Dodge.
Every point in Agility adds +2 seconds to Adrenaline mode.
Every point in Agility adds +2 to Sneak skill.
Every point in Agility adds 0.3% Haste.
Every point in Agility increases chance to dodge by 0.4%
-Intelligence-
Modifies: Wand Skills, Mana Pool, Stat Points Gained per Level.
Every point in Intelligence adds +2 to Wand Skill.
Every point in Intelligence adds +10 to Mana pool.
Every point in Intelligence reduces spell costs by 0.6%.
10% of Intelligence added as a bonus stat point.
-Wisdom-
Modifies: Perception Skill, Mana Regeneration, Mind Arts, Skill Points Gained per Level.
Every point in Wisdom adds +2 to Perception Skill.
Every point in Wisdom adds 0.1% In-combat MP/5.
Every point in Wisdom adds 0.5% Out-of-combat MP/5.
Every point in Wisdom adds +2 to Occlumency, +2 to Legilimency.
20% of Wisdom added as a bonus skill point.
-Charisma-
Modifies: Speech skill, Barter Skill, Language, Charm/Intimidate Success Chance
Every point in Charisma adds +2 to Speech Skill.
Every point in Charisma adds +2 to Barter Skill.
Every point in Charisma increases Language learning speed by 1%.
Every point in Charisma increases chance to successfully charm or intimidate the target by 0.8%
-Luck-
Modifies: All Skills, Critical Chance, Loot Drops.
Every two points in Luck adds +1 to all Skills.
Every point in Luck adds 0.5% chance to critically hit.
Every point in Luck adds a 5% increase to Money drops, 1% increase in Item Drops.
Harry blinked once he finished reading all the information "Wow... that's a lot to keep track of." Shaking his head he saw that he had 5 stat points that he could place wherever he wanted.
"OK so every ten INT gives me another stat point so lets point one there. And the other four I guess I'll put in WIS for the extra skill points. Might as well be smart and not an idiot." Harry mumbled as he added the stat points with the sixth point from INT going into END.
Name: Hadrian James Potter
Title: N/A
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Level: 2 - EXP to next level 150/250
Stat Points: 0
Skill points: 12
HP: 170/170
MP: 100/100
Stamina: 109
STR: 5 (-2)
END: 8 (-2)
AGI: 1 (+3)
INT: 10
WIS: 10
CHA: 2 (+4)
LUK: 2 (+1)
Perks: Marked as Equal, Hermoine's Notes
Status Effects: Malnourished, Horcrux
Skills: +16 Herbology, +6 Cooking, +16 Speech
Languages: English, Parseltongue
"Great not that that's sorted out let's move on to skills... Really that's it?" Harry said to himself in disappointment as his only three skills were the ones not grayed out. "Info."
[Skills]
[Skills are unlocked through special actions. Only once said action is performed can said skill be used. Skills max out at 500.]
"Looks like I have to actually unlock them first..." He drawled out in annoyance. "I guess I'll just wait until I find something better. Might as well check out the other stuff while I'm here."
Harry scrolled down on the Stats screen and found something called Secondary Stats.
-Secondary Stats-
Crit Chance: Increases the chance to critically hit for double damage. Current Crit Chance - 1.5%
Haste: Increases casting or swing speed for weapons/spells. Current Haste - 1.2%
Dodge: Chance to completely negate damage by dodging out-of-the-way. Current Dodge Rating - 1.6%
Spell Cost Reduction: Reduces spell cost. Current Spell Reduc. - 6%
Mana Regeneration: Increases the regeneration speed of mana in or out of combat. Current in-combat regeneration - 1% Current out of combat mana regeneration - 5%
Accuracy: Increases chance to hit targets. Current accuracy - 1%
"Huh... now Perks."
[Perks]
[Marked as Equal]: The Dark Lord marked you as his equal that Halloween night.
[Through this perk you've lost Reputation with the Dark Lord's Faction.]
-9999 Reputation with Voldemort. Hated status with Voldemort.
-9999 Reputation with Death Eaters. Hated status with Death Eaters.
[Through this perk you've gained Parseltongue.]
Parseltongue not only allows one to speak the silver tongue of snakes but also gives one a subtle snake-like grace.
+3 to Agility
+2 Charisma
[Through this perk you've gained the Horcrux status effect.]
[Hermoine's Notes] - Rank 1/3: You still remember some of the stuff from Hermoine's old notes, some things now make more sense.
[Through this perk you earn +10% more XP from all sources.]
"Damn Voldemort really doesn't like me." Harry chuckled lightly to himself before moving on to Status effects.
[Status Effects]
Horcrux: A soul shard of the Dark Lord is embedded into your scar. This piece of his soul must be destroyed before defeating Voldemort.
- The Horcrux is constantly draining your magical power. -10% mana.
- A Horcrux is soul magic and thus can only be affected by other soul magic or incredibly powerful Dark or Light magic.
- Horcrux can be used as a scapegoat against soul magic once, having it be destroyed and not your own soul.
- Voldemort remains immortal while his Horcruxes are in play.
[Malnourished:] Through many years of malnutrition you've gained the Malnourished status effect. This effect can be cleared with a balanced diet, potions, or healing magic.
-2 Endurance
-2 Strength
"That explains some of the negative stats but not some of the positive stats, I have more charisma and luck than I should have." He took another minute to look through the page before finding the [Titles] Button hidden at the top.
"Well hello, what do you have for us?"
[Titles]
[Titles are given through accomplishments in your adventures. Titles bonuses are passive and cumulative while one Title can be activated at a time to double its attribute effects.]
[Heir to The Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter]: As the last scion of House Potter it falls to you to return it to its former glory.
[This title grants access to Potter Bank Accounts, Lands, Holdings, Businesses and Inheritances upon reaching certain criteria.]
[Ancient Houses have long-standing Reputations.]
This title grants +9999 Reputation with House Potter. Exalted status with House Potter.
This title grants +4000 Reputation with House Longbottom. Honored status with House Longbottom.
This title grants +1000 Reputation with House Weasley. Neutral status with House Weasley.
This title grants +1000 Reputation with House Bones. Neutral status with House Bones.
This title grants +1000 Reputation with House Ollivander. Neutral status with House Ollivander.
This title grants -1000 Reputation with House Black. Unfriendly status with House Black.
This title grants -1000 Reputation with House Greengrass. Unfriendly status with House Greengrass.
This title grants -2000 Reputation with House Yaxley. Hostile status with House Yaxley.
[A Noble Lord must act with poise and decorum.]
This title grants +2 to Charisma.
[The Potters have always had a natural luck about them.]
This title grants +1 to Luck.
[Boy-Who-Lived]: As the boy-with-the-hyphenated-title it is your destiny to vanquish the Dark Lord as Magical Britain's Hero.
[The Hero of Magical Britain.]
This title grants +6000 Reputation with Magical Britain. Revered status with Magical Britain.
This title increases Reputation gains with Magical Britain by 10%.
[British Celebrity.]
This title grants +2 Charisma while inside of Magical Britain.
This title grants 10% Discount on Items bought, 10% Profit on Items sold inside of Magical Britain.
"Alright well I've had about my fill of being the Boy-Who-Lived last time around... Activate Title Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter." He watched as the words suddenly appeared in the title section of his stats screen. Harry grinned "Way better."
Now that he was done leveling up Harry left the house and decided to explore Little Whinging and hopefully find some more quests to do. He mentally called for the map and was glad to find that it worked just as well as saying the words aloud only this time he wouldn't look crazy for walking around and constantly saying 'map'.
Studying the map he could see that most of the areas past Privet Drive were grayed out so exploring those sections might be worthwhile. With destination in mind Harry began walking down the street and past #5 which suddenly filled into his map.
Harry noted that footsteps appeared on the map inside of #5 but he figured that because he hadn't met those people yet they wouldn't appear named. Moving along to #6 he knew that was Piers' house and inside he could see Mrs. Polkiss and... oddly enough Joe the mailman. Best not to think about what's likely going on in there.
The last house on the block belonged to 'Mrs. Number Seven.' A beautiful woman probably in her late twenties or early thirties who Petunia jealously spied on. While in his first life Harry was a child yet unable to appreciate the female body, now having already gone through puberty once he could definitely say that Mrs 7 was incredibly attractive. Blonde hair, blue eyes, great figure... and she was looking over at him.
He held his composure as he continued walking down the street and waved a greeting "Good morning."
Charisma check: Passed 8/5.
+500 Rep with Mrs 7. Status Neutral.
She smiled and waved back "Hi, good morning."
Harry continued walking only to her to call out to him "Hey wait up a sec." He gulped hoping she hadn't caught him checking her out and was about to call him out on it.
He turned with the best child-like inquisitive look he could muster and asked "Yes?"
She walked closer to him and scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Hey I usually see you doing the yard work for your house and I kinda have to head out in like an hour so if you don't mind helping me finish up my chores I can give you some money. If you're not doing anything right now that is?"
[Help Mrs 7.]
[Mrs 7 has asked for some help with her yard work.]
Mow the Lawn: 30/100%
Water the Flowers: 0/25
Trim the Hedges: 0/10
Reward: +50 XP, 15 pounds, +500 Rep with Mrs. 7
Failure: +5 XP, -500 Rep with Mrs. 7]
[You've discovered an optional quest. Optional quests do not progress the story so you can choose to do them or not.]
Harry only briefly glanced at the pop-up before nodding. "Sure," He then stuck out his hand "I'm Harry by the way."
She smiled, relieved to get some help with her work and took his hand. "Jessica."
"So what needs doing?" Harry asked even though he already knew considering the quest pop in his vision was telling him.
"Well I need to finish the lawn, water the plants and then trim the hedges a bit since they're starting to grow." Jessica listed "Why don't you get the flowers and hedges while I finish up here?" She suggested while tapping the manual lawn mower she was next to.
"Alright, the stuff in the back?" Harry asked pointing towards the gate that led into the back yard.
"Yep, the pail and trimmer are back there. Just let me know when you're done." Jessica told him.
Harry opened the gate and walked into the backyard. He caught sight of the water pail and decided that one would be quicker.
[Equipped: Garden Pail]
[+2 Herbology]
"Huh," Harry shrugged at the notification before tapping the X to close the window and proceeding to water the plants. A bar appeared every time he neared the flowers telling him exactly how much water they needed so at least that made it easier.
Five minutes later he finished that up and moved on to hedges.
[Equipped: Hedge Trimmer]
[10-18 Physical Damage]
[+2 Herbology]
Harry supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. Really any bladed or pointy object could be used as a weapon. Good to know though.
Fifteen minutes later Harry noted that the Lawn had reached 100% so he guessed Jessica was done with her end. A minute or two later she appeared. "Hey Harry, hows it going?"
"Almost done, just need to get the ones on that side and I'll be done. Five minutes tops." Harry reported.
Jessica grinned "Great, thanks Harry, you're a lifesaver. Let me go get cleaned up and I'll be down in a few minutes to pay you."
[A little Peek]
[They say curiosity killed the cat, but a little peek wouldn't hurt right?]
[Use the Sneak Skill to peak on Jessica changing without getting caught.
Completion: +100 XP, +5 Sneak
Failure: +10 XP, -2000 Rep with Jessica]
Harry blinked feeling his cheeks heat up. He glanced up at the sky. "You're joking right?"
[Sneak]
[To use sneak, crouch down. Sneak is more effective in dark areas, higher levels reduce the chance to be seen or heard while sneaking.]
He gulped. Should he do this? No, right? I mean that would be highly unethical... then again he couldn't say he wasn't curious. Oh god, I'm turning into Sirius! Why am I even considering this?
"Wait..." Death's words suddenly echoed in his mind. If you fuck up, just reload.
He chanced a look at the house behind him. "Save." He intoned.
[Game has been Saved!]
[Save File 1: Help Mrs. 7]
He looked over to the little floating box with the sneak quest. It was now or never. His finger hit accept.
For the next hour Harry loaded and reloaded his life, learning from each mistake but by now Jessica's body was burned into his memory. This time he would succeed!
Harry took off his shoes and quietly opened the glass door. He tiptoed up the stairs making sure to step over the 9th step as it always creaked. So far so good. Continuing up the stairs he suddenly stopped and waited while ignoring all the little pop-ups about his increasing skill in Sneak.
Wait out the cat. "Meow." He saw a small tabby walk into the hall and darted into a spare room. The master bedroom door opened.
"Hey Joey, where have you been?"
"Meow."
Harry waited exactly nine seconds before creeping back towards the door which was now ajar. He walked further into the hall and entered the bathroom where at just the right angle he could catch Jessica's reflection in her bedroom mirror.
He kept his breathing even as she reached behind her back and unclipped her bra revealing her pale milky breasts with light pink nipples that he'd had the chance to look at for the past ten minutes.
In exactly twenty-two seconds Jessica will turn and slide down her panties and that's when I need to make my escape otherwise Joey goes into the hall, meows drawing her attention and she catches me.
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
Harry hoped the past Jessica's would forgive him because the current one would never know. He was already sneaking down the stairs, being sure to step over step number 9 which had done him in the last time.
[Quest Complete: A little Peak!]
[Rewards: +110 XP, +5 Sneak.]
[Level up!]
He exited the glass door and carefully closed it before finishing up the trimming on the hedges. Five minutes later Harry was inspecting his work and found it to be satisfactory when Jessica came out again. "Great job Harry, they're all lined up nicely!"
Harry smiled awkwardly, his face still a little flush from his covert mission which Jessica mistook for bashfulness. "Thanks Jessica."
"Well here you go, stop by next week too if you want." She said with a wink and handed him two notes. One being ten pounds and the other five.
"Sure, thanks." Harry happily took the money and she walked him to the front where he waved goodbye.
[Quest Complete: Help Mrs. 7]
[Rewards: +55 XP, 15 pounds, +500 Rep with Jessica.]
Pause.
At Harry's mental command the world around him suddenly froze, he couldn't move either except to control the menu but at least he could level up without people looking at him funny for poking the air at something only he could see.
He totaled up all of his ignored pop-ups and gained +2 to speech, +5 to herbology, and +13 to sneak. "Not a bad haul."
"Stats. Let see... I'm probably going to end up having to fight something so I might want to boost my strength up since I don't have a wand yet. INT and WIS should be fine where they are now until I can use my magic, some more health might be good too." He mulled over his choices before placing two in STR, END and CHA.
Name: Hadrian James Potter
Title: Heir to The Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Level: 3 - EXP to next level 315/500
Stat Points: 0
Skill points: 24
HP: 200/200
MP: 108/108
Stamina: 112
STR: 7 (-2)
END: 10 (-2)
AGI: 1 (+3)
INT: 10
WIS: 10
CHA: 4 (+6)
LUK: 2 (+2)
Perks: Marked as Equal, Hermoine's Notes
Status Effects: Malnourished, Horcrux
Skills: +16 Herbology, +7 Cooking, +25 Speech, +23 Sneak
Languages: English, Parseltongue
Harry frowned "I really need to get rid of that malnourished status." Moving on to Perks he saw that there was nothing new until lvl 4 so he placed another point into Hermoine's Notes.
[Hermoine's Notes: Rank 2/3 - Increase all XP by 20%.]
Satisfied with that for now Harry continued his journey down the street and turning the corner on Magnolia Road heading down Magnolia Crescent where he knew there was a convenience store at the end of the road.
Minimap.
A smaller version of the Map appeared at the top-right corner of his vision and it kept track of where he was going and what he discovered. Ten minutes later he reached One Stop a small convenience store that sold junk food, drinks and magazines.
Entering the store the teenager at the register barely paid him any mind as he continued reading from his magazine. Walking over to the foods section he looked over the choices before bending down to get the cookies at the bottom shelf.
[Entered Sneak Mode]
[Steal Item?]
Harry's eyes widened. No!
He chanced a look over at the teenager who still was too busy with his magazine to care. Didn't Death say that this would be another good instance to reload if I fail?
He furrowed his brows. Do I really want to become a criminal? Well, technically I already am since I peeked on Jessica...
Plus heroes in video games are known for breaking into people's houses, smashing their stuff and stealing their money.
With a frown he placed the cookies back, looked around the corners of the store for cameras and mentally commanded. Save.
[Save File 1: Help Mrs. 7]
[Overwrite?] Yes.
[Game has been Saved!]
[Save File 1: One Stop (Shop)]
Harry saw that there was only one camera in the back right corner so he crouched down to hide his body behind the racks and picked up only a few items from each section, stuffing them into his inventory.
+1 Thievery
+1 Thievery
+1 Thievery
He took a little of everything but not enough to be noticeable, keeping an eye on the clerk every once in a while to make sure he was still busy. Harry made quick work of the first aisle, then the second and now he was reaching the third aisle that only held magazines and a few other items.
He made sure to keep out of the camera's sight as he pilfered as much as he could before walking up to the front with a bag of crisps and water in hand. The teenager finally put down the magazine and scanned the items "3.07." He said dully.
+1 Bartering
Harry took out his five-pound note and handed it to the boy who returned his change and bagged his purchase. The green-eyed boy walked out the store with a rising grin.
Save.
[Save File 1: One Stop (Shop)]
[Overwrite?] Harry thought about it for a moment before mentally commanding No.
[Game has been Saved!]
[Save File 2: Magnolia Crescent]
Better to have a backup save from before his little thieving spree in case the someone catches wise later on, if not then he could just continue on as he has been on the second save. His grin widened even further as he opened up his inventory which was now full of food, drinks, and other items.
Perhaps not the healthiest of choices but it might just help get rid of his malnutrition effect.
Harry simply wandered about in town for the next few hours his water and crisps long since gone but this packet of donuts was delicious. More importantly he had made an interesting discovery in that at level 25 Thievery he unlocked the option to pickpocket.
He was a bit more hesitant to dig around in other's pockets, nabbing stuff on a shelf was one thing but pulling a wallet out of a man's pants while he was walking would likely be much more difficult.
As Harry looked around he caught sight of a clothes store. Looking down at his attire he grimaced, seeing Dudley's hand-me-downs. It was about time to get some new clothes.
Save.
Two hours and three reloads later Harry walked out of the store after buying a black tie saying it would be a gift. Technically it would be a gift, for himself. Stepping into an alleyway he Paused the world and equipped some of his new clothing.
[Black Sunglasses]
[+10% Resistance to Light, +1 Perception.]
[Plain Black T-Shirt]
[+1 Defense, +1 Sneak.]
[Blue Jeans]
[+2 Defense.]
[Black Trainers]
[1 Defense, +5 Running]
"Wait running? That's a skill?" Harry hummed and began jogging down the street.
[Stamina]
[Stamina dictates how far you can run, how fast you can sprint, and how much you can dodge! Running drains 1 stamina per second, sprinting drains 5 stamina per second and dodging costs 30 stamina.
Stamina recovers while not moving, building up Endurance allows you to last longer and recover faster. Stamina currently recovers at 1 Stamina per 3 seconds while resting.]
So I could run continuous for about two minutes before I need to take a break, sprint for 22 seconds and dodge three times in a row. Harry thought to himself as he continued running down the street.
Harry reached 12 running before he had to take a break and pulled a water bottle from his inventory. He took this moment to look into his new skills and read through them.
[Thieving: 23]
[The Thieving skill allows you to steal items, higher levels makes this easier and people seem to just not notice you doing it. ]
[Bartering: 1]
[Bartering is the act of trading goods. Higher levels allow for discounts or profit increases when buying or selling items.]
[Running: 12]
[The Running skill allows you to increase your normal speed by 2.5x. Running drains 1 stamina per second. Running levels every 100 meters. Next Lv. 17/100m]
Harry did the math in his head, he ran half a kilometer in about two minutes. Seeing his Stamina bar full again after the short break he set out on another jog, running through town and occasionally visiting some of the shops that caught his eye.
Then something really caught his eyes. Practically a beacon of light coming from down the street and only when he neared it did he realize it was a book store. But why is it shining?
The light radiating from the store eventually began dimming down as he got closer and once he entered he noticed that the lights were coming from specific books. "Welcome to Bookends, let me know if you need help finding anything."
A pretty twenty something woman greeted him, much more enthusiastically that the guy at the One Stop. "Sure, thanks." Harry acknowledged her with a nod before moving to the beacon of light closest to him.
Picking up the book his eyebrow raised once he read the title.
[Martial Arts for Dummies] Harry glanced up at the sky and sneered for a moment before looking back down at the book and cracking it open.
[You have discovered a Skill Book.]
[Skill books are manuals or guides to certain skills. They contain quick knowledge on certain subjects.]
[Martial Arts for Dummies]
[+15 Towards Unarmed combat.]
[May not be used past Lv. 50 Unarmed.]
"Interesting." He mumbled to himself.
[Use item?] (Y) (N)
Yes.
[Using this item will destroy it. Continue?]
Noooo. No.
He panicked for a moment and set the book back. Somehow he doubted that this girl was as oblivious as the first guy so best not to make things magically disappear in front of her. "Everything alright?" She asked, proving his point.
"Fine, thanks." Harry moved on towards the back of the store where he would be away from prying eyes. The next book he picked up was an introduction to French. "Well Fleur was French.. maybe it'll help?"
Save.
He used up the skill book and it felt like the knowledge was just dumped into his brain and yet he somehow now instinctively knew basic French phrases and sentence structure. "Super chouette!"
+50 French Language
Quickly navigating to the Languages tab of his stats he noticed that he was now 50/500 for French.
[Languages]
[Certain languages can be learned through books or speaking the language but magical or dead languages have specific criteria that must first be met before learning it.]
Harry smiled to himself. Hermoine isn't going to be the only one spending a lot of time in the libraries from now on.
Half an hour of browsing and destroying later he finally finished up with everything he could get away with learning before going up to the front and buying an interesting looking book that held a compilation horror stories.
"Ah, Lovecraft, good choice." The young woman said, taking the book from him to scan it.
"You a fan?" Harry asked conversationally.
"Not quite my cup of tea but I can respect great authors and their works." She answered with a smile "That'll be 8.75 please."
+1 Bartering.
Harry nodded and handed her his ten pound note. "Enjoy." She said, handing him a bag and his change.
"Thanks." Harry left the store with an even greater smile than before. This gamer thing was the most amazing thing ever.
Harry walk a bit until he reached the local park and sat down at a quiet area to read about all of his new skills.
[Unarmed Combat: 52]
[Unarmed Combat allows one to effectively fight while disarmed. Skill can be raised by practicing or reading manuals.
Lv. 50 Mod - Grapples: What do you do when someone throws a punch at you? Get in their guard and flip them on their arse! This mod enables grapples to be used.]
[Cooking: 102]
[Cooking is the art of crafting delicious food using ingredients, higher levels increase taste of the food and the benefits it gives while reducing the chance of spoiling the meal during preparation. Cooking can be leveled through practice or cookbooks.
Lv. 50 Mod - Apprentice Cook: A novice level cook, reduces chance to ruin meals by 10%
Lv. 100 Mod - Journeyman Cook: An experienced cook, reduces chance to ruin meals by 10%, increases food buff duration by 5 minutes.]
[Speech: 89]
[Speech is the art of Orating. The ability to entice or coerce through words alone is a powerful tool. Speech can be leveled by speaking to other characters or through manuals.
Lv. 50 Mod - Enunciate: Your words now come out in a clear and articulate manner. +1 Charisma]
[Thieving: 56]
[The Thieving skill allows you to steal items, higher levels makes this easier and people seem to just not notice you doing it.
Lv. 50 Mod - Pickpocket: You're a novice thief and your recent string of successful robberies have boosted your confidence. Maybe you should try going for that rich guy's pocket next?]
[Herbology: 77]
[Herbology allows for the identification, caring and cultivation of plant life. Herbology can be increased through practice or reading manuals.
Lv. 50 Mod - Early Bird: Increases chance to harvest twice as much between 4am - 8am.]
[Survival: 87]
[The Survival skill makes use of many survival tactics or methods to survive in the wild.
Lv. 50 Mod - Let there be Fire: Got two stones and some dry grass? You've got fire.]
[Sneak: 53]
[Sneak allows one to silently creep around undetected. Sneak can be leveled through practice or manuals.
Lv. 50 Mod - Low Light: Your eyes have adapted to low light and are able to see easier in the dark.]
[Small Firearms: 62]
[The Small Firearms skill allows one to wield handguns effectively.]
Lv. 50 Mod - Apocalypse Training: In the inevitable event of a zombie apocalypse you were one of the lucky few who thought ahead and learned to shoot for the head. Increased accuracy when aiming for the head by 10%.]
[Meditation: 72]
[Meditation allows one to calm their mind and find their inner peace. For wizards this allows them to increase their mana regeneration rate and is an important step towards learning the mind arts.
Lv. 50 Mod - Inner Peace: Allows one's mind to rest, doubling mana regeneration rate when meditating.]
[Bartering: 29]
[Running: 42]
No changes there and other than that he picked up an introduction book on Bulgarian, Spanish, Russian, Italian, German, Japanese and Mandarin. Even if he couldn't hold in-depth conversations in the foreign languages he would at least be able to speak it on a basic level.
Checking his brand new wristwatch he saw that it was a four-thirty and he needed to get some in time to make dinner. He set off in a light jog and by the time he was back to #4 his running had leveled up another six times, two more and he'd have his first running mod.
Seeing as he still had time to spare he went upstairs and took a quick shower to clean off the sweat he'd worked up. When Harry looked into the bathroom's mirror he couldn't help but smile at his reflection. No glasses, neat hair, and his body was starting to show some muscle definition. Though Harry guessed this was more from what Death said about his attributes directly affecting him and those seven points in strength gave him a bit of muscle.
Once he was changed, unfortunately back into Dudley's hand-me-downs so as not to arouse suspicion, he headed downstairs and began setting out the ingredients for tonight's dinner. He was thinking of trying out a pasta recipe he picked up from an Italian Cookbook.
Luckily his aunt had picked up some tomato sauce so that would make his life easier. "Oi cousin, what are we eating today?"
"Italian Pasta, Dudley." Harry answered.
"What about for dessert?" Dudley prodded.
"Just eat some of the donuts your mum picked up." Damn little annoyance was starting to tick him off.
"Oh you're back, already cooking dinner? Good, Vernon will be home in thirty." The horse-faced bitched told him, as if he should care when that Walrus would arrive.
"Right."
It didn't take Harry long to finish up the meal with his now 103 Cooking Skill. He could hear his whale of a cousin practically salivating in the other room while his aunt set the table. He quickly grabbed a plate and dished his portion before placing it in his inventory.
"Pet, I'm home!" Vernon called out from the doorway.
The horse went to go greet her walrus while Harry took the pot and set it in the middle of the table. Then placing some seasoned bread (One of which he already took) in a basket.
Vernon sniffed the air "Pasta?"
"I saw the recipe in a cookbook while I was in town Uncle. I thought I'd try it out." Harry said as he loaded up a plate and set it in front of his uncle who glanced at it wearily before picking up his fork and taking a bite.
"Hmph. If nothing else, you might make a half-way decent chef some day boy." With his back-handed compliment given the other two began to dig in while he served himself a small portion seeing as the Horse-bitch never allowed him more.
"So Dudums are you excited for your big day tomorrow?" Petunia asked her son with a smile.
"Yeah! The Zoo is gonna be great!" Dudley exclaimed, a few small pieces of pasta flying out of his mouth that would have made Harry sick had he not become accustom to Ron's own disguising eating habits.
Harry picked up his plate and took it to the kitchen in hopes of saving his appetite for when he was alone in his cupboard. "Boy."
He had to hold in a sigh "Yes Sir?"
"Mrs. Figg is unable to watch to tomorrow so we'll be forced to take you but no funny business, you hear?" Vernon demanded.
"Of course Uncle." Though he said that, Harry was grinning. The zoo, he remembered that day fondly. His first chance to speak with a snake along with the first time he had a major case of targeted accidental magic when he vanished the glass to the snake house and Dudley and that little rat-faced shit Piers fell in.
Oh yes, tomorrow is going to be a blast. Harry thought to himself as he washed the dish. "I'll be heading to bed now."
The others paid him no mind as he went into his room under the stairs and pulled out his real plate of food along with a chocolate bar for desert. He smiled contentedly, this time around life was going to go better for Harry Potter. He would make damn sure of it.
-=Summary=-
Name: Hadrian James Potter
Title: Heir to The Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Level: 3 - EXP to next level 315/500
Stat Points: 0
Skill points: 24
HP: 200/200
MP: 108/108
Stamina: 112
STR: 7 (-2)
END: 10 (-2)
AGI: 1 (+3)
INT: 10
WIS: 10
CHA: 5 (+6)
LUK: 2 (+2)
Perks: Marked as Equal, Hermoine's Notes
Status Effects: Malnourished, Horcrux
Skills: +77 Herbology, +102 Cooking, +89 Speech, +23 Sneak, +52 Unarmed, +56 Thieving, +87 Survival, +62 Small Firearms, +72 Meditation, +48 Running
Languages: English, Parseltongue, French 50/500, Bulgarian 50/500, Spanish 50/500, Russian 50/500, Italian 50/500, German 50/500, Japanese 50/500, Mandarin 50/500.
[Equipment]
[Black Sunglasses]
[+10 Resistance to Light, +1 Perception.]
[Wrist Watch]
[No Gloves]
[No Weapon]
[Plain Black T-Shirt]
[+1 Defense, +1 Sneak.]
[Blue Jeans]
[+2 Defense.]
[Black Trainers]
[1 Defense, +5 Running]