Author's Note: Shout out to Articx-Frost, PhantasmalFire, and Sakura Lisel for favoriting this as well as Tholten and tpowe15 for following. These plot bunnies aren't just Harry Potter based, just warning you.
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Harry leaned against the seat and sighed, still wrapping his head around what he had accomplished. He was going to be miles and miles away from the Dursleys. He wasn't going to be near Dudley. And best of all, he wasn't going to Stonewall High. Even after knowing he was a wizard for barely a month, Harry still couldn't believe his luck. He reached through the bars of Hedwig's cage to stroke her feathers, still amazed at how soft they were. Even with all the shopping done at Diagon Alley, Hedwig was by far the best gift he had gotten in his entire life.
A new window popped up in front of him.
[Quest Complete: Catching the Train.]
[Reward: 100 XP, Access to Hogwarts Express, SCHOOL APPAREL now available.]
Well, that made sense, Harry thought, I would have looked weird walking around Privet Drive in robes.
[Quest Update: You have made it to the Hogwarts Express before 11 o'clock and are now making your way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The train ride will take approximately five hours to arrive. In the meantime, this is the perfect opportunity for friendships to be made with potential classmates. Be warned, however, that this is also the perfect opportunity to make new enemies and rivals. Do you accept?]
Harry saw that the No icon wasn't highlighted. That meant that he couldn't refuse the quest at all. He almost wished that it were possible, he didn't think anyone would want to be friends with him at all. He never had friends at primary school, and that was all thanks to Dudley. And the only other kid he had talked to ever since he met Hagrid was just like his cousin, so maybe that was the same for anyone else here.
Harry noticed a new icon on the screen and peered at it.
[Past experience has taught you caution to a level not normal for children. New experiences introduce unknown elements in life, but you are afraid of being hurt by rejection. False friends make themselves known almost immediately due to your FAME status. True friends will stick by your side when the time comes. A lone wolf is harder to take down but lacks the support of a pack in times of need.]
[There is both GOOD and EVIL in this world you live in. Your FAME status may bring you attention, but not the kind you need and desire. People have already shown you random acts of kindness before they became aware of your FAME status. Make note of that, HARRY. There are people in this world who will help you when you least expect it.]
That sounded…encouraging. Every time Harry became uncomfortable with a new Quest, the System seemed to try sending helpful advice. Sometimes, it gave him the option to ignore certain challenges. Other times, it seemed to try talking to him like Hagrid did. It made his eyes blurry for a moment.
Maybe I can find those twins that helped me earlier, Harry thought hopefully, they seemed nice.
A new icon appeared.
[Optional Objective: Locate FRED and GEORGE WEASLEY and interact with them again.]
[Your task is to find a compartment and increase Relationship with at least one STUDENT.]
[Quest Reward: +1000 Relationship with ?, FRIEND STATUS Acquired. 300 XP.]
[Quest Failure: LONE WOLF STATUS Acquired. -100 Relationship with all STUDENTS, 50 XP.]
[LONE WOLF: You do not seek social interaction and keep to yourself. -10 Social Interaction with STUDENTS. +10 STUDYING]
Harry finally touched the YES icon and began to walk down the train.
[Quest Accepted: First Impressions Are Important]
He figured that his FAME status activated whenever someone saw his scar and decided to flatten his hair as best as he could so no one could see it.
A new window popped up.
[CRT. THINKING has increased by 1 point.]
Sometimes, Harry wondered if this was meant to be encouraging or just outright mocking. On one hand, he was beginning to put more thought into his actions. On the other hand, this kept happening, which made him wonder if CRT. THINKING was incredibly low on his stats.
For a moment, he thought another window would pop up and explain this to him like it had with the First Impressions quest he was now assigned, but it didn't appear. You couldn't get everything in life, Harry had ten years of proof for that.
Harry kept his head down as he exited his compartment. Thankfully, the kids around him paid him no mind as they ran past him or talked to their friends. He briefly peered into some compartments as he walked; friends showing off a new spell or pet, talking about the 'Quidditch' like he had heard from the pale-blonde boy from Diagon Alley, or singing songs.
Eventually, he caught sight of two heads of red-hair in a compartment several feet away and crept closer. He looked through the glass and saw it was the twins from earlier with another boy with dreadlocks around their age holding a big box in his lap. For a moment, his hand wavered in front of the door, caught in a moment of indecisiveness before finally knocking lightly.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
One of the twins looked up and went to the door, sliding it open. His face broke into a large grin when he saw Harry.
"Oy! Fred, it's him!" The twin pointed to Harry excitedly.
What? Harry couldn't believe it, But my scar –
A new window popped up, answering his question.
[FAME status is active when someone recognizes your scar. A face is hard to forget sometimes. Your FAME status makes you stand out once someone recognizes you and may affect your Relationship with them. It is best to let them see you as yourself before they see you as THE BOY WHO LIVED.]
[Besides, they just met you a few minutes ago. Only an idiot or someone with poor memory would forget someone they met and talked to that quickly. Or have a facial recognition disorder. Look it up the next time you're in Muggle London.]
Harry resisted the urge to mute the window pop-ups altogether, because he knew that the System was just telling the truth. It wasn't trying to be mean about it. The Mute setting was just a temporary reprieve, anyways. The System never led him wrong before, so there was no reason for Harry to ignore that piece of advice regarding his FAME status.
"Him?" The black boy with dreadlocks looked between the twins curiously.
"Um…" Harry wasn't sure what to do. Should he tell the twins to not say anything else? Would their friend treat him differently if they said anything? What did people do if this happened? The twins had already told their mother loudly that they had met Harry Potter, they'd probably tell their friend right now, too.
"First year?" The dreadlocked boy asked Harry before either of the twins opened their mouths.
Harry nodded nervously, not trusting himself not to make things awkward.
"Aw, don't be scared of Lee, Harry," the twin, George, said teasingly, "He doesn't bite."
"But his tarantula might," the twin, Fred added mischievously.
"What?"
Examine, Harry thought, and a new box opened up.
He looked at the box inn Lee's lap, and a hairy leg was poking out of the lid. Lee moved the lid a little to let Harry see the tarantula about the size of Aunt Marge's favorite dog, Ripper.
[TARANTULA: LVL. 1. HP: 40, MP: N/A. ABILITIES: BITE.]
[BITE: Causes 1 HP damage and may inflict TARANTULA BITE status.]
Harry saw that there wasn't any more information on the TARANTULA BITE status and figured he would have to look it up later.
[Side Quest Added: Perform RESEARCH at the Hogwarts Library for information or learn SPELL to collect data easier]
Harry looked up and noticed the windows for Fred, George, and Lee as well.
[FRED WEASLEY. LV 15. THIRD YEAR. HP: 500. MP: 700. ? status.]
[GEORGE WEASLEY. LV. 13. THIRD YEAR. HP: 525. MP: 500. ? status.]
[LEE ?. LV 15. THIRD YEAR. HP: 600. MP: 625. ? status.]
"Oi! First year," Lee's voice startled Harry, "Are you going to gawk at us some more or do you want to give us your name?"
"Oh, right, I'm, uh…" Harry thought for a moment, "Harry."
He already knows my first name, should I give him my last name? Harry thought.
[Probably. Remember, FAME status only increases POPULARITY, CHARISMA, BARGAIN, at the cost of LUCK and STEALTH. It isn't always a hinderance and may give LEE an opportunity to see you as you want to be seen first.]
Harry held out his hand and added, "Harry Potter."
Lee's eyes bulged and he shrunk back for a moment, "Merlin, you're serious?!"
Harry moved his bangs to show the scar, wondering if he was making the right decision.
"Woah…" Lee whispered in awe. After a few moments of awkward silence, he regained his composure, took the offered hand into his own and shook it, "Lee Jordan. I'm sorry, I just…I never thought I'd meet you!"
Harry blushed again and was reminded of how people reacted to him at the Leaky Cauldron.
"I reckon you like my new pet?" Lee asked.
"He got it from his uncle," Fred explained to Harry, "Lee told us that they live long lives, maybe longer than owls."
"I dunno, Fred," George rolled his eyes, "Errol's been in the family for a long time. Maybe he'll outlive your pet, Lee."
"Errol?" Harry asked.
Don't ask questions! Uncle Vernon's voice rang in his head, but Harry did his best to ignore it.
"Family owl," George explained simply, "Really ancient."
"Where are our manners?" Fred said suddenly and held out his hand, "I'm Fred. And the handsome lookalike you see is my brother, George."
Harry accepted Fred's hand and shook it.
"So, Harry," George added, "You looking for a place to sit?"
"I found a compartment in the back," Harry explained, "I just wanted to thank you two again for earlier."
"Our pleasure," George smiled, "What House do you think you'll get into, Harry?"
"Probably Hufflepuff," Harry tried not to sound defeated. The pale-blonde boy and Hagrid had already called the people from it 'duffers' and Harry's average grades at his primary school had made him feel just like that.
"What?!" Fred exclaimed loudly. Harry jumped a little, "Not Gryffindor? The House of the Brave?"
Harry shrugged, unsure of what to say in this situation.
"Hufflepuff isn't bad," Lee piped up in Harry's defense, "I mean, they got some good students in Hufflepuff."
"Like who?" Fred crossed his arms and looked at Lee, daring him to try answering his question.
"Cedric Diggory."
"Is he on the Quidditch team like us?" George challenged.
"I hear he's doing tryouts this year for Seeker," Lee shrugged.
"Well I heard he could barely get the broom off the ground during his first flying lesson," Fred countered.
"Didn't Percy fall off his broom first flying lesson?" Lee asked.
"Not important," George answered.
"Um…" Harry felt it best to leave, recognizing that the three friends were going to get into an argument, something he had seen happen from a distance at primary school, "I better get back to my compartment."
"Nice seeing you, Harry!" All three boys chorused cheerfully at him before continuing in their growingly heated debate on Hufflepuff and this Cedric Diggory. When he made his compartment, he saw that the tall boy named Ron was now there, looking out the window wistfully.
Harry decided against using his Examine on him for the moment and quietly slid back in. Ron jumped when he heard the door slid shut.
"Sorry," Harry said quietly, "I didn't mean to frighten you."
"I didn't know anyone else was here," Ron said apologetically, "Everywhere else was full. I think I should…"
"You can stay, I don't mind," Harry smiled shyly.
Ron smiled back, "I'm Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley."
"I'm Harry Potter," Harry said a little more confidently.
"You're the one Fred and George were talking about, weren't you?" Ron asked and shook his head in disbelief, "Thought they were talking bullocks."
"I just saw them," Harry added, "I wanted to thank them for helping me earlier."
"Where are they?" Ron asked.
"With someone named Lee. He has a new tarantula, apparently."
"So that's where they went?" Ron muttered under his breath.
Harry opened his mouth to continue talking when he saw a woman pushing a trolley cart outside their compartment. She rapped the door and opened it.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" She asked kindly.
Ron mumbled that he had sandwiches. But Harry, who hadn't had breakfast that morning and now had money to spend, stood up. He could already taste the Mars Bars now, but he saw that the trolley cart didn't have any of those. Instead, there were different assortments of candies he had never seen or even heard of before.
Examine, Harry thought and a new window popped up.
[Chocolate Frog: Animated Chocolate shaped like Frogs. You might need to knock them out before eating them, first. Restore 5 HP. Contains a WIZARD CARD in each package.]
Pricing: 10 Sickles
[Licorice Wand: You can't cast SPELLS with these, unfortunately, but they come in Cherry, Black, Watermelon, Cinnamon, and even Butterbeer. Restore 10 HP.]
Pricing: 5 Sickles
[Cauldron Cakes: Who needs to make a POTION when you could simply eat the Cauldron itself? Spongey, small, and delicious. Served with 5 different hot "brews" inside including Chocolate, Strawberry, Lemon-Lime, Razzberry, and Coconut. Restores 20 HP.]
Pricing: 10 Sickles
[Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans: Not like your Muggle JELLYBEANS, they mean every flavor from Chocolate to Spinach and even Ear Wax. A risk with every mouthful. Restores 5 HP per 20 beans consumed]
Pricing: 6 Sickles
[Pumpkin Pasties: Sweet pastries crafted to resemble pumpkins, with a nice pumpkin filling you can only get in a pumpkin pie. Restores 20 HP.]
Pricing: 10 Sickles
[Drooble's Best Blowing Gum: The bubbles you will blow will not pop for days. Restores 5 HP.]
Pricing: 4 Sickles
Harry mulled over the choices before deciding to get some of everything. He paid the woman 2 Galleons and dumped the candies onto one of the empty seats. Ron's mouth widened with amazement before he closed it and pulled out a small bag. He peered inside and moaned,
"Corned beef. I don't like corned beef."
He looked at the pile of candies next to Harry and then added, "At least I won't be hungry."
Harry quickly offered him a Pumpkin Pasty, "Go on. I bought this for both of us."
Ron's ears turned beet red, but Harry felt encouraged. He never had anything to share with anyone before. After a moment of hesitation, Ron took the offered Pasty into his hand and smiled at Harry appreciatively. Then, he held out one of his sandwiches.
"Trade?" Ron asked.
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Author's Note: God, I love Naruto: The Game of Life. I want to tweak with this idea someday. :)
I based the pricing system for the sweets off the Game Boy Color adaptation of the first book since J.K. Rowling's numeric system is very confusing and it was the only one I could properly work with - No offense, Miss Rowling, I'm bad at math too.
Writing Fred and George and Lee talking to Harry was fun, too. I mean, the twins had helped Harry before even knowing who he was, that was what inspired me to write Harry seeking them out for a bit. Yeah, they came to Lee earlier than they did in the book – Ron had already sat down with Harry at this point. And it felt nice to write Ron, knowing I had the power to avoid bashing him like everyone and their mother seems to do these days.
Thanks for reading. Please review.