Io!
Been a long while, hasn't it? Finally got some inspiration and enough time to write this shit.
also: keeping track of Ron's stats is crazy silliness.


Previously…

Would you like to start the game?

"Yeah. Yes." Ron says, the Alert going at 'yes'.

Would you like to do the tutorial? That will be the first ten years of your life.

Ron grimaces.

You may shorten it; and have the year from after your Uncle Bilius' funeral to when you turn eleven. Is this preferable?

Ron was still grimacing at the reminder, but nodded his acceptance.

Short Tutorial; Easy Mode; Strategy/RPG; Custom Character.

Enter Player's Name:

Ron blinked, then spoke, hesitantly (He'd always thought 'Ronald' never suited him. At least he could change that now.)

"Ron Bilius Weasley?"

The alert changed.

Is 'Ron Bilius Weasley' Correct?

"Yes."

Then The game shall start, in five, four, three, two…

One.

Ron lurched forwards, pulled through the door by some unseen force, and felt himself falling, falling through the endless void.

He landed, there was a sickening crack! And all went black.

Now…


Ron heard the explosions from his brothers' room, his little sisters shrill voice (bloody hell, she'd been high pitched back then) calling out, the pots and pans clanking around in their endless cleaning cycle in the sink.

He opened his eyes, and the sounds left.

Weird.

Ron looked around the dark hallway, the shadows reaching out of the corners and the old, less than structurally sound building creaking and groaning with age.

He heard the sounds of the ghoul, and what the fuck, why is my house –

Before he could finish that thought, another alert blocked his vision.

Pause, he thought, and the world bled to greyscale. Ron read the message.

Tutorial 1: Stealth.

Because of your start as a [Modified] [Ronald Weasley], your first mission – and you have to accept it – is a stealth one. Lucky you.

Fortunately, this 'game' is set on Easy, and therefore realistic stealth is off.

Let's go bird' s-eye for a mo'.

The alert disappeared from view, and Ron felt the sickening sense of being shot up into the air sans broomstick, or the ability to be a bird animagus. Ron then looked down, and saw himself. Bloody hell! He balked, and before he could do much of anything else another alert blocked his vision.

Right. So, for now, the game is going to pilot your avatar, just to show you how stealth is done. Don't worry, this only happens on the first of each tutorial.

'Well, that's a relief.' Ron thought, glaring at the alert.

Sorry. Anyway, let's go.

And the alert disappeared. Ron was startled when a disembodied voice started speaking. It seemed female one second, male the next. Then an amalgamation a moment later.

"THIS IS JUST to disguise who I am." The voice spoke. "Shall WE GET on with it?"

Ron winced at the volume, and replied "Yeah – uh, yes."

"Sorry. We'll try to be quieter NEXT TIME." The view panned down, and Ron felt his stomach lurch unpleasantly. It was a weird thing, he decided, looking down at his body being piloted by someone else.

"Now, [Ron Weasley], do you see the map?"

Ron nodded; because he did, sort of, get what they meant.

The route he was supposed to take was indeed the one he was going to take anyway – it's not like there are multiple ways around his house; the twins would have found them by now. He looks at the route; down the stairs, across the corridor. That bit didn't seem so hard, Ron thought, and then he saw his mum, guarding the doorway like some posted auror. He frowned.

"There are obstacles." The voice told him. "Your mother is the first guard in the game. During bedtime hours, she will be guarding the door to the living room; and therefore the kitchen and the front door; or the exit, as I PREFER." Ron winced at the volume again, before nodding. Alright. Not too difficult.

"You see that red circle, yellow cone, and the green area on the ground?" The voice asked.

Ron nodded. Around his mother, about a meter in diameter was a red circle. From his mother's eyes came down a yellow cone; he could maybe fit under the first part if it weren't for the red circle. There was a red circle as the base of the cone, and a small area around where it was turned yellow. The rest of the floor was green, aside from some patches of yellow and a red one where he knows for certain there was a creaky floorboard.

"The red is her contact area. She will instantly detect within the red. Yellow is her, what we like to call, 'huh?' zone, which will put her into alert but not signify her of your position. Green is free roaming area; where she will not detect you. Avoid red, yellow. Be in green. Not to hard TO GRASP NOW IS IT?"

Ron grimaced, and nodded, now used to their strange voice patterns.

He felt like his first time apparating as he was slammed back into his body, and immediately dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

An alert blocked his view.

Ooops. Sorry.

Ron scowled and waved it off. The parchment dissipated, and he looked around.

Mission starts in three, two, one…

Ron blinked, and the floor was green. It looked as it had from above, but with the new perspective he had to assess his surroundings again.

The floor in front was entirely green, and experimentally, he stepped forwards.

Nothing happened.

He looked down the corridor and saw his mum, who was looking straight in his direction.

Panicking and not really thinking, Ron dropped into a crouch and hid behind the corridor's first side table, pressing his back into the wood.

Bloody hell. He thought. Then remembered, if this were realistic, I'd've been a goner for sure.

Since it isn't though…

Ron peaked his head around the side of the cabinet table thing (whatever they're called, it's a bloody useful thing) and stared down the hallway to his mum.

Sneak mode activated.

Ron blinked at the text alert in the top, left hand corner of his vision

Oh. Ron thought, belatedly. That actually makes some kind of sense.

With a sudden realisation, Ron paused the game and brought up his character sheet.

Character [Ron Weasley] Stats and Status Effects.

Status Effects: Unable to sprint; shoes.

Character Mode: Sneaking

Stats:

Str: 5

Int: 5

Chr: 5

End: 6

Vit: 6

Wiz: 6

Lck: 8

HP: 250

MP: 250

Because of [Easy] difficulty, Dex, Per (DEXterity, PERcePtion) are locked until instance [Hogwarts] to make your grinding easier.

Strength is the parent of Vit, and Dex. Wiz/Int/Lck, are the parents of Per.

For now, the locked stat rolls will be governed by their parent Stat.

Once they are unlocked, the stats will reflect that of the parent stat, and the specific skills you have developed, ex. Levelling stealth will help with dex/lck., whereas block will help Str, and doing, e.g., Cardio exercises will help Vit. And vice versa; higher stats better skills, higher skills gains better stats.

Basically – grind the shit out of your stats and skills; get result.

Simples?

Ron looked questioningly at the new text.

An alert blocked his view.

Sorry. Forgot to tell you earlier.

With a sigh and a roll of his eyes (which he may or may not have picked the habit of doing up off of Harry, or Hermione one of the two) he waved aside the alert and tried figuring out how well he could sneak with his current stats.

Abysmally, he decided. His strength, which parented Dexterity, was crap. Five seemed rather low – Ron wasn't sure, but he figured anything less than ten wasn't a good amount for his stats to be at. However, luck seemed alright – nothing special, but certainly closer to ten than the others were. He figured it was most likely better than Harry's had been – though, considering, that's not saying much.

He must have had negative luck for the shit that happened to him near constantly, Ron figured. Which sucked; he could sympathise. Ron remembered how much trouble he'd managed to get himself into despite his lack of a negative luck stat.

Sympathy Level up!

Sympathy, lvl 4/20.

Can be dangerous if too high. Also dangerous if too low. Currently too low.

-85% chance at success on rolls trying to; sympathise, comfort, empathise, and pity.

+30% chance to be a dick to people in emotional pain. Accidentally, of course.

Ron scowled. Bugger that.

He wondered how he could level it. Ron figured he could work on it when he wasn't in 'stealth' though – so he pushed it aside so it could wait.

Ron took a deep breath in preparation, and crouch-walked out of his hiding place.

Immediately, he stubbed his toe.

Then, of course, he tripped over nothing.

Slipped on wet flooring.

Stood on three consecutive creaky floorboards.

Faceplanted into the wall.

For that, he lost five hit points.

Ow. Bloody hell. Ron thought.

Still. It could be worse, he considered. If this is what it's like with eight luck, think about how it could be with less.

Gained; +1 Wiz for thinking things through, logically.

Trait revealed; Optimism.

+2 luck when thinking optimistically.

-2 luck when thinking pessimistically,

And -1 luck when thinking realistically.

This trait can be bought back for [2] points.

Ron frowned. I'm not the most optimistic. Bloody hell, this trait is useless.

Ron opened his character sheet, and went to the traits section.

You are: lvl. 0. 100 exp. Needed for lvl. 1.

Due to [Easy] difficulty, you gained [five] spendable points. Buying 'bad' traits gives points, 'selling' them loses points, but 'selling' good/neutral gives points.

Owned Traits;

Prewitt Puer [Caused by; Appearance.]

Light Is Good, Dark is Bad* [Can't buy back; requirements not met]

Dumbledore's Wo/Man [Group trait; many others have this, including [Harry Potter] and [The Weasley Family]] [Can't buy back; requirements not met.]

Stubborn [buy back – 6 points.]

Natural Flyer [bought trait. Skill aquired; Broom Flying. Animagus Transformation unlocked; birds. Broom Flying starts at

lvl. 5/10; shared trait - discovered 'Harry Potter', 'Viktor Krum', and 'Ginevera Weasley' own this.]

Goody Gryffindors* [buy back – 5 points]

Hufflepuff? Schmufflepuff.* [buy back – 3 points]

Quick Learner [bought trait. Skills are aquired: 5% faster, increases by 1% per character Lvl.]

Loyal – To A Fault [Locked trait. Caused by; avatar – Ron Weasley.]

Self-esteem? Yeah, you have Issues.* [Locked trait, caused by; Family Situation]

Jealously Juvenile* [Linked trait. Caused by: Self-Esteem? Yeah, You have Issues]

No Tones Of Grey* [Linked trait. Caused by 'Light is Good, Dark is Bad.']

Chess Master [Locked Trait. Caused by; Avatar – Ron Weasley.]

Strategic Mindset [Locked Trait. Caused by; Chess Master.]

Emotional Range Of A Teaspoon* [Linked Trait. Caused by; Strategic Mindset, Chess Master. Negated by Emotional understanding]

Casanova? Ha!* [Linked Trait. Caused by; Emotional Range Of A teaspoon Negated by Emotional Understanding]

Bloody Hell!* [Locked Trait. Caused by; Avatar – Ron Weasley.]

Arachnophobia [Locked trait; caused by – Fred & George Weasley. Can overcome, just like any phobia]

Emotional Understanding. [bought trait. Negates; Emotional Range of a Teaspoon. +1 to stat; Chr. +1 to skill; Sympathy.]

Optimism. [Revealed trait. +2 to stat; Lck when thinking optimistically. -2 to stat; Lck when thinking pessimistically; -1 to stat; Lck when thinking realistically. buy back for [2] points]

Ron shrugged, and bought Optimism back.

Ron realised, seeing the two new points, that if he could unlock other traits in the same way he did Optimism, he might actually be able to earn some trait points.

+1 to Int for seeing a loophole, but no effect on Wiz because of no PoA (Plan of Action)

Right. Ron thought. Plan of Action.

Strategy skill check passed!

Wiz roll succeeded!

Int roll failed!

Poor plan of action created!

Ron blinked. What the-

Plan of action executed!

Seriously, what the fuck is going on? Ron wondered, as many a text alert popped into view in the corner of his vision.

Ron sighed. This is not going to go well for me.

Pessimism revealed!

"For fucks sake." Ron grumbled quietly to himself.

He then bought back the 'balanced trait' for one trait point. It was just as useless as optimism, stat gain/loss wise.

Now he had three trait points. Now what? Ron thought, before sighing and glancing down the corridor.

Back to smacking into walls, I guess. Ron thought, slightly gloomy.

Might take me a while, and I'm certain I'll be caught, Ron thought, but it should improve stealth so it is worth it, sort of.

Realism revealed!

Ron scowled, and bought it back for another two points. Now he was at five.

Mentally, he sighed. At least I've got five extra points for level one traits now, eh?


Ron glared at the stairs.

He had managed to sneak down the hallway, despite slipping and tripping and smacking his face into objects, but the stairs were a veritable landmine of notice spots.

The stairs were only partly green, but mostly yellow and a fair amount of red.

Ron groaned mentally to himself. Fuck this. He thought.

Ron snuck forward two steps, and saw a text message in the corner of his eye.

Stealth skill levelled!

Sneak mode upgraded! Less chance to do stupid shit.

'Who was that again?' now active since stealth skill is at lvl 1/25

Ron paused. He'd forgotten what that trait meant.

Who Was That Again?*

Ability. Description:

Either your looks, or your family background decrees that it would take more than a glance to remember your face. Or recognise it.

Gives; +2 to stealth in restricted areas. -5% chance to be caught doing things that are… untoward. Each level adds +2 and -5%. At level 5 and 10, a new buff is added.

This Ability can be levelled. You are currently at lvl 1 of 10.

Ah. That was helpful.

Another text alert was there.

You have a negative buff of -2 to stealth due to [build].

Ron grimaced. That was unhelpful, but at least it only negated the buff of +2 stealth, rather than put it in the negatives.

But now Ron realised he could level his stealth skills simply by slowly crouch walking around this hallway, until it was at least good enough so that he wasn't tripping up every few steps.

And so, Ron did.


Bloody hell.

Ron wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead, tired yet not after an unknown amount of time of 'grinding' his stealth skill.

It was at level four, or so the text alerts told him, and Ron was successfully wandering around the hallway without tripping up.

There was still the occasional creaky floorboard, but that was it.

Ron turned around, and determined, stealthed over to the stairs, and began his descent.

Miraculously, it worked.

Ding ding! Stealth skill levelled to 5 because of continuous practice and navigation of a precarious staircase!

Buff acquired!

Due to practice in an old-ish, creaky and populated building, stealth in other such areas is a little easier – a buff of +1!

Ron shrugged. He'd take it.

Once Ron had gotten to the landing, he assessed the area.

Floor was more yellow than green, annoyingly, and there was a fair amount of red.

However, Ron could see a clear path through the green. He figured since yellow put the person in alert, it would give him some time to get out and find a green hiding spot, or something.

No stat gain, but then I figured easy things like that are more common sense than wisdom.

Ron sighed, since apparently his mum was deaf or something – considering the fact she hadn't heard him crashing about earlier - then got on with the sneaking.

Ron progressed slowly through the green, being careful to avoid the area's his mother's sight cone would hit, as he made his way through the room.

He came to a halt at a stretch of yellow and red, with no green. However, just beyond it, was a patch of green.

Wait. Ron thought. No way.

And, fingers crossed, Ron jumped.

And landed in the green. His mum was none the wiser.

That's fucking broken. Ron thought gleefully.

There are objects and shit I can stand on that have no green, yellow or red, and I can jump between green sections. This is seriously bad game design.

And so he proceeded to do so, staying in sneak mode as he stealth-jumped his way to the door.

It took much less time to get there than the mission would have allowed otherwise.

Ron saw a message in the top corner, but dismissed it for now. He had a mother to bypass.

Ron frowned. How am I supposed to do that?

Looting mode Activated.

He looked around, and spotted a glowing box.

Ron frowned, and tried to remember the rules for glowing things.

When looting mode is activated, containers containing valuables, or quest items, glow gold. Items of note that are not in containers glow silver. Dangerous items glow bronze, and quest items glow platinum. Good luck seeing the difference.

Simply Magic items glow purple, and Muggle items glow orange.

Ron shrugged, and stealthed over to the container, and had a look inside.

It was mostly orange glowing muggle junk; Ron figured this was a box of his dad's stuff. Despite this, and a slight feeling of guilt, Ron grabbed one of the random assorted objects, and turned around.

Taking a breath, Ron threw the thing, and it landed a fair bit away.

Not as far as he'd wanted, and not exactly where he'd wanted, but Ron supposed it would do.

Strength roll succeeded!

Int/Wiz/Lck roll barely succeeded!

Ron grumbled. His Int score was really pulling him down.

Ron climbed on top of the box, and crouched there. When his mum turned around, he held his breath – but as suspected, though the cone passed over him, it didn't register as her spotting him, and so his mum wandered over to the object.

Quick as he could, Ron hurried over to the door and slipped in, then closed it behind him.

Game auto-saved.

Ron remembered he could save it manually, and berated himself for forgetting. He should do that before most decisions, he thinks – because what if something goes wrong?

PoA activated!

Game auto-save function will now happen before every important (or less so ) decision or action.

Huh. Ron thought. Handy.

In the room, Ron stood up, and saw the message

Sneak mode deactivated.

Having read this, Ron looked around.

There was many random purple and orange objects lying around, and a few random containers; gold and one platinum. There were also a few silver things.

The platinum one, of course, was the one where Mrs. Weasley kept the wands – out of reach of the children, and safe in their box, since the kids can't do magic.

Or so she thought. Ron grinned, and checked how to activate his controllable magic.

Welcome to the Guide!

Here we have a few tips. You have requested a tutorial on how to control your accidental magic.

It's simple, really. Much easier than that wand stuff you wizards are so proud of. Though only a few can do this; you're a luck bastard!

All you need to do, is force your will onto something.

For example – want a lock, unlocked? There's a few ways around this.

Believe with all your heart the box or door or what have you is in no way locked against your access, and bada-bing bada-boom, it won't be!

Another is to force it open with brute magical strength; either enhance those muscles and smash it, or drain some mana into it to break the spell, or force the muggle lock open!

Finally, you can always use a finer touch, and use your magic to condense a small amount of air into a thin lock pick like object, and open it that way!

Each of these has its own level of difficulty, unlocks certain branches of controllable accidental magic, and will help you on your way to wandless and wordless casting!

For now, though, you'll have to point at objects and mutter things. Sorry, but you're still just a kid, man. You ain't OP yet.

But that's all for this tutorial! Figure all the rest of this shit out yourself, you've got a head on your shoulders, don't you?

Ron sighed. Helpful as ever, he thought, drily.

Ron looked over his options.

It looks as if mum locked it with magic – since we don't have our wands, and therefore can't unlock the magical lock as we could a muggle one.

Ron sighed. This limited his options.

So. There's the belief one, which… I'm not so sure on, then there's the brute magic one – but since my mum is currently way more powerful than me that's probably bust… the lock pick one sounds cool but useless without that skill and a lack of practice controlling elements… which should not be possible unless you're, what, as powerful as Dumbledore? So – yeah, that's out of the question for now.

Which leaves belief. Bugger.

Ron huffed, and feeling slightly ridiculous, placed his hand on the container.

Game auto-saved.

Oh. Right. Yeah, Ron figured this would count for that failsafe.

But he was distracted. Ron breathed, closed his eyes and concentrated.

Muttering aloud "There's no lock on this. It's openable. I'm not unable to open this container. I can take things out without any problems," And so on.

After a while – maybe it was minutes, maybe hours – Ron finally saw a new message, aside from Spellcasting skill check failed! Controllable Magic Ability not activated!

Now, of course, he saw

Spellcasting skill levelled to 5/30! Controllable magic now always activated, and generally successful!

Though not always accurate to what you asked for.

Ron grinned. This was much better.

Again, he closed his eyes. And with all of his focus, all of his belief, he thought

This. Is. Open.

And it was. Ron stared as the lid opened of its own accord, and the wands inside stared up at him, glowing.

Some were simply purple, though some were silver and one –

One was platinum.

This wand had scratches and dents and groves, and the tip was broken off so much so that you could see the unicorn hair poking through the top.

Ron picked it up.

Charlie's old wand added.

Error. Inventory full. You must carry this in hand, put it down, or find more portable inventory space.

Ron sighed. That was going to get annoying.

Quest updated!

The Wand Thief.

Congrats! You sneaky bastard. Now you've got the wand, where to put it?

You have twelve hours left.

Ron blinked, then opened the main menu.

And there it was, clear as day – the analogue clock stating he had twelve hours of the twenty-four left, in which to hide the wand where the twins won't find it.

Well. Ron thought. That's odd.

But then, it really wasn't, he realised. The game had told him earlier that all actions take a turn – or in his case, minutes. So it makes sense, even if it doesn't look like time has passed, his 'turns' have.

Alright. He thought. Now to hide this thing.

Ron frowned. He looked at the front door, slowly walked over, and opened it.

Do you want to move onto the next area, and progress in the quest?

Ron paused, and thought.

Then promptly realised something.

Ah. Right.

He hadn't looked around for the loot in this room.

And so he did, gaining another six galleons and five sickles worth of money, and a better pair of shoes that let him sprint.

Which was good, because Ron remembered that being highly necessary in his previous life.

With that out of the way, Ron went back to the door, and said "Yes".

He opened it, and his vision went white.


The outside world was a little chilly, the sun still rising on the horizon.

Dawn, then. Ron thought. Hope mum isn't out yet.

Luckily, she wasn't. Neither were the twins, which was a blessing. Everyone must still be sleeping, Ron figured.

He hurried on over to the broom shed. Quickly, he did the same as he had done earlier to open the wand cabinet to the door, and it swung wide, nearly whacking him in the nose.

Luckily, he passed the luck roll, and found himself to be standing just far enough out of it's reach.

Only just, mind you.

Blinking rapidly, Ron went inside the small shed, and grabbed one of the brooms. Then he went outside the back of it, and placed the broom on the ground.

"Up." He commanded, quietly, fully expecting it to either whack him in the face as brooms had always tended to do, or roll over uselessly.

It did neither.

Just as Harry's had, that first flying lesson, the broom shot up into his hand before he'd even finished the word.

Ron grinned at this. Natural flyer was a brilliant choice, go figure.

Ron mounted the broom and flew, and it was far easier and far more enjoyable than it had been in his previous life; he didn't even feel slightly uncomfortable.

Like Natural Flyer suggests, it felt natural.

Ron did a few loops, just for fun, felt the wind rush past and it was so, so easy.

Things except chess had never really been easy, for him. It was almost exciting, but Ron remembered he had work to do.

Ron flew the broom up to the roof, and dropped off of it, landing easily on his feet, holding onto the broomstick with one hand.

Kneeling down, Ron placed the wand in the gap between the fairly useless chimney (Really, we're magic, what need do we have of one of those things?) and the lip of the roof. Since that part was slightly sunken, hidden and had walls around it, Ron thought it to be a fairly good place to put the wand.

If you're wondering, Ron had gotten himself stuck up here once when he was younger, in this life – due to accidentally apparating up to the roof due to one of the terrifying spider incidents that had happened.

The twins stopped thinking his phobia was funny, after that, Ron remembered. They never really had in his last life.

Ron shook this off, because then wasn't really the time for that, and flew back down. He was surprised, but not really, to see Ginny at the shed.

He landed and dropped off, into a crouch, which activated sneak mode. Since he landed in a green area, she didn't detect him.

Stupid system. Ron grinned mentally. Ripe for abuse, this is.

Ron stood up, and wandered over.

Ginny turned around, startled.

"Ron!" She blurted, then covered her mouth.

"What're you doing here?" Ginny hissed, a little angry.

Okay, quite angry, Ron amended. But that was Ginny for you.

Ron chucked her the broom, and she caught it, a little clumsy but not coming close to dropping it.

"Same as you." He said instead, and she frowned at him suspiciously. Ron placed his hands in his pockets and tried to look like he hadn't just hidden the wand he'd borrowed on the roof.

Ginny relaxed.

Lying skill gained! Level 1/10.

Ron frowned, but ignored the message. He'd look at that later.

Her eyes glinted. "You up for a challenge, Ronnie?" Ginny inquired.

It was Ron's turn to tense.

"What kind?" He asked, a bit wary.

"See if you can block more goals than I can score." She said.

"Chaser on keeper."

Ron looked on, nonplussed. "And what do I get?"

"If you win," She grinned. "I can teach you a few things, like the bat bogey hex Bill gave me, and a few quidditch moves."

There was a pause, and Ron realised the game wanted him to respond.

"And if you win, Ginny?"

Her grin grew a little bit more vicious.

"I tell mum that you ruined my new dress, and it wasn't me on accident."

Ron winced, mentally. One of the fake memories flew to mind – of him accidentally ruining his sister's birthday present dress. Ginny had actually been happy, not wanting to have anything to do with the frilly mess, but she'd said it was fine, she could just hold it as blackmail.

Outwardly, Ron acquiesced to her challenge.

"Alright." Ron said. "deal."

Ginny smiled. "Glad to do business, Ron. Come on!" The ten-year-old jogged over to the fields, and called back "I'll be in the quidditch clearing."

Quest Gained! Quest gain is currently in realistic mode, due to Realistic Dialogue. Sort of realistic, anyway.

Quest Gained: A Little Blackmail Never Killed Nobody.

Your sister has blackmailed you into playing a little game of chaser on keeper; you being the keeper. Stop more goals than she can score, and you'll win another class! This one is one-time use and will happen directly after the match, in cutscene.

Ron sighed, and grabbed the broomstick that was in best shape out of the lot, before running after his younger sister.


Ron entered their makeshift quidditch pitch, which had muggle repellent wards and a fair few other bits and bobs to make sure the muggles don't pay attention to the children flying on dead bits of tree.

"You ready?" Ginny called out from her perch on George's Cleansweep seven (it was the one in the best condition; since Fred and George are on the Gryffindor quidditch team. Fred's was second best).

"Give me a second." Ron grumbled, before mounting and flying up to the makeshift – and very certainly only stable because of magic – goalposts.

"Ready." Ron said.

Ginny grinned. "One prodigy against another, yeah?"

The game started.

Ginny flew left, and yet Ron knew she was fainting, so pretended to follow yet switched when she did and caught the Quaffle easily – though his arm strained slightly and Ron cursed his low Str. Stat.

Quaffle caught successfully! Timer moves forward two minutes. Score, 1-0 to Ron.

Ron tossed the ball back to his sister.

"Thanks!" She called, then pirouetted the broom as a distraction before sharply flying to the left and throwing it to the bottom of the lower left goal.

Ron was a little too slow on the uptake, and caught it just as it passed through.

Quaffle catch fail! Timer moves forward two minutes. 1 all.

Ron understood the showing off she was doing, and in turn used the end of his broom to hit the ball in her direction – he'd remembered seeing a few keepers do this once, including Wood, and had wanted to try it, but was never good enough at flying to accomplish the move.

He was now, though – and his sister had to fly after it just a little to catch it.

Ginny circled the broom back around.

"Nice one." She said, tossing the ball between her hands.

Theatrics skill unlocked! Theatrics at lvl 1/15.

Theatrics is your dramatic-ness. How showy you are, and can be. Parents intimidation, and other showy things – like acting, and has a little influence in the bullshitting side of lying.

Ron paused mentally. That actually sounded kind of useful.

Ginny suddenly dived her broom, then flew at a diagonal. This throw Ron easily just kicked away from the goal.

Ginny caught it on the rebound, and flew to hover directly in front of him.

"Yeah, that was pretty bad." She sighed.

Quaffle successfully caught! Or, well – kicked, more like. Score 2-1 to Ron.

Timer goes down two minutes. Four left.

Ten-minute match, then. Ron deduced.

Ginny tried for another feint, but Ron again predicted and caught it before it went in the centre goal.

Quaffle Catch Succeeded! Timer goes down, two minutes left. 3-1, Ron.

Ron tossed it between his hands before throwing it back to Ginny, who caught it and immediately threw it to one of the goals.

It missed.

Quaffle unneeded to be caught. No score change, timer goes down one minute.

Ron realised the two-minute thing was both their turns. One minute for each turn. That didn't really make much sense, since each 'turn' took way less than a minute, but it's the game, he guesses.

Ron dropped down, scooped the ball up and flew back to the goal, through the large middle one.

He tossed the ball back to Ginny, one-handed, and waited for her response.

Timer goes down one minute. Game ends.

Oh. Ron thought, belatedly. Right.

Ginny sighs.

"Times up," She said, and Ron figured she only knew because the game said she did.

"Let's teach you that spell, eh?"


New spell gained!

Bat Bogey Hex – turns the, you guessed it – snot of your enemies into bats. Surprisingly effective.

Requires a wand.

New Skill gained!

Lock-picking, lvl 3/15 – taught by novice.

The ability to… discretely open locks, sans magic and sans keys.

And sans legality, but who cares? Not you, obviously.

Blackmailing skill unlocked! No level yet, but at least you know it's a thing now, eh?

Bullshitting branch of Lying Skill unlocked! This is the ability to say complete and utter rubbish and have others believe you. The more ridiculous you are capable of, the quicker you level, and thus the easier it is!

Ron shrugged. This was all pretty fine – the hex was really what mattered out of all of that. He remembered how useful it had been to Ginny… and how no-one else had ever used it. Which was odd, now that he thinks about it – but it's not like he can change his past.

Though this is technically the past. And he can change this future. Though not too much. Ron knows messing with time is dangerous business.

(That sort of understanding comes with brains latching onto you and not letting go. They had a lot of information, and he doesn't remember any of it. Just… feelings. Incredibly specific understandings.)

With a sigh, Ron ambled back in the direction of the Burrow.


Before going inside, Ron decided to have a look around.

The Burrow's surrounding area was pretty much the same as he remembered – but there were some less-than-minor changes, such as a fucking massive wooded area.

Seriously. Ron stared at the forest.

Bloody hell, when did that get there? He demanded, having nearly jumped out of his skin when he had noticed it.

Curious, and ignoring the Hermione-conscience nagging him for acting like Harry and the not-Hermione what was egging him on, he cautiously made his way over to the treeline.

Ron hesitantly stepped into the woods.

Game Auto-Saved.

Welcome to the first Wild Area of your gaming experience! In this small (relatively) section of the woods which you have access to, you will find Creatures and Critters which are scaled to your level! As you are currently Lvl. [0] and therefore pretty useless, they'll be super easy to defeat.

Stays pretty much the same until Level five, wherein you'll get some new enemy types and random boss encounters.

Human enemies are unlocked in the Wilds after [Year 5] in story instance [Hogwarts] is completed.

Ron blinked, then decided pretty much instantaneously he wasn't ready for battling anything yet – considering he has no weapon, or anything remotely helpful.

An alert materialised in front of his face.

Ron grimaced, then read it.

Hey, Player!

Sorry about this. But you do have weapons – they're called your fists and your controllable accidental magic, both of which really need some training. Here's the best place for that, since because of your start you don't have any real battle skills trainers just yet.

So, I recommend fighting some shit.

Oh, and remember to save! You can die. Forgot to tell you that, hahah… oops.

Ron scowled at the alert. This arsehole was beginning to annoy him rather more than was necessary.

With a sigh, he waved it away, and opened the main menu.

He 'hit' save, then the world bled back to full colour.

Ron figures he'll end up used to that, at some point in the future.

Grumbling, Ron activated looting mode and picked up a sharp rock, with which he marked a tree, so as to find his way back out of the woods when he needs to.

Ron kept the looting mode on, as there wasn't really anything in sight and he figured it would be useful, and wandered further into the woods.


Ron had not had to 'fight' anything yet, per say. Unless you count stomping on slightly over-sized roaches and other things (thank Merlin no spiders) as 'battling' creatures.

Ron had stood on many a critter and, since he only got a few exp per 'defeat' (as the game called it) he wasn't really close to levelling.

He had gotten a 'stomping' skill. That was something at least.

Stomping levelled to 2/5!

Ron scowled down at the bigger than usual cockroach he'd just stomped on.

This was getting dull.

Another alert blocked his view.

Well, yeah, it's getting dull dumbass. This is what we call 'grinding' – where you wander around, doing the same shit over and over and over again to gain exp, and levels in skills and such things.

It's boring. It's dull. It's repetitive. Get over yourself, we've all had to do the same.

'Close.' Ron demanded mentally, and the floating parchment dissolved into the air.

And with that, Ron got back to stomping on unsuspecting oversized critters.


Stomping levelled to 3/5!

Now when you stomp on people's faces, it's a guaranteed broken nose!

Ron shrugged. It's something for my efforts, at least.

Having seen another roach – are these the only thing this game is capable of, Morgana's sake – Ron walked over and stood on it.

Luck roll major success!

Exp gained:10 from Large 'Roach.

Level Up!

Ron blinked at the character sheet that was blocking his view. Grimacing, he commanded it aside and opened the main menu, then brought up his character sheet.

Ron immediately used up the bonus fifty any-stat points and the 100 exp he'd been granted to make his Str. Stat a six, as it was the only five left in his Stats list.

Well. Table, more like.

Stats Lvl 1

Str : 6

Int : 6

Wiz : 7

Chr : 6

End : 6

Vit : 6

Lck : 8

HP : 250

MP : 250

Ron nodded. Not bad.

Having finally levelled, Ron decided to leave the Wild zone and go back to the Burrow and hand in his quest, the twenty-four hour timer now down to two, as it was.

With a final look around himself, Ron turned and followed the marked trees back to the exit.