A.N. So; After some thoughts about the comments I've recieved, the weapon choices have been refined somewhat. Not absolutely decided. Dudley gets a two handed hammer or something, Ron gets either a sword/axe and shield, Harry's leaning towards a katana, or simply a one handed sword, and Hermione's probably a staff or spear. Question time; Does forging require a blunt weapon skill? from a quick look around, it doesn't, and Lisbeth's mace skill is just coincedence, but I wasn't sure.


Harry had changed. This was something he'd observed. Hermione had observed it. Ginny had observed it. Even others, people they weren't so close to, had noticed it. Ginny had tried to force answers out of him, against Ron's advice, and their relationship hadn't been rekindled.

Hermione had wanted to, but Ron had managed to convince her to give him space. The details were somewhat murky; they knew he had gone off alone to face Voldemort, and Voldemort had paraded his corpse around. He'd gotten better.

Ron looked over at Harry. He had a pensive look on his face, stuck in his thoughts, as he oft was when his attention wasn't focused on something. It was fine; Harry would tell him when he was ready.

"Hey Harry." Ron called out.

Harry looked over with a 'hm?' sound, "Yeah?"

"Did you know there's a marriage function in this game?"

Harry blinked, "I didn't. Why?"

"Well," Ron hedged, "I was thinking, should I, you know, ask Hermione?" against his wishes, his cheeks had turned red in embarrassment.

Harry stared at him.

"W-well, you know, I thought I'd ask your opinion, you know?"

"Because my love life is such a smashing success." Harry replied drily.

Ron chuckled, "Well, I'd have preferred to ask Dad, but, well, you know, we can't."

"Honestly? I don't know. Do you think you're ready for that?"

Ron shrugged, "We could die any day. I feel like, if I let this chance slip by, I'd always regret it, you know?"

Harry looked away, frowning. "Then ask. Though, shouldn't it be, romantic or something?"

Ron scratched his head, "So I should, pick flowers or something?"

"Dunno. Never asked anyone." Harry replied.

"hmm." Ron frowned. This was difficult.

"You should probably wait until she's got her head wrapped around the rules of SAO."

"Yeah, Dudley's telling her about his experiences with other games. Hopefully they should figure out what they're doing soon."

They walked in silence for a while. They were trying to make it to the next town, hopefully before other players picked up all the quests.

"Hey Ron." Harry called out.

"Yeah?"

"What happens after you die?"

Ron blinked at the unexpected question. "According to that Kayoba guy, you die in real life."

"Kayaba." Harry corrected idly, "And I meant, if we die in the real world."

Ron pursed his lips in thought. "Dunno. Hadn't considered it."

Harry 'hmmed'.

Ron frowned, he had a feeling this was something to do with the change that had came over his best mate. Should he say something? Or should he wait for Harry to open up? Bloody hell, this was frustrating.

Thankfully the uncomfortable silence cut off as they heard the sounds of fighting. Looking past some trees, they saw a player fighting several boars.

The two of them exchanged glances, grins appearing on their faces. Harry drew his sword, levelling it at the enemies, "Once more unto the breach dear friends," He yelled.

"Unto the breach once more!" Ron laughed, as they took off at a sprint.

The boars were easily dispatched. They were easy opponents even when they were level one, and they'd all levelled up since then. Ron took the opportunity to examine the other player. Shorter than the two of them, probably around fourteen, though he was Asian, and Ron found it hard to be sure about guessing such a person's age. He considered for a moment that the player may have been female, but his gut told him it was a guy.

The boy frowned. "I had it covered."

Ron shrugged.

"Sorry," Harry apologised, "We weren't sure, and didn't want to risk your life."

The guy shook his head, "No, I shouldn't blame you. Thanks for the assist, I suppose." He finished with a nod, before turning away.

"Hold up," Ron interrupted.

The guy turned back with a questioning look.

"Do you know the way to the next town?" He asked.

The guy stared at them. "You can check the map; you know?"

Ron laughed, "I've never checked a map in my life!" He declared, absurdly proud of that fact.

It was true, Harry usually checked any maps, rather than Ron.

The boy sighed. "Open up your menu, you should be able to find the icon for the map."

Ron made no move to do so, so with a sigh, Harry did so in his place. "Huh, you're right."

The boy sighed again, "Follow me, I was returning there anyway."

"Great!" Ron exclaimed.

The boy shot them subtle glances. Oh right! Manners. See, he could learn, Hermione!

"I'm Ron. This is Harry." He pointed his thumb at Harry.

"It's bad manners to use real names here." Harry pointed out.

"I'm not using that stupid name you stuck me with." Ron responded immediately.

Harry grinned.

The boy stared at them for a moment. "Kirito." He introduced himself finally.

"Nice to meet you." Ron said happily, thrusting out his hand. This is how muggles said hello, right?

Kirito stared oddly at the hand, before giving it a shake.

They walked in silence for a while.

"Hey Harry." Ron said.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think there'll be dragons in the game?" He asked.

"Dunno. Maybe?"

Kirito looked like he wanted to say something. Ron stared at him expectantly.

"I, er, heard that there weren't any found in the beta, but most games like this do have them." He muttered.

Ron beamed, "Great! Harry, we have to fight a dragon!" He paused, "Or tickle a sleeping one!"

Harry burst into laughter, while Kirito stared at them as if they were crazy, "You could die you know? You shouldn't take risks."

"Bah, what's life without a risk or ten." Ron dismissed with a hand wave.

"Death waiting round every corner, it's like old times." Harry admitted with a soft smile.

Kirito's eyes widened, "Ah, I remember you guys! You're the guys from the opening ceremony!"

Ron beamed again, "That was me!" He bragged.

"Do you think this is a game?" Kirito asked, "Some kind of joke?"

Harry shook his head, "It's not like that. It's… I guess… The only time you're truly alive, is when you're within an inch of death." He finished.

Kirito stared at him as if he had said something crazy, "I think I can enjoy it more if I'm not in danger of dying."

Ron and Harry exchanged glances, before shrugging.

There was a howling sound as several wolves appeared.

Kirito drew his sword quickly, "This isn't right, there shouldn't be this many of this monster here." He muttered.

Harry and Ron drew their swords.

The three of them rushed forward, swords glowing as they activated their skills.


"Hey Harry." Ron called out.

They had defeated the wolves handily. Kirito was a skilled and powerful player.

"Yeah?" Harry responded. Kirito stared at them, no doubt confused at the repetitive pattern of their conversations.

"Do you think I should use an axe?"

"Why?"

"Well," Ron scratched at his chin, the stubbly attempt at a beard. "Both you and Neville used that sword. It's like, your thing. I wanna be part of it, but at the same time, it might be nice to go my own way, you know?"

"Well, you're not wrong." He muttered, "The game is called Sword Art, I hadn't really considered using something else."

"Different weapons have different traits and skills." Kirito interjected, "The weapon you choose should coincide with the way you want to play. A sword is simply one of the most well balanced weapons. Of course, different monsters are more resistant to different types of damage. If you make a party, it's generally worth trying to consider balancing damage output types."

"You know a lot about it right?" Harry observed.

Kirito looked away, "Well, I know some stuff."

They walked on in an easy silence.


Ginny looked down into Harry's sleeping face. She had come to visit them, all three of them. And Dudley, she supposed. They were being kept in St Mungos, though an unspeakable had had to do something to the headgear they were wearing, so it wouldn't run out of electricity.

She looked over to the bed where Hermione lay, her parents sat at her sides, holding her hands. The Weasley's usually sent over one person a day to see them, and today it was Ginny, but Hermione's parents had already been here, though they hadn't said a word since she arrived.

She turned back to Harry. He had changed. It was obvious, though spelling down on just what had changed wasn't so easy. She'd tried to pry, to get him to open up to her (against her brother's advice) but he'd pulled away, their relationship not rekindling like a healthy phoenix.

She reached down and brushed her fingers through the hair she could see beneath the helmet.

She looked up as the lights seemed to flicker, dimming until the room was bathed in the sort of twilight that existed between night and day. Obeying some instinct formed at the Death Eater held Hogwarts, she span around, levelling her wand at the door, or rather, the figure that appeared in front of the door.

"Wh-who are you?" Came the raspy voice of one of Hermione's parents.

The cowled figure turned slightly, the unnatural darkness in place of a face observing the muggles. "…You may call me… Brown. Unspeakable."

"Did you have to dim the lights?" Ginny demanded.

The darkness turned towards her. "… According to the handbook, Unspeakables must… make a dramatic entrance."

"I nearly cursed you." Ginny pointed out, sheathing her wand.

"…you nearly tried." Brown corrected.

"Are you here to get my daughter out?" Hermione's mother pleaded.

Brown turned to look at her, "…No. We have ideas that may work… but there is a risk of brain damage. If it was Potter… he'd probably be fine, but we won't take the risk."

"Then why are you here?" Ginny asked.

Brown turned back to look at her. The slow motion they were using to do it was kind of pissing her off. "… Ever since the muggles made the internet, we have been trying to make a magical version. A 'M-internet' if you will. The system used by the nerve gear is of particular interest to us. I have come… to examine it."

Ginny scowled as the unspeakable moved over to the other side of Harry's bed, waving its wand over his head.

"Why don't you just plug one of your own guys into it?"

"…We were going to." The unspeakable admitted. "We wanted… to wait a couple of months for bugs to be fixed before we… began poking around at it."

"Don't ignore us!" Hermione's dad began storming towards the cowled figure.

Brown turned, waving its wand at the muggles, "Don't… interrupt me."

The muggles blinked, turning back to their chairs, sitting down before dozing off.

"That was mean. They're just concerned about Hermione."

"…I have no interest… in those people."

Ginny scowled, crossing her arms she leaned back against the wall. "Well, Hurry it up. I have to get back to school, but I'm not leaving you alone with them."

The unspeakable turned to look at her. "…Do you think… you could do anything? If I wanted… to hurt them?" Before Ginny could respond, they continued, "Never mind… I'm done." Brown disappeared, with no soft pop that apparating normally produced.

The Grangers started stirring. Ginny sighed, they were going to shout at her again.