Harry Potter AU, In which Hogwarts is an online game. Disclaimer: I know little to nothing about computers or programming.
"In other news, stock values plummet after of the highly popular massively multiplayer online game, or MMORPG, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic was hacked last week. Nearly half of the two hundred thousand total user accounts were lost. The game's developer, Maxime, issued a statement earlier today apologizing, and said they are doing all they can to recover the lost accounts and enhance online security.
"Police have yet to determine who is responsible for the hack. Some fingers have been pointed at French company's English rival, Wizarding World; developer of several highly successful online games. Their newest, Hogwarts: Witchcraft and Wizardry was released last month with record breaking sales. Wizarding World has officially denied any involvement in the hacking incident.
"And now the weather…"
"Are you in?" Ron asked, for what felt like the hundredth time.
"Just a second. It's still loading." Harry fingers itched to drum on the desk. It'd been almost a month since Ron started pushing him to get this game. Everyone was playing it, he'd said. It was the greatest game ever made, he'd said. Harry just had to get it, he'd said. Now Harry was wishing he hadn't caved. Watching the loading bar sit at 95% was the most boring thing he'd done in his fifteen year life.
"Oh, man, this is going to be wicked!" Ron said, his excitement clear even with the slight modulation of the phone's speaker. "You have to join Gryffindor! That's the house I'm in. That way we can go on quests together and earn house points. You remember what the houses are, right?"
"Uh huh," Harry said absentmindedly. He vaguely remembered Ron mentioning it. It was like club? And each club had their own fort? Or something…
"Well, whatever you do, don't get Slytherin. They're all cheaters. Using hacks to perfect spells. It's supposed to be about skill! They aught to be banned!" Ron exclaimed.
"Yeah," Harry agreed, though he wasn't entirely certain what he was agreeing to.
97% complete. Maybe he needed a new computer? His was a little old…
"And Hufflepuff," Ron started, with a scoff then paused. "well, okay they have some good duelers. But they're mostly just casuals. They hang around the castle a lot and take the easy quests. And their colors are lame."
99% complete.
"Ravenclaw's pretty cool, but their animal is a eagle. What's with that? I mean, raven is in the name!"
100% complete. Welcome to Hogwarts!
"I'm in."
"Awesome! The first thing you need to do is create your character."
"Create Character…" Harry clicked on the button and a new screen loaded with dozens of customization options. It was more than the basic male/female choice. There were options for height, weight, skin color, hair color, and eye color. It even gave him different species to choose from. Veela, whatever that was, was neat, but it limited hair and eyes to paler colors. Harry settled for creating a human male character that he tried to make resemble himself.
Next he needed to give his character a name. He hesitated for a moment. Well, it already looked like him. Why not? He typed in the letters H.A.R.R.Y. and hit OK.
"Done," he said with some satisfaction at seeing his completed virtual self.
"Next you'll have to go through the tutorial level. It's kinda boring but it tells you everything you need to know."
True to Ron's word he was greeted by another screen. It explained the digital world he had just entered. He was, according to the text, a student at the prestigious Hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards to learn their craft and become powerful sorcerers. Once he reached a certain level, the text said, he could venture further from the castle and take on powerful enemies.
The screen changed and suddenly his character was standing in a small courtyard. The name 'Harry' hovering above his head in green letters. A text bubble appeared with instructions on moving, attacking, and targeting.
Over the speaker Harry heard a voice shouting. It sounded like Ron's mum. And she didn't sound happy.
"Oh no," Ron groaned.
"Is everything alright over there?" he asked. He could have sworn he heard something about toilet seats.
"Uh, Harry. I'm gonna have to call you back," said Rone, and before Harry could respond the phone clicked and he saw 'Call Ended' light up in the screen. Harry shook his head an smiled. He'd bet money it was something the twins had done and now all the Weasley kids was scrambling to avoid their mother's ire.
Harry looked up at the monitor where his character was going through idle animation – shifting his weight, brushing dust off his sleeve – and considered playing without Ron. But Ron was the reason he'd gotten the game in the first-place. It didn't feel right without him. He was just about to log out when a dialog box popped up.
Voldemort has challenged you to a duel!
Accept. Decline.
Only the Decline option was grayed out. This must have been part of the tutorial. He'd probably have to duel the computer to complete the level. He tried to remember the instructions he'd been given earlier in the level. Select a spell, target enemy, complete the correct keystrokes to cast. Simple enough. Harry clicked Accept.
The screen flashed green. Then black. And then he was staring at his desktop wallpaper.
"Wait, what?" He sat up and checked the taskbar. The game wasn't there. It hadn't minimized, it had crashed. "Great. I didn't even save."
He considered just quitting right then. But once again he thought about Ron, who would not be happy about waiting for him to make a character and complete the level twice. With a resigned sigh he clicked the icon. The window launched and… Harry found his character standing right where he'd left him.
"Huh. Must have some sort of data recovery feature. Or something." He shrugged and was about to go on playing when he noticed an owl icon in the corner of the screen. It was holding a glowing letter in it's talons. He moused over to it.
Congratulations! You have won 1 duel(s). A new item has been added to your inventory.
"I won? But I didn't even do anything."
The link took him to his inventory where, sure enough, there was a shiny new item.
Horcrux it was called. And that was all there was about it. No info on what it was or what it was for. Nothing on how to use it. He tired equipping it, but that didn't work. As far as Harry could tell there was nothing he could do with it. He couldn't even drop it. He hoped he hadn't broken the game already.
"Ron probably knows what it's for," he said to himself. After all, Ron had already gotten through all the beginning stuff. "I'll ask him later."
He saved and logged out.
End.
This idea was inspired by Sword Art Online, Summer Wars, and Pottermore. I had a lot more of this world planned out in my head. Basically Voldemort is the username of a hacker/cyber-terrorist who plants Horcruxes(bits of code) and God Mods the MMORPG. He tires to bring down the system with the Morsmordre virus. Harry would eventually use his Horcrux to bring Voldemort down.
Apologies to any Pottermore Sytherins(and fellow Hufflepuffs). Those are Ron's opinions not mine.