It had unfortunately taken Harry screaming his head off before Aunt Petunia was willing to acknowledge him again, and then he'd had to shit his diaper and try to take it off before she was willing to change him. The second she was done, though, she tossed him back, though at least this time he was given juice in a sippy cup, two slices of whole wheat, and some cooked but cold broccoli. Harry scarfed it down. As he did so two notifications appeared.

Bathroom! Goal completed. 10 XP awarded.

Food! Goal completed. 10 XP awarded.

New goals available.

Wonderful. And the best part was that even if Harry wanted to ignore the message, he kind of couldn't. There was simply nothing else to do.

[][][][][][][][][]

The rest of the year, and the year after that, and the year after that, passed in similar fashion. He regularly got quests with incredibly small awards that had goals like learning how to do something, light exercise, or obtaining something. Some of them weren't as bad as the others, however. Once he learned to walk on his own new quests involving getting and reading books began to pop up, and by his fourth birthday Harry had memorized sixteen 'books'—two children's story books, one about finance, another about gardening, a fifth about child rearing, two cooking books, three sports illustrated magazines, and six newspapers.

All of this reading had got him a point in spoken and written English each, as well as two points in finance, one in biology, none in agriculture (he already knew how to do everything in the gardening book), one in teaching, three in psychology, two in culinary skills, and one in law. He'd also improved all around on the physical front, and knew for a fact that he was already more fit than Dudley or any of his toddler friends despite being substantially less healthy than they were. As for his 15 possible skill levels, gained from progressing three levels since his first day "back," he hadn't used any yet—in all honesty, it wasn't like he could do shit while he was four, so he figured he may as well save them until he was older.

About one week before his fourth birthday he woke up to a new screen.

Alert!
Due to the demise of #14, the Game has changed. While management has decided not to terminate based on the actions of one individual, all goals must be completed within the given time slot to avoid the end of the current Earthen civilizations. #14's duties are being parceled out to the other participants based on location, age, and a number of other factors. You have been given the new Goal of improving the educational standards of the main magical school of England [Hogwarts] substantially enough that it would rank in the top ten worldwide if measured against its competitors today.

In order to help with the increased difficulty you are now being offered [Bonus Points] which can be spent in the Advantages/Disadvantages tab to give yourself boosts. Five Bonus Points have been retroactively given to you as a thank you for your participation. Four Bonus Points have been retroactively given to you due to your already completed levels. You will gain an additional bonus point per level, as well as if you achieve anything of note.

Good luck.

Harry banged his head against the wall. Really #14? Really? You just had to go make it harder for everyone else? Harry was already clueless about how to repair the government of magical Britain, and now this "management" wanted him to repair the school?!

After raging for several minutes Harry calmed himself, paused the game, and turned to the Advantages/Disadvantages tab, and chose the "bonuses" link inside there.

BONUSES

[Current Bonus Points: 9]

15 Points: Metamorphmagus (Congratulations. You can now easily change your physical form)

10 Points: Familiar (You can allow an non-sentient animal to become semi-sentient)

15 Points: Animagus (Congratulations. You can now easily change into a predetermined animal)

10 Points: Bare Necessities (Your needs for food, excretion, and sleep are significantly reduced)

5 Points: Athlete (All physical skills get a one-time five point boost)

5 Points: Mage (All magical skills get a one-time four point boost)

5 Points: Scholar (All mental skills get a one-time three point boost)

15 Points: Multilingual (Congratulations. You are automatically at level 50 on all languages)

2 Points: Improved Vision. (No more myopia)

10 Points: Improved Senses. (All of your senses are now more advanced than average)

15 Points: Peverell's Descendent (You can now turn invisible whenever you wish)

2 Points: Improved Transportation (You are able to more successfully use magical transport)

2 Points: Additional Inch (You will grow one inch higher than you would normally)

15 Points: Natural Resistance (You are naturally resistant to some magical potions and poisons)

15 Points: Bullet Dodger (You are slightly less likely to be unlucky)

…

The list went on and on.

In the end, though, Harry decided not to spend any of the points. He was (almost) four! There was no need yet, particularly because all signs pointed to him being able to get more bonus points at a later date.

It wasn't until his birthday that he got another noteworthy message.

New Elective Goal: First Use of Magic. (250 XP)

You're four now. You're motor control is good, your magical core is fairly stable, and you've got some time on your hands. How about using magic for the "first" time?

Harry grinned and accepted. He'd been waiting years now, and it was finally time.

Honestly the first thing he'd tried when he'd actually calmed down from the whole "you are 'reborn'" thing was try to do magic. Nothing had happened. He'd tried again and again and again and it had taken almost a full week for him to finally remember that accidental magic generally didn't start at birth. Well, apparently his ability to perform magic started at four. Okay, he could work with that.

But what to do?

He sat up from the cot (added to the cupboard only a few months ago) and looked around. Besides his books, the cot, and the cleaning supplies and stored whatevers that had always inhabited the closet, there were also a few choice possessions hidden within the room. He'd stolen some food from the pantry, some cash from Vernon and Petunia, and a few toys from Dudley. While 'playing' was a no-go—he was not, after all, actually a child—he'd remembered trading one of his (Dudley's) army men for a sweet in school his first time around so he figured having some bargaining chips was always helpful. Money wise, he'd managed to steal about 75 from his aunt and uncle over the course of the last few years.

All of his… obtained… goods were stowed in various places about the cupboard, and Harry decided that that was where his first piece of magic would center. A notice-me-not charm, then. He next turned to how to actually do it.

From what he could remember when he was an actual child magic had not been based on words or phrases or wands. It had been based solely on intent. In point of fact, that was one of the skills he had. It was only a six to 'oral magic''s 10, but honestly the better use of his time would be learning how to cast silently. After all, shouting "Ab Aspectu!" in the Dursley household would probably lead to consequences Harry simply did not want to deal with. So intent it was. He first grabbed some old yearbooks of Vernon's—unimportant and unused enough that their disappearance wouldn't matter if anything went wrong—and went to work.

Two hours later, and with a pounding headache, Harry admitted defeat (temporarily). He was obviously doing something wrong but he didn't for the life of him figure out what it was.

Besides, it was a Saturday and the Dursleys were getting up. Any minute now Aunt Petunia would be unlatching the cabinet door and telling him to get a start on breakfast. She'd begun 'teaching' him one or two months prior, and Harry was never happier that some of his skills had transferred back—it would have killed him if he had to deal with Petunia's method of punishment for cooking-related offenses again.

Instead he carefully toed the line between being talented enough to avoid punishment for messing up the food and unknowing enough to avoid punishment for being a freak. He'd only been hit with the frying pan (thankfully on his back rather than his head, and not the one actually on the stove) three times before he finally got it right.

Sure enough it was only a few seconds later than he heard foot falls directly above his head. He groaned, but got up and put on his glasses. He didn't really have 'pajamas' right now, so he didn't need to change at least—Dudley and he were too ridiculously different sizes for it to work. It would take a couple years until he was finally big enough to use Dudley's old clothes so he was stuck with three shirts, two pants, four pairs of underwear, two pairs of socks, and one pair of too-big shoes, all from a second-hand store that Aunt Petunia had dragged him to several months before.

After a miserable breakfast (crumbs, the parts of the strawberries nearest to the stem, and bread crust from Dudley's breakfast—thankfully with much of the bread leftover, because Dudley hated bread crust too much to risk accidently biting it) Harry got to cleaning. He'd started in the kitchen and worked his way outward, eventually landing in the front yard. He'd started weeding and similar a few weeks ago, when his aunt finally decided that he wouldn't take off whenever he was let outside. (Honestly he'd thought about it, but he was still in the body of a four year old and knew how futile the exercise would be)

New Elective Goal: Introduce Yourself (150 XP)

So far all your neighbors have heard about you is solely from your aunt, and it does not paint you in the best light. Can you change that?

Challenge accepted. Harry glanced about from his position kneeling in Aunt Petunia's flower beds and caught the blur of a head disappearing from sight over Number 5's fence. Perfect.

Harry started crying.

His whimpers gradually got louder, but he made sure to calm them every once in a while—he didn't want to get Aunt Petunia's attention, only Mrs. Creek's. It took about 15 minutes, but it worked.

"Hello, dearie. Why are you crying?"

"I just…" Harry gasped in air, pretending to have trouble speaking. "I just wanted breakfast. I know I'm a waste of space and a freak, I do, but I'm so hungry." He widened his eyes and looked up at Mrs. Creek. "I want to be a good boy, but I'm so hungry."

Harry had never done anything like this the first time around. It hadn't been until years into public school that he realized that first, his aunt and uncle were far from normal in his treatment of him, and second, that by that point it was too late: the idea of him as a delinquent was already far too ingrained into everyone's brains. Well, this time he wouldn't make the same mistakes. This time he'd tell them what he was thinking last time. If nothing else it would leave a trail for the magical police to find later—another path he'd completely missed in his first life.

"Oh, sweetie. They didn't give you breakfast?" Mrs. Creek asked. While it was clear she didn't know whether to trust him, Harry guessed his size difference compared to his cousin was more than a little bit of a factor in her continuing to listen.

"No, they did. I got… I got Dudley's leftovers—the entire crust of his toast and a few bits of strawberries from the green ends! You're right, I shouldn't complain. I'm sorry for taking up your time." Abruptly Harry turned away and began to weed with vigor, murmuring just under his breath, barely loud enough for Mrs. Creek to hear, about needing to be done before Aunt Petunia thought he was slacking. "can't get the frying pan again… need to work harder."

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Mrs. Creek's heels stand still for a moment, obviously unsure of what to do, before rushing away. Harry sighed and focused even more on the weeding. He'd have better luck next time and he wasn't kidding about worrying about his punishment.

About a minute later, though, he was surprised to hear the clip-clop of Mrs. Creek's heels on the sidewalk again. She came straight up to the flower bed and bent down next to him, careful not to smudge her dress. "Here, my family and I had some leftover cookies from a school bake sale yesterday. Why don't you have them?"

Honestly Harry's first instinct was to scarf them all down in a second, but he stopped himself just in time and thought of how the first Harry would have reacted.

"Really? But… but those are sweets. Freaks like me could never deserve sweets." He made sure to keep his voice matter of fact. It wasn't until he was seven that he'd begun to question it, so at four he would definitely be certain of his 'freakishness' and what that entailed.

"Yes, they're for you. Chocolate chip. Have you had any before? No? Well, I'm sure you'll like them."

Harry tentatively reached out and grabbed one, taking a small bite. He gave Mrs. Creek a small grin, and had to suppress a larger one as he got a notification.

Introduce Yourself! Goal Complete. 150 XP Awarded.

New Elective Goal: Next Door Neighbors! (150 XP)
Convince at least three of your next door neighbors that they were wrong about you. Continuing down this path may lead to your removal from the Dursleys.

Accept.