"Taoiseach, it's time to get up, you said we could go into the forest again today!" Aife's cry was punctuated a moment later by her landing on his bed in her usual fashion, making Harry groan in slight pain and silently hope the twins weren't up yet to follow her. It had been two months since the census attack and Harry found that for the most part he very much enjoyed his time here.

You have slept in your own bed: (8:34 sleep), Hp and Mp are fully restored.

Lyra and Corvus as it turned out were the reason for Freya's final retirement from active duty, the now 8 year old twins very much like their father in personality, though Corvus was a lot more restrained than his sister when it came to pranks. They also adored Harry and took every opportunity to hang out or play with him, though whether that was due to the fact that Harry was a lot more easygoing than the hired sitters or Freya was something they refused to confirm or deny.

"Aife, I have told you not to do that to Jarl Potter, it is not right for servants to act so familiarly with their masters. Do you wish to anger him after all he has done for us?" The deep woman's voice and feeling Aife stiffen next to him truly woke Harry enough to start thinking properly, sitting up so that he could address the last speaker properly.

"Briar, I thought I asked you not to think of me as a master regardless of the bond that you agreed to. And I don't mind Aife, though perhaps she could come up with a slightly less aggressive way of getting me up in the mornings?" The last part was aimed not at the bearcast, who was now in her human form and at the door to his room, dressed in a well made and sturdy set of biker leathers that she seemed to like, but instead at Aife who was nuzzling into his side.

After they had returned from the census Harry had discovered that it hadn't just been Inquisitor Rielly that had known the truth about Aife, Freya making it very clear that just appearing with the owl on his shoulder when he hadn't had her when they had arrived hadn't been the most subtle way of trying to keep Aife's status from becoming public.

Despite her disapproval of the attempt to hide Aife from her Freya seemed perfectly accepting of Harry taking the young Werekin in, once she had ensured that both Aife and Briar undergo a rather more complex set of bonding pledges to him and the Black family of course. It had taken a combined effort of both Harry and Aife to calm Briar down enough to get her to turn back into a human so that Freya could lay out the terms of her survival on Earth.

There had only been two choices for her, either to pledge herself to the house of Potter by a Blood Bond pledge and undertake a magical oath to the House of Black, or be handed over to the Inquisition. From what Harry had been told the Inquisition had several one way portals they used to send pocket creatures back, but the actions of the Inquisition soldiers at the census made him a little cautious in believing that straight away.

As he had thought that another Long term quest had appeared similar to the one about the Unseelie, to find out more information about what the Inquisition did with the pocket creatures they captured. Such a quest had very much reinforced his uncertainty and as such he would definitely start investigating it properly when he got to Hogwarts.

With the two choices, it was no surprise that Briar had sworn herself to his house, the Blood Bond involving blood surprisingly enough, both participants cutting their palms and joining hands, Briar then repeating the words that Freya had forced her to memorise well in advance of the event, pledging herself to him for life until he released her from his service.

Harry had thought that the Blood Bond, which would hurt Briar every time she tried to act against his interests and would kill her if she tried to physically harm him, was too far. But surprisingly it had been Briar and not Freya to talk him into it, the Bearcast woman making it clear that a life of semi- autonomous servitude here was better than life in the pocket realm.

So Briar had become another companion of his, the ritual netting him +1 Rituals skill as well as the bonus +1 strength point he got from Briar becoming his companion. Briar was officially tasked by Freya to be his bodyguard/babysitter during the day, but given both hers and Aife's complete lack of technological understanding it felt at times like he was in fact minding them.

"Better to use it all the time and get told off for it then forget at the wrong time and have the Inquisition on our door master." Briar's tone was level but there was a slight grin on her face, letting Harry know that she was deliberately keeping it up because it amused her to aggravate him more than anything else.

"Mother, stop distracting Harry from my question! And Harry, where would the fun be in that? If you just got up earlier I wouldn't have to wake you up would I?" It was too early to try and argue with Aife's ridiculousness, especially as he knew from previous mornings that such attempts usually meant either losing relationship points with the girl or gaining more chores from Freya or Briar.

"Fine, fine, let me get up and changed and then we can go to the forest Aife, though could you try and avoid getting us lost again this time?" His tired question caused Aife to giggle, the young Werekin somehow finding their last trip into the forest surrounding the Black Country House amusing.

This was despite the fact that they had been attacked twice by low level pocket creatures that were mutated versions of more mundane squirrels and rabbits, and getting pranked by a bunch of faeries, the small fey creatures very interested in Harry. Though that translated in their minds into using their illusion magic to send them round in circles several times before Harry finally noticed the spell and then pelting them with colour changing charms and tickling spells.

He assumed their interest came from his Perk to do with the Seelie, but the basic information he had gotten from Observe hadn't given him enough to prove that. Briar grabbed her daughter by the scruff of the neck and carried her with one hand out of the room to allow Harry to get changed.

All of his normal clothes gave him pretty much the same stat bonuses in terms of defence and other attributes so he didn't give it much thought as he grabbed a t-shirt and trousers, the only item he kept wearing was Hargrove's cloak for the luck bonus. It was only when he was walking down the corridor towards the main stairs, and a voice called out at him in an amused and slightly sarcastic manner, did Harry realise that perhaps he should have been a bit more aware about what he was dressed in.

"Aren't you a bit old now to still be dressing up as Kal-El? I know you like to impress the twins, Merlin only knows why, but perhaps you could be a little less dorkish when you do it Harry?" Looking down at the giant red S on his t-shirt, Harry sighed internally even as his eyes met with the deep grey eyes of Arya Black, Heiress to the Black family and one of the most fun yet frustrating people that Harry had ever met.

She was almost a year older than him and widely regarded as a menace of a child by the Black family associates and the children at Hogwarts, seemingly having melded some of Sirius' worst habits with Freya's somewhat aloof and heavily sarcastic nature. A tomboy through and through, Arya was not very sociable with her rather dark and biting sarcasm, if Harry didn't technically have the mindset of a 18 year old he would probably hate her by now out of sheer frustration.

Instead, he found himself oddly fascinated by her, doing his best to not rise to her comments and retorting with his own attempts at humour, though given he had only interacted with her personally three or four times since she had returned the week before it was very much a stab in the dark.

"Well, now you call it dorkish, all of my plans of sweeping you off your feet and flying off into the sunset are ruined, no great adventures and dangerous monsters for us to face." Normally Harry would definitely have come up with a better 'future' if he was trying to joke with a girl, but Arya had made it very clear from the start that she hated being treated differently for her gender.

In many ways she enjoyed the 'boyish' pursuits of childhood more than Harry did, so fighting monsters was pretty much her ideal future in her 11 year old mind. Her smirk changed to a genuine smile for a moment as now familiar box appeared in front of Harry, the world slowing to a crawl once more.

Charisma Check (Normal): Charm (9) required

Welcome to the second of the possible social tests that you will encounter as you play through the world of Light, which is related to your skills and abilities rather than a direct attribute test.

In this case the character is trying to improve his relationship score with Arya Black by appealing to her interests and sense of humour. But due to her personality Arya is a difficult girl to get along with for those who are not close to her and therefore the required difficulty level is quite high.

Below are listed the factors that are taken into account regarding the check, each factor either adding to or taking away from the base score of the skill/s being tested.

The Major attribute associated with the skill being used will give an effect based on whether the attribute in question is higher or lower than the perceived average for the character's age, social stance and level.

The character's familiarity with the targeted person or group will give a bonus if the character is familiar with them or they are familiar with him in a positive light. Conversely of course, trying to charm your enemies or people who dislike the character will make the test harder.

The target's personality will also have an impact, some personalities are more agreeable to certain actions and skills whilst being against or even hostile to other skills. This can also include cultural and other influences that have an impact on the bonus/negative that is assigned to them.

What the character says in regards to the skill check conversation has an impact of course, which is given as a content bonus and for the most part will only be present when the character gets a bonus. If the character is offensive, rude or generally ill thought out this will be represented in an increased difficulty skill check rather than another negative.

Finally, there is the random modifier which has been added to stop the game just becoming an easily predictable and boring series of events that the character can always judge the outcome of.

The range and bias of the random modifier is as the name suggests random, so it will make some tests much easier than anticipated whilst others will become almost impossible.

Oh, and the character will normally only get the result of the random modifier after the skill check is complete, we hope you enjoy this little feature...

Charm value- 7

High Charisma (5)- +2

Familiar Person- +1

Target personality- -2

Content bonus- +1

Luck Bonus (0-3)- +1

Effective Charm Skill Value- 10

Random modifier- (-3 to +3)

Harry knew better than to get angry at the last throwaway comment by the game, it would do him no good after all as he had discovered over the last couple of weeks with similar dick moves and jokes at his expense, but that didn't make resisting the urge to punch the screen any easier.

Luckily the screen changed before he lost that particular mental war and another one appeared.

Charm test (normal)- passed

+40 Relationship with (Arya Black)

+10 xp

"Well now that you have disappointed me by not going through with your plan, as amusing as the idea of you sweeping me off my feet is, I think you have to make it up to me." Arya gave him what was probably the most normal smile she could manage, though it still made Harry wonder what evil plan she had in mind.

"I hear that you and the brats have been to the woods and that there are some magical creatures in there. I think I will come with you, more fun than Defence!" The instruction that she was going to accompany him would probably of irritated Harry if it weren't for her tone when she spoke about defence.

Supposedly Defence Against the Dark Arts was taught as badly in this dimension as it had been in his, though Harry had heard that there were additional classes at Hogwarts that gave much more choice in what could be taken by the students, so at least there was going to be some stuff keeping him from being bored.

"Okay Arya, we will leave after breakfast okay? Just make sure to bring walking boots as it can be quite tough ground. Perhaps we might even find some pocket creatures." He hoped they wouldn't, whilst he knew he needed to get stronger to complete the game Harry was rather enjoying the little break this year was providing him thus far. But it was worth it as another two tabs popped up a moment later, after Arya had smirked and nodded before heading down to breakfast herself.

+10 relationship Arya Black: congratulations, relationship upgraded to friend! Improvements to social interactions and tests increased and increased information able to be gleaned from interactions and observations.

The relationship jump was unexpected but made Harry happier than he honestly thought it would, whilst it gave him no direct benefit the fact he had made a new friend was always something he greatly enjoyed. His smile lasted until he closed that tab and looked at the one that had opened up beneath it at the same time, face turning to a grimace as he realised he really had cursed himself with his words.

New Quest- If you go down to the woods...

You have promised both Arya and Aife that you would go into the wood today in search of adventure, creatures and excitement, so you had better not disappoint!

-Find three types of magical non-pocket creatures

-?

-?

Bonus Objectives

-?

-?

-?

Not much to go on, which was normal for these types of basic quests and Harry was far past the stage of being a angry at any lack of obvious information. Closing the tab, Harry headed down for breakfast. After all, it sounded like it was going to be a busy day...

*line break*

They had seen gnomes, bowtruckles and fairies in the two hours they had been wandering around in the woods, which completed the first part of the quest objective and seemed to please Aife, who had enjoyed chasing after the fairies in a game of tag that seemed to please the fairies greatly. Arya on the other hand seemed to have enjoyed feeding the bowtruckles some woodlice, which they had searched around for when they realised that the bowtruckles tree was close enough to the path they were following to mean they might get attacked as they tried to pass by.

But it was what they had found past the bowtruckle tree, almost half a mile further into the woodland that was the reason why they were currently hidden in a bush, looking out at a creature that looked like an ant that had taken on the build of a centaur and grown to the size of a small horse. It was stood outside something that reminded Harry of the Veil of death, a 2 and a half metre square that seemed to be at odds entirely with the air it currently occupied, chittering away as it picked up a piece of wood inquisitively with one of it's insectile forearms and looked at it.

Casting two Observes, one at the ant creature and one at the veil, Harry was glad that the game paused to allow him to review the information he retrieved, otherwise he would probably look very odd to his two compatriots. The Ant creatures information came up first and Harry was pleased to see a notification at the top of the new message.

Because this is the fifth type of pocket creature you have seen (with things like the different Werekin castes only counting as one type obviously), the skill Knowledge (Pocket Creatures) has been unlocked and is now available to be upgraded with stats like other skills you might have.

In addition, this step towards understanding pocket creatures (even if it is only to kill them more efficiently) has unlocked the long term quest: Pocket Master.

Formian fighter- lvl 2

Hp-?

Mp- 0

Basic information-

Formians are often considered to be the result of magical experimentation before the Sumerian wards were erected, the humanoid sized ants having the same mindset and culture that their much smaller mundane cousins have even if their gait and movement reminds people of Centaurs. Formian fighters are the weakest or youngest of the Formian warrior caste, used primarily as scouts and lookouts and considered to be the same hierarchy level as Formian workers. But given their poisonous bite and sharp claws, that doesn't mean that they can be considered harmless.

Given Harry couldn't understand the chittering he was going to assume that his polyglot ability didn't work on the Formian and that meant that negotiation was probably not going to be on the cards this time. Given it was only a level 2 creature Harry should be able to defeat it easily enough, it was the pocket behind it that had him more concerned.

Whilst the Pocket Master Quest interested him, Harry could look at the requirements for it later when they were safely out of the forest. So he closed the Formian warrior tab and checked the Observe tab for the pocket to see what information he could glean from it.

Pocket Portals: Pocket Portals are the areas between this world and the realms created inside the pocket dimension created by the Sumerians, the 'cracks' as it were that allow travel between the two.

Though the exact nature and topography of the pocket realm is unknown, it is obvious that the denizens living in it have structured themselves into different territories and areas, as the type of Pocket creature that appears through a Pocket Portal is usually limited to those of one race and any domesticated species that the race owns.

Pocket Portals are relatively stable and can therefore sustain themselves indefinitely, though the Inquisition have ways of destroying them and travel through the Portal does cause it too lose energy, meaning that its transport capacity is limited to usually half a dozen humanoids.

There was a strange pulling sensation between Harry and the portal that he had to assume was game related, something that was reinforced as he closed the observe tab and another two popped up in it's place.

Congratulations, you have found your first Pocket Portal, your mysterious power has activated itself in response. You are not sure why, but you feel the need to investigate the Portal more closely, and to do that you must first clear the area of any enemies.

Warning: More enemies may travel through the portal whilst you are clearing the area, especially in the case of the Formians who are a hive mind and can communicate with each other instantaneously.

Of course it would never be as easy as just one Ant the size of a pony. Harry clicked the tab closed with the resigned air of someone who knew if he thought positively karma would come and kick him in the ass. Despite this, the screen beneath him did go some way to cheering him up a little.

Observe has levelled up to level 2: 40 xp

Observe will now give you more detailed information about what is being observed and cause time to slow when it is cast in combat, allowing the character more time to react to the information that he gleans from it.

Quest Update: If you go down to the Woods...

-Find three types of magical non-pocket creatures (3/3) (50 xp)

-Find a pocket creature (1/1) (50 xp, +5 relationship Arya Black)

-Investigate the Portal (0/1)

Bonus Objectives

-Interact with one of the magical creatures (2/1) (50 xp, +1 Knowledge (Magical creatures)

-?

-?

So he had to investigate the portal that spawns possibly dangerous creatures, well it kept things interesting at least. Closing the tab the world rushed back to it's normal pace, just in time for a snapping sound from next to him, Harry catching Aife's horrified expression out of the corner of his eye even as the Formian Fighter stiffened and tossed the stick aside.

Even as it started scuttling in their direction Harry had already drawn his battle wand, firing off magic attacks whilst shifting from his cover and away from the two girls. He couldn't sidestep as fast as he would like given the uneven ground and the Formian quickly closed on him despite his best efforts. As it lashed out with it's claws Harry rolled forwards between it's legs, getting clipped by one of its legs but otherwise escaping unharmed.

"Harry!" Aife's panicked call made Harry look up even as he leapt back to his feet, just in time to dodge another set of claws that had sprouted from the Portal he had somehow managed to get very close to. Hearing the angry chittering of the Formian warrior behind him even as another Formian began to pull itself through the portal, Harry felt the pull of the Portal on his magic even stronger than before and without thinking about it he jerked his left hand outwards and pulled back.

There was resistance even as his scar exploded in pain, a nimbus of energy passing from his arm to his head, and he assumed his scar. Hearing the sound of movement from behind him, Harry turned and raised his wand, the Formian rearing back to bite him moving as if through a haze. Without thinking about it, Harry pointed his wand and cast his magic through the wand, the surge of magic from it different from the times before.

What had previously been small bolts of red energy instead manifested itself as a ball of white light that slammed into the Formian and sent it flying backwards out of the clearing itself in a manner that made it clear that it wouldn't be coming back anytime soon. Time began to speed back up again as Harry turned back to the Portal, wondering what kind of magic it was that he had summoned up now.

The new Formian had nearly extricated itself from the portal now but as he fixed his gaze upon it the Formian froze in place as if realising any further moves might well lead it to the same fate as it's compatriot. Then, very slowly, it backed into the portal as Harry watched with a strange sense of detachment that he hadn't really felt before other than when casting truly powerful spells like the patronus charm.

As the Formian completely disappeared into the Portal, a tab appeared in front of Harry, three different choices appearing on it obviously for him to choose from.

[Mysterious Power] Active Skill unlocked:

Somehow, either by design or by accident, the character's curse scar from Voldemort's attack gives the character the ability to interact with Pocket Dimension energy and use it to enhance their powers for a short time.

In addition, [Mysterious Power] also gives the character the ability to deal with the Portal in three different ways (though of course a creative player will come up with additional ways):

Close the Portal: By summoning the power of the portal and feeding it into the Sumerian ward network, the character can close the portal whilst also reinforcing the Ward network, reducing the risk of large scale Pocket Outbreaks by a very small fraction each time as well as slowly working to completely repair the damage done by Dumbledore/Grindelwald. Opens the Long Term Quest: Repair what has been broken.

Allow Safe Passage: If the character feels that the Pocket creatures should have a chance to escape their dimension and enter Earth (either out of kindness or the desire for servants and minions). This will allow the Portal to allow 3 + the character's level more pocket creatures through before failing, and such an action will grant a large bonus to diplomacy with any creatures that do pass through the Portal. Opens the Long Term Quest: Find those that have been lost.

Shatter the Portal: Summoning the power of the portal, the character can send the power back at the portal in such a way that the portal shatters, causing heavy damage to any waiting creatures on the other side as well as closing the portal. Any creatures killed by this method will give the character their own experience, and any survivors will surely start to spread the news that the portals can be very dangerous indeed...

Which do you choose?

Interesting choices, certainly it was not what Harry had expected when he had seen the tab appear. He could already feel the power beginning to tax his body even in the moment of timelessness he was suspended in, so Harry quickly reviewed his options and made his decision, reaching out with his free hand before the world filled with blue once more...

A/N: Dun Dun DUH! What do we think guys? An obvious steal from Dragon Age but with a different twist, as well as a new OC that I hope is different enough to both grab your attention and fit with what you imagine any child of Sirius to be like.

I am thinking of setting up a sort of Information hub for this story, primarily because there will be a lot of information that Harry will pick up about the various creatures etc that will be important to game progression that I will not include in the story directly. This will help to stop me having entire chapters of things like Bestiary updates etc. Yay or Nay?