Notes: Thanks for the follows/favourites! Very, very, very much appreciated. As is my dearest Janie (JanieNine) for reviewing.
Yes I did channel Homestuck, I'm a huge nerd and I love it to bits. God, I hope I'm the savoir of marysueness, if I ended up making a Mary Sue I'd probably disown myself from myself. So please tell me if I do. I'm making sure to give Nikolai normal qualities except for his mistake 'oh my god' eyes. I loved making him have red eyes, and then being stuck with them. You're going to see a lot of puns about them in here.
Anything new I would like to tell you? I'm very happy that people are looking at this story. ^^ I was worried about how well it would be received.
Competitions and Challenges this is entered in: The Long Haul Competition lll.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I only own my idea and character(s) that are far from being perfect human beings, thank you.
THE GAME
HARRY POTTER: THE JOURNEY OF ENIGMA
Eiríkur finished his fitting a few minutes later and Nikolai was practically bouncing in his seat as he pulled the younger boy out of the shop and into the much more bustling alley. During the time they had spent cooped up in the store, Diagon Alley had filled up with more families and people, crowding the streets and making the once calm and quiet, but open street, feel bursting with the amount of people and the loud yells of shoppers.
Nikolai was pulling Eiríkur towards Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour when his mother called out "Nikolai, I'll meet you at the ice cream shop! Irina and I need to go to the bank quickly, will you sit quietly there and wait for us?"
Nikolai shouted back a response, but his mother had already been swallowed by the crowd. He dragged Eiríkur towards the shop, where there was already a small group of people forming a line. He got into line with the Icelandic boy and looked at the large chalkboard above their heads, telling the boys their choices. Irina and Mary soon joined them, and Nikolai had a lot of fun stealing Eirikur's ice cream and then whistling easily when the blue eyed boy shot him a glare.
Yes. His first trip to Diagon Alley was fun. He really enjoyed spending time with Eiríkur, who somehow ended up eating over half of the Romanian's ice cream, much too said boy's misfortune.
Diagon Alley was officially the best shopping center he had ever been to. Ever.
[New Goals Earned!
Best Friend – 200 points
Stick a Pin in It! – 150 points
Total Until Level Three: 440/5,000 points]
The rest of the week passed by in a familiar yet unfamiliar blur- eat, sleep, bug Mum and Pops, play with Luminita, avoid Mum so she wouldn't sit him down and make him do schoolwork, feel awful when Mary yelled at him and apologize, repeat- and before Nikolai knew it, Monday had arrived and a whole week went by since he was ejected from his real life into a make believe one.
It was also the day that he got his second letter.
Greetings Player!
You have been fully immersed into our brilliant video reality, and now is about the time that you receive your five minutes of real life. Please step outside your 'home' between the hours of ten o'clock and eleven o'clock for your dose of life.
-The Potterhead Inc. Team
Nikolai blinked before he let out a startled gasp, glancing at the clock.
11:54.
Shit! (Better not let Mary hear that!)
He practically sprinted out of his room, all the while complaining and cursing in his head- why is it always me!? What god out there has it out to me that I am almost always late for everything!?Did I piss someone off in this game!? Or in real life!? – and barely had enough time to yell out to Mary, who was cooking lunch in the kitchen, "Hey Mum be right back gotta go do something outside I saw a lizard I think bye-".
He nearly crashed into the door when he burst outside, and threw his head from left to right trying to see where the Team Potterhead Inc. reality person (or whatever they were called, he would just call them TPIRP until he saw them) could be waiting.
He didn't see anyone in front of the house, nor to the left or the right. TPIRP was nowhere to be seen. Nikolai deflated a little, his small lungs nearly heaving as he thought, 'Did I just run downstairs and outside like a madman for nothing?'
There was no one outside that looked remotely suspicious, or like they didn't belonged. The only person outside besides him was the old man across the street, who was humming something loudly and reading the newspaper.
Maybe that was him?
Nikolai hoped not. The old man smelled like week old soap and old people.
The seven year old wrinkled his nose and hesitated for a moment, before he cross the street. Nikolai carefully stepped over stepping stones that led to the old man's front door, and let out a loud gulp to signify that he was there as he stood directly in front of the old man.
No reaction from the old man, who continued humming cheerfully and chuckling as he read some stupid story in the newspaper.
"Uh, excuse me?"
"..."
"Sir?"
No reaction. Nikolai nearly stomped his foot.
"EXCUSE ME SIR. DO YOU WORK FOR POTTERHEAD INC. I BELIEVE I AM WITHIN THE TIME SET FOR OUT MEETING SO I MAY HAVE MY DOSE OF REALITY. WOULD YOU PLEASE BE SO KIND AND GIVE IT TO ME?"
The old man finally looked up. He had white hair that was thinly spread on his head, wrinkling hands that turned the page, and dark brown eyes that seemed to be somewhat annoyed with Nikolai at that moment. "I heard you the first time, brat."
What a—
"Well then why didn't you answer me the first time!?" Nikolai put his hands on his hips and gave the old man the closest to a glower the seven year old could pull off.
"You should have waited until I finished my paper."
"But that would take hours and we only have, like, three minutes!"
"Well then, you should have come earlier."
"I didn't see the note until two minutes ago!"
The man- or TPIRP- let out a 'tch' as he muttered something about 'insolent pests' under his breath. "Fine, fine. Come here."
Nikolai inched forward a little bit. "What are you going to do?" he asked suspiciously.
"I'm not a pedophile, brat, now get over here, the only way for me to give you your reality is if we are touching. Trust me, I don't want to touch you either, but you're going to have to suck up and deal with it."
Nikolai really hated this guy. First he ignored him, then he started acting like an ass, and then he said everything was his fault.
What a-
TPIRP put his wrinkled, veined filled veins on the top of Nikolai's head, and the young boy awkwardly shifted around from his left foot to his right foot as he glanced up at the old man's face, which showed signs of heavy concentration.
They stayed like that for a few more moments, before the old man nodded to himself and took his hand off of Nikolai's head. "There."
"…There what?"
"There was your real life."
Nikolai frowned, and patted his brown hair, as if expecting to find a miniature screen in it showing his other life. "I don't feel any different."
"Brat, you're really slow aren't you?"
The red eyed boy looked offended as he stared up at the older man. "Huh?"
"This was your dose of reality. Talking to me was. You were completely conscious about the fact that you were in a video game and that you needed to see me so you could get your reality, and you did. Tada."
"But- but-"
"Look, would you like me to spell it out in bright neon letters, a dance act, and sparkles? You just had your reality. Your reality is talking to me while understanding that you are inside a game simulator."
Nikolai opened and closed his mouth a few times, before shutting it with an audible 'clack'.
The old man nodded to himself. "Good boy. Now, run back to your mother, she's probably wondering about why you're talking to the old man across the street. Tell her you lost your ball and you thought you kicked it over into my yard, but you didn't. Capiche?"
Nikolai nodded once more.
"Good. Now run along."
The brown haired boy did exactly that, while thinking about everything that the old man had just told him.
Yeah, the gods must really have it out for me, giving me an old man that hates my guts as my reality guide.