Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the characters of his universe, I just play in that sandbox for fun and without pay or any form of remuneration other than reviews and private messages; which are fortunately non-taxable.
AN: So here's a new chapter, and it's been a while since I posted so sorry about that. I see these authors who can post story after story, chapter after chapter, and I've only been able to do that when I wasn't working so many hours. I was fortunate enough to have a week spent hopping on planes between locations, so was able to plug away at this and get it to something I'd feel comfortable sharing. I then posted it over on caerazkaban yahoo group to get some comments and suggestions, and this is what comes of that. I hope you are enjoying reading it as much as I am writing it, and I'm getting excited about the story now that Harry's out in the real world and not restricted by the bounds of the tutorial. Even better, he's not restricted by the boundaries that a normal 10 year old would be; his Aunt and Uncle don't care if he runs away, and he's got the mindset and adventurous spirit of Harry Potter the teenager. You can bet your arse he isn't going to be hanging around Surrey waiting for his Hogwarts letter. I still need lots of ideas for missions, cheats, character involvement etc. Keep them coming! I really appreciate it. Cheers!
'Thoughts are in italics'
"Things Said, or Things Written"
Chapter 7: In the Beginning
"All right, I've been thinking, when life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man whose gonna burn your house down – with the lemons!"
~Quote from Portal 2
The world around Harry flipped through a parade of still-life pictures, as if between the ages of 4 years old and 10 were only a two dimensional slide show of life with the Dursleys rather than living it. Unending pictures of cooking, cleaning, mending, gardening and the dark of his cupboard flowed before his eyes followed by brief intermittent views of classrooms kindergarten through a few years of public primary school, before Harry finally found himself sitting in a school desk with a teacher in front of him and his classmates; the chalk on the board at the front of the class stating, "Welcome to the first day of class!"
Thus it was that Harry found himself out of the tutorial, done with the Dursley chores after earning a measly 25 XP for washing the car, and now sitting at a desk as the world around him seemed to be paused. None of the students moved, in their desks, and all of them appeared to be merely cardboard thin two dimensional pictures of students; the image printed on the 2D student changed as Harry leaned forward and back in his chair, but the image didn't plump up to a three dimensional look no matter how Harry moved.
The teacher also stood still, though she at least had a three dimensional frame, the features of her face were so non-descript that it appeared that she could have been a twin for any number of the muggles Harry had seen walking the street when he had saved the baby. As Harry's eyes panned over the silent and unmoving classroom, locked in time for the moment, he couldn't help but feel that the programmers absolutely couldn't give a care about how shoddy Harry's world was, a sort of impersonal "Eh, we don't care about you except for making fun of you" type of interpretation to Harry's school days. It was the lack of detail in some things, and the inordinate amount of details in others that truly told Harry how the programmers felt about him. One such example was the spit-ball that Dudley had fired at the side of Harry's head and was hanging unmoving in mid-air. It was those added touch that let Harry know that the game programmers were still screwing with him, a kind of, "Welcome to the real world! Here! Take a spit-wad to the face!" For a further poke in the eye, and much to Harry's disgust, only Dudley, Piers Polkes and the rest of Dudley's gang were displayed in anything other than two dimensions or as a bland template character created by the programmers.
"So much for enjoying this part of the muggle world." Harry muttered and shook his head.
"Ding!" The cheery little announcement bell of the video game was accompanied by a message congratulating him on being done with the tutorial. "Congratulations! You've completed the tutorial missions and entered the real world. Would you like to replay the Tutorial?"
If Harry would have been drinking at that moment, the classroom would have played witness to an epic spit-take as Harry choked at the absolute gall of the video game and then scoffed. "Not bloody likely wankers. You just want to have another go at me, especially now that your bloody tutorial hellcat Mr. Tibbles is invincible. No, Continue game." Harry groused crossing his arms across his chest.
The message in front of Harry changed at his response, "Game Auto-Saved! Character creation! Welcome to the beginning of your new life in the Real world, Now that you know how to play the game, Iet's see what type of Character you want to be for the rest of your life. At different stages in "The Adventures of Harry Potter!" you will gain new understandings about your character and asked choices that will dynamically change how you play the game. For starters, Do you want to be Female or Male?"
"Bwaaa? Female?!" Harry gaped at the screen, only to suddenly feel a draft between his legs at the sudden lack of twig and berries, and the addition of slight protrusions under his arms were they crossed his chest.
"BAH! MALE! I'm Male!" A wide eyed Harry realized his mistake and corrected it quickly before the game could screw him over even more.
"Please select a name, up until the time you entered school your loving family referred to you as "Freak" or "Boy." However, the government records use your legal name, please select a legal name you would like to go by: Harry James Potter" The name portion on the screen was blinking with a default name choice.
"Wait, so I can select any name I want?" Harry asked the still air around him.
"You've selected WaitsoIcanselectanynameIwant, Are you sure you want this to be your name?" Was the screen's only response.
Harry glared at the screen, "No, Fuck you."
To which the screen happily changed Harry's name to "Fuck you" and then blinked as it asked him again if he was sure that he wanted that for his name.
Harry's face went red with anger, and a tirade of expletives spilled from his mouth, only to be mirrored back at him in writing on the screen as it cheerfully repeatedly changed his name to the very words that were spewing from Harry's mouth.
Harry stopped cursing and flipped the air a two finger salute, to which the game happily changed Harry's name to, "V, the Character formerly known as Harry Potter" with an image of the two fingered salute as the symbol denoting Harry's new legal name.
Harry was practically apocalyptic with rage, so much so that his angry red face made him look like he could have been related to Vernon, and his mouth opened and closed as he both tried to express his anger yet didn't want to give the game the joy of screwing with him more by turning his insults back around on him. A few minutes passed, and after his anger finally simmered down, Harry realized that this had some possibilities, and a fast smirk formed on his face.
"Wait, if I named myself Draco Malfoy, or even Severus Snape, then every time Snape took points from me he would be penalizing himself!" Harry smiled excitedly to the silent and still class.
However upon his name changing to "Severus Snape", on the words in front of him, Harry realized that he would then be forced to go through life with the name of Severus Snape junior, at which point Harry threw-up over the side of his desk, wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his coat and screamed out "No!" before suffering cold chills at the very thought.
Harry stared silently at the now blinking blank spot where his name was to go, and a part of him, the juvenile part that is, was tempted to change his name to "I-Love-Perky-Bosoms" or something equally stupid just so he could see McGonagall say his name before the entire school during the sorting ceremony. Then again, one hyphenated title was enough, and if he was destined to be The-Boy-Who-Lived to the wizarding world, he would rather be Harry James Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived rather than Biggus-Dickus, The-Boy-Who-Lived. Then again, the thought of the latter made him break out in giggles at the thought of Severus Snape taking points from Biggus-Dickus, or Dumbledore trying to convince Biggus-Dickus that the power Voldemort knew not was Love. Then again, the thought of his name being Biggus-Dickus and using the power of Love on Voldemort again made Harry turn the shade of a peck of pickled peppers; namely, green.
"Blech!" Harry shivered at the thought and hesitantly swallowed the bile in his mouth.
"Harry James Potter." Harry finally replied after he got his assorted juvenile giggles and upset stomach under control; the screen in front of him in turn wrote back that Harry's new name was in fact "Harry James Potter" for the extent of his life in the video game.
"Congratulations! You've now completed character creation and are ready to explore the wide world of The Adventures of Harry Potter!" The same piped in midi electronic music that was apparently the theme song to Harry's life flooded the classroom, though Harry was the only one able to hear it as everything around him was still paused in time.
"At this point the world will commence to progress in time as you live through it in real time. Actions you take will have consequences going forward and your development will be revealed as you make choices, upgrade skills, make discoveries, and affect the factions and world around you. At this point, your current Stats are:
Level 6:
CURRENT EXP:9425 TOTAL EXP NEEDED FOR NEXT LEVEL:9500
Health: 19/19
Magic: 400/400
Stamina: 100/100
Ability points to be allocated: 0
ABILITIES:
Strength: 27
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 6
Intelligence: 18
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 8 +(2)
SKILLS: Skill Points to Allocate:41
Armor Wearing: 5
Care of Magical Creatures: 15
Charms: 10 +(5)
Dancing: 3
Dual-Wielding: 15
French language: 9
Flirting: 5
Herbology: 6
Lock-Picking: 31
Muggle Subjects: 100
Pick-pocket: 6
Potioneering: 10
Ranged: 100
Sneak: 100
Two-Handed: 3
Unarmed: 3
Perks:
Comprehending The Incomprehensible.
Arrr, Yer a Pirate!
I Have The Power
Are You Threatening Me?!
Ninja Vanish!
The Call of Cthu-Tibbles
Run-Away!
Crafting:
Cooking: Master Chef
The game then gave Harry a nice surprise at the end of the bottom of where it listed all of his character statistics, and by nice surprise, it really was just that, nice; rather than the normal "evil backstabbing"/ "two edged sword"/"kick to the nuts but earn a pat on the head" attempts at perks that the game normally threw his way.
"Congratulations! Bonus perk unlocked at Strength 20! Upon entering the real world you gain the ability to gain a special ability based perk every time a base stat hits one of the 20 point markers: 20/40/60/80/100. For reaching Strength 20, you gained the specialty Perk, "Me Tarzan, You Jane." Every hero should be able to effortlessly sweep the damsel in distress off her feet and carry her away from danger. With the Me Tarzan, You Jane perk, you gain the ability to carry a female companion in your arms or on your back without suffering any weight penalties and allowing you free movement as if you weren't burdened by your female traveling companion and her no doubt overly full and cumbersome luggage. Besides, the fastest way towards death is to tell a lady she's heavy, and now we've saved you from yourself and your no doubt honest and logical male assertions of fact."
"Are you ready to begin the rest of your life, Y or N?" The floating message blinked its question at Harry while the theme music continued to play in the world around him.
Harry smiled as he looked over his stats. The tutorial had been good to him this time around, and life was looking up. Sure the game's programmers were trying to screw with him. Sure he seemed to still be living out a slap-stick comedy. Sure he hadn't ground out as many stats and skills as he could of in the tutorial, but doing so while keeping somewhat sane had been limiting. Still, when considering it all, he was a hell of a lot better off than he had been the last time he sat in this very same desk at age 10.
Harry smirked at the message in front of him and answered, "Yes, bring it on."
And the world around him came to life as the "Auto-Saving" message appeared in the top part of his vision.
"Harry Potter?" The teacher called out for attendance while looking over towards Harry with a hesitant look; Harry was dressed, once again, in his best punk leather jacket, combat boots, rock-n-roll t-shirt and jeans which he had harvested off the dead hooligans.
"Here!" Harry stated with a smirk and a raised hand while simultaneously dodging the spitball from Dudley that missed Harry's head and instead splatted on the window to Harry's left. The teacher continued taking attendance while ignoring the missed attack by Dudley.
"Are You Threatening Me?! Triggered! Incendio Cast!"
In return for the spit ball, a blast of fire flew back at Dudley and blasted the obese boy out of his chair, singing Dudley's clothes, setting his hair to smoking, and turning the once pale skinned English lad's face a nice lobster red as Dudley passed out upon hitting 1 blinking heart.
Harry just smirked larger. Yes, life was going to be good.
Harry took back his original statement about life being good, as class was bloody boring and only contained information he already knew. Furthermore, Dudley was a flipping idiot; emphasis on flipping because every few minutes Dudley's life meter would reset and Dudley would again try to throw something at Harry, or shoot a spit ball, or kick Harry's chair. This in turn caused Harry's Are You Threatening Me?! Perk to activate in retaliation every few attacks, launching a fiery blast at Dudley and once again flipping Dudley out of his chair.
The bland anonymous looking teacher was totally oblivious to the whole thing, and instead was too busy reading to the class about a female anthropomorphic hedgehog that liked tea. And even though Harry's Charms skill had been increased by 2 points due to the hours of repeated auto-firing of the Are You Threatening Me?! Incendio charm, Harry felt like he was wasting his time.
"Bloody hell, so bloody boring." Harry groused as a message once again popped up on his screen in the upper left corner, "Muggle Studies at Max" "Muggle Studies at Max" "Muggle Studies at Max." The message just kept repeating and then disappearing as a new message appeared and the line of text scrolled up out of Harry's line of sight. After the first message had popped up in his vision, a tutorial message had further let Harry know that he was wasting his time in class; as apparently one week of class attendance equated to one point of growth in the class's related stat. Thus, based on the tutorial's information, Harry figured out that one week of potions equaled 1 point to Potioneering, one week of French class, 1 point to French language. Unfortunately, as Harry had already looked around the school during the tutorial, he knew that all he could look forward to during his school days was unending doses of muggle studies… which he had already maxed out.
"Hmm, maybe look at my inventory?" Harry mumbled to himself, ignoring the cackling of Dudley's hooligan friends while dodging another spitball as the idiot tried to attack Harry again, only for Dudley's attack to again fail and in return Dudley gained another incendio to the face.
The inventory chest popped up and opened while floating in the air between Harry's seat and the window to his left, and again Harry's two dimensional classmates seemed oblivious to Harry's actions just as the teacher and class had pretty much ignored Harry his first time attending this class during his previous life.
A part of Harry groused, "No wonder I was never able to make friends in class, there's nothing to these twits." Harry grumbled under his breath regarding his muggle classmates, as apparently the programmers weren't going to spend the time breathing life into the muggle students that would soon play little to no part in Harry's life in the magical world. Harry didn't ponder those thoughts for long, just hoping that the magical world or muggle world at large included more dynamic individuals, before fully examining the contents of his inventory trunk.
"Hmm, burnt waffles, burnt waffles, burnt bacon, rocks, rocks and more rocks and a fish." Harry sorted through the mess in his trunk.
"Knives, pointy stick, leather jackets, Hufflepuff's Shovel, Surrey Slugger, Ah-Ha, here we go, Miscellaneous Special Items." Harry smiled as he realized a new tab had been created in his inventory, and only one item was present in that new tab.
"Cat's-Paw," the item read with a category next to it that read "Rare Item."
"Hmm, what do you do?" Harry questioned as he looked at the item, upon his question a word bubble popped up over the item asking if Harry wanted information on the item.
Harry mumbled yes to the info question, and as the description flowed before his eyes, an evil smirk grew across his face.
"Cat's-Paw, once a day you may pass the blame to a figurative cat's-paw or scape-goat. Get caught stealing? Pass on the prison sentence to somebody else. Is something bothering you? Pass it on so somebody else has to worry about it. Even the target will believe that they are to blame for the transferred action or outcome. To activate, merely state "Cat's-Paw when looking right at the target. Target of transfer must be in sight and within ten meters." The description read.
"Bwa ha ha ha ha ha." Harry cackled merrily to himself before pulling out the Cat's-Paw and one river rock.
Harry turned and smirked at Dudley, right as Dudley's health meter went back to full and Dudley turned towards Harry to throw another wad of chewed up paper.
"Dudley, I just wanted to say thanks for giving me a distraction so I can get out of class." Harry said to Dudley, causing Harry's large pudgy cousin to stop the process of his attack and blink at Harry in confusion.
With a fast swirl of his body back towards the front of the classroom, Harry winged his river rock at the teacher and knocked the teacher's book flying out of her hands; then he quickly turned towards Dudley and announced, "Cat's-Paw!"
Dudley's eyes went wide in fright as he realized he had just thrown a rock at his teacher. He didn't even know he had a rock, he didn't know why he had thrown a rock at his teacher as he knew enough to not get caught by authority figures, but for some reason he had, and he now knew that he was in trouble.
"Dudley Dursley! To the Headmaster with you!" The teacher screamed in rage, activating her agro attack of "Box Ears" and "Drag to Headmaster's Office" as she marched on Dudley, grabbed him by the ear and dragged him from the room.
Harry didn't think his smile could get any larger, as a piece of his heart that had always held hurt from being the punching bag for all the world's woes healed just a little bit. Not once during his first life had he ever not been the subject of blame and ridicule for Dudley's actions at school. And now, the tables had finally turned.
"Ding, Congratulations, you've earned the Trophy, "How Do You Like Dem Apples?!" Successfully frame one of your classmate antagonists for your nefarious acts, and get away with it."
"Bwa ha ha ha ha!" Harry cackled happily as he put away his Cat's-Paw, closed his inventory, and crouched down as he snuck out of class.
Unfortunately, exploring the school wasn't of immediate benefit to Harry. That's not to say he didn't learn something, and there were three quests that apparently Harry could do. Still, every skill book had been read, every spare item found, as apparently none of the items Harry found while in the tutorial level had respawned now that Harry was no longer trapped outside of time.
Still, sometimes it's the life experiences themselves that teach you a lot, and as Harry was creeping through the halls he learned a new one.
Harry first noticed the red dot with the yellow cone moving in front of it as it appeared on the edge of his mini-map/radar that was in the corner of his vision. He wasn't sure what it was, that is until he came around a corner and saw that way down on the other end of the long hallway stood what Harry remembered as a Hall Monitor. And sure enough, as the lady whose job it was to find truant students and get them back to class walked down the corridor covered in cubbyholes and open coat areas for the students, Harry saw the yellow cone on his mini-map precede her.
With an intelligence of 18, it wasn't hard for Harry to make a logical deduction that he didn't want to enter that yellow cone, as it probably meant that he would be seen and thus potentially in trouble for skipping out on class.
As quick as a bunny, Harry hopped into the shadows of the nearest cubby hole to his right and burrowed down between the coats that were all hanging there; kicking two backpacks on the floor of the cubbyhole until they covered his feet and he was successfully hidden from view.
In the corner of his vision the words, "Ninja Vanish Activated" appeared, making Harry smirk, just as a chime rang out.
"Dee-Do!" As the chime sounded in Harry's ear, a hint message popped up that was titled "Hide and Seek."
"In the real world secure areas are going to be guarded, police and aurors roam the streets, and truancy officers look for truant students. If you do no wrong or are aligned with the faction that the guard or seeker represents, then you have nothing to fear and can usually proceed through the area unmolested. However, if you do something wrong, pull a crime, or enter a restricted area, then you can expect the law to try and track you down. Guards or officers searching areas can be seen on your overall map by a circle or area which you need to escape or hide in until the search is ended or passes you by. Cones of vision are represented by yellow when a guard is passively searching or red when you've been spotted and they are trying to actively track you down. The degree to which you are being tracked can be represented by stars that will appear in the top middle of your screen and flashing red and blue lights in your mini-map; the more stars you have, the greater the degree of police, auror or guard presence actively hunting you. Good luck out there, you're going to need it." The hint message explained as from Harry's hiding place under the coats and bags Harry watched the Hall Monitor move past Harry's hiding spot.
Harry silently ordered up his map, and noticed a slight white circle that centered on the hall monitor and moved with the lady as she moved across the map of the school. Harry also noticed the three exclamation points that denoted missions: one in the basement, one in the math teacher's classroom, and one in the blind alleyway area behind the school where the school dumped its garbage. Seeing as how the Hall Monitor was now between Harry and the front doors to the school, Harry decided to check out the mission in the basement first.
As Harry looked at the mission that was his target, he wondered what type of activity he could be doing with a mission called, "A Fighter's First Foe."
Harry made his way to the boiler room under the school only to see the school's gardener and all around maintenance man staring into a hole in the wall that disappeared into some sort of dirty scrabbled out wall where it looked like something had clawed its way out of the ground and through the cinderblock wall; the Fighter's First Foe mission exclamation point was hovering over the maintenance man's head.
Harry approached the maintenance man, and when Harry was only a few feet behind the man, the janitor turned around and addressed Harry with a thick combination of Scottish, Welsh, and Irish accents, as if the man was some amalgamation of every cockney or Irish laborer joke you could make up. Red hair and dark blue denim overalls, the man addressed Harry.
"Ach' laddie, did ney see yah there. Ye best be getting up out of here before the wee vermin return, der nasty buggers they are… or wait a minute, maybe yeh can help me, nah? I'm too big to be crawlin up inside the nest, but yew look like a mighty strong tike fer yer size. Perhaps you could go inna the hole and plant this here poison in the nest while stamping out any of de little critters you find along the way?"
As the man asked, a screen popped up in Harry's vision that read, "A Fighter's First Foe, kill the rats and poison their nest so they can't infest the school. In return, you will gain 500 XP, 50 pounds muggle, and connections to grunt labor jobs in London. Do you want to accept this mission?"
Harry shrugged before stating, "Yes."
"Ach, good on yew laddie. Here, take this torch to light yer way and this here poison wit ya, and when you find the main nest of rags or whatnot, just pour it over the top. Best yah not be getting any on your hands." The man warned as he handed over a green vial that would have looked right at home in Snape's potion cabinet, the glass vial even looking like the ones Harry was used to seeing in the magical world.
"Ok," Harry stated with a shrug and bent down to crawl through the small burrow tunnel. The space appeared too small for Harry to be using weapons in, and he needed to use his hands to crawl and hold the flashlight/torch, so he unequipped his weapons and stowed the poison in his inventory before squeezing into the tight tunnel.
Harry had only gone about five feet down the dark tunnel before large red words flashed in his vision, "Random Encounter!" And a large foot long rodent dug its way through the dirt wall in front of Harry and attacked.
"Aaagh!" Harry lashed out in fright at the rat with his fist, his fist connected and his strength of 27 helped him crush the little bugger.
"Ding! +1 to Unarmed, You killed a Rat! You gain 10XP and 2 Pounds Muggle." Popped up before Harry's eyes as the rat's body seemed to dissolve as if it had never been there.
"Dee-Do, "I Don't Think We're Alone"" A help message popped up as soon as the note about the rat's defeat was done informing Harry about his meager loot and xp gained. "When in dungeons, the wild world, or dangerous areas, you will stumble upon random encounters with monsters or enemies who will attack you; both muggle and magical. Also know that some rare monsters can only be found through random encounters in specific areas of the world. Have fun killing them all!"
Harry grumbled but moved forward through the twisting tunnel, killing the occasional rodent as he went for a gain of another 40XP, 8 Pounds muggle money and +2 points to the Unarmed skill. At which time he finally saw a dim light and was able to pull himself out of the tunnel and into what looked like a decent sized warren or rough hued cave.
The ground was clawed out dirt with the occasional twisted and gnawed upon root poking its way out of the wall or floor, and a glow off of a burning mass of something that looked like fur or rags lit up the room from where it burned on the floor next to a dark hole in the wall that about big enough for Harry's uncle Vernon to crawl into. And there, in the middle of the room, was a pile of rags, twigs, and debris that Harry figured was the nest.
"Hmm, wasn't too hard of a mission, kind of weird that it was 500 experience points for something so easy." Harry mumbled to himself as he looked around carefully. Something about the whole situation was making his common sense tingle; a sense that was nowhere near common within the wizard world and might as well have been the power Voldemort knew not.
Still, as Harry approached the nest, nothing jumped out at him from the darkness, and everything seemed totally safe.
So with a shrug, Harry opened his inventory and pulled out the vial of poison. Harry carefully uncorked the poison, and before he poured it, he wondered to himself, "Hmm, I wonder what type of poison this is?"
Immediately upon his question, words popped up before his eyes, "Potioneering test initiated, Potioneering skill of 10 out of 20 needed to identify poison, Potioneering test failed!" It announced before his eyes, yet nothing else happened.
Harry growled, "Well that wasn't ominous or anything, and how the hell was I supposed to have a Potioneering skill of twenty or more if I wasn't even supposed to learn about potions until I reached the wizarding world?" Harry shook his head in annoyance as he upended the potion over the nest and the green fluid poured out of the container and onto the nest where the nest briefly glowed the same disgusting shade of green.
And yet, successful at pouring the poison though he was, nothing else happened.
Harry looked down at the nest, then at the poison vial and shook it to see if he was missing a drop that needed to be poured on the nest or something else, and yet nothing happened.
And that's when Harry felt something large and very warm breathe on the back of his neck.
"Oh bugger, I should have known." Harry's shoulders just slumped in defeat as he slowly turned around, just in time to see a rat the size of his Uncle Vernon take a swipe at him from only two feet away.
"Bah!" Harry screamed in pain as the giant four foot tall, by four foot wide, by eight feet long rat clawed him through his sleeve and immediately 5 hearts disappeared from Harry's heart monitor as he jumped away from the rodent of unusual size, but not fast enough.
"Ka-REEEEEEEEE!" The giant rat screamed anger at Harry and the sound shook the cave.
"Should have bloody well known that if the grounds keeper gives you a magical poison, you're going to use it to kill a magical rat." Harry ranted as he sprinted and bounced around the small room, desperately dodging attacks while he tried to arm his Surrey Slugger with which to fight back.
Fortunately the Giant Rodent's attacks kept missing as Harry dodged to and fro, unfortunately the rat was attacking so fast that Harry didn't dare stop to try and attack back.
"Are You Threatening Me?! Triggered! Incendio Cast!" the message notified Harry as he dodged another attack, only to counter attack with an automatic incendio that launched from Harry and struck the rat right in the face.
The rat stopped attacking and blinked at Harry.
"Rodent of Unusual Size Immune to Fire Damage!" The message flashing before Harry's vision announced very unhelpfully. And to top off that wonderful news, it followed that up with, "Rodent of Unusual Size goes into Fiery Frenzy!"
At which point the giant rat literally burst into flames, as it seems said rodent had been illegally crossbred with a magical salamander and was now a giant fiery rat that once again came at Harry, only but now while being at the center of a large magical bonfire.
"Aaaaagggh!" Harry ran screaming around the chamber, the flaming rat literally hot on Harry's heels.
"Inventory!" Harry screamed as the floating box opened up next to Harry and kept pace with his desperate flight from the raging rodent of fiery fury.
"No, no no no!" Harry quickly looked through the inventory, not finding anything that could really help him as the switchblades meant he would have to get too close to the flames, and the Pointy Stick, Hufflepuff Shovel, and Surrey Slugger were both made out of wood even though two out of the three had sharp and or pointy metal bits and pieces.
"Run Away! Triggered! Zoing!" Harry was fortunate that he was on the straight and long stretch of the cavern when his momentum flung him across the room with enough speed that he was able to run up the wall and across the ceiling before dropping behind the rat as his speed bled off.
Unfortunately, now the rat was directly between Harry and the tunnel by which he had entered this rat's warren.
Fortunately, and because his intelligence was high enough for the idea to pop into his mind, Harry remembered that he had one option left.
"Cthu-Tibbles! I Call You!" Harry shouted in desperation.
A blast of chilling mist exploded from the floor in between Harry and the flaming rodent of unusual size, and a large black skeletal hand thrust upwards and through the dirt floor only to uncurl its fist and reveal the darling cuteness that was Mr. Tibbles The Terrible.
Tibbles took one look at the giant fiery rat, licked his little cute lips, and attacked. And in the age old battle between cat and mouse, the cat once again won the day.
Harry ducked and covered as the Rat's screams of anguish were quickly extinguished, along with its flames and its life, as Harry and the rest of the chamber were suddenly painted with rat blood as Mr. Tibbles destroyed the giant rat about as easily as a nuclear bomb takes out a plastic port-o-potty.
When Harry was finally able to wipe the blood from his eyes and look at where the rat had been, all he saw was a surprisingly clean floor and the little kitten with a slightly rounded belly licking clean his dainty pure white paws. With a dainty little burp and then a blast of hell fire, Mr. Tibbles disappeared; leaving only a scorched mark showing where he had once been.
"Ding! You Defeated a Rodent Of Unusual Size! Gain 150 XP. +5 to Care of Magical Creatures. Ding! Mission Complete! +500 XP and London Dock missions are open, gain 50 Pounds Muggle. Level Up!"
Harry's world paused around him as his Stat's screen and level up options appeared.
Level 7:
CURRENT EXP:10125 TOTAL EXP NEEDED FOR NEXT LEVEL:12000
Health: 20/20
Magic: 410/410
Stamina: 100/100
Ability points to be allocated: 4
ABILITIES:
Strength: 27
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 6
Intelligence: 18
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 8 +(2)
Harry read through the abilities portion of his stats and couldn't help but smile to see how well he was doing thus far; and in spite of the game's continued attempts to completely screw him over. Harry cocked his head to the side and bit the inside of his cheek as he pondered what to do.
"Hmm, so I'm entering the real world and my charisma is still really low, but so is constitution, it bloody hurt fighting that rat and I bet the game is going to continue to try and cheap shot or ambush me every chance it gets." Harry scratched his chin before talking out loud to himself again, a habit he'd unfortunately picked up in the tutorial and hadn't the inclination to break at the moment.
"Still, Intelligence gets me more skill points, and I don't know just what I'm going to want to blow those on at some point-" Harry paused in mid thought before smiling and nodding to himself, "and if I put two more points into intelligence I should gain another specialty perk because I'll have hit 20. Excellent, so that's going to be 2 to intelligence, but the other two, hmmmm."
Harry looked over the stats, taking his situation seriously as he realized the implications of choosing poorly. Finally he just shrugged and went with his gut instinct.
"I seemed to have survived with only one Charisma last time, and I'm effectively sitting at 10 due to the locket, and if the rat is anything to go by, the boss enemies for missions have been getting harder, so better put the next two points into Constitution as it's my lowest score yet." Harry allocated the ability points and immediately felt and saw the effects as his health went up by a point, and he immediately felt just a bit smarter while noticing that he gained another Skill Point for the level for whenever he decided to use them.
Health: 21/21
Magic: 410/410
Stamina: 100/100
Ability points to be allocated: 0
ABILITIES:
Strength: 27
Dexterity: 12
Constitution:8
Intelligence: 20
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 8 +(2)
"Ding" A message popped up in the corner of the floating stats menu screen. "Congratulations! By reaching 20 Intelligence you've gained the "Studiously Studying Student" Perk. By earning the Studiously Studying Student perk, you have been recognized as the consummate teacher's pet, obsessed with knowledge, and dedicated to supping from the tit of the goddess of knowledge herself; The Ravenclaws are so jealous of you right now and watch out for Knowledge's husband. Skills learned from classes will come easier to you now, and you gain a skill point for every subject class you attend rather than being blessed by one point only at the end of a week's worth of the course. Additionally, for being the teacher's pet, you gain a Gold Star Sticker for your effort and your family now has the right to drive around town with a bumper sticker stating that their nephew was the special student of the week; aren't you special!? When activated, you can trade the Gold Star Sticker for 1 additional Perk point."
Harry cringed at the idea of his Uncle Vernon learning that Harry had out shown the Dursley's precious Dudleykins, but with a shrug he reminded himself that he could always duck down and dodge Vernon from catching him if it came to dodging a beating. Besides, the extra perk point and faster skill point learning would be great for Hogwarts when he was learning stuff he was actually interested in.
"Inventory, activate Gold Star Sticker." Harry commanded.
"Tada!" Trumpet blasts and a cloud of confetti exploded around Harry, and right into his face and hair, upon activation of the Gold Star Sticker.
Harry just shook his head in exasperation and looked at his skill points section.
SKILLS: Skill Points to Allocate:55
Armor Wearing: 5
Care of Magical Creatures: 20
Charms: 12 +(5)
Dancing: 3
Dual-Wielding: 15
French language: 9
Flirting: 5
Herbology: 6
Lock-Picking: 31
Muggle Subjects: 100
Pick-pocket: 6
Potioneering: 10
Ranged: 100
Sneak: 100
Two-Handed: 3
Unarmed: 6
Harry was contemplating using some points to help his weapons stats, but the reality was that he wasn't sure which of his skills were better left to be gained through grinding, and which he should blow his skill points on. Duel-Wielding and Armor Wearing looked to be the most useful overall as they affected his ability to do pretty much any type of combat, but he had yet to really find a store and see if there were any types of skills used for buying or selling items.
He thought to himself, 'I still don't know what skills if any affect my other base stats like Dexterity, Charisma, Constitution, or Wisdom, and if the pattern holds true then it may be best to wait and see rather than use points I can't get back later.' Harry tapped his chin while thinking it over for a few more minutes, but then with a shake of his head went on to view his current and now available Perks.
Perks:
Comprehending The Incomprehensible.
Arrr, Yer a Pirate!
I Have The Power
Are You Threatening Me?!
Ninja Vanish!
The Call of Cthu-Tibbles
Run-Away!
Me Tarzan, You Jane
Studiously Studying Student
Available Perks: Perk Points Available: 2
"Hair Like Snape"
"Lemon-Drop Addiction"
"A Black Gene"
"A Summer Job"
"Creature Comfort"
"There Are Some Who Call Me—Tim"
"It Was An Accident!"
"Dog-gone'it, People Like Me."
"Wiser is the Miser"
"He's Got That Kung-Fu Grip"
"The Cunning Linguist"
Harry reviewed the Perks that had been available at previous levels, and was again tempted to get the pyromaniac perk because of its shear level of awesome, but he knew that without a wand he couldn't use the spells that it would give him. So with a sigh, he read through the new possibilities to see what he wanted to unlock with his two existing perk points.
The first new perk read, "Wiser is the Miser" "Some may call you a skin-flint, pence-pincher, knut-rubber, or shrewd investor, yet we choose to call you a poor imitation of Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge. Bah Humbug! But anyway, you know that money matters and makes the world go round. So don't worry, all's not lost you miserly minor with a penchant for material matters, because when it comes to the art of the deal you get top quality at cheap prices. With this perk you gain an automatic +20 to your Barter skill and the corresponding benefit to your Charisma score (every +5 points in Barter = +1 to Charisma) along with the related 10% discount in prices and 10% increase in sales at all stores for every 20 points you earn in barter. Further, when you hit Barter 100 and can buy and sell businesses, Wiser is the Miser gives your businesses an additional 10% profits.
Harry read the description, and then read it a second time before smiling; by this point the insults imbedded in the perks kind of slid right off him like water off a duck's back, he was getting so used to them. Instead, he focused on the positive.
"I'm going to be rich!" Harry quipped to himself as he thought about the possibilities that the perk presented, and the Barter skill in general, 'Sure, money won't make you happy or any less of an asshole, quite the opposite if Draco and Lucius are anything to go off of, but it sure does help when you need to get out of trouble or when you want to buy yourself the best equipment; kind of like Draco and his buying his way onto the Quidditch team with Nimbus 2001s.' Harry smiled, as the barter skill sounded dead useful, and he believed this was going to be the perk that he snagged with one of his points, but he knew enough from experience to read through all the new perks first before making his decision.
""He's Got That Kung-Fu Grip" Yes, you now have freakishly large and strong forearms, and you aren't lopsided like some teenaged boys who spend way too much time in the water closet with the latest month's copy of Playwizard. With this perk, it's like you've been spending hours punching through wooden boards, the occasional brick, and even bending nails with the fingers of just one hand. Gain +25 points to Unarmed skill and +5 to Strength." Harry read through the description, shaking his head at the added commentary, declined that skill and read the last of the new perk options.
Harry started reading the first sentence of the next perk, at which time he blushed a scarlet red that he felt flush across his face and down his neck.
""The Cunning Linguist" You fluently speak the language of love, and you're good at verbal languages also. Yes, every lady's friend, every mother's nightmare, and a dab hand at learning languages to boot! The Cunning Linguist skill grants you the ability to learn any language simply by listening to it for a period of time, and this includes magical languages. Yes, for every hour spent listening to a language you're not fluent in, you gain +10 points in that language; it also makes you popular with the ladies! +25 points to Flirting skill, automatically unlocks magical languages already granted to character (Parseltongue Language), enables learning of magic languages, and +25 to Bulgarian, Russian, German, and French! (Warning: The makers of The Cunning Linguist Perk will not be held accountable for reactions of women to whom you tell that you are a Cunning Linguist; these dangers may include, wild nights of sex, hexing, slaps to the face, drinks poured in your lap, severe blunt force and/or magical damage to your genitals, or death. Please see a healer if after four hours of use you feel sensations of numbness or tingling in your tongue.)"
Harry blushed beet red, and even though he knew he was alone, he glanced left and right and then smiled hesitantly as he purchased the Wiser is the Miser and The Cunning Linguist perks with his two remaining points to grant him in total:
Health: 21/21
Magic: 410/410
Stamina: 100/100
Ability points to be allocated: 0
ABILITIES:
Strength: 27
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 8
Intelligence: 20
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 12 +(2)
SKILLS: Skill Points to Allocate:55
Armor Wearing: 5
Barter: 20
Bulgarian Language: 25
Care of Magical Creatures: 20
Charms: 12 +(5)
Dancing: 3
Dual-Wielding: 15
French language: 34
Flirting: 30
German Language: 25
Herbology: 6
Lock-Picking: 31
Muggle Subjects: 100
Parseltongue Language: 1 (Unlocked!)
Pick-pocket: 6
Potioneering: 10
Ranged: 100
Russian Language: 25
Sneak: 100
Two-Handed: 3
Unarmed: 6
Perks:
Comprehending The Incomprehensible.
Arrr, Yer a Pirate!
I Have The Power
Are You Threatening Me?!
Ninja Vanish!
The Call of Cthu-Tibbles
Run-Away!
Me Tarzan, You Jane
Studiously Studying Student
Wiser is the Miser
The Cunning Linguist
Crafting:
Cooking: Master Chef
Harry smiled at his complete and updated stats, and answered "Yes" when he was asked if he approved of his changes.
As the world around him came back into focus and time began to tick once again, the nest Harry had poisoned glowed green, and then brown, and then the pile dissolved and was automatically transfigured into a ladder that pushed its way out of the tangled mess of rags and debris that had been the rats' nest. The ladder pushed up to the ceiling where Harry saw a trap door leading out of the cave. However, before Harry took the ladder, he had something very important to do.
Speaking to the air around him, Harry commanded, "Save Game."
AN: You want to know why authors of video-games-as-life Fanfiction stories stop writing? It's because it's a bitch remembering all of the stats and making sure your math and abilities all line up with what your character has successfully gained; especially so when the main character is gaming the system for all he's worth. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter? Next chapter we see an introduction to mini-games inside the game and maybe a trip to the zoo. What is the craziest or most messed up mini-game that you've seen in a video game? Quick-time event? Most inane use of a mini-game? As in a character can't drive a car or open a door unless he pushes the right set of buttons? Give me your thoughts and thank you so much for the reviews and messages. Cheers!