Gaming the Wizarding World

Summary: Just after being selected by the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter discovers a book that will change his life. Fusion with The Gamer manhwa.

Disclaimer: I just checked my bank balance, and it looks like my offer went through and I now own the Harry Potter series and The Gamer! Woohoo!

Oh. On second look, it just means I'm broke and still own none of the characters depicted herein. Darn...

Pairing: None

Author Notes: This story is already finished and will be 12 chapters long, posted on a regular schedule. It will run from the Triwizard selection to the end of Year 4. So, feel free to leave a review and speculate about what might or might not be yet to come (there's plenty of foreshadowing if you pay attention…), but unless it really rocks my world, it's unlikely to make me rewrite anything. And I might reply with hints, but I won't be revealing plot details, even if you guess correctly.

This story was written due to my desire to see a "Harry as a Gamer" fic that was actually Complete. It contains many references to things that I find funny, some oblique and some blatant. While writing, I have made extensive use of HP Lexicon's Goblet of Fire calendar and the Wikia sections for both Harry Potter and The Gamer. Some inspiration, though none of the actual writing, was taken with permission from Mist of Shadows' fic Scooby Gamers on Twisting the Hellmouth. I've also used several things from SlickRCBD's list of things he wants to see in a fic. And much support was gotten from the Caer Azkaban group.

Despite the numerous reviews by both myself and other people, there may still be errors. If you find any, please let me know so they can be addressed!

Now, without further ado, the story! Enjoy!

~'`^`'~-,._.,-~'`^`'~-,._.,-~'`^`'~

Harry relaxed for the first time in what felt like forever. He luxuriated in the peace and quiet as he hid under his cloak of invisibility in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library. So far, his weekend had been one disaster after another. First his name had been selected as the mathematically-impossible fourth contestant in the Triwizard Tournament, despite the fact he'd made absolutely no effort to try to participate. Immediately following his selection, he'd been insulted, belittled and scoffed at by the other contestants and ministry and school officials. (What was Snape doing in there, anyway?) When the shouting had finally finished, he had headed back to his dorm where the noise of a party and loud accusations were thick in the air. To top it all off, no one believed him that he hadn't wanted to enter. How could they not see that someone was obviously trying to kill him AGAIN?

Sunday morning hadn't started any better than Saturday had finished. After having to endure yet another rant from Ron about the unfairness of it all (And what did he have to complain about, anyway? No one was trying to kill HIM! Well, except maybe the twins, but they were his brothers and didn't really count...), Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak and started to aimlessly wander the halls. When he had come to the entrance to the library, it occurred to him that this might be the one place where he could finally be sure he wouldn't get yelled at. After all, wasn't this the home turf of Madam Pince, whose entire job was to keep it quiet? It was a matter of but a few moments before Harry had weaved his way through the occupants and obstacles and hidden himself away in the secure Restricted Section of the most rigidly-enforced quiet zone in the school.

After a few minutes of relaxing, though, Harry started to get antsy. Since he was still under his invisibility cloak, it occurred to him that now would be the perfect time to browse the shelves of tomes to which he wasn't normally (or, technically, even now) allowed access. He debated for a few moments whether or not he should nose around, but soon his curiosity (and boredom) got the best of him and he started to peruse the shelves.

Very few titles interested Harry. Which really shouldn't have surprised him (After all, he wasn't Hermione!), but he had thought "Restricted" might equate to "Exciting". Instead, they just looked old, musty, and boring. Most of them weren't even in English!

It took a couple minutes, but finally a title did jump out at him. Actually, it was more the size and style that caught his eye. Wedged in between a thick, dusty book on dark rituals and another slightly less dusty but no smaller book on the history of deadly misuses of common kitchen charms was a tall, thin, glossy title. Without moving his hand out from under his cloak, Harry could only see the title on the spine, The Gamer's Guide by Han Jee-Han, and a bit of the cover. As he looked at it closely, the thing it reminded him most of was a comic book. It sure didn't look like any of the other books in the restricted section. Maybe some upper year student had stuck it in the stacks to hide it or something? He couldn't figure out why they would do that, but he'd seen stranger things around the castle.

So, should he stay hidden or should he take the risk of being discovered by sticking his hand out from under his cloak and grabbing it to take a look? After all, it'd give him something to do other than brood about the whole Triwizard mess. He deliberated for a few moments, but again his curiosity and boredom got the better of him. A listen and a look each direction showed no one around. Quickly, Harry slid his arm out, grabbed the book and pulled it back under his cloak.

All of a sudden, in front of the bookshelf, something resembling a poster appeared. It said:

[Shall we play a game?

Yes / No]

Harry froze as he stared at the message in front of him. Only one thought ran through his head: What the bloody hell is that?

After staring dumbly at it for a full minute, Harry finally rebooted his brain and shook his stupor away. He took a few more moments to consider which option he should choose. Then, with a shrug of his shoulders, he let his Gryffindor nature take over and tapped Yes. After all, he had been looking for something interesting and this would certainly qualify!

Several things happened at once. In his other hand, the book turned into motes of light and disappeared into his head. In front of him, several messages popped up. And knowledge started to unspool in his mind.

Illusion Barriers.
Gaming Strategy.
Gamer's Mind.
Inventory.
Skill Levels.
Character Sheet.
Gamer's Body.
Grinding.
Training Strategies.
Party System.
Skill Creation.
The Abyss Auction.

As the stream of topics slowed and finally stopped, Harry took a better look at the display in front of him. He now knew they were system messages to inform him of new skills being learned, quests being created and other significant events. He clicked through the messages informing him he had skills added to his repertoire called A Gamer's Mind and A Gamer's Body. From the info dump, he knew how great those skills were and how much they were going to impact his life. A Gamer's Mind would let him objectively look at any situation into which he was thrust without panicking, a skill he could have used several times over the previous 3 years. A Gamer's Body would keep him from taking physical injuries and allow him to restore health and magic just by sleeping in a bed. That was sure going to make Madam Pomfrey happier and Quidditch a lot less dangerous!

Realizing he'd been stationary too long and that someone might have sensed or seen what had just happened, Harry hurried to get out of there before he was caught. He needed to review and mentally organize everything he'd just learned.

A few minutes later, he had carefully and safely exited the library without detection and resumed his directionless wandering of the halls, still concealed under his cloak. As he walked, he tried to order his thoughts and start making plans. In the past, that had never been one of his strong points. He was hoping A Gamer's Mind would help out in that regard, though. It certainly couldn't hurt!

Before he could make any plans, Harry needed to know if everything he'd learned would work. First of all, he needed to check his stats and levels. Remembering the instructions from The Gamer's Guide, he called out "Status Window".

In front of him appeared another message box, this one filled with information about himself. It said:

[Name: Harry Potter
Class: The Gamer
Level: Lv 4

HP: 150
MP: 225

STR: 6
VIT: 8
DEX: 15
INT: 9
WIS: 6
LUK: 7

Money: 9G

Loki's Plaything: LUK +/- 25
Wizard: +50% to MP, -0.25 to WIS per Char Level

Gamer's Mind: Max
Gamer's Body: Max
Physical Endurance: Lvl 10 - reduce physical damage 0.1% per PE Level]

Distracted by the status display, Harry wasn't paying attention to where he was going as he considered what he was seeing and what to make of it. He only started paying attention again when he found himself sprawled on his backside after slamming into someone, his cloak flying open in the process.

"Harry! I was just thinking about you!"
"Hermione! I was just thinking about you!"

They both laughed as they realized what they'd said.

"I was just headed to the library to see if there was anything I could do to help you out," Hermione said. "If I can't find a way to get you out of the Tournament, I plan to do some research and see what I can do to help you prepare."

"I was just there, and you'll never believe what just happened to me!" Harry exclaimed as he helped her to her feet. Keeping a hold on her arm, he pulled her into a convenient nearby empty classroom.

"What?" she asked.

"I was hiding under my invisibility cloak in the restricted section-"

"Harry!" she hissed at him. "You shouldn't-"

"-and I was looking at the book titles to see if anything looked like it might be helpful," Harry continued, ignoring her attempt to interrupt and speaking over top of her. "I found some sort of comic book. When I pulled it off the shelf, a message appeared in the air in front of me!"

"A message? What, are you now on a mission from God?" Hermione asked, skepticism dripping from her voice.

"What?" Harry asked, shocked. "No! Well, I don't think so, at least…"

When Harry appeared deep in thought considering the point and didn't speak again for a few moments, she decided to prompt him. "Well, what did the message say?"

"Right, the message. It said something about playing a game. At the bottom it had "Yes" and "No" buttons, like on those prompts we'd see on the computers back in Primary school, you remember?"

She nodded.

"So, I hit yes and the book suddenly burned up-"

"What?!" she gasped. "You destroyed a book?"

[You have acquired a new skill to sense a bad omen, "Sense Danger."]

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Harry hastily babbled as he unobtrusively dismissed the message with a careful flail of an arm. "I hit yes, the book flashed and disappeared, and now I know everything in the book."

"What?"

"Everything written in the book is in my head now."

"Really? Everything?"

"Yeah."

"And will that work for other books, too? Not that you should destroy any books, of course."

"It's supposed to work that way for any skill books. My new knowledge says it will, but I haven't tried yet, for obvious reasons."

"Do you know what this means?"

"That I can learn things in an instant, but it'll burn up the books."

Hermione sighed. "I am so conflicted and jealous right now…"

~'`^`'~-,._.,-~'`^`'~-,._.,-~'`^`'~

Harry
Level 4

HP 150
MP 225

STR 6
VIT 8
DEX 15
INT 9
WIS 6 (minus 1)
LUK 7 (+/- 25)

Money (Galleons): 9

Wizard: Add 50% to MP, -0.25 to WIS per Char Level
Loki's Plaything: LUK +/- 25

A Gamer's Mind: Max (Created)
A Gamer's Body: Max (Created)
Phys Endurance: 10
Blunt Weapon Mastery: 1
Sword Mastery: 2
ID Create/Escape: 1 (Created)
Parseltounge: Max
Finite: 5
Sense Danger: 1 (Created)

~'`^`'~-,._.,-~'`^`'~-,._.,-~'`^`'~

Published 2016-02-15