Harry walked through the gate and boarded the Hogwarts Express. As soon as he entered the train, the door behind him closed and the train pulled out of the station.

Harry looked around him. To his left was a corridor that passed several compartments on one side and exterior windows on the other side. The corridor eventually terminated in a wooden door that marked the end of one train section. To his immediate right was another door of exactly the same style. On impulse Harry tried to open it, but when he tried his fingers somehow slipped right over the door handle. Harry futilely pawed at the door a few more times before moving on.

Hary had spent several months in the Other World (as Harry thought of it) playing video games, and one of the habits he picked up was exploring an entire area before moving on to the next one.

-flashback-

Wensley heard a knock at his bedroom door. His mother called through the door. "Wensley, dear? You have a friend here to see you."

Wensley was surprised. He didn't have many friends at school. Well, to be honest he didn't have any. He tried, but he just didn't seem to have the knack for it.

Wensley went to the front door and opened it to see Harry standing there, a grumpy look on his face.

"Yes?" Wensley asked.

"I need help with a game," Harry replied.

10 minutes later, Harry was sitting at the dining room table with Wensley, explaining his predicament.

"...and then I get my arse kicked. Every time. It doesn't matter what characters I choose, I'm not powerful enough to stop him."

Wensley pursed his lips. "Have you tried grinding?"

Harry stared at Wensley, uncomprehending.

"You know, level grinding?"

"Should I know what that is?" Harry asked.

Wensley groaned.

"Okay, listen up," Wensley said. "Often, an RPG won't give you enough experience to level up if you just play all the way through. So you have to go back and face other enemies for their XP. Have you noticed how every few steps you face a random monster?"

Harry nodded.

"Well, once you get someplace with an inn or some other form of free healing, save your game and head back out to the area you just came from to face more random monsters. If your health gets low, head back to town and heal up. Sometimes it can take over an hour to grind to an appropriate level. If you find you're getting your butt kicked, it's usually a sign that you need to level grind some more."

Harry grinned. "So *that's* what's I've been doing wrong!" he exclaimed. "I just need to-"

Harry stopped talking and frowned. "No, wait. That won't work. I need to fight the boss as soon as possible."

"Really? Why?"

"I was right on his tail when I entered his castle, and now I have to fight him before he can cast his magic spell that will take over the entire world."

Wensley stared at Harry increduously. "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"Well I know it isn't the greatest plot, but it's not that bad," Harry said defensively.

Wensley pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.

"Look," Wensley said. "In an RPG, unless there's a running countdown clock right there on the screen, you have as long as you want to complete any task. Take as much or as little time as you want, you'll always make it just in the nick of time."

Harry's eyes popped. "Really?"

"YES," Wensley said emphatically.

-end flashback-

He had been right, too. Harry had turned around, left the castle, gained several levels through grinding, and stocked up on supplies at the nearby town before trying again.

From there Harry discovered the concept of plot triggers. Harry didn't know if they had an actual name, but he noticed that there were certain things that advanced the plot, often before Harry was finished doing everything he wanted to. For example, advancing the plot might mean that a party member left, which made it harder to level grind. Or it might force him into a new area before he was finished picking up any loose items that happened to be lying around.

There were a surprisingly high number of loose items too, even when you accounted for the games' definition of "loose" apparently being "not nailed down." In most RPGs Harry could walk into a perfect stranger's house, lift their precious artifacts, and then chat with them like he was an old neighbor as he headed back out with their valuables. Sadly, this never seemed to work in stores.

Harry walked down the train corridor. To his left he saw the landscape rolling by through the exterior windows. Since there was no time limit on-screen, Harry took a few minutes to just watch the scenery go by.

This lasted until he realized that the landscape was on a loop of about twenty seconds. Harry shook his head amusedly and moved on.

In the first compartment a boy with short brown hair sat by himself on the padded bench. His arms were wrapped around his legs, which he had pulled in towards his body. The boy was slightly bobbing forwards and backwards.

Harry approached him slowly. "Are you okay?" Harry asked.

The boy shook his head minutely.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Harry asked.

The boy ignored Harry, continuing to rock his body back and forth.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Harry asked.

No response.

Harry looked around. The boy's luggage was resting on the seat opposite him. Harry leaned forward to examine the luggage. As soon as he touched it, the zipper came undone with an audible "zzzzzzzzzip!" noise and the top flap opened up. A golden light shone from inside the luggage. A large stuffed teddy bear floated out of the luggage and hovered at Harry's chest height.

Harry took the teddy bear from its hovering position. The luggage silently closed back up and the golden glow disappeared.

Harry was now carrying a teddy bear in his hand and felt slightly foolish.

Harry turned back around and looked at the boy again. Nothing had changed in the boy's behavior.

On a hunch, Harry reached out with the teddy bear and presented it to the boy. The boy's eyes went wide and he got a joyful expression on his face. He quickly grabbed the teddy bear and brought it to his chest, snuggling against it. His body relaxed and within seconds the boy had fallen asleep.

Harry chuckled. On a whim, he pulled up his Character Status screen again. At the bottom was written:

Current XP: 200 XP
XP to next level: 800 XP

"So doing good deeds earns me XP," Harry mused. "Good to know."

The second compartment was empty, so Harry moved on. The third compartment held a girl pacing back and forth, stopping every few seconds to inspect her surroundings before returning to the pacing.

Harry cleared his throat. The girl turned to face Harry. She had short bangs and brown, straight hair that fell behind her back. Her eyes were expressive and she wrung her hands as she stood in front of Harry.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

"No, I'm not!" the girl blurted. "I lost my textbooks somewhere on this train, and I can't find them!"

Harry asked, "then why are you pacing in here?"

"Will you help me find my textbooks?" the girl asked.

"I'm trying to," Harry said. "What's the last place you remem-"

"Oh, thank you!" the girl cried, leaping forward and hugging Harry. Disengaging a second later, she said, "There are five of them in total. Please come see me when you've collected them all."

A magical jingle played from nowhere and a text box popped up:

Quest Accepted: "A Textbook Case!"

Without another word the girl resumed pacing in her compartment, looking around as if the textbooks she sought would somehow magically appear in the compartment.

Harry groaned. "NPCs," he complained, as if that explained everything. To be fair, it did.

Harry left the compartment and looked into the next one. A book was spinning slowly in the air, lit from underneath by a circle on the ground that glowed gold. Glowing motes were constantly flowing upwards from the circle, disappearing at a point above the book. Harry gingerly touched the book. Immediately the book, the motes, and the circle disappeared, leaving a normal train compartment.

Books retrieved: 1/5!

Harry groaned again and moved on.