A.N. Just a stupid idea I had while rewatching SAO. As per usual for me; don't expect regular updates, I only write when the mood takes me. Plus, not really sure I can make a proper story out of this, I may just go into 'snippet mode'.

So; I'll admit the characters are likely somewhat ooc, but then Harry going 'I need to try and save people' and beating himself up about not managing it sounds boring, so I made some changes.

The crowd was silent in the face of the proclamation; they couldn't leave until the game was clear, death in the game would mean death in real life. It sounded like the words of a madman, but everyone believed it. There was silence as the figure of the man hovered over them like some kind of grim deity of death.

Until someone laughed. Space cleared around the voice, revealing four figures. One, a rather bulky blond, second, a bushy haired woman, who wouldn't be called pretty, rather suiting the phrase 'plain Jane', third, a black haired guy with a scar on his forehead that you wouldn't really notice if you weren't that close to him, and fourth, the laughing figure, a red haired guy, who was rather lanky.

The red head turned to the woman, "Hermione, I was kind of sceptical when you told me about these muggle video games, but this changed my mind. This sounds bloody awesome."

"Ronald!" The woman hissed, looking around frantically, "Ixnay on the uggle may."

"I agree with Ron." The black haired guy said, nodding his head, "If there's no risk of bodily harm, where's the fun?"

"Harry, you're bloody mental!" the blond said.

The figure in the sky vanished, with a small grin on his face.

The black haired figure drew his sword, pointing it towards the nearest town gate, "Now, let us be off into the night, after that ever flighty temptress, Adventure!" he proclaimed, before charging off, the red head hot on his heels. The bushy haired woman shook her head with a resigned sigh, before dashing off after them.

The blonde man shook his head, "I'll never get those bloody weirdo's" he said, before chasing after them, "Harry, wait up!"

The silence held a moment longer before everyone broke out in a panic, though it was clear no one would forget those who laughed in the face of such bad news.

Harry slowed down as he passed through the gate out of town, allowing Ron to catch up to him, and joining Harry walking pace. A moment later, Hermione and Dudley caught up.

"This isn't a joke Harry; we really could die!" Dudley bit out.

Harry nodded, "I know. I understand why you're upset, but wizard society is different from the muggle one. I regularly play a sport that could, well, let's just say that an item akin to cannonball can smack me in the face, before I take a fall of several hundred feet. There have been casualties, not sure how many"

"About two and a half thousand," Hermione interjected, "that's about one or two per year, worldwide, on average."

Harry nodded, "Right, and the other main sport, duelling, well, lethal force is permitted in all the official tournaments."

Ron nodded, "Right, you remember the Clarence duel, the semi-final last year? Brutal stuff."

Harry grinned, "Right, and I've been in deadly situations every year when I was at school. You know we defeated Voldemort right?"

Dudley nodded weakly, "Y-yeah. You mentioned it."

"Ever since then, well, life's been a bit, boring, I guess. It's all samey. I mean, becoming an Auror's cool and all, but dreadfully boring. It's about time another adventure showed up."

Hermione shook her head ruefully, "I'd had my fill of adventure."

Ron chuckled, "Then picture this as looking out for us on our adventure. And I seem to remember a certain someone being really into our last great adventure."

She blushed slightly, "We don't have magic this time." She pointed out.

Harry chuckled, "Hermione, Professor Dumbledore once said our magic is within our hearts wherever we go." He looked around, "Magic isn't something that can be explained scientifically, there's no 'manipulating mana' or anything like that, it's just… doing stuff. Aha." He finished, spotting a pebble. He reached out a hand towards it, "The fact that this world is in our heads, doesn't make it any less real, and I can really do magic." He stressed the last word.

Hermione sighed, "I don't know how many times I've tried to explain how this works, and I don't fancy trying again. Harry you can't… use…" her eyes widened as the stone began moving towards them. It dropped about halfway to them though.

Harry grinned, lowering his hand, "something I've been working on." He said proudly, "I mean, we all remember Dumbledore lighting candles with a wave of his hand right, it's really difficult, but we can do wandless magic, I figure most just see no reason to bother, given wands are easier, and almost always present."

"I don't believe it." Hermione muttered.

"Harry's a bit better than me though, I can barely make something wobble." Ron said forlornly.

"You'll get there Ron." Harry encouraged.

"And what about me." Dudley said acidly, "I can't do magic, and I don't want to die."

Harry chuckled, "Come on Dudders, it'll be like old time, you can beat up all the little monsters."

He winced, "Please don't remind me of that, and don't call me Dudders."

Harry shrugged, "Then wait in the safe zone. We'll watch each other's backs, but accidents can happen. You don't need to risk your life if you don't want to."

Dudley remained silent, in thought.

"We'll have to make wands." Ron said, "we can't rely on the parlour tricks we can manage right now."

"That won't work" Hermione insisted, "Even if there are digital creatures that resemble magical ones, they won't have the magical properties to make wands." She stressed.

"Maybe. Maybe not. We won't know until we try. Besides, I think you're missing the picture." Harry said with a mad grin, "We may be wizards, but in this game, we should be beating the crap out of things with swords." He drew his sword, spotting a pack of wolves in the distance, "Sure, cheating at games is traditional as a wizard, but let's play by the rules for now. It could be fun."

Ron eagerly drew his sword, and Dudley did so with reluctance. Hermione sighed, "Fine, you win, we'll play the game."

"Knew you'd see it our way." Ron grinned, throwing her a wink.

"But," she said fiercely, drawing her sword, "You'll do what I tell you to when it comes to distributing skills. I'm going to optimise your builds."

Harry laughed, "I have no idea what that means, but if you're in, then sure. Now, let's have fun. It's a shame they don't have a troll; it would be just like old times."

Hermione's cheeks reddened, "Oh, hush you." She muttered, as Harry and Ron rushed towards the wolves, smiling in spite of herself.