I'm baack!

I'm trying to write chapters as fast as I can because I have a bit of free time right now. If I don't manage to get this posted by March… well, then this is probably going to go live sometime in June. Probably. Definitely not earlier.

Some people have been passive-aggressively complaining that I should post chapters faster. Fuck you. I have better things to do than to write fictional Harry Potter scenarios in a Game world just because some virgins living in their parent's basement wants to read it quicker. I am a busy person, people!

Read and Review! [The reading is optional]

P.S. How'd you like the Voldemort POV in this chapter? I also added a Fred and George prank scene, and I'm not too sure how it turned out. Let me know in the reviews. Don't go too hard, though, folks. I'm still sore from last time.

(And yes, everything I say must have some innuendo. Otherwise, it's really not worth saying.)

X…X

You have rested in your bed. HP, MP and VIT restored to full.

Harry rolled out of bed with a grin on his face, one that slid off as soon as the curtains opened because holy-mother-of-fuck it was five-thirty in the morning what the bleep was wrong with the Game?

He padded down the dorm-room stairs – this time after taking the precaution of wearing a wool robe – and came across the completely unexpected sight of Hermione asleep in one of the armchairs.

'Mood: Zzz'! Was the first thing to strike him. 'Zzz' isn't a fucking mood!

"Hermione." He whispered, shaking her shoulder gently. "Wake up."

She stirred, slowly opening her eyes and curling further into the sofa. "What?" she mumbled. "Sleepy. Cold- Harry!" she exclaimed, sitting up straight suddenly. He did his best to hide his amusement, but some of it must have gotten through as she blushed a bright crimson.

"You're very… eloquent, while waking up." He commented, smothering a grin. "Why were you sleeping in the Common Room?"

"I woke up at five. I-" She interrupted herself with a yawn. "I wanted to go to the Library with you."

Harry shook his head in exasperation. "Hermione, go back to your dorm and sleep!" he insisted softly. She scowled. "You are not stopping me from going to the Library, Harry Potter!"

And for all her bluster, there was something very vulnerable in her eyes which again reminded him that she had never had a friend before Hogwarts – something soft and lonely and scared of rejection. He sighed and held out a hand. "If you insist, my Hermione."

She blushed and took his hand, before frowning.

"Harry." She whispered.

"Yes?"

"Why are we whispering?"

He paused. They were not – as yet – up to any nefarious activities, and there was no one else in the Common Room, so…

"I'm sure we had a reason."

She snorted and accompanied him to the Library.

X…X

Two hours of frustratingly interrupted reading later, Harry stretched and dropped the last book on wand lore that was present in the Hogwarts Library – not that the topic was very common. Across the table from him, Hermione had fallen asleep within fifteen minutes of their reaching the table. He had done his best to make her comfortable without waking her up, but given the state of the Library chairs, his best was but a paltry comfort.

Madame Pince had not been happy to see him again, and had actually pursed her lips disapprovingly when Hermione fell asleep (and that had felt strange; Hermione had once been the only student she could actually tolerate). Even now the Book-Dragon was watching, just waiting for him to slip up and return a book to a spot different from its original resting place.

"Hermione." He whispered. Seriously, wasn't I just doing this. "Hermione, wake up."

She blinked slowly and gazed around herself uncomprehendingly, before her eyes widened in shock. "Oh God-"

"Silence!" hissed Madame Pince, scowling as fiercely at Hermione as Harry had ever seen. Within a minute they had been forcibly ushered – although 'booted' would have been more apt – out of the Library, Hermione looking a little bit lost and a little bit utterly desolate.

Harry led her to breakfast.

X…X

"Harry." Said either Fred or George.

"My dear, dear, Harry." Said either George or Fred.

"Most beloved Potter of mine amongst all the Potters that have been." Said… a third person?

"You hold – right now, in your very hands –"

"Opportunity, my boy! An opportunity the likes of which has never been seen before!"

"An opportunity to make us – and every Gryffindor henceforth – as joyous as yonder morning sun!"

"All you have to do – a simple task, you will see – is tell us that you have not spent the morning in the Library,"

"And nor have you corrupted another young Lion-"

"Oh, so young, oh, so innocent-"

"to your wicked, bookish ways."

And in the expectant silence that followed, Harry gaped, because Fay Dunbar was speaking in threefold harmony with the Twins now and it was utterly disconcerting and this was not what he had been expecting from this morning and doom was upon them all and he had been the one to introduce Fay to the Twins and fuck this was bad and-

"Oh Merlin, what have I done?" he whispered.

Hermione rubbed her eyes and looked again.

X…X

Professor Snape apparently felt no need for sustenance in the mornings, as he entered the Great Hall mere minutes before classes were to start and seated himself with a scowl. He was – very subtly – not looking at Harry, which was fine because Harry was not looking at him either. No, Harry was rather more interested in the text – that incriminating, revealing, oh-so-useful text – that floated above his head.

Severus Aengus Tobias Snape.

Harry snorted. Aengus. He was never going to not laugh at that.

Reputation: +100.

Oh yes! Or as Seamus once put it, aw yisss! It worked! Snape likes me! Yes!

All the voices in Harry's head cheered wildly, with Harry himself leading them in a victory dance that a group of drunk fifth years had come up with the celebrate a Hogwarts Triwizard Champion.

This lasted for a good thirty seconds, until Harry realised that he was seated at the Gryffindor table, performing the single stupidest dance known to mankind in full view of the Great Hall.

He stopped abruptly. Yep, people were staring at him.

"Harry." Said Hermione delicately. "I don't know how to put this…"

She trailed off delicately. The rest of the Hall was still in shock.

X…X

"Thank you for coming to this staff meeting." Said Dumbledore. "I know this is earlier than I normally hold it, but there are other factors in consideration this year."

Five minutes into the meeting before Dumbledore said a word - and each second costing him strength he simply could not afford to waste, just as he could not afford to not be here.

"Last year's batch of seventh years got quite a good result – nothing remarkable, but a very good average score and solid marks across all subjects. Congratulations!"

A round of applause from everyone – Trelawney was absent, and Severus only gave a single, soft clap. Meaningless platitudes.

"Our middle years seem, to the best of my knowledge, to be fairly secure in their studies – with Messrs. Weasley and Weasley, of course, making sure they do not forget to have fun. I may have to thank them in a speech sometime."

No one applauded at that; Minerva actually turned a few shades paler. He let a nervous chuckle escape, and Filius turned to stare at him incredulously.

"If anyone has any issue with this year's seventh years, I would request them to bring it up now, so we may resolve as early into the school year as possible."

Wastes of his time and precious power, but he could not afford to let this chance slip – every move had to be calculated, every detail scrutinised. Dumbledore was a man of infinite plans, a giant among these petty conjurers – but he was better.

"Mr. Hawking is having some troubles in Transfiguration." Said Minerva. "He did brilliantly on his OWLs, but his performance collapsed in his sixth year, and the trend seems to have continued to this year."

Neither he nor Dumbledore cared the slightest about Mr. Hawking at this instant – the only difference was that later, Dumbledore would view the boy's problems with benign concern, while he would merely note them, as he noted all insignificant details.

"Give him some time, Minerva. Perhaps a week. If his performance does not pick up, I may invite him in for some counselling – the NEWTs are an important stepping stone to one's final occupation." He smiled gently. "Who knows, he may simply have met a girl!"

Everyone – not Severus – chuckled politely.

"Before the year began, I asked you all to review the defences around a certain room – does anyone have any insights to share?"

Still so boring, so worthless – a conversation filled with mediocrity to its very core.

"Ah've managed tae git th'... guardian ye asked fur, Headmaster." Rubeus said, doing his dismal best to be discreet. He did not care… yet. Later, perhaps, the Stone would occupy a more prominent position in his goals, but currently his mind was otherwise occupied.

"I've completed the Transfiguration that I had planned, Headmaster." Minerva said crisply. "Although I might be able to devise a more fitting obstacle were I to know precisely what we are guarding and why."

His power was bleeding away, drop by drop, with every instant that he retained control, but he could not afford to let go. The teachers were wasting his precious time with foolish questions – did they really believe, even for an instant, that Dumbledore would tell them anything more than he absolutely needed to? Dumbledore himself knew, and that was enough – that he shared anything at all with Severus was-

Severus was afraid.

Dumbledore was speaking again – more empty words and empathetic gestures – but this was something far, far more important. Severus was afraid, mortally afraid in a way he had not been even in the Blood War.

Oh, it was nothing obvious – no trembling hands, no panic-stricken eyes, nothing so… pedestrian. Severus had always kept a cold, rigid control over himself, and though the War was ended, the Potions Master had not changed.

All that there was to see was that his left hand was curled loosely around the arm of his chair – and yet when had Severus, with his fierce, unyielding pride, ever taken support of something he did not absolutely need?

No, Severus was afraid – but of what?

(And the teachers were still talking, still imploring Dumbledore to tell them, but now he did not mind – he needed the time to analyse. This was as critical a moment as he had ever faced in his life, more critical than when he made his first Horcrux – a single flaw would see him undone and leave him a wraith forever – no, he could not slip now.)

Dumbledore had no inkling of his presence there – of that he was sure. He had set safeguards in place – one to hide Quirrell's lust for the Stone, a second to conceal Quirrell's connection to him, a third to conceal his involvement in the Gringotts break-in, a fourth to conceal his possession of Quirrell, a fifth to fool the Hogwarts wards, another to blind the phoenix to his presence – layers upon layers of deception, that was how one got anything done without Dumbledore knowing of it, and he had decades of experience at the art.

Oh, Dumbledore would have pierced the first few veils, would even have guessed at his involvement in the Gringotts break-in – he would expect nothing less from the man. Dumbledore was meant to see through those cobwebs – misdirection, and not concealment, was the name of the game, here at Hogwarts.

But to underestimate Severus was to die, as many of his fellow Death Eaters had found. Snape had once been wholly on his side; now he was just as wholly on Dumbledore's ('the consummate survivor', he had once said, and Severus had inclined his head in recognition of the compliment). A single habit, a keen glance or a familiar grasp of his wand – even something as insignificant as a commonly used phrase – could have awoken Snape's never-truly-slumbering suspicions, and now the man was afraid. ('I am always afraid of something.' Severus had stated simply. 'That is how I survive. And when there is nothing to be afraid of, I am simply afraid.')

And that made him… wary.

"And now we come to the first years." Dumbledore said jovially, almost as though it were not the single most important item in his agenda. "I understand you have not had much time to properly identify them, but I ask that if you have, so far, found any problems of note, you bring them up now."

"The newest Weasley boy does not seem to have taken after his two older brothers." Pomona offered drily. "There is considerably less… hmmm, anarchy."

He had heard tales of the Weasley Twins. The day they set foot in Hogwarts must have been a black day indeed.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Very well, if there is nothing else, we may move on. Of course, you may feel free to bring up any issue you wish to discuss at a later meeting as well." He paused for a moment. "However, it would highly foolish of us to ignore the presence of a certain student who has entered Hogwarts this year, so you may forgive me if I ask you to give your thoughts on Harry Potter."

"Genius. Pure, unadulterated genius." Said Minerva, not changing her severe tone in the slightest. "His friend, Ms. Granger, is brilliant in her own right, but he overshadows her completely. If he wished to, he could probably complete the Hogwarts curriculum in three years."

He had reached the same conclusion independently – the boy was at least as intelligent as he himself had been, was the same shining star reflected across history. Oh, how he wished he knew the rest of the prophecy.

"I see." Said Dumbledore softly, and he could see that now the Headmaster, too, was afraid – afraid that Harry Potter would turn out to be too much like the last student about whom that very sentence had been uttered. "Pomona?"

"The same, I think. Boy's a natural." She shook her head. "Nothing I can add."

"Filius? Quirinus? Cuthbert? Aurora?" he said, receiving the same shake of the head from them all. He turned at last to the Potions master. "Severus?"

Severus Snape. Youngest person in the world to hold a Mastery… ever. Youngest person to hold a Potions Mastery by over a decade. Inventor of nearly a dozen different potions, including the Wolfsbane potion. One of only five worldwide – three officially – who were qualified to brew it. He was inarguably one of the great minds of his time, both in Potions and in war, and as such held his students to a higher standard.

His hatred for Harry Potter was just as undeniable. For three days Snape had been watching the boy darkly at every meal; his first class with him had already achieved a near-legendary status. And, of course, there was the man's hatred for James Potter.

'Harry Potter" the man began softly. "Has an unmatched intelligence, a mind unparalleled by any I have ever met. It is likely he will soon surpass us all; it is just as probable that he already has."

Snape looked at them all, one by one, and if not for his spy's skill in Occlumency, he would have tried to delve deeper.

"Anything that I try to teach Harry Potter, he either already knows or does not need to know."

Silence.

He let himself fall back, let his bumbling host regain possession of his shell once more. Both he and Dumbledore were thinking of the same things, he knew – of the oh so slight emphasis Severus had put on 'any' and 'all'. With a man like Severus Snape – a man of infinite complexities – these things mattered.

He was sure, now, that Severus knew he had possessed Quirrell. Some slight slip, somewhere; he was not sure how, but Severus knew. And Severus had meant this message for the both of them, playing both sides so skilfully that even though both he and Dumbledore knew of Snape's games, they both still considered him indispensable.

Severus was one of the great minds of his time, but there were still a few that outshone him. Flamel. Dumbledore. His own self. Severus had met and worked with all of them – and he had just said that Harry Potter surpassed them all.

And that had made Severus afraid.

Yes, Severus Snape was afraid of the Boy Who Lived. And now he was afraid, just as Dumbledore was afraid.

His plans required adjustment.

X…X

The Weasley Twins, Harry reflected, seemed to have selected the fourth day of school as the day for their grand unveiling. It was suitably epic.

It had started small - everyone had woken up and found themselves translucent. Some cynics (or perhaps realists) immediately decided to blame the twins, and were still roaming the halls in pellucid wrath.

Fortunately, it had turned out to be a simple modification of a mirage spell, so some upper years had been able to reverse it. By the time breakfast began, most everyone had been returned to normal opacity.

The teachers had just finished undoing the last of the Twin's spell-work when the next prank had begun.

Possums.

Seemingly out of nowhere, possums had appeared and caused utter chaos in the Hall. A great many people, it seemed, had a fear of possums, while others who had never seen a possum before were discovering a newfound terror of the mammals. Even Harry had found himself looking at them in a whole new light.

It had taken several minutes for a Ravenclaw to figure out that the possums had not simply been conjured – a feat which, at this scale, was beyond anyone save Dumbledore – but had been transfigured from students.

It had been at this point that people had stopped swatting at the ringtails and had started screaming for the teachers.

The reversals of the opossums had given startling results – the selection of the students had been completely random. Roughly equal – in fact, Harry was willing to bet it had been exactly equal – numbers of students had been taken from all four Houses, with a few surprises; Professor Flitwick, for one, had jumped nearly three feet into the air when the possum he reversed had turned out to be Mrs. Norris.

The Twin's pranks, it seemed, were triggered to start the moment the previous one was nullified (or subdued, killed, exorcised, etcetera, etcetera; it was Fred and George, after all.), and their next one had seemed to involve a rather variable gravitational field. And that was how Harry found himself on the ceiling of the Great Hall along with the rest of the Gryffindor table. The other three houses appeared to be still on the floor, but from their bewildered looks, it was clear that they were experiencing the same thing that the Lions were. The teachers standing in between the House tables seemed utterly panicked – Merlin only knew what they were seeing – while Dumbledore was chuckling softly.

And the Twins… well, the Twins had seated themselves on the Headmaster's chair, each dangling a leg over an armrest and grinning from ear to ear.

"Mr. Weasley!" Professor McGonagall shrieked, her hair falling out of its bun. One of the twins leapt up and stood at attention. "Mr. Weasley! This has gone too far – any one of these pranks alone could have hurt someone severely! It will be detention for-"

And at the word 'detention', the Twins' school robes turned into matching cowboy costumes, complete with hats and revolvers in their holsters.

"You'll never take us alive, Professor."

Then they both sprinted towards the door.

As the Professor prepared to give chase, one of them pointed a gun at her and fired. With a BANG, her hair was converted into a clown wig, forcing her to stop and undo the Transfiguration.

BANG! Her nose got a red bobble.

BANG! Her shoes became long and floppy, squeaking with every step.

"Geronimooo!" came the distant cry of the Weasley Twins. McGonagall narrowed her eyes and sped after them, shifting into her Animagus form in mid-step. The door swung shut behind her.

"That was… surreal." Said a stunned Hermione, after several seconds of silence.

"I don't know." Said Ron, looking rather disappointed. "I was kind of hoping for more, seeing what they get up to at home."

"I doubt it's over yet." Harry said calmly. Everyone turned to stare at him.

"HELP! THE TOILETS ARE ATTACKING- OH GOD NOOO! PLEASE HELP! AARGH!"

"No." said Fay, agreeing with Harry. "It's only just begun."

Hermione whimpered softly, her mood shifting to 'Fearful'. Harry just wondered what Voldemort was thinking of all this.

Then he wondered how they would get down from the ceiling.

Then he wondered whether they even were on the ceiling in the first place.

The Weasley Twins, he knew, loved to play mind games.

WIS +1

X…X

"So how many years of detention did you get?" Harry asked, munching on some Bertie Botts, perhaps because he felt like tempting fate.

"Oh, just the one." A twin that Harry designated as 'Fred' replied. "Did you know, dear Harrikins,"
"That there's a rule preventing teachers from handing out detention for the next year?"

"There's also one that limits the number of hours of detention that a student can serve in a single night."

"We learned these little facts today, and they have opened up a world full of possibilities and improbabilities."

"Also a world full of detentions." Said Harry drily. "So, what can I expect from you gentlemen in the year to come?"

"Carnage, little one. Carnage."

Harry barked a laugh and bit down on a nice-smelling brown bean that instead of chocolate, turned out to be the All-New Doxy Droppings flavour. He spat it out immediately, the Twins falling out of their chairs in mirth.

Moments like these, he could almost forget he was living a Game… but not really, not quite. There was always the text, the little messages, the monotonic replies of the paintings to remind him that life was an arcade and he had to win it.

And, of course, he had the knowledge of what was to come.

But meanwhile…

"Keep that up and I'll tell McGonagall that you put Stinksap in my toothpaste." He warned the still-laughing twins. "She may not be able to give you more detentions, but she can transfer the ones you have to Snape."

"Brutal, Harrikins. Absolutely brutal. You have no sense of empathy."

"We approve, naturally."

"Oh, quite."

X…X

Harry was taking a break.

He had used his rather dangerous friendship with the Twins to obtain the Marauder's Map, an artifact he had found, on previous occasions, to be rather more useful than two of the three Hallows.

He had confirmed that, somehow, Voldemort had succeeded in hiding his presence from the Marauder's Map – there was no sign of the Dark Lord anywhere when Quirrell roamed the halls.

Pettigrew (rat-traitor-betrayer-liar), of course, was still visible on the map, but he could do nothing (he could feel the frustration, bubbling under his skin like fire). He dearly wished to free Sirius from his grief-infested incarceration, but Pettigrew had to escape the same way, at the same time, to ensure that Voldemort rose the same way (better the Dark Lord you know…).

All the knowledge of the future in his head, and all he could do was nothing. (What had he thought, once? 'Wisdom, even more than Prophecy, was a burden than estranged men from the world, for it left one with no peers, nothing but a terrible foreknowledge of what was to come.' And knowledge, of course, was yet another chain to bind him – but death would set him free.)

And so Harry was taking a break, old-school.

By which he meant he was sitting in the Common Room, flirting skilfully with all the female first years of Gryffindor simultaneously, watching as his Reputation with them went up swiftly, and more and more of them started developing crushes on him.

Once this fact would have embarrassed him. Now, it was just slightly amusing.

Of course, this was slightly different from the original old-school flirting, seeing that most of the girls were probably pre-pubescent, and he definitely was (not that it had stopped him before – strange, but a thought for a time when he had some to spare).

And then there was also the fact that he was the Boy-Who-Lived, and most of them already had crushes on him.

Perhaps the flirting was not all that skilful.

He was glad to spot Hermione, quickly excusing himself from the group that had formed around him despite their vociferous protests. As he neared Hermione, however, he sensed that something was off, both in her manner and her text, although he was unable to pinpoint exactly where the difference lay.

Hermione Granger – Level 19

Relationship: Friend-With-A-Crush

Reputation: +370

Attractiveness: 6

Mood: Happy, Confused

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but something small yet important had changed in Hermione's manner.

"Hello, Hermione." He said, grinning at his friend. "Woke up five minutes late today, I see. How lazy."

Hermione gave him a slightly strained smile. "Should we go to the Library, then?" she asked, giving no explanation for her late arrival.

Harry frowned.

Harry was still frowning – he felt like he had never stopped – two days later, having by then figured out what was causing Hermione to draw further and further away from him.

His reputation with her was falling.

The exact reason for this, however, was still unknown to him. He had first noticed that it occurred whenever he flirted with her, and had immediately stopped showing romantic interest in her. The reputation points, however, kept falling lower and lower.

Since then, he had tried every alteration and combination that he could think of, all to no avail. And in a paltry two days, his relationship with Hermione Granger had turned on its head, which was why he had now cornered her in an unused classroom.

Hermione Granger – Level 20

Relationship: Enemy-With-A-Crush

Reputation: -5

Attractiveness: 6

Mood: Confused, Angry

"Hey, Hermione." He said, and she whirled to face him, hands automatically clutching at her book bag (He would check it for a very specific Diary later; it was too similar to be a coincidence, and those things didn't exist in his life anyway). Her face immediately settled into a scowl that Harry had never seen directed at his own person before.

"Harry." She said bitterly, as if he had in some way betrayed her.

"What's going on, Hermione?" he asked softly, trying not to let his frustration bleed through into his voice.

-5 Reputation with Hermione Granger.

"Nothing's going on, Potter." She said. Last name now – that was a new low. Her knuckles were white. "What're you doing here?"

"Finding out what is wrong, Hermione." He spat, losing some of his self-control. "In two days you've gone from being my friend to hating me, and I still don't know what you want! You won't even talk to me now – how am I supposed to figure out what the problem is?"

He was practically snarling by the end, forcing himself to calm down when he saw her hands trembling. Suspiciously bright eyes met his gaze fiercely.

"Why do you want to talk to me?" Hermione asked, her voice shaking with suppressed anger. "Don't you have other friends you would rather talk to?"

INT check failed.

He blinked. "What?" he asked, confused.

"You spend enough time with them, don't you? You're always flirting with them, and they all love it so everybody's happy." Tears were running down her cheeks now, but her voice never faltered.

Emotional interference: WIS temporarily 0.

"I'm not some- some slag, whom you can just use when it's fun and throw away later! Just because you're cute and funny and brilliant and famous, it doesn't mean I'm going to do whatever you want, following you around like a puppy the entire day just in case you might say something nice to me! And I'm not some silly little fangirl, either, delighted at even the chance to speak to Harry Potter! You think that you're so great, so much better than the rest of us, but you're not, so just go away!"

Then she slapped him and ran out of the room, leaving Harry and her book bag behind.

HP - 1

Harry was still standing there, stunned.

X…X

Days and weeks passed, and Hermione seemed to grow more distant rather than less. With none of his old friends at his side, Harry found that getting through Hogwarts had turned into an arduous task, rather than 'months of fun-filled boredom interspersed with brief moments of absolute terror', as Ron had once put it.

He missed Ron. (Burn all your bridges, little one, so you may weep over the ashes.)

He was so depressed that he didn't even bother chasing after Malfoy during their first Quidditch lesson, merely summoning Neville's Remembrall when the Slytherin spotted it on the ground. Flying was little solace for a lonely soul.

He had done all he could to mend ties with Hermione, ending his interactions with other students almost completely as he kept trying to apologise to her. Rumours abounded as to the cause of the rift between them, some close to the truth, others fantastically wrong. She still avoided him, going out of her way to avoid spending any more time with him than necessary, and using all her ingenuity to avoid his attempts to corner her. He had even searched the girl's dormitory for something similar to a diary (or a Diary) and come up with nothing.

Somehow, that was almost worse.

And suddenly it was Halloween, and Harry was searching frantically for Hermione on the Map, a single name amongst the hundreds of dots that teemed in the castle. Again, yet again, his eyes would beat the same pattern – the Map, the first-floor girl's bathroom and the corridor he was running in. Map. Bathroom. Corridor. Map. Bathroom. Corridor. Map.

He found her a few minutes before the Feast was due to start, sitting on the stairs of the Astronomy Tower with her arms wrapped around her knees. Seeing him, she immediately started up and moved away, before realising that the only exit was behind Harry.

"Hermione, listen." He pleaded when she looked ready to start screaming at him. "I- I never thought about you – about any of the girls – like that. You're my friend, and you're pretty and smart, but I never thought of you as a fangirl, or a slag, and I'm sorry. Can't we just be friends again?"

She was still not pleased, still not friendly as she had been, but she seemed slightly appeased with his grovelling; his reputation with her had gone up, at any rate.

And then he flung himself to the side – instincts screaming, awoken by a whisper of wind that could equally well have meant nothing – and the club meant to crush his head smashed instead into his shoulder, sending him skittering across the floor. He opened his eyes groggily to see a mountain troll lumbering angrily in his direction.

'It's too early.' He thought slowly, bemusedly.

HP – 20

Boss Battle!

Mountain Troll – Lvl 250

HP – 750/750.

Reality returned abruptly, and he rolled to the side as the troll smashed its club down again, splinters of stone peppering his back. He scrambled up, bones in his shoulder grating together, as the troll stumbled into the wall of the tower.

HP – 1

LUCK check passed. Damage = 1.

"Ventus!" he snapped, a twisting column of air throwing Hermione towards the door.

MP check passed. MP – 1.

He lunged to the left as the club whistled within inches of his face (motherfucking toreo – and there ain't never been a catedral like this one), but when he stumbled to his feet, Hermione was still standing there, frozen. 'Call the teachers, goddamnit!' he thought, diving to the left again. 'No sound, no smell and it's angry – Voldemort's going for the kill this time.'

He opted to shield against the next swing instead of dodging it – he couldn't run from it forever, while even a simple Protego was enough to stop physical objects.

MP check failed. MP – 1.

The shield barely slowed the club before it splintered, and he had but scant moments to try to block the brunt of the blow with his arm (oh, powerless, futile instinct). His left arm now hung completely shattered, while some of his ribs were smashed. He took a deep breath, then let out a soundless gasp when bones in his chest grated where they most definitely should not have.

HP – 20.

He blinked to clear his vision and swallowed, tasting blood in the back of his throat. 'Punctured lung. Not good.'

The next blow he was forced to shield again – moving was hardly an option – but this time, he deflected the blow off to the side instead of trying to stop it. The troll stumbled into a wall and roared in anger.

MP check passed. MP – 1.

LUCK check passed. Damage = 1.

Blood loss. HP – 1.

He used the distraction to try and levitate the club from its hand, but all he succeeded in doing was capturing its attention – although it was no longer looking at Hermione, which was a plus. How Ron had done it was a mystery.

MP check passed. LUCK check failed. MP – 1.

Blood loss. HP – 1.

The Astronomy Tower shook as it began running towards him, rage clearly visible in its brown eyes.

"Ventus duo!" he snarled, throwing the troll down the stairs with a boom. He grimaced in pain; even breathing was beginning to hurt.

MP check passed. MP – 1.

Damage = 5.

Blood loss. HP – 1.

This was impossible; he was doing far too little damage, his health was slipping away, and of course, luck was against-

Luck.

Oh, he was a fool.

The troll was charging at him and this time it was mad, but he would have laughed if he could. "Roll dice." He whispered, and the world froze as a dice appeared in his vision, spinning and tumbling through the air.

LUCK roll = +4

Probabilities will now be in your favour.

Blood loss. HP – 1.

Reality resumed – his chest was hurting, his health was falling, and the troll was charging, but this time, the odds were on his side.

"Wingardium leviosa." He incanted softly, and the troll's club lifted into the air, well out of its reach. It skidded to a halt and stared at it in befuddlement.

MP check passed. MP – 1.

Thirteen years ago, in a time that was yet to come, Ron had let the club drop and knocked the troll unconscious.

This time around, Harry was not feeling so benevolent. He swung the club down, smashing the troll's head into pulp.

Damage dealt = 743.

Your HP = 5/50.

Boss HP = 0/7500.

Boss defeated!

+3000 XP.

+20 skill points.

50 galleons loot bonus.

50 galleons put in inventory.

HP – 1.

Harry's vision was greying, and the pain was slowly turning into numbness. He was vaguely aware that the troll's corpse now blocked the stairs, and that its blood had splattered across the walls – but these things no longer seemed to matter.

When his HP reached three, Harry blacked out. The last thing he saw was Hermione hiding in a corner and staring at him in fear.

X…X

Information - Locked

Name: Harry James Potter

Origin: Dursley's

D.O.B: 31 July 1980

Gender: Male

Level: 38 [+80 XP]

Statistics

1.Advantages and Disadvantages: There are a fixed number of advantages and disadvantages that complement each other. They cannot be removed, but they can be switched out either by replacing them with the reverse of their complement or with another acquired advantage or disadvantage.

a.ADVANTAGES:

i.Hero's Complex: You're a Hero! Your entire purpose in life – your raison d'être – is to rescue people in trouble, and from it. Receive a temporary 10% boost to all stats when saving someone from danger.

ii.Nice Guy: Be as nice to as many people as possible… even to the shitty ones. Temporary +10 to Charisma when activated.

iii.Soul Strength: The metaphysical six-packs. No compulsion, Allure, Imperious or potion can subjugate your will. Wisdom temporarily reaches as high as necessary to defeat control.

iv.Need for Speed: It's what makes you a Seeker, not your inborn amazingness. Match a ritual enhanced Voldemort in speed and reflexes. Permanent +5 to Dexterity.

b.DISADVANTAGES:

i.Running Rashly: Have a tendency to jump into situations without thinking them through. Temporary -5 to Wisdom when activated.

ii.Survivor's Guilt: When an acquaintance or higher relationship dies, feel severe and crippling guilt for not saving them. Intelligence temporarily 0 when activated.

iii.Lecherous: Cannot resist the carnal temptations of the flesh. Try to have different levels of sexual congress with females ranging from flirting to hardcore fetish sex based on her attractiveness. Permanent -20 to Reputation with the female in question if one fails to do what one set out to do [flirt, fuck, etc.] when activated.

iv.Stage Fright: Shy away from attention and publicity of either kind. Temporary -5 to Charisma when activated.

c.STORED ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES: You have no stored advantages or disadvantages.

2.Features: Features are skill-points based statistics. These can be upgraded using basic skill points and have no upper limit. The average for any level is half of that level plus 7.

a.HP: [Max Health Points represent how much damage you can take.] : 50

b.MP: [Mana Points represent how much magic you can use.] : 36

c.DEX: [Dexterity represents your speed at running and dodging.] : 59+5 = 64

d.CHR: [Charisma represents how well you can interact with people.] : 57

e.WIS: [Wisdom represents how well you can think things through.] : 34

f.INT: [Intelligence represents how much and how quickly you can learn.] : 115

g.STR: [Strength represents how much physical work you can undertake.] : 63

h.VIT: [Vitality represents how long you can undertake physical activity.] : 60

i.Skill Points to be Allotted: 89

3.Skills: Skills are things that are learnt as the game progresses. These are upgraded by practicing them and have a maximum level of hundred. At a level x, a skill has x% chance of succeeding in a random test case, except at level hundred, which has a 99.9% chance.

a.Cooking: Lvl 100 – 100%

Master Chef – Any meal you cook will be an experience in ecstasy.

i.Potioneering: Level 30 – 0%

b.Flirting: Lvl 100

Ladies swoon when you glance their way, and whores blush at your innuendo.

c.Waiter: Lvl 100

Never has any man waited as you can wait – with poise, grace and awesomeness.

d.Gardening: Lvl 100 – 100%

Botanist – Your mere presence makes plants grow healthier and faster. It's like you're magic!

i.Herbology: Level 18 – 60%

e.Sneak: Lvl 50 – 0% Stealthy

f.Kissing: Lvl 100

You have the kind of kisses that turn frogs into princes. Try it. It works.

g.Pleasuring: Lvl 33 – 84%

h.Lovemaking: Lvl 25 – 30%

i.Wandcrafting: Lvl 10 – 0%

4.Titles: Titles represent the way a group of people thinks of you, usually based on the way you act or the things that are said about you.

a.Boy-Who-Lived: +100 reputation with people opposing or oppressed by Lord Voldemort. -100 reputation with people agreeing with or on the side of Lord Voldemort. +800 reputation with Albus Dumbledore. -800 reputation with Lord Voldemort.

b.Chore Boy: +20 reputation with Vernon Dursley. +30 reputation with Dudley Dursley. +1 reputation with Petunia Rose Dursley née Evans. +15 reputation [sympathy] from acquaintances and higher who are aware of title, excluding the Dursleys.

c.Whinging Gardener: +5 reputation with all residents of Little Whinging excluding the Dursleys.

d.Master of Death: Can summon Entities/Deities to the Waiting Room, ?

e.Professor: +30 reputation with all school-going students. +40 reputation with students who learnt something from you.

f.Gryffindor: +5 HP. -5 WIS. +10 reputation with all Gryffindors. -10 reputation with all Slytherins.

5.Unlocked Cheat Codes:

a.FAME

Petunia Rose Dursley née Evans – Level 35

Relationship: Aunt

Reputation: -205

Attractiveness: 26

Mood: ?

Angela Wilkinshire – Level 36

Relationship: Best Friend

Reputation: +870

Attractiveness: 18

Mood: ?

Joanne Rowling – Level 15

Relationship: Lover

Reputation: +1000

Attractiveness: 16

Mood: ?

Hermione Granger – Level 19

Relationship: Friend

Reputation: +5

Attractiveness: 6

Mood: ?

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore – Level 638

Relationship: Headmaster

Reputation: +800

Mood: ?

Severus Aengus Tobias Snape – Level 301

Relationship: Professor

Reputation: +100

Mood: ?

Inventory

1.The Sheets – The Name of the Game.

2.380 Pounds.

3.Basic armor clothing.

4.9188 Galleons, 6 Sickles, 1 Knut

5.Standard Hogwarts armor robes x 3

6.Book x 187

7.Standard Hogwarts Potions Kit

8.Owl Treats

9.Tough Dragonhide Hand Armor

10.Telescope Set

11.Writing Set x 2

Quests

1.Make the Dursleys like you, ?

Rewards: +30 skill points

+100 XP

?

2.Complete The Sheets

Rewards: +20 skill points

+ 800 XP

3.Find the Truth about what Old Tom is.

Rewards: +100 skill points

+500 XP

Companions

1.Post Owl – Hedwig: Delivers Post

a.HP: [Health Points represent how much damage it can take.] : 20

b.MP: [Mana Points represent how much magic it can use.] : 5

c.DEX: [Dexterity represents its speed at running and dodging.] : 41

d.INT: [Intelligence represents how much and how quickly it can learn.] : 15

e.STR: [Strength represents how much physical work it can undertake.] : 21

f.VIT: [Vitality represents how long it can undertake physical activity.] : 27

g.Skill Points to be Allotted : 0

Companions can be summoned to the side of the Gamer whenever required. The Gamer is responsible for allocating status points of the Companion.

X…X

I'm alive!