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Chapter Text

Harry grinned down at the brand new, still packaged game in his hands. It had taken him months of careful budgeting and working extra hours at the local convenience store to save up for it, but it was worth it. He finally had the new, state of the art interactive VR game on the market and not only that, but it was the next game in his all-time favorite gaming franchise, Hogwarts.

Harry was one of the most dedicated players of the game, having played every possible path in the three previous games: Hogwarts (the original), Hogwarts: Secrets of the Ministry, and Hogwarts: Masters of Magic. The games were mostly linear with a clear ending but the newest game, the prequel the fans, including Harry, had been begging for, Hogwarts: Rise of the Dark Lord was boasted to be the first completely AI operated open world exploration game where the ending is only decided by either the player quitting and starting over or their avatar’s death.

This prequel was expected to take place nearly fifty years before the original, during the school days of the soon to be Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort. Player’s will finally get to learn about, and even be a part of, Tom Riddle’s backstory. If rumors were to be believed, nothing was out of bounds even killing or romancing any of the characters. However, since it is an adaptive game, consequences are expected to follow the Player’s actions, such as premature death or even getting sentenced to Azkaban, which, in itself, is essentially game over.

The game came with a typical instruction manual and warnings about seizures, frightening or sexual content, mental health warnings, ect, but Harry was too excited to enter the brand new Hogwarts to read through them. All games these days had similar warnings so Harry couldn’t be bothered to read through them again.

He grabbed the chip from its case and picked up his well loved and worn VR headset. He was only able to own one because his aunt and uncle were gracious enough to give him Dudley’s old headset nearly three years ago when he had received two new ones as a Christmas gift. The device had many dents and scratches from Dudley’s less than gentle handling, but it still worked. It was the best and last gift they had given him before kicking him out on his seventeenth birthday.

He pulled the new chip carefully out of its packaging and prayed that his headset was compatible. It took  a few seconds for the older hardware to load but when Harry saw green light on the device’s active game indicator he whooped with joy. 

He quickly cleaned off the bed from the junk he had distractedly thrown on it when he had arrived home with his new prize and laid down. He slid the headset over his head and let his mind relax and fall into the virtual world.

It took only a few seconds for Harry to open his eyes in the game. He looked around to see he was standing on a center dais surrounded by mirrors. It was nearly the same character creation room as the previous games, but the most notable difference was how detailed his avatar looked already. He wasn’t   surprised to see that the game had used its outside cameras to generate his own appearance as the starting base, but the graphics were so well done that Harry almost thought that he was looking at himself in an actual mirror. He wasn’t even in the game yet, but he could see why it cost nearly three months of his wages to get.

A blue, slightly transparent screen appeared in front of him with text that generated as a voice spoke.

“Welcome Player. Please say or enter your desired name.”

Harry thought for a moment. He decided he wanted to do a semi-serious, self-insert run of the game for the first try, so he used his real name.

“Harry Potter.”

“Selection accepted.” The room lit up brighter and more screens appeared in front of him with various character creation choices. “Welcome to Hogwarts. Please use the screens to adjust your avatar and click ‘Finished’ when you are done with the appearance.”

Harry didn’t spend too long on the customization. Since he wanted to play the first run as himself, he kept most of his traits the same, with the exception of giving himself a slight lift to his height and flattening his hair to make it a bit less gravity defying. He clicked the ‘Finished’ button and the screens changed.

“Avatar appearance has been accepted. Now the Player must choose their character's backstory.”

The screens had sections for Family History, Family Trait Inheritance, Blood Status, Creature Inheritance, and more. There were far more options than the previous games had. In fact, because of the previous game’s linear narrative, you couldn’t choose the backstory at all.

“System,” Harry said, “does Family History affect the options for Family Inheritance?”

“That is correct.” The System replied. “Family Inheritance is unique to each Family History. Players may invent or randomize their own Family History and subsequently their Inheritance as long as it does not overlap with the locked traits.”

“What are the locked traits?”

“Some locked traits are only available to Players who choose the ‘randomization’ of their Family History and will become available to the Player once in the game. They will increase the game’s difficulty level based on the traits gained. Other traits may be gained through specific quests or actions of the Player throughout the game.”

“Can you tell me what they are specifically?” The locked traits sounded very intriguing. Who wouldn’t want unique traits in an RPG? However, the effect they appear to have on the game's difficulty made him hesitate. He wanted to experience all the game had to offer before testing himself against it, so a high starting difficulty would make exploration too tedious. Though, if he knew what he was getting then an elevated difficulty might not be so bad.

“Locked traits are unavailable to the Player at this time.”

Or not, seeing as the System wasn’t going to tell him anything. He decided that he had plenty of time to try more difficult runs in the future, but for now he was out to explore the open world.

Harry selected the Family History and was only able to glance at the first three options before the selection froze. A loading circle appeared in his line of sight while the game buffered. 

“Uh oh.” Harry knew that his headset might have trouble loading the high level graphics and advanced processing, but he wasn’t even in the main game yet. He tried selecting other options on the screen but nothing responded while the game lagged. Harry had just pulled his hand back when the screen cleared.

“Selection accepted,” the System said.

“Wait,” Harry said quickly, “I didn’t even get to pick anything yet.”

“Player’s selection has been accepted,” the System explained as if that would solve Harry’s problem. “For the final part of the character creation, the Hogwarts House Quiz is available to take to determine your house, or the Player may manually select the house of their choice. Additionally, the Player may also either take the Wand Matching Quiz or manually select the type of wand they would like.”

“Wait,” Harry said again. “I wasn’t done with the backstory. I want to go back to the previous selection.”

“Player’s selection has been accepted.” The System repeated uselessly.

“How are you not able to go back?” Harry grumbled. “For a supposedly advanced AI you get stuck in the character creation section?” When the System didn’t respond Harry just sighed. He supposed he could always delete the game and start over if he didn’t like it after the opening quest, but it was annoyingly inconvenient.

“Fine,” Harry acquiesced. He looked to the last two selections available. Harry had long since played a character from every house in the previous games, so he didn’t have the same anticipation over which house he should pick, but since the quiz originally wanted to put him in Slytherin, he selected that for his house for the first run.

He skipped over the wand quiz as well. As a devoted player, he had already experimented with different wand types as well and by now knew the type of wand that worked best with him: 11”, holly, with a phoenix feather core.

“Selection accepted,” the System said as the blue screens disappeared. “Character creation is complete. Player may now enter the game.”

The mirrored dais faded out and Harry was left floating momentarily in darkness before a new room appeared around him. He found himself sitting alone in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. He had a few seconds to marvel at how detailed the cabin looked and the way the seat felt under his hand when the blue interface system popped up in front of him again.

“Welcome to Hogwarts: Rise of the Dark Lord! As the player, you will be able to attend classes in magic, explore the open world both inside and outside of Hogwarts, and make decisions that will impact the progression of the story. The game supports an open ending that will ultimately be decided by the Player. The story may continue as long as the avatar is active.

“Please note that all non-playable characters in the game are supported with the system’s AI. As such, characters will act on their own while the user is logged in. Their actions will change as the Player interacts with the world, creating a story completely unique to each user. 

“The System is here to support the user. Any questions may be asked directly to the interface and this System will do its best to answer. To view active quests, character stats, character inventory, and system settings, you may summon the interface by saying “System Open” or swiping in a downward motion with your hand. Be advised that while the interface is open, all characters and game actions will be paused.

“The first story quest “Hogwarts Opening Feast” will begin in ten minutes when the train arrives. Feel free to use this time to adjust to your avatar, explore the train, or check character stats. We hope you have a pleasant experience here at Hogwarts.”

The System faded out leaving Harry alone in the cabin once again. Taking the System’s advice, Harry stood up and moved his avatar around to get acclimated to it. Everything felt much more real compared to the previous games. This time he could actually feel the way the robes lightly weighed down his arms and rubbed against his skin as he moved. It wasn’t exactly the same as real life, the sensations were dulled and barely there, but the fact he could feel them at all was a huge improvement. 

He sat down on the seat again and opened the System to check his character stats. The Stats page opened after a brief lag only to reveal that some of the sections were filled in with unreadable characters.

[Character Stats

Character Name: Harry Potter

Age/Year: 16, 6th Year

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Family Relations: ᛈ7𖹈𖹈%⧫, Bl!#k, ᛈ%v%⧫%ll, G⧫yᚠᚠin$7⧫

Traits: ᛈ!⧫s%l𖹈7ngu%, Inc⧫%!s%d M!gi#!l #!p!#i𖹈y +2, !n#i%n𖹈 M!gi#

Blood Status: ᛈu⧫%

Creature Inheritance: N7n%

Additional Information: …..]

“System,” Harry said, not acknowledging the blank blue screen that popped up immediately to his right. “What is this?”

“The System is unable to understand the Player's inquiry,” the System said. “Please specify.”

“Why can’t I read the character statistics?” Harry bit out, annoyed.

“Scanning for errors.” The System screen showed a spinning loading circle while it was scanned. “Error identified. System information has been corrupted during the loading process. The System will attempt to restore the corrupted file. Please wait.”

Harry drummed his fingers against his leg while he waited for the system to fix itself. He knew his headset was old, but he had really hoped it would still be able to run the game relatively fine. He didn’t mind the lags or extra processing time if the game could still run, but he really couldn’t afford a new headset.

“Thank you for waiting,” the System said. “The System apologizes to the Player for the inconvenience. The corrupted files have been restored.”

Harry looked at the Stats page again but it still looked the same as before.

“It doesn’t look fixed,” Harry said. “I still can’t read it.”

“The files are operating within the expected parameters.”

“But you can’t fix the display?”

“The display is operating within the expected parameters,” the System replied.

Harry groaned and fell back against his seat. He thought for a moment before a new idea suddenly came to mind.

“Can you read the Family Relations section out loud for me?” He said.

“Family Relations, Ṕ̶̰̘̋̈́̽̉̂̊͘ȍ̸̡̨̡̨̨̯͓͍̥̘̪͔̖̈͂̂́̂͂͌̒̉̽̈́͠t̵̥̰̭̹̩͓͋̆̌̀̐̋̉͑̇̍́̓͝t̷̪͂́̄̀̇e̷̝̣̗̭͚͑r̵͎̋̽̑̓̐͐̀̍͠͠ͅ–”

“Stop!” Harry cut the system off when a loud screech sounded while it began reading the corrupted text. He winced and rubbed his ears that were still ringing from the horrible sound. He didn’t know if it was because of his older hardware or if there really was a problem with the game, but it looked like he wouldn’t be able to get his own character stats.

Frustrated, Harry closed the window and sat in silence while the train continued on to its destination. He could restart the game and try the character creation again, but he couldn’t help but worry that it would be worse if he tried again. It was already having issues, restarting might clear it but it might also end up more corrupted. He supposed it wouldn’t hurt to try with what he currently had. Even though he couldn’t read some of it, it was still working according to the System, and ultimately the character background usually only had minimal impact on the story. It was worth a try at least.

Harry spent the remainder of the train ride getting used to his avatar. There were benefits to being a dedicated fan of the series, such as understanding the magic mechanics on a deep level. Harry knew how the magic was triggered from his hand to his wand and was able to mimic the magic flow directly from his hand by visualizing the action in his mind. After over a thousand hours in the previous games, he had gotten rather good at the low level spells and didn’t need his wand for those anymore. It was a huge help on the later quests, making fighting and exploring much quicker and easier.

It took a few tries, but Harry could tell that the mechanics were still the same when a ball of light appeared above his hand. It felt different than he was used to, the slow dull flow of magic was certainly sharper and much more reactive, but the method of summoning it worked the same.

Harry grinned. The excitement of using magic never dulled, even after all the hours he spent doing it. He wanted to try more spells but the train had arrived at the station. He could see students shuffling past his compartment window to exit the train.

He followed the flow of students out and onto the platform. All of the students were headed toward the carriages, but Harry stepped out of the flow of bodies and headed in the opposite direction.

In Hogwarts: Masters of Magic, there was a small Easter Egg at the end of the station’s platform that could only be recovered during the opening quest. Harry had discovered it in his second playthrough and went back for it in his third only to find that he couldn’t retrieve it after leaving the platform. It was a long shot, but he figured he’d check the area anyway.

He was so focused on reaching the end of the platform that he accidentally bumped into a passing student. The game settings dulled the impact for Harry, but the NPC must have felt it a lot harder than he did because he stumbled back from the impact. 

“Sorry,” Harry said loud enough to be heard over the murmur of the passing crowd. Since he didn’t have his wand out, he quickly waved his hand up in a subtle motion to summon a Leviosa that used the other student’s clothes to pull them upright because he wasn’t going to be rude and let them fall. He continued forward, not waiting for the other student’s reply. He didn’t want to linger too long and miss the carriages like he did the last time.

Harry stopped at the end of the platform that was now completely devoid of other students. He waved his hand across to cast a wordless Revelio and was pleasantly surprised to see a small object glow from under the furthest brick. Harry easily removed the brick and picked up the object. It appeared to be a small Hogwarts crest. It thrummed softly with magic but didn’t have any obvious uses.

Harry blinked twice while staring at the object and was pleased to see that the shortcut for the visual aid was still the same when the object’s description appeared in the air next to it.

[Crest of the Founders

A unique crest designed by the four founders of Hogwarts.]

With no use listed, it appeared to be a little trinket for the players that liked collectables and exploration. He wondered if he would get an achievement for finding it. Putting the item in his pocket, he turned to join the rest of the students and came face to face with none other than the Slytherin prefect, Tom Riddle, himself.

Riddle gave him a subtle look over as if he were looking for something before smiling pleasantly at Harry’s surprised expression.

“Carriages are the other way, Potter,” Riddle said conversationally. “Are you looking for something?” Although his tone was light, there was a strange glint in his eye that Harry couldn’t place.

Before Harry could respond, a blue screen popped up in front of him.

“Congratulations on your first interaction with a character!” The System said, with the words appearing on the screen. “To assist you with this interaction, please select one of the following responses.”

“I’m lost, can you help me find the carriages?”

“I am looking for something, would you assist me?”

“No, I’m good.”

Choose response.

Unimpressed with the generic game responses, Harry chose to answer on his own and see what the character would do.

“No, I just love finding some good brickwork,” Harry said cheerfully, motioning to the wall behind him. “It appears you have gone the wrong way as well, Riddle. What are you looking for?”

“A wayward student,” Riddle volleyed back, seemingly unperturbed by Harry’s cheek. “It would be a shame if a fellow classmate got misplaced on the first day.”

“As you are quite known to do,” Harry said. He could see a handful of other students still lingering on the platform that were ignored by the prefect, but he came to chase down Harry specifically.

“Indeed,” Riddle said. “Since we’ve both found what we’re looking for, shall we head to the carriages before we are left behind?”

“Lets,” Harry agreed. He brushed past Riddle, intending to lead the way to the carriages, but Riddle caught up easily and walked beside him. He watched Riddle out of the corner of his eye as they walked, trying to gauge what he would do, but Riddle didn’t say anything else to him and would only give a quick, passing comment to hurry along to the idling students they passed.

When they reached the pickup spot, there were two notable Slytherins waiting. He didn’t even need the system to identify Abraxas Malfoy and Caelum Nott, one from the recognizable platinum blond hair and the other from the obvious relation to Theodore Nott in the original game.

Malfoy made a face that looked to be a mix between confusion and annoyance at their approach while Nott didn’t even bat an eye at them. While he hesitated to join the waiting carriage, Riddle strode past him and stepped on. 

“Join us, Potter,” Riddle said, looking down at him after claiming a seat. “There’s plenty of room.” 

Malfoy and Nott got on, completely ignoring him, so Harry shrugged and followed, interested to see where this was going. No one else got on with them, despite half of the seats remaining unfilled, and the carriage started toward its destination.

Riddle pulled out a book and set it open on his lap while the other two studied Harry like he was a mildly interesting object.

“Strange to see you two together,” Nott said, breaking the silence after a few minutes.

“We were just admiring the brick work together,” Riddle said.

“Brick work,” Nott repeated slowly like he was trying to discern a different meaning in the words, but Riddle wasn’t forthcoming with anything else.

“Planning to be a mason, Potter?” Malfoy sneered.

“Perhaps, but nothing’s cemented yet,” Harry said, hoping to goad Malfoy into a reaction.

“Best to keep your options open,” Nott said, interjecting before Malfoy’s next comment.

Harry was a little disappointed at the response but let it go.

The rest of the ride was taken in silence. Riddle was interested in his book and Malfoy was determined to ignore his existence.

“Looks like we arrived,” Riddle broke the silence when the carriage stopped at the gates. He closed his book and it disappeared into his robes as he stood up. “See you in class, Potter. Try not to get distracted by the stone work on your way to the Great Hall.”

“No promises,” Harry replied.

He followed the trickle of arriving students into the castle and to the Great Hall. It was even more magnificent than he could have imagined. The stars, the candles, and intricately detailed architecture, it was all beautifully presented. Despite Harry pausing to take it all in, nobody was bothered and continued to walk around him. 

Harry walked over to the Slytherin table where a yellow quest marker was hovering over an open seat near the other sixth years. He recognized Riddle’s group sitting a few places down from his position, but other than them, he didn’t know the faces of any of the other students. 

While the rest of the students were finding their seats, Harry called up the visual aid to start learning the student names. Along with their names, their years, and houses showed up along with it. It made the Great Hall a bit overwhelming to look at with the words obscuring his vision, so he gave up when the first years walked in.

The sorting was standard and uneventful. When that was finished Harry turned to the food that appeared and was curious if he could taste it. He grabbed some well-seasoned potatoes for the test and took a bite.

It was certainly an interesting experience tasting virtual food. It didn’t taste anything like it would in real life, but there was a hint of it there. He couldn’t feel hunger in the game but it was still neat that it was included in the experience.

He bided his time by tasting a little bit of everything and watching the other students in the hall. They chatted with each other, only engaging Harry if he directly spoke to them. He played around a bit, saying some nonsensical things like how he met an extraterrestrial alien over the summer, just to see what the response would be, and most of the time to they took it as a joke, but sometimes he blank look like the AI didn’t know what to make of it. That made him laugh when it tried to respond to his gibberish.

During one of his visual sweeps of the hall, he caught the eyes of Riddle who was looking at him in what he would describe as mild curiosity. Harry gave him his own questing look back but when Riddle didn’t do anything but blink, Harry just grabbed his drink, raised in a cheering motion and took a drink of the barely tasteable pumpkin juice. 

Dinner wrapped up without further fanfare and the students were dismissed. As a Hogwarts expert, Harry didn’t even need the System map to find the Slytherin common room. He couldn’t help gawking a bit when he first saw it and practically bounced around the room in glee, wanting to check out every detail. When he explored every crevice he decided to check the dorms.

Harry recognized the system barrier when he stepped near his bed. It was a private zone that only users can enter for progress saving and adjusting system settings. Since there were no other quests to complete for the current in-game day, he took the opportunity to check his inventory.

“System open,” Harry said. Like expected, the world paused, the students freezing mid-action in the room around him, and the screen opened. Harry selected the inventory and saw that there were only two objects present, a pouch with a starting amount of 10 galleons and his wand. He pulled his wand out and put it in his pocket for easy access. He would have to buy a wand holder as soon as he figured out how to earn more money.

He flipped through each page in the system, seeing the still broken character stats, skills page, world map–which was almost completely dark except for the few paths he had walked today–and the game settings. He was about to close the window when one glaring problem caught his eye.

Difficulty level: $!ng%⧫7us

Now, what could that be?

Chapter Text

Hogwarts: Rise of the Dark Lord Community Forum

HeirofSyltherin69: Has anyone actually managed to get into Tom Riddle's inner circle? I’ve nearly finished the 6th Year and I still can’t even talk to the man without his lackeys getting in the way! How the hell are we supposed to ‘decide the ending’ if we don’t even exist to the main character of the game?!

GryffindorForever @HeirofSyltherin69: Be happy you got that far. I challenged him to a duel and he still killed me even on easy mode. I had to start all over again.

MyMagicStick @GryffindorForever: I can see why you’re a Gryffindor.

InfiniteChompingCabbages @HeirofSyltherin69: I saw someone posted the location of the unused classroom the Knights sometimes meet in, so I went there and waited for them to show. I died that night, and I didn’t even see anyone! How is that fair? Death is too liberal in this game!

PurebloodLord @HeirofSyltherin69: I got in! I chose Pureblood for my Blood Status and Slytherin for my house. I boasted about how my family was in the Ministry to the other characters and actually got to join the Knights! Although, apparently I couldn’t convince the characters that my family was powerful and respected, so I pretty much got delegated to the lowest position. They act like I barely exist but at least I’m in.

MasterOfLifeAndDeath: Has anyone tried randomization yet? Are there any cool traits worth randomizing the stats for?

SeerLater @MasterOfLifeAndDeath: I did. It took me restarting the game 54 times before I got the “Seer” trait. The rest weren’t very impressive. Some power boosts, physical traits, and a few unique spells.

SonofMagic @SeerLater: I didn’t know they included that! Can you actually see the future? Did it help with any quests?

SeerLater @SonofMagic: Actually, yeah, it’s pretty cool. My avatar gets kinda weak and can’t use spells for a few hours after a ‘vision’ which makes questing hard. I can’t control it either, it just kinda happens, rarely, but it shows me what the characters will do if left to their own devices.

KindlyWestKid @MasterOfLifeAndDeath: Anyone figure out if Parseltongue is a trait that we could get either through a quest or by chance?

AvadaCadaver @KindlyWestKid: Been stalking the forums. Haven’t seen anyone posting about it yet.

KindlyWestKid @AvadaCadaver: Dang. Was really hoping someone found it already.

TheActualHeir @AvadaCadaver: This is so frustrating! It’s a solo RPG, why can’t we just choose the traits we want instead of making it a game of chance! I just want to be the Heir of Slytherin too!

Amortentia777: Important question! What’s everyone’s relationship status????

HelluvaHufflepuff @Amortentia777: None. I’m as single in the game as I am in real life (╥﹏╥)

BeauxbatonsGirl @Amortentia777: Took a lot of persistence, but I managed to get Abraxas Malfoy to fall for me. He won’t break off his engagement but still insists he loves me. I might have to do something drastic soon  (💢◕▽◕)Ↄ🔪

DefenceAgainstDarkHearts @Amortentia777: I got myself a beautiful Ravenclaw girl. Not sure why everyone is going after Riddle’s group only…

DontAsk @DefenceAgainstDarkHearts: Gee I wonder why.

Amortentia777 @Amortentia777: But has anyone managed to seduce Tom Riddle??

MagicalPortions @Amortentia777: I don’t think that’s even possible. You know, because of the whole love potion backstory thing. It’s even in your name!

Amortentia777 @MagicalPortions: Nothing’s impossible as long as we can convince the game it’s possible! …Or just mod it really.

Harry frowned at the open forum on his phone. He couldn’t help but feel a bit cheated. At least they were able to see what their traits were. He couldn’t read his traits at all! It was kind of hard to get into character when he didn’t know anything about himself! He had already fallen into the RPG stereotype of a generic amnesiac. 

Harry quickly put his phone down when he heard the door open behind him. He was about to try to look busy but relaxed when an amused snort came from the person behind him.

“On the phone again, Harry?” His coworker, Ron, said, coming up next to him at the counter.

“It’s slow and there’s no customers.” Harry shrugged, not feeling bad at all when it was just his coworker that was here with him.

“There’s always cleaning to be done!” Ron proclaimed. “Or so the boss says.”

“Sure, you can get on that while I swap with you for my break,” Harry grabbed his phone again and headed for the door his coworker had just come out of.

“Let me guess,” Ron said, leaning back on the counter to watch him leave, “it’s that VR game again. Hogwarts, wasn’t it?”

“I’m surprised you remembered,” Harry said. “Since I only had to tell you the name ten times already.”

“What can I say?” Ron said, “I can’t relate. Do I look like I can afford something like that?”

“Do I?” Harry asked back, stopping at the door.

“Nope,” Ron said. “You spend everything you got on games. That’s why you don’t have a significant other.”

“I’m afraid you’re right,” Harry mock sighed, stepping through the door. “Let me know when that wealth of yours gets you a girlfriend, and I might be enlightened to your suave ways.”

“Hey!”

Harry shut the door and blocked out the rest of his coworker’s retort. Alone in the room, he allowed the carefree attitude to drop and sat down on one of the two foldout chairs. With nothing else to distract him, going back to his phone was second nature. He scrolled through more headlines and comments, planning to use the remaining ten minutes to catch up on the community's ongoing interests. Unsurprisingly, most of the comments centered around romancing Tom Riddle, or more precisely, the lack thereof. 

The topic wasn’t particularly interesting to Harry, since romancing a character wasn’t his goal in his first run of the game. He wanted to focus on the storyline, but if a romance came up naturally, he would of course pursue it. It was a self-insert run after all. The more inspired roleplaying runs can come later when he’s had his fill of the story.

At exactly the ten minute mark, Harry heard Ron yell for him.

“Hey, you lazy arse! Come and help me with the cleaning before the boss skins both of our hides!”

Harry closed his phone and got up to return to work. The remaining time passed in a slow, uneventful manner, with only a handful of customers coming before the shift change. Unexpectedly, there wasn’t even an irate customer to liven the mood.

He said a quick farewell to Ron who he would be seeing in two days anyway, and walked the twenty minute trip home.

The atmosphere was a bit melancholy when he returned to his apartment. He felt only exhaustion when he shut and leaned against the door behind him. The light flickered above like a faulty battery, casting the room with dark shadows, but at the sight of his VR headset on the table his mood got a sudden lift.

He threw a frozen dinner into the microwave for a quick meal, scarfing the lukewarm food down without really tasting it, before snatching the small console off of the table and flopping down onto the bed. He activated the headset and let himself fall back into the VR world.

It only took a few moments before Harry found himself lying in his bed in the Slytherin dormitory, right where he had logged off. The next day had arrived since he ‘saved’ in the safe zone, so Harry got out of bed and headed to his next quest. The main quest marker was still on “Attend Class,” so he went straight to the one on that day’s schedule, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Since his character didn’t need to eat often and the action lost its novelty after the first day, he skipped going to the Great Hall and instead went to the marked location where a ‘Wait for class’ option appeared in front of him. It was a well used option for Harry, so he quickly clicked it. The space warped around him for a moment before he saw the other students filling into the once vacant classroom.

Harry followed and chose his usual seat in the middle. He was really looking forward to today’s class. If he remembered correctly, they would be having their first duel, which in turn should unlock the dueling club that Harry learned about on the game forum a few days ago.

By now Harry had completed two weeks of in-game time, which amounted to 7 hours in real life over the past few days. He couldn’t play long on work nights with all of his overtime, but he still squeezed in what hours he could. 

Unlike him, there were naturally people in the world who were able to play the game non-stop and post spoilers online. Although he didn’t want to know story spoilers, he followed the threads that talked mainly about class topics and character questions so he could get an idea about what to look forward to. 

He was really eager to join the dueling club. Harry had always found that the thrill and surprise never wore off, no matter how many times he’s done it. If he found it exhilarating in the older games, he could already imagine how exciting it’ll be in his one.

“Good morning, class.” Professor Merrythought’s voice brought Harry’s attention back to the class.

“Good morning, professor,” Harry and the rest of the class parroted back.

“I hope all of you completed your readings on Dueling Practice and Etiquette because we will be starting off right away with a quiz,” the Professor said.

There were some mumbled complaints in the room.

“Quiet,” Professor Merrythought said. “I advise you all to take this quiz seriously. If you fail, you will not be allowed to participate in today’s practical portion.”

That seemed to make the class serious. Everyone quieted down and started on their quiz the moment it landed in front of them.

Harry took one look at the paper and smiled. It was too simple for a veteran player like him. Left. Bow. Protego. Wand loss or unconsciousness. 1724. He easily finished in less than two minutes. 

When the time was up, the professor took the papers and quickly graded them. Harry naturally got a perfect score and followed the rest of the class to the pre-setup dueling platform.

“Who would like to volunteer to go first?” Professor Merrythought asked.

“I volunteer, Professor,” Riddle said before anyone else could speak up.

“Right, Mr. Riddle, and who would like to be his opponent?” the Professor said.

There was an extended silence in the classroom after Riddle had volunteered. Riddle was the best duelist in the class, perhaps in the school, and no one in a class of Hufflepuffs and Slytherins was a glutton for punishment. 

“I will,” Harry said. He had been waiting to try his hand against Riddle anyway, so why not seize the opportunity now?

“Alright, then,” the Professor said. “Come up to the dueling platform, both of you.”

Harry eagerly came forward and climbed up onto the platform.

“Remember, no advanced, dark, dangerous, or permanently maiming spells,” the Professor warned.

“Yes, Professor.” Both Riddle and Harry acknowledged the Professor without looking at her, each sizing up their opponent instead.

“Good,” the Professor said. “Then we’ll begin. First, bow.”

Harry couldn’t stop the eager smile from spreading on his face as they started. Riddle continued to watch him with a blank face, but he did see a minute twitch in his brow at Harry’s eagerness.

“Turn,” the Professor said. “Three steps. One, two, three!” 

Before Harry could complete his first spell, Riddle had already finished his first.

“Stupify.” Riddle’s wand was fast in its motion. Harry had to immediately dodge to the right while maintaining his partially started spell, and stepped right in the path of two more.

“Incarcerous. Petrificus Totalus.” Harry didn’t even see Riddle’s casting this time, too busy throwing himself to the ground instead.

“Expelliarmus!” Harry rolled to his feet while throwing the spell, but Riddle smoothly blocked it with an already prepared shield.

“Is that the best you can do?” Riddle asked, looking bored.

“Same to you,” Harry said with a smirk. “Three spells and none of them hit? You must be losing your touch.”

There was no outward reaction from Riddle, but Harry knew his words got to him when he started throwing heavier spells toward him.

“Confringo. Despulso.”

Harry managed to block the first and dodge the second. 

“Stupify.” Harry threw the stunner as a distraction and followed up with a whispered Fulgari, seeing if he could catch Riddle off guard. He didn’t, but he saw Riddle jerk minutely when he saw the spell he didn’t hear an incantation for. Riddle blocked it just in time. Harry grinned at his wavering shield.

Riddle frowned back, and threw three wordless spells at him in return. Flipendo, Immobulus, and whatever the heck that last one was. Harry quickly dodged all three, not having time to decide if could block all of them, with the last just barely skimming past him and leaving a sizable dent in the wall behind him. He didn’t spare it any more attention, already blocking another wordless spell he recognized.

The back and forth spells continued. Although Harry was experienced in dueling, even he struggled to dodge so many fast spells being flung at him. One or two hit, while a few nicked him in a half-successful dodge, but he barely felt them.

“Having trouble, Riddle?” Harry asked teasingly when he lowered his shield for the last spell. “It’s like you’re going easy on me.” Harry could feel his stamina and health were running dangerously low. He would need to end this soon.

This time, Riddle’s eye visibly twitched at the insult. And just as he hoped, Riddle got more aggressive and less precise when he was antagonized.

Two wordless spells Harry didn’t recognize came at him, leaving him no choice but to get out of their way, and when Riddle was casting his third, Harry threw up a wandless Protego with his free hand and cast Expelliarmus with his wand.

Riddle’s eyes widened when his spell was blocked and he was hit at nearly the same time. Riddle’s wand flew from his hand and into Harry’s to the stunned crowd's surprise.

Harry panted from the exertion. His heart beat wildly in excitement. He always loved magic, and dueling was the most exciting way to experience it. On top of that, he beat Tom Riddle! Sure he had over a thousand hours of game experience compared to the new AI, but still, Harry will take the win with pride.

“Excellent duel you two,” the Professor said, breaking the silence that had descended at Harry’s victory. “Twenty points to Slytherin for the superb performance. But for the safety of the students, I will remind you that wordless spells are forbidden in class duels, and as such I will be removing twenty points as well.”

Twenty points wasn’t a big deal, especially since they just broke even, and judging by the intense stare he was getting from Riddle, he didn’t seem to care much about the points either.

Harry tossed Riddle his wand and jumped off of the dueling platform. He got a couple of scathing looks from Riddle’s posse and curious ones from the Hufflepuffs, but Harry didn’t care. He was still thrumming with the thrill of the fight and already couldn’t wait to do it again. The speed, visuals, and unexpectedness of the duel was unbelievable. Five stars to the game devs.

The rest of the class continued with a couple more student volunteers, whose fights were, frankly, lacking in excitement. Watching the back and forth Stupefy’s and Protego’s with the handful of Expelliarmus spells really killed the enthusiasm of the class.

Like Harry expected, Professor Merrythought announced the opening of the dueling club registration at the end of the lesson which would begin next week. Harry was the first to sign up, jotting his name down so quickly it was barely legible. He didn’t wait to see who signed up after him. The club would be populated with members whether students from the class signed up or not. 

Harry left the classroom, thinking about what he should do next, and when he was only a few feet outside of the door, a notification screen popped up in front of him.

“Congratulations on completing the tutorial quest!” The screen read. “Player will now have freedom to explore the world at will. Remember to attend class and complete the main story as the Player’s choices will dictate the progress of the game. Select plot and relationship stats can now be viewed through the system menu.”

Although the screen was transparent, Harry had stopped to read the message and didn’t notice when someone else had stopped in front of him. He waved the screen away and nearly jumped when he saw a person instead of the open hallway. He looked up into the eyes of none other than the Protagonist himself.

“You left so quickly I didn’t get a chance to compliment your dueling skills,” Riddle said with a polite and charming smile. “It’s remarkable that your skills have improved so drastically from last year. I don’t recall seeing such a dedication to Defense from you before.”

Harry could see how their conversation was drawing eyes from the passing students. Everyone was wondering why the dashing Slytherin Prefect was talking to a nobody outside of class. But not just any nobody, the one that shockingly defeated the unbeatable Tom Riddle. Harry could tell they were waiting to see if he was going to get his comeuppance for besting Riddle.

“Right, because we were so close that I shared all of my hopes and dreams with you last year,” Harry snarked.

“I always keep a close eye out for exceptional talent, and I certainly would have noticed you,” Riddle said.

“Ouch,” Harry said with mock hurt but then smiled brightly. “To think that someone with no talent beat you…”

“I’ve always believed that excellence in practice can make up for lacking talent,” Riddle said, easily brushing off Harry’s words. “Since you don’t have any classes in the afternoon, why don’t you join me for lunch.”

Harry could see that ‘me’ in that statement also included the entourage that was standing behind Riddle, waiting for the Prefect at the end of the hallway. They were talking amongst themselves, looking at ease, but Harry could see the way they kept an eye out in their direction for any sign of trouble from Harry’s side.

“No thanks,” Harry declined, “I’m not hungry.”

“I know that you weren’t at breakfast,” Riddle said conversationally and not at all like a stalker. “As the Slytherin Prefect I can’t let a student collapse because they wanted to skip meals. But if you prefer, I could recommend you to Mrs. Blainey, so you could discuss this with a professional.”

Harry hid his amusement behind a blank face. He naturally knew what Riddle was doing. If Riddle reported his concern over Harry skipping meals to the school’s Matron, then Harry would be suspended from strenuous extracurriculars like Quidditch and dueling because of health concerns. It happened once in the past when he didn’t take care of his avatar in a previous game.

“Thank you for your concern,” Harry said, “but that won’t be necessary. It would seem that I’m suddenly quite hungry.”

“Excellent,” Riddle said with his usual charming smile. “Then shall we?”

“Lead the way.” Harry followed Riddle to the Great Hall. Neither of them acknowledged the posse that fell into line behind them, but Harry could feel their curious stares. Yeah, him too. 

If Riddle noticed his probing gaze, he didn’t react to it. The walk to the Great Hall was rather long in the silence. Harry tried to ignore the looks the passing students gave them. The last time he was at the center of attention like this was because he was trying to increase awareness of Voldemort’s return in the original Hogwarts game and that did not go well.

They entered the hall with more stares, this time all from the Slytherin’s table. Tom took his seat, looking completely at ease as the center of attention before motioning Harry to sit. He was directed to sit directly opposite of Riddle with Lestrange and Black next to him, much like an interrogation setup. Lucky him.

Nobody said anything to him at first. They grabbed their own meals and talked amongst each other in generic conversations, practically ignoring Harry’s existence. Harry only nibbled on the food to keep up appearances. He knew that Riddle didn’t really care either way if he ate or not. He mostly wanted to figure out Harry, even though Harry would sorely disappoint him. His goal wasn’t to mess with the story, but rather to see how it would naturally play out. If Riddle wanted an extra buddy, then sure he’ll be his buddy, but he’s not trying to take his spot in the spotlight. At least, not in this play through. He has all sorts of plans to mess with Riddle, but only after he gets to enjoy the main story first.

“So, Potter,” Riddle said, suddenly, directing everyone from their personal conversations to focus on the two of them. “You must have studied hard over the summer to achieve such drastic improvements in dueling. It’s truly commendable, though it must have been challenging with having no magical parents, the ministry’s age-restriction, and overall lack of communication with the magical world during that time.”

Harry figured this was part of his background that he couldn’t read through in the System panel. Thank you stalker Riddle for the free background check!

“I worked with what I had,” Harry said. “I can’t remember who it was, but someone once told me that excellence in practice can make up for lacking talent.”

“A wise saying.” Riddle played along unfazed. “However, regardless of practice, wordless spells are considered an advanced form of magic, requiring not only strong innate magic but also a deep understanding of the flow of universal energy; wandless magic even more so.”

Complimenting yourself there, eh? Harry hid his amusement behind the bread roll in his hand.

Harry was about to respond when the world suddenly glitched around him. It was like a mix between buffering and broken graphics where even Harry himself couldn’t move. It was only a few moments before everything snapped into focus and resumed course, but Harry was left with motion sickness from the unexpected glitching.

Harry felt the roll slip from his hand, but he was too busy squeezing his eyes shut to quell the nausea. A couple of seconds later and the sickness disappeared. He grabbed the roll and spoke to Riddle around a bite.

“My great admiration for you really sparked my desire to learn.” Harry's voice was slightly muffled from the bread, but he didn’t care. “You’re the most talented student of our year so naturally everyone wants to be able to use advanced magic like you.”

“Wanting something and being able to achieve something rarely go hand in hand,” Riddle said.

“Speaking from experience?“ Harry goaded.

“Only from those who have fallen before me,” Riddle said causally.

Well that was a little ominous.

The conversation turned mundane after Riddle seemed to lose interest in interrogating him further. Black tried to subtly inquire more into his background but wasn’t successful in getting anything out of him. It wasn’t like he could answer even if he wanted to.

Harry didn’t notice the keen eye that Riddle kept on his actions, from the momentary dizziness he experienced earlier to his now easygoing conversation with Black.

That evening, Harry found himself getting his first official side quest.

[Side Quest (optional):

The power of Divination can be vast and incomprehensible, but even those who lack a natural gift in the arts can sometimes be blessed with insight into their future. This ancient practice has long been used by Centaurs and other creatures of nature. Search the Astronomy Tower for the clues.]

It wasn’t a mandatory quest, and he could skip it since it was only an increase to the divination skill—which Harry thought to be the most useless timewaster in the whole game—but he really wanted to get 100% on the story completion, so he sucked it up and got ready to do it.

He used a disillusionment charm to sneak out of the common room just after midnight. Most of the Prefects had returned to bed by this time, making it the perfect time to explore before the teachers got up in the morning.

He didn’t pass anyone on his way to the Astronomy Tower. His side quest was to find a clue for upgrading the divination skill at the top of the tower. Based on the description, it looked like it was related to star readings, so he decided to venture out after hours when the stars would be bright and clear.

Just as he was reaching the top, a dark shadow in the window caught his attention. Harry nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Tom Riddle sitting on the windowsill. He was lounging in a serene manner and using the moonlight to read the book in his lap. Harry stood there frozen for a moment but when Riddle didn’t acknowledge him, he tried to sneak past him up the rest of the stairs to the telescopes. 

“A deduction of house points or detention awaits the students who leave the common room after curfew,” Riddle said suddenly.

Harry flinched and stopped. Knowing he was caught, he dropped the spell and turned around. 

“Which do you prefer?” Riddle asked, slowly flipping a page from his book.

“Do I really get a choice?” Harry asked warily.

“It is a Prefect’s job to listen to the opinions of their peers,” Riddle said, finally glancing up with an expression of mild interest.

“Points, then,” Harry said. He really couldn’t believe his rotten luck. How many times had he run into Riddle today alone? And he just had to be guarding the location of his side quest? He could have snuck past any other Prefect, but of course it had to be Riddle. “What are you doing here?”

“I have a duty to patrol after curfew,” Riddle said. “Shouldn’t I be the one to ask what you’re doing out this late?”

“Forgot my homework.” Harry threw out the standard excuse.

“And it couldn’t wait until morning?” Riddle's tone suggested he already knew the answer.

“It’s due in the morning,” Harry replied easily.

“That would be compelling if you actually had an Astronomy class this semester,” Riddle's expression didn't change, but there was a glint of amusement in his eyes.

Harry internally grumbled, wondering if Riddle would know what it meant if he flipped him off. How does this guy have a response for everything?

“Fine,” Harry relented. “You clearly know I’m here for something else. Just hand out the punishment already.”

Riddle stood up from the windowsill in one fluid motion, brushing off invisible dust from his robes. He tilted his head slightly, studying Harry with that same unsettling intensity from the train platform.

"A bit of advice before I do," Riddle said. “You duel less like a Slytherin and more like a Gryffindor. It would be best to curb those habits before the next duel.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment." Harry grinned. “I’m a versatile duelist."

"Do you think I'm complimenting you when you won the duel with your strength hanging on by a thread?" Riddle took a step closer, and his greater height made it seem like he was looking down at him. "You expended nearly all of your magical reserves for a single victory in a practice match."

“Whatever criticisms you have, it was still I who won,” Harry said, refusing to back down.

"For today," Riddle agreed, his tone almost conversational, "in a practice duel where there were no other concerns than winning that one battle."

“Uh yeah, that was the point of the duel,” Harry said. “A battle just between two people.”

"Did you gain anything from it?" Riddle asked, and there was something genuinely curious in his voice now. "Rather than exerting your strength in one moment, against one opponent, a Slytherin would have focused on gaining the upper hand without gambling everything on one reckless move. They wouldn't put themselves in the position of defeat just after winning."

Harry blinked, caught off guard by the unexpected lecture. This was starting to feel less like an insult and more like...mentoring?

“Are you giving me advice because you want me to beat you again?” Harry asked, genuinely confused.

"I'm merely curious about your potential," Riddle said, and for a moment his mask of perfect composure shifted into something more intent. "I'd be sorely disappointed if this is all you can amount to."

The words hung in the air between them. Harry studied Riddle's expression, searching for the catch, but found only that same measured curiosity he'd worn at the train platform. It was unsettling how Riddle could make even genuine interest feel like a trap being set.

“It’s quite late,” Riddle said. “I’ll be returning now. It’s best you do so too before the night wanes.”

Before Harry could respond, Riddle was descending the stairs, his footsteps eerily silent on the stone. Within moments, he'd disappeared into the shadows below, leaving Harry alone in the empty tower.

Harry was a little stunned at what just happened. Before he could decide what to do next, a text box popped up in front of him.

[Side Quest (mandatory):

Attend detention with Professor Merrythought tomorrow at 8 PM.]

“Seriously?!”