Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Avoiding danger on Hogwarts Express

My eyes flung open and darted from side to side.

Cushioned red seat under my butt, big window on my left, and a constantly moving scenario of trees were what filled my view.

I seemed to be on a train. Even though I was just at home, donning the headset and starting the new game I bought.

The smell, the lights, the sensation was too real for a crappy VR I had in possession.

And even though everything here was somewhat like in the trailer I watched before buying this game, it still was a tad too real to confuse it with anything but reality.

It might have been a dream come true if not for what kind of game this was.

The game I bought and started to play seconds ago is not necessarily the same Harry Potter world. Yes, it is based off of the well known story from the books, but the script writers and developers had a lot of room for creativity.

Based on the difficulty you choose the game changes to an absurd degree. The hostility, deadliness of monsters, duration and complexity of quests increases. But it also adds far more events to the plain, vanilla gameplay.

And that is why I chose Hell Mode, the highest possible difficulty.

To a spoiled gamer such as myself, the mutilation, deaths and blood mixed in with the school life of children seemed like fun.

But the implications were such that I might soon experience those things for real.

I stood up, approached the compartment door, opened it and took a look at the hallway. Several kids in the usual Hogwarts student attire were wandering around.

Closing the door I sat back down. Lowering my head and looking at my 1st year robes I wondered what will happen next.

I knew nothing of the plot of this game other than the fact that there is much more homicide and gore than in the original.

*click*

I heard the door opening and warily turned my head.

"Hello." A middle aged man greeted me, and after a short pause glanced at my robes and proceeded "First year? Nice to meet you." He offered his hand which I shook out of reflex.

"Hi," I replied, hesitance evident in my voice.

"Can I sit?" He asked, making a troubled face, "Others were quite packed, you see."

I barely stopped myself from outright refusing, considering that he is too old for a student I can only assume he is a professor.

"Yes, of course." I nodded.

"Thank you." He sat on the opposite side, never taking his eyes off of me, "I am Maxwell Inkwood, your herbology teacher for this year." He smiled, making me notice his all too manly features.

I examined his flossy-looking black hair, trimmed beard, green eyes and a big, fleshy nose.

Now that I took a better look, he seems quite familiar.

Yeah, there were some intimate interactions with him in the trailer. So he is a kind of capture target for females?

Still being uncertain, I replied.

"I am Wilford," I remembered the randomly generated name that I received at the beginning, "Wilford Rooks."

"So, Wilford," He placed his left hand on the seat and leaned on it while putting his right hand under his coat, "excited, aren't you?"

Trying to relax a bit, I smiled, my expression still a little tense.

"Yeah, I am."

"Ohh, how exciting it was-"

*click*

"-during my first day." He said loudly.

But it wasn't loud enough for me not to hear the clicking sound the door makes when opened or closed.

But when I looked at it, no one was there and it was shut. That's when I started to become anxious. Did he do something?

"I've never seen that much food on the table ever in my life." He chuckled, his right hand, which was under his coat, moving from side to side as if searching for something in the pockets.

"You will be thrilled." I saw something thin protruding from his coat.

" … , yeah. Erm, I'll go find my friends, if you don't mind." I stood up, shakily making my way to the compartment door, feeling weirdly uncomfortable.

"Is that so?" His smile faltered, "Well, then-"

When he was about to take out his right hand I hurriedly tried to open the door and the moment I touched the doorknob a person's silhouette entered my sight from the other side of the door.

*click*

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I heard the sound again, and the door opened. Turning back I saw Maxwell still holding his hand under his coat and smiling amiably.

"-see you around!"

I closed the door, tensely nodding instead of replying to him. I gave no mind to the girl I pushed aside slightly.

"Oh," She backed away, "um, sorry ... I just wanted to ask if you've seen a toad. Boy named Neville lost it." She asked, waking me up immediately.

"Neville..." I murmured.

"Yes, he's lost it." Hermione blinked at me.

"Uhh, yeah. Well, I haven't seen any toads, neither did this mister." I pointed at the compartment with my head, and saw professor Maxwell smiling at the two of us.

"Oh, alright." Hermione nodded and went on, searching for Neville's toad.

Meanwhile, I glanced one last time at the guy sitting alone in the compartment and slowly strode away.

He gave off some very creepy vibes. He most certainly locked the door and was about to do something to me.

Hopefully, that was just a paranoia.

Putting that aside, if this really is a game, then  perhaps some mechanics may still work.

I linked my fingers, imitated the movements you usually make on a VR controller and somehow managed to summon this window.

===

Wilford Rooks [Wizard (Ordinary)]

Physical Index 0.55 [Low (Early Development)]

Magic 0.55 [Low (Early Development)]

===

Apparently, that's my profile. Now I at least know that I am a normal wizard child. I expected the game on this difficulty to degrade me into a magical donkey.

First quests, like most quests in the game, have to be centered around Harry. It is his story after all. So if Hermione went to the right, I should go to the left. Because right now, I am way too vulnerable. And the golden trio is a magnet for trouble.

With that thought in mind, I turned around and walked forward. Passing Professor Maxwell's compartment once again I couldn't help but take another glance.

"The fuck?" I blurted out, inadvertently.

But he was nowhere to be seen.

Half a minute have passed at most. And he was gone. There were only the strange black traces left on the seat he sat on. As if a coal was smudged on it.

Was he really searching for a place to seat if he leaves immediately after finding an empty compartment? Or was he searching for something else? Like a little, defenseless kid sitting all alone. Chills run down my spine.

What business does he have with a kid!?

I should go search for sub-quests to clear asap.

There should be a way to raise my stats.

***

I've spent a few hours searching for quests that were unrelated to the main trio and was left with nothing.

Everyone I talked to acted quite normal (for magical children).

No one seemed to have any trouble with anything. So I sat in one of the compartments, which was filled with a bunch of children I never knew existed in the series and time went by.

The train stopped slowly, with a creak. And we finally arrived.

===

The following focal characters have died: [Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger]. Unable to proceed to the next stage. Restarting...

===

The new prompt obstructed my view of the Hogwarts station.

As I was hurriedly reading the contents, my vision blurred but was swiftly cleared after a second.

Nothing changed, except that the compartment was empty now and the train was moving again.

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