Harry Potter: The Gamer's Dimension Chapter 1

Hi all,

Here’s the first chapter of my new HP: Gamer story. It should come as no surprise, but it is far different than before. But there are some similarities, mainly with returning characters and relationships.

Here’s a brief breakdown.

The concept of the gamer system is a lot different. Harry will have the ability to travel to a different dimension called: The Gamer’s Dimension. He will be the only one who will be able to do this.

Additionally, the gamer system is limited to the dimension. This means that when he returns to the real world, he won’t have access to it. However, depending on how strong he gets in the dimension, it will have some effect on his capabilities in the real world. Such as increasing his magic and such. Furthermore, some abilities and items may be transferable out of the dimension.

I did this so I don’t have to worry as much about making Harry too overpowered or inventing complicated systems to hide his ability.

Celeste will be returning in this story, as well as Hedwig. However, Hedwig will not be accompanying Harry into the dimension.

The main pairing will still be HarryxHermione. The story starts in the summer holidays before his third year. I will be following the canon a bit more closely, but there still will be a lot of changes.

Chapter 1

??????? (Gamer Dimension)

Harry sprinted across the field of grass as fast as he could. His breathing was laboured, his heart pounding heavily in his chest, and he was fighting the urge to surrender to his fear. His chances of survival were slim, but he wasn't quite prepared for his life to end this way.

The ground shook, almost sending him tumbling to the ground. The only thing that helped was that he was anticipating the tremor, as it was no earthquake, but the footsteps of an absolute monster that was pursuing him. He used the word 'pursue' loosely since the monster was only strolling, not putting much effort into keeping up with him as if it was simply amusing itself. Despite its carefree manner, it was still able to easily follow him. Harry was enveloped by its shadow like a huge cloud that had blotted out the sun.

He reached the bottom of a small hill where the terrain sloped steeply upward. He pumped his legs and took the incline swiftly. His lungs were burning, and he was hunching over as if a great weight was bearing down on him. Two-thirds of the way up the hill, he could see a drop-off at the peak, giving him some hope. If he could throw himself over the edge, maybe he could break the monster's line of sight, giving him a small window of opportunity to hide himself. Since he had no alternative, he didn't care if he was injured from the fall.

After another tremor rocked the hill, he fell forwards, reaching out his hands to brace himself as he hit the ground. Just as he stood up to continue moving, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

“Behind you!” A voice screamed in his ear.

Harry swallowed and turned slowly around to see the nightmare looming over him. He was totally helpless. A giant hand reached down and roughly lifted him off the ground. Harry screamed as he drew nearer to its enormous head. A pair of yellow eyes, each the size of his body stared at him with a mixture of cruelty and disregard. A gust of the monster's breath blew over him, almost making him gag from the foul stench.

“Get out of here,” Harry gasped, speaking to his companion seated on his shoulder.

“As if I was going to abandon you at this point,” she countered.

“Don’t be foolish,” Harry whispered. “Don’t throw your life away like that.”

“It’s not over yet,” she denied.

“Stupid bint,” he muttered.

His overconfidence had gotten the best of him. He had made good progress since he first arrived at this place, which made him feel invincible. So much, that he ventured into an area that he shouldn’t have, and now he was going to pay the ultimate price. If only he could do it over again.

Harry lamented. Why did this have to happen? What could he do? Was there anything…

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Little Whinging, Surrey

Two months earlier.

Harry awoke with a start, looking around to regain his bearings. After a moment, he realised where he was. He was at the park, taking refuge in the small fort. The warmth of the afternoon sun had lulled him to sleep. He glanced at his battered watch and saw that it was almost three o'clock. There was still some time left before he had to return home and prepare dinner for his relatives.

Harry spent most of the day outside. It was especially unpleasant staying at the house at the moment. His thirteenth birthday was yesterday, but there was no time for celebration because Marge Dursley came to stay for the week. The woman wasted no time in trying to make him miserable. Furthermore, she brought her vicious bulldog, Ripper, along with her. He had already had a few close encounters with the beast.

At least he had his wand with him. He carried it in a holster that was affixed to his right arm. If a dangerous situation arose, he wouldn't hesitate to defend himself, no matter what trouble he got into. When he was in Diagon Alley the previous summer, he purchased the wand holster from Ollivanders.

When Uncle Vernon took away his possessions after he left Kings Cross Station, he told him that his wand had been confiscated for the summer. Since Harry had gotten into trouble the previous summer for performing magic, Uncle Vernon swallowed the lie.

Harry hated the summer holidays. It meant spending time with his horrid relatives and surviving on a meagre amount of food. After eating so abundantly at Hogwarts, it was difficult to go back to eating a pittance. Thankfully, Molly Weasley understood his predicament and sent him food packages that he hid under a loose floorboard. The woman was a saint, albeit a little overbearing. He could overlook a few faults, though, since she provided a lot of food.

Molly had asked Dumbledore if Harry could stay at the Burrow during the summer following the incident in the Chamber of Secrets. For a brief moment, Harry had been ecstatic, but Dumbledore denied her request. According to the Headmaster, he was protected while staying at the Dursleys, a statement that infuriated him. Harry wanted to ask if Dumbledore understood the meaning of what protection actually meant.

Although he wasn't physically abused, there were several forms of abuse, some of which could be just as damaging or worse. It was a miracle that he had not turned out to be a complete social misfit due to the isolation he suffered as a child.

His situation at home was becoming intolerable, so he actively sought ways to escape the Dursleys. He had asked Professor McGonagall about his options since she was his father’s godmother, but her response was disappointing. Dumbledore was his Magical Guardian and had a say over where he lived until he reached his majority. He wanted to question his parent's intelligence for assigning Dumbledore as his guardian.

Running away wasn't an option. Dumbledore had put a limit on how much he could spend each year from his trust vault. There was no way he was going to abandon the gold his parents left him. Additionally, he would have to abandon the magical world completely to remain anonymous, and there was no way in hell he would ever do that.

As of right now, he didn't like Dumbledore very much. He was confident the man didn't like him either. Although, that had probably been the result of making some offensive remarks about the old man’s admiration for farm animals. Since he had been angry in the heat of the moment, he couldn't recall everything he said, but there were several mentions of a goat.

Due to the events in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry had an epiphany. He was tired of being passive and of having things happen to him. No longer was he going to allow others to dictate his life. He began to question everything, which led to the realisation of how badly the adults in his life had screwed up.

Sure, his new attitude may come with a very colourful vocabulary and a penchant for insulting people, but he liked to see it as a higher form of communication that no one else understood. Hermione said that it was called being a brat. It might have been true in some sense but it was very liberating at the same time.

Aside from all the drama in his life, there were two strange occurrences that had happened to him recently. First of all, when he was out walking a week ago, he was approached by a stranger who was wearing a hood concealing his face. He was immediately wary, fearing the man might be a threat, but the man made no move to attack him. Instead, held out something for him to take. It was a pitch-black ring, a simple plain band with no ornamentation of any kind.

“I no longer need this,” the stranger whispered.

Harry backed up a step, but the man was quick. Reaching out, he grabbed his arm and held him tightly.

“Let me go, bastard!”

As Harry was about to summon his wand, the man placed the ring in his other hand and let him go. The man turned around and walked away without looking back.

At first, Harry was tempted to throw the ring away. It didn’t appear to be anything valuable, and he didn’t feel like holding onto something that a stranger gave him. But some strange impulse stopped him, and so he held on to it. The next day, when he was feeling particularly bored, he decided to put it on. It was a mistake because, despite his best efforts, the thing would not come off. He tried using a combination of soap and lubricant to make his finger slippery, so it would slide off, but it didn’t work.

From that point on, another odd occurrence happened. He saw two strange doors appear seemingly out of nowhere. They were not attached to any building but stood on their own. Furthermore, it appeared that they were insubstantial, lacking any physical tangibility.

For example, there was one located in this very park. This door looked to be made of bronze and was enormous, three times as big as an average door. A couple of days ago, he watched two children walk right through it as if it wasn't there. As for him, he had not approached it yet, cautious about something he didn’t understand.

Harry climbed down the fort and made his way over to the entrance to the park. His steps froze when he saw Dudley standing there. As if that weren't bad enough, his cousin held Ripper by the leash. The bulldog growled at him, showing off its fangs.

“Scar-Head. I'd like to play a game with you. I'm sure you're very familiar with it.”

“Who is that I see? It must be the future prison bitch, Dudlette Dursley, that is standing in my way,” Harry quipped.

“I’m going to enjoy pounding your face into the ground,” Dudley said with a sneer.

Harry immediately turned around to leave through the other exit. Then he noticed Pier Polkins and two more boys standing in his way. Harry looked around as the boys started encircling him, blocking any avenue of escape. He backed up, and he was so focused on keeping an eye on them, that he didn’t realise where he was going.

His back hit something solid, and he turned to see that he had hit the doorway. He stood frozen in disbelief that the door was actually tangible. When he heard footsteps, he returned his attention to the boys. As he was considering summoning his wand, his left hand which was wearing the ring brushed the door. Suddenly, the door creaked open, and before he could even react, he was pulled inside.

The Deadlands (Gamer Dimension)

Harry fell forward and landed heavily on the ground. Groaning, Harry lay there for a moment, wondering what the hell had happened. Did one of the boys ambush him? Climbing to his feet, he looked around and realised he was no longer in the park.

“What the hell?”

He was inside a cave of some kind, and somebody had set up a camp nearby. A campfire was blazing a few metres away, casting flickering shadows on the limestone ceiling above him. Beside the campfire was a bedroll with a single pillow and blanket. There was also an opening that led into a dark passageway.

Harry was utterly confused as to how he had wound up here. The first thing that came to mind was that he performed a bout of accidental magic in his desperation to escape another beating. It wouldn't be the first time he had seemingly teleported. The last time, he ended up on the school roof while being chased by Dudley and his gang.

Then he remembered what happened right before he arrived here. He was pulled inside when the gate opened. Whatever it was, he was certain that it had caused his current predicament. He turned around, thinking the door was still there, but it was gone.

Since he didn’t see an obvious way of returning to the park, he decided he would explore for the time being. At least he was safe from Dudley, and his curiosity was piqued about his current predicament.

Harry approached the bedroll. He noticed that there was a knapsack and a piece of parchment lying on top of it. Sitting down on the bedroll, he picked up the parchment and read it.

=====

The Gamers Dimension Note #5

Key Command Words (spoken)

Gamer’s Menu - Displays a menu that lists and provides access to the current functions available.

Dismiss - Closes the window that is currently open.

Shortcuts

Status - The player's status; which shows off his parameters.

Map - Displays the world map and the areas the player has explored.

Skills- It shows a list of all skills the player has learned.

Quests - Gives information on all active quests.

User Interface Settings - Allows the player to change what is displayed.

User Interface On/Off - Enables or disables the user display that overlays the player’s vision.

*Commands must be used with intent. A casual utterance will not activate them.

=====

Harry was perplexed. The words made absolutely no sense. What the hell was the gamer's dimension? And what was with all these commands? The only way to really find out is to say one of them out loud and see what happens. He decided to try it, although he felt a little foolish about thinking that it might actually lead to something.

“Gamer’s Menu.”

Harry gasped when a blue window appeared in front of him. He surveyed the bizarre sight, having never seen anything like it before. Even in the magical world, its appearance would raise some eyebrows. When he touched the window, he was surprised to find that it was tactile. It even followed his line of sight when he moved his head from side to side. Once he was finished experimenting, he read the text inside the window.

It was nothing special. Besides listing the functions that already had shortcuts, there was something called a Database. There was also some additional information that was displayed at the bottom of the screen. It showed the time, which he noticed matched his watch’s time perfectly. It also showed his current location, although he did not recognise the name of the place.

Deadlands: The Beginner's Cave

That sounded ominous. Deadlands could be pertaining to a number of things. Perhaps the area was barren, devoid of trees and vegetation. It might also be a reference to something more sinister, such as the living dead. Hopefully, it was not the latter. Shaking his head at his absurd thoughts, he dismissed the window.

Another window appeared in its place. The new message was asking if he wanted to add the gamer dimension note to the database. The parchment vanished when he answered "Yes".

=====

The player has received a new quest!

Knowledge is Power

Description: Gather all the gamer dimension notes in the Beginner's Cave and add them to the database.

Objective(s): 1/??? notes found.

Bonus Objective(s): Complete the quest within a week.

Time Limit: None.

Rewards: 10000 Exp; Skill Crystal.

Bonus Rewards: Variable.

=====

Harry dismissed the window. He almost expected another one to appear and felt that the constant windows popping up was going to get old fast. Thankfully, nothing else appeared and he decided to take a break from exploring the menus and check out the knapsack instead.

Among the items he pulled out were; a canteen; a loaf of hard bread; a few apples, a dagger, and a set of clothes. He placed the canteen and food back in the bag and laid out the outfit on the ground to get a good look at it.

It was composed of a shirt, vest, pants, boots, gauntlets, and a hat. The outfit was rustic, albeit charming, and looked like it would have been worn by commoners from a few centuries ago. Although he had seen some witches and wizards wearing similar attire. It felt like the magical world was a curious mix of modern and Victorian times.

The main body of the outfit consisted of a tan quilted vest, a white shirt, and dark grey leather pants. Black knee-high boots, leather gauntlets, and a fedora-like hat with a wide brim completed the ensemble. It looked so much better than his own baggy clothes that Harry didn’t hesitate to change into the outfit. It took some effort since the pants were a tight fit, but he managed.

Harry smiled as he admired the outfit that hugged his slim frame. There was no denying that it looked cool. He packed the baggy clothes away in the bag and picked up the dagger.

It was a simple straight blade about nine inches, giving it a long reach. The grip was wrapped in black leather and felt comfortable to hold in his hand. He ran a thumb along the edge and nicked himself, drawing some blood.

“Sharp,” Harry murmured, sucking on his thumb.

Harry thought about what his next step should be. It might be a good idea for him to start exploring the cave. There was a quest to finish, and a promise of more information to be discovered. However, he wasn't sure if the area was safe. It was possible that there were creatures lurking in the depths. It would be a good idea for him to practice using the dagger.

Fighting with a dagger was certainly not his forte. Unfortunately, it was not taught in primary schools. First of all, he had to figure out how he was going to hold it. Several different holds were tried before he settled on the most comfortable one. Harry held the dagger with his thumb curled into a fist, with the point facing up and away from him.

Taking a few practice swings, he nodded in satisfaction. The hold was intuitive since it was similar to how he would hold a tool. He began a series of clumsy strikes, pretending to fight an actual opponent. By holding it this way, he was able to maximize his range and make hacking, thrusting, and blocking easier. When stabbing, he was able to generate a great deal of power, which should do a decent amount of damage to his opponent. The only time that he lost a lot of power was when he stabbed downward, as he had to twist his wrist in order to perform the strike.

“I am such a badass,” Harry breathed as he executed another lunge, and immediately made a fool of himself after he almost tripped over his own feet.

Harry sat down on the bedroll and checked his 'Status' before he started exploring. He might as well take advantage of anything that could be helpful.

=====

Harry Potter

Age: 13

Title: Dimension Diver

Experience Cache: (0)

Level: 1 [Next: 0%]

HP: 100% MP: 100% SP: 100%

Strength: 5

Vitality: 7

Endurance: 5

Dexterity: 10

Intelligence: 13

Willpower: 17

Senses: 6

AP:0

Equipment

Rustic Garb Outfit

Iron Dagger

=====

“This is some weird shit.”

The only thing Harry understood was that it looked like he was some kind of video game character. He had heard some of the muggle-born students at Hogwarts discussing role-playing games, so he knew some of the basics. However, he still lacked a lot of context. Instead of trying to figure it out for himself, he should find some more information about it. For all he knew, the whole thing was meaningless anyway.

Another thing he was interested in checking out was the map. After accessing it, he was disappointed to see that the entire map was obscured, and the only thing he could see was the room he was in. In spite of this, he discovered that the map was interactive, and he could move it around and zoom in and out with his finger. There was a tent symbol placed within the cave, and he was represented by a green arrow. He assumed that as he explored, more details would appear.

Closing the map, he stood up and grabbed the knapsack off the ground. There wasn’t much space left inside because of the clothes. Debating with himself for a moment, he finally removed the clothes from the knapsack and threw them on the bedroll. If he came across anything useful, he would have room to store it in his knapsack. He could always come back for them, not that he would be upset with their loss.

Retrieving his wand, he hesitated for a moment. Wherever he was, it didn’t sound like he was anywhere near Little Whinging, but he couldn’t be sure. If he used magic, then it was possible that he would be in serious trouble.

“Who gives a damn,” Harry concluded. “Lumos.”

The tip of his wand lit up, illuminating his immediate surroundings. Now he would be able to navigate the passageway without stumbling in the dark. Holding the wand in his left hand, and the dagger in the other, he moved into the passage heading south.

It felt eerie moving through the cave with only a small light to guide him. He could hear water dripping somewhere, along with a number of unidentified sounds that made him nervous. He gripped the dagger a little tighter.

After a few minutes, the passage turned left. He made sure to check every nook and cranny since there were supposed to be notes hidden within the cave. The sound of groaning ahead of him had him stop in his tracks. He waited in tense anticipation, the wand wavering slightly as his arm trembled.

A figure shuffled into view, and he let an involuntary gasp. “No fucking way.”

His worst fears were confirmed, as there was an undead in front of him. A zombie to be exact. The rotting corpse was easily recognisable as once being a female woman, and the sheer gruesomeness of its visage was enough to induce nightmares.

The zombie sped up as soon as it saw him, and Harry's muscles tensed in readiness. While he felt scared, situations like this were right up his alley. Compared to a Basilisk, this thing looked tame in comparison. He wished he wasn’t using his wand as a light source, as a simple Incendio sounded very useful in this situation.

When the zombie reached him, it took a wild swing at him. Thankfully, it was slow, and he was easily able to dodge it, leaving him an opening. He slashed at the back of the zombie and felt a satisfying contact as it cut deeply into its neck. Despite this, it seemed to be unaffected.

The zombie turned and lunged at him with surprising speed, and Harry stumbled slightly as he dodged sideways. The zombie pounced on his mistake and sent out a flailing arm that connected with his shoulder. He was sent flying back into the wall with a painful thud.

The zombie didn’t give him time to recover. It lunged again, but this time, Harry was able to smoothly sidestep. The zombie hit the wall, slowing it down momentarily. Harry calmed down when he realised how dumb the zombie was, and came up with an idea on how to fight it.

Harry stabbed at the zombie again, aiming higher this time. Unfortunately, the zombie moved its head at the last second, and he only scored a glancing blow. He wasn’t too worried. After easily avoiding the next attack, he waited with his back to the wall. Sidestepping as the zombie lunged, it hit the wall and was slowed again.

This time his aim was true. The blade buried itself deep into the back of the zombie’s head, and it instantly went limp, falling to the ground.

Harry rubbed his shoulder from where he had been hit. While the blow was painful, the vest had absorbed some of the impact. He didn't think there was any lasting damage.

He looked down at the zombie. The pair of dead eyes stared up at him almost accusingly. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s your own fault. Ever heard of a breath freshener? Yeesh.”

The corpse disappeared into motes of light, and he jumped back in surprise. Things just kept getting weirder.

Harry pointed his wand to cast some light onto the ground and saw that there were two items lying there. Seeing the five-pound note, he was delighted. He never imagined that he would get money from slaying a zombie. In addition, there was a small potion vial filled with a red liquid. He had not seen a potion like it before. Placing the two items in his bag, he continued forward down the passageway.

A minute later, he emerged into a large chamber, shaped roughly like a circle. It was illuminated by several braziers placed around the room. He couldn’t see any enemies lurking anywhere, but he wasn’t going to assume anything just yet. Since he didn’t need the light, he stopped the Lumos spell.

“How do I get out of here?”

Harry was initially confused, as the chamber appeared to be a dead end. Surely he had not explored the entire cave already? He made a circuit around the room, but could not find any opening or doorway. Consulting the Map, he noticed there was a blocked passage opposite the one he came from.

Walking towards the wall, he began searching for any mechanism that would open the way. It took him ten minutes of futile searching to conclude that he was wasting his time.

His attention was drawn to a raised platform in the centre of the chamber, which he had been ignoring up to this point. As he got closer, he could see a

stone slab with three levers positioned in the middle of it. He wanted to smack himself for not investigating it sooner. To be fair, the stone slab was partially hidden by four pillars at each corner of the platform.

He stepped onto the platform cautiously, almost expecting an ambush. After looking around carefully, he relaxed and approached the stone slab. Besides the three levers, there was a single piece of parchment placed on it. He picked it up and began to read it.

=====

The Gamers Dimension Note #8

Skills

While the player explores the Gamer Dimension, he will be able to learn skills that will enhance his capabilities in numerous ways; whether that be in or outside of combat. Gaining a skill can be accomplished in two ways.

Performing actions leads to skill acquisition.

The first method is by performing a series of repetitive actions. There is no equivalent skill for every unique action, as that would mean that you would have literally thousands of skills, and managing them all would be impossible.

Skill initiation is the term for when the action itself transforms into a pseudo-skill. To unlock it completely, the player must fulfil two conditions. First, the skill will appear in the skills menu with a percentage beside it. By continuing to perform the associated action, it will increase the percentage. When it reaches 100%, experience points can be used to purchase it.

Obtaining a skill through completing quests or finding treasure chests

The second method is to find skills by completing certain quests or obtaining them by chance from treasure chests. There are some skills that can only be obtained this way and cannot be learned through actions themselves.

Skill Mastery

Skills are categorised into four ranks of mastery; Novice; Intermediate; Expert and Master. Each rank is further divided into ten levels, for a total of forty levels overall. Reaching a new rank usually means a quantitative leap in a skills capability, so it bears keeping in mind when levelling skills.

Levelling Skills

The player can level skills simply by repetitive actions. However, the skill cannot be sloppily executed and must meet the current skill level standards, or it may reduce the amount of experience earned. In contrast, well-executed skills may earn bonus experience.

When a player reaches the peak of the current rank, he must fulfil a specific condition to break through to the next rank. Earning experience will not be enough. The condition will appear when the skill reaches the maximum level of experience at level nine.

=====

“Why does it have to be so complicated?”

After closing the window, Harry added the note to the database. He accessed the skill window to see if he had gained any skills so far. There was only one, and it was called Dagger Mastery. Currently, it was at thirty-five per cent, so slaying a few more zombies should be enough for him to acquire the skill.

Harry looked at the three levers in front of him. He had a feeling that this was the solution to advancing further into the dungeon. But there was no way to tell one from the other. What if he pulled the wrong lever?

“No time to be indecisive,” Harry muttered. “When in doubt, always go with the left one first.”

He didn’t know where such logic was heard before, but it was the only thing he had. Reaching out, he pulled the left lever.

A soft click sounded, followed by a grinding noise. Harry looked around and spotted something that made him gulp. The top of the four pillars had opened up and revealed four heads with gaping mouths.

“Shit.”

Harry launched himself towards the edge of the platform as four intense spurts of fire erupted from the head’s mouth. As he leapt off the platform to the ground, he could feel his back being engulfed in flames. Screaming, he rolled around the ground until they were extinguished.

“Why did I choose the left one?” Harry hissed, feeling the burn on his back as he climbed to his feet.

The fire had stopped, but Harry was almost afraid to climb back onto the platform. After gathering his courage, he finally forced himself back onto it. He eyed the pillars, but they had closed up again.

There were only two choices left. Which did he choose? Taking a deep breath, he pulled the right lever.

So, what do you think? Just like the old story, Harry will be more mature than canon. But since he is thirteen, it is slightly more believable. And he will have a potty mouth.

Thanks for reading.