Chapter 19

It was fairly early in the morning that Harry found himself walking through the slowly rousing Atrium, headed towards Evie's Heirlooms.

He was hoping to avoid most of the crowds by turning up not long after opening, because he was planning to have a look through the shop without being swarmed by fans. Harry was intending to hopefully find something to get Hermione for Christmas – a useful object or something.

Hopefully he wouldn't come to regret his decision not to take advantage of Evie's offered anonymity. It would definitely suck if the identity of UNO was linked with Harry Potter. He knew it might happen eventually, but if it happened so soon after starting the game he'd definitely feel frustrated, even if it was his own fault in the first place. Harry was enjoying just being UNO, being unknown, just himself without scrutiny. Evie had seemed nice though, and her shop was one he wanted to check out in the real world too. Hopefully she'd keep his secret. Honesty suited him better than secrets – he had enough of those even if this one was to his benefit.

It wasn't as though he couldn't cast a glamour, but he was still trying not to hide himself when he went out and it'd just look weird after the fuss he made if he just showed up as some stranger. Not that 'looking weird' was enough to stop him, but Harry had always had a stubborn streak and sometimes it applied itself to things that were perhaps impractical. In this case, he didn't want to respond to Evie's kindness with subterfuge. It was one thing to hide behind a glamour if he was going to a shop he wouldn't come back to, or didn't want to be seen, but building a rapport was different.

Besides, he'd always struggled at making friends for various reasons, so being able to just befriend someone so easily was something he'd always wanted. Hopefully being Harry Potter wouldn't ruin that.

He'd soon find out at any rate. Harry stepped into the shop, a little bell above the door jingling just as it had in MWO. Unlike the game though, the cat wasn't sitting on the counter but instead appeared to be exploring some of the stacks of items for sale – he caught a glimpse of a fluffy tail passing between a gap in some furniture. The items on the shelves also differed somewhat from what he had found in the store when he'd visited it in-game. Some items he recognised, but most where just as unknown to him as the MWO shop.

"Welcome to the- oh!" Evie had stood up from where she'd been tucking something away under the counter. When she'd recognised him, she reeled back in surprise, a hand coming to her mouth. "Oh my! Mister Potter! What can I do for you today?"

Harry had flushed awkwardly at her reaction, eyes sliding to the floor in discomfort. He still wasn't used to people treating him like he was a celebrity – even being reviled at school was easier for him to cope with than hero-worship. "Uh, well..." How could he admit his identity as UNO now, after that?

It seemed that he didn't have to though, for abruptly Evie's face drained of colour and her she squinted at him slightly. "Wait a minute – UNO? You're UNO, right?" She carried on, when Harry made no move to answer her. "I don't get many customers to be honest with you – mostly groups of kids looking for curiosities or people who have a particular item in mind. You don't really fit the bill on either count."

At least she was talking to him normally now, her voice down to a more natural pitch. Harry relaxed slightly, offering a tentative smile.

"Sorry for the secrecy." He apologised politely, but Evie just laughed him off.

"No, its fine – sorry for my shock. I can totally understand." She could easily imagine this conversation being a lot more awkward if she hadn't 'met' him in MWO as just a random stranger. She'd never been one for hero-worship, but it was easy to say that when you'd never actually met someone who was a magical saviour. Evie comported herself properly and smiled at him more cordially. "What can I do to help you today Mister Potter?" She asked him politely.

"Just Harry is fine, please." He corrected her shyly. "And I'm looking to get Hermione a gift. I don't know what though, so I'm hoping that something here will be a good present for her." It was a little vague, but he really didn't have an idea in mind. "Normally I've gotten her books and things, but I hardly know what to get her these days and was hoping to do something different this time."

"Well not to worry, I'm sure there'll be something amongst the stacks that'll be of interest to Miss Granger." Evie assured, coming out from behind the counter. "Let me show you what we've got in stock right now." She smiled at him, friendly but not inappropriately so as many people were with Harry these days.

"Now just here we have-" She began to show him around the store, showing off small trinkets and large pieces of furniture, woven with enchantments, steeped in magic and history. And peculiarity, if he was honest. A lot of magical objects and heirlooms seemed just bizarre – as if someone had just gone 'is it possible to infuse a teapot with an enchantment to make it judge the quality of the tea leaves within it' and just done it, regardless of how particular and rather useless the enchantment was. After all, most people could tell by looking at tea leaves if they were shoddy or not – they certainly didn't need the teapot to change colour to tell them. There were also early attempts at foe-glasses, with varying levels of success and specification, and a myriad of other random old magical items which he had explained to him.

Harry finally selected an anklet that would spin lightly around the ankle if the wearer was being lied to and Evie rung up his purchase along the damaged pensieve he'd first looked at in MWO. Evie had also pulled out a few books that would help Harry learn more about runes and old artefacts like pensieves. Some looked like basic beginners books, but one or two looked like they'd come from the shop itself; old and interesting.

"Wow, thanks for all this." Harry was surprised she'd gathered all of this for him so quickly.

Evie smiled and chuckled lightly. "Its no problem, and I can't say its entirely altruistic – you are paying for them after all." She grinned at him and he couldn't help but laugh. "A sale is a sale after all."

"Well I appreciate it all the same." It'd save him some work and give him a place to start. Besides he truly didn't mind if he was paying her more than she'd paid for the books herself – she was running a business after all and he had the money.

"If I come up with anything else related to the pensieve is it alright if I send you a message to let you know?" Evie asked him as he paid up.

"Yeah, you can just send it via the DoMI – the mail gets screened, but it does get to me." Very few people were on the exceptions list of the owl ward he had on him, for safety purposes.

Evie nodded in understanding and said her goodbyes as 'Nox' the cat sauntered over to see Harry out.

Outside revealed a small crowd of witches and wizards. This was hardly the first time Harry had entered a store, someone noticed and called others over to look at him or see what he was doing. He was sure Evie would have a busy day once he was gone as they came in to see what he had been doing.

It felt unfair to call them his fans – the people who revered him or disliked him, but watched all the same. He always felt ogled. It wasn't as though they were mindless, but it sometimes felt like they were just a wall of judgmental eyes staring him. Hermione told him to be kinder to them and Ron had always seemed to like it, so Harry seemed to be alone with his discomfort in the trio. Neville had admitted to having a similar problem though, but none had the sheer number of followers that he did. If Harry walked into another shop right now he'd have a dozen stalkers follow him in, no question.

With a sigh he turned and headed for the nearest apparition point. Might as well head to the office to see if he could help out before having lunch with Hermione.

-

"Is there any way to store money and items other than using the bank?" Harry asked Hermione as they headed for lunch in the Ministry cafeteria that afternoon.

"Oh, right! I'm so sorry I forgot you can't use the goblin bank in-game." Hermione frowned as she thought of a workaround for him. "Yes, there is an alternative. If you have your own lodgings you can buy trunks and the like to store things in. Its not as good as the bank and you'd need a fairly large space if you were fitting everything you own in them." She looked apologetic. "Unfortunately buying lodgings is meant to be something people do further into the game, not when you're still in third year."

That made sense, even if it was inconvenient for him. Harry thought it over for a moment. "Is it rank-locked at all? I mean, I do have a lot of money from the basilisk so if its just a question of money..." He shrugged.

The reminder of Harry's escapade drew a huff from Hermione but she didn't berate him– technically he hadn't cheated after all, even if he had skipped the quest line because of his existing knowledge. "I'm not sure actually. I know money is a big part of it – the game runs like real life so money is only given if you do certain quests for the most part, but I don't remember if there is a rank-lock. If there is, you may have already passed it anyway, since it could just be that you need to be a Third year to visit Hogsmeade or the Atrium. I can look it up for you if you want?"

"Nah its fine." Harry dismissed the offer. "Its not a big deal and now I know it's a possibility I can take a look in-game for myself."

"Your best bet would be the noticeboard or to ask someone in the Atrium I expect." It wasn't like Hermione knew an awful lot about housing in the magical world, so she wasn't much help on this topic. The housing and many of the other real-world elements had been input by people who lived in the Magical world to a greater degree than Hermione, in a way. There was so much that people in her situation – magic users born to non-magic parents, missed out on. It was especially awkward with the shopping alley now restricted to the Atrium – she would've said to check out around the alley in case there were magical estate agents or something, but the new Atrium didn't have one as far as she knew. "Sorry Harry." She hated not having all the answers, but it just wasn't possible to always know everything, not that it didn't stop her from trying.

"I'll have to let you know if I find out before you." Harry grinned at her challengingly. She grinned back, because she was always game for intellectual pursuits and getting Harry to expand his own knowledge and connection to the magical world – or any world outside his house – was certainly something she'd encourage.

==========

When Harry logged in that evening, it was to a friend request from Neville. He'd told the other man his username so that when he joined he would be able to find him if he wanted. It looked like Neville was still in character creation though, so Harry set off on his own for now.

He delivered the scarves from Madam Malkin's quest, then resigned himself to returning to the Twin's shop to complete theirs. Maybe he could ask them about looking for lodgings outside of Hogwarts too – or maybe there was a quest chain for it somewhere. Given the 'introduction to the magical world' premise of the game, it would certainly make sense. He'd have to keep his eyes open for it, but in the mean time he'd head to the joke shop. Harry briefly considered asking what was up with both twins being present, but by the time he'd made his way to the shop he still hadn't come up with a way of asking that didn't come across as terribly insensitive.

Like most of the introductory quests for the shops, the Weasley's shop also required him to collect and deliver items – in this case from the store to the post owl establishment. It didn't need him to speak to the twins themselves – which was fortunate since there seemed to be a bit of a queue at the moment, the store was packed – so he went to the back to progress the quest before bothering to try and catch the attention of the redheads.

George appeared to be in his element, entertaining a crowd of shoppers. He was grinning and showing off, Fred at his side as if he'd never left. It would have worried Harry, but in truth George looked better than he had the last time Harry had seen him in person – by far. It might not be healthy, for all Harry knew of psychology and loss, but if it made life better for George, he wasn't going to interfere.

It didn't take long for one of the twins to spot him, and rather than both coming over, only one did. Harry wondered over the pair of them again, but in the extra time still hadn't found an inoffensive way to ask about it.

"UNO my man!" Gred greeted him flamboyantly, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and earning a disgruntled huff because of the height difference, even with the extra height added to his new boots. The twins were tall though, at least it wasn't as bad as in the real world "Always nice to see you. What can I help you with today?"

"Hello." UNO greeted, resigning himself to being an arm rest with only marginal ill grace. "I wanted to ask you about how you can get lodgings outside of Hogwarts and figured you might know."

"You're looking for an apartment or something?" George rubbed his chin in thought. "Well we got set up through an estate agent in Diagon, but there was one in Hogsmeade too, so your best bet is to go there I reckon."

"Thanks mate, I probably should've thought of that." Harry grimaced but shrugged. It wasn't like there were many places he could expect to find one, but you never knew with the Magical world if you'd find a service in a main street shop or in someone's workshop outside their house. "I've not been to Hogsmeade in game yet. Makes sense though – Hogsmeade made it through relatively intact, unlike Diagon." A lot of displaced magicals had also resettled in Hogsmeade, some shops included. It also wasn't impossible that there would be mutliple estate agents, though the magical community was small enough that he wouldn't expect it to be a big market, not that he'd necessarily know. He was here to learn too after all, and Harry knew distressingly little about much of this world he found himself a part of.

Harry was somewhat loathe to leave the Atrium after that – he enjoyed the atmosphere of the place, and it looked so different to what it used to that it was like a new place entirely. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade both looked like the places he'd left – places he'd fought in, so many nostalgic memories – but there was nothing for it for the time being. He'd done what he could in the Atrium for now, bar spending all the money he was carrying in his pocket, which was rather ill advised one way or the other, so it was time to head back. Either he could continue progressing through the MSQ (Main Story Quest) or he could just see if the quest for Hogsmeade was available yet. Considering he'd gotten the 'Atrium' quest, it was certainly possible.

With that in mind he flooed back to Hogwarts, trying not to fall on his face when he was spat out in the castle reception room. It was a near thing but thankfully there was no one around to see it.

"They're letting people look like anything in here." Neville's voice piped up from behind him. "Did you see there was Snape's old hairdo in the options? Bloody Hell." He could only imagine the mayhem if a bunch of people dressed up like Snape – it'd scare the newbies half to death. Not to mention how many of the older players would also die – but of laughter or mortification, depending.

"That's not a bad idea." Harry admitted, giving some sincere thought to it. "Maybe I can suggest an event to Hermione so everyone looks like Snape for a day." He wasn't sure what sort of excuse he would have to come up with for that to fly, but he could certainly give it a go. Slytherin appreciation day? Potions day? Or maybe he could get it set up as a prank instead, so whenever people entered the Great hall... However he managed it, it was sure to be hilarious.

Lost in his musing, it took him a moment to realise that it was in fact Neville who had spoken, which meant Neville was here.

"Neville! You're here!"

"It does appear so." The other boy agreed with a grin. "Sorry it took me so long, I got stuck trying to pick my avatar."

"Yeah, I spent a while on it too. Combination of too many things to choose from and no idea what I actually wanted to look like." UNO admitted. "I settled on this in the end, mostly because I wanted to be anonymous but I think it'd be weird if my hair wasn't black." He had tried other colours, but they just startled him whenever he saw them on his head, or out the corner of his eye.

Pausing for a moment, Harry took in his friend's avatar. Neville had opted with a fairly standard looking face, only a little different from his natural one (a little squarer in the jaw, and some other improvements that made him look a bit rugged) with green eyes and slightly reddish tinted hair instead of the usual dirty blond, but the main thing that stood out was the rather large hat perched on his head. It had a fairly wide brim that was curved like a cowboy hat and it was a dark tan sort of colour. It also gave the boy nearly another foot in height, as if he needed it – Neville was one of the tallest of the lot already. He was also sporting the username 'Hatter' with the title 'The Herbologist' underneath it.

"Nice hat." Was about all Harry could come up with, because it really was eye-catching. At least it was miles better than the old vulture hat Neville's gran seemed to like.

"It is isn't it." Neville replied agreeably. "There weren't many hat options so I had to go into the creation window to make it." He explained. Harry vaguely remembered seeing a few hats as options in the character creation screen, but they were mostly the standard brimless, in a few different colours. He hadn't even known you could make them there, Harry just thought that they were something acquired in game.

The end result of Neville's character was that he was identifiably Neville, though with a slightly huskier appearance and a very distracting hat. Not that the hat was bad, but Harry could say with certainty that he hadn't seen anyone else with a hat that wasn't a standard brimless hat, or stereotypical witches wide-brim, and even those had been few and far between.

"By the time I got to choosing my name, I'd spent so long making my hat that it was the only thing I could think of." Neville explained, unbothered. "I was just going to use my own name, but then you said you were playing anonymously, so I figured it'd be a bit of a giveaway." Neville doubted they'd be able to stay anoynmous for long knowing what they were all like, hot head the lot of them no matter how much the war had tempered them, but it wouldn't be for lack of trying.

"This is pretty wizard though right?" Neville grinned at him cheerily. "I can't believe Hermione made it. I know she didn't do it all herself of course, but still, its amazing. I never would have come up with it!"

"Don't sell yourself short Hatter– I don't think anyone would have come up with the herbology warfare you thought of either. We all have our specialties." And Hermione's was more vast than theirs, but they'd always known she was scarily smart and ambitious to boot.

"Its nice being back at Hogwarts as a student, if a bit ill-fitting." Neville admitted after a moment. "Can't wait to leave the dorms though. No offense, but I'm a bit past sharing a room with four other boys, even if its not somewhere I have to actually live in now." Neville hadn't exactly been close with them when they all shared a room and despite that, sharing a room with other boys – especially a not very big room – was only fun half of the time. The rest of the time it was terribly cramped and awkward. In-game was very different, but Neville was still happy to leave that part of his life behind him.

"Well, I just came from talking to Fred and George – don't ask, I still don't know – about getting a house in game." Harry told him.

"Oh, you can have homes in game? I saw we were Sorted again, but didn't realise that we could get houses and things. Makes sense though, Magical World is meant to be a reflection of reality. You heading to the estate agents then?"

"Yeah, I heard there might be one in Hogsmeade, so I'll let you know what I find out." Neville was a new player after all, so he wouldn't be able to take the quests to leave Hogwarts for a while.

"Thanks H-UNO. I'll see you later then. Better get to class." Neville said with a grin. It was like he was really back in school as a student – definitely an odd feeling.

"I think I'll join you for a bit." Harry decided, in no hurry to head to Hogsmeade just yet – lodgings could wait a little longer, and MMOs were meant to be played with friends, right? They might be at different levels but that hardly mattered.

"So how do you like the game so far?" UNO asked as they walked the halls to Transfiguration, apparently.

"Its pretty neat. Definitely looks and feels real – I've only been here for a little while though, mostly just getting my spells back."

UNO looked over at him, confused. "How did you manage that? I thought you couldn't just cast them without reading a book or attending class." He'd tried when he first got here too, attempting to cast the spells he knew already. It didn't take long to acquire them through the books or classes, but it was still a nuisance. Neville just looked surprised.

"Oh, well it turns out if you write a little bit about them, that counts too. I went to the library first thing – there's an easy book which lists some basic spells and that counted for some, but then I wanted other ones, stuff that you wouldn't necessarily find so easily, like spells for herbology. Rather than going to class or finding all the big books with only a few spells in them, I just wrote my own sort of. It only needed a few details, like the spell names and movements, and what they did."

It kind of made sense – players from all different levels would be joining the game, from housewives to aurors and children, so there would be all sorts of spells that wouldn't necessarily be taught at a school or easily found in a library, and it was useful to have their full spell repertoire. It was why Harry had spent chunks of time in Hogwarts already, trying to get himself to his normal level.

"Can I see what you wrote? If it works like spell books in game for spells you already know, I should be able to read it and get them all too." Harry asked.

Hatter rummaged in his pockets for a moment before pulling out a sheaf of loose parchment which he handed over.

"Thanks." UNO looked it over, and a fair few of them were spells that he 'learned' straight away, though many were new to him. "What are the rest of these spells? I've never heard of them."

Hatter shrugged, dodging some running students in the halls and taking the parchment back. "A lot of them are housekeeping spells actually. Things like that came in handy during the occupation. Plus some healing spells, and herbology spells too." There were quite a few of them – Neville had literally listed out all the spells he could think of that he knew so he could get them back.

"Wow." Harry hadn't even known there were so many spells for those things, though he was aware that there seemed to be a spell for everything, and he knew very few of them. He was mostly good at improvising and defence, but even then his knowledge was fairly low. He definitely didn't know as many spells as Neville did. There hadn't been much opportunity to learn, what with getting attacked year after year, and not being able to cast spells much while they were on the run, lest they give themselves away. He'd just have to work to learn now though. At least he was in the right place?

The two boys spent the rest of their time attending classes together, until Neville was a second year and Harry was nearly a fourth year. It was enjoyable to do together and definitely easier than doing it alone – sometimes the nostalgia was overwhelming and neither of them could quite settle with how not quite right the castle was – without Snape swooping around, without the tension of enemies around, even if it was just other students. Coming back to the castle in the real world still didn't make it easier to come back as a student, Neville learned. But it was fun, and they kept it silly, with Neville teaching Harry a few spells he'd learned, like a small plant-watering spell, or sewing spell, in between classes.

For the first time, Harry was properly playing with a friend, and he could see why it was so popular.

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AN: So, this one I rewrote a few times, because I didn't actually want Harry to identify himself as UNO irl for some time, but it just wouldn't write that way. Harry has always been nice to people who are genuinely nice to him, and I don't think he would have repaid that kindness with lies, even if it is kinda part of the game to be anonymous. Either way, I had trouble with it, so sorry for the long delay on this one (not that there's never not a long delay, I'm sorry!)