This is all so brilliant!" Ron gushed, as Harry finished showing off his new tricks in Ron's bedroom at the Weasley house (affectionately known as the Burrow). Ron had barely been able to contain himself until they got into private, asking why Harry had invited him to a party, even though it was two weeks late for Harry's birthday. That had begun the whole explanation.
While Ron didn't have any kind of basis in computer RPGs, he understood the idea that Harry had somehow lucked into a bunch of new ways to cheat. Like Hermione, he dearly wished he had these special powers, though he was more impressed with the ability to store food indefinitely than Hermione had been.
"Just think of what we'll be able to get up to this year!" the redhead mused. "Wait, you said that Hermione got to use some of these powers by saying the name? Maybe I can too. What are my options?"
Harry, who still hadn't made his own level-up choices, proceeded to quickly sum up the entire list for Ron's amusement.
"Yeah, that's tough," Ron agreed, his strategic brain going to work. "Some of them increase your numbers, but you don't know exactly what that means. Are they all supposed to be equally useful, or are they just different? Like, you'd have to be much better at one spell to be as good as a bonus to all combat magic. And we don't even know which abilities make you better at magic, or by how much. Maybe Hermione was right and we should just get as smart as possible? I bet that'd make it easier to learn."
Harry shrugged, "It at least made her better at doing maths in her head. But from when I talked to her, she's not sure she's learning and remembering things any faster."
"Hmm," Ron grunted, lying back on his bed and thinking. "And then there's the ones that are brand new abilities. Like, that one about seeing invisible creatures makes me think of our neighbor, who I thought was mad. But maybe she just has that power and it's useful. And is there any benefit to me being a Marauder, if I don't have your map?" As he asked that, just like when Harry had read out the perk earlier, his pet rat Scabbers flinched in his pocket.
"Yeah," Harry sighed. "And I don't even know if we get one per level, and I just hadn't spent either of mine. Or maybe you get two each level, and my first level ones were already spent? Or maybe you get your level each level? I guess I won't know until level three when I see if I get one, two, or three more of them."
"Let's think about this as a team," Ron figured. "You said you're good at Agility and Willpower? And Hermione's obviously good at Intelligence. What does that leave?"
Harry checked and admitted, "I'm also pretty good at Perception and Finesse. I'm worst at Intelligence, Body, and Charisma."
"What are the names of the ones that are for Body and Charisma?" Ron asked.
"Bodybuilder and Charmer," Harry said, as he found them in the list.
"Here goes," Ron nodded, then said, "Level Up: Bodybuilder! Level Up: Charmer!" Two identical flashes of light and sound to when Hermione had leveled up accompanied Ron's declarations.
"Well?" Harry checked.
"I don't… oh… oh weird," Ron said, jumping out of bed and scrambling to unbutton his shirt and loosen his pants as Scabbers leaped free of his pocket and cowered behind his pillow. As Harry watched, his trouser legs lifted half an inch away from his feet. Harry glanced up to his face, where some of Ron's baby fat seemed to be falling away in moments, revealing his chin and cheekbones. "That felt weird. My clothes were getting tight."
"It's like you grew up a couple of years in a second!" Harry said. Hermione was going to lose her mind when she found out how profound a physical effect the perks could have.
"You should raise the abilities you're good at, since those are probably harder to raise naturally," Ron suggested, and it was approximately 30% more persuasive than it would have been only a minute earlier. "Or buy Marauder. That sounds dead useful."
Harry nodded, considering, then said, "I have a feeling about the Marauder one. I told you they love me? I think I may be able to unlock that perk for free later, so I shouldn't pay for it." Ron didn't notice that Scabbers went from totally tense to relaxed from his hiding spot behind the pillow. "Okay, let's go with Agility and Willpower." He didn't technically need to yell it, but since Ron and Hermione both had, he chanted, "Level Up: Gymnast! Level Up: Stoic!"
Harry got the tell-tale flashes, which were even more interesting from inside of them, and confirmed that his scores for those two abilities had risen to 17. The Willpower increase had also improved his Magical Stamina to 270. And, as Ron had stated, he could immediately feel a difference. Just to try it out, he did a cartwheel: even in Ron's tiny room, he didn't bump into anything, and managed to land on his feet.
"Neat," Ron agreed. "Do you feel like you have more willpower?"
"I guess… offer me a treacle tart and we'll see if I can wait longer to eat it," Harry shrugged, not really sure how you could test for that.
As if on cue, there was a knock on Ron's door and his little sister, Ginny, yelled through, "Mum says it's time for lunch!"
"We're coming!" Ron yelled back. "C'mon, Harry. You haven't had mum's cooking, yet. It's great!"
On the way downstairs, Harry had more time to appreciate the topsy-turvy Weasley home than he had on the way in. It was as if they'd taken the foundations of an old farmhouse and built straight up with whatever materials were available, with clear strata from various eras of the family probably back over a hundred years. Every corner and wall was full of some old ornament of the family's history. It was the most lived-in home Harry had ever been in. "This place is brilliant," he told Ron, as they clattered down the slightly-uneven stairs from the upper-floor bedroom.
"You reckon?" Ron asked, nearly missing a trick step as he turned back. He'd figured Harry would have thought the place was quaint if he was being polite, or a dump if he wasn't. He grinned as he saw that Harry's face was serious. "Yeah. It's alright. Did I tell you we've got a ghoul in the attic?"
Harry's eyes crossed slightly as they entered the kitchen/dining room, which made liberal use of space expansion to fit all of Mrs. Weasley's cooking appliances and counter space, as well as a large dinner table big enough to fit nine people plus their guests. It was probably almost as big inside as the whole footprint of the house from the outside. Since it had windows on walls on multiple sides of the house, quickly looking between them or looking out one while crossing the room did very strange things to the parallax of the outside environs.
"Ronald! Have you had another growth spurt?" Mrs. Weasley announced as she spotted how much ankle he was showing, but not seeming to think the sudden stat-increase was impossible. "We'll need to get you some of Percy's hand-me-downs at this rate." Harry had only quickly been greeted by Mrs. Weasley on the way in, and finally took a moment to look at the information floating over her head.
[MOLLY WEASLEY
Seneschal, Level 13
[ORDER OF THE PHOENIX,
GRYFFINDOR]]
That was the second class name he didn't really recognize. Harry figured Mr. Weasley was a "Minister" because he worked at the Ministry, but he didn't know the word "Seneschal." As she told him, "Your seat's over here, Harry. I've sat you away from the twins just in case," he was checking his codex to see if the terms were described.
Ah, yes, so they were. A tab full of classes he'd seen had shown up, and Seneschal and Minister were listed as "hybrid classes" that you could get after mastering a multiclass. Minister was a mastered Mage/Bureaucrat, and Seneschal was a mastered Mage/Homemaker. He figured that meant that the professors at school would be something else besides Mage/Teacher, and it would be interesting to find out.
Sure enough, when Ron's older brother, Percy, walked in, it was clear he was high enough level to multiclass, but not high enough to have gotten to be a Minister yet.
[PERCY WEASLEY
Mage/Bureaucrat, Level 6
[GRYFFINDOR (PREFECT)]]
The sixteen-year-old seemed somewhat frazzled, as if he had a million thoughts going through his head, and having to stop to eat was an unnecessary interruption. So, about normal for him. "How'd you do on your OWLs, Percy?" Harry asked, to make conversation. He couldn't help but know that's what the fifth-year exams were called, with all of the OWL skills on his character sheet.
That actually got a smile from the older boy, but before he could explain, fourteen-year-old twins Fred and George came crashing into the room. Fred copied his mother's voice and accent, "Twelve OWLs!" and George added, "Second one in the family!"
Holy crap! Harry could tell Fred and George apart!
[FRED WEASLEY
Mage, Level 4
[GRYFFINDOR]]
[GEORGE WEASLEY
Mage, Level 4
[GRYFFINDOR]]
Considering how he was going to use that to his advantage, he tuned out Mrs. Weasley chastising the twins. Only a few moments later, Mr. Weasley came back in, still dressed in his jeans and stripped down to an old Beatles t-shirt as if he'd been puttering around outside. Poking out from behind him, Harry finally read the nameplate of the last Weasley currently in residence (the two oldest sons lived out of the home).
[GINNY WEASLEY
Mage, Level 1]
It about figured that she didn't have one of the bracketed group tags yet, but he wasn't sure why she was working so hard to keep her father in between her and Harry until she could rocket to take a seat at the other end of the table. Mrs. Weasley seemed confused too, asking, "Ginny, dear. Why are you sitting in Bill's seat? You can sit over here by Harry."
"S'okay," she peeped. "Wanted to try it down here today."
"Then I'll sit next to Harry," Mr. Weasley announced. "I've thought of some more questions about plugs."
"Oh, Harry," Mrs. Weasley remembered. "We have your school letter here. It came earlier in the week. I guess Dumbledore knew you were coming to visit." Harry figured that was good, as he didn't really trust his uncle not to freak out about owls delivering mail. Hedwig and the Weasley owl, Errol, had learned to use his window, but a school owl might have just showed up at the kitchen and started the Dursleys screaming. "We'll be going to Diagon Alley on Wednesday."
"That's when Hermione said she was going," Ron confirmed, quietly from Harry's other side.
"Brilliant, thanks," Harry said. "I was wondering when I'd have the chance to go." She dropped the letter in front of him, and he started going through the book list. "Lot of books by Gilderoy Lockhart on here."
"He's mum's favorite," Ron said, and Mrs. Weasley nodded, taking down a book on dealing with household pests and showing him the author's photo on the back, of a smiling blond man in smart-looking robes.
Arthur frowned, "It does seem a lot to assign all of his books for every year. I've written Dumbledore to ask whether each text will be needed for every class. If not, I expect the five of you should be able to make due with a couple of sets, and trade out the books you need for each year."
"Every year has the same list?" Harry checked, and everyone nodded their heads. "I'm never learning any combat magic, at this rate."
Percy agreed, "Our defense instruction has been… haphazard for my entire tenure. Believe it or not, Professor Quirrell was one of the better instructors. I have considered not pursuing the class for NEWT level. It was hard enough self-studying all the missed lessons to achieve an OWL."
"Those books are more entertainment than textbook," Mrs. Weasley admitted, also not liking the idea of buying seven expensive novels for each of her children. "Perhaps the professor will be including grade-appropriate demonstrations and using the books as context for the lessons?" She shrugged, and started dishing up the plates. Harry was amazed at how casually she used levitation to move things about the kitchen. "Dig in. There's more for seconds."
Ron had been right. His mother's cooking was amazing.
After a bit of conversation, Harry worked up the nerve to ask, "Umm, Mrs. Weasley–"
"You can call me Molly," she corrected.
"Er, yeah, I was just wondering. What is the Order of the Phoenix?" After all, he knew that whoever they were, they loved him.
"Where'd you hear that name, dear?" she asked, suddenly a little guarded. He shrugged. She peered at him for a moment then explained, "It's just a little group that my family used to be involved with."
"Oh, okay, thanks," Harry said, realizing that it must be a secret group that he wasn't supposed to know she was a member of.
"What's a phoenix order?" Ron asked, when they were back in his room.
"Group your mum's a part of," Harry explained. "I saw on my reputation list that they loved me. I dunno why she didn't want to talk about it."
"And we're just part of Gryffindor, right? You said you see that under our names?" Ron checked.
"Right. Your dad's part of the Ministry, too. Seems like most people I've seen, it's just wherever they work."
Ron mused, "I wonder if you could find out more? It's not in your, what'd you call it? Code deck?"
"Codex," Harry corrected. "And, no. I usually have to figure out the right word. What's another word for a group or a company?"
Ron gamely tried, "Team… house… club…"
Harry shook his head when none of those worked, "We should ask Percy."
They did and the mystified older boy looked up from the letter he was writing, shrugged, and listed off, "Clan, association, community, band, group, party, team." As Harry kept shaking his head, Percy asked, "Is this for an assignment. If I knew what kind of synonym you were looking for…"
With some difficulty, Harry explained, "Kind of like… the job you're part of, but some people can be in more than one. Like both Gryffindor and the Ministry, or any other place where people work. Maybe also if you're a criminal, the gang you're in," he remembered.
"Hmmm, so like an organization, lodge… a little archaic, but perhaps a guild?"
That did it. "Perfect, Percy, thanks!" Harry said, and they headed back to Ron's room where Harry could inspect the new panel that had opened up. "Let's see, yeah, I can see Gryffindor here. Woah! There's three sections. There's an active section, and it looks like it has everyone that's at school now in our house. All the students, plus McGonagall, Hagrid, and Dumbledore." Harry browsed through the first tab and confirmed that pretty much everyone in their house was there. "Then there's an inactive section, and there must be hundreds of names on here."
"Must be everyone that was in the house, and graduated but didn't stay as a teacher," Ron figured.
"There's also a deceased section" Harry realized. "I don't think I can bear to look at that one."
Ron was about to ask why, then realized, "Yeah, that's fair. You don't have to."
"Oh, weird," Harry said, noticing a blinking tab further down. "There's a requests section, and it's blinking." He opened it.
[YOU HAVE BEEN INVITED TO
JOIN GUILD: MARAUDERS]
"It's an invitation to join the Marauders?" Harry explained. "They also loved me." He accepted.
[YOU HAVE JOINED: MARAUDERS
ALL OTHER MEMBERS INACTIVE
YOU ARE NOW GUILD LEADER OF: MARAUDERS
TWO REQUESTS PENDING]
"Huh," Harry narrated. "Looks like everyone was inactive, so I went straight to the leader of the Marauders?" He checked the Inactive tab. "I know Sirius Black has a flying motorcycle, but who are Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew?"
Scabbers squeaked in alarm, this time in his cage, and Harry glanced over.
[RAT]
Huh. He guessed that must mean that Scabbers wasn't even smart enough to know his own name. No wonder Ron had never been able to get him to act like a familiar: he didn't even have a subheading. Like most of the other animals he'd seen around, he had to focus on the rat directly to even see a heading, and the animal type was all there was. He'd eventually have to check out a zoo to see if more dangerous animals like tigers showed their level, compared to the squirrels and birds he'd been seeing.
"Dunno, mate," Ron shrugged, after checking to make sure Scabbers was okay. "Names maybe sound a little familiar. Well, especially the Blacks. They're an old pureblood family. Maybe the Lupins and Pettigrews, too? But I don't think I've ever met any of them."
Pursing his lips, Harry risked the Deceased tab, "James Potter," he sighed, sadly. "It must be his group. Maybe that's why I was already invited?"
"That's cool, though," Ron tried, knowing Harry was having a moment like the Mirror of Erised situation. "It's like he left you something… hey, if they're just inactive, maybe those other three guys were his friends? You could get in touch with them."
"Maybe," Harry nodded, smiling at the idea. "Oh, for this one I have a requests section." He flicked over it and saw the list of people waiting to be admitted to the Marauders and gasped. "Why are Fred and George trying to join my guild?"