Harry Potter and the Armies of the Dark Future

Chapter 1:Special Day

This whole idea came about because of three things:
1. The awesomeness that 40K can bestow upon anything.
2. The need for some awesome in the Harry Potter story.
3. My good friend Birga brainstorming with me and helping me dig through all the rough to find this Diamond Idea.
If any one of these things had not existed I'm not sure I would have ever started writing this. But since I have the ideas flow so easily that it almost writes itself. I hope you enjoy this version of the Classic story as much as I enjoy writing it.

Harry Potter was an extraordinary boy living a less than ordinary life. His aunt and uncle seemed to think that he was a the most parasitic life form that had ever existed. They forced him to live in a small closet under the stairs and never bought him anything new if they could avoid it. His uncle delighted in belittling the boy and his aunt tried to pretend he didn't exist. His cousin on the other hand did everything he could to make Harry's life a living hell. Beat the freak was his favorite game, followed quickly by chase the freak.

During the summer he did his best to stay away from his family. Not only did he avoid his cousin, but his aunt actually preferred it this way. Today there was something special in store for him. He was walking down one of the many sidewalks that he frequented in the morning when he came to a familiar intersection. He sometimes went straight, turning right farther down to circle around the neighborhood. Usually he turned right here for a tighter loop. But he never went left. There wasn't really a reason, he had never been told not to. He just didn't go that way.

He went left.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Harry found himself standing in front of a shop window, looking in upon the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The smooth curves and gloss black finish of the miniatures stirred something deep inside him. He knew he could never afford them, but that wouldn't stop him from dreaming.

"Hi, do you play?" A voice asked from his right.

Harry turned to look at the source of the question, finding a kind faced boy. He had a bit more weight than he should, but nothing like Dudley, who could be several boys their age if he wanted to. "No, this is my first time here. I don't even know what it's called."

"The name of the game is Warhammer 40K. It's set in the far future and you play with miniatures. The rules are easy enough to learn, do you want to?"

"Sure, I'm Harry."

"I'm Neville. Let's go in."

"This is my army." Neville said as he set the case he was carrying on the table. He extracted several units and set them on the table. The insecticide forms held a certain lethal quality that Harry found appealing, but not as enticing as the army in the display case. "Their called the Tyranids. They are an adaptive organic race that uses a hive mind to control their units."

"What are those over there called?" He pointed at the display case.

"Those are the Dark Eldar. Eldar are the space elves, and the dark ones embrace torture and fear. I never really got into them. But the Tyranids are cool. They launch spores at a planet that infect the natives and convert them into more Tyranids. They waste nothing, even striping the atmosphere before they move on?"

"Can we try something small?"

"Sure, let's try a couple Warrior Broods, four units each. That will give you some practice with both ranged and melee fighting."

Neville started setting up the eight pieces while he explained the rules. Harry did his best to absorb the information, but he knew he wasn't catching it all.

"Hey cous. Getting another one hooked?"

"Hey Rich. This is Harry. Actually he was eying the Dark Eldar army you have on display. We started talking, and now I'm going to try to teach him the rules."

"Pleasure to meet ya Harry. I'm Richard Longbottom,"He said, holding out his hand,"Neville's cousin and owner of the shop."

"Nice to meet you, sir."

"So, you think you might like the Dark Eldar?"

"They do look cool."

"Yeah. But they take a special touch to play right. The guy that sold them to me said he just couldn't get it."

"I just wish I could afford them, but my aunt and uncle won't ever let me get them."

"Man, that's rough. Live with them?"

"Yeah, my folks died when I was one. My aunt and uncle think I'm a terrible burden."

"It can't be easy on you either." Neville said,"My parents went crazy when I was about that age. I live with my gran."

"Yeah, Neville here has had it tough too. But it sounds like you just drew a dud of a family. Tell ya what, when's your birthday?"

"Um. It's today actually. I'm nine."

"When's your party?" Neville asked."I'll ask my gran if I can go."

"I don't get parties." Harry almost whispered.

Richard put his hand on Harry's shoulder,"Today you do kid."

He walked over to the store counter and came back with his arms full. He handed a soda to each one and a segmented carrying case to Harry.

"You can have the Dark Eldar army, happy birthday."

"I couldn't." Harry started.

"Listen, I've been trying to get rid of that army for three years. I'm never gonna move it, and I hate to see a beautiful army like that just gathering dust. That and I have a thing for hard luck stories." Richard ruffled Neville's hair to indicate his meaning.

Harry couldn't believe his luck today. He started thinking that making left turns might be a good thing after all. Then it hit him,"Thank you Richard, but my aunt will never let me keep it."

"No prob man,"Neville said."I'm in here almost every day during the summer. I can hang on to it for you."

Harry could feel the emotions brimming within him. He had never known that people could be so kind to him. All the kids at school either thought he was a freak because of his hand me down cloths or they were afraid of Dudley."Thanks guys. I don't really know what to say."

"Hey man, just enjoy your birthday." Richard said.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"Neville dear." An older woman called from the door.

"Over here gran. I made a new friend today."

The woman came over and peered at Harry."A pleasure meeting you, I'm Neville's grandmother."

"I'm Harry, ma'am. Harry Potter." Both Neville and his grandmother tensed at hearing the boy's name. Even though they had spent hours playing 40K to teach Harry the rules, he had never told Neville his last name.

Suddenly she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly,"I'm sorry about what happened to your parents dear."

Harry wasn't sure how to take this,"Um, thank you."

She let go of him and looked at her grandson,"So what have you two been doing?"

"Richard gave Harry a Dark Eldar army since today is his birthday. So We've been playing so Harry can learn how."

"Well happy birthday dear, but we really do have to be going Neville."

"Okay gran, just give us a chance to pack up."

They packed carefully and then Harry helped his only friend carry both their armies out to the car.

"Hey, Neville. I'm gonna take the codex home with me so I can read it tonight."

"Cool man, see you tomorrow."

"Definitely." The two youths high fived and headed their own ways.

ooo000OOO000ooo

The whole summer passed that way, with Harry and Neville meeting at least five days a week to pit their armies against each other. Both boys increased steadily in skill as they continued to try different approaches to each other's armies. On slow days even Richard would get in on the fun. This created a three way battle between Tyranid, Dark Eldar and Blood Ravens. To everyones surprise Harry won, holding the designated structure for three turns.

"I've never seen that, Dark Eldar holding against a Space Marine assault. Congrats kid, I think you understand how to use that army, and that's rare."

"Yeah man, how did you do that?" Neville asked.

"I just used them like they were meant to be used. They prefer to force their enemies into a corralled position and then kill them. Let the target do the leg work, just lead them to the right place."

Harry had undergone a lot of changes that summer. His imagination had finally been sparked into a full flame, and he put it to good use. Dudley and his gang were starting to get the hint that following Harry was a bad idea. One time they had been chasing after him as he rounded a corner. Only when they came around the same corner they ran into a brick wall.

Dazed, but still conscious Dudley looked up to see Harry standing on top of the ten foot wall, smiling wickedly down at him. For the first time in his life Dudley Vernon was afraid his cousin. He could not explain why he was scared, but it was undeniable. What made it worse was that he knew that Harry could feel his fear, and was reveling in the tables being turned. Then Dudley finally passed out.

After that all it took was that smile to scare Dudley into nearly loosing control of his bodily functions, and the effect was contagious. Harry found that his 'guardians' were easy to scare, and if done in a large enough crowd, they wouldn't even admit it.

The rest of his summer went rather well after he discovered this strange power to instill fear in his family. He was careful not to push it too far, but he did enjoy the decreased hostility from the people he lived with.

When it came time for school to recommence he found himself wishing he could just find a way to make summer go on forever. But in the end he just went back. And so his life went back to normal, almost. Without Dudley beating him up, Harry finally managed to make a few friends. He also excelled in his classes, bringing in A's and B's.

The next summer he resumed the routine of visiting the gaming shop. Neville was there every day as well. They played over and over again, varying the scenario each time. No matter who won, they both enjoyed their time together. One thing Harry always noticed about his friend was the way he seemed to be a little jumpy whenever his grandmother was around. For his tenth birthday he got two more squads for his army, one mandrake and one scourge. He thanked Neville and Richard profusely for the gifts.

The rest of the summer went by uneventfully, with Harry avoiding his family and spending time with his friends.

Then he returned to school for the next year with little change. He made few additional friends, but managed to keep all his old ones. His grades were again high and his teachers noticed him for the first time.

Then the time Harry longed for the most came. Summer arrived with none of the fan fair he felt it deserved. For two months he went through the same routine, playing 40K five days a week.

ooo000OOO000ooo

One morning Harry awoke to the sound of his aunt 'gently' informing him that she was starting breakfast. He went out a minute latter and assisted with frying the bacon. His uncle and Dudley came down just as he was moving the food to plates.

He sat down to eat, but just as his fork was moving toward his mouth the mail slot clicked.

Harry shoved the food in and got up to have a date with destiny.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Man are these chapters short for me. But I don't really want to cover too many major story points per chapter. Thanks for reading, hope you continue.

Thanks to my wife for reviewing and my best friend for being a sounding board.