The Deck, a harry potter fanfic

Warning: Mild references to torture and bloodshed

Harry looked at the letter curiously. Hedwig had brought it in the middle of the night and she couldn't wait to get rid of it before she flew off into the night in a rush of feathers and bird droppings which Harry dutifully cleaned up.

He poked the letter with his wand a few times and nothing seemed to happen so he cautiously broke the wax seal and opened it. The second he opened it, he dove to the other side of the bed, expecting it to explode or worse. You could never be too careful these days with the random coordinated terrorist assaults on everyone in Great Britain.

After a few seconds of painstaking silence, he poked his head over the top of his bed and stared at the letter sitting innocently on the bed.

Harry experimentally poked it a few more times before finally plopping down on his bed to read the letter.

Dear Harry James Potter,

You have been selected, out of multiple other people, to join our prestigious organization. Your admirable achievements and considerable skill set have set you above the others and we hope that we can expand your knowledge and power in a way that is both beneficial for us and to you. We mean you no harm but if you wish for a greater explanation you are free to take a tour of our facilities. This offer is time and limited and you must make a decision whether to take this tour within 4 minutes. You may leave any time during this tour and return to your regular life.

Sincerely,

The King of Spades

He stared at the letter and reread it for good measure.

Harry bit his lip and thought about it. The Death Eaters were becoming more prominent. They had launched major assaults against the Ministry, Hogwarts and mansions. Voldemort had declared war on magical England and the Ministry was too busy cowering in fear to declare it back. He needed to become stronger, to stop him and stop others from dying.

But this could be an elaborate trap to get him alone. Once he left the blood wards, Dumbledore had set up he would be vulnerable to magical assault.

He ran his fingers through his hair and decided to go for it. He had nothing to lose; his "friends" hadn't written to him the whole summer and he would do anything to get of this hellhole.

Harry almost laughed; everybody thought he lived a charmed life. They would never think the boy-who-lived would walk into a trap so he could end his own life without looking like a coward.

He paused his own dark thoughts and reread the letter for any instructions on how to let them know.

"Umm... I agree?" he said out loud, feeling foolish for trying it.

The minute the words left his mouth, his world started to spin faster and faster until he disappeared.

The letter itself floated down until it hit the ground, where it slowly burned until nothing was left.

In a rush of color, Harry's vision returned to normal and he picked himself off of the floor. Dusting off his pants he stared at the other five occupants in the room.

"Hello, Harry," said one of the men who stood the closet to him.

"We've been expecting you, please take a seat," he continued.

Harry sat down across from the man but didn't respond because he was entranced by the mask the man wore. It was a white rectangle and covered his entire face. On it was a stylized picture of the face up side of a playing card, an ornate drawing of a king holding a sword, with an exact copy upside and facing the other way with bright red hearts in the upper left and lower right corners along with a capital K. He shuddered when he saw that the mask had no eyeholes.

The man noticed his discomfort with his mask and removed it.

The face that was revealed was surprisingly ordinary for a mask that ornate. Harry's green eyes met brown ones and Harry looked slightly higher to see brown hair cropped close to his scalp.

"Just to be clear, this is not who I really am, nor will you ever possibly see my real face. Those in this room have all sworn never to reveal who you are or what you look like."

Harry's eyes drifted towards the others in the room. Like the first man they all wore masks but instead of a king they had ornate pictures of a jack with different symbols in the corners: a heart, a diamond, a club and a spade and a capital J. The heart and the diamonds were mostly red while the spade and the club were mostly black. Two of them, the heart and club, were male and wore top hats while the other two, the diamond and the spade, were female and had blonde and brown hair respectively.

The one with the King mask spoke again.

"Eyes back here."

Harry obediently looked back.

"Welcome to our lowly home. I'm the King of Hearts and these are the Jack of Hearts, Diamonds, Spades and Clubs. You might have some questions, no?"

Harry only stared.

The Jack of Diamonds giggled something that only made Harry stare more.

The King of Hearts glared back at her and she stopped.

"How about I explain this organization you read about, yes?"

Harry mutely nodded.

"Have you ever heard of M16? Well, we are the global version of it. No we're not all British; we are the world's secret service. Anything that concerns more than one country is a problem that we deal with. We are sort of the "superheroes" of the magical world. Understand?"

Harry nodded again.

"We are organized into various groups world-wide. The larger country, the more groups the country has to deal with the issue at hand. If there is a need for more interference, other foreign groups can be brought in."

"As you can see each group is sub-divided into different suits if wish to call them that. Each suit is further divided into a numerical rank followed by Jack, Queen then King. "

"What about Aces and Jokers?" Harry blurted out before covering his mouth with his hands.

The King chuckled.

"No need to be embarrassed. This is a question session for a life-long commitment on your part; nobody leaves this organization. You can only retire and remain on call."

Harry nodded again.

"To answer your question, Aces are free-lance operatives who don't follow the rules the others have to follow. They keep others in check and are in turn checked by the Joker who is checked by us. An organization as large as this one must have no power abuses. Jokers however are special in some way or another that makes them unable to be incorporated into a suit."

Harry glanced at the Jacks who were lounging around the room, mostly ignoring the discussion going on between the King and him.

The King continued with his explanation.

"Each suit has a specialization in addition to being talented in each of the other suit's specialty."

He gestured towards the Jacks for them to join them.

"The Hearts," he said pointing to one of the guys," specialize in healing as well as diplomacy. The Hearts are all mostly high placed members in government. They are our face to the world."

The Jack of Hearts bowed and used a knife he pulled out of his pocket to cut a deep gash in his own arm. With a slightly glowing green finger, he closed the wound and showed Harry the wound that left no trace including a scar.

"Show-off" muttered the Jack of Diamonds.

"The Spades specialize in stealth as well as espionage."

The Jack of Spades bowed too and turned into a carbon copy of Hermione Granger. Harry's jaw dropped as she imitated Hermione perfectly.

"How does she know Hermione?" he demanded, turning towards the King.

"She is a master of information gathering." He said simply before moving on.

"The Clubs specialize in combat and construction."

The Jack of Clubs bowed low before snapping his fingers. A small table and chairs appeared and with it came a complete tea set with tea included.

"What does combat have to do with construction?"

"Combat masters must be proficient in transfiguration and conjuration in order to defeat their opponents. Most of magic depends on these two parts." The King explained.

"The Diamonds specialize in destruction and Khaos. They are the wild cards of our organization but utterly loyal."

The Jack of Diamonds only tilted her head to the side and flicked her hand to create a bunch of flowers, which happened to burst into sharp shrapnel and smoke the minute they touched the ground.

Harry instinctively pulled out his wand and shielded himself and the King. When the smoke cleared, the other Jacks stood unharmed and the room looked as pristine as it did before.

The King laughed.

"That was an illusion, Harry. Diamonds are moderately insane and enjoy a good joke, but your reflexes are commendable. "

Harry blushed at the compliment.

"So, you know about us. Will you join?"

Harry eagerly nodded. Each of the Jacks displayed power far above most of the teachers in Hogwarts and they fought for good not evil and this wasn't trap.

The King smiled and nodded.

"Unfortunately, not everybody can join. You must pass three tests before you are allowed to join us and retain your memories of this night. If you had refused or if you don't make it, your memories will be erased and you will be sent back to your house. Understood?"

Harry nodded and prepared to face whatever the King decided for him.

"Your first test is to defeat one of the Jacks. You may choose whichever one to fight. You must aim to kill or else you will fail. On the off chance you do succeed, you will replace that Jack because if they can't defeat a boy then they don't deserve to be a Jack."

The Jacks all turned towards the King and Harry could feel them glare from behind their masks.

The King chuckled and gestured for Harry to continue on with his choice.

Harry looked over the 4 Jacks who stood at attention. The Jack of Clubs specialized in combat so Harry would stand on chance against him. He briefly considered fighting the Jack of Diamonds but after the display of exploding flowers he hoped that she couldn't do that for real. The Jack of Hearts could probably heal anything Harry could deal out so that left the Jack of Spades.

"I choose the Jack of Spades."

The King nodded and the Jack of Clubs clapped his hands. The room blurred and when it refocused the other Jacks and the King stood behind a glass window and the Jack of Spades and Harry were on opposite ends of a fighting arena, a long oblong arena with raised walls and a padded floor.

Harry slipped into a dueling stance while his opponent just stood there lazily. He inwardly began to panic when he realized that he couldn't see any eye movement or facial expressions, two things that he used to predict curses or spells when he had dueled during school.

"Begin."

With that Harry let off a stunner followed closely by a blasting curse.

Both of them rebounded off the Jack of Spade's raised hand. With a small flick of her wrist, she melted into the stone background of the wall behind her and disappeared.

Harry's eyes widened and frantically cast wide area of effect spells, hoping to catch her off guard. When he noticed a small ripple after a wave of fire he had conjured, he blasted the general region with concentrated cutting curses and stunner.

Before any of them hit their intended target, Harry felt a disturbance behind him. He spun around and stared right into a stylized jack figure holding a scepter before the world went dark.

When he came to, he found himself lying on his bed drenched in sweat.

He groaned and rubbed his eyes before putting on his glasses which had fallen off his bed stand. He looked around slowly and fell back to his bed with sigh. That was one of the craziest dreams he had ever had. But he wished it was true, that Jack of Spades easily dodged all of his spells and knocked him out within seconds.

Harry made his way to the bathroom across from his room as silent as a cat. If the Dursleys caught him using their little Dudley's bathroom he would be skinned alive and forced to eat nothing for the next week.

He splashed water on his face and jumped in fright when he heard a loud bang coming from the master bedroom.

Hurriedly he rushed back to his room, hoping he could say he was in bed the whole time. But before he reached his bedroom, he heard a scream that resounded from wall to wall.

Harry's face paled, how did they get in? Weren't the wards in place? How did they find him?

He pulled out his wand and rushed into the master bedroom and promptly vomited his meager dinner onto the floor. He almost laughed; the Dursleys wouldn't force him to clean this one up, not in the state they were in.

There were body parts strewn all over the room. He swore there was an arm hanging from the fan and leg peeking out from under the bed. The room was stained red and in the middle of this carnage, stood himself.

It was him down to the messy hair and lightning scar on his forehead. But his replica's green eyes burned with malice and hatred and he had his wand poking underneath the chin of Dudley who was surprisingly intact in comparison to his parents.

"Who are you?" Harry demanded, pointing his wand at this "twin" of his.

The other Harry laughed a deep rumbling laughter that went well with dead baby jokes and psychopaths.

"You haven't met me? I'm your deepest urges and fears. I'm the manifestation of yourself that Dumbledore fears. This is you if you turned to the dark side and while I'm free, I'll do the things you wish you could do."

"Like this for example."

With a thrust of his wrist, his wand pierced the underside of Dudley's chin. Dudley's eyes rolled back and he shuddered once before he stopped breathing.

Harry angrily sent the most vicious curses he knew as the Dark Harry who only laughed and dodged them.

"Such anger in somebody who's supposed to be so Light. Maybe we're not so different after all."

Harry growled in anger before stopping his attack.

"I'm nothing like you," he shouted.

"Oh really? You shed no tears for your deceased relatives. You didn't even try and stop me from killing Dudley. This hatred I feel for them, it didn't come from me, it came from you. I am you."

"But I didn't slaughter them." He argued.

"You wanted to though. Every night, before you went to sleep, you entertained how your life would be if you killed them. Every time they hit you or starved you, you wanted to use your wand to hit them back. I just did you a favor by doing it for you."

Harry's eyes narrowed.

"I would never do that," he spat back," They may have deserved to suffer but I'm not the person who gets to decide if they die."

The Dark Harry only giggled insanely.

"You know, you have more tendencies than murder hidden in that heart of yours." He whispered slyly.

"What do you mean?

"Oh nothing, just send me to Hogwarts this fall and you can hear all about what I did in your place."

The Dark Harry winked at Harry before jumping out of the window.

Harry attempted to follow but his other self was already speeding away on a broom.

He sighed and looked back at the bloody bedroom. With a few waves of his wand, he did his best to get the stains out of the walls and bed. He tried to attach the deceased's limbs and when he finished the Dursleys looked almost normal except that Harry refused to do anything with the severed appendage that he found in the wastebasket. He had almost gagged when he first saw it and was glad that he never had to see it before because Vernon was more into little girls than little boys.

The bodies were slowly levitated outside and he gave a short funeral for them and buried them.

Harry sighed and started to walk away from Privet Drive with only his wand. He had to get to Hogwarts before his other self did, who knows what perversion he could get into there.

But as he walked out of Privet Drive, the world turned dark again and Harry cursed. How many times was he going to pass out today?

Harry refused to open his eyes.

He refused to give into peer pressure and wake up again only to be knocked out repeatedly. Maybe if he just waited, he could make it through this.

The Jack of Diamonds looked at the body curiously. She clicked her tongue once and cocked her head to the side.

She conjured a pencil and a pencil sharpener. Then she spent the next few minutes attempting to get the pencil sharp but as much as she tried the pencil refused to be pointy.

Then she slapped her forehead and snapped her fingers. The pencil immediately gained a sharp tip and the pencil sharpener burst into flames.

Using the same pencil she proceeded to poke Harry with it repeatedly.

When she got no reaction, she threw the pencil away and snapped her fingers a few times. With a clink of metal, the surgical tools she conjured plopped down next to Harry.

With another wave of her hands, she changed her dress into a surgical scrubs complete with latex gloves; her mask still in place. She snapped her gloves a few times and muttered to herself about which area of the body to start with.

Harry's eyes snapped open when she muttered, "I think I'll start with his bollocks since he's doesn't need them anymore."

He let out a scream, a manly one mind you, and jerked away from the Jack of Diamonds, covering his crotch from the extremely sharp surgical knife she was holding.

"Aw, I thought you were dead, since you weren't getting up. I was going to have so much fun practicing my dissecting skills. When I was in high school, my teacher didn't let me dissect the pig because she said I was too unstable." She said in a light, cheerful tone.

Harry shuddered as she leaned in closer, the surgical knife still in hand.

"Turns out, she was right. But I still go to dissect something that day- she screamed so sweetly. "

She traced the knife gently down his face, so that the knife never broke the surface of his skin.

"Will you scream for me?"

Harry only gulped.

"Aren't you brave. Let's see if you can hold down that scream when you can't even hold in your intestines."

The knife traced a line down his chest, cutting his shirt as she made her way to his stomach.

"That's enough, already. Stand down," barked a voice coming from the doorway.

The Jack of Diamonds only whispered into his ear," You're mine if you fail" before she vanished the surgical tools and replaced her scrubs with her dress.

Harry gratefully got up from the ground and groaned in dismay when his shirt finally crumbled into tatters. After years of wear and tear, the cuts from the surgical knife were enough to ruin it.

He covered his chest with his arms in embarrassment, cheeks burning bright red but the King only chuckled.

With a wave of his hand, Harry's shirt came back together in one piece and in the condition it was in when the Dursleys first bough it.

"Isn't our little Harry Potter so cute? He's shy when he has no shirt. Will you still be blushing if I take another look?" the Jack of Diamonds cooed.

"Enough. He needs to know if he passed or not."

Harry's ears perked up as the King continued to explain.

"You failed to defeat the Jack of Spades but none of the other Jacks have yet to have the honor of defeating her either. Remember that looks are deceiving and nobody deals more the art of deception than the Spades."

Harry hung his head in defeat. He didn't even manage to pass the first test let alone the other two.

"However, defeating her wasn't your test. The first test showed your courage against an enemy who you had no chance of defeating."

"The second test was administered by the Jack of Spades, who received the privilege of doing so because she defeated you."

The King gestured towards the wall and the Jack of Spades slowly appeared in front of the wall as did the other two Jacks.

"Explain the test to a potential member of the Deck."

The Jack of Spades nodded.

"The second test meant to pit you against your darkest desire and your worst fear. The only way to fail was give in to your desire. I'm pleased to say that you didn't join your alter ego and attempted to stop him. You have passed the first portion of the second half."

The King nodded in thanks to the Jack of Spades.

The Jack of Diamonds walked towards Harry, who resisted the urge to pull back.

"I administered the second half of the second test. I tested your courage for there's a chance you might be captured and tortured. If you had screamed, then you would have immediately failed. You passed."

She walked back to where the other Jacks were standing and waited for the King to speak.

"I will administer the final test that determines if you can join the rank and file of our organization. Jacks, leave us."

The Jacks nodded and in a slight pop, disappeared.

Harry stared at the King of Hearts resolutely but the mask blocked all of the King's facial expressions, giving Harry no clue to the man's thoughts.

The King of Hearts clapped his hand and an ordinary wooden table with two chairs popped into existence.

"Sit. The decision you make now, will change your life, for better or for worse. I will tell you to do one last task before you can formally join our organization. Others before you have been stronger and smarter yet they have failed it, memories wiped clean afterwards. What makes you think that you can pass it?"

Harry could feel the King's eyes stare into his even with the mask blocking all view of the other man's face.

"I'll do my best, sir" he said hesitantly.

"Good then listen closely, because I'll only say it once. Lean closer."

Harry complied and in a whisper that could have been mistaken for a breeze, the King told Harry his final test.

As the words finally clicked in Harry's brain, his face turned ashen and he sat back down heavily.

How could they even suggest he do that? He would never in a million years, predicted that this was the final test.

His face paled even further as the implications finally set in. He would be the same as the Dursleys, the same as Aunt Marge. If the teachers found out, he would be kicked out of Hogwarts. Nobody would even consider letting him stay, not with what he had to do to join.

Harry glanced at the King who only sat there calmly, staring at him.

The Boy-Who-Lived reached into his pocket and pulled out his holly- phoenix feather wand. With a swish of his wan, he conjured a flock of doves, watched them fly around the room before vanishing them.

With a heavy sigh, he looked at his wand one last time before taking both ends in his hands.

He looked back at the King for confirmation, who only nodded once.

Harry gripped the wand tightly before using all of strength to snap the wand in half. Surprisingly it snapped easily and the magic contained within burst out, throwing the room in bright golden colors before rushing back into him.

He opened his mouth to yell something; anything to get it stop but the flow of magic took the opportunity to flow into his mouth, increasing the rate at which he absorbed the magic.

The King only watched impassively before stunning Harry, who gratefully embraced the darkness for the third time.

"Why did you do that?"

"I had no choice."

"There was a choice. You CHOSE to break us."

"I'm sorry but there was no other way."

"What if there was? Now you no longer have our help. You're no better than a Muggle. "

"But the Jacks can use magic without wands. They'll teach me how."

"They won't. No wizard would dare have anything to do with a lowly Muggle like you. You are alone Harry Potter. All alone. "

His wand's mocking laughter faded away and he found himself in Hogwarts.

"Get away, Squib. You can only clean our rooms after dark. Nobody wants you here, after all, a wizard can clean faster and better than you," mocked Hermione.

"Yeah, leave. We don't want you here," yelled another.

"All alone" whispered his wand.

His mother and father looked at him with wands raised.

"You're no longer our son. Our son would never break his wand."

"All alone" whispered his wand.

"No shut up. I'm not alone. I'm never going to be alone" he screamed.

The Dursleys were grinning," Come on in, Harry. We're sorry we treated you so badly. We didn't know yu couldn't do magic anymore. "

"Is this any better than being all alone?" whispered his wand.

"No, no, no"

Voldemort smiled.

"Pathetic, you were never destined to beat me. I will always be stronger than you," he cackled, casting a bright green spell that grew closer and closer.

Behind him Hogwarts and England burned.

"All alone," whispered the wand.

Ron was screaming while a Death Eater tortured him. Then it wasn't Ron but Dumbledore, then Hermione, and the face of the one who was being tortured flitted from every face Harry knew: the goblins of Gringotts, the barmaids, the teachers and students of Hogwarts.

Harry reached into his pocket to pull out his wand, attempting stop the torture.

The Death Eater turned towards him, the white mask gleaming in the moonlight, and pointed his wand towards Harry.

"What can you do now? You have nothing. You are going to be ALL ALONE," screamed the wand, rushing towards him a flurry of sparks and magic.

Harry woke up with a scream about to erupt from his throat before a hand covered his mouth.

This time the King of Hearts hovered over him while the Jacks were respectfully standing a few feet away.

"Congratulations Harry, you're alive."

The Jack of Diamonds mockingly applauded.

"Alive?"

The King nodded," It seems that your wand was special in a way. Usually the residual magic left in a wizard's wand has no outward effect like that but for some reason your wand had more than enough that it all rushed back into you. The influx of magic should have overloaded your magical core and caused a magic based explosion. The relative good news is that it forced your magic reserves to exponentially increase to the point where we don't have to forcefully expand it ourselves."

For some reason Harry shuddered and the Jacks all collectively sighed as if they had been deprived of a decade's worth of Christmas presents.

"But luckily you had the best healer in the British Isles as well as his personal assistant, so we managed to stabilize your core."

The Jack of Hearts bowed in response.

"But, I would have to commend you."

"Why?"

"Because you managed to pass the last test. The test proved your loyalty to us beyond a doubt. Not many have the courage to do what you just did."

This time all of the Jacks clapped politely.

"Does that mean I get to join?"

The King nodded.

"Let me be the first to say..."

"Welcome to the Deck."

The Deck

Hearts - specialize in healing and diplomacy. Hearts are used as medics and for liaisons for governments and other organizations.

Spades- specialize in stealth and espionage. Spades are used for short and long term infiltration missions.

Clubs- specialize in combat and construction. Clubs are used for one on one combat as well as prolonged siege warfare against a stationary target.

Diamonds- specialize in destruction and khaos. Diamonds are the Deck's wild cards. Most are clinically insane but loyal to the Deck.

Jokers- are members of the Deck who have abilities that make them useful but whose abilities are distinct enough to render their identity compromised the minute they use their abilities.

Aces-are members of the Deck who are powerful enough to operate on their own without back-up from the Deck. Often used as internal police, their identities are known only to the Jokers and the Kings of each Deck.

A/N: Anybody get why each suit has its purpose? ^^