A RESPONSE TO DIS LEXICS Lets Play! Challenge.

PLOT! During his time at the Dursleys, Harry becomes obsessed with games and begins to use them to solve his problems, with his magic forcing the situation. When he enters Hogwarts, his games only step up a notch until he's able to defeat Voldemort with nothing more than a game of poker.

RULES!

Harry is obsessed with games and plays them any chance he gets.

Harry uses his games to solve his problems, like the Dursleys, Dudley and Malfoy, by getting them to make deals that his magic then forces them to comply with.

Any paring welcome.

FORBIDDEN!

Harry fighting. He only wants to have fun, so instead he challenges them to high stakes games and his enemy's (Usually) humour him...

...Only to promptly regret it. Harry can never lose a game.

Harry joining Dumbledore or Voldie. He only wants to have fun and cant be bothered with any of that crap.

SUGGESTIONS!

Crossovers (NO)

Harry finding a magic deck of cards, chessboard or some other item to play his games with (ACCEPTED)

Harry finding a branch of magic focused souly around games (NO BUT I HAVE A PLAN TO HAVE HIM MODIFY A BRANCH OF MAGIC RELATED TO TAROT CARDS AND DIVINATION TO WORK WITH HIS MAIN GAME TOOLS, HIS DESTINY CARDS)

genus but socially awkward Harry (ACCEPTED BUT THE GENIUS APPLIES WHERE ONLY HE WANTS TO APPLY IT; IE HIS GAMES AND CHALLENGING THINGS. IF IT DOESN'T PEAK HIS INTEREST OR CHALLENGE HIM HE DOESN'T EVEN BOTHER TRYING)

Chapter 0: Birth of a gambler and a master of games

Harry looked around the cabin of the train bored out of his skull. He should havd been excited and he realized that but the people arond him were so... two dimensional. Boys his age were mostly talking about something called quidditch which he assumed was a sport of some kind, older boys and girls were either talking about their summers or in the case of couples- reacquainting. His eyes tracked back to the deck of cards in his hands being shuffled with expert ease just on reflex alone. Ok maybe not expert ease compared to professional card players or gamblers but exprt for a kid. His eye caught on the ace of spadrs and grinned slightly seeing a magical depiction of a grim reaper slash the head off a skeleton. It wasn't a dark image since it was cartoony in nature but image tickled him fot a reason he couldn't explain.

"Mind if I join you?"

Harry turned his head and saw that there was a blonde girl perched in the doorway. Her eyes, a silvery blue that reminded him of the ocean surface at night, seemed to shine with an inner mischief yet possessed a sort of calm aloofness. Blonde hair like spun gold danced around her shoulders. "Not at all. Do take a seat" he said inclining his head.

The girl smiled slightly and entered before closing the door behind her. Putting her stuff up on the rack her eyes caught the cards the boy was shuffling. "Playing with Destiny Cards I see. You must be pretty confident to use such cards in place of regular enchanted playing cards" she said taking a seat across boy.

Harry blinked slowly at what the girl just said. "Destiny Cards?" he asked slowly. Turning his gaze to the deck he flipped it over and thumbed over the animated scenes on each suit.

"Magical gamblers around the world use them in staked games. But the one in your hands" the girl plucker the aces from the deck so they were all visible to the boy "is a high stakes deck. If the terms aren't stated clearly the suit of the winners hand determines the outcome of the loser. Death" she tapped the ace of spades. "Emotional slavery" she tapped the ace of hearts depicted as a woman bowing and worshipping at the feet of a man before the image twisted to be the reverse. "Breaking the bank as the muggles say or bankruptcy" she tapped the ace of diamonds depicted as a figure seated on an oppulent throne. "Last but not least, bondage" she tapped the ace of clubs depicted by one figure leading another by a chain connected to the second one on a collar. "Of course thats not all it is on the surface. You did read the instructional card pamphlet right?" she asked.

Harry blanched at what the cards could do. No wonder his aunt, uncle and cousin did a complete turn around in how they treated him. It had been a small bet, Harry won and all the maltreatment ended by every Dursley in the house and if he lost he left never to return, but he won despite having never played what his uncle called Five Card Stud. Vernon lost first, many many times, which infuriated the man who stomped off to teach Dudley how to 'beat the freak at a civilized mans game'. While his uncle did that his aunt challenged him to a game of Gin Rummy. He won that one too and he noticed a change in her too almost immediately. Dudley took longer to challenge him and did it yesterday, he lost needless to say though Harry blamed it more on how stupid Dudley was over lack of skill. Of course a caveat was tacked on that in addition to being treated as a member of the family and no longer being victim to Dudley for any reason, his goony friends would have to be made to stop hurting and harrassing him too. "Uh no? I just assumed they were regular magic playing cards" he said slowly. "If there was a pamphlet I didn't see it. I bought these at a second hand store while getting my school supplies. The repetitive motion of shuffling cards is cathartic."

The girl let out a 'hmm'-ing sound while handing the aces back. "I can fill you in if you like. At least to prevent you from being the unknowing cause of an unfortunate event" she offered folding her hands on her lap.

Harry shuffled the cards back into the deck with care. Cards used by magical gamblers? His deck was a high stakes deck that could very well end lives in more than one way? Saying it was a lot to take in was understating it massively. "How do you know so much about them? You can't be older than I am" he said with a thoughtful frown.

"My dad gambles" the girl said shrugging. "Not with high stakes decks like yours but Destiny Cards nonetheless. Small bouts of money from what I can gather but thats not the point. Do you want to learn or do you inadvertedly want to be the cause of a catastrophe?" she asked.

Harrys brow furrowed a little before nodding slowly.

"Good, deal out the cards for Go Fish and we'll talk. By the time we get to school you'll have the information you need" the girl said with a mysterious smile.

The cards were quickly dealt out before Harry began to sort his cards by value and suit. "You didn't give me your name" he said looking over the edge of his cards.

"No I didn't." The girl gave a pixie-esque smile that made her face light up. "Win and I'll tell you. Lose and you owe me one favor I can call in at any time I wish. It won't be too outlandish or extreme, on that I give my word."

"Ok, you got a deal but lets make it interesting shall we? I win and you not only tell me what I need to know & your name but..." Harry leaned over and said something in the girls ear. Only when he pulled back did he see her blush but also her pixie-esque smile morph into a playful challenging smirk. "Agreeable terms?" he asked offering a hand.

The girl clasped the extended hand and shook it. They were outlined by a silver glow signigying their game was now active and the bet was magically recognized. "May the best woman win" she said taking her hand back.

Harry just gave a ghost of a smirk in return. "She can try. I've been told I have the devils luck" he said making a motion for the girl to go first.