Chapter 1

Harry looked around wondering how he got pulled into this.

'I've faced a Dark Lord numerous times, killed a sixty foot snake, driven off hundreds of Dementors,AND won a competition meant for adults. How the HELL do I not escape the clutching hands of an obsessed bookworm.' Harry mentally sighed as he looked at the other people at the table. Fred and George sat across from him both looking... nervous. Sirius and Remus sat on either side of him, glad to be away from Molly the Mouth. And the last person at the table, sitting next to one of the twins, was Nymphadora 'Don't call me that' Tonks.

At the head of the table stood the most horrifying thing any of them had ever seen.

Hermione Jean Granger. A well read student who worked hard to get perfect grades, but right now she had something on all of the occupants of the table and was holding them against their will. 'How the hell did she find out about me and Daph any way. We did everything possible to hide it.'

"Hermione why are we here?" Tonks asked, her hair red and her arms crossed to show her dislike of being forced into something against her will.

"I am glad you asked Tonks. You see earlier in the summer I visited my cousins in the US. Years ago they introduced me to a game and we are going to all sit, well you'll sit while I pace, and play this game." As she spoke she walked around the table placing stacks of paper and pencils in front of everyone.

"So we play.."

"This one game.."

"And you forget..."

"That thing that you..."

"Are not to speak about."

"Right?" Fred and George said in twin speak finishing the last part together.

"Maybe." Hermione said with a smile.

"Lets get this over with." Remus said, resigned to do whatever Hermione wanted.

Everyone nodded, ready to get this unknown task over with so they could get back to... what ever it is they did in their spare time. Waving her wand Hermione caused the six stack of books and the specially designed bags to spread out. Each one going to a specific person.

"While I go through the intro, because your all new to this, please choose a character. You will notice I have already marked several of the ones in your individual books that would be good for you to play."

As the others started thumbing through the book Hermione pulled out several sheets of paper. She loved reading and could memorize almost anything, but only someone who was beyond human could memorize, announce and track this game and not get lost in it all. (A/N: Speaking from experience it can be that impossible and nerve racking for a GM who has a group of new players. Shout out to the Dark Refuge team and a thanks for everything they do.)

"In the distant future, the past for your characters, there was a greedy mining corporation on Mars. They wanted to make more money but the Laws of Earth stopped them from doing that. Then they made a pact with an alien race called the Quall N'drone." At everyones confused looks she held up her book open to the page that described the Quall. (A/N 2: See my avatar)

"They are a race of bipedal cows with four arms, six horns, monster strength, lava hot blood, and powers that you will find out about later." The group nodded though both of the twins looked to be troubled by this creature.

"Any way, the two groups worked together and in the matter of one day Earth fell, all of its leaders fleeing to the planet Refuge, leaving the planet's remaining live inhabitants under the rule of the Iron Republic." at the reveal of the name the pris... I mean players felt like that should have been something big ,but it meant nothing to them.

"So this greedy corporation on Mars attacked Earth with the man-cow things what's the big deal?" Sirius asked

"The big deal is that they not only attacked Earth but also took over the expanding empire that it had become. Humans who once had rights and homes were now slaves to this corporation, their minds toys with which the Board of Directors played for their own amusement and profit."

At this every person at the table thought of one group of people this sounded like. The Pure Blood supporters or Death Eaters.

"There is also the fact that any human that tries to fight them is given to the Quall who in turn use their prisoners to make more Quall. Each Quall is part of a Hive, with a Hive mind and a Queen. That Queen has a seventh horn in the center of her head which she stabs into the head of the victim, implanting a Quall Larva. This Larva keeps its host alive until it is ready to burst forth as fully grown Quall, with all the memories of its now dead host."

Hermiones explanation of how the creatures reproduced caused the three Hogwarts students to turn slightly green. The others, while looking a little paler, were mostly unaffected.

"Now on the planet Refuge there are several different beings called the Speaking Races. Humans are called Earthers as that is where they came from. I will describe the other races when we get to character introductions. There is also a strange energy only found on this planet. The inhabitants, those there before the Earthers, call it the Leyas. The Leyas is shaped and manipulated by emotion, thought, and belief. If a group of say a hundred believe that a person is a god, then they are able to do minor miracles. The stronger the belief, both individual and group, the stronger the outcome.

"This can also be bad if a person can not control their emotions. Fear causes you to create a Nightmare. A creature that you fear at the time of the emotional outburst, they are easy to kill. That is if they have not eaten their creator. Fear can also cause certain levels of technology to fail in the worst possible way. Anger can be good or bad depending on when the outburst happens."

All eyes turned to Tonks as she sat on Hermione's right.

"I will be playing Cassandra the Earther Shapeshifter. 5'6" strawberry blond with a temper."

Next was Fred

"I am playing a Bastard Summoner named Gary. 3'4" amethyst colored eyes, likes to cause trouble. He wears a chain mail suit and is always surrounded by animals."

"Bastards..." everyone at the table looked at Hermione, surprised that she swore. "Are about the size of a child, are good at stealth, and have no self preservation instinct."

George started before the others could look at him. "I am Fill, a Bariber Troubadour. 5'6" I wear Nightmare hide shirt and pants and am often seen entertaining my adoring fans. My wings are a nice bright white color."

"Bariber are winged humans that are lighter than Earthers. They also tend to be annoyingly happy."

Remus

"I am playing Daric the Uthvalor Ohmite Warrior Monk. 6", pale almost sickly color skin, wearing a tight fitting black plate armor. I rarely show an emotion while around others."

"Uthvalor are a cursed race. They have great senses, but can not feel emotion. If they do feel emotion they see every instant of that feeling being felt by every life form, all at once. The only way they can stop this is if they kill the closest life form near them."

Harry

"I will be playing Ben the Vlahadase Tsogara. I am 5'6", covered in tattoos, and have a giant wolf like creature as my friend. I wear crimson plate armor."

"Vlahadase is the youngest known race in the colonies and tend to act like bandits or rangers would in other games."

and finally Sirius

"I am Bob the K'iorn Strangulari. I'm 6' wear chain mail and often disappear at random times."

"K'iorn are the most well known species on Refuge. They are an honor bound race who generally have a deep love of Nature. Though difficult to anger they will not stop until they have had their revenge. Uthvalor are in fact cursed K'iorn, which is one of the reasons the two do not get along."

Hermione nodded, after writing down who was playing who, then said "Well you all find your self in a room sitting around a rectangular table.."

The three hours that followed brought out a joy that the group had not known they were missing before they played. They had all thought that Mad-Eye was going to yell at them for playing games while there was a war going on, but instead he stayed around listening, dropping a hint once in a while, and asking to be brought in on the next game. He wound up playing a Kumfie of the Valkyrie Special Forces: Aeromancer , Private John W.

That was the first meeting of what would later be called the Gaming Group.

Harry was up in his room after the game, leafing through his copy of The Complete Leyas Spell Book, until he felt he should better prepare for his upcoming trial.

He walked upstairs to Sirius's bedroom and knocked.

"Come in." he heard Sirius say. Inside Harry found Sirius and Remus looking over their copies of the game books.

"What's up, pup?" Sirius asked.

"I was wondering if there was anything I could look up in the library or that you two could teach me to better prepare for my trial. I have a feeling Fudge will try something that could be bad for me."

The two Marauders looked at eachother, then motioned for Harry to join them.

A week later while cleaning out the drawing room they found a necklace that Sirius did not remember from his childhood, and that no one could open. The second Harry touched it he got this strange sense that he could not place until he saw the snake etched on the locket.

"Kreacher." The elf popped into the the room.

"How can Kreacher serve?" he said as he bowed, muttering insults under his breath.

"Where did this locket come from?" Harry asked, placing it on the desk.

"Kreacher can't be saying. Master Regulus ordered Keacher's silence." Kreacher forced through clenched teeth.

Harry nodded accepting his answer. Pulling a small notebook and a pen from his pocket, he wrote two notes.

"I need you to take this note to Alastor Moody." Harry said as he handed the first note to the elf. "And this one goes to Professor Dumbledore. Come right back, we will need your help destroying this thing." The elf looked first at the two notes then at the boy. A look of admiration, almost loving, passed over his face.

"At once master." When Kreacher bowed this time it was not followed by the usual lines of insults.

When the two older members of the Order arrived Moody was the first to examine the locket.

"Potter, where did you get that!?" he demanded in his gruff voice.

"While cleaning the drawing room we came upon a cache of cursed or enchanted items. When I picked up this necklace I felt something off about it. As I have been meditating, as instructed by you and the others, I had an easier time remembering where I had felt that feeling before. Once I realized it was the Diary from second year I called Kreacher, questioned him, then sent him to fetch you and Professor Dumbledore."

Moody sighed at the boys answer. Nothing was easy once Harry Bloody Potter gets involved.

PlotSearcher: Hey everyone. Sorry about the long wait, BOTH of my computers chose to rebel and I have finally worked around their underhanded ways. Now I know this is not a new chapter and I am still doing the others, I just felt like I needed to write a few other ones as well. If you have any questions about the game I have introduced go to Darkrefuge dot net. It has all the answers to your questions and links to where you can get the books to play it yourself, or its expansion Time Shredders.

Also the first person to tell me who Privet John W. is based off of will get a mention in my next chapter.

Enjoy.