Harry Potter and the Armies of the Dark Future Chapter 2: Letters and Truths

Harry walked down the hall casually. He had to admit that his life had gotten better since he learned how to scare them. He always suspected that there was something about him that they were afraid of.

What was it?

He picked up the mail and quickly sorted through it. He stopped when he got to a yellowed envelope sealed with red way. The symbol pressed into the wax was a large H with four smaller images in the background.

The really surprising thing was the address. How did they know where he slept? He had never told anyone that secret.

He pocketed the letter and continued into the kitchen. Breakfast passed quickly, but not fast enough for Harry. Not with the letter burning a whole in his pocket.

Finally he finished his food and asked to be excused. He left as quickly as he felt would go unnoticed. When Harry turned the corner off of Privet Drive he pulled the letter out and started reading. He let his feet remember the way to the shop, and was lost in thought as he read.

By the time he got to the shop he was absolutely convinced that the letter was a mistake. But the address was still too precise to be wrong.

"Harry!" He heard Neville coming,"Harry, you got your letter." He turned his head,"Yeah gran, he got it."

To Harry's surprise the elderly woman was moving as fast as she could to get over to him. When she got to him she was a little out of breath but her eyes were wide as she spotted the parchment in his hand. She motioned them inside.

"Richard dear, we need some privacy." She said to the shop owner.

It was a weekday so the shop was still empty, but they only had about an hour before a regular might show up.

Richard looked up from his catalog and spotted his two religious patrons. He also recognized the letter in the hand of the one he was not related to. As he was a Muggle from a predominantly magical family, so he knew what that meant."Sure thing gran. Glad to see Harry will finally get away from his Muggle family." He walked to the gaming room and unlocked it.

"In here. No one expected today, and I'll lock it to make sure."

"Thank you dear." She said to her eldest grandson, "Come along boys, we have much to discuss."

When they were secured in the room Mrs. Longbottom took a seat and motioned for Harry to do the same."Harry, I see that you have read your letter. Do you have any questions?"

Harry had too many to know where to begin ,"Is this a joke?"

Neville's grandmother was clearly not expecting this one. She looked shocked for a moment, then started laughing."I can see why you would ask that. No, despite what your 'guardians',"She stressed the word distastefully,"may say, magic does exist, and you can do it."

Harry thought for a moment. Yes that would work to explain all the weird things that had happened to him over the years."Okay, so how am I going to get all this stuff?" He waved the list of supplies gently.

"We can arrange for someone to take you to London tomorrow. There you can get everything you need."

"I doubt if my aunt and uncle are going to pay for this. Just the other day she was dying some clothes for my new school's uniform."

"Your parents left you quiet a bit when they were murdered. It's not a fortune, but it will get you through school and set you up quiet well for a year or two afterwards."

It was Harry's turn to be shocked,"My parents.. were murdered?"

"Yes dear." She realized the problem,"I see. They never told you?"

Harry shook his head.

"Lilly and James were brave and loyal. That's probably what got them killed." She dabbed at her eyes,"Ten years ago there was a very bad wizard. He was trying to take over everything but there were those that fought him. Your parents were on the good side, as were Neville's parents. The enemy found them and," She paused for a moment to steady herself,"And killed them. He tried to kill you to, but it didn't work. Somehow the spell backfired and struck him. It also almost leveled the house. But that's where you got that scar."

She motioned toward the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Suddenly he remembered a dream he had from time to time. His mother screaming and a man laughing. Then a bright flash of green. Mrs. Longbottom gave him a moment to gather his thoughts, then pressed on,"You see, in our world, the magical world, you're famous. You were only one and you defeated the most powerful dark wizard of all time."

"So, why was I sent to live with those, what was the word, Muggles?"

"Because, while you did defeat the dark lord, he had many followers who could still have been dangerous. So our leader, Dumbledore, decided to hide you among the non-magical population."

Harry sat there for a moment trying to sort through his questions. Most of them he probably wouldn't or couldn't get answers for. But one he had to ask,"What do I tell my aunt and uncle?"

She put her hand on his shoulder,"You must tell them the truth. They have to know what is happening. I'll have Dumbledore send someone to get you tomorrow. That's as long as you can wait."

"Okay, I think I'll tell them tonight. So they're not too surprised when a stranger shows up."

"In that case, I think it is time for me to be going. Have fun today boys." She was gone before they could say anything.

"It's awesome that you are going to Hogwarts man." Neville said.

Harry had almost forgotten about his friend being there."Yeah man, provided I live through the night."

"Don't worry too much man. They can't be that bad."

"You have no idea."

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"For the Hive."

"For Commorragh."

The salutation was one the boys had started using some time ago to declare their time together either starting or over. Harry used it somewhat reluctantly today because he was dreading returning home. He walked slowly in the general direction of his neighborhood. As he walked it occurred to him that the world had just taken a major one-eighty on him. This morning he was looking forward to another few weeks of summer and deeply dreading the return to school this fall. Now he was honestly dreading the rest of the summer after he told his aunt and uncle what he had discovered today. The bright spot was this Hogwarts he was going to on September first.

When it all came down to it, he didn't honestly see any way around telling them, but the row that was coming would probably be measurable on the Richter scale.

He walked into his house and was relieved to see the rest of the family just heading for the kitchen. He took a moment to wash up and joined the rest of them.

Conversation was the usual dribble about Uncle Vernon's job. Harry wondered how this man could be happy with his job if he screamed at people as often as he claimed to. Finally he started winding down and Harry readied himself for the chance.

"I got a letter in the mail today." He said.

The other three looked at him in shock. Well he had dealt with that enough today.

"Who would be writing to you?" His uncle asked.

Harry held up the letter so they could see the address,"It's from Hogwarts."

His aunt and uncle stopped cold at the name of the school. Harry decided to drop the last bomb before they recovered."Someone is coming tomorrow to take me to London so I can get what I need for school."

"Not in this house!" His uncle bellowed.

Harry could feel the adrenalin pumping through him, sharpening his senses. He could also feel the tingling that often accompanied these moments, was that his magic preparing itself for the fight as well. He had spent the whole day going over what would be said,"I know how my parents died." His voice was cold and level. His eyes dared them to deny lying to him for his entire life.

His uncle went pale and his aunt was frozen in a silent shriek. He had them right he where wanted them."I'm going to move into the spare bedroom, since I'm not going to have enough space in the cupboard for my school things."

He walked slowly out, giving the other three one last look, with that special smile, before exiting the kitchen.

He could hear his aunt crying and his cousin screaming about the room Harry was taking. Technically it was spare storage. But it had been the dumping ground for toys Dudley had managed to break for years.

Moving didn't take Harry too long, only one trip for everything he owned. Once into his new room he started clearing the piled junk. This took considerably longer because of the many years of detritus deposited here.

After an hour he was lying on his new bed reading the Dark Eldar codex. He had been through it several times, but it had a soothing effect on him. The tales of great raids and the torture that followed sang with a part of him he had come to listen to when he needed advice on dealing with his enemies.

He heard a knock at the door,"Enter."

The door opened to reveal his uncle looking slightly scared. Like he expected Harry to make him explode if he made the boy upset."Um, well, yes. Your aunt and I have discussed it, and we think it is a good idea for you to move up here. We do need that cupboard for more storage down stares."

"That, and you didn't think anyone else knew you were shutting me in a closet."

"I will not have that tone from you!"

"Or what?" He kept his voice even and let his uncle deflate,"That's what I thought. You know that they are watching. You know what they will do to you if anything 'untoward' happens to me. So what are you going to do to me?"

His uncle seemed to diminish with each point Harry made. Finally he just closed the door and went back down stairs. Harry resumed his reading, reflecting that life should be much easier with his family scared to death of what the evil wizards would do if he were mistreated.

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Thanks again to my wife for reviewing it for me.