Harry Potter and the armies of the Dark Future Chapter 4: The Hogwarts Express

The rest of Harry's last month with the Dursleys went very well. He had a good birthday with his friends and bought some supplies for painting the miniatures he had gotten to bolster his army. Harry was even more delighted when Neville came in on his birthday very excited by Harry's gift to him. Harry had made arrangements with the owl shop to send his best friend a special present on his birthday. Neville had decided to name the owl Tyran while Harry had chosen Draznar for his.

Finally September the first arrived and Harry was taken to the train station by his aunt and uncle. His uncle was ready to be rid of him but his aunt surprised everyone.

She knelt down and hugged him, whispering in his ear,"I do hope you come back safely. Maybe I can make it up to you."

She released him and got back into the car. His cousin waved as they drove away. Harry was starting to see the beginnings of intelligence in Dudley over the last month. He still had a long way to go, but the longest journey began with the first step.

Harry turned and spotted his best friend watching,"I thought you said they were scum?"

"That was the first time she ever did that. Surprised the hell out of all of us."

"Sometimes people change." Neville shrugged.

"Sometimes people have a new view of reality pull a kamikaze into their brain." He spotted some carts and they dragged their trunks over.

"So did you bring your army?" Neville asked.

"For Commorragh." Harry replied, answering the question in no uncertain terms.

The two went in and Harry looked around for platform nine and three quarters."Okay, where is the platform."

Neville grinned wickedly,"You're gonna love this. Just follow me and don't stop unless I do, K?"

Harry wasn't quiet sure he liked the sound of this, but what the hell. Neville had never led him astray. "K."

Neville wheeled around and started rolling toward the barrier between nine and ten. Harry followed, thinking his friend was finally loosing it. When his friend disappeared into the bricks, Harry tried to stop, but found himself skidding through. Platform nine and three quarters was packed with students and their families.

The train was an old style passenger with a gleaming red engine at the front. They made their way carefully to the train and loaded their trunks into a compartment before closing the door and flopping on the couches.

They both pulled out books and glanced at their friend's choice. Harry smiled,"You're reading a new codex?"

"Just trying to figure out some of the weaknesses of the Space Marines. Things I can exploit with a Tyranid army."

"Getting tired of Richard thrashing you three out of four?"

"Was it that bad? I would have sworn it was more like two out of three."

"You weren't paying attention that last game, were you?"

"No, I was pretty out of it. How does he do that to me if we have been getting better?"

"Because we usually only play against each other. He plays against a lot more people, so he learns more tricks."

At this point the compartment door slid open and a boy with flaming red hair walked in,"Is there any room in here?"

"Sure thing, come on in." Neville said.

As the new kid got settled Neville looked at Harry's reading selection,"How can you read school books at a time like this?"

"Preparation is the first step in striking fear into your enemies."

Neville shivered,"You can get scary when you spout that rhetoric."

"Thank you." Harry said with a huge grin. The red head decided to step in at this point,"I'm Ron Weasley."

"Neville Longbottom."

"Harry."

As he said his name the compartment opened again and a girl with bushy brown hair poked her head in,"Do you have an open seat?"

"Yeah." Harry said sitting up.

She stepped in and introduced herself,"I'm Hermione Granger."

"Ron Weasley."

"Neville Longbottom."

"Harry." Harry was not trying to be rude, but he preferred to keep his name a secret for as long as possible.

As soon as the girl sat down she started talking,"Do any of you know what Hogwarts is like. I read about it but that doesn't really tell me what it's like?"

Harry was rather surprised she could say all that in one breath. He hoped she was just nervous and this was not her normal speed.

"My brothers say the whole castle is totally off it's rocker. Vanishing stairs, stairways that lead different places depending on the day, and the Headmaster. They say that he's nuts." Ron said.

"That's not very nice." Hermione said.

"That's a complement in there book. They love him because you can never really be sure what he's gonna do next."

The girl looked a little miffed at the explanation. She turned to Harry, who had his nose in his book and was only peripherally listening."Harry, have you read all your books yet? I have. I just feel that it's important to be prepared for anything the teachers might throw at us."

Harry lowered his book as the girl was finally finishing,"Nope, about chapter three on each, except potions and charms."He waved the book he was holding,"I was looking for anything that might be able to make my family nicer."

Neville laughed,"Uh, huh. You just want to do to them as they did to you."

"Now, Neville. In all the time you have known me have I ever been cruel to someone." "I've haven't seen you around your family much. But I bet even you would make an exception in that nice guy Potter routine for them."

'Okay, that lasted about as long as I thought it would.' Harry thought.

The train lurched into motion as the two outsiders were about to speak and they were jostled into silence. Hermione recovered quicker,"You're Harry Potter?"

Neville palmed his face and Harry gave him a special smile,"Thanks buddy. I may make you the first exception."

"Sorry man, really. But how long did you expect it to last?"

"About as long as it did, so no worries. But since you launched the spores, would you care to explain."

"Your name, man."

"True." He disengaged from the conversation and turned to looked at the pair,"Yes, I am Harry Potter." He lifted his bangs so they could get a good look and then let the cover return."If you don't mind I would like to keep it quiet. Otherwise I'll be swamped by every question asker on the train."

"Sure thing man." Ron said.

Hermione just nodded.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way we can get back to serious conversation." He turned back to Neville,"Just remember buddy, I owe you one."

"Crap, I hate it when you say it like that." Neville shivered.

Conversation continued for about ten minutes, until the door slid open again and an elderly witch with a sweet face poked her head in,"Anything from the snack trolley dears?"

Hermione said,"My parents are dentists, they would kill me if they found out I ate sweets on the way to school."

"I've got mine."Ron held up a bag that contained what was once a sandwich.

Neville sat up and started reaching into his pocket. But Harry broke in,"I've got it this time man."

He walked to the door and said,"I'll take four of everything. And do you have anything without sugar?" The transaction was finalized and Harry came back with an armload of snacks. Dumping the pile he held out a few items for Hermione,"She said that these don't contain sugar."

"Thanks Harry." She said.

"Right on man."Neville called as he grabbed a few items.

"Cool, mate." Ron said before biting the head off a chocolate frog.

They ate and laughed as the sun passed zenith and began it's long descent to the horizon. After about another hour the door slid open again. This time a blond boy with two thugs flanking him stood in the door way.

"So here you are. The great Harry Potter."

Harry lowered his charms book and peered at the boy. He knew this type of scum. Dudley had not been the only one out to make his life hell.

"How many times have you said that? Just been opening every door until you found the right one?" Harry used his most condescending voice to make his contempt clear.

The blond turned beet red at the truth of the question."You don't want to go mixing with the wrong sort, Potter. It's already having a negative effect on you."

"Yeah, I'm already smart enough not to go up and down the train making a prat out of myself."

The two hams behind the blond boy bristled at the obvious insult to their boss. "Listen Potter, I'm Draco Malfoy, and you do not want to cross me."

"Or what, you'll sick your bulldogs on me?" Harry stood and took his wand out of his book, then carefully placed his book face down on his seat. He held his wand like a professional knife fighter and waited to see if Malfoy was stupid enough to take the bait.

The mound of muscle on the left stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. Draco smirked as his henchmen was about to beat some sense into this smart ass."This is Crabbe. I think he wants to say hello."

The trio snickered and Crabbe took a slow swing with his heavy fist. Harry waited until the last possible moment, then dropped to one knee and sprang up while delivering an uppercut to the boy's gut. What no one expected to see was the mobile hill double over and have a spike of green light poking out the back of his robes.

Harry released the energy and let the now unconscious boy fall to the floor. There wasn't a mark on Crabbe but he was curled around his gut. Harry looked at Malfoy and just smiled again,"Who's next?"

Malfoy was turning even whiter than his usual pale complexion. He could not believe this impudent child could have defeated Crabbe in just one punch."Goyle, pick up Crabbe and let's go." He kept his eyes on Harry as Crabbe was collected."This isn't over Potter."

"Sure man." Harry said as he sat back down and resumed his reading. Once again Ron and Hermione were speechless, this time for five minutes. Finally Harry put down his book and took his glasses off. He tapped it with his wand and said,"Repairo." The many breaks from years of abuse sealed themselves and the tape holding them together dissolved into dust.

Hermione squealed,"That's so cool Harry. How many times have you done magic?"

Harry slipped his glasses on before speaking,"Twice. The first time was when I laid out that idiot waste of flesh."

"Was that the same blade from Ollivander's?"Neville asked.

"Yeah. I read about natural wand reactions. They are generally just a light show, but if you focus enough they can be useful." Harry said.

"That was so cool, mate." Ron said.

Hermione looked uneasy,"Do you think you should have been fighting?"

Harry leaned back and set his book back up,"I'm not too worried. First,"He ticked the points off on his fingers,"I don't think anyone is going to believe that I laid Crabbe out. Second, I don't think Malfoy will admit that his gang ran from a scrawny little runt like me. And Third, wand reactions don't show up as spells if they check my wand."

"Wow, how do you know so much about wands?" Hermione said in awe.

"Appendix B." He held up his charms book. Hermione pulled out her book and disappeared behind it.

Ron sat in silence as his friends read, wondering how he got in with such nerds. After five minutes Neville put the Space Marine Codex down,"Man, I can't really see a weakness in the Space Marines."

Harry lowered his book,"What about numbers?"

"That's the problem. Most of my weapons can just barely penetrate the armor."

"Wrong numbers. The Space Marines have great weapons and armor. But it comes at a cost. If you overwhelm a squad with large broods you can attrit their units while only loosing about half of a brood."

"I never thought of it that way. I always thought it was better to have a lot of small broods."

"Depends on your enemy. With marines, I would swarm my opponent."

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked.

"It's a game called Warhammer 40K." Harry answered.

Neville pulled out a couple codices and passed them around. Even Hermione put down her school book to join in the discussion. Harry and Neville launched into an explanation of the rules and races of the game. This continued until the train rolled into the mountains, which covered the sun.

"We better get ready." Hermione said, pulling out her robes. The boys followed suit and when they were done they packed away the books but kept on talking until the train started slowing.

ooo000OOO000ooo

There's chapter four. Hope you like the short tussel. Up next, the sorting.

Thanks to my wife for reviewing this for me.