Harry Potter and the Change of Fate
written by Theenlim

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DISCLAMER: I don't own Harry Potter J.K Rowling does. Purchase her books and don't read mine……

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AN: Just want to say thanks to all the people who read my story. Got more hits than I expected
and a fair few people who added this to their story alerts. Please Review! It helps to know what
people think, especially other authors. I would also like to thank my beta Gune23 for pointing out my
mistakes and for doing all the other things a beta does.

Chapter 2

Payback

The pain had rapidly vanished and his vision slowly begun to clear, he could make out blurry shapes around him as his eyes adapted to the change in light. Before Harry could get his bearings he was slammed to the floor. His jaw throbbed in pain as he lay face down in the dirt. His foggy mind tried to understand where he was and why he was once again in pain. Voices begin to intrude on his thoughts; at first they were incomprehensible blurred noises, which slowly become clearer. Harry then began to understand part of the reason of why he was on the floor.

"Aw, come on Potter, aren't you going to cry?" A boy's voice asked mockingly. "Or do we have to try a little harder?"

Not recognising the voice Harry looked up and groaned, he may not have remember the voice but he would never forget the face that looked back at him. Standing around him were four ten year old boys, all of which were larger than he was and all of which were members of his cousin Dudley's old school gang. The one that had mocked him was Gordon, largest of the boys next to Dudley. At the laughter of the others, Harry attempted to regain his feet only to receive a severe kick the gut by Malcolm another of Dudley's mates. He felt himself being pulled to his feet as someone held him tightly from behind. Harry recalled this happening on many occasions before his first year at Hogwarts. He quickly looked up to see Dudley's fat fist flying towards his face; instinctively he rolled his head to the side, causing Dudley to miss him, instead striking Piers the smallest member of the Dudley gang.

Piers Polkiss dropped to the ground without a sound, Dudley's fist had knocked the boy out cold, which was great news for Harry, who now only had to deal with three of the bullies. As Dudley attempted to check on his incapacitated friend Malcolm reached out to grab Harry and received a quick fist to the face for his trouble. Unfortunately for Harry he only had the strength of a scrawny ten year old and merely dazed the larger boy. Realising he couldn't beat these boys in a fair fight, - assuming you could call a four on one fight fair – Harry had no choice but to use dirty tactics. Dennis, the last member of Dudley's gang tried to clobber Harry with a haymaker, which Harry nimbly ducked under before kicking the boy as hard as he could in the family jewels. The boy fell to the ground closing his eyes form the pain. Harry picked up his school bag off the ground, which was heavy with the weight of his school books.

He turned to face Gordon and said in a mocking voice. "Aw, come on Gordon, aren't you going to cry?" Harry quickly struck out with the bag, knocking the larger boy to the ground. Drawing back he kicked the boy as hard as he could in the gut, expelling the air from his lungs. "Or do I have to try harder?" Gordon lay on the ground holding his chest, a tear of pain rolled down his cheek as he tried to regain his breath.

Dudley rose to his feed facing his younger cousin. "You're going to be sorry you did this cousin," he shouted angrily "wait until I tell father what you've done."

Harry genuinely laughed at his porky cousin "You should be more concerned with yourself Dudley." Harry replied with an evil grin as he walked purposefully towards the fat git. "Daddy isn't here to help you."

Dudley hesitated a moment before attacking, he took a swing which Harry deftly avoided. Focusing his magic into his right arm Harry punched Dudley with all his magically enhanced strength. His fist made contact with Dudley's fat face and the git crumpled to the ground. He laughed softly as he looked around, Harry had always wanted to get even with Dudley and his gang but never thought he would get the chance. The fight had gathered a crowed, the watching kids where pointing and whispering his name. It reminded him of his first few years at Hogwarts and he groaned. The constant gawking and whispers of his fellow students was something he hadn't missed and he was not looking forward to that part of his return to Hogwarts.

Harry quickly walked away from the scene; he had much to do this day and couldn't afford to be stopped by a curious teacher. He remembered all too well how nosy they could be. He walked around to the back of the nearby building, concentrating, he used his magic to sense if there was anyone around that might see him. Not sensing anyone nearby, he Apparated back to private drive.

Harry appeared in Dudley's second bedroom, his cousin's broken toys and crap lay scattered around the room. He sent out his senses again, trying to determine if anyone was home before walking down to the kitchen. At this time of day his uncle would be at work and he didn't sense anyone else in the house which meant that his aunt must have gone shopping, which was a bonus. It would save time if he didn't have to scare his aunt into leaving him alone as he prepared. He waited in the kitchen for almost five minutes before sighing in relief. He was slightly worried that the ministry would have detected his underage Apparation, maybe they could only detect underage wand magic, or maybe they could only detect it when the magic was cast in the home. Either way it didn't matter, they hadn't noticed and he had work to do.

Harry walked back upstairs and checked himself out in the upstairs bathroom mirror. Dudley's gang had really done a number on his face, his right eye was already turning black and both his nose and lip were bleeding, the sharp pain in his chest told him he also had a couple of bruised ribs. He knew he would need something to cover his injuries as well as his scar. So Harry walked back down the hallway and into the second bedroom, in the corner were several large boxes where the Dursley's kept Dudley's old clothes. He rummaged through the boxes until he found a hooded jumper, it was far too large for him but it would hide his scar. He then headed back downstairs and opened the door to the cupboard under the stairs. He poked around for a minute grabbing a few personal effects, before heading out the door and down the street.

Unsure of how long he would have before the effects of such a powerful time travel spell begin to present themselves, Harry quickened his pace. A few minutes later he arrived at his destination, a small house on Wisteria Walk. He quickly walked up to the front door, making sure his hood concealed his injuries he wrapped his knuckles loudly on the small window beside the door.

Within moments Mrs Figg answered, Mr. Paws one of her many cats was slowly circling her feet. She was wearing a house coat and the tartan carpet slippers she always seemed to wear. Harry noticed that he was being closely inspected by one of her other cats as it sat just inside the room.

"Harry dear, Shouldn't you be in school?" She said slightly confused. She gasped loudly as Harry lowered his hood revealing some of his recently acquired injuries. "Merlin, Harry what happened lad?" She continued.

Harry ignored her question. "Arabella," he replied, using her given name for effect, "may I come in? I know who and what you are and I have need of your assistance." He stated simply.

Ginny and Harry had thoroughly planned out what he was going to say when he finally arrived at Mrs Figg's. They had known that a mistake here could have dire consequences on whether or not their plans would succeed. They needed her to help Harry and not ask too many questions. She had to be too confused to think things through. Because if she started to wonder at how much Harry actually knew, she would inform Dumbledore immediately, who would inturn keep a close eye on Harry and possibly start asking questions of his own. If their plans were to succeed, Harry and Ginny needed to be above any suspicions so they could have free reign over Hogwarts.

Mrs Figg stepped aside to allow the small boy to enter her home. The house, as always smelt strongly of cabbage as well as something else he couldn't put his finger on. As a boy he had always hated those smells, now however they didn't bother him as he recognised them for what they where, the smells of potions and their ingredients.

She guided Harry to the sitting room, offering him a seat that he waved off, preferring to stand. "Harry dear, what happened, who did this to you?" She asked again, clearly concerned.

Harry didn't speak for a moment as he glanced around the room. Ginny and he could never have anticipated that Harry would be attacked upon arriving back in the past, and as such didn't compensate for it in their plan. Harry however decided that he could use this to his advantage.

He looked Arabella Figg directly in the eyes as he spoke. "My injuries are unimportant," he said simply "they are far from the worst my so-called family has given me over the years."

Mrs Figg's eyes widened at hearing this, and not just at the fact that the boy had just told her that his adoptive family had physically assaulted him in the past. It was the fact that the Boy-Who-Lived spoke of it as if it was a common occurrence and not worth talking about. He was the champion that had saved both worlds from being overcome by total darkness at the hands of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and what had he gotten for his trouble, beatings at the hands of the very Muggle's that were supposed to protect him. The very thought angered her more than anything she had ever felt. "Are you saying that your family did this to you?" she asked softly, attempting to suppress her feelings.

Harry once again ignored her question. "I need you to do something for me Arabella," he said. "I have somewhere I need to go and need you to flag down the Knight Bus for me. Will you assist me?" he asked, holding her gaze. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, then a worried expression crossed her face and she looked away.

Harry had anticipated her reaction, and so far everything was going to plan. He had to keep her as unsteady as possible, if she had too many things to think about all at once she would be less likely to ask unwanted questions and more likely to help him. He knew that he didn't have a lot of time, and he had too much to do in these first few hours before he could succumb to the effects of the time spell. He was already getting the beginnings of what he knew would be one very painful headache.

Before she could say anything Harry continued. "I know that you don't do magic personally," he said, subtly telling her he knew she was a squib without insulting her, "but surly you have a wand to call the bus when you have need of it, as magic isn't actually require to wave it down."

She looked up at him in surprise, her mouth agape with no words coming out. With a strange look on her face, as if she was both upset and confused and angry all at once she finally spoke. "I… I don't have a wand my boy," she said softly "I had always believed that as a… a squib I had no use for one. I was never told that there were things I could use it for that didn't require actual use of magic." She looked down at her feet, she was obviously quite upset.

Harry wanted to scream; it was bad enough the way squibs were treated by the magical community, as if they were less than 'normal' people. But to not tell this poor woman that there were things that she could do that did not require magic was inexcusable, it was disgusting. He could easily believe that the Ministry and others like them might not care enough to bother about a 'mere squib', but why had Dumbledore of all people not looked out for her, wasn't she a member of his precious Order of the Phoenix.

Thanks to the slackness of his fellow Wizards he was screwed. He had no idea what he was going to do now. He couldn't very well Apparate to the Leaky Cauldron or Diagon Alley. An underage eleven year old boy, dressed in Muggle clothing, Apparating at will is something that definitely would not go unnoticed by anyone with eyes. It was the kind of attention that he couldn't risk bringing upon himself.

He paced around the room for several minutes trying to figure out what he was going to do now. Time was rapidly running out and it seemed that his stress was bringing the effects of time travel on more quickly; his headache was steadily getting worse.

"Wait." He said suddenly, shocking Mrs Figg out of her own thoughts. He quickly turned towards the small hearth in the corner of the room. "You aren't by any chance connected to the Floo Network are you?" he asked hopefully.

"The Floo Network?" she repeated slowly. Obviously to stunned and confused to think clearly. "Ah, yes, yes I am."

Harry walked over to the hearth, where he found a small bowl of Floo Powder on the mantel. "Do you mind if I use it?" he asked, talking a handful of the powder.

"Sure, go ahead." She said, and before she could say another word, the young boy entered the fireplace, threw down the powder and was gone.

It wasn't until much later that she realised that she hadn't heard where Harry had said he was going and that she should probably inform someone of the day's occurrences. She sat down at her writing desk with a piece of parchment and a quill and prepared to write a letter to Albus. She hesitated for a few moments, thinking over what had happened and changed her mind. Finally she looked down at the parchment and began to write.

'Dear Minerva,

I have some information I am sure the Order would want to know...'

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AN: Thanks again to all those that reviewed the first chapter. Its always good to know how people like your story.
I got this chapter out fairly quickly because i had already written it when i released the first chapter. Chapter three however may still be a while off. I have bearly done more than that outline at this point. Hope you all enjoy and please Review.

Thanks - theenlim