Hey there people! This is LINKed up, and first of all, I didn't write this, so don't flame me about it. Rhyllen removed the stories for that exact reason. I didn't write this Rhyllen did. This goes for the other two stories that I will be posting, called Potions and Parents and Future and Past Reborn.

DISCLAIMER: I only wish I owned this! Anything you may recognize belongs to JK Rowling, and I ain't makin' a dime off of this. Wish I was though, then maybe I could move out of this spacious cardboard box, lol!

A/N: I know this isn't a very original idea, but this is my take on it. What would happen if Harry never got a letter from Hogwarts? I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 1: Some Things Never Change

If you were to look at him you wouldn't know that he was different. The only thing that really separated him from the other kids at Primary School was that his clothes were too big for him and he had a lightning bolt scar on his forehead that should have long ago healed. But Harry Potter wasn't normal in any sense of the word, for he was a wizard. He often made things happen when he was angry or scared, and just last week when he was running from his cousin Dudley he found himself on top of the lunch hall roof. That one had gotten him into loads of trouble. It wasn't often that he had to walk himself to the local hospital with a concussion. He simply told them that he had been walking down the street and had slipped on some mud hitting his head on the pavement. It was believable since the night before they had had a torrential rain storm that made everywhere slippery, add in the fact that his clothes were plenty dirty due to the fact he had actually slipped more than once on his way to the hospital. The doctors had reluctantly believed him, but gave him a look that suggested if he came in again soon nothing he told them would be believed. After he got home he had been locked in his cupboard for the night without meals or a chance to use the loo. He lay awake the whole night wishing for all that he was worth that whatever he did to keep causing the strange occurrences would just go away or stop.

Little did he know that in doing so he suppressed his magic to the point where even the Hogwarts Registry Quill deemed him muggle. Neither did he know that when the quill scratched his name off the list everyone in the Wizarding World thought him dead. October 31st had been officially named Harry Potter Day, and a week of mourning called to mourn the death of the savior of the Wizarding World. None of them thought to visit his relatives to verify it, they were too wrapped up in grief.

The years passed for Harry, and once he got into Stonewall High things actually looked up. With his cousin Dudley going to Smeltings Harry was able to get a few friends, and wouldn't have to suppress his ability to do school work because of what the Dursleys would say if he did better than his cousin. Without that worry Harry quickly earned a reputation as a know-it-all, but he was also one of the students that teachers both loved and hated. Along with his friends Dan, who had light brown hair, hazel eyes, and an athletic build, Liz, who sported shoulder length dishwater blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes, and Rich, whom had dark brown curly hair and blue eyes, they terrorized the school planting pranks on unsuspecting bullies. They only ever targeted those that tormented the other students as a kind of revenge for those who couldn't get their own. Their favorite prank was when they had piled rotting fish in a locker that belonged to one of Dudley's old gang, and to top it off they had made sure when he opened it he would be covered in syrup before one of them tossed a pillow's worth of feathers onto him. The teachers tended to turn a blind eye to any of the pranks because they knew that the students that it happened to deserved it, but as they couldn't get any evidence as to the bullies doing anything the teachers themselves couldn't prove anything. The four friends had quickly become legendary in Stonewall as the best pranksters seen in far too many years. The teachers had taken to calling them Marauders as they caused trouble wherever they went.

In the Wizarding World things were dire. Without Harry Potter there Voldemort had been resurrected with the aid of Quirrel and the Sorcerer's Stone. Death was a common-place, and Hogwarts was the only place deemed safe. Though Albus Dumbledore knew of the prophecy that said Harry was the only one capable of defeating the Dark Lord it did not mean he rolled over and let him win. No, Albus fought back with everything he had. He recalled the Order shortly after it became apparent that he was back and started recruiting immediately. With Voldemort back the Chamber of Secrets had never been opened and 'Scabbers' had run away back to his master. Classes at Hogwarts centered on defense and war time spells instead of the normal curriculum. Students of all houses banded together to help each other learn more quickly so they could defend themselves in case of an attack. The only exception to that was Slytherin where most were supporters of Moldievort anyway, and those that weren't were too afraid of Draco Malfoy to speak up.

Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley had become unofficial leaders of the 'Light' supporters by their fifth year as they had done the most studying and tutoring of students. With Ron's strategic thinking and Hermione's vast spell knowledge they were able to come up with many additional defenses and strategies to keep Hogwarts safe in case of an attack. When it came time for their graduation Albus created two new positions on the staff that they were to fill. Their exclusive duty was to handle the defense of the school and help train more students in defensive spells that they weren't learning in DADA.

By this time Harry had made Stonewall 'bully safe' and had even trained, with the help of his cohorts, successors to ensure that no bullies would crop up after they had left. Once he had graduated he got a job at a local fast food restaurant to help him save up to get a car and decent clothing while affording a place to stay that wasn't a cramped cupboard. Due to said cupboard Harry's height never really reached above 5'6", but he didn't mind too much because he knew he still had a few years left of puberty and he might be able to correct that problem. After several years he had worked himself up to a assistant manager position in the restaurant, but still wasn't earning really enough to do much more than survive. He still kept in contact with Dan, Liz, and Rich, but all of them had busy lives so they didn't get together all too much. As soon as he had moved out of Privet Drive his 'family' had completely denied ever knowing someone by the name of Harry Potter so he figured it was time to ruffle his Uncle a bit and earn himself a decent wage so he applied for a job at Grunnings.

Since Vernon Dursley didn't work in the Human Resources department he didn't know that Harry had been hired until he did one of his monthly inspections of the factory side of the campus. This is where our story truly starts…

"BOY! What do you think you're doing here," Vernon bellowed turning that familiar purple whenever he saw Harry.

"Well, right now I'm making sure that these drills are all up to specifications. We don't want to be sending out any faulty drills do we sir," Harry responded happily.

"You know what I meant boy," Vernon whispered dangerously.

"I applied for a job here and got hired. I needed to make more money than I was as a manager at McDonald's," came Harry's bored reply as he measured the depth and sharpness of another bit.

"One toe out of line, or any weird stuff and I'll make sure you don't work here any longer," Vernon said before stalking off. Harry just rolled his eyes before continuing work. He knew that Vernon could get him fired, but at the same time it wouldn't look too good on him if he did. Harry knew that most of his supervisors liked him and his work. Harry had risen quite quickly to his current post due to his hard work and eagerness to learn. He had spent the vast majority of his breaks learning from people in other positions exactly what they did so if there was ever a need for a substitute due to injury or mental breakdown(which surprisingly was quite common) Harry would be able to fill the position until they could get someone else. It hadn't taken long before Harry knew all of the positions in the factory and the supervisors had taken to scheduling him in various areas depending on the week. Harry was now able to afford a place closer to work, and had even bought a newer car so he wouldn't have to spend so much in gas and maintenance. What had infuriated Vernon so much was the fact that Harry's work clothes, instead of being old clothes that the employees tended to wear in case they had gotten ruined, had been some of the final cast-offs of Dudley's that they had given him. They were still several sizes too big, but perfect for this type of work as long as they were tucked in and Harry wore a belt that would keep his pants from falling off.

"Potter," a cheery voice called from his left.

"Yes sir," Harry responded knowing the voice belonged to one of his higher superiors.

"Enough of that sir crap, it's Mark, I told you that. Any idea why Mr. Dursley stalked out of here purple with rage without doing his inspection," Mark asked with a mischievous smile.

"Well Mark, it was probably seeing me here that did that. Mr. Dursley and I have never gotten along, in fact, he's my 'Uncle'. Just seeing me is enough to anger him," came Harry's all too delighted reply.

"It's nice getting him out of here without having him breath down my neck during his 'inspection'. He likes to come down once a month and yell at us supervisors, but he doesn't have as much authority as he claims. We went over his head to Mr. Reilly, his boss, to ensure that the only thing he'd be able to do was inspect the place and tell us to correct something that was wrong," Mark told him while chuckling, "The fat git still doesn't know about it! Josh has kept it from him the entire time." Harry laughed at this too having met Josh Reilly before, he had like the man instantly. "The real reason I came over is because Josh wants to see you in his office in about 20 minutes. I'll take over for you here while you're gone so get going." Mark laughed as he shooed Harry away shaking his head at the ambition of the kid. Harry made his way to Josh's office rather quickly wondering why he was being summoned. I hope Dorkly hasn't said something to get me into trouble, Harry thought furiously. Seeing as how he was a few minutes early Harry paced off his nervous energy before knocking on the door.

"Come in," he heard a voice call from the other side.

"You wanted to see me sir," Harry asked knowing full well it grated Josh that he kept calling him sir, much like it did Mark. Josh was only about seven years older than Harry himself, but had acquired his job due to his hard work and ambition. He had light blonde hair with sparkling blue eyes and usually wore a smile that you thought was chiseled on there. Grunnings himself had appointed Josh to his current position of Director of Sales and Manufacturing.

"Potter," he growled, "Call me sir one more time and I might listen to what Dursley just said about you," he threatened playfully.

"What's my Uncle said this time," Harry said in a bored tone. He was used to his 'family' spreading lies about him to ensure that he didn't have any friends before he started at Stonewall where they could do nothing about it.

"Nothing that I'm going to listen to at any rate. I know you're a good worker, and all the reports I've gotten from your supervisors and co-workers only support that. That's why I've called you up here. I was going through your file and it said that you had managerial experience is that right," Josh asked suddenly turning serious.

"Yeah, I was an assistant manager at the McDonald's not too far from here," Harry responded suspiciously.

"Also, from what my nephew tells me you tend to like helping people out is that correct," he asked again seriously.

"I'm not sure what you're referring to Josh," Harry said confused.

"My nephew is William Reilly, one of your 'successors' I believe," he replied with a laugh, "He told me about all you did for Stonewall and how you made sure that any bully activity was dealt with swiftly." Harry just stared dumbfounded at Josh, unsure as to where this was going.

"I guess you could say that I have a thing for helping people, where's this going Josh," he asked not wanting to be kept in the dark any longer.

"There's a new position opening up in HR, and they asked me if I knew anyone that would be able to fill it. The position would entail helping people before they got to the point of burn-out or any other things they needed to talk about. The company realized that the burn-out rate was getting too high and we wanted to find someone internally before we put an add in the paper. We really didn't want to advertise the fact that we need to have someone on staff to talk our employees through their problems before burning out," Josh explained. "Knowing from what Will told me that you helped people, and he even told me that you would console people who were shaken up from their ordeals, I thought I'd offer this position to you. It would also get you out of the reach of your 'Uncle'." Harry couldn't believe his luck! He'd been at Grunnings only three months and he was being offered a promotion that would definitely help him live more comfortably. "So does that smile mean you accept?"

"Of course Josh! When do I start," Harry asked excitedly.

"Well, first of all you'll need to get some more decent clothes. I know that you have some nice ones, but you'll be expected to wear suits everyday unfortunately," Josh replied regretfully. Harry knew this, of course, as Josh always wore a suit to work and he figured it would be expected of him as well. "The position will start next Monday, and you can have today and tomorrow off so you have a nice four day weekend to get everything sorted. Why don't I have my girlfriend Hermione take you shopping? She's got this month off of work and I have to be at the plant for the weekend."

"Are you sure I won't try to steal her," Harry joked knowing that Josh tended to date younger women.

"You could try, but I doubt she'd let you," Josh chuckled, "She's smart so she knows not to go after immature guys her own age."

"We'll see about that," Harry said continuing the joke, "So how'd you meet this one? If she's so smart I doubt you'd have picked her up in a bar like you did Sue, Jess, or Char," Harry asked knowing the dating history of his boss as it was a running joke between all of them.

"Actually, I met her when I went to do a pitch to her parents. They're dentists and it would've really helped our new division if we could get an influential name like the Grangers as customers," Josh explained. "She was there visiting for the weekend and we hit it off. I didn't get the sale unfortunately, but I think I got something much better."

"Well, good luck with her. Why don't you have her give my place a ring on Saturday and we'll go from there," Harry suggested.

"Sounds good Harry," Josh replied before standing up to shake Harry's hand. "If I can get away for a few hours I'll come with you."

"Alright, well, I suppose I should get back to work and let everyone know. They'll be disappointed that I can't get Vernon to leave in a huff anymore before he has a chance to yell at them," Harry said somewhat regretfully.

"Harry, there's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now," Josh said hesitantly. Harry looked at him confused and sat back down hoping he wouldn't ask about his past with Vernon, unfortunately, Harry's luck had run out.

"Go ahead Josh, ask me anything."

"Well, Harry, I noticed that the clothes you typically wear tend to be four times too big for you, about the size of Vernon's son Dudley, and you're quite short for someone your age. Exactly how did Vernon treat you when you were growing up?"

"Do I really have to answer that," Harry asked apprehensively.

"You don't have to, but I'd like to know. From what I'm told by most people Vernon is a very abusive person to people under his position. He's on probation right now, not that he knows that mind you, and if it's worse than I'm told then it'd show on how he treated you."

"I don't follow," Harry said confused.

"Well, the way a person treats his family at home tends to be a reflection on how he treats his employees. If he was abusive to you then more than likely he's abusive to our employees."

"I don't think there's a cupboard he can lock them in," Harry muttered quietly, unfortunately Josh heard him.

"What do you mean locked in a cupboard," Josh asked somewhat angrily.

"Just forget you heard that," Harry replied quickly, his eyes darting around nervously.

"Not a chance, now spill Harry."

"Fine, have you ever been to Vernon's," Harry asked thinking of a way to explain things.

"A couple of times recently, for some reason he was dead set against it until a few years ago," Josh responded suspiciously.

"Then you've seen my old bedroom. It was the cupboard under the stai…" Harry didn't even get a chance to finish due to Josh's angry yell. Josh paced the room like a caged animal for several minutes in an attempt to calm himself muttering things like 'no wonder he helps people, and his appearance screams it'. It took him around 10 minutes before he was calmed again.

"What else," was all he was able to grind out of his mouth.

"Do you really need to know," Harry asked somewhat afraid. He had learned early on to be wary of people who were as angry as Josh was now.

"Yes," was his simple reply but it was laced with anger and pleading that Harry found himself unable to not continue.

"These clothes were Dudley's. Whenever he would outgrow something they would give it to me, and I never had a new set of clothes. I was also never able to hold a job before I finished school because I was their private housekeeper, only treated like a slave. I was denied more meals than I can count, and shouted at normally three to five times a day," Harry said in a rush hoping to not draw this out longer than he had too. He neglected to mention the beatings he received due to the familiar purple color that now graced Josh's normally jovial face.

"DURSLEY GET IN HERE," Josh yelled after he punched a button on the intercom of his phone. It took several minutes and a lot of calming breaths but he had finally calmed down before Vernon waddled his way into the office.

"You wanted to see me Mr… BOY! Whatever he told you is a lie," Vernon shouted after spotting Harry sitting there warily eyeing both men.

"Dursley, sit down and shut up," Josh spat. Vernon complied but never took his eyes off his nephew as his face became more and more purple. "If Harry's lying then where did he get clothes that are obviously so big for him that he has to spend five minutes just making sure they won't be caught on machinery?"

"How am I supposed to know? He probably got it from one of his no good friends," Vernon said trying to think of a good excuse. Little did he know that was the worst possible thing he could've said.

"I've been meaning to ask you this for a long time, why do you have a padlock on the cupboard under your stairs," Josh asked catching Vernon off guard.

"Uh…um…it was so Dudley couldn't get in there as a child. You know kids, always exploring and going where they shouldn't," Vernon said in an attempt to cover up the truth.

"Really? That's interesting because from what I've heard from my nephew Dudley has always spent his time out of the house beating up little kids," Josh replied. Harry didn't know if Vernon could tell or not, but under Josh's jovial appearance that he normally held was pure titanium. Anyone on the receiving end of his temper was nobody Harry would envy.

"Dudley would never do a thing like that," Vernon defended his son blindly.

"I've also had some reports from the factory that when you do your monthly inspections you use the time to blow off steam by yelling at all of the supervisors there and threatening them with their jobs," Josh told the now paling man. "In fact I've had you on probation for the last four months due to the amount of complaints. Did you know I have a cabinet full of complaints about you? Just from the factory no less! I wonder what I would get if I asked your secretary or any of the non-factory employees that work under you."

"You've had me on pr…pro…probation? THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT BOY," Vernon bellowed raising his fist to strike Harry which caused said person to curl up defensively so he didn't get internal bleeding, again.

"THAT IS ENOUGH DURSLEY! Seeing as how you treat employees, one that is family no less, I have no choice but to let you go. Have all of your things packed and security will escort you to your car in thirty minutes, good bye Vernon," Josh told him coldly.

"You can't do that to me! I've worked at this company too long for you to let me go because of what this worthless brat says," Vernon bellowed.

"If you do not leave my office and my sight I will make sure that you are brought up on charges for the abuse that you inflicted upon your nephew! I have plenty of people who will attest to what you had your son do to him, and I'm sure there are hospital records given how you were ready to hit him in my presence. It wasn't Harry that did this, it was you and all you! You're a great bullying git, and I should've let you go a long time ago, but I let you stay on because I thought that maybe you would calm down. If anything you've gotten worse," Josh told him, his voice dropping in degrees with each sentence. He jabbed a red button on his phone before saying, "Security, I need someone to escort Vernon Dursley to his office to pack his things and then off the premises." Two security guards entered the office promptly and escorted Vernon out and only then did Harry allow himself to relax out of the fetal position.

"This isn't going to turn out good," Harry whispered ominously. Harry and Josh talked amiably for a few more minutes before Harry excused himself to go say goodbye to all his friends in the factory as he was given the rest of the day off. He made a beeline straight for Mark who was still manning the position that Harry had left.

"Hey Mark, can I ask a favor," Harry asked somewhat nervously.

"Sure Harry, anything," Mark responded curiously.

"Can you call break time a little early? I have to make an announcement or two," Harry responded.

"Sure thing," Mark replied, now very curious, before shutting down the machine he was at and sending the other supervisors to assemble everyone. They all looked at Harry curiously when they arrived due to the fact they had never seen the man so nervous before.

"Well, would you all like the bad news or the exceedingly good news first," Harry asked, to which everyone responded the bad news. "Well, the bad news is that I'm not working in the factory anymore. I got a promotion to a new position in HR," Harry told them. Some people were crestfallen while most people congratulated Harry on the new position.

"If that's the bad news than what's the good news," Mark asked.

"You'll never have to deal with Vernon Dursley again. He was fired not more than 30 minutes ago," Harry told them with a smile. This time everyone shouted joyfully.

"How did you manage that," Shelly asked. She was a newer employee, came in at the same time as Harry, and everyone took every chance they could to tease Harry about the crush that she had on him.

"The great git did it himself. His attitude to everyone here got him on probation, and then the moron blamed me and attempted to strike me in front of Mr. Reilly," Harry explained. Everyone was outraged at this, and it was probably a good thing that security was escorting Vernon out because he would need the protection. Inside the factory the people treated everyone like family, and striking anyone in that family meant facing the wrath of 40 some angry people.

"Why on earth would he try to strike you," someone asked confused.

"I'm his nephew. I doubt any of you even knew he had a nephew, much less me, because he's hated me since I landed on his doorstep when I was one," Harry told them, "Anyway, I thought I'd come down and say goodbye to all of you since I have the rest of the day and weekend off to get some new clothes because I start my new job Monday."

"What are you going to be doing," Eric, another supervisor, asked.

"Ah, that's another good thing. I'm going to be working in HR as a counselor of sorts, so if anyone is stressing to the point where they'll burn out they can come talk to me and get some things off their chest in confidence," he explained to them.

"Couldn't think of anyone better for the job," Mark replied clapping Harry on the back, "I've heard stories of what you did at Stonewall." Harry just blushed and lowered his head in embarrassment. "This requires celebration! Everyone pack up, we're going out for the night to celebrate!" Everyone cheered and rushed off to change their clothes and stow their steel toed boots and goggles. (A/N: For those of you that don't know, steel-toes are just what the name implies. A boot/shoe that has steel running from the front up to the edge of the toes and are generally required in factories, at least all of the ones I've worked in.)

A/N: Ok, that's all for the first chapter. The real meat of the story starts in the next chapter or two. Hope you enjoy!