Harry woke up to the sound of his aunt's shrill voice screaming, "Up! Get up! Now!"

She knocked on the door to his cupboard with a sharp rap, "Up!" she screeched one last time.

As she started to walk into the kitchen Harry was rolling out of bed he heard the unmistakable sound of bacon frying. Shortly after he heard his aunt back outside of his door.

"You had better be awake in there I need you to mind the bacon," She started, "Everything must be perfect for my little Duddikins big day!"

"Ugh, they sent me back to this day?" Harry thought, "Why did they have to send me back to this day?!"

"I'm awake, Aunt Petunia," Harry replied, "Just putting my clothes on, will be there in just a second."

"Good now hurry up before your uncle gets here we don't need you getting in trouble for no reason," she whispered through the door.

This caught Harry off guard and caused him to hit his head in surprise when he heard his aunt's concern for him not getting in trouble. After a few seconds of thought he finally remembered Hebe did warn him there will be slight changes to what he remembered of his other lives.

"Are you ok, Harry?" Petunia said with sincere concern in her voice.

"I'm fine thought I saw a spider," Harry fibbed.

"Ok hurry up now."

Just then Dudley started running up and down the stairs, "Dad is home! Hurry up Harry so you don't get yelled at!"

Harry in a flash did as was suggested and soon found himself inside the kitchen attending to the stove just as Vernon walked through the front door.

"Mmmmm," Vernon hummed, "is that bacon I smell, Petunia you know how to spoil a man."

"Yes it is dear, did you get the syrup and milk I asked you to go pick up from the store?"

"Yes I did," Vernon started, "BOY!"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon?"

"Go get the groceries from the car you little freak."

"You heard him freak I'll finish the bacon while you are doing that," Petunia chimed in.

Harry looked at her confused, "Why is she acting like this one minute she is concerned about me the next she is calling me a freak."

Despite giving his aunt a look of confusion he did as he was told and gathered the groceries and brought them inside. After bringing in the groceries in he then proceeded to put them away just in case to avoid getting into trouble. Unfortunately for Harry, Vernon seemed to be waiting for him to do so because the moment Harry opened the fridge to put the eggs in a meaty palm struck him in the face.

"Did I say to put them away, freak?" Vernon growled.

"No, Uncle Vernon."

"Don't sass me, boy."

Despite not giving Uncle Vernon an attitude Harry decided it was best to just nod and go back to minding breakfast for the Dursleys. Looking quite pleased with his apparent cowing of Harry, Vernon took his seat at the kitchen table waiting to be served like the king he thought he was.

"I'll get my magic someday and when I do I'll show my family that it was a mistake to kick me out from the family and to deny me my inheritance as the proper Heir of House Goyle," Vernon thought to himself with a shit eating grin plastered on his face, "Then I wouldn't have to put up with the little freak. Pures belong with pures! Purebloods, pure muggles, doesn't matter as long as they're pure. And I have to take care of this freak of a halfblood!'

"So Dudley, are you looking forward for today?" Vernon asked his son.

"I can't wait to open all of my gifts," Dudley stated with no loss of excitement, "Can I go open them right after breakfast?"

"Of course you can, my little Duddikins," Petunia replied sickeningly sweet.

Harry rolled his eyes at his relatives' conversation mostly because he had already heard this twice that he could remember but mostly because it sounded so fake now with his slightly more matured mental state. It did help that his back was to them so they couldn't see him do so.

After breakfast was finished the residents of number 4, Privet Drive, proceeded into the living room where Dudley was counting out how many presents he had.

"Thirty-six, last year there were thirty-eight," Dudley started to complain, "why did I only get thirty-six this year."

Harry knew where this was going decided to let things play out to see if things would happen the way he remembered.

"What about the present from Aunt Marge Dud, wouldn't that make it thirty-seven?" Harry asked kind of spitefully.

"NO ONE ASKED YOU, BOY!" Vernon screamed.

"Whatever," Harry Mumbled.

"What did you say freak?"

"Nothing, Uncle Vernon."

Vernon glared at the malnourished boy, "You just lost yourself supper for the night," he growled.

Just then the phone rang.

Petunia got up to answer and said, "I'll get it."

She returned 5 minutes later and looked demurely at her husband.

"That was Mrs Figg. She said she can't watch the boy. She's broken her leg."

Vernon's face turned red with anger. The boy wasn't supposed to exist outside of the house. It was bad enough he had to go to school.

"Why don't we call up Marge?" Vernon suggested.

Petunia nodded and scampered away. A moment later she returned, looking at the floor.

"She can't. Ripper is giving birth and she said she has to pay extra attention to make sure there's no bad pup in the litter. That and she said she hates the boy and would rather not risk him tainting her new pups."

'Ripper is a girl?' Harry thought, 'That must be one of the differences…'

"Fine!" the large man blustered, "I guess we have to take the boy to the zoo! Don't you fuck this up boy!"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry replied before turning around, looking like he was cleaning up and rolled his eyes.

Around a quarter to 1, the residents of number 4 Privet Drive left the house ready to depart for the zoo.

Before getting into the car however Vernon turned to Harry.

"There'll be none of your freakishness boy, or you'll go a week without supper and earn yourself 50 lashings," he growled lowly, "This is Dudley's day and I won't have you ruining it! It's bad enough you're tainting my house with your presence as it is, and now you're tainting Dudley's special day."

Sadly for Vernon he wasn't as quiet as he thought he was as Petunia and Dudley had heard him anyways. Both looked sorrowful at Harry behind the whale of a man's back. Petunia signed to him, 'Sorry' while her husband wasn't looking, 'We'll find a way to feed you if anything happens.'

Harry was surprised he could understand the hand signs coming from his aunt. 'I know sign language?'

Vernon noticed Harry's look of surprised and glared, "Don't be so surprised, boy. It's the least you deserve."

Harry looked down, "Yes, Uncle Vernon," he said, giving his uncle the lip service that would temporarily diffuse his uncle's animosity.

With a "Hmph", Vernon turned around and made his way to the driver's side of the car. Harry waited 5 paces before following. Once Harry got in the car and buckled his seatbelt before letting himself think.

'Is he for real?' he scoffed privately, 'Key differences so far: Petunia and Dudley don't hate me. Vernon is an extra dick in this timeline, enough to make Petunia and Dudley scared. I know sign language, which is pretty cool. Petunia and Dudley know sign language, so we obviously get along even if it's in secret (makes me wonder if Petunia and my mum reconciled with each other). Ripper is a girl. I wonder if there are other gender differences…'


It was a half an hour drive and once they were there they noticed the zoo was packed. However it being Dudley's special day they went anyways.

Vernon grudgingly paid for Harry's ticket as he had pre-bought tickets for the rest of his family.

Their first stop was, ironically, the walrus exhibit. Of course Dudley pressed himself against the glass, watching some of the walruses swim. Harry looked on without touching the glass, happy to be at the zoo for the second time in his existence. He may mentally be a teenager, but the zoo was a place for all ages.

Moving on, Vernon walked in front of them, making a path for the lot.

Dudley looked at Harry and grinned at his cousin as he signed, 'Looked a bit like my dad, didn't they?'

Harry had to stifle a laugh as he nodded. He liked this Dudley he decided.

Petunia saw them and gave them both a stern look, 'Ha ha,' she signed, 'I'm still married to the walrus you know.'

Both signed 'Sorry mum/aunt.'

'You boys,' she signed with a smile at Dudley, knowing that the boys would know it was directed at them both (or at least as far as she knew).

Harry was momentarily surprised as he got a sudden flash of memories from 'this life', suddenly 'remembering' their inside signs and jokes, smiling behind his hand. It seemed that although Vernon was worse in this time, his family actually cared for him. He knew some love. Dudley only beat him up when Vernon was looking. His cousin wasn't part of a gang or friends with the other bullies. Dudley wasn't stupid and didn't get failing grades, so while he still had to dumb himself down a bit in school he was able to be 'average' and 'normal' instead of dumber than a rock.

He still didn't have friends in school, the other bullies took care of that. Dudley wasn't allowed to stick up for him. There was an incident in kindergarten where he did and the teacher praised him to Uncle Vernon, and Dudley received his first backhand once they got home. Petunia had been receiving her share of abuse too when she took care of Harry. The first time was when she tried to treat Harry the same as Dudley, things fell pretty fast from there.

She didn't agree with Vernon, but tried to do what she could for her boys. She had thanked God that her best friend in primary school was deaf and she learned sign language. It was easy to teach them, especially when they were young. She was surprised, pleasantly so, that they were able to sign some things before they could talk. Vernon didn't know it and she stressed to the boys that Vernon never see them using it, and if they were almost caught to play it off as something else.

The next exhibit was the primate house which didn't last long as none of the animals could keep Dudley's attention for long. They wandered around for about an hour before Dudley decided he wanted to go to the reptile house before going home.

Harry remembered the reptile house and was actually glad, he wondered if the snake would be the same.

Harry trailed behind so Dudley could look first (and to keep Vernon pacified). Dudley pressed himself against the glass of each exhibit, Vernon smiling behind him. It was well known in the family that Vernon wanted Dudley to be like him, which was at the front of everything. While Dudley was more than comfortable just standing next to the other children his age, he knew his father would see it as a weakness.

Vernon tapped on the glass hoping to make the snake move. The boa constrictor however decided it would continue to lay down until the fat human left. Vernon glared at the snake for not doing what he wanted and left with a sneer under his mustache. Dudley followed, knowing his dad would be upset if he didn't.

Once they left Harry walked up to it and read the plaque to make sure it was the same snake.

'Boa Constrictor, Brazil'

"People like him must be really annoying," Harry said.

The snake moved up and nodded.

"It says you're from Brazil, but were born here. Are you at least comfortable?" Harry asked, actually reading the whole plaque this time.

The snake lifted his head up more and nodded again.

It was at that moment that Vernon turned to give Harry a dirty look that he saw the snake he was trying to make move, moving.

He walked quickly over there, punching the young wizard in the head making him fall onto the concrete floor, "Move, boy! Dudley, come look! The snake is moving!"

Dudley looked over and saw Harry bleeding on the floor, which was obviously the man's fault. He looked back at his dad, his emotions were awry. His cousin was again the victim, even in public. A moment later Harry and Dudley gasped. The glass to the tank was gone!

Harry knew he was in more control of his magic and because of that he knew it wasn't his accidental magic that did that. Dudley was surprised because he knew that Harry would get blamed for the glass disappearing, thus making his father fall into the tank where the snake resides. Right after the glass vanished, Vernon fell face first into the tank and the snake slithered out looked towards Harry and hissed, "Thankssssss."

"Um, sure," Harry replied to the snake.

As the snake slithered away Vernon was getting up to try and leave the tank just as he was about to place his hand on the edge of the tank he touched glass instead. At that point Vernon started to freak out trying to break the glass to get out of the tank, unsure if the snake was still in the enclosure or not. At the same time he was cursing Harry thinking it was his fault he was in his current predicament. Harry watched his uncle not quite sure what to do to fix this situation. He knew that he wasn't the cause, but figured he'd take the brunt of it anyways.


Once they got back to the house on Privet drive Vernon was spitting mad and soaking wet from his dip in the tank. As he was about to start bellowing at Harry, Petunia tried to distract him with the news of what she was going to make for dinner. She mentioned both his and Dudley's favorites, and how Harry (the boy) would be making Dudley's favorite cake and frosting from scratch.

Vernon's knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists. Dudley's friends and their neighbors would be arriving at their house soon, so he knew he had to hold himself back for a few hours. He didn't want the neighbors to see the freak, but he also didn't want to pay for a cake that he knew the boy would be able to make better than any baker he called up. Everything would be fresh and he'd be able to give his wife all the credit. Fortunately for her the distraction worked and Vernon started to salivate thinking about the food he was going to consume.

"Boy!"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon?"

"Go start the cake or else!" He growled.

So that is what Harry did just to keep the inevitable confrontation that was coming with his letter from Hogwarts.


And so the day that Harry was waiting for finally came, the day his Hogwarts letter came in. Harry went to get the mail, after retrieving it he searched for the recognizable Hogwarts crest but instead of finding one letter with the crest he found two. This of course was a shocker to Harry but it did explain a few things, most notably the incident at the zoo. Harry then took his letter and proceeded to hide it in his pocket. Afterwards as he was about to bring the rest of the mail into the kitchen he had the feeling he should stop by his cupboard first. Once he entered his 'bedroom' he was shocked to see that not only was it larger than normal but Hebe was sitting on his bed.

"Ah, there you are," Hebe started, "sorry I wanted this meeting to happen sooner but there was some problems that needed to be taken care of first."

"Will our conversation be heard?"

"No, don't worry in fact time is currently frozen around us. But forget about that right now let's discuss what some of the things you are going to need to do."

"Ok."

"First thing I need you to do is at the first chance you get file for emancipation -"

"What? Why?"

"To get you out from under the goat fucker's thumb."

"Oh."

"Now please no more interruptions. Second thing is I need you to get a book out of your vault that I had to put into it, because I'm not allowed to hand it to you directly, it's a grimoire. A book containing more knowledge than you will ever find in the world's largest library, there is a particular thing I need you to read and learn Shifting from the book."

"Shifting?"

"It's a bit like apparating, but instead of feeling like you're going through a tube it's a bit like stepping to the side. Instead of determination, deliberation, and destination, the 'three Ds' as they call them, you won't be forcing your way through the space with your determination. The determination is what causes the feeling of being squeezed through a tube. With shifting, you are deliberately going to your destination without excessive force. It's like traveling through ambient magic, with the help of the ambient magic, instead of forcing it to bend to your will. Much easier, less painful, and gets around apparition wards. The book will explain the how-to."

"Why did people stop using it then?"

"Well it's a lost art. To work with the ambient magic you have to accept it as its own entity, so to speak. Respect it. Magic is its own thing, not a tool. People stopped respecting magic the more they used it only seeing it as a tool. With the lack of respect it made the transition just a tad bit slower, which angered a lot of people. So instead of working with magic they decided to start forcing their way through. Think of it like squeezing your way past two people in a crowd without saying 'excuse me'."

"Oh," Harry replied, enlightened.

"Now the third thing I need you to focus on, there will be a stone looking box next to the grimoire. Take it. Inside is something I was told will help you with your plans and duties. I'm not sure what it is exactly, I wasn't allowed to see it, but I was told it's supposed to help with power level management. Which should break the bond placed on your magic by our favorite old goat. We can't release the bond in a go, it could backlash and cause your magic to attack either you or itself in confusion. Once you're able to control it you won't need it, but I've been told it's going to take time and practice. But! It'll be helpful even after you do have control. They'll let me know when that is and how that is."

"Why didn't they tell you?"

"There wasn't enough time. The Fate Sisters put you back when they felt was best, we have to work around their decision. So we only had but so much time to put things where they needed to be."

"Okay, but you can freeze time and – "

"Aberrant time dislocation is only for conversations. Besides we had to work around other events occurring in this time."

"Why… Why are Petunia and Dudley nice to me here? It's… a big difference. My life isn't happy, but it's not completely miserable like my other one."

"Well Petunia… your aunt had a life altering altercation when she was younger. It was a small thing, but it had what's commonly known as a butterfly effect. She started to tease someone different than her, and instead of taking it, they verbally attacked her back. They became best friends. In the other time, the other little girl decided not to say anything. This one she did."

"It also helps that after your mother graduated she finally got over her jealousy, accepting that she was different. After that incident with her friend the word 'freak' was just about taken out of her vocabulary until her oaf of a husband met your father and his friends at their wedding. Sirius decided to play around and shifted into his Grim form. Vernon, got extremely jealous, convinced that it was abnormal even for a regular wizard. He was quickly informed that your father could do it too, thus making you the 'son of a freak' and thus a 'freak' yourself," she used air quotes.

"But how would Vernon know about magic to begin with?"

"Well! Aside from Petunia having to tell him before your parents' hand fasting, he's actually a squib. In the other time, he was obliviated before being sent to the orphanage. He didn't stay long, so he doesn't remember being there, because there was a small compulsion for someone to adopt him quickly."

Harry was stunned, "I've never heard of the Dursley."

"His adopted name. He was the heir of House Goyle."

Harry looked at Hebe with wide eyes at this revealing fact.

"Great. So by marriage I'm related to the Goyles?"

"Since he was kicked from the family, no. They were very thorough about that. Unless the Goyles accept Dudley, which I highly doubt will happen."

"So wait does that make him my Goyle's uncle?"

"Older half-brother actually."

Harry made a face, "Ew."

"Indeed," she said dryly, "His mother died giving birth to him. He was quite large, even as a baby. Somehow she got an infection during the after healing from the birth. She didn't check back in with the healers since she thought it was normal. He was her first and only child carried to term, the previous were all miscarriages. Once Vernon turned 11 and didn't get his Hogwarts letter he was removed from the family and his father immediately set out to find a new young wife."

Filing that away for later Harry looked at his Death Angel, "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Aside from your cousin being a squibborn, hence the second letter, not at the moment. I'll be in touch when need be."

"Wait! Why wasn't he magical before!?"

"Petunia's bitterness concerning magic was so strong she no longer believed in miracles and it affected her pregnancy. I don't know how else to explain it…"

As Hebe's voice faded out so did she, his cupboard returning to its regular size. Harry then left the 'room' to bring the mail into the kitchen.

"Mail 's here." Harry announced.

Harry placed the mail on the table and moved away from his uncle just as there was sure to be an explosion of anger concerning the piece of mail. It was inevitable that the offending letter would cause such a response. Vernon picked up the mail and started looking through the pile. Once he reached the letter from Hogwarts, Harry could see his uncle's face purpling from rage.

"BOY!" Vernon bellowed.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon?"

"WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE?!"

"What are you referring to, Vernon?" Petunia asked.

"THIS," Vernon continued to scream throwing the letter in Petunia's direction.

Petunia picked up the letter and read the words that laid innocently on the envelope:

Mr. D. Dursley, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey