DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter Belongs To J.K. Rowling and not to me. I make no profit off this story, so don't sue. Really, don't sue, it'll be a waste of your time anyway seeing as I'm broke.

CHAPTER 2

Everything hurt.

That was the first thought that flashed through Fred's mind as he started to come to. Everything, and he did mean everything, bloody hurt. So much in fact that it took a few moments for anything else to penetrate Fred's mind. After those few moments though, Fred started to notice other things, such as the thin slightly lumpy mattress he was lying on, and the unmistakeable smell of various health potions all around him, and the light unrelentingly hitting his closed eyelids. And while he wasn't Harry, who practically had his own bed in here, Fred had spent more than enough time in this place - mostly due to failed experimental potions and the like - to instantly recognise where he was without even opening his eyes. The Hogwarts infirmary.

A few seconds after that, Fred realised he recognised something else in the room. The voices he could hear just to his left.

"Oh, my baby! My poor baby! We could have lost him!" That was his mother's voice, and she was crying. Crying over him no doubt. He must have been really hurt, he hated upsetting her so much. He knew how much she had been afraid for all her children since the war had started. It must have been terrible for her to see him lying here like this.

"Now, now Molly dear. I know it's a shock, but Madame Pomfrey promised it looked and sounded much worse than it really is. Fred will be fine, just try to focus on that okay?" And that would be his father. The man was always so much more positive about things than mum was, and had spent much of the war trying to convince his wife and children that things would be okay in the end. Fred could always tell that he didn't quite believe that though, just as he could now tell that his father was in truth just as upset as his mother that he had been hurt. As always though, his father was trying to push his own feelings away in order to help his mother. Fred had always admired how his father did that, the man was so much stronger than most people gave him credit for.

Okay, so he was in the Hogwarts infirmary, he'd been badly hurt - still was hurt actually, couldn't Pomfrey up his pain potions or something? - and his parents were there waiting for him to wake up.

No doubt he was here for when that damn wall fell on top of him. Really, how stupid could he be taking his eyes off his opponent like that? Okay, so Percy may have told a joke for the first time in years, and a surprisingly good one at that, but come on! He was in the middle of a deadly battle for Merlin's sake! Comedy may be his way of life, but there was defiantly a limit to how far he should take it. He was lucky he hadn't died.

And speaking (well thinking anyway) of that battle, they must have won if his parents had the time to sit around talking about him. He knew that loved him of course, but if the battle was still going they would still be out there fighting as well. Especially since his siblings would no doubt still be fighting, and there was no way his parents would leave their children to fight on their own. His mother would no doubt hex the life out of anyone who suggested it. And if they lost the battle, well, chances were he wouldn't have to worry about where his parents and sibling were anymore. Chances were they'd all be together on the other side by now. Being the high blood traitors that they were, Fred seriously doubted that old Mouldywarts would have left them alive to rebel against him a second time if he'd won. So that was all good. Fred wondered how they'd won, had whatever ickle Harrykins and co been doing for the last year paid off? He really had to get up and find out. And find out what their loses were, he seriously doubted that their side would have got have got though the fight completely untouched. Now that he was thinking about it, he really hoped that wasn't the reason he couldn't hear his siblings right now. But if that was the case his parents would have to be more upset, right? Of course he was right, as strong as his parents were they weren't that strong. So, his siblings were probably helping with the clean up, or getting some sleep now that everything was over, or something. No reason to worry over what was probably nothing.

Just like that weird dream about dieing, meeting Fate and then being sent back in time was probably nothing. Just his subconscious wishing to do things differently or some rot like that. It was nothing and he should just put it out of his mind and focus on more important things. And at the moment, the most important thing Fred could think of was letting his parents know he was awake and finding out everything that had happened since he fell unconscious.

And so with a monumental effort, Fred forced his eyes open. He then instantly snapped his eyes shut with a low groan as the far too bright lights of the infirmary blinded him, and gave him a whole new form of pain to deal with. Why the hell are the lights in the infirmary always so bright? Bloody sadistic medi-witch, must be her form of a joke and as a professional joker Fred could tell her it was not funny.

"Fred? Fred, baby are you awake? Oh Merlin, I was so worried about you. Quick, Arthur, get Madam Pomfrey!"

"No need, Molly, I'm right here. You gave us all quite a scare Mr. Weasley."

And there was another voice Fred knew without any prompting, Madam Pomfrey, the ever sadistic ruler of too bright light. Though hesitant to face said lights again so soon, Fred screwed up his Gryffindor courage to slowly open his eyes. After the first few painful moments, Fred was able to make out Pomfrey's form standing over him, waving her wand for what Fred guessed was some kind of diagnostic spell. She looked fairly relaxed, so Fred guessed that he must be well on the mend at this point, despite what the pain was trying to tell him. Actually, part of Fred noted, she looked too relaxed. He would have thought she'd be more flustered after treating everyone from such a big battle. If she was this calm, either their side had got off much lighter than expected, or he was out for longer than he thought.

Or maybe she'd self medicated herself on calming potions or something. Though if that was the case, Fred would like to ask for another medi-witch.

Before Fred had a chance to voice this however, Pomfrey had stepped back slightly and another two people entered his line of sight. His mother beamed down on him, with tears still in her eyes, while his father looked over her should her a relieved smile.

"Oh, Fred, my baby, we're so glad you're alright." His mother gushed. "When McGonagall told us what happened, I... But don't you worry darling, everything's alright now, you're going to be just fine. I promise."

"Good to see you awake son, you gave us quite a scare there for a while." Arthur said with a smile.

Despite everything, Fred couldn't help but smile slightly at his parents. After everything that had happened, it was great to see them. Plus, now looking at them Fred was completely convinced that all his siblings must be okay. There was nothing in his parents eyes other than pure joy and relief to see him okay, no lingering grief that would have accompanied it if he'd lost a sibling while he was asleep. And since his parents had come to considered Harry and Hermione as surrogate children over the years, they must both be okay as well. It was a load off Fred's shoulders, that was for sure.

But... something seemed wrong. Fred couldn't quite put his finger on what, but something seemed different about his parents. Looking at them, he felt like he was missing something, and that he should know what it was, but he just couldn't quite figure out what.

"How are you feeling, Mr Wealsey?" Pomfrey asked before Fred could figure it out. Oh well, it likely wasn't that important, just as long as they were safe.

"Like a wall fell on me." Fred decided to joke. Then mentally winced at the poor attempt at humour. Damn, even George's 'Holey' joke was better than that. He guessed he should have cut his brother some slack, as being injured in battle by Death Eaters clearly caused even the greatest jokesters to loose their gifts. He just hoped, for the future of WWW, that it was temporary.

Madame Pomfrey smiled, making Fred once again think she must be doped up on something if even that lame joke was enough to make her smile. Before he could say anything about his theory, however, Pomfrey spoke.

"Well, Mr Wealsey, I'd say considering that you were hit my lightning that having a wall fall on you would actually be a step up."

WHAT!?

Fred couldn't even speak, he was so shocked. Hit by lightning? He was hit by lightning? But he couldn't remember any Death Eaters using lightning spell, and besides he clearly remembered having a wall fall on him. What was Madam Pomfrey talking about lightning for unless...

And suddenly Fred remembered the last thing that had happened in the dream.

As quickly as he could with his whole body telling him that any form of movement was a bad idea, Fred looked around the rest of the infirmary. Aside from him, it was empty of all patients, and as clean and perfectly ordered as usual. Unless he was asleep for a very long time, there was no way injuries from the battle Fred remembered being in had been treated in this room, and if he'd been asleep that long you would think he'd have been moved to St Mungo's by now.

Quickly Fred turned his eyes away from the rest of the infirmary and back to his parents. This time, Fred was able to tell what was different about them. They looked younger. Not by much granted, seeing as they were wizards and magic caused wizards to age much slower once they hit maturity. But the differences were still there once one knew where to look. The few less grey hairs that his mother had developed in the last few years. The few more hairs on his father's head, who had been steadily going bald for a while now. Not to mention the stress lines than one develops from living in a war zone for so long were no where to be seen.

Could the dream have been real? Could he really have travelled back in time?

'About time you figured that out.' an amused voice said, seemingly within Fred's own head, causing the boy to start.

'Fate?' Fred asked mentally, feeling somewhat stupid about doing so.

'Who else?' The voice answered back. 'Glad to see you're not swimming in DeNile anymore. Welcome back to you're fourteen year old self. Anyway, we'll talk later, but for now I think you better answer your mother before she freaks out any more than she already is.'

With that, Fate fell silent, and Fred somehow got to idea that she was leaving for the moment. Deciding to take her advice, he turned his attention back to his mother, who like Fate said was steadily getting more and more upset.

"Fred, baby are you okay? Answer me!"

"I'm fine mum." Fred said quickly. "It's just that it kind of hit me all of a sudden, that it wasn't a dream, you know?"

Instantly, Molly calmed down and looked quite sympatric.

"Yes, well, that's perfectly understandable Mr Wesley." Madam Pomfrey said. "You've been through something very few wizards ever have or ever will, and came out of it remarkably unscathed. I've already given you potions to repair the last of the damage done by the lightning strike. You'll be quite sore for the next few hours, but with any luck you should be able to go back to class by the day after tomorrow. You'll have to stay here in the infirmary until then, of course, but I'm sure your brother and the rest of your friends will be happy to bring you your homework for you to do until then."

Fred nodded, though internally he was expecting that George would probably be doing him a favour by not bringing him the homework. Of course, considering that he was mentally twenty years old, it wasn't like fourth year work would be that hard anyway, but that was besides the point.

"Where is George anyway?" Fred asked. "You'd think that with his only twin brother being hit by lightning and all, he'd be here, the wanker."

"Fred, watch your language." Molly instantly scolded. "And George is in class, of course, it is a Wednesday afternoon after all."

"I expect he'll be here to see you soon, son." Arthur added. "George has been stopping by after every class all day, along with the rest of your siblings, Lee, and the Quidditch team. They're all very upset about what happened, we were barely able to get them to leave last night and go to bed, even after Pomfrey said you'd be fine."

Fred sort of drifted off into his thoughts after that. Fortunately, his parents just assumed he was still tried with his magic working so hard on healing him - apparently Madam Pomfrey had warned them this could happen - and after a while left him 'to get some sleep', as now that they knew for certain that he would be okay they needed to get back to the Burrow and work respectively. Fred didn't really mind, as he had way too much on his mind to think about right then.

He was back in time. Six bloody years back in time. Something that even for wizards seemed impossible. Now what the hell was he supposed to do? He was supposed to change history and all that, and save countless lives, but how the hell was he supposed to do all that? When Fate had first told him her plan, Fred got caught up in the excitement of it all, and answered that'd he'd do it without thinking about it. But now that he was here, he was completely lost. He didn't even know exactly when he was, just that it was somewhere in his forth year. How was he supposed to change the world as a forth year student?

'Oh, stop panicking' Fate's voice suddenly said in his head. 'Don't worry, you're not alone in this. I've got a plan.'

'Oh yeah?' Fred asked sarcastically despite the fact that he was immensely relieved to hear Fate's voice again. 'Seeing as your last plan involved me being hit by lightning, excuse me for not jumping for joy.'

'It was only a little lightning bolt, you'll be fine.' Fate said dismissively. 'Besides, it'll be needed later to explain your newfound powers.'

'What newfound powers?' Fred demanded. He thought she had said something about new powers before she sent him back, but he was too busy focusing on the whole lightning thing at the time to pay attention to it.

'Oh, you're going to love this.' Fate said, and Fred could all but hear the smirk in her voice. 'You'll be quite busy this year, and very other year until Voldemort is finally defeated I'm afraid. But before we get around to all that, you'll be focusing on something much, much more fun. You'll be playing a year long, mentally scaring prank on Lockhart.'

And all of a sudden, Fred was all ears.