ONE BIG FAT CHANGE

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 1 – Change of Plans

On Monday, December 16, 1985 at 4:17 p.m. Vernon Dursley changed history. He didn't mean to and definitely wouldn't have done it had he been able to help it but change history he had. How and what did he do you may ask. Plain and simple – HE DIED.

Vernon Dursley deserved to die for many reasons. He was a mean, nasty man with no scruples, few morals and would not hesitate to do anything to gain money, power and status. He was a closet sadist and enjoyed nothing more than hurting the helpless and crushing the strong. He would use any means at his disposal to accomplish his goals and although he was only 31 years old he was an accomplished villain.

He stood 5ʹ 11ʺ tall and weighed 21 stones or just over 300 lbs. He had dirty blond hair which was starting to thin at the top and a bushy walrus-like mustache which was his pride and joy. He thought himself a fine figure of a man but he was really an obese man who would only get fatter and the mustache did nothing for his mediocre looks.

It was said (by him) that he was jovial (because of his weight?), had a great sense of humor, was very witty, urbane and had a large repertory of jokes and amusing stories, which enhanced his success as a good salesman. In reality he did not but he thought he did, thus others must believe it too.

He was an average salesman but had risen in his career as high as he had by spreading rumors about his co-workers, brown-nosing those in authority and he was not above a bit of blackmailing when he had the chance. He had no ethics other than selling drills and making money for his company and large commissions for himself. The owner of his workplace, Grunnings Drills, knew Vernon Dursley for the type of man he was but approved as he was much like Dursley himself.

Vernon did not have any friends. He had acquaintances, allies, business contacts and old school ties but no friends. He had married a young woman not out of love but because she suited him. He had little to no success with women but he needed to marry for appearances sake. A "family man" was an asset in his type of business, so a family he must have.

He married Petunia Evans as soon as she graduated from her junior college. Her parents were selling their home and moving into a small flat because Mr. Evans was retiring and both he and Mrs. Evans were in ill-health. They would be settling money on their girls so Petunia would be getting a nice cash wedding present instead of a big wedding and it would be enough to put a down payment on a respectable house and furnish it nicely.

Petunia was not career woman material and she liked keeping house and cooking so they could have business dinners to impress clients. Her only other relative was a "freak sister" who had been sent to a special boarding school. He never met the girl until he and Petunia had married and wished that he could have married her instead of Petunia if only because she was beautiful and fiery, the type of female a "real man" like him would enjoy having, using, abusing and then crushing her spirit.

He would later find out she was a witch that magic was actually real and he immediately became insanely jealous about anything to do with magic. If only he had married a witch the things he would have been able to get through her mumbo jumbo. But he was lucky to have gotten Petunia and even if her sister hadn't been a freak he would never have been able to get a girl like her.

The parents died in an auto accident and since the freak sister had married one of her own kind and Petunia had basically severed all ties with the sister, the freak sister didn't bother collecting the inheritance which she didn't know she had so Vernon had "acquired it" for Petunia by forging the sister's name on it. It was just more money for Vernon.

Petunia had given Vernon a son, an heir, a fine, healthy boy to carry on the Dursley name and follow in his father's footsteps. They would not have another as Petunia's small, skinny frame was not made for childbearing especially bearing a child to a 'fine figure of a man like Vernon.' Besides, there was the danger other children might be freaks and Vernon didn't want that.

Then the freak sister and her freak husband had been murdered by another freak and the "Old Freak" from that special school had dumped their freak son on their doorstep with just a note. Apparently they were supposed to raise the bastard. But no one told Vernon Dursley what to do so he dumped the kid at an orphanage. He was going to throw it in a dumpster but Petunia said the kid would die and then the freaks would "hurt them" so to an orphanage "IT" went.

However, the Old Freak finally made an appearance and brought the little freak back and ordered them to care for it. Vernon refused saying "not unless we get paid" and after some negotiations, an arrangement was made. They would be paid £1,000 per month – tax free – if they kept the boy and raised him in a certain way. The money would appear each month on their kitchen table in a plain envelope and it would be in cash so that the Inland Revenue would know nothing about it.

But the best thing of all (besides the money) was that the Old Freak wanted the bastard raised in a way that would…make him humble, appreciative and to know his place. Discipline would be mandatory and the type of discipline was left to Vernon. As long as "IT" wasn't killed, permanently maimed or disabled and was capable of being at least a mediocre student, that was all that matter.

In other words, the boy was to suffer, have no friends, no affection and definitely not shown any love. He was to KNOW that he was worthless, a waste of space and that no one cared about him or ever would. It was almost a dream come true for a sadist like Vernon Dursley.

So that was how the boy was raised. The extra £12,000 a year went for the finer things in life, such as toys and clothes for Dudley, the best of food and drink for the family, and a few other things that Petunia would never know about since Vernon handled all of the family's finances. She knew they were getting money for "IT" but not how much and as with the other financial matters in the Dursley family, Vernon paid all the bills and just gave Petunia cash to do the shopping.

There was also an added bonus which the Old Freak didn't tell Vernon. Apparently "IT" could heal itself. No matter how badly Vernon beat "IT" or abused the fragile body, after a few days the little arm he knew he had broken healed itself and the bruises and cuts faded. Therefore, he could hurt "IT" and as long as the bruises didn't show and the cuts had stopped bleeding, no one would know.

Life was good for Vernon Dursleys and he could not foresee anything being bad. All he saw was good fortune, fun and success in all of his endeavors, like the one he had today. He had just made a big sale and thus earned a large commission. It was one of his co-worker's clients who he had basically stolen so that made the sale all the more sweet.

His co-worker had received a message that the client had to cancel their appointment today due to illness and would have to reschedule their meeting at another time. However, Vernon had sent a false message to his co-worker and instead took his place. The client just wanted to place an order and Vernon had used "his charm" to seal the deal. He had put one over on his co-worker and had permanently stolen his client. The fool would probably be fired now especially after the tale Vernon was going to tell his boss.

Vernon put in the order, chatted with the boss and since the weather was starting to get really bad, he decided to head home early to avoid the heavy traffic. Perhaps he'd stop off at the shops and buy some really good liquor and wine to celebrate.

However, while Vernon was reviewing all of his day's successes, he was not paying attention. He was too busy gloating and imaging the look on the face of the man he had outwitted and who his boss said would lose his job at the end of the year. Vernon's boss liked spoiling a person's Christmas as much as the next bastard.

Vernon did buy his "treats" and now was in a hurry to get home and start drinking it. Vernon had called Petunia earlier and told her to buy some thick steaks for their celebration and his mouth watered at the thought of the prime rib he would soon be enjoying. He didn't notice just how icy the roads had become since he had stopped to buy the wine and liquor.

Traffic slowed due to the weather and that made him angry. He beeped his horn but that only served to annoy the other drivers. Once he finally managed to get out of the main traffic he sped up and was not driving safely. He also wasn't watching the road as he was too busy shouting at and making rude comments with his fingers as he passed a fool who had been driving too carefully in Vernon's opinion.

He sped up to drive through a yellow light as he was not in the mood to stop for a bloody light. The yellow light had turned red as Vernon crossed the road and thus he was hit head on by another driver who also didn't want to wait at traffic lights and had jumped the traffic light. Between the slippery conditions, carelessness and unnecessary speed, both drivers were killed instantly.

So Vernon Dursley had changed the history of the world by leaving Petunia a widow, Dudley an orphan and Harry Potter with a chance for a different, decent life.