Chapter 01: Altered Course of Destiny

Some people are born to achieve great feats. Others are destined to change the world for the better. Yet still some are merely bit players in the grand scheme of the world to even out the numbers, mere pawns.

Many felt life was simply one never ending game of chess. Rarely one changed from their predetermined course they were destined for. However, rarely does not mean never.

Harry Potter was never destined to be one who simply made up the numbers. The role he was destined to play was very simple. Forces beyond his control decreed him to be the ultimate hero, able to save the day against all odds. The heart was supposed to be pure, able to come to his wise old mentor when he need of help. A person like Harry was not supposed to have a dark side and only was to know enough to make him survive to see the next day.

Perhaps in another universe that fact was meant to be but the slightest alteration in the course of events. Harry Potter would become one for the history books, that much to be certain. Still, when Albus Dumbledore sat down many years ago and made plans to prepare young Harry for his destiny, he could not be prepared for the change, which Harry would inspire. No one could even dream all the preconceived notions of the hidden Wizarding World would be shattered. All the lies crafted carefully many years ago would be uncovered and the truth would be revealed. Yet, it would all come of a price and would greatly affect the course of lives of many. Including the four heroes and their unique ninja master in which are about to make an appearance.

The time is ninety eight six, New York City. A rather hectic place to be sure. Many strange happenings occurred in this town but nothing stranger than what was beneath the streets. In the heart of the sewers existed five unique creatures that may be classified as genetic freaks, had the world knew they had existed. Little could anyone every realize the results of a simple genetic accident would play a significant role in helping defend against one of the greatest threats the world could possibly known.

"Come on, Leo it'll be a blast..."

"But Master Splinter said not to..."

"Bro, you need to think for yourself for once. Come on, we can just go up for a quick peak on the surface."

Clad in a blue headband, the one known as Leo, which was short for Leonardo, felt it was useless to attempt to talk his hotheaded brother Raph, short for Raphael, out of anything. The headband defiantly matched the personality as Raph adjusted his red headband as Leo hastened to keep up.

"Come on Raph," said Leo in a warning voice. "Master Splinter said we would be in big trouble if we went to the surface."

"Splinter Junior," muttered Raph before turning his back on him.

"Raph, you know the risks…" started Leo but his warning fell on deaf ears.

Raphael, not listening to his brother, was already climbing up the manhole. Always one with a sense of adventure was Raphael. Leonardo sighed as he followed his hotheaded brother up. Raphael had struggled to get the manhole up but Leonardo sighed and helped his brother.

"If we go up, will you come straight back down," said Leonardo with an agitated voice.

"Yes, I promised," stated Raphael in an irritated tone of voice. "Jeez, don't get your shell in a knot."

They had managed to get the manhole off, although barely. Scrambling up to the surface and out of the manhole they went. Raphael stopped short. Leo bumped into Raph. He fell back, looking agitated.

"Now what, Raphael?" snapped Leonardo? He had only used one of his brothers' full names when he was angry and Raphael had pushed him just a little too far right at the moment.

Raphael pointed to a young boy who looked about maybe five or six. He looked upset about something. He had an unruly mop of jet-black hair and wore ragged clothes. He seemed to have been crying but straightened up in an instant. Leonardo winced mentally. This little boy appeared to have heard them.

"Who's there," said the black haired boy who appeared to be suppressing tears but failing.

The Dursleys told him that only weaklings cried and he only had himself to blame when his Uncle Vernon dumped him here after he accidentally hurt Dudley, even through he swore up and down he could not cause his cousin to fly into that wall, seemingly on his own accord.

Raphael and Leonardo appeared to look at each other. Raphael threw his hands up in the air.

"What are you doing here?" asked Raphael a little too sharply for his only good. "Where are your parents, kid?"

The boy put his head in his hands, attempting to suppress his tears; he did not deserve to cry. Leonardo smacked himself in the head as if to ask himself: "Why do I let you do the talking?"

"They are d-d-dead," stammered the boy. "They were killed, in a car accident when I was one. I now live or I lived with my Aunt and Uncle. Please don't send me back there mister. My Uncle hit me because I was a freak. He said I should have not been born and I should have died with my parents."

The boy slumped to the ground, rolling up, obviously the memory of his parents being too much.

Raphael looked a bit sickened at the antics of this kid's relatives and a bit ashamed about being so sharp with the little boy. The turtle prayed that all humans were not this way.

"Sorry, kid," muttered Raphael before turning to his brother.

"I...we are going to take him with us," stated Leo in a matter of a fact way.

"Wait a minute, take him with us," said Raph.

"Yes, Raphael, we are going to bring him with us," said Leo slowly if he was speaking to someone mentally slow. "He cannot be left out here and he has nowhere else to go. His parents are dead and his uncle hit him. I am afraid we have no other choice but to take the kid."

Raphael looked down at the kid. He was hot headed and as hard shelled as they came but he could not help but feel sorry for the kid. Raphael could not imagine if his Master Splinter died or if one of his brothers had...he could not bare to think about it. He kneeled down by the kid who had sobbed himself to sleep or had passed out. It was hard to tell.

"Come on, Raph," stated Leo. "We better go. I am sure Master Splinter will know what to do. He raised us after all."

Splinter was pacing around his home. Raphael and Leonardo had been missing for a couple of hours by now. He had hoped they had not gone to the surface, against his wishes. He fingered his walking stick before turning to his other two sons. One had an orange headband on. His name was Michelangelo, he had a bit of a hyperactive streak out of his four sons but make no mistake about it, he was creative in his fighting methods, if a bit attention deficient. The other was clad in a purple headband. His name was Donatello. He had to be the most scientifically minded of his four sons."

"Donatello, Michelangelo," said Master Splinter. "Do you have any idea where Leonardo and Raphael are?"

The two shook their heads, looking as confused to their other two brothers' whereabouts as Master Splinter did.

"No Master Splinter," stated Donatello.

"Have not gotten the slightest idea, Sensei," said Mikey.

As if on cue, the sounds of footsteps were outside the lair. Splinter looked ready to admonish his two sons for wandering off but of all the things he would have expected them to bring back, this was perhaps the strangest.

His sons had brought back many pets into their home in the past. Some dangerous, some not so, but on this day, they did something that suppressed all of the things they brought to the lair with them. In his wildest dreams Splinter had never expected his sons to bring back a human. Splinter looked at this human, who appeared to weakened and appeared to have bruises on his face. Splinter wondered how they had gotten there and who would do such a thing to a small child. Splinter had looked at his two sons who flinched, expecting to get a lecture about the dangers of going above the sewers once again.

"Explain" stated Splinter in a calm voice, a voice the rat perfected over the years.

Leonardo and Raphael looked as if they would rather have had their Sensei shouting at them but Raphael, feeling a bit too brave for his own good turned to his Sensei, although he felt a bit nervous as he launched head on into his explanation.

"Well, you see," started Raphael his voice shaking slightly. "We uh, went up to the surface, even through you have told us ten billion times not to."

Splinter remained without a bit of emotion on his face. He just put his fingers on his cane. Raphael knew he would never seriously use the cane on him unless it was during training as a defense method but yet the dramatic affect in full force when the rat touched the walking stick. After what seemed like an eternity but it was only a couple of moments, Splinter spoke to his students.

"Very well," stated Splinter calmly. "That does not explain why you have this young boy with you."

"Well..." stated Raphael but Leo cut him off.

"Master, this boy, well we found him, he looked he just stopped crying just when we found him," stated Leo. "His parents died when he was one, he was apparently abandoned by his uncle. His uncle hit him several times and he begged us not to send him back. He then passed out for some reason. We didn't know what else to do." A look of anger crossed Splinter's face. The origin of the bruises on the young boy's face was apparent the wizened rat right now. Leo, mistaking the reason for his Sensei's anger, backed off but Splinter raised his hand.

"I am not angry with you, Leonardo," said Splinter calmly. "You did the right thing, although I must discourage you from further trips to the surface in the future. I am afraid, there is only one thing we must do now. The boy must remain here but he will be given the home he should have received when his parents passed on. I doubt it was his parent's wishes that he was to be sent to live with his uncle."

"How do you know, Master?" asked Donatello.

"Just something I sense," stated Splinter mysteriously. "Get some blankets and something light for the boy to eat when he awakens. I need to meditate on a very important matter."

Splinter walked out as his four sons looked dumbstruck. They apparently had a new addition to there family. They need to make their new little brother comfortable. Little did they or anyone else know their new addition would change the course, which they were on as well.

Hours later the young boy known as Harry Potter appeared groggy. What a strange dream he had just had! He appeared to in some kind of trouble, getting chased by his Uncle and then he passed out as his Uncle Vernon decided to make him pay for his freaky behavior before Vernon decided to take Harry to a New York alley on a business trip before dumping him. The six year old was at a loss of how he survived. The strange part was about how he was found by two strange people. Only these people appeared to be giant turtles. Well they had shells at the very least. Harry rubbed his eyes, waking up from his nap. The sight, which he saw, surprised him. He could not believe his eyes. Four giant turtles. He had to still be dreaming but yet, he did not feel as if he was still asleep so it had to be real. The Dursleys would not be happy if...wait, he was not at the Dursleys and this was not in his cupboard. He seemed to now be at a different place than he was the previous day. Harry did not care how he arrived at this destination because this place seemed a lot more like home then Number Four Privet Drive at ever been.

"Finally, he's awake," said Raphael. "How are doing kid?

Harry looked at the turtle; words nearly failing him but the obvious did not.

"You're a talking turtle," said Harry as if it was the most natural every day thing in the world.

"Wow, someone must have bought this kid a biology book," stated the turtle known as Michelangelo before Raphael smacked him across the back of the head.

"Knock it off, Mikey," snapped Raphael.

"You know it would be really annoying to keep calling you kid," said Donatello to Harry. "What is your name?"

"Harry, Harry Potter," said Harry Potter, feeling a bit more at ease with the strange turtle creatures then he had ever been with the Dursleys.

After a moment of silence, Harry did something, which he had never done at the Dursleys. He asked a question.

"So where did you guys come from?" asked Harry. Before any of the Turtles could answer, a fifth voice was heard. It was Master Splinter and it was time to reveal the origin of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

"It is a long story, young Harry," said the rat. "I have memories of a time long ago. Time what I could be considered what people would call normal. I was an ordinary rat. One day, as I was hunting for food, I observed a young boy crossing the street with four pet turtles in a glass jar. At the same time, an old blind man was crossing the street. A truck sped down to the street, and had swerved at the last minute, barely missing the old man. A canister was launched out of the truck, with the initials T.C.R.I stamped upon it. The boy had accidentally dropped the turtles in the confusion. The Turtles were then washed through a sewer grate. Naturally, I had followed, investigating where they had gone."

The turtles had heard the story before dozens of times but Harry seemed captivated, which in reality this was the first story of any kind he had been told since his parents, but he could hardly remember them.

"The baby turtles had been splashed in the mysterious green ooze from the canister, which had broken. I had gathered the turtles up in the coffee can, but in doing so, the ooze came into contact with me. Needless to say, over night, the Turtles had become larger, doubling in size. I too, had grown, all thanks to the effects of this mysterious green ooze. We had kept growing and I allowed the Turtles follow me everywhere, with the exception of the surface. I had known the outside world would consider them freaks but just in case they ever needed to defend themselves, I trained them in the martial arts. Giving them all names I had read in a battered book on Renaissance arts which I fished out a storm drain, they then became..."

"The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," said Michelangelo. "Or some really trendy commercial thing we all call ourselves."

"First rule, Harry, try and tune Mikey out," said Raphael. "Your life would be a whole lot easier."

The first smile they had seen flashed on Harry's face but he voiced something, which had been troubling him.

"If you were just an ordinary rat, how did you learn enough to teach the turtles how to defend themselves and can you please teach me?" Harry asked Splinter.

"As for the first question," began Splinter. "I believe that will be a story for later on. As for the second question, are you sure you want to learn this Harry? It is a very difficult and demanding art to learn."

"Yes, I am sure," said Harry defiantly. "I don't want to be pushed around anymore. I want to be able to fight back. Please teach me. I'll be a good student; I will do everything you say. After my uncle...never again. Please I don't want to be weak"

Splinter looked at Harry with pride. Harry had reminded him of his master, Hamato Yoshi with his enthusiasm and pride to learning the combat arts. Splinter nodded at Harry.

"Very well, young Harry," said Splinter. "I will teach you everything I can, if you are willing to learn. Not today, however, we have all had a very long day."

Little did everyone involved know, that day would change the course for many lives. Harry would be turned into a free, independent thinker, the type of person, which would clash, with the manipulative nature of Albus Dumbledore. Well-laid of Dumbledore to mold Harry into his weapon for his own gains had been shattered into pieces but by the time anyone had known as Harry's new residence, he had already been away for five years. Naturally, he would not be going back to the Dursleys, not now, not ever. The rocky road had been set into motion, now it remained to be seen what twists and turns laid ahead.

Chapter Revised on June 19th 2006.