CHAPTER 1

There was a green light, so bright that Lily couldn't see anymore. She heard a scream escaped her mouth. It was a shrill cry that echoes through the house. She tried to move, but all she could do is sob for she knew she had lost. Voldemort had found them and her family is going to die…

Bright light greeted Lily's eyes as she opened them. The light was blinding her and she was forced to close her eyes once more. Is this heaven?, she thought, if this is it then it's not so bad after all. She could make out a face looking straight at her, but it was blurred. "Who are you?" She asked the unknown face while struggling to block her eyes from the painful light.

"I'm glad you're finally awake, Lily,"

It was no mistaken. She knew that voice. "Dumbledore? Is that you?"

She heard him chuckled. "I'm rather surprised that you recognized me."

Lily tried to sit down, the room finally materializing in front of her. For the first time, she realized that she was in Dumbledore's office. She was seated in one of the couch as Dumbledore made his way towards his highchair, directly facing her. The old man was rather looking amusingly at her, his dark blue eyes survey her like she was about to explode any moment soon. Lily also noticed he looked a bit older than the last time she saw him; his gray hair was considerably longer and his eye bags darker.

"What am I doing here?" Lily questioned the man. "What happened?"

Dumbledore smiled curiously. "You don't remember, Lily? Tell me who are you."

Lily frowned. "Albus, I'm not playing games…"

"Neither am I, Lily." Dumbledore said simply. "It would do you no harm to answer my question; who are you and what do you remember?"

"You just said it yourself, I'm Lily." Lily said irritably. Dumbledore just looked at her as if expecting to continue. "I'm Lily… Lily Potter."

Dumbledore nodded after a long silence. "What do you remember, Lily Potter?"

Lily snorted. "What are you getting at, Albus-" She stopped talking. She remembered something. That night… at Godric's Hollow… James and Harry… Harry, her baby boy…A hooded figure… Voldemort!

"Where's Harry?" Lily demanded, panic swelling inside her. "Where's my family, Albus? What happened? Where are James and Harry?"

"James and Harry are quite all right." He said calmly.

"They're not…" Lily couldn't muster the strength to say it. "… gone?"

"Fortunately, they are not." Dumbledore said simply as if she just asked him a very plain question. "They are perfectly well. You need not to concern yourself with them."

Lily didn't like his tone. She stared at the man for a moment; something wasn't right. It was like she's missing something. Lily could feel anger boiling inside of her for the man's lack of sincerity. She just went through a horrible ordeal and here he goes acting as if nothing happened.

"Do you have any more concerns? Something you want to clarify?"

"Now that you mentioned it," She said heatedly. "I have one; how did Voldemort discover our house? It was under the Fidelous Charm Dumbledore! Only the secret keeper knows our hiding—"

"Ahh…" Dumbledore interrupted, "You just answered your question, Lily." Lily looked confused.

"Your secret keeper…" Dumbledore added knowingly

"No. It couldn't be, not–"

But Dumbledore held out his had to indicate silence. "Forgive me, Lily, but I have no intention to discuss this matter with you. It is irrelevant and isolated. It is of not great importance at the moment."

"What do you mean NOT IMPORANT?" Lily shouted, anger inside her has reached its limits. "My family could've died last night and it's not important?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Regretfully, it is not."

Lily's eyes widen in shock. How could Dumbledore not care? James and Harry could have died and no one would care, even him. Voldemort could have wiped out her entire family and he doesn't even give a damn.

"I think I had enough, Dumbledore." Lily said finally standing up. "I want to see James and Harry NOW!"

"Believe me when I say you will see them soon." He said. "But I'm afraid we're not finished yet. As a matter of fact, we haven't even started…"

Lily frowned and sat down. "What's it that you want? Do you need me to do something? Because frankly, I'd rather be doing something else…"

"Lily, before I continue. I want you to promise that you will not interrupt me, that any questions arise as I speak will not be asked until I have finished, and that any comment you wish to express will be dealt after I had my say. Do I make myself clear?"

"Whatever. Just go on"

"Promise me, Lily!"

They stared for a moment. "Yes, I promise." Lily said defeated.

Dumbledore closed his eyes and sighed. "Last week, there was an attack at Stoner Hill. A family was assaulted by more or less five fully armed Death Eaters. The house was burned down and a muggle died out of haste."

"The children were saved with only minor wounds and bruises though they may have developed certain paranoia due to the event. The father vanished. We do not have any information if he is still, hopefully, alive. The mother was unfortunate enough. She was hit by an unknown spell that made certain recollections unavailable. To be brief, she was hit by a memory charm. But ordinary memory charm wouldn't make her unconscious for a week, so I assumed there is something in the curse beyond erasing memory."

"According to my source, the Death Eaters have discovered that the Order has long been spying on their faction and are desperate to catch the perpetrator. It was merely a scare honestly. Or if it weren't, the mother would've died rather than her memory erased."

Dumbledore sighed again. "Are you finished?" Lily asked.

"Not yet," Dumbledore said. "Lily, may I ask you something?"

"What?"

"What year are we now?"

"Dumbledore, what kind of question is that?"

"Answer me, Lily."

"It's… It's 1981."

Dumbledore took a newspaper beside him and tossed it across towards Lily. She recognized it at once, The Daily Prophet. She looked at the headline: "STONER HILL MISHAP" Lily saw the Dark Mark hovering at what looked like a burned house on a stiff slope, smoke still issuing from the wreck.

Lily looked at Dumbledore. "I'm sorry…"

"Do you want to read it?"

"No. I think I can–"

Lily stopped talking. She just saw something that made her heart skip a few beats. She looked awestruck at Dumbledore.

"What! Is this a joke?"

Dumbledore shook his head slowly.

"This is a prank, right? Huh… It can't be. It's just. It's not." Lily said still looking at the newspaper date. "You can't be serious."

"I'm sorry Lily." Dumbledore said.

Lily looked stunned. "No! This couldn't be happening!"

She heard the old man speak but she couldn't quite understand, she felt her eyelids heavy and her body weak. But before she hit the ground she caught site of the date; 1991… ten years forward.