"H-How is this possible?"

"Oh, you're not serious! You are unutterably careless, aren't you?!" Lily was screaming at James.

"Don't be such a killjoy, Lils; it was nothing. I swear, You-Know-Who was easy to defeat," there was overwhelming arrogance in James's voice, one that the listening Holly instantly scowled at; ever since she had known Snape for the very first time and gotten a sample of his vitriol, she had done her best to ignore the bitter Death Eater's never-ending hatred for James, whom he had passed on to Holly, she had ignored the Potions Master although over time and little scraps of knowledge which had come her way from the surviving members of James' little gang of outlaws at Hogwarts had made her wonder if the bullying Snape was dishing out to her while Dumbledore ignored and allowed it to happen with his blessing despite Flitwicks' harsh complaints towards his precious pet Death Eater, whom he had deemed as more important than anyone else in the castle until she had lashed out at Snape when he had left that pensieve of his filled to the brim with the memories of what James and the Marauders had done to him.

She had always been in two minds about her parents; on the one hand, she loved them, but she hadn't forgotten the way the Dursleys had been so quick to give out their filthy muggle lies, and they were filthy.

Her mother was a drunken drug addict, who cared more for sex and whoring herself out.

Her father was a waste of space. Unemployed. Useless.

Holly had gone to Hogwarts determined to find out more about her parents, but Dumbledore had thrown up so many hurdles for her. For reasons that escaped any kind of logic, Holly had been almost unable to learn anything about her parents much to her frustration.

She had asked to see her parents graves, but Professor McGonagall (bitch) had overheard her private conversation with her Head of House, and Dumbledore had said no. He had given her some stupid excuse the Ravenclaw student that she was had no problem picking clean. Dumbledore had given some pathetic platitudes that made no sense; that it might hurt her (well of course it would, she wanted to see her parents' graves), that it would distract her from having a happy childhood, which made her ask him something important.

Holly had asked, "Professor, my parents were murdered by a psychopath when I was a baby; I never knew them, therefore your beliefs about my childhood being distracted by the reminder…is kinda redundant; I'm reminded of my parents' deaths every single day. Every single day. Someone comes up to me, sees the stupid scar on my forehead, and it's another reminder. Now, please enlighten me I can't visit my parents' graves after hearing that?"

Despite Flitwick's full support and admiration of her logical arguments, Dumbledore hadn't offered any more excuses, just more refusals. At the same time, McGonagall had proven herself to be a very brave (bitch queen from hell) woman by being in the office with Dumbledore, Holly, and Flitwick, but what was so bizarre was Snape's presence.

Neither of those two was any good; McGonagall was telling her that Dumbledore's word was law, and Snape was saying she was an arrogant child. The only person she had on her side was Flitwick; she knew if she'd had the misfortune of having Dumbledore's yes-woman as a Head of House, she knew she would have nothing but grief. It wasn't until she had taken the law into her own hands she had gotten what she wanted.

But she had learnt one thing.

Snape…. Snape was telling the truth; while she had never actually known her father in the flesh and she'd had no memory of him raising her unless of course you count the ones where she had been an infant and she had needed to use her occlumency ability to really dredge into her mind, bringing the memories to the forefront of her mind, and the unpleasant meeting she'd had with her father's portrait in Potter Manor when she'd been able to get inside on her 18th birthday, she had learnt one thing about James Potter.

He was not a nice person.

Holly wasn't entirely sure what the man's problems were, but he was fairly arrogant, full of himself; the way he had spoken to her when she had walked into Potter Manor….

Learning James was a big Dumbledorean follower was hardly a surprise to her given how James's ghost during that fight with Voldemort in that graveyard had made it clear he was not proud of her life choices or when she was outed as bisexual while Lily was okay with it since the other two marauders - Pettigrew didn't really count given how he had a 'my life's more important so I'll care for who's stronger' mindset compared to the other marauders who hadn't realised their bullying of so many students had given Voldemort an angry, ready-made army - were the exact same; she had been horrified when Sirius hadn't answered any of the mail she'd sent him during the whole Triwizard Tournament, and she had written Lupin off as a lost cause thanks to his werewolf pity act - but Holly had to admit telling her parent's about her life and how she had gone against Dumbledore might have been poorly thought through.

But she knew one thing, out of both of her parents the only one who seemed to share her viewpoints and was happy she hadn't risked or endangered her life in some stupid Gryffindor style battle was Lily. Like herself, Lily had been questioning James and Dumbledore's decisions to keep them under lock and key in Godric's Hollow. Holly had always asked herself why James and Lily had never taken her away from Britain when Voldemort set his sights on them, but finding out James saw nothing wrong with endangering their lives…

Okay, she could understand that the man was so sure that his choice of friends and who was actually keeping the secret of the Fidelius Charm, but surely it occurred to him that the family was more important than some stupid sense of pride, or loyalty to Dumbledore.

But no.

Another good thing about her visit to Potter Manor was how Charlus and Dorea Potter, her paternal grandparents had been horrified. Holly had later discovered that Dorea had always had problems conceiving a child, so she and Charlus had had James later on in life, and he had an uncle who'd told him biased stories about Dumbledore while Charlus had a fairly mixed view of the man and Dorea was just disdainful. Sadly it had done little to shape his perception of the man.

It was also clear this James was the same. When she had come back in time after skimming the basics to recognise this world would be the same as the one she had left, Holly had hoped this James might be more mature, but it had been in vain. This James Potter was just as arrogant, he was narcissistic, immature, and he was a Dumbledore worshipper who listened to Dumbledore's assurances of how everything would be fine and always gave excuses for the old man whenever his promises weren't being fulfilled. It said a lot about James Potter's overall personality that he would go from a prankster who thought the entire world owed him a favour to a 'man' who didn't have a clue how the world worked and was such a man child he was willing to go out at night partying while leaving his wife and daughter behind without a care in the world.

Even worse, when he was around, he would always mooch around and leave Lily to take care of her. But when he was around, he would always be sulking and blaming Holly for his wife's lack of patience or because Lily didn't want to have sex with him. James' priorities were amazing.

As for Lily…

Holly was relieved she had at least one parent who was preparing to make some effort. This version of Lily was more like the one who had been impressed by how she hadn't had used stunners or petrification spells, something her father had had a go at because of Dumbledore's frankly pathetic and infantile view of the world. It was more than clear to her that this Lily Potter was the same; Holly had lost count of how many times she had listened to her parents argued about that. James continually argued about how they couldn't kill the Death Eaters while Lily was becoming frustrated by James' inability to see reality for what it was.

The Death Eaters were growing in number and they were getting stronger while the Ministry did fuck all as usual and Dumbledore and his little group were just stunning them and sending them to Azkaban so Dumbledore could get his wish for them to be 'redeemed.' The old man was putting his philosophy ahead of the survival of the magical world.

And every day….

Every day, Holly was worried and she was trying to listen as her parents, who were both members of the Order of the Phoenix although it was obvious Lily hated being a part of the organisation, talked after the meetings, waiting for the dreaded news that the muggles in this reality had discovered the magical world early.

Holly hoped they didn't, but Dumbledore and Voldemort and the Ministry were causing more harm than they realised by not taking the threats more seriously - Voldemort might be more aware of what muggles could do, but Riddle's use of horcruxes (if he had any in this reality) had clouded his reality and his judgement, while Dumbledore and the Ministry didn't believe that the muggles were a threat.

Dumbledore, like Arthur Weasley, was under the foolish notion muggles were like adorable animals at a zoo. A part of her would like the pair of them to experience the reality she'd left, and then they could tell her if they believed that was the case.

Holly was thankful she had enough awareness to know Sirius was currently the Secret Keeper, but while it assured her she had plenty of time before Voldemort came calling, it was hardly encouraging considering Sirius took life as if it were one big party where you didn't have to show much in the way of responsibility, it gave her and her parents a bit of time.

"EASY TO DEFEAT?! James, do you even hear yourself?" Lily's shrieks broke through Holly's thoughts and the young witch turned baby had to turn her attention back to the argument. It sounded like her mother was only just getting started. "That thing is a psychopath! The only reason you survived is not that Dumbledore helped, it's because you were too busy bouncing around for him to kill you!"

"Don't say that about Dumbledore, Lily! He is doing his best-!" James shouted.

But his efforts were drowned out. "No, he isn't; do you know how many Death Eaters were put into Azkaban, only for them to be sprung out again? Every time I use a lethal spell, I get lectured by Dumbledore and you don't do anything to stick up for me. In fact, you jump down my throat! But enough of that, what I can't understand is what you're thinking wanting to go out with your pals and leave me here; what if they find a way past the fidelius charm?"

Holly narrowed her eyes, a slight whimper leaving her before she quickly silenced herself. She didn't want to be heard. But she had a horrible theory about where Lily was going with this.

"You'll be fine-!" Holly closed her eyes, wondering if James Potter really was this stupid. Something told her that if he was captured by the Death Eaters, Voldemort wouldn't have much trouble learning where his family was.

"Oh, right," Lily interrupted with a scornful laugh, "so if you or Sirius are captured and tortured, and they find out where Holly and I are and we're killed, and they show you our cold dead bodies, will you finally get it through your thick skull we should be in another country?"

"Lily, we've been over this. Dumbledore says we're protected and I believe him."

"He's not the one who's under house arrest while you feel free to lecture me about how I should be living here while you're free to do whatever you fucking well like!" Lily shrieked. "That thing is after our daughter for some insane reason, we need to protect her. And there are several ways we can do that. We leave the country. Sign Holly up for a brand new school instead of Hogwarts."

"We're not going to do that, Lily!" James shouted.

"Oh, and why not? Don't tell me it's because Dumbledore wants us to be attacked, if he does then I will castrate you and leave the pain there for good! Because it's not for Dumbledore and his vaunted 'Greater Good' although I've noted he won't ever tell anyone what that actually is. Our daughter is more important than some old man's beliefs! You remember, our daughter, right? You certainly don't spend enough time with her, do you!?"

Holly knew her mother had a point there. She had barely seen her father for a while and that also included the other Marauders although Sirius did seem to make it more of a point to be there for her when he was around. While the man was a man-child, Sirius did seem to take his duties as a godfather more seriously while James for some reason seemed to think Lily would do everything in baby care while he did the barest minimum. She wasn't surprised Lily had picked up on it.

James, being a typical Gryffindor, showed that he wasn't as brave as he seemed to think he was.

"I'm going out now, Lily. We'll talk about this when I get back!" There was a slam of a door crashing itself shut downstairs; the sound was so sudden that Holly screamed a little bit, cursing her baby instincts as she did.

Lily came running into the nursery and she did her best to calm Holly down, which wasn't hard. The girl soon calmed down and looked deeply into her mother's eyes. Lily still showed signs of being angry but the good news was she was doing her best to keep calm thanks to the baby in her arms.

"I'm so sorry about that, baby," Lily rocked Holly, and the girl couldn't help but smuggle deeply into her mother's arms - technically this woman was not the Lily Potter, but she was Lily, and that was all that mattered to her. "Your daddy does love you, honestly he does," she said; as a baby, Holly knew she wouldn't understand but as an adult regressed in age she knew her mother sounded dubious about her father's true feelings. "It's just… he's struggling to cope."

Holly looked into her mothers' eyes. For a long time, she had debated on a course of action, but now she knew she might as well. "If he loved you then he has a weird way of showing it," she sent a legilimency probe to her mother, encountering some impressive shields on her way, but she knew her mother would hear the voice regardless.

And she did.

Lily's eyes widened when she heard a voice accompany a legilimency probe that touched her occlumency barriers. The voice was female, a mature deep, rich, lilting musical soprano voice, much like her own. "W-who just said that?" She whispered before she snorted. "Okay, get a grip, Lily, you're just annoyed because James hasn't changed from being an immature, arrogant prick-."

"You're not imagining anything, mum. I am really speaking to you. I am using the mind arts to communicate with you. If I could speak normally, I would. I can't. The mind arts allow me to project my voice to your mind, although it would help if you let me legilimency on you," Holly the baby gurgled.

Lily stared at her daughter in shock. "H-how is this possible?"

"I don't understand the question?"

"How are you able to do this?" Lily wasn't sure what surprised her the most, the fact that her baby could speak mentally at all or the fact she was just so accepting of it.

Holly, to her surprise, looked down, her eyes filling with tears. Lily instantly jolted as her maternal instinct kicked in. "Oh, sweetie, what's the matter, you look sad?"

Holly brushed her face with her thick hand, and she screwed her face up a little before she looked back at her mother. "I….I come from a parallel world. I'm mentally your daughter, Holly grown up. I tried to come back in time to make sure the war never began here."

Lily wasn't sure how to react, whether she should deny what her daughter was saying but she knew there were infinite chances and possibilities in the magical world that weren't available in the muggle world. "You've…travelled back in time?"

"Yes and no. Unless you have a time machine that was created at a specific moment, then you can only travel between the moment the machine was created and the end of the universe. Every Ministry of Magic knows the dangers of time travel and their Time-Turners are created on a yearly basis before they are destroyed and they are remade. It's the only way to truly defend history. However it is possible to journey into parallel universes and you can head back in time to any moment you want," Holly explained.

Lily could see the logic in the Ministry's policy even if she had never been impressed by the frankly pathetic exhibits of their weird intelligence. "So you came back in time and you came to stop a war?" Lily summarised without taking her eyes off of Holly, accepting the truth of her daughter's claim given how the baby had always been rather silent at times and seemed….mature compared to what she had imagined a baby would act. "Was it the war with Vol- I mean, You-Know-Who?" She mentally thanked her lucky stars she had stopped herself from saying the Dark Lord's name when she had, otherwise that stupid Taboo curse kicked in.

"No."

"No? What do you mean no?" Lily asked in confusion; she had assumed her question was perfectly logical since Voldemort was the biggest problem right now, but now it seemed that there was a bigger threat. "Is there another Dark Lord, one who's more dangerous?"

While it was hard to believe, Lily couldn't think of another threat big or dangerous enough for Holly to take the risk of travelling back through time in the first place. But the girl closed her eyes and reopened them again, her expression dark and angry.

"No, mum," Holly projected, "although I wish it were something that simple, it wasn't a Dark Lord. It was muggles."

Holly had never seen her mother look so shaken or surprised in either incarnation that she had seen over the years. Lily's eyes were wide, her mouth was an o and she was mouthing the word "muggles" over and over before she shook her head. "Muggles? Muggles forced you to come back in time. How?"

"Okay, I'll tell you, but I want you to listen to what I have to say and don't interrupt me or the story will take forever to finish. Voldemort….returned to power; it's a long story, but the short version of it is he was ripped from his body, but it was only due to his connection to his followers and his horcruxes that he was still able to stay in the land of the living. He returned to power in my fourth year at Hogwarts. Thanks to one of his agents I was put into the Triwizard Tournament, and after facing off against an angry nesting Hungarian Horntail, diving into the bottom of the Black Lake and having my arm slit for Voldemort to get some of my blood, I returned to the castle and I tried alerting the authorities, but Fudge the Minister at the time refused to listen or believe me. Dumbledore did, but that was only because he had a pet Death Eater to tell him it was true. For a whole year, Fudge slandered me in the Daily Prophet and he sent one of his lackeys to Hogwarts to dumb down the educational level at the school, getting the idea in his little head that Dumbledore was after his job. Anyway, I left the country at the end by using the fact I was a recognised emancipated minor because of the Tournament to get my NEWTs since I'd had enough of the whole of Britain by that point, and when Voldemort did return he hit the country like a hammer shattering glass. I came back to the country after two years to end the threat, getting away from Voldemort and Dumbledore's insane plans. But while I did kill Voldemort and I ended the threat, a new threat began. The Muggle PM at the time had been a front-row witness to the war, watching as the war spilt into the muggle world. I don't know how he did it, but the PM gave his scientists knowledge that magic existed and that he wanted new ways of fighting it. War broke out after a few years and the magical world was taken by surprise," Holly looked away for a moment, tears filling her eyes as she remembered the senseless waste of life on both sides before she turned back.

This was not going to be easy, telling her mother what happened.