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The Mother and the Daughter.
"I think I need to tell you the full story, so you get the basics," Holly projected into her mother's mind. "From there I can tell you how I came to be in this reality, in this time."
"Please do," Lily said, already frightened by the implications of what she was learning from her daughter.
"In my reality, you and dad hid under the Fidelius Charm. Just like you have. You went into hiding because of the prophecy, which stated you would have a child who was 'destined' to fight Lord Voldemort after fighting him three times," Holly said.
Lily stared at her daughter in unhidden horror. "Prophecy, what prophecy? And you're telling me that Dumbledore forced me and James, to say nothing of Frank and Alice into going up against that monster just to create some superweapon to fight that thing?" She shook her head. "I always had questions about how we always seemed to face him, and how Dumbledore seems so interested in you and Neville, but I never imagined it was like this."
Holly just stared at her mother. "You don't know about the prophecy?" The baby shook her head, projecting her thoughts into her mother's mind as she went, "I always wondered if you even knew what was going on, but while this isn't my reality I can't say for sure if it happened when I was really a baby or not, it does make some degree of sense."
"Holly, what is this prophecy?"
"'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark them as his equal, but they will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…,' it was told to Dumbledore by Sybil Trelawney, a charlatan and an insect who became the Divination teacher at Hogwarts. They met at the Hog's Head if you can believe it. Dumbledore was all set to just let her down gently and just drop the subject from the syllabus, but when she uttered that prophecy - with a certain pathetic greasy-haired Death Eater in attendance, I might add who overheard the entire thing - he did everything he could to carry it forward when he realised that he could use the prophecy to end the war because he had discovered that Voldemort was not going to be as easy to defeat as he'd hoped."
Lily had been staring at her daughter who was projecting her thoughts into her mind the entire time with growing horror. She had never believed in prophecies. In fact, when she had discovered the magical world even had such a subject that mirrored palm reading and those stupid superstitions that seemed to echo the same newspaper horoscopes which were junk in her mind, she hadn't even bothered taking it as an elective. What had disgusted her the most was that others took it, not because they had a 'gift,' but only wanted a quick grade, and to giggle over prophecies.
She had determined anyone who took the subject was an idiot and her views on anyone who believed in anything that came out of a so-called 'seer's' mouth needed to be sectioned.
But to discover that Dumbledore, one of the most powerful wizards in the world, followed closely by Voldemort, who was Dumbledore's opposite number in the war, actually believed in the prophecy and were doing everything they could to push it through/prevent it from happening.
Lily had begun having second thoughts about how intelligent both wizards were in the past given how Voldemort, unlike his erstwhile predecessor had barely made any headway into conquering the country, never mind make inroads into Europe, and how Dumbledore made questionable decisions that cost more lives than they saved and how he always had the same excuse.
The Greater Good.
The Greater Good.
Was it all because of the so-called 'Greater Good' that the old man had come up with a number of questionable schemes which endangered more lives than it actually saved? But what Lily didn't understand was why Dumbledore was willing to trust something as woolly as divination when there were too many variables involved.
But at the same time, she had to accept that it made a degree of sense for everything Dumbledore had been doing lately; the way he had ordered her and James to hide, the fact he had told them and Alice and Frank Voldemort was after them both but refused to say why. Lily wondered if Dumbledore was even aware of her own personal view of the stupid subject; if he had told her about the prophecy and the threat to Holly, she would have left. As soon as she heard it. Bound for one of the countries around the world which did not take the kind of shit people like Bagnold was tolerating while others like Crouch were using their common sense and doing their best to end the violence.
That was it.
End of story.
Sure, James would likely tell her she wasn't acting like a Gryffindor by taking Holly away like that. But Lily had worked out too early that everyone in the Houses at that stupid school fell into the stereotypes too quickly. James was one of the worst examples of a modern-day Gryffindor in her mind despite how he had seemingly changed in their later years after that blow up with Snape; reckless, moronic to the point where he would eagerly rush in and get himself and everyone around him in danger. He wouldn't bat an eyelid if Voldemort was somehow led here.
The problem was James and the rest of the Marauders had spent all of their time bullying the other Houses. They didn't realise in the real world they would be forced to grow up, but unfortunately, the concept was beyond her idiot husband. Even now he still behaved like the same entitled arrogant buffoon he had always been.
But if he thought for one moment she was going to stay here, risk and endanger her baby daughter's life over some stupid poem which could have one of a million meanings, then he was in for a wakeup call that she would be more than willing to make as painfully as possible. James Potter growing up and seeing the world differently was long overdue.
Once more she wished Charlus and Dorea had made sure the idiot wasn't a complete fool.
Not only had he put their lives in Dumbledore's paws, but it looked likely their lives were in more danger than she would have liked.
"Mum, are you okay?" Lily had to shake her head when she heard Holly's voice in her head, and she realised she had been silent for some time.
"Yeah, just thinking," Lily replied.
"You don't know whether or not to believe it, do you?"
Lily blinked at her knowing tone. "Believe what, the prophecy?"
"Yeah. Like you, I found it hard to believe. I was 15 when I discovered the existence of the prophecy, and when I heard it I couldn't believe anyone of Voldemort's power would be stupid to believe in anything like that, and I didn't understand how Dumbledore could even believe in something so illogical either. I had always wondered why Voldemort had gone after you and dad and killed you both in my reality, but I had always assumed it was because the pair of you had posed a serious threat to him. I had already been studying ways of fighting the bastard-."
"Watch your language!" Lily chided.
Unabashed Holly went on. "As I was saying, I was studying ways of fighting him. He had proven to be a threat, and he had made it clear without anyone saying anything that he would not stop until he killed me. It all happened when Peter Pettigrew sold us out. In my reality," she stressed for the horrified Lily, "Pettigrew joined the Death Eaters. He joined them because he was starting to see the Light was so hopelessly outnumbered and were going to lose. He wanted to keep himself safe, that's why he joined. And he handed us over to Voldemort just to save his own sorry hide."
Lily was gazing down at Holly's little face in horror. In truth, she had always…tolerated the other Marauders. She had always seen them as overgrown kids and while she and he were alike for their love of learning and books, she had always despised Remus's woe is me attitude even before discovering he was a werewolf. She sympathised with him, but she wished he would get off of his backside and actually do something constructive with himself.
Somehow it didn't surprise her one of them, the weakest member of the group, would turn traitor.
Pettigrew had never impressed her and she had never found the time for him. He had always been useless, and not a particularly able person and because he was a Marauder and enjoyed it whenever James and Sirius bullied other students, well she found even less reason to be around him. It made sense he would have woken up from the dream that life was something to just dismiss.
"Pettigrew is a Death Eater?" Lily whispered the horror in her voice taking away her ability to shout.
"He might be," Holly pointed out seriously. "I don't know for sure. This is a different universe, after all, but I haven't exactly had any access to the outer world to see many of the differences; I'll only become aware of them when I get older. But in my old reality, back there everyone assumed that Sirius Black whom everyone believed was the Secret Keeper had betrayed us. He spent 12 years in Azkaban for it. But anyway, sooner or later, someone will tell Voldemort where we are, and he'll attack. What happened next is a mystery - it took me a while to root through my mind for the full details, and only with the mind arts - but you used a Blood Magic based ritual to tear Voldemort out of his body. You powered the ritual when Voldemort hit you with a killing curse, so the magic was highly overpowered but it was enough to tear Voldemort out of his own body, and he was banished as a wraith, barely holding on to the mortal plane. It was only because of his Horcruxes and the connection that he had to his followers that he survived. But if he had died out then there wouldn't be that many tears. I survived thanks to the ritual you provided, so thanks for that mum, but I was left with a piece of Voldemort's soul lodged in my head which Dumbledore would use for his master plan."
Lily had been listening to the story and she'd been watching the dim memories that Holly projected into her mind. Seeing the sight of that thing who was so determined to exterminate hundreds of people and was content lashing out at the world while others cowered away or refused to do anything about it made her sick, but the sight of Peter Pettigrew cowering in the background with a smirk on his face made her want to hunt the little bastard down and kill him.
But the sight of herself hitting the ground screaming for Voldemort to show mercy towards Holly while cursing Dumbledore for trapping them in the cottage made Lily want to ditch being a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and just leave Britain for good. She was not going to let them take her child from her. Hearing Voldemort's sick high-pitched laughter when she died made her wish she had the strength to go after the motherfucker herself and end him before he reached this stage.
"W-what happened, Holly? Who raised you? Was it Sirius?" Lily whispered as she struggled to organise her mind so she could make some sort of final sense about these memories once and for all.
"No. Dumbledore, in his infinite wisdom, left me on the doorstep of the Dursleys."
Lily stared at her daughter in shock. "What?"
X
The wards told him that he had a visitor while he had been speed reading the reports and the newspaper articles from both the magical world and the muggle world. Reaching for his wand - it was a fairly redundant precaution, but if there was one thing his experiences at that thrice-damned orphanage had taught him, it was to always be on your guard - Lord Voldemort turned slowly to the door.
Flicking his wand, he deftly unlocked the wards and let the visitor in, his mind already looking for the spells to defend himself in case he had made a mistake, and his visitor turned out to be an assassin masquerading as a servant.
The sight of his visitor surprised him.
"You?" Voldemort's grip tightened on the handle of his wand. "What are you doing here?"
His visitor surprised him further when he knelt down and bowed his head - for a moment Voldemort was tempted to demand his visitor hold out his arm; this kind of posture usually had the Dark Mark following - and he spoke without prompting. "I know you're going to win, and I can see that now; I was foolish to defy you…. M-my Lord," the man stuttered like the very utterance of those last words sickened him.
Voldemort narrowed his eyes. This seemed too good to be true in his mind. "Why have you changed your mind?"
"M-my Lord?"
"Why have you changed your mind? You have been fighting with the Order of the Phoenix helmed by Albus Dumbledore for the last few years, and on top of that, I have been responsible for the deaths of many of your family, and I am a threat. Why would you change your mind?" Voldemort was tempted to petrify his unexpected visitor so he could look into the other man's mind, and pry the secrets out.
"You're right. I have been fighting the Death Eaters with the rest of the Order of the Phoenix, but Dumbledore is weak-minded; he is letting you win deliberately by giving second chances. But he has a plan in mind, a plan to use a child to stop you without getting his lily-white hands dirty-."
"Interesting use of the word Lily, isn't it? Go on."
"But I can give you Lily and Holly Potter, as well as Frank, Alice, and Neville Longbottom. With all of them gone, your reign can be truly safe," his visitor lifted his head enough so Voldemort could see the grin that was there.
"Why should I trust you?" Voldemort asked.
"Because I want to be on the winning side."
X
In his office at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore looked through the piles of reports on his desk. It had taken him over an hour to separate the typical reports from the school, the Ministry, and the ICW from the reports of the war effort. None of it looked really good, but then again that was to be expected. Several families had lost their lives in the last spate of attacks, and there were more attacks on the muggle world; the obliviators and the DMLE who were already overworked, had managed to mitigate the worst of it all so the muggles did not remember the attacks - the last thing they needed right now were the muggles knowing anything about the wizarding world while the war was ongoing.
He took a look at his pocket watch. It was time for him to turn in, it was late, and even with his magic and his occlumency reinforced mind, there was only so much he could take without sleep.
But he also felt it time to prod the spy in the Order of the Phoenix into revealing to Voldemort the location of the Potters or the Longbottoms. He didn't care which one was attacked; with both the Potters and the Longbottoms having access to the same copy of the Blood Magic book, they would both have the ritual needed to defend their children against Voldemort.
One of them was going to become the magical world's saviour, paving the way for Dumbledore to achieve victory after the final battle weakened Voldemort sufficiently for him to finish the Dark Wizard off. It was time to begin.
