The Forgotten

A/N: If people like this chapter, please say so in the reviews. This story sounds like a cliché and I know you all probably think you know where it's going but you don't. Trust me, I thought I knew where it was going too, but then I decided to do this over-done story a little differently. I will be uploading a chapter everyday, or trying to anyway.

Summary: In Holly's fifth year at Hogwarts, Remus Lupin comes to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. That's when Holly begins to dream of a forgotten childhood, and unfamiliar people that she had never before given a second thought.

Chapter One: Dreams of a Forgotten Childhood

"Holly." The woman kneeled down to the girl's level, "Holly, I want you to listen to me. We're going to play a little game, OK? You like games, don't you?"
"Yes, Mummy!" The toddler grinned.

"OK. We're going to play hide and seek, OK? I want you to run to the best hiding spot you know where no one will ever, ever find you."

"Yes, Mummy!"

"OK, honey. Now go, quickly!" The woman hurried the child along. The toddler ran out the back door and into the garden. Before she went to hide in the bushes, she wanted to see if her mother was cheating and watching where she was going.

She jumped up on a log and put her stubby little fingers on the sill of the window. Her brown eyes appeared just above it. She saw her mother talking to her father. She couldn't make out the words. Her mother seemed nervous. Her father looked past her mother at the child in the window. He motioned for her to run. The girl grinned again as she ran and hid in some bushes in the garden.

As Holly sat there, giggling slightly with excitement, she heard glass break.

"Damn it, Lily!" she heard from the house, "It's not going to happen! I don't want to have this conversation with you!"

"I am only saying that I think Sirius was more of a-"
"Lily, we will be fine. There is nothing to worry about." His voice was calmer now. Holly didn't hear anything after that. She saw her mother appear in the back door with a slight smile.

"Ready or not, here I-" but her mother's scream was interrupted as there was a crash within the house. The face of Holly's mother drained of color as she dashed back into the house. Holly merely giggled. She didn't think the crash was important. It was probably just her father. Her mother probably thought she was back in the house again. She was good at fooling her.

Holly heard screams from her house. She saw bright lights and she heard things crash.

"HARRY!" her mother cried. Holly was confused. What was going on? This was all a game, right? It was all just a game, nothing really bad could happen. Cautiously, she stepped out of her hiding spot and crept back to the house window. She saw her father hand her baby brother to her mother.

"Run. Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off." He whispered.

"Holly…"

"I'll fend him off. You get Holly and run!" James Potter drew his wand. Lily ran, towards the door. Holly saw her father scream an incantation at the Death Eater before him and the Death Eater fell.

"Potter!" Someone cried behind him. James spun around to meet Lord Voldemort face to face. James stumbled.

"You!" James cried.

"Ah, yes, I'm so glad you recognized me, James. You had me worried for a minute." Voldemort smiled a crooked smile.

"You bastard!" James spat with disgust.

"I am afraid I have no time for small talk, James." Voldemort pulled out his wand, James copying him. "I am here to take care of business. It's nothing… Personal…" James began to yell a curse but Voldemort was quicker.

"Avada Kedavera!" Holly watched her father fall to the floor as the essence of life was sucked out of him by the evil villain's wand. Holly turned. She saw her mother stumble out the back door with her baby brother in her arms.
"Holly!" she cried, "HOLLY!" But she suddenly screamed as she tripped. Holly dove for the bushes. She didn't want her mother to find her yet. She didn't want her to win that easily.

Holly watched through the bushes as her mother scrambled to her feet. Lily gasped as she saw the figure approaching her. She held Harry, protectively.

"I won't let you have him!" She cried, "You MURDERER!"

"You're so harsh, Lily. Don't force me to kill you too."
"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please— I'll do anything—"

"Step aside, you foolish girl."
"No, not Harry!"

"AVADA KEDAVERA!"

Holly was forced to snap her wide little brown eyes shut from the curse. When she opened them again, her mother was on the ground. She appeared to be asleep. Holly frowned. Why would her mother be asleep?

She noticed her brother, lying next to her mother's form. He was crying.

"And now for you, young Potter!" the evil figure cackled. He pointed his wand at the boy.

Holly lost her brother in the blinding green light that shot out of the figure's wand. Though she could see nothing but the bright green light, she could hear the heartbreaking cries of an innocent infant, the agonizing scream of a man on the verge of death, and the shouts of alarm issued from followers, knowing they were losing their leader.

Holly closed her eyes and buried her face in her arms. When the screaming stopped and the only noise she could hear was the wailing of her little brother was when she opened her eyes again.

The scene was silent and still. The only sound that rang through the silent night sky was the infant's wailing. The Death Eaters had scattered and Voldemort had disappeared. Holly didn't know how long she had hid in the bushes with her eyes closed. But now, she dashed out into the open air again and ran to her sleeping mother.

"Mummy!" she cried, "I won, Mummy! You didn't find me. Wake up, Mummy! What's for dinner, Mummy?" She took her mother's hand in her own and shook it hard.

"Mum-my!" she whined, "Wake…Up…" But her mother didn't stir. Holly frowned. She had never been unable to awaken her parents before.

"Mummy?" Holly leaned in close to her mother's ear and whispered softly into it. "Mummy, it's time to wake up. You have to make dinner now. Harry's crying, I think he's hungry." Her mother didn't respond. Holly kissed her mother softly on her pale cheek. Her mother's skin was cold and hard, not the usual soft and warm Holly was used to when she kissed her mother.

"Mummy, where's Daddy? I saw him fall asleep too." Holly couldn't understand it. Why wasn't her mother waking up? She decided to go find her father. She stumbled into the wreckage that had once been her house and pushed away stones and planks of wood. Holly found this setting odd. Where had her house gone? What was all this debris? Why was everyone so tired? Finally, she came across the lifeless body of James Potter.

"Daddy, Mummy won't wake up and I don't know what to do. How long will she sleep for? Daddy?" Her father seemed not to hear her. Holly knelt down next to him and turned him over so she could see his face. His eyes, unlike her mother's, were opened and staring straight at Holly. Holly grinned.

"Yay! You're awake. Help me wake Mummy up." James said nothing to his daughter. Holly's smile quickly faded as she looked into her father's eyes. Something had left them. The smile they usually held was absent, the happy bright flame that had once burned so brightly had been put out. His eyes were a cold and barren muddy brown, like dead earth. Tears began to appear in Holly's eyes.

"Daddy… What's wrong, Daddy? Daddy?" Holly tried to move the heap that had once been her father. Suddenly, she remembered her brother. She ran to him, by her mother's side again.

"Harry!" she whispered. The infant was still crying. Holly was only three years old. She didn't know what to do with a baby.

"Sh, Harry, stop crying! Mummy will be up to feed you soon." Holly didn't know what to do to silence her brother. She couldn't even pick him up. It was dark now. She was afraid of the dark. She held her brother close and began to cry.

After about ten minutes of crying, she heard someone behind her. She suddenly stopped and snapped her tiny little head of crimson hair around, hoping to see her mother or father waking up. Instead, she saw a black dog. The dog's eyes seemed to widen as he saw the redheaded young girl. Holly laughed out loud as the dog before her transformed into a tall man with black hair and dark eyes.

"Holly Potter." He sighed with a weak smiled, "What have they done to you and your family?"

"Mummy and Daddy!" Holly cried, "They're asleep! And they won't wake up!" the small smile on the man's face quickly disappeared.

"They're what?" he said, nearly out of breath. He swallowed the lump in his throat.

"But Harry's awake. The scary man couldn't make him fall asleep. He never sleeps." The smile returned to the man's face, but it was still only slight.

"Harry's awake?" Sirius heard the baby cry and picked him up in his arms. "Harry. I suppose Dumbledore will want you. You're a special boy, Harry. But what to do with your sister?" he looked down at the toddler, no older than three, and sighed. "She'll need a home. And she can't go with you. You'll only put her in more danger. It's better if the world believes there is only one Potter child left…" Sirius trailed off as he noticed someone else approach the house. He turned and saw an old friend. Though neither was happy to see one another.

"You." The man had light brown hair and wore a green cloak. "What do you think you're doing back here, Sirius?"

"Remus." Sirius acknowledged the man. "So it wasn't you after all."

"You betrayed Lily and James." Remus ignored Sirius's comment, though he did wonder what he was talking about.
"I do not deny it."
"Give me that child!"
"Leave him for Dumbledore." Sirius nodded at the boy. "But take the girl."

"What?"
"Give her a good home, Remus. She can't go with Harry or she'll be in danger. You know that. The Dark Lord's followers won't rest for anything until the Child of Legend is dead."

"But… You tried to kill them! Why?" Remus was surprised.

"Two words: Peter Pettigrew." Remus was about to reply when he felt a tug at his robes. He looked down and noticed the daughter of a close friend.

"But…" he started, but when he looked up, Sirius was gone. For a while, he contemplated a strange thought. Sirius never seemed the type to betray James. Had they… Had they switched? Is that why he said Peter's name? No, of course not, it couldn't be that. Peter wasn't likely to turn in James either. Of course, he was Peter and Peter was often unpredictable…

But Remus had more pressing matters at hand. He had a little girl tugging on his robes, wondering why her parents weren't waking up. He looked down at her, then looked up to survey the wreckage before him.

"Oh James…" He sighed, the tears beginning to form in his eyes. He whipped them away with the back of his hand. He couldn't cry now. That's when he saw it: the dead body of James Potter among the remains. He turned away almost instantly. Sirius had seemed untouched by the terrible scene Remus was now looking over. Maybe he had betrayed them. After all, he didn't deny it.

Remus had to close his eyes tight to stop the horrible stinging tears from falling. So many things had gone wrong… But he now had the chance to do something right. He looked down at Holly again, who was looking at her mother. Her face was expressionless as she saw her mother. Remus expected her to cry or do something a child would do when their mother didn't wake up. But Holly just stood there, on her stubby legs, her mouth straight, her eyes inscrutably deep and her expression set. Finally, her mouth dropped slightly, but she closed it instantly. She took one of Remus' hands.

"They're never going to wake up, are they?" she asked, sounding much, much older than her three years. Remus looked down at her with the saddest smile he had ever worn.

"No, Holly. They're not. Come on. We have to go now."

"But what about Harry?"
"Dumbledore will take care of that…" He wondered what the papers would say about this. How they'd make young Harry Potter out as a hero.

"Come on, Holly." He took the child, who was so much more than a child now, and led her down the street to a new and brighter life.
Holly never cried again after that.