It was Hallowe'en, and Lily couldn't be happier.

An affectionate smile graced her lips as she watched her husband of 2 years interact with her baby of one-year-old exactly. It was just after dinner, and they had left the dining room in favour of Harry's bedroom. Harry much resembled James, and anyone who had met the little tyke would remark that he indeed was his father's son, in both mannerisms and appearance, except his green, almond-shaped eyes that were plain as day his mother's. Loud peals of laughter rang out from the infant as James made a face at him over the edge of his crib.

"You're the best little boy, aren't you, Harry? You're going to grow up to be just like me, your father," James cooed at his son, ruffling the latter's black hair, which already started to resemble the sizeable messy mop on James' head. This elicited happy gurgles from Harry, and he raised his chubby arms to grab at his father's hair in retaliation.

James shrieked as Harry's little fist closed over a chunk of James' hair and tugged, hard, yanking his head towards the side of the crib. Lily barely had time to react before a loud thunk reached her ears. Harry giggled gleefully at the shock evident on both his parents' faces, looking extremely pleased with himself.

"Did Harry just do what I think he did?" Lily asked weakly, glancing at her equally astonished husband. All was silent for a second before James let out a hearty guffaw, lifting Harry out of his crib to kiss him excitedly, yelling something along the lines of Harry growing up to be a real prankster. Shaking her head in disapproval, Lily couldn't hide the fond grin from taking over her face. Despite the many times she stopped James and his Mauraders from teaching Harry their childish ways, it seemed that she had not been successful in her efforts to prevent her child from being the horror that James was in school.

Her face darkened almost instantly at the thought of her son attending school. That was, of course, if they managed to get out of this war alive and unscathed.

"Lils? C'mon, let's have some family bonding time," James called, shaking her out of her thoughts. Harry, too, was looking at her expectantly, as if to say What are you waiting for? Come on!

"Okay, okay," she acquiesced, making her way from her spot near the window. She hoisted Harry from James' arms, putting one hand on his back and the other near his bum to stabilise him. Lily met James' eyes, feeling warmth surge in her at the sheer amount of adoration in those beautiful, beautiful hazel eyes she had grown to love. Sending him one of her trademark Lily smiles, she received one back, before James' arms slid around her waist and held both her and Harry close to him.

No words could describe the loving atmosphere that surrounded them. Lily was sure it was the happiest she had ever been in a while, especially with the war raging on around them.

Suddenly, a loud bang came from the first floor of their house, and James and Lily both turned to face each other with unadulterated terror on their faces. She could literally sense it. Since the wards were tied to her and James, they knew when someone unexpected had shown up by merely feeling for the wards and feeling their magic intrude into their house. This time, the magic that she had felt was so evil, she instinctively shuddered. There was only one person, or entity, who could possess such a Dark and malevolent aura...

Voldemort.

In a second, all her worst fears had come true.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" James roared over the sounds of the heavy storm. Springing into action, Lily barely had time to consider what it meant if James really went to face You-Know-Who head on. She pressed Harry close to her as she slammed the door behind James, casting a series of complex spells and enchantments to lock out You-Know-Who, her only thought to protect her son and get Harry the hell out of there. The charms weren't guaranteed to keep the monster out, but Lily hoped it would stall him and buy some precious time for their escape.

"Avada kedavra!" the high, indifferent voice shouted, and Lily could literally feel the thump of a heavy object hitting the ground. At that moment, a part of her withered away instantly as the marriage bond between James and her dissolved into thin air. It was then she knew that James had indeed, really left her, and although it almost killed her on the inside to leave him behind and escape, she steeled her nerves, promising herself that she would come back to get him when all of this was over.

She'd come back for him if she didn't join him already.

Tears blurred the vision as she grabbed her wand so tight her knuckles turned white, spinning herself around as she prepared for the familiar discomfort of Apparition to overtake her.

It never did.

"No, please, no," she gasped as she still stayed in the same place, the only difference being slight dizziness at having rotated too fast. Harry, picking up on his mother's mood, started to wail noisily just as the door banged loudly, startling Lily so much she stumbled over her own feet and landed on the floor. One hand held herself up against the wooden floor while the other cradled Harry to her sobbing form.

Quickly getting up from her fall, she placed Harry in the crib, before whispering tearfully, "Harry, be safe. Be strong."

The door banged louder, and Harry screamed at the top of his lungs, his tears leaving twin trails streaming down his red cheeks. Lily understood his agitation; she felt it too. Pressing her forehead forlornly against the wooden side of the crib, Lily felt all hope leave her.

With the loudest bang of all, the door burst open with great force. In the doorway stood a dark cloaked figure, the face the only thing that was visible of its figure and startlingly pale. She'd heard how horrifying it looked, but nothing compared to seeing it in the flesh. Slit-like nostrils for a nose were placed squarely in the middle of the deathly pale face, with red, snake-like pupils directly above it. You-Know-Who regarded her with a sort of triumphant glee, before moving forward, into the room.

"Please no, no, kill me, don't kill Harry! Please!" Lily Potter pleaded, instantly shooting to her feet so that she protected her son with her body, shielding him from the monster that was staring down at her with casual indifference. James was already dead, she thought, and now, Harry? Tears ran down her face as she dropped to her knees, pleading for her life and her son's. Voldemort stood, wand raised, in front of her sobbing form and blasted her out the way.

"Foolish, meddlesome girl. If Severus had not pleaded with me to spare your life, you would've been dead by now. Now out the way!" Voldemort said to her in his high, cold voice.

"NO! PLEASE! Not Harry, not Harry!" she screamed, feeling her back collide with the hard wall of Harry's nursery. Pain shot up her spine, temporarily immobilising her before she crawled towards her son. Harry, momentarily taken aback by his mother flying across the room, gaped in curiosity at the stranger, before bursting out crying again, longing for the safety of his mother's arms.

"Quiet! Silencio!" Lily felt herself being silenced as she cried silently. Gasping in pain and shock, she clutched at herself and attempted to break through it windlessly when she realised he had put up a ward to keep her away. Hearing her son's sobs and not being able to touch him was torture for Lily.

She clutched at the collar of her own shirt, gasping when suddenly, her hand touched a cold, metallic and rounded surface. Clutching the thing in her hands, she raised it up and saw a sapphire Time-Turner through tear-filled eyes.

"Professor, what is this? A Time-Turner?" A 20-year-old Lily asked the older woman before her, confused. McGonagall had handed her a sapphire Time-Turner, its surface was glinting in the light as Lily held it up to inspect it.

"Surely a witch as knowledgeable as you know what it is?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow and looked at Lily expectantly. When Lily shook her head, McGonagall sighed and explained, "It's a Time-Turner, obviously, but instead of only being able to go back a few hours, you can go back a few years, decades even. A turn is a year, Miss Ev- Mrs Potter."

"But... but what use would it make?"

"If He-who-Must-Not-Be-Named finds you and James, quickly turn the Time-Turner to go back to when you were a child here at Hogwarts," Minerva told Lily, whose face was still scrunched up in confusion.

"But you don't go back to your own body, Profess- I mean, Minerva, you-"

"Yes, Mrs Potter. I have enchanted this Time-Turner to send you back to your body you had at the age you sent yourself back to. It was no easy task," McGonagall explained

"Time is a loop, Minerva, that was what you said to me," Lily countered, her brows furrowed as she tried to work it out.

"But not for this, because this Time-Turner sends you to an alternate universe with the help of a mega-wormhole in space. If you're wondering how I got it, I followed Albus to a Wizengamot meeting one day and found myself in the Department of Mysteries. I stumbled across a whole room of Time-Turners and took this back with me," Minerva sighed as Lily stared at her in open-mouthed shock.

"You stole a Time-Turner from the Department of Mysteries?! Minerva, surely you realise you could be sent to Azkaban!" Lily usually didn't talk to McGonagall like that, but she was shocked and in serious disbelief. Was her favourite professor really handing her a priceless Time-Turner? What for?

"Yes, Lily, you will change history. Rewrite it. Make sure that monster never finds you and your family. That you and James and your child will never be put in danger," Minerva explained.

"But... why?" Lily whispered, her mind flashing to her countless other friends who needed this much, much more than she did. Marlene McKinnon, one of her best friends, died in a Death Eater attack on her and her family last week. Frank and Alice Longbottom, two decent friends of hers, had been tortured to the point of insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange. Why her, and not them?

"I... I'm just tired of my students leaving me one by one... I'm old and can't restart my life by potion or spell without risk of serious damage to my health. I know this is selfish of me, but Lily, please, use it and change the world. You're a remarkable student of mine and an equally excellent witch. This is a huge thing to ask of you, but..."

Lily was moved to the point of tears as she stared at the sapphire Time-Turner in her hand.

"T—thank you so much, Minerva. I won't let you down," Lily half-sobbed, trying to hold back tears of gratitude. Her voice was thick with emotion as McGonagall wrapped her arms around Lily's shaking form. "I can't even express my gratitude in words, I..."

She stared at the Time-Turner, sudden determination flaring up in her. As to not raise suspicion, she pretended to be out cold from shock and anger and guilt and... many other emotions. Voldemort barely spared her a glance as she subtly turned the Time-Turner, doing the math in her head. If she was twenty one now, she had to turn ten times to go back to when she was eleven... After she had finished setting, she waited with bated breath as a flash of green light illuminated the room. Holding back tears as Voldemort turned towards her, she could no longer hear her son's wails or cries, and her heart shattered into millions of pieces she had no idea how to piece back together at the thought. But just as Voldemort raised his wand at her, a flash of blue light shone from the Time-Turner hanging around her neck.

The last thing she saw was Voldemort's unguarded expression before she was enveloped by blue light, and with that, Lily Evans nee Potter ceased to exist in this universe.

The loud scream of Voldemort echoed throughout the room.