"What-who are you?" Ginny shouted, clutching her wand tightly as memories of the war came flooding back to her. For a fleeting second, Harry thought it was Voldemort and he grimaced. Then the moment was gone. Voldemort was definitely gone. He could hear the slight sound of his friends breathing beside him and Harry gritted his teeth.

"I have to say, I’m quite disappointed. I expected better reflexes from the four of you. It seems that in the last two years, you have become sloppy," the figure said softly.

The figure walked towards them and then continued to speak. The figure’s footsteps echoed in the silent room, like short, sharp gunshots piercing the air. Somehow, the room seemed colder, as if a sudden breeze had escaped into the building.

"Only Miss Weasley was able to catch on, but still not fast enough. If I wanted to, I could have killed you all."

"Who are you?" Harry repeated forcefully. He narrowed his eyes and squinted, trying to figure out who it was. But he had no success, the person’s face was hidden by a black hood, with only their vivid, glittering red eyes visible.

"You know who I am."

Now the four of them were starting to get worried. The figure took a step forward; its eyes were fixed on Harry. Harry could feel his heart beating painfully in his chest.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Every single sound seemed to be amplified, Harry was sure that if someone dropped a feather a mile away, he would hear it. He scorned himself for acting so weak and he tried to compose himself.

"It’s a shame you really do have excellent reputations, I was under the impression that I was in for a better challenge."

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Harry raised his wand in the familiar combat position, his Auror training and years at Hogwarts coming into play. For the first time in a while, he was feeling scared. Low level Death Eaters were easy, no real threat. They would come at him with sloppy attacks and it would only take a few lazy flicks from his wand to disarm them. But he could tell that this stranger was powerful, he could feel it. All of his experience from Auror training had given him a sort of sixth sense, and the person seemed to ooze power and confidence.

Next to him, Ron shuffled his feet. Harry was sure that he was feeling the same way. Harry turned away from Ron and fixed his fiery green eyes on the figure advancing on them, ready to curse it, when all of a sudden the fierce red eyes were replaced with a brilliant blue and the person lowered their hood. He gasped and almost dropped his wand as he instantly recognised the eyes. They were unmistakable.

Holly was standing a few feet ahead of them, watching them with a satisfied grin on her lips.

"Holly? What-Why-How…-" Harry couldn’t manage to form a full sentence. He was in too much shock.

"I thought that a good way to start our lesson was with a ‘hands on’ experience. From your reactions, I could see that only Ginny’s was somewhat good," Holly said, not looking very pleased. She now had her hands crossed over her chest as if she was a teacher telling off naughty students. She ignored their slack, shocked faces and continued.

"I gathered from just now, and from the last few days, that you’ve grown overconfident, slack, lazy and would be easy to kill."

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny simultaneously flushed, obviously shocked, but they didn’t say anything.

"So you had all of this planned for how long?" Ginny asked accusingly. Her eyes were narrowed at the smirking brunette. Holly was seemingly unaffected by Ginny’s tone of voice, in fact she seemed to find it mildly funny. For a moment she didn’t answer, but lifted the glamour charm she had placed on her clothes so that they looked a bit like Death Eater robes and sniffed.

"Pretty much since I said I would train you," Holly said simply, laughing. All four of them were astonished.

"Bloody hell, I thought Voldemort was back," Harry said nervously running a hand through his hair, something he had started to do lately when he was worried or stressed. Half the time, he didn’t even realise he was doing it, although his friends did.

"That’s exactly my point. I thought that scaring you shi —I mean, witless, would show me what you’re really like," Holly said pulling out her wand, and grinning almost evilly. "Now time to start the real training."

"Can we have a second to recover please?" Hermione asked, holding her right hand to her heart. Her other hand was resting lightly on Ron’s shoulder.

"Do you think the Death Eaters and other evils in this world will let you have a break to ‘recover’?" Holly asked, her eyes flashing warningly. All of them were stunned with Holly’s sudden change in attitude. She really meant business.

"It’s not a game, and I don’t think you should act like it is," Holly said shortly, as if she read their minds. Hermione stood up slightly straighter, but didn’t remove her hand from Ron’s shoulder.

"Where should we start?" Harry asked, slightly scared of this new side of Holly. And she knew that fact full well, and was prepared to use that fact to her advantage.

"Why don’t we start with a few spells," Holly said, with a tone people would use for three-year-olds. She still had her wand in her hand, which was pointing at them.

"But- ARGH!"

For the second time that day, Ginny had to dodge a spell that hurtled towards her. Next to her, the others did the same thing.

"Fight back! All of you!" Holly ordered. Her wand was pointing directly at them and she was standing in combat position, bouncing on the balls of her feet, ready to move at any moment.

"What? All of us against you? That’s not fair!"

"So what? Life’s not fair. Impedimenta!"

For the next ten minutes the four of them tried to bring Holly down, but with no success. She was just too fast. She had already knocked out Hermione and her last spell had just missed Ron. She was very clever with her spells and would trick them in where she was placing them. Once, Harry was sure one of her spells actually bent slightly towards him, and it just skimmed his arm.

As Holly concentrated slightly more on Ron, Harry and Ginny exchanged glances for the next plan of attack. Instantly, Harry did what Ginny had wordlessly instructed just as Ron got hit on the arm by a curse. Harry Apparated closer to Holly and Ginny did the same on the other side of her, simultaneously throwing spells at her as soon as they reappeared and giving Holly absolutely no time to react, let alone any time to defend herself. Holly was knocked out. Finally. Harry, Ginny and Ron grinned at each other in triumph, although Ron winced from the sudden flash of pain in his arm. For a moment they just stood and tried to catch their breath. Ron rushed over to Hermione and revived her, his clumsy footsteps clattered loudly on the hard floor. Harry and Ginny tackled Holly, feeling a bit calmer now they knew Holly wouldn’t be hitting them with anymore spells; at least for the moment. Harry was almost reluctant as to wake her up. He knew she would start them working straight away and not even let them have a break.

"Enervate," Harry muttered as he reached Holly. Her eyes flew open and she looked around, catching sight of Harry and Ginny and smiled.

"Well done, though you took your time," Holly said as she stood up and brushed herself down.

"Why are you so bloody fast?" Ron moaned as he walked over to Holly, holding onto Hermione’s hand tightly. All of them had sustained injuries from Holly’s numerous jinxes and curses, which Ginny quickly and efficiently cleared up as best she could.

"I practice. Alot. By the time I’m through with you lot, you should be just as fast, hopefully faster," Holly said seriously. As the four of them watched Holly talk disbelievingly, they knew without doubt that she was very determined, very powerful, and extremely committed, even ruthless. She would stop at nothing to get what she wanted, which was a very scary thought. All of them had the same thought running through their heads.

Thank Merlin she’s on our side. If she wasn’t…

They all shuddered at the very idea.

"What I thought we should do first is to go through some spells; you’re bound to have forgotten some, and also your aims. Don’t give me that look Ron, your stunner wasn’t exactly spot on!"

"I only missed you by a bit!" Ron said defensively, his ears glowing slightly.

"But it still missed me, didn’t it!" Holly said, shaking her head. For a moment, she stayed silent, her lips pursed together as she looked at each of the critically.

As they stood almost in a line facing Holly, Harry felt as if he was in the army and Holly was their officer, barking orders to her new recruits. Before he was able to mull over his thoughts anymore, his attention was drawn back to Holly.

"Has anyone played the Muggle game darts before?" Holly’s tone of voice was quite light as if she was discussing the weather. It was a big contrast to her earlier manner. Although surprised, Harry, Ron and Ginny still automatically turned to Hermione who nodded slowly.

"My dad let me play once…years ago," Hermione said, screwing her eyes together as she reminisced. Then after noticing the confused looks on her companions’ faces she automatically started to explain.

"Darts is a game. There’s a board and a target in the middle-that red circle- and you throw darts- they’re like pointy sticks- at the board to win points," Hermione explained.

"It doesn’t sound very interesting," Ron commented, but not looking quite so confused after Hermione’s explanation. Holly shook her head and rolled her eyes at Ron.

"What does ‘darts’ have to do with spells?" Ginny asked. Holly grinned.

"We’re going to use that concept; and instead of using darts, we’re going to use spells," Holly explained as she conjured up a large dartboard and levitated it so it hung in midair.

"So we just throw spells at it?" Harry asked, eying the board with interest, unlike Ron who was looking at it with a raised eyebrow as if it was completely ridiculous. Holly chose to ignore Ron’s expression and answered Harry’s question.

"Not exactly, I want you to aim for the circle in the middle," Holly announced, pointing at the red coloured circle in the middle of the dartboard. It was about three centimetres wide, about the right size for beginners.

"You want us to aim for the titchy little circle?"

"Yes, Ron. It shouldn’t be too hard," Holly said. They all looked apprehensively at each other.

"Look, it’s easier than it looks; you’ve all had about ten years of practise with magic. So who wants to go first?" Holly looked at them expectantly. As she had suspected, Hermione was the first to step forward, throwing a stunner. It missed the circle by about an inch, which was pretty good for her first try. The others had similar success, Harry’s spell just missed the target by a few centimetres, but Holly had expected his to. She had to give him some credit; he did defeat Voldemort after all.

It wasn’t long before the four of them had all vastly improved, their spells hitting the centre virtually every time. But now, Holly decided it was time to start the physical aspect. They could practice spells anywhere and at anytime, that was what Ron and Harry did for a living!

"Okay, well done, but I think it’s time to start the fighting." Holly said, smiling.

All four of them looked excited about the concept of learning how to fight properly and learn those ‘cool moves,’ as Ron put it. Holly was relying on the fact that she would be able to use their enthusiasm to her advantage when she taught them, and Holly was prepared to teach them as best she could, to prepare them for the future. She knew she wouldn’t be able to teach them as well as her own teacher, but she would try her best.

"This next stuff won’t be nearly as easy as what you’ve been doing so far, I don’t think any of you will get very far today, but it will come, in time. Also, I’d like you all to be aware that you will be getting lots of bruises, maybe even a broken bone or two, by the end." Holly smirked as her ‘students’ took in her words. "Any volunteers?"

The four of them looked at each other nervously, each of them expecting the other one to step forward, but none of them did. Holly put her hands on her hips and started to tap her foot on the floor loudly. She looked directly into each of their eyes as if to say ‘go on, step forward.’ No one did. Then, apprehensively, Harry stepped forward, looking extremely nervous.

"Excellent, thank you. Now put your hands up-no, not like that! That’s better. Now let’s begin. I want you to try and block me as best you can."

Harry looked very surprised about being asked to start so abruptly, but recovered quickly, but not quickly enough to dodge the fist that was flying towards him. Holly’s fist collided with the side of Harry’s face with the sound that was like a train hitting a lorry. Ron snickered and Hermione and Ginny gasped. This is going to be harder than I imagined, Harry thought, frowning, as he gave Holly his utmost attention. He didn’t want to get caught unawares again. Just that one punch made his eyes water and his face sting horribly. At least she doesn’t wear rings, Harry thought as he tried to dodge another attack.

After fifteen minutes, Holly finally stopped her attacks on Harry and turned to the others, who were now looking pretty frightened. One by one, she fought with each of them and mentally made a list of their strengths and weaknesses. In the end, she came to the conclusion that there was a lot of work to be done, but she was confident that they would be able to do it. They all had natural reflexes. Each of them had different strengths, but needed to build them up and expand them to other areas. For example, Ginny’s main strength was her agility, but she needed to improve on her co-ordination and the force and technique behind her punches. But the one person she wanted to concentrate particularly on was Harry. He had a lot of potential, she knew that for sure, but he was very reluctant to use his fists against her. Ginny had also noticed that and was looking quite annoyed. Quickly, she formulated a plan for her next move.

"All of you did really well, but before we go, I want to try something out on Harry." Holly beckoned him over. As he stood in front of her, looking slightly afraid, she was struck with the strangeness of the situation. She was teaching Harry Potter how to fight. Before she was able to enjoy the irony about it all, Harry cleared his throat, wordlessly telling her to stop daydreaming and to stop staring at him. Holly felt herself blush slightly as she noticed that Harry looking slightly uncomfortable, and she scolded herself for staring at him. Now just was not the time to get lost in her thoughts, particularly in the middle of looking at someone. The room was now starting to smell faintly of sweat, and she knew that meant it would soon be time to wrap up their lesson

"Now, I want you to hit me as hard as you can," Holly said calmly. Harry looked for a minute as if he would protest, but Holly gave him a look her mother was best at, the look that told people that you had no other choice. Uneasily, Harry raised his fists and took a swing. She blocked it. He tried again. She blocked it again. Damn that girl’s fast, Harry thought irritably as he failed to hit her again. Not that he actually wanted to hit her, it didn’t seem fair and he had always believed that you shouldn’t hit girls under any circumstances.

"She’s just too bloody fast!" Harry muttered under his breath, not loud enough for even Holly to hear.

"Look, keeping a cool head is good most of the time, but when it comes to physical combat, you need to get angry!" Holly said with a trace of impatience in her voice. She could tell he was holding back and that just wouldn’t do.

"Why?" Harry asked gruffly as Holly easily dodged his fist. In fact, she was actually looking slightly bored.

"You need that extra push, that energy, now you need to get angry!" The annoyance and impatience in her voice was now very clear.

"How can I-"

"I think you need a bit of help, what if I mention Snape and Dumbledore? Or what about Voldemort and your parents?"

Anger started to rise in him as Voldemort and Snape started to form in his mind…the image of Dumbledore’s body falling from the tower…

"Still not enough, Potter," Holly said tauntingly as Harry missed once again. She decided it was time to turn it up a notch. "What if I do this?"

Holly transformed into Voldemort.

"Or this?"

The leering Voldemort became Peter Pettigrew.

"Or this?"

Peter Pettigrew twisted into Severus Snape, his long black robe billowing round him, the very familiar look of loathing was etched on his features. Harry clenched his fists so tightly they turned white and his nails bit so fiercely into his palm he was sure it would be bleeding. Over ten years worth of loathing and hatred that was bottled up inside of him started to burst out. This was the man who told Voldemort about the Prophecy, the man who made his life miserable at every opportunity, invaded his mind from the first moment he stepped into his classroom, the man who- Harry thought he heard something crack behind him.

"Get ANGRY! HIT ME!" Holly as Snape roared, taking a step forward. Harry threw yet another punch, and missed. There still wasn’t enough speed or power behind it. It was far too easy to dodge and block. Then Holly used her last resort, the one she had hoped she wouldn’t need to use.

"You’re pathetic Potter, just like your father! He would only ever fight when it was four against one! He was an arrogant, selfish, stupid man who deserved to die!"

Something inside Harry just snapped. Something shattered in the background, but Harry didn’t pay any attention to it.

In front of him was not Holly, but his worst enemy, the man he hated more than anyone in the world… In blind hatred and fury, Harry punched Snape’s sneering face without holding back. And this time, he didn’t miss; it was to fast for the young Metamorphmagus to dodge. For a moment, he was just standing glaring at his worst enemy, whose jaw was already starting to swell, the next moment; he was face to face with Holly.

"Well done," Holly said, smiling in triumph, in spite of the pain. She started to rub her jaw gingerly. Harry felt a flush of guilt.

"I’m so sorry-"

"Don’t apologise. That was what I wanted you to do. No pain, no gain, right?"

"But it doesn’t seem fair that you have to go through the pain-"

"Believe me, I’ve had worse. Great punch though," Holly said, mustering up a smile, in spite of the ugly bruise that was starting to spread and swell from her chin. "But maybe that’s enough for tonight. Well done, all of you!"

If the four of them weren’t already intimidated by Holly, they were now. If they didn’t already know Holly before today, they would have been terrified. Once again, Harry was very curious about what had happened in her future, what had happened to her.

He looked over to his friends and saw that Ginny was looking at Holly’s bruise with concern and Hermione was repairing the glass Harry must have broken from a burst of accidental magic.

"I’ve got some potions that’ll help that," Ginny offered. There was no actual cure to bruises but there were some remedies that would help bring the swelling and pain down. It was strange that they could cure broken bones, even removed bones but they couldn’t find a cure to bruises, people just had to grit and bear the marks until they faded away. Luckily, there was a Muggle assist, in the form of make-up.

"That would be great," Holly said gratefully. As they went to leave, Holly muttered something in Harry’s ear.

"Good job today, Harry, although I don’t think a real enemy will wait that long for you to hit him. For what it’s worth, I’m really sorry about bringing your father into it, it seemed to be the only way. I didn’t mean it, not at all."

"It’s alright, I understand," Harry replied, and then wincing as his eyes locked with the ugly bruise on her face. Holly flashed him a grin before leaving. Harry gave her a thoughtful look before he too Disapparated.

Harry, and all of the others, realised that Holly’s bruise would be the first of many. Holly was definitely not going to take any crap and she was going to push them beyond their limits and not let them stop to draw breath. She would be able to prepare them for the future, whatever would happen. Once again, they were immensely curious about what was going to happen. Something big, if she was pushing them this hard. Harry tried not to sigh as he thought about that. He thought that, once he had defeated Voldemort, he would be able to have a normal, calmer life, with a family, a big house and a cat. Harry glanced at Ginny, then Holly.

But then again, when would life ever be easy what your name’s Harry Potter?

Harry smiled about his last thought, but it slid off his face when he saw Holly walk over to the sofa holding an ice-pack on the side of her face. The moment Ginny had got home, she had fed Holly a potion to help the bruise and had virtually forced the ice pack on her face. She had already threatened to glue it there with a permanent sticking charm if she tried to remove it.

"Can I take this thing off now, it’s really annoying!" Holly moaned five minutes later.

"Do you want to have a huge bruise?" Ginny replied sharply. Holly shifted the ice pack and winced slightly.

"I really don’t care," Holly said honestly, making a face which she instantly stopped when Ginny gave her a stern look.

"Just leave it on for a few more minutes," Ginny said brusquely, her Healer instincts had kicked in. Huffing loudly, Holly slumped back on the sofa and reluctantly did what she was told. Now that she was no longer in ‘training mode,’ she was back to being more relaxed and sarcastic.

"I’m gonna go to bed. I’m exhausted," Harry announced, smiling as he saw Hermione dozing lightly against Ron. Hermione opened her eyes and smiled at Harry.

"I think we’re all going to sleep well tonight!" Ron laughed, yawning. They hadn’t been worked that hard since Auror training. Holly snorted.

"That was only the introduction!" Holly replied. After seeing their faces she added, "Don’t worry, you’ll adjust. It’ll probably be easier than you think."

Holly felt like laughing out loud after seeing the looks on their faces but she wasn’t worried. She was going to push them, but she knew they would be quick learners.

"Have you ever thought of becoming a teacher?" Hermione asked. After the way she had acted with them today, Hermione thought she would make a great teacher. She would easily be able to handle a bunch of rowdy students.

"I like the idea, but it’s just not possible," Holly shrugged.

"Why not?" Ginny asked, agreeing with Hermione that she would make an excellent teacher.

"I can’t prove what marks I got in my exams, because technically, I’m not alive yet," Holly explained with a small laugh.

"Good point," Hermione said, frowning slightly and wondering why she hadn’t thought of that before.

That gave Harry an idea. He made a mental note to send an owl the next day and then he left the room, smiling. It was only until he reached the top of the stairs that he stopped grinning.

How did Holly know about his dad and Snape and everyone else? How did she know what Snape acted like around him? How did she know how to push his buttons like that? And how the bloody hell did she know what Voldemort looked like when he was long dead before she was even born? It was yet another thing about Holly that just didn’t make sense. What was she hiding?

Harry shut his bedroom door with a snap, deciding to think more about that after he was rested. His head was pounding and his eyes were closing of their own accord. Tiredness just makes you paranoid.

_______________________________________________________

The next morning came all too quickly for the residents at Number Fifteen Godric’s Hollow. They were all worn out from the previous nights training, which had drained them physically, magically and mentally.

Holly however, still got up very early and had spent her morning contemplating what she would be doing next. She had quite a lot of time to kill and now she thought about it, she really didn’t know what she would be doing. She couldn’t get a job like everyone else, how could she explain why she had no past? She knew all about this before, back when she wasn’t totally sure whether she would have to go, but now that it was actually a reality, it felt a lot different. Scary. Holly sighed, got up and made some tea for everyone, the aroma of the tea and the breakfast she was currently making herself filled the house and started to wake some of the occupants.

By ten o’clock, everyone in the household was awake and fed, although they were not in the best mood. Harry was currently on his way to the bathroom.

Humming along to the music from the Muggle CD player Harry had borrowed from Hermione, he strolled over to the bathroom, opened the door-

A high pitched scream echoed through the house, followed by an unmistakable shriek,

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!"