Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: I'm ba-ack! And I got 8 reviews! Yay! It says I got 7, but one didn't show up on the page. Thanks to my reviewers! Jessie xxx, From the Silent Planet, sign58, Miss Piratess, Julianna5, pigwidgeon, spreadthespit56, and btzfungrl09 (your review didn't show up on the review page even though I got it by email... weird). Um, anyway, enough of me. On with the story...

Chapter 2

-----

"Moony," James hissed as he and Remus ran as fast as they could without dropping Sirius. "Did you hear that boy? He said that Snivellus put him into a class!"

"I know," Remus said quietly. They continued walking through the halls in silence before he spoke again. "I didn't recognize any of those people we passed."

The friends reached the hospital wing and stopped in the doorway to catch their breath. "Remind me to tell Sirius to lay off the sweets," Remus muttered.

"A hurt student!" Madam Pomfrey's high-pitched voice shrieked. She was running from her office. "Bring him here, bring him- oh my."

The nurse stopped running to the boys and her hand went straight to her mouth. James looked confused.

"Madam Pomfrey, you went gray overnight?"

"Oh," she moaned as her other hand went to her forehead.

Remus tilted his head slightly to observe her. "Um... are you okay?" he asked.

The nurse moaned louder this time and began to walk backwards. She started spitting out random words. "Place... bed... Dumbledore... sick... oh no..." she stuttered, waving a finger at the nearest bed. Remus and James got the message and hoisted their friend onto the cot while Madam Pomfrey hurried into her office, slamming the door behind her.

"What's wrong with her?" James mumbled. Remus didn't answer, just shook his head. The two boys took seats next to Sirius's bed.

"Hey Neville!" a voice from outside of the hospital wing called. Someone in a bed nearby stirred, sat up suddenly, and looked around blinking. His eyes settled on the doorway and he smiled. "Hey guys," he murmured. His voice was very raspy.

The people he was talking to headed into the wing. It was two boys and a girl. They rushed over to the boy named Neville and started talking.

"Hey, James, that's the one that was talking about Snape," Remus commented, nudging his friend.

"Which one? The one with the red hair or the one with the crazy hair?"

"You shouldn't be talking," Remus sniggered. "Your hair is just as bad as his!" James frowned and attempted to smooth out his unruly hair.

"But anyway," Remus continued, "it was the redhead that said it."

James watched them for a bit before saying, "I've never seen them before." He shook his head. "And that's weird because they're our age."

Remus shrugged. "You don't know that. They could be in fifth year and are just tall for their age. I wish they didn't have their backs to us... I want to see what house they're in." He craned his neck, attempting to see Neville's outfit. "I... just... maybe if I see that kid, Neville... they could be in the same house..." Remus said. He finally stood up. "I'm going over there and asking," he announced.

As he was walking over to the four teens, he heard the bushy-haired girl say, "I brought your homework, Neville." She dumped a pile of books onto the end table next to the bed. She sounded like she was smiling brightly by the sound of her voice.

Neville smiled weakly. "Er... thanks, Hermione," he replied unenthusiastically. They went back to chatting.

"Excuse me, uh, Hermione?"

When Hermione turned around, Remus noticed his guess was correct; she had a wide smile on her face. But when she saw him, her smile flickered; she also looked like she was concentrating more than someone should be when they see a sixteen-year-old boy. Remus pretended he didn't notice.

"Hi, um, I know this is a really random question, but... what house are you in?" He realized after he asked that the polite thing to do was to introduce himself and talk slower.

"Gryffindor," she said uncertainly. "Why?" She put her hands on her hips and looked at him as is she was trying to figure something out. But Remus remained calm and kept his renowned lopsided smile on his face.

"Oh, just- what year?" He found the question spilling out of him even though he meant to answer her question. He was glad that she was the only one of her group to notice him.

"I'm in sixth year," she said, eyeing him suspiciously. Before she could return the questions or ask further ones, he had spun around on his heel and was walking away.

"What happened? What did she say?" James whispered when he say Remus's anxious face.

"She's a sixth year Gryffindor," Remus responded, "just like us!"

"So? There's gotta be a reason we've never seen her before," James assured him, though he had a slight worried look on his face too. Then he smiled. "Hey, if they're new, that means they don't know about us! And if they don't know who to look out for..."

"We can prank them!" Remus finished. He returned the smile.

"Lupin hopes you get well soon," the messy haired boy next to Neville said. The smiled on James and Remus's faces slipped off and they looked at each other.

"Did... they just say my last name?" Remus asked quietly. James nodded.

"Something's going on here..."

"Dumbledore! Quickly!" Madam Pomfrey had returned from her office and was rushing across the wings, Dumbledore trailing behind her.

When the adults reached them, Madam Pomfrey poured Pepperup Potion into Sirius's mouth and waited until he was better. Remus and James tried to ask Dumbledore questions, but he refused to answer them until they were out of the main wing. Five minutes time found a healthy Sirius, Remus, and James in Madam Pomfrey's office.

"Lupin, Potter, Black," Dumbledore said, nodding to the three chairs next to him. The Gryffindors took their seats and the Headmaster began to talk.

"Now, I do not know how, or why, you are here, so if you would be so kind to explain I would greatly appreciate it."

The three boys glanced at each other before one spoke up. "Um, professor, where are we?" James asked.

"You are... not where you're supposed to be," Dumbledore said.

"Wait," Sirius said, bemused, "we're not supposed to be in the hospital wing?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "No, Mister Black, that's not what I mean. What I should've said was... you're in the future."

Silence.

-----

Later that day, Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked into the Great Hall with the rest of the students, chattering carelessly.

"Ugh, I'm so hungry," Ron moaned as he slumped into his seat next to Hermione. She rolled her eyes and sighed heavily.

"Honestly, is that all you think about, Ron?" she asked. He frowned and crossed his arms, glaring at her.

"No," he defended, "I think things other than food. Hey, Harry, do you still have that extra chocolate bar?"

Hermione glanced desperately at Harry, who was trying to keep from laughing.

The feast started after a few moments and Ron dug in. Harry would've noticed Hermione scolding the redhead who was sending bits of his dinner flying if another person hadn't caught his attention. He strained to listen to what the boy was talking about.

"So, as I was saying before he started to gorge," he boy said as he jerked his thumb in one of his friend's direction, "is that it would be cool if we... you know, saw our children here." His voice was low so he wouldn't be overheard.

Harry choked. Children?

"Mmm hmm," the third boy agreed, nodding as he gulped down his pumpkin juice. He set down his goblet and scanned the hall, obviously looking for someone who looked vaguely like him. "Yeah, if my kid is here, they'd hafta look like Lily and I..." (Harry could've sworn he heard one of the boys snort). The teen glanced from table to table (skipping Slytherin). Finally his eyes rested on Harry a few seats away, who looked away quickly, and pretended to be engaged in Ron and Hermione's conversation about how sick the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher looked.

"Silver sickles! Remus, look at that kid!" he heard the boy who looked at him say.

"James, will you cut it out with that stupid saying?"

"Look at that kid!"

"What kid? Where?"

Harry could feel his cheeks growing steadily redder. He could feel eyes burning holes in the back of his neck.

"He's blushing! HEY, KID!"

Oh no, Harry thought. Now what am I supposed to do?

"Kid!"

Harry felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around slowly and found himself looked at someone who looked suspiciously familiar. Kind of like...

Sirius?

"Hey, um, what's your name?" the Sirius look-alike asked. Harry looked at the two other boys that were watching. Both looked rather familiar. Just then, Harry realized: one looked like Sirius, one looked like him, one looked like Remus. They were talking about seeing kids. And he had never seen them before. Putting two and two together, Harry said, "I'm Harry. Harry Potter."

----- Er, I can't write anymore today. Sorry about the length of this chapter.

Sorry this took awhile. I re-wrote this chapter so many times, I really wasn't happy with any of my versions (including this one). The meeting and Harry realizing who the kids were weren't very well written in my opinion. The same thing happened in "Trapped"; both parts just didn't flow right.

"Silver sickles" is a cool saying.

Review!

[originally posted June 23, 2004]