For some reason beyong my comprehension this chapter was deleted. Which is weird...Okay. Page Breaks in, as requested. Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing. JKR and Anne do (respectively).

Chapter Two

It was daytime the next day and the adults had left to have a - what was turning out to be very lengthy - conversation with Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, leaving Harry and the others sitting across from the kids.

In a very awkward silence.

"What I wouldn't give for a recording of crickets."

Harry's head snapped up to meet the smiling face of the boy twin, whose name he vaguely remembered as something beginning with a "R". Whatever his name was his comment seemed to break the ice, at least among his cousins and sister. The dark boy who Harry definitely remembered as being named James broke out into a grin and poked his cousin in the shoulder.

"Wussy can't stand the awkward silence," James said with a wolfish grin.

"Oi! I can stand it!" the boy twin yelped.

"Yeah? 6 Sickles says that I can be silent longer than you can," James challenged.

"You're on!"

The room fell into abrupt silence.

The girl twin closed her eyes - to conceal rolling them, Harry assumed. She and Meghan shared a look that Harry recognized as one that Ginny and Hermione often shared. It roughly translated into the universal "boys".

In the meantime Harry snatched a glance at his friends. Neville was staring out the window, occasionally reaching up to push back a lock of hair, which Harry had noticed was getting longer. Luna's eyes were slightly unfocused and she had her wand behind her ear. Harry vaguely heard her humming under her breathe as she played with the necklace of butter beer corks around her neck.

Ron was acting as strange as Luna (though in Luna's case she was acting quite normally). He would stare at the girl twin for a long time, then look away when the power of his stare drew her attention, then go back to staring when she got distracted again.

Hermione was noticing this, her face carefully neutral.

And finally Ginny. Ginny, his best friend's sister, who was sitting (Harry thought) remarkably too close to him, though from a regular, non-slightly-biased objective there was a respectful distance between them. He realized he was staring after a moment and shifted his gaze back to the kids opposite.

"What!" the snap came so quickly after he had turned Harry thought briefly that he might have been the cause. Then he noticed the girl-twin glaring heatedly at Ron.

Both of the other boys broke their staring contest and their silence, turning immediately.

"What happened?" the boy-twin asked in concern, when no one answered he looked to his twin, "Jane what happened?"

"Him!" Jane waved her hand angrily towards Ron, "He just keeps staring at me Ray, and then acting like I don't notice anything. It's bloody annoying…"

"Jane," her brother tried to interrupt.

"…and really not very considerate at all…"

"Jane."

"…if he doesn't stop I might even hit him…."

"JANE!"

She jumped in surprise and turned to James, "What?"

"Will you please be stop it?" the dark boy asked in exasperation, eyeing his cousin like she might decide to smack him.

"Stop what?" Jane asked irritably, "He's the one staring."

Every time she brought that up the area around Ron's neck became increasingly redder.

"Janie," her twin grabbed her arm to keep her from turning and Harry jerked a little in surprise.

Yesterday Ginny had mentioned the strange phenomenon of the twins' eyes, only in passing, and laughing it off like it was nothing. Now Harry wasn't so sure she had been mistaken. Jane's eyes had been distinctly blue and Ray's distinctly grey, but now they both had swirling blue-grey eyes.

He nudged Ginny in the ribs - mentally stopping himself from allowing any kind of heat towards his face when she looked at him - and jerked his head towards the twins. She gave him a puzzled look and glanced over. Her eyes snapped back to his in shock.

"I was right" she mouthed silently. He barely nodded his head. The door closed as the twins slipped into the hall.

Unknown to them, Reynard Gray was calming down his sister.

He really shouldn't have been staring Fox, it was making me uncomfortable.

No reason to jump all over it Neenie, you're normally not like this. Talk to me. Is something else wrong besides what happened?

No…Yes…Maybe.

Well its got to be one of those.

She administered a mental glare, Quit joking around. I don't know why you're not more upset.

He sighed, both aloud and in his mind, Of course I'm upset, who wouldn't be? Even Wolf is upset no matter how much he tries to deny it. Only Pearl is acting anywhere close to normal and that's because she cheats.

In his mind she grinned, She does cheat. That's not fair.

I think I know what's bothering you, Ray informed her in a sing-song voice.

Quickly he sent a mental image: lots of bright red hair, freckles, and bright blue eyes smiling at her and shouting to come on, that they were missing out on all the good stuff because she was going so slow but both of them knowing he'd never really leave without her.

That's not fair either she said to him silently, her throat currently being too tight to talk. Her vision was blurry - which was odd - and she looked down at her brother's arm, which had gone around her in a comforting hug. There were dark spots on his sleeve, appearing faster as her vision got blurrier. She reached up a hand to touch her face and it came back wet with tears.

Oh…she gave into the emotion bubbling up inside her and buried her head into his shoulder.

Back inside the Hospital Wing, James Black pressed a hand to his chest as it flared hot, then lukewarm. He rubbed the bits of metal resting underneath his shirt and sighed. They'd been getting a lot warmer over the last couple of minutes and he knew - without having to look - that the picture of the cat was glowing.

He noticed Meghan running her hand along the gold chain that circled her neck as well and his fingers flew. She watched him for a minute, the nodded very slightly and took her hand away.

"What was that?"

James resisted a sigh and turned to meet Ginny's eyes unflinchingly (a skill Harry noticed with envy). The younger girl looked curious and just short of accusing.

"What was what?"

"That."

"What?"

"That!"

"What that?"

James' face was carefully controlled but his sister was fighting hard not to laugh. By the time Ginny turned to glare at her Meghan's face was as neutral as her brother's.

"What was your question?" James asked blandly.

Ginny quickly took in a deep breath to retort and let it go just as quickly, "I forget."

"Works every time."

Ginny huffed indignantly and turned to start talking with Hermione. If James noticed she was pointedly ignoring him he said nothing, and instead turned to start having a whispered conversation with Meghan. As the twins walked back in Harry saw James' hand flash towards them. They came over and melted into the conversation. He would have eavesdropped but they were talking too quietly to hear.

Neville and Luna were not really people he would talk to at the moment, Ginny and Hermione were ignoring everyone else and talking to each other, and Ron rejected every attempt to start a conversation. So Harry started to watch the four "guests" talk. Every so often their hands would move along with whatever they were saying and Harry implanted each sign he could catch into his memory.

It wasn't long after that that the adults came back. The four kids promptly went to their parents and left to be shown their guest suite. McGonagall refused to tell them what had been discussed and dismissed them to the common room.

And so while Ron trounced Neville solidly in chess, Luna and Ginny did homework, and Hermione read; Harry closed his eyes and thought of those hand signals.

It wasn't normal for kids his age to know hand signals. Especially not enough to have complete conversations. But that wasn't what bothered him most. What bothered him most about the hand signals was that they were naggingly familiar. He got the feeling even though he didn't recognize them that he should recognize them.

A thought flitted at the back of his mind. Immediately Harry thought of something else. His mind was reviewing Quidditch strategies when a memory swamped him.

Harry sat drawing random pictures in the dust of Grimmauld Place's kitchen table with his finger. Sirius and Lupin sat a couple of seats down and across from each other and seemed to be having a semi-serious conversation.

Lupin said something and as Harry watched Sirius made a hand signal. He made a fist and transferred his thumb from the inside to the outside. Lupin let out a laugh.

"What was that?" Harry asked curiously. Sirius turned to look at him with a grin.

"It was a Marauder hand signal," Sirius explained patiently. "Your father, Remus, and I made them up while we were at school. It was an excellent way to talk in class or make fun of someone behind their back."

Harry laughed. "Which one was that one?" He asked.

"Surprisingly enough your father came up with that one," Sirius said, "It means "What the hell is this person talking about?""

"We used that one a lot in class," Lupin added.

Harry sat bolt upright with a strangled yell. Ginny and Hermione both jumped up in surprised. Hermione looked at him with a worried face.

"What is it, Harry?" She asked in concern, "Is it Voldemort?"

Harry shook his head and they calmed down some.

"Then what is it?" She repeated.

Harry ignored her. His mind was racing a hundred miles a minute. James had been talking to Meghan and then stopped to carefully listen to whatever Jane had to say. When she had stopped talking James had locked eyes with Reynard and dropped his hand down to his side. His hand had been in a fist, thumb on the inside, and he had transferred his thumb out. Both boys had laughed like a private joke had been exchanged.

Those kids hadn't just been using hand signals…they'd been using Marauder hand signals!

Which was entirely impossible.

He quickly and quietly explained what he had discovered to the girls.

"Harry," Hermione said seriously, "Are you absolutely positive it was the same hand signal?"

"Yes!" Harry hissed for the third time, "It was exactly the same. And they both laughed like whatever had just happened was a big joke!"

"Then that's a big problem." Ginny said grimly, turning to stare into the fire.

Harry looked at her. "Why?"

"You said there it was only your father and his friends that knew the signs?" She asked, and then waited for his nod before continuing, "Of four: two are dead…sorry Harry, one is on some mission, and the last. The last I wouldn't trust at all."

The silence that surrounded them was engulfing. Everyone knew what she meant but no one wanted to say it.

"Wormtail," Hermione whispered finally.

Harry stood up purposefully. "I think we have a letter to write."

Remus Lupin eased his aching bones into a chair in front of the fire and sighed. Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, was now the only safe place for him to transform. And last nights full moon hadn't been particularly kind.

He quickly pressed those memories aside but he knew they'd just come up again. The wolf had been mad that the dark one - Sirius, his mind supplied without his consent - hadn't ever arrived, and had ravaged him more thoroughly.

Remus' morbid train of thought was distracted by loud pecking noises. He half-turned his torso to tell the owl to go away and stopped himself.

Hedwig sat on the windowsill.

Ignoring the pain in his joints he got up and made his way quickly to the snowy bird. She flapped her wings up to his arm and hooted gratefully, her head sagging a little with the length of the flight. A scroll was tied around her leg that Remus untied and unrolled. He was surprised to find the scroll blank.

Oh, yes. Well, I'm stupid.

He put his wand to the paper and said: "I solemnly swear I'm not a Dark Git."

The spell he had created himself (the password was given by a certain dog) revealed the letter that had been hidden.

Dear Remus - Professor Lupin - Like I said, Remus,

How are you? Alright, stupid question. Don't answer that. In any case, I hope the full moon wasn't too rough on you. Real subtle, Harry. I'm starting to see what Ron meant by "Get your own letter, Hermione!".

Remus chuckled at Harry's reference to Ron. That sounded just like something Ron and Hermione would do: arguing in a letter.

In any case, lets just skip right ahead to assuming that you know about our eight visitors.

Remus chuckled again. In fact, he did know about them. And visitors was a tad nicer term than the one Moody had used.

So, quick question. Did you happen to teach Marauder hand signals to anyone else or should we lock up the visitors for being Death Eaters?

Subtle: Difficult to understand; abstruse. Examples: Harry was born without an ounce of subtlety.

Who invited you?

He almost completely ignored the on-paper argument Harry and Hermione seemed to have had, his mind whirling. These visitors knew Marauder signals? But who…

His blood ran cold. He quickly turned back to the letter.

Alright, maybe they came by these signs honestly. But I doubt it. Either way I smell a rat.

Pun intended?

What? Oh…

Don't worry about it Harry. You're kind of cute when you're stupid.

Er - thanks.

We'll be sending this off soon, Professor. Take some pain potions and hopefully we will see you soon.

Why would he need…Oh.

Comment about stupid having already been made, no need to remake it.

Shut it, Gin.

See you soon,

Harry

Hermione

Ginny

Remus carefully cleared the message ("Message Managed") and pocketed it. The climb to his upstairs room was painful but manageable and he took his time packing some things. After all, if he was going to Hogwarts, he'd need something else to wear than his pajamas.

The "stupid" banter between Harry and Ginny in the letter is from Anne's (Whydoyouneedtoknow) A Little Slice of Heaven. Great story.