Disclaimer: We don't own anything you recognize.

Author's Notes: I am so sorry about the lateness. I've finally returned, but both Gumi and I got distracted by Deathly Hallows. Then my mum's computer died on me when it was my turn to write... so... sorry. Yeah, well, the next chapter should be up in two weeks. Have fun reading. -Jet

Chapter Seven: Death Eaters and Maps

"That was far too close for my liking," Kagumi whispered. Jet nodded fervently as she clutched the ragged notebook to her chest. They peeked around the corner, and, as they wound their way up the stairs five minutes later, Kagumi thought that she could just make out the outlines of a stag and a large dog fading into the night.

Struck by the sight for a moment, it was only Jet's urging that broke Kagumi from her trance, even after the two Marauders had faded from sight. Unwillingly, her thoughts flickered to Remus, and a stroke of brilliance hit her. We could be the reason the Wolfsbane Potion is invented! We could help Rem! Dammit! Remus. Remus, Remus, Remus…Not 'Rem'… She thought excitedly, and hurried up the winding stairs to tell Jet, but stopped short outside of their room, her heart rapidly deflating.

Ah, but you were the one that had to be all rational! A nasty little voice whispered in her mind; she flinched. You had to be noble, and take the bookworm's stance on this instead of following your heart! You want to change things as much as Jet did! But no. You couldn't just trust your instincts this time, could you? Suddenly, Kagumi frowned. As she listened to the barrage of inner voices, she recognized the smooth, deep voice, and it brought to mind the picture of long, dark hair and green robes.

Raminus! She thought the man's name furiously. Get out of my head! I don't know who the hell you are, but…just stop messing wit my thoughts! They're quite mixed up enough, thank you! And with a strong mental image of a slamming door, Kagumi shut her thoughts and sank to the floor, weeping.

"What the–?" Raminus jerked back as though burned, and accidentally trod on Cordan's foot as they neared the gargoyles guarding the Headmaster's office.

"What is it, Ram?" Cordan sounded very tired.

"She shut me out!"

"What?" The weariness vanished from his friend, as he leaned in and stopped walking. "Who did what?"

"I was trying to convince her that she took the wrong path in ruining our plan, and she literally shut me out!" Raminus fumed.

"Who?" Cordan all but wailed, looking at his angry friend.

"Kagumi. I was trying to get her to change her mind, and she…she…She pictured a door slamming in my face! More than that, she identified me by name! By NAME! No human should be able to do that, witch or not! She literally blocked her thoughts! Can you believe that?"

"Kagumi?" Cordan asked. "You were trying to get through to her? And she blocked you?" In the light of the flickering torches, Cordan's face lit up with excitement. "Ooh, try Bridget now."

Raminus gave his obviously crazy friend an appalled look. "No! Why are you so happy?" he grumbled.

"Don't you see? She I.D.'ed you, and blocked you, which means I'm almost positive that we've made the right choice!" Ram's eyes widened, and he joined hands with Cordan, jumping up and down. There was a subtle clearing of the throat, and the rightmost gargoyle looked shrewdly at the two men.

"Are you going to act like pansies all night, or are you going to go see the Head?" he croaked. Cordan and Ram both immediately stopped jumping, and straightened their robes hastily before facing the gargoyles.

"In the name of Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin, we command you to open," they said together, and the gargoyles sprang apart, revealing the very familiar sight of the slowly revolving staircase, which Raminus remembered, very clearly, his father carving for his dear Rowena.

He shook the memories from his head, and together, he and Cordan stepped onto the stairs. Soon arriving at the Head's door, Cordan reached his hand to use the knocker when Dumbledore's voice called, "Enter, boys."

Cordan looked at his friend. "I hate it when he does that."

The two men entered, with Raminus stopping to pet Fawkes for several seconds before sitting in one of the cushiony armchairs Dumbledore had thought to draw up for their arrival. The Headmaster himself was looking at them over a teacup. His blue eyes twinkled in the dim light of the midnight fire.

"So, two long-dead Heirs come to see a mere professor, may I ask the occasion? Your 'owl' didn't exactly specify." His voice was mischievous and Cordan shifted uncomfortably. Raminus, however, tried to decide where to begin.

"Why don't you start with how you disobeyed a direct order from your grandfather, Cordan?" Dumbledore sipped his tea as Cor looked at him, stunned.

"Uh…sure. Well, you see, there was this one lovely little plane where our world was a fictional series. And so, we used that plane to look for the ones the prophecy mentions. Our own lovely Rowena made that prophecy, back when she was very young, before Hogwarts was even founded. Of course, back then, it was all regarded as gibberish."

"Of course," Dumbledore repeated to his cup.

"Right," Cordan said, slightly unnerved. "So we scouted occasionally until we found these two girls: both of whom haven't had the easiest of lives, both of whom exhibited an unbelievable passion for this fictional series. One hid this almost-obsession rather well, lest anyone think her crazy. The other had strange dreams, and wrote them down as stories.

"The first wrote stories as well, but she kept these hidden from anyone and everyone except for her best friends, whom she knew she could trust as they were quite similar. This was Kagumi. Kagumi Ve'Linde Pheonix."

"And the other?" Dumbledore prompted softly.

"The other one, the one with dreams, was Bridget Ashlyne Kealohalanipau'ole Kai'ulani Griffins. She lived in Hawaii. Kagumi lived in Wisconsin." Raminus added.

"So little chance of them every just…stumbling across each other?" Albus asked.

"Exactly," Cordan said, feeling slightly more comfortable. "So, with a little help from my lovely scaly friend here, we inspired them to start posting their stories under the anonymity of an invention called the Internet. It's…a world-wide connection that allows for many ways to transmit information. It was actually invented by Muggleborn Wizards in this dimension. Of course, it's not going to be invented for a while…until about 1983, I think."

"Sounds useful," Albus said calmly, looking in no way like a man who had just absorbed a piece of information about the future. In fact, he looked more like a grandfather, watching two beloved children while eating a chocolate biscuit.

"Right," Raminus began. "They met through an offer to be a Beta, meaning…an editor of sorts, for these stories. Kagumi offered to be Bridget's Beta for a Marauders story," he said significantly.

Dumbledore's eyes went up at that. "Really?" he asked, sounding surprised for the first time in the discussion.

"Exactly. As fate, or rather The Chief, would have it, the girls cared more about the Marauders than the Hogwarts or Post-Hogwarts era. That in and of itself wasn't odd, but it was the ardor and dedication that they showed in learning about that—this— time as well as the understanding they had of those boys in which they stood out to us."

"'Search not for those, the famous three, but instead search the previous degree,'" Dumbledore quoted softly, remembering the conversations with various Founders.

"Exactly. Another thing was that they both…well…they both had to want it. Not just that, but wish for it."

"And they did?" Dumbledore asked.

"Colorfully, strongly, and often. In fact, they wanted it so badly, we could feel them from our own realm," Raminus answered smugly. "Anyways, that's not why we're here."

"Then why are you here?" Albus asked politely, folding his hands as the teapot poured him another cup of tea on its own accord.

"We're here to tell you that they will be starting Hogwarts in September. Right now, they are staying with the Potters. Sirius Black is with them, as well Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew most of the time. They will be technically in seventh year, although they might need tutors…" Here Raminus smiled, nodding to the elderly Headmaster.

"I take it that you want me to be one of these tutors?" he smiled at them.

"Indeed. As well as Minerva, and a few others. Horace as well, if he will; I believe he will find a surprise in these two girls. You see, both have grown up with these books, so they know what Harry would have learned, but not in any great detail; though they learn surprisingly quickly. I believe that both are now moving onto Fifth-Year textbooks now, and comprehending them. They have basic rudimentary knowledge; but it's just not the way a student who is going to rectify so many worlds should know magic. We believe that you may be able to help in planning what they should learn first."

"I see," here Dumbledore rose, and stretched. "Well, I will have to test their knowledge, along with the others you mentioned, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem." He smiled at the Gryffindor and the Slytherin. "You may tell Godric that the message was received." Dumbledore turned around to study the panting of the four Founders together, the only one that still existed.

When he turned back around to pet Fawkes, the two men were gone, their tea still sitting where they left it, getting colder by the minute.

Kagumi awoke to a crashing sound, and fumbled quickly for her wand. Although she didn't quite know if it was magical or Muggle yet, she still felt safer with it on her person. She glanced at the nearby clock; it read 5:58 am. Jet stirred in her sleep, and Kagumi froze, but the other girl merely turned over.

Padding silently to the door, Kagumi opened it slowly, watching carefully for anything suspicious. A house-elf passed her, but Kagumi didn't really notice; she as concentrating more on the two large shadows at the bottom of the staircase.

"Shh! Do you want to wake everyone up?" one hissed to the other as Kagumi trod on a squeaking stair.

"It wasn't me!" the other hissed back.

"Whatever. Just keep moving." Kagumi pressed her back to the banister, grateful that she was nearly above them, so they couldn't see her. Moving quickly, she fled down the rest of the steps after the shadows were gone, stealthily making her way into the kitchen. A slim hand reached for the closest knife, coincidentally the butcher's knife, and strode nearly invisibly down the hall.

"Dammit, man, that hurt!" came a small cry from the fourth room down the hall. Kagumi froze inside the nearest doorframe, praying they didn't hear her squeak of surprise.

"Well, it's not my fault that you're a big baby when it comes to thorns!"

"I am not!"

"Humph. Auror's son indeed."

"OW!" A loud thump accompanied this, and Kagumi decided to make her move. She slinked around into the dim room where the two men were, waiting until they both had their back to her. Without a sound, she pulled the wand from her pajama pocket and placed it at the small of the man's back, simultaneously as she put the knife against his throat.

"AGH!" her captive screamed, and she whipped the wand to the other one as he turned around. A jet of fire flashed from the tip, briefly illuminating the room. Well, at least I know it's real, she thought sourly, upset that her position had been given away.

"Freeze or he dies," she said calmly. The other man put his hands in the air, and she maneuvered herself and her prisoner out into the center of the room. "Turn on the light," came the command, and the other man did as Kagumi dropped the knife in surprise.

"James?"

"Gumi?"

"Gumi?" shrieked her prisoner, twisting free of her arms. Sirius looked long and hard at her, the knife on the floor, and the slightly smoking wand in her hand. She gave her most innocent smile, and slipped the warm wand back into her pocket when she thought he wouldn't notice.

With mud, twigs and thorns caught in their hair, and on various parts of their body, they were nearly unrecognizable. She shrugged, and sat down somewhat faintly on the nearest surface, which happened to be an old piano bench. Head in hands, she heard, rather than saw, the two boys sit down somewhere in her vicinity.

"Why did you do that, Gumi?" James asked.

"How did you do that? That's what I want to know!" Sirius said. Kagumi sighed.

"When you live with my brothers, you learn to do a lot of things. In fact," she smiled sadly, "they're a lot like you two. They're notorious pranksters and they like people to underestimate them. That way, when they have the upper hand, people are always shocked."

"What does that have to do wit how you basically know how stalk people?" James asked bluntly.

"To be honest, it doesn't. Not directly. But when they were first learning their trade, I learned to sneak around so that they couldn't catch me. Later, I taught them how to sneak around so they wouldn't get caught. The whole knife thing, I pulled out of a hat. I didn't even know that it would work; I just wanted to protect your family, James. I figured you guys would be home earlier, and I thought…maybe that you two were Death Eaters or something," she finished sheepishly.

"Well," Sirius thought aloud, "that was pretty freakin' ace. You scared me half to death, and nicked me just a little, but it was still cool." Kagumi's response was to yawn lightly, rather like a cat, and she walked to the doorway.

"I'm gonna go start breakfast; You two will eat, and then you can sleep," she said, with authority she really shouldn't have. But based on their dinner last night, the boys found that they didn't really mind being bossed around where her food was concerned.

"So how's Rem…Uh, Remus?" she asked casually. Sirius was stuffing himself full of toast of freshly squeezed orange juice, and therefore his answer was extremely jumbled.

"'Ell, 'es nah doo 'ell. S'ill welly 'ick, bu' 'es ge'in be'er," he mumbled, sending crumbs flying everywhere. Kagumi spared him a disgusted glance before putting their plates down in front of them: ham, eggs, half a steak each, and two link sausages. James thanked her, and reached for the larger pitcher of juice as she went back to the stove and took out her own breakfast: two pieces of toast, with fresh peanut butter spread on it to melt and a glass of milk from the icebox. She sat down at the end, making sure that the stove was within easy reach if the pan got too hot while waiting for the others to wake up.

"So, now that Sirius has demonstrated his ability to talk in tongues, perhaps you can translate what he said, James" she grinned.

"He said, 'Well, he's not doing too well. Still really sick, but he's getting better.' Oh, he also thanks you for the offer of breakfast, but seems terrified that you're going to poison him."

Sirius swallowed with difficulty. "I told him that we've eaten your cooking, and that we weren't dead yet. But he still declined," he added, seeing the dark look on Kagumi's face. Within the blink of an eye, the hot spatula was in her hand and inches away from Sirius' face.

"'We're not dead yet'? I thought you enjoyed my cooking, Sirius Black. If you have something to say to the contrary, go ahead. I'm sure your nose can take a little hot oil," she whispered with a deathly calm. James snorted into his own steak, before beginning to eat again. Of course, Bridget would choose that exact moment to walk in.

"Why are we threatening Sirius?" she asked with a yawn.

"Oh, no reason. Just thought a little early-morning murder might set a fine mood for the day," Kagumi replied easily.

"It's too early for me to help you clean up a murder, Gumi." She plucked the spatula out of her friend's hand and made towards the oven. "'Sides, you'd get icky human insides all over the spatula, and I hate doing dishes."

Gumi raised an eyebrow, finally looking away from her frightened prey. "Icky?"

"Yes, 'icky;' my vocabulary isn't as extensive in the early morning as it is when I'm fully awake." She waved the cooking utensil in a vaguely threatening way in Gumi's direction before frowning. "Now where are the eggs?"

"In the icebox. Sit down and I'll make you something," she commanded. "What do you want?"

Bridget, still not quite awake, turned and threatened Kagumi with the frying pan. "Sit. I don't want your freakish Wisconsin-ness to go anywhere near my eggs."

"Wha' 'oo 'oo'in?"

"I'm making an egg sandwich, Sirius."

"Is that all you want?" Kagumi asked. "I mean, it wouldn't be a problem for me to make more for—"

"Done!" Bridget spun around and sat in the seat next to Kagumi, who was still half-standing. She took a large bite out of the sandwich and looked up to see Kagumi staring at her, a bit shocked. "Wha'?"

"How'd you finish that so quickly?"

"Ma'ick." Bridget responded around a large bite of the sandwich.

"Are you serious?"

She gave Kagumi a slightly confused look. "No, I'm Brid— Don't hit me! Lame pun, lame pun… I know!" She peeked up from under the table and, once convinced that all was safe again, sat back down on her chair. "Sorry… no, that was me being sarcastic. Yes, I know I'm lame."

Gumi gave her friend an exasperated look. "You're an idiot."

"Yes, I know. Now, why were you really threatening Sirius with a spatul—you're bleeding!" Bridget dropped her breakfast back on the plate and jumped up, quickly making her way over to Sirius.

As soon as she reached him, she pulled out a napkin and gently wiped away the blood from the reopened wound Kagumi had given him that morning. Bridget carefully cleaned both that cut and another, already healing, cut on his forehead. Once she finished, she gave Sirius a smile and patted him on the cheek fondly, not noticing the red that was starting to creep up his neck. She suddenly spun around angrily, brandishing her wand at Kagumi.

Gumi stared at the wand for a few second before warily looking back up at her upset friend. "Where did you hide that?" she asked, eyeing Jet's short-sleeved pajamas.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Jet responded in a low, even voice. "What did you do?"

"Why do you think I did that?"

"Oh, don't pull that on me, Gumi. I saw you totally incapacitate the boys," she turned to speak briefly with the intrigued James and Sirius, "which, by the way, was kinda lame. I mean, you're bigger and they're two of you. Come on." Bridget turned back to Kagumi, waving her wand in a slightly admonishing way. "Threatening people with knives isn't very nice. Didn't we have a talk about being nice?"

Kagumi continued to stare, and, instead of answering Bridget's question, asked one of her own, "How'd you find that out?"

Jet arched an eyebrow. "And people say I can't focus," she muttered to herself. "You woke me up when you stumbled out of our room."

"But you were asleep. And I didn't stumble!"

"It just looked like I was asleep, my dear. I'm a bit better at this than you are, apparently. After you left, I followed you and made sure you were okay." She shrugged. "You were, and they seemed okay, so I went back to bed."

"I thought they were Death Eaters," Kagumi mumbled, not looking her friends in the eye.

"In the house?" Bridget asked, skepticism lacing her voice. "That makes a whole lot o' sense. Anyways, you thought there were Death Eaters in the house so you, a kinda scrawny 17 year old girl with an unfortunately mediocre knowledge of magic, went to take care of it yourself? I must say, that has got to be the best idea I've ever heard."

Kagumi frowned. "It sounds worse when you say it that way. Besides! They didn't seem to be able to fight me."

"Jet, where'd your wand go?" James asked plainly, breaking the mounting tension in the air with the attitude of a little boy wanting in on the world's secrets.

Bridget gave James a mischievous grin that would soon become her trademark, "Wouldn't you like to know." She sat back down in her seat and picked up her sandwich. "Next time, Gumi, I would appreciate it if you woke me, instead of forcing me to follow you."

The group sat in the parlor; Jet and Gumi were reading, and James and Sirius were working on a piece of grubby parchment. Bridget and Kagumi were discussing their new magical texts (borrowed from the boys), somehow leading Kagumi off into a rant about Remus, although no one was quite sure how.

"He doesn't like us very much," Kagumi said in a matter-of-fact voice. James and Sirius exchanged glances, but Bridget spoke before either could respond.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic, Gumi," she said. "The poor guy's just worried that we're evil and here to kill all his friends. It's all perfectly logical."

"To you, Jet, only to you. I mean, he's convinced that I'm trying to poison him… by offering him breakfast! Brealfast! If I wanted o posion him, he'd be dead before he knew what had happened!"

Jet shrugged. "Maybe, but think about it. We arrive in the middle of the night with absolutely nothing, and we're left here. It is a rather odd situation, don't you think?"

"But it's ridiculous. Why would we want to kill anyone?"

"Because we're evil, weren't you paying attention to what I was saying?" Bridget answered vaguely, before returning to her book.

Sirius and James exchanged a dark look, muttered something about "…Knives" before returning to their own mutterings.

Kagumi huffed, and went back to reading the fifth year Transfiguration textbook, while glancing occasionally at the sixth year Charms book. After a while, she began to practice wand movements, and after the fourth set of curtains had been set on fire, Sirius finally wrenched it away from her.

"No more pyromania for you!"

"Siri! Give it back!" Kagumi said. He grinned, before frowning, apparently having come to a realization.

"When did you start calling me Siri?" he asked, honestly confused.

"I'm not really sure. I guess it's just something that Jet mentioned and it stuck. Now gimme my wand," Kagumi said.

"Huh…Oh, right." He tossed the wand to James, who caught it without even looking up from the parchment. Kagumi stomped her foot, and went over to James to try to wrestle the wand from him. He held it above his head with one hand, while still writing on the parchment. A flash of movement from the parchment caught her eye and she paused, just missing a rogue spark from the wand.

James took advantage of her stop to toss the wand back to Sirius, who dangled it above her head. She kicked him in the shins and he dropped it.

"Ow! That hurt!" he yelled, clutching at his leg.

Jet snickered and made no move to help any of them, continuing her reading. James summoned the wand from the floor, just as Kagumi was going to pick it up and used a levitation charm to make it hover above her head. Being intelligent, Kagumi knew that if she went for the wand it would just go higher; however, if she went for the caster, the charm would drop and she could retrieve what was rightfully hers. So, without much warning, the short, petite girl tackled James just as he capped his inkwell.

"Agh!" He fell to the floor, taking the parchment with him as she tickled him mercilessly. The parchment fluttered to the ground, and she picked it up with a curious hand, sitting comfortably on James' back.

"Kagumi, I don't think Jamsie can breathe over there," Bridget said in a slightly worried voice after a few moments, when the little piece of James' face that was visible began to turn a strange red-purple. "Uh, Gumi?"

Oh, my dear sweet Merlin. Is this…Oh my freakin' God. I'm looking at the real Marauder's Map. For indeed, that is what she held. The Map proclaimed its name in great, green curly lettering. For a moment, Kagumi's vision swam and she sat next to Jet, shoving the Map under her nose.

"What's wr— oh."

"I know."

"Is this—?"

"I think so."

"Wow…" they said together.

"Prongs?" Sirius hissed. "Why'd you leave it open?"

"I was editing it, for your information, 'cause your penmanship just plain sucks!"

"Boys, what is this?" Kagumi decided to play it safe, acting as though she didn't know exactly what she held.

"Gumi, what are you: blind? It's a map." Bridget withered a bit under Kagumi's glare. "Oh...You knew that bit, didn't you?"

"Yes, Bridget, I did."

"And we were going for more information, weren't we?" Bridget faltered, casting nervous eyes around the room and seizing a nearby book.

"Yes, Bridget, we were."

"Right then, I think I'll shut up and go back to my reading." The girl hid her pink face behind the textbook.

"You do that."

"Aw, now, don't listen to her," Sirius said with a grin as he draped himself over the couch next to her. He plucked the book out of her hand and, a moment later, plucked the Marauders Map from Gumi's shocked fingers.

"Hey! Sirius, give that back!" Bridget protested, reaching for the book. "I was learning!"

"No one needs to learn during the summer," he said, looking positively disgusted as he flipped through the Herbology text.

Bridget pouted for a moment before smiling triumphantly. She leaned over his lap and took back the Map. "Now you have the book and I have this Map thingy," she said smugly. Bridget made a show of examining the parchment, frowning thoughtfully. "The Marauders Map, is it? Hm… look at this, Gumi, there's a Great Hall, classrooms, and at least four dormitories; could this be a map of Hogwarts?"

"No," Sirius objected. "Of course it isn't!"

Kagumi raised a skeptical eyebrow. "How many schools have you been to?"

"Erm," Sirius muttered, "you see… well…"

"Yeah, it is a map of Hogwarts," James interjected. He leaned over the back of the couch, in between the girls. "It took me, Sirius, Remus, and Peter ages to figure out the layout for the castle—it's huge—and the spellcasting was even more difficult." He shrugged casually, a self-satisfied smirk gracing his features. "We didn't get it near finished until the end of fifth year."

"Really?" Bridget exclaimed, eyes shining with excitement as she examined it. "It's spectacular. And can you track everyone, or is it only people you add on to the map? The first way would be best, but the charms work must've been really difficult. A modified Locator Charm, perhaps combined with an Identification Charm or a Tracking Charm? But, even then, the magnitude and difficulty would make completing the feat impressive, especially for boys who haven't even finished their Ordinary Wizarding Levels." Her fingertips traced the lines drawn on the Map; she was so captivated by the piece of magic that she missed Kagumi's stunned look, nor James and Sirius' shocked ones.

The two boys had marked Bridget off as a bit of an airhead, intelligent to be sure, but not quite all-there, and definitely not up to their, or even Kagumi's standards as far as smarts went. It had seemed, to them, that Gumi was most definitely the brains behind the operation with Bridget perhaps helping out with an idea here and there, and proving to be the calming force behind her friend's volatile temper.

But, having formed such a complicated, and, as much as they may hate to admit it, correct theory in the few minutes—moments—since she had begun to examine the map completely obliterated that assumption. She still had her head in the clouds far more often than any of the other teenagers, but there were definitely brains in that pretty head of hers, formidable ones too, if that last statement was anything to go on.

Kagumi, however, was beyond shocked: she was outright astonished. She knew that Bridget was intelligent—more than a year of Beta-reading for the girl had shown her that—and she knew that pretty much every one of Bridget's hometown family and acquaintances held her closest friend's aptitude up to a near-genius level. But, after the personal experience she had gained with Jet on her trip, she had just written it off as a combination of normal high intelligence and the near hero-worship her friend seemed to inspire in others. Gumi definitely had not expected this, and, there was one thing the boys didn't know that she did: it wasn't only practical knowledge they were lacking (their excuse for needing to practice even the simplest spells), it was almost any knowledge.

Mrs. Potter's voice shook them out of their stupor (and, in Bridget's case, awe), "Children, you have a visitor."

The elegant woman stopped speaking, frowning at the chaos her unannounced arrival seemed to inspire. Bridget had quickly folded a sheet of parchment and tucked it into her jeans pocket, and James had started so badly that he pitched forward, the only reason he didn't end up sprawled on either the two girls or the floor being his quick reflexes and Gumi's steadying hand, which quickly tipped James back into his seat. Sirius was the only one who hadn't shown much of a reaction: his eyes had merely followed Jet's hands as they tucked away the Map.

"Did I interrupt something?" the woman asked. She had, after all, raised James Potter, and knew when something was up.

Bridget's eyes flicked to Kagumi's and, after a silent agreement, she smiled widely—innocently—at their hostess. "Oh, nothing, Mrs. Potter. James here was telling me and Gumi one of their more, um, daring tales of adventure, and you startled us."

Mrs. Potter's gaze made another suspicious sweep of the four teenagers before deeming the situation innocent—at least as innocent as it ever got with her son and his best friend involved. "Yes, well, you four have a visitor. We'll have to postpone our trip to Diagon Alley for a couple of hours; Headmaster Dumbledore is waiting in the kitchen."

"Actually, Vivian, I am right here," an amused voice said. "May I speak with them alone?"

"Of course, Albus," Vivian replied. "I'll leave them to you." She began to leave but turned before actually exiting, "Girls, you have some mail. It's in the hall when you wish to read it."

The two time travelers didn't even comprehend what the older woman said; they were too busy staring at the greatest wizard of the time. Albus Dumbledore, in all his white-haired, long-bearded, twinkling-eyed, bright-robed glory, stood before them, smiling benevolently. This couldn't be good.

Author's Notes: Ahem... I apologize for the misleading-ness of the chapter title, but I couldn't resist. I promise the next time I use Death Eaters in a chapter title, it'll actually involve Death Eaters. Um... next chapter will have some plot furtherment with the talk with Dumbledore, a trip to Diagon Alley, the introduction of a few familiar faces, and the re-introduction of Remus' furry little problem.

Thanks to FoxLuvr, Valinor's Twilight, and Aquila Corax for the reviews and to anyone who added us to favorites or alert (I can't remember if anyone did the past chapter, sorry). Please review again, we shall get the next chapter out much sooner. -Jet