Lost And Found

::Prologue::

"...And you can finish the chapter on England's role in World War Two as well. Don't forget, your papers are due next Wednesday!"

The homework announcement was met with a groan, but this was nothing new to Remus Lupin. He laughed to himself as his hearing picked up several choice phrases that students chose to exchange about him. He could only laugh about such things because he'd been guilty of them when he was fourteen.

Remus focused on the one remaining girl in the classroom. She sat in the back glaring through him, tapping her foot on the ground in impatience. Her lips were pursed into the thinnest line possible. 'Women must be taught that in the womb,' Remus thought, remembering the looks some of his past students, namely one Hermione Granger, could bestow on people.

"Piper," Remus addressed the girl kindly. "Up to the front please."

Piper fixed a glare on him, but grudgingly moved up to the second row of desks. "I've got work in thirty minutes," she said tonelessly. "I need to get outta here."

"And we need to talk," said Remus, perching himself on his desk. He reached back into a drawer and pulled out a five-stapled papers. They were typed, and Piper recognized it as her last essay. "You got an A on this."

Piper sighed. "This is a problem?"

He shook his head. "No, and you know that. The problem is that this essay is from three months ago, and we've had four since then; six in total this semester. You've done two."

Her gaze wavered and she went back to staring through her teacher. "I've been busy."

Remus opened the essay he was holding and scanned the pages. "The pattern I've seen is that you work above and beyond expectations for some assignments and then ignore others. Piper this doesn't work. You're getting a B- in this class and that's only because of the two tests we've had. If I didn't give tests you'd be getting a D."

"Am I supposed to thank you for the tests?" Piper asked sarcastically, forgetting who she was talking with.

"No, Piper, I don't expect that." Remus ignored the sarcastic jab. "I just want you to know that you can't coast through everything like you do here."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Remus almost shot out something he would've regretted but caught himself in time. Instead he took a breath and spoke to the fresh student once more. "Would you like to make up the essays?"

Piper shrugged. "Doesn't make any difference to me."

She had a lot of her father in her, Remus decided. In ways that was a good thing to have; the smarts, the talent, but Piper seemed to be harnessing the darker side. "Miss. Black," Remus said suddenly. Piper jumped, looking at Remus like he'd lost it. "Please try to inhibit you father's temper until you encounter a situation when you really need it."

"What?" The girl made a confused face, and then frowned at Remus. "Look, Mr. Lupin, you've lectured me and as usual it's gone in one ear and out the other, but you don't need to start taking jabs at me about my familial relations, ok? My last name is Rayner; you've only been teaching me ten months, you should know that. I don't care if you're done or not, but I'm leaving!" Piper grabbed her blue backpack and stalked out of the room. The door slammed shut behind her and Remus sat with a bemused smile. Oh she was Padfoot's daughter all right. He was sure of it now. Her twin may have gotten their fathers looks and penchant for trouble, but she'd gotten his temper and the rest of his persona, though, Remus had to say, she took sarcasm to the next level. One just had to sit in class with her to see that...

KLUNK!

Remus turned on his desk, a hand over his now rapidly beating heart. He glanced at the window where he'd thought the noise had come from. A large black thing was batting at the window. It took Remus a few seconds to recognize his best friend, but once he did he went and hurriedly opened the window to let him in.

The dog climbed quickly through the window, shook himself, and then disappeared with a distant pop. In its place stood a tall, dark haired man, who was currently grinning at the teacher sitting on the desk.

"You kept my daughter for detention?" The man raised an eyebrow at Remus.

"Sirius, your daughter has no work ethic." Remus replied waving the essay. "She's incredibly smart, but she doesn't care."

Sirius grinned again. "So she's me?"

"Unfortunately yes," Remus rolled his eyes. "She just doesn't have the jokester complex in her. Now Adrian on the other hand...he put rubber bands around all of the kitchen sink hoses this afternoon. The kitchen was soaking wet and lunch was delayed an hour."

"Was he caught?"

"Of course not," said Remus. "It's in his blood."

Sirius nodded. "I don't suppose you've met my nephew?"

"I wasn't aware he'd graduated yet."

"Four years ago, Moony. He lives around here somewhere. I think he knows Piper and Adrian," said Sirius thoughtfully.

Remus chewed his lip. "So you're going to talk to them? Tell them everything?"

"I was planning to. They have to know. Remember...?"

"Right, right," Remus said nodding. "They work in their parents café everyday after school. We'll see if we can't sneak you in there. Apropos I think it's called..."

*~*

The Twins of Peace- Chapter One: Discovery

If you ask me The Apropos Café is a pretty odd name for a restaurant, but y'know no one did ask me, so I've never said a word about my parent's choice of names. Apropos means appropriate, so really the place is called The Appropriate Café. They've never been good at name choosing. I mean really, just look at the names of their kids and you can guess that. We've got Prudence, Constance, and Faithful. Mom's pregnant again and they're already searching for another name with a moral.. I thank God that my brother and I were named already when they adopted us.

Do I sound kind of evil? I'm a bitter fourteen-year-old, or so I've been told by the guidance counselor, my teachers, my parents, my friends, my brother...the list goes on. I don't consider myself mean or bitter, I consider myself honest, though I'm glad I didn't get stuck with the name. I don't like to soften the world for people just to make them feel better. If you're ticking me off, I tell you; if I don't like your outfit, I'll tell you; if I think you're a bitch, I'll tell you. I speak the hard truth because my brother and I've experienced up close. Our natural parents died when we were babies. We didn't find this piece of information out until about a year ago; it took a damn lot of eavesdropping to find out too. And get this; we're not even sure if it's true! I personally don't think mom and dad were ever planning on telling us. No one softened the world up for us, why should I do it for you? My brother's a little more gentle than I am, but he's still mean when he wants to be.

Despite my honest streak I have a lot of close friends. They aren't subject to my honesty as much as others are, others being random people at school and people who try to make polite conversation with me on the street. I usually attempt to inhibit my mouth while I work at Apropos. I've been lectured many times about how telling customers that their shirts are ugly or their shoes look like crap (I only said that one once and it was true, Constance agreed with me but she's to shy to say anything). I've been working hard on my false smile and my high sickeningly cheerful 'hi, how are you doing' voice. If I had the choice, I'd quit working at Apropos and head on up to the Hot Topic in the Livingston Mall and apply for a job there. They pay more. Parents seem to think when kids work at a family business they can pay them less than minimum wage. I'm pretty sure there's a law against that somewhere in the New Jersey books.

What I can't believe is that we're about to have a sixth child in our family. I protested when they first thought about adding a new family member, but all that got me was a lecture on the birds and the bees and how I'm to young to date. When mom announced she was pregnant I grumbled, when she started to show I locked myself in my room, when they started to ask for my advice on names I gave them a lecture. I just wanted to know why Constance, Prudence, Faithful, Adrian, and I weren't enough. What more could they want? Prudence is the sweet one in the family, Constance is the shy one, Faithful's too wild for her own good, Adrian excels at sports, and I'm brutally honest, and we're all smart, so that can't be what they're looking for! I fail to see the logic in this pregnancy, especially since they supposedly couldn't have any more kids after Prudence.

Adrian and I were adopted when we were both one. Mom and dad already had Constance (she was two) and Prudence (she was one) but the doctors told them that they wouldn't be able to have any more kids. This was in mid 1980. A month later they decided they wanted to adopt a child. They waited almost a year and in late 1981 twins, Adrian and I, became available. We were over in England, but by January 1982 we were comfortably situated in America. Then about fifteen months later mom discovered that she was pregnant despite the doctor's insistence that it couldn't happen. That's when Faithful arrived. Mom is forty-one years old. Now it's 1996 and she's pregnant again. Before our little eavesdropping tricks we never even suspected being adopted. We share raven black hair with Prudence and dad and we both have dark blue eyes that are very similar to Faithful's. The only things we ever found weird that we didn't have moral names and Adrian and I have two each. I'm Piper Leandra and Adrian is Adrian James. People usually call me Piper but if they're tight with me I might let Lee-Lee slip. I wouldn't recommend trying it though. With Adrian you have to call him Adrian or some variation of it like AJ. He always says that when people add the James to his name he feels odd, like it shouldn't be coming from them.

One word to describe me would be tomboy. I'm not skinny, but not fat, and totally flat chested. The only thing I really like I my hair; long, shiny, black, and you'd be able to see the whole me...if I didn't purposely hide it from the world every morning when I get dressed. Normal attire for me is cargo pants that can hide sixteen wheelers in each leg, a baggy tee shirt with a charming message, my trusty black high tops, and my army camouflage bucket hat, which I partially hide my hair in. I dress like this be firstly it's down right comfortable, secondly because so does Adrian and it means we can get shopping done in one trip, and thirdly because it helps keep the stares off me in the hall at school and it makes me have to earn the grades I get in math and language arts classes. The teachers in those classes are both males who give A's to the prettiest and most dim-witted girls in the room. So dressing this way solves many different problems. Other than hair and eyes Adrian and I don't look like twins. But the bond is defiantly there. Basically that just means we know we're brother and sister and nothing can changed that.

Like I said, Adrian and I are both dark haired and blue eyed. Adrian wears his hair shoulder length and ties it back into a loose ponytail when he wants it out of his face. You don't see longhaired boys in our town very much so it gives him an air of uniqueness that a lot of people I know lack. Ever so often he lets it get shaggy looking in a bout of laziness and he ends up looking like some sort of dog. A lot of the girls in school have crushes on him because of his supposed 'dark good looks'. I heard them giggling about these looks once and told them they sounded like characters out of some trashy romance novel and they needed to stop. Now I'm not denying that my brother is good looking, he is- I'll give him that, but the way girls fall over him is gross. Adrian's nicer than me too. Actually what I should say is that he doesn't share his view of the world with the world as I do. That makes him a much better people person than I am. In fact, at Apropos people tend to look at the counter before entering the shop. If I'm there they wait until the shifts switch, but if Adrian or one of our sisters is there they'll walk right in.

*~*

"Lee-Lee can you go handle the register?"

"Don't call me Lee-Lee!" I growled. Prudence, or Prue as we call her, simply rolled her eyes. She was accustomed to my tempers. I grabbed a clean apron from the rack in the back and headed out to the counter trying to put a nice smile on my face. It hadn't been a good day. I'd fought with a teacher, lunch was lousy, I was swamped with homework and now Prue was calling me Lee-Lee. Wonderful, just wonderful.

"And turn that shirt over!" Prue yelled from the back. I laughed at that. My shirt sweetly said 'I am not a bitch; I am the bitch, and that is Ms. Bitch to you!' The principal at school had asked me to turn it inside out as well. If I wasn't going to listen to him, I wasn't going to listen Prue. Besides, these were adults I was about to be waiting on. They were mature enough to handle it.

Adrian was standing at one of the cash registers smiling politely and giving someone their change. His hair needed combing, it was getting the doggish look again. I told him so when I reached the second register.

"Thanks Piper," he answered sarcastically. "You're looking well too."

I just smiled while adjusting my apron. I was trying to get the front part down low enough so that everyone could read my message. It took a bit of effort but I managed. I was upright again in time to watch someone approach the counter. The woman looked at me first, well looked at my shirt, hesitated, and moved over to Adrian.

"Hey I have a better fashion sense than you, that's for sure," I muttered quickly. "Forty year olds should not wear tube tops. Oh wait, I'm sorry, you're about to go stand on a street corner aren't you. Well then, that explains that."

There was a sharp throb in my shin as Adrian kicked me. He plays soccer and it hurts to be kicked by him. The woman was giving me a sour look as she was handed her change and her coffee. I gave her a small mock salute as she turned to go back outside.

I glanced over at my brother "Oh don't look so worried!" I said nonchalantly. "She's in here everyday! You never see her 'cause you're always at soccer. We're not going to loose her as a patron just because of me. And besides, she should know that she looks like a slut by now. I've been telling her subtly everyday. Did you see her shoes, and that top? Those are hooker clothes! And god, she's old and flabby anyway."

He rubbed his forehead in exasperation. I knew he wouldn't say anything because he was thinking exactly the same thing about the woman. Don't ask how I knew that. I don't know; it's a twin thing. We were both on duty until six o' clock, meaning we still had two hours of serving to do. Adrian got the most work, mostly because of my shirt, so finally I decided to leave the register and go around and check on people at the various tables and couches. Adrian glared at me when he realized I was leaving him with a gigantic line of customers; I gave him a look of fake pity and pointed to the words on my shirt. Then I hurried through the restaurants front door so I could check on the outdoor seating first.

The cafe's outdoor section isn't used much until late July when it gets really sunny and warm out, but this year New Jersey was having an unusually incredibly hot and dry June. The outside pavilion was filled to the brim. Some one had turned on the mist sprinklers so it wasn't too bad to be walking around in the throngs of people. It was slow going though. I wanted to head to the back and make my way to the front.

"Is there anything you need Sir?" I finally reached the first table in the back. The man I addressed was reading and usually I wouldn't have disturbed him but whatever he was drinking was almost gone. I did give myself brownie points; my fake smile and high-pitched 'may I help you' voice were perfect.

He put his book down, and looked at me. I jumped. It would be just my luck that out of all the cafes in South Orange, Mr. Lupin would pick this one. I kept my face neutral and waited to see what he'd say. "Piper. Pleasant surprise."

"Yeah," I grumbled, my sales pitch voice was gone. "Wonderful."

There was a soft whine from underneath his table. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously and pulled the tablecloth back slightly. I was met with the largest black dog I'd ever seen in my life. Or he would've been the largest if he hadn't been practically rail thin.

"I'd call animal services if they weren't the most incompetent people in town," I said, raising my eyebrows. "Pets aren't allowed here, but before you take him out I feel the need to give him a bone or something. I usually don't feel sorry for animals and if I do it's a very loud message that you need to take better care of him."

My teacher gave a wry grin. "I just took him from a shelter. They didn't feed him much there."

"That much is obvious," I said dryly. "Stay here. We're severing steak as the special tonight. There'll be a T-bone in the kitchen somewhere."

Before he could object I left, heading back indoors. There was a long line at the counter and Adrian gave me a withering look when he spotted me.

"I'll take over," I said, moving behind the counter. "Our social studies teacher is sitting in the very back of the pavilion. Can you grab a bone or some scraps of meat from the kitchen and bring them out to him?"

Adrian was glad to be relieved of his register duty so he didn't question my odd request. I did here him muttering something about how girls were crazy, as he moved back towards the kitchen. With the message on my shirt showing clearly, I turned to face my happy customers. I am disappointed to say that, when they saw me, no one left the line.

*~*

Adrian didn't come to relieve me of my post until about an hour later. The afternoon rush had basically subsided then so I scooped up two bowls of ice cream, chocolate for me and coffee for him, and we sat down on two of the many plush velour chairs that decorated Apropos. I dug into my ice cream at first, but then I had to stop when I noticed Adrian giving me a look of scrutiny.

"What?" I asked scowling.

"Oh god, Piper. You're going to tell me you didn't feel it?" He matched my scowl perfectly.

"What?" I inquired once more. My brother could be very cryptic at times.

Adrian sighed. "That weird feeling of déjà-vu."

"Adrian you get your 'feelings' every time some one calls you James." I reminded him. "What was it this time?" I tried not to sound sarcastic, but it was hard. Adrian got 'feelings' often. It could be at just the littlest things like words or names. It's why we can't call him James. He shudders involuntarily every time anyone does. And I noticed once that his eyes cloud up for a split second. I know that you can't easily fake something like that, so something must really affect him, but it's hard not to be skeptical.

"Our teacher," he said it like it should've been obvious. "The one with the dog. When I was talking to him I got like a...I don't know exactly what it was, but I almost blacked out."

My jaw dropped. "You almost fainted? I can't believe I missed that one."

"This isn't funny."

"I'm sorry," I said. "But you can't blame me for being skeptical, I mean really...deja-vu? You see the guy everyday third period. Has this happened before?"

"No, not exactly," Adrian admitted, gulping down some ice cream. He stopped suddenly. "The dog's name was Snuffles."

"He named the dog Snuffles?" I shook my head in disbelief. "There are millions of comments I could make about that, but I'm not going to say a word. Anyway, if he almost made you faint, why'd you stay?"

He shrugged. "Well, first he's our teacher, and second he's nice."

"I'm sure that's what people say about the people who mug them as well." I looked at him critically. "Hmm...I know I've already told you, but you're looking awfully doggish. Mom's gonna be chasing you with the scissors."

"I like it this way." He shook his head causing his hair to fly wildly about.

"What brought this on?"

"Just a feeling." Adrian flashed me a smile, before jumping off his chair to empty his dish in the sink. I continued eating ice cream and picked up a random magazine. All was peaceful in The Apropos Café for the next half hour. There were a few scattered customers, whom I handled with minimal trouble, but then she walked in.

"Adrian!"

I groaned when I recognized Tatiana's voice. It's always so happy and upbeat. Makes me want to hurt her. Tatiana is my brother's girlfriend and I have yet to find what he sees in her. She's tall, and skinny with limp blond hair and she thinks she's all that because her 'daddy' is a banker and she travels to Europe all the time. My friends and I wonder why she doesn't just stay there. Tatiana hates me and I return the sentiment with full emotion. So I accidentally dropped a gallon of orange paint on her in seventh grade. Hey, accidents happen. Just because she was wearing that five hundred dollar outfit that night doesn't mean I had it in for her.

"Hello Piper," she said formally, looking at my baggy pants with disdain. I've never quite figured out how she managed to hate them whenever I wore them, but whenever anyone else wore them she smile and kindly compliment them. If it were a guy, mainly Adrian, she'd look ready to drool. "Still ever the grunge bitch I see, wearing your brother's clothes."

"Ms," I said simply

Tatiana didn't have the sense to read my shirt and she just looked confused. "Stupid, too. Where's your brother?"

"In the back," I glared at her. "And unfortunately for the both of us you can't go back there, so I'm stuck with you. ADRIAN," I yelled loudly. "Your date is here!"

She gave me one of her sugary sweet smiles. "Thank you Lee-Lee."

I threw down my magazine. "Do not call me-"

A loud crash coming from the kitchens interrupted me. I turned from Tatiana and looked at the door to the kitchen. I couldn't see anything suspicious from my vantage point, so I left Tatiana (hoping she wouldn't rob our cash registers) and hurried to the back.

I found Adrian looking almost shell shocked. Hundreds of broken ceramic pieces were scattered at the floor by his feet. It appeared as if he'd dropped a tray of coffee filled mugs. A pool of brown liquid was seeping along the wooden floor. Mom was gonna kill him. Adrian was standing almost completely still. He only blinked. At first I didn't see what he was staring at, but when I followed his eyes I too became stunned.

Now, you have to understand, it wasn't the fact that there was a strange man sitting at the kitchen island that scared me. I could deal with that with a right hook to the jaw. It was who he was, or better said, who he wasn't, that scared me. At first I thought it was Adrian. I really did. The guy looked just like him. Same eyes, face, they even shared the doggish hair look. If the stranger had been standing they might've been the same height. Six feet. He was skinnier, and his eyes, though they were brilliant dark blue, held shadows that Adrian had only when he got his feelings.

Suddenly a wave of nausea washed over me like a giant tidal wave. I felt my eyes watering as I looked at Adrian. He was holding his stomach making a face. The chocolate ice cream was threatening to rebel but then the sickness passed on a quickly as it'd come. My twin recovered at the same second I did, but I think it left his brain a little rattled, because Adrian proceeded to hug the man sitting across from us. And his hug was received warmly; the man grabbed him and squeezed like Adrian was a lifeline.

"Dad," Adrian murmured, still holding the man.

I gave him my best wide-eyed stunned look. Adrian had defiantly lost it. "A-Adr...AJ," I finally sputtered. I couldn't say his whole name. "Are you crazy?!"

"Don't tell me you didn't feel that Pips." He tried to smooth over the situation using his special nickname for me. It wasn't working.

I yelled, almost forgetting the other man and that Tatiana was up front. "I felt that alright. Now if you could tell me what it was that would be great."

"You didn't see anything?" Adrian shuddered. "Those things were awful...all silvery and... dark."

I turned to the man and gave him a fierce look. "What did you do to him?"

"I guess he inherited my ability for uncalled premonitions and visions." The man shrugged, then smiled a bit. "I like your shirt by the way."

I didn't know exactly how to respond to that. For one he'd said inherited. Inherited. That would mean that what my semi-crazy (I say semi because since he's my bro I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt) brother had just said would have to be true. This could turn out to be one heck of a conversation.

"Adrian, I think you need to sit down." I pulled out a chair and forced him into it. He had to close his eyes for a moment and even when he opened them again he still looked dizzy and sick. "Now, could one of you please explain what's going on? You"--I pointed to the stranger--"are lucky AJ seems to trust you, or I'd be calling to cops about now."

Adrian looked up at me with almost sad eyes. "You can't call the cops on him, Piper. He's our father!"

"And you are smoking weed or snorting coke!" I shot back.

"Ask him!"

I growled deeply in my throat and simply said, "Explain."

The man looked up. "He's telling the truth."

It was my turn to sit down now. His voice urged me to believe him and it was working. I felt sick again as I dropped onto the chair. Adrian gave a small but triumphant grin as he watched my face come alive with realization. I almost smiled back at him, but then...

"Oh my god! Sirius Black!" shrieked Tatiana's shrill and recognizable voice.

The three of us whipped around. Tatiana stood there pointing a long and perfectly manicured finger at us. For the next few minutes pandemonium ensued in our kitchen. First Tatiana came running forward spraying something which I could only assumed was mace. Adrian pulled me off of the chair and on to the ground.

"You idiot!" I screamed at her, all the while struggling out of my brother's grip. "You're spraying mace in a freakin' kitchen! People eat outta this stuff!"

But as suddenly as she'd come storming in everything stopped. I heard a dull thump and looked up. Tatiana was lying ridged on the floor. Her arms were straight at her waist and her legs seemed to be stuck together. She was obviously having trouble moving her mouth as all the noise she was making came out in little squeaks. The man claiming to be our father was standing over her pointing a long stick in her direction.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what'd you do to her?" I asked just a little worriedly.

"A simple body bind charm," Sirius said, shrugging. "She'll be able to walk again in about twelve hours."

"Ch-charm?" I stuttered.

Adrian shrugged just like Sirius had. Oh god, they were so much alike it was scary. "Dad's a wizard," Adrian said in a very matter-of-fact voice. "So am I. You're a witch."

I decided to give Adrian one more chance to reclaim his sanity, so I gave my brother my worst and deadliest glare. "Listen, if you're going to resort to name calling I've been called worse than a bitch and you know that."

"He said witch, Piper." Sirius said

Ok, we'd deal with that later. "Why was she so scared of you?"

"You know how Tatiana travels in Europe a lot?" Adrian started.

I rolled my eyes. "The girl never ceases to remind me."

"She spent the summer in England a few years ago right around the time dad escaped from jail."

"You escaped from jail!" I said, breathing heavily. Sirius nodded. "I was only going to call the local cops before, but now I guess I should call the state troopers and the INS."

"No!" Adrian shouted as I reached for the phone. "He was framed. He's innocent, and you were all ready to give him scraps from the kitchen earlier."

Sirius grinned. "I never did thank you for that."

"That was a dog..." On the word dog my voice faded. And then to add more to my astonishment a small pop sounded and Sirius disappeared. In his place there stood a thin black dog. The same black dog that had been on the pavilion earlier.

I guess that was the final straw for me. I turned and ran from the kitchen, stumbling over Tatiana's body on the way. Her moans of pain had no effect on me as I ran out of The Apropos Café, and away from my father and brother.