First Fanfic: Loved this story in my head, had to write it down somewhere…

Chapter One: The City

It was two o'clock in the morning. I shivered. The rain was coming down hard, and a puddle had formed on the floor under the hole in the roof the rain had been leaking through all night. He wasn't back yet. Usually he didn't come back so late at night. I was beginning to worry.

My name is Caitlin Turner. I am sixteen going-on seventeen, and I live alone with my fifteen-year-old brother. We live in New York City, in a small shack constructed of cardboard, aluminum, newspaper, and garbage bags. There is just enough room for our little makeshift home down an alley in Chinatown, where people generally don't ask too many questions. We've been living here ever since we left school in May. We had to make our way back from Massachusetts to the city with barely any money, food, or help. Our parents deserted us. We're completely alone. Well, we have been for quite some time, not just since we've been homeless.

I can't wait till December. Then I'll be legal. I'll be able to take care of us. Everything will get better. I can't wait to use my magic again.

Oh yeah, and I'm a witch. My brother's a wizard. I attended Salem Institute for five years before leaving. My brother went for four years. Our parents are Muggles. They're also alcoholics. We ran away last year, towards the end of the summer, after being beaten by our father. We went to school for the year, but didn't have enough money for next year. So we jumped ship. Got back to the city on my brother's broomstick. We can't use magic, or the authorities, which are probably looking for us anyway, will find us. I doubt they expected us to come back here, though.

We haven't heard from our parents since running away, nor have we wanted to. We know they live in the city, but we only came back because we know the city. It's always been our home. We don't expect to ever see them again. How the hell they were allowed to adopt two children is beyond me, but they did, and now here we are, on the street with no money, meager nourishment, and nothing to do except scrounge throughout the city and take things from garbage cans, dumpsters, and the like. We try to avoid stealing except when it's absolutely necessary. Even then, we take only what we need. So yeah, life is pretty tough right now. But we scrape through it.

I heard footsteps coming from the entrance to the alleyway. Someone was running, his footsteps splashing through the rain. I knew who it was, and breathed a sigh of relief. Nobody else ever came down this way, and nobody else would be out here in the rain anyway. I sat up from my bed (Newspaper padding, with some sheets stolen from my bed at school) and watched as the garbage bag that covered the entrance to the shack swung aside. My brother Will was standing there, soaking wet, in a rain jacket and sweatpants, but with a forced smile on his face.

"Hey there, got some good stuff from that dumpster up on 8th Street! Half of a muffin. And get this. In a plastic container!" he tossed something that he took out of a plastic bag at me and I caught it while eyeing him skeptically.

"What flavor?" I asked.

He grinned and said, "Chocolate chip."

"Nice one." I reached up and high-fived him, and then dug into the muffin. I hadn't had much to eat today, and we were both growing skinnier by the hour. I was halfway through the muffin when I asked, "Hey, what did you get to eat?"

"I had enough." He replied with another weak smile, and then looked down at his bag, out of which he was trying to dig some dry clothes.

I knew he hadn't eaten, but didn't press him. He deals with hunger better than I do, so I don't object to his method of giving me the better end of the stick when it comes to food. It doesn't help that I'm an extremely picky eater, either.

"Will, it's two in the morning, what took you so long?"

"Had a bit of trouble getting home in the rain. Ended up waiting inside the entrance to a restaurant for about an hour. Besides, you only left about two hours ago to come back here."

That was true. We had been looking in dumpsters until dusk, when it began to rain. That was when I had turned back, but Will had kept going, trying to find us some food to tie us over. Apparently we had gotten lucky.

"Night," said Will, as he rolled over on his small bed. There was barely enough room in the shack for our things and us. We each had one bag, with all of our important belongings in it. They looked like normal backpacks, but were really much bigger on the inside. I had, with some difficulty, pulled of an Undetectable Extension Charm before we had left, enabling us to fit in some bigger things, like Will's broomstick.

"Night," I said back as I finished the muffin and put the plastic container back in the plastic bag. Who knows, it might come in handy later, I thought.

I watched him as he fell asleep, his breath becoming even and relaxed. Luckily it wasn't cold yet. It was only the beginning of August. I knew he was acting so positive in order to keep me positive. Truth is, I was becoming more and more reserved every day. We both had always looked out for each other, kept each other safe, and helped each other through bad times. I was having trouble staying motivated, and I knew I was acting pretty morose sometimes. My brother hardly ever lost his temper, which was more than I could say for myself. I knew he resented the way we lived though. He was angry that life for both of us had been so unfair. It had grown to the point where we had to live on the streets, forgo the use of magic, and starve. He just stayed positive to keep me from losing control. I remember flying back from Salem, as we realized that the people around us had ruined our lives especially our parents. We never had too many friends at school. They weren't generally mean u, but mostly just ignored us. The teachers didn't help us at all, and Salem didn't have scholarships, or any way for underprivileged students to attend. I remember what we had both agreed upon as we left everything behind: We would never trust anyone except each other, ever again.

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Slightly short first chapter just wanted to set it up a bit. Will get a lot better, hopefully. Please read and review to get me started, it would help a lot. Anyway, I'll try to update this frequently. Be negative if you want, just try to keep it constructive please. Thanks!