Two cats perched in a nearby tree, their eyes fixed upon a shabby slightly rundown house. The only new part and sound part being a large deck that had a sloping incline wrapping around the front were steps should be. One of the cats twitched it's tail restlessly, looking annoyed. By contrast, the other looked completely calm, it's eyes idly searching up and down the moonlit street of dirt and stones. Finally, at twenty to midnight, a van slowly clunked into view.

As the van carefully pulled into the driveway, the annoyed looking cat gave a final twitch of it's tail. Now it wasn't a cat, but a middle aged severe looking woman wearing a deep emerald cloak.

"Albus, I'm telling you I don't like this. The boy is fine, but his sister could never fit in at Hogwarts! There must be another way." The tone in her voice had the smell of old argument.

In silence, the other cat watched as the boy turned off the van and got out. Walking around to the side of the van to open the doors. they continued to watch as the boy quickly and with practiced ease lowered and unfolded a strange contraption. After a moment, a sweet faced girl, sitting in what appeared to be a chair with wheels on it, carefully rolled out onto the thing that the other had unfolded.

Handing the girl the control, the boy quickly jumped over the rails of the deck and moved to unlock the door.

Now Albus had quietly jumped to the ground and with a popping sound, stood up like the man he was.

"We have no choice Minerva, they will not be parted. They cannot be separated. It's either we take them both, or leave them both." Albus Dumbledore said quietly. "Either way, the choice it up to them."

"Still, do we have to do it now? They look tired."

"Yes, we are cutting it close as it is, we cannot afford to waste anymore time."

Without another word, Albus Dumbledore strode toward the house. Sighing, Professor McGonagall could do nothing but follow in his wake.

"Jake, I'm sorry." Tammy said quietly as she rubbed her tired eyes with her left hand while her right hand, oddly jointed and cocked at the wrist, laid in her lap.

"For what? This isn't your fault. I only wish you told me sooner how much pain you were in sweetie." Closing the door behind him, Jake summoned a smile to his face, though his emerald eyes were dark with worry.

"I didn't want to sound like a wimp. Besides, there was nothing you could do about it. As it is, we still have to wait three more months." Her mouth tightened and her topaz blue eyes flashed in pain as she tried to sit up straighter.

"How can you stand it? It hurts me just watching you!" Jake asked, moving to her side, but knowing better than to assist her.

"Because I don't have a choice Jake, you know that." Suddenly an odd look crossed her face and she grimaced. "Damn! Jake…"

Swearing quietly, he moved aside so that Tammy could park in her room. Damn it all, was she to be spared nothing! "Don't feel sorry for me twin love, after all, what are twins for?"

A wry twist of her mouth told him that she wasn't fooled, but then again, she rarely was thanks to the link that bound them together. "Try again, twin mine. Neither of us likes it. I wonder if I haven't ruined you sometimes."

Jake ignored that last part, since it wasn't important. "But I would rather help you myself rather than some stranger!" Jake countered hotly as he carefully picked her up. Inside he cried as he felt her go rigid with pain in his arms. He kept talking, it helped distract them both. "Besides that, even though I don't like it, there's no other choice. I don't want you taken from me."

"You think I want us to be separated? Still, you can't just spend your whole life taking care of me."

Jake leaned against the closed door. "It won't be forever Tammy. We'll find a way."

"I know Jake, I know." Came the sigh.

A few minutes later Jake had helped Tammy into bed and kissed her goodnight. He hoped that her back would give her at least a few hours sleep. Now, after it was all said and done, Jake couldn't hold back the shudder of horror and fear that swept over him.

It never failed to amaze him how strong she was. When the doctors told him that Tammy's spine was curved nearly in half, he had almost lost it. Jake was almost sick when they were told that she would have to have two stainless steel rods and a whole bunch of metal wire inserted onto her back to try and repair the damage. If it felt half as painful as it sounded…

The sudden loud clang of the doorbell jarred him out of his increasingly morbid thoughts. Automatically, Jake moved to answer the door, knowing that his twin wouldn't be happy at all if it woke her up.

"Hello?" He asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion. Jake had half a mind to slam the door shut. His eyesight blurred slightly as he tried to focus on the people in front of him.

"Jake? Jake Anthony Fear?" The woman asked.

Feeling the blood run to ice in his veins, he could only nod, taking a protective step backwards as he did so.

"Are you from Child Services?" Jake asked numbly.

The man smiled kindly at Jake. "No we are not, but we must speak to you and your sister immediately."

Jake felt all the color drain from his face. As though in a fog, he opened the door wider and allowed them inside. Showing them into the kitchen, he left them there to wake his twin.

Not bothering the turn on the light, Jake slipped silently into her room and fought back the urge to cry when he saw that she was, for once, sound asleep; he gently touched her shoulder as softly as he could while reaching for her though the link that they shared.

Twin? Tammy honey? I'm sorry to wake you, but-

Wordlessly he threw open the inner gates of his mind and felt Tammy absorb what was going on, courteously passing by the deeper emotions to allow him the illusion of privacy.

Damn… he felt the dark annoyance behind her thoughts. I just got to sleep… all right, let me roll over… Can you please put my robe in the chair?

Turning away to do as she asked, Jake wished he could close his ears as he heard the quiet whimpers of pain coming from her bed as she slowly forced herself to move from the marginally comfortable position she had been in.

"Jake" her voice was breathless with pain, "Do it now… please."

Grinding his teeth, Jake almost stopped breathing when his twin let out a soft small involuntary cry of pain. Quickly, wishing only to stop her pain, he tenderly placed her back into her wheelchair.

For one moment, he felt what she felt, and he didn't need to hear her shaky "thank you" to know that she was relieved to be still.

Panting for breath, he glared at her though the darkness, waiting for it to pass.

"Sorry Jake, it hurt so badly, and the 'door' ripped open before I could catch it… Are you all right now?"

"Yeah. I'm okay. You?"

"OUCH! Yeah… dressing is not as easy as it used to be." A soft hiss of indrawn breath and the soft snapping of snaps told him that she had gotten it on. After a momentary clatter and fumbling sounds, Jake felt the gentle bush of her fingers on his hand.

"Let's go twin."

Tammy was in no-too-sweet a temper as she followed her brother into the kitchen, after pushing her glasses up more comfortably on her nose. Her back was nothing but a dull painful ache that could flare into mind-splitting agony at any movement. Gratefully, she felt the mask of serenity slip onto her face without effort. If these strangers expected an empty brained doll they were about to be blown out of the water. As she had always done, she opened the door slightly between herself and the world around her. While the link between herself and her twin was known and used by both of them, this gift of empathy could be used only by Tammy.

Having this gift allowed her to get a better sense of how people reacted to her and warned her if they could not be trusted. While not always perfect, it was still a comfort to her. To Tammy, this gift seemed merely an extension of her eyes and ears when used with good common sense. However, she never opened herself up completely, because she wouldn't risk going too far.

"Hello. My name is Tammy Fear, I was told by my brother that you wished to speak to us." She spoke, meeting their eyes and nodding politely in greeting, watching their reactions.

The kind elderly gentlemen stood and smiled at them both. If he was surprised at her appearance, he didn't outwardly show it, but she sensed that he was sincere and that he was an honest man. "I am sorry to disturb you both. My name is Professor Albus Dumbledore, my companion is Professor McGonagall."

Although the woman politely nodded her head in greeting the twins had caught her reaction to Tammy's appearance. As always, Tammy fought back the urge to hide her hand behind her back.

It's her problem, not yours! Came Jake's silent support.

I know, don't worry about it. She replied.

"We have come here to invite the two of you to our school for the gifted, Hogwarts of Witchcraft and Wizardry…" The woman started.

Both twins listened politely, but lack of sleep and the stresses of the day had shortened their tempers considerably.

Jake waited for them to finish speaking before taking a deep breath before replying.

"I'm sorry, but although your school sounds wonderful, I'm afraid that with all due respect we must decline."

Seeing the look of shock on McGonagall's face, Tammy stepped in. "We are already enrolled to go to the public school in our area. From what you have told us, you already know that our parents are dead and that our relatives-" Jake snorted in contempt, but a look from Tammy stopped him before she continued "well, the less said of them the better, but I assure you that they won't aide us in any way."

Jake took over again. "Also, from your description of the grounds I do not think that your school would do my sister any good. As you know, I refuse to go if my sister cannot come with me."

Professor McGonagall looked as though about to say something, but at a look from Albus Dumbledore, stayed silent. Instead, they both stood up.

"I understand your point of view, but I also realize that both of you are short on sleep. I only ask that both of you think about this before making up your minds permanently." Dumbledore said with a nod and a smile as he led his companion to the door.

Tammy just sat there motionless as Jake escorted them out. When he came back, they just stared as each other.

"Let's get some sleep, and we'll discuss this tomorrow." Tammy finally said before Jake could.

Nodding in agreement, it was all Jake could do to help his twin get back into her own bed before collapsing in his own.

Still, for both of them, sleep was long in coming.

What were they going to do now?