So, a new story, longest I have ever written. Hope you enjoy it, and please review! This is AU, something I have only written once before, and something I have been working on for the last four months. It means a lot to me, and I'd like to know what you think of it.

Chapter 1

They turned up at the orphanage one night. The older boy stood there, dark eyed and solemn, one arm around his brother, whose big blue eyes were wide and afraid, looking huge in his small face.

"Who are you?"Mrs Sandleford asked, opening the door further so she could get a proper look.

The older boy replied, "I'm Henry Ivers, and this is my brother Felix. Our parents-"

His brother tugged on his coat sleeve, interrupting him. "No, you're Hazel, and I'm Fiver. You never call me Felix, only mummy calls-"Hestopped abruptly and his eyes filled with tears.

Hazel pulled his brother close and hugged him. Looking over Fiver's head, he told Mrs Sandleford quietly, "Ourparents died in a fire two days ago. We were brought here by a lady from the hospital. She said she'd called Mr Sandleford, and he'd said it was okay."

Mrs Sandleford smiled at him, charmed by the picture he and his brother made. "I do remember him mentioning new children, though he could have given me a bit more warning! Never mind, dear, come inside. Do you want something to eat?" she continued as she walked up the hall, the boys following behind, Hazel still with one arm around his brother. "It's past suppertime, but I'm sure I can find something for you to eat. Growing boys need food, after all." She suddenly turned and looked at them with an enquiring expression. "That reminds me, how old are you boys?"

Hazel, caught off guard by the sudden change of topic, took a moment to answer. "I'm eleven, and Fiver is seven."

Fiver tugged Hazel closer and whispered something in his ear. Hazel smiled slightly. "I'll tell her, Fiver." He turned to Mrs Sandleford. "Fiver reminded me, he's seven and a half, not seven. And yes, we are hungry."

"I thought you would be!" Mrs Sandleford said, starting to walk towards the kitchen again. "Come with me, I'll get you something nice to eat."

After they were fed and changed in pyjamas, Ms Sandleford led the way to the boys dormitory. "Now, the other boys are asleep, so mind you don't go waking them up. Just get into bed, and one of the boys can show you around in the morning." With that, she left Hazel and Fiver in the dark room, with the quiet broken only by the sounds of boys snoring and mumbling in their sleep .

"I don't like it here, Hazel," Fiver said, turning over in his bed to face his brother.

"I don't like it either, Fiver, but we'll get used to it." Hazel suddenly frowned, and looked sharply at Fiver. "You didn't - see - anything about it, did you?"

Fiver shuddered. "No, and I never want to see anything like that again!"

"Whatever you saw, it saved our lives, Fiver," Hazel said, sitting up in bed. "If you hadn't seen anything, we wouldn't have gone outside, and we would have died in the fire too."

"At least then we'd be with mummy and daddy," Fiver whispered, his voice quavering.

Hazel sighed, then got out of bed and padded over to his brother. "Can I sleep here tonight?"

Fiver nodded eagerly, waiting for his brother to settle down, then cuddling him close. "Don't go away, Hazel," he murmured, drifting off to sleep. "I want you to stay with me."

"I'm not going anywhere, little brother," Hazel sleepily whispered back. "I'm always going to stay with you. I promise."

"Hey look! New kids!"

Hazel blearily opened his eyes at the sound of shouting. For a moment, he wondered where he was, then he remembered. His parents had died, and he and Fiver were now orphans. Well, that explained the weight pinning down his arm. He turned to see Fiver still asleep, unruly reddish brown hair tickling his arm where it lay.

"Who are you?"

Hazel turned to see the owner of the voice that had woken him up, a sandy haired boy with a beaming smile. "I'm Hazel, this is Fiver. Who are you?"

"I'm Leon, but everyone called me Dandelion," he said, brushing his hair away from his face, then changing his mind and holding it up for Hazel to get a better look. "It's the hair, you know. Bright yellow hair and the name Leon, I wanted to be Lion, king of the jungle, you know, but I ended up as Dandelion." Pushing his hair away from his face again, he continued, "Are your names really Fiver and Hazel?"

Fiver had woken up while Dandelion was talking and now spoke, lifting his head from where it was resting on Hazel's arm. "No, but our other ones are only for when we are in trouble."

"We'll all be in trouble if we wait any longer!" another boy said, coming up behind Dandelion and pulling on his sleeve. "Come on, Dan, or the others will hog all the hot water!"

"I'm coming, Acorn, I just want to talk to the new kids first," Dandelion said, briefly turning to face his friend.

Acorn ran out of the room, calling out behind him, "Your loss!"

"Acorn?" Hazel asked, pushing back the covers and getting out of bed.

"Cause he's a nut who falls out of trees," Dandelion said cheerfully. "He's right, though. The other boys will use up all the hot water if we take too long, so grab your clothes and I'll show you the way to the bathrooms."

Hazel and Fiver quickly did as he said and before long were washed up and seated at the long table in the dining room, each with a bowl of grey, soupy porridge in front of them. "Are you sure you don't have any bad feelings about this place?" Hazel whispered to his brother. "This porridge is certainly giving me a bad feeling."

Fiver gave him a tiny smile, replying, "I don't have any bad feelings about this place, but the porridge looks gross."

"No bad feelings, so it probably isn't poisonous," Hazel mused. He shrugged and picked up his spoon. "Here goes!"

As soon as the spoon was in his mouth, he pretended to gag, making faces while wiping at his tounge. It didn't really taste that bad, but Fiver giggled, so he considered it worthwhile. "There. I've had my turn, so now it's yours, little brother. Come on, eat up!"

Fiver, still giggling, raised a spoonful of porridge to his mouth and ate it, then made a face of his own. They finished the meal that way, with every bite competing for who could make the most disgusted face.

Dandelion watched them from across the table, looking amused. "The food's always awful here. There's too many kids, not enough money. And no one ever wants to adopt us either. They only want the little kids." He gestured to Fiver. "You'd probably get adopted."

Fiver looked at Hazel, his smile disappearing to be replaced by a look of terror. Hazel slipped an arm around him, and frowned at Dandelion. "We stay together. Fiver's not going to go off with someone else without me."

Dandelion shrugged. "Okay then." He pushed his chair away from the table and stood up gathering up his bowl and cutlery. "Come on, there's chores to do."