"What is?" I probed tentatively. Nick just looked at him like he was utterly insane. Which, I'm sure he probably was.

"Well, you see, most of our students join us when they are aged 11 or 12, and you two are 16, meaning you've unfortunately missed much of your education, fortunately we can put you into fifth year, you'll just be the eldest," he reassured calmly, "However, you will need to do some serious catching up, we just don't want you to miss out on your magical education," He smiled warmly.

"That seems quite sensible," I agreed. Nick looked at me open mouthed.

"Absolutely no part of that was sensible Shane," he said, looking at me like I had a third eye. I chose to ignore his offensive gaze.

"I'll admit, it's a bit weird that we're not starting at the same time as everyone else, but really, if you're willing to put in the extra effort, we can catch up," I was brimming with excitement, this is exactly the kind of thing I'd been waiting for my whole life. Nick shook his head at me, his expression clearly showed his lack of understanding. I was slightly disappointed he didn't share my excitement.

At that moment there was a loud knock at the door, the woman from social services had arrived. For the next hour and a half me and Nick didn't get a chance to talk about anything, because the adoption process was being rushed through at an alarming speed. We were bombarded with questions, and then told to sit still and be quiet, while the woman from social services filled out paper work with the speed of a demon and asked the professors a whole stream of important sounding questions.

But, finally, at the end of it, we were adopted. Just like that. I hadn't realised until then just how desperate they were to be rid of us, although I was pretty sure one of the professors had done something to help speed the process a long a little. We were allowed to leave to go and pack. So, I still hadn't had a chance to talk to Nick. The truth was I was barely unpacked. I never really fully unpacked, because each of my stays was short lived, so no point unpacking just to completely pack up again. I threw the few things that were unpacked, clothes and things into my duffel bag and grabbed my suitcases. I was ready to leave.

Nick was downstairs already when I came down, but he didn't look at me as I approached him.

The woman from social services had apparently already left, and our ex-foster mother was nowhere to be seen. So, we walked out with the professors. And just like that we left a whole portion of our lives behind. We both realised, despite my earlier assurances, things were never going to be the same ever again.

"Where are you parked?" I asked looking up and down the street for an unfamiliar car.

"Oh, we're not flying today," Professor Dumbledore winked. I decided not to question it.

Instead, we were instructed to hold on to their arms, I held onto Professor Dumbledore's arm loosely.

"Slightly tighter dear, you'll be thankful for the support," he winked. I gripped tighter. I was starting to worry, in all honesty. But, what happened next, cannot be described in words. It was both the single worst, and best moment of my life. First we were standing in the driveway of our old house, and after a nauseating experience, we were standing outside a small pub.

I sat down abruptly on the kerb, feeling more than a little bit sick. After a few seconds, I stood up. I noticed Nick was clutching on to Professor McGonagall's arm. She had to leave him there as we walked into the pub.

As it turns out, it was more of a tavern, as there were rooms above the bar. Which is where we were going to stay until the beginning of the school year.

"Some friends of mine are going to be arriving with the next couple of days, I have advised them to watch out for you, there are some teenagers about your age who, I'm sure you'll get along with." Professor Dumbledore winked again. I smiled.

"In the mean time, we're having you're school things sent to you, along with quite a few books which should help you catch up on what you've missed," Professor McGonagall said, far more seriously.

Our things were taken to our rooms for us, as the Professor's left. We were left in the almost empty room. Nick sat down at a table.

"Are you going to talk to me?" I asked, standing next to him. He remained silent, "You'll have to talk to me at some point you know?" I poked his shoulder. he stood up and turned to me, we were quite close.

"If you get us killed, I'll torment your spirit for all of eternity, possibly longer, I can't believe you got us into this," he said accusingly.

"It's not my fault we're different," I retorted. He sighed, "Nick, you're like family to me, the closest thing I have anyway, and when I say this, know it comes from a place of love, but, you're being a total tit," I laughed, he pushed me playfully.

We both sat down.

"Ya know, we've got nothing to lose by giving it a try, at worst we'll have wasted a bit of time, time away from that house I might add, and have an interesting story to tell for a few years down the line," I made swirly patterns in the wood table.

"I just, I don't want you to get hurt, you're so ready to believe in all this stuff," Nick mumbled.

"We'll see then, won't we," I laughed.

That night I slept more peacefully than I had in a long time, because I finally had some answers, no matter what Nick said. I knew, in my heart, this was the mystery that had been haunting me my whole life. And, although I was hesitant to admit it to myself, I knew, it meant I was several steps closer to finding my real parents.

Over the next couple of days, people did start arriving.

First, came the secretive older guys. They spent most of the time huddled in the corners whispering to each other. As a fan of conspiracy stories, I was anxious to eavesdrop on their conversations, but Nick reminded me that really we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves too much. He was, unfortunately right. They came the same day we arrived, but quite late in the evening. None of them really acknowledged our presence at first, which Nick found to be a good sign, I didn't want to disagree with him out loud, but I did disagree with him.

I found it hard getting to sleep that, and apparently so did Nick. Back at the foster home, we had this sort of tradition, if either of us couldn't sleep, we'd go to the other's room and we'd stay up talking. So, I wasn't that surprised when Nick crept into my room late that night nestled himself at the end of my bed.

For a while we didn't say anything. I could feel the questions pass between us, we were both thinking the same things. We always knew what the other was thinking. We were alike in a lot of ways really.

When we did start talking, it was about the normal stuff. Music and books. Anything but the magic stuff. And, at some point I must've fallen asleep, though I don't really remember it. I woke up draped over Nick's legs, he was sat watching me, a stupid grin on his face.

"Not funny," I groaned, sitting up. He laughed at me, typical.

He got up and left, I took this time to have a shower and get dressed. There was a heavy feeling in my chest, I could tell this was going to be a long day.

"What I wouldn't give for a Rockstar right now," I sighed to myself.

"I know I've been out of the muggle world for a while, but that sentence didn't really make sense," a voice behind me sounded amused. I jumped out of my skin, and I'm pretty sure I screamed. I don't scream like a girl though, it's more of a yelp, "Sorry, the door was unlocked,"


A/N...Ahh, who could it be? hehe. Well, I got a friend of mine to read through my story so far, he says it's alright, I made slight alterations, so go back and re-read if ya like. And also. If people are reading this regularly or anything, please review and stuff. Or, I'll stop writing.

PS. I just realised that sounded like a bad threat. What I meant was, I need to know what people think, to know whether to write more, whether to change it slightly etc.