Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. I am not associated with JK Rowling, Scholastic Inc, Bloombury, or Warner Bros. Entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended, as this is only for fun.

Author's Note: 30minutefics challenge fic. This one is begging to be fleshed out and turned into something bigger, so we'll see how that goes. If you read, please review.

Gideon was worried. Fabian saw that plainly enough. His eyebrows were knit together in concentration on setting up the wards. The younger brother was the Charms talent, Fabian was better with physical things – Herbology, Potions, that sort. He leaned back in the chair by the bay window and sighed. He was only twenty-four, could he really feel this old? He'd seen his share of death and danger. They both hung like an uncertain fog about his life.

The brothers really had no excuse. They knew what they were getting into when they'd accepted Albus Dumbledore's offer to be members of the Order of the Phoenix. Gideon had joined because of Marlene, who was now dead, and Fabian had joined because of Gideon. To protect and preserve good, and drive the evil from wizarding Britain.

The door opened and Gideon stepped in. Anyone who looked at the two would guess right away that they were brothers, if not identical twins. Worry and distress showed in every feature of Gideon's face, and Fabian was sure they were duplicated in himself, and he said, "All set?"

"I think so," Gideon said, sitting just opposite of him. "They'll activate in about twenty-four hours." Fabian nodded. "Fab, have we done the right thing?"

Fabian looked at his brother. "I don't know. What is the right thing, anymore?"

~*~

Fabian couldn't believe the human body could possibly hold that much blood inside of it. Gideon was probably barely alive. Fabian didn't dare risk looking. He was hurriedly deflecting every curse and hex that the three masked Death Eaters threw at him. It was all automatic now, nothing would penetrate the wall Fabian had built around himself. Not Gideon's screams as he was Crucio'd, not the Death Eaters' laughs... nothing.

At least they learn a lesson, Fabian thought dryly. He and Gideon had been ambushed a few months ago, shortly after the McKinnon's had been murdered, and there had only been two, whom they trounced soundly. Gideon had fought like a man possessed.

Merlin. Gideon.

He lost his rhythm. Curses hit him and he went down. He felt the sensation of being stabbed several times with hot knives. A curse, it's just a curse, he told himself. There really was that much bloody in the body. His head cracked solidly against the wall, repeatedly, until his teeth clacked. A trickle of blood ran down the back of his neck and his back, sticking to his robes and shirt.

Then there was no more sense to the pain after that. It just was. But the noise stopped. The Death Eaters had left.

"Fabian?"

Gideon looked horrible. The world was slowly slipping, but Fabian still had enough sense to reach out his hand. "I'm here, Gid."

"Fab... I'm gonna see Marlene again... innit that great?" His speech was slurred, but Fabian still heard it.

"What about me, I get to come, too?"

"Yeah, sure. If you want."

"Mom and dad'll want to see us, too."

"You were always the favorite, though." He tried to laugh, but it came out as a gargled sort of cough.

Vision was fading. "Gid... I'm glad we're going together."

"Brothers?" Fabian felt the heavy, dead weight of Gideon's hand in his.

"Brothers," he answered, and squeezed with his last bit of strength.