"To the fortress!"

I'd heard the small rout of children before they appeared over the hill, all dressed like those muggle explorers, their beige outfits were covered in debris and each child looked as if some fierce beast was out to have them for lunch. My friends and I only paused briefly in our conversation to glance over at them all running for the treehouse - their fortress - not far from where we sat in the garden.

The treehouse had many entrances, and the first three boys to reach it had chosen their respective entrance.

The shaggy haired one dangling off the rope swing, all of eight years old, was the leader of the ragtag group, Levi. When I had first been hired to watch over the Cresswell boys, he was just a toddler, the youngest of the four by more than a few years. Naturally he was my favorite of the bunch. He was also more than a handful with all his adventures. Once he'd painted the entire lower half of the sitting room blue. When I'd scolded him on it, he said, "But I'm a pirate! I NEED the sight of the sea!"

By this time we'd returned to our conversation as all eight kids presumably made it safely into the treehouse. It was only when Levi shouted that we looked back at them with mild concern. "Where's Chip?" Christopher, or Chip, was the same age as Levi and the boy's best friend. It was the only reason he was begrudgingly allowed to play with the others, as he lacked the speed and coordination of the other boys, and sometimes would fall out of graces with them because of it.

But Levi was loyal to a fault and wouldn't abandon Chip, even if it annoyed some of the other boys.

"Man down! They're gonna get 'em!" The twins had shouted. All where watching now as the Chip made it down the hill, his little legs not carrying him fast enough to outpace the four mutts trailing him blithely.

Levi jumped off the rope swing, and sprinting towards his best friend. "Lets save him!"

"No! We'll all be eatin!"

"He's not worth it!"

They all were shouting at their leader, to which he glanced over his shoulder and responded, "Leave no man behind! 'Specially no Chip!" He was a fast kid, but he wasn't fast enough to save them both and self-sacrifice was required for his buddy to make it to the fortress.

It had always been this way when they played and it continued to be for the remainder of the summer. It never bothered Levi, who enjoyed playing martyr and wouldn't even entertain the thought of leaving his friend behind.

One day in the fall I heard the familiar sound of many footsteps rush into the house. "Miss Ana! Miss Ana!" My eyes darted away from my book at the urgency in their voices and settled on the soggy trio, wondering what was the problem, and where Levi and Chip where.

I didn't need to voice those thoughts as Marc soon started rambling out an explanation. "We were in the creek catching double-ended newts and Charlie dared Levi that he couldn't climb that tree, the tall one with all the leaves. And he said he could, but we all knew he couldn't cause it didn't have no low branches and he was too short to jump that high!" He panted, and the other two boys started to take over.

"He cheated though and started to climb the tree beside it, hung right over the creek bed but it wasn't safe. We didn't know -"

"It had doxies! A whole nest of 'em and they was MAD. They made him fall! Right out of the tree and we don't know what happened after 'cause we had to run, get you and not get stung." They all stood panting and distressed.

"Stay here." I commanded, apparating away. I knew the creek they frequented and popped up on the trail running past it. Running down to the water I was shocked at the site. Soaking wet, and lying motionless beside the creek bed was Levi. Chip was standing above his friend with a tree branch too large for his bearing swinging wildly, determined to hit as many doxies as he could.

I rushed forward and conjured up a large gust of wind, sending the doxies back into the trees and knocking over small Chip. A cushioning charm lightened his fall and not a moment later I was by both of their sides, grabbing hold of them and returning them to the house.

Levi had thankfully, only been knocked out by the fall, but sustained a good number of doxy bites and a broken ankle. The number of bites on him didn't compare to the amount on Chip though, who I later learned had stayed to protect his downed friend. Overwhelmed with gratitude, I pulled him in for a tight hug. "You didn't have to do that, Chip."

He squirmed out of my grip and shrugged his shirt back into place, confused at why I was surprised by his act of loyalty. "Levi says, 'leave no man behind'."

"I leave no Levi behind." He picked up a deck of exploding snap and went back to his resting friend.