Who Wants to be Peter Pan?

When I was still at Hogwarts, and even for a few years after I left, I thought that I could continue life the way I was living it. I was wild as a youth, out of control. I liked to party, meet new people, try new things. Only I started to get tired, to get fed up, to get... Well, bored really. And my body and mind were exhausted.

I was twenty two when I grew up.

I tidied up the room I had. A "small apartment" was what it had been advertised as. It was more of a studio. One room and a cupboard-sized bathroom. But it was cheap and I didn't work. That's when I knew I was growing up, when I tidied that room. I never tidied before I was twenty two years, three months and nineteen days old. I just let the squalor grow and mutate around me, maybe waving my wand to push things to the side or clean the dishes every once in a while.

I miss living in the City almost as much as I miss living at Hogwarts. But maybe I have it better now.

It took my over a year to find my first magical job. I had been lazy at Hogwarts. Living in a boarding school had given me an excuse not to grow up as I would have outside in the muggle world. I never saw the need to try too hard, and my grades were A's and E's, no O's. I didn't have anything in the way of muggle qualifications either. Being a witch leaves you in a pretty daunting place when it comes to jobs, because magic is all you know. I started applying everywhere I could think of and ended up as an assistant in Obscurus Books. It's a poky little book shop on Diagon Alley, and although the job description was for an "assistant" I ended up making the tea and stacking the books. No matter how much I like tea and books, that job wore me down and after two years I was out.

Now I live in a caravan by the sea, many miles away from the congested streets of London. How marvellously kitsch an idea is that? When I was little I always wanted to live in a castle with flags and battlements and big fireplaces and extravagant gardens. Now I live in a modest caravan with flowery net curtains and a pink carpet on a cliff edge over a cold steely sea. And it's always cold up here. Thank goodness for my wand and hot air charms.

Now I work in a lighthouse. How cool? No more apparating to and from London. It's a lot of responsibility though, and I have to climb a lot of stairs every single day. I can't just wave my wand and be done with it. The fates of every soul on the boats that sail by is on my shoulders. Everything has to be checked and double checked. And I have to keep the lighthouse tidy as well. I got permission from the Department of Travel to open up the lighthouse to the public, and a few handy concealment charms keep muggles away from the magical parts. Everyone can go up to the top and see the wonderful view. I go up there every day and it still takes my breath away five years later.

I've finally found my vocation.

I've finally grown up.