On my way home I stopped at the convenience store down the street from my flat. I got a tabloid and a candy bar. Normally I wouldn't spend the money, but I had just worked all day. I could celebrate a little.

I bought the tabloid because I wanted to do a little research on Harry Potter. I knew it was a tabloid and couldn't totally be trusted. According to the tabloids, I had a prosthetic leg and was a lesbian, so it could be full of lies. But I wanted to see what had happened to him and Ginny.

I'd never played with Ginny, but she certainly had a reputation. I'd joined the Harpies after she had quit. I knew she was now working with the English team, but that was about all I knew.

Luckily, I was able to find an article about her. It talked about her relationship with a new guy, saying she'd been divorced for nearly two years now. I didn't think there were any children involved. He was single and that's all that mattered.

Not that I wanted to date him or anything. Ginny just had a reputation and I didn't want to go anywhere near her man. It didn't appear to be a problem anymore. I didn't even know him, but he seemed like he might be fun to be around.

Upon getting home, I made dinner, and Cam emerged from his bedroom, his hair still unruly. He had just woken up. Because he was just finishing up the last month of his Healer training, he was stuck working the weirdest hours. Luckily I had made extra pasta.

"How'd it go?" he asked, sitting down across from me.

"They're letting me go back tomorrow," I told him, and he grinned. He had a really warming smile and I couldn't help but smile back.

"I guess it was successful then," he said. "Glad to hear it."

He told me about his day at work. I did love to listen to him talk. He was so productive with his life, being a Healer and all. It made me feel like I was useless sometimes.

But eventually he had to go to work and left me alone. The flat was always quieter when he left and it was saddening. Even if he had just been sleeping before, he still had a big presence in the flat.

I did the dishes and picked out my outfit for tomorrow. This would be my life now, boring and repetitive. There were no practices and no matches and no scrimmages and no more nights at the pub. I wasn't even allowed to drink because of one of my potions.

The phone rang and I picked it up. The only people that ever called were Cooper or my father. Dad was Muggle born and so was Cooper's partner Ethan, so they requested I have one. It had a distinct ring in the empty flat, and there was no way to ignore it. I left my bedroom to pick it up.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey Gwen," a voice I immediately identified as belonging to my brother Cooper said.

"Cooper," I said. I took the phone into my bedroom, because I was dead tired. "What's up?"

"How was your first day?" he asked. Cooper and I hadn't really been close growing up. There was enough of an age difference that we had never really been in the same place at the same time. By the time I was old enough to actually be interesting, he had been nearly off to Hogwarts. But after my accident we'd gotten a lot closer. He and Ethan were actually really cute together and I was really happy for him.

"I survived," I told him. "You know how it is with Andrew."

"Mmhm, I do," he said. "Probably made sure you knew who was in charge?"

Cooper knew Andrew so well sometimes it was a little scary. "At least three times he asked me to make sure he didn't regret giving me the job. I'm pouring coffee and scheduling meetings and filing things. I'm not exactly saving lives or anything."

"Oh well," he said. "Tomorrow, I'm taking you out for lunch to celebrate."

I smiled. "I only get half an hour for lunch," I told him. "But maybe this weekend."

"Half an hour is enough," he told me. He told me to meet him at a sandwich place just across the street from the Ministry entrance.

So now I had something to look forward to tomorrow. I wasn't sure if it would make the day go by slower because I was watching the clock or faster because it would give me a chance to get out of the office for awhile.

In reality, I was crazy busy the next day. I was almost afraid that I wouldn't have time to get to lunch and would stand Cooper up, but was able to slip out at the last moment. It didn't seem like a very hard job, but it looked like it might be busy.

I found Cooper sitting at a table in the back. He always dressed well, and today was no exception. I took my coat off and slid into the booth across from him.

"Hey," he said. "You look nice."

I snorted. Compared to his outfit, I most definitely did not look nice. It must have been the shock of seeing something that wasn't sweatpants and fit properly. "Thanks," I said. "You look nicer."

"Ethan and I are meeting a woman later," he told me. "Well, a girl, really. She's eighteen and pregnant and wants us to adopt the baby."

My heart swelled with happiness for them. I knew that they would make great parents. "I'm so happy for you two. You'll let me know how it goes, right?"

"Of course," he said. He was beaming and I could just see the happiness radiating off him. "I hope you like your sandwich. I didn't want to waste time waiting for you to order."

"Thank you," I said. I picked it up and bit into it. It was a simple turkey sandwich, but I was hungry. My whole body's schedule had been completely redesigned over the past forty eight hours and I was still struggling with figuring it all out. It left me starving before lunch though.

As he bit into his sandwich, mustard fell on his suit jacket. He swore and dabbed at it with a napkin. "This needs water," he said. "I'll be right back."

I looked down at my watch. Eighteen minutes until lunch was over and it would take me three minutes to get back to my office. So I focused on eating my sandwich. We could talk when he got back.

"Hello," someone said and I looked up. Harry Potter was standing there.

I was a little surprised to see him there. "Hi," I said. "Are you following me?" I joked.

His mouth turned upwards in a small smile. "I believeyousat withmeyesterday," he said.

"Your trainee driving you insane again?" I asked.

He nodded. "Like you wouldn't believe. I'm surprised he hasn't followed me over here yet."

I laughed at him. I could see Cooper coming up behind him and looking confused. "Excuse me," he said, as Harry was blocking his seat.

"Oh," Harry said, looking surprised. "I'm sorry. Anyways, my lunch is almost over, I should get back. I'll see you around."

I watched him walk away and then turned back to Cooper. "Get the stain out?" I asked.

He laughed at me."Smooth topic change," he told me. "Was that who I thought it was?"

"If you thought it was Harry Potter, you're right," I said. "We work together."

"He's nice to look at," Cooper commented with a cheesy grin.

"And you're very much taken," I informed him. "And he's into women... I think."

He nodded. "He is, trust me, I know... but you're not taken."

I shrugged. "I didn't get this job to meet blokes," I told him.

"Yeah, yeah," he said. "Plus aren't you still pining after the Healer?"

I thought about Cam. I wanted desperately to tell him. Maybe after a few weeks of working, I would have my life together enough to tell him. I felt sort of like a loser compared to him. He was put together and had a great job and was happy with his life. He was just so amazing. All I could do was nod in response to Cooper.

"Are you going to act on it?" he asked.

"I just..." I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. "Eventually."

I looked down at my watch, and realized I needed to leave two minutes ago. I shoved the rest of my sandwich in my mouth and got up, sliding my coat back on. As soon as I swallowed, I leaned down to kiss Cooper's cheek.

"Thank you!" I said. "Good luck tonight!"

And then I ran back to my desk. I knew I would be late, of course, because I had to wait for the lift. But Andrew would just have to deal with it today. I would stay an extra five minutes if I had to.

Luckily, I was only three minutes late according to my watch as I slid back behind my desk. It didn't look as if any of the people I helped had noticed I was gone and I breathed a big sigh of relief. Only four more hours until I could go home.

Cooper called me that night and told me all about his meeting with Cecily, the girl who wanted them to adopt her baby. She was four months pregnant and very committed to giving up the baby. From here on out, Ethan and Cooper would pay for any costs of the care for her. In a few weeks, they would get to find out if they would be expecting a son or a daughter in June. I was so happy for them because they totally deserved it.

And Mum would besohappy. I probably wouldn't get bothered about settling down for at least a month after their baby was born. That bought me six months, which was enough time to either tell Cam how I felt about him or find someone else.

My life did appear to be falling into a pattern, but I wasn't so sure I minded. It was a sort of welcome stability when there were so many unknown variables in my life.

The next day at work, I got my lunch and sat down at a table by myself. The food here was not great and I made a mental note to figure an alternative lunch for next week. I wasn't a great cook but I could figure out a sandwich or salad to bring.

"Mind if I join you?"

I didn't even have to look up before I smiled. "Told you that you're following me," I said.

He pulled out a chair. "Don't let your boyfriend get jealous, though," he said.

"Boyfriend?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. I was seriously confused.

"The bloke you were with yesterday?" he asked.

I laughed at him, I couldn't help it. That was really funny that he thought Cooper was my boyfriend. His face turned red with embarrassment and I could tell he was confused. "I'm sorry," I said. "I just think it's funny you thought my brother was my boyfriend."

He laughed too. "Woops," he said, color rising to his cheeks.

"I'm still single," I told him. "Much to my mother's dismay."

"Let me guess," he said. "Something along the lines of,Gwen, when are you going to settle down? When are you going to give me grandchildren, you're wasting your life on stupid things?"

He sounded exactly like my mother and I almost turned around to make sure she wasn't here. "That's scary," I told him.

"Try getting it from your ex-mother-in-law," he said. "It's even worse."

I nodded. "You win," I told him. "That must be extremely awkward."

"Awkward, annoying..." he trailed off."Yes, she means well. But I've only been divorced for eighteen months. And I'm only thirty. I've got time."

"Exactly!" I said. "I'm twenty four, I've gotplentyof time to meet someone, and I haven't got an expiration date or anything. Just because both of my brothers found the person they're still with while they were at Hogwarts doesn't mean I had to."

"If you had you probably wouldn't have stayed with them forever," he told me. And then realized what he had said. "Sorry, just a bit of residual bitterness."

"Don't worry about it," I told him. "So I guess the saying that Aurors always end up divorced or dead isn't always just a saying?"

He shook his head. "Definitely some truth behind it. Though Andrew's done pretty well so far," he said.

"They've been together since their fifth year," I told him. "I'm not sure Andrew even knows how to function without Audrey."

He made a face and I knew exactly what he was trying to convey. "That's... forever," he managed.

"Practically," I said. I sighed, and realized I'd been so busy talking to him I had barely touched my food. "Can I ask you for some advice?"

He nodded. "Sure," he said.

"So my flatmate's a guy," I said. "And he's just amazing, he's smart and funny and I feel like he's doing something with his life, you know? Like I've got no idea what I'm going to be doing in five years but he's got all these plans and he's going to be a Healer and all. And I fancy him so badly. But I just don't know... how to approach it."

He looked at me for a moment. "I think you should start by telling him," he said, laughing. "Just... tell him what you told me... that you think he's great. If he's really all you say he is, he won't make a fuss over it or anything. He's single, right? So I don't see why he wouldn't go out on a date with you."

I nodded. "That sounds really simple," I told him. "Hopefully it will just be simple."

"It won't be that bad," he said. "Really."

I nodded, and double checked my watch. I couldn't be late to get back to my desk today. Andrew hadn't said anything about it yesterday but I didn't want to push my luck and definitely didn't have the energy to fight with him today. Plus, he had more important things to be doing. I said goodbye to Harry. Hopefully I would be able to act on his advice tonight.

Author's Note: Thanks for all the support. This story is off to a great start and it makes me really happy :) Thank you to potter-reading-coastie for the beta. Let me know what you think! And here's the latest installment of his story...

EMILY AND THE COASTIE Part 3

For the second time in as many days, the door was blasted off the Dark Library.

"Coastie, we have a minor problem. I shall require your knowledge to fix this problem."

Coastie looked over to the Dark Enchantress. "Alright, what have you done now? Accidentally killed too many followers or something?"

"Well, I didn't kill anybody per sé, but I might as well have."

"What do you mean you might as well have?"

"Follow me, and I'll show you."

Coastie followed the Dark Enchantress out of the library and up a few staircases to an unused part of the mansion. In a bedroom that was more suited to a house elf, he found Karmon in a small bed.

"And how exactly did she end up like this?" asked Coastie

She wouldn't meet his face. "Well, you know how I hit her with the Cruciatus yesterday and held it until you left? I think I may have held her under it for too long"

"What? How long did you hold it? She seems comatose."

She mumbled something, but he didn't understand it. "What? Speak up; I need to know so I can fix it."

The Dark Enchantress glared at Coastie, and then sighed. "Fine, I spaced out, okay? I think maybe half an hour to an hour."

Coastie sighed. "You're right." he said. "You might as well have killed her. There is no coming back from being held under the Cruciatus for more than five minutes. There is only one thing to do."

The Coastie turned around quickly, facing Karmon again. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

As the green light struck Karmon, both Coastie and the Dark Enchantress dropped to the floor…