Disclaimer: NEWS BREAK! Contrary to popular belief, Phankam does not own Harry Potter! :) JK Rowling does.

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July 21st, 2022

James:

I'm sorry I haven't written in while, but you haven't either so you can't say anything against me. The house is awfully quiet without you or Lily around –she's staying at some friend's house for a week or so-, so it's basically just me and Mrs. Black, who, as you know, isn't exactly the best summer companion one can wish for.

Dad has been very busy at work because of some random groups of people claiming to be Death Eaters –you know, the usual stuff-, and mum has been preparing everything for us to travel to Norway to witness the finals for the Quidditch World Cup. Are you going to be able to come? It'd be brilliant; I think mum managed to get tickets for a good number of people in the family, so I reckon it will be fun.

So my summer hasn't been very exciting, and it probably sounds even worse to you, Mr. 'I-am-doing-an-internship-in-Bulgaria'. I've been flooing to Diagon Alley pretty often, but it gets old after a while, and there's no one really to hang out with. And plus, I hate flooing. I am going to the Ministry next week with dad after I turn 17 so I can take my apparition exam, which I'll probably pass. And… I miss you. I'm sorry if my letter doesn't make much sense, but you know I'm not the best letter writer in the family, that would be Rose.

Take care; I hope to hear from you soon.

Your little brother,

Albus S. Potter.

PS: Oh, and by the way, say hi to Uncle Viktor and Aunt Angie, and to Andrei too, even though I still think he's an idiot.

James chuckled as he finished reading the letter that had just arrived with his sister's owl Fiona. He wondered for a second why Albus had used Lily's owl instead of his own, but refrained from asking. The letter had taken some days to arrive, and James realised his brother's birthday was the following day, the 26th of July. He stretched in his bed and looked at the ceiling. The room was decorated in green and silver, and James couldn't help but to feel slightly uncomfortable with the Slytherin colours, but what else could he expect? He was, after all, sleeping in Andrei Krum's bedroom, and obviously with him being a Slytherin prefect and Slytherin Quidditch captain, he'd favour those colours.

He sat up on the bed and looked around for some parchment to reply to the letter as soon as possible, since tomorrow he would go back to being an intern at the Wizarding Hospital in Bulgaria -which had a name that he could hardly pronounce- and he definitely wouldn't have time to do so then.

...

"How's James doing, Ginny?" Molly Weasley asked as Albus and Lily were setting the table for dinner. Albus felt quite accomplished of being able to do it with his wand, which until a few days before he hadn't been allowed to do, while Lily glared at him for 'showing-off' his new permission to do magic outside of school. Rose was successfully charming a knife to peel potatoes by itself, with the help of Aunt Fleur, who had a few nice household charms under her sleeve.

It was hard not to notice how The Burrow was starting to look emptier every summer, with the Weasley grandchildren slowly leaving school and thus leaving their homes. The only members of the family who still attended school were Albus, Rose, Roxanne, Lily and Hugo, and the only one of the older ones that was still at home was Fred, who decided to continue working at Weasley Wizard Wheezes with his father.

"He hasn't written much, but that's just how boys are." Ginny answered, looking over at Albus. He smiled a little, knowing that she was referring to the fact that if Albus ever wrote home from school, the letter was most likely addressed to Harry.

"Rose is usually the one to write home, it takes a lot to get Hugo to write." Hermione commented as she eyed warily the knife her daughter was charming, not quite able to relax even though the seventeen-year-old girl seemed to be doing alright with her magic.

"I'm not sure who was worse, Ronald or Charles." Molly commented as she looked over at her sons, who ever out of earshot. Ron smiled a little, not sure of what was being said about him, and Charlie merely rolled his eyes, knowing that it was probably some sort of complaint.

"Probably dad, he's still pretty bad with letters." Rose said as she put her wand down. "He rarely replies personally when I write..."

"He did write back that one time... when he found out about you and Scorpius..." Lily teased, which transformed Rose's previous friendly face into a murdering scowl and she put her wand back up just slightly, which was quickly spotted by their grandma.

"It's just a little joke, sweetie. And also we all think Scorpius is a fine young man, don't we?" she said, looking around the room. Albus nodded, and so did Hermione, Ginny and Lily (who was still grinning in a mischievous way), which was enough for Molly. Ron and Charlie walked back into the kitchen.

"What's the topic?" Charlie asked as he sat at the kitchen table right next to Lily, who moved closer to her favourite uncle.

"Oh, just talking about Scorpius Malfoy." Lily said, getting yet another murderous glance from Rose. Ron seemed to get paler for a second, but didn't comment. "He and Rose, they're just so..." Lily made a gesture with her hands that seemed to evoke something huge. "So special, you'd think they've been made for each other..."

"Lily, let me remind you I am allowed to use magic outside of school now." Rose muttered under her breath, so just Albus and Lily, who were the closest to her, could hear.

"Scorpius is okay." Ron said in what sounded like a very well-rehearsed line. "So... Albus, any thoughts of after-school careers?" The topic switch was so fast it took Albus a while to process, so he just let his mouth hang open for a second before managing to find words to answer the question.

Truth be told, he didn't really like talking about it since he wasn't so sure about it himself, and having all those eyes on him definitely wasn't helping him with making a decision.

"Don't know... have to pass NEWTs... and... then think..." Albus said, trying very hard not to stutter as he did when he was starting to get nervous or uncomfortable with a situation.

"What about you, Rosie?" Molly asked, realising that her grandson didn't seem too happy about touching the subject, and Albus was thankful to be taken off the spotlight.

"I've been giving it plenty of thought, and I'm seriously considering joining the Auror Academy."

The silence that followed was very deep, and Albus took the time to look at the confusion building up on every adult face in the room. For him and Lily that was no news, both of them had heard about it from Rose on their train ride back home after the previous semester, and even if it had come as a shock at first, it made sense: Rose was probably one of the best in Defence Against the Dark Arts in their year, and besides from being fairly intelligent she was also quite adventurous.

"Auror Academy?" Ron repeated, not stopping his lips from twitching into a smile. "Like me? I thought you were going to go into an office job like your mum."

Hermione seemed to have lost the use of words for a second, but then managed to smile a little.

"That brilliant Rosie, but why hadn't you told us?"

Rose shrugged as an answer, to which Ginny rolled her eyes.

"She got that bit from Ron, that's obvious." She commented as she took a sip from the butterbeer bottle. "It's great that you sound so sure about it, Rose."

Rose smiled and said something back, but Albus didn't hear her answer for he was too busy thinking about his mother's words about Rose's determination and sureness about her future. What about him? He had been thinking about it, but he seriously wasn't sure of what he would be good at.

He thought of his brother James, now being a mediwizard intern in a Bulgarian magical hospital which name he could seriously not pronounce, an opportunity he had found when talking about after-school careers with Neville, who commented about the usual need of skilled potion-makers in that area of expertise, which James thought to be brilliant and definitely something worthy of being tried...

... and it had shocked Albus that for James it had been so easy as to hear about it and say yes right away. If he had been offered such a chance, he would've probably ended up losing it just because of the eternal time it would've taken him to decide, mostly because he was so worried about his future that he did not dare make a decision without thinking about his other options very carefully too.

The worst part of it all is that everyone else seemed to know what they were good at and what they liked best, even people who always seemed clueless about the world like Lysander, while Albus struggled trying to find out what he would enjoy to do for the rest of his life.

...

"Come on Al! There has to be something!" Annie insisted, frowning at poor Albus Severus Potter, The Boy Who Had No Idea.

"I really don't know." Albus insisted, shaking his head and looking out of their compartment window. The landscape was slowly turning into what they saw every day at Hogwarts, and Albus couldn't remember being more anxious about school ever since he was on the train for the very first time with James peeking in every hour to tease him about Slytherin.

"It's okay Al, not everyone can be like Rosie." Fifteen-year-old Hugo Weasley said as he tried to make a muggle camera he had gotten from his grandparents work.

"Shut it, Hugo. You're talking as if it is a bad thing." Rose complained.

"Back to Albus." Lily said, straightening up on her seat. "You did talk to Neville on fifth-year for career advice, right?"

"Yeah, we all had to." Rose said before Al had a chance to speak. "It wasn't very helpful though, Neville didn't seem like he knew what he was doing, so don't expect too much from that talk."

"He did tell me I had the grades for becoming an Auror, like my father." Albus interjected, shaking his head. "I don't know why people are so insistent upon me becoming an Auror like dad."

"People were urging James to become an Auror too, Al." Lily commented as she looked straight into his brother's green eyes. "And you've heard them hinting at me to get started on Quidditch already."

"Why does Quidditch have anything to do with becoming an Auror?" Hugo asked, raising an eyebrow. Lily looked at him in disbelief.

"They just want us to be like our parents, Hugo. You heard your dad when Rosie said she wanted to be an Auror, remember? I thought you were going for an office job, like your mum." Lily said matter-of-factly. Albus nodded, knowing that even though no one would force them to choose a specific career path, everyone expected them to follow on their parents' footsteps. "I wouldn't be surprised if they expect you to join the Ministry now." She added after a second. Hugo looked terrified at that prospect, making everyone in the compartment laugh.

"Daddy has been insisting that I try to join the Ministry, just like he did." Annie added, nodding eagerly. "Mum agrees with him, but I don't think I fancy Muggle Relations as much as they do." She said, shrugging. "I like Magical Creatures, and Lysander's mum asked me if I'd like to go with them on one of their trips next summer, which ought to be fun, and who knows, maybe I'll get to get started with a career in that area."

"Are you sure you can spend a whole summer with Lysander without murdering him?" Lily asked with a wide grin. Annie glared at her and then nodded her head.

"Where's Lysander anyway?" Hugo asked, looking to the compartment door as if expecting the blonde boy to walk in anytime.

"I saw him talking to Lorcan a couple compartments down." Rose said, looking not at Hugo but at Lily, whose grin disappeared for a second but quickly returned, just not as wide. "And there were also some other seventh-years. Scorpius was there, too."

"How come Scorpius isn't here, all over you?" Lily asked. Rose glared at her and mouthed something that no one else caught, but it seemed to make Lily stop asking those questions.

"He has friends to be with, just like I do." Rose stated, nodding. "Al?"

"Yeah?" the seventeen-year-old raised his head at the mention of his name. He had not been paying attention most of the time, since his mind was still set in finding the perfect career for him.

"Are you still thinking about careers?"

"What else would I be thinking about? It's our last year, I need to know before we finish school!" he seemed desperate. Everyone seemed very serious, except for his sister, who seemed about to chuckle. "What is so funny, Lily?"

"You just take yourself so seriously. Calm down, it's not a life-or-death matter." Lily said, standing up suddenly. "Well, I've had enough of your older-people talking; I'm off to find my friends. Hugo, are you coming?"

"Sure. Bye, guys." Hugo said as he jumped off his seat and followed his best friend down the corridor. Rose looked over at Albus, who still seemed a little put off by what Lily had said.

"She is right, you know. You don't have to know what you want right away."

"You could always try different things and then see what you like the best." Annie recommended, smiling as the door opened again and Lysander walked in, sitting across from Rose, next to Albus and smiled slightly.

"Hello. I'm sorry it took me long to come here, Lorcan and I had some things to talk about."

"Don't worry Lysander." Annie said almost immediately, smiling at the boy. Lysander smiled back and closed his eyes for a second.

"What were you talking about?" he finally asked, opening his silvery grey eyes and looking around the compartment.

"It's nothing important." Al was quick to say that, because he didn't want to be in the spotlight anymore.

"Just a few minutes ago you were freaking out about it, and now it is not important?" Rose asked sceptically, raising both her eyebrows. Al didn't even scowl: he knew there was no point.

"Freaking out about the Ministry conspiracy coming back, I suppose." Lysander said, sitting up straight and looking at everyone's faces with apparent excitement, which faded a little as everyone just stared back at him with confusion in their faces. "Right?"

No one knew what to say, but they all supposed what was going to come after that statement: a long explanation of how Lysander had read an old issue of The Quibbler and had gotten some crazy idea from it.

"As much as we'd like to be warned about such awful conspiracy, Lysander, we're actually talking about Al's career after school." Rose said quickly. She seemed to be the only one not willing to go through another of her friend's delusional attempts to have them believe his mad ideas.

"Albus?" Lysander said, falling back into his seat again, not looking even slightly interested anymore. "You should be a Healer. Or a mediwizard." He said, smiling slightly. "Or a teacher, even. You were amazing helping me get my Charms OWL."

"Are you seriously suggesting I become a Healer or mediwizard?" Albus asked, almost in disbelief. Lysander nodded.

"Or a teacher." He added. Rose looked at Albus.

"You would be a good teacher, but they won't let you teach here in Hogwarts, you'd be barely eighteen by the start of the next term."

"I don't want to be a teacher anyway." Albus mumbled.

"Healing could be your thing. You worry about people a lot, and you like you help."

"I'm awful at Potions, though. Isn't that a must?" Al said, frowning.

"You're not awful at it. You got an E in your OWL and you're pretty good in our NEWT level class."

"I'm one of the worst in our year." He insisted.

"There are only twelve people taking Seventh-Year NEWT-level Potions, and those twelve are the top 12 students of our year. And that includes you." Annie said.

"But I'm still the worst in the class."

"You're still averaging an A in the class. Just put a little more effort into it and you will get an E on your NEWT." Rose insisted, nodding eagerly.

"Maybe I don't want to be a Healer." Albus said stubbornly, although he wasn't sure why he was resisting the idea so much. He knew he could probably get an E on all five required NEWTs, but he didn't know if Healing was his thing.

"Well, you have a whole year to decide, Albus." Lysander said.

"Are you dropping any classes this year, Lysander?" Annie asked, and Al was glad to find himself of the spotlight again. He barely registered Lysander's answer, and instead let his mind focus on the new suggestion.

He had never considered Healing as a career for him, but it could work out. He was good, and he knew he could do it, but it scared him to think about making a wrong choice and then having to stick with it or even lose time while figuring out that he wasn't so fond of it.

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Again, I decided to split this chapter into more chapters, because I think this is going for long. Not much of James on this chapter, but he will reappear sooner than expected, maybe not physically but... yeah.

I hope you liked this, and I'm sorry for the delay. Also, to my faithful readers and reviewers! :D

Review, please!

-Phankam.