4

Lily had muttered some excuse to Tad about having to visit her family for dinner, and she hurriedly Disapparated to her eldest brother's house.

She knocked on the front door rapidly. The door swung open, and Andria, James' fiancé, opened the door. Her blonde hair was curled around her face, as usual, and she had a very pretty dress on.

"Lily," she said, not hiding her surprise.

Lily smiled. "Hi, Andria. I hope this isn't a bad time, but I really need to talk to my brother. Can I come in?"

Andria blinked. "Well, James is actually getting the grill ready—we're having some friends over tonight—"

"So they aren't here yet? I won't stay long," Lily said quickly, stepping through the door and pushing herself past Andria. "JAMIE!" she yelled, using the childhood nickname she and Albus had used for James so many years ago.

James popped his head into the entry way from the kitchen. "Lily!"

"I need to talk to you," she said, feeling desperate.

James looked concerned. He glanced at his fiancé and said kindly, "Could you give us a minute, Andria?"

The blonde girl nodded, but looked very uncomfortable. Lily supposed it was rather rude of her to show up unannounced like this, but there were times a girl just had to talk to her brother. Now was definitely one of them.

James pulled Lily into the kitchen. "Andria's obsessing over this stupid dinner party," he said, grabbing a few grilling supplies and leading Lily to the back patio. Lily noted that James looked very smart in a button down shirt and ironed black trousers. "You okay, Lily?"

"I know about WWCC."

James winced. "Are you pissed?"

Lily shook her head. "I was, but I got over it. But now I have a huge dilemma." She jumped into telling him about seeing Owen and then about Tad wanting to move in and about how he was fired from his dad's shop.

After she finished her story, she watched as her eldest brother ran a hand through his hair—a family habit—and sighed.

"Lily," James said, sounding cautious, "you need to tell Tad about WWCC. This could be your big shot, and if you miss it, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Besides, it'll give him two weeks to decide what he's going to do now that he doesn't have his father's shop to depend on."

Lily nodded. She knew James was right. If she didn't at least go to the two-week training session, she would always wonder what could have been. And if she stayed in Diagon Alley, she would be stuck with Tad while he tried to figure out what he was going to do to support himself.

"How do I tell him?"

James grinned slightly. "If it were me, I'd say, 'hey, prick! I'm going to leave the country—have fun!'"

Lily rolled her eyes. James was about as fond of Tad as Owen was, and the second eldest Potter child—their brother Albus—was even less fond of her boyfriend.

"It'll be fine, Lily," James said, clapping a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "If he wants what's best for you, he'll encourage your dreams, not diminish them."

"Thanks, Jamie."

"Anything for you."

She hugged him quickly, then turned to leave. As she headed out, her brother's voice called her back.

"Lily? You're going to be amazing in the field, you know."

She beamed. "Love you, Jamie."

Lily stirred the pot of lamb stew nervously. She was going to tell Tad about her acceptance into the WWCC during dinner. Currently, he was snoring loudly on the sofa, his feet dangling over the armrest.

She stirred the stew quickly, then dumped a ladle inside and pulled out a large portion of the salty broth and chunks of potato and lamb meat, dipping them into a bowl.

"Dinner? Good, I'm starving," Tad yawned, coming into the kitchen and taking the bowl from her hands.

Lily filled her own bowl with stew and sat down at the table across from Tad. She took in his appearance as he ravenously ate; he was devilishly handsome—dark hair, dark eyes, dimples that made her heart melt. It was going to be ridiculously hard to leave him for two weeks.

"Tad," she said carefully, "we should talk—you know, about our careers. See, now that you're out of the shop, I don't have a future there, and I have a possible future somewhere else." There, she'd said it. Phew.

Tad set his spoon down rather forcefully. "Somewhere else?"

Lily's heart began to race. "Yes. See, my brothers and Owen sent in my application for the Wizarding World Creatures' Cooperation, and I was accepted."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

She tried to remain calm and remember that often Tad's temper got the better of him, but it didn't mean he didn't love her. "It means that I have a two-week training course to attend."

Tad shook his head angrily. "This is all Owen's fault. I'm going to kill that stupid mother fu—"

"Tad!"

"What? It is his fault. If he didn't keep coming back and screwing things up, we'd be fine. Perfectly fine."

"I don't want to just be fine, Tad. I want to be more than fine and more than content. Don't I deserve that? Doesn't everyone deserve that?"

She wasn't sure when tears had begun to form, but they were steadily flowing down her face as she spoke. She wiped furiously at them.

"I don't understand why you'd want to leave me."

He was being stubborn and self-centered again. Lily rolled her eyes.

"This isn't about you, Tad; it's about me. I can't commit to living with someone who has no idea what they're going to do with their life, and I don't even know what I'm doing with my own life anymore. I need these few weeks to determine what makes me happy, and you need to figure out what you're going to do for a job."

Tad smacked his fist down on the tabletop and stood. "Fine, Lily, whatever." He shoved his chair away from him and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

"Tad, please!" But it was too late—she door had slammed shut behind him before she even called his name, and Lily shoved her stew away from herself and let her head fall in her hands.