At 21, Alec had everything he wanted, he had a good house, wealth, a big binder full of contacts all women, a blooming career and yet here he was. In a terrible furnished flat, sitting on a couch with stains that were probably older than him. He waited for his baby sister to finally come out of the room.

"I'm not leaving so you might as well come out now!" he bellowed out.

Honestly she was the most stubborn girl he had ever known. Right from her birth she was the bane of his existence, always following him with a book at hand, during Hogwarts, she tried befriending his friends, as if that was going to happen. And when she got older she began to avoid him, apparently womanizing was not something she wanted her older brother to do.

Now they had both graduated, and he figured that his baby sister's future mattered to him, and he wanted what was best for her. This crap shot of a flat wasn't it, that was definite.

"Come out Tess Marie, or I will get into there right now!"

Tess huffed on her bed waiting for him to leave. Honestly, how dare he push himself into her life, declaring that he wanted to bond over something. Bullshit, she knew it, he knew it and yet both were denying it. Hearing him yell at her was definitely not helping.

"Go away!" she screamed back.

Merlin, it was deja vous all over again. Her yelling at the top of her lungs in their family's mansion, it was almost sweet, if it wasn't then filled by hexes and taunts by that bastard of a brother. She loved him...because they were family but it didn't mean she wanted to be around him now that they were adults. On the contrary, she wanted him to just bugger off so she could continue with her plans...whatever they were.

She'd been cut off; her parents were trying to convince her to choose to be an Auror, she was leaning more towards a Healer, but her father and mother, and brother were thinking differently. Her being cut off meant her selling some of her stuff and renting a shitty apartment. It wasn't what she was used to, but she needed to do this, to show she was a grown up..though she had been eating instant ramen like no other.

Hearing her middle name she growled and walked towards the door and slammed it open.

"What do you want you condescending prick?" she hissed.

Alec smirked seeing that he had gotten his way and made her open the door. He sat uncomfortable and pointed to the seat across from him, knowing she would listen. Her rebellion was stupid, a Healer? Honestly she could do better than that. Their father had sent him to try and convince her.

"So...you like this crap hole? Come on Tess, it's ridiculous what you're doing. A Healer? Come on you can do better can't you?"

She was so young, and this place was so disgusting, the neighborhood made him want to investigate the people around here, and the smell outside...he wouldn't get started on that.

"What do you want to do with your life?" he whispered at her sympathetically.

Tess sat down reluctantly, he was really good at getting his way. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms showing her defensive position. He always got his way, it wasn't fair really, the fact that he was insulting her choice of living (like she had a choice), and her career choice, it bothered her greatly.

"Look, just because you have Mummy and Daddy eating out of your hands doesn't mean I do too. Alec, I want to be a Healer, and being cut off was a childish way to get what you guys want. I'm not meant to be an Auror, it was a fluke I got those grades...I can't be you or dad"

She looked away not wanting to deal with it. It was true, for her it was foolish to be an Auror, Alec was the shining star there, she wanted something different where she wouldn't have to be behind someone's shadow.

"Why won't you guys believe in me?" she replied.

She was wasting her time, she would give up once she saw how hard it was. Being an Auror was in her blood, Merlin both parents excelled in that position, and she had to keep the tradition going. Sighing he ran his fingers through his hair as he heard her once again insinuating he was the favorite.

"Come on I am not the favorite, they love us both"

He was the favorite, that much was obvious, he had a natural knack at things, wasn't clumsy like she was, and he got into the career their parents wanted. Why couldn't she do the same?.

"It wasn't a fluke, you're good at it, Merlin I can envision you fighting along side us, why won't you just do this one..."

He trailed off realizing how much he sounded like dad. It scared him a bit at how he'd become. Still, he didn't want her living in a dump, it was dangerous for a seventeen year old to be here. And seeing her looking so weak, a part of him wanted to help her.

"Is this what you really want to do? Are you willing to live here, still cut off from us?"

Tess snorted as he said that he wasn't the favorite. Both knew he was, and yet he tried to comfort her in his weird way. She sat closer to him and placed her hand lightly on his trying to show how serious she was. She never stood up for anything, went along with whatever they wanted, but now she wanted to be an adult.

"Alec, I will trade down to a worse apartment if it means that I get to be a Healer. Being cut off is hard considering I've never worked a day in my life..and I don't know how I'll pay for school, but I'll do it if I have to. I might be a disappointment, but I want to be happy."

As she placed her hands over his and began to speak he knew that their parents wouldn't really understand. She knew that he was favored, and as hard as might be for her to believe he didn't understand why.

Pulling her forward, he kissed her forehead and put her on a headlock.

"Start packing squirt" he said.

He picked up a box (she hadn't really settled in at all, except for the stupid mattress) and shrunk it to put it in his pocket. Knowing she was looking at him incredulously he grinned.

"Though I find your decision stupid, I can't have you live here. You don't need to do lower down you living standards squirt, I'll take care of everything. You can stay at my place till we convince mom and dad to not cut you off, and if they don't give up..well what's a few galleons for my baby sister. Come on."

She would fail at her career, that much was obvious, but she might as well fail when he would take care of her.

Tess smiled brightly as he said this and hugged him tightly. He was the crappiest brother, but he was going to help her. She knew he didn't believe in her one bit, but he didn't want her to be killed by anything in the neighborhood. To be honest she had cried when she saw a cockroach for the first time. She had sprayed it with a can of hairspray and gone out for two hours to make sure it had disappeared.

Pushing him away, she picked up her things, and shrunk them. Her bed...oh hell that was an old mattress she was too scared to really sleep comfortably in so she left it there. Holding her keys she smiled at him.

"Thanks" she said shyly. "You're an okay brother"