Penelope had written to her family about her indefinite decision of moving back to England and continuing her career at the Ministry of Magic, but they were surprised to find her turned up at their door so early on a Sunday. Nicolai had been fixing up her packed lunch at the kitchen when she heard someone banging on the door, her eyes turning as wide as galleons at the sight of her sister, trunks and trunks of her stuff standing behind her.

"Penny," she said after a few seconds of silence spent in disbelief, "What are you doing here?"

"I told you guys, didn't I?" She said, wiping her shoes against the Welcome Home rug, "Well I'm here now. Help me with my stuff, will you?" she said, not giving her sister any time to protest as she dragged one of the trunks past the threshold, Nicolai scrambling to pick up a few of her things and following her inside, "Penny—You said, and I quote, "Indefinitely". We got your letter two days ago!"

"Well, I changed my mind quickly. Plus, I sent out an application form to the Ministry for a position at their Foreign Affairs department and they hired me straight away. I would guess that they were marvelously impressed with my resume and the MACUSA officials that I put down as my reference probably put a good word in." Penny smiled brightly, just as their mother walked into the room.

"Penelope, dearest! Oh, my word! I didn't expect to see you so soon!" she made a beeline for her eldest daughter, enveloping her in a tight embrace, "Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm not glad to see you, but what are you doing here? Is everything alright in America?"

"I sent out an application for a Foreign Affairs position at the Ministry and I got hired straight away so I jumped on it. America was getting boring." Penelope said, Nicolai heading back to the kitchen to continue her lunch prep, seeing as she was no longer needed in the scene.

"Oh my, hired before you could even quit the job? Gracious, I am so proud of you, Penny. And at Foreign Affairs too. My, those seats are tough to fill, especially since the requirements are so specific. You'll get good pay there too." Mrs. Clearwater smiled, pride evident in her voice as she spoke.

"I'm really looking forward to it, Mum. How are things here though? It's been awhile since I was home."

"You know, same old. Work is going pretty well, your father and I are close to retirement," Mrs. Clearwater's voice dropped down a few notches in volume, "We're still waiting on Nicolai to move out though, so we could make plans to hopefully sell the house and get a smaller place. Oh, if only that sister of yours went down the same path as you, she wouldn't have to play healer and would have already gotten her own place by now."

"Playing healer?" Nicolai said, letting out a derisive laugh, overhearing their conversation from the kitchen despite Mrs. Clearwater's attempts at not letting her voice be heard,"Being a healer is anything but child's play, mum. It's tougher than filing bloody paperwork believe me. And you can't expect me to be able to afford a place to live after being out of school for only two months."

"Dear, your sister lived by herself a week after graduation."

"That's because that was part of the deal if she moved all the way to another continent across the pond. She didn't have to pay for anything! Working in my career has nothing to do with it."

"Well we're just saying, Nico, mum has a point. Working in your profession isn't exactly ideal, you know? You're working hard at what cost? Salary just a few sickles above minimum wage?" Penelope chimed in, before plopping down on the couch.

Nicolai stopped spreading jam on her sandwich, marching out of the kitchen with a frown on her face, "You literally just got here five minutes ago and you're already doing what you do best, shitting on my life decisions as if I haven't gotten enough of that for the past two months from my own parents."

"I'm not shitting on your life decisions, stop being so dramatic," Penelope retorted, "I'm just thinking practically."

"Oh whatever!" Nicolai snapped, "See for a second I thought I actually missed you, but hearing you spouting crap that's putting my self esteem down is making me think that you were better being eight thousand miles away." she turned around, storming up to her room to take a shower and get dressed.

"Stupid perfect older sibling, with her stupid white collar job and her stupid resume." she grumbled as she raked through her hanged clothes, before pulling out a set of newly washed and pressed uniform.

She combed her hair in front of her mirror, bad mouthing Penelope with every brush stroke. Nicolai was thinking about how she couldn't wait to finally get that place with Jillian so she could finally move out of this dump.

She jumped in her seat at the sound of knocking on her door, to be followed by the door knob twisting open for Penelope to enter. She looked at her younger sister, who was glaring at her from the mirror of her vanity desk. "Look, I know we just got out of a fight but I do need your help. I was wondering if you could help me move stuff in to my office?"

"Oh sorry, I'm gonna be very busy at my barely above minimum wage paying job to help you with your stuff. Do it yourself. Or pay someone. Since you're getting so much money from that new job of yours." she shot back, before taking one last look at herself in front of the mirror, "Now excuse me, I have to get to my job that is, according to everyone in this house, a poor career choice."

"Nic," Penelope sighed, stopping her before she was out the door, "I'm sorry, okay? Just please help me out."

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, Nicolai more critically than the older Clearwater sister, before huffing in frustration, knowing Penelope wasn't going to give up until she said yes,

"Fine. I'll come by after work to help you."

Nicolai blew through her shift pretty fast, despite the fact that Jillian had her day off so she didn't have any other way to kill the time. But ofcourse, time flew significantly faster when there's something your dreading at the end of the day.

Nicolai would give anything for her to not see Penelope's smug face ever again.

But alas, she came home, and Penelope had already put her stuff by the door as soon as Nicolai walked into the threshold.

"Seriously? Can't I change for a little bit?"

"It will be quick, Nic. Don't worry. We'll be back real soon."

Levitating two of the many brown boxes of office supplies Penelope had, Nicolai huffed as they made their way inside the Ministry, immediately noticing the odd looks that they got from passerby's, Nicolai immediately suspecting that it was because of Penelope and her stupid promotion. The older Clearwater looked suspiciously uncomfortable with the attention, walking faster as she beckoned Nicolai to do the same.

Penelope was wordless as they filed her belongings in to the elevator, before squeezing themselves in. She spared her sister a single glance as she pressed the level three button on the elevator, the machinery lurching to life, leaving Nicolai in a state of confusion. Given the several times that she had been brought to work by her parents, she pretty much knew where everything was, "Penny, the Department of Magical Cooperation is in level five. You're two floors short."

The older Clearwater disregarded her words, spending the elevator ride in silence, beckoning her sister to follow along as soon as the elevator stopped, and as soon as they piled everything out. She walked solemnly through various offices, hearing loud chattering and scribbling of quills in almost all of them. The bigger offices started getting smaller in width the longer they walked, the halls growing darker as they were less illuminated by the light.

"This is seriously freaking me out, Penelope, where the hell are we going?"

"Here," she said, stopping infront of a rickety old door, that was barely wide enough for the boxes to fit through. She turned the handle and threw open the door, to reveal a dusty room with a single wooden desk and chair in the center, the space only slightly bigger than Filch's room back in the Hogwarts castle. Penelope set down one of the smaller boxes on top of a desk, "You can leave the rest by the door, I'll unpack them myself later."

"I-what? Penny, I don't understand. Why are we here?"

"This is my-" she paused, making a noise that sounded like she was choking back a sob, "This is my office. Nic. This is my office."

Nicolai frowned as Penelope's eyes started to water, her older sister putting a hand over her mouth as soon as the first tear fell and glided down her cheek.

"Oh," Nicolai said, piecing everything together, "There is no big, swanky promotion... is there?"

Penelope shook her head, all the shame in the world reflected on her face as she let out a faint whimper, her shoulders shaking as she let out another sob, sitting on the tabletop of the wooden desk.

Nicolai walked over, crouching down infront of her sister, "Penny...Why did you come home?"

"I was-I was fired, Nico. I-I w-w-was...I was f-fired." she managed to say through the tears and sniffles, "I had been doing so bad all year and I-I had nothing there, you know? I w-was h-h-homesick, I h-had no friends at work, Nico. I was miserable."

"But what about all those letters you sent us?"

"I couldn't tell you and mum and dad the truth! Especially them. They were so proud of me, it was the only rewarding thing about moving! I couldn't let them know that I was struggling. I couldn't."

"I tried applying for Foreign Affairs but they shot down my resume before they could even read it. MACUSA gave me such a bad reputation, that this was the only job I could land here. I was so embarrassed that I had to act all high and mighty back home. I'm sorry Nic, I'm sorry I badmouthed you. I was only saying those things to make myself feel better, and I shouldn't have done that. It was wrong to bring you down. Truth is I'm extremely proud of you for getting your life together. I am, Nic. I'm terribly sorry. Please don't tell mum and dad. They're going to be so ashamed of me. Please..."

"Oh Penny. You're... you're so fucking stupid, you know that?" Nicolai said, getting up on her feet before putting her arms around her sister, "For someone so smart, you can be so so stupid. Honestly. Don't you get it? Mum and Dad will always be proud of you no matter what. Because you're you. You could never do anything to disappoint them. Unless you were me."

"Don't say that, Nic..." Penelope said, reaching for her sister's hand, "Mum and Dad are proud of you too."

"No," she chuckled hollowly, "No, Penny. You don't get it. My whole life's always been 'be like your sister' or 'look at what your sister does'. And I'm used to it. I'm okay. I don't need their validation in order to feel like I'm doing something good with my life. You should do the same."

She reached out, wiping the few stray tears off of Penelope's cheeks, "Who gives a shit if Mum and Dad aren't always proud of you? What matters is you're going to bounce back from this fall. You're Penelope fucking Clearwater. Remember that, okay?"

Penelope sniffled for a few seconds, her sobs slowing down to a halt gradually , "Why are you so nice to me when I was so mean to you awhile ago?"

"Because, you idiot... I'm your sister and I love you."

This made Penelope tear up even more, making Nicolai roll her eyes, "Oh come on! Don't make me regret saying that!"

"I can't help it!"

"You're being ridiculous, Penny."

"Nic, you're being affectionate. That's literally a once in a lifetime thing."

"Oh stop it, you."