Pride and Prejudice | James Potter

Chapter Thirty Four

New Lives

It had been two months since graduation, but to Elizabeth, it had felt like years. She had gotten a job working as assistant to the only woman on the wizangomat, Sally Jones. It was fairly easy work, writing letters, responding to the press, scheduling appointments and dinners, but Elizabeth finally felt like she was getting somewhere. Sally was constantly giving her advice on how to rise up in the political world, and gave her lots of opportunities to make herself known. 

Another perk to Elizabeth's job was that she was able to work on Regulus's situation. She wanted him to be able to go to Beaxbatons or Durmstrang with Henry and Anne in just a few weeks, and had been spending all of her free time working on the case. She felt like graduating school had been the best thing that could have happened to her. She was finally getting where she wanted to go and making a difference in the world. 

The only downside to her new, busy life was that her schedule was so packed that she didn't have time to hang out with friends and enjoy her new freedom. She hadn't seen Remus, Peter, or James in a little over a month now, and had only seen Regulus and Sirius to work on the case. 

It was hard not being able to see James for such a long time, but it had gotten a little easier when they agreed not to get back together until they had the time for a relationship. They were still on good terms, in fact, nothing had really changed between them besides a label, but just that small change had eased Elizabeth's mind a bit. Knowing that James was also incredibly busy, and that they both respected the other's wish made her feel better about taking on so much work. 

Elizabeth pulled out another file and flipped through it, pulling out the paper she was looking for and clipping it with another cluster of papers. Being an assistant was overall boring work, but it paid well, and she was glad to have a job in the ministry. 

As she was going to put the file away, her door opened and Sirius walked in. 

"Sirius! What a pleasant surprise! To what do I owe the pleasure?" She asked, closing the file cabinet. 

"Regulus got disowned." 

"He got cut off?" 

"Not completely. My lovely parents decided he had been acting out too much. They gave him his inheritance and told him to leave." Sirius said bitterly. 

"Was this over a letter?" Elizabeth asked, pulling a book from the shelf. 

"Yeah, they sent him a key to the Gringotts vault that they transferred his money into. What are you looking at?" He asked, peering over her shoulder. 

"I want to make sure they can't force him back into the home. When is Regulus's birthday again?" 

"In a week and a half." 

"As long as they don't change their mind before then, Regulus can go into guardianship with my parents until he leaves for school, and then he doesn't have to think about them ever again." 

"What if they try to manipulate him back? They're pretty big on mind games?" 

"We'll make him unreachable. He can change his name if he wants, he'll be across the world, it shouldn't be a big deal. And I trust Regulus. He can make decisions for himself."

Sirius sighed. 

"You're right. Oh, there was one more thing I wanted to tell you. You have to get back together with James. You guys made each other happy, and now you're both immersing yourselves in your work, which isn't healthy." 

"We agreed that-" 

"I know, but now you should agree to get back together. Please, Elizabeth. You haven't seen each other in a month, and it shows."