Millie walked the cobblestone streets next to her brother. Was this really what she wanted? It didn't matter if she wanted it. the decision was already made. She was done with Hogwarts. Now all she needed to do was tell her brother, maybe try to convince him to stop going as well. She didn't want to be wandering this path alone, but she had no one to wander it with. Wyatt was her only option. She looked down at her feet, before looking over at her brother.

"Wyatt, I don't think I want to go back to Hogwarts." She said, slowly, wondering what he'd say. She just wanted to get it off her chest and then get to see what he said. Would he support her? She hoped so.  She didn't want to be doing this alone.

Wyatt was off somewhere, thinking of his encounter with two other Hogwarts students the day before, he hadn't told Millie about it yet, and he didn't think he would. He was brought right back down into the freezing streets of London. "What?" Wyatt said, shocked and confused by her question. "What do you mean you don't want to go back to Hogwarts?" Wyatt stopped in the middle of the street, looking at his twin.

Wyatt wrapped his winter coat tighter around him, his father's coat, and now it was his. Wy's boots crackled the ice below him, and his re-balance himself not to slip and fall. If he and Millie hadn't been born on the same day by the same people, he would have avoided her at all costs, she was loud, and way too adventurous for his tastes.

Wyatt stuck his fingers through the holes in his scarf, playing with the yarn and twisting it around his bitterly cold phalanges.

"Well, I don't know. Do I even really belong? I mean, I go, and I study, and I fail, and over and over again, I'm told I'll amount to nothing. Maybe I should just start at nothing now, so I can amount to something better." Millie pulled the two strings on her hat farther down. "Look, Mom and Dad left us nothing, or near to nothing. And I know I need to start building something up, so I can have something to work with." She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm going to start pickpocketing. Pickpocketing, stealing, I don't know, I'll figure it out. And I can't do it alone."

"Let's face it! With education or not, I'll become some homeless person on the streets! So I'd rather start now, rather than start later. I can get a head start, Wy." She said. Maybe her plan wasn't the best idea, but it was an idea none the less.

"Yes! Millie, you belong, it doesn't matter if you fail or not, it's that you're there! You won't amount to anything at all if you don't finish your formal training and make Mum and Da proud!" Wyatt said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "And if you keep up an attitude like that you'll be sure to end up in the gutter." Wy said, exasperated. "I don't think you should go, because..." Wyatt thought of something to say to make her change her mind.

"If you leave school, I'm not coming with you." Wyatt pulled his hands from his pockets and crossed his arms, feeling rather cross with his sister.

"Mum and Dad would want me to make smart decisions. To make the best plans for me. And Wyatt, I'll never amount to anything! I don't have the brain for it!" She crossed her arms. "Wyatt, Hogwarts is a waste of time. I've been there for six years. Six years! It's ridiculous if I don't start thinking about my future. And my future doesn't involve any stupid schools."

"If you leave school, I'm not coming with you."

Millie looked at him, furrowing her eyebrows. "Don't do that to me Wyatt. I'm going to end up on the streets regardless if I finish Hogwarts. You don't want to leave me on the streets! What did Mum tell you growing up? Look out for Millie. Protect Millie. And what are you doing now? Nothing. You're going to leave me, alone, on these streets?"

She turned her back on her brother. "Fine. Leave me. I'll be fine. A teenage girl, alone, on the streets, with no family. Sure, I'll be fine." Millie knew her brother. "I get it. You're better than me. Odds are I'll be fine. I don't know. Probably not."

"UGH!" Wyatt threw his head back and stomped around. "Stop doing that!" Wyatt said, jamming his hands back into his pockets. "At least I actually listened to Mum, I didn't nod and run off and do whatever she told me not to do." Wyatt whined. "You've never made smart decisions before, what makes this one any different?!" Wyatt yelled, his face burning red from anger.

Sometimes he wished Millie was someone else's problem. "You. Are. So. STUBBORN!"

She lowered her voice, walking back to her brother. "Because this is different. This is my life. This is my path, and I don't want to do it alone." She leaned her head on his arm, looking at the snow. "Don't make me do it alone, Wyatt. Please." She said, quietly, not knowing what he'd do. "Please, do it for me. And Mum. And Dad. Please." She said, rubbing her fingers together in her mittens.

She took a deep breath, and waited for his response.

"Millie, I can't even walk to the corner store a block away without pissing myself, what makes you so sure I can protect you, let alone myself?" She fluttered her long eyelashes and gave him a puppy dog face, "Millie-" Wyatt rubbed his forehead with his cold hand. "Millie, we leave and we can never come back, you understand? Now that we're seventeen, we can and will be sent to Azkaban if we're caught, are you willing to risk that?" Wyatt took a deep breath and sighed.

"Can I sleep on it?"

"Wy, it's worth it. I promise. Please. We just need to start our lives. We won't get caught, and even if we do, we won't be doing anything so extreme that would warrant Azkaban. All we'd do is a little pickpocketing, maybe some shoplifting, Wyatt, if anyone could pull this off, it's us. We'd be okay."

"Take as long as you need, but please let me know, okay? I'm telling you, this is what Mom and Dad would have wanted. For us to do what we do. Together." She said, trying to convince him one last time. "We'd be safe, and everything would be okay. We'd be self sufficient. Completely self sufficient."

Wyatt hissed through his teeth, hating himself for the choice he was about to make. "Fine, but I need to know a few things first: 1. Where are we going to stay? Our apartment is closed, shut, all the stuff has been put into storage." Wyatt stuck one finger out. "2. We need a way to make money, and 3. if we get caught, I blame you, Milicent" he grabbed her shoulders and shook her around.

Wyatt was feeling guilty, had he really made the right choice? He wished that Millie wasn't so persuasive, and that he was so easily pushed around by her. But, hey, who knows? This might actually turn into something great.

Millie squealed happily as she hugged her brother. "You're the BEST brother ever!" She shouted, squeezing him lightly, locking his arms to his sides. She released and fixed her hat, before listening to his needs. "Well, we can stay in some of these abandoned buildings. There's a great one that has really sturdy walls up in knockturn. I've been all through it. Needs some tending, but we could make it livable."

2. We need a way to make money,

"Well, we don't need to make money, per se, we need money for food. But if we don't pay for the food, then we don't need money. Do you see my thinking?" Millie explained. "Shops that sell food can't sell it if you eat it in the store. So, you run in, take a chuck out of an apple, and run." She smiled. "I've done it before. It's pretty fun, or you can just put it in your pocket when the lady isn't watching."

3. if we get caught, I blame you, Milicent

Millie clenched her teeth at the sound of her full name. She hated it. "You get to blame me. All blame is my fault. It's just mine, okay? How does that sound?" He shook her and she smiled. "It's going to be fine, Wyatt. It'll be fun too, and you need to live a little."

Wyatt stood like a statue as Millie jumped around him, hugging him and the like. "You're the BEST brother ever!" She said, "So I've been told." Wyatt allowed the corners of his mouth to turn up. "Wait, how long exactly have you been planning this? Has this been your plan the entire time? To leave and- " Wyatt stopped himself before he said anything he might regret.

"Ooo, I could go for an apple about now." Wy said, not feeling all that proud of his sister at the moment as she admitted her previous shop lifting crimes. "And I'm going quite well on the subject of living, and if this decision proves otherwise, I'm telling Mum and Da when I get up there." Wyatt pointed to the sky, giving Millie a sarcastic/serious look.