Chapter 12: Two Weeks Notice
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Whenever dawn turns to night
And all the dreams sing their song
In the daylight forever
To You I Belong.
-To You I Belong by B*Witched
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"Lils! It's good to see you back at work! We missed you here." Lily smiled as she set her things down on her desk. Her best friend in America came around from her cubicle and gave Lily a hug.
"Hey Natalie. I wish I could say I missed the job, just some of the people here."
"Well, I hope I'm on that list of some of the people you missed. Oh my gosh, you can tell you've been in England for the past week."
"Why?"
"Your accent is very strong again. Come on, you're just in time, Tipperman wants us all in a meeting in twenty minutes."
"What for?"
"Top financial keeper." Lily rolled her eyes.
"Oh. Did Mackenzie win again?"
"Probably. She always wins; stupid bitch."
"Well, if it bothers you so much, you could sleep with the boss too like she does." Natalie shuddered.
"There isn't a big enough salary in the world that would pay me to sleep with Albert Tipperman." Lily smiled and nodded.
"I don't blame you. I'm glad I'm leaving all of this, then I don't have to listen to Mackenzie pretend like she's the innocent little worker who isn't under her boss every other day."
"You're leaving? Why?"
"I'm going home to England to stay."
"Why?"
"I just like it better there, my family is there, my friends from school are there, I have the opportunity for a better job there; one I actually have full training for."
"But what about your friends here?"
"I'll come visit, I promise. It's just better for me to move back."
"I see. There a guy or something?"
"How'd you guess?"
"I wasn't sure, I wasn't really serious."
"No, there's a guy there in England waiting for me to come back."
"I'm proud of you Lily, going back was good for you, you're dating now!"
"Yeah, I am. But anyways, I'm giving Tipperman my two weeks notice today."
"I can't believe you're going to leave us. You're going to leave me here all alone sitting here by Mackenzie without anyone to help bail my ass out when I get into trouble?"
"If you get into as much trouble as you did that one time, call me, and I'll come bail your ass out. I'll tell Tipperman that you were provoked Like he'd believe me though." They both laughed, and entered the conference room. Natalie held the door open and said,
"Just be sure to bring this guy of yours along when you come help me then."
"I will." Natalie and Lily took their seats, and waited for everyone else to get there. There were already half of the people in their seats, and they all welcomed Lily back. Soon the boss came in, and after welcoming Lily back also, the meeting started.
"Ok, ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of year again. Every summer we give out an award to the highest accountant for the year. That person shall receive a pay raise, the parking space for a month, and bragging rights for the year." Tipperman said, ending with a smile, at the attempted joke. No one laughed or even smiled, except a woman with dirty blonde hair and a low cut suit.
"And the highest account keeper for last year is…" He glanced at the blonde, "Mackenzie Lorett." The blonde stood up, pretending to be shocked, and was thanking Tipperman as Miss America would thank the judges after receiving her crown, fanning her face and trying not to cry. The rest of the men and women at the meeting politely applauded, not meaning to offer Mackenzie any congratulations. Most of them rolled their eyes as they saw her overdramatic acceptance of the award. After a few more notes to address, the meeting was soon adjourned, and everyone went back to their work. Lily dropped the papers from the meeting off at her desk, and went to Tipperman's office. She opened the door and saw her boss and Mackenzie standing face to face, very close together, whispering. Mackenzie had a flirty grin on her face, while Tipperman ran a finger along her jaw line, getting ready to kiss her. Lily cleared her throat loudly, and the two jumped apart. Mackenzie left hurriedly, not meeting Lily's eyes. Tipperman nervously cleared his throat.
"Um, Mackenzie was uh…just thanking me for the award."
"Yes, and I'm sure later she'll be able to get around to it properly." Lily said sarcastically. Tipperman's nervous smile faltered a little, but he let the last comment go and said,
"What can I do for you Lily?"
"I came to say I'm giving my two weeks notice."
"How come?"
"I want to go back home. I have the opportunity for a better job over in England, and I want to take it."
"You don't like your job here?"
"To tell you the truth, I never have liked this job. Numbers were never my high point in school, but I took the job because…well, I didn't really need any more education than what I already had." Tipperman nodded. Lily's mind was racing, trying to cover up that she actually didn't have the training, but she had used magic to make herself be able to do the work, and to make her resume look notable. She remembered that day when she went searching for a job when she first came to America. Since there wasn't anything she was trained for in the muggle world, she had lied on her resume, and lied about her age, because she knew there would be no way that anyone would hire a seventeen year old who didn't have a muggle high school degree. So according to all the muggles in America, she was a twenty-six year old woman from London, with a very impressive resume.
"So, two weeks from now which will be the twentieth, you'll be leaving?"
"Yes."
"I hate to lose you, Lily."
"Well, we all lose things in life. Just be glad this time it's just an employee." With that, she turned and left. At lunch that afternoon, all the women were sitting around a table, conversing and gossiping. Mackenzie said,
"So, Lily, Tipperman said you were leaving."
"Yeah, your point?"
"Why are you?"
"I want to go back home to England."
"Just because you didn't get the top accounting award doesn't mean you have to leave, Lily."
"Believe me Mackenzie, that's not why I'm leaving. And I don't want the accounting job if I have to do what you do to get it."
"You mean do a good job at work? That's all I do."
"Yes, Mackenzie, that's all you do, give Tipperman a good job while at work." Natalie said. The women around the table all snickered into their sandwiches. Mackenzie's jaw dropped.
"I can't believe you would think that I'd sleep with Tipperman to advance in the business."
"You can't believe that we think it, or can't believe that we know about it?" A woman named Lela said.
"I don't know what kind of rumors are going on around here, but I'm not having sex with the boss."
"Yeah right, Mackenzie, and pigs fly."
"I'm not going to take this abuse." She got up and left. All the women rolled their eyes. Natalie said,
"Well, if that's the conversation it takes to get her to leave, we should've thought of that before." A woman said,
"Yeah, now she's probably gone to go cry to Tipperman and get a quickie in before going back to work."
"Well, remember that ladies, when I'm gone, just bring up the topic of those two, and she'll leave because she `won't take this abuse'." Lily finished the sentence with a high-pitched imitation of Mackenzie, making the women around the table laugh.
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"My Lord, I've come with news. Potter is dating that Lily Evans girl again. He's even talking about marrying her. If they aren't stopped, there will be another Potter soon." The Dark Lord sneered.
"Kill her."
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The last two weeks of Lily's job as an accountant flew by slowly without much activity. On her last day, her coworkers threw her a going away party, and at 5:00, Lily left the building with her box of things from her desk in her arms, never to have to set foot in that place again. Natalie told her she'd meet her down at one of the bars for a few going away drinks before Lily's flight. Lily hailed a cab home to her apartment, so she could get started packing. When she opened the door of her apartment, her jaw dropped when she saw two wizards in her apartment, examining all the muggle objects in the place. Lily laughed.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" Sirius and Remus jumped at the sound of someone's voice. Remus said,
"We've come on strict instructions to help you pack for England."
"Strict instructions from who?"
"Prongs." Lily laughed and shook her head.
"Figures. What, does he think that if I do it by myself I won't come back?" Sirius shrugged.
"Possible, cuz' God only knows what goes on in that brain of his," He picked up the phone and inspected it, pushing buttons and putting it his ear. When he heard the dial tone on the other end, he pulled it away and looked at it with confusion.
"And not even God knows what goes on in your head, Padfoot," Remus said with a grin. Sirius was about to throw the phone at Remus but Lily put her hands up and stood in the line of fire.
"No, no, don't throw the phone. Set it down, Sirius." Sirius slowly put the phone down, though looking as though he still wanted to throw something. Lily tossed a pillow to him and stepped out of the line of fire, while Sirius threw the pillow, and Remus caught it. He laughed and threw it back and Sirius caught it, and it went back and forth like this until Sirius' aim got off, and the pillow hit a picture frame sitting on a table knocking to the floor and the glass shattered. Lily sighed, and pointed her wand at the mess.
"Reparo." The frame repaired itself and Lily set it back on the table.
"You two are like children, come on, you're twenty years old now, not six."
"I miss being six. It was good times," Sirius said.
"Yeah, you could get away with everything then," Remus said.
"Anyways, you two are supposed to be helping me pack."
"Right, because if we don't, we'll have to answer to Prongs, and he won't be happy."
"Yes, and angering Prongs is almost as bad as angering Lily."
"They're perfect for each other. Both are pains in the ass when they're mad." Lily cleared her throat and looked at the two wizards.
"Do you two not see me here, is that why you're talking about me?"
"Oh, sorry, Lils." Lily rolled her eyes and summoned a pile of clothes and sent them to Sirius.
"There, fold those, and put them into my trunk. Remus, you can pack these books." She pointed to the small bookcase next to the TV. They got to packing, and a half hour later, Ally came in with shopping bags in her hands. As soon as she came in the door she said,
"Hey Lils!" Lily came to the door.
"Hey. Shopping?"
"Heck yeah, I…" She looked over Lily's shoulder and saw Sirius and stopped talking. She had a sort of dazed look on her face. Remus came from the kitchen, a box in his hands. He set it down on the floor and watched the scene in front of him.
"Um, Ally, these are two of my friends from England, they came to help me pack up. This is Sirius, and this is Remus. Sirius, Remus, this is my roommate Ally." Ally gave a breathless `hi'. Sirius smiled and said,
"Hey." Remus nodded his hello and set the box in the trunk. Ally, not being able to stop staring at Sirius said,
"Um…I have to go…put these in my room…I'll be back to help you pack, Lily."
"No, don't worry about it, we've got it covered." Ally finally tore her gaze from Sirius and said,
"No, I can help. I'll make dinner for you later, that way you don't have to stop to make supper."
"Thanks, Ally." With one last smile at Sirius, Ally went to her room and shut the door. Lily turned to Sirius and said,
"Just…back off."
"What?"
"You don't need to be puttin' on the charm for my roommate."
"Fine. But anyways," He dropped the volume of his voice, "Does she know about your being a witch?" Lily shook her head, and said, also in a low tone of voice,
"No, nobody here in America knows."
"So we have to do all this the muggle way?"
"No, she'll be in her room until it's time to make dinner. Or at least I think she will, unless she wants to be out here around you." Sirius pulled out his wand and said,
"No, she won't." He waved his wand at her door.
"What'd you do?"
"Gave her something to keep her occupied until dinner. She's reading."
"Ok, anyways, let's get back to packing." Two hours later, they all had finished up both the packing and dinner. Lily remembered that Natalie had told her to meet her at the bar for drinks, and she said,
"Hey, did you all want to go with Natalie and a couple other people from work tonight for a few drinks down at the bar?"
"Sure."
"We're going for drinks?"
"It'll only be for a little while." Ally said,
"I'm going to go get ready to go then."
"Ok." Lily said to Sirius and Remus when Ally went to her room,
"Well, I didn't know you two were going to be here, and I agreed to go with Natalie for drinks tonight before I left. It'll be fine, we'll only stay for a few hours at the most."
"A few hours with drinks turns into a lot of hours, and it's harder to apparate when you've been drinking."
"I promise you, it'll only be for a little bit."
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With many goodbyes and hugs and promises to write, Lily headed back to her apartment with Sirius and Remus so they could apparate home to England. Lily was going to apparate to James's house, so he and Lily could talk, while Sirius and Remus would bring Lily's things back to Remus's house. When Lily got to James's house, she knocked on the door. James answered it, with a sad look on his face. Lily laughed and said,
"Gosh, James, who died?" He didn't answer her, and his expression didn't change. Lily's smile faded quickly from her face.
"Who died?"
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A/N: Hee hee hee!!! I'm sorry I'm so evil, that's a nasty cliffhanger, I'll try and get the next chapter out as soon as possible, as soon as I get more reviews!! Thanks to all the people reviewed, it means a lot to me that you like my story.
Husker_fan_2006
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