looking for yourself [Xiulan]

[xiulan zhou]

January 3, 2026

Some of her clients were the type to need their hands held from a figurative standpoint as she talked them through whatever it was that she was doing. That was understandable, and she didn't mind doing it. She was providing them with a service, and they were paying her good money. So as much as it would have been possible for someone else to lose their patience with the abundance of questions that were coming her way, Xiulan simply took it. "Fine," replied Hazel to her description of the Fool, "but what does it mean for me? What’s it telling me to do?"

"It means," Xiulan began, "that you're currently being presented with an opportunity." That was what was in front of her at that moment, but the card representing the future in the spread was the Hanged Man. Hazel, she didn't doubt, still wanted some concrete action to take or to avoid, though. "And looking at the Hanged Man," she continued, careful not to rush things but wanting Hazel to understand that she couldn't look at the cards only in isolation instead of as part of a bigger picture, "when it's upright like this, it can suggest the need to take a step back and look at things from a new perspective." If she were her, Xiulan considered, she would have been careful not to take it one way or another, but she couldn't really put the same faith in Hazel.

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

The wizarding world was full of so many magical, unexplainable things – but Divination definitely topped that list. It was the most imprecise branch of magic that Hazel knew about, and she figured that nobody really understood the vast implications behind it. How it worked, why some people were more attuned to their Inner Eye than others, and even what the difference could be between actual Divination and wizards just looking to make a quick Galleon. There’d never been any doubt in Hazel’s mind that Xiulan was the real deal – her readings always told her what she needed to know, and more importantly what to do next. But, Hazel couldn’t help but wonder if there was some great cosmic power just playing games with her.

Because these cards were ridiculous and Hazel shot a dirty look at her supposed present and future. It was the same kind of polished pureblood disdain that she’d perfected over the years, courtesy of seeing it mirrored on the face of every pureblood at some point or another. Discussing with chagrin the rising prominence of mudbloods in important positions that actually required strong magical talent, or the audacity of the Gringotts goblins in their last visit to the family vault, or the terrible direction that magical society had been following for the last decade or two. Hazel stared intently at the cards, deep in thought as Xiulan explained what the cards were telling her. A new opportunity, what did that even mean? “But I don’t get it,” she complained. It was like being given pieces of a puzzle and being told to somehow guess what the picture was supposed to show. And Hazel had never liked doing the work herself if she could just pay someone else to do it. So she continued petulantly, “What opportunity? Who’s giving it to me? How do I even know if I’ve found it or not?” It had never quite felt like she had any opportunities, because she'd been born into a community that had strict expectations for her and she'd done her best to delay making any serious choices for as long as possible. Unless...that was what Xiulan meant? That it was time to stop and accept what was coming?

xiulan zhou

[xiulan zhou]

January 3, 2026

Xiulan knew that she had no way of knowing the answers to Hazel's continued questions for certain without doing more digging into the future. There was no guarantee that she would be entirely correct even so, but she didn't feel comfortable telling Hazel that she really couldn't determine every last detail. She didn't know which opportunity it was out of a sea of possibilities yet to be clarified and narrowed down; she didn't know what or whom had brought it. All she knew was what the cards suggested to her. Anything beyond that would take more than just that one spread—and undeniably more work from her Inner Eye.

Understanding that she ran the risk of seeming flippant if she were to tell Hazel that she would have to wait and see, and not desiring to give her a potentially negative response, Xiulan paused. She knew that Hazel was someone who needed things spelled out for her, but there was only so much that she could do. "The cards can't tell me what the opportunity is," she replied calmly. Hazel's having taken on a more juvenile tone didn't faze her. "If I could tell you, believe me, I would." That was the problem with divination as a whole. Convincing people that they needed to be patient when they wanted something to happen could be quite the task, and Xiulan couldn't just switch her Inner Eye to play out someone's future as though it were a film reel. She would have been able to make even more money doing that, but it wasn't realistic. "I can tell you," Xiulan added as gently as she could, "that you haven't missed the opportunity. We're already speaking about the present." That was already set in stone, of course, so Hazel wouldn't turn the opportunity down accidentally.

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

There was something comforting in being told what to do. Oh, of course – Hazel hated it. She was a free spirit, and despised it whenever her brother tried to get too bossy. Because hey, Hazel did best when she could follow her impulses and go wherever they called her – halfway across the world, or to some exciting new prospect that didn’t promise much of a future but could at least guarantee a good time until it was over. And then on to the next thing. But even so, there was some small part of her that felt relieved to know she’d never have to make any big decisions for herself. All those were already decided, or would be when the time came – where to complete her schooling, who to marry, what to do with her life. What values to believe in and which allies to make. The Burke family’s path had been decided a long time ago, which meant hers had been too. And her adventures were all the more thrilling when she knew that the consequences would never be hers to handle. That made it easier to swallow the fact that Asher and their father would make all the big choices of her life.

And, she supposed, that was part of what drew her to Xiulan too. Someone who could tell her what needed to be done, someone who could read the universe and interpret the signs. Divination was the most powerful branch of magic, in Hazel’s not-so-humble opinion, because it gave Seers the power to read the map and know what was coming. Instead of being fooled and caught by surprise like all the peasants. Now, Hazel didn’t have those abilities herself. Or if she did, they were buried so deep inside that they’d never escape the gold and glitter of her personality. But that didn’t matter, because Hazel had Xiulan to do her magic and tell her what it all meant. Which made her next words all the more frustrating as Xiulan warned that the cards couldn’t give her more details. Hazel sighed and fiddled with the edge of the tablecloth – she’d never be allowed to fidget at the family table, but Xiulan had never told her off for it before (even though Hazel was certain she came from a pureblood background).

So she seized on the good news, the only good news Xiulan had given her so far. “I haven’t missed it?” Hazel repeated, hoping that saying it out-loud would really mean it was true. There was nothing…wrong with her life, really, but she’d fallen into something of a routine for the last year or two. It left Hazel wondering if that was all there was to life, or her life at least. She chewed on that for a moment and then decided. “That's good, but I need more,” she said frankly. Hazel had never shied away from saying what she wanted before, but…she usually knew what that was. Merlin, it was bizarre to want something but not know what it was. She waved her hands around vaguely as she continued, “Isn’t there anything else you can tell me? Some sign of what’s coming? I just...I can't just walk around blind!”

xiulan zhou

[xiulan zhou]

January 3, 2026

Hazel continued to be impatient, and Xiulan remained as calm as she could be despite the confusion that Hazel was still showing. Xiulan knew that Hazel wasn't stupid; she was a professor at Hogwarts, but there were occasions where she really wanted to tell the younger woman to take a deep breath. "I haven't missed it?"

No, she hadn't, Xiulan might have told her if she weren't so polite; that, generally, that wasn't how the future worked.

"That's good, but I need more," Hazel considered then. That was doable. Xiulan wasn't sitting there with her palm out, asking for money, but she had other forms of divination she could use if that one tarot reading hadn't been sufficient to Hazel. "Isn't there anything else you can tell me? Some sign of what's coming? I just… I can't just walk around blind!"

Xiulan held her tongue and took in a slight breath at Hazel's exasperation. There was no use in becoming frustrated with her. "I'm a Seer, Hazel," she reminded her softly, understanding that Hazel was hoping for all the answers then and there. "but I'm not omniscient. I can give you another reading, though."

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

Her life had never been meant to be so static. It was bizarre to think that everything had stayed the same for a year and a half, coming on two if the pattern continued. Wandering around the corridors of Hogwarts like a ghost, rolling her eyes behind Asher’s back (and in front of it too) while she and Ivy exchanged gossip and fashion tips. The air had grown stale, the sun seemed less bright, and everything was just so predictable. That meant Hazel was bored to tears, and she felt it for certain in her gut that something was coming. Something that would change her life and give her the thrill of walking into something unknown.

Xiulan seemed to know it too, if the tarot card reading was any indication. But if she did know something, she was being incredibly stubborn in holding back and Hazel felt her telltale pout twist across her lips. What was the point in being an all-powerful Seer if she couldn’t give any answers? It was such a waste of power, and Hazel wasn’t here to throw her money away. That was for the casino or her exotic vacations abroad with Ivy. No, these sessions with Xiulan weren’t a frivolous expense, no matter what Asher might say or scoff when he heard the word Seer. Hazel came here to know what was coming next so she could brace herself for it, throw herself into the wind whenever it pointed in a new direction.

“Yes, with the tea,” Hazel said stubbornly as Xiulan offered another reading. She’d just about finished her cup of spiced tea, so she set it down across the table so Xiulan could do whatever she wanted with it. Hazel didn’t know Divination techniques – curse her boring homeschooled education. Her parents hadn’t seen the point in it, so she’d never learned anything besides what her teen magazines could describe. “It doesn’t even matter what it says at this point, as long as it says something. A big win, a terrible loss, a bowtruckle eating oatmeal, something!” Hazel waved her hands dramatically in the air as she spoke before crossing them again.

xiulan zhou

[xiulan zhou]

January 3, 2026

"Yes," Hazel replied, "with the tea."

Reading tea leaves would be easy enough to do, including with the cup of tea that Hazel had been drinking from regardless. It would kill two birds with one stone, figuratively speaking. Hazel set the tea down, nearly finished with it, and emphasized just how much she didn't care what it said by mentioning "a Bowtruckle eating oatmeal". Now, Xiulan, in all her experience with divination, had yet to encounter that one. If anyone's tea leaves were to come up with such a thing, though, she didn't doubt that it would be Hazel's.

"Okay, I'm happy to do that for you." Xiulan had no problem with Hazel's request, and she miraculously managed to keep a straight face at the Bowtruckle comment, too. "If you could finish everything but the tea leaves at the bottom, please, Hazel," she instructed her, "and then, as the querent, you will need to ask your question before swirling the cup."

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

Hazel didn’t really think being a professor would be her calling for life, although it suited her just fine for now. But sometimes, whenever she let her imagination wander, she could fantasize about the next passing fancy that would become a temporary obsession until she moved on from it too. Matchmaking? The theater? Divination, even? She couldn’t decide, and for as long as it took until Hazel made up her mind…things were fine the way they were. Not that she could much see a future in Divination. It seemed to require some innate, indescribable skill – not to mention a level of patience that the Burke just didn’t have. For example, Xiulan hadn’t even bat an eye at her last outburst and it was as admirable as it was annoying. Hazel sipped at her tea to avoid saying anything else.

Once she’d finished the tea, she did as Xiulan had instructed and voiced her question. “Am I on the right path for me?” she murmured into the cup, her voice at a much lower volume than it had been moments before. There was something intimately vulnerable about acknowledging what scared you, and Hazel swirled the cup thoughtfully for a moment as she avoided eye contact. Everybody had an answer to that question, but today Hazel wasn’t asking her brother or her friends or even her confidants. No, this was a question for the universe – the only question that never seemed to have a satisfying answer. Setting the cup down, Hazel went back to tapping her nails on the table and watching Xiulan carefully to see what she did next.

xiulan zhou

[xiulan zhou]

January 3, 2026

The two of them sat in silence as Hazel finished her tea, as directed. It wasn't until Hazel asked her question into the cup—the same question as the one that she had asked in relation to the tarot card spread—that either of them spoke. Hazel didn't look up as she swirled the tea leaves around in the bottom of her teacup. She set the cup down a moment or two later.

Xiulan knew that that was her cue to read the form that the tea leaves had taken. She picked up the cup by its handle, doing so carefully so as not to disturb the leaves from the way in which they had settled when Hazel had been handling the cup. The tapping of Hazel's fingernails on the tabletop wasn't enough to break her concentration as she began her examination of the tea leaves for herself.

"This is very interesting," Xiulan commented lightly, taking a look at the imagery that had resulted from Hazel's tea and thinking it over. "At the center, in the far future, I am seeing some lines that could indicate travel or possibly introspection…"

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

This part was always the most interesting, and nerve-wracking. It was quiet, almost peaceful as Xiulan carefully handled the cup and studied the tea leaves that had settled all along the bottom. She was no doubt getting in touch with her Inner Eye and opening herself up to the whispers of the universe – and oh, Hazel was so jealous that she could do that. On Hazel’s part, her thoughts buzzed so loud and so opinionated even in her own head that there wasn’t much room for anything else. And wisdom from the universe, she imagined, wasn’t so much shouted as quietly hinted at. No, Hazel certainly didn’t have the right sort of disposition for Divination.

At any rate, she raised an eyebrow at Xiulan’s mind comment as she continued to mull over the symbols of Hazel’s tea leaves. Interesting could mean a lot of things. For example, Ivy always used the word whenever she started to drone on about some article she’d just read speculating about the origins of magic, and Hazel could literally think of nothing else she’d rather do less than listen to that. Asher always used the word whenever he talked about his work too, although Hazel couldn’t imagine it was particularly interesting to sit at his desk and wonder if he’d go with a gray tie for the next day or stick with black.

But travel was indeed interesting, and Hazel leaned forward in interest. “Oooh, very nice,” she said admiringly, “That does sound like me.” The travel, that is, not so much the introspection. Hazel preferred to gaze at the outside of things, because the inside was usually not worth it. “I suppose my time at Hogwarts must be ending then,” she speculated out-loud as she tapped her lips with a finger thoughtfully. Hazel didn’t do things by halves, and if she was traveling – well, that usually happened after she’d gotten bored with a job and quit. She’d thought she had more time left, because as boring as Hogwarts could be…she did actually enjoy teaching. But who was she to argue with the universe?

xiulan zhou

[xiulan zhou]

January 3, 2026

Hazel seemed to like what she heard. Although divining the future was not at all a matter of telling people what they wanted to hear, Xiulan felt that Hazel thought it was. She sounded pleased about the possibility of travel, saying that it sounded like herself, and commented that she thought that her time at Hogwarts would be ending.

Maybe it would be. Xiulan couldn't say with certainty that it would or wouldn't be. She hadn't Seen anything in relation to that; she could only tell Hazel what was there in front of her, at least at that moment. Traveling, in itself, wasn't necessarily synonymous with leaving Hogwarts, but Hazel knew her own life better than Xiulan knew it. If she thought that her time was wrapping up at Hogwarts, then maybe it was.

"I can't say for certain," Xiulan noted, though she kept her tone more upbeat to match Hazel's sudden enthusiasm, "but you could be right, Hazel." Only time would tell, she supposed, but she would wish Hazel the best, regardless.

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

Okay, Hazel was starting to get a little bored. Not that it was Xiulan’s fault, really, that was just how she worked. It was actually something of a miracle that she’d stayed so long in the UK, or continued to see Xiulan over the period of literal years – because that wasn’t how Hazel rolled. Nah, she preferred to enjoy the fun while it lasted and then duck out when things got too complicated. Because they always got complicated, either because of those pesky consequences she’d sort of heard about or because of expectations. The only expectations Hazel really cared about were her own, and those got bored rather quickly once the same music began to repeat over and over again.

“Okay, so, this was super cool. Thanks, babe, lots to think about,” Hazel said cheerily as she kept her eyes fixed on the cards she liked and swiftly ignored the ones she didn’t. In reality, she was a little troubled by what she’d heard and it was hard to smooth the frown lines away (and ugh, what happened if one day they just didn’t go away at all?). Her sessions with Xiulan were usually quite light, and this one had covered some heavy things about the future and her family and the ridiculously stuffy expectations they had for her. Hazel didn’t want to think about the day her freedom would end and she’d finally submit to what her dad and brother wanted for her.

So…at least for one more day, she wouldn’t! Hazel didn’t do anything quite so gauche like take out Galleons and start counting them on the table. No no, that was so upper-middle class. Xiulan would get her payment the old-fashioned way, via house-elf, and then they’d only see each other for the next appointment whenever Hazel had another small crisis of faith. Seers really were much cheaper than therapy, and they had a higher reliability rate too. “But as usual, you’re amazing. Def the real thing. Byyyyye!” She stood up in a whirlwind of skirts, picked up her bag delicately, and sashayed out of Xiulan’s apartment. The other useful thing about Xiulan was that nobody else in the Burke family knew about her, which was great because Ivy and Asher would both scoff at her for seeing a Seer (even if for completely different reasons). No, this was just Hazel’s secret and it was refreshing for once to have secrets of her own from the family. Instead of the other way ‘round. Hazel turned abruptly on her heel into darkness, trying not to dwell on the stormy black clouds Xiulan had seen coming.

xiulan zhou
[End post Hazel!]

[xiulan zhou]

January 3, 2026

There were worse clients than Hazel Burke, though Xiulan certainly thought that the Hogwarts professor could do with some more patience, at the very least. For someone of her background, too, her manners were… lacking, too. Even though she did thank her and compliment her on her work, it didn't sound too sincere, or maybe it was the way Hazel almost sounded like a teenager herself that bothered Xiulan.

It wasn't the first time that she had had a client leave without paying her directly, so that wasn't actually the element of Hazel's departure with which she took issue—not that Xiulan planned to call Hazel out for any of her behavior. She would pay for the services eventually; she had the money for it. Somehow, carrying money on her even when going to see a Seer was too passé for her, though.

On top of all of that was Hazel's implication, however she had really intended for it to sound, that there was any chance that Xiulan didn't actually possess an Inner Eye. If she were a fraud, she thought to herself in amusement, she was sure that she would be charging at least double her actual rates. It didn't really matter even if Hazel did doubt her; she was sure that she wouldn't lose all of her clients overnight just because of one person.

Hazel's tone remained polite as she spoke, so Xiulan had no reason not to respond similarly, not that her voice could rival Hazel's in how chipper it sounded. She couldn't help feeling relieved after she had bid Hazel goodbye and seen her exit her flat, upon which Xiulan paused for a moment in the event that Hazel had forgotten something before locking her door after her.

Hazel Rosalie Burke
Fin!