Water Under Burned Bridges (Tagged)

[parvati patil macmillan]

May 15, 2026

The Order of the Phoenix had learned that the Purifiers' base had been within the Chamber of Secrets all along, and Parvati was on edge even more than usual. It was too great a risk to keep the students at Hogwarts with Elaine Dupree there, even if they had been oblivious to it previously, but there was little that Parvati could accomplish on her own. Parents would be furious that it hadn't come to the attention of the Hogwarts staff, especially those who had entrusted them with their children after what had happened to Ilvermorny. It would be a nightmare, although Parvati didn't know just how much.

That she had arranged to have dinner with her children and Raleigh (now, shockingly, her son-in-law) on that particular evening had been mere happenstance, yet another attempt on her part to try to patch things up. It wasn't about Ernie, for once, but over her initial reaction to Shreya's having married Raleigh. The two of them shared half-siblings, after all, and the whole idea of it had been a little much for Parvati, who was still trying to come to terms with the whole thing.

With the Elaine development, however, it just so happened that all four of them were members of the Order of the Phoenix. Parvati knew that they needed to stay on their guard, given the likelihood that Elaine had somehow gotten wind that the Order knew where she had been hiding. If she were to do anything, Parvati knew, Elaine wouldn't be going quietly. No, there would be a battle once she knew that there were members of the Order on their way.

With not enough room for her guests at the High Table, Parvati had opted to host them in her office. The food from the kitchens was better than anything that she could make, though it was difficult to pretend that everything was normal, her appetite and any chance of a nice dinner also ruined.

"Look," Parvati sighed as she leaned back in her desk chair, feeling sort of bad for having squished Raleigh, Sav, and Shreya into her relatively small office to begin with. The tension would have been heavy enough without knowing that there were Order members en route, but it was more than palpable. Trying not to raise her voice at Shreya, in particular, wasn't going very well without any food in front of them to serve as a distraction. "This one—This isn't my fault, and I'm tired of being blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong." How was she supposed to know that Elaine had taken over the Chamber of Secrets? There was no way that Elaine would have been able to survive down there alone, either, and that meant that she must have been getting assistance from somewhere within the castle. Parvati didn't want to think about the lengths to which she might have gone, knowing that Lord Voldemort himself had made Horcruxes. Were there fragments of Elaine's soul elsewhere? Was that what they were up against, or was she baiting the Order into something else entirely?

Even though all four of them knew, Parvati kept her deepest concerns to herself. She had been through this once before—but not as a grandmother with two adult children and a son-in-law. She assumed that Sav was closest to understanding, now that he was a father himself, but it felt like they were playing a waiting game in which they couldn't make any sudden movements.

@raleigh
@sav
@shreya

[Deleted]

Shreya wasn't the type to seek out conflict most days but she'd long since lost patience with her mother. Her attitude and secrets made the younger girl sick to her stomach and she was more than done with the overbearing attitude and the idea that she always knew better. They'd had a fight before about her marriage and chosen partner because her mother didn't like the fact that her choices seemed to highlight the miserable choices she'd made years ago. The fact the couple shared siblings despite not being related seemed some form of a disgrace to her mother but well, it wasn't exactly her fault that it was the dirty laundry of the family that had drawn her and Leigh together. So as her mother complained once again and tried to play yet another get out of jail free card, Shreya was simply done with it all. Today something horrible was supposed to happen and family dinner had been a convienent excuse to bring three members of the order into the castle under a guise. Or it was an attempt to patch whatever broken pieces remained of their relationship. If one should even call it that.

Shreya raised one brow at her mother in utter distaste. "No worries, there is no blame for our marriage." Shreya said in an icy tone. "I'm grateful for your lies and secrets to the point they landed me in a marriage that at the very least isn't a fraud like the one you and father had. I blame you for lying in order to preserve your picture perfect image of a family, I won't pretend otherwise because unlike you, I despise lying." She said in a voice filled with venom. "I hoped you had the ability to be happy for us, given a little time to gather what limited sense you have but it seems you're too caught up with the idea of a picture perfect family to want that for me." She said, standing up and carelessly throwing her fork onto the untouched plate with a clattering noise. She leaned forward for a moment, fury in every single inch of her being. She hadn't been this angry in years. "The only reason you consider this wrong to begin with is the fact we share half siblings and you don't like the implications of all the disgusting mistakes that you and that useless father of ours made and I refuse to deny myself happiness for your comfort when the only reason you find this so revolting is most definitively a result of your very own mistakes and shortcomings. Maybe if you and dad hadn't both been liars and cheaters we could have had a more conventional relationship." She grabbed her bag and shot her mother one last furious look as she opened the door. "Don't bother talking to me if you're going to spin more lies and deny the rather obvious parts where you did screw up. I'm just thankful I could find a way to salvage something worthwhile from the fucked up example you and dad set for us." She said before slamming the door on her way out. She was fuming, and more than a little done with her mother. She meant every single word she'd said, harsh or not.

Maybe they'd talk it over one day and her mother would actually own up to the fact her discomfort came from her own mistakes, but that didn't seem to be a short term project. It was revolting, but Shreya hardly had the patience to deal with all of this in the moment. She knew something bad was to happen but fighting seemed like a good distraction at this point. Exchange a far less exhausting fight for a more dangerous one in which she felt the odds of winning were far less dismal. She didn't see it as likely that her mother would ever own up to the part she so obviously played in the peculiar developments in the lives of her children but that was a battle for another day. There was a different fight ahead first.

@raleigh @sav parvati patil macmillan

[Deleted]

Family dinner at the Hogwarts castle wasn’t exactly Sav’s idea of a good time. Not to mention everyone was on edge given the recent discoveries. Sav didn’t really want to be here, nor did he want this to be the time that any of them began to confront each other but obviously there was a lot that needed to be said. His mother spoke first, insisting that it wasn’t her fault that Elaine had taken up residence within the castle itself, in its most secret chamber. However, that statement didn’t sit well with Shreya. Recently, they had found out that not only were she and Raleigh Flint romantically involved, but in fact were married. She was married and Sav had kids. Between the two of them, they were a single fully functioning adult. He supposed twins were meant to balance one another out.

With one final blow she tossed her fork aside, got up, and stormed out of the office. Sav sighed and rubbed his forehead with his thumb and index finger. The thing was - she had a point. She was right about everything she said. Sav had aspired to have better relationships than his parents had shown him. And while that didn’t go very well for him, at least there wasn't a major scandal in his romantic past that resulted in illegitimate children. However, the biggest statement she made that he disagreed with her was blaming it on Parvati. While their mother had her shortcomings, Sav would never go so far as to blame their fathers infidelity on her. That was a choice made by him and him alone. He had chosen to break apart not on their family, but the Flint family as well. Sure, Parvati hadn’t been honest with the kids at first, but he still didn’t blame her. Not anymore at least.

“Well, that was lovely.” the man mumbled, thanking himself for thinking twice about bringing the twins to dinner. Virv had offered to babysit and he knew better than to turn down her generosity. Especially when they both knew Hogwarts wasn’t as safe of a place anymore as it had always been said to be. He stood and contemplated following his twin, trying to bring her back to finish their conversation in private rather than fume in public. However, everyone in that room knew it was best to give Shreya a bit of space when she got into a mood like this. it was quite like their last big family dinner over the holidays.

@raleigh
parvati patil macmillan
@shreya

[Deleted]

parvati patil macmillan & @shreya & @sav

no one would ever be able to convince him that there had been a family more dysfunctional than his. he also didn't think anyone could be able to convince him that any family functioned normally. here they were, sitting in parvarti's office and things were descending quickly into a downward spiral that could only be described as a pit fall. granted this one was caused by parvarti's unrivaled need to remove herself of any fault or blame in any situation. though this was one he didn't think she could take fault for. he figured that she was talking about elaine having made her hideout below the very building that they were currently standing in but it seemed that his wife had taken it a different way.

he held his tongue as shreya argued the point back against parvarti, letting loose on how she felt and what was running through her mind. it was one of the things he'd found he'd loved about her, her ability to tell the truth, to not hold back and to not pull punches in situations that might be uncomfortable. he didn't feel the need to jump in and try and defend her because he knew that she didn't need it. there was also a streak of self preservation in his decision to stay silent. he watched as she stormed out of the room, hearing the door slam behind her and he thought about how long he should wait before he went after her. he was aware she'd need time to cool down so he'd give it more than a few moments.

he heard sav's speak and he turned his head to look at him. "wait, this is a bad dinner?" he resisted the urge to roll his eyes before he looked across the room at parvarti. he'd known since he'd first broken the news to her about the marriage at shreya's apartment that she hadn't been happy with their marriage and based on what shreya had just unleashed on her mother, she still wasn't. there had been time for her to get used to the idea. there were far worse things happening in the world right now than a marriage she didn't approve of. "i think she wants you to just be happy for us." he said as he too rose from the table. "at the very least it shouldn't be hard for you to pretend to be."

[parvati patil macmillan]

May 15, 2026

Parvati couldn't tell if Sav was siding with her or his sister, not that it mattered much. Shreya was already out of the room before she could say anything to convince her to stay put. As tempted as she was to get up and follow Shreya out of her office, Parvati had to remind herself that her daughter was an adult who had made her own choices. She could scold her and cause a scene, but what would that do but lead to more embarrassment for them both?

Raleigh told her that he thought that Shreya just wanted for her to be happy for them, but it wasn't that simple. If he were anybody else, it might have been very different. It sounded as though he'd been taking lessons from his wife, though, when he said that it shouldn't be hard for her to pretend to be happy for them.

Momentarily, Parvati looked between both her son and her son-in-law—both of them standing—and then leaned forward, cradling her head in her hands and looking down into her lap. This was going even worse than she had anticipated, and she could only hope that Shreya would calm down enough to come to her senses.

None of them needed the added stress, and Parvati began to question if she had been wrong for recruiting Shreya into Ouroboros. Maybe she should have been more understanding about Shreya's marriage to Raleigh, but Shreya was old enough to understand that she couldn't just continue with the theatrics. Elaine Dupree might have been far closer to her age, but that didn't mean that her tactics were going to be juvenile.

It wasn't about the marriage anymore, or that she felt far too young to be a grandmother and far too old to be co-parenting her son's twins in place of their mother, or any of the millions of other stressors that had been occupying her mind in her daily life. This was everything that had been building up until that point, every time they thought they had defeated Elaine Dupree and failed. Everyone who had died at her hands, everyone who had died in the First and Second Wizarding Wars… Did their deaths mean nothing anymore? Parvati wanted to scream into her hands, but her hands were already shaking as she took in a shallow breath, trying to fight against the tightness in her throat. "I…"

She wished that she could clear her mind completely, her memories of twenty-eight years prior coming back to her as she tried to regulate her breathing. Things would have been so different if they hadn't won the war. There was a real chance that she wouldn't be alive, never mind her children or her grandchildren. All of that had come down to luck more than anything else; there was no reason why things had turned out as they had. There was only so much that could be chalked up to the alignment of the planets or various omens. There was only so much, too, that she had had control over, and she had tried her best to navigate through it all. It didn't make her perfect, but she didn't think that she had failed completely.

Shreya's comments, though, had led Parvati to second-guess herself, and she wiped at her eyes as subtly as she could. It was too late to ask them not to turn this into a row, but there was little else she could do to diffuse the tension that remained in her office. She could at least keep from drawing attention to the fact that she'd been crying, Parvati thought, breathing in deeply as she sat up again.

@shreya
@sav
@raleigh

[Deleted]

Sav hated to disagree with his new brother in law, really he did. He wanted to like this guy. He wanted to properly get to know him and form some sort of a relationship other than the one that his fucked up father had given them when he decided to have an affair with Leigh’s mother. But in the situation, he had to agree with his mother. Or at least, defend her a little. “I don’t think she was trying to say that she wasn’t happy for you.” he sighed. “I think everyone is going to need more time than we’ve had to process everything…” Sav continued. “But if you make her happy than that’s all either of us really care about.” he shrugged. Leigh had to know that. He was married to his sister for goodness sake, he had to know about her dramatic spurts.

“Besides, I don’t think she was even talking about your marriage. Believe it or not, there are more pressing matters.” Sav admitted, looking at his mother, who had sunk down a bit in her chair, for confirmation. He had assumed that she was talking about the recent discovery regarding the purifiers having their base in Hogwarts itself. No one had even been talking about Shreya, yet she made it all about her anyway. Typical.

parvati patil macmillan
@shreya
@raleigh

[Deleted]

parvati patil macmillan & @shreya & @sav

he had to agree with sav about the fact that he didn't think parvarti had been talking about that. he had figure she'd been talking about the fact that the person they'd been hunting for all this time had set up camp beneath most of their noses and no one had figured it out or noticed. but there was something about shreya that brought out the need in him to defend her, not that she needed it, but she was his wife and he was on her side. not that he'd tell her that to her face, it would take away the fun in any future argument they might have but he really was.

"no i don't think she was talking about it either." he did concur as he looked at the door shreya had left through. he did love her flair for the dramatics and being an observor to the family for a while he'd noticed that she did seem to get that from her mother. which by the way parvati was holding her head in her hands was kind of proving his point in that respect. he didn't voice it though, it wasn't the time and they did all have much bigger things to worry about. "but it doesn't change the fact that shreya did." he looked over at parvarti and saw her try and subtly wipe a tear away from her cheek. "it might not be the time or the place but it's going to be something that everyone needs either work through, pretend to be happy about or actually come to terms with." he said. "because if this is what we're going to focus on, then elaine is going to walk all over us." he said with a frown. "i'm not all that interested in losing to her."

[Deleted]

Shreya had perhaps been a little too hot-headed, but she couldn't help it. Her mother just got under her nails in a way nobody else seemed to be able. So as she stormed downstairs she noticed soon enough, that a flow of students seemed to be leaving the great hall, dragging their peers along. Her heart seemed to skip more than just one beat at that. Had it already begun? She raced towards the great hall but paused as she realised a lot more heat coming from one of the passages that led lower into the castle. Fire? She paused briefly and raced down the stairs, noticing the increase in heat instantly. Oh something was certainly on fire, and it was burning hot. She paused only a moment to send a patronus to the office of her mother, wanting to make sure the people there were aware. After that she raced to the great hall, wanting to see if she could help with the evacuation.

parvati patil macmillan @raleigh @sav

[parvati patil macmillan]

May 15, 2026

Parvati listened to Sav and Raleigh going back and forth with one another but didn't have the energy to speak up and correct either of them. It was all such a mess, and so much of it felt as though it had been her fault. She could have avoided a fight with Shreya and hadn't, and the least she could do was try to keep Sav and Raleigh from going at each other's throats. Fortunately, it didn't come to that, but that didn't mean that Parvati hadn't been waiting with bated breath for something else to go down.

Both young men seemed to recognize that there were still more pressing matters at hand, and Parvati was prepared to comment when the sight of Shreya's Patronus caught her off guard. She didn't have more than a moment to process what Shreya had just relayed to them. Fire. The castle was on fire. Her first inclination was that they needed to get out, and they needed to evacuate the students from the school as quickly as possible. She'd been expecting Purifiers, though that didn't mean that Elaine didn't also have reinforcements of her own called in.

Glancing around, Parvati stood and grabbed her wand, holding it tensely at her side. She assumed that most of her colleagues and most of the students were in the Great Hall already, meaning that it would be a mass exodus from there in no time. Anyone who hadn't gone to dinner or who had been a straggler in getting there could have been anywhere in the castle. Relying on the Head Girl and Head Boy and each House's respective prefects to handle things in a calm and orderly fashion was out of the question, especially if more Dark witches and wizards besides Elaine had managed to breach the castle.

She sent her own Patronus back to Shreya, making sure that she knew that they had received her message. "We're coming," she stated simply, watching as the silvery mongoose successfully bounded out of sight. Turning her attention back to Sav and Raleigh, Parvati knew that they would need to split up at some point, but she didn't think that that was advisable until they had a better idea of what they were facing. "We need to find Shreya and figure out where the fire's coming from," she told them, her heart pounding in her chest. If Elaine had started the fire from within the Chamber of Secrets, it would make quick work of the castle, but the chance that Elaine had found a way to watch what she had wrought was large enough that Parvati couldn't ignore that possibility, either. "Keep your wands at the ready." They had to be prepared for anything, and they didn't have time to waste.

@sav
@raleigh
@shreya

[Deleted]

Shreya had sent out her patronus, wanting to make sure her parents were up to date. She felt that thrill again, the thrill of adventure she'd most commonly felt breaking the rules in her school days. The thrill of getting away with things without lying about it. The thrill of doing stupid and unpredictable things. She always felt most alive with a rush of adrenaline in her veins. It was why she'd chosen to least safe path as a healer. The path of a mediwitch. She loved the thrill and while she loved saving others, she couldn't deny it was a lot more satisfying when her heart was racing towards the end of the world. While terrified on one hand, Shreya had rarely felt quite so... alive.

She realised as soon as she took a few steps down that whatever was coming from the dungeons and basement area was fire. A raging fire ready to consume everything. With so many students paralysed Shreya instantly knew that the casualties would be far too many. "Please hurry..." She muttered softly, glacing back towards where she'd come from, knowing those she cared about most in the entire world were there, a few exceptions notwithstanding. No matter how much she fought her mother, she loved the woman still. Truly and deeply. She just wanted more independance and to be seen as an adult. Maybe she wasn't one, but time would prove that far more than her preaches could. "And I'm sorry for storming out." She said even as she took off towards the great hall.

It didn't take her long to get where she needed to be, her wand long since out. While she knew that saving everybody was impossible she hoped that at least a few could be saved. She went around, healing those with minor injuries so they might flee properly from the oncoming storm. She knew that with every second she spent inside her own chances to get out dwindled. She delayed, as long as she could manage. Then the castle started to crumble. She heard the roaring of the various stones and her heart sank. There were too many. She helped up a small first year and dragged him towards the exit. "Run, don't stop, don't look back." She said even as she mercilessly dragged him along at a pace his legs struggled to keep up with. As they reached an exit she shoved him out and remained herself, ushering as many as she could past her. That was when the rumble intensified.

She looked up just on time to see that the roof of this particular passage was beginning to crumble. In mere seconds she began redirecting the first to keep others safe. To keep them from blocking the one path that so many had on their way out. Their terror was her own, but she was older. She hadn't joined the order in order to save just herself. She wanted to make a difference. Maybe for one or two here, she'd manage. But there were too many and she saw fire in the distance. Shaped fire. She watched as a particularly large boulder fell, and aimed her wand to change it's course. Yet it never did, although she would only realise so too late, engulfed in terror and desperation at all the people she couldn't save. Mortified as her last thought was that of those she'd stormed out on. How she loved them, but above all, how she wished she could have had a chance to apologise.

And then everything went dark......


((Soz, ran out of patience, esp with Sav going for the Delete x.x I hope it's okay.))
parvati patil macmillan @raleigh