The Sun Will Come Up, the Seasons Will Change (Hazel)

[parvati patil macmillan]

May 16, 2027

Putting quill to parchment, Parvati had found it nearly impossible to describe her experience in Varanasi the previous day as she wrote to her family back home. She'd felt that there was nothing she could say to honor Shreya's memory in the way that she knew it needed to be honored, but she had wanted to do it while the memory of submerging herself in the Ganges remained fresh, minus the discomfort of having her clothes cling to her body from river water and sweat. The enclosed courtyard of the stately mansion, or haveli, that had since been turned into a hotel in one of the magical neighborhoods of Old Delhi off of Chandni Chowk had provided her relative quiet in which to write and a welcome change of pace, and eventually she was satisfied with what she had written. Parvati knew that it wasn't meant to be a novel, but it mattered to her regardless.

She took her letter to the front desk to be mailed, addressing it to Padma because she couldn't bear to send it to Ernie first, even if Shreya was his daughter, too. It must have hurt him that it had been a year without her, but Parvati had had to go to India for herself and not for her ex-husband. As short as life felt, she couldn't live with regret anymore, but she told herself that she would meet with him once she got back from her trip.

It was once she had paid for the cost of postage that Parvati overheard the clerk next to the one who was assisting her address a guest as "Miss Burke". She turned her head at the familiarity of the name, stunned to realize that the woman in question was Hazel Burke. She had never had a close relationship with Hazel, but they had been colleagues at Hogwarts. Seeing her for the first time in a year was surreal, particularly given how much her brother, Asher, had been in the spotlight for his role in Elaine Dupree's attack.

Parvati had no idea whether or not Hazel had had a hand in those plans, and the recognition that she might have played a role in the plot that had led to her daughter's death made her uncomfortable. She didn't want to make that assumption without proof, but it pained her that it wasn't a stretch. Not knowing either way, though, there was little point in being cold towards Hazel. If Hazel, too, had been caught up in the tragedy of it all, then that was a terrible thing.

Fighting the feeling that Hazel could have had ties to Elaine, Parvati spoke first. "Hazel?" she asked simply, forcing herself to give Hazel the benefit of the doubt and smile. That they were within the magical world and not among Muggles meant that they wouldn't have to speak so furtively. Parvati was additionally relieved that she looked more like herself than the previous day, her makeup done and her hair tied into a ponytail that hung over one shoulder. It made her feel more human and far less exposed.

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

16 May 2027

Okay look, it wasn’t that Hazel couldn’t be left alone with her own thoughts or she’d start to go mad. Really. She was much too pretty and accomplished to be afraid of anything, much less herself. But, if she had to maybe admit to herself one tiny grain of truth…she was just so over everything. Like, even the little things couldn’t seem to bring her that same joy they once had just about a year ago. Merlin’s crusty beard, she’d just spent a year in France and no amount of elegant school uniforms or fine French cuisine could shake the feeling that Hazel had been thrown off her game. Like some gorgeous butterfly that had been left in a cage for too long until its bright colors had started to fade.

The worst part was – the cage wasn’t physical. It was the end of the school year, and Hazel had decided to treat herself to a fabulous world tour. There would be absolutely no trace of Asher, and none of Ivy whatsoever too. No stuffy older brother to tell her off for having a life, and no sister that had vanished into thin air and hadn’t even sent a birthday card. Still, she’d already passed through Rio and Nairobi…and it had done absolutely nothing for her. There was no thrill to being on the road again, no sensation of unrestrained freedom to be whoever she wanted and do anything that pleased her in the moment. No, she’d only gotten a sense of…going through the motions. Putting a show on for everybody around her that expected it, even if it was only a gilded layer of gold to hide the emptiness underneath.

She thought maybe India would have that magic answer, the one that would tell her ‘hey girl, this is what life is really about.’ The wizarding fashion in this part of the world was dazzlingly beautiful, to be sure, but Hazel stared dully at the bright colors and couldn’t seem to bring herself to care. She left the shop, took a good look around, and decided she needed some comfort food. Turning on her heel, Hazel appeared a moment later in front of her lodgings and didn’t hesitate to blow through the open doors. She was antsy and impatient, although she truly lost her nerve once she saw a bowtruckle sneak a bite of some unattended oatmeal on a table just outside. “Bloody signs from the universe!” she huffed, although she quickly waved off the concerned hotel attendant who approached her cautiously. She didn’t want to deal with the staff right now.

At the sound of the familiar voice, Hazel froze. “Fuck’s sake,” she muttered to herself before she turned to face Parvati. She hadn’t seen or thought of the Hogwarts counselor since all the professors had parted ways after the fire – wondering which would return and which would stay away. Hazel didn’t have any particular strong feelings for or against the woman, but she didn’t want to talk about Ivy and someone as ‘in touch with their emotions’ as the school counselor was sure to bring up the subject. Or the very public arrest of her brother at the school for crimes against the wizarding community. That too. “Parvati, fancy seeing you here,” Hazel said, gaze running up and down at the woman’s choice of clothes. They fell into an awkward silence, Hazel unable to think of anything polite to say to keep the conversation going. So she just cleared her throat and fixed the sleeves of her dress and the bright jewelry she’d crafted herself.

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

May 16, 2027

Parvati wasn't so far away from Hazel that she couldn't hear what sounded like her colleague cursing under her breath upon realizing that she was there. Though she hadn't exactly expected the warmest reception from Hazel after what had transpired a year before, that was far from being a positive sign.

"Parvati," Hazel said as she looked at her, "fancy seeing you here." She looked her up and down as though studying her appearance, and Parvati didn't quite know what to make of it. She had a tendency to be judgmental, too; that wasn't really the problem, but it was under different circumstances than if their present conversation were in the corridors of Hogwarts and Hazel didn't like the robes she had on, say.

Doing her best not to make it apparent that she knew that Hazel wasn't pleased in the slightest to see her, Parvati nodded her head politely. She didn't really want to make vapid small talk, but she was also curious about what had happened over the past year in Hazel's life. "What are you doing in Delhi?" she asked Hazel; her wanting to know that much was perfectly genuine. Of all the places to come across any of her Hogwarts coworkers, Parvati wouldn't have expected that it would be in India.

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

No one would ever accuse Hazel of being diplomatic. She was social, sure, and always a big hit at parties. There was nothing she was more talented at than putting on a fun show, and it wasn’t her fault that witches and wizards gravitated towards that. In fact, she thrived on the attention. But navigating the politics of the world, putting in a polite word here or striking a deal with somebody powerful and important? That had always been Asher’s world, and he’d never tried (hard) to bring his sisters into it. It was actually quite extraordinary how someone as well-connected as Asher could be as equally disliked. At any rate, Hazel knew that Parvati had heard her, and Parvati knew that Hazel knew that she knew, and so on. Not that she’d ever be caught dead apologizing.

It definitely sent her off-kilter to run into Parvati. The woman was practically a legend for her involvement in the other side of the wizarding wars, and Hazel remembered belatedly that she’d lost a kid in the fire too. Not to mention that earlier thing about being the school counselor and constantly wanting to talk about how things made her feel. Merlin, Hazel didn’t care what other people felt. And she suspected that Parvati wasn’t so thrilled to see her either. Even if she hadn’t walked away in handcuffs like her brother, Hazel knew what people were saying about her, and their family. She wondered how long it would take her students to start asking questions, if she came back to Hogwarts. No, the fact was that the Burkes had never been popular outside of the pureblood community, and they were positively detested now.

“Shopping,” Hazel said in a clipped tone in response to Parvati’s question. She didn’t particularly want to explain the complicated family dynamics that had sent her running from the UK. But ‘shopping’ was a pretty flimsy excuse, so Hazel just shrugged and added on casually, “And you know, on a journey to find myself or whatever. Not that you’d much care to hear, so I’ll spare you the gory details.” Her lips twisted into her rather typical crooked smile as she gazed inquisitively at Parvati to see how flustered she might be able to make the other woman. The British were awfully polite, and most of them never truly said what they thought. Hazel had never quite had that filter, to Asher’s chagrin, but there wasn’t any politics at play here. Nothing to lose, really, that she hadn't lost already.

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

May 16, 2027

Going all the way to India to shop was something that Parvati hadn't expected to hear from Hazel, but she wasn't sure that she totally bought that explanation. It was possible, but it wasn't particularly likely. She wasn't really sure what Hazel would have come to Delhi to buy. Then again, what wasn't there to buy there? Chandni Chowk, especially, had a little bit of everything imaginable, as did the nearby magical shops.

"And you know, on a journey to find myself or whatever," Hazel added, sounding no more excited to have run into her than she had when she'd mentioned shopping. That part of it, though—the journey to find herself—was more of what Parvati had anticipated. "Not that you’d much care to hear," Hazel assumed rather brusquely, "so I'll spare you the gory details."

It wasn't totally different from why Parvati herself was there, but it was plain to see that Hazel didn't really want to converse with her. The way in which she was going about it felt terribly childish, and Parvati wasn't stupid. She was old enough to be Hazel's mother, yet she had worked with plenty of other people around Hazel's age who weren't prone to acting as though they were teenagers. There was no point in being grown and playing games like that.

As much as Parvati could have lost her patience with Hazel's behavior, she knew that falling for that was precisely what Hazel wanted her to do. The petulance and the melodrama were both part of an act. Luckily, they weren't at work for Parvati to have to mince her words as much as she would have back at Hogwarts. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Hazel," she replied tersely, dropping that benefit of the doubt she'd given her. "I hope your brother is well."

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

It disappointed Hazel that Parvati didn’t take the easy bait. That would have been a neat little way to end the conversation – Parvati would get offended, Hazel would say something snappy, and then presto! A built-in excuse not to have to make polite conversation in the corridors of Hogwarts between classes. Hazel had never considered herself particularly dangerous, not in the way Asher could be while lording over the illegal dueling rings. Or even the way Ivy had shown herself to be a serious player when she’d caused the whole Purifiers operation to come tumbling down and sent their brother on his merry way to prison. No, Hazel wasn’t dangerous – but she could be ferocious when she chose to show people her darker side.

And it annoyed her that Parvati didn’t seem to notice, or care. Instead she replied tensely, but using the same words she must’ve used on dozens of Hogwarts students before her. That sent a little prickle of irritation through her and Hazel swallowed uncomfortably. Those last words almost sounded like a threat. Oh, from Parvati they didn’t mean anything. But from others…Hazel had heard those words a hundred different times with a hundred different meanings over the last year. And very few actually seemed to care about her state of being, or Asher’s. Rather, all the purebloods were more interested in what the Burkes' downfall could do for them, and the rest of society were just anti-blood purist. “Quite well,” she said coolly, her heavy-lidded gaze resting on Parvati, “We’re all just trying to move on with our lives.”

But that seemed impossible to ask for, and it almost made Hazel hate her family. Even as much as she fiercely loved them. Hazel cast a careless glance around the rest of the room before returning her pointed gaze to the other woman. “Here on holiday, or finally given up on Hogwarts? Although I suppose it’s not called that anymore.” They both would have received the same invitation to return for the new school year as the rest of the professors had. That would start an interesting game of who would come and who would stay away. Hazel could never truly stay mad at her sister, but she figured Ivy wouldn’t dare to show her face so soon. If Hazel had any sense of propriety, she probably wouldn’t either. Then again, she’d always been more daring than was wise, and so...she'd already accepted. Alchemy was likely to be a less popular subject once they saw who was teaching it.

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

May 16, 2027

Hazel answered her to say that Asher was "quite well". Reading between the lines, however, Parvati knew that Hazel's response was little more than a polite way of trying to get her off the subject. "We're all just trying to move on with our lives," she added.

As much as that statement applied to them both, Parvati continued to find it difficult to have much sympathy for Hazel. A part of her felt bad about thinking that way, but her stance felt reinforced as Hazel spoke to her yet again with a sort of sulkiness that Parvati couldn't quite pin down.

"Here on holiday, or finally given up on Hogwarts?" Hazel wondered, her voice sounding rather unconcerned. Parvati, though, had to question if she had asked for the sake of getting some gossip. Finding out that the school counselor was so distraught over the death of her daughter that she wouldn't be returning to her previous position was certainly a story, but it wasn't the case. She would be returning to Hogwarts. ("Although I suppose it's not called that anymore," Hazel mused.)

Parvati felt tempted to correct Hazel to explain that the campus itself was still "Hogwarts", technically speaking, but she highly doubted that Hazel cared very much about what it was going to be called from that point forward. Not wanting to give Hazel the satisfaction of feeling as though she had bested her, though, she smiled. "Oh, don't worry," she told her innocently. "I'll be back at Hogwarts."

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

As much as Hazel had scoffed at Asher’s policy of pretending that everything was okay, that really was the only story they could give to anyone who asked. Between the siblings, it was a different story. The past year had shown the weaknesses in the family, and nobody was the same person they’d been before the fall of Hogwarts. But as far as the rest of the world was concerned – everything was fine. Everyone was perfect. It was the only lie they could afford to live, because the pureblood world had been in turmoil and many families were just trying to survive the change.

So at this point, the lies rolled off Hazel’s tongue effortlessly and she shrugged casually like she hadn’t put much thought into the words anyway. The nice thing about India was that nobody seemed to know what had happened – Britain was so far away after all, and who really followed the news in other magical communities? No, all that had mattered was Hazel’s flamboyant style and the heavy bag of gold she carried with her. So…running into someone from Hogwarts was no fun at all. Hazel didn’t want to see pity in Parvati’s eyes or hear a tone of accusation underneath polite words.

Her phone gave a little ding! and Hazel slipped it out of her bag and opened it up – not really caring that she was in the middle of a conversation. It was only quite a long and boring email from the LIFE School – we’re confirming your course submissions, please send the curriculum, looking forward to an exciting year, blah blah blah. Still, Hazel read through it like she didn’t have anything else to do and made a vague “Hm,” as Parvati confirmed she’d be back at Hogwarts. Finally she turned her phone off and glanced up again. “How nice for you,” she said dryly, “I suppose it’ll help the kiddos to talk to someone as traumatized as they are. Unless they go telling mummy and daddy about that?”

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

May 16, 2027

Hazel's attention was drawn away from their conversation by an apparent notification on her mobile phone. It was ideal timing to make a run for it while she was distracted, perhaps, but Parvati knew that the polite thing to do would be to wait. Her waiting went on a little longer than she expected it would, and she stayed where she was as Hazel read through whatever it was she had received.

Maybe it was something urgent, but it didn't seem like it. Hazel didn't apologize for the interruption, either, as Parvati imagined that most people probably would have done. It was like getting a letter by owl in the middle of a conversation. Generally speaking, at least, there was at least some sort of apology attached to that, even if it wasn't someone's own fault.

Eventually, Hazel did seem to remember that she had been conversing with her, Parvati saw, because she had looked up from her phone screen. "How nice for you," she said, which at least proved that she had been listening despite not really looking like it. "I suppose it'll help the kiddos to talk to someone as traumatized as they are. Unless they go telling mummy and daddy about that?"

Was she traumatized? Absolutely. Parvati wasn't going to argue with Hazel on that point. She couldn't deny it. It was better, though, to have a school counselor who understood what the students and staff had been through, she felt, than to have someone sitting in some office somewhere and talking down to them. "Well," Parvati began, thoroughly unimpressed with Hazel's tone, "considering that I was at school with many of their parents and fought in a war when I was in my seventh year and younger than my daughter was when she died, I think they'll be more understanding than some."

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

Hazel supposed nobody had really gone unscathed from the fire at Hogwarts, even if the scars weren’t skin-deep. She’d always been so good at letting problems slide off her like water, because Hazel was far too rich and stylish and overall dazzling to have any real problems. No, that was something for Asher to worry about, and Hazel had never wanted anything in life that a house-elf couldn’t snap their fingers to do or a servant couldn’t fetch. That was the beautiful thing about being a Burke – she could focus on the gold and brightness of life, and ignore all the poison and ugliness that festered underneath the surface.

But at some point that gold had started to turn into steel, and Hazel’s breezy attitude had gained a bitter edge to it. At some point she’d started to see the problems she had to cope with in life, and even started to worry about them. At some point she’d stopped being untouchable. It made her feel vulnerable in a way that Hazel loathed, because if she was just like everybody else…Merlin, she couldn’t finish that thought. It was impossible to think that the Burkes were no better than everyone else, and even in a worse off position than many of the pureblood families learning to process the changes of the last year. Hazel had never been involved in the same strategic thinking as her two older siblings, both of whom had been deeply embedded in the Purifiers and their family’s future, but even she knew they’d been playing a game with high stakes and high risk.

Still, it had never occurred to her that she’d never had real friends before. At least, not until the moment she’d been left utterly alone – Asher in prison, Ivy in hiding abroad, and on her own to manage the Ivory Room and hold the Burke legacy together. That was when the vultures had come out of hiding to circle around the family, and the moment that all her glitzy and dazzling friends had abandoned her. Hazel gripped her phone tightly and smiled when Parvati gave her answer – although her smile was sharp, more wolfish than friendly. “You almost sound proud of that,” Hazel said caustically, her smile at odds with the hardness in her eyes. She'd had the same chance as Ivy and Asher and even Parvati to take a side too, to fight for something her family and community would have been proud of. A part of her had been tempted, and even now she felt the pressure to choose between Ivy and Asher and their conflicting ideals. But it seemed like Hazel had been the only one in the world who had chosen not to choose. She'd decided not to take a side, because she'd been right that it would tear their family apart and she hated that. “Nobody thinks they're on the wrong side, hey? And then nobody ever understands afterwards, either, so everybody keeps believing they did the right thing. But I guess we have to lie to ourselves and say we had to get involved. I guess that's what we do so we can keep going when everyone else is...gone.”

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

May 16, 2027

Was Parvati proud that she had been a member of Dumbledore's Army? In some ways, she was. She was proud that she had taken a stand for something when it had mattered most, even if she had been only a teenager then. In the decades that had passed since, she had become aware that none of it should have been necessary at the time. Harry shouldn't have had to form a group of his fellow students to teach themselves what they should have been taught at Hogwarts. None of them should have fought in combat when they were barely of age, if that.

Parvati wasn't sure if Hazel was insinuating that she had been on the wrong side as a member of Dumbledore's Army or if she was speaking about herself. There was no doubt in Parvati's mind that she had been on the "right side" since she was a teenager, no matter how much it seemed as though the younger woman was trying to get her to believe that she needed to question herself. The majority of the adults in their lives hadn't stepped up when it mattered, and it had been up to them to take the situation into their own hands. Ever since she had been in the position to change that for the next generations, it hadn't been a question.

"I'm fine, thanks," she answered Hazel simply. She hadn't been able to protect her own daughter from dying, but she knew that Shreya had died trying to save others. It was hardly consolation, and there were days when she found it hard to keep going. At the same time, though, Parvati couldn't imagine being willfully ignorant. What was the point of life if not to make it slightly better for everyone else in the future? She could have done nothing because it was infinitely more convenient, but she would have had to live with even more guilt in the end.

As much as she wanted to ask Hazel how she could live with herself, Parvati got the notion that her former colleague didn't actually care. And that, in a way, was worse than having chosen the "wrong side".

Hazel Rosalie Burke

[Hazel Rosalie Burke]

Wow, Hazel was so over this conversation. She clicked her perfectly done nails together and shifted her stance so she was standing with one hip to the waist and her shopping bags barely hovered above the ground. Parvati had always had that sheen of being the perfect suburban mom – always put together, oranges on the counter, healthy snacks for the kids who came into her office. But that just meant that she’d have the typical skeletons in her closet. A disappointing failed marriage, a tendency to rely on her wine bottles for comfort, not having had an orgasm since the ‘90s. It really didn’t interest Hazel who had her own imploded life to worry about, not to mention her own family problems.

“Of course,” she replied with a sickly sweet tone as her gaze swept up and down Parvati again. In a sense, most of the Hogwarts professors had been like her too. They all seemed so bland, never setting a toe out of line and concerning themselves with the good and proper thing to do. Hazel didn’t know why they bothered coming back to teach, why they concerned themselves so much with what everyone else was doing all the time. Nobody just let anybody be anymore, and that was how all this war had started too. Good guys and bad guys and right and wrong. There wasn’t any such thing, really. It was all just chaos, everybody doing what they wanted and not caring how it turned out for anyone else. Hazel was fine with that, at least until it started to spillover into her own golden life.

Not that she much cared to share her thoughts or feelings with Parvati. Or anyone, really – nobody deserved to know how Hazel was doing or what her dreams were or even what she thought about everything that had happened. Nobody needed to know anything except what she wanted and how they could get it for her. “Well, this has been fun,” Hazel said with a fake smile on her face as she rolled her shoulders breezily, “And I do have a lovely cream if you ever decide to do anything about those bags under your eyes.” Hazel casually tossed her hair over her shoulder and dug her phone out again. She hadn’t really spoken to anyone all day and she’d thought maybe that was what she had been missing. But no, none of this had made her feel better. She didn't think anything really could.

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

May 16, 2027

"Well, this has been fun. And I do have a lovely cream if you ever decide to do anything about those bags under your eyes."

The unsolicited advice that Hazel dispensed to her was hardly the first time that someone had felt that they needed to give her their opinion on something without her having asked for it, even if it didn't concern them in the first place. The mention of the bags under her eyes made it abundantly clear that it was the sort of comment that was meant to leave Parvati wondering if she looked worse than she thought she did, and she couldn't help wondering about it. At the same time, though, she tried to remind herself that of course she must have had undereye bags from how frequently she'd been crying. That nagging little bit of vanity, though, did get to her enough to sting.

"Thanks," Parvati muttered as Hazel decided that she was no longer worth her time. Bags or no bags under her eyes, she wasn't planning on using any cream that she had gotten directly from Hazel; she was smarter than to trust that.

Hazel Rosalie Burke
Fin!