remember the name | ivy

[asher rowan burke]

Five percent pleasure
fifty percent pain

And a hundred percent reason
to remember the name

June 9, 2027
IVY BURKE

It was far too loud for Asher's liking. Even in The Ivory Room, the sound of music clashing with excited shouts from the gamblers made his skin crawl. Hazel had been insistent, which was not new, but she had been more insistent than usual. Putting her gold-laden foot down. The girl had always been stubborn. Especially to her older brother, but never nearing so close to the line of insolence. Still, Hazel reminded Asher that while in charge, she had learned a thing or two and what happened to the faith he had so easily expressed in her abilities not long ago.

So, Asher conceded and let his younger sister drag him to a hole in the wall in Knockturn Alley. The Poisoned Spindle was a venue owned by the Karkaroffs. Even thinking the name of such a disgraced family made him feel foul. Surely the Burkes were still in higher standing than them. They crossed the room, Hazel smiling and greeting a familiar face or two. Asher didn't care to note a few stares or hands pointing his way. Six months ago, he walked out of the Ministry a free man, cleared of all charges and allegations. But imaginations would run wild for some time. Asher didn't care, as long as eyebrows raised toward the Ministry.

Hazel led him to the backroom, insisting she knew the bartender (which a wink that almost made Asher roll his eyes) and he could give insight into the competition. So, Asher stood in a backroom that was clearly used for meetings. No boxes lined the walls like some simple storeroom, and one could barely hear the music blasting just on the other side of the wall. Hearing the door open behind him, Asher didn't turn right away. Instead, he fixed his cufflink, and when he didn't hear any other noise, he finally turned. And in a rare moment, halfway turned, Asher completely paused. Finally, he turned completely. Standing up rigidly straight, hands behind his back although his wand wasn't far from reach. "Ivy."

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[IVY BURKE]

The past year, Ivy had hidden herself away in Brazil, teaching at Castelobruxo. It had been a challenge at first, trying to master the idioms and nuances of the Portuguese language. Naturally, there were translation spells across the school grounds, but Ivy was Ivy. She wanted to understand the core nature of her students, to be able to really connect with them. To share with them the very foundation of the magic that brought them together.

There had been many days that Ivy had been tempted to crawl back to England, to beg for the forgiveness of both her brother and sister. After all, they were the ones who mattered. But Ivy had shattered the relationship with her brother when she had put the safety of the Hogwarts pupils before his reputation. And she still had the limited movement and ghastly burns to prove it. Hazel she knew would come around eventually. For all the front she put up, her sister had the biggest heart of them all. Ivy knew that her love could withstand anything. But with Asher? His reputation had been the most important thing to him. To be revered, to be feared, to have a presence that was undeniably powerful. Ivy had been instrumental in shredding the Burke name. And for that, Ivy doubted she could be forgiven.

After months of silence and solitude, Ivy hadn't been able to resist sending Hazel a letter. She never told her sister where she was, and used a false name whilst working at Castelobruxo for her own protection. Their correspondence grew, and ultimately, Hazel had been successful in convincing Ivy to return. Even if it was just for a short while. Ivy had to admit she had missed England - she enjoyed the near constant warmth of the Brazilian rainforests, but it was oppressive at times. The air was so thick, it was nearly impossible to move through.

Stepping into the Poisoned Spindle was like travelling back in time. Back when she would throw around her surname like currency, garnering favours and promises. But this was different now. The Karkaroff name was just as blighted as the Burke one. She wasn't sure why Hazel had insisted on meeting here, it was poorly kept and smelled like mould. With a grimace, Ivy's gaze swept around the bar before she disappeared into the loo, hoping that a further layer of lipstick would help her face the strange pub and Hazel for the first time in nearly a year. When Ivy returned from the loo, the bartender nodded her towards a back room silently. For the first time, Ivy felt nervous. She clutched her wand in her robes, prepared to defend herself however possible. The door creaked as it opened, and she froze in the door frame.

"Asher?" Ivy squeaked, her voice much higher than she had anticipated. She cleared her throat, shooting Hazel a look as she did so, and her sister disappeared from view. Jaw clenched, Ivy faced her eldest brother, noting the subtle changes in him. "You look older," said Ivy flatly.

asher rowan burke

[asher rowan burke]

Five percent pleasure
fifty percent pain

And a hundred percent reason
to remember the name

June 9, 2027
IVY BURKE

The shock had only lasted a moment. Asher regained his composure. If anything, he took the same tone and pose as he might in front of his subordinates as an effortless and visual reminder of who they worked for. Since his release, Asher had slowly but surely but vigilantly regained his dominance. Anyone that put as much as a toe out of line or decided they were brave enough to utter a smart comment or roll their eyes was ruthlessly punished. So far, it was working. He wasn’t weak—but he had to prove it. A year ago, he’d strayed just out of line with the orders given to him because he wanted to make sure his sisters were out of the Castle before ensuring it burnt to the ground, which had cost him.

Ivy looked much the same, and he didn’t flinch at her observation. Maybe it was true. His eyes were still that sharp shade of blue and intense as ever but carried something else with them. Where once there had been pure arrogance, that space was now shared with something haunted. ”Certain side effects of imprisonment couldn’t be avoided.” Asher responded bluntly. Considering how they both had looked at Hazel when all three were in the room—it was clear that Ivy had no intention of walking into this either. Asher’s jaw clenched, and his stomach did an uncharacteristic flip. A mix of wrath and a sense of relief. It was good to physically see Ivy was okay since he’d heard nothing for months.

But it didn’t change the events. It didn’t change the betrayal. And it didn’t change that Ivy had shown Asher and Hazel her true colors and real priorities—it hadn’t been them. His gaze narrowed slightly as the resentment he’d sat with for all those months became a familiar feeling again. ”Bold of you to show your face in England…and to me.” One might say it was bold. Asher found it to be a foolish thing to do. Especially when it took much of his energy to restrain himself from retrieving his wand to show Ivy what he thought of her betrayal.

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[IVY BURKE]

Ivy's dark gaze raked over her brother. Someone she had trusted implicitly, even if they'd had their differences. Even if Asher had been rather bossy and an annoyance to her and Hazel. Was that not the principal role of an older brother? Yet Ivy had betrayed him, and had betrayed their family in the process. She had known that Hazel would forgive her, after a time. It had been nearly a year now anyways. But how could Asher, when her evidence had locked him in Azkaban?

Perhaps the only saving grace of the situation was that Asher hadn't been put away for long. Ivy had heard he'd struck a deal with the ministry, and even though he couldn't go back into the world of political intrigue, there were other ways to play the puppet master. Ivy knew without a doubt he would still be pulling strings. The ease with which he'd taken ownership of the Ivory Room stood as evidence. Asher was clever, Ivy would never doubt that. But he'd played his case wrong before, and she also knew that he never made the same mistake twice.

Nostrils flaring, Ivy otherwise maintained her cool composure. "You know as well as I do that I had no intention of crossing paths with you," said Ivy, watching her brother carefully. His hand didn't leap to his wand, as she had been so sure he would. But this standoff went deeper than physicality. "You're alive and well enough. Better that than dead. Which was the direction you were heading in," she added in a low tone, her gaze capturing in. "We all have a price. We've both paid our dues. You have a future now," said Ivy. She trailed off, resisting the urge to remind him that she had done this for the future of wizardkind. What they had always been trying to support. Without bright young witches and wizards, what would they be?

asher rowan burke

[asher rowan burke]

Five percent pleasure
fifty percent pain

And a hundred percent reason
to remember the name

June 9, 2027
IVY BURKE

Asher wasn’t sure what incensed him more. Hazel forcing them into a room together or the look on Ivy’s face that somehow Asher was in the wrong, that she stood above him in some way. While Asher and Hazel were hardly ever on the same page, he had found a different understanding with Ivy. She had a brilliant mind, though nobody would ever claim that any of the Burke’s weren’t incredibly clever in their own way. With Ivy he’d been able to speak of things he’d never dare share with Hazel. Things in his past he carried with him, sacrifices he had made. All these things culminated in the creation of the modern Asher Burke. And he was old enough now that anyone hardly remembered how different he’d been at seventeen.

He wanted to know what rumors she’d heard. The details of his release were not public and, per a binding magical contract, were not intended to be. No doubt Rivera had been tempted to allow a leak to the papers, but alas, she was not able. But it was clear something happened behind the scenes, and at least Asher could walk away knowing the Ministry had not been seen in a favorable light about it. ”A future…” Asher scoffed. Slowly he walked around the table in the center, his hands behind his back. His typical stance and not one he adopted if he’d been encircling his prey.

Finally, he stopped just a few feet in front of Ivy. ”What kind of a future is a disgraced name?” His eyes focused intently on her, ablaze in an icy fury. ”You took away our right to control the narrative, Ivy.” They had their roles, they had their duties, and all of it could have been accomplished if they’d worked together as intended. A way to control the narrative and leave the Burke name out of it entirely. ”Death would have been better.” Asher approached a little closer, wondering how far he could push until Ivy pushed him away. Did she feel guilt for her actions? Would she let her righteous indignation over her previous students fuel her now? ”And what’s stopping me from killing you now?” Asher’s hand was never far from his wand, although his sisters knew he didn’t require a wand to administer harm. He wasn’t some ordinary Wizard who did minor feats of magic with a wave of his hand. He was Asher Burke.

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[IVY BURKE]

Ivy stared at her brother, her face a cool, emotionless mask. There he was again, crowing about how their name was disgraced. "Is the greater good not enough for you, brother?" asked Ivy, keeping the mocking in her tone to a minimum. "What's a name worth if there is no one left to remember it?" If Elaine had succeeded in destroying Hogwarts and its progeny, where would that leave the fate of the wizarding world? Wizards, pureblooded, mudbloods and alike... at the end of the day did it really matter? They were a dying breed as a whole. Ivy was convinced she had done the right thing to protect the future of wizardkind.

Asher wasn't being reasonable - but Ivy hadn't expected him to be. "I think you've done that yourself, Asher. They would have found out, you know. About your involvement. The fact that you were so prominent within the Ministry, that there had already been issues in the past with unspeakables and blood purity. You acted as you saw fit, and so did I." Ivy straightened her spine, meeting Asher's hard gaze directly.

Ivy was sure that Asher was tempted to kill her. But in her time away, she'd started to understand some things. Things weren't as black and white as she would have wished. She knew that Asher had been worried about herself and Hazel, which was why he had blown his cover. He had never been able to trust anyone but himself. "Despite what you feel for me right now, I'm still your family," said Ivy, wishing for a moment that Hazel was there to support the claim. But she knew that she and Asher had to face one another alone first. "And I know you won't forgive me. Maybe ever. But you must understand that I did what I did for the greater good."

asher rowan burke

[asher rowan burke]

Five percent pleasure
fifty percent pain

And a hundred percent reason
to remember the name

June 9, 2027
IVY BURKE

His sisters had never been the type to cower before him or back down easily. While others knew to avoid his pointed glare, Hazel and Ivy differed. They were his sisters, after all. And held them to a higher standard. Asher could remember when he began to venture out of the world--going to school and traveling over the summers. How families would interact--parents with their children and brothers with their sisters. It was remarkably different than his own life. They hadn't been raised that way. For Asher to approach either of his sisters in such a way would only be a dead giveaway that he was under the Imperius Curse, but it didn't mean he didn't show it in some way. Running into the Castle that day had been costly, but despite his last-minute orders, he wasn't going to contribute to his family's demise. And he hadn't intended on running into the one person capable of taking him down.

The greater good. What a joke. Happiness was not in the cards for them. Their birth had ensured that. The only way out was through, and that was through duty. But she was merely pushing his buttons now. What did Hazel expect when she'd put them in the same room? Some magical reconciliation where they hugged and promised they would always support one another for the greater good? "The 'greater good' is a lie, and you know it." He responded. "Everyone sacrifices to achieve their goals. Everyone. The ends always justify the means." That was true whether you were branded the villain or the hero in this story.

His jaw clenched tightly. It took a surprising amount of energy not to reach out and ring Ivy's neck. But self-control had always been essential in his character, especially when he'd been seventeen and his father had forced it into him. These ghosts in his past--things he had sacrificed for their greater good. Ivy might know a thing or two about him, but Hazel certainly only saw the resulting man. Driven, arrogant and sure he would get his way. Was there even a piece of that Asher left anymore, or had it died that day?

Asher inched closer, eyes boring into Ivy as they would have any enemy. "Forgiveness. Family." He shook his head slightly at the audacity. "You act as if you know what these mean. You made it very clear where you stood--and it wasn't with our family." Anger coursed through him, the betrayal he'd carried around since he'd fallen that day, but there was always this other lingering emotion he had not admitted out loud. Ivy had done the unthinkable and betrayed them, yet what had she sacrificed for it? Why did she get to live so peacefully without paying the same tolls he had? Why?

The question had lingered in his mind for over a year, and he still didn't have an answer. But rather than act on that rage, he stopped himself, "I won't kill you." Asher spoke simply after looking away for a moment to collect his thoughts. "And that I do for Hazel, my family." Icy eyes moved to Ivy again, though the rage had settled into something much colder. "You get to leave, live your life as you see fit..." Hazel would never forgive him if he'd harmed Ivy, and unlike Ivy, Hazel had stuck by him when he had needed her. As family does. Asher backed away a few steps, hands still behind his back. "You were once my sister. Part of our legacy. So you may consider yourself 'forgiven' if you wish, but know that the moment I leave this room, you are dead to me."

He was cold. He even felt slightly numb. Words he'd never dreamed he would ever say to his family but then again, when did any of his dreams not simply die? And he wondered if 'the greater good' was worth such sacrifice. Asher's heart had broken, shattered by force at seventeen for what? Love? And he'd now suffered again for his love for his sisters. Asher paused, giving his sister a final look. Lingering for that mere split second. "Goodbye, Ivy."

[ end asher ]

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[IVY BURKE]

"Exactly. The ends justify the means, Asher. You put hundreds of lives at risk and for what? Your name? Are you too selfish to look beyond the edge of your nose?" asked Ivy venomously. Her usually sedate temper flared, burning low in her throat. "You don't know the meaning of sacrifice," she hissed. And just like that, she was being dismissed. A fate worse than death. She glared as Asher sank into the grave of his own making. She turned on her heel and left him to rot.

[END THREAD]