Silent All These Years (OPEN)

[parvati patil macmillan]

January 5/6, 2025

The students had returned back to Hogwarts, which would have been a return back to their usual routine if not for the increased security presence. It might have been more accurate to view that as the norm, considering that they could only go a few months before something else would happen to add to what they had already endured. It wasn't unfamiliar to Parvati Macmillan, either. Even when she was a student, it had been one mishap or tragedy after another.

Parvati occasionally wondered how Professor McGonagall had ever been able to sleep at night, though it wasn't the injuries that she had suffered to her chest while fending off the dragons in Hogsmeade that were keeping the Head of Gryffindor House awake; rather, it was her thoughts. Although secure in the knowledge that the castle was being guarded by both the Ministry and MACUSA, she worried for the students. The Americans, especially those who had gone all the way back to their own country, must have been questioning what in Merlin's name was happening.

She had spoken with a few students, in general, after they had arrived back to school. Perhaps it was the anticipation of more that had kept her awake and seated at her desk, Parvati thought, instead of being in bed. It was late enough that all of the students should have been back in their dormitories, including the prefects, so she knew that she was being completely irrational in not getting some sleep.

A knock at Parvati's office door confirmed that it wasn't for nothing that she hadn't readied herself for bed yet, and she got up and moved the short distance from her desk chair to the door to answer it, her cat just behind her. Cautiously, she unlocked the door and pulled it open, wondering what was the matter.

[Deleted]

After everything that had happened at Hogsmeade, Laurel was a little nervous about returning to Hogwarts. Why wouldn't she be? She was sure that other people were as well. With an attack so close to home, what happened if they grew closer? She had shaken that feeling behind and with a new determination, had left her daughter in the hands of her nanny and returned to work at the school.

That night, she had been wandering the halls after hours, and that was when she noticed some figures in the distance. "Lumos," she breathed, pointing her wand, which was now lit, in the direction of the people. There were giggling and then a loud knock was heard, "Hey! Shouldn't you be in bed!?" she called out at the figures, who quickly ran away with her chasing after.

However, she was stopped by the door to the room that had been knocked on opening, and she took in Parvati. She smiled, "Oh Professor MacMillian, you weren't sleeping, were you? A bunch of students were playing a joke..." she said as she glanced in the direction, they ran to, "Seems they've run off..." she ended, diminishing the light on her wand with a nonverbal spell.

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

January 5/6, 2025

Seeing no one at her door at first, Parvati blinked, but it was Laurel Fawley who came to her door a moment later. She opened the door slightly wider but stepped in the way of her cat so that she wouldn’t be able to bolt out.

“Oh, Professor Macmillan,” Laurel smiled at her, “you weren't sleeping, were you? A bunch of students were playing a joke… Seems they've run off…” The Muggle Studies professor looked off in the distance for a moment, probably looking to see if she could tell where it was that the students had gone.

Parvati shook her head as Laurel darkened the light that had been coming from her wand. “No, I wasn’t sleeping yet, but, Merlin’s beard…” she commented in dismay, rubbing her face. “They really should know better than to pull a prank like that. After everything that’s happened, and especially with so many Aurors around…” She sighed; even if it was just a prank, it really wasn’t an appropriate one.

“Did you see who it was, Laurel?” The students who had done it had probably managed to run off, Parvati thought, but it was still worth checking with her colleague. There was no guarantee that they would be able to find them, but that didn’t mean that the caretaker or one of the Aurors on patrol wouldn’t run into them later. “Did they wake you, too?”

@laurel

[Deleted]

With everything that had been happening in the Wizarding World these past few years, you would think that people would be more worried - scared even. Sure, she didn't want that for anyone - but surely kids should understand the danger that is genuinely out there. Even though Hogwarts was the safest place on Earth or one of them at least, there were little things that could destroy it, and these children had the carelessness to sneak about and prank people.

They could have been killed if the wrong person found them and made assumptions! Parvati seemed to agree with her, and she nodded in agreement, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked up, shaking her head in regards to the first question. "No - they looked young, maybe third or fourth years...but I didn't see their faces." she said, a little sad that was the answer she came away with. If they had known what they looked like, it would have been easier to punish them. She shook her head once more, with a laugh, "No-they didn't wake me. I was...sadly wandering the castle myself. Couldn't sleep..."

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

January 5/6, 2025

Laurel explained that she hadn't gotten a look at the students' faces to see who they were. They looked young, though, she said—probably third- or fourth-years. Parvati nodded and thought it over.

While they could have tried to go after the offenders, perhaps, she knew that there wasn't much use in it. If the students had any sense, they would go back to their common rooms before they would get caught up after hours by the caretaker or one of the Aurors. Besides, with as many corridors and hidden passages as the castle had, they were probably long gone already.

In response to her question about if the students had awoken her, though, Laurel said that they hadn't. Although she laughed, she mentioned that she had been wandering the castle and couldn't sleep.

Parvati wasn't sure if the younger professor was simply flustered by not having been able to catch the delinquent students or if there was something else going on that the woman was concerned about, but she knew that it wouldn't hurt to ask her. "Is everything alright?" she checked, offering her colleague a small smile.

@laurel

[Deleted]

The students had surely gotten back to their common rooms by now or had escaped far enough that the two professors would have to search high and low for them. At that point, it was just a win for them - though Laurel knew herself she would be looking for them.

'Is everything alright?' asked the professor, and it was then that she smiled and nodded her head. "Oh, yes. I'm a worry wart...as my step-mother would say. Keeps me up sometimes. Nothing tea doesn't usually fix, or a stroll." she said with a bit of laughter. Laurel was telling the truth, she was fine - as fine as anyone in the wizarding world could be in that moment.

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

January 5/6, 2025

Assuring her that there was nothing seriously wrong, Laurel explained that she had always been a “worry-wart”, although it wasn’t anything that tea or a stroll couldn’t usually fix.
 
Parvati nodded softly. It wasn’t difficult to be worried about plenty of things anymore; the state of the world—the magical one, at least—almost dictated that worry was a necessary part of life. She didn’t want it to be a necessity any more than did the next person, but she also knew that that was part of the reason why she was working at Hogwarts. It was her job to allay people’s worries, to make sure that they were safe in the knowledge that the school was still one of the safest places possible for most people.
 
Even with everything that had happened, Parvati still believed in the safety of the school. She would have been a hypocrite otherwise, but—as compared to how things had been in her later years at Hogwarts—the castle was still safe. The sorts of punishments freely given by the likes of Dolores Umbridge and the Carrows were no more, and she had every hope that Harry’s presence—even in disguise and unknown to the majority of the school—would help to keep things that way.
 
For Laurel, too, it must have been strange. Even though the Muggle Studies professor wasn’t as old as she, she had attended Hogwarts at a time when there were very few established threats, and Ilvermorny—at least from what Parvati understood—had always been just as safe as anywhere else. To suddenly have responsibility for the safety of the students, in addition to herself, in a place that she had always known as safe—in the way that they had always hoped that it would be after the Battle of Hogwarts—had to have been uncomfortable at best.
 
“Would you like to come in?” Parvati offered, stepping back from her doorway if Laurel did want to talk with her about anything that was going on. “I don’t mind.”

@laurel

[Deleted]

Life for Laurel had changed dramatically since she had walked the very halls of Hogwarts. At that time, the school was safe, and minimal threats had been felt since the last threat all those years ago before she was even born. But now, it seemed with each passing day, something dark and horrid was growing in the distance. And as a professor, but also a sibling and mother, she grew terrified for those around her. Her siblings went to Hogwarts; her daughter would surely go one day. And while her siblings wouldn't be targets, due to their family's pureblood status, her daughter would. She was a halfblood after all, her father likely being a muggle.

She was snapped from her thoughts by the woman, offering an invitation of entering. She opened her mouth to decline, not wanting to be a bother when the woman added that she wouldn't mind it. Did Parvati just read her mind? She smiled slightly, nodding her head, "I'd love to...as long as you really don't see me as a nuisance to your alone time?"

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

January 5/6, 2025

Laurel opened her mouth, but it took another moment for words to come. Whether it was out of shock or relief, Parvati couldn’t say. Sometimes she wished that she had trained as a Legilimens; it would have been useful. “I'd love to,” the Muggle Studies professor answered, a small smile upon her face, “…as long as you really don't see me as a nuisance to your alone time?”
 

It was no bother for her, Parvati thought. It wasn’t as though she had been awoken, and it wasn’t any more of a hassle to invite Laurel in for a bit. Especially given the way that things were—the increased security and all—it didn’t hurt anything to check in with her. She shook her head; she didn’t want Laurel to think that she was a nuisance at all. She was far from a nuisance. “No, no, of course not, Laurel,” Parvati said to reassure her younger colleague, holding the door open for her so that Laurel could enter her office. “It’s no trouble.”

@laurel

[Deleted]

Singing like it's a full moon Careless now that he has you Turns you on to the right songs Promises that you're hooked on Sweet Ophelia!

'No, no, of course not, Laurel. It's no trouble.' A smile appeared on the younger brunette's face as she nodded her head, slipping through the open door that was held open for her. "As long as your sure," she mused, looking around the office that the other professor had. It was strange, being on the other side of a door. Being a professor at Hogwarts after attending the school, it felt weird - wrong even. Like she wasn't supposed to enter certain areas. She tucked a strand of brunette hair behind her ear.

parvati patil macmillan ● i am so sorry...

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[parvati patil macmillan]

January 5/6, 2025

Laurel entered her office, telling her that she would come in as long as she was sure that it was, as Parvati had just assured her, no trouble to her. Laurel still appeared apprehensive about being there, as though it was some invasion of her privacy, Parvati thought, but it really wasn’t. Even her living quarters, which were just off of her office through another door, weren’t some sacrosanct chamber. Was it that the office had once been Professor McGonagall’s?

Whatever the reason for Laurel’s hesitancy, Parvati had people in and out of her office all day long, and she had decorated it to suit. It might have been a relatively small space, but she had wanted it to be an inviting one. The angled walls were covered in bright tapestries, and a fireplace sat in the space between where her desk sat, roughly opposite a tufted velvet chaise longue piled with a variety of cushions. She kept another chair up against the wall in case it was needed for additional seating beyond her desk chair and the chaise. If it were during the day, she would have had had some sort of incense burning, though her candelabra flickered from the corner.

“You’re welcome to sit, Laurel,” Parvati promised her, motioning her colleague towards the chaise longue and her cat back away from the doorway as she shut and locked the door behind her. “Would you like anything? Some water? Tea?” she offered, turning to face the Muggle Studies professor. If they were both awake, the least that she could do was help to ease her mind just a little.

@laurel