hope is a dangerous thing

35. celene sterling burke, nee selwyn. 

[celeneburke]

flintmxrcus​:

He looked up at her, curious at her words. “And why is that? You make it sound as if you’re not allowed to do anything at all?” Some pure blood families had some stricter rules, some things they wanted to abide themselves with. But surely things were already changing, moving away from that. He would have hated if Octavia was ever placed in a position like that. Or any woman, for that matter. “Sure. Let’s do it.” He offered her a smile as he started walking, but not before allowing her first. After all, his father did teach him manners. 

marcus was half right. there were certain things she wasn’t allowed to do. allowed to have. cyrus told her that no wife of his would have a career and even though it killed her on the inside, she went along with his words. she was a burke, no longer a selwyn, and was to remain faithful in every sort of way towards her husband. that included not going behind his back with anything. celene didn’t give attention to his question as she began walking, not wanting there to be some sort of misunderstanding. “so tell me how you’ve been. i haven’t heard octavia speak of you in a while.” 

[celeneburke]

regina-selwyn​:

Regina wasn’t too surprised at the invitation to her cousins place and was even less surprised when her cousin commented on her arrival time. “I got caught up with students.” She explained quickly, greeting Celene with a hug. “Next time I’ll be sure to be early.” She told her, though that wasn’t necessarily a guarantee. The girl had a bad habit of being late, something most of her family hated. Perhaps that was the reason why she did it though. 

she would never let anybody know it, but celene was jealous of regina. with her love of astronomy, there was nothing more, besides being a mother, that she wanted than to be a professor of astronomy. she could always imagine it and when she left school, those were her plans – until she married cyrus, anyway. “ah yes. please tell me how the year is going for you?” @regina-selwyn​

[celeneburke]

pennyhaywoodx​:

There were moments to be happy and moments to brood. This moment, right then, was her time to shine on the floor. The more she sat, the more frustrated she became. She could have easily used a spell to help, she could have bought fewer things for her potions and had a sole focus on gifts. But no, she had to aim at everything. And now - her butt was freezing on the cold ground, letting the snow fall on her coat, as if laughing at her slip up. “I’m fine.” She muttered but not moved from the ground. “I just need a minute.” Being sorry for oneself wasn’t always a bad thing. “I just need the bags to come back in one piece and honestly… I’m on the verge.” But she was already gathering herself up, trying to take the bags at the same time. “Don’t worry, I won’t pull you down with me,” 

with how celene was raised, the woman would never have been caught in such a position. she was expected to behave in a certain way, both in private and public. she was always poised and never showed a sign of weakness which is how celene looked upon the girl. perhaps she would’ve been different if her parents had raised her slightly different. celene was displeased with the sight in front of her. it was an eyesore. celene continued to gaze at the girl, awarding her a stern look as she began to collect her things. “that’s no way for a woman to conduct herself in public,” celene said in a serious tone. “i suggest you find a way to handle yourself better, yes?”

[celeneburke]

flintmxrcus​:

“Merlin, no.” He should his head vigorously. Not that there was anything bad to say about it, he simply did not wonder about for that. “Just wanted to clear my head before I need to get back. Looking for a present for my cousin too, but I think she wants something that will match what her husband gave her.” He had booked it the moment he got her owl about that. Though it didn’t hurt to get some things extra. And for a few more people. Though most of it he had given a list to his house-elf. “What you doing here yourself? You don’t seem to be having a great day.” 

“trying to get things done and not being able to do them can be slightly irritating,” she explained. “there are plenty of shops celebrating at the holiday market – i’m sure you could find something there. i was heading that way if you’d like to join me.” even though celene had gotten used to doing day-to-day things alone, the woman thought it couldn’t hurt to have company along for part of the day and since celene didn’t know, she wondered if it was possible to figure out a reason he hadn’t joined his cousin, octavia, in the ranks of the redeemers. it was strange, in her opinion.

[celeneburke]

ms-pparkinson​:

Pansy loved her shop. She really did. But there were times she strongly debated closing up and never opening up again. Today was one of those days. There was some dance or something at Hogwarts and mothers had been in all day. Pureblood mothers, in her personal opinion, were the worst. And she should know, she was the daughter of one. It had been busy all day and she had just made herself a cup of tea when the bells signaling someone had come in the shop rang out. She took a deep breath, fortifying herself for another mother. She came out from behind the curtain, teacup still in hand. She’d be damned if she wasted a good cup. “Welcome to Sterling and Halcyon. Can I help you with anything today?” 

after her mishap at twilfitt and tatting’s, celene sought out a new shop for her robes. after asking around to some friends, celene decided to attempt a go at sterling and halcyon. if she were honest, she liked the fact that her middle name was in the name of the shop. that added to her interest. walking in, celene found herself intrigued by her surroundings. it wasn’t quite what she expected. a pair of dark purple robes caught her eye in the corner and she could admit she was impressed. celene gave a warm smile to pansy parkinson. “pansy, how lovely it is to see you. i didn’t realize this was your shop until recently, but i can see you’ve done quite well here.”

[celeneburke]

for: @regina-selwyn​

where: burke manor

having invited her cousin over for tea, celene was sitting in her favorite armchair in the drawing room. she’d decided upon black tea with cauldron cakes to put in their stomachs as they spoke. with regina’s position in the new order, celene rarely got to see her and was genuinely interested in how everything was going in her life. she could still recall the sick little girl regina was and was glad regina seemed to be doing better as she got older. 

as soon as the clock turned to 14:00, celene looked towards her fireplace, anticipating regina’s arrival. the moment before the clock showed 14:01, regina appeared and celene ‘tsked’ at her cousin. “cutting it close, aren’t we?” she greeted. 

[celeneburke]

pennyhaywoodx​:

Location: Diagon Alley

Status: Open!

It was nearing Christmas, and that only meant one thing - gifts. For the longest of times, Penny had made her own tradition to send little wrapped gifts to everyone she knew. Some might have been smaller, some bigger, but it was her thing. Especially now, with the darker times approaching, she felt that people were more anxious. There were things to worry about. Plus, everyone had to admit that the parties or any kind of events these days just so happened to go bloody bonkers. 

But now, with bags in each hand, Penny roamed around the shops, looking for anything that would catch her eye. Shiny, bland - anything. Each gift had a personality that apprehended to a person. 

“Damn it!” She groaned as one bag fell to the floor. There was no way for her to pick it up without dropping the rest of them. “Merlin, I’m just…” Bending down on her knees, she tried to pick it up - and failed. Too soon the bags dropped to the ground and defeated, Penny just sat on the cold ground. “I give up!” 

not in the mood to spend the day at home alone, celene was out and about. she’d spent most of her day in knockturn alley, stopping by borgin and burkes to see how the business was doing. every so often, she made a visit to see if the shop was up to her standards and if it wasn’t, she’d give them instructions on how to make the place not look like such an eyesore. there’d been a few times where she had done the task herself, sick and tired of them not doing anything correctly. ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself’ had never been truer. 

after stopping by a hot drink cart in carkitt market for mulled wine, celene was thinking about finally heading home when she came across a young woman sitting on the ground outside. should she even ask? approaching the blonde, celene spoke. “may i ask what you’re doing on the... ground?” celene reeled in the slightly disgusting look she had on her face, replacing it with a neutral gaze. @pennyhaywoodx​

[celeneburke]

for: @cassius-selwyn​

each month, the selwyn’s gathered at the same time and same place – celene’s mother and father’s manor. it had been in the family since the 1600′s and it was meant to be passed down to the eldest son. the problem lied within the fact that celene was their only child. the pair hadn’t been disappointed at the fact that carmella birthed a daughter, but they weren’t sure what to do with the manor after their passing.

after kissing her parents on the cheek upon arriving, celene made her way to the dining room and sat down at her designated spot next to cyrus. tureens of buttered peas, lamb chops, steak and kidney pudding, roast potatoes and red currant rum were spread out on the table before her and the woman made sure to get a serving of everything or she would hear a comment from her mother. when everyone began to retire to the drawing room, celene refilled her glass with some more currant rum and ran into her cousin who seemed to have the same idea of securing just a little bit more alcohol to get through the evening. “cas, i haven’t got a chance to talk with you tonight – enjoy dinner?”

[celeneburke]

flintmxrcus​:

Another day, another time for him to be rushing anywhere but where he needed to be. To be fair, he had already finished his work at the Ministry, leaving the old people to bicker through some useless details. It’s been a while. Not that he had to manage his anger, to not reach for his want whenever the fools said anything unimportant. Which was basically most of the time. He wished for the time when he could take out his wand freely, point it at any half-blood and be done with it. 

Alas, the time were not so. Instead, he had to be the perfect civilian which basically for him meant working and doing anything the fucking wanted on days off. 

With a cigarette between his lips, he moved through the Diagon alley, wandering about, and not specifically looking for anything. All until he bumped into Celene. “Well, your days seem to be going as good as mine.” He arched his brow at her. She seemed unhappy. Perfect time for him to swoop in.

celene was livid at the fact that they were closed and at her outburst. the robes she’d ordered were for a selwyn family dinner and her parents loved nothing more than to critique their daughter. celene was raised in her parents image – hawthorne and carmella selwyn expected nothing but perfection from celene since she was young and very rarely did she disappoint. they expected new robes worn to the monthly selwyn dinner and each pair the woman had was made to order. the thought of having to make a trip to madam malkin’s made her skin crawl – they allowed just about anybody into the shop. 

celene calmed the dragon of a temper that rose upon seeing the sign, calmly greeting the man. “hello, marcus. a pleasure to see you – what are you doing out and about? hopefully not trying to make a trip to twilfitt and tatting’s?” 

[celeneburke]

status: open to all

where: south side diagon alley, london

celene was greeted by the fresh air as she walked out the door of the house-elf placement agency. she had grown tired of one of the four she and cyrus had. celene came across a collection the elf gathered, consisting of several stolen things from around the house and it had been enough for her. she brought the house elf as quickly as she could to the agency, insisting that it be placed elsewhere. there was only one reason celene didn’t ask for a replacement: to upset her husband. rodrey was the one who tended to the garden the burke’s had out front and cyrus demanded that it be kept up on a daily basis. with no house-elf to do it, and celene sure wasn’t going to, that meant a peeved cyrus and a small smile that would creep onto celene’s face in satisfaction of seeing her husband’s day made worse even in the smallest of ways. with her heels clicking on the sidewalk, celene made her way to twilfitt and tatting’s to pick up a new pair of robes she’d ordered a month ago to find the shop had a closed – be back tomorrow sign on it. annoyed, as she strongly disliked being inconvienced, she said aloud to herself, “since when the bloody hell do shops close midday?” 

[beautiful-beckinsale]