❝ STEPPING, I'M STOMPING, I'M ALL GONE. ❞ ☓ 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭
this book has been fully re-edited and its original name being "his destructive little wildfire" but as it was created in 2021 and was hor...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
xiv. love, love, love
"IT WAS YOUR MOTHER'S." Those were the last words Severus had said to her before he handed her the necklace. She remembered standing there in the dim light of his room, the walls lined with dusty shelves and mysterious jars, as he placed it in her hand. It was beautiful—an emerald green stone that gleamed with a soft, otherworldly light, set in an intricate Victorian-style pendant. Without hesitation, she had clasped it around her neck, feeling the cool metal against her skin.
Severus had always been tight-lipped about her biological mother, never offering even the smallest detail, so this gesture—giving her the necklace—felt monumental. It wasn't just a piece of jewelry; it was a bridge to a past she barely knew. For him to part with it, to give her something so personal, meant more to her than words could express.
And it proved something, too. It proved that he had known her mother well enough to have kept her things, to guard them all these years. It was also likely the reason she had never been invited into Severus's home before, at least that's what she told herself.
The secrecy, the guarded nature of his life—it all made sense now. But this necklace, this small token, was a crack in that wall, a glimpse into the connection they shared. It was a reminder that, despite everything, there was a part of her mother that still lived on, and Severus had been the keeper of that memory.
Deleine sat at the long, ancient table in the Great Hall, her eyes fixed on the necklace resting against her chest. The emerald-green pendant glistened in the candlelight, the Victorian design catching and reflecting the warm glow. She'd lost count of how many times she'd stared at it, the weight of it both comforting and perplexing.
She hadn't noticed the stern gaze of Mad-Eye Moody sitting with the other professors, his magical eye swiveling unnervingly in her direction, particularly drawn to the necklace. He'd know much about the necklace.
Cassia slid onto the bench beside her, her presence only pulling Deleine from her thoughts momentarily. "Where'd you get the necklace?" Cassia asked, curiosity lacing her voice as she glanced at the shimmering piece of jewelry.
Deleine blinked, looking up quietly. "Something of my mum's," she muttered, her voice almost lost amidst the clatter of breakfast. She knew Cassia would assume she was talking about the mother she and Cho shared—Cho's mother, not her own biological one.
Cassia nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. "It's pretty," she commented offhandedly, before tucking into her food, the conversation dropping as quickly as it had started.
