52 parts Complete Mature⋆｡°✩
willow had once watched someone die.
she saw the green light explode from the end of a wand, saw a body crumple to the floor, lifeless - before she even knew what magic truly was. and her father, blinded by grief and fury, had done the unthinkable. he tore the magic from her - ripped it from her bones with trembling hands and shattered words, as if silencing her gift could silence his own pain.
she was only twelve when the magical world took her in, broken and wide-eyed. the halls of that ancient castle loomed taller than anything she'd ever known. spells whirled like storm winds, portraits whispered in their frames, and staircases shifted beneath her feet. it terrified her.
but even as she clutched at familiarity like a lifeline, she knew - somewhere in her bones - that this strange, faraway place would become her forever.
and who could have guessed that her forever would be a red-headed boy with laughter in his soul and fire in his heart? a boy who loved so fiercely, so completely, that it burned through the darkest parts of her.
she remembered the way he looked at her - like he saw every hidden piece she tried to bury.
"I desperately wanted to kiss him - to bury my hands in his hair, to press my mouth to his like it would heal every broken thing inside me. My body trembled with the ache of it, like it already knew he was meant to be mine. Like kissing him would make the world stop spinning."
and in that moment, every inch of her - every breath, every heartbeat, every scar left by what had been taken - was begging for something real. something right.
49 chapters
started 9/29/2022
completed 5/24/2025
tw: this story contains themes involving substance use, sexual content, and blood/death/violence.
