DEVIL'S SNARE ━ james sirius potter ✓

▬▬ 12. DANCING WITH AN ANGEL

⠀⠀"This is a present from your father and I," Luna said, a smile cracking onto her face. "It's a family heirloom. From my side, of course. I thought, since you're turning seventeen this year, I might as well give it to you early."

⠀⠀"For Christmas?" Laurel asked, chuckling. "Not for my birthday?"

⠀⠀"It was your father's idea," Luna said nonchalantly, like she was asked this question countless times before. "Open it."

⠀⠀Laurel did, tearing through the silver blue wrapping paper, finding a clear, small, square box, a necklace placed neatly on the inside. It was made up of a gold chain, with two charms: one of a gold rose with all its leaves and its stem, the other a gold crescent moon encrusted with very small crystals.

⠀⠀"Mum, it's beautiful," Laurel said, opening the lid of the box, taking the necklace out. "I've never seen you wear it."

⠀⠀"Of course you didn't," Luna said, chuckling. "You know you're oblivious to everything."

⠀⠀Laurel shrugged. "Like Dad, I reckon. Lorc notices everything. A bit like you."

⠀⠀Luna chuckled as someone else knocked on the door, harsher than Luna had. "That's your father, probably."

⠀⠀"Can I come in, Little Leaf?" Rolf's voice resounded through the door.

⠀⠀"Yes," Laurel replied, the door opening right as she uttered the words.

⠀⠀"Your mother got here before me, I see," Rolf said, marching into the room. He was tall, standing a foot taller than Luna, with a pair of blue eyes that matched Laurel's. Rolf had auburn hair, which none of his children had received (he was slightly bitter about that), wearing the brightest pair of green Christmas pajama pants, with Christmas elves patterned across it, and a white shirt.

⠀⠀"Hey Dad," Laurel said as her father fell into the lounging chair by her window in her room, playing with the wooden toys that sat on her windowsill.

⠀⠀"Do you like your present?" he asked, fiddling with a wooden bird that he had carved for Laurel when she was younger. "It's not much but—"

⠀⠀"I love it," Laurel said, grinning. "It's wonderful, Dad."

⠀⠀Rolf smiled warmly, tossing the bird Laurel's way, her catching it. The wooden bird looked oddly familiar from somewhere recent, but she couldn't quite remember. "I'm glad you do."

⠀⠀They sat in comfortable silence until Laurel broke it. "If I got an heirloom, what did Lorc and Lys get?"

⠀⠀"Lorc got your great-grandad's old pocket watch," Luna said, simply. "Lys got your grandpa's dagger."

⠀⠀"What did Granddad need with a dagger?" Laurel asked, chuckling at how their heirlooms were on completely different points of the spectrum. "Didn't he have a wand?"

⠀⠀"Yeah, but he never told me exactly what or why," Rolf shrugged. "If anything, I used it to carve half of these wooden toys coincidentally the day before you were born."

⠀⠀Laurel chuckled. "That's not a normal carpenter's tool."

⠀⠀"That's what makes these toys so special," Rolf said, standing up and tapping Laurel's nose. It was a thing he had done to her ever since she was born, and she wasn't about to grow out of it.

⠀⠀Laurel grinned up at her father, both of her parents beginning to leave her room.

⠀⠀"We'll leave you to your Herbology studies," Luna said, smiling as her husband pulled her out of the room. "Oh! The necklace keeps the Nargles away."