FIC: Hogwarts: All Sales Final - 28/34
Start of the story, including summary, full ratings, warnings, pairings etc. Here
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
Chapter 28
Eleven Years Later
“Is that her?”
Rowena turned at the sound of a whispered voice to try to find the speaker. Unfortunately there were so many first years in the hall, most of which were chattering, that she couldn’t tell who it was that had asked the question.
She knew whom the question was about though.
Helena stood beside the rest of the students, her head held high and proud. After living at the school for eleven years she was finally joining the ranks of students, and would soon be sorted into one of the houses.
As the illegitimate daughter of two of the founders she was a novelty and Rowena knew that several of the older students had been accepting wagers on which house Helena would be sorted into.
She knew Helena was worried about where she would be placed. She’d been practising her spells and charms under her own watchful supervision for several years, determined that the Sorting Hat would find her intelligent enough to be put into Ravenclaw.
She had hoped that the worries would have abated now that the Sorting was almost upon them, but a tug on her sleeve told her otherwise.
“I don’t want to be in Slytherin,” Helena whispered to Rowena as the rest of the students filed past them and into the Great Hall. It was a statement she’d made repeatedly, and with more and more fear during the last summer.
“There’s nothing wrong with Slytherin House,” Rowena told her, not for the first time. “Your father would hate to think of you being afraid of being placed in his own house.”
“How do you know?” Helena snapped. “It’s not like he’s here to give his opinion.”
“He’d be here if he could,” Rowena assured her as the last of the students entered the hall.
“He’s never here, so why should today be any different?” Helena sounded sulky and Rowena guided her to sit down on the stairs. “He’s missed all my birthdays and all the holidays. I don’t even know what he looks like.”
“I’ve told you what he looks like many times; you know I’d show you a portrait of him if I had one,” Rowena replied as she sat down beside her. From the Great Hall came the sound of the Sorting Hat singing its now annual song.
“But why isn’t he here?” Helena asked again.
“It’s complicated.”
“You always say that and you never explain why he left.”
Rowena sighed. Helena was right. She’d put off telling her daughter about the whole sorry mess for years. At first it had been too painful for her to talk about. Then she told herself that Helena was too young to understand. She was running out of excuses and knew that the day would soon come when she had to tell her the truth, or risk her finding out the details from someone else.
“The Sorting has started,” Rowena said. “We’d better go inside or you’ll miss it.”
“Are you ever going to tell me where he is?” Helena asked as she stood up and walked slowly towards the hall.
“I don’t know where he is,” Rowena replied in a quiet voice. “But I will tell you what happened. I promise.”
-o-xXx-o-
Rowena took her seat at the table and tried to ignore Godric’s look of reproach at her tardiness.
“I was talking to Helena,” she whispered.
“She’s still worried about what house she’s going to be sorted into?” Godric whispered back.
“Partly, and she wants to know where her father is.”
“You haven’t told her yet?” Godric asked in a louder whisper that earned him a look of reproach from Helga who was about to place the Hat on the next student.
Rowena shook her head at Godric who shook his own head in annoyance. “She’ll find out from someone else if you don’t tell her soon.”
“I know,” Rowena replied. “And no doubt those stories will have a few little details missing from them, and even more embellishments as well.”
Helga turned round to shush them again, much to the hilarity of the student body. This time Rowena and Godric remained quiet so that the ceremony could continue without interruption.
“Ravenclaw, Helena,” Helga called out, much as she had done with the rest of the students. The only difference was that this time there was no need for her to look over the group to see who was stepping forward.
Helena walked to the front as the whispers of the students grew louder. Helga didn’t even try to shush them.
Rowena watched as her daughter sat straight backed and proud on the stool. Helga placed the hat on her head and waited. Rowena crossed her fingers, hoping that her daughter would be placed in her own house. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with any of the others, but she had been privately hoping for the same result as Helena herself. She knew her daughter was intelligent and had already mastered charms and spells that Rowena herself hadn’t managed until she was thirteen. If they were still sorting the students into houses themselves then she wouldn’t hesitate to take Helena into Ravenclaw house. Unfortunately the Hat didn’t always place the students where the founders predicted. Siblings were separated or kept together with no real consistency and there were no guarantees as to what the Hat would see when it took a close look at the child wearing it.
“Not Slytherin,” she heard Helena muttering as she sat on the stool. She could see that some of the students at the Slytherin table could hear her as well. Not only that, they were looking at her with unconcealed hostility at her words. She hoped even more that Helena would not be placed in that house. If she were, she knew that trouble would soon follow.
Finally the Hat seemed to come to its decision and shouted out “Ravenclaw!” Rowena breathed a huge sigh of relief as Helena proudly walked to the Ravenclaw table and took her seat with the other students there. She clapped loudly with the rest of the school and grinned at her daughter as she turned to give her a wave.
The Sorting concluded a short while later and Helga took her seat at the staff table. “Just once,” she asked. “Just once could we get through the Sorting Ceremony without the whispers and running commentary from the staff table?”
-o-xXx-o-
“Is it true?” Helena asked as she paced her mother’s office a few days later. “Did my father marry someone else?”
Rowena swore under her breath. She’d found out far sooner than she’d anticipated and the conversation she’d been dreading was now unavoidable.
“Yes,” Rowena replied. “Please sit down so I can explain. I can’t talk to you whilst you’re wearing a groove in the floor like that.”
“You never told me!” Helena accused as she continued to pace. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t he want me?”
“He did want you,” Rowena assured her. “He wanted you more than anything. He even chose your name. It isn’t his fault.”
“Then why did he leave us?” Helena asked with a sob as she finally sank down into one of the chairs.
“He didn’t have a choice,” Rowena said. “He…er…it was…”
“What?” Helena asked between sniffles.
Rowena took a breath to steady herself and finally told her daughter exactly what had happened all those years ago. When she had finished she waited for Helena to say something, anything, in response.
“Did you try to find him?” Helena finally asked.
“Of course I did. We all did.”
“When did you last look for him?”
“I’m always looking for him,” Rowena replied sadly. “Every time I see a man with long black hair I look a second time to see if it’s him; every time I hear a voice with his accent I turn around to check. I’ve never stopped looking for him and I never will.”
“Do you think he’ll ever come back to us?” Helena asked quietly.
“Yes, I do.” Rowena’s reply was instantaneous and took Helena by surprise.
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because I have to believe that he’ll come back. If I don’t then I’ll…” Her voice trailed off, she didn’t want to admit, even to herself, that she knew she’d fall apart completely if she ever lost faith that one day Salazar would return to her.
“Is that why you didn’t marry Professor Lynch when he asked you last year?” Helena asked.
“You shouldn’t listen at doors,” Rowena chided. “Though yes, your father is the reason I refused his offer.”
“I didn’t like Professor Lynch much anyway,” Helena commented. “He was always ordering me out of the dungeons.”
“I should think so,” Rowena replied. “You shouldn’t have been down there at all.”
“Are you why Professor Lynch left?”
“Probably partly,” Rowena admitted. “Also he was passed over for the Potions position again and he’s wanted that ever since he joined us.”
“So, why didn’t you just give him the job?” Helena asked.
“Because he’s the only person we could find who could teach Arithmancy to the level we want our students to learn. His replacement is adequate but Professor Lynch was far better. Potions professors are far more easy to replace.”
“I hope the new one’s good,” Helena commented.
“She was top of her class,” Rowena confirmed. “And don’t you give her any trouble either, she used to baby sit you for me and doesn’t deserve any cheek from you.”
“I don’t remember her,” Helena admitted with a frown as she tried to recall the face of the teacher who Godric had indicated was the new Potions professor. The memory was hazy; she’d not been taking much notice, though she knew she’d look closer when she had her first lesson with her the following day.
“That’s because she graduated just before your first birthday,” Rowena told her. “Now you really should be getting back to the rest of the students. It’s almost time for dinner.”
Helena nodded and stood up to leave.
Rowena on the other hand remained in her office for some time, missing the meal entirely.
She knew that Rhys had thought her a fool for refusing his proposal. No one else seemed to believe that Salazar would ever return. Helga tried to boost her spirits with words of support, but as the years had passed they’d taken to avoiding the subject altogether. Even Godric had long since lost hope that his best friend would return. Only she still had faith that he’d one day come back.
-o-xXx-o-
“Professor Ravenclaw?”
Rowena looked up from the essay she was marking. “You’re not a student any longer, you can call me Rowena,” she said with a smile.
“It’s habit,” Lilith replied as she came further into the room. “It seems so strange.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Rowena assured her. “Probably quicker than you think, I seem to recall you sometimes called me Rowena even when you were a student. It’s being called Professor yourself that you’ll never get used to. I still sometimes look around expecting to see someone else in the room when someone greets me that way unexpectedly.”
Lilith laughed and sat down in the chair that Rowena gestured her to.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she began, wringing her hands together worriedly.
“It’s about Helena, isn’t it?” Rowena asked, knowing the answer already. In the three months since the start of term Helena had been the topic of nearly every conversation that began with a hesitant colleague poking a head round the door of her office.
“She’s…er…”
“Being a little madam,” Rowena suggested. “I know. I’ve been expecting her to have her years of rebellion but not quite so soon.”
“She decided to take on one of the third year boys in a duel this evening.”
“She what?” Rowena was stunned and jumped up from her seat. “Is she all right? She’s not hurt, is she?”
“No, she’s fine,” Lilith hurried to calm her fears. “But the boy she fought is in the hospital wing with a nose bleed that won’t stop. I stopped the duel but she’s refusing to do a detention or tell me what it was all about.”
“Sounds like someone else I know,” Rowena said with a smirk.
“That’s why I thought she might speak to you instead of me,” Lilith said. “You have a way of getting information out of people when they’re determined to keep quiet.”
“I do?” Rowena asked in surprise. “I rather recall it was your friend Agnes who talked you round at the time.”
“Details, details.” Lilith waved away the words as though they were of no concern. “You’re her mother, you can talk to her, find out what it was all about.”
“Tell her she’s serving her detention for duelling with me and I’ll see what I can get out of her.”
-o-xXx-o-
Helena arrived for her detention promptly, if sulkily.
“So, what do you want me to do?” she asked. “Clean out the mice again?”
Rowena looked at the cages that did look as though they could do with a thorough going over. “Maybe later, without magic,” she agreed. “But first of all you’re going to tell me why you were duelling with that boy.”
“He called me a name I didn’t like,” Helena replied. “I don’t know what it meant exactly, but it was obviously horrible as everyone was laughing.”
Rowena had a sneaking suspicion that she could take a fair guess at what the name was, but refrained from saying so. She’d had to suffer being called many names herself over the years and had known that the day would come when her daughter would find herself on the receiving end too. She was actually surprised it hadn’t come sooner.
“It isn’t too late to enrol you in Beauxbatons if you’d prefer,” Rowena suggested. “They’re still a very small academy, but they’d be happy to have you there.”
“No,” Helena replied immediately. “I want to stay here.”
“Then you’ll have to put up with a few names without resorting to duelling every time someone says something to you that you don’t like.”
Helena nodded quietly. “I’ll start on the mice shall I?”
“Without magic,” Rowena repeated. Helena screwed up her nose but laid her wand down on Rowena’s desk.
“Mother?” Helena asked a few minutes later as she cleaned the cages.
“Hmm?”
“What’s a diadem?”
“It’s a type of tiara,” Rowena replied. “Why do you ask?”
“One of the fifth year girls said you have one with magical powers and I wondered what it was.”
“Well, I have one, it was a gift from your grandmother, though I’ve never been entirely sure about the magical powers.”
“Was it from Grandmother Slytherin?” Helena asked. “The one I’m named after?”
“That’s right,” Rowena replied. “It belonged to her mother and her grandmother. She never had a daughter to pass it on to, so she gave it to me.”
“What sort of powers is it supposed to have?”
“It’s supposed to give the person wearing it wisdom,” Rowena replied with a shrug. “Though it never gave me the wisdom that I wanted.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wore it for days, months even, as I tried to think of something I hadn’t yet tried in order to find your father. But it never helped me much.”
“Or at all?” Helena pointed out.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Rowena replied.
“So it did give you wisdom?”
“It reminded me of happier times, of how much your father and your grandmother loved me, and when I wore it, it made me feel somehow closer to them.”
“But you haven’t worn it recently?”
“No, not recently,” Rowena said. “After a while, I only ever wore it when I needed to feel close to them. Besides, it doesn’t really go with any of my every day robes.”
“Can I see it?” Helena asked. “I’ll like to see something that belonged to my grandmother.”
“Maybe later, when you’ve finished cleaning out the mice,” Rowena said. “You’re not going to distract me out of your detention. Your father had similar habits and I learned to recognise them long ago.”
Helena grinned and turned back to the cages. Rowena shook her head with a smile and settled down at her desk for the duration. Sometimes she was surprised at how like Salazar their daughter was. She only wished that he would some day see her himself.
Chapter 29
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
Chapter 28
Eleven Years Later
“Is that her?”
Rowena turned at the sound of a whispered voice to try to find the speaker. Unfortunately there were so many first years in the hall, most of which were chattering, that she couldn’t tell who it was that had asked the question.
She knew whom the question was about though.
Helena stood beside the rest of the students, her head held high and proud. After living at the school for eleven years she was finally joining the ranks of students, and would soon be sorted into one of the houses.
As the illegitimate daughter of two of the founders she was a novelty and Rowena knew that several of the older students had been accepting wagers on which house Helena would be sorted into.
She knew Helena was worried about where she would be placed. She’d been practising her spells and charms under her own watchful supervision for several years, determined that the Sorting Hat would find her intelligent enough to be put into Ravenclaw.
She had hoped that the worries would have abated now that the Sorting was almost upon them, but a tug on her sleeve told her otherwise.
“I don’t want to be in Slytherin,” Helena whispered to Rowena as the rest of the students filed past them and into the Great Hall. It was a statement she’d made repeatedly, and with more and more fear during the last summer.
“There’s nothing wrong with Slytherin House,” Rowena told her, not for the first time. “Your father would hate to think of you being afraid of being placed in his own house.”
“How do you know?” Helena snapped. “It’s not like he’s here to give his opinion.”
“He’d be here if he could,” Rowena assured her as the last of the students entered the hall.
“He’s never here, so why should today be any different?” Helena sounded sulky and Rowena guided her to sit down on the stairs. “He’s missed all my birthdays and all the holidays. I don’t even know what he looks like.”
“I’ve told you what he looks like many times; you know I’d show you a portrait of him if I had one,” Rowena replied as she sat down beside her. From the Great Hall came the sound of the Sorting Hat singing its now annual song.
“But why isn’t he here?” Helena asked again.
“It’s complicated.”
“You always say that and you never explain why he left.”
Rowena sighed. Helena was right. She’d put off telling her daughter about the whole sorry mess for years. At first it had been too painful for her to talk about. Then she told herself that Helena was too young to understand. She was running out of excuses and knew that the day would soon come when she had to tell her the truth, or risk her finding out the details from someone else.
“The Sorting has started,” Rowena said. “We’d better go inside or you’ll miss it.”
“Are you ever going to tell me where he is?” Helena asked as she stood up and walked slowly towards the hall.
“I don’t know where he is,” Rowena replied in a quiet voice. “But I will tell you what happened. I promise.”
-o-xXx-o-
Rowena took her seat at the table and tried to ignore Godric’s look of reproach at her tardiness.
“I was talking to Helena,” she whispered.
“She’s still worried about what house she’s going to be sorted into?” Godric whispered back.
“Partly, and she wants to know where her father is.”
“You haven’t told her yet?” Godric asked in a louder whisper that earned him a look of reproach from Helga who was about to place the Hat on the next student.
Rowena shook her head at Godric who shook his own head in annoyance. “She’ll find out from someone else if you don’t tell her soon.”
“I know,” Rowena replied. “And no doubt those stories will have a few little details missing from them, and even more embellishments as well.”
Helga turned round to shush them again, much to the hilarity of the student body. This time Rowena and Godric remained quiet so that the ceremony could continue without interruption.
“Ravenclaw, Helena,” Helga called out, much as she had done with the rest of the students. The only difference was that this time there was no need for her to look over the group to see who was stepping forward.
Helena walked to the front as the whispers of the students grew louder. Helga didn’t even try to shush them.
Rowena watched as her daughter sat straight backed and proud on the stool. Helga placed the hat on her head and waited. Rowena crossed her fingers, hoping that her daughter would be placed in her own house. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with any of the others, but she had been privately hoping for the same result as Helena herself. She knew her daughter was intelligent and had already mastered charms and spells that Rowena herself hadn’t managed until she was thirteen. If they were still sorting the students into houses themselves then she wouldn’t hesitate to take Helena into Ravenclaw house. Unfortunately the Hat didn’t always place the students where the founders predicted. Siblings were separated or kept together with no real consistency and there were no guarantees as to what the Hat would see when it took a close look at the child wearing it.
“Not Slytherin,” she heard Helena muttering as she sat on the stool. She could see that some of the students at the Slytherin table could hear her as well. Not only that, they were looking at her with unconcealed hostility at her words. She hoped even more that Helena would not be placed in that house. If she were, she knew that trouble would soon follow.
Finally the Hat seemed to come to its decision and shouted out “Ravenclaw!” Rowena breathed a huge sigh of relief as Helena proudly walked to the Ravenclaw table and took her seat with the other students there. She clapped loudly with the rest of the school and grinned at her daughter as she turned to give her a wave.
The Sorting concluded a short while later and Helga took her seat at the staff table. “Just once,” she asked. “Just once could we get through the Sorting Ceremony without the whispers and running commentary from the staff table?”
-o-xXx-o-
“Is it true?” Helena asked as she paced her mother’s office a few days later. “Did my father marry someone else?”
Rowena swore under her breath. She’d found out far sooner than she’d anticipated and the conversation she’d been dreading was now unavoidable.
“Yes,” Rowena replied. “Please sit down so I can explain. I can’t talk to you whilst you’re wearing a groove in the floor like that.”
“You never told me!” Helena accused as she continued to pace. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t he want me?”
“He did want you,” Rowena assured her. “He wanted you more than anything. He even chose your name. It isn’t his fault.”
“Then why did he leave us?” Helena asked with a sob as she finally sank down into one of the chairs.
“He didn’t have a choice,” Rowena said. “He…er…it was…”
“What?” Helena asked between sniffles.
Rowena took a breath to steady herself and finally told her daughter exactly what had happened all those years ago. When she had finished she waited for Helena to say something, anything, in response.
“Did you try to find him?” Helena finally asked.
“Of course I did. We all did.”
“When did you last look for him?”
“I’m always looking for him,” Rowena replied sadly. “Every time I see a man with long black hair I look a second time to see if it’s him; every time I hear a voice with his accent I turn around to check. I’ve never stopped looking for him and I never will.”
“Do you think he’ll ever come back to us?” Helena asked quietly.
“Yes, I do.” Rowena’s reply was instantaneous and took Helena by surprise.
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because I have to believe that he’ll come back. If I don’t then I’ll…” Her voice trailed off, she didn’t want to admit, even to herself, that she knew she’d fall apart completely if she ever lost faith that one day Salazar would return to her.
“Is that why you didn’t marry Professor Lynch when he asked you last year?” Helena asked.
“You shouldn’t listen at doors,” Rowena chided. “Though yes, your father is the reason I refused his offer.”
“I didn’t like Professor Lynch much anyway,” Helena commented. “He was always ordering me out of the dungeons.”
“I should think so,” Rowena replied. “You shouldn’t have been down there at all.”
“Are you why Professor Lynch left?”
“Probably partly,” Rowena admitted. “Also he was passed over for the Potions position again and he’s wanted that ever since he joined us.”
“So, why didn’t you just give him the job?” Helena asked.
“Because he’s the only person we could find who could teach Arithmancy to the level we want our students to learn. His replacement is adequate but Professor Lynch was far better. Potions professors are far more easy to replace.”
“I hope the new one’s good,” Helena commented.
“She was top of her class,” Rowena confirmed. “And don’t you give her any trouble either, she used to baby sit you for me and doesn’t deserve any cheek from you.”
“I don’t remember her,” Helena admitted with a frown as she tried to recall the face of the teacher who Godric had indicated was the new Potions professor. The memory was hazy; she’d not been taking much notice, though she knew she’d look closer when she had her first lesson with her the following day.
“That’s because she graduated just before your first birthday,” Rowena told her. “Now you really should be getting back to the rest of the students. It’s almost time for dinner.”
Helena nodded and stood up to leave.
Rowena on the other hand remained in her office for some time, missing the meal entirely.
She knew that Rhys had thought her a fool for refusing his proposal. No one else seemed to believe that Salazar would ever return. Helga tried to boost her spirits with words of support, but as the years had passed they’d taken to avoiding the subject altogether. Even Godric had long since lost hope that his best friend would return. Only she still had faith that he’d one day come back.
-o-xXx-o-
“Professor Ravenclaw?”
Rowena looked up from the essay she was marking. “You’re not a student any longer, you can call me Rowena,” she said with a smile.
“It’s habit,” Lilith replied as she came further into the room. “It seems so strange.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Rowena assured her. “Probably quicker than you think, I seem to recall you sometimes called me Rowena even when you were a student. It’s being called Professor yourself that you’ll never get used to. I still sometimes look around expecting to see someone else in the room when someone greets me that way unexpectedly.”
Lilith laughed and sat down in the chair that Rowena gestured her to.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she began, wringing her hands together worriedly.
“It’s about Helena, isn’t it?” Rowena asked, knowing the answer already. In the three months since the start of term Helena had been the topic of nearly every conversation that began with a hesitant colleague poking a head round the door of her office.
“She’s…er…”
“Being a little madam,” Rowena suggested. “I know. I’ve been expecting her to have her years of rebellion but not quite so soon.”
“She decided to take on one of the third year boys in a duel this evening.”
“She what?” Rowena was stunned and jumped up from her seat. “Is she all right? She’s not hurt, is she?”
“No, she’s fine,” Lilith hurried to calm her fears. “But the boy she fought is in the hospital wing with a nose bleed that won’t stop. I stopped the duel but she’s refusing to do a detention or tell me what it was all about.”
“Sounds like someone else I know,” Rowena said with a smirk.
“That’s why I thought she might speak to you instead of me,” Lilith said. “You have a way of getting information out of people when they’re determined to keep quiet.”
“I do?” Rowena asked in surprise. “I rather recall it was your friend Agnes who talked you round at the time.”
“Details, details.” Lilith waved away the words as though they were of no concern. “You’re her mother, you can talk to her, find out what it was all about.”
“Tell her she’s serving her detention for duelling with me and I’ll see what I can get out of her.”
-o-xXx-o-
Helena arrived for her detention promptly, if sulkily.
“So, what do you want me to do?” she asked. “Clean out the mice again?”
Rowena looked at the cages that did look as though they could do with a thorough going over. “Maybe later, without magic,” she agreed. “But first of all you’re going to tell me why you were duelling with that boy.”
“He called me a name I didn’t like,” Helena replied. “I don’t know what it meant exactly, but it was obviously horrible as everyone was laughing.”
Rowena had a sneaking suspicion that she could take a fair guess at what the name was, but refrained from saying so. She’d had to suffer being called many names herself over the years and had known that the day would come when her daughter would find herself on the receiving end too. She was actually surprised it hadn’t come sooner.
“It isn’t too late to enrol you in Beauxbatons if you’d prefer,” Rowena suggested. “They’re still a very small academy, but they’d be happy to have you there.”
“No,” Helena replied immediately. “I want to stay here.”
“Then you’ll have to put up with a few names without resorting to duelling every time someone says something to you that you don’t like.”
Helena nodded quietly. “I’ll start on the mice shall I?”
“Without magic,” Rowena repeated. Helena screwed up her nose but laid her wand down on Rowena’s desk.
“Mother?” Helena asked a few minutes later as she cleaned the cages.
“Hmm?”
“What’s a diadem?”
“It’s a type of tiara,” Rowena replied. “Why do you ask?”
“One of the fifth year girls said you have one with magical powers and I wondered what it was.”
“Well, I have one, it was a gift from your grandmother, though I’ve never been entirely sure about the magical powers.”
“Was it from Grandmother Slytherin?” Helena asked. “The one I’m named after?”
“That’s right,” Rowena replied. “It belonged to her mother and her grandmother. She never had a daughter to pass it on to, so she gave it to me.”
“What sort of powers is it supposed to have?”
“It’s supposed to give the person wearing it wisdom,” Rowena replied with a shrug. “Though it never gave me the wisdom that I wanted.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wore it for days, months even, as I tried to think of something I hadn’t yet tried in order to find your father. But it never helped me much.”
“Or at all?” Helena pointed out.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Rowena replied.
“So it did give you wisdom?”
“It reminded me of happier times, of how much your father and your grandmother loved me, and when I wore it, it made me feel somehow closer to them.”
“But you haven’t worn it recently?”
“No, not recently,” Rowena said. “After a while, I only ever wore it when I needed to feel close to them. Besides, it doesn’t really go with any of my every day robes.”
“Can I see it?” Helena asked. “I’ll like to see something that belonged to my grandmother.”
“Maybe later, when you’ve finished cleaning out the mice,” Rowena said. “You’re not going to distract me out of your detention. Your father had similar habits and I learned to recognise them long ago.”
Helena grinned and turned back to the cages. Rowena shook her head with a smile and settled down at her desk for the duration. Sometimes she was surprised at how like Salazar their daughter was. She only wished that he would some day see her himself.
Chapter 29