Marmoris | Rabastan Lestrange [1] ✔︎

09 | FLOATING

"Wake up sleepy one,
it's time to save the world."

★

DURING THE FOLLOWING weeks Phoenix spent most of her free time in the library of the od castle, looking through books in order to find a hint about the meaning of her birthmark. After class she often hurried away to make most the time she had. Most of the time she was on her own, but sometimes Dawn or Regulus accompanied her, doing their homework in the meantime, while Maureen did her best to find out what was going on in her head. Phoenix even spent her day at Hogsmead in the bookstore of the small village, hoping she would find a book about scarcely used runes, but there was nothing. She didn't even get a single clue. Several times she had considered to ask Sirius' not-so-friend Lily for help since the redhead was taking the Ancient Runes class, but she refused to give away her secret to a total stranger. She didn't even tell Regulus, who knew her best and who she usually confined in with things that bothered her. Ariadne hadn't asked her to keep it a secret, but she felt like it was an unspoken promise.

But with every that passed without any results, the doubt in her heart grew stronger. Although she wasn't wearing the necklace from her parents anymore, nothing happened – at least nothing unusual. She had already considered to ask her parents, but dismissed the idea just the moment she was thinking about it. If they suppressed her powers, they most definitely wouldn't tell her anything at all. So either she was going crazy or she had been lied to her whole life, which meant she wasn't who she had believed to be.

Snow started to cover Hogwarts' grounds like a beautiful white coat and the days shortened, as the end of November, and with it the second Quidditch game, drew closer. It looked wonderful, but Will didn't quit to curse every time he looked through a window since it caused hard training conditions and being Slytherin's captain he had turned a bit overambitious in his wish to win against Hufflepuff.

Meanwhile Phoenix was close to giving up, as she was sitting at a table in the library with a pile of thick books placed in front of her. She could barely see Rabastan, who was sitting behind the pile, reading a book. It was about the fourth time he accompanied her while she spent her time in the library. She didn't know why he did it. Thinking about it, spending time with her while she was doing her research, had to be pretty boring. However, he didn't even question her once about what she was doing. He just sat there on his chair, reading and every now and then running a hand through his light hair. Although she didn't understand his actions, Phoenix didn't mind his company.

We a thud she exhaustedly let her head fall onto the pages in front of her. Probably it would really be best to give up.

"You need some help?" Rabastan asked and she heard the sound of him placing his book on the table.

She slowly lifted her forehead to look at him. "What?"

"I wanted to know if you needed any help," the blonde boy repeated. "You don't really seem to enjoy whatever it is that you're doing."

"I heard what you said. Are you ill?" Phoenix tilted her head.

He looked right back at her with a raised eyebrow. "Why should I be ill?"

"Well, the Rabastan Lestrange I happen to know doesn't care about other people, except if there is a use for him in doing so. You offering your help is like a Hippogriff not eating its food. It indicates that something is wrong with it. So what are you up to?"

Right when she ended her explanation, Phoenix realised what she had just said and clapped her hands over her mouth. It was true, but more than anything else it was just rude.