Marmoris | Rabastan Lestrange [1] ✔︎

29 | DEATH EATER

Phoenix' jaw nearly dropped when she lifted the top of the box. Her eyes growing to what felt like twice their normal size, she looked at a thin silver bracelet with three charms; the letter P, a small dragon and a bird - a phoenix. Stunned she brushed her fingers over the cold material. She swallowed. It wasn't just a little present. Considering it had to be customized design, it had the be rather expensive. She could only assume how much money he had spent for it, and it wasn't little.

She looked back up at Rabastan, who searched her face for something she couldn't quite wrap her head around. "I can't take this."

His smile slowly vanished and his eyebrows raised. "You don't like it?"

Immediately Phoenix shook her head and looked down at the bracelet. "That's not it. I love it, really."

"What is it then?" His facial expression was filled with confusion, and Phoenix thought she even caught a glimpse of insecurity about her reaction in the blue of his eyes, but it disappeared almost instantly, as if he had pulled up a wall to hide his true feelings. "I mean you like it. I can't see any possible reason why you shouldn't accept it."

"I'm not stupid, though. I know it must have been really expensive, Rabastan, and I can't let my friends spend such a huge amount of money for me. We've only been somewhat close for about half a year, so why would you even get me something like this?"

To her surprise the corner of his mouth twitched and curled up into a smile, not one of his cheeky ones he used to wear in school or when he made one of his stupid jokes, a genuine smile. "Well, you won't get to decide whether or not I spend money for you. I do what I want and getting you that bracelet was exactly what I wanted to do."

"But why? Except for your constant teasing we have never really talked to each other up to sixth year, now we do, but why should that make you get me such an expensive present?" Even to Phoenix herself the question had a somewhat stupid sound to it but she couldn't help but ask. Purebloods didn't care much about Christmas presents – or Christmas at all. It was simply an occasion to sit down and talk to other families about the horrific way the magical society had changed through the years or about special business matters, but whatever the subject was, nobody really cared about presents. They didn't need a holiday to get somebody a present – even if it was worth a lot of money. They did it at whatever time they wanted and usually they were only giving something to another member of their family. From what Sirius had told her about other people's idea of Christmas, Phoenix had always found the other traditions rather charming so she had often bought little presents for her friends - just like the leather bracelet he was wearing on his left arm - , but Rabastan didn't associate with any others than Purebloods, which made her wonder how he had come down with the idea.

But he only shrugged, still smiling. "I simply wanted to, especially since I might have been a git for some time and I wanted to apologise."

"You know the phrase 'I'm sorry' would have been enough," she remarked, slightly smiling as well.

She hadn't seen his genuine smile often yet but she realised in that moment, that when he did smile like that, it was really hard not to do so as well. His happiness seemed to reach out to her and make her forget everything negative, and his laugh triggered that feeling even more.

Chuckling, he shook his head. "It might have, but I wanted to get you something anyway. So, do I have to fight you to get you to put it on, because I'd really like to see you wear it."

Instead of answering, she carefully took the thin silver bracelet out of the box and held out her hand in Rabastan's direction. "Care to help me put it on?"

As he did so, his fingers brushed over Phoenix' bare skin, which slightly started to tingle. With a smile she looked down at the bracelet on her arm. "Thank you, Rabastan."

"I thought my parents' money could be spent for something good for once," he told her, squeezing her hand gently before pulling her back to her feet. "We should probably head back downstairs or our parents might think we do something inappropriate."

Phoenix giggled, smacking him against his arm once again. "Finally stop it."

When the two teenagers entered the saloon again, most of the guests had seated themselves on the sofas, which were arranged in a circle, while others stood behind or next to them, all of them looking at them. Phoenix swallowed and slightly lowered her head as she walked in, while Rabastan was his usual confident self – or at least what he made everyone believe he was.

"There she is," she heard her mother say, a scolding sound in her voice.

She wanted to turn around and storm out of the room to hide in some place where nobody was staring at her as if she had done something highly embarrassing, but Rabastan's hand on the small of her back shoved her forward.

"I showed Phoenix our library. She loved it so much when we were kids and she hasn't visited us for several years. Our apologies if we caused you any trouble", he told them.

She was amazed by the way he talked. There was a measured amount of charm in his voice and so was elegance and confidence. She had always been jealous of Regulus for being so good at sweet talking fellow Purebloods, but apparently his best friend was just as good as he was.

"That's so kind of you," Bellatrix spoke up, signifying them to come stand next to her and Rabastan's older brother.

The beautiful woman with dark, curly hair wasn't really smiling, but Phoenix still sensed some kind of sympathy coming from her side. Unlike Sirius she had never really hated her cousin. In fact, she had always admired her for her strength and her ambition, and she had always enjoyed talking to her although they didn't share the same opinions when it came to blood purity, which she had never mentioned towards her.

Bellatrix squeezed her shoulder. "Your mother just told us you intend to join the Dark Lord, just like your brother did a few weeks ago."

Phoenix heart fell, as she looked in Regulus direction, who stood next to their father with an unreadable look on his face.

He was one of them. Her brother was a Death Eater.