Marmoris | Rabastan Lestrange [1] ✔︎

00 | PROLOGUE

"You're in my bones
and my blood
and my heart
I'd have to tear myself open to let you go."

★

„YOU ARE NO longer part of this family. Get out, ungrateful traitor."

Her mother's words repeated in Phoenix Black's mind over and over again. She had only heard it through her bedroom door like she had heard so many arguments between her mother and her older brother. Only this time when she heard Sirius slam drawers shut in his own room after calling their mother a narrow-minded troll, she knew it had gone too far.

Her brother would leave.

She softly knocked on the wooden door and the rummaging inside stopped for a second before she heard a crash. "Sirius?"

Her brother didn't answer, but she slowly opened the door. The boy with shoulder-long dark curls only sent her a quick glance before he proceeded to stuff clothes into a bag that was lying on his bed. Like always his room was a complete mess with motorcycle magazines and clothes lying on the floor. Phoenix had always seen his room as his kingdom of rebellion. Like her, he must have known very well that the wall in Gryffindor's red and gold colours and the posters of Muggle bands like the Beatles would make their parents furious. However, when she spotted the broken mirror in the back of his room, his bloody knuckles and wet cheeks she realised that it was more than that. It was the only place in their household where her older brother felt safe, the place where he would draw back to after a fight with his parents to calm his dangerous temper down. He wasn't just being rebellious, he felt like he didn't belong in that house or into their family.

"Please don't do it," she begged nonetheless. She knew it was selfish, but she couldn't bear the thought of her brother leaving them. Their parents wouldn't even allow her to ever talk to him again.

Sirius didn't stop his rushed packing. "You should come with me, Princess."

Phoenix hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to word her thoughts. "You know I can't."

"Why not?" he inquired, drew the zip of his bag and swung it over his shoulder. "Because of Reg? He could come too. I know you two would be happier away from this toxic family."

She shook her head, her heart suddenly feeling heavier. "He would never agree to that and I can impossibly leave my twin brother or my family. Please, Father could make Mother change her mind."

She knew that their parents had been harsh to him, but she didn't doubt that they loved them. They just had a different way of showing it than other parents.

"The man who tried to bloody choke me when he found out that my ex-girlfriend was a Gryffindor like me?" Sirius questioned and this time he was the one to shake his head. "He may do anything for you, but the man hates me. He would rather hit me with the killing curse than have me stay in this house any longer."

"Don't say that," she breathed, her voice shaking. "He does love you. He's just as dangerously bad-tempered as you are."

"I'm sorry, Princess, but I can't risk it. I can't be scared every time that we come back from Hogwarts. I just can't." He cleaned his cheeks with the sleeve of his shirt and gave her a weak smile.

But when he wanted to walk past her through the door, she caught him by his wrist. He turned back around with a look of surprise in his grey eyes, the same eyes as all of the Black siblings and their father shared. In fact, Sirius looked quite a lot like his father and brother. They all had the same dark, curly hair, however, in different lengths, grey eyes and were tall. What made Sirius stand out was the aura of kindness, which usually surrounded him, and his signature smirk. It was something that she would miss terribly.

She pointed at his hand that held his bag in place, which was still bloody. "Let me at least take care of that."

"It's nothing," Sirius waved it off and shrugged.

"Still, who would take in a damaged stray? Let me do this one good thing for you before I will most likely not even be allowed to talk to you anymore", Phoenix told him with a smile, that faded with her last sentence. How was she meant to erase her older brother from her memory?

Sirius sighed and moved back into his room to sit down on a chair. "Alright, but just because it's you."

Phoenix made a triumphant gesture although she felt nothing like celebrating. As she looked through his drawers, not remembering exactly where he kept his bandage kit even though she had used it so many times already, she asked, "Why did you have to punch your mirror anyway? Hitting a pillow wouldn't have caused such a mess."

"Wouldn't have hurt enough," he confessed in a mere whisper, while she tapped the small wounds on his knuckles with alcohol and then bandaged it.

She then looked down on him, swallowing down the lump that was about to form in her throat. "I guess that's it then."

He nodded, getting up too. Then he surprised her by pulling her into his arms and resting his chin on top of her head. "Stay safe, Princess."

"You do the same," she whispered. "And don't get in too much trouble."

Sirius chuckled as he pulled away, but rested his hands on her shoulders and met her eyes. "You can always owl me and I'll be there in a heartbeat. Whether it is a boy that I have to jinx or just a nosebleed, I don't care. I'm always going to be there."

"Thank you, Sirius."

"You're my sister. It's my job to look out for you – and for my little brother," Sirius told her and sighed, as he mentioned Regulus.

It surprised them both when their brother's door opened just when they passed it by on their way to the stairs. The boy who incredibly closely resembled the oldest Black sibling stepped out with a frown on his face. "Are you really going to pull it off?"

Sirius nodded, descending down the stairs, while his siblings stayed where they were. It was Regulus who spoke up again, as he asked, "Where are you going to go?"

The older boy turned back around and shrugged. "I'll find something, mate, don't worry." He continued his walk down the stairs and just before he touched the doorknob he turned around again. "Look out for each other, alright?"

With that, he smiled sadly at them and with another wave he opened the door. As the heavy wooden door fell shut behind him, a tear rolled down Phoenix' cheek.

"He's gone."