Marmoris | Rabastan Lestrange [1] ✔︎

05 | DIFFERENT

"You never know when you're gonna meet someone
and your whole wide world in a moment comes undone."

★

FOCUSING ON TRANSFIGURATION was hard that morning. Phoenix couldn't help but think about Rabastan's unusual behaviour rather than listen to Professor McGonagall talking about changing hair colours. Her missing concentration made her confusion even worse. Usually she was a studious person and took notes during classes, but on that day her parchment was still empty when the end of the lesson neared.

Something had to be wrong with her.

Rabastan could impossibly be the general reason. While he charmed girls in various houses and made them fall for him by doing just as much as winking at them, she knew him since they had been toddlers and she was pretty sure that she was immune to his charms. Still, the way he had acted bothered her. It wasn't like him to be interested in any other person's business besides his own – and perhaps Regulus', considering they had been best friends for ages.

"Miss Black, would you care to tell us about its use?" Professor McGonagall pulled the young Slytherin out of her thoughts.

Phoenix' head jerked up and she met the professor's gaze. She swallowed, her checks turning slightly red. "It is used as a way of disguise." She straightened her back and continued a little more confidently, "Combined with a spell to change the hair, for example from straight to curly, it could make a major difference to one's appearance. Their face will look the same, but a single glance won't be enough to recognise them."

The brunette woman nodded in agreement, but with her lips forming a thin line of disapproval, and turned away. Relieved, Phoenix sunk back in her chair. She definitely had to be sick.

"Who are you and what did you do to my best friend?" Maureen, who was sitting next to her, whispered with a wide grin on her face.

Phoenix gave her an irritated look. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, the Phoenix I know is always paying attention in class and has an answer to nearly everything, but today you look like Dawn recently does. Like you're living in a different world."

The youngest Black smiled slightly and glimpsed at Dawn, who was sitting on her other side, sharing a desk with a Slytherin girl that she barely knew. Dawn was resting her chin on her hands and stared at the wall behind McGonagall, obviously lost in her own thoughts. "She has never really been paying attention, has she?"

Maureen tried to suppress a giggle, knowing very well that their Transfiguration professor hated when they talked in her class, and shook her head. "No, I think the professors gave up on her during fourth year, but that daydreaming thing is a completely new level."

"And somehow she still managed her O.W.L.s."

"Because you forced us to study with you. Those days in the library were pure torture."

"Wait until next year. We'll do it all over again for our N.E.W.T.s."

"Merlin, I didn't know cruel was one of your character traits." Maureen buried her head in her hands with a mockingly exhausted sigh.

"Is there a problem, Miss Zabini?" Professor McGonagall called out to her, annoyance evident in her voice, which made Phoenix' smile even wider. Not because she liked her friend being scolded, but because she knew Maureen would be ready with a reply. "Actually yes, there is. I was wondering about something. Is torture allowed at Hogwarts? I have just been threatened that I'll have to study for my N.E.W.T.s next year."