Marmoris | Rabastan Lestrange [1] ✔︎

19 | QUESTIONS

Somehow the picture of Damian's tear strained face, how his pain seemed to tear him apart completely, wouldn't leave Phoenix' mind.

After dinner the next day she stood in the entrance hall, waiting for Rabastan to go to the dungeons for detention. Having had enough time to think about what had happened in the last Potions lesson, she felt guilty for what she had said to him in her anger which wasn't even justified. So she didn't interrupt him and Cara who leaned against him, giggling. Phoenix tried to drown out the sudden sadness, of which she couldn't tell where it was coming from, by reading a book while leaning against one of the cold walls but Damian's face didn't leave her alone. It was somehow burnt into her retina and every time she blinked she saw it again, making it really hard to concentrate on the words in front of her.

She was glad when someone touched her forearm which meant her torture was over. She lowered her book only to see Alexander Rosier, a Slytherin boy in her year with brown hair, standing in front of her, not Rabastan as she had expected. He smiled. "Hi."

"Um, hey." She answered, looking at him detectably puzzled as she had never talked to him in those six years of attending about the same classes.

"I was wondering; do you have a date for the Yule Ball yet?" Alexander asked, running a hand through his hair in a self-confident manner. Slowly it dawned on her what his intentions were. He wanted to ask her out for the dance. Phoenix' grey eyes flashed to Rabastan for a second who was still standing in the same spot, Cara clinching on his side. Somewhere deep down she had hoped he would do what the brunette boy in front of her was attempting to do but suddenly she realised he wouldn't. Why should he ask a friend, if he had a beautiful girl who would definitely agree on going with him? That meant there was nothing stopping her from agreeing to go with Alexander who seemed to be nice despite his apparently a little too high amount of self-confidence.

Realising she hadn't get given him an answer, Phoenix forced a small smile on her lips.

"Not really."

His smile grew wider. "Would you like to go with me?"

Phoenix couldn't stop herself from hesitating for a second, her gaze once again flickering to Rabastan who removed himself from Cara's embrace right in that moment.

"I'd love to." She smiled.

"Great, we'll meet in the Common Room?"

"Sounds good." She agreed, watching Rabastan heading in their direction over his shoulder.

Alexander once more ran a hand through his hair. "I'll see you around, I guess."

Just seconds after he had left with her giving him a smile and a nod, Rabastan reached her. "What was that about?"

"Nothing." She told him starting to walk towards the dungeons. Somehow she didn't want him to know, as she couldn't tell if she just had made a big mistake by agreeing to go with Alexander. She turned around, walking backwards. "Are you coming?"

★

They were handed the task of cleaning the Potions classroom and the cauldrons without using any magic which was totally foreign to both of them as they had been raised by families with magical abilities. But as Rabastan was used to getting gin trouble he seemed to be at least a little familiar with the practices as he patiently showed Phoenix how to do it properly. Next to his instructions from time to time they didn't talk although Professor Slughorn had left to his office and wasn't there to remind them not to talk. Minutes passed in silence feeling like hours. When they finally reached cleaning the last couple of cauldrons, Phoenix felt uncomfortable in more than one way. Her hands ached just like her head did and she didn't know how to act around Rabastan as she had yelled at him a day prior.

After gathering all her confidence while more minutes passed she finally looked at him. He wore a concentrated expression on his face, obviously thinking about something and cleaning the outside of the cauldron, determined to finally be done with the task.

"I'm sorry about what I said last evening. I've overreacted and I didn't really mean it." She tried to apologize.

Rabastan placed his brush on the floor, shifting his weight back on his heels. "Don't be. You had a point in what you said."

She looked down on her hands, not sure what to say next. "Does it still hurt?"

"What?"

She heard him shuffle and to her surprise he sat down on the cold stone floor next to her but she kept inspecting her hands. "I mean your back. Does it still hurt from the potion?"

Out of the corner of her eyes she could see him shaking his head as he answered. "Madam Pomfrey is pretty good at fixing people, you know?"

Fixing people. Phoenix couldn't shield her mind from the image of Damian's tear strained face popping up again. Even with her eyes open she could see every detail of it. Was there a chance she could fix him?

"Are you alright?"

A shiver ran down her spine at his soft voice and the hand he gently placed on her forearm, which caused her to look up at him again. Her eyes met with his icy blue ones.

"Yes, yes I'm fine."

He softly brushed his thumb over her arm, not braking the eye contact. "Let's just forget about yesterday, okay?"

Phoenix slowly nodded and he removed his hand from her arm. Although she couldn't tell why she immediately missed his touch. It had somehow comforted her. Rabastan glanced down on his hands before looking meeting her gaze once again.

"Look, there's something I've wanted to ask you for a while now." He told her with a nervous smile.

She wasn't sure if she could trust her eyes. Rabastan Lestrange, one of the most confident boys she knew, actually seemed to be nervous. Phoenix gave him an encouraging smile.

"Sure, just ask. I won't bite, promise."

He took a deep breath before asking: "Would youlike to be my date for the Yule Ball?"