Marmoris | Rabastan Lestrange [1] ✔︎

22 | BIG DEAL

Decisions. Some are unbelievably hard to make and others are made without even thinking. Everyone deals different with decision making. Some decide fast and live with the consequences and others think it over for a long time, looking at it from every possible perspective. You might actually say it depends on the person making it. But what's the same with all decisions is that they are followed by consequences. Sometimes it takes days or even years until you can see it and sometimes it happens immediately. Looking at everyday actions you might not even realise them at all. These kind of choices are made without even considering them as a real decision. In the end, people usually tend to rely on their gut feeling when it comes to decision making. They do what feels best without even having a look at what their mind tells them to do, or simply their feelings are overpowering it. Decisions – wrong and right – were perhaps exactly what made the Yule Ball an evening to remember, which made some people's beliefs shatter to pieces and which made other people's hearts bump faster.

They hadn't even reached the Entrance Hall when a cold hand grabbed Phoenix' wrist. She turned her head, surprised to see Dawn walking next to her. Her green eyes, which seemed to have an even more intense colour thanks to her dark blue dress, looked somewhat haunted and her other hand had caught a hold of Maureen's slightly darker skinned arm. For once Phoenix would have been glad to be able to have full control over her abilities, so she would be able to focus on her friend's feelings, which obviously weren't simply happiness and excitement in that moment, but there was only a mess of different emotions surrounding her and she couldn't really make out a specific one. Still, even a blind man could have guessed how nervous her friend was, she seemed literally terrified. Almost immediately Phoenix let go of Alexander's arm.

"I'll catch up with you in a minute," she told him with a slight smile, although she didn't really feel like smiling since she had seen Rabastan holding hands with Cara. Why did it even bother her? They were just friends.

Alexander nodded in response, disappearing around the next corner with the other boys and Cara. Only Maureen, Dawn and her remained in the empty corridor in the dungeons.

Phoenix gently touched her friends arm. "Dawn, are you alright?"

The girl clenched her hands together, apparently keeping them from trembling.

Maureen looked at her in concern, although her excitement about the Yule Ball was still perfectly visible. "Do what? It's only a dance, nothing dangerous at all and your date can't be that bad."

She was obviously trying to cheer her friend up a little, who seemed to be about to faint at any second, but it didn't work at all. Dawn's facial expression looked as if she had just took a bite of a lemon. It was something completely off on her. Perhaps she wasn't a person who always smiled and made people laugh like Maureen did with her extroverted character but she was usually one to be confident about her actions. Right then, however, she seemed more like a scared deer who just wanted to run.

Dawn looked at both of her friends before speaking again, her voice a little shaky. "It's just... Will you still be my friends if I do something which might be really stupid and because of which I might lose everything?"

"What are you talking abou-" Maureen wanted to ask but was cut off by Phoenix, who realised asking questions wouldn't make her feel any better. "Of course we will. There's nothing you could do to make us hate you from one second to another. I'm sure it's not that big of a deal and it will turn out alright."

"Well, killing might-"

Phoenix shot Maureen a warning look, which said If you don't stop talking I'll throw you in one of those dungeon cells. Sometimes she wondered how somebody could be as straight forward as the pink-haired girl was, especially if it apparently wasn't helping the smallest bit and even might cause more damage.

Maureen rolled her eyes. "Nix is right. We've lived with your ideas and your sometimes more than just slightly stupid actions for about six years and as you can see we're still here and that won't change," she tried to reassure her.

She gave Phoenix a look in return which clearly said: Satisfied?

Dawn took a deep breath. "Alright then."

Phoenix could see her friend was still far from calm but she walked alongside her as she rounded the corner, around which the boys had disappeared a few minutes earlier, and went up the stairs. The Entrance Hall was crowded with people waiting for their dates to arrive, chatting and laughing. Although there were so many people, it took Phoenix only a few seconds to spot the boys near the entrance of the Great Hall but she didn't pay them much attention. She tried to make out what Dawn, who was now giving away her old charming smile, was looking at. She followed her gaze which most surprisingly seemed to be fixed on her brother, Sirius, who turned around with a bright smile curling up the corners of his mouth and walked straight in their direction. Her jaw nearly dropped and she hit Maureen on her arm, who was about to make some comment about it, as they watched him leaning forward, whispering something in her ear, which made her cheeks turn slightly red, and he intertwined his fingers with hers.

She had been right. The thought flashed through her mind right before the realisation of what it meant hit her and her smile slowly faded. She had assured Dawn whatever she had been worried about wasn't a big deal but actually it was. Not to her after all but for her friend's reputation. As much as she wanted to be happy for Dawn for she finding somebody as great as her brother to stand on her side, she was unable to ignore the consequences. Her brother was seen as a bloodtraitor, a shame to the pureblood society, and even with only going to the dance with him it degraded the brunette to the same status. Maureen's parents were fairly tolerant about interactions with people having a different status or considered traitors, Dawn's not so much. Her decision would most likely get her disowned. It was a big deal.