Marmoris | Rabastan Lestrange [1] ✔︎

53 | VALUES

Phoenix took a deep breath and then breathed out again, while picturing a forest around her. She could almost feel the sunlight that succeeded to make its way through the leaves tickle her skin and hear the animals around her. However, she opened her eyes raising an eyebrow at Jack, who sat opposite her on the floor of an empty room. "Why do we have to do this again?"

"Because being able to focus is the most important part in learning how to control your powers," he explained, as he folded his long legs underneath his body.

She rubbed her temples and rolled her eyes at him. "But we have done nothing but that for three weeks. I think I can concentrate by now."

"And it helps to cool down your emotions," Jack added with a grin.

"Obviously," Phoenix snorted.

He was the first adult that she really talked back to. She had been raised not to complain or contradict an adult, but in the last few weeks she had grown comfortable around Jack, who really seemed like he wanted to help her – and Rabastan. He made her feel like she was on the same level as he was, although he often annoyed her by not telling her things she wanted to know.

"Okay, I'll prove it to you," he grabbed her books and placed them in front of them. "So, focus on the books and imagine how you make them fly. Let the picture appear in your mind without closing your eyes or reaching out to your powers in the way you told me that you used to do it. If you have difficulty making them float in the air, you can add your hands by raising them with your palms upwards."

Eagerly Phoenix nodded, straightening her shoulders. She took a deep breath and followed his instructions. She was tempted to close her eyes and reach out to her powers, but she resisted, picturing them flying in front of her. At first nothing happened, but when she was about to raise her hands, the books started to shake and slowly rose into the air.

"See?" Jack questioned with a smile.

She smiled back at him and pictured them returning to the ground, which they did within a few seconds. "What else?"

"I think we're done for today."

"Please," Phoenix begged, giving him a sad face.

Jack shook his head, laughing. "No, we can try something else tomorrow."

★

He didn't make false promises, as only two weeks later Phoenix had learned to do more than she had learned since she had discovered her powers. Laughing she watched Jack's facial expression change, as she changed the scenes she made him imagine. At some point the spell broke, when she was laughing too hard to keep it up and caused Jack to glare at her. "That's not exactly what I expected you to make me imagine, but you're getting better. The details aren't convincing enough yet, but you should be able to make somebody seem invisible by now."

"Did you like the dancing hippogriff?" she asked, grinning at him.

He rolled his eyes but smiled. "You should have made it sing as well."

"That's for another time."

"But you have to be more serious about this. Making people see things is one of the most important gifts you have. In battle it could save somebody's life if you make them seem invisible or appear dead when they are not, and with the Dark Lord rising, we have to be prepared," he told her with a more serious face.

Phoenix was startled by his choice of words. "So you are against the Dark Lord."

"I never said that. I'm not in favour of him killing innocent people, but at the same time I was basically raised to believe in him. What I wanted to say is that on whatever side you choose to fight, you will have to be able to control your powers to help your people in battle. I know for a fact that Dumbledore is very interested in your abilities, but so will the Dark Lord as soon as he'll find out about it," Jack clarified.

She looked down at her feet, contemplating whether she should ask the question that was lingering on her mind. Her voice anything but loud when she asked, "Do you think he is worth fighting for? Will he be strong enough to win a war?"

"Honestly, I don't know." He shrugged. "From what I've heard, he seems to be one of the most gifted wizards of our age and he's gathering more and more followers. I think he'll soon be ready to strike more heavily than just making people go missing, and we'll find out."

"It scares me. My whole family seems to believe in him, except for Sirius, and considering what he does and what you told me about my powers, I'm not sure if I want to give him the advantage of me supporting him, but at the same time I don't want to contradict my family," Phoenix confessed. "But what scares me even more is the idea of me turning seventeen in a few weeks, which means I'll be old enough to get married and then I might not be able to choose anymore."

"I'm sure not every husband will make the choice for you. Some don't agree with some pureblood values either," Jack assured her with a comforting smile.

"Of course, but you know my family. I don't think there is a family as strict as the Black family."

He softly touched her shoulder. "Sometimes people just act as if they agree with the values. Perhaps your parents will choose somebody that doesn't agree without even knowing about it."