Marmoris | Rabastan Lestrange [1] ✔︎

56 | FALL

Why is it common to say that people fall in battles? Is it because their bodies go limp and fall to the ground when dying? But they don't necessarily have to die to fall to the ground. In a different meaning of the word people fall all the time. Either they fall down the stairs or collide with somebody and end up falling. In Rabastan's case they even fall off a broom from an incredible height because they were hit by a Bludger, but even from that fall they don't die.
Perhaps it could be compared to leaves on a tree. They can get damaged by animals or torn into smaller pieces by a heavy storm, but as long as they stay attached to the branches, the leaves live. However, if one falls to the ground and slowly changes its colour to brown, it dies permanently.

That day in June many people fell, in one way or the other. Phoenix felt their pain as if it was her own, making more than one tear find its way out of her eyes. She wanted to push it away and close the wall around her powers, but she couldn't. She had lost her wand when she had been hit by a powerful curse, which she suspected to be the Cruciatus Curse, a torture curse, which was one out of three dark spells that were strictly forbidden in Britain and considered extremely dangerous. If it wasn't for Rabastan interrupting the attacker, it might have caused more damage because it would have lasted longer So she was glad that the only consequence was losing her wand. However, it forced her to use her powers, which was incredibly tiring. She didn't have enough strength to defend herself against more than one person at once, which made her vulnerable. She herself had been thrown to the floor more than once, but she had always managed to come back to her feet.

For a reason that was unknown to Phoenix the Death Eaters slowly started to draw back, only leaving a few figures behind, which were still fully engaged in the fight. The crowd got less dense and she was finally able to catch a glimpse of Maureen across the room, who fought alongside Will against who turned out to be Phoenix' cousin, Bellatrix. She allowed herself only a swift moment to admire her relative's fighting skills, which reminded her a lot of a cat when it came to their elegance. In general, was Bellatrix the image of elegance with her long dark curls, mysterious eyes and slim figure. She knew how to interact with other pure-bloods and what to wear for what occasion, but in that very moment her perfection was overshadowed by the fact that she was fighting Phoenix' best friends. Paying no attention to her surroundings, she hurried in their direction, which was a rather difficult task because of the other duels that were still going on.

Somehow the scene appeared strangely familiar to her, but she couldn't point her finger at what it was. It took a flash of green light from her cousin's wand, accompanied by a rushing noise, to make her realise what it was.
She knew that scene. It was one of her visions. The one with...
Will.
As fast as the thought occurred to her she heard Maureen cry out. Unable to move, she watched her best friend as she tried to catch the boy that had been her boyfriend for only a month. However, the pink-haired girl wasn't strong enough and his limp body hit the floor with a thud that was even audible from where Phoenix stood a safe distance away from them. Phoenix was unable to move and unable to think, as she watched Maureen pull the dark-haired Quidditch captain onto her lap, rocketing him softly and whispering to him. Tears were falling from her eyes onto his body, but he didn't move. His eyes staring directly at Phoenix, which made her shiver.

Phoenix didn't move either until Jack appeared in her view yelling something that she couldn't understand through the rushing in her ears before he threw a dagger in Bellatrix direction – just like she had seen him doing it in her other vision. That was the moment when she was pulled back into reality. She heard her cousin laugh in a manner that she had never heard before. A way that scared her. She had always admired Bellatrix, but this wasn't her. She would never be cruel enough to kill somebody like that. Never.

However, it was Bellatrix that laughed like that and walked casually away from the scene. Phoenix sprinted forward and lowered herself next to Maureen, tightly followed by Jack, who kneeled at Will's other side and tried to feel his pulse. He looked up at her and shook his head. Phoenix swallowed as he watched him close her friend's eyes, which made Maureen slap his hand away. "No, he'll wake up. Just give him a second."

"Maureen", Jack tried to reason with her, but Phoenix knew better than to do so and pulled the pink-haired girl into a hug.

She felt her body tremble and heard her sobs, which made her own tears finally fall too. But the worst thing was her pain, which transformed into her own by subconsciously using her powers. It was overwhelming, like a fist gripping onto her heart with enough force to make it stop. Over her friend's shoulder she saw Jack, who tried to pull Will away from Maureen, but she tightly held on to him. With tears in her eyes Phoenix moved back, drying her cheeks with her sleeves. "She won't get away with this."

She saw Jack's head jerk up at her words, but she was running into the direction, in which her cousin had left, before he even got to his feet. She used her powers to make statues fall to the ground behind her to prevent him from following her, as she dashed through the corridors, subconsciously knowing where she had to go. Her senses turned out to be right as she spotted Bellatrix' long curls, as she was strolling casually along a corridor on the seventh floor. Phoenix thrust her palms and arms forward, pushing her onto to floor by using her powers. With tears in her eyes she neared her cousin, who sat on the floor, looking up to her with an amused smile.

"Look who finally found the courage to embrace her powers", she mocked.

Phoenix balled her hand that was now on her side into a fist, making the woman groan in pain, as she inquired, "Why did you do this?"

"Because I felt like it", she laughed.

"Liar", Phoenix cried out. "You wouldn't kill somebody because you feel like it."

Relaxing her fist, knowing that her cousin could only take a certain amount of pain, although it felt good to show her how much pain she had caused by her actions. It felt good to have power over somebody and that thought frightened Phoenix.

Bellatrix simply smirked. "And what makes you so sure?"

"I know you. I've known you since I was a toddler, Bella, and I always looked up to you. I always wanted to be just like you, but this isn't you. This isn't the Bella I used to look up to, the Bella that I still look up to", Phoenix told her, tears streaming down her cheeks. "The Bella I know wouldn't kill my friend."

She was surprised when she heard her cousin chuckle, as she rose to her feet and approached her. "You're right. I didn't kill him without a purpose."

"Then why did you do it", Phoenix yelled in tears, unable to stop herself from closing her fist tightly and causing Bellatrix to cry out once again.

However, she released her almost immediately. Her cousin's face seemed almost proud – impressed – as she told her, "Because of this. Because you had a lesson to learn." She draped an arm over the younger girl's shoulder. "See, you have gotten distracted and lost your path. The Nott boy knew too much and wasn't valuable, but you? You have a power that the Dark Lord desires. You are special, but more like this will happen if you don't get back onto the path that was chosen for you. It is your destiny to fight for pure-bloods, not for the other scum. You will marry an honourable man and fulfil your duties towards him, your family and the Dark Lord. Don't you see that now?"

Shocked by her obvious threat, Phoenix didn't dare to contradict her. Innocent people might die if she would. They heard a noise behind them and someone swearing, which made Bellatrix grip Phoenix' chin almost violently. "Don't make the mistake of losing your path again!"

Phoenix shivered, as she watched her cousin round the next corner.

There was no choice.