Noyade | Rabastan Lestrange [2] ✔︎

02 | ROUGH TIME

"I can see what you're about to do before you actually do it."

Jack let go of Phoenix' forearms, which allowed her to brush a strand of hair out of her face, which had freed itself from her braid. A warm summer breeze touched her skin, as they faced each other near the shore of the black lake. The castle of Hogwarts was towering behind them, the glass of the windows sparkling in the afternoon sun and creating a strong contrast to the dark stone.

Phoenix sighed. "What is it this time?"

"Your eyes. Before you hit me, you look at your target, making your intentions more than obvious and easy to block your hits," her mentor explained, moving his stance from one leg to the other.

"I would miss, if I didn't look," Phoenix reasoned, which Jack answered by shaking his head.

"That's what separates a good fighter in reality from a good fighter in theory. A good fighter has to use all of their senses. Even in complete darkness a warrior could hit their target by sharpening their hearing and intuition."

"You must have read to many fairy tales," Phoenix retorted stubbornly, annoyance evident in her voice. Sure, she was grateful for his help, but she didn't see how punching somebody was important when she could use magic instead. "We could simply use lumos or lumos maxima instead of trying to act like a bloody bat."

"You're not that stupid, Phoenix. I get that you're hurt by our parents' decision, but it doesn't justify acting like a moron that you're definitely not," Jack reasoned, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "With your powers, especially now that people know of them, you're wanted in both ranks and whichever side doesn't have your support will use all of its resources to put you down. You are a weapon in their eyes and if they find a way to take away your powers, you have to be able to defend yourself."

Phoenix sighed, sitting down in the cold grass. "I know. I'm sorry, Jack. You're trying to help me and all I do is complain."

"You've been going through a rough time lately. Believe me I know what it's like," he told her, copying her actions.

They sat next to each other, watching the small waves, which erupted whenever a fish or other lake creature surfaced. It would have been peaceful, if there wasn't a certain tention in the air.

After a while Phoenix cleared her throat and asked in a low voice, "What was it that put you through a rough time?"

She knew it was a personal question, especially when Jack didn't answer right away, but she just couldn't help it. Talking about her problems made her feel weak and the urge to cry whenever doing so embarrassed her greatly. She hated to cry, but in the past year she had done it way too often already.

"A girl," Jack confessed, bitterness lacing his voice. Apparently it was still a sensitive topic for him.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"Don't be, I guess I should finally talk about it anyway," he answered, but Phoenix didn't have to do more than glance at his face to see that he was hurting.

However, somehow he withdrew his feelings from her powers. She started to nervously tap her fingers against her knees. With everything that was going on, she wasn't sure if she would find the right words to comfort the only person which had always seemed so steady. He had always been the stronger one out of them.

He stared at his hands for a minute, looking like he expected them to look different all of a sudden. "When she died I couldn't handle it. Let's just say I stepped on the wrong path when trying to deal with it."

"I'm sorry."

Jack turned to look at her. "About what?"

"That you had to lose her. I was lucky in the way I lost Rabastan compared to how you lost her. I'm really sorry."