Noyade | Rabastan Lestrange [2] ✔︎

05 | WORDS

Despite the obvious changes in Phoenix' life, her last school year started off like every other year before it. The teachers informed them about their upcoming N.E.W.T exams at the end of the year and immediately began to assign their students a ton of homework. Phoenix spent the first two weeks of school mostly in the library, Maureen accompanying her surprisingly often. More than once Phoenix caught herself staring at the empty chair on the opposite side of the table. She found herself smiling when she remembered how Rabastan had used to smirk at her over his book or how he had simply put his feet back up on the table just minutes after Madam Pince had scolded him for doing exactly that, sending her a mischievous smirk. It was when she returned back to reality, where the blonde boy didn't even acknowledge her presence, that her smile turned into a frown.

She flipped the page of her Defence book and sighed. Why was following the path that her parents had chosen for her so hard?

"We can leave, if you want to," Maureen pointed out, sitting on the chair next to hers.

Phoenix shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

Maureen smiled at her and it struck Phoenix once again how much of an odd picture it was to see the girl with pink hair in the library. For years she had stayed clear of that part of the castle, claiming that too much unimportant knowledge would swallow her, which she didn't mean as a figure of speech. Dawn and Phoenix had always laughed at her for that comment, but now it seemed like it was the only place at Hogwarts where the girl felt comfortable. Phoenix knew why. It was the only place which didn't remind her of Will because when she had been with him she had never visited it. Of course Phoenix wouldn't ask her to leave her only safe place, the only place where she couldn't feel her friend's grief making its way through the small cracks of the wall that she had drawn around her powers. Phoenix could never do that. Not even if it tore her apart internally.

She pressed her hands against her forehead. "Slughorn should finally show us how to brew a stronger healing potion. I can't keep asking Madam Pomfrey for pain killers or she'll get suspicious."

"Visions?" Maureen inquired, placing her book on the wooden table in front of her and giving her friend a worried look.

"I think so. They've been more frequent lately, but I can't keep seeing people's future and knowing that I can't do anything to change it," Phoenix explained and blew the air out of her lungs. "But they are really attention demanding."

Although the conversation was everything but amusing, Maureen giggled at her comment. "You know we could just steal the potion instead of asking for it. Imagine it. Dressed in black clothing and on a mission like warriors."

"I'm pretty sure your hair would give us away," Phoenix pointed out.

"Good point." The other girl chuckled and grew serious again. "Is there anything that helped you before?"

The smile faded from Phoenix' lips and she stared at the pages of her textbook. The hole in her heart was back. She knew that Maureen hadn't meant to do it, but she had unintentionally brought up Rabastan. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but Phoenix had always felt her powers calm down around him and had been able to relax. Now that he was oceans apart from her, she felt like all the weight that he had been holding for her was crushing down on her.

"I don't know," Phoenix replied vaguely. "A few small things, but nothing has ever appeared to be the solution."

"My mother claims that tea is the solution for almost everything. I can ask her for the type that helps against a headache," Maureen offered, although it was more than obvious that she thought of that belief as foolish.

Phoenix smiled at her. "That would be great. Thanks Maureen."

"Anything for you," her friend answered, returning her smile.

They adverted their eyes back to their books, but whispers caught Phoenix' attention. It was one of the disadvantages of the library. While it was quiet enough to study, it was too silent to chat about people behind their backs, especially when said people didn't sit all that far away. Phoenix shook her head and was about to try harder to focus on her studies when she heard her name being whispered.

She froze. "I've heard that she hurt people to force them into doing what she wanted. That's pretty messed up, isn't it?"

She didn't know the voice, but the words felt like a punch in the stomach. It had only taken them two weeks to start talking about her. Two full weeks. It could have happened in the timespan of a few days, but still two weeks weren't enough.

"It gets even worse. She must have forced Rabastan Lestrange into being her boyfriend. By now everybody knows that he was aware of her strange powers, why would a guy like him want to be with a freak like her?"

Phoenix chest tightened and she felt like the air was slowly being pressed out of her lungs.

"You must be right. She isn't even pretty enough to make him neglect her powers."

"One of the Slytherins said that she's engaged to one of the Avery brothers – a teacher. That's disgusting, but I guess it matches her personality. I'm just glad she didn't force Lestrange into marrying her. He deserves better than that sociopath."

Phoenix felt her eyes sting as she grabbed the books on the table and stuffed them into her bag, getting up quickly. It was like these girls had just slapped her several times. She was trembling and nearly stumbled over the chair she had been sitting on, which made Maureen look up at her with a strange look. "Where are you going?"

"I just need some fresh air," Phoenix replied, her voice quivering.

She heard Maureen call after her when she stumbled out of the library and into the hallway but she didn't answer.

"It's fine. You're fine," she mumbled to herself, trying to hold back tears, but they eventually came when she entered the stairwell of the castle.

They made her surroundings swim, as she stumbled down the stairs and into the Entrance Hall. She blinked them away only long enough to see Rabastan look at her with his blue eyes wide, before he turned away from her. She might as well have fallen off of a broom from an incredible height to cause the pain that it all inflicted inside of her when she ran down into the dungeons and into an abandoned corridor. Breathing heavily, she leaned against a wall, slowly sinking down against it and covering her face with her hands.

———

So... I need all of your help. I'm someone who easily gets influenced by what I read and I'm sure almost all of you who've read the Divergent series agree with me that Veronica Roth has a fast paced way of telling Tris' story. Personally I really enjoyed that style of writing, but I can't shake the feeling that 'Oceans Apart' is kind of too fast paced since I've read the series. Currently there are a lot of emotional scenes and although I try to add more casual ones like the scene with Nix and Maureen in the library I always end up writing a lot of drama into it.

What I need you to help me with is a few questions:

Do you think it is too dramatic?

Do you think the story moves from scene to scene at a pace that's too fast?

Would you enjoy more filler scenes that are less dramatic?

Any other suggestion/critics/wishes?

Thank you already in advance for your help. I really appreciate it.

Love, Enya

Also: Happy New Year