Noyade | Rabastan Lestrange [2] ✔︎

10| SURPRISES

Against Maureen's expectations Professor McGonagall wished to talk to the two girls separately. Although the pink-haired girl walked out with a grin, Phoenix couldn't keep herself from nervously gripping the hem of her jumper when she entered and closed the door. Only about half an hour earlier she had been filled with ecstasy at the thought of having stepped in Lyria's footsteps when it came to stopping people's harassment, but now she couldn't help but wonder whether she had done the right thing. She couldn't allow herself to make any mistakes, as she had spent the previous year sympathising with people that her parents considered filthy, but on the other hand she couldn't see how it was against their wishes, as the Dark Lord wanted her to practice her powers freely.

The professor motioned her to take a seat on one side of her desk and folded her hands on its surface. She mustered Phoenix' face and although the young girl expected her to express discontent about the fact that she had healed Maureen during her class, she did not. In fact, her face softened and she removed her glasses from her nose. Like that she looked nothing like she usually did in class. Rather than the strict teacher, Phoenix sat in front of an elderly, kind-hearted woman, as the only feeling she could sense from her teacher was empathy.

"You remind me of a student I once had. She had powers quite similar to yours, you know," Professor McGonagall told her.

Surprised by her words, Phoenix removed her gaze from the surface of the desk between them and looked at her. Despite the positive feelings that she sensed from the professor, she hadn't expected anything but a scolding. She cleared her throat and asked hesitantly, "Lyria?"

She doubted that there had only been a single student with special powers in Professor McGonagall's complete career, but she desperately wanted to find out more about Jack's late girlfriend. He had only told her very little, but she somehow felt connected to Lyria. However, she couldn't tell if it was simply the wish to understand her fiancé's past or the image in her mind of Lyria being an astonishing personality. She felt like being like her was something to strive towards, since she had only heard good things about her. Perhaps it was wrong to look for information behind Jack's back, but she couldn't keep her curiosity contained.

"Lyria Prismark indeed." The professor paused for a moment, looking like she was far away in her thoughts before she slightly shook her head and asked, "You have heard of her then?"

Phoenix nodded. "Jack told me a few things about her. However, not much, since it seems to give him pain to talk about her."

"Which is completely understandable. The two of them had a connection stronger than I have seen ever before and she was taken away from him in a very violent way. I guess he still doesn't know who caused her death, does he?"

"Who?She was murdered?" Phoenix asked, her eyes wide with shock because of the new information.

"This is a tale for another time." Professor McGonagall put her glasses back on. "The reason why I brought her up is because your situation is a lot like hers when she was your age. Like you, she was different and that scared a lot of her peers, but she wouldn't do anything about their harassment at first either. I know how you are being treated – all of the teachers do – but we agreed not to intervene because we sense that it would make the situation worse. However, as it is our purpose among other things to look after our students, I need to ask you this. Do you want assistance, Miss Black?"

Yes, she wanted assistance. She wanted all the pain and harassment to go away. She wanted her life before her sixth year back – except for the fact that she wanted Rabastan in it. However, as the professor looked at her questioningly she found herself shaking her head. There was hope, there always was, and perhaps getting through the hard times by herself would help her become the person her destiny wanted her to be. She offered the professor a small smile. "Thank you, Professor, but I think I can handle it."

"I don't doubt that, but don't hesitate to contact a teacher, if you reconsider your decision."

Phoenix nodded with a small smile.

Professor McGonagall's face lost a bit of his softness. "Now as to why you're actually here. As much as I admire your abilities, I don't approve of you making use of them during my classes. I understand that you wanted to help Miss Zabini with her injury, but not in my classroom. During such dark times as these, people easily get intimidated by peers with superior powers. I'm sure you noticed how the display of your abilities captured your classmates, both positively and negatively. In my classroom I want order and concentration and due to the recent lack thereof, I have to ask you to refrain from using your powers during class."

"Yes, Ma'am, I understand."

★

When Phoenix walked out into the hallway after her visit to Professor McGonagall's office she was even more confused than before. Maureen waited for her, leaning on a wall near the door, and slung her arm around hers as she lead Phoenix with a slight skip in her step towards the stairwell. "Why the face? She may be strict, but she can't have been that bad. All the teachers love you and wouldn't dare scold you severely, although I must admit that your visit took way longer than mine usually do."

"Did you know that your aunt knew someone like me?" Phoenix asked, not answering to her question.

Maureen looked at her questioningly. "Auntie Cleo?"

"Is she your mum's rebellious, younger sister? She is said to have been quite similar to you when she was our age."

"Yeah, that's definitely Auntie Cleo." Maureen's eyes lit up in amusement. "Did you know that she once nearly burnt down a classroom because she wanted to hex a boy who claimed that females were inferior to males?"

Phoenix giggled, while she let her eyes roam over the moving staircases, which she had got used to during her previous six years at Hogwarts. At first she had always been in the middle of the stairs when they changed direction, which made her miss the first few minutes of class, but as seventh years they finally figured out the way to go about the bewitched stairwell – even the trick steps were avoided without giving them a thought.

"I did not, but now I can definitely see the similarity." She pulled Maureen towards the staircase to the first floor since they had Potions next. "Apparently her best friend had similar powers as I have."

Maureen was quick to follow her trail of thought. "And you thought we could maybe ask her for information since Jack is holding it back?" Phoenix slowly nodded. "Sure, I'll ask her, but what is really causing that face of yours."

"Could you stop reading my facial expressions? Sometimes I'd like to have secrets too, you know," the youngest Black sibling told her with a laugh, but Maureen shook her head.

"Not possible. You brought the lack of secrets on your side upon yourself when you became my best friend in our first year."

"One of the best decisions of my life," Phoenix pointed out, which lead the girl to hug her arm with an 'Aw'.

"But now seriously. What did McGonagall say?" Maureen demanded to know.

"She actually encouraged me to keep using my powers just before I left her office. That was after she told me several times that my abilities scared our classmates and banned me from using them in her classroom."

"That's great aside from the ban. Why aren't you smiling then?"

"It is," Phoenix agreed with a smile. "Honestly, I'm simply not sure if that was our Transfiguration teacher in there. She was nice and in some way encouraged me to stand up for myself even if it scared others. I'm pretty sure she actually winked at me. I'm slowly starting to doubt Dumbledore's choice of role model for the student body. First there was Louis telling me the seventh year was the year of mischief, then Jack wanted me to scare our classmates and now McGonagall, which is already completely out of character for her as it is. Are you sure we were in the right office?"

Maureen giggled. "I'm pretty sure we were."