Noyade | Rabastan Lestrange [2] ✔︎

31 | MURDER

The only way to leave the grounds of Hogwarts undetected was through the Forbidden Forest. When Rabastan and Phoenix stepped inside, it was like all the other sounds were muffled all of a sudden. The further they ventured, the closer the trees stood and the mist between them didn't exactly work against the scary atmosphere.

"Rabastan, how are we supposed to find him?" Phoenix asked, a shiver running up her spine. "He won't hide in the Forbidden Forest and outside of the shields he could have apparated to any place he wanted."

The blonde boy, who walked in front of her, barely seemed to hear her and simply climbed over a small hill. They hadn't bothered to put on any cloaks or scarfs and as they walked on into the forest the air seemed to get colder and colder.

Phoenix rubbed her hands together to get them to warm up. "Look, I want to find him too, but we've got to take a different approach to this."

"And what would you suggest?" Rabastan questioned, his voice laced with annoyance.

Nearly stumbling over some roots she grabbed his arm, which caused him to turn his head, but he kept walking at an astonishing pace after seeing that she was alright. He pointed out, "If you want to go back, I won't stop you."

"And leave you alone in this place? Never," Phoenix huffed, although his offer sounded all too tempting.

All of a sudden he stopped dead in his tracks, which caused her to stumble against his back.

"Sorry," she mumbled, taking a step back.

He didn't even seem to notice her actions, however, as he asked, "Did you hear that?"

"What?" She turned around, squinting to see things between the trees. There was nothing. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"There's-" nothing, she wanted to say, but Rabastan gestured with his hand to silence her. He put his hand against the bark of the next tree and closed his eyes. Phoenix wanted to ask what he was doing, but was startled when he grabbed her hand. She gasped as her vision changed and she saw shadows moving between the trees. They seemed to hover slightly above the ground, barely touching the leaves of the plants and moving completely soundlessly.

She then heard Rabastan's voice. "There's somebody here."

When Phoenix opened her eyes she was back between the trees and the shadows were gone. She looked up at Rabastan with widened eyes, but he shook his head. "Get behind me."

What had just happened? She was too astonished to oppose his request, letting him move in front of her. For a few minutes the two of them stood in silence, waiting for whatever Rabastan thought was out there. Phoenix knew she could have opened the walls around her powers to feel whether there were any foreign feelings out there, but she was too afraid to get overwhelmed by them.

Then she heard branches snap, almost inaudible at first, but then getting louder. At the frequency of the sounds Phoenix could tell that there were several people walking towards them and her heart started to beat faster. The last few months had taught her to fear groups of people after she had been bullied verbally at first, but it getting worse as the time went on. She had received death threats and been hurt physically more than once. But she had kept quiet about it, not telling anyone.

Her hands started to shake slightly as her heartbeat accelerated. She tried to breathe calmly, like Jack had taught her when fear overwhelmed her, but the thought of her missing fiancé only made it worse.

At least she heard a sneering voice, "So, who are you two murdering out here?"

"Murdering?" Rabastan sounded completely calm when he answered. "We're not murdering anyone. In fact we're looking for a friend to make sure he won'tdie."

Phoenix finally lifted her eyes from the ground and gasped at the sight of nearly a dozen students from different houses. There were Ravenclaws, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, all standing side by side, but not a single Slytherin. One Gryffindor boy with light brown hair and broad shoulders had stepped forward, apparently speaking for the whole group, and right beside him stood Crystal Morgan, a cruel smile playing around her lips.

This was definitely going to go the bad way.

"So your people are worth saving, but you're allowed to hunt down and slaughter hundreds of ours?" the boy asked, tilting his head slightly.

"We're not hunting or slaughtering anyone, Jones," Rabastan replied coldly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "You guys look quite a lot more like a bloody hunting party than we do."

"Maybe you should have considered that we'd stand together before killing Daphne Greengrass and all those others like her," the boy yelled, which gained him cheers from his friends.

Phoenix took a deep breath before stepping beside Rabastan who gave her a small shake of his head. "So that's what all the bullying is about? You think we did something to Daphne? I hate to break it to you, but you're wrong. She and I were friends and she committed suicide."

In the blink of an eye Crystal had stepped forwards and slapped her. Tears formed in Phoenix' eyes from the unexpected blow and hot pain shot through her cheek. Surprised, she touched it with her hand, willing the tears back.

Rabastan wanted to shove Crystal away, but Phoenix caught his arm. Now she was the one shaking her head at him. A cold feeling formed in her stomach, like the pain had just made her realise that there was more to Daphne's story. She breathed, "She did, didn't she?"

"No, of course she did not." Crystal shook her head, angry tears rolling down her cheeks. "Your cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, was threatening her for being in a relationship with Remus Lupin andmybest friend, calling her a blood traitor and telling her that she wanted to murder her. She asked you for help over and over again, but you ignored her, pushing her away because you were so eager on being perfect."

"Merlin, no," Phoenix murmured, pressing her hands against her temples and taking a few steps backwards. "No, no, no."

Her cousin had not only murdered one of her friends, but two. It dawned on her. Crystal was right. Daphne had repeatedly voiced her concern about her possibly being a blood traitor and about the means the pureblood society was willing to take against those like her. But they had been just children. Who would hurt a sweet girl like Daphne Greengrass? Phoenix gasped. She never explicitly asked for help, but she had tried to use her as a connection to the Slytherins, but Phoenix had told her that everything was fine. Daphne had once even written her a letter, which she had accidentally lost that same day. What if that had been her last cry for help?

"Bellatrix frightened her to death and gave her the last blow later on, cutting her wrists to make it look like suicide."

"How did you know it was Bella?" Phoenix asked, her voice coming out choked.

"Because it was the only logical conclusion. And you know what? Daphne was on her way to meet you when she got murdered." Crystal delivered another blow against the side of Phoenix' head without her trying to block it. "You were in on it, weren't you?"

This was all too much. Her powers, Jack and now Daphne. Phoenix' brain went completely blank and she neither noticed how the air was knocked out of her chest when Crystal rammed her knee into her stomach, nor the shouts of the rest of the group. There was just this ringing in her ears and this numbness in her body.

Crystal was right.