Noyade | Rabastan Lestrange [2] ✔︎

39 | MYSTERY

Jack's funeral was held only a few days later. 

Dumbledore had been sensible enough to let Rabastan, Phoenix and their friends travel to Avery Manor that day, offering them a look of pity. It wasn't until then that Phoenix finally deciphered what his look had meant when she had told him about her vision. Albus Dumbledore had known about Jack's death even back then.

A sad smile made its way onto Phoenix' lips when they approached the shore near the manor, where the rest of the grieving party was already waiting. Jack had once told her about how he had always loved to sit near the ocean as a child and just stare out the water. He had always wanted to visit the high cliffs of Ireland but had never actually made it there. This was as close as he would ever get to his dream.

The world would have had so much more in store for him.

Like the social norms required them to, Regulus and Phoenix joined their family near the front of the crowd, although she would have much preferred standing with Rabastan, who stood hunched little ways from his own family as if he didn't even belong with them. She watched him dry his cheeks with the sleeve of his black robe and followed his gaze towards the coffin standing between their families. It was decorated with a range of flowers she didn't know the names of. She swallowed painfully. She had been informed how his family had decided to close the coffin before the service because he had been terribly harmed before his death, but she had never desired to see his face more than in that very moment.

Unable to stop herself from doing so, Phoenix reached out a hand and took a few steps towards the coffin where she placed her hand on the black wood. She covered her mouth to prevent a sob from escaping as the tears started to spill down her cheeks.

Slowly she sank to her knees until she placed her forehead against the wood. "I'm so sorry, Jack. I'm sorry for not being as good a friend to you as you were to me. I'm sorry I didn't realise what was going on with you and I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye. There was so much I would have wanted to say to you. Why did you have to go?"

She knew she had no right. All around her were people who had known Jack for longer than she had. There were his brothers who stood next to each other with their mouths pressed into thin lines, not wanting to cry in front of others, his uncle, Neil, who stood with his head lowered and his mother, who clung to her husband's arm for support. She hadn't been as close to him as any of them, but she couldn't help but bury her face in her hands and cry for the friend she had lost. There was a weight in her chest that was pulling her to the ground. It wasn't comparable to Will's funeral barely a year earlier, but she felt like it was even worse. It was too soon.

"They want to start with the service," the soft voice of her brother broke through her wall of sorrow as he gently placed his hands on her shaking shoulders.

Phoenix allowed him to pull her back to her feet and wrap his arms around her, what he had done when it came to Daphne Greengrass completely forgotten. He was her rock no matter what.

Judging by the fact that the man holding the ceremony didn't mention his last hours with a single word, Jack's family didn't want him to be seen as a traitor. Instead, they blamed his death on his addiction, making him look like nothing but a junkie. It was even worse than him being deemed a traitor. This wasn't who Jack had been and hearing those things only made the weight in her chest grow heavier. Jack hadn't been a junkie - at least that wasn't all he had been. He had been a caring friend, a loving brother and always there for anybody in need. If anything he had been a hero.

They were staining his memory.

"Stop."

The exclaim made Phoenix open her eyes for the first time in most likely more than ten minutes. Her gaze met Rabastan's, whose eyes were red – from anger or sorrow she couldn't tell. He pointed his finger at the speaker, "Did you even know Jack? This is not who he was at all."