Noyade | Rabastan Lestrange [2] ✔︎

40 | DEATH

Death had its way of ripping people out of one's life. In one moment a loved one was there and in the other, they were gone. Sometimes the process of dying was stretched out over months, waking up every morning with fear clenching one's heart that this day was finally the day when it was over. On other occasions, however, death came to visit completely unexpectedly. While it was possible to adjust to the idea of a loved person dying over a longer period, it is rather difficult to grasp the idea of them being gone within a shorter time span. Neglecting the temporal factor, death usually has the same effect on people. Often the ones left behind expect a known script to happen, but there's nobody there, they are disorganised and lost in memories about the deceased - or maybe even looking for them in parts of their lives, where they would normally be in.

Death leaves an empty space amid people's lives.

Due to her extensive reading, Phoenix had lived many lives, falling in love with Mr Darcy, giving her life for her daughter as Fantine or even murdering and dying as Dorian Gray. She had learned so much through books but they were no guide on how to cope with the death of a loved one. After returning to Hogwarts she had found herself spending a lot of time with Rabastan, who usually sat quietly opposite her and simply stared out of the window, and although she liked being around him, he couldn't fill the abyss Jack had left. More than once she stopped on her way towards his office - walking there like every other day to practice or ask for his advice - because she realised he wasn't there. After nearly two weeks Maureen had told her that Jack's office had been cleaned out, which left her to silently cry herself to sleep in the evening as the realisation hit her once again that he was truly gone.

Next to Jack's grave, Rabastan had asked her whether it would ever get easier. Even after four weeks, she couldn't tell as spring rolled over Hogwarts. However, it seemed to be getting easier to get her mind off of it for a few moments or get into the right mindset to help her friends instead of thinking about their loss.

Life didn't take notice of their feelings. The N.E.W.T.s were getting closer and despite the sickening feeling, which lay over the whole castle, the teachers kept reminding them to prepare for their exams to get good marks and with that good jobs.

"Nix, are you even listening to me?" Regulus asked as he sat with Phoenix and Maureen in front of the castle.

They had decided to form a study group and while Rabastan was missing for some reason, the rest of them had decided to revise Defence. However, Phoenix had quite some trouble concentrating, which lead Regulus to wave his hand in front of her face.

She was quick to swat it away and glare at him. "What?"

"I asked how you'd describe an Inferius," Regulus repeated with a roll of his grey eyes.

Maureen was pulling at the grass around her, ripping it out and simply placing it where she had taken it. Even back in first grade, she had the habit of doing so, which had used to annoy Dawn a lot. The oldest of the three girls had always had a bond to nature and she had hated seeing it being destroyed by her best friend. If only Dawn was there with them.

"Inferi are corpses that a Dark Wizard's curse has reanimated to use it as servants, which don't have a mental resistance to any wish they might have," Phoenix answered her brother's question.

The boy with shoulder-long dark hair nodded and peered down at the parchment on his legs. "And how would you know it's an Inferius and not a living human?" He turned towards Maureen and added, "Maureen?"

Ripping out another batch of grass, Maureen groaned and threw it at him. "Stop asking questions you know I don't have the answers to."

Regulus smirked. It struck Phoenix how much their older brother and he actually looked alike. They had the same hair, eyes and built, but Regulus had a slightly rounder face and the two of them had a completely different manner.

He settled his eyes on Phoenix and raised his eyebrows. She answered, "The most obvious sign of a creature being an Inferius rather than a human is its white and cloudy eyes but we can also see differences in their manner. While Inferi can be very handy because they'll do anything for their master, no matter if it costs their lives, they don't have a will or mind of their own, which makes them unable to react to unforeseen situations."

"Outstanding," Regulus commented, mimicking McGonagall's voice, which made both of the girls chuckle.

Phoenix suddenly felt a pinprick in her chest. Was it wrong to laugh after a dear friend had just died? 

While trying to impersonate their Divination teacher Regulus had raised his hand and the sleeve of his thick jumper had slipped back from his wrists. As he lowered it again, Phoenix' gaze remained fixed on the thin leather band around his wrist. She had seen it before. There was no way she was wrong. At some point, she had seen the leather band somewhere else, but she couldn't tell where.

She grabbed her brother's wrist and pointed at it while asking, "Where did you get this? I thought you didn't like bracelets."

"Rabastan gave it to me." Regulus shrugged and turned it around his wrist.

Immediately Phoenix hand went to the Lestrange family ring which was attached to a thin silver necklace around her neck. It felt cold against her skin and a shiver ran down her spine.

"That's weird. At Jack's funeral, he gave me this," she pointed out, showing her brother and friend the ring.

Maureen frowned and leaned forward, inspecting the ring more intently. "Isn't that one of their family rings? I thought they were so proud of them as their family heirloom."

"That's why I didn't want him to give it to me."

Phoenix closed her fingers tightly around the cold metal. A burning pain went through her and she gasped. In the flash of agony, she had been able to see Rabastan's white-blond head bent over in concentration, but the image had been gone before she could truly make something out of it.

Regulus placed a hand on her upper arm. "Princess, are you alright?"

It was the first time he had used the nickname Sirius had used to call her by and while it warmed her heart, she ignored his question, fixing her eyes on him. She inquired, "Has Rabastan ever talked to you about how he was feeling since Christmas?"

Slowly Regulus shook his head, the fragments of what was going on piecing themselves together in his mind. "No, he hasn't."

Phoenix suddenly felt sick. Her heartbeat started to accelerate and her hands started to sweat. "Maureen, you made fun of the jumper he was wearing this morning. What did it look like?"

"It wasn't anything too special. I simply pointed out how the dark blue somehow made his eyes seem even paler, but he didn't seem to think it was funny. Why?" Maureen answered, obviously alarmed by the expressions on the twins' faces.

"Was it a knitted jumper and he wore a white shirt under it?" Phoenix asked, jumping to her feet.

Regulus followed her example in the moment Maureen said, "Yes, but how-" Her eyes widened. "You had a vision."

"Where?" was the only thing Regulus asked as he took her arm and started towards the huge wooden portal of the castle.

"Boys' bathroom on the sixth floor," she yelled over her shoulder towards Maureen who had hurried after them. "Get the first adult you can find."