Marmoris | Rabastan Lestrange [1] ✔︎

13 | INSANE

"We can experience nothing but the present moment,
live in no other second of time,
and to understand this
is as close as we can get to eternal life."

★

THE YULE BALL was something to occupy everyone in a certain way. About three weeks before the event everyone started to go completely mental. The only thing girls talked about were what they wanted to wear and who they wanted to go with. Boys complained about the dancing practices and their issues about how to ask a girl out, and the teachers desperately tried to get the students to pay attention in their classes, which wasn't exactly that much of a success.

Phoenix had never really been a fan of these kind of events. She rather stayed among a few people instead of a huge crowd and to her it meant nothing but stress. Even Maureen, who usually went with her leather jacket and some casual clothes, had somehow developed a desperate wish to look perfect. Dawn and her had dragged Phoenix to the robes shop in Hogsmead, the week before the dance, to go gown shopping, although she had told them several times that she didn't even plan on attending it. Between all these robes and dresses she felt lost while Dawn discussed with the shop assistant which dress would fit her friends best. Phoenix had never before realised that her friends apparently belonged to the girly kind of girls when it came to looks. Usually none of them bothered, but as the dance came closer, the both of them went totally insane.

"I'll be right back. There's this book I ordered in the bookstore across the street. They told me I could come get it today. Will we meet at Three Broomsticks?" Phoenix tried once again to escape and walked towards the exit with fast paced steps. She hadn't come far before she was pulled back by her robe and nearly crashed into a rack filled with dresses.

"Oh no, young lady, you stay here," Maureen told her and with a sigh Phoenix sat down next to her again.

"Why? I don't even need a dress."

Maureen pointed at her robes. "I think you do. You can't go to the dance in your casual clothes. It says..."

"Festive evening attire, I know," Phoenix finished her sentence, rolling her grey eyes. "But that's exactly the point. I don't even want to go there."

"You have to. It might be the only chance you'll get. I won't let you spend that evening hidden behind a book and not even moving a single inch. You'll end up as an old maid with nine cats, if I let that happen."

Phoenix tilted her head back against the back of the wooden chair, as the pink-haired girl smiled at her victoriously. "No, I won't. I'll get married as soon as I'm of age, which means something like that will never happen. So why even get my hopes up?"

"For Merlin's sake, sometimes you're so boring, you know. Phee, this isn't about finding a man for life. It's about having fun and I'll drag you down to the Great Hall, if it's the only way to get you there. I won't have my best friend getting married without having had some fun beforehand."

Phoenix let her eyes move to Maureen, who seemed to be entirely serious, and groaned. "I hate you."

"You couldn't manage without me."

"Sure, whatever you say."    

★

DUE TO THE girls' persuading skills, Phoenix actually ended up ordering a dress. She had to admit, it was a really nice one in black colour, honouring her family's name, and subtle silver ornaments, giving it an even stronger touch of elegance. The only things she wasn't entirely sure about was it nearly reaching the floor, which meant that she could trip over it, and then there was the backless cut. She had never worn anything that showed so much skin and she was afraid people would think of it as inappropriate, but she couldn't keep herself from ordering it when she tried it on. It was too beautiful, although Phoenix still didn't intend to attend the Yule Ball.

Over the weeks prior she had tried her best to stay away from places with too many people, which had worked pretty well except in class. Her ability of feeling people's emotions had grown stronger and it was hard to shut them out at least partially. When there were too many people, it got pretty hard and it usually gave her a terrible headache. Even now, at Three Broomsticks, it was a difficult thing to do, let alone the crowd like all the students which would attend the Yule Ball. Of course she could simply put the necklace which she had got from her parents back on, it was not like she hadn't tried, but when she did, she felt like there was some part of her missing. On one hand she didn't want to give the newly discovered part of herself up, but on the other hand she wanted to be normal.

"Please don't give me that look," Maureen whined, pointing at Phoenix' face.

"What look? That's just my face," she told her, before taking a sip of the Butterbeer, which was placed in front of her on the wooden table.

The pink-haired girl just groaned and acted as if she wanted to smash her head against the surface of the table, while Dawn filled in for her. "You look like today was a terrible day, although you just bought the most beautiful dress I've ever seen you wearing."

Phoenix placed her bottle back on the table. "Exactly, I just bought a dress I'm never going to wear in my entire life. My mother would kill me, if she saw me wearing it at the Yule Ball."

"And Rabastan and the two of us would do the same if you didn't," Maureen informed her, crossing her arms in front of her.

"What has Lestrange to do with that matter?" Dawn asked bewilderedly.

"Haven't you seen him staring at her lately. He for sure likes her."

"No, he doesn't. Were friends, that's all," Phoenix countered the argument, rubbing her forehead with her fingers.

Maureen, however, didn't seem to be convinced. "I tell you, he does. Why else has he barely taken his eyes off of you since we entered?"

Phoenix wanted to turn around, knowing very well that her brother and his friends were sitting behind her back, but Dawn grabbed her arm. "Don't."

"Why not?"

"Giving him the satisfaction of talking about him would push his ego a little too much, wouldn't it?" the brunette told her, giggling lightly.

Phoenix couldn't help but join in. It was the special thing about Dawn. Although she didn't like some people, she didn't straightforward show it, but made ridiculous comments about them instead, unlike Maureen, who usually told everybody what was on her mind.

With that her friends got back to the topic of Dawn's date, which she had been keeping a secret for quite some time, but Phoenix couldn't really get herself to participate in that conversation. Her headache increased within every second that passed as emotions of everybody who was fleeing from the cold outside into the crowded pub bombarded her until she got up from her chair, nearly knocking it over. "I'm going to go to the bathroom really quick. I'll be right back in a minute."

Black spots were filling Phoenix' vision as she entered the ladies' bathroom not even a minute later. She hurriedly closed the door and rested against a basin. In the mirror above it, she could see her own face. She looked like she always did, only her grey eyes seemed different – tired, showing that something was wrong. Phoenix swallowed and tried to calm down by splashing some water at her face. Even if she wanted to, she would never be able to attend the Yule Ball. The amount of people in the pub was already too much, the dance would end up as a pure disaster. She ran a hand through her long, dark curls, desperately trying to figure out what to do.

Suddenly the door opened again. In the mirror it revealed a girl which she didn't recognise at first. She had her wand raised, pointed at Phoenix.

Out of pure instinct Phoenix spun around, outstretching her hands to shield herself.

"Please, don't..."

She was interrupted by the blonde girl falling to the floor, screaming and clutching onto her head with both hands.