"He taught me to meditate, now I'm an old veteran of the thousand day retreat"
"I played music on subway platforms, I'm straight but loved him, he loved me"
"I felt more love from him at 19 than ever from anyone"
"We'd lie under covers gossip, read my poetry, hug & kiss belly to belly arms round each other" rabastan lestrange, 6th year, slytherin
“our families.” alecto reminded him with laugh, “and i get it, it’s important, but maybe there doesn’t need to be such a rush?” she questioned, shaking her head. alecto understood it, she agreed to some extent, a pureblood marriage lead to children hopeful and then that meant more pureblood witches and wizards, the world needed that. she couldn’t think of a single pureblood witch she knew who’d start to have children while in school though, so really if the engagement craze held off for just a little while then things would still be okay. “oh i plan to, i have things to do before mother finds someone to promise me to, you know, like having fun,” she threw him a playful wink, and it wasn’t difficult to say he had suggestions he wanted to share, and alecto rolled her eyes, unable to hide the amused smile, “well you have ideas, be my guest, i’m all-ears.”
rabastan nodded along with everything she said, and not just because she looked good and it had been a while since he had gotten laid. he nodded because he agreed. everyone was in such a rush to grow up and get their lives started, but they didn’t know what was waiting for them out there once they did grow up, they didn’t realize how cold and cruel and unforgiving the real world could be. it made him wish that some people would get a slap in the face from reality and wake up, enjoy the time they had left within these walls. rabastan’s smirk grew when she winked at him, leaning back against the wall behind him and letting his eyes look her over for a brief moment before landing back on her face. “alecto,” he mused, tsking quietly and shaking his head. “i don’t think i have to say that some of these ideas are things that should not be shared in public, where an unassuming first year could overhear.”
there was NOTHING like the first night back at hogwarts after a long summer cooped up in the black manor. nothing like sitting on the edge of the astronomy tower, black-stockinged legs dangling over the edge, drunk on the night scottish air and galaxies freewheeling in the sky above her. andromeda wasn’t quite as wildly happy as she was the first time she’d lived this night; now she was content in a way she could never be at home, in a way that warmed her cold bones and flooded like mercury through her veins. caught between her fingers was a lit cigarette, exhaling its smoke into the darkness, and beside that sat an unopened bottle of wine, an opened book, and a basket of assorted fruits and pastries she’d nicked from the welcome feast. swelling, melancholic strings and a husky muggle singer’s voice drifted from her headphones, although not quite loudly enough to mask the sound of footsteps coming up the astronomy tower stairs. andromeda only just had enough time to pause her music and arrange her face into a bored, haughty expression, masking both the happiness she felt and the irritation at whoever had interrupted it, before the intruder reached the top of the stairs. she spared them the barest of glances, her chin high and proud, before turning away again and taking a drag from her cigarette, exhaling a bitter column of smoke into the greying sky. “ — i hope you don’t EXPECT me to offer you one. ”
there was something so strange about rabastan’s love of the astronomy tower. falling, heights, looking down at the world from above, it all terrified him greatly, yet while he was up that high, looking up was quite possibly his favorite thing to do. staring at the stars could clear his mind, could put everything in perspective. and normally, at these hours of the evening, there wasn’t anyone else up there. he could get some alone time, he could let his forearm breathe. yet as he climbed the stairs to the top of the tower, he saw a familiar set of brown locks belonging to a familiar person. “oh, come on andy, we’re about to share the rest of our lives together, if you can’t spare a cig, this is going to be a long and torturous existence.”
There was nobody else to blame but herself for feeling rather strained just a few hours of being back at Hogwarts. Aside from the heavy amount of courses she had decided to pursue this year, Amelia felt a whiplash of prefect responsibilities shortly after taking a breather. She hoped to be appointed to take rounds at night as the frequency of witless students at large were in a minimum. But, of course, she also had to entertain a few lost students in the morning as well. Although, neither conversing with youngsters nor giving directions were really part of Amelia’s line of expertise, she had no choice but to oblige. As she awkwardly waved a first year away with a forced and tight smile, the Ravenclaw was faced with a new company, “Boring,” Amelia immediately replied with a huff, remembering how unproductive her summer was. “I’ll probably be the first and only person to say this, but thank merlin that school’s back in session.”
at this point in time, rabastan didn’t take school as seriously as he used to. he used to be all about getting the best grades possible to impress his father, about being the best in every thing he attempted. but now, school seemed unimportant. now, there was no point in stressing about things like this. it resulted in him caring far less about his prefect duties than he did to begin with, which quite frankly, was not a lot, and resulted in him not worrying about doing a good job on anything. “i agree, you’re definitely the only person to think that,” he said, crossing his arms against his chest and chuckling softly. “although, there are some aspects of coming back to school that aren’t that bad.”
Lucinda stretched her arms as she walked around the halls, sore from all the practice; it wasn’t even a week into the school year and she could already feel her muscles aching… She loved it. She didn’t have a destination in mind – maybe she’d go to the Astronomy Tower again since she always ended up there anyway – but she was happy to be taking a walk. As she passed by the Great Hall though she couldn’t resist lingering to hear what her fellow classmate would tell the first years. They were so cute, she thought in the back of her mind, all rosy cheeks and excitement. It reminded Lucy of her own first day.
It was somewhat of a surprise when Rabastan addressed her but she merely shrugged, a light grin on her lips. “Same old, same old. Lots of Quidditch, naturally, and all that,” she waved a hand dismissively; that was pretty much the status quo for her but surely there was something a bit more notable she could metion…
“Oh!” Lucy did a little bounce as she remembered her recent milestone and her grin widened. “I did hit five thousand followers on Twitter! Tweet tweet fuckers,” she chuckled and shook her head, pleased. ”But anyway, what about you? How was your summer?“
suddenly, he was reminded of the things that people like lucinda talkalot worried about, and it gave him a headache. to be celebrating such trivial things like twitter followers when there was a war brewing outside of hogwarts, when there were life and death matters to attend to, just seemed pointless. none of it would matter when the dark lord became victorious, when muggle things like twitter became obsolete.
he would have told her all of that, but people never liked it when you rained on their parade, and the parade she was having for her “achievement” seemed to be in full blast. “congratulations, hope that you can tweet to your hearts content now that you have a sufficient audience. mine? oh, you know, same old same old. i’m officially off the market now, engaged to be married and all that. but that’s the most exciting thing that happened this summer.”
his forearm itched, and it took all of his self control to not roll up his sleeve and scratch the ink that was etched into his skin. “be sure to congratulate the future mrs. andromeda lestrange the next time you see her,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
there were a lot of people alecto could think of were probably better suited to deal with children than rabastan lestrange. she lingered outside of the great hall as he spoke to the students, those wide eyed little children who still hadn’t wrapped their minds around how they were finally at hogwarts, alecto could almost remember being one of them. as the crowd started to disperse she made her way towards him, small smile on her lips as she greeted him with a nod, “i didn’t get engaged so, we’re considering it a successful summer, unless you’re my mother and then you’re making another attempt this christmas.” alecto replied, scrunching her nose up with a small huff, it might have only been september but it still wasn’t enough months keeping her from going home for the christmas holidays.
rabastan chuckled as she spoke, wishing that he could have said the same thing. but the fact of the matter was that now, there was an additional promise between the lestrange and the black families, the engagement looming over his head like a constant reminder of the expectations his family had for him. “engagements are stupid anyway, who even honors them?” he quipped with a wiggle of his eyebrows. the fact of the matter was that his engagement to the middle black sister meant less than nothing, it was all about keeping up appearances, and he tried to make that as clear as he could just in case there was a chance alecto wanted to meet him in an abandoned classroom or the prefect’s bathroom or any other vacant space in the castle for a little alone time. “enjoy freedom while you can. in fact, i can think of a few ways to best enjoy it if you need suggestions.”
“and if you follow me right this way, that brings us back to the great hall and the end of our tour. if you have any questions, please ask someone else because I have more important things to do. good luck, have fun, don’t get too shitfaced,” rabastan said, his unenthusiastic voice barely raising over the excited chatter of all the first years huddled around him. he wasn’t particularly excited about being a prefect, he never had been, but since he hadn’t been lucky enough to be a skilled quidditch player, he had to do something to impress his impossible father. pretending to care about first years for one day was a lot easier than pretending to be able to toss a ball around in the air, and his job for the year was almost done. as the crowd began to thin out, he noticed someone who definitely was not a first year standing in the sea of people, and his lips curled up into a small smirk. “hey, how was your summer?” he inquired of the person standing in front of him.
“rabastan lestrange, i know i didn’t just hear perfect prefect slytherin dismissing his crowd of first years like that.” amos gave a taunting smirk as rabastan moved closer to him, across the crowd. he knew, of course, that rabastan didn’t like the job much. it’d come up in a conversation or two. and, if he was honest, he didn’t really care how enthusiastic of a job he was doing at being a prefect. not really. “my summer was–” he hesitated. it was lonely. it was quiet. it was all missing his father, rage building at the deatheaters who killed him. the… it was spending months wondering if rabastan would be changed when they came back. if something, anything, would be different. “–uneventful.” he finally settled on saying, lips curling into a small smile. he didn’t need to look at him for long to decide that, no, his feelings hadn’t changed at all. “how was yours?”
rabastan put his hands up in defeat. “you caught me, turn me in, make me give up my badge, but then we’ll never get to enjoy the prefect bathroom together in the very special way i so desperately want to. it’s your decision,” he said, his voice covering up how serious he was. there were things he imagined, there were daydreams he had during boring lectures, there were vivid pictures in his mind, and now that life seemed so short, now that his free time was spent killing people for the sake of killing people, small things like flirting with the cute pureblood boy from dueling club didn’t seem to matter. “that’s unfortunate, i hope your year is far more eventful.” how was his summer? his summer spent pretending to be in love with the middle black sister? his summer spent donning a black hood and committing heinous crimes? hissummer that haunted his nightmares? “mine was fine, nothing out of the ordinary. i’m happy to back, though.” the with you was implied.
“and if you follow me right this way, that brings us back to the great hall and the end of our tour. if you have any questions, please ask someone else because I have more important things to do. good luck, have fun, don’t get too shitfaced,” rabastan said, his unenthusiastic voice barely raising over the excited chatter of all the first years huddled around him. he wasn’t particularly excited about being a prefect, he never had been, but since he hadn’t been lucky enough to be a skilled quidditch player, he had to do something to impress his impossible father. pretending to care about first years for one day was a lot easier than pretending to be able to toss a ball around in the air, and his job for the year was almost done. as the crowd began to thin out, he noticed someone who definitely was not a first year standing in the sea of people, and his lips curled up into a small smirk. “hey, how was your summer?” he inquired of the person standing in front of him.
ayyyyyyyyyy it’s me taylor back @ again with the intro posts. this one is less about rab’s personality and more about his backstory bc i didn’t write a bio for him yet and tbh i’m probs not going to, so click dat read more to u know read more about this asshat (u know the drill, come plot w/ me pretty pls)
was that MATTHEW DADDARIO walking around the halls of hogwarts? i wish it was them, but it was really just RABASTAN LESTRANGE, the SEVENTEEN year old SEVENTH year student at hogwarts. they come from a PUREBLOOD family, and people tend to describe them as CHARISMATIC, SELF-SUFFICIENT, ALOOF and ABRASIVE. they can be seen around hogwarts hanging in the SLYTHERIN common room and in THE POTIONS CLASSROM. i hear they’re planning on JOINING THE DEATH EATERS once the war starts and that they’re planning on KEEPING QUIET ABOUT IT. i can’t wait to see how this turns out for them.
u know the drill, u can find his stats page right here friendos, but here’s some more in depth info
rabastan silas lestrange is a lil gemini bby, born on may 29th
although there is only a year between him and his older brother, rodolphus got all of the attention in lestrange household, and rabastan was shoved to the side. there were expectations that both brothers were held to, pureblood expectations that the brothers met with flying colors, attending events and maintaining an air of respectability like all sacred 28 families were expected to do
rabastan and his father were never close, the patriarch of the lestrange family caring more about preparing the eldest son than bothering with his younger child, but him and his mom were extremely close. the two of them often read books together, attended performances in downtown london, and grew even closer as rabastan grew older.
his mother’s affection was never enough, however, and he constantly craved his father’s adoration, basing every little decision off of what his father would think about it
this craving culminated in his sorting hat decision
rabastan is the definition of a ravenclaw; wise, intelligent, creative, independent. and when the hat was placed on his head, it was stuck on its decision between ravenclaw or slytherin. however, rabastan’s pleading and praying landed him a slytherin sort, despite the hat’s warning that he would’ve done better in ravenclaw
in school, rabastan received high marks, lots of praise from his teachers (especially slughorn), and a prefect position, but it still wasn’t enough to please his father
however, in the summer before his sixth year, an opportunity came to get in his fathers good graces that rabastan refused to let pass by
rabastan had never been extremely passionate about the whole deatheater thing. he didn’t quite understand why muggleborns were hated so strongly by members of his immediate and extended family, but his father offered him a chance to go on a mission for the dark lord, and rabastan immediately signed up
this mission resulted in rabastan killing a muggleborn wizard and their two parents, his first murder occurring before he was even 17 years old. this hardened rabastan, made him colder and a more secretive of a person, and sparked his nicotine addiction.
immediately after committing this murder, rabastan received his darkmark
currently, rabastan is still the same smartass he was before, just with a colder attitude towards life. he’s a super lothario and his grades are as stellar as ever, but the secret he holds and forcing to be committed to something he doesn’t believe in is slowly eating him alive inside.
okay fun facts:
rabastan took his newt for potions super early, got an o, and is now a teaching assistant in slughorn’s class – he loves potions
rabastan is pansexual
rabastan can often be found in the potions classroom or outside, leaning against a tree, reading
the only reason he is not on the quidditch team is because he is afraid of flying
he is a prefect because of how close he is with slughorn due to his mastery of potions, not because he’s at all good at his job
he has a tattoo of the constellation draco on his lower stomach
