Rabastan Lestrange, The Life and Times of a Dark Wizard
Chapter 5, Flying High Again
As it turned out, transforming into his Animagus form while drunk may not have been the best idea Rabastan Lestrange had ever had. It was his second year at Hogwarts, and he was alone and bored on a Saturday evening.
Bella and Rod had abandoned him to party it up in town with some of Rod's dumb friends. Bella complained about them, but she'd party with them on the weekends because one of them could get Merlin's Cap mushrooms, a novelty both Rod and Bella insisted Rabastan was too young to try.
Annoyed about that he'd sneaked into Rod's dorm and stolen the whisky bottle from his trunk. He'd seen Rod pack it over Christmas after lifting it from the Lestrange family liquor cabinet.
He'd just drink with some other second year Slytherins and show Bella and Rod that he didn't need them!
All the second year Slytherins would understand how amazing and brilliant he was, so there! That had worked out as planned, but then Rabastan got bored and restless. He decided to go on a walk near the lake, and once in the fresh evening air, the wind lifting his cloak made him long to fly.
He simply adored flying. No matter how becoming an Animagus may help out in the service of The Dark Lord some day, taking to the sky was the best part ever! Why would anyone ever want to transform into something that couldn't fly? If truth be told, Rabastan Lestrange felt the best he ever did when he was flying.
He knew he'd had a lot to drink, but he, like most drunk humans, thought he had things well under control. At first he did, transforming easily into his raven form. He even took flight easily, but when the wind picked up, it tossed him about far more than it generally did.
It was then that he realized how the drink had robbed him of some of those motor skills that were necessary for flying...or moving well in general. With a sigh and string of grumbled curses, because ravens can talk, he decided to land...Only it wasn't so easy as all that.
The control required not to slam into the ground or a tree, once he got close enough to land was not precisely present. Every time he got close, his descent sped up to an alarming level. He knew if he struck the ground or the tree he was aiming for, it would be too hard.
So he soared back up, opting not to land. As a result, he ended up coasting the wind, swooping around the trees and in truth, having a bit of a fun drunk blast until his wings grew tired. Then it wasn't so fun. His wings began to hurt, which, in the end, slowed him down enough for him to land safely.
That was when he encountered his next problem. He was too unfocused due to having too much to drink to transform back into his boy self. He tried and tried until he became too angry to try anymore, then he huddled in a tree, knowing he'd just have to wait off his drunk.
It was nearly midnight before he was able to transform back into himself and slink back into Hogwarts and into the Slytherin boy's dorm. That drastic loss of control had annoyed him so he decided he probably wouldn't fly drunk again.
The next morning Bella and Rod were at the Slytherin table for breakfast, looking glassy eyed.
"We didn't sleep, and we're still kinda tripping," Rod whispered to Rabastan.
"Everything is so expansive. You really understand spells more on these mushrooms."
"Deeper," Bellatrix expounded.
"It's like you can sink deeper into the spells and understand every layer of their make up."
"You understand the point for each layer, and maybe even what the wizard was thinking who originally crafted the spell. Then you sometimes come up with your own version that's even better," Rod said excitedly.
"Or it somehow inspires you to invent your own spell even if it doesn't seem directly related."
"That's my favorite part," Bellatrix said.
Rabastan opened his mouth to tell them about the night he'd had, then grinned. Maybe he still wasn't done punishing them for having a Merlin's Cap Mushroom time without him.
"Hey, wanna go outside after breakfast and become our animals? I bet you could really discover something interesting doing that!"
Rod and Bella exchanged an intrigued glance, then they both nodded.
"Sure, that could be fun," Bellatrix said.
After breakfast, Rabastan eagerly led them to the lake. He watched as Bella and Rod transformed. The process was slower than usual, but they still managed. Bellatrix had finally learned her raven form over the summer, and today she opted for it with Rod. Rabastan transformed and they were three ravens.
"Did you know the song Twa Corbies was originally three," Bellatrix asked.
Of course Rabastan knew the song she spoke of, because it was about ravens, and Lestranges knew all things raven as a matter of family pride.
That particular song had always caused him to lose his mind with laughter as a boy. It was about two ravens who were eating a dead knight and how no one left alive of his people cared. The ravens enjoyed their meal and used the knight's hair to line their nest.
"So are we going to go find a dead professor to snack on," Rodolphus squawked and Bellatrix giggled, which sounded hilarious in a raven voice.
"Let's fly," Rabastan said, wondering if the two would have problems landing as he had last night. It'd serve them bloody right if so. The three took to the air, Bella and Rod exclaiming over how different flying felt on the mushrooms.
Bellatrix was commenting about how the air had magic, which lead to a conversation between her and Rod about elementals. It began with the Sylphs of the air, then progressed to those of water, Undines, Gnomes of the earth and Salamanders which were, of course fire.
Rabastan had read of them, and of elemental magic, but the way they were currently speaking of it all was too complicated and boring.
Sighing he went to land on the nearest tree, and Bella and Rod followed. Rod easily landed on the branch at his side, but Bella crashed hard into the tree. Rabastan gave a caw of alarm at the hard sound Bella's body made as it struck the tree, then the second slightly softer thud as it hit the leaf strewn ground.
Rodolphus flew down to land at her side, every line of his body screaming alarm. Rabastan felt his heart thudding in horror as tears sprang to his eyes.
"Babe? You okay," Rod asked, his voice coming out in a raven's croak.
Rabastan was opening his beak to say how very very sorry he was, when...
"Don't know if I like flying," Bella murmured as she turned her head from side to side.
"I do think the Sylphs work with the Salamanders, though. It's fire and air, Roddy...and earth and water...That's how the earthquakes work, earth and water."
"Yes, that sounds right," Rod's black raven head bobbed in a nod of agreement.
Rabastan sighed. Even now they were in their trip talking weird complex magic stuff. Bella's crash hadn't effected her in the way his drunken prolonged flight and inability to shift back had.
"That's it, though," Bellatrix said, scrambling to her feet.
"Foxes are fire and as I enjoy fire as much as air, I think most of the time I'm sticking to the fox form. I don't think there will ever be a time, as a fox, that I crash headlong into a bloody tree."
Even though she complained, she took to the air again anyway, and Rod and Rabastan happily followed. Though Rod and Bella kept talking about boring elemental stuff that Rabastan had a bit of trouble focusing on, he was too relieved that Bella was alright to mind too much.