8
Rabastan’s owl found him before he was even finished with breakfast the next morning. It was the strangest thing to feel both such hope and agony all at the same time seeing his letter.
He was so thankful to have this man’s friendship, but he couldn’t help but hope that it was a letter stating that he was actually a flaming homosexual, in love with Sirius and breaking off his pending engagement in favor of spending his life with Sirius. Knowing that the letter wouldn’t say any of this but that didn’t make his friend any less perfect was a different kind of pain. Sirius sighed and petted Hermes as he offered him some bacon from his plate.
Sirius,
I hope you’re feeling at least slightly better than you did last night.
Is there anything I can do for you? I could have my house elf pop by with some more potions, or I could possibly swing by with some soup and crackers tonight after my early dinner with Esmae.
Please do let me know if you need anything at all,
Rabastan
And there it is…Rabastan may have had a not-date with Sirius yesterday but he had an actual date today. It felt like a gut punch to be hit with reality like that.
Rabastan really wasn’t his to want, and will never be his to have and Sirius needed to buck up and get over it, especially if he had hopes of staying friends with Rabastan in the long run.
He walked over to his desk for some parchment and a quill and sighed. It was going to be a long week.
“Rabastan I really can’t thank you enough for bringing me here tonight, you’re right Mulberry Chophouse is excellent” Esmae took a sip of water and continued “you said Sirius introduced you to this place?”
Rabastan nodded and swallowed his bite, “Sirius loves trying new and different types of food as much as I do, as we both know the availability of different cuisines is limited in our world. I mean granted this is a steak place and there are plenty of steak places but so many of the appetizers and desserts here have some influence from different regions of the world. It’s really quite nice to change things up.”
“Change things up?” Esmae sounded amused, “Well, thank you, it’s excellent so far. You’ll have to tell your Sirius how much I am enjoying this”
Rabastan laughed “So I want to hear more about our breakup plan and how I can help you score your leading lady”
“Well there’s really no plan; we both figure that as long as we tell our parents we tried and there’s no spark but there’s also no hard feelings and we show that we’re still friends, they’ll back off a little for me to make my next move”
Rabastan raised his eyebrows and waited for her to continue
“I’ve decided I will move closer to her to begin with. I’ve found someone to apprentice under, a family friend of hers, to get my Mastery in Transfiguration from there we'll just allow my parents to slowly acclimate to the fact that Maari isn't going anywhere.”
Rabastan smiled, “The simplest plans are often the best. I’m really happy that you guys could arrange something so quickly.”
“She had been thinking about presenting the idea to me before our parents introduced us to one another. So the idea was already there; I think she was just waiting for me to get my head out of my arse”
“I really should probably put you in touch with Sirius at some point, he’s a Transfiguration whiz, and his OWL and NEWT scores in Transfiguration were the highest scores Hogwarts has ever seen. His NEWT scores were actually the second highest in Europe. His record still stands today.”
“Really?" Esmae sat back with an amused look on her face. "Well aren’t you a proud little boyfriend” Esmae winked at him
Rabastan rolled his eyes
“No, that's absolutely amazing; why didn’t he pursue a mastery after school? He could’ve probably finished it much more quickly than others and got to work anywhere he’d like?”
Rabastan frowned, “I’m not sure, I’ll be sure to ask him next time I see him. Or you could ask him. Perhaps we could arrange some group dinner after we amicably part to show our families there are no hard feelings between us? You could ask him then.”
“Rabastan Lestrange, are you planning on breaking up with me and then going on a double date with me?” Esmae laughed
“Sirius and I are not dating” Rabastan took another bite and a quick sip of wine “he probably doesn’t even see me like that. He was on the right side of the war from the start, he may be my friend, but that doesn’t mean he’d want to date a reformed Death Eater”
“Is that why you haven’t asked him out yet? Or even told him about your feelings?”
“Despite the fact that he’s quite fit, I don’t have a crush on him. We’re really just friends”
“Are you sure? Because I know more about Sirius than I do about any of your other friends, hell, I know more about Sirius and the places he and his friends like to frequent than I know about your family. You talk about Sirius more than you talk about yourself," Esmae then paused for dramatic effect "Also I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but you’ve kind of been dating him for the past few months?”
“What do you mean?”
She raised both her eyebrows “Well you do see him more regularly than you see anyone else, any of your friends or family or even me, your fake fiancé. Are you sure you don’t have feelings for the man?” she took a quick sip of wine and then a quick sip of water in succession “or have you just not realized it yet?"
" You know I saw him in ‘Witch Weekly’ last month. He was their featured Auror of the month, and he’s more than quite fit; he’s bloody gorgeous with those dimples. You two would make a dashing couple”
Rabastan paused, did he really talk about Sirius that much? Has he been dating Sirius without really noticing? Thoughts of Sirius occupied as much of his space as his job did…he definitely has been out with him more than he’s been out with Rodolhphus, Lucius and Esmae combined.
“Putting the pieces together there I see, Lestrange” Esmae laughed at him. “Maari is going to have a field day with you. I’m looking forward to our double date” Esmae winked at him and Rabastan couldn’t hold back his laugh anymore.
As they finished off their dinner and waited for their dessert Rabastan slowly worked on his wine, and thoughts of Sirius played in the back of his mind as Esmae told him a little more about Maari. It was while she was waxing poetic about Maari's sense of humor that Rabastan finally realized that everything he felt for Sirius couldn’t simply fit into a friendship. It had turned into so much more. Sirius really had made a place for himself in Rabastan’s heart without ever meaning to; Rabastan had barely noticed that Sirius had become the center of his little universe. Maybe it’s bloody time he tried to woo the man properly. If only to go on this double date, and also maybe to turn these not-dates into some real dates. Rabastan's stomach fluttered.
"Hey, are you even listening to me?"
Rabastan waved his hand slightly "Well, a little. But I have a question for you; let's pretend I want to 'woo' Sirius. We're already going out to eat regularly on not-dates; what should I do next? Where would I even start?"
Esmae reached across the table and gripped his hands "Now you're talking Lestrange; I'm about to help you woo the slacks off Sirius"