Before you start reading, I suggest taking a look at the characters' appearances at the time of their enrollment at Beauxbatons.
[ Image - Arthur ]
[ Image - Apolline ]
[ Image - Patrick ]
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"Good afternoon, may I see your invitations?"
Stepping out of the fireplace, we found ourselves in a small house where a smiling, attractive girl in Beauxbatons uniform greeted us.
"Good afternoon, here you go," said Jacqueline, clearly annoyed that she hadn't been able to catch me. She handed over the silvery enchanted sheet that arrives every year with the school letter. Ariel followed suit, greeting the girl and handing over their invitations.
"Is she a school employee? Why is she wearing the uniform?" I asked Apolline.
We were already dressed in the rather pleasant light silk uniforms worn at school year-round. It's rarely cold in southern France. The male uniform consisted of a blue shirt, black trousers, blue vest, bolo tie, blue robe with buttons, and a half-cape reaching to the chest. Girls wore skirts instead of trousers. The headwear was a Phrygian cap for girls and a French beret for boys.
"No, she's an upperclassman. Some students work for the school as punishment or for extra money. I've heard that prefects also get paid, though not much," she enlightened me about the economic relationships between students and the school.
…
We then left what turned out to be a small but quite cozy gatehouse, and I finally saw the castle in person, not just in wizard photos.
What can I say? Impressive.
Apparently, the Flamels' gold hadn't been wasted. The magnificent castle of snow-white stone looked as if it had been carved from the cliff on which it stood. As we approached, numerous statues, moldings, and delicate towers connected by ornate passages became visible.
It all reminded me of descriptions of the elven city of Rivendell from Tolkien's books, which I'd read in my previous life. This feeling was created not only by the seemingly light and graceful structures, but also by the abundance of plants around, especially flowers and trees blooming despite autumn.
[ Image of Beauxbatons ]
I noticed how Patrick winced at the abundance of scents around. Due to yoga practice, my sense of smell was also stronger, but at least I could control it and didn't feel like I was in a perfume shop.
"Well? Pretty cool, right?" — asked Apolline, looking at me so proudly as if she'd built everything here herself.
"Cool, can't deny that. Will you give me a tour?" — I asked.
"Of course!" — she answered as if she'd been waiting for this. — "I'll show you everything here!"
"Are you coming with us?" — I asked the others.
But they cited various business. Even Ariel, who was eager to come with us and had never been here before, was dragged away with them. Sneaky matchmakers!
"Well then, let's walk around together."
"Together..." — the girl closed her eyes dreamily, but then caught herself and blushed.
***
Oh, how wrong I was to do that. Until lunch, I was dragged all around the castle.
No, at first everything was fine. We walked past the Quidditch field, entered the arched flower gallery before the entrance to the central wing, where miniature lovely fairies flew about collecting nectar, and were about to enter the central wing of the castle when our conversation about school life was interrupted by five peers of my friend.
In front was a proud-looking fourteen-year-old youth with light brown, curly hair and an arrogant gaze.
"Delighted to see you, dear Apolline!" — The youth wanted to kiss the girl's hand, but she quickly pulled it away.
"I can't say the same to you, Monsieur Delacour. Why don't you and your... friends stop interfering with my walk with a friend?" she said with undisguised irritation.
"I asked you to just call me Jean. And why don't you introduce your beautiful friend?"
I didn't pull my hand away, waiting for the moment when he was just about to kiss it, and said in a deliberately deep bass voice that would better suit an old, smoke-weathered sailor:
"I'm a man, Monsieur Jean."
He released my palm as quickly as if he'd been holding a red-hot piece of metal or a poisonous snake. I almost laughed - who was stopping him from looking at my uniform?
"A man? You're deceiving me, men aren't this pretty!" — Delacour tried to save face, but it wasn't working very well.
"You know, don't judge others by yourself," — I replied.
"And my opinion is that a man doesn't necessarily have to be uglier than a monkey. Apolline, let's go."
Taking the girl by the arm, I headed for the entrance, literally feeling Jean's burning gaze and Apolline's satisfied one. But they didn't let us leave so easily, because a youthful hand grabbed my shoulder.
"Hey, wait! We're not done talking! Who are you anyway, talking to me like that?"
But I paid absolutely no attention to these childish games and continued walking. Even the passive enhancement that yoga gives me was enough so the boy couldn't stop me. He had to let go of my shoulder, or he would have fallen.
But this fool didn't stop, despite the gathering onlookers, and grabbed my clothes. But that was useless too. I'd enchanted them at home for durability and maintaining comfortable temperature, fairly simple wand magic charms, though not permanent. However, I was getting tired of this.
"What's your name again? Jacques? Well, Jacques, do you know what insanity is? It's repeating the same action hoping for change. You grabbed me and couldn't stop me. Grabbed my clothes and still couldn't. I dragged you four meters, but you still didn't get my hint?"
I changed my expression to stern and used a small portion of veela charms, transmitting fear, concentrating it on him.
"Leave me and Apolline alone, I'm out of your league."
---
"Sorry I caused you trouble," — the girl said when we entered inside, leaving the trembling boy behind.
"What trouble, what are you talking about?" — I was surprised.
— "Well, with Delacour. He won't leave you alone now because of me."
— "He's just a child, you're paying too much attention to this."
— "You're a child yourself, actually!" the girl protested.
"Yes, yes, whatever you say," — I didn't continue this meaningless argument. Children's games interest me little.
…
We just walked around after that. We didn't manage to see much, because soon a bell rang, signaling a general gathering in the dining hall, which also served as an assembly hall.
We came to a huge and luxurious hall decorated with numerous illusions of nymphs, fairies, and other fairy-tale creatures that walked and flew among the wizards like living beings. Some of the fairies were actually alive. The nymphs were all fake - they don't much like audiences.
On the walls was an illusion showing different pictures and landscapes - an attempt to surpass Hogwarts with their illusory sky. A successful attempt, I'd say, because the pictures were lifelike and created the feeling of absent walls. No wonder Beauxbatons is famous for its art of illusions.
…
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, students who are just enrolling and those who have long been with us, as well as their parents. I welcome you all within the walls of our beautiful Beauxbatons in the hope that you are as happy to see me as I am to see you. With pride and joy I announce the beginning of the new school year and..."
I listened with half an ear to the standard speech for such events, which only changes in word choice variations, examining our young headmaster. Or rather, headmistress.
Madame Olympe Maxime was a beautiful dark-haired woman in a long red and strict dress that, however, didn't hide her figure. The makeup on her face didn't look vulgar, only emphasized her natural beauty. Such a woman would never get lost in a crowd... mainly thanks to her height of more than two and a half meters and ample chest, which was bigger than... me.
Though perhaps I'm just exaggerating. She's half-giant, and the fact that she managed to occupy the position of headmistress of one of Europe's best schools speaks not only of her remarkable mind and willpower, but also of France's difference from England, where such a situation simply couldn't exist.
…
I looked with astral sight at the boys and girls, young men and women, men and women gathered around, who came not only from all over France, but also from Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain and other nearby countries. Thanks to this, the number of students was significantly larger than at Hogwarts, and only slightly more than at Durmstrang, which gathered students from all of Eastern Europe.
Most students were half-bloods and Muggle-born, the second largest group was purebloods, keeping apart from the rest and looking separate, like nobles in a stable. Though mainly the children behaved this way, adults weren't so arrogant, though such ones were encountered.
And the third group - these were purebloods and half-bloods of magical creatures, like me, Apolline, and Patrick. They also kept apart from others, but not on their own initiative - others shunned them.
Well, fun here. Though, by the way, some Muggle-born and half-bloods communicated with the third group without any problems, which is encouraging.
Finally, the speech ended and the process of organizing students began, while willing parents were led on a tour to show how their offspring live or will live and study. Ariel went with them with childish delight in her emotions.
---
"First years, boys, everyone here!" — shouted a tall youth of about seventeen, gathering around himself those I'd be studying with, and possibly living with.
In total I counted twenty-three people including myself. About the same number of girls, making almost fifty - not thick, however.
"My name is Arthur Arnaud, I'm the school prefect. I'm responsible for discipline and helping students, so if you have any questions, come to me. But please read your brochures first - they contain answers to most frequently asked questions."
He sighed heavily when he was immediately bombarded with questions, most of which were indeed in the brochure. How I understand him. But he still patiently answered them.
"...No, you can't enter the girls' section... There are showers in the dormitory, and they're communal. No, boy, no one will help you wash, let's go already," — he couldn't stand it and, waving his hand, called us to follow him.
---
Between two wings of the building was exactly the flower conservatory through which we'd entered initially. Between the buildings ran arches at the second floor level, and these arches were decorated with flowers and lights in the form of fireflies.
One little fairy, while we were passing, flew down from a flower and sat on my shoulder, beginning to chirp something in my ear, which amused many.
— "Look at that, she likes you. That's very rare, fairies are proud creatures. If you feed her, she might become your pet, but don't count on it too much."
I became curious and took out a bag of sweets. I pulled out Turkish delight, which I loved myself, and gave it to the fairy. The cube of sweetness was almost bigger than her, so she cutely pinched off pieces and stuffed both her cheeks. As I'd read, fairies are intelligent, but not very much, at the level of children.
"Wow, how interesting! Give her to me!" — one of my classmates reached out to me.
"Don't touch, see, she's eating. Didn't your mother tell you not to grab living creatures? Especially someone else's?" — I asked.
"She's not yours! My parents will buy me a hundred of them if I want!" — he said proudly.
"Then ask your parents, what do I have to do with it?"
"Are you being stingy or what?"
"Enough. Whoever the fairy sat on first is her owner," — the prefect resolved our dispute. Though what dispute - just a boy wanted a toy and wasn't used to refusal.
---
Some with suitcases, trunks, carts, and some with bottomless bags like me, we approached the left wing and went inside. Like throughout the castle, white stone and refined bas-reliefs prevailed here. Moving paintings hung on the walls, which are astral imprints enclosed in images. These aren't souls of living people, as many think.
Then distribution began, which went simply - we walked along the first floor corridor, and the prefect called out surnames of three students from the list, opened a door, and moved on. I was one of the last with my surname.
"Marlow, Petit, Richard - your room is number seven," Arthur told us and moved on.
"Well, who wants to sleep where?" It didn't matter to me where to lie down, I'm not particular.
"Dibs on the window," - said the plump blond, Richard.
"Then I'll take by the door," - Petit shrugged. Well, and I'm in the middle, like... never mind, anyway.
I threw down my bag and was about to leave - I needed to find and say goodbye to Ariel.
She needs constant watching - just turn away and she gets into trouble.
***
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Thank you for the help with the power stones!!!