It was the middle of the day and the dining hall was dead silent. The room had been closed for an exclusive dejeuner and the air was thick with tension and the combination of a dozen different perfumes. Madame Maxime stood at the front of the room, her head a good foot taller than the frame of the door. She coughed and every girl gave her their undivided attention, "Tomorrow we go to England, and we will return with a victoire. We must show zhose English what we can do, this is your time to shine. Make me proud." Several eyes broke from Madame and briefly glanced at Genevieve. There were looks of pity, disgust, confusion, and anger. A few girls were more obvious and even made small hand motions in her general direction. She felt her face flush and quickly brushed more of her long black hair across her face - her skin was red and spotty enough without the addition of embarrassment.
As if sensing she'd lost part of her audience Madame Maxine made brought her large but graceful hands together in a thunderous clap and with a smile said, "Now eat. 'oo knows what they'll be feeding us at 'ogwarts." She let out a huge laugh and rest of the room broke out into hearty chuckles as well. The Headmistress always had a way of making the atmosphere better, but then she ducked her head and walked out of the door, leaving the girls alone in the hall.
A cloud of mist rose from the floor and settled at the center of the room, hovering for a few moments before briefly glowing a warm white light. Then in a puff of a smoke an assortment of dishes appeared, magically suspended in the tufts of cloud. The girls quickly clamored over the food, grabbing plates full of this and that. They then settled in various groups at separate tables, relishing the taste of their last French-cooked lunch and talking loudly amongst themselves.
Every table was crowded and full of lively chatter except for Genevieve's. She was alone. Well, almost.
"Zings will not always be like zis Genevieve, I promise."
The dark haired girl looked up from her plate of coq au vin and into the eyes of the prettier girl with blonde hair. "Sure Fleur." she said in half-hearted murmur. The other girl narrowed her sparkling blue eyes, sensing that Genevieve didn't actually believe her. "It will be. Soon we will be in 'ogwarts, ze people are different zhere." Fleur seemed so sure that Genevieve almost let herself think that it might be true, but then a voice behind Fleur's back broke that illusion.
A redhead with a handful of macarons was loudly talking in between bites of her pastries, "I don't see why she's coming. She's embarrassing. Just look at her." She brushed a crumby hand on her blue robe and continued, "How will we make Madame proud with that thing with us." The gaggle of girls seated around her giggled and nodded along. One with freckles and mousy brown hair chimed, "Let's just leave her there. Hogwarts can have her." This resulted in another round of giggles.
Fleur whipped her head around and hissed through bared teeth, "Tais-toi!" The girls quickly quieted and a few muttered a few words of apology. Not towards Genevieve, but at Fleur, for having disturbed her. Fleur turned back to face Genevieve and with an eye roll said, "Stupid girls. Nozhing better to talk about. Do not worry." She began to nibble on her salad and made a lazy hand movement to prompt Genevieve to do the same.
Genevieve looked down at her dish and pushed it away, she'd lost her appetite. Quietly she said, "People are the same everywhere." Fleur stopped eating and opened her mouth to argue the point some more, but something stopped her. She bit her lip and gave Genevieve's hand a light squeeze, "We will see."
Genevieve knew that Fleur meant nothing but the best, but she knew that if Fleur knew the truth about her she wouldn't be saying what she was. Fleur was everything Genevieve was not; well-liked, talented, beautiful, clever - hell, she was the one chosen to represent Beauxbatons during the Triwizard tournament. And somehow they were friends. It baffled everyone. Teachers, students, even Fleur's family didn't understand it. No one but Genevieve knew why they were friends, and she'd die before she'd let anyone find out.