Chapter 2: Coming home
"C'est encore loin?" an annoyed looking girl asked, swinging her curly brown hair to one side.
(Is it still far?)
"Hélène, n'est pas impatient! Nous arrivions incessamment!" the giant headmistress answered.
(Hélène, don't be impatient! We'll be there soon!")
Victoire rolled her eyes at her friends, Juliette and Damien. Damien was one of the only boys in Beauxbatons. Originally the school was mixed, but as the amount of girls raised and the school got the image of being a 'girly' school, most boys stayed away. They'd even started up a new, French/Spanish, all boys school at the border with Spain. The boys that did go to Beauxbatons were mostly gay,(A/N: I do NOT have anything against gay people, okay? And I do NOT think they're all girly, soft… Now that's clear; on with the story) or to soft to go to an all boys school. Except for Damien of course. Victoire chuckled. Damien would never forgive her if she'd call him soft.
"Je suis fatiguée! " Hélène whined.
(I'm tired!) A/N: from now on, I think I'm going to write everything in English. When something is said in French, it will be in italics.
"Oh, stop whining! We're all tired!" Juliette snapped. Being a Françoise through and through, Juliette was terribly romantic, loyal in her friendships, fashionable and so much more. The only downside was her temper. French people are quite known for being temperamental, but Juliette brought it to a whole new level. She had a temper that more than matched her vibrant red hair.
"Shouldn't we be trying to speak English now? Since everyone from Hogwarts and the WADA is going to speak English?" Emilie Mondrien, a shy seventh year prompted carefully.
Juliette shuddered. She was a bright student, but when it came to languages Juliette was a total disaster. It might have something to do with her attitude. She didn't see a point in learning another language when everybody else could just be learning French. In her books, French was an as important – if not more important – language as English. So why should she make an effort and the English students not?
Juliette was more than lucky to have Damien and Victoire with her, since both of them excelled in English. Victoire's family lived in England. She and her siblings were the only ones who went to a French school. Since her mother had been there once, they'd given the choice.
"Let's enjoy our last hours of French language." Damien answered after seeing the expression on Juliette's face.
"I do think Miss Mondrien has a valid point here, Mr. Beaumont" the headmistress, Mme Mallemour involved herself in the conversation. "We do want to leave a good impression on the other schools. I will not force you to speak English among yourselves, but I do expect you to do so when in company of other students. You know Hogwarts and the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts both have English as their native language, so we'll be the ones who'll have to make an effort in communication with the others."
"Well, at least we'll be able to talk to each other about things that the others have no business with." Juliette murmured.
"And what would that be, Miss Dujardin?" Mme Mallemour askeddisapprovingly. "May I emphasize that the whole meaning of this tournament is connecting with other wizards of your age. I can't see a reason why you should be discussing things they're not allowed to know."
"So we're not here to win?" Damien asked sceptical. The headmistress pretended not to hear him.
Victoire smiled. Damien really couldn't keep his mouth shut. At school, he had received numerous detentions for 'cheekiness'. Damien always saw a hidden meaning in everything. According to him, everybody had a double agenda. The two girls used to laugh with his conspiracy theories, until he discovered a big scheme the 'popular' girls set up last year. Contrary to Aemilia – another friend of the group, who refused to come – Victoire and Juliette didn't believe him when he told them what he'd discovered. Shuddering Victoire remembered what they'd gotten themselves into.
She would always be afraid of spiders now.
After a few more hours of flying, the scenery started to change. Even in the twilight, Scotland was beautiful; the slanted green of the hills, the pure blue lakes that were scattered across the landscape and the rough, still untouched woods, made it seem like an image from a fairytale. Several ooh's and aah's were heard when the castle of Hogwarts came into view, perfectly fitting in the atmosphere of the landscape; it seemed to have grown there, rather than being build by humans.
All the students seemed to be sincerely impressed by the castle; none of them had ever seen Hogwarts before. Mme Mallemour had seen it in the past but was therefore not less stunned by the beauty of all of it. The purple-orange light of the setting sun was almost gone now and the whole castle was engulfed by the darkness of the night.
The Beauxbatons carriage finally arrived at the castle.
The giant horses' hooves hit the ground, shortly followed by the house-large carriage.
All students got jolted to pieces. Hélène even rolled onto Mme Mallemour's lap.
One by one the students piled out of the carriage and crowded together shyly. From so close, the castle towered over the students.
Suddenly the doors swung open. A tall, slim woman dressed in dark green robes stood out dark against the bright light coming from inside. She looked like a strict woman, someone you'd better not disobey.
"Welcome in Hogwarts, Olympe! How are you?" She asked politely but distant, in French.
"Splendid Minerva, like always, happy to be a guest in Hogwarts again." The headmistress of Beauxbatons answered.
"It is getting chilly outside, may I suggest you all come inside?" She aimed her piercing gaze at the students, who nodded shyly.
"You will get this night and the next day to settle in. The other school will be arriving later in the night, and I will open the tournament at the feast tomorrow evening." Minerva continued pertinent. "Are there any more questions?"
The students all looked at each other, but everyone seemed too impressed by the headmistress of Hogwarts to ask her any questions.
"No more questions? Well then I will accompany you to your sleeping quarters…"
Mme Mallemour opened her mouth to protest, but Minerva cut her off directly.
"I know you have place to sleep in your carriage, but I must insist you sleep in the castle. It can be quite chilly here in the winter and I know there were troubles getting the carriage warm enough last time. The Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts will sleep in the castle as well."
Victoire was relieved to see her headmistress nod. She'd heard from her father how cold the winters around Hogwarts could be.
Minerva – Victoire assumed this was the infamous Professor McGonagall – turned around and started walking into the castle again. The students followed her and Mme Mallemour closed the procession. McGonagall leaded them through the large entrance hall. They passed numerous corridors, moving stairs, whispering paintings and creaking suits of armour.
Victoire felt right at home.
Only now, when she was in the castle herself, Victoire could understand her fathers' love for this place. She felt overwhelmed when she realized that generations Weasleys had walked these same stairs, looked at these same paintings. This was the place where her father saw her mother for the first time. She even had family living here at this very moment! The Hogwarts population contained quite a lot of Weasleys, and even the Potters living here were family.
"Victoire?" Damien nudged her softly with his elbow. "We've stopped."
"Oh, right. Thanks" Victoire snapped back to the present. They'd stopped in front of a large tapestry with a flower pattern. Professor McGonagall pulled a chandelier nearby and stepped through the tapestry. Behind the tapestry, there was a comfortable common room. The room was decorated in blue and gold; the colours of the Beauxbatons academy banner. Soft, fluffy armchairs and sofas were scattered in front of a fire and large round tables took up the other side of the room. There were five doors leading to other rooms.
"I suggest you pick your rooms and use the rest of the night and next day to make yourselves comfortable. I should go and pick up the students from the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts, they will be arriving soon." McGonagall informed the students. "The rooms are suitable for 4 people and each room has an adjoining bathroom.
Your headmistress won't be sleeping with you; there have been made special arrangements for the Head of the schools."
Victoire could see Mme Mallemour nod. Clearly she expected this.
"Oh, one more thing," McGonagall continued, "The students at Hogwarts don't speak French. Mme Mallemour informed me you all speak – even if limited – a certain amount of English? I hope you will adapt yourself and make an effort to communicate with our students." She looked around as if daring the students to say they wouldn't. No one opened their mouth. McGonagall smiled ever so slightly.
"I'll leave you to your sleeping arrangements now."
With that, she left the room with Mme Mallemour, leaving the students alone.
The fight for the room arrangements could start.
Victoire made herself ready for either a huge fight, or a temper tantrum from Hélène.
Probably both.
Juliette shared a look with Damien and Victoire and inclined her head discretely in Emilie's direction. Victoire nodded. Emilie was by far the best choice to share a room with. Of course it would be better if they had a room for only the three of them, but since they were with eighteen and Hélène would surely insist to have a room with her BFF – Shanelle Monroe – alone, the rest of them would have to share a room with four. Unless…
Victoire threw a glance in the other girls' direction. Nobody was paying attention to her. She nudged Damien to get his attention and mouthed: "Claim a boy's room!"
Damien frowned, he didn't think he would get a room of his own, since they wouldn't have enough place left for all the girls then. Juliette, picking up on the plan, nodded violently at Damien, prompting Damien to hurry up.
"I'll take that room!" Damien spoke up, effectively silencing all the girls. He started to walk into a room but was stopped by the girls.
Hélène looked dumbstruck. "But, you can't take a room of your own, there isn't enough place!"
"Well," Damien pretended to consider her words, "If you want I'll share my room with you…"
"Urgh, no!" Both Shanelle and Hélène shouted out, scandalised about the proposition.
None of the other girls volunteered to sleep with Damien as well.
"Hey, if none of you girls want to sacrifice themselves to sleep with a boy…" Damien trailed off, pretending to look hurt.
"Oh, we'll do it!" Juliette said semi-indignant, pointing at herself and Victoire.
"Jeez, what a circus! Just pick a room!" she huffed, walking in the room with Damien.
"Yeah, if we're the only ones willing to sleep next to a boy, we'll take this room, and then you guys can fight over the rest of the rooms." Victoire swiftly followed her friends in their – now private – room, leaving the other girls behind. Surely the others would find out about their petit plan. They knew the three were friends and would want to share a room with the three of them. Anyway, they would deal with the wrath of La Princessa when the time came.
"Well, what a beautiful start of our Hogwarts period!" Juliette remarked, stretched out on her bed.
"We're finally able to sleep in a room with our only boy-friend, and we sidestepped LaPrincessa's rule 'I am the first one, to choose, to do, to …'. Yeey us!"
"And of course we couldn't have done it without our star-actor, the one and only, the brave… Damien Beaumont! Victoire finished. She and Juliette applauded while Damien mock-bowed for them.
"Thank you, thank you… What would you do without me?"
"Sharing a room with La Princessa ?" Juliette shivered.
Damien smiled; "You know, I really was hurt nobody wanted to share a room with me…" he started, with a pout on his big puppy-eye face. He pretended to sob; "I was even more hurt when you would only do it to 'sacrifice yourselves' like you put it so beautiful."
"Oh, get over it!" Juliette said semi-cold-hearted.
"What? You hurt me, Jules. You hurt me deep!" Damien clutched his heart and sank to his knees.
"Guys? Stop acting! Maybe we'd better go to sleep now. It's almost 5 in the morning and tomorrow is going to be a long day." Victoire said while snuggling deeper down under the covers.
"Alright." Damien agreed, tumbling into his bed.
"G'night" Juliette managed to murmur, before falling in sleep.
Victoire smiled. That girl could sleep everywhere, any time. Sometimes Victoire envied her. She herself would always twist and turn for a while before finally finding a comfortable position to sleep in. But when the rain started ticking on the roof, Victoire too was in a deep sleep.
"Shh! Be quiet!"
"May I indicate you are the one making noise here?"
"Okay, okay! Just keep silent now!"
Voices. Where were the voices coming from? Hmm. Victoire didn't want to wake up. It was so warm and cozy here. Déép under her covers. The place to be! But why didn't the voices just shut up? They were really annoying. Victoire felt like throwing something at them. A pillow maybe? No, then she would have to take hers. She didn't want to give up the softness of her pillow. 'Let's just ignore the voices; they'll go away.' Victoire thought sleepily before dozing off again.
"Do you have everything?"
"Yes! Are you going to do it or not?"
"Yeah, yeah; I'll do it."
SPLASH!
"Iiiiiii!" Victoire's scream was deafening.
"Jeez, Victoire! Calm down girl! It's not like the world is ending!" Juliette tried to shout out above the noise in a sarcastic voice.
"We're lucky we put up the silencing spell!" Damien remarked. "She would have woken up the whole castle!"
"WHY WAS THATNECESSARY? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO THROW A BUCKET OF WATER IN MY BED?" Victoire thundered, soaking wet.
"Well," Damien started reluctantly while the both of them backed away, trying to put a safe distance between them and a soaking mad Victoire. "It's almost four o'clock in the afternoon and the feast starts at half past six. We thought you'd want some time to unpack and make yourself ready?"
"By the way," Juliette decided to put her oar in, too; "you looked so cozy, we couldn't resist the temptation." She smirked.
"On our first day, really?" Victoire narrowed her eyes, but decided to drop the matter. "Next time, could you at least take warm water?" She sighed.
"SEE!" Juliette beamed, turning to face Damien; "I TOLD you she wouldn't be mad! We can even do it again!" Damien rolled his eyes.
"Jules…" Victoire said threatening.
"YES, Vicky?" Juliette sang, while dancing around the room.
Victoire found herself smiling at her friends' antics. It really was hard to stay mad at Juliette when she was like this. "Damy! Vicky! Hurry up, up, up ,up! We're in England! We're at Hogwarts! Triwizart Tournament! Lala lala la!"
"Jules, please stay quiet for a few more hours. We need to unpack first. When we're done, you can jump around all you want. While we're in the common room." Damien said.
Juliette pouted, but agreed nonetheless.
XXX TWO HOURS LATER XXX
"Well, shouldn't you be jumping around now?" Victoire asked a Juliette, who was surprisingly calm.
"pff, unpacking makes me depressed!" Juliette pouted.
"Poor Jules! Lost her energy!" came Damien's mocking response, which earned him a glare from the former.
"Girls? Mr Beaumont?" The playful glaring was interrupted by the booming voice of their headmistress. "It is time to go now!"
One by one, the students poured out of their rooms. Everyone seemed quite nervous. Shanelle was fidgeting in her hair, a lot of seventh year girls were trying to further improve their make-up and even Emilie was making a desperate attempt to smooth down her skirt.
The three friends queued up after the others and they all started walking towards the doors of the great hall. Damien closed the line. In front of him, Juliette was pursing her lips nervously, while Victoire tried to comb her hair with her fingers. Damien rolled his eyes. 'Girls,' he thought, but when they stopped in front of the doors, a swarm of butterflies were released in his stomach as well.
Let the show begin.
A/N: so here she is: Victoire!
I hope you all liked it. R/R please