Odelle's vision swam slightly before her eyes. The levitating parchment was elegantly unfolding itself, twisting and turning in midair. Some part of Odelle's brain told her to take it, the other part stayed stock still, along with the rest of her body.
Feeling slightly faint, and about a minute later, the parchment swung gracefully down into Odelle's now outstretched hands. She couldn't help but let out a wild, unexplainable grin and a laugh when it landed gently into her palms, for the things she'd just witnessed. And she read in a whisper:
"To Ms Odelle Beaumont,
We are pleased to inform you that by request, you have been accepted for Beaux batons school of Witchcraft, France's top school for magic.
School begins September 5th, at 9:00am sharp.
Le Express de Beaux Batons leaves for school on September the 4th at 11:00am.
For this years first year's curriculum, the following equipment will be necessary:"
Odelle stopped, hardly daring to move in case she was suddenly having a wonderful hallucination, or was wrapped in a delicious dream of which she would wake, thinking too deep on the matter. So, proceeding, she read through the list of equipment she would need to start Beaux Batons.
Spell books...A magic wand...
Her mind raced. Was this some kind of well organised prank? Odelle felt the overpowering sense of betrayal, which filled up the next second. No, her Mother wouldn't have done that to her. What if her Mother forbid her to go? She realised she'd do anything to go... anything!
Should she tell her Mother? Did she already know? 'Maman' lay fiercely on her lips, ready to betray the secrets of the letter to her Mother at the next shout. She ignored it.
She read over it again, slanting her eyes down to narrowed slits, and widening them again. When she'd finished going over it for the third time, Odelle felt her head beginning to catch up with her heart. It was an uplifting, (but all the same real) beautiful wonderful moment. Sparks whispering a kind of freedom sent waves of excitement and pure joy leaping across her mind. Suddenly the sparks were across her knees, ankles, flailing her arms across the bannister rail and making her feet stumble eccentrically down the stairs in twos. And there, the words spilled from her like a saucepan to the brim with boiling water.
"Maman! Maman! Maman, you won't believe me, it must be a trick Maman!"
"What is it Odelle? Are you ok?"
Usually her Mother would have sounded much more concerned at the frantic tone in her daughter, but the fact she only seemed a little reminded Odelle of one of her last thoughts. Did her Mother already know? But deciding to let it wash over her, she continued:
"Maman, the letter, the letter! It says... well, it says of a school I can attend! Oh please let me go, I'll do anything! It's not a trick, is it? I'll do anything!"
Her Mother's voice remained calm
"Odelle, Odelle! Calm! Calm, it's fine! Just let me see the letter, and we can talk through it together."
"Ok, I'll go get it!"
"Yes, you go get it. But watch yourself on the stairs Odelle, honestly, if you're going twenty miles an hour up our staircase, you're hardly going to make the top without breaking both legs!"
"I will!"
Odelle laughed.
When Odelle finally got back to the golden sunlit kitchen, her Mother was sitting looking most pleased, hands crossed in her lap, (looking slightly fidgety) at the table.
As soon as she stumbled into the room, Odelle plonked herself into one of the chairs, nearly caught her middle toe as she pulled her chair closer to her Mother, and handed the envelope over to her.
Expecting her Mother to open the envelope then, it confused her as to why her Mother stared at the seal, then cast it aside onto the table. She then looked down to meet Odelle's quivering eyes. Odelle looked back, a kind of longing, portraying her eyes mistier than usual.
Then...
"Odelle, first of all... I need you to know I'm sorry I never told you of this before"
Pause
"The same thing happened to me when I was your age. My Mother wouldn't let me go. So I taught myself."
Feeling slightly uncomfortable with the unusual closeness between her and her Mother, Odelle asked:
"Maman! What do you mean? Learn what?"
Smiling, her Mother looked still at Odelle.
"Odelle, Beaux batons is a school of magic. My Mother wouldn't let me go, so I taught myself."
Now Odelle was lost for words. She really didn't believe what she was hearing. The world was suddenly so real before her, but so unbelievably surreal. A million thoughts pushed past each other, trying desperately to reach the very tipping point between Odelle's urge to think it, and the point of which it would spill from her mouth.
But before the first words would pass the finish line of her tongue, her Mother spoke once more.
"Odelle, we have a lot to do and speak of, and not much time to do so. So I suggest we start now, and I tell you the most important thing to know at this point.
Odelle, you're a witch"
She hardly dare breathe. She could feel her lips limp, her eyes almost aglow with concentration.
"My Mother wouldn't let me go for the same reason I don't like you going to Cendre Forest. She thought it was dangerous. Her Mother, your Great Grandmother attended Beauxbatons. And she..."
The sparkle that had flickered fiercely in her Mother's eyes a few moments ago seemed to dim.
With a sigh she continued.
"She... she died there Odelle. I don't know how. Mother would never speak of it. But I know that my Mother never meant harm to stop me from going to Beauxbatons. She did it out of love, and she meant well."
The spark appeared again.
"But Odelle! Please do not think I will stop you going. No, please don't be afraid!"
Odelle was anything but afraid. It seemed her Mother was more so, that she wouldn't attend, than herself.
"Odelle, more than anything, I want you to have the best chance at life. In some ways, that I never had so much... I want you to go!
It's wonderful! It really is! From what I've heard anyway, and when you read a lot of books in your youth, you pick things up pretty quickly. Oh, you shall have the best time! Please do not be put off by the accident. Nobody's been harmed since, and nobody had, hardly before that incident."
Once again, Odelle felt the urge to laugh and smile and run up stairs and down again, but scared of breaking that unbelievable moment, instead she shakily said
"Maman... I don't know... I don't understand! Is this a joke!? What- a WAND!? A CAULDRON?! This is so much to take in. All my life I read story books full of fairies and mystical creatures, and giant portals in trees leading to different worlds...- I just..."
"I know it's a lot... But Odelle, enjoy this moment, and say that our trip out shopping is just another part of it, and think about the shock of it all later."
Her eyebrows furrowed.
"Shopping trip?"
Once again, the now familiar fire lit up her Mother's eyes.
"Well, you've got to get all this magic stuff somewhere, don't you?"
She smiled.
Odelle grinned back.
For the rest of that blessed night, Odelle mulled the news over in her mind. She had to lie down on her bed in stages every hour or so for fear of suddenly toppling over and waking up into her normal life. She knew this was real, she did, but reality had never felt so fragile.
Lying down, it was now ten fifty six pm, and she had to shut her eyes for a moment. She had never felt happier. Her worries left her, secondary school left her. Then it occurred to her. No... Alex. Alex is her best friend. He's about a centimetre shorter than she is. He has dark brown hair, brown eyes, and in most circumstances, looks like he's been dragged through a hedge backward. It's always been that way, just them two, alone at lunchtime in the playground, talking about the future, and when they'll next run over the rooftops, or have a session of late night den building in the forest. Always been that way. But it would all change. She felt a deep surge of guilt pulse through her, and sitting up, a thought struck her. What if he didn't find any friends? What if she didn't find any friends? What if, a thousand miles apart, they each sat lonely, on a bench somewhere, with nothing better to do than muse on the pastimes they had had together? No! Don't be ridiculous Odelle! She thought.
After the realisation that she'd been staring at the wall for what (according to the clock) had been at least three minutes, she decided on going to talk to her Mother about this. It was now 11:04.
"Ah! I was just about to come and find you dear."
Odelle's Mother was standing by the front door, coat on, shoulder bag slung loosely around her torso, balancing on her hip bone.
Was she going out somewhere? At this time?
"Maman, it's past eleven! Surely you're not going anywhere at this time?"
Her Mother now wore a face almost suggesting she had seen their dog, Croissant, try to fly.
"Well, you're coming too! I thought I'd save it as a late night surprise."
Excitement instantly spilled adrenaline through Odelle.
"Where Maman? Where are we going?"
"We need to get your equipment for Beauxbatons somewhere."
"Maman! It's the almost the middle of the night! I don't think-"
"No time to ask questions, we've got to catch a bus!"
Odelle grinned slightly stupidly in her current daze as her Mother enveloped her in her green duffel coat, and watched her sit down to tie her laces.
Not far from their front steps, about a hundred yards to the next street down on the right of their house, Odelle and her Mother stood in the velvety darkness, under a bus stop lined with street lamps that shone rays upon Odelle's face when she moved.
She debated on whether asking her Mother more questions would make her an impatient and annoying daughter, so thought the better of it and decided on trusting her that she knew what she was doing and where she was going.
They sat in silence on the slightly grimy surface of the bus stop's bench, perched precariously on the edge.
After five minutes passed, her Mother suddenly stood up. Odelle followed her example, and in curiosity, looked round the corner of the platform. But looking straightforward and up and down and sideways to try and figure with what her Mother's attention was drawn, she could not see anything. She had to look down.
There, like it had been set into the cobblestones for centuries, a mirror was set deep into the ground. And without another word, just one simple nod in Odelle's direction, her Mother bowed her head low to the floor, and dove through it headfirst.
Authors Note
First of all reader, Thankyou so much for bothering to read my FanFiction, I really appreciate it. I'm sorry if the 3rd chapter doesn't come in the next couple of weeks (May is a busy month) But please don't give up reading. As I said in my profile: I'm learning, so hopefully the story will only get better from here. More action packed and magical:)
Thankyou!
ImmyMoon997