Beauxbatons Academy of Magic
L'ACADEMIE DE MAGIE DE BEAUXBATONS
"Plus Forts Ensemble"
Stronger together
Part 4: The Common Rooms, Grounds, Staff, and Admittance Process
Beauxbatons Common Rooms
Abraxas Common Room
The Abraxas common room is located in north-western wing of the chateau in one of the turrets overlooking the French border of the Pyrenees mountain range. The entrance to the common room is located on the second floor and is guarded by a stone statue of the winged horse, when the right password is given the statue spirals into a staircase that leads into the common room (similar to the entrance of the Hogwarts headmaster's office).
The Abraxas common room is spacious and airy, and the walls are covered with periwinkle blue and gold striped wallpaper; the floors are covered in maple herringbone laid floorboards. The common room has two levels and the lower level is full of clawed foot velvet armchairs, sofas, and the white bookshelves are full of books, board games, cards, chess boards, and gobstones sets.
A double marble staircase leads to the mezzanine where there are big group sized circular tables, good for studying and working with friends - which the social Abraxas' love to do. The common room is never quiet and a white marble fireplace is always crackling with fire. The second floor offers a perfect view of the Pyrenees mountains and there is a stack of pillows ready by the windows for those early birds and night owls that love to stare at the horizon.
Next to the right staircase, there is a portrait of a Diana Babineaux that acts as an entrance to the girls' dorm and on the opposite landing is a portrait of Sebastien Toussaine for the boys' dorm.
Melusine Common Room
The Melusine common room occupies the middle two floors of south-western wing of the the five storey chateau. The entrance to the common room is behind a waterfall set into the wall - to those in Melusine house they feel no water, but those who aren't will be soaked head to toe with ice cold water from the Pyrenees glacier run offs. Intruders who continue walking through the waterfall will be faced with a solid ice wall, barring the entrance.
The common room is separated into different rooms, with the sitting room and lounge area in the front. The walls are covered in azure and dark teal damask wallpaper; and the oak floors are in the parquet Versaille pattern. The windows are draped with dark blue and silver accented jacquard curtains that block out the light if students crave privacy.
There are plenty of windows that look out towards the glaciers and mountains. The enclosed space is dotted with royal blue fabric ottomans, loveseats and chaise lounges. The walls of Melusine's common room is filled to the ceiling with books and the notice board is full of inspirational notes, study tips, and sketches.
There are dividing screens and walls that section off the common room. Through one door is a study space and a bookshelf that magically pulls out the exact book you need. It's been enchanted to hold more than one person in it, whilst also keeping it individual so there is never more than one person in the rooms. Cateline understood the need for privacy and spent years perfecting the magical properties of the room.
Through another door there is a fully stocked artists room with paint, palettes, brushes, clay, and chisels for all an artists' needs. Another door houses a music room. And the final one houses a singular silver claw footed bathtub, the room is stocked with every bath soak and soap and Cateline included it as a tribute to Melusine's folklore. Each room is enchanted similarly to the study room.
A jade spiral staircase leads to an upper landing with two mahogany doors, each one leading to the boys' or girls' dormitory. The jade fireplace is always lit and a live statue of a Melusine, next to the entrance, can be heard singing on Saturdays.
Fae Common Room
Located in the south-eastern basement, the Fae common room is the largest common room of all the houses. It is built into the rockface of the Vignemale mountain – where Beauxbatons is located – and has large open windows that's look out across the French/Spanish border of the Pyrenees. The Fae common room is guarded by a tapestry of the famed Pyrenees faerie tribe, and those wishing to enter the common room must answer a riddle or tell a joke to the faeries.
The Fae common room, although the largest, is also the most natural looking and enclosed common room of all the houses. Unlike Reynard, Abraxas, and Melusine, Fae has kept their walls and floors bare and stony – and are known for sparkling under the light due to the gemstones and precious metals engraved into the rockface by Blanchefleur. The rafters are made of natural logs of Pyrenees oak.
The room is decorated in armchairs, pouffes, wooden tree trunk stools, Pyrenees oak tables, and couches in varying shades of dark green and wood. A gigantic stone fireplace is freestanding and double sided in middle of the room and can always be found crackling.
Mahogany planter boxes are dotted around the room, and Fae's students work together to keep their magical plants and flowers alive, the room is the perfect climate for growing plants – a white rose bush sits next to a chair by a window and it is said that Blanchefleur planted them herself. Roses that are picked from the bush never wilt.
Entrances to the girls' and boys' dormitories are on either side of the entrance and students may enter through painted doors. Stairs lead to a lower basement that houses the dormitories for each year.
Reynard Common Room
Located in the north-eastern turret of the chateau, the Reynard common room has a spectacular view of Massif du Neouvielle on clear days and is spacious, airy and warm. The entrance to the Reynard common room is located on the second floor and is guarded by a talking statue of Reynard the fox. Similar to the Fae and Abraxas entrance, when the right answer is given to Reynard's riddle, the statue spirals into a staircase that leads into the common room.
The Reynard common room walls are covered in white and red fleur-de-lis patterned wallpaper; the floors are tiled in black and white marble. The common room is circular and has the same layout as the Abraxas common room.
The lower level has two curved black marble fireplaces on opposite sides of the common room, and floor to ceiling stained glass windows – depicting the tale of Reynard the fox – cover the walls in-between the fireplaces. There are mahogany claw footed armchairs, couches, loveseats, and chaise lounges with burgundy paisley patterned upholstery.
The coffee tables and side tables are made of mahogany and students say that if ever you are in need of money, you just need to open one of the side tables and you'll find the exact amount that you need. The sides of the room are dotted with marble statues of notable alumni and the middle pane of glass has a moving image of Estienne Flamel.
Double black marble staircases lead to the second floor and on either landing are the entrances to the girls' and boys' dormitory, the latter guarded by a portait of Estienne Flamel and his wife, Cateline, guarding the former.
The second level is also home to floor to ceiling mahogany bookcases full of books on every subject. There are circular mahogany tables with golden inkpots and Thunderbird feather quills. There is a chest on a podium that houses extra supplies and textbooks. Opposite the bookshelves, there is a large maroon and gold Persian tapestry, the golden threads of which transform and tell the visual story of the founding of Beauxbatons.
The Reynard common room is by far the most lavishly and expensively decorated common room.
The Chateau, Gardens, and Grounds
The Beauxbatons chateau is nestled between the two highest mountain peaks of Vignemale in the Pyrenees. The founders cast a disillusionment charm on the chateau and grounds to keep it hidden from non-magic people who live in nearby villages. Students arrive in Gare de Lyon, Paris, and board a train to Lourdes. From Lourdes they ride golden and pale blue wooden carriages pulled by swift Granian horses to the chateau – the trip is quick due to the winged Granian's speed.
What greets students is a brilliant white marble chateau with pale blue roofs – the same colour as the school uniform. A gold vined gate signifies the entrance, with the Beauxbatons coat of arms in the middle – the gate twists away as the carriages enter. White marble cobblestones line the path to the entrance and a large circular driveway, with a brilliant white and gold marbled fountain in the middle is dedicated to Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel, leads to white marble stairs that lead to the golden doors of the Beauxbatons entrance hall.
Upon passing the golden doors, visitors enter a foyer with a grand double staircase made of marble and a domed roof that is painted with a moving image of the galaxy and stars. The floors of the entrance hall are tiled in checkered black and white marble, and the walls are ivory with crown moulding. There is a crystal and gold chandelier that floats above in mid-air.
The library is to the left of the top of the stairs and it boasts stained glass window, mahogany bookcases, and marble furniture. The sorting room is behind a tall mahogany door at the top of the stairs and holds the sorting wand. – the doors are locked except for the intake of first-year students in August. To the right is the entrance to the Headmaster's office – a huge portrait of the four founders of Beauxbatons acts as a door.
Beauxbatons is a seven story chateau – two of which are the basements which houses the kitchens, the house-elf quarters, and the Fae common room. The chateau is decorated lavishly and elegantly and predominantly features white and black marble, mahogany, gold, silver, and Pyrenees oak floors, walls, and furniture. The chateau has two hundred and sixty classrooms and a southern wing dedicated to the teacher's quarters.
Little known to visitors and foreigners, Beauxbatons has an inner quad in the middle of the four wings of the castle where there is a well maintained garden – the centre of which is housed with a fountain identical to the one at the entrance, and instead is dedicated to Cateline and Estienne Flamel. It has its own microclimate and has immaculately trimmed hedges in different shapes. The garden has a range of plants including roses, peonies, lily of the valley, apple trees, baby's breath, hyacinth, lavender, gladiolus and hundreds of other varieties of magical and non-magical trees and flowers.
Outside of the chateau, Beauxbatons is home to three hundred magical and non-magical horses who roam around the five different gardens and parks surrounding the school. Each garden has its own microclimate and is self-sustaining, although the students of Fae house, and the groundskeepers, do enjoy caring for them. There is also a magically built lake across from the entrance where students like to swim and fish – it was built by Estienne for his wife Cateline.
During the winter months, students of Beauxbatons enjoy skiing, sledding, and snowboarding down the slopes of Vignemale. In spring they can swim in the lake, or go hiking along the mountain ranges.
Every month, students in years 4 to 7 are permitted to ride the carriages to visit the wizarding village of Gedre. The town of Gedre is home to many old wizarding families and has many magnificent chateaus. The Arts and Musical Students Collective perform songs in the town square during winter.
Enrolment and Admittance
When Beauxbatons first started, only young French witches and wizards were invited to join the academy. Each founder was responsible for keeping records of magical children in their regions and they would send letters of admittance via oil when the children turned eleven years old. Only children with magical parents would be allowed admittance due to the attitude towards magic from non-magic people.
When Blanchefleur contracted the Black Plague, the founders realised that there would be an entire region that would be accounted for and the sustainability of their current enrolment and admissions process was deeply inefficient.
As a result, Sebastien Toussaine sought help and advice from the Headmasters and Headmistresses of the Koldovstoretz Institute of Magic and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
He learnt from both of them that their methods of enrolment and admissions were entirely autonomous. After Sebastien brought his foundings to the other founders, they decided to adopt a method similar to Hogwarts and enchanted a dragon scale bound book to note down the names of children who exhibit magical qualities before the age of eleven. The book is housed in a clear crystal case in the Headmaster's office and the case cannot be opened or broken.
After a name is noted, it appears in a list of admissions available to the Headmaster and letters are sent in the summer before they are due to start at Beauxbatons.
The book is sentient and after the French Reign of Terror, it began accepting children from non-magical households and in the eighteenth century, began noting names of children from its neighbouring countries such as, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium.
Foreign students from Scandinavia and Great Britain are often admitted into Beauxbatons by doing a series of tests. Their name appears in the book, but instead of gold ink, their names are in scarlet ink.
Beauxbatons currently has 5,689 students enrolled in the school.
Beauxbatons Professors and Staff
The teaching staff at Beauxbatons come from all corners of the world, however most of them hail from France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Some professors teach more than one class or subject at Beauxbatons.
Core subjects are split into Débutant classes (Years 1 & 2), Intermédiaire classes (Years 3 & 4), Avancée classes (Years 5 & 6), and Final Year classes (Year 7). Elective classes are only available for students in years 3 to 7.
Each class or subject has a head of department with up to twelve professors under them teaching different levels of classes.
In addition to the teaching staff, Beauxbatons also has several groundskeepers who are charged with the care of the grounds and horses that roam the chateau.
The current Headmistress of Beauxbatons is Madame Olympe Maxime. She has served as Headmistress for twenty-three years and was previously the Head of the Charms Department.
The longest serving member of staff is Bernis de Vos, the Head of the History of Magic Department who has taught at Beauxbatons for seventy years.
WC = 2,474
