Chapter Twelve

The bus was still travelling when Professor McGonagall made them all go to bed at about ten o'clock. They'd tried staying up chatting quietly after they went to bed but Professor McGonagall must have set up some sort of listening charm as she knew they were chatting and came down in her nightgown, dressing gown and woolly slippers to tell them they had to stop chatting and get to sleep. Lawrence had seemed like he had wanted to join in the conversation and Hannah felt bad that he was being left out but Dana kept on jibing at his whenever he did speak and Hannah knew she wouldn't be able to overcome the Gryffindor and Slytherin rivalry to make them get along so she just acted kindly to Lawrence and tried not to leave him out if she could.

They awoke the next morning at about seven o'clock when they heard an alarm sounding from above them. Professor McGonagall's amplified voice then rang through the bus from her quarters at the top saying 'Time to get up students, it might be a Sunday but we have a busy day ahead of us.'

Hannah heard Silv groan at hearing this and she thought maybe her and Dana had found a way to keep chatting after they'd all gone to sleep, it being the first time the two of them had been able to share a dormitory as well.

Before Hannah had forced herself up and out of the bed she heard the pitter-patter of steps from the bed opposite her, across the floor and up the spiral staircase and she surmised that Maggie wanted to get into the bathroom before any of the other girls started queuing for it.

By the time Maggie had come back, Hannah had managed to shrug on her dressing gown and slippers and draw back the curtains surrounding her bed. It was quite odd to be greeted by the sight of a boy in his pajamas as Lawrence was up and about already and seemed to be heading back to his bed from somewhere on the floor. Hannah rubbed her eyes as Maggie bounded back to her bed, a bundle of excitement and said 'Your turn Han' gesturing to the staircase.

'Anyone else want to go first?' Hannah asked the room but she only got one answer and that was from Dana.

'You go ahead' she said.

So Hannah headed up to the floor above where the bathroom was.

When she had made her ablutions the night before, all she had seen was the toilet and the sink and she had been impressed enough by that. The toilet had a stand next to it which was stacked with books on duelling spells and also that day's copy of the Daily Prophet and the sink sat beneath a mirror which had been surrounding by a small shelf for each person to keep their items on, denoted by their name on the front of their shelf. Hannah cleaned her teeth and looked around for where she could bathe and she noticed a door at the back which was labelled 'Bathing'.

She pushed open the door and entered the bathing room.

The middle of the room was taken up with a large, cast-iron, claw-footed bath which had four taps leading into it. Hannah peered at the tops of the taps to see what they all were but saw only colours; there was red and blue which she took to be the hot water and the cold water and there was also pink and violet which she had no idea what they would be.

Behind the bath there was a large cubicle with a huge shower head hanging above it and five different valves with the same colours on them as the taps hanging over the bath and a fifth one which was coloured black.

On the nearside wall there were seven rails of towels with names on each and two big fluffy towels on each rail. Hannah grabbed her towel and looked at the bath and the shower and found them both looking inviting. The bathrooms they used in Hogwarts only had baths in them so she decided she would try out the shower. She disrobed and stepped in, turning the black coloured valve and the water poured out of the shower head above like a waterfall, covering an area far bigger than Hannah herself was.

She turned the red and blue valves until she was happy with the temperature and eyed the pink and violet ones wondering what they were.

She tentatively started turning the pink valve and she didn't really notice anything happening. She started massaging the water in her hair and when she glanced down she noticed that there were bubbles filling the shower at the bottom of the cubicle that had reached her knees already. She kicked her legs around and the bubbles kept on growing and growing. By the time they reached her waist she thought she'd better turn off the pink valve as that must be what was creating the bubbles. As Hannah turned down the valve the bubble instantly lowered in perfect synchronisation with the valve turning! Hannah turned it back and forth until the bubbles were up to halfway up her calf and she chuckled from the fun of it.

What will the violet valve do wondered Hannah and she turned it slowly. Jets of violet water started shooting out from the corner poles of the shower cubicle and as they hit Hannah's body it felt like she was being tickled by lots of hands at once. Hannah giggled madly being a ticklish person at the best of times as she turned down the violet valve the water jets stayed at the same strength but the level of tickling lowered. Hannah turned the valve down so that it was just barely tickling her and giggled away through the rest of her shower.

'That was AMAZING!' cried Hannah as she arrived back on the dormitory floor.

'Wasn't it!' said Maggie excitedly.

'Seriously guys' said Hannah to the rest of the team 'you HAVE to go and try that shower!'

'Oh I used the bath' said Maggie, 'it was incredible!'

'So was the shower!' said Hannah.

As they gathered on Maggie's bed to compare notes on the bathing facilities, the other three students raced up the stairs together to try for themselves. Silv slinked back down the stairs a couple of minutes later evidently having been beaten to the bathroom by Dana.

'You'll get to try it soon enough' said Hannah giving Dana a hug.

Once they were all ready and dressed in their Hogwarts robes, Professor McGonagall and Professor Longbottom, also dressed in formal robes, gathered them together on the sofa level.

'Welcome to France and to Beauxbatons' said Professor McGonagall warmly. Professor Longbottom was stood next to her grinning as well and Hannah thought he looked just as excited as they were to be there. 'We will be guests at a welcome feast in the Dining Chamber in the Palace of Beauxbatons this evening' continued Professor McGonagall, 'and from that point onwards for the two weeks we are here, I expect that you shall be given the freedom of the palace and offered the hospitality of taking your meals with the other students. Until such a formal welcome however, we are to remain on the bus and I suggest you use the time for some extra duelling practice as the first round of the competition will be occurring in less than one week.'

'I'll be here watching and helping as much as I can' said Professor Longbottom. 'It'll be a bit trickier than your usual practices in the confinement of the bus but it's good to train for every scenario anyway.'

The students all nodded in acknowledgement and Hannah started to feel nervous about the competition already.

'But firstly' said Professor McGonagall 'we have prepared breakfast for you.'

They spent the day as Professor McGonagall had said, training some more and relaxing in their dorm. When it was six o'clock, Professor McGonagall summoned them and they went to leave the bus for the first time since they got on back at Hogwarts.

Professor McGonagall waved her wand and once again the back corner of the bottom floor vanished allowing them to step off the bus.

The first thing that Hannah noticed was how warm it was; they had left Hogwarts in the middle of December and the temperature was below freezing every day. Here Hannah felt overly warm in her thick Hogwarts robes and she wished she'd learnt a cooling spell which she had never needed before.

The bus was situated on the front lawn of the Palace of Beauxbatons, surrounded by a perfectly trimmed hedge and the garden continued around it as an array of flower beds and topiary bushes. Hannah saw there was a large lake off to one side of the gardens and what looked like a park off to the other side. In front of them stood the palace and Hannah thought she had never seen anything so beautiful before.

The palace was a great dome shape with ornate towers springing up from it in symmetry. It looked as though it was made entirely of glass but it sparkled like diamonds and it had a beautifully subtle blue tinge.

All of the students had stopped in their tracks to look at the beautiful palace and Hannah wondered how much more spectacular it was going to look in the sunlight. They made their way through the perfectly tendered gardens up to the palace but where the path led up to the building there didn't seem to be any door.

'Professor?' asked Hannah as they walked closer to the palace and the lack of a door became apparent to everyone.

'Yes Miss Crescent?' replied Professor McGonagall

'How do we get in?' asked Hannah. 'There's no door.'

'I have been instructed by Madam Maxine on the correct procedure for entering the school' said Professor McGonagall. 'When one has received an invitation to enter, as we have been given, then they are able to pass through the entrance in the same manner that platform nine and three-quarters is accessed at Kings Cross station.'

They reached the end of the path and Professor McGonagall, without breaking her stride at all, walked straight through the glass wall of the building. Professor Longbottom hesitated in front of the wall; Hannah saw him take a deep breath, screw up his eyes and walk through. The students all looked at each other knowing it was their turn next. Dana was the first one to go through, sporting a big grin she looked eminently confident as she disappeared through the glass. Lawrence followed very closely behind her and the remaining three girls held hands, gave each other one last look and stepped through together.

The palace was even warmer inside and Hannah was really wishing the Hogwarts uniforms weren't made of such thick woollen material and she had to wonder what the Beauxbatons students thought of the draughty old castle of Hogwarts when they visited. The floors looked like they were made of marble and they were so shiny that Hannah could see her reflection in them. There was a huge, ornate staircase in front of them which led away from them and then swept to each side into two separate staircases which criss-crossed each other as they wound up the circular room to the very top of the palace. In the middle of the entrance hall was a pure while Christmas tree which was so large, the tip looked like it reached the ceiling. It was covered in decorations and stars which were glowing brightly. The air above them looked like it was snowing but as the snow reached the air just above their heads it vanished, never reaching the floor. Hannah didn't think she had ever seen such beautiful Christmas decorations and she heard Maggie next to her let out a tiny squeal of delight.

'Pretty good' said Lawrence and Hannah was amazed at this unsolicited compliment from him.

Madame Maxine walked down the staircase as soon as they had walked in, accompanied by two other teachers. If the other teachers hadn't have been walking with Madame Maxine, Hannah wouldn't have realised just how large she was from that distance. She was about twice the height of the teachers she was walking next to and she was dressed in an evening gown which looked as though it was made from liquid diamonds if such a thing were possible. She was beautifully elegant yet so huge, Hannah had only ever seen one other person as large as she was and that was their Care of Magical Creatures teacher and the Gamekeeper of Hogwarts, Professor Hagrid and she'd heard rumours that Professor Hagrid was actually half-giant on his mother's side.

'Bienvenue au Palais de Beauxbatons' said Madame Maxine as she approached Professor McGonagall. 'Eet is lovely to see you again Professor McGonagall'

'Thank you for your hospitality Madam Maxine' replied Professor McGonagall before they then shook hands very formally.

'Would you like to come through to zee Dining Chamber?' asked Madam Maxine. 'We 'ave prepared a welcome feast in your honour.'

'That is very kind of you' said Professor McGonagall.

'Please wait 'ere until I 'ave announced you' said Madame Maxine before she swept off through two large double doors which Hannah thought could easily be made of crystal. The route Madam Maxine had walked seemed to have been left with a trail of sparkles on the ground.

They waited in the grand entrance hall for about ten minutes before the huge crystal-like doors swung open and they heard applause coming from the room within. Professor McGonagall led the group, followed by Professor Longbottom. There was a little scuffle as the students sorted out what order they were going to walk in as, with Dana taking the lead followed by Lawrence, then Silv, Maggie and lastly Hannah who hadn't realised she was nervous until they started walking.

The dining chamber was as tall as the Great Hall in Hogwarts but it looked as though it was made entirely of crystal. Every surface sparkled and glistened. The ceiling looked as though stars were embedded in the crystal and the twinkling light from them was refracted a thousand times in the crystals before then filling the whole room with their light. Hannah was used to there being four long tables with benches either side stretching the length of the great hall but here in Beauxbatons the room was filled with about twenty large round tables which each had about a dozen students seated around them. They were all wearing a matching pale blue uniform which looked to be made of silk and Hannah couldn't discern any difference between the uniforms of the students, unlike their own where they were displaying four different house badges amongst the five of them. Madame Maxine was stood in the centre of the room, looking even taller for everyone around her being sat down and Professor McGonagall was walking directly towards her. Professor Longbottom paused in front of Hannah and the team and turned around to say, over the noise of the applause, 'There are free seats at most tables, just find somewhere to sit, we'll be at the teachers' table.' Hannah hadn't noticed the long table at the end of the room which seated the teachers, looking out over the room in much the same way that the teachers sat presiding over the Great Hall at Hogwarts.

'Welcome Professor Mac-Gone-eagle' said Madam Maxine as Professor McGonagall and Professor Longbottom approached her. 'Eet is wonderful to 'ave you 'ere, and you also Professor Longbottom.'

Hannah looked around for where they could sit but there didn't seem to be five seats free on any one table. 'We're going to have to split up' said Hannah.

'There's three seats on that table over there and two seats on the one next to it' said Silv, gesturing at some tables near the edge of the room.

'Ok, that looks like our best option' said Hannah. 'Does anyone want to volunteer to be on the table with two seats?' she asked them all. She looked round at the group with her three friends and Lawrence and thought it was probably best to split their group of four friends into two sets of two and then put Lawrence with one of them. 'Maggie? How about you and me take the two seats?'

'That's fine with me' said Maggie and Hannah saw Dana and Lawrence share a glance which probably meant they didn't relish having to sit with each other but as long as Silv sat in between them then there shouldn't be any problems thought Hannah.

They took their seats at the tables and the some of the students on the table where Hannah and Maggie sat started whispering to each other.

'Is it alright for us to sit here?' asked Hannah, worried they'd done something wrong.

'Yes' answered the brown-haired girl sat next to Hannah who was smiling at them. 'You are welcome of course.'

'Thank you' said Hannah.

'You speak English well' said Maggie and Hannah realised that it hadn't even occurred to her that they wouldn't understand what they were saying.

'Zank you' said the girl 'Do you speak any French?' she asked.

'Erm, no' replied Hannah embarrassedly 'Sorry, we've never learnt any.'

'Oh!' replied the girl sounding very surprised. 'We are taught to speak English and Latin 'ere at Beauxbatons'

'Oh' said Hannah, feeling quite inadequate 'Right.'

'My name is Emmanuelle' said the girl. 'Eet is very nice to meet you.'

'Thank you and it's very nice to meet you too Emmanuelle' replied Hannah, knowing as she said it that she hadn't managed to pronounce Emmanuelle's name quite right. 'My name's Hannah and this is Maggie' she said gesturing to her friend who was in the process of wafting her heavy Hogwarts robes to try and cool off.

As they had been settling in at their table, Professor McGonagall and Professor Longbottom had taken seats at the end of the teachers' table and Madam Maxine sat in the middle of the teachers' table in a chair larger than the ones for the other teachers and with the table raised in front of her to allow her to sit and eat comfortably. Madame Maxine rose to her feet and she addressed the school in French. Hannah looked at Maggie who shrugged, knowing no more French than she did though they caught the odd word like ''Ogwarts' and 'Professeur Mac-Gone-eagle'. Madam Maxine then paused for a few seconds and spoke in English.

'Welcome to Professeur Mac-Gone-eagle, Professor Longbottom and the students of 'Ogwarts to zee Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. We are very pleased to 'ave you 'ere to visit us for zis new and exciting competition. For now zough, let us forget about zee competition and enjoy zee feast.'

Madam Maxine waved her wand and sparks descended from the ceiling covering each table in a curtain of glimmering magic. All of the Hogwarts students let out fascinated noises like 'Oooh' and Hannah saw some of the students on their table smile at each other at their reaction. The curtain of sparks lasted for only about

five seconds and when it fell away completely, the middle of each table was filled with food.

The Beauxbatons students on the table didn't waste any time in tucking into the food, ladling and spooning food out onto their plates and Hannah thought there were some things which didn't seem to any different between their two schools.