Chapter 22
"Wow! You ladies look amazing!" Dmitri said approaching us with a glowing smile. He was wearing handsome dress robes of midnight blue but they gave the magical twinkle of being transfigured. He must be very good at transfiguration. Dmitri kissed Natalya on the cheek, offering his left arm and offered Elise his right arm. "I am the luckiest man alive, a beauty on either arm."
"Bella, you look really pretty." The second year said shyly passing Dmitri and Natalya with an obvious nervous glance. He took Bella's arm, though not nearly as elegantly as Dmitri had, and then followed the others out of the common room. That left Scorpius and I along with a few first years that were finishing getting ready or waiting for their friends.
"You look lovely Lily, shall we?" we exited the common room and following in the others shadows en route to the dining hall which had been transformed into a ballroom. We arrived in time to see the finishing touches in place. Professeur de la Fayette was standing in the centre of the room with his wand pointed at the ceiling which began to shake and move. The centre section moved back to reveal a glittering glass dome.
"The dome is only revealed on special occasions like balls," Scorpius whispered in my ear as we watched hypnotized. A crowd was congregating at the door because the entryway had been spelled so no-one couldn't enter until 730. Tilly and her date joined us, so we chatted and complimented each other until 7:30 when the doorway glowed blue. Slowly the entire student body entered the ball and marvelled at the incredible decorations. Most people made Halloween exceedingly tacky whereas at Beauxbaton, Halloween was an exceptional affair. The room was decorated with rich black and red drapes, chandeliers of blood red candles floated near the ceiling. Halloween isn't a native French holiday but the Wizarding community celebrate it anyhow. The feast tables were piled with food but it was small quantities of many different foods to try. There were traditional French foods like foie gras but there was also a mixture of international foods. The larger, year group, tables were set up but there was no assigned seating. We sat at a table with red, black and gold roses in a vase in the centre of the table. Once everyone had taken their seats the headmistress stood.
"Welcome to the Halloween Masquerade Ball! Enjoy the feast and the ball. I expect everyone to have fun but please remember to maintain decorum. Bonne appétit!"
The food was excellent and we sampled many different things. Everything was of Michelin quality as the Muggles would say. Bella's date, Philippe found it slightly more difficult hanging out with us since he don't know anyone besides Bella despite being in the same class as Natalya. He was extremely wary of Dmitri and Natalya and refused to sit beside either of them, which in my opinion was incredibly rude, particularly considering he was in Natalya's year and knew none of the rest of us either. When everyone had finished eating the food dishes disappeared being replaced with trays of entrées and different drinks to enjoy throughout the evening. Music began to play and the Professeurs took to the dance floor. Tilly told us there was a DJ for the Halloween ball and then a orchestra for the Christmas ball. DJ is a generous term considering all the dancing was formal dancing ergo the majority of the music was very traditional; however there was an occasional modern song. When Miley Cyrus' Let's Dance came on I was very surprised and dragged Scorpius to the dance floor. We began a tango style dance but soon all eyes were on us as we began to add flourishes to the dance. It was mostly me adding things in but Scorpius reacted perfectly to each move and the dance flowed smoothly. I remembered a cool little foot trick I'd seen in the movie Another Cinderella Story and it worked class although Scorpius seemed surprised by that move. I assumed it was a surprise to him because it hadn't come naturally ergo his body hadn't predicted the movement. We finished as he dipped me back until my hair grazed the floor. I glanced around and noticed everyone had stopped dancing to stare at us. Applause erupted around us and I felt my face flaming red as I dragged Scor back to our table.
"That was really cool," Natalya said as we sat down next to her. My blush deepened as Scorpius began laughing and said we'd been rehearsing for weeks. Liar! We chatted with Natalya for a while until Bella came over. She was alone, seemed like Philippe had disappeared.
"Where'd your date go?" I asked curious, I thought Bella was really hung up on this guy so it was unlike her to ditch him.
"He wouldn't talk and kept looking at Natalya and Dmitri weirdly. I asked him what his problem was and he said it was their problem not his. So I told him, he wasn't my problem anymore and could go dance alone."
"Wow, you're a gutsy little firsty, aren't you?" Scorpius chuckling at Bella before leading me back to the dance floor.
Natalya and Bella chatted for a while casually before Bella brought the subject back round to Philippe. She was obviously starting to catch on that there was a secret she wasn't privy to.
"Natalya, you and Dmitri are so nice and are really cool yet people act kind of funny around you. Why is that?" Bella asked curiously. She noticed Natalya look up and catch Dmitri's eye. Although no sound was transmitted the feeling of an important conversation filled the air. I steered Scorpius closer so I could heard the conversation better.
"It's truth-time, Bells. I've really enjoyed getting to know you and I hope the truth doesn't send you running. The thing is, me and Dmitri are not completely wizard. Like Elise we are half another magical being." Natalya told Bella softly. From my place on the dance floor with Scorpius I could eavesdrop easily now and witness Bella's reaction. I saw her eyes go wide before she began to process the information in her mind.
"So what are you exactly?" Bella asked only a little shaken; she was friends with Elise so why should any other half-breed be a problem? But then again people seemed wary of Dmitri and Natalya so maybe they were half werewolf or half Inferus or half some other bad thing. I noticed Natalya cringed and wondered what Bella had thought to provoke that reaction.
"No Bella, we aren't half werewolf, or half Inferus."Cue Bella's stunned gasp over Natalya's thought reading. "Dmitri and I are 100% safe, non human eating, half vampires." Even I didn't expect Bella to pass out but then again I wasn't the mind reader. I dragged Scorpius back to our table as he give a cough in a pathetic attempt to cover his chuckling.
"Is she ok?" I asked and Natalya and I checked Bella over.
"Yeah, think it was just the shock." Natalya said concerned about Bella but also amused at causing someone to faint.
"Ok step back. Enervate" Bella woke up blinking wildly. "Bella calm down. What Natalya just told you is true but there is no need to worry about it. They are no danger to anyone." I winked at Natalya who blushed at the last part. It was strange how I could joke with her about nearly eating me, oh well. Bella had relaxed slightly, so I returned to Scorpius and left them to talk things through.
As we swayed on the dance floor I apologised for not being particularly attentive to him tonight. I had embarrassed him by dancing then made him sit out only to then deal with vampire drama. He said he didn't mind at all, he was such a gentleman. We danced constantly for the rest of the night though we kept it very basic so not to attract unwanted attention. At 11pm the headmistress signalled for 1st-3rd years to return to their common rooms and go to bed. The perfect night was coming to a close.
We met up with our group of friends and headed back to our common room. There we bade the 3rd years and Natalya goodnight and gave hugs to everyone before re-entering our rooms. We were still fairly hyped so we decided to change into our pyjamas and hangout in Elise's room for a while.
We spent over an hour gossiping about tonight. Bella was surprised we had known about our half vampire friends for so long without telling her. Elise told us that she and Dmitri had decided to continue being friends and maybe once they knew each other for longer something more might happen. I didn't really have much to share tonight. Scorpius and I were good friends and tonight was nothing more than two friends doing each other a favour. A favour... we never did settle that bet. I summoned my piece of parchment to ask Scorpius what the plan was regarding the bet. While Elise and Bella began a rundown of how everyone reacted to my dancing earlier. I was so embarrassed by their commentary I forgot all about the note and changed the subject from myself. It was only around 12:30 when we each climbed into our own beds that I remember about the note and bet. I guess tomorrow, or rather later today, I would have to go and ask them about it.
We made the most of our free weekend by sleeping late and hanging out. On Friday morning while we were sleeping many students went home to enjoy the only opportunity to visit home before Christmas. They wouldn't return until Sunday evening. We had two and a half weeks off at Christmas and another week off for Easter. Our group decided to stay for the weekend and make the most of the emptied school. Despite now being November Scorpius, Dmitri, Natalya and I went swimming, the water here was still warm compared to what we were used to at home. However Tilly, Bella and Elise thought we were mental swimming in November. We had a small game of Quidditch and went horseback riding. Basically we had a lot of fun. When it came down to the bet we decided that Elise and I were biased to Natalya and Bella got to choose. They choose Dmitri's invite since Scorpius' had lead to more confusion. Dmitri put his money to good use on Saturday when we walked the 15km [10miles] down into the local village of Miramar. It wasn't that far a walk but the dense forest and red rock was not the best to walk through. The village was a tourist trap but it had a few magical shops in the less popular part of the village. We found a magically ice cream shop and Dmitri bought everyone an ice-cream with his winnings. It was nice to get out of school and explore the area a bit more but we couldn't stay in the village too long. It was much more difficult returning to school, uphill and it was starting to get dark. Thankfully we made it back in time for dinner.
On Monday classes began again and when signup sheets were passed out at breakfast we realised we got to change our sports and art classes. For art I decided to do music with Elise and Bella because I really wanted to learn piano, and I could use the dance studio wherever I wanted with permission anyway. Sports class was a more difficult decision. Elise and Bella decided they wanted to work-out in the fitness suite to tone, I thought this was hilarious, I mean we are tiny 11year olds and there isn't much to tone. I was interested in doing gymnastics thinking it would help me in my dancing but I didn't want to take the class alone. Natalya came over to add her name to the signup sheet and I discovered she wanted to do gymnastics as well, so we both signed up.
So far my Monday had been really good. In Equestrian we were told Elise's mare was expecting so Elise had a different horse for the rest of the year. I was so right about her mare, Altheda and Apollo getting friendly. Hopefully Althea has her foal before we finished school, the chances were quite high since she was only beginning to show and Professeur Doleuze wasn't sure how far along she was. By the end of lunch and charms my good mood was beginning to wane under a mound of homework. In flying lessons we were starting circuits which turned out to be hazardous. As we were doing circuits around the Quidditch pitch I somehow managed to fly into a goal post. I was taken up to the hospital wing but there was no serious damage. Despite the humiliation of flying into a goal post I was happy to miss double Herbology and get a head start on my charms homework.
The next day in art Elise and I discovered my natural talent for the piano. It was like dancing with my fingers. I was already able to read sheet music from singing and playing guitar so I began to pick up the piano fairly quickly. Elise was very proud of me and kept pushing me to do better. By Thursday I was playing with both hands which Elise told me had taken her months to get the hang of. I was very delighted.
I was very excited to head down to the sports hall at the end of the day. Natalya had gotten closer to Bella after the ball which I didn't mind but I was looking forward to getting to know her more, one to one.
I walked into the room we had been assigned to see a beautiful young woman in her thirty's cart-wheeling along a balance beam finishing with a twist summersault dismount. The woman spotted me by the door and hurried over.
"Bonjour, you much be Lily Potter. I am Madame Marakis, and I will be your professeur for gymnastics," she beamed at me. Her French had a rich Russian accent combined with her name and striking appearance I knew she must be related to Natalya and Dmitri.
"You're right, Lily. She is our mother." Natalya said striding through the door and walking to her mother's side. Standing next to each other the similarities were very evident: they shared the same piercing blue eyes and chiselled cheekbones. "Dmitri and I decided Beauxbaton was the safest place for Mother, so she will be teaching here for the foreseeable future."
"Alright, let us get on to gymnastics. Here are your uniforms, leotards and gymnastic slippers. Nat tells me that you're a ballet dancer. Gymnastics and dance should complement each other nicely."
We went through a basic warm up routine and Madame Marakis taught me some basic things while we watched Natalya bend and flex doing more complicated gymnastics. I knew more than anything that would push me to excel. As I watched her do some graceful flips from the floor I started to picture a dance routine with these elements, it would be spectacular. After class as we walked back up to school I discussed my ideas with Natalya and she told me which things I could learn quickly and which others would b much harder. I could already do the splits from dance and I could handstand so Natalya suggested focusing on learning to do a good "bridge", "back walkover" and "back flip". We decided an hour a week may not be sufficient so I decided to add yet another extracurricular to my packed schedule. Monday evening was music jamming with the girls, Tuesday afternoon equestrian club with Elise, Wednesday night we have astronomy class, Thursday extending gymnastics for an extra hour, Friday evening archery with Scorpius, Saturday and Sunday mornings dance with classes and homework in-between it all.
I LOVE THIS SCHOOL!