Again, the next day she realized it wasn't worth it. Really, didn't a girl learn? First wandering aimlessly through the rain for hours after an improper breakup, then reachimg the stratosphere with her broom and almost killing herself on the way back. She woke up with an aching shoulder and a pounding headache. Those painkillers were like a bomb had been dropped into the body. It numbed the pain but made her heart jump to her head and beat twice as fast practically.
Thankfully, though, the potions had worked throughout the night, and her clavicle was healed, though stiff, the next day. The nurse advised her to stay away from any physical activity for at least two or three days. So, when Aimee made her way back to her dorm room the next morning in last night's clothes, she was grateful that it was still so early that she could take a shower and still get some breakfast. She came down to the Grande Salle, clean, fresh, and ready to start again. The bad feeling of dumping David so cruelly had disappeared pretty much when she heard that David had given a satisfied snort when he heard about her fall.
"Good Morning," Aimee chirped as she plopped down next to Benji at breakfast and helped herself to some cereal. Benji and Ivonne, who were sitting together, bid her a good morning as well. "Glad to see you're feeling better." Benji commented, smiling.
"Ah, well, you know how near-death experiences can change your view on life." Aimee commented lightly as she poured milk into her Froot Loops.
The day went on normally. They went to classes and Aimee and David politely ignored each other. David because he was pissed at her, and Aimee because she felt partly awkward talking with him so soon after such a disastrous breakup.
But other than that, lessons were fine.
Another month passed, and the 7th years grew excited. It was almost time for their graduation trip; they'd all be going to Spain for a whole weekend, to the city of Barcelona. It was a trip that took place every year for the graduates, on the second weekend of April. The 7th years would stay at a hotel for Friday, Saturday and return Sunday night to be at school the next Monday.
Aimee had been in Transfiguration when Madame Maxime entered their classroom. This was the only class all three houses, Catherine, Arnaud, and Eugene, took all together. The rest of the time it was either one house or two.
"Hello, students," Madame Maxime greeted them. Then she addressed their teacher. "Madame Sophie, I was wondering if I could interrupt class for just a moment? I must speak to them of the class trip to Barcelona." There was a low murmur of excitement. Madame Sophie nodded her head and sat down at her desk. Madame Maxime smiled at them, putting down a bunch of pieces of parchment paper on her desk. "Well. I'm sure you all know of the trip by now, but we have to assign you your rooms numbers and hand out the itinerary and explain a little of what we'll do." She waved her wand at the stack and the papers flew orderedly around the room, each paper fluttering gracefully to each student's desk. Some picked them up and began to scan the agenda eagerly, nudging their neighbors and talking quietly. Aimee picked up her own paper. In it was the time and names of all the places they would go. Below that were the names of her two roommates that she'd be sharing with. Aimee frowned at the two names on the list.
Marianna Nardon
Lucienne Auriel
The names were picked at random, but she wasn't liking this. She'd heard of room exchanges, so she could arrange to be with Adelaide or at least a girl from her house. But really, to be forced in a room with Marianna? Yeah, ok, she'd gotten somewhat along with her at the beginning of the year during the Death Eater Drill, gotten stuck with her for hours in some godforsaken water-filled hole until some idiot rescued them and then splattered them in paint. Heck, they'd even teamed up against him to beat him up and laughed at it together.
But that was it. Marianna Get-Along-Moments were a once in a lifetime thing. Marianna had already dated 5 boys in one school year, dumping Jean-Pierre during winter vacation (finally) and then going through 4 boys, practically one each month. Her current boyfriend right now was Arthur, of all people, and they'd been dating for about two weeks. It wasn't long before Marianna grew tired of him and chucked him out the window like a rotten banana. Not even boys could be with her more than 2 months. Jean-Pierre had been a miracle when they'd lasted 8 months.
Now, the other girl, Lucienne, she could deal with. She was a girl from Marianna's own house, Arnaud, and she knew her only a little. But she knew that Lucienne was a funny, pretty nice girl, so she wasn't too worried. The trips would be the whole generation so she'd never be without her friends. She was just sleeping in the same room as them.
"Now. We will arrive at the AB Skipper Barcelona Hotel at around 5pm through floo powder. It's a lovely 5-star hotel, just 50 meters from the beach. I'm sure you'll like it. And after we arrive we'll unpack and go to La Pedrera, at 6.30. Then, we're going on a nighttime tour, especially reserved for us, of the Sagrada Familia! We return at midnight to the hotel…"
Aimee let Madame Maxime's voice turn into a drone. Adelaide leaned across her seat to peer at Aimee's itinerary. "Who'd you get?" She whispered.
Aimee held up her paper and pointed. "Marianna Nardon, of all people, and Lucienne Auriel."
"Eww. Good luck with her. Lucienne's pretty decent, though. I got two complete strangers from the House of Eugene."
Aimee lowered her gaze and examined her agenda. On Saturday they got to go shopping at La Boquería, which Aimee felt giddy about. Spanish clothing, shoes, food and more! Exactly what she needed. They were letting them roam about on their own for a couple of hours until lunch at the Barcelona Restaurant and Bar. Aimee looked up as Madame Maxime broke off the itinerary explanation and told them about how all these places were muggle, so they couldn't do magic and any student caught would be suspended and maybe even expelled. Then, they would head off to the Picasso museum and then to the Teatre Lliure for a show. Then they would get united in the hotel so that everyone went to the San Sebastian beach together for a farewell bonfire. Swimsuits were encouraged for a midnight swim.
The next day, they would go to the beach again for a few hours in the morning, and then to lunch at the hotel, all of which they could arrive at any hour. At 3 they would apparate to the Park Guell for a quick tour and then left alone for the rest of the evening, and then unite again in the same park to go back to the hotel, pack, and return to school by 8pm.
Aimee grinned. It was going to be a fun weekend. It was only a week and a half away, but she could already imagine the Mediterranean sea glistening in the horizon and the salty smell of the beach, walking around with her friends in a Spanish city and enjoying life.
The Friday they were leaving to Barcelona came quickly enough, and Aimee found herself packing the Thursday before in anticipation. She packed shorts for the hot weather and two bikinis, tank tops and t- shirts, the skirt Ginny had given her for her birthday (she gave it a good whiff before stuffing it in her suitcase. Still working its charms). She put in one pair of flats, her gladiator sandals , her converse, and her favorite pair of skinny jeans. She folded carefully and placed inside a beige-colored dress for their trip to the beach on Sunday.
Aimee zipped up her suitcase after stuffing in pajamas and her bathroom things and clapped her hands satisfactorily. She glanced sideways. Adelaide was trying to stuff one more pair of cutoff jeans into her suitcase before closing it. Aimee rolled her eyes, then went over and helped her close it by sitting on it.
The next day everyone was in a good mood and jittery. Barcelona and its sandy beaches were waiting.
"Are those things strictly necessary?" Charlie eyed both Aimee's and Adelaide's suitcases, both as tall as their waists. Charlie hitched his duffel bag onto his shoulder and raised an eyebrow.
"It's Barcelona," Adelaide sniffed. "We have to look fabulous for it. And we can shrink it, anyway," Adelaide nodded with dignity in agreement and murmured an incantation, giving her wand a slight jab, causing her suitcase to contract to three times its size. Adelaide picked it up with both hands, now as big as a stuffed toy, and smirked at Charlie, who sighed and looked to Benji for support. Benji was too busy, though, to pay attention. He and Ivonne were saying goodbye like they were never going to see each other again, promising to write and saying that they would never stop thinking about each other. Charlie snorted at the shameless display.
She rolled her suitcase toward the line of students, waiting and talking happily, commenting on what they planned to do and what they wanted to buy. Charlie followed as she did the same incantation as Adelaide and her suitcase shrunk to the same size. She and Adelaide and Charlie talked contentedly about their trip and finally Benji joined them, waving to Ivonne as she went back headed outside with Paola, Samantha and Elizabeth. He looked almost puppy-like as he stared after her, as if wishing he could take her along.
Aimee rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, it's just 2 days. We'll be back on Sunday."
They were enveloped again by the chatter as one by one, each 7th year threw a speck of Floo Powder into the fire, stepped in, and said the name of the hotel clearly. Finally it was their turn. Adelaide went first, then Aimee, then Benji and last Charlie.
When Aimee stepped out of the fire, she realized she was in a wizarding hotel. Wizards and witches in robes, speaking mostly Spanish, flocked around, getting their room number. Already Madame Maxime, Monsieur Montgomery, and Madame Dubois were at the reception, speaking to the secretary behind the desk as she ruffled through some papers, saying the names of the students and which room they would be going to. Students milled around pleasantly, most standing around the spacey waiting room while other sat on the sofas, futons and couches, others sitting at the arms or leaning against friend's legs on the floor. The four of them made their way to where the integrants of the House of Catherine sat and stood around.
There were 29 students in total. Nine in Catherine, twelve in Arnaud, and eight in Eugene. The tiny waiting room buzzed with talk and laughter.
Madame Maxime clapped her hands for attention. "Students! Students! I know you are excited, my dears, but you must listen to me. We're all located on the third floor, just so you know. Now, let's see, room number 31 is Arthur Laplace, Jean-Pierre Smith and Jakkob Salzgiver."
The three boys grabbed their stuff and Jakkob held out his hand for the key. They headed upstairs, talking.
"Number 32, Emile Auriel, Adrien Fluhr, and Jacques Ventura…" The three boys stepped forward to retrieve their key.
Madame Maxime continued up until there were no more boys left and started in on the girls. Aimee found that she was room number 38, and she, Lucienne, and Marianna made their way upstairs with their shrinked luggage.
Once they reached their room, Marianna, as was expected, flitted around unimpressed, holding up things and raising her eyebrows or making a comment about how all these things were beneath her. She flicked her fingers at the curtains and frowned at the two beds, then complained that the tub was not big enough. She held up the little bathroom kit that had been left on the sink; composed of tiny bottles of shampoo and conditioner, a small bar of soap, moisturizer, and an assortment of other bathroom-ish stuff in miniature; and dropped it back with an indignant scoff. Lucienne and Aimee looked at each other and rolled their eyes at Marianna's divaness. At least they agreed on something.
The girls started unpacking while Marianna started talking. "So," Marianna said, flopping down on the bed and not bothering to unpack. "I started dating this guy, Romain, you know him, right, Aimee? And he's taking me to see this castle named after some duke or count or something-"
"What happened to Arthur?" Aimee asked, genuinely curious.
"Oh, I dumped him ages ago."
"What's that? Three days ago?"
"Don't be fresh. Anyway, so, we're sneaking there after hours so there's not going to be anyone around, and-"
Aimee rolled her eyes and drowned the sound of Marianna's voice as she droned on and on about how her date with Romain was going to be so romantic or whatever, and she stuffed her clothes in her drawer. She put some money in the pocket of her cargo shorts and leaned against the dresser while Lucienne and Marianna argued over who was cuter, Romain or Adrien Fluhr, Lucienne's newly acquired boyfriend.
Aimee ignored them and walked to the window. She could see the Mediterranean Sea from here. She longed to be at the beach, with the hot sand beneath her or possibly toying in the waves, in her swimsuit and wading through the cristaline blue waves. The sea was a very pretty color, transparent and bright bluish-green. Aimee could almost smell the salt in the sea.
After Aimee finished packing, she looked at her watch. "We'd better get down. They must be getting ready to leave." The three girls headed downstairs, knapsacks hanging over their shoulders, ready with cameras, wands, lip gloss, bottles of water and snacks. Most people were already down. Aimee made her way over to Benji and bopped him upside the head with her knapsack playfully.
"Hey!" Benji protested, rubbing his head. Aimee grinned at him.
"Abusing children now, are we?" A male voice said behind her, and Aimee jumped. Charlie had said it awfully close to her ear; she felt his breath tickle her neck. Charlie chuckled. "So, where's Addie? Isn't she with you?"
"Nah," Aimee said, "She's in another room. I think she and her roommates are the last ones we're waiting for." Aimee added thoughtfully, looking around. She caught sight of Adelaide coming down the stairs and beckoned her over. Once they were all there, Madame Maxime led the way out of the AB Skipper Barcelona Hotel, and all 29 students plus the 3 teachers, to make their way to their first Barcelona visit.