Welcome to Chapter 12! Thank you callmeakumatized for editing/beta-reading/teaching me proper uses of ellipses. :) More notes at the end. Carry on.
Chapter 12: Cheddar or Camembert?
Marinette was awoken the next morning by Alexandra jumping up and down on her bed, all but demanding details of how she and Adrien had met. Marinette blearily informed Alexandra that if she didn't get out of her room in ten seconds she was going to start throwing hexes at her. Alexandra moped out of the room; but she was nothing if not persistent, and returned an hour later, a shield charm already in place as she crept into the dorm.
Marinette's stinging hex ricocheted off of her friends shield, and Marinette resigned herself to waking up. She proceeded to tell the story of meeting Adrien for the second time in twelve hours, not sparing a single detail.
Alexandra sat enthralled, listening with rapt attention. When Marinette told her about the killing curse that had been sent at her, Alexandra had the exact same reaction Alya had: shock, fury, and then sweeping Marinette into a hug, while Marinette rubbed her back comfortingly.
"You almost died," Alexandra murmured.
Marinette sighed. "I know. But I didn't." Alexandra didn't respond, but continued to hold onto to Marinette, who was beginning to realize that Alexandra was genuinely shaken up by what she had been told. "You gonna be okay?" she asked gently.
Alexandra nodded into her shoulder. "I'm just glad you aren't dead," she mumbled.
Marinette snorted. "Well so am I. Let's celebrate by going up and eating breakfast." Alexandra nodded in agreement, and after Marinette got dressed, the two made their way from the Slytherin dorms up to the Great Hall, where breakfast was already in full swing.
Marinette was, at first, perplexed to find the Great Hall so crowded on a Saturday morning, before realizing that with the arrival of the other schools, everyone would want to see more of them, for curiosity's sake at the very least. Many groups were already leaving as she entered, with students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang in their midst, clearly about to go on their tour of the school.
Alexandra grabbed Marinette's arm and dragged her over to a specific part of the Slytherin table, and Marinette quickly realized why. They were headed straight for one Adrien Agreste, who was sitting at the table reading a letter. The two slid onto the bench, Marinette and Alexandra both to his left. He glanced up and smiled warmly, quickly folding the letter and stowing it in his robes.
"Hey!" He greeted.
"Good morning," Marinette returned cheerfully, filling her plate with food. "How'd you sleep?"
Adrien shrugged. "Not as badly as I feared. The carriage beds are fairly comfortable. How about you two?"
"Well I was having a great night's sleep," Marinette began, "but someone couldn't wait until I woke up naturally to interrogate me."
"I waited an entire forty-five minutes before I came in," Alexandra protested. "You sleep in super late, and I'm not about that life."
Marinette huffed and settled for filling her plate with food. "I'm just trying to get in my hours before the season starts up and Brendan starts holding practices at who knows what hour."
"Practice?" Adrien asked, pausing in his own plate filling.
"I'm the Slytherin Keeper," Marinette said proudly.
"She basically won the Quidditch Cup for us last year," Alexandra chimed in, grinning.
"An exaggeration." Marinette said to Adrien, who was looking more and more impressed by the second.
"It really isn't," Interrupted another voice. Brendan stepped up behind the three, arms crossed. "You gave up four goals in a two-hour match, and we still almost lost."
Marinette opened her mouth to protest, but Adrien beat her to it.
"An exaggeration huh?" He asked, grinning.
"Well based on what you've seen, I'm surely not that good," she said, nibbling on some toast.
"Well, how about I see for myself?" Adrien suggested. "When's your next practice?"
"I dunno," Marinette said with a dramatic sigh. "Brendan doesn't usually like outsiders watching our practices..."
"YOU CAN COME!" Brendan shrieked, causing several heads to turn. Marinette gave Adrien a wink, and he smirked. Brendan flushed and shuffled awkwardly. "I mean, if you really want to."
"I would love to," Adrien said, chuckling. "When is it?"
"Tonight at six," Marinette said, before taking a large bite of biscuit. "Haf 'ulian recovered?" She asked hopefully.
Brendan nodded distractedly. "Yeah he's fine now. I already told Lila," he added as an afterthought.
"I bet she was thrilled." Alexandra said dryly as an owl landed on her shoulder. She offered it some bacon and took the letter from it.
Brendan snorted. "Well, maybe if she was a better Seeker she would be the starter. Fortunately, she isn't, so we don't have to put up with her attitude on a daily basis." A thought struck him. "Julian might try and get you to teach him some tricks…." He told Adrien, with a guilty yet slightly hopeful look on his face.
"I'd be happy to," Adrien said with a laugh.
"Great!" Brendan said. "I'll just be on my way then. Have a good morning!" he called as he walked off.
"Speaking of morning, do you have any plans?" Adrien asked, turning his attention back to Marinette
"Besides eating? Not really," she replied.
"Would you be willing to give me a tour?" he asked. "Hogwarts is rather famous and I'd love to see it."
"Oh! I'd be happy to!" Marinette said. "Is your morning completely clear? It might take a while."
"My schedule is clear until six," Adrien said, reassuring her. "And that also revolves around you."
Marinette laughed. "I guess it does. Alexandra, are you coming?" When she didn't get a response, she nudged the girl, who jolted as if shocked. Alexandra quickly folded the piece of parchment she had been holding.
"Sorry! What did you ask?"
Marinette frowned. "I asked if you wanted to come with us when I give Adrien a tour."
"Oh!" Alexandra hesitated, and then shook her head. "No, but... Adrien, could I talk to you before the two of you go?"
Adrien looked surprised, but seemed to get over it quickly, because he nodded in response.
"Thank you." She murmured.
Adrien gave Marinette a questioning look but she didn't know either, so she shrugged. A thoughtful frown crossed his face, but it vanished without a trace as conversation was redirected towards classes and where he wanted the tour to start. They eventually decided to start at the top and work their way down, if only to save their legs from walking upstairs at the end.
As they wrapped up breakfast, Adrien turned to Alex.
"So what was it you wanted to say?" he asked.
Alex shot a furtive look at Marinette, and then glanced back to him. "Can we be... Alone?" She asked awkwardly. "It's a... Stilted conversation."
Adrien did a double take. Marinette noted how he seemed to reappraise Alexandra as though this was his first time meeting her. "Sure," he said after a moment's hesitation. "Lead the way. Marinette can I meet you at the Entrance Hall?"
Marinette was more than a little taken aback by his sudden change of demeanor. She paused, then nodded. Adrien flashed her a grateful smile, and he and Alexandra rose from the table. Marinette followed their progress as they walked through the Great Hall, not uttering a single word to each other. Half of her wanted to go after them, but she ignored the urge and, instead, settled for taking one last bacon strip before standing up. She meandered out of the Great Hall, not in any kind of rush.
As she walked through the halls, she passed a few other groups taking tours. Alya - rather unsurprisingly - was leading one, and she waved to Marinette, who waved back. Alya made several over-the-top hand gestures, which Marinette recognized as her wanting to talk to her. Marinette only flashed a thumbs up in response, continuing down to the entrance hall, which was empty. She sat down on the bottom step and pulled out her wand, intent on practicing.
"Avis." She murmured.
A puff of smoke erupted from her wand and twisted into a small cloud before vanishing, revealing several small blue birds. She smiled as the birds twittered and chirped, flying around her head. She hummed softly to herself as she watched them fly until she was interrupted by a polite cough from behind her.
"Headmaster Fu!" She gasped, recognizing who had joined her. She quickly rose to her feet, suddenly worrying that she'd spilled something on her robes during breakfast.
The headmaster gave her a warm smile. Even standing two steps up, she still towered over the older man, which was some feat given how short she was.
"Good morning Miss Dupain-Cheng. How do you find yourself this weekend?"
"I'm doing alright Headmaster," she said, smiling. "Better than alright, actually."
"Indeed?" he asked, eyes twinkling. "That wouldn't have to do with a certain French Seeker now would it?"
Marinette flushed. "Well... that's part of it," she admitted. "But this year was going well even before he showed up."
"I am delighted to hear it," he replied, beaming.
"What brings you here, Sir?" She asked, curious.
"Well, in a rather happy coincidence, I was hoping to speak to you about a rather pressing matter."
"Oh!" Marinette said in surprise, a flood of nervousness suddenly washing over her. "What... Have I done something wrong?"
"Not at all!" Fu assured. "Just something that has come to my attention. Would you be willing to meet in my office tomorrow night at eleven?"
Marinette nodded eagerly. "Of course! If I may ask, why so late, Headmaster? I do have morning classes."
Fu frowned, as though he'd just had a discussion on the matter.
"I'm aware, but there will be a few other people attending this meeting, and one of them... Well, he likes his privacy, and he only ever appears during the night."
Marinette blinked. "I.. See?" She said uncertainty.
Fu gave her a wry smile. "Even I don't understand him fully, Marinette. Perhaps we will both learn something tomorrow."
Marinette nodded, unsure of how to reply. The headmaster chuckled. "Don't worry. I'll see you tomorrow night. Have a good day Marinette." He added as he began to walk up the stairs he had just descended.
"See you tomorrow Headmaster!" Marinette called. She watched until the headmaster disappeared from view, and sat back down on the step, lost in thought. Without warning, one of her birds flew in front of her face and she jumped. She watched as it flew up towards a window and out of it, the rest of her birds following suit. An idea popped into her head, and she glanced around nervously.
She drew her wand again and concentrated.
"Expecto Patronum," she breathed.
A dense silver mist began to pour from her wand, flowing into the room. The mist began to wriggle, as though it were about to take a shape, but it collapsed just as quickly, and the mist soon vanished. Marinette frowned in disappointment.
"Impressive," a voice said behind her. She turned around, and was greeted by the sight of Adrien descending the stairs, an apologetic smile on his face. "I'm sorry for intruding. I know Patronuses are private."
Marinette scoffed. "If you could call that pathetic effort a Patronus."
"Pathetic?" Adrien said, bewildered. "That was amazing! Most witches and wizards don't even get that far. How long have you been practicing?"
"Since late last semester." Marinette said, looking downcast.
Adrien hummed thoughtfully. "Your summer break probably didn't help much did it? I wonder..."
"Can you do it?" Marinette asked, when it appeared that Adrien wasn't going to break from his thoughts anytime soon.
"What?" Adrien asked, snapped from his musings. "Oh, yes. I can..." he said, looking decidedly uncomfortable. "I… don't exactly like showing it off though."
Marinette nodded in understanding. "I get it. Like you said, it's personal."
Adrien nodded awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, eyes looking anywhere but her.
Marinette sighed and put her wand away. "Are you ready for your tour?" Adrien immediately brightened and nodded eagerly. Marinette grinned and led him into the depths of the castle.
XxXxXxXxXx
"So that's the Transfiguration classroom, and there's a practice room next to it. There's another room down there sometimes, but it depends on if the moon is out or not."
"...I can't tell if you're messing with me or not." Adrien said, staring blankly down the corridor.
"Totally serious," Marinette replied. "My friend got stuck in there once, and we had to wait until the next day to rescue her."
Adrien let out a bark of laughter. "Ok, so let me get this straight. The stairs change; there are some trick steps on said stairs that can send you plummeting to the ground; doors appear and disappear based on timing; if you touch them, or if you know the password for them, as well as that one that managed to appear from nowhere that you said you'd never seen before? Do I have that right?"
"Don't forget that once a month the entire Charms corridor decides to pick up shop and go somewhere else, forcing you to use several spells to track it down," Marinette said brightly. "Though that isn't so much the castle as it is Vincent's work."
"Vincent?" Adrien asked curiously.
"Oh! He's the Charms professor!" Marinette said excitedly. "He runs the charms and dueling clubs!"
Adrien's head snapped up. "You have a dueling club?" he demanded, a grin beginning to spread on his face.
Marinette nodded enthusiastically and started walking down the next flight of stairs. "Yeah! And it's amazing! Some days we just practice, but others we have miniature tournaments. There's also a challenge system, because he ranks everyone based on how they're doing. It's this huge competition. The whole school gets invested during the last tournament, and the winner of each tourney gets a prize!"
"I'm assuming there are different tournaments for the various age groups?" Adrien queried.
"There are," Marinette said. "It wouldn't be fair if a first year had to duel a seventh year."
"I wonder if they'll allow Beauxbatons students to compete in some." He mused.
Marinette hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe. But I've seen you duel, and I think I speak for everyone when I say, 'Merlin, I hope not'."
"You aren't too terrible yourself Princesse." Adrien replied with a wink. "I'm sure there are many a person who dreads the thought of dueling you."
"Maybe," Marinette said, fighting the blush that was surely creeping onto her face. "Oh, watch out for that stair," she added, hopping over it. Adrien did the same, and the two continued.
Marinette was watching Adrien taking in the pictures adorning the wall when he paused.
"That bird..." he said, pointing up.
Marinette followed his gaze to a window, where a small blue bird sat. It had orange chest plumage that faded into white, as well as a white streak down its left wing. It was staring down at the two, chirping away.
"What about it?" Marinette asked.
Adrien frowned. "Are there many of species here?"
"I don't think I've ever seen a bird like that," she replied truthfully.
Adrien hummed thoughtfully. "That's probably because it's a bluebird. They aren't native to Europe. I wonder…." He stared at it for a few moments before shaking his head. "It's fine," he said, flashing her a smile. "I'm sure it's nothing. Besides, you're far more captivating."
Marinette snorted, and started walking away. "That was so cheesy."
"But it's true," he laughed, following her.
"Flattering, but still cheesy."
"Cheddar or camembert?"
"Oh my God, Adrien."
"I'm just saying, one is vastly superior..."
Marinette laughed and led him down a new hallway. The two disappeared into the castle again, away from the watchful eyes of the bluebird, who nipped at her wing. Soon she too departed, flying off into the castle, turning down a few corridors, and into an empty classroom, where she shifted into her human form. She slid out of the classroom warily and made her way through the castle, shaking. He knew. She thought, heart still racing from sheer terror. He knew I was human.
An image of the young man's glare flashed through her head and she took a deep breath.
He hasn't even met you. He won't be able to recognize you. You'll be fine.
The animagus took one last collecting breath and stepped into the Great Hall. Lunch had just been served.
Hey all! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I actually had to do some research for this, because the character that's the bluebird? Yeah I'd already picked the animagus, and then I was like 'Oh wait! I should double check to make sure they live in England!" Yeah fun fact they don't, and I wasn't about to change their animal, because I'm stubborn. So I added this little scene. So yay!
Anyways. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, I haven't really started it yet, BUT I know what's going to happen in it which is more I could say about this one. Still, it's a good thing I didn't do any foreshadowing this chapter, because then you'd just be waiting in anticipation for what's about to come with no end in sight.
(Deafening Silence)
Okay okay fine. I'll take three questions. Uh yes you over there!
Adrien: Yeah so pretty sure that having a bunch of stairs that could just drop you to the ground is pretty illegal.
Me: That's.. Not a question.
Adrien (Under his breath): Pas de merde.
Me: What was that punk? I write for you. I can make you suffer.
Adrien: Can I spend more time with Marinette?
Me: What? Yes, obviously you can. You're the ship. Probably
Adrien: Sweet. Wait what do you mean probab-
Yeah okay anyways NEXT QUESTION.
Marinette: What were Alexandra and Adrien talking about during their-
Me: Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhush
Marinette: But-
Me: SHUSH
Last question!
Random Reader who will surely bring this up: Hey soooo who's that bird? Cause it's an animagus. Sooo who is it?
Me: It's a secret.
Random Reader: But-
Me: Shush your face. I'll give you another question.
Random Reader: When is Hawkmoth gonna show up?
Me: Hawkmoth is dead, haven't you been paying attention? Everyone in the story thinks he's dead so there.
Random Reader: But in Chapter 8 Master Fu said-
Me: ANYWAYS THAT'S ALL THE TIME WE HAVE SEE YOU NEXT TIME BYEEEEE
Hope you guys have a lovely day. :D
Until Next Time!
~Nebilas~