Fallen Roses
Disclaimer: Characters, settings, and situations that you recognize from Harry Potter are owned by JK Rowling. Everything that you do not recognize from any book, movie, cartoon, anime, or TV series is a product of my rather warped imagination and therefore belongs to me. And, as much as I would like to, I am not making any money off this.
Author's Note: First, let me just say that the original characters found in this story are not Mary Sues. How can that be, you ask? Well, basically, a Mary Sue is an author's alter-ego, often carrying the name of the author herself, who is so beautiful, so charming, so talented, so absolutely perfect, who either a) becomes the author's favorite character's love interest, or b) saves the world using talents the rest of us can only dream of, or c) dies a heroic death and is mourned by everyone, or d) all of the above. The way I understand it, you can still have original characters, even blatant self-insertions, without them being Mary Sues.
I have gone through great pains to prevent the four girls featured in this story from falling into the pits of Mary Sue-ism. Granted, their given names are French-ified versions of my and my friends' names, and I based their characters on my and my friends' personalities, and, yes, they will have some sort of romance with some of the Harry Potter characters. But, and I strongly emphasize the word but, they are not perfect, they will not be adored, worshipped, and lavished with praise by virtually the entire cast, nor will they die tragic deaths after they have saved the day--- I'm not even sure if they will save the day. Reader, I have long hated Mary Sues, and I wrote this story to see if I could create fairly decent original characters that wouldn't make people want to bash their heads against a brick wall from sheer annoyance. If you detect any hint of Mary Sue-ism, please, please let me know, and I will do my best to correct it.
*glances at above paragraphs, and eyes widen just a teensy bit with surprise* This is inarguably one of the longest author's notes I have ever seen or written. Before I sign off, I recommend visiting http://ficbitches.pitas.com. It is a fanfic review site, the best I have visited so far. These people are hilarious and completely merciless, and, better yet, they share my loathing for Mary Sues--- come to think of it, who doesn't?
Enjoy my twisted tale, reader, and don't forget to review. Even if it's just to shred my original characters to pieces. ^_^
Chapter One
Michelle Aveyron leaned against the cold window, staring at the castle through the blur of raindrops that trickled across the glass. It was a magnificent building, perched atop a mountain, with many turrets and towers, and cheery light glowing from its countless windows. "Oh, mon dieu, it is even bigger zan Beauxbatons," breathed the sixteen-year-old French girl, her eyes alight with childish wonder.
The three other people in the horseless carriage flinched at the sound of the name, a name they had once honored and cherished, and dreamed of bringing glory to. A name that was now nothing more than a bittersweet memory.
"Beauxbatons will always be grander zan zis," said Kaylee Chantal, waving a slender white hand dismissively. "Ze palace was made of marble and gold and precious stone, and at night, even when it rained, it would shine like silver moonbeams"
"We all know what it was made of and what it shone like at night, Kaylee," Therese Riviere snapped, fed up with the other girl's constant complaining. "You do not ave to remind us!"
Kaylee opened her mouth to let loose with a scathing retort, but Janae Du Bois cut her off. "Maman told me zey ad to travel across ze lake in zeir first year at Ogwarts," said Janae, quickly changing the subject to avoid a fight. "A boy fell into ze water, but sumzing tossed im back onto ze boat. Zey say zere is a giant squid in zere."
"Truly?" Michelle exclaimed. "I ave never seen a giant squid before!"
"And you should not be in a particular rush to see one," Kaylee admonished. "What could zey ave been zinking, allowing a creature like zat inside ze school? Madame Maxime would have never let zat happen in Beauxbatons!"
"Zis is not Beauxbatons, and Albus Dumbledore is not Madame Maxime!" Therese burst out, her temper reaching its boiling point. "'Onestly, Kaylee, you ave been doing nuzzing but grouch ever since we got on Platform Nine and Zree Quarters! You are urting my ears!"
"Ah, but ow can I not grouch?" Kaylee shot back. "It is not everyday your school is destroyed and you are sent off to some foreign school you know absolutely nuzzing about! I did not wish to go to Ogwarts!"
"Would you razzer ave preferred Durmstrang? Now zat I zink about it, Durmstrang would ave suited you perfectly. It's evil and as a nasty reputation."
Kaylee's dark violet eyes blazed, the only indication in her cool, composed face that she was angry, and soon she and Therese were embroiled in a shouting match in French.
Therese raged about how arrogant and stuck-up Kaylee was. Kaylee pointed out that Therese was an insensitive, hot-tempered brat who had never cared about their old school, or how traumatic it had been to leave it all behind in a pile of ashes.
They had resorted to calling each other the worst names they could think of, when Janae finally yelled, "ENOUGH! Stop it, ze two of you!"
Michelle, Therese, and Kaylee turned to stare with astonishment at the quiet, curly-haired girl, who had seldom, if ever, raised her voice.
Reaching up with a noticeably shaky hand to adjust her glasses on the bridge of her nose, Janae said, "Zis as been a terrible ordeal for all of us, but zere is no reason to act like zis! Ze two of you, Kaylee and Zerese, ave been at each uzzer's zroat ever since Beauxbatons---" she paused, and then continued in a much softer voice, "was destroyed."
A thick silence enveloped the carriage as each girl lost herself in her own memory of that fateful night. Waking up in the middle of the night, surrounded by bright red-orange flames running out of their dormitories, panicking, screaming along with everyone else Huddling together in the rose garden, watching with breaking hearts as the fire consumed the palace they had loved so much Being sent home, silent and subdued, coolly told by a visibly shocked Madame Maxime that they would continue their magical education in either of the two remaining wizarding schools in Europe
"Janae is right," said Michelle at last, breaking the silence. "Zis is bound to be a difficult year for us, what wiz all ze adjusting we ave to do, why make it more difficult by fighting? All we ave left to hold on to is each uzzer"
Such wisdom was unexpected from Michelle Aveyron, the baby of the group. Her plaintive words tugged at their hearts.
"I did not mean all zose zings I said, Kaylee," Therese admitted slowly after several minutes had passed.
"Neizer did I, Zerese," was the somewhat ashamed reply. "And I am sorry if I ave been such a drag, I could not elp it"
"It's all right," Therese assured her.
Janae beamed at her friends, glad they had come to their senses. "It is now time to renew our pact," she announced suddenly, struck by inspiration. "Ze pact we made in our first year."
"I remember zat one," said Michelle. They all pulled out their wands, then held the tips together, forming a tight circle.
"To always be zere for each uzzer" Therese began.
"To be more zan friends, to be sisters" Kaylee chanted.
"To forever love, hope, and trust" said Janae.
"To never let anyzing come between us" Michelle finished.
Each girl's wand glowed with a soft golden light, which slowly melded into a symphony of pink and sky blue, and then a thin stream of smoke emerged from the center of the circle. They watched with wide eyes as the stream of smoke broke apart, then came together again to form a silvery rosebud, sparkling like sunlit dewdrops.
"I do not zink we will have such a difficult time adjusting," Therese said cheerfully, with a wink, as the rosebud faded and the light died out, and the carriage rolled to a stop. "We are ze Roses, after all."