Disclaimer: I don't own any of these people or places.
Chapter 3: Hermione Gets Curious
Hermione led the way back to the Great Hall for dinner later that night. She had not let up on the tour guide act all day, save for a few minutes during Charms when Ron knocked himself out reviewing the Summoning charm. Needless to say, he would not try summoning anything heavier than a feather again for quite some time. Though Hermione had driven Ron and Harry crazy all day, Madeline listened carefully, nodding and chuckling when it seemed appropriate.
"You reckon she's actually paying attention to all this?" Ron whispered to Harry as they walked through the doors of the Great Hall.
"No way mate. She had to have stopped hours ago. There's no way she could still be interested," Harry responded. Ron nodded his agreement as Hermione babbled on.
"Now here is the table where the Ravenclaws sit. And over there is our table. Beside us is the Hufflepuff table. And over there, the Slytherins."
"Hermione, in case you've forgotten, Madeline was here a few years ago. She's not totally clueless about this stuff, ok? Maybe you should wait until she asks you a question about something before giving the entire history of the school," Harry interjected. Madeline shot him an appreciative look that made him blush. The rest of the meal passed rather uneventful. Both boys went to great lengths to avoid staring outright at Madeline, but could not help sneaking glances at her from time to time. There was something about her that they were both drawn too. Ron remembered another enchanting Beauxbatons student who had turned out to be part Veela. Perhaps Madeline too? He quickly disregarded this idea considering her dark hair and relation to Professor McGonagall. Still, there was something about her that drew him, and everyone else it seemed, to her.
Heading back to the common room after a filling meal, Hermione questioned Madeline in an attempt to draw the obviously shy girl from her shell.
"So where exactly in France are you from?" Hermione asked, trying hard not to be too intrusive.
"Villefranche, it's near Nice, along the sea," Madeline answered, her eyes lighting up at the chance to talk about her home.
"Ohhh I love Villefranche. A couple summers ago my family traveled through France. It had to be one of my favorite places," Hermione said excitedly. The girls talked animatedly about France for a few moments, but soon Madeline's face clouded over.
"I miss it terribly already. Please, don't get me wrong. Hogwarts is lovely and the people here have been so nice to me, like you three, and I really appreciate it. But this just is not my home. Everything in England is so different! You even drive on the wrong side of the roads here! I'd be scared to death of wrecking my car every timed I turned a corner" Madeline exclaimed.
"Car? You have a car?" Ron asked, "Like a real, non-magical car?" Madeline nodded back at him. "Are you muggle born?" He blurted out tactlessly.
"Gracious no Ron!" She said with a laugh, "My aunt teaches here remember? I obviously have magical blood! But I have spent a lot of time with muggles. My maman and I are actually the only-" she stopped abruptly, seemingly lost in thought, "oh I should stop babbling on about this, excuse me." She seemed embarrassed and though no one minded hearing about her past, they stopped asking her questions. Climbing through the portrait hole, every head turned to stare at Madeline. New kids were such a novelty around Hogwarts, especially beautiful French new kids. Madeline blushed at the attention she was receiving.
"I think I'm going to go study in my dormitory room now. Thank you again for everything you've done for me today. Au revoir!" She said as she spun around and headed for the steps to the girl's dormitory and a hundred eyes marked her every step. Hermione watching Madeline's ascent up the steps as well. She was becoming increasingly curious about Madeline's "circumstances" (as McGonagall had said that morning) for coming to Hogwarts. Hermione vowed to find out what was going on before too long.