Hogwarts in France
Chapter Four
Monday
Disclaimer: Nothing you might recognise belongs to me.
"Pass the butter," said Harry,
"Why?" asked an irritable Ron.
Hermione sighed and pushed the tub of butter across the table to Harry, who gratefully took it and spread some on his croissant.
"I see somebody didn't get enough sleep last night," said Ginny, with a grin, "What were you boys doing?"
"Just talking," replied Neville, munching on his cornflakes, "and then we had a pillow fight unless Remus came in and told us to shut up."
The girls giggled. "We just went straight to sleep," said Hermione, "Well I need to go and dry my hair. Don't forget we're leaving in twenty minutes." She left the room and Draco came in, stretching as he walked.
"Morning," he yawned, "What's for breakfast?"
"The usual," replied Harry, brushing croissant crumbs off his sweater,
"Oh. I think I'll just have a coffee," Malfoy said and went and poured himself one.
"Isn't coffee a Muggle drink?" asked Ron.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Yeah but I still drink it!"
"I'm going to get ready," said Harry, standing up, "Coming Ron?"
"Yeah," replied Ron, following Harry out of the room.
Once they were upstairs in the boy's room, Harry turned to Ron.
"Can't you give Malfoy a break? He's going against what he normally does in order to let us have a nice holiday but you keep trying to aggravate him!"
Ron's ears glowed red. "He's belittled my family for years Harry! You can't just expect me to forgive him in one fell swoop can you?" he yelled,
"I'm not expecting you to forgive him! Just try and get along with him for this week or you'll ruin the holiday for everyone! We've agreed that when we return to Hogwarts, we'll go back to being enemies!" Harry said.
At that moment the door creaked open and Malfoy stuck his head in.
"Can I come in? I'm not interrupting anything am I?" he asked, gruffly,
"No," said Ron, shortly, "I'm going to find Neville. Leave you two to be best buddies." He pushed past Malfoy and stomped out.
Draco raised his eyebrows at Harry.
"He's finding it hard to accept you," Harry said, "I'll try and get him to sort it out,"
"Oh," replied Malfoy, "Well, if he doesn't keep his end of the bargain, I won't keep mine!" He bent down, retrieved his bag from under his bed and stalked out.
Harry sat down with his head in his hands. Why can't Ron just try to get along with Malfoy? Malfoy's doing his bit and everybody else seems to accept him, it's just Ron. Well, he better shake himself up otherwise he's going to make this trip unbearable.
After everybody had got ready, Remus had announced that they were going to Paris for the day. At this Ginny and Harry had smirked at one another, each hoping there would be some romantic interaction between Hermione and Ron. Presently, they were sitting in the minibus on the hour or so trip to Paris, watching fat rain droplets fall down the windows.
"Do you reckon it will storm?" asked Neville, breaking the silence in the minibus,
"Oh I hope so!" squealed Ginny, "I love storms!"
Remus spoke up from the driving seat. "Actually I hope it stops raining and doesn't storm because we'll have a pretty miserable time in Paris otherwise."
As luck would have it, the rain had cleared up by the time they drove into Paris and a weak sun was battling out from behind the grey clouds. Remus parked in a large car park and went to get a ticket while the rest of the group got out of the vehicle and looked around.
A dirty looking river was on their right and towering high above them on their right was the;
"Oooh! It's the Eiffel Tower!" squealed Hermione, bouncing up and down, "Isn't it great?"
From a distance, Harry thought the Eiffel Tower looked pretty shabby and not at all like he had expected it. Maybe it was just the gloom of the rain clouds, but it looked really miserable. Remus then returned and led the group over to a large building on the bank of the river.
"This is the River Seine," he announced, "We'll be going on a boat trip in about five minutes. Toilets are that way."
All of the students decided to use the toilet so they moved off in the direction Professor Lupin had shown.
Five minutes later, everybody was boarding a river tourist boat with a large covered area and some open viewing areas. The Hogwarts students went and sat down at the front of the boat on some wooden seats.
"The water's so grey!" said Ginny, wrinkling her nose, "Is it polluted or something?"
"No, I expect it's just reflecting the colour of the sky," Hermione said, as the boat shuddered and began to move.
A lady came around and handed each of them a large walkie-talkie.
"Tu est anglais?" she asked, "C'est numéro deux."
"Merci," replied Hermione.
As the lady moved off, Hermione leaned forward as whispered, "This will tell you about the river in English so you can understand it. You put it to your ear," she demonstrated, "and press number two. The lady said that's the English version."
The others followed her instructions and were soon learning about the history of the River Seine and some of the buildings on the banks.
"There's Notre Dame!" explained Hermione, "There's a very famous story about a hunchback and Notre Dame. I'll tell it you sometime!"
Ron looked interested and walked through the covered area to get a closer look from the back of the boat. When he returned, he was grinning.
"There's a bloke in there that has this kind of cone and he's speaking through it and its like got a sonorous charm on it or something!"
"Oh, that's a microphone," explained Hermione.
Everybody wanted a look so they crowded into the covered area and watched the male announcer. They listened for about a minute and then Ginny asked in a hesitant voice.
"Is everything he's saying French?"
"No," replied Hermione, "There is some French but there's also English and I think there's some German too,"
"There is and Italian and Spanish," said Draco. "No, I don't know all those languages," he then said, noticing their open-mouthed expressions, "I just recognise some of them because some of the people that visit our manor speak those languages."
"Cool," said Ron. He smirked suddenly. "Do you reckon that means that man is more intelligent than Hermione if he can speak several languages?"
Everyone laughed as Hermione hit him over the head.
About ten minutes later, the students noticed the boat was turning around. As it approached a bridge, the announcer began speaking very fast in French making kissing noises. Draco and Hermione listened and grinned.
"When you go under that bridge, you're supposed to kiss," sniggered Draco, noticing Harry and Ron go red. "I think it's traditional or something!"
Well tradition must be upheld thought Ron and Harry, with more than a little blush on their cheeks. As the boat got nearer to the bridge, their cheeks got even redder until they were positively crimson, which Malfoy watched with delight.
As the tourist boat sailed underneath the bridge, Harry and Ron gathered all their courage and kissed their respective crushes on the cheek.
As light dawned on the boat again, four out of the six students were blushing and they all had goofy little smiles on their faces.
"Well finally," muttered Malfoy,
"It's about time," agreed Neville, "Come on, let's go back to our seats."
Towards the end of the boat trip, strange music came over the walkie-talkies. "Hermione, is that the can-can?" he asked,
"Yes," confirmed Hermione, "It was composed around here I think."
"What's the can-can?" asked Ginny,
"It's a famous Muggle dance," said Harry, "Want to demonstrate Hermione?"
Hermione looked around and saw the virtually empty platform and nodded. She and Harry got up and they linked arms.
"One, two, three," whispered Harry.
On the count of three, both students began humming the tune and kicking their legs up in synchronisation.
Everyone else watched in amusement and one by one, got up and linked arms and joined in the dance. They were having so much fun that nobody noticed that the boat had stopped and Professor's McGonagall and Lupin were watching them, laughing hard.
"I think you ought to put on a show at Hogwarts!" chuckled Remus.
The six students stopped dancing immediately and turned to face their teachers, flushing heavily.
"That was very good," said Professor McGonagall, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes, "now, we have half an hour until lunchtime and there's a gift shop over there if you're interested…or there's an empty space next to the minibus where you can practise your dance…"
Remus snorted. "I thought for a minute that I was on the River In-Seine by accident!"
Embarrassed and hot, the six students traipsed in the direction of the gift shop, ignoring their teacher's laughter.
The rain had begun again by the time lunchtime arrived so they decided to eat their rather crusty baguettes inside the minibus. Harry was distinctly glad that it wasn't his turn to clean the minibus out that evening. The mess of crumbs was unbelievable.
At half past two, the Hogwarts group trailed over to the base of the Eiffel Tower. Everybody was slightly overawed by the sheer size of it and Draco and Hermione looked slightly apprehensive. Harry had changed his mind about the Eiffel Tower: however shabby it had looked from a long distance, it looked pretty impressive close to. They went and stood in the centre, underneath the Eiffel Tower and glanced curiously at the four enormous bases. There were long queues protruding from three of the bases, which appeared to have lifts going up and down the legs and the other leg had stairs going up, which a fair number of people were climbing up and coming down.
Remus cleared his throat. "Right, you have two and a half hours to do what you want on this site. Meet back here at five o'clock. Is everybody clear?"
The students nodded and the teachers left.
"I want to go up to the top!" said Ron, enthusiastically and Harry and Neville nodded.
"I think there's a charge to use the lifts," Hermione noted, "Or we can walk up."
"No way!" said Draco, "It's miles high!"
"Actually," said Hermione, haughtily, "It's only 324 metres high!"
"I'd like to go in one of those lift thingys," Ginny said, "They looked really fun!"
"Well, ok," said Harry, "Let's go check how much it costs."
Taking the lift right to the top would cost each of them ten euros seventy and they all agreed it was an acceptable cost. They made their way to the end of one of the long queues and settled down to wait.
"Hey look!" said Neville, after a while, "Up there on the first platform, there's two figures waving down and I swear it looks like Professor's McGonagall and Lupin!"
The others strained to see. "Yeah, it does look like them. Let's wave!"
They all lifted their arms and waved widely at the two specks way above them and Harry took a photo with the camera Remus had bought him.
"They must have walked up," said Ron, knowledgably,
"No shit, Sherlock!" said Hermione, prompting a laugh from Harry and puzzled looks from the others.
"Did you just swear?" asked Ron at the same time as Ginny asked, "Who's Sherlock?"
As the six students got closer and closer to the first lift, Draco and Hermione seemed to be getting very pale.
"What's up?" asked Harry, as he saw their white faces,
"Nothing! I'm just fine!" replied Hermione, in a very high pitched voice.
Harry and Ginny frowned but said no more as it was their turn to get in the lift. It was an average sized lift with several small windows, meaning the occupants could look out over Paris while they rose. The attendants pushed the six of them in followed by many other tourists: as a result, everybody was very squashed. The Hogwart's students were jammed up against one of the sides so they did have a very good view. The lift doors clanged shut and the lift began its ascent.
"Whee!" said Ron, gaining many strange looks, "This is fun!" Ginny nodded and leant over to whisper in Harry's ear. "Almost as good as broomsticks!" Harry nodded slightly, trying to rid his face of the hot blush created by the sensation of Ginny's whisper on his ear. In order to distract himself, he gazed around the lift and his eyes focused on Draco and Hermione. Draco was griping the safety bar that ran around the edge of the lift, so hard that his knuckles were white. He had his eyes squeezed tightly shut and his teeth were tightly clenched. Hermione was much the same. Harry nudged Ron and gestured towards Hermione.
"So that's it!" Ron whispered. He shuffled slowly over towards Hermione. "Are you alright, Hermione?" he asked, softly.
She looked up and saw the care in Ron's eyes. "I…I'm just a bit scared of heights," she answered, shakily,
"Don't worry. You're safe here with me," Ron said, covering her hands with his own. Hermione leant into Ron and breathed out.
Suddenly, the lift came to a stop and everybody looked up. They had arrived at the first floor platform and the doors opened.
"Do we need to get out?" said Neville,
"We want to go to the top," Ginny said, loudly.
"Lift goes no further," said one of the attendants, in broken English, "You must join ze new queue!"
The lift gradually emptied and the Hogwart's students strolled along the walk way towards the next huge queue. Harry noticed Draco and Hermione kept well away from the edge and Hermione had not let go of Ron's hand.
They joined the queue, which was even longer than the previous and got ready to wait. Harry perched on top of the railings and Ginny soon followed him.
"What do you reckon?" she asked, nodding towards Ron and Hermione who's heads were very close together.
"I think it's working," replied Harry, grinning, "It really is about time!"
"Yeah," Ginny smiled, then sighed, "With all this romance going on, I wish I could have some romance!"
Harry didn't reply but blushed slightly and then blushed even harder when Ginny shuffled along the railings to him.
"Please get off ze railings, s'il vous plait!" commanded a foreign voice, suddenly.
Harry and Ginny immediately jumped down and tried to look inconspicuous. Malfoy sniggered behind his hand and Harry rolled his eyes.
"What's so funny?" he asked,
"Oh, you know," Malfoy replied, airily, watching Ginny wander away to talk to Neville, "You're almost as obvious as Weasley and that's saying something!"
"Oh, hush you!" grinned Harry, guiltily. He stopped and stared for a moment. "Merlin! How weird is this? Us two known enemies chatting and joking like we were best friends!"
"It is peculiar," acknowledged Draco, "If this ever gets out, my image as the Slytherin Ice Prince would be non-existent!"
Harry snorted and a thought struck him.
"Draco," he said, "are you afraid of heights?"
"What?" said Draco, looking around quickly, "Don't be ridiculous!"
"Alright," Harry said, "You just seemed to be pretty pale back then and you won't go near the edge,"
"Oh, Potter!" Malfoy spat, "How can I be scared of heights if I ride a broomstick in Quidditch matches?" His face was oddly triumphant as he watched Harry shrug his shoulders.
"Well, ok," conceded Harry, still puzzled.
It was half past three before the Hogwart's group finally reached the very top of the Eiffel Tower. They scrambled out of the third and final lift and ran to look over the edge.
"We're so high!" said Ginny, in awe, "I wonder what would happen if you fell of the top?"
"You'd die!" said Ron, "Don't be thick, Ginny!"
"You couldn't fall off anyway. That's what this high fence is for," Neville said, rattling the fence that ran around the enclosure.
The group moved around and gazed at Paris from the great height. They could see the River Seine flowing for miles.
"Look right down, Draco!" shouted Harry, "See how small the people are down there and look at the size of the cars!"
"Err, I don't want to thanks," muttered Draco, moving away. He turned his back on the edge and looked into the building in the middle. "Hey, there's some sort of museum in there!"
Hermione whipped round eagerly. "Let's go," she cried, dragging Ron with her, whose hand she still hadn't let go.
Harry grinned and shook his head and followed them in.
Three quarters of an hour later, they were still on the top platform. They had looked in the information section and found out how the Eiffel Tower had been constructed and the fact that only one man had died during its two year construction, which they found quite amazing. They had looked at the view from all sides of the enclosure and had a few photos taken. Ginny had discovered some toilets and they had all gone. Afterwards, they agreed that it was the weirdest place any of them had ever gone to the toilet.
"Guys, I think we better head back down now," Hermione said, "We have to meet the professors in just over half an hour."
"OK," said Neville, "Why don't we walk down this time? It'll be quicker."
"Good idea," said Draco, "but we have to get the lift down to the second level."
They joined the end of the queue, which was surprisingly short and very soon they were on the second tier and looking for the stairs.
"Here they are!" shouted Ginny, "Let's count them as we go down!"
"If you really want to," Draco said, dubiously.
"I really want to," Ginny replied, looking straight at Malfoy.
"Well, ok, then," Harry said, loudly, "One, two, three, four…"
As they were approaching the first level ("four hundred and sixteen…"), Harry noticed Hermione and Ron still hadn't let go of each others hands.
"Do you two have a sticking charm on your hands or something?" he grinned, catching them up.
They both blushed and briefly let go of one another's hands.
"So, are you two going out yet?" he asked, bluntly.
"Erm, well I'm not sure," said Ron, nervously, peeking at Hermione. She smiled back at him. "Do…do you want to give it a shot, Hermione?"
Hermione flushed even redder. "I…I think so!" she squeaked.
"Hallelujah!" shouted Harry, loudly and the other three students turned just in time to see Ron give Hermione a peck on the lips.
They cheered and wolf whistled; even Malfoy looked happy to see them together at last.
As time was getting on, they hurried down the stairs and were waiting for the professors at exactly five o'clock.
"Hello!" called Remus, strolling up towards them, "Did you have a good time?"
"Yep," said Harry, "We went right to the top on the lift and then walked back down afterwards. My legs are really aching now though because of all those steps!"
Remus laughed. "Minerva's over at that ice cream stand," he told them, "Anybody wanting one should get over there fast."
The students stampeded over and were soon happily slurping ice creams in the enormous shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
The return journey from Paris to their gite took ages because they hit all of the rush hour traffic but they finally arrived at half past seven. Everybody tumbled out of the minibus and took the football to the playing field, except for the professors and Harry, who was on cooking duty that night.
"Have you cooked before?" asked Professor McGonagall,
"Yes, professor, I've been cooking for my relatives since I was eight," Harry replied, fiddling with the apron strings.
Professor McGonagall paled and Remus looked angry.
"Well," McGonagall said quickly, "You should be ok cooking sausages, potatoes and baked beans. Give a shout if you need any help."
The two professors retired into the dining room while Harry quickly got to work. He peeled the potatoes and set them in the boiling water for twenty minutes. Meanwhile, he opened the enormous can of sixteen tinned sausages and dumped them into a large saucepan along with the brine and poured the tin of baked beans into another saucepan. When the time came, he turned the heat on and poked his head into the dining room.
"Dinner will be ready in ten minutes, professors," he announced,
"Thanks Harry," Remus said, "I'll go and collect the others." He left the room and Harry returned to his cooking. Professor McGonagall came in and took a bottle out of the fridge.
"What's that?" asked Harry, his curiosity getting the better of him,
"Champagne. Did you know this is actually the Champagne region of France?" answered Professor McGonagall,
"No," said Harry, stirring the beans, "I've never tried champagne."
"Oh, well you can try some tonight if you like," said Professor McGonagall, "Remus and I decided we'll celebrate Mr. Weasley's and Miss Granger's surprise."
"You know about that?" asked Harry, surprised,
"Oh, yes, Harry. I've been a teacher for forty years and I've picked up a few things in my time," said Professor McGonagall, lightly,
"Oh, well happy anniversary then Professor," said Harry.
They both laughed as the other students returned with Remus, laughing and full of high spirits. Malfoy set the table and then sat down with everybody else enjoying a preliminary drink of coke. Shortly, Harry yelled that dinner was ready and they all grabbed a plate from the stack on the table and lined up in the kitchen, where Harry served them their dinner before collecting his own and sitting around the table.
"Would anybody like a glass of champagne?" asked Professor McGonagall, uncorking the bottle with a loud POP!
Everybody put his or her hand up and Professor McGonagall served them all quickly.
"I propose a toast!" said Harry, loudly, "To Ron and Hermione!"
"Ron and Hermione!" echoed the two professors, Neville, Ginny and Malfoy and drank deeply while the two mentioned blushed and smiled.
"Mmm! This champagne is delicious!" said Ginny, smacking her lips,
"Yeah," agreed Neville, "And this food is very tasty. Well done Harry!"
They all congratulated Harry and finished their meal in a whirlwind of chatting, laughing and eating. Everybody was ridiculously happy just because Hermione and Ron had finally got together.
Once they had all finished their yoghurts and cleaned up, the remaining contestants in the chess tournament collected their pieces and boards and sat down facing their opponents. Hermione, Ginny, Harry and Remus all chose a seat and started cheering for whoever they wanted to win.
"Contestants are you ready?" asked Remus.
They replied yes.
"Then, let the games begin!"
After an hour of fierce competition, Ron was wearing Neville down and Professor McGonagall had half the amount of pieces that Draco did. It was beginning to be clear who would win each game.
"Come on Ron!" cheered Hermione. Ron looked at her and smiled sweetly, blowing her a kiss, which made everyone else feel slightly sickened.
"Check!" said Neville, suddenly, beaming,
"What?" shouted Ron, "How come?" He scanned the board frantically, desperately trying to think of a good move to make. Hermione was watching with her nails digging into her cheeks, much like in the First Tournament of the Triwizard Tournament.
Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall had lost a further two of her pieces and there was a thick covering of white powder covering the board from where Draco's chessmen had been particularly savage.
Draco was currently studying the board with utmost concentration on his face. Minerva watched him nervously, well aware that she was very near defeat.
"Aha!" muttered Draco and directed one of his pieces to a specific square. Professor McGonagall sucked in a breath and moved a figure before realising her mistake.
"Checkmate!" said Draco, as his Knight knocked the professor's King over with a miniscule cry of success.
"We have our first finalist," boomed Remus, "Mr. Draco Malfoy will play the winner of this match in the final!"
Ron had managed to regain his composure and trap Neville's King into a corner. With a few more moves, he managed to defeat Neville and become the other finalist.
"Good game, Neville!" Ron said, shaking Neville's hand,
"Yeah, you nearly had him beat because he was too busy making gooey eyes at Hermione," giggled Ginny, shaking her head.
"Shut up, you!" said Hermione, once again blushing furiously.
The students got up from around the table and Ron, Neville and Draco repaired their broken chessmen before retiring upstairs and congregating in the boy's bedroom.
"What a day!" sighed Neville, "I'm knackered!"
"Me too, I am falling asleep as I sit," yawned Ginny,
"It's probably 'cause you're so little," said Ron, resting his head against the wall,
"I am not little, Ronald!" snapped Ginny, "I am only a year younger than you are!"
"You tell him, Gin!" said Harry,
Ron's head snapped up, "Hey, whose side are you on, Potter?"
"I'm defending a lady's honour," Harry explained, smirking,
"Ginny is not a lady!" said Ron,
"Hello, I'm here you know!" said Ginny, loudly, waving her hand in front of their faces.
Hermione giggled and then stood up, stretching. "Well, I'm off to bed!"
"Night," said everyone and Harry added, "Sure you don't want Ron to come with you?"
Hermione's shriek of "HARRY POTTER!" was drowned out by a loud gale of laughter. It echoed through the gite and out the partially opened window into the ears of the local French habitants, who wondered what those crazy English people were up to now.
Thanks to hypa4evr, emmaline of trebond and luckycharms445. Three reviews is an all time low for this story and it's kind of depressing!
Review please. Constructive criticism is gladly received.
