Hogwarts in France

Chapter Six

Wednesday

Disclaimer: Nothing you might recognise belongs to me.

Everybody slept late the next morning so it was half past nine before anybody even opened their eyes. One by one, they dragged themselves through the shower and sat down to breakfast, yawning widely.

Once everybody had eaten, Remus stood up to address the group.

"Good morning. I trust everyone slept well after our exciting day yesterday," he began, "We don't have a busy day today; all we have planned is a trip to a local village and then a barbeque tonight. As the trip won't take long, we have decided to remain here for what is left of the morning and go out after lunch. Is that acceptable to everyone?"

Everyone nodded or mumbled their consent and then exited the room once Remus had dismissed them. Only Neville remained behind with Remus.

"Remus? I don't suppose there's anyway of getting hold of an owl today is there?" he asked, shyly, "I just wanted to write to Sacha."

"Ah, you're in luck there, Neville. Professor Dumbledore is meant to be sending me a letter today so you are welcome to use the owl when it arrives," said Remus, gathering some pieces of parchment together,

"Oh, thanks," answered Neville. He grinned and jogged up the stairs.

"Guys!" he called when he got to the landing, "Remus said we can use an owl to send letters to the Beauxbatons lot!"

"That's good," said Hermione,

"Why? We only saw them yesterday," Ginny said, "It's not like they're going to have forgotten us already!"

"I just miss Sacha," said Neville, softly.

There was silence for a moment before Hermione broke it.

"I think I will write to Céline," she said, before going and collecting her stationery.

The six students all wrote to their new friends from Beauxbatons. Hermione wrote to Céline as did Draco. Harry wrote to Monique, Neville wrote a long letter to Sacha and Ron penned a quick scrawl to Fabrice mainly talking about the Chudley Cannons. Ginny couldn't decide who to write to so she addressed a letter to all six French students.


An hour later, Hermione was still writing and the other five were beginning to feel restless.

"I know," said Harry, "Let's go and have a game of football until lunch,"

"Yeah," said Draco, "Come and join us after if you finish, Hermione,"

"Actually, I'll keep Hermione company," Ginny said, "You boys go. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Well, that isn't a lot," muttered Harry,

"Oi!" shouted Ginny, playfully.

The four boys took a look at one another, grabbed the football and ran.


The four young men fell panting onto the grass in a heap. They had just finished their football game where nobody really knew who was on who's team. After breathing heavily for a few moments, Ron leaned up on one elbow smirking.

"So, Neville? What was that with Sacha?" he asked.

Neville went pink and muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" asked Ron,

"I said…" Neville stammered, "I like her."

Cue catcalls from the other three boys in which Neville turned from pink to crimson.

"I'm glad for you," Harry said, "You deserve it,"

"Thanks Harry. I hope you get Ginny soon," Neville said, innocently.

Draco and Ron started laughing all over again while Harry tried desperately to think of something smart to say.

"Shut up, Ron! I'm not the one snogging Hermione all the time!" he said.

Now Ron went red and Draco looked around at the three blushing boys in amusement. He sniggered loudly and said, "Look at you all. You're bright red!"

Ron raised one eyebrow and said coolly, "Then I suppose the 'I'll miss you lots Céline' and 'Will you dance with me, Céline?' were purely friendly?"

"Well, we'll all just have to face it," Harry said, "We've all found girls on this trip who we fancy the pants off."

"I hope you don't mean that literally," said a voice.

The boys turned and saw Ginny and Hermione strolling casually towards them.

"Oh, I don't know, Hermione," said Ginny, slyly, "I sure wouldn't mind!"

Everybody gaped at Ginny in part amusement and part astonishment.

"Ginny!" gasped Hermione, "Anyway, Remus sent us to tell you firstly the owl has arrived so we can send our letters and secondly, lunch is ready so come back to the gite now."

Everybody got to their feet and raced back to the gite to collect their letters and attach them to the brown owl that was waiting, perched on a kitchen cabinet drinking from a small bowl of water that Professor McGonagall had provided. Lunch was on the table and the six students quickly sat down and grabbed half a baguette each and some filling and crisps. They were silent for a while because they were chewing and nobody had the bad manners to talk whilst eating.

Remus finished his meal and offered his arm to the owl, who hopped up onto it.

"I want you to take these letters to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. Give them to Madame Maxime and then return here," Remus told the owl, while opening the window. The owl hooted in reply, spread its wings and soared out of the window and immediately above the clouds in case any Muggles were watching.

By this time, everybody had finished eating and was clearing up under the watchful eye of Professor McGonagall.

"Harry! Watch out!" squealed Ginny, as Harry inadvertently got in her path, "Oh no! I'm really sorry!" She stared in dismay at the large wet patch on the front of Harry's white t-shirt.

"It's ok, Gin. It was an accident, don't worry," said Harry, wiping his hands over his wet t-shirt.

He went and changed and presently joined the rest of the group sitting in the mini-bus, wearing a dry white t-shirt.

"Is that the only colour t-shirt you own?" joked Ron, from where he was sitting next to Hermione, "or are you hoping Ginny gets this one wet too?"

"Hush Ronald," said Harry, good naturedly as Remus climbed into the driver's seat and sat down.

"Are we all here?" Remus called.

Everyone was present so he started the engine and they drove slowly through the village. When they passed the playing field, they saw two small children stand and wave at them. They waved back at Gaspard and Amandine whom they had met on Sunday.

"How long until we get there?" Neville asked, from the back of the minibus,

"About half an hour," was the reply so the boys and Ginny settled into a lively Quidditch orientated discussion while Hermione rolled her eyes, tutted and pulled out a book to read.


The six Hogwarts students wandered slowly down the narrow cobbled streets of the French town they were visiting. They had lost the professors at the minibus and arranged to meet in approximately an hour and a half at the lake. They were second glanced by most of the locals because they were talking loudly in English and exclaiming over how quaint the town was.

"It's so narrow!" Ginny said, "I doubt the minibus would be able to fit down here!"

"No," said Neville, "I expect you can only walk down here or use those bicycle things."

"Hey, stop!" said Hermione, "This shop sells postcards. Let's buy some and we can send them tonight,"

"Good idea," said Harry, "We can send them with Remus' letter,"

"What? You mean using the owl?" asked Ron, loudly,

"Shush!" said Hermione and muttered "honestly!" under her breath.

They gathered around the shops entrance and looked at the small selection of postcards available.

"Right, we'll send one to Professor Dumbledore…"

"Why?" butted in Draco, sneering,

"Because he let us come on this trip," said Hermione, "I want to send one to my parents,"

"Yeah, me too," said Ron,

"Let's share one, Ron," Ginny suggested, "Neville, are you sending one to your grandma?"

"I suppose I'd better," shrugged Neville, "This one of this town with lots of flowers should do nicely."

"Draco, do you want to send someone a postcard?" asked Harry,

"No," said Draco, "There's no point."

Five minutes later, four postcards had been selected and purchased and the group was on their way once more.

They moved down the lane until it suddenly opened into a large courtyard with many different stalls and some folk music was playing.

"It's a market!" said Hermione,

"Shall we have a look, then?" asked Neville, "We've plenty of time."

Everyone consented and they spent a good thirty minutes wandering among the varying stalls, which sold anything from very smelly cheese to brightly coloured clothes. It was as they were passing a well stocked fruit and vegetable stall that it happened.

Draco slipped on an uneven cobblestone and bumped into Ron, who was unbalanced. He fell sideways right onto the fruit and vegetable stall, which collapsed under his weight and showered him in tomatoes, oranges, bananas, carrots and God knows what other vegetables.

Everybody gasped for a minute and then, as Ron slowly sat up with fruit raining down, they burst into giggles.

"Idiot!" screamed the stall holder, a squat middle aged women with greying hair, "Mes fruits et mes legumes! Ils sont abîmés et sales! Tu es stupide!"

Harry hastily helped Ron stand up and brushed the tomato pips from his clothes while Hermione and Draco tried to console the woman.

"C'était un accident," said Hermione,

"Il est tombé, il est vraiment dèsolé madame," tried Draco,

"Say 'je suis dèsolé', Ron!" hissed Hermione, "It means I am sorry,"

"Je… suis… dèsolé," stuttered Ron, in an English accent.

It didn't seem to have any effect and the French woman kept on ranting away at no-one in particular while sympathetic people started to put the fruit and vegetables back onto a nearby empty stall. The Hogwarts students silently helped and when they had finished, they flung a last "Nous sont dèsolé!" at the woman and quickly walked away.

They spent the remaining twenty minutes looking into various souvenir shops and the boys pulled Ron into a toilet and did the Scourgify spellonto Ron's clothes, which were slightly splattered with fruit and vegetable pieces.

Finally, at just gone three o'clock, the students met up with the teachers again and recounted their story to their amused teachers.

"Did you say sorry?" asked Professor McGonagall,

"Yeah, we must have said it four times in French but she refused to listen and kept screaming like a banshee," said Draco,

"We picked up the fruit," Ginny offered, "so it's not like we ran away or anything."

"Well, it was purely an accident and you did what you could to put things right so that's the end of it," said Remus, "Now, who wants to go on a pedalo?"

"A what?" asked four of the students,

"One of those, look," said Remus, pointing at yellow and light blue plastic boats scattered around the lake, "There's pedals which you power the boat with and a steering handle so you can turn,"

"Sounds good," said Ron, "Let's do it!"

Everybody agreed so Remus went to the little office and ordered some pedaloes. A young French girl came back with him. "Right, they only have three pedaloes available at the minute- one four seater and two two seaters." He considered for a minute. "Right, if Ron and Hermione take one of the two seater and Harry and Ginny take the other and myself, Minerva, Draco and Neville take the four seater. Is that OK?"

Harry's face burned at the thought of spending a long time alone with Ginny in the middle of a lake with no escape but he nodded with the others and the French girl led them to a yellow pedalo.

"Be careful getting in," she said, with a slight French accent. She held the pedalo steady along the side of the platform and Ginny carefully wobbled into the boat. Suddenly, it appeared she was about to slip and Harry shot out his hand and caught hers, making sure she didn't fall in. They remained connected as Harry heaved himself into his seat and settled down.

"Bare feet are best to pedal with," said the French girl, "You 'ave paid for thirty minutes. You must be back 'ere by ze end of zat time period or you 'ave to pay more. Enjoy yourself." She gave their pedalo a shove away from the platform and they were floating amongst the pond lily leaves.

"Well, here goes nothing," Harry grinned at Ginny and they both removed their socks and shoes and began to pedal in synchronisation.

For a while, there was complete silence save for the splashing of the pedalo and their breathing. Then, suddenly, Harry realised he was still holding Ginny's hand and immediately his hand began to get sweaty. He winced and loosened his grip, hoping Ginny would let go. When she didn't, Harry concentrated on pedalling around the lake. They passed Ron and Hermione, who were once more glued at the lips and not looking where they were going. They then passed Remus, Professor McGonagall, Neville and Draco who were frantically trying to get out of Ron and Hermione's way. After laughing at that and retreating to a safe distance from them, Harry and Ginny resumed their silent pedalling.

"Harry?" said Ginny, quietly, "Harry?"

"Mmm?" mumbled Harry, keeping his eyes fixated on the lily leaves,

"Why aren't you talking to me?" Ginny asked, "It's weird. Have I done something?"

"No," said Harry, "It's…complicated."

"Why?" asked Ginny, tightening her grip on Harry's sweaty hand,

"Erm… well…erm, you're confusing me," muttered Harry, feeling his cheeks grow hot.

Ginny widened her eyes. "How?"

"Well, I don't know how I see you anymore!" said Harry,

"Do you need new glasses or something?" asked Ginny, innocently,

"You know what I mean!" Harry said,

"No, I don't," Ginny said, "Just spit it out, Harry."

Harry gaped at Ginny; his face going even redder; his mind frantically trying to work out what to say. He stared into Ginny's warm brown eyes and saw what Ginny really wanted him to say, how she felt and how identical it was to his own feelings.

"Ginny?" he asked, "Will you go out with me?"


When the thirty minutes were over, Harry and Ginny pedalled back to the deck and climbed out. They held hands while the others returned and while everybody bought an ice cream from the stand nearby. It was only when they were climbing back into the minibus that somebody finally noticed.

"Hey! Harry and Ginny are holding hands!" shouted Draco. Everybody immediately turned to look.

"Well, look at that," said Ginny, coolly, "We appear to be holding hands, Harry. How funny."

She smirked at him and he grinned back and then settled down into his usual seat; Ginny cuddled up next to him.

"Well, it's about bloody time!" said Ron. Everyone burst out laughing and they returned to the gite in high spirits.


After a brief trip to the supermarket to pick up burgers, steaks, marshmallows and other important goods, they returned to the gite, where the French locals seemed to be setting up a party in the front courtyard. They had a large tent which people seemed to be going in and out and the front doors of the town hall were thrown wide open. The large French woman with whom Remus had spoken to when they had first arrived came bustling over with a graceful smile on her face.

"Bonjour Monsieur Lupin, Madame McGonagall, mes enfants!" she greeted, "ça va? Are you well?"

"Very well thank you Madame Lenoir," replied Remus, easily,

"Bien. Maintenant, we are 'aving a partee zis evening in celebration of Monsieur Jourdain's birthday. 'e iz quatre-vingt-dix- zat eez… ninety een eenglish!" said Madame Lenoir,

"Goodness," said Professor McGonagall, "Well, bonne anniversaire from us to him then. We won't disturb your party any longer,"

"You can stay eef you would like," said Madame Lenoir, waving her hand,

"Oh! Can we?" asked Draco and Ron,

"I don't think so," said Remus, "We have our own barbeque to be getting on with but thank you for the invitation. Bonsoir Madame Lenoir!"

They wished her a good evening and went into the gite to unpack the shopping.

"Right, Harry, Draco and I are on barbeque duty. Come on, let's go get it fired up," Remus said, shepherding the boys down the stairs,

"You four are helping me with the food preparation," Professor McGonagall stated, "Grab an apron and wash your hands."


Forty five minutes later, steaks were sizzling on the barbeque, the garden table was loaded with plates and bowls of salads, pasta and varying other foods and the six students and two professors were sitting around the garden eating burgers in buns and chatting. Remus kept watch on the barbeque and when the steaks were cooked and amazingly not charred, he carefully carried them over to the table and sat them on a plate.

"Steaks are done," he announced, loudly, quickly taking one before they all disappeared. Almost at once, a stampede of Hogwarts students rushed over, took a steak and refilled their empty plates and glasses.

"Mmm, kudos to the chef!" said Ginny,

"That would be me," said Harry, smugly,

"Oi Potter! Remus and I helped as well! In fact, we did most of the cooking," said Draco, placing his hands on his hips.

Harry didn't answer; he was too busy kissing Ginny.

"Oh please! Don't say you're going to snog Ginny at every moment of the day like Weasley and Granger!" Draco sighed,

"What's wrong with snogging someone every minute of the day?" asked Ron, through a mouthful of steak and salad.

Draco rolled his eyes at Neville and they both shook their heads.

When everybody had finished, Professor McGonagall, Hermione, Ginny and Ron cleared up and the remaining three cleaned off the barbeque and then lay back on the grass and star gazed.

"There's the Big Dipper," said Draco, pointing into the clear sky,

"Cool," said Harry,

"Look, Harry," said Remus, "See that star there? That's Sirius."

Harry stared at the brightly glowing star and smiled slightly.

"So, Potter? What is it with you and Sirius Black?" asked Draco, yawning slightly,

"Oh, he was my god father, you see and one of Remus' best friends- my dad was the other- but he died the end of last year," replied Harry, sadly,

"Didn't he kill your parents?"

"No, Peter Pettigrew did," snapped Remus.

Draco's eyes widened. "Peter Pettigrew? He's stayed at our manor loads and at Severus' house!" He slapped his hand over his mouth. "I'm not sure I should have told you that."

"I'm glad you did," said Remus, grimly, "Hello Ginny. What do you want?"

"Can I borrow Harry for a minute?" Ginny asked,

"Oh yeah? To do what with exactly?" asked Draco, slyly,

"Never you mind," said Ginny, flushing in the darkness, "Come on, Harry."

Harry got to his feet and followed Ginny into the gite. When they got to the first floor landing, he stopped and pulled Ginny in for a kiss.

"Mmm, soft lips," he murmured, "Anyway Gin. Anything you particularly wanted?"

"Yeah," Ginny said, pulling Harry into the dining room where the others were crowded around the table, "It's Draco's birthday tomorrow and we have a card for him. Will you sign it?"

"Of course," Harry replied, taking the quill Ron offered, "Do we have a present or anything?"

"We have a cake," said Professor McGonagall, "And if we see something tomorrow, we can pick a present up discreetly."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll find out tomorrow!" smiled Professor McGonagall, "I'm sure you will like it. We saved the best for tomorrow."

"Hey Draco!" said Neville's voice, loudly from the stairs. He had been keeping watch for Draco and that was his warning to hide the card quickly. Hermione quickly put the card on a chair and sat down on it. Everybody tried to look innocent as Draco entered.

"Have you two finished snogging yet?" he grinned, when he entered, "Anyway, what's everybody doing?"

"Nothing, nothing," said Hermione, "So, Professor McGonagall when are we doing the chess final?"

"It is scheduled for tonight," Professor McGonagall replied, "Draco? Why don't you and Harry go downstairs and tell Remus."

"Good idea," said Harry, "Come on, Draco,"

"I'll come too," said Ron.

The three boys left the girls and Neville in the dining room and headed back to the garden.

"Hey Remus, professor McGonagall sent us to tell you that the chess final is on tonight," said Draco, cheerily,

"Yeah, and she would like to see you now as well," said Ron,

"When did she say that?" asked Draco,

"Erm… before you came up," Harry said, hastily.

"Oh I see," said Remus, giving Ron and Harry a knowing look, "How about you three stay out here and do…something and I'll give you a call when we're ready?"

"OK, that's fine," Harry said.

Remus nodded and disappeared into the gite.

"Well, that was odd," said Draco, airily,

"Was it?" said Ron, giving Harry a panic-stricken face, "I didn't notice anything."

"Come on. Let's play football. I'll be goalie!" said Harry.

They had played for ten minutes when a violent kick of Draco's made the ball fly over the fence separating their garden from the town hall's garden.

"Oh no!" moaned Draco.

"Eez zis your ball?" asked a French voice.

The English boys peered into the next garden and saw about three or four people of about nineteen or twenty. They were sitting against a wall and drinking from bottles.

"Yeah, can we have it back please?" asked Harry,

"Oui, 'ere," said a different voice, throwing the ball back, "Comment vous appelez- vous?"

"Draco, Harry and Ron," replied Draco, "Et toi?"

"Nicolas."

"Chloé."

"Stéphane."

"Pierre," were the replies.

"Would you like a… bière?" asked Dominique,

"Oui," said Draco, quickly,

"What's he offering us?" asked Harry,

"Beer," replied Draco,

"Oh, I dunno," said Ron, biting his lip and looking worried,

"Ron, don't worry," said Draco, reassuringly, "It won't hurt!" He accepted the three bottles of beer that Stéphane passed over and expertly opened all three using his teeth.

"Something tells me you've done this sort of thing before," said Harry, grinning,

"Of course," said Draco, giving a beer to Harry and Ron, "We Slytherins get drunk often. Severus even joins in sometimes and he always has a batch of hangover potion ready,"

"Cool. We should really do that," laughed Harry, "Well cheers boys. Here's to the rest of a brilliant holiday!"

They clanked bottles and took a deep swig.

"It's really nice!" said Ron, in a surprised tone,

"Yeah," said Harry, taking another gulp.

Draco grinned and the three boys steadily drank that bottle and another three each that Pierre provided them with before Remus came out to find them.

"Harry! Ron! Draco?" he called,

"Mmm, Remus?" said Harry, "hello!" Ron giggled furiously.

"O…K," said Remus, slowly, "What have you been doing?" He glanced around and his eyes came to rest on the twelve empty bottles. "Oh no, please say you didn't!"

"We did, Remus!" snickered Harry, "Beer tastes very tasty!"

"Yeah, it does!" said Ron, grinning widely,

"Oh, at least it wasn't Fire Whisky," muttered Remus, "Come on, boys. Stand up and let's go inside."

The boys stood with difficulty and swayed around where they stood.

"What's going on, Remus?" asked Hermione, who had just come outside with Ginny, "It's time for the chess final."

"Actually Hermione, I don't really think Ron and Draco are fit enough to play chess tonight," said Remus.

Ron giggled again. "Hey Hermy! Do you think I'm fit enough?"

Hermione cast a startled glance at Remus who shrugged. "Somehow they've managed to get hold of some beer and they've drunk four bottles each."

"What a load of idiots!" said Hermione, grabbing Ron by his arm and propelling him into the house.

Ginny giggled and did the same with Harry, who smiled innocently at her, leaving Remus to bring in Draco, who was slightly less drunk than Harry and Ron due to experience and the empty beer bottles.

Professor McGonagall would not be impressed.


Thanks to Queenlover (thank you), griffindor-girl12, hypa4evr (it's ok), vegetarians will rule, Leosidekick224, seekerchic211 and Clopinette (thanks for the advice and offer- we're obviously not taught the right stuff in French classes. I'm British by the way).

Updated as of 31August2005 with help from Clopinette.

Review please. Constructive criticism is gladly received.