Chapter 1:

Disclaimer: Well, I don't own Fleur Delacour nor Beauxbatons academy. But I own Johann and Conrad. And I don't own any of the songs in the story.

Ok, don't be scared by the summary. You'll understand it as soon as you get in the end of 1st chapter. I hope you like it)

Welcome to hell a.k.a. My life

Here am I, staring at her, listening to Aerosmith's Just Push Play for the third time and mouthing the lyrics, as usual. Every day is the same. "Love me, Jaded" a low whisper came out of my mouth, to my own surprise. I wasn't planning to sing the song out loud, 'cause everything you do that draws attention in this snobbish school is an excuse for "cool" people to mock you 'till the end of the week.

I'm Conrad Sconfox, a 16 years old boy, in my 6th year of school in Beauxbatons Academy, the most awful place to study in the whole planet. It's full of dumb people who are so sure of their "greatness" that they simply ignore the other people. I prefer to be ignored, actually, 'cause when I'm not, it's even worse. Well, I've learnt to live with this. They are just a bunch of bastards that can't find something better to do than annoying normal people's life.

Anyway, I'm a drummer in a rock band, called Drakma, and in a mixed styled one, named Heat Fusion and I practice during weekends in a friend's house in the local all magical village, Stranfraise. He has a nice drum kit and he usually lends me it, since he became a bassist. We also play in the local bar some muggle rock songs. Our favorite is The Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Called Love". It's a killer song and the lyrics are very nice actually.

I'm a songwriter also, but I limit myself by doing only the instrumental part in my computer. I'm kinda good at it and my work is well seen in places we play. Yeah, I'm sure this is the good part of my life, in terms. The bad part is when I have to come back here, for school.

Well, I have nothing against the school itself, I guess, except for one thing: they teach in French and, though I understand everything they say, I don't speak it fluently, as most people here. I speak with a certain difficulty, a lot of pauses and a bunch of English words and expressions in the middle. This surely drives native people nuts, so I prefer to not speak at all, with some exceptions. I was born in Scotland and English's my first language. I attended a muggle school there 'till I was nearly 10 years old and then my parents moved to a house near Geneva, in Switzerland. And as Beauxbatons was the best school near, I was bound to study here. Such a bad luck, isn't it? I really preferred being in Hogwarts now, but, unfortunately, that was not my decision.

I'm considered a nerd around here, due to my high averages and the quantity of books I usually carry. You probably assumed that my posture isn't the best since I walk every day with 5 books in my backpack. I'm really a bookworm, I confess.

Well, I'm supposed to explain how's the school and all, 'cause I think you don't have the faintest idea. Ok, let's go then: the school's a palace, which was built after Hogwarts and Durmstrang. It's a beautiful place, fully decorated with enchanted ice sculptures and famous paintings, which gives the school an air of art gallery. Like other famous schools, it's divided into three houses, which are named in French. I'm a Chouette (owl, in French), which means, I'm in Saivert's house. Saivert symbol is an owl, 'cause his founder, Duke Richard R. T. S. … Saivert, who really does have a lot of middle names, was considered to be a wise wizard and he did have an owl as a pet, which was very loyal to him. Well, I suppose you're curious about the names of the two other houses. They are: Wolfgang's house (Panthères) and Feliecius' house (Dragons) .Now let's go outside, which I think is the most beautiful part of the academy.

The grounds outside the school have a little enchanted garden-maze, which always looks different, no matter how many times you've been there. The maze holds the most beautiful flowers of the season and the arrangements are always well done. Well, I'm a flower appreciator, what should I say? The front doors lead to the lake, to the quidditch court, one of the most famous in France, to the greenhouse and to the cliffs not to far away from the school, where you can be delighted with the vision of the bluest sea in French territory. They have also a fountain in front of the doors, with Beauxbatons symbol, two wands crossed and their top expelling water. It was really a beautiful place, but the people certainly ruined the school, the bunch of "I'm pure blood and French, so I'm better than you" bastards. Well, in the rest, Beauxbatons is just like the other schools.

Changing the subject, I'm supposed to describe myself too, so you can have an idea about my appearance. Ok, then. Here it is: I have green eyes, 175 cm in height, I weight around 65 kg, I have not-too-long dark blond hair, it hangs almost by my shoulder, I don't know how to explain, 'cause my fashion vocabulary sucks. I have well toned muscles, especially in the arms and in the chest. I wear glasses to read and I'm usually dressed like a normal student, in Beauxbatons light-blue robe. Outside school, I prefer to wear something more casual, like jeans and white T-shirt or no T-shirt at all.

But, before I end the subject me, myself and I and other things related to me, you're bound to ask me the question: why do you compare your life to hell? It sounded so nice actually (people do say that, unfortunately). Ok, this part requires a lil' bit of imagination: imagine being in a place where people force you to speak their language, even though you hate it and when you speak yours, they just pretend they didn't understand or worse, they turn their back at you. Not really nice, you say? Wait, there's more, of course. Pretend that the girl that you always loved has got a new boyfriend and the guy is the biggest asshole alive. You really think I'm just in purgatory? Let's add the spice now: you just have one friend in the whole school and she studies in the house that you have less classes with (She's a Dragon) and her classes are usually in the other side of the palace, so you only talk to her during break and weekend. That's a tough situation, isn't it? Well, a little of Simple Plan just fits perfectly here, doesn't it?

(A/N: I'd like to ask the French speakers to correct any of my mistakes in this chapter and in the following ones 'cause my French is worse than Conrad's) And English corrections will be welcome too, since English's not my first language and I don't have a beta reader for this story Thank you in advance D. Now, on to next part of the chapter)

The Flower of the Court

Okay, back to the girl now. There's always a girl in stories, but the main difference is between my life and stories: in stories, the guy ends up dating the beautiful girl and she can't be more in love with him and in my life obviously, it won't happen. Why, you said? Because, guess what? If you risked saying she's the most popular girl in the whole school, you couldn't be more accurate. Ok, but what on earth has "a flower of the court" have to do with it? Isn't that the title of this bloody chapter? Well, it is, actually, but is also her name, Fleur De la Cour, Flower of the Court: same thing, different languages.

Well, Ms. Delacour is possibly the most beautiful girl in school. She's a long blond hair, which shines so beautifully when the sun caresses it that I often say it's actually silvery blond. Her skin is blessed with a light Cotê d'Azur tan and it's flawless, at least in the parts that I saw, which I can assure you that are no big deal. Her eyes, melted aquamarine pools, reflect her emotions intensely; they are her soul's mirrors. Passion, sadness, fear, and happiness: it's all printed there in an old fashioned way, you just have to learn how to read it. Not that I know it already, 'cause it takes time to learn and you have to actually drown in the aquamarine to discover its secret. And this is something I can't afford doing. However, I'm still allowed to dream, I hope.

Surprisingly, Fleur's a Chouette too and I'm bound to watch all my classes aware of her almost disturbing presence. She's also in 6th year and she's a really good student. Usually she knows everything, but people are so engrossed with her appearance that they barely listen to what she's saying. And sometimes, even the teacher is included in this statement. I wouldn't like to be her. I believe she deserves the attention she has because of her looks, but she also deserves attention for other qualities. Maybe she considers that a kind of hell and I don't know. The only thing I know is that if I were her for one week, I'd kill myself. I, like the normal people that I know, enjoy when people listen to me, which isn't so rare. I'm plain and skinned, so I can't distract people at all.

I often run into her at the library and she's usually reading Defense Against the Dark Arts books, which I assume that is her favorite subject. Though I don't like to be at the library while she's there, due to obvious problems of lack of concentration, she looks so nice there, so spontaneous. She usually ties her hair in a low, messy ponytail and she puts her glasses on. I was shocked when I saw her like that for the first time, but then I realized: that was the real Fleur Delacour. And I fell in love with her, just like that.

Lately, I've been through problems of jealousy. She's got a boyfriend now. Great, isn't it? Well, it's needless to say that I don't like to see them together. The first time I did, Renata, my best friend, was with me. She said I scowled and stood paralyzed for a few minutes, in the middle of the Entrance Hall. What I felt in that moment was almost unexplainable. I felt the blood rushing in my veins, faster and hotter. And it fed my nerves with adrenaline; the rational parts of my brain stopped working properly; I scowled deeper and my breath got faster. I was about to approach the couple, but, fortunately, Renata woke me up in time. That one was close.

I was thinking now. The beauty is always loved by a beast, isn't it? But I'm still in doubt about who's the beast in the whole story. I hope it's not me.

Prince Charming? No, better.

An unpopular guy like me has to have a popular roommate in stories, doesn't he? Well, in that case, I'm no exception: I have simply the most popular guy in the whole school as roommate: Johann Lancaster. He's a nice roommate, though he wasn't supposed to talk to me (popular people usually don't). He's talkative and we often chat in English 'cause, guess what? He's from a traditional English family, which usually features in the History books for being one of the families of the War of the Roses. He was born in Manchester and his parents moved when he was 5. He's a funny guy and this year he turned out to be one of my best friends.

I think it's a little strange to be his best friend, 'cause girls just love him and ignore me completely. Not that I mind, but he says that its a little boring to be teased all the time: the girls keep chasing him; giggling at him; gossiping about him; saying he is the perfect guy. The majority would die for a kiss. It must be boring, but I think I'll never know. Anyway, I'm not the kind of guy who likes so much attention.

Friday I'm in love, as usual

The class finished earlier and I was alone in our' room. I turned my CD player on and it started playing the jazz CD that I'd put in earlier. Ella Fitzgerald sounded magnificent in that shiny day, but I needed something faster: I picked up "Awake", from Dream Theater. I was a little bit high, and nothing like Petrucci's distorted guitars, Rudess's dense keyboards and Portnoy's unique drumming style to calm me down.

Today I had the pleasure to sit beside Ms. Delacour. Well, it all happened like this: I sat in my usual place, third desk in the far left row. I was totally sleepy and I couldn't wait for the lunchtime, cause I was starving. I opened my book lazily, mouthing Friday I'm in Love. Well, the funny think is: today is really Friday. Well, continuing: I was there, happily, chanting, "I don't care if Monday's black, Tuesday, Wednesday, heart attack. Thursday never looking back 'cause Friday I'm in love" and I felt someone sitting beside. The whole classroom glared at me 'Oh my… What did I do today?'

I watched Ms. Minte enter the classroom for another transformation class.
My eyes wandered in the classroom, searching for the silvery-blond locks that I adored. I couldn't find her. I began to get worried. Everyone was in class and she looked pretty healthy in breakfast. Then I froze. The only place I didn't look was the desk right beside me.

"Oh my God" I whispered, feeling myself pale. Then I breathed deeply, as if I was trying to absorb some courage from the air and turned to face her. She was perfection in person, really. And she looked even more beautiful that morning.
"Hello" she whispered 'God, help me, I'm going to die here' I thought. I felt a rush of blood in my cheeks. Damn, I was blushing. This class was not going to end well. "Hi" I greeted her back, feeling a slight tremble on my voice
"I thought you wouldn't mind if I sat here" She added in English, with a cheerful smile
"I really don't" I added quickly. I was quite happy that she spoke in English. I thought she was going to be very arrogant but she turned out to be a lovely girl.
"I don't like this class at all. It's so boring" She rolled her eyes, grinning and I smiled. Her strong French accent sounded wonderful to my ears and her blue eyes… wow.

I still believe that I'm dreaming. Maybe I really am

Ok, this it the 1st chapter. I'm working on the 2nd one already (this story is addicting. I just love writing it). Well, have a nice day, people. See you in the next chapter.
Notes: Ella Fitzgerald is a jazz singer; Dream Theater is a metal/progressive band.

Well, I'd like to thanks Nightsky once more for her awesome job correcting my English and TheAgonyofBlank, for reviewing and correcting the War of Roses part.
Well, see ya, folks!

Song I'm listening right now:Ella Fitzgerald – Always True to You in My Fashion; The Cole Porter Songbook, vol. 1 (I love this song!)