As you can imagine, dinner was cut short after that. Many of the Hogwarts students though, were too amused to care.
The same couldn't be said of our hosts. For the most part. Naturally, there were many of the Beaubaxtons students that were amused at the trick played on their fellows.
Many were outraged on the other hand however. This included most of the staff, who looked at me and the rest of the Hogwarts cohort with disapproval.
Madame Maxime had a stern expression on her face, but seeing as I was sitting so close to her, I was able to see the amusement in her eyes.
I hid my own reaction. I was amused yes, but also impressed. The twins never ceased to amaze me, both with their ingenuity, but also their cunning.
They'd have made good Slytherins I think to myself in amusement. Unlike their mother, I actually believe that their talents should be honed.
What they did tonight was no simple magic. I doubt any of the Seventh Year potions students could have matched what they did.
Which makes me glad that Snape no longer teaches them. Their talents would have been wasted on his biased tutelage.
It's for that and other reasons, that I've decided to take them under my wing. Enchanting basics, quality potions ingredients and personal tutelage on advanced magic.
Don't get me wrong, they aren't magical powerhouses, but oftentimes, skill is more important than raw magical power.
Only Bill is aware of their lessons with me. He too joins in sometimes. He's well aware of the threat on the horizon that we'll be facing.
Unlike his parents, there's a ruthless practicality in him. The cruel fate of his uncles haunts him. Gideon and Fabian Prewett, the younger twin brothers of his mother.
Like Fred and George, they too had potential. They never got the chance to realise it though. They were unprepared for the true realities of battle.
Having promise is not enough. That talent has to be honed. The Prewett twins were not only outnumbered, but outmatched as well.
Six Death Eaters were dispatched to kill them. They were only able to wound two of them, before they were killed by the rest.
I've watched the twins grow up. Fred and George are not cruel, but they do have a propensity to cross the line sometimes. The trick they played on Ron with the spider when he was a toddler was proof of that.
Therefore it's best that they are provided with targets. I do not believe children should have to fight adults. It's precisely that which pissed me off, when I heard about what happened with Quirrell three years ago.
Unlike Dumbledore though, that doesn't mean that I'll tolerate Death Eater sympathisers among my students. That's just asking to be stabbed in the back during a crucial moment.
Thus, a highly trained force of students to deal with their fellows when the time comes.
When I say deal, I don't mean kill, that would be ridiculous. But subdued and captured. There's a long abandoned part of the dungeons, that I've slowly been restoring.
War will come to Magical Britain again. When it does, I intend for Hogwarts to act as it always should have. A safe haven.
I intend for the school to house as many of the magical population as it can. Which turns out to be a lot.
The Founders wrote many fail-safes and features deep into the wards. One of which is the possibility for physical expansion of the castle itself.
In other words, we can add new halls and towers to the existing structure and they will automatically be fully protected by the wards as if they had always been there.
During my ruminating, the Banqueting Hall has been slowly emptying. I give assurances to the Beaubaxtons staff that I will deal with the twins.
As I leave with the last Hogwarts students and staff remaining, I tell Bill that he will be responsible for deciding the punishment of his brothers.
Bill grimaces. Likely knowing that if the punishment isn't satisfactory, all three of them will have to face the wrath of their mother, Mrs Weasley.
I wince just thinking about it. I can only imagine her reaction if she were here. She'd have likely berated them before everyone here.
Fred and George may seem glib and careless most of the time, but even they have limits. In their minds no doubt, being humiliated infront of the Slytherins would be bad enough, but add all the French students and it would have been bad.
I snort softly as I hear Bill laying into them. I put this out of my mind however. Tomorrow we're going back home after all.
Once there, I'll have to fend off many people who were critical of this trip. Chief among them being the Minister and his Undersecretary.
They vociferously oppose my plans to broaden the horizons of the students. Unfortunately for them, the law is on my side. As are the parents.
That was a surprise in and of itself. The fact that many of the more conservative purebloods are in favour of what I'm doing.
Some genuinely want their children and grandchildren to receive the best education possible. Others however, only support my plans because Dumbledore opposed it.
It still annoys me to think that my idea of taking the students on trips was actually brought before the Wizengamot and was debated upon by the members.
Dumbledore and Fudge working together to try and undermine me. Both however have their detractors which makes for strange bedfellows.
I feel like groaning, but I don't. The position of Headmaster is far from just being an administrative job.
There is so much politics involved ! I didn't know. Couldn't have known. Dumbledore made it look easy.
That was part of his image though. Being unflappable. In reality, things couldn't be further from the truth, but I digress. Surprisingly, sleep comes easy to me that night.
When I wake up the next morning, I feel refreshed. Initially that is. Not long after I get out of bed, a house elf appears and comes bearing a note in elegant calligraphy.
It's from Madame Maxime, who wishes to speak with me. I can't help but roll my eyes. Two guesses as to what this is about.
If those two red-haired menaces weren't my best friend's little brothers and if they didn't have such untapped potential, I would be way more annoyed.
I forego a shower and simply clean myself with a charm. Then I dress and head over into Beaubaxtons.
It goes about as well as I expected. Not. The Deputy Headmaster spends a few minutes making subtle and not so subtle comments insinuating that I'm not qualified to hold the position that I have and that my inexperience is the reason my students feel that they can act out.
I fight the urge to challenge the pompous fool to a duel. Then we could see which of us isn't qualified. I might need Madame Maxime's help later on, so there's no point in needlessly making enemies.
I will remember this though. As I leave the office and head over to the Banqueting Hall, I smirk. I'll make sure that Fred and George leave him a parting gift.
He already thinks poorly of us and has been looking down his nose at us since we arrived. A bit of retribution is exactly what he deserves.
With that comforting thought in mind, the poached salmon I indulge in for breakfast is especially tasty. The Headmistress of Beaubaxtons seems suspicious of my good mood, but thankfully, she doesn't question it.
After breakfast, the students are given free run of the grounds and the staff of the school.
I however decide to take things easy. Beaubaxtons, unlike Hogwarts, had more than one lake. They were smaller however. Which made things easier.
I was in the mood for a swim so I went to one of them. I chose one which had no creatures or plants in it. It was clearly made through magic and wasn't natural. The water was too cold at this time of the year though. Luckily, I was no muggle. I summoned a dozen pebbles and enlarged them.
Then I engraved a line of runes on each of them and fed them a substantial amount of magic. When I finish, the runes were glowing.
I then banish them into the water. My control is perfect and they spread out evenly.
I wait for a minute or two for the water to warm. In the meantime, I remove my shoes and socks. That done, I transfigure my robe into a pair of shorts.
I place my wand into my holster and then I leap into the water. The feeling of the water on my skin is refreshing and the swim relaxes me.
Sadly it doesn't last. I'd been using a variation of the Bubble-Head Charm so that I could swim below the surface of the water.
That way, I'd hoped not to attract any attention. In vain it seemed. When I surfaced, giggling answered me.
When I looked around, I saw a number of the older students watching me swimming. Mainly girls, but there were more than a few Beaubaxtons boys watching as well.
I dunked my head to hide my slightly flushed cheeks and then I cast a nonverbal, wandless Fumos.
Quickly, fog shrouded the lake and hid me from view. I quickly swam towards the edge of the lake. I could hear the student's cries as they walked into each other.
As soon as I stepped out of the lake, I cast a drying charm and then transfigured my swimming shorts back into my robes.
With a few flicks of my wand, a nonverbal Ventus brought a light breeze into existence. At the same time, my socks and shoes were summoned to me. I quickly donned them and made my escape. I was halfway back to the school when the fog cleared completely.
I turned around and waved sarcastically at the pouting teens and then I resigned myself to the company of others as I made my way to the library again.
As it turns out, I'm lucky. I'm able to find a secluded corner in the library where I can read a pilfered book on Enchanting. It's handwritten by Perenelle Flamel.
There's a section of the library accessable only to staff here. Almost like the Restricted Section at Hogwarts. We were shown where it was, but were told that seeing as we don't work here, we cannot gain access to it.
Unfortunately for them, I happen to know a teenager with a very impressive invisibility cloak. After borrowing the cloak from Harry yesterday, I snuck into the library at night.
It is a remarkable magical creation. No spells seem to catch onto the fabric, which is very useful.
Once I bypassed the detection wards, it wasn't all that difficult to disable the protective spells on the books. I took the book on Enchanting and replaced it with a copy.
Since then, I've been using a Dicta-Quill to copy everything down. The information contained in here was a goldmine. It finally puts to rest a few magical concepts which I was unsure of.
Perenelle has lived for centuries so it's only natural that she should be well practiced at our craft.
There's no such thing as complete mastery over a specific branch of magic, but some people do come pretty close.
The next few hours for me are thus spent copying the book. It's half an hour to lunch that I finally finish.
As soon as I'm done, I use the cloak again and sneak the book back to its place, then I make my way to the Banqueting Hall.
We'll be leaving directly after, so I'm not surprised that once again, our hosts have gone all out.
My lips twitch during the feast as I notice many of the older students cast detection spells on their meals before they eat it.
All good things must come to an end eventually however. At the conclusion of our meal, I rise to speak. In flawless French, I thank the staff and the students for their friendliness and hospitality.
It goes down well, with many of the Beaubaxtons students cheering. The loudest among them are the lake voyeurs and the student I suspect is half-veela.
With all of our hosts gathered outside afterwards, we board the Dragonfly and soon take off. Not long after, we start to lose sight of the school as we fly northwards, to Hogwarts, home.