Perhaps the most surprising thing about Paris was how normal everything was. Now Celestia had never been to Paris so she didn't exactly have anything to compare the current situation to but this was just wrong. Despite being able to hear the shelling, everyone was just going about their lives, almost as if there was no war going on, almost as if there wasn't just 30 miles between the city and the front lines. The theatres were still open for Merlin's sake. It was downright insulting.

Celestia cast her eyes around her at the MEF, or rather what was left of it. From the thousand men and women that had been conscripted now just over six hundred seemed to be left. Now Celestia assumed not all of them were dead. It was likely that some were in a military hospital somewhere, though some of the more injured may have been sent to St. Mungos. But even still, they had lost almost half their number, and for what? To keep the line where it was? Just how many families would be without their heir? Celestia shook her head, now was not the time to dwell on such things, she could bemoan the loss of life when the war was over, when she was safe back at Black manor, for now, she could only look forward. She supposed that was what the Parisians were doing, putting the war out of their minds.

The battered and weary battalion came to a stop outside a public bathroom, causing many to groan. Of all the entrances to the various ministries and governments of the world 'flushing' was the most hated. Many had likened it to drowning while being sent through the floo, a hell made of water and spinning. The queue moved steadily forward, and sooner than she would have liked it was Celestia's turn to subject herself to flushing. Placing her feet into the toilet bowl Celestia grabbed hold of the chain, hesitating for just a moment before pulling it.

Her journey into the bowels of Paris was far worse than she expected. It seemed words could not do justice to the sensation. It was like being drowned, and yet she could still breathe, and yet her breath only came in short, hard-fought breaths, as the vicious spinning snatched away what little air there was.

After no more than a few moments, Celestia was roughly deposited onto the hard marble floor, her legs almost collapsing beneath her and it was only the unconscious habit of walking out of the floo that kept her standing, though by the looks of it, some weren't quite so lucky.

Celestia had often thought the marble and gold in the British ministry was overindulgent, but even that paled in comparison to the French ministry. Almost everything was made of gold, the chandeliers, the legs and base of chairs, the grates in the fireplaces, the only things that weren't were the base of the room and the pillars that held up the ceiling, but even they were made of the finest marble, pure white with golden veins running through it, almost the exact opposite of the deep black marble of the British Ministry. It was frankly eye-watering and quite foul to look at.

Now Celestia came from one of the wealthiest and most powerful families across the entirety of the British Isles, both muggle and Magical, and even she had never seen as much wealth as was on display in the French Ministry. A rather nervous aid came in, gesturing for them to follow. The MEF was led through a tour of the subterranean palace until, at last, they came upon the throne room.

The room was enormous, one could easily fit a giant in the room, both standing and lying. Sat upon an opulent throne hewn of gold sat a dead ringer for her Grandfather. It was rather unnerving. Their eyes met as she walked in and a look of fury overcame the French Monarch and he began shouting angrily at her, though what he was saying she had no idea. One of the guards at the side grabbed her roughly by the arm and dragged her out of the throne room and into some kind of reception room where she was roughly deposited onto a chair. The guard stepped back standing with his back resting against the door, staring at her, his eyes watching her every move.

What followed was perhaps the most uncomfortable few hours of her life. The guard did nothing, said nothing and just stared at her, at one point she was convinced he'd actually died but as she went to shake him she found a wand pointed at her throat. Raising her hands in a sign of surrender she slowly backed away.

Eventually, the door opened and Carrow came in, gesturing for her to follow. "When were you going to tell us you were related to the French Monarchy?"

Confusion was written on Celestia's face for a moment before clearing. "That would explain a few things."

"You didn't know?"

Celestia smiled slightly "Great-Grandfather didn't like to talk about why we had to leave France or really anything about his youth here. He'd say it didn't matter since it was all in the past, guess the main branch doesn't see it the same way." Celestia sighed "What did he want anyway?"

"Well, my French isn't the best but the gist of it was that he's sending some of his army to help replenish our ranks and that he's going to outfit his own battalion. Honestly, the man doesn't seem all there."

"Not many in the Black family are."

"You seem fine."

Celestia smiled at him, the deranged and hopeless in her eye sent shivers down his spine "Some of us are just better at hiding it."

"R-right well, if you follow the rest of the troops you can get yourself settled into our new accommodation, us officers have a meeting with Cavendish."

Celestia nodded and moved to join the rest of the group.

Celestia flopped down onto the rather uncomfortable bed, here eyes drifting closed. The past two days had been exhausting and hectic. War was nothing like she'd thought it would be. Muggles had changed a lot in the past 200 odd years. It really put things in perspective, how the muggles had to fight and work for everything they achieved, constantly moving forward and striving to improve all while the wizarding world sat on its arse, content with the status quo. If she survived this she'd do something about it.

Celestia was shaken awake a few hours later. Blinking groggily she glared up at Pomfrey who had woken her.

"Cavendish wants us to assemble in the courtyard."

Groaning, Celestia pulled herself out of bed and made her way into the courtyard, hoping beyond belief they didn't have to do drills or something. Relief flooded her as she saw there was no order in the ranks. Joining the khaki hoard, Celestia found herself next to one of her squad's sharpshooters, a childhood friend of hers by the name of Odelia Greengrass. Greengrass looked her up and down before quirking her eyebrow. Celestia looked down at herself and realised just how filthy she was, she'd known she was dirty, sleeping in a damp hole would do that, but she didn't realise just how bad it was. Her uniform was creased to hell and covered in blood and soot, looking at her you'd never suspect she was a noble. Celestia just waved her off and turned towards the front, where Cavendish stood atop a wooden platform.

"Right you lot, I've just got your new deployment. High command is planning an offensive on the Ottomans so we're sending half of you to help breakthrough. I hope none of you get seasick otherwise it's going to be a long journey. Your COs know which squads are being sent to the front, the other half of you are staying here to help train the new French troops, God only knows they're going to need it. Those of you taking part in the invasion are expected to be here by 0600 hours tomorrow." With that Cavendish left.

Celestia and Greengrass pushed through the gathered troops to find Carrow. They found him talking to the rest of the squad, noticing their arrival he nodded. "Right, now that we're all here I have some bad news. We're part of the invasion force. You'd all best get some rest, you'll be needing it."

As Celestia walked back to the Barracks they'd been assigned she couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. If the Germans, a relatively new state by her accounts, could do what they did, what could the Ottomans do? She didn't know what she would face, but she knew it would be bad.

A/N: Well there we go, another chapter. Next chapter they're off to Anzac Cove to take part in the infamous invasion of Turkey known as Gallipoli. Next chapter will also the Australians and New Zealanders, though as a heads up I'm not even going to attempt to write any accents in this fic.