Though Voldemort hadn't made any strokes after the attack on Hogwarts, many parents didn't think it safe to send their kids back. Sirius and Mrs. Weasley were among those parents. Harry had protested against transferring. If he wasn't in the country, then how would he be able to help fight? Sirius had put his foot down. Told him that he wasn't about to put the only family he had left in danger. Of all the times to be a responsible adult, he chose now. Roger and Beatrice had agreed and were dismayed to find that Hermione would not be continuing her education. She had sent everyone letters that she was dropping out of school, but would be staying with friends and family until Fleur's wedding that December.

Along with it, she sent copies of professional Quidditch matches, which Ron, Ginny, and Harry were excited (and envious) about. Most of them were Viktor's matches, including the preliminary for the World Cup the first week of August. Of course, word was that teams were on edge about an attack like the last World Cup, and so there was talk of pushing the final back another year while security measures were discussed.

Hermione said that Viktor and Esperanza pushed for that in an effort to raise awareness of the Death Eaters.

It was weird to think that she wasn't going to school at all. Harry always thought of her as the sort to graduate from Hogwarts and then go to a Muggle University for a law degree. Dropping out… it was unthinkable. For her at least. That attack must've really scared her.

Harry was at least glad that he was still going to school with Ron and Ginny.

Sirius had bought a house down the street from the Delacours and bribed some people to push the dual citizenship for all of them so that they couldn't be forced back to Hogwarts by any law. Madame Maxime had convinced the school board to approve their transfer.

And now they were on the train to school. It was completely different from the Hogwarts Express. Apparently there was more than one train to Beauxbatons with the arrivals staggered out over the weekend. Gabby was starting school that year and latched onto Ginny who was happy to play "big sister" over the summer since Fleur had hidden herself away. Being the baby of her own family, Ginny was eager for someone to look up to her.

On the train, a couple people stopped by to look at Harry. His fame was persistent, even here, though some had asked if the Hermione Granger was with him. The world's youngest Grand Sorcerer. If she continued on her current track, her fame would far surpass his.

Good, he thought. I never wanted to be famous anyway. I just want people to like me.

Beauxbatons was in the Southernmost region of France, nearly along the border of Spain. In fact, the maps that had been so kindly placed in the compartments showed that Beauxbatons was located near Andorra in the Pyrenees Mountains. The tracks that the train took through the mountains had Harry turning away from the window. At least if he were on his broom he could be in control, but this was a train rattling along a mountain path! What if there was an avalanche?

Thankfully, they made it without incident to the village beneath the massive palace that made up Beauxbatons. Even from the train station it was impressive. Probably more so than Hogwarts. Brilliantly white with blue and gold rooftops and fine facades, it was like one of the castles inside the snow globes Beatrice collected.

The village was something straight out of Beauty and the Beast with winding cobblestone streets and quaint shops.

"Wow, look at this place!" Ron whispered, looking around. "They must have three times as many shops as Hogsmeade!"

There were some carriages going up to the castle, but based on the fact that one had a wheelchair strapped to the back, Harry guessed they were for the benefit of disabled students. The rest walked in a crowd. Up close, the school was almost too impressive. There were beautiful marble stairs and a gently sloping ramp all lush with peony bushes. The inside was even more grand and Harry felt quite underdressed in his jeans and t-shirt. He knew Ron felt the same. Perhaps they should have put on their uniforms. Though the students around them were similarly dressed.

"Hermione would have loved this," said Ron.

"Nia," Ginny corrected.

"No, I mean Hermione. The way she used to be when she adored everything," he said. "She would fawn over how pretty all this is. Like that Beauty and the Beast movie."

"Oh… yeah." Harry wished they could have seen her after the funeral, but they were lucky she was still sending messages through her IMNs. Word was, she had stopped speaking entirely.

Only Fred and George had been given a mission from her. They didn't say what, but had been unbelievably smug about it.

Which probably meant it wasn't that big a mission.

"This way," said Gabby.

There must have been two hundred eleven-year-olds and over a hundred more over the age of 15 filing into a room. The room itself had rows of simple, wooden folding chairs. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Gabby took their seats. Once the room had been filled, Madame Maxime stepped onto the stage. She was so tall she could have stood in front of it and they all would have seen her perfectly fine. Rather than the fine robes and furs she wore at Hogwarts, she wore simple, black robes, her black hair in an elegant bun, and a brooch at her throat. She looked like she could be the sister of Professor McGonagall.

She flicked her wand, and as she spoke in French, the words she said appeared in golden rows of text beside her. A row in English, a row in Spanish, one in French, and another in Portuguese.

"Good afternoon, students," she said, needing no spell to amplify her voice. "Welcome to Beauxbatons Academy. After orientation, those of you who have not already will pick up your schedules and rooming assignments from Monsieur Durand, who is the Deputy Headmaster. Afterwards, you will be shown to the dinner hall where you will be allowed to sign up for after class clubs."

Monsieur Durand was a well-kept man standing at a table in the back of the room.

Madame Maxime went on to give a brief history of the grounds. The building they were in now contained this room—which was where the various theater clubs met and rehearsed— as well as other club rooms. Dance halls, dueling halls, music rooms, and the like. Behind the building was a massive courtyard that doubled as the school gardens. The furthermost side contained student housing and the buildings along the longest edges had classrooms. The grounds had a Quidditch Stadium, a small zoo for Magizoology classes, hiking trails, and extended gardens and greenhouses for Herbology.

"There's so much room," said Ron while they were waiting in line for their packets. "How will we find everything?"

"Castelobruxo was bigger," said a girl behind them. She had dark brown skin and wore gold jewelry with her all-white ensemble.

Harry looked over at her. "You went there? What are you doing here?"

"I was invited for the Charms program," she said. "I only agreed because they have S.A.M.B. here."

"S.A.M.B." He knew it was at Castelobruxo… but how did it get here?

"Yes. Have you heard of it?"

"Our friend is the founder," said Ginny proudly.

The girl brightened up. "Nia is here?"

"Er, no," said Harry apologetically. "She's… taking some time off."

"Oh. Well, any friends of Nia are friends of mine," she said. "I am Leonda Morris."

"Harry Potter," he said, shaking her hand.

She didn't react to the name and gave a smile and friendly greeting to Ron, Ginny, and Gabby. When they received their packets, they were directed by signs to the eating chamber, which was in the basement. The chamber was probably as long as the building itself to accommodate the numerous students attending the school. Rather than long tables, there were round ones made of iron and glass, which were already feeding the returning students.

There were beautiful marble and wood pillars stretching up to the high ceilings which dripped with sparkling chandeliers. Carved on each pillar, nouveau wood nymphs sang sweetly while the golden instruments in the arches over the murals played gentle tunes. The murals were like windows to worlds more fantastical than this one. The only detraction to the glamor and elegance were the students setting up tables to entice other students to join their clubs.

"I'm definitely underdressed," said Harry.

He sat with his friends, Leonda, and a few other new students at one of the tables. On the china plate was a menu card and a small pencil. In the center was a vase of silk flowers, plus condiments and pitchers of water and juice.

Harry looked in the packet he picked up to find instructions for ordering meals. Mark what you want and place the card back on the plate. Please allow up to ten minutes for food to arrive and do not sit somewhere else. To request seconds, tap the side of your plate with your fork three times.

Chairs scraped against the floor as students rose to their feet. Harry looked around and copied them, seeing Madame Maxime and Monsieur Durand enter the Chamber. The Wood Nymphs and instruments quieted. The Headmistress smiled and nodded her head at her students before taking her seat at the table at the end of the hall, which must have had over thirty teachers. Once she had sat, everyone else returned to their meals.

Harry looked at his three options for dinner. Beef, chicken, vegetarian. The paper in his packet said special cards for dietary restrictions can be requested and would be colored blue rather than the soft pink these were.

As part of the welcoming feast, they were being served a five course meal and it took him nearly fifteen minutes just to decide what he wanted. Finally, he set the card on his plate and it disappeared, the tomato bisque instantly appearing in a bowl on his plate.

"Is this what we do every night?" Ron asked, stirring his potato soup and taking a bite. He closed his eyes and hummed with contentment.

"No," said Gabby. "Most nights it's soup or salad and a main course. That's what Fleur told me. You can opt out of either if you don't want it."

The dinner was amazing and filling. Ron only asked for seconds once. Mostly to make sure that it worked.

To signal he was done, Harry placed his fork and knife sideways on his plate and it was whisked down to the kitchens below.

"I'm going to see what clubs they've got," he announced.

Ron went with him and Leonda followed. There were lots of clubs. So many, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He signed up for Quidditch Try-Outs and the broom-racing club. Ron signed on for broom-racing as well, but decided he didn't want to play competitively again.

"Just let me know if you ever need an extra for a pick-up game," he said as they moved on.

Leonda broke off and hurried over to the S.A.M.B. table where three Magical Beings were standing around with pamphlets. Two seemed to be veela and the third was revealed to be a vampire when he smiled at Leonda.

There was so much to do.

Ron stopped at the Ancient Runes table. "Er, hello. Bonjour?"

"Exchange student?" said the boy manning the sign-up sheet.

"Er… yeah, but I got an Outstanding on my O.W.L. in Ancient Runes," he said. "What do you do in this club?"

"We discuss Ancient Runes," said the boy. "Plus invent our own uses for them. Care to join?"

"Er, yeah. Alright." Ron wrote his name down. "I'm not that smart."

"The more members we have, the better bid for funding we receive," said a girl.

Harry didn't join the club as he was an Arithmancy student. He wasn't terrible at Arithmancy, but he didn't think that he would want to join a club about it.

There were so many clubs it was almost overwhelming.

He stopped at a table for dueling club. He wasn't good at a lot of things, but he could fight. He put his name down for the club as well as try-outs for the dueling team, which would be the following weekend.

He and Ron talked and decided that broom-racing would probably be the only club they would do together. They didn't need fillers as Seventh Years and a quick comparison showed that they only had one class together. Charms. At least they were roommates. Harry wasn't sure how he'd feel about rooming with a stranger over the person who was like a brother to him.

"Maybe we should find our room," said Ron.

"Yeah, good idea."

They weren't the only ones with the idea. Good. The courtyard was so big that Harry and Ron decided to walk behind a group of boys talking and laughing. There were all these paths and so many interesting things to see.

"Too bad Nia isn't here to give one of her tours," said Harry. "At least we've got maps."

"Yeah…" Ron rubbed his neck. "Think we're making the right choice? Going to school instead of fighting?"

"How can we?" said Harry. "Maybe I'm the Chosen One, but Nia is the leader. And she told us to go to school so… that's what we'll do. Yeah?"

"Yeah… and you know what? We're going to do a lot of research and get a lot of skills and that way we can be useful," said Ron. "I don't know about you, but I really want to learn a lot so I can help."

"Yeah, me too," said Harry.

Their dorm was on the seventh floor, which reminded them a bit of Hogwarts. Though the rooms were different. It was like a flat. They had to unlock their door with a key.

The room was really nice. Simpler than the rest of the school anyway. The way it was situated would give them each a bit of privacy if one of them had to stay up to study and the other needed to sleep. There were two loft beds with desks underneath and two provincial style wardrobes. Their trunks had already arrived and their balcony had an owl house where Hedwig and Pigwidgeon could settle in when they weren't flying around. The floor was wood and the only sign that someone had lived there before were various stains from spells or potions.

"Mind if I have the bed by the window?" Harry asked.

"No, go ahead mate," said Ron, opening his trunk to get out his posters. "Didn't Nia have a set up like this at Castelobruxo?"

"Yeah, but she was by herself," said Harry. "I don't think I would like that arrangement."

"Me neither."

Harry sat down in his desk chair and went through his packet. He tacked up his schedule on the cork/white erase board Roger and Beatrice sent him as a gift for his birthday and read through the orientation packet.

"Looks like… laundry pick up is every Friday," he said. "Room inspection is at the end of each month. If your score is less than acceptable, a detention may be issued. No crafting of spells, potions, or anything else may be done inside dorms, please take it to an approved classroom with permission from a teacher. No unauthorized pets are allowed in the dorms. Pets must be cared for by the student."

"Guess there's no house-elves here," said Ron. "I wonder who cooked our dinner then."

"Maybe people," said Harry. "Viktor said that they had a human staff at Durmstrang. I think it was mostly because house-elves couldn't stand the cold."

"Oh, yeah, makes sense."

Harry took out a picture Nia had given him. It was him, her, and Ron. They had gone to their old hang out at the tree before finals started and she insisted on taking a picture. It had been dipped in the solution to make it move. Harry and Ron had been joking around. Nia just smiled, nestled between them. He put it up and took out the small picture he, Cedric, and Hermione had taken when she took them both to the arcade. Had it only been four years since then? It seemed longer than that.

That was one of the memories he used when making his patronus. He'd never had so much fun before. Cedric had told a joke that sent him and Hermione into stitches before the flash went off. He put it next to the recent one and frowned. Her smile wasn't reaching her eyes. He supposed the last time it did was the last time she and Cedric were together. He wished that he could have done more to bring him home. He was famous, why couldn't he have strong-armed the Ministry into pardoning him? Letting it go? Stopping the stigma against werewolves?

"Hey Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"I think tomorrow I'm going to see if I can sign up to help with S.A.M.B.," he said.

"Yeah, alright. Good on you, mate. I… I don't think I'll have the time to worry about it, but when we're done with school I'll help with it."

"Nia would like that." Harry finished setting everything up. He'd never done that before but this place was so unfamiliar he just didn't know what else to do with himself.

Maybe tomorrow things would be different.

The following morning, Harry and Ron got dressed in their uniforms. It was all powder blue; high-waisted trousers with a darker blue sash and a white puffy-sleeved button down shirt. Rather than a long rope they had a little satin caplet that tied in the front.

"We look like idiots," said Ron.

"At least you look good in the color," said Harry. "I look… wrong."

"You know what Nia would say?"

"What?"

"You can rock anything if you aren't a little bitch about it."

They broke into fits of laughter.

"Well," said Harry. "Into the fray."