No, she wasn't lost, certainly not! She wasn't! Her ? Lost? Never! And yet she had been circling high above the French countryside for several hours. At this altitude, the air was crisp, steam coming out of her mouth with every exhalation. Fortunately her flames were doing a good job of keeping her warm, dancing in her feathers, puffing them up with warmth, creating bluish reflections as shimmering as they were distracting in the blackness of her plumage... She glowed with pride, the potions and ointments she was applying to her plumage were working wonders. With that and her regular preening, she was sure she had the most beautiful feathers of... of... of anything! A sly smile spread across her face; she was more than sure that Fleur would be jealous when she saw her again.
She was more than happy to be going to Beauxbatons. Not only had all her friends left Hogwarts to go there too after the Scottish school had failed miserably to prove itself fit to keep its students safe. ( Seriously, at the time, in her rage, she hadn't asked herself any questions, but the troll was really a big beast, in any other situation she would have fled. And he'd eaten Hermione's legs! It was bad enough that the poor girl had no wings, but now she had to slowly learn to walk again with her magically restored legs. Maybe Nym could explain to Hermione how to make herself grow wings... but she doubted it would work, Nym could only do it thanks to her memetamophomargy, but it wouldn't hurt to try. )
What's more, she would be studying in the company of other veela! From what Astrid had explained to her, being in a mixed school of veela, humans and other beings would be an excellent way of adapting her body to the prolonged company of other auras without overwhelming her. Eventually, Astrid had said that she would be able to stay in a flock for as long as she wanted without any problems. Frankly, Myo couldn't wait to see what would happen. Given that she was going to spend Christmas on the perch, it would be a good time to gauge the effect of a term of adaptation at Beauxbatons confronted with the auras of the whole flock.
A little chirp snapped her out of her thoughts. Eldur had poked his head out of the collar of her tunic and was looking at her quizzically. He'd grown up a lot in the last few months, already no longer looking like a chick fresh from the egg, but he was still small enough to fit into her tunic or the folds of her scarf. When he grew too big for that, Myo would miss it; she loved to feel the warm feathers full of the flames of life of the phoenix against the skin of her chest. A stream of strange thoughts crept into her mind, a feeling of doubt, hesitation, images of Dursleys... "No, Eldur, we're flying much too high to be seen by Vernons, we're not risking anything." she reassured him with a smile.
She felt a sudden sense of frustration coming from the phoenix. The image of the Beauxbatons pamphlet appeared in her mind, followed by a sense of urgency. "I'm not lost!" she hushed in response, without much conviction. Myo could have sworn she saw Eldur roll his eyes at that. The sense of urgency that the little phoenix was making her feel redoubled.
"I'm not lost, but it's certain that we'll have a better chance of arriving on time with a little help." she grumbled.
It had all started this morning. Today was the day that she, Luna, Hermione, Elvetia and Nym were supposed to have a guided tour of Beauxbatons before the start of the new school year, as well as a placement test to find out which class to put them in. To do this, they were to meet their guides at Beauxbatons at 11am. The discussion centred on how to take Myo there, given that she was unable to use the floo network because her flames interfered with the magic of the chimney. The apparition option was considered for a moment before being ignored, as no one wanted the Ministry of Magic to be alerted to their whereabouts through the use of the apparition blanket.
The portkey could have been a solution, but since apparently being a veela is enough to be a citizen of Hymgaabal, and therefore an ally of the Grand Alliance, the troll affair strained diplomatic relations between Great Britain and the Grand Alliance sufficiently for the latter's countries to close their borders to magical means of transport. The trans-European magi-train line had also been blocked at the border for the same reason.
Myo hadn't realised that relations between the Grand Alliance and Great Britain were so strained... but then, it's not as if it concerned her in the least. Especially as the very notion of a border was idiotic! She'd never seen one in flight during her escapades, so why make such a fuss about stupid imaginary lines?
The discussion about the thorny question of how to get her to Beauxbatons had bored her so much that she had quietly slipped away and flown off in the direction of France... well, what she thought was the direction of France. Why on earth hadn't they just told her to fly there and join them? It was only now that she realised why this was so obvious in retrospect. She had no idea where Beauxbatons was.
Now she was lost two or three thousand metres above France, or rather what she hoped was France.
She had to admit it, she needed help. She could neither stay on the ground and risk being seen by a Vernon, nor fly aimlessly indefinitely. The idea of flying around the world as in Around the World in 80 Days came to mind, but she'd be hungry before she finished, and didn't feel like eating any of the other birds. Besides, as tempting as the idea was, she would miss the appointment at Beauxbatons.
She grimaced, she didn't like the idea, Melusine had said not to activate her necklace unless it was an emergency, and Myo wasn't sure it was really an emergency. She pondered the question for a few minutes before a little squeak from Eldur forced her to make her decision. She clutched the necklace in her hand and let her magic seep into its runes. It warmed for a moment, glowing silver before fading back to a simple silver chain.
She hesitated: should she continue to hover quietly in the direction of who knew where, or try to stay more or less in the same place in the hope that Melusine would find her more quickly. It didn't take her long to make up her mind, and she began to describe wide circles high in the blue sky, scanning the gaping void beneath her. The less she wandered, the quicker Melusine would find her.
The countryside below was very hilly, nothing like the immense cliffs, scree slopes and high rocky peaks, sometimes even snow-capped, of the Delacours' perch, but they were small mountains with rounded summits nonetheless. Some were covered by thick green forests, others by grassy meadows. Rivers flowed here and there through the valleys, like silver snakes undulating lazily in an ocean of green. In places, small villages dotted the landscape, surrounded by fields turned golden as the harvest approached. If she was in France, she must be in one of its most rural areas. Her atlas was clear on this point: even in the countryside, the majority of the country was covered with much more numerous human settlements.
If she was going to wait, she'd much rather do it above a place like this, not only because she was much less likely to be spotted, but also because she'd rather see this than the land trapped under nets of roads and mounds of black stone.
Her ears twitched as she could hear a high-pitched whistle in the distance carried by the wind. She turned her head in the direction of the sound and squinted. Over there, way off in the distance, a thin, silvery turquoise-green line was moving across the sky, heading towards her.
She let out a squeak of joy and flew towards her. Luccys! If the occamy was there, so was her lady! She flapped her wings vigorously, propelling herself as fast as she could towards Luccys. Her flames redoubled in strength, pushing her forward ever faster.
Less than a minute later, she was circling Luccys gracefully, singing with joy - not an articulate song, but more like a bird's song, with no meaning other than to express her happiness at having been found. She had never seen the occamy in this form, she must be about ten metres long, its scales glinting in the sunlight, her big wings flapping in the air, her big azure eyes riveted on hers. It didn't take long for Luccys to join her in her aerial ballet, whistling with joy as she too was overjoyed to see her again.
"Luccys! Stop your frolicking at once!" roared a voice that Myo recognised immediately.
Clinging to Luccys' back was Melusine, visibly squeezing with all her strength not to fall, glaring at her. Myo flew up to Luccys' head for a moment to stroke her muzzle before landing on her back beside Melusine.
Mélusine smacked her on the head with the edge of her hand, looking at her angrily. "What were you thinking, you sparrow-brain! You disappear like that without anyone noticing and... It's a good thing I went looking for you straight away, otherwise... " She squeezed the bridge of her nose in obvious exasperation. "And then I'm warned that you're activating your emergency collar, and I imagine the worst, poachers can chase you with broomsticks you know?"
Myo suddenly felt very offended. "I'm much faster than a stupid broom!" she declared, crossing her arms.
"That's not the point, you stupid bird! " Melusine growled. "First of all, it's common for poachers to tamper with the enchantments on their brooms to catch up with their target, but above all, you've got everyone worried! Pandora's worried sick!"
Myo stiffened, her eyes widening. "Luna..."
"Is very worried. You should apologise to her the first chance you get." Melusine sighed. "What could have gone through your little head to make you run out on us like that?
Myo looked down. "The discussion about how to get there was going to drag on and on, when the solution seemed obvious to me..."
"And did it ever occur to you that you have no idea where Beauxbatons is?" Melusine shook her head in exasperation. "Come on, tell me the real reason."
Myo made herself very small, ashamed, and said. "I wanted to fly... and I was afraid I'd have to hide my wings and legs if I had to take the train or something... Did Nym tell you how I felt at the quidditch match she took me to?"
All the anger and frustration seemed to evaporate from Melusine in an instant. She turned completely around and slid across Luccys scales until she stopped right in front of Myo, and took her in her arms, holding her tight enough to make her feel protected but not so tight as to crush her. Myo could feel Melusine's muscular build enveloping her, her arms like soft steel. If it had been anyone else, she would have taken fright and tried to run away, but... Mélusine... " Myosotis." Mélusine began in a low but gentle tone. "What Nym did was a thoughtless mistake. She should have considered your well-being before her desire to share her passion. I know it can be difficult, but I wish you could trust us to take you into consideration enough not to even consider making you suffer by hiding your wings or whatever other fears you may have."
Melusine released her embrace and put her hands on her shoulders."Look at me in the eyes, please," she asked. Myo looked up shyly. "We can make mistakes, we're not perfect, far from it. But you can trust us to always have your best interests at heart." Mélusine tightened her grip on her shoulders. "And above all, when we suggest something that makes you uncomfortable, it's imperative that you say so. Okay?... I want to hear you say it."
Myo had never really thought like that. When something made her too uncomfortable, her reaction was to flee, and only to return when the issue causing the discomfort was no longer a concern, just expressing her opinion wasn't something she thought of naturally. "I'll try..." she said after a moment.
Mélusine nodded. "It's better than nothing. I'll have you know that we could have gone to Beauxbatons in one of Svorak's travelling airships, and you wouldn't have been forced to hide your wings... " She took a pocket watch out of her pocket and opened the clasp. "We've got just enough time... Luccys! Off to Beauxbatons!
oOOOo
Luna was standing in the cobbled square near the fountain. She couldn't help swaying from side to side and letting her fingers stroke the feathers on the brooch adorning her hair as she gazed up at the sky. It had been half an hour since she, Mum, Dad, Hermione and her family as well as the Tonks and the Morelles had arrived in the large building behind her.
They had been greeted by Madame Emilie Genin, a stern-looking but fair veela with long chestnut hair that fell to her waist, two large brown wings with bronze highlights folded neatly behind her back, and dressed rather conservatively compared to what Luna had seen at the perch. She wore only a few items of jewellery and her long tunic came down to below her knees and was surprisingly plain compared to what she was used to seeing the veela she had met wearing. Finally, her hold on her aura was much stronger than Fleur's or Apolline's, so that unlike the Delacours' visits to the Rook, Dad remained completely in control of his own means, not even a trace of the glassy look he might have had in Apolline's close company. And yet, she was more than certain that Fleur and Apolline already exerted a strong control over their aura in the company of humans.
No doubt that in a mixed school like Beauxbatons, Madame Emilie had to show particular restraint... If Dad could be affected by the aura of even a contained veela, then young wizards with much less experience must be incapable of not being distracted during her lessons if she didn't take these measures. Especially as she had introduced herself as a teacher of magical beings and cohabitation. A course she felt was essential. Why didn't Hogwarts have an equivalent when there was no shortage of magical beings in Great Britain? She didn't know.
Madame Emilie had explained to them that she was at the reception building of the floo network. A large beige stone building with large windows and a sloping slate roof with dormer windows. Directly opposite was the sort of esplanade with a fountain on which she was standing. The strangest thing was that the building seemed to be lost in the middle of the forest, with only a wide winding road crossing the esplanade and passing in front of the building to indicate that the place was part of a more complex whole. The mystery didn't last long, as the explanation revealed that, for security reasons, the floo centre was located away from Beauxbatons itself and in Chouettecahier, the nearby student town.
Luna had initially been tempted to compare Chouettecahier to Hogsmead, but whereas Hogsmead was a village with few direct links to Hogwarts, apart from the fact that third years and above were sometimes allowed to go there, Chouettecahier was where most of the Beauxbatons teachers, as well as all the university students, researchers and doctoral students lived. It was not a village, but a small town, according to Madame Emilie. The other side of the road led to Beauxbatons.
After explaining all this, Madame Emilie asked where Myo was with a concern that was as sincere as it was surprising. She had never met Myo after all. Andy then came forward to explain the whole story and answer Madame Emilie's questions, and Luna took the opportunity to move away from the group to observe the undergrowth in search of creatures, but above all to get a clearer view of the sky.
For some inexplicable reason, she was sure Myo was fine, but that didn't stop her from fretting. While the grown-ups were discussing the best way to get to Beauxbatons, given the recent closure of the portkey to France, Myo had withdrawn into herself. Luna didn't notice at first, but a few minutes later she realised that Myo had disappeared. When Melusine and Luccys had gone to look for her, she had wanted to join them, but Lulu had flatly refused before leaving, telling the rest of the group to find them at Beauxbatons.
After what had happened to Myo with the poachers, and then with the Americans, Luna couldn't help but feel most anxious when Myo disappeared like that for what she presumed were long flights alone, and she was almost certain that it wasn't the work of the wrackspurts.
Myo had told her what had happened to her when Nym had taken her to the Quidditch match, had she been afraid that the journey would be under similar conditions? She gritted her teeth, she would never let anyone do that to Myo. Once with Nym was already too much, and that was because Nym didn't know any better and she desperately wanted to show Myo what she liked.
A silvery reflection high in the blue sky caught her eye. An elongated form was rapidly approaching. The sound of Luccys beating her wings caught the attention of all the others, causing them to look up. Madame Emilie let out a high-pitched small shriek at the sight of the creature and drew her wand. Luckily, Mummy put her hand on her arm to calm her down. Once Luccys reached the ground, the flap of her wings rising big clouds of dust, Lulu leapt gracefully from the Luccys' back, followed closely by Myo, who glided gently until she landed a few feet from the group. In a great cloud of white smoke, Luccys disappeared, emerging a second later to wrap herself around Lulu's neck like a scarf.
"I've captured the wrongdoer. We aren't late, are we?" She said, looking at Madame Emilie since she was the obvious authority representing Beauxbatons.
"No, you're just in time." Mum replied. "Did Myo put herself in danger?
"No, she just got lost about fifty miles south of here. Luckily she had the presence of mind to use her necklace."
Mum sighed, and Dad smiled. "At least it wasn't anything serious. I'd just like to understand what happened," he said.
A brief exchange followed, until Lulu turned back to Madame Emilie, surprised at having been ignored so far (Luna was perhaps a little offended too, she'd been worried about Myo, and she didn't even go to see her yet).
She didn't have to wait long to understand what was happening, she saw it immediately. Or rather, felt it. Madame Emilie's aura, hitherto almost imperceptible, had gained in intensity to the point of passing like a wave through her. Ted, Dad, Mr Granger, Mr Morelle and Mum all had their eyes riveted on Madame Emilie, fascinated.
Madame Emilie's eyes were riveted on Myo's, the two Veelas standing less than a step apart. Myo's aura was also more intense than usual, her flames visible between her feathers. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Myo stepped forward and hugged Madame Emilie. The latter seemed to hesitate for a moment before reciprocating the embrace. Finally, Myo stepped back and smiled: "My name is Myosotis Potter! Pleased to meet you." She said in heavily accented French.
Madame Emilie nodded slowly. "Enchanted. I'm Emilie Genin, teacher of magical beings and cohabitation. I'll be your guide for the day. I'm also the dean of the falconie, so if you have any problems, it's me you need to talk to, my darling."
"Yes ma'am." said Myo, nodding vigorously before trotting off in her direction.
Luna crossed her arms and pouted, frowning as Myo stopped in front of her. "I was worried." She said.
"I'm sorry." Myo said, lowering his head.
Luna opened her arms and waited. Almost instantly, Myo's eyes lit up, and she threw herself in her arms, hugging her with all her strength. Luna felt her eyes widen, she had just realised. "I'm jealous. You hugged her before me," she whispered in Myo's ear. Her friend laughed without loosening her grip. "It's ok, I love you." Myo whispered.
"Luna, Myo!" she heard Mum's voice calling. "We're going!"
She let go of Myo with a regret that quickly gave way to excitement. Today, they would discover Beauxbatons.
oOOOo
Myo was glad she had remembered to take her claw slippers, because otherwise she would have stopped and sat on the ground, refusing to take another step. For reasons of wards and protection, as Emilie had explained, it was apparently important that their first entry into the Beauxbatons campus should be made on foot.
After her arrival and reunion with Luna. Nym, Elvetia and Hermione had quickly joined them. Nym had sulked for a moment, telling her that if she had told her, she would have flown with her to Beauxbatons instead of getting stupidly lost. But Hermione had wisely said that even if Nym could now grow wings, she could not hope to match Myo's endurance in terms of flight. Hermione's condition was also a cause of good spirits for Myo. She now said she could walk for a reasonably long time provided she had a cane. Only stairs and slopes were still a problem for her. Otherwise, the rehabilitation was going well, even if Myo suspected that Hermione wasn't telling the whole story. At least she'd been provided with a sort of wooden flying seat with cushions that she could steer with the movements of her wand, because otherwise, even with her cane, she wouldn't have been able to walk as far. From what the healers were saying, within a few months she wouldn't need the chair at all, although the cane might remain a necessity for the foreseeable future.
The rest of the way through the woods, Elvetia was talking about her summer with her cousins, and exchanging the latest Quidditch news with Nym. Disinterested in this conversation, she and Hermione (who had once again taken Eldur on her lap and was delighted at how much he had grown, joking that she would soon no longer be able to call him a chick) preferred to speculate about what Beauxbatons would be like, and for Luna, especially what kind of creatures they might meet in the surrounding woods, Luna explaining that the fauna here would be very different from Scotland. According to her, there would be Parisettes, Sibaras, Processionaries and the terrifying Rübezahl and Phooka. Although Luna was excited to meet the latter two, Myo hoped to be spared.
The discussion turned to the Beauxbatons curriculum and how it would differ from Hogwarts, since neither she nor Luna had bothered to research and read the long, boring Beauxbatons pamphlets in detail. Much to the amusement of Hermione, who had of course already read everything there was to read about the school and was amused by their not at all far-fetched theories!
After a quarter of an hour's walk, they arrived at the edge of a huge clearing in the hollow of a valley surrounded by round mountains covered by forests. The valley could have been oppressive if one side of it didn't open onto more distant mountains following the course of a wide river. Myo was speechless. She now understood the use of the terms campus and university to describe Beauxbatons. The valley was filled with dozens of buildings of various shapes and sizes, some of medieval architecture, but many others classical or even modern. Some were even built with some sort of exotic materials that she didn't even recognise. Like the strange circular building made of some kind of ornate light blue metallic wood. Between them were numerous gardens, some ornamental, others vegetable gardens. On the other side of the valley, she could see numerous fields and greenhouses, as well as meadows with grazing cattle...
In the centre of the valley, on the banks of the river, was a large white stone castle with no ramparts, its walls pierced by large windows and, over it, a blue slate roof. The towers at its corners and between the different wings of the castle were round, also pierced with windows and topped with high, pointed roofs. The crenellations she could see were surely more ornamental than defensive.
On the slopes of one of the mountains to her right, between the trees, several large houses were visible, and further on, near the summit, a tall round tower covered with a multitude of openings dominated the valley.
Walking up and down the alleys and in and out of the buildings, dozens of people of all kinds went about their business. Although Myo had great difficulty determining the age of the mages, she had the impression that there were young and old alike. But she only saw a handful of people of their own age, or who might have been students at the secondary school part of the academy. Not surprising, as the new school year was still a week away.
She shouldn't let herself get too distracted, as Emilie was explaining to the parents that the people they were seeing were mainly students doing their masters, or researchers from the academy. That was a lot of people... and Myo couldn't help but stare at some of them. They had only been there a few minutes and she had already spotted a naga, a faun, a minotaur and three veelas. The veelas had tried to come and see her, but Emilie had interfered, saying she didn't have time and that introductions could wait. They really didn't seem happy with this answer and had glowered at Emilie before leaving, the anger in their aura making her shiver. Why were they taking it so badly?
What's more, they'd interrupted Emilie's explanation. Ah yes, so apparently most of the buildings here were research laboratories and archives. The actual teaching buildings were a little further away, with the castle serving as the administrative centre.
Myo tried not to be distracted by the group of about fifteen adorable kneazles that had just passed by, meowing and purring, especially when one of them came to rub against her legs. Especially as Emilie was explaining the different courses they would be taking and telling them about the teachers.
Apparently, Beauxbatons had a lot more compulsory subjects than Hogwarts, but went into less depth in each of them for reasons of orientation towards longer, more qualified and more research-oriented studies than Hogwarts, whose aim was to allow students to enter the workforce as soon as they left the school... (above all, to allow the children of noble and bourgeois families to marry early and to acquire the necessary foundations to take over the family business without having to go any further, leaving everyone the possibility of resuming their studies later in life.) According to Andromeda, it was not uncommon to find people who had studied at Hogwarts returning their study at Beauxbatons once adults, with their children themselves at Hogwarts. Emilie confirmed this. Luna also added her grain of salt, explaining that her Aunt Maeva did go to Beauxbatons after travelling the world to study again and ended up becoming a teacher of soul magic.
Emilie chuckled before resuming. Myo frowned, so they would have fourteen subjects in common, and would only be able to take additional topics from the third year onwards according to ICW standards. Myo thought that fourteen was already a lot of different subjects, but if what Emilie was saying about not going as deep as at Hogwarts with fewer hours for each, the timetable shouldn't be too much. And it wasn't as if she wasn't going to skip any classes she found boring anyway. For the part of the curriculum shared with Hogwarts, there was Potions, Transfiguration, Astronomy, History and Herbology. 'Defence Against the Dark Arts' was replaced by 'Defence' and 'Charms' by 'Sortilèges'. In the case of the former, it was a broader defence course covering all types of magical and non-magical dangers, and for the latter, 'sortilèges' covered a wider variety of magics than charms.
Emilie spent more time explaining the various subjects she had not been exposed to at Hogwarts. Starting with geography, an important topic because the borders of the magical world and the muggle world are not only very different, but the Academy had deemed it essential for its students to have a basic knowledge of world geography and a little more in-depth knowledge of Europe. This course served as a basis not only for all those wishing to go into politics and international relations, but also for all those involved in territorial management, with certain branches studying in greater depth the distribution of magical beings and creatures who rarely, if ever do well in society, like the harpies for exemple. Emilie had winked at her when she mentioned the seasonal migrations of certain races of veela, or those flying across the world, bordering on the breach of secrecy. Myo had blushed like a tomato: had the news of her escapade in America caused such a stir in the veela communities? If she thought about it, it wasn't all that surprising; of course Apolline was going to use her most innocuous embarrassment as an anecdote with her friends...
To her surprise, they would also be taught alchemy, as Beauxbatons preferred to dissociate alchemy and transfiguration completely to prevent students from mixing up the two disciplines. Faced with her curious gaze, Emilie gave in and launched into a more detailed explanation.
Myo had understood that transfiguration consisted either of altering the form of a material without altering its properties to obtain a permanent change, or of modifying the fundamental identity of an object into another, to arrive at an ideal of the desired object which would be maintained until the quantity of energy allocated to the transfiguration was exhausted, which would result in the fundamental identity of the object regaining the upper hand and the object returning to its initial form.
All she knew about alchemy was that it was transfiguration, but, 'more real'. Apparently, she had got it all wrong. The basic idea of alchemy was to transform one chemical element into another by modifying its most basic component elements... whatever that means. But she had understood that with alchemy, turning iron into lead was permanent, unless an alchemical process was reapplied. Not to mention the fact that alchemy could only produce pure materials. It seemed rather boring to her, what would be the point of turning lead into iron? Until Emilie started talking about alchemy's ability to create new materials that did not exist in nature, and above all to mix the properties of different elements together, and even to materialise concepts. The example she chose was that of a cushion to which would be linked the calorific properties of an ember... Myo found the idea of an eternally heated cushion extremely appealing... it would make an excellent addition to her nest. As for Nym, she seemed much more excited by the example of a fabric infused with darkness, finding the idea "cool" and "stylish", although Myo didn't really see the point.
Where at Hogwarts, magical theory was more or less scattered between charms, potions and transfiguration, at Beauxbatons, there was a dedicated subject, much to Hermione's delight. According to Emilie, it was a sort of history of the science of magic course, in which the origin of magic, its nature, its existence and the methods used to study it would be discussed. Myo wasn't sure what to think. If this course turned out to be too boring and theoretical, she felt she would not be able to stay in class instead of going out to fly and play.
Closely linked to the theory of magic was a course in ritual magic. Myo hadn't really heard of it and felt completely lost on the subject until Emilie mentioned that preening was a form of ritual magic. But also that all magic is ritual magic if we define ritual magic as magic requiring a precise set of actions to give form to raw magical energy and generate an effect on the universe. In which case, the action of waving a wand and saying Lumos was a ritual. But in the context of this course, it was obviously the definition of a ritual involving all kinds of magic requiring elements external to the mage. In which case, yes, potions and runic magic could be considered as such, but in this case it was more a question of ritual magic as high magic, magic that transcends the magician's ability by calling upon external powers such as ambient magic, ley lines, sacrifices (not human, nor even necessarily animal, objects can work, don't panic children. ) or even simply requiring the combined magic of several mages to be performed. In short, any magic with large-scale, long-lasting, diffuse effects…
Faced with the Grangers' anxious questions, Emilie gave the example of a ritual practised in this course every spring by the first years to make the fields and gardens of Beauxbatons more fertile.
They would also be taught a course in modern runes, not so much the linguistic aspect, which was more prevalent in ancient runes, as the creation of runic-activated spells and magic. She admitted, however, that modern runes are much more limited than ancient runes, which generally only allow for very precise effects and are much less versatile than the various ancient runic languages, which, while much more complex to master, allow for a much greater variety of effects and capacity to hold power. She admitted that no serious ward could ever be made in modern runes, but that they remained the most practical for simpler, more consistent effects. And a great learning tool.
And of course, Emilie rejoiced when it came to the course she would be teaching. "Magical beings and cohabitation'. Although Beauxbatons was one of the most inclusive schools for non-humans in Europe, the vast majority of students remained human, and the non-human population was fragmented into a whole host of different species. The most numerous were of course the veela, given their links with the government of the Grand Alliance. Other species were fragmented in smaller minority, including vampires, people of feral descents, matagots, a few mermaids, several species of fairies, a few werewolves, lycans, nagas, pixies and tomptes, and more rarely, half-giants, minotaurs, kobolds, gorgons and centaurs... the problem being that getting all these people to live together peacefully could be more than complicated. This class was therefore compulsory to try and break down preconceived ideas and reduce discrimination to a minimum. As well as, and Emilie put both her hands on Myo's shoulders and looked her in the eyes to tell her: The teachers of this subject had the mission of always being there and listening as experts if one of the non-human students had any difficulty. A slightly more elaborate way of saying, "I'm your ally here, if anything goes wrong, come to me".
Almost as an afterthought, Emilie added that their timetable would include a time slot dedicated to learning or perfecting a language of their choice. Hermione was already talking about wanting to learn several new languages, while she and Luna only had to look at each other for a moment to agree that just perfecting their French would be a good start.
Throughout the discussion, the group had made good progress, Emilie interrupting regularly to point out certain buildings and explain their function. They stopped for a few minutes in front of the library, a large limestone building built in the same style as the castle and at least five storeys high, assuming that the interior had not been enlarged. Myo had had to push Hermione's armchair, as she seemed to be fighting with herself against her desire to spend the whole day exploring the library. Repeating to her that she would have plenty of time to do so when she returned was barely enough to convince her to resume the visit.
At around midday, Emilie interrupted the visit in the middle of a large English styled garden to have a picnic in the shade of a big oak tree. A welcome break that allowed Myo to take off her claw slippers and massage her claws. Pandora, always far-sighted, had brought a cream, as, unlike Myo, she had probably anticipated that they would be walking a lot and that her claws would be sore. She couldn't help but coo softly at the sensation of the cold, soft cream on the scales of her claws. It did her a world of good. When she could move around the campus as she pleased, she wouldn't hesitate to just fly around, there was no way she was going to hurt her claws any more than she had to.
Andromeda had brought sandwiches for everyone, and a whole mackerel for Myo. This consideration earned her a hug, before she hurriedly swallowed the fish whole, to everyone's dismay. It was something she had discovered recently, and strangely satisfying... at least for her, she couldn't understand why Hermione and her parents looked scandalised... Hadn't they ever tried it? They should! She told them as much, and to her amazement, no one seemed interested in the idea, not even Emilie. Their losses, they don't know what they're missing.
The early afternoon passed in much the same way as the morning, with Emilie continuing to explain how Beauxbâtons worked, pointing out the functions of the buildings and places. The only thing that counted in terms of marks was the end-of-year exam, which took place over two weeks, and their results would decide whether or not they were good enough to move on to the next level. The school had its own set of rules, with the obvious things like not using magic on other students without prior agreement, and just not using any magic that hadn't been approved by at least one teacher as being mastered by the student, to avoid accidents. Apparently, problems caused by students over-confident in their ability to master new magic had been common before this rule was introduced. The story Emilie had told them on the subject was chilling. A pupil who thought he had mastered a heat spell had been disfigured for life with third-degree burns all over his body after casting it. What's more, some unmastered magic can leave residues and permanent interference, preventing healing magic from doing its job properly.
The other rules mentioned by Emilie also seemed obvious, and it seemed to Myo that the students had more freedom here than at Hogwarts, with the possibility of exploring the surrounding forests and mountains, or going to Chouettecahier at any time. Although Emilie had made it clear that more freedom also meant more opportunities to restrict said freedoms if the rules were broken, and would lead to disciplinary action.
Emilie took the opportunity to take out some booklets from a satchel and give one to each of them. As she leafed through it, Myo realised that it not only contained the school rules, but also a map of the school, enchanted to show the position of the student using the booklet. There was also a kind of study logbook with the list of the optional courses for the following years, as well as instructions and a guide to the various locations. In less than twenty seconds, with the booklet in her hands, Hermione had already managed to find the article about the library and the procedure for borrowing and returning books. Myo, on the other hand, was more interested in the section on the various official clubs.
When she asked Emilie about the clubs, she explained that the list of clubs on the document was far from exhaustive, as only permanent official clubs sponsored by at least one teacher were listed. The clubs apparently competed fiercely with each other for popularity, not only for the visibility that being officially recognised gave them, but also for the fact that the school provided an annual budget for its various official clubs to finance activities, outings and equipment.
According to Emilie, the most popular clubs at the moment were the 'Jeu de paume' club, a French magical sport that surpassed quidditch in popularity in the country. Myo didn't see much point in it, it consisted of two teams of eight on a pitch separated by an enchanted net, the referee casting a specific spell which formed a ball of magic that the players had to intercept with their wand and throw at the opposing team. If the "ball" touches any part of a player other than said player's wand, said player is eliminated. The game ending when all the members of a team were eliminated and the number of points being calculated by counting the number of players remaining on the winning team. Nym and Elvetia seemed to find the concept amusing, especially when Emilie began to explain that it was perfectly within the rules to cast spells on the opposing team, and to use magic to move and dodge, as well as infusing the 'ball' with various, more or less exotic effects.
Myo, Hermione and Luna had silently agreed that this sport was as crazy as quidditch. Especially as contrary to quidditch, it didn't even have any little golden balls for Myo to play with. While Nym and Elvetia pestered Emilie with questions about the 'Jeu de paume' and why there was no quidditch club listed, Myo quickly read through the other clubs, her gaze lingering briefly on the choir, archery, magic painting and acrobatic flying clubs. She already knew that she'd really liked the choir and magic painting, but the idea of acrobatic flight also appealed to her, so she'd have to find out more about it. The question of archery was more practical: was hunting with a bow effective? Fishing with a bow? Was it better or worse than her talons?
After passing the large greenhouses, in which a whole host of different magical plants and herbs grew, Emilie led them towards one of the mountains surrounding the valley, along a wide paved path winding between tall beech trees and thick, wide-branched oak trees. Luna was all excited about exploring the forest, until Emilie explained that they were going to see the dormitories in the boarding part of the campus.
These were made up of several fairly large buildings resembling tiny manor houses, most of which were hidden by the forest, Emilie explaining that when they were built, it had been decided to install them in this way to give the boarders more privacy and create a break from the hustle and bustle of the campus. As only a minority of students were boarders, the others preferring to go home in the evening via the french floo network, or staying at Chouettecahier, there was no need for more space than that. In all, only around 280 students were boarders, and these were mainly foreign students, or students on grants for whom a daily return home was not possible, or not advantageous. For the veela, however, the majority were boarders, as the flock grounds were not connected to any instantaneous means of travel for security reasons. For midday meals, there were several canteens and cafeterias on campus where students could get a meal, have a snack or pick up a sandwich or picnic to eat outside in the gardens on sunny days.
There were seven dormitories, one for each year of study before university, at which time students with grants could apparently have a dormitory at Chouettecahier. For about ten years now, there were around forty students per dormitory. Each dormitory had four heads, two women and two men, responsible for the cleanliness of the shared areas, morning and evening meals, as well as discipline and security. Emilie made it a point of honour to ask for the utmost respect for the heads of the dormitories, who were most often masters students or young professors without enough money, or with too many debts or personal difficulties to afford accommodation. In exchange for those responsibilities, they were given a small salary, a roof over their heads and free meals.
Luna seemed a little intimidated by the idea of this form boarding school, but Elvetia took her hand, reassuring her that they would be in the same dormitory. Nym would be in one of the buildings next door. Myo she didn't really know yet. She had vaguely understood that there was a special accommodation for veela but not exactly what it consisted of.
She didn't have to wonder for long, though, because immediately after giving a quick overview of the boarding system, Emilie pointed to the big tower at the top of the mountain. A building called the 'dovecote' where all the veela on campus who couldn't or didn't want to return daily to the land of their flock were housed. Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to go all the way up there, especially with their current company, Luna starting to get a bit tired, and Myo's scale cream starting to wear off. Elvetia had turned into an owl a few minutes earlier and had landed on Hermione's lap next to Eldur so that she didn't have to walk any more and had started shamelessly asking to be petted. A request Hermione was only too happy to comply with. All this under the jealous gaze of Nym and the amused eyes of her parents.
Emilie made a few circular movements with her wand as she said "solaris locus", surely an anchored spell that normally had a longer incantation and a more complex movement. Above the tip of her wand appeared a ring of golden light and a thin line of light pointing towards the sun. A series of Roman numerals made of the same golden light scrolled along the ring, and Emilie nodded. "We have around twenty minutes before the placement test begins. We should start heading for the examination room," she said.
Hermione suddenly looked very excited, while Nym rolled her eyes and Elvetia buried her feathery head in Hermione's shirt. Myo and Luna looked at each other, the moment they'd been dreading the most had arrived, not because they thought they were too bad and might be rejected, butbecause neither of them wanted to spend three hours doing tests when they could have spent that time having fun exploring the campus.
oOOOo
The castle was large, larger than she'd thought. For several minutes now, their group had been walking along a corridor with large windows overlooking a vast formal garden lined with hedges, small, finely-trimmed trees and a multitude of fountains with water sprays taking on whimsical shapes, the sunlight diffracting through the droplets to create rainbows of dancing colours. At times, the misty waters of the fountains took the form of swans with long, graceful necks, or pegasi taking flight and dissipating into the air in a myriad of colours.
Luna had slipped away to ask Pandora something, Nym was concentrating on her discussion with Hermione, and Elvetia was still in her owl form on Hermione's lap with Eldur, wishing to rest until the last second. As for the adults, they had gathered at the front of the group to ask Emilie for clarification. Something to do with security, communication and even emergencies, if she interpreted the snatches of conversation correctly.
Over the last few minutes, she had gradually found herself at the very back of the group. Especially as after walking all day, even with the cream and her little slippers, her claws were really starting to hurt, forcing her to slow down and pay more attention to how she should place her feet. She was silent, lost in thought, apprehension at the idea of spending a year here gently hitting her.
True, like at Hogwarts, she could just decide to leave and go back to living as an hermit in her tower, but this time it was different. Things had changed since then. Not only did she feel much more concerned about not wanting to disappoint after all the time all those people had invested in teaching her things during this year, than before. But also, this year would be a way of getting her used to living in a flock, and she wanted to be able to spend as much time as she pleased at the Delacours' without feeling bad! She really did! She loved them all! She missed all her sisters... And Adèle still had so much to teach her about weaving, she loved Apolline's cuddles, the doyennes' stories, the flock games, the big meals with everyone together as one family. Even with the bad memories caused by her overly sensitive aura, she missed these moments more and more every day.
Perhaps she would make friends among the veela of Beauxbatons, she had heard that customs and points of view varied from flock to flock. She admitted to being a little impatient, but that didn't stop it all from being intimidating: a new place, new people. And Beauxbatons was so much bigger, the students hadn't even returned from their holidays, and yet, just with the teachers, researchers and academics present, there were people everywhere!
A flash of light drew her gaze to the window. In one of the gardens, a particularly large fountain had just been switched on. Its jet of water rose into the sky in a twisting pattern, dividing like an infinite fractal. Shapes of birds and magical creatures formed in the fine mist of thousands of tiny water droplets rising towards the sky, flying away for a moment before dissipating in a shimmering silver cloud. It was so pretty...
She wanted to climb out of the window and play with the creatures formed by the water. To fly away into the big blue sky. Oh, the bushes were covered with pretty little red berries over there. Probably not edible, but pretty. She'd have to think about looking for a lake for fishing nearby. For some time now, she had noticed a preference for fish over meat. Rabbit stew was always good, but the tender flesh of a salmon was still superior. Was she hungry? Oh, the big fountain had gone out, the smaller ones coming back on instead. She was sure that taking a bath in the water from one of the fountains would be particularly pleasant...
Then one thing struck her: the sudden silence around her. The sound of the group's footsteps had stopped, and the voices of the discussions had disappeared. She abruptly moved away from the window and looked around, blinking. The corridor was empty except for a few white marble busts, and landscapes paintings. She could hear the sound of birds outside and the more muffled sound of fountains, but apart from that, the silence was total.
Ignoring the worry in her stomach, she trotted off in the direction they were going. With a bit of luck, they weren't far off! They couldn't have gone that far! They would soon realise she was gone. She hadn't been distracted for that long! And yet, the corridor remained desperately empty. There were several carved light wooden doors opening on the wall, but Myo didn't dare open them for fear of disturbing anyone who may be inside.
Things went from bad to worse when the corridor came to an intersection of three other corridors, also empty. She watched as much as she could, but there was no way of knowing which direction the group had gone. Her heart began to race, tears beading at the corners of her eyes. Not knowing what to do, she trotted off in a random direction. She soon came to another junction and turned left, trying to speed up despite the pain biting her talons. They must have taken these stairs, didn't they! She climbed step after step, starting to run, her panic growing. She'd find them in the end, wouldn't she?
Corridor after corridor, staircase after staircase, she ran, trying to listen, trying to find where Luna and her friends had gone without success. After several long minutes, she stopped out of breath, looking around in panic and fear. Then she realised to her horror that she was lost. Eldur wasn't even there to help her!
Before she had time to catch her breath, she heard a shout from the end of the corridor. "Hey you there! What the hell are you doing here!" A tall, menacing man, his eyebrows furrowed, dressed in dark green, his cape billowing behind him, was walking in her direction.
Terror overwhelmed Myo, she let out a high-pitched shriek and ran as fast as she could down one of the corridors opposite the man. Was he a Vernon? Was she in a forbidden place? She took advantage of a bend in the road to get out of his sight, cursing the corridor which was too narrow for her to flap her wings. Without thinking, she opened one of the doors and closed it as quietly as possible behind her.
She found herself in an office illuminated by the golden afternoon light filtering through a window, its floor and walls in soft beige tones, covered with bookcases. It smelt of old paper and tea. A thick ochre carpet covered the floor. A desk flanked the window, covered in parchments and writing materials, a quill dipped in an open inkwell. A pile of letters and envelopes lay in one corner of it. Against one wall was a large, dark wooden cupboard decorated with floral bas-reliefs, and opposite the desk was a large wooden chest.
Myo didn't have time to look any further, panic taking over as she could hear the man's footsteps approaching through the door. Not knowing what to do, she rushed to the chest. Fortunately, it had no lock and opened without any effort on her part. Piles of documents were stored at the bottom, but there was enough room for... Her feathers stood up on her back and arms, the man was close! She slid into the trunk as best she could, making herself as small as possible, wincing at the sensation of some of her feathers breaking and deforming as they were forced into this small space. She then closed the lid of the trunk as quickly and silently as she could.
Good for her, because just a few seconds later, she heard the office door open and heavy footsteps enter. She clamped her hands over her mouth, doing her best not to cry. The man advanced, mumbling into his beard. The few minutes he spent inspecting the office seemed like an eternity. She could feel drops of sweat running down her forehead and her limbs trembling.
Finally, the man seemed satisfied, and she heard his footsteps move away and the office door close. She waited until she heard no more noise before finally relaxing and letting her tears flow freely. She was terrified, lacking the courage to even get out of the chest.
After she couldn't say how long, she stopped shaking, her breathing returning to a more or less normal rhythm. She was feeling very miserable now, not only were her claws hurting, but now, her wings were hurting too, they hadn't taken well to being squeezed so tightly to get into the trunk. She felt she had to get out, try to keep looking for Luna. But the possibility of running into Vernon was too horrible for her to persuade herself to come out of hiding.
But when she finally managed to summon up enough courage, the sound of the office door opening again brought her to a halt in the trunk. A wave of terror swept over her. She could hear the person rummaging through the papers, singing in a soft, androgynous voice, the sound of a quill being drained by tapping against glass. Suddenly, the voice stopped and footsteps approached the chest. Myo held her breath. Several seconds passed, and Myo began to hope that she wouldn't be discovered in this supposedly forbidden part of the castle, filled with Vernons.
She froze, unable to move a limb, her eyes wide despite the sudden light entering the chest as the lid slowly opened.
"Hello there," the voice said.