A visit to the Delacour family
All of a sudden, Gabrielle came running towards Carina, her arms outstretched clearly waiting for Carina to catch her. Quickly, Carina dropped her trunk and caught the wild 8 year old in her arms bringing her into a hug. Hugs were not something that Carina gave people often, finding most types of physical touch uncomfortable, however Gabrielle was like a younger sister to Carina and so whenever the young girl wanted a hug, Carina happily obliged.
"Merlin, tu m'as manqué, Fleur a été malheureuse sans toi." ("Merlin, I've missed you, Fleur's been miserable without you." ) Carina smirked at this.
"Je ne doute pas de toi."("I don't doubt you.")
"Comment vous m'avez tous les deux blessé." ("How you both wound me.") Fleur replied, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, a mock expression of sadness plastered on her inhumanely beautiful face.
Carina was then pulled into another hug, but this time it was from the eldest of the pair of sisters. She was then dragged by the youngest of the pair towards their gorgeous house, whilst the eldest of the pair carried Carina's trunk despite Carina's constant protests.
After a couple of minutes, they arrived at the house that the Delacour family lived it at. In simple words, it was a stunning French manor. Situated on the outskirts of Paris that overlooked the gorgeous French countryside, with walls of white brick, white paned windows adorned with ivy, and massive columns and archways all covered in blooming wisteria that danced with life and beauty around the outside of the house. If the house was beautiful, then the gardens were ethereal, brightly coloured flowers that were dotted around in such a way that they looked as if they were from a famous painting; hedges and lawns that were full of joyous life. It was a stark contrast to the dark grey, brown and black of Grimmauld Place that Carina had been in only minutes prior.
Quickly, the two sisters led Carina to the room that she would be residing in for the duration of her stay. It was situated on the second floor, opposite Fleur's bedroom and overlooking the luscious gardens. Swiftly, she unpacked, placing her clothes in the chest of drawers and placed her makeup and toiletries in the en suite bathroom that they had provided for her. Finally, she unpacked her books and placed them on her bed so that she could read them later on in the evening.
After she had finished unpacking, Carina made her way downstairs where she was met by one of the family's house elves who directed her to the living room, she was quiet familiar with the layout of the house because she had been here at the end of every summer since her first year at Beauxbatons. In the living room, she was greeted by Mr and Mrs Delacour who hugged her, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and said hello to her. They were a kind couple who cared deeply for their daughters and for Carina, treating her as one of their own. Carina made polite conversation with them, informing them of her trip to Venice earlier that summer. Carina always loved talking to Mr and Mrs Delacour as she felt that they deeply cared for her and she knew that their house would always be there for her if she should need it.
After they had finished their conversation, Carina went to seek out Fleur, she found her in the kitchen helping set up lunch, since she knew her Fleur had always loved cooking and often busied herself with cooking many delicious foods.
Fleur smiled at her, "J'espère que tu as faim, je nous ai préparé le déjeuner." ("I hope you are hungry, I've made us lunch.")
Carina nodded at that, and then helped set up the table in preparation for their feast.
Once the food was ready and plated, the pair of them went to the dining room to eat. Carina was well versed in table manners, as part of her pure blood training she was taught exactly what cutlery to use for each specific food and course. The two of them ate their lunch which consisted of pasta with cheese, courgettes and cream.
Whilst they were eating, Fleur informed Carina of the latest gossip at school that she had missed whilst being in England.
Then in a much quieter voice Fleur said, "Je ne suis pas censé le savoir, mais j'ai entendu mes parents dire qu'il y aurait un grand événement cette année scolaire." ("I'm not supposed to know this, but I overheard my parents saying that there would be a big event this school year.")
"Je me demande ce que ça pourrait être, mais ça a l'air assez important." ("I wonder what it could be, it sounds pretty important though.")
The two of them continued eating, occasionally stopping in order to have a small chat.
Once they had finished eating and had helped the house elves clear up, the two of them prepared to go out. They had decided to go to the centre of Paris specifically to the Louvre together and since it had just gone past 2 o'clock, they wanted to leave now in order to be back before it got too late. Mr Delacour had agreed to apparate them both there as neither of them knew how to get into the centre of Paris via the metro. Despite having apparated many times, Carina still found the experience sickening and so she was hardly surprised when her body felt like it might vomit at any time.
Once they had arrived without alerting the presence of any muggles, the pair of them entered the famous art gallery. They both looked decidedly out of place amongst the countless muggles, with Carina's dark dress and tight corset and Fleur's ethereal beauty, the pair of them certainly stuck out in the crowd. They paid for their tickets and then started walking around. Whilst she was walking, Carina found herself drawn to this one specific painting. It was of a person whose face was unclear clinging onto a piece of driftwood while the sea was thrashing wildly around them, trying to force them underneath it. Carina was unsure of why she could not stop looking at it, and why she found this specific painting extremely emotive.
After a couple of hours, it was time for them to return to the Delacour family estate. Mr Delacour picked them up and apparated them back to the house.
The next day the girls simply relaxed and lounged about the house, until it was time for them to return to Beauxbatons. However, in the midst of all of this Carina could not get the painting out of her head and found it constantly on her mind.