Arrival at Beauxabatons
Carina, Gabrielle and Fleur all stood on the platform where the train departed that would take them to Beauxbatons, it was situated in the Gar du Nord, the only way to enter beside apparition was to run at the wall between platforms 5 and 6, and since Gabrielle was too young for apparition they had enter the station this way. It was 10:20 and the train departed the station at 10:30, so they had to hurry up and board the train if they wanted to get good seats.
Quickly, Mr and Mrs Delacour gave them all hugs and then wished them well, "Au revoir, amuse-toi bien à l'école et essaie de ne pas avoir trop d'ennuis cette année." ("Bye, have fun at school and try not to get into too much trouble this year".)
Carina smiled at this, and Fleur and Gabrielle blew their parents a kiss. Despite this heartfelt goodbye, Carina couldn't shake the very small pit that was growing in her heart, she loved her uncle Regulus, however a very small part of her that she tried to repress still wished that she could have a mother and father like everyone else who would say goodbye to her when it was time to go to school, give her a hug and wish her well for the upcoming year.
The three of them then proceeded to find a compartment, after a short while they managed to find one near the front of the train with a good view from the window should they need to look out of it in order to pass the time. They all got themselves comfortable ahead of the seven hour train journey that awaited them, and Carina got out the anthology of poems that Regulus had got her as a gift over the summer, it was a tradition that she would read the other two poetry on the journey to school, Carina was unsure of how this specific tradition had started but she always obliged and read to them to pass the time by, knowing that if she didn't they would both get extremely annoyed with her. When the clock suddenly struck 10:30, the train departed leaving the chaos of the station behind.
Carina started to read poetry to the other girls, and soon enough the train compartment was full of the haunting words of Wordsworth, Shakespeare and Poe. As her words came to a halt and she stopped reading, Fleur and Gabrielle burst into a rapturous applause. Though she would profusely deny it, this made her feel truly happy and a very small part of her wanted to laugh, however she brushed them off, claiming that this was nothing special and that they should not waste their time listening to her read poetry. Fleur simply shook her off, claiming that it was a tradition that if anything had to be kept up for old times sake. After this, the girls all busied themselves with separate tasks, Fleur was studying as she had important exams at the end of the year, Gabrielle was sewing something in the corner and Carina was writing down a piece of music, she had found herself humming this melody and since then had been perfecting it until it was flawless and ready to be played on the piano.
After seven long and dreary hours, they finally arrived at Beauxbatons. The palace was truly stunning, with tall turrets of white stone, large windows that gave palace a light and airy feel and endless gardens that blended harmoniously with the gorgeous Southern French countryside. Carina smiled whilst looking around, she felt like she had properly returned to the one place she felt at home in, Grimmauld Place was lovely in her opinion at least, but it felt too close to her father, Beauxbatons was the one place that she could truly escape from her problems.
Quickly, she got into a carriage with Fleur and made her way up to the castle. In perfect formation, all of the students walked into the main hall, standing behind their seats in anticipation for their Headmistress to give them permission to sit down. Beauxbatons was extremely adamant on decorum, insisting that students only sit down when asked, ate when they were told to, moved the castle in a calm manner, kept their uniform pristine and followed all teacher's instructions at all time, anyone found breaking a rule was severely punished.
Once all the students and teachers were there, Madame Maxine entered the hall her eye searching the hall in case any student was out of line. Satisfied, she told them all to sit down, but before anyone could eat anything her loud voice called out once again, "J'ai une annonce à vous faire, cette année notre école a été choisie pour participer au Tournoi des Trois Sorciers, qui se déroulera à Poudlard pendant toute l'année scolaire. Nous nous y rendrons tous le 30 octobre. C'est un honneur et comme d'habitude j'attends de chacun le meilleur comportement. Plus d'informations sur le Tournoi vous seront données à notre arrivée à Poudlard. Vous pouvez maintenant commencer à manger." ("I have an announcement to make, this year our school has been chosen to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, which will take place at Hogwarts throughout the school year. We will all be going on October 30th. It is an honor and as usual I expect the best behavior from everyone. More information about the Tournament will be given to you when we arrive at Hogwarts. You may now begin eating.")
The dining hall erupted into a cacophony of chatter, no one could quite believe what was happening, everyone was ecstatic at the news. However, Carina felt like she was drowning, she could not believe that she would have to face her father and his friends that she knew for a fact would be there. All of Carina's previous happiness at being back at Beauxbatons, had now been murdered by this news and she knew that the year ahead of her would be absolutely terrible. Anxiety raced through her like a sharp dagger, making Carina feel violently ill. In her mind, she vowed that she would ignore anyone remotely linked to her father, in order to try and make it through the school year without relapsing.