The Welcome Feast
The journey to Hogwarts had been long, in two and a half hours they were speeding over the English channel, spotting the massive muggle ferries slowly chugging along below. As they flew over England, where massive industrial cities gave way to lush rolling fields, Cassie couldn’t help but think about her family and what they would be doing on a Friday afternoon. Once they finally crossed the Scottish border in hour five the landscape changed again, immense lochs and heather glens were peppered with tiny cottage hamlets. The air had certainly turned colder as they continued on their journey and the sky had changed from a bright crystal blue to a steel like grey.
The friends had spent the journey relaxing, chatting, reading and sleeping. When they had flown low over Hadrian’s Wall Libby had insisted she start Cassie’s makeup otherwise they would run out of time. Libby had kept it relatively natural, adding a bit of foundation, concealer and blush to her skin. On her eyelids she had brushed a beautiful silvery glitter that perfectly complimented her storm grey eyes and put mascara on to emphasise her long lashes. Next Odette had styled her hair, quickly curling it into tumbling loose waves and pinning it to the back of her head with a floral silver clip. Admiring herself in Libby’s compact mirror she couldn’t quite believe that she looked so natural yet pretty.
“You are both incredible, thank you” Cassie cried.
“I hope Glen chokes,” Libby responded, referring incorrectly to Fred Weasley yet again. This caused the whole compartment to laugh.
“Right I reckon we’ve got half an hour, who's up for a final round of exploding snap?” asked Fabian, rubbing his hands together.
Their game was again interrupted by a gentle tap on the door, Cassie quickly jumped up, smoothing out her blue silk dress before rushing over to open the compartment door. Horatio stood there patiently waiting for her, when he saw her his eyes widened a smile playing on his lips.
“You look beautiful Cassie,” he said, offering her his arm and leading her downstairs.
In the small entryway of the carriage stood Madame Maxime, stooped slightly so her head didn’t touch the ceiling.
“Ah, there you are! Our leaders! We should be arriving in approximately 2 minutes. Madame Devereux is currently organising the students into year groups. They will follow us out in single file lines.” she said hastily, fixing her hair in the reflection of one of the chandelier crystals.
Looking out of the tiny window in the door Cassie could see the rugged Scottish landscape. Below them appeared to be a vast forest, old gnarled trees appeared to be fighting each other to reach the limited sunlight. On the horizon ahead great grey mountains jutted out of the ground, their peaks hidden by the dense grey clouds. To the left a vast body of inky black water glinted as it caught the light. The castle loomed out of the clouds, a massive hodgepodge of turrets and battlements circling wide open courtyards. The small windows were ablaze with a welcoming orange glow that exudes warmth and comfort. Cassie knew that Beauxbatons was beautiful in a graceful, elegant kind of way but Hogwarts felt inviting, like returning home.
They swooped down quickly approaching the grass lawns below. The movements of the carriage had become so jerky that Cassie began to lose her footing, slamming hard into the chest of Horatio who was holding on tightly to one of the golden sconces to keep himself upright. He quickly wrapped a strong arm around Cassie’s waist pulling her flush against his body, helping her stand. Madame Maxime was holding onto the crystal chandelier trying to keep her balance, her knuckles white from her harsh grip. They finally landed, the carriage bouncing to a stop. Looking out of the window Cassie could see that the entirety of Hogwarts School stood patiently waiting for them in a massie gaggle of black robes. All eyes were on the powder blue carriage. Gently pulling herself out of Horatio’s tight grip she righted herself, running a finger through her hair to try and neaten it up.
“Right then, here we go,” Madame Maxime muttered, as the door was flung open by a lanky grey haired wizard with a beard down to his belly button and half moon spectacles balancing precariously on his crooked nose.
“Madame,” the bearded man said, holding out an arm for her to take.
All of Madame Maxime’s movements were elegant and beautiful, when she disembarked the carriage it almost looked as though she was floating. The pair stood just outside the doorway greeting each other like old friends, clearly they knew each other very well, holding each other in great esteem.
From the doorway Cassie could hear Madame Maxime say in her thick French accent, “... my students.”
Cassie knew this was their cue. Turning her head she sent a small smile towards Hoartio who stepped forward and climbed down the dainty golden carriage steps first. Cassie quickly straightened her dress and blazer and stood up straight, making sure a small smile graced her features. Taking Horatio’s outstretched hand she exited the carriage carefully and went to stand beside Madame Maxime.
“Albus, please let me introduce our acting heads of students, Mr Horatio Goodwin and Miss Cassandra Vaughn,” turning to the two students she then said, “and this is the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Professor Albus Dumbledore.”
Cassie had read about the famous Albus Dumbledore, however the man standing in front of them had not been what she was expecting. All of his accomplishments had painted a picture of grandeur and mystery in her head, however an old man appeared to be standing in front of them. An old man with twinkling blue eyes and a knowing smile.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Professor,” Cassie said politely, smiling at the professor.
“I can assure you Cassandra the pleasure is all mine,” he responded, smiling wider at her.
Behind them the rest of the Beauxbatons students were disembarking the carriage and lining up in orderly lines all staring in wonder at the castle in front of them. A freezing breeze blew across the grounds, ruffling the grass and the girls' silk dresses. Although Cassie was wearing a wool cardigan under her blazer an involuntary shiver ran up her spine as the wind nipped at her bare skin.
“Madame Maxime, would you like to lead your students inside? Maybe they can warm themselves by the fire and grab a hot drink before the welcome feast?” asked Dumbledore kindly.
Madame Maxime looked down at the two shivering students standing beside her, “That sounds like a fantastic idea, Miss Vaughn, Mr Goodwin will you please lead the students up to the castle whilst I check that the grounds keeper has everything he needs to take care of the horses?” asked Madame Maxime.
Looking at the two professors with relief plastered across her face she vigorously nodded her head. Walking briskly towards the lines of Beauxbatons student Cassie noticed that they were also all shivering, some of their lips turning the same shade as their blue uniform.
“Beauxbatons, fall in,” shouted Horatio from their place in front of all of the students, behind them the seventh year students began following the pair up the winding path to the large oak front doors. As they walked past the Hogwarts students Cassie couldn’t help but scan the crowd, looking for any signs of fiery red hair. However due to her short stature she wasn’t able to see over the sea of heads.
They were met by the doors by a podgy looking woman who introduced herself as the herbology teacher, Professor Sprout. She was wearing sage green robes covered in soil and grass stains, she had obviously tried to tame her wild greying hair by putting a brown witches hat on top of her head, ironically it had a small green shoot growing out of the top. As they walked into the entrance hall she gave each of the students a wide smile, her round rosy cheeks reminding Cassie of the lovely Mrs Weasley.
The entrance hall was massive; the vaulted ceiling appeared to be at least 3 stories up. The sand coloured stone of the floors and walls appeared to glow in the firelight of the countless torches held in brackets around the room. Immense oak double doors took up the whole left wall, whilst opposite sandwiched between two doors there appeared to be four sand timers all with different coloured precious stones inside. Before Cassie could get too engrossed in the architecture of the room Professor Sprout led them through one of the small doors into a room that appeared to have been laid out as a common room. The fire was blazing and chairs and sofas littered the room, against one of the walls a refreshment table had been laid out with biscuits and hot drinks. All of the students immediately rushed towards the fire, placing their frozen hands as close to the hot flames as they dared.
Turning towards Professor Sprout Cassie smiled, “Thank you Professor for your hospitality,” she said.
“No problem at all dear, you go and get warm, someone will come and get you before the feast begins,” the short professor said.
Once Professor Sprout had left the room Cassie wandered over to the refreshment table, choosing the largest mug out of the mismatched pile she poured herself a steaming cup of tea, adding two sugars. Grasping the mug tightly in both hands she hoped that the heat would warm her frigid fingers. She soon noticed her friends had managed to snag two sofas directly in front of the fire, rushing over, she squeezed herself in beside Libby and Bonnie, both girls protesting loudly.
“Good job Cass, you looked very authoritative!” joked Odette who was sitting across from her.
“What was the famous Albus Dumbledore like?” question Fabian eagerly.
“When do we get food, I’m starving and a couple of dry digestives are not hitting the spot,” complained Hugo.
“Geez guys, calm down. Thanks Odd, old Fabian and soon Hugo!” she rattled off like an exhausted mother.
Laying her head on Libby's shoulder, Cassie wished she could close her tired eyes and take a nap. The fire had thoroughly warmed her up, cradling her in its warm embrace, and the monotonous sound of people talking was the perfect lullaby to lull her to sleep. Just before she slipped into dreamland a voice from across the room called her name. Looking up she noticed a particularly stern looking witch standing beside Madame Maxime in the doorway. She was dressed in vintage bottle green robes, her dark hair streaked with glittering grey had been pulled back into a tight bun. Gingerly standing up and dutifully making her way over to the Professors, Cassie wondered who an earth this could be.
“Another new face Cassandra! Please let me introduce you to Professor McGonagall, deputy headmistress and head of Gryffindor house,” Madame Maxime said.
“It’s lovely to meet you Professor,” Cassie said kindly, holding her hand out for the woman to shake.
“Hello Cassandra, Madame Maxime has told me a lot about you. Apparently you are a fantastic student and loyal Head of Year,” McGonagall replied, grasping Cassie’s hand firmly.
Cassie beamed at the professor, however she still wondered why they were being introduced and why they had been talking about her. Noticing the stretched awkward silence Madame Maxime proceed, “you will be staying in the Gryffindor dormitories, alongside the Hogwarts students, remember?” she questioned.
“I have already requested your bags, along with those of your friends be taken upstairs immediately, they will be waiting for you later. I will also make sure that a Gryffidor student guides you to where you need to be after the feast,” McGonagall explained matter of factly, “Our noble house is looking forward to welcoming you.”
“Thank you Professor, I am looking forward to living and studying at Hogwarts this year,” Cassie responded.
Smiling at the girl Professor McGonagall excused herself, stating that the feast was starting soon and there was still a lot to do.
“Miss Vaugh, could you please organise the fifth years in a line according to their house. This sixth and seventh years will be entering the hall first, they have organised a small performance. Mr Goodwin, you and I will be following immediately afterwards and the fifth year students will enter the hall last,” Madame Maxime explained.
“Yes Professor, I'll go and make sure that everyone is in the correct place,” Cassie responded, rushing off to organise the students.
It took ten minutes for the entire delegation to line up in their correct places in front of the huge oak doors of the Great Hall, Cassie went up and down the line fixing girls hair and makeup whilst checking every students' uniforms. Once she was satisfied she returned to her place beside the headmistress.
“Make me proud,” was all Madame Maxime said before the doors were thrown open and the sixth and seventh years ran in. They had choreographed a dance, with students tumbling and flipping down the central walkway between two long tables.
From beside Cassie, Madame Maxime murmured “I asked them to add some magic to their performance!” sounding incredibly stressed.
Thinking on her feet Cassie whipped out her wand, performing a quick nature charm that had butterflies and dragonflies erupting from the tip of her wand. The insects flew through the halls, circling the heads of the seated Hogwarts students as the Sixth and Seventh years danced by. Looking back at the Headmistress Cassie saw her smile widely, nodding her head towards her appreciatively. Gently placing one of her giant hands on the girl's shoulder Madame Maxime nudged Cassie towards the door, it was their turn to enter. Taking a deep breath and plastering a smile on her face Cassie walked through the doors beside the headmistress. It took all of her willpower to not gawp at the ceiling high above their heads that had been enchanted to look like the night sky, with serene floating clouds and twinking silver stars. Keeping her eyes trained forward, Cassie tried to take it all in. Four long tables ran the entire length of the hall, students dressed in black robes sat on benches on either side, staring at the Beauxbatons students in awe. The stone walls had been decorated with large ornate tapestries depicting a lion, badger, snake and raven. At the front of the room under a huge window another long table ran the diameter of the room. Seated in the middle of the table, on what appeared to be a golden throne was Albus Dumblefore smiling down at all of the students, he was flanked on both sides by what appeared to be the rest of the Hogwarts faculty.
Once Cassie had reached the end of the walkway and was standing in front of the staff table she turned on her heel to face the carpet of black Hogwarts robes. Once the last Beauxbatons student reached the front of the hall the whole room erupted, the Hogwarts students were clapping and cheering loudly as Cassie and her peers bowed.
“Welcome, the lovely students of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic,” boomed Dumbledore's voice, causing another round of applause to echo around the hall.
A haughty looking girl with pin straight black hair and robes lined with emerald green sauntered over to the Beauxbatons delegation.
“Your students may sit at the Ravenclaw table,” she said, neck craning slightly to talk to Madame Maxime.
“They may, may they?” Madame Maxime questioned, obviously taken aback by the complete lack of respect the Hogwarts student had exhibited.
With a curt nod of her head the girl retreated, flipping her hair dramatically as she turned to walk back to her house table. The rest of the students at her table were wearing the same emerald and silver ties and all had the same aloof expression on their faces. Cassie took an instant dislike to them, having to remind herself that first impressions could be deceiving.
“Well we’ve been told,” mumbled Horatio from beside Cassie, causing her to snigger. The pair led the rest of the beauxbatons students to the head of the blue house's table. Cassie knew they probably had names but could only remember Gryffindor. Sitting down on the wooden bench Cassie turned to her left, a pretty asian girl turned to her smiling. She had beautifully thick straight black hair, the front had been pinned back with sweet butterfly berrets.
“Hi, I’m Cassie,” she introduced herself with a small nervous smile.
“Cho,” replied the girl, “This is my friend Marietta, we’re in fourth year,” she said. The girl beside her waved, her curly auburn hair bouncing with the movement.
Cassie smiled, “These are my friends, Fabian, Libby, Bonnie, Odette and Hugo,” she said motioning to each of her friends in turn, “we’re in fifth year.”
The two girls smiled at the group and gave them all a little wave. This was a much better first impression Cassie thought!
“Fifth year, will you be sitting your OWLs at the end of the year?” Marietta questioned.
“Yep, although I’m not sure how that’ll work with us studying here all year,” responded Cassie.
Before they could continue their conversation the doors swung open with a bang. Standing in the doorway was a group of brawny students dressed in blood red robes with fur cloaks. They all began marching into the Great Hall in time, bashing wooden staffs on the floors so harshly that white hot sparks were emitted upon contact. Suddenly a couple of male students broke away from the rest of the group, completing a complicated tumble consisting of many twists and flips. One landed directly in front of Cassie, looking down at her with a smirk he gently reached for her hand bringing it up to his lips. Sending her a cheeky wink he ran off to meet up with the rest of his friends at the front of the hall. Cassie turned back to her friends who were all laughing at the blushing girl.
“What just happened,” she laughed.
“It’s the Cassie effect, just you wait and see. You’ll have all the boys swooning,” Bonnie laughed.
“I’m confused, why do all those boys look about thirty?” pipped up Libby, a serious look on her face. Everyone around her broke out into fits of uncontrollable laughter, including some of the Hogwarts students. A couple of the older Beauxbatons girls shot her a nasty look.
The whispering reached a crescendo as a burly looking boy with bushy eyebrows and a close cropped haircut walked down the central aisle.
“That’s Krum,” whispered Bonnie and Fabian excitedly, flapping and hitting each other.
Cassie couldn’t help but laugh at her quidditch fanatic best friends. Both of them had played on the Bellefeuille house Quidditch team since their second year, they had almost passed out when the Carlisle’s had invited them to the Quidditch World Cup. Cassie however didn’t understand their excitement over the stocky boy, she faintly remembered his name from the Quidditch World Cup and could remember he was a seeker but she wasn’t sure what team he had played for.
Once again all of the students' attention was brought back to the front of the room as Professor Dumbledore stood up.
“And Welcome to our northern friends, the strong students of Durmstrang!” Cassie politely clapped along with the rest of the students to welcome them.
The Durmstrang delegation were led away to sit at the table next to theirs with the snobbish looking Hogwarts students with the green ties. The girl who had welcomed the Beauxbatons students earlier was throwing herself at the Durmstrang boys, hanging on their every word. Cassie rolled her eyes at the girl and turned her head to listen to what Dumbledore was saying, as she turned a flash of familiar orange caught her eye. Craning her neck to look over the heads of the students who were on the next table Cassie was trying to locate any familiar figures on the far table. Again she caught sight of two mops of bright orange hair, the twins were sitting with their backs to her clearly jostling and joking around with each other, laughing with a big group of friends. Instantly her heart began to pound harshly against her rib cage as a large lump began to form in her throat. Furiously blinking to prevent herself from shedding any tears she tried to turn her attention back to what was being said however she was now far too distracted. Her mind began recalling hundreds of memories from her childhood and time at The Burrow, a time with her best friends. Countless playdates and sleepovers, pranks and silly arguments all began flooding her mind.
Her trail of thought was interrupted by Dumbledore loudly shouting, “...Eat!”
Gold platters appeared in front of them out of thin air. Each was piled high with a wide selection of delicious looking foods. It appeared that the Hogwarts kitchen had been incredibly busy, a mix of traditional French foods had been added to the mix, many of the Beauxbatons students eagerly reached for them, finding comfort in the tastes from home. Cassie grabbed a bread roll from the platter in front of her and slathered it with a thick layer of butter, taking a large bite of it she tried chewing it, ultimately coming to the conclusion that everything had the texture of cardboard at the moment. Throwing the roll down onto her plate with a clatter, Cassie took the time to look around her. The atmosphere was electric, everyone was excitedly chatting and laughing, students from each of the schools were mingling and getting to know each other. Her friends had continued the conversation with Cho and Marietta from earlier, they were all discussing their OWL options and comparing the classes that the two schools offered.
“I don’t suppose anyone can see anymore bouillabaisse anywhere? This is delicious!” asked Odette, snapping Cassie out of her thoughts.
Looking up and down the table Cassie shook her head.
“Can you come over to another table with me? Please?” begged Odd, looking at Cassie with wide puppy dog eyes.
Cassie rolled her eyes at the girl, and stood up quickly. Looking at the table to her left, crowded with pupils wearing yellow ties, she noticed they had also cleared the dish of bouillabaisse. Cassie huffed slightly, their options were to head towards the table with the hostile looking snake students or to head towards the table decked in scarlet red. That was however equally as dangerous, she knew she could potentially bump into the twins and she hadn’t mentally prepared for that yet. Sighing, she looped her arm through Odettes and led her towards what she knew to be the Gryffindor table. Spotting the dish next to a bushy haired girl Cassie tugged Odette over. Keeping her eyes on the dish she refused to look up the table towards the twins not wanting their eyes to meet.
Odette bent down slightly, carefully asking the group of students that consisted of the bushy haired girl, black haired boy and a ginger freckled boy if they were done with the bouillabaisse. Both the bushy haired girl and black haired boy nodded, smiling politely at the Beauxbatons pair. The ginger haired boy continued to stuff as much food into his mouth as humanly possible, only sparing them a quick glance. Before a massive fork full of mashed potatoes could reach his mouth he did a quick double take.
“Cassie?!” he yelled, startling everyone around him.
“Alright Ron?” she laughed, “enjoying the feast?”
Ron just nodded his head, looking her up and down.
“I’ll see you later,” she chuckled, turning and following Odette back towards the table her friends were sitting at.
“They couldn’t keep their eyes off you Cass,” whispered Odette quietly.
“Who?” questioned Cassie, looking confused.
“Stupid one and Stupid Two!” laugh Odette, surprised at how gormless Cassie was.
Cassie sent the girl a small sly smile and shrugged her shoulders. Taking her seat beside Cho, she ladled a big portion of bouillabaisse onto her plate and began to happily eat, ignoring the feeling of two sets of eyes on the back of her head.
Once everyone had stuffed themselves with the delicacies provided by the Hogwarts kitchen and all of the desert platters had been magically cleared away, Professor Dumbledore stood behind the dias at the front of the hall. Cassie found it hard to focus on his speech, she’d stuffed herself silly and that combined with the warmth of the great hall had made her extremely drowsy. She could feel her eyelids beginning to droop and her head begin to drop.
Cassie was startled awake by loud booing and shouting from the Hogwarts students around them. Cassie shot Fabian a questioning look, which only made him laugh at her.
Leaning over the table so that she could hear him over the ruckus he shouted, “they’ve set an age limit on the contest Sleeping Beauty, you’ve got to be of age to put your name forward. Apparently the Hogwarts lot didn’t know about that.”
Cassie looked around the hall at the angry and disappointed faces of the Hogwarts students. Throwing a quick glance towards the Gryffindor table Cassie could see that the twins were on their feet, hands cupped around their mouths, loudly booing. Cassie rolled her eyes at their immaturity. Going back to resting her chin on her hand she tried to keep her eyes open, looking towards the front she began to pay attention to a mousy looking man with a perfectly trimmed moustache and a balding head who had stepped forward to further explain the rules.
“Do people putting their names forward have to duel in order to decide who is worthy to be champion?” asked Libby, everyone around her shrugged their shoulders, also now wondering how the champions would be chosen.
Their question was quickly answered when a ratty looking man came teetering up the central aisle, an enormous ancient looking chest in his arms. Placing it at Dumbledore's feet he quickly retreated huffing back up the aisle and exiting the hall. Dumbledore opened the chest with a click and pulled out a dusty looking chalice. Placing it on a plinth beside him he said,
“Any student wishing to put their name forward to be a Tri Wizard Champion, must have put their name into the Goblet of Fire by Halloween Eve. All champions will be chosen at the Halloween feast. But for now I can see a lot of drowsy looking faces, off to bed!”
Chuckling at the abrupt end of Dumbledore’s speech Cassie turned to the Beauxbatons students indicating that they needed to wait to exit the hall. A gentle tap on her shoulder made Cassie turn her head, Cho stood there smiling embarrassedly at her.
“It was nice meeting you all, I’ll see you around,” she said, giving the group a small wave as she left the hall arm in arm with Marietta.
Once the majority of the Hogwarts and Durmstrang students had left for the evening the Beauxbatons students stood and formed two lines following Horatio and Cassie out to the entrance hall. Waiting there was Madame Maxime talking to a short ginger haired girl who had her long hair tied up into a ponytail. Cassie couldn’t help the little screech that left her mouth as she rushed towards the young girl engulfing her in a hug.
“Gin!,” she happily squealed, jumping up and down with the excited girl.
“Miss Vaughn,” Madame Maxime said, looking at the pair with a faux disapproving look on her face. Cassie could see the twinkle in her eye and the smile she was trying so hard to conceal.
“Sorry Professor,” she mumbled, cheeks tinted with pink.
“I will take the students down to the carriage from here. The lovely Miss Weasley here will guide you, Miss Carlisle, Miss Mason and Miss Cartwright to the Gryffindor dormitories. I expect nothing but the best behaviour from you girls,” she said, a slight threatening tone in her voice.
Cassie and her friends vigorously nodded their heads as the other Beauxbatons students began walking past the group, throwing them questioning looks as they walked out the large front door. The group of girls watched the rest of the delegation retreat into the night, Fabian and Hugo throwing jealous glances over their shoulders as they stepped out into the freezing night.
Once all of the Beauxbatons students were out of sight Cassie turned back to Ginny, throwing her arms around her again pulling her into the tightest hug she could muster.
“Geez Cass, Mum would be proud!” Ginny gasped out laughing at the girl.
“Sorry,” Cassie said, releasing her grip slightly, “I’ve just missed you so much,” she squealed.
Laughter from behind her made Cassie stop in her tracks, she would know that laugh anywhere.