BeauxBatons Academy of Magic I
There is so much beauty in the world...
Agnes emerged from her sleep, streching her arms high in the air. The warmth from the sun had already envelopped the room with comforting morning light. The young girl looked around her, searching to see if anyone else had woken up. On her right, a girl with dark brown curls was still deeply asleep. She had sort of snored for the most part of the night, which had annoyed Agnes.
Her first sleep at Beauxbatons had not been the best. She had found it hard to find sleep when all around her was new, foreign, and the people she ended up sharing a room with were strangers. The previous evening, she had been placed in the Bellefeuille house, one of the three houses which categorized students at their entrance.
She looked around and found an empty bed. Someone had already left the dorm. Agnes quickly got out of under the sheets and went to the bathroom. Each dorm room had four people and one shared bathroom, which was quite nice, Agnes was not used to having to share a place with so many people. She was glad it was only her and the other three girls.
She washed her face energically and brushed her hair. The young girl grabbed her uniform she had acquired the previous day. It felt so smooth under her skin, the blue silk seemed to perfect her skin tone and embellished her blue eyes. She added her light blue hair band to clear her face and looked a bit neater. Looking at her reflection in the luxurious bathroom, she got nervous at the idea of stepping out of her room.
Although she had not had much time to befriend her roommates yet, she was still more comfortable with them, having shared a few square meter together for one night. They seemed all rather kind and polite, coming from all parts of France. One had even traveled from Belgium and had arrived one day prior.
A rumor was saying that a whole delegation was coming from Portugal that very day. Agnes silently stepped out of her room and walked along the large corridors. The sunlight of late summer had heated up the floor tiles through the windows and the young girl slightly closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying this warmth on her.
A group of students were already walking down for breakfast, and Agnes quickly ran to them. She had decided to make the first move, and was eager to make friends along her school life.
She recognized a few familiar faces among the students, especially the older ones. Indeed, she had been to a few dinners and parties where other wizard families were attending. There were a lot of pure-bloods, but more and more half-blood heritage was starting to populate Beauxbatons. Some students even had just learnt about the wizarding world, having been raised by muggles only.
- How did you find the rooms? I think it looks brilliant! I never had my own bathroom before, let along sleeping in such a large bed! And have you felt the silk sheets? Same for the uniform!
Agnes was sitting next to two muggle-born boys who seemed to come from modest families. Since they were all wearing the same uniform, it was hard to detect their social background. Agnes had always found it fascinating how muggles lived without magic. Her mother had taught her about their values and way of life. She had found them hardworking and had picked her curiosity.
- Bonjour les garçons, could you pass me the jam, please? asked politely Agnes.
The two excited boys seemed surprised someone had talked to them, and stopped in their enthusiasm for an instant, before rushing both their hands for the abricot jam.
- O-of course ! Here you go!
Agnes smiled at them.
- How was your first sleep? I had some trouble finding my way back to the dining room this morning. This place is so big! Told Agnes while spreading a large portion of jam on her bread piece.
- Right? That's was I was telling Antoine! Answered one of the boys. We had to ask one of the 2nd year mentors to escort us!
The young girl laughed at his comment. She took a big chunk of her tartine and asked some more questions on whether the boys dorms were nicer than the girls, or if they had seen any ghosts or strange things happening at night. There was indeed a rumour on a French Lord ghost checking on students at night, making sure they were right asleep and not out of bed. The three first year students started to talk about their life back home.
The boys who had done most of the talking was Named Pierre Leroy, and was indeed a muggle-born who had just learnt about wizards earlier this year in June. The other student was Antoine Deguire, and came from Bordeaux on the South West coast of France.
He had told them about how the BeauxBatons carriage had picked him up from his small house's backyard. His parents had been mortified when the flying horses had used Madame Deguire's hydrangeas bushes as the loo.
It was Agnes's first time befriending muggles and she kept asking Antoine and Pierre about their old school, the games they played and the books they read or music they liked. On that note, the three new friends followed the group of first years to attend their very first day of school.
***
But quickly, Agnes's family background came to the topic. Pure-bloods were starting to talk, and soon enough, the whole first years knew of her mother's misfortune in love. The man she had been with for one summer had left her to bear a child on her own, and had apparently married another woman a few years later. Murielle Lenoir had never lied about her situation and Agnes's father. She had told her he indeed had left right after she had told him about her pregnancy.
In Agnes's eyes, her father was a just a shadow, held through people's memory of him (disdainful, for the most part). She had never met him, but she knew he was sending some money and meaningless gifts for christmas every year. He had come forward when Agnes had turned 4 years old, confessing in a letter he had been a coward and wanted to assist in any way he could in the education of his first child.
That is when Murielle had learnt he had married someone else, picked by his parents, and had now a newborn son.
Agnes had never wanted to know more. She did not know the man, only that he was not welcome in her house, and did not seem to want to get to know his own daughter. And now everyone at school would know about her private matters. She was a pure-blood witch, born out of wedlock and was living with her single mother who had gotten pregnant at 18 years old by an older man who abandoned her.
The few days following the gossip, Agnes had tried to avoid the glances, the whispers when she'd pass by a group of students or asked a question during class. Luckily, she did not seem to be the only victim of chit-chatting, as a dutch half-blood young witch was rumoured to be the only daughter of Nicolas Flamel, which sounded so absurd given that the alchemist and his wife were older than almost every living creatures on Earth. But it somehow helped people forget about Agnes's scandalous parents.
In the first few weeks at BeauxBatons, she had gotten closer to Antoine Deguire and Pierre Leroy, as well as one of her roommate: Jeanne Delacour, first born child of the Delacour family. As they were in the same class, they could spend most of their time together, and Agnes and Jeanne had even joined the modern art club, while the boys had been recruited in the Quidditch team.
Like this, christmas had already passed, and spring was almost there. Agnes's first year was truly magical.