chapter 1
Fleur fucking Delecour, the women who fought dragons, death eaters and werewolves without batting an eye, was, well, is a shy little girl, who’d a thunk it?
As the pair chatted away the hours till arrival, Hermione despite herself, grew to like Fleur, when they meant in her fourth year, she thought she was an insufferable girl who thought she owned the world, now she saw what she really was, a shy young girl who was nervous around people because of her heritage, Hermione got a strange urge to protect Fleur, to stop her from being subject to the prejudices of the wizarding world
“Alright first years! We’ll be landing in just a few minutes, so get ready!” the carriage driver announced
“Well then, best do that”
Hermione stood and began putting her uniform and hair to rights, then noticing Fleur wasn’t doing so as well, still
“Something wrong Fleur?”
“ Mumble mumble. ”
“Sorry? I didn’t catch that?”
“C, can you do my hair like yours please?”
“Oh, of course, stand up and turn around and I’ll be done in just a few moments.”
Fleur did just that and Hermione went to work, marvelling at how soft and smooth Fleur’s hair was, easily braiding her blond hair into the french braid waterfall that matched her own quite well, then using a simple spell to curl the ends of her hair to match her own.
“There we are, I think you look beautiful” Hermoine told her while handing her a pocket mirror.
“W, wow, i, i do, you must t, teach me how to do this!”
“I will once we get a moment to at school, now, here’s your hat, and make sure to straighten your top.”
Fleur took her hat and placed it on her head, then tried to straighten her shirt, proving difficult with the swaying of the carriage.
“Everyone hold on, it tends to be a rough touchdown!”
Then the carriage jolted hard, shaking all over as they hit the ground, Hermione stumbled then caught Fleur as she fell into her, knocking them both to the ground.
“Alright everyone, get up and get out now, enjoy your stay at Beauxbatons!”
As the first years slowly stumbled out of the carriage, many of them sporting green tinged faces, but Hermione wasn’t concerned with that, as her breath was taken from her lungs as she was stunned by the beauty of the Pyrenees mountains.
Snow tipped mountains surrounded them all, a low mist hanging around them, trees adorning them, surrounded by forest as they were, she could see gentle lights through the tree’s, the sun shining through the clearing where they stood, she could of spent hours just looking, but sadly, she was given a gentle nudge, and had to move on.
“First years over here!”
A short but solid man stood over by a trail in the trees holding a lantern, Hermione quickly moved over to him, holding back a chuckle at how he seemed just like a short version of Hagrid.
“Alright, this everyone? Good, now we’ll take a walk of the grounds first, then head inside for the sorting ceremony, first through the forest, then we’ll visit the stables, finally have a look at the lake, then head into the castle, find a partner and grab a lantern and we’ll get going.”
As people paired off and grabbed a lantern, Hermione grabbed a lantern for herself and lit it and was surprised when Fluer latched onto her arm.
“I, I don't know anyone else, can I go w, with you?”
“Sure Fleur, I don’t mind.”
Fleur broke into a smile, making Hermione think.
‘Dammit she’s cute like that.’
“Alright everyone, follow me and stay together, don’t want anyone getting lost out here!”
As the group wandered off together through the forest, pixies, fairies and other magical creators roamed all around them while the wind whistled through the trees, making the lanterns flicker gently, and whispers broke out among the group, Hermione herself unable to hide her fascination with her wondrous surroundings, and she wasn’t the only one, several times she had to stop Fleur from chasing off after a creature in the distance, she was practically vibrating with excitement, but she couldn’t bring herself to blame her.
“Alright everyone, in a few moments you’ll be able to see stables, give it a good look as those who take riding class will learn to ride the horses there.”
As they emerged from the forest, Hermione’s eyes snapped over to the stable, and she saw some of the most beautiful horses she had ever seen, there was snow white stallions, looking ready to break out into a run at a moments notice, to more placid brown ponies that you could ride for days on end without difficulty, and oh the Abraxions! The beautiful creatures looked just like horses, but with majestic wings as well, Hermione saw a pair of pitch black ones, and the dazzling ocean blue mare’s, their manes waving in the wind, as a Abraxan the colour of pure chocolate came gracefully down to the ground.
“All right you lot you’ve had your look, in just a few moments we’ll arrive at the lake” the guide spoke out
“H, Hermione, are you going t, to take horse riding lessons?”
“I think i will, it looks like great fun, i’d love to ride those Abraxons, what about you?”
“I, I think I will as w, well, as long as I can do it with y, you!”
That brought a slight blush to Hermione's face, young Fleur was just too cute for her own good
“All right everyone, here’s the lake, not too much to look at, but be careful of falling in, there are some creatures in there that are not so pleasant, but as long as you don’t go too deep you will be a okay”
Much safer than Hogwarts black lake, god, whoever thought it was okay to be a giant squid in there was absolutely mad, and Thestrals pulling the carts, Unicorns, Centaurs, the more she thought about the more she realised just how dangerous Hogwarts was
“Everyone keep your eye’s open, the castle is just around this bend!”
Everyone fell silent as dozens of heads snapped forward as they rounded the bend in the path, those at the front giving audible gasps, making the others more impatient to see it, as Hermione and Fleur finally saw the castle, their jaws dropped, it was beautiful.
Two towers reached high into the sky, scraping the clouds, with a large keep like building sprawling for miles, trees showing over the walls, Abraxons soaring over it, snow gently falling covering the tips of the towers in white, owls flying everywhere, going in and out of the taller tower, where the owlery presumably was, the tower tops glinting in the light, it was beautiful
“Come on you lot hurry up, and close your mouths before the owls use them as toilets”
As laughter broke out, the group quickly made their way to rather grand entrance hall, the huge, gleaming double doors opening for them as they walked into a large ballroom, the rest of the student body sitting in three long tables, with another table at the head of the room filled with the staff, then a bench with a bow and a quiver of arrows next to it, as Madam Maxime stood
“Hello and welcome to another year of school here at Beauxbatons academy of Magic, first, i would like to welcome our returning students, and another welcome to our new first years, first years, when your name is called, you will come up here and shoot the arrow given to you, the colour it explodes into will be your house, first, Chloe Cloutier”
A brunette girl walked up and took the bow and arrow and shot it high into the air, exploding into a cloud of purple and blue, Papillonlisse
“Denise Coutue”
She went up, shot the arrow, a cloud of green and white, Bellefeuille
“Fleur Delecour”
Fleur didn’t move, frozen with fear, then Hermione gave her a gentle push
“Go on Fleur, be a brave girl, you’ll be fine”
Fleur nervously walked up and took the bow with a shaky hand, put the arrow on the string, and Hermione noticed a change in her demeanour, gone was the shaky, nervous little girl, she saw a sharp glint of focus in her eyes, she pulled the bow back with perfect posture, and sent it flying, arcing high, as it began to fall, it exploded into a cloud of grey and navy, Ombrelune, as Fleur put the bow down, back was the nervous little girl, curious.
Many more girls and boys went up, about an equal split between houses, then it was Hermione’s turn
“Hermione Rousseau”
Hermione confidently walked up and took the bow and arrow, noticing it had her name on it’s tip, then sent it into the air, arcing high up into the sky, then exploded once more into a cloud of grey and navy smoke, making her smile, she would be in the same house as Fleur, the years coming are promising with her always around.
As the sorting eventually came to a close, and Madame Maxime stood once more
“Prefects, please take your houses to their dormitories and wait until you are all called for dinner”
The two people opposite of Hermione stood and called for the first years to follow them, they headed out of the ball room and began the walk to the east wing, being shown the various study rooms, musical rooms, and the library, the size of which easily surpassing Hogwarts own library, going on and on for what seemed forever, the endless rows of books making Hermione’s eyes light up, anticipating the many nights spent inside it, reading the hours away, she desperately wanted to dive inside it right then and there, the only thing stopping her was Fleur pulling her along.
“And here is the dormitory, girls on the left, boys on the right, 6 a room, the names of your roomates are on the door, head in, you luggage are already in there, settle in and get comfortable, you’ll be called for dinner in a few hours”
Hermione and Fleur rushed to the dorms, quickly looking at the doors, and being absolutely ecstatic when they saw they were in the same dorm, quickly moving inside, and moving their luggage to two beds next to each other, giddy with excitement
“Wow, I can't believe we are in the same room!” Fleur exclaimed
“I know! I can’t wait for the school year, learning magic is gonna be so awesome!”
“Uhh, excuse me, are you two Hermione and Fleur?”
Four other girls had walked in, presumably their other roommates, one a rather short brunette, another a tall blonde, then a girl similar in height to Hermione but with black hair, and another rather short girl, with blue hair, presumably magically changed
“Uhh, yes that’s us, I’m Hermione, that’s Fleur, she can be quite shy at times”
“Oh that’s fine, I was as well before my mum got me set straight, I’m Yara, Yara Sylvie, i come from Venice” said the tall blonde
Then the short blue haired girl spoke
“I’m Aurelia Navarro, from Madrid”
With a jolt, Hermione remembered that Beauxbatons also took in students from its surrounding area, not just from within
“I’m Edda Kneynsberg from The Netherlands, pleased to meet you” spoke the black haired girl
“And I’m Moreau Vivienne, also from France, what about you guys?”
“I’m Hermione, I’m from Paris”
“I, I’m Fleur, I’m from P, Paris as well”
The girls spent the next few hours unpacking, gossiping, sharing experiences and learning about each other, with Fleur slowly warming up to the others, her nervous stutter becoming less and less common as she became comfortable with talking to them, the group of new friends falling into easy conversation until they were called down to dinner, while making the rather short journey down to the Ballroom, yet no less an extravagant one, with beauty and marvels of architecture at every turn, the group madly talked about how amazing it would be to live in such a place, until Fleur reminded them that they do now, causing a rise of laughter from them, quickly shushed by the prefects, only for chatter to quickly break out once more.
Once the group arrived at the ballroom, they were immediately stunned by the sheer amount of food laid out for them, hundreds of meals, dozens of cuisines from different countries, just on the end of one table Hermione could see food from France, Britain, Spain, Hungry, Italy, with who knows how much more was spread across the rest of the tables, the room was filled with too many smells to count, sweet, sour, spicy and plain, some smells so overpowering it made her eyes water, it was by far so much more impressive than Hogwarts, and the amount of different drinks was as well immensely impressive, everything from simple water to wine so dark it seemed to be dozens of years old, and of course, there was plenty of baguettes, croissants and cheese, this was France after all
“Okay Firsties, the further down the table the drinks are, the more they are for the older kids, i want you all to stay with the drinks down here, unless you have been given explicit permission by a staff member, now, enjoy!”
The group rushed to the tables, quickly filling the plates with veritable mountains of food, it was impressive how much weight some of them could carry with just a single hand, Hermione herself chose to get a much tamer amount of food, the years of not eating much as her older self had given her a habit of not eating much, but did decide to also take small bit’s of food from other countries, some Italian pizza, Spanish Gazpacho, and her beloved British fish, as well as a cup of Darjeeling tea, which had become a favourite of her’s over the years, it had brought her comfort in many nights while she was off hinting death eaters and Voldemort sympathizers
‘Shit, Voldemort is alive again, I have to deal with him again, or maybe not, or could just, stay here in France, not have to fight him…’
A small smile was brought to Hermione’s face, that seemed like a very attractive idea, the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to do it
“-Mione? What are you smiling about?”
“Hm? Oh, nothing, just glad to be here i guess”
“So am I Hermione, actually, is it okay if I call you Mione? No offence but say Hermione can be a bit annoying”
“Haha, it’s no problem Fleur”
As the night crept on, the eating slowed and quiet chatter became to name of the night, many groups gathered around each other, their heads close as to be able to hear everyone without having to raise their voices, but soon enough, the children were brought back to their dormitories once more and told to be asleep by 11, leaving them to talk late into the night, useless chatter lost into the night sky as they talked themselves horse
But not all of them were enjoying this as much as the others
This night reminded Hermione a lot of Hogwarts, making her miss all of her friends, the small number that they were, as they had slowly dwindled over the past years spent fighting or at the ministry, many just drifting apart, but many others were lost in worse ways.
Luna Lovegood was killed by a death eater, she could still see here lifeless her eyes when she closes her own, Dean Thomas took a sectumsempra to the face, a result of friendly fire, Seamus Finagan accidentally blew up one too many things, accidentally detonating his own rib cage from the inside, she could still feel the pressure of it’s shockwave, and his decapitated and lifeless head rolling by her feet.
Feeling the urge to throw up, she quickly rushed to the bathroom, just making it in time to the toilet, her dinner quickly joining the water, the disgusting taste of bile still on her lips
“God, i wish i could forget all that”
She turned around, looked in the mirror, and saw it covered in blood, as her eyes widened to extreme levels, she saw her eye’s were black, the pupal, iris and sclera, then blood began to stream out of them, reaching up, she touched where the stream was, looking at it, it was then covered in blood from it, she barely held back a scream, looking in the mirror again, the blackness spread from her eyes and covered the left side of her face and spread down the rest of her, ripping her clothes off, she followed it’s patch all the way down, it alternated sides, stopping at her feet, she looked like a patchwork of black and skin, she turned to the toilet and threw up once more, then saw with a sickening feeling, she had just thrown up even more blood
‘W, what is happening to me!? Why, why is everything covered in blood!?”
“Ah, i wondered how long it would take until this happened”
Whirling around, her wand raised, she saw death standing, well, floating there with a smile on her face
“Wh, what have you done to me?”
“Oh don’t worry Hermione, you’ve simply started your first ever transformation!”
“My, my what?”
“You see, when i choose someone as my Vasal, they get what i like to call a ‘Reaper form’, while I’m the actual reaper, my vasal’s can use the magic i do, so they get this different form, when in this form, is when they can use my type’s of magic”
“Wh, what are you type’s of magic?”
“Why, blood magic and necromancy of course!”
Hermione felt sick again, blood magic? Necromancy? She, she was a necromancer!?
“Oh don’t look so horrified, this is what you are now! Oh, right now time has stopped, this can only be done when either I need to talk to you or you require some Death related stuff, such as, reading the new magic books I have for you!”
Despite herself, Hermione couldn’t help but be excited at the mention if new magic books
“Okay, the word to summon the shelf full of them is mors scientia”
“M, mors scientia?”
Suddenly, a huge bookshelf appeared behind her, taking the place of the wall
“There you go, now remember to read up on the spells in there! I do have to leave now i have some fun things to do with Life, oh, i do think you should change back, just will it to happen, and out your clothes back”
Looking down, Hermione realised she was buck naked, and quickly wrapped her arms around her
“Well, tata Hermione!”
Death and the bookshelf disappeared, and time resumed
“Okay, so uhh, can i have my normal body back now?”
Her body shimmered, then the black in her retreated back into her eye’s, the blood disappeared and then her eyes went to normal, then she quickly put her clothes back on, her mind still processing what had just happened
“Hermione? You okay?”
“Y, yeah, I’m fine Fleur”
Hermione opened the door, seeing a worried Fleur standing just outside
“You sure you're okay?”
“Yes i am, i just need to relax for a bit”
“D, do you wanna sleep with me? It always helps me when I sleep with plushies!”
Hermione couldn’t help but feel her heart melt for this adorable little girl in front of her
“Sure thing Fleur”
“Yay!”
The pair made their way to Fleur’s bed and climbed in, Hermione subconsciously pulling Fleur into a hug as the two drifted off to sleep