Chapter 321: Chapter 321: The French Guests
Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 321: The French Guests
"Beauxbatons!"
This group received a lot more cheers than the previous one.
If the Durmstrang students felt very angry and intimidating, these ones were the complete opposite.
With their tall Headmistress at the head, the group from Beauxbatons made their way to the front of the Hall.
They were around the same size, some thirty-odd students, and most of them were females.
"Whoa!" Seamus was practically drooling.
"I know…" Neville agreed.
"I heard some rumors about Veelas going to that school," George commented.
"Well, the tall blonde one next to the Headmistress does have the look…" Fred added.
Dumbledore went to greet the Headmistress from Beauxbatons before introducing them to the audience.
Olympe Maxime was even taller than Hagrid and certainly had some giant blood in her.
The paranoid Headmaster from Durmstrang was a man called Igor Karkaroff, a former Death Eater who betrayed his allies to avoid prison.
Harry was surprised the man even dared to show his face in England at all at this time, given the circumstances.
Judging by his demeanor, he no doubt knew about Voldemort's return to the country.
'He must have a lot of trust in the security offered by Hogwarts walls… too bad he doesn't know they're already inside…' Harry thought.
While Maxime and Karkaroff took their seats at the professors' table, most of their students sat down at the newly added table.
But a few of them were daring enough to approach some of the four house tables.
Harry spotted the face of an old acquaintance getting close.
Fleur Delacour looked so much younger and more innocent compared to the one from his memories.
She stood behind Fred and George, along with two of her friends at her side.
"Excuse moi… may we sit here?" She pointed at the empty seats next to Fred.
*A.N. - Let me say something. I know Fleur is supposed to have this heavy French accent, but I don't know how to convey that in text, other than adding a few French words here and there. So I'm not going to try… imagine she is talking with a French accent :) -
Fred became frozen like a statue until his twin gave him a smack on the head.
"Yes?..."
"Wonderful." Fleur offered him a sweet smile and sat down at his side while her two friends occupied the other places.
"Your English is really good." Ginny decided to say something after seeing the panicked faces of the twins. They were usually a lot more vocal around girls.
"Merci, I have practiced all summer." Fleur said.
"Are you going to join the tournament?" Lyra asked.
"Oui! I will. This is the reason for my visit." Fleur said with determination in her eyes.
"She is going to be our champion!" one of her friends said.
"She is going to win the tournament!" the other one added.
"Please… behave…" Fleur threw them a glare of disapproval.
"Really? You already know who your champion is? We still don't know ours…" Ginny felt like their school was already behind and they haven't even started yet.
"We don't even know how the champions are chosen…" Lyra added.
"With the thing beneath the tarp," Harry told his sister.
Just then, the plates with food began to appear.
"Finally!" Ron groaned.
"The tarp?..." Both Ginny and Lyra glanced at the mysterious object. They had all been wondering what it was since they arrived at the hall.
"Do you know what it is?" Ginny asked.
Harry gave Fleur a quick glance. There was a smug smile hiding beneath her mask of calmness.
"You can ask our French guests… they know." Harry began to eat his dinner.
"You do? Can you tell us?" Ginny turned to them.
Fleur made a troubled expression.
"Oh… well, we promised to keep it to ourselves until your Headmaster…."
"We can't tell you!"
"Yes, our Headmistress will get angry with us," the two French girls said.
"Oh…" Ginny looked down in disappointment.
"By the way…" Fleur wanted to change the subject to something else. Her eyes wandered around the table.
"I heard many stories about the Boy Who Lived… and that he was in this house. Is it true?" She finally looked at Neville.
"Ah…." Neville became very nervous. He was not used to talking to girls. Much less one this beautiful.
Fleur smiled. She was used to this reaction.
"Me and my sister are great fans of your stories."
"The stories…. yes…" Neville felt very awkward. He hated being reminded of those children's stories. People always made assumptions about him because of them. And then he had to hear how disappointed they were because he was nothing like the character in those books.
"He doesn't like those stories, you know?" Hermione decided to jump in the conversation.
"Oh?... and you are?" Fleur glanced in her direction.
"Hermione Granger…" She did not like the way the three French girls were glancing at her.
"And why would he not like those stories?"
"Yes, he is a great hero in them," the two French girls commented.
"I'm not… I'm not like that…" Neville looked down.
Fleur was measuring him with her eyes.
"Really?... I figured you would become one of the champions. Who else is more qualified than the Boy Who Lived to represent Hogwarts ?"
"Those stories are all made up. They never even consulted with Neville before writing them," Ginny said with a frown, despite the fact that she had been one of the many who believed in them.
"Yeah, but Neville is a great guy though." Seamus jumped to support his friend.
"Yeah! And very rich!" Ron added.
"Ron!" Neville exclaimed.
"I see… so none of the rumors were true then?" Fleur's smile seemed to disappear from her face and was replaced by one of disappointment.
"I thought I could measure the competition a bit… seems like I wasted my time." She stood up from the table.
"Let's go, girls." She told her two friends who hurried to follow her.
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