15 C14 Setting off

Paris Ministry of Magic | 31st August 1985 | 11 AM

The department of portkey transportation was flooded with students and parents, as the students left for Beauxbatons. The entire department had been planned in such a way that it had been allotted an entire floor especially because the ministry had foreseen this annual incident.

Charlus did not want his entire group to go inside the Ministry. He told Harry, "Harry I'll miss you, but you can't come to see me off inside because you will get lost. Ok?"

Harry started crying, but Charlus consoled him, "I'll be back before you know it. Ok?"

Charlus went inside and struggled to get passed the crowd. He went to the center of the entire hall, where there was a formation. This formation was designed to transport more than 100 people at a time to a fixed place.

Charlus stepped into the formation. Since there were more than 300 students at Beauxbatons, the formation would be started every 1 hour for the rest of the day. The portkey would start at 11:15, so Charlus looked around to find people to talk to.

He looked around and saw a boy who seemed to be the same age as him. He had black hair, and he was just slightly shorter than Charlus. Charlus walked towards him.

"Hi! My name is Charlus," Charlus introduced himself. The boy, who seemed nervous, looked at Charlus. He seemed a bit relieved. "Hi, my name is Lucas. Lucas Northwing. It's really nice to meet you."

Charlus started a conversation since he had 15 minutes till the portkey started. He asked Lucas, "So, which year are in?"

"I'm joining this year. What about you?"

"Me too. So are you familiar about how Beauxbatons work? I'm not sure, my godfather went to Hogwarts and when I asked him about how Beauxbatons worked, he said that it would be heaven when I turn 13."

Both the boys laughed, though both wouldn't know what Sirius meant until they turned 13 themselves. Lucas said, "So your godfather went to Hogwarts. I heard that's a very good school, but I couldn't go there. All my family went to Beauxbatons. That's why I learnt French more than English."

Suddenly, Charlus paled, "French? Why would we need French?"

Lucas laughed. He then stared at Charlus, "All the classes are in French. Surely you know."

While Charlus had lived in France, he barely knew any French. He could only grasp very basic sentences. Knowing that he would need French to start learning magic and that he would not be able to go through classes easily started to make him tensed.

"Don't worry. We live in a world of magic. Surely there's a potion to help you understand French, or even better, maybe it could help you learn the entire language."

Charlus slowly calmed down, and they started chatting normally. 1 minute before the portkey started, an announcement told them to be ready. After being ready for the sudden apparition like feeling for 1 minute, Charlus suddenly felt that he had been squeezed into a tube. The feeling was a little better than apparition, and he had no problem with it. Some of the first years, however, were slightly nauseous.

"Are you ok?" Charlus asked Lucas. When Lucas said that he was fine, Charlus looked around to see if he could find Fleur.

A middle aged man walked into the room they all had portkeyed to. "Welcome back students. I trust the old students can find their way back by themselves. All the new first years follow me."

There were 3 First years. The third was a girl with brown hair and spectacles. She had freckles all over her face. The three followed the man into another room, where he made them sit down on a row of chairs. He faced them and started.

"Welcome to Beauxbatons. I am Professor Butger, your French teacher. You will stay here for 10 years, after which you can choose to continue doing your masteries, or graduate and pursue your careers. Official subjects like Dueling, Alchemy, Potion Brewing, and Charms will start only from your fourth year. Till then, you will hone your magical theory, etiquette, and French. Your dorms are marked in the maps that will be handed out to you. Each room will be shared by three people. The boys and girls are not allowed in dorms that they do not belong to. You will understand why in the next few years. If you have any questions, you can ask me."

The three collected their maps from Professor Butger. On Charlus' map, there was a blue ouline of what path he should take to reach his destination. He looked at Lucas' map and saw that they were headed to the same place. Since there were two dorms for boys, they were a little worried, but now they were relieved.

The two set of to their dorm, leaving behind the girl. They found Beauxbatons quite beautiful. It was full of flowers, in all the right places. It was like the entire campus was actually a sculpture, which was carved by a beautiful sculptor.

They reached their dorm. It was a 2 story building, which wasn't too big. In fact, most of the buildings in the campus did not have more than 2 stories. The tallest building they saw till then was the Astronomy tower.

The two looked at each other. They looked forward and decided they were ready to meet their dorm mates.

__________

Black Manor | 31st August 1985 | 12 PM

Sirius sat in his study, thinking about Charlus. He felt something was wrong, and that he missed something. Maybe that he forgot to buy a book for Charlus at Place Cachée. Suddenly he remembered. He had a report of Charlus' conditions and ailments, but he completely forgot about it then because he was more concerned about Charlus having a new vault.

He opened the report and went through it. After going through the few lines of the report, his eyes widened. He rushed from his seat and into the fireplace in the hall. He grabbed a handful of Floo powder before and said loud and clearly, "Dumbledore's Office!"