61 Tears of Beauxbatons

His time at Beauxbatons came to an end sooner than he expected, it seems that he was actually so immersed in his daily events that the time flew by. To be honest, Soisen enjoyed the experience and learned a lot from the teachers.

Furthermore, he was looking forward to returning home so he could begin the animagus ritual described in the family book he found.

There were only two things that were bothering him, and that was that he could not find the final ingredient for the other project he had been researching nor the battle transition spell he had intended to master and modify. Perhaps Nagini could help him, but that was something he could ask once he returned home.

And speaking of Nagini, as he informed him in the letters, Lupin seemed to vanish into thin air. Soisen was pretty sure he must be Dumbledore's hand behind the scenes.

It looked like he would really need to activate plan C. With cyanide.

He sent a pair of Hofurin horns to Luna by owl, who thanked him cheerfully.

Ginny practically became his manager in his absence and apart from a couple of minor problems, all went well while he was away from Hogwarts. Although it seems he still hadn't reconciled with Percy and Ron, as neither took the initiative to apologize, perhaps believing that if they let enough time pass everything would go back to the way it was. Bad idea.

Silvia was successful in creating a Muggle version of butterbeer and just needed to tweak the formula so that it would be made in large quantities. Nagini already bought a warehouse under her orders to install the machinery with which they would prepare the first bottles, the goal being to start selling them in the summer while they are ice cold.

BUT, something happened with Hermione.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she wrote him several letters complaining that Harry and Ron have been approaching her during the last few weeks to ask her to help with schoolwork. All, due to suggestions from the teachers, who were no doubt unknowingly guided by Dumbledore.

He really had intended to form the golden trio, eh?

But despite the inconvenience, he learned something interesting. Apparently, Potter complained during one of the meals about how someone withdrew half of his inheritance from Gringotts, which shouldn't be possible. When he sent a letter to the bank to find out what happened, their only response was that everything proceeded correctly, but they did not reveal the identity of the other party.

Well, that would be Lily's share that he transferred some time ago. It seems that the bank delayed the notice as long as possible, but now that the summer vacations were approaching and there was a chance that he might visit the bank, they had to go through the formalities.

Oh, but on the bright side, Hermione's impulse for house elves wore very thin. Sure, she still had a strong opinion of her own regarding the situation they were in and their history, but at the very least she wouldn't try to impose on the others.

Soisen had to say goodbye to Bea, but promised to write to her from time to time.

He was currently in the Beauxbatons dining hall, where the last dinner of the school year was being held and the winner of the equivalent of the House Cup was being announced. He didn't pay much attention to which of the three won, he was feasting on a French strawberry and cream based dessert whose name he didn't know, but he'd be sure to find out before he left!

-Last but not least - Headmistress Maxime was finishing her long farewell speech and it was time for Soisen to enter the scene -This year we have enjoyed the company of a Hogwarts exchange student who brought us new perspectives, friendships and views of magic - Mr. Soisen Galegold Evans Valriss Aulus! -She motioned for Soisen to approach her at the podium, "Not only that, during his stay with us, he completed a new spell that gained the approval of the wood nymphs and which he is willing to show us all for the first time," the students applauded and stopped when Maxime raised her hand, "Everyone, pay attention and be quiet.

-Let me tell you a story," Soisen looked around to heighten the anticipation a bit, and with a gesture, Chloe pulled the curtains across the windows, darkening the dining room a bit.

-It all began with despair and pain -Soisen's voice echoed through the place and drew everyone's gaze as he began his performance and walked towards the small empty square in the center of it all, with the sound of footsteps pounding on wood luring and setting the atmosphere -The inhabitants of the town of Martel, which had fallen into ruin, created dolls to forget those days of hardship, if only for a moment.

-Dolls that could dance and sing," she raised her hands as an orchestra master would, and under the surprised gaze of everyone, her eyes lit up and turned golden as beautiful multicolored strands of light sprang from her hands, "And, many hundreds of years later, even though the town had fallen into ruins and there was no one left to listen, there was still one doll that continued to move.

The strands of light weaved together and revealed to all a single scene in gray, where what looked like the silhouette of a beautiful puppet stood motionless as it sang without a sound, even as the surroundings deteriorated with the passage of time.

-One day, a lonely boy came to Martel. In the ruined village where he had arrived, there was no living being left, so he would die if he stayed there without help. And suddenly, a shadow covered him and he looked up.

The scene changed and they saw a boy, breathing heavily, tired and probably hungry, fall on his face and hold his small body in his hands.

-Hey, boy, would you like to hear a song?

-The puppet looked at the boy in the middle of the night. It had been five hundred years since Martel had been destroyed and he was not the first person to enter the village. Five more people arrived before him and all of them attacked the puppet when he asked them if they wanted to listen to a song.

They all saw that the beautiful puppet had been damaged. His hair was disheveled, the left side of his face was cracked from a blow and his clothes were torn.

-The puppet believed that the boy would do the same and, if he did not accept his offer, he would kill him. Just as he had done with the previous five.

Some students noticed that the puppet's hand was moving strangely and felt uncomfortable. Was something really going to happen to such a small child?

-It was a doll created by humans and its existence is based on moving for humans," said Soisen as he continued to explain in his magically amplified voice, which seemed to have gained magnetism.

-Please let me sing for you..." said the puppet.

-Miss ghost," said the boy as he looked at the puppet in surprise, "Will you sing for me? So far no one has ever done anything like that for me.

The boy cried with joy and stood before the broken puppet.

-Please sing for me, Miss Ghost!

They watched as the scene changed, to some later time, just as the boy was helping the puppet mend its hair. The clothes had been mended and his damaged eye was bandaged.

-You look beautiful, Lala! -said the boy.

-Lala? -The puppet looked at the boy blankly.

-Do you mind if I call you that, Miss Ghost?

Several more scenes followed, showing how they spent decades together as the boy grew up and the puppet happily accompanied him. They watched as the boy grew into a man, began to cough, became sick and weak with age.

They could swear they heard his heartbeat become softer and softer.

A final scene unfolded before them all as the light construction ceased to be gray and took on vivid colors, so real that it was hard to distinguish illusion from reality. In the ruins of Martel and under the moonlight, two silhouettes stood there with no one else around them. A man lying face down in the ashen sand, dressed in a dingy gray robe with his hood up to hide his upper face in the gloom. Next to him, a puppet with long blond hair with its left eye covered by bandages was also lying on the sand. The man was trembling and tried to stretch out his arm to reach the puppet, which was still out of reach.

-La-Lala..." the man tried to say, his voice cracking.

The puppet seemed to respond to the voice and began to move. The movement was stiff and stopped momentarily several times, it had a conspicuous hole in its chest that wasn't there before, right where the heart should be located. He turned and looked at the man with his light blue right eye.

-"Mr. Human? -she asked mechanically, devoid of the apparent humanity and memories she had lived through all that time with the person next to her.

She made them feel their hearts crack with anguish.

-Would you like to hear a song?

-Mr. Human? -The puppet began to approach the man on all fours.

-I'm a doll, I can sing.

-Mr. Human.

The man lifted his cocked head as best he could with his meager strength to look the doll in the face, as if trying to burn her image into his mind, and tears began to slide down.

-Lala... I love you.

The man lowered his head and kept silent, without moving any more. The doll raised her hand and caressed the man's hood, as if comforting a small child.

-Do you want to sleep for a while?

-In that case, I'll sing you a lullaby so you'll have a good sleep.

The puppet put the man's head on his thighs to make him more comfortable and, raising his head slightly, began to sing:

Lacrimosa dies illa~

Qua resurget ex favilla~

Judicandus homo reus~

Huic ergo parce, Deus~

Pie Jesu, Domine~

-The puppet sang for three days and three nights, until the man resting next to it passed away, after which he remained silently inert in the same posture.

-Thank you," they suddenly heard faintly, like a breeze whispering in their ear, "for letting me sing to the end. Now the promise has been fulfilled.

The students and teachers opened their eyes wide as it seemed to them that, for an instant, the puppet had smiled with its lost humanity regained and just as that instant passed, the puppet fell limply to the ground.

They never found the sound of wood crashing against cold stone so heartbreaking.

But they all noticed, that despite losing any magic to sustain it, its legs remained motionless and did not disturb the man's eternal sleep.

The illusion before their eyes slowly faded away like a memory becoming blurred.

Oh, it wasn't that it became blurry, they were all crying.

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I'm sure many know the reference and who the singing doll is. The first time I saw it, I was quite moved.