Chapter 12 Beauxbatons

Dumbledore appeared in the orphanage suddenly. I expected him to send me to France a couple of days before the end of the summer, which is enough time to buy everything necessary for school. With just under two weeks to go until the end of summer, Dumbledore suddenly appears.

"Arrakis, my boy," said Dumbledore, " are you all set for your trip to France?"

I had already collected bags of clothes that still fit me in size, the spell of fitting rules. School supplies such as quills, ink, and parchments were collected. Several potions were prepared for the trip, which I managed to stock up on while I worked in the medical wing and brewed the most popular "preparations".

"I need five minutes, Headmaster, sir —" I warned Dumbledore, and ran off to collect the rest of my things.

The magic suitcase contained a couple of ordinary Muggle math textbooks, a bundle of food-just in case, and the documents that Dumbledore had prepared for me on my last visit to the ministry and given me for safekeeping.

— I'm ready, sir, ' I went out to the Director bearing in a hand a suitcase.

Dumbledore looked around to make sure no one was around, but not satisfied with a visual inspection, he cast a spell that I recognized as "Homenum Revelio", after which the headmaster held out his hand to me.

"Take my hand —" the director said confidently and calmly, " we'll apparate right from here."

The headmaster now looked nothing like the eccentric old man he had seemed at Hogwarts. His whole being, in his movements, in the intonation of his voice, in his eyes, radiated confidence and concentration.

I reached out and felt Dumbledore's hand.

An ordinary hand, my mind noted, smooth, without calluses, warm and dry.

For some reason, it seemed that if Dumbledore was a "lesbian", then touching him must be unpleasant, there must be something disgusting: sweaty, even slimy, cold palms, maybe even smelly. No, I didn't notice anything like that last time either.

After apparating to the ministry, Dumbledore ordered me to stay close to him, then walked briskly to the clerk, who weighed my wand. Dumbledore did not go through this procedure, the essence of which eluded me. After walking through the corridors, through a crowd of magicians who seemed to be bustling around quite pointlessly, constantly flitting and moving between the rooms, we came to an unremarkable clerk.

"David, are the documents ready?" The director asked.

"Yes, yes, Director," said the unknown David, smiling, — I've prepared everything.

With these words, David pushed three sheets of paper to the headmaster, on which Dumbledore put his signatures, and then touched his signatures in turn with his wand, whispering something.

- Now you, Arrakis — - the director pushed the papers towards me — - put your signatures here, here and here, - the director pointed to the places where you should have signed.

Trying not to leave a blot, I carefully somehow brought out my signatures with a pen-stylized "ablair", with curls and strongly stretched.

"Now touch your signatures with your wand," the Headmaster said, "send some magic through the wand and say,' I confirm.'"

In fact, not every student can channel their magic through a wand without a spell. But Dumbledore was right about my abilities, I knew how to do that.

After signing, one sheet was returned to the clerk, and the other two were taken by Dumbledore. We rather hurriedly proceeded to the site for the use of international portals. Dumbledore took a nondescript object from his pocket, which I recognized as a piece of plain rope.

"Hold on to the rope and don't let go," the director said. I hurried to follow the instructions. "Portus," the director said, and we spun into the portal.

The transfer happened exactly, we were in the Ministry of Magic of France.

"Come on in, don't linger in the portal circle," I heard the ministry official say in French, and we hurried out.

I learned French quickly, it was enough to see three "dreams" that evoke the memory of the blood of my ancestors who spoke French fluently. In general, this ability of mine was somewhat selective, sometimes it seemed to me that after watching one "revelation", I knew everything about a person, but this was not so. In fact, I learned only part of the information that was relevant to my need, and sometimes I received completely arbitrary revelations that were not relevant to the desired discipline or situation.

For example, my knowledge of purebloods, half-bloods, and hybrids intertwined in my head into a bizarre bundle of knowledge from various wizards and my Muggle ancestors. My interest was in Vail. Given my trip to France, my interest can be attributed to applied disciplines. Only girls are born from Vail, and all of them are endowed with Vail's abilities. According to the classification of the British Ministry of Magic, they are all considered Vails, with exceptions only for foreign citizens. But the question is: why do other ministries consider them half-veils and quarter-veils, and even eight-veils? The answer was simple, I thought. A child born to a powerful wizard by Vail can be subjected to a ritual to block Vail's magic. Such a girl will already be able to give birth to a boy, and the one who gave birth, according to the laws of Britain, will no longer be a Vail.

In fact, there were many different rituals that could reliably cut off the Vail part. There was a ritual of renunciation, which is quite difficult for a child, but, nevertheless, in early childhood it is easier to endure. There were rituals of burning blood and magic, which at any age are very difficult, especially the one about blood. There was a ritual of accepting a different legacy, but this is a change of shilah to soap. When a magician has the heritage of different magicians in his blood.

The best and easiest in terms of portability is the blocking ritual. As I understand it, with its Muggle part of the brain, such a ritual forcibly transfers the genes of magicians from the dominant to the recession and blocks the magic profile for magicians, the ability of their race. Already in the next generation, the ability can manifest itself again, but in a greatly weakened and altered form. As it turned out, this method of fixing some magical predispositions in magical families was the second in a row, after sacrifices, which were eventually recognized as a dead end option. Many magicians now carry the altered genes of magicians in their blood and don't even know it.

As for Fleur, she is quite meaningfully looking for a strong magician as a partner. It was on her generation that renouncing Vail's magic would be quite difficult, their abilities were too strong in her. But to hold a ritual over her daughter, nothing will prevent, the main thing is that the pope was suitable, even a blood traitor will do, if only a pureblood and with a strong will. For her part, Fleur is a carrier of Delacour blood and most likely hopes that one of her descendants will take the line. For Delacours for many years, sexual attractiveness and some ability to win over the opposite sex will be fixed. The ability seems small, but that's only until it's time to choose a partner. If for men, attractiveness comes after personal strength, wealth, intelligence and nobility of the family, then for women, external attractiveness for magicians sometimes comes first.

Immediately at the exit of portal room, we were greeted Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Sambacana. After the proper greeting, Dumbledore handed me over and excused himself to go about his business.

Madame Maxime was huge, bigger than Hagrid, but still feminine and attractive. In the film, I remember, the role of Madame Olympia Maxime as an understudy was performed by a man. Immediately, the substitution would be noticed immediately.

"Young Monsieur Blair," the headmistress said to me, " you will live on the academy grounds for the entire two years of your stay in France. You will be allowed to travel to the magic quarter of Paris with an escort from the academy. Today I will be such an escort, and next year I will appoint one of the teachers to accompany you. Please note — "Madame Maxime said proudly, looming over me like a huge tower," that Beauxbatons is an academy, unlike Hogwarts. Senior courses in our school are taught the application partitions magic, such as artifactory or healing. At the end of our academy, our students graduate as ready-made specialists, although not of the highest qualification. They can immediately, without passing any additional courses, get a job as a healer, artefactor, potion maker, auror and many other specialties.

"But, madam," I said, " I was only sent to study with you for two years.

"Oh, Monsieur Blair —" said Madame Maxime, smiling, " even the prophets cannot speak confidently of the future. I must warn you — "the headmistress continued," our academy has strict rules. All conflicts, if such arise, should be resolved through the senior students of the clubs, or deans. Forceful resolution of conflicts without the permission of the school administration is unacceptable. I'm talking about duels now, if you don't understand, and you'll find out about clubs a little later, " Madame Maxime continued, leading me through the corridors of the ministry to the hall with fireplaces. "I have some influence in the school," Madame Maxime said with a grin, which was probably a joke. — I think the senior student at the Florizel Club will look after you." You were a Ravenclaw student at Hogwarts, weren't you?" Madame Maxime asked, and without waiting for an answer continued to speak, " Florizel, this is the club that will suit you best as a student of Ravenclaw.

There are ten faculties in all, " the headmistress continued. - Initially, the division was based on the territorial attachment of students and teachers. But now, when traditions and cultural features between different areas have already ceased to play a big role, the division by faculty is rather a tribute to tradition. Now the division into clubs is more important, but there are students who do not join clubs, although there are very few of them. Your department is Burgundy, " said Madame Maxime. - Usually students are assigned, but in your case it is not necessary. We don't have a mandatory distribution tradition like Hogwarts. We have, rather, this procedure is present to create an atmosphere of celebration and magic. The pigeons that distribute students to the faculties, carrying in their beaks scraps with the names of the provinces, know their purpose in advance, everything is already determined in advance. "meanwhile, while Madame Maxime was talking, we reached the hall with the fireplaces. — Have you moved the fireplaces yet, monsieur?" Olympia asked.

"No, madame," I said.

"All you have to do is throw a pinch of magic powder into the fire, go into the fireplace, and name your destination." I warn you, "Madame Maxime smiled," that the name should be pronounced clearly and correctly, otherwise you can get somewhere wrong. You have quite a passable pronunciation, I hope you will succeed the first time, as it should. The first time I will throw the powder for you, so that you will understand how much powder is required. The distance has almost no effect on the consumption, "Madame Maxime explained —" the powder is required to enter the fireplace network and is taken from the calculation of the mass of the cargo sent about one gram of gunpowder per ten kilograms of the mass sent. This is a highly inflated expense, calculated with a five-fold margin. But, nevertheless, the ministry recommends throwing a little more gunpowder into the fire. I'll tell you a secret — "Madame Maxime leaned toward me —" it's just profitable for them to get as much of this "potion" as possible. If there is not enough gunpowder, you may be thrown out of the fireplace or your path may end in the nearest fireplace from the place of departure, that is, absolutely not where you need to get to. Madame Maxime threw a handful of gunpowder into the fireplace, and the fire changed color. "You see," Madame Maxime said to me, " the fire has changed color. Now enter the fireplace and name your destination: Flower Alley. On the other side, wait for me.

I stepped into the fireplace and called out my destination as clearly as I could, and then I spun and spun, and flashes of lights flashed before my eyes. I think I saw some rooms from other fireplaces. But then, finally, I was taken by this magical system of transport to the right place, and I fell out in some unknown room. No one paid any attention to me. I got up calmly and dusted myself off. Less than a minute later, Madame Maxime came crouching out of the fireplace.

The fireplaces were quite large, and an adult had to bend down to enter the fireplace, but Madame Maxime had to bend over, as they say.

On the Flower Alley, I bought the textbooks necessary for studying at the French school of magic, sorry, the academy. I bought some more casual clothes and uniform robes. Dumbledore gave me the money, as promised, and I didn't even have to go to Gringotts.

After all the necessary purchases, Madame Maxime first took me back to the ministry by apparatus, and from there by fire net to Beauxbatons. During all the visits to shops and new places, she always told me something and explained. I have half an hour didn't care for all the beauty and notable places in Paris, Sambacana, and the whole of France, I'm so tired.

Even though I was by the end of our shopping, and then explore Shabbatonim, too sluggish, but nevertheless, I memorized everything. Where in Paris there are entrances from the Muggle city to the magic street. Where is the entrance to the French Ministry of Magic. In which public places there is a fireplace network. I remember all this.

Beauxbatons , geographically located in the Pyrenees. The nearest city to it, I will consider-Toulouse. Located Beauxbatons on the plain, surrounded by mountains. There were also famous gardens, which are especially beautiful in spring. Madame Maxime paid special attention when describing the fountain and its healing properties. And to me at once conversations for a fountain reminded Odessa: After all this water-not a fountain.

I made a promise Academy, which promised to keep the secrets of Sambacana. Although, in fact, I did not know the exact location of this academy. With the help of magic, it is quite possible to make an entrance in the Pyrenees, and place the location in the Alps. The regulation of the weather — is also possible.

In general, studying spatial charms, I learned a lot in my time. The Department of Mysteries conducted research on the effects of collapsing spatial pockets. The effects varied greatly depending on the mage who originally created the pocket. The space could just disappear with all the contents inside, there could be a big explosion with all the contents scattered in all directions, just like shrapnel, and the contents could just spill out into the ordinary world.

But it was all about artificial spatial pockets. There were also natural, natural ones. These were much more resistant to collapsing, and it was in these pockets that mages preferred to set up their schools, ministries, and manors.

Conventional or even nuclear bombardment would hardly be able to destroy such a pocket. But Muggles are very resourceful and know many ways, one way or another, to achieve what they want. There will always be a traitor or just a very offended magician who will make a deal with the "devil"for revenge. Carry a tactical nuclear device with a clockwork mechanism into the spatial pocket, and there is no more Hogwarts, Beauxbaton, the Ministry of Magic...

However, my plans were to make myself a portable dwelling, a trunk or suitcase with an expanded space inside and everything necessary for life. I wasn't afraid of collapsing. During the construction of the greenhouse, I got all the necessary experience.

In many ways it was easier for me in France than at Hogwarts. In the Sarbacane is much easier treated maggiorenni and half-bloods. By "half-breeds", we mean half-breeds of both species, both hybrid half-breeds and half-breeds from an alliance with Muggles or insufficiently pure-blooded wizards. And the very light attitude was not superficial — not from under the stick of the law,but naturally cultural. I have a feeling that wizards are dying out only in England, and the wizarding world, albeit slowly, is moving forward in other countries.

Carlos Cortez was the head of florinela, both "wings", and philosophers, and orators. He was not related to Hernan Cortez, at least that's what Carlos said. Carlos was a talented half-breed student in the Baskonia department, and all his habits and manners spoke of his noble birth. It happens that a person at the junction of different cultures and uncultivated turns out to be a stranger to both, Carlos, on the contrary, was his own, both among Muggle-borns and among purebloods.

It was this man, Cortez, that Madame Maxime appointed me as my chief. Perhaps that's also why it was easy for me to join the team. I knew that my place and weight were largely determined for the next two years. No one had to prove anything, no one had to fight for a place.

Yes, you can admire the gardens of Sambacana, or healing water from a fountain. But, in my opinion, what was worth admiring in the "Beautiful Magic Wands" is the club activity. Clubs, at least to some extent, repeated the Hogwarts division into faculties, but unlike Hogwarts, they united different faculties.

Florizel matched Ravenclaw, Carom was much like Gryffindor, and Chanticleer had Slytherin features, but without all that pureblood focus. There was also a remnant that did not belong to any of the three clubs, but sometimes participated in club activities, as spectators or one-time individual participants.

All competitions Sarbacane were associated with clubs, not with faculties. Quidditch, the dueling tournament, the numerous contests and clubs, all were club affairs.

Everything was great in beauxbatons, but there was also a fly in the ointment in this barrel of honey. I managed to quarrel with Fleur almost immediately, as it seemed to me at the time, and I had hoped to please her. It turned out by itself, I was completely innocent, crystal innocent.

Fleur was a member of the Carom Club, where obscurantists, actors, and other bright and powerful wizards usually come out. She shone in her club, showing a good level of combat magic for her age, and attracting the attention of the male part of the Beauxbaton. The cannons won the victory over Florizelya in three cases out of four when it came to duels. How I had offended Delacour, that she had challenged me to a duel on a completely contrived occasion, I never understood. As Cortez explained, it's just a way to test me, if I lose, there won't be much shame. Although Fleur is a girl, but she is older by a year and has already shown herself to be a good duelist.

It should be mentioned that I received clear instructions from Madame Maxime on how to resolve conflicts in the academy. The rules were strict, but they allowed some maneuvers to be performed, absolutely legally. I should have been at Cortez's side for the first time, absolutely absolutely. He was supposed to act as my consultant, shielding me from various misunderstandings. Any conflict that might arise was to be resolved with his participation and consultation.

When I was approached by Fleur, then Carlos was there.

"Hey, man," Fleur called out, her voice simple and defiant, " you were staring at me today. Who are you anyway?

I looked at Cortez first to see how I should proceed. Carlos just shrugged, giving me the freedom of choice of action. Fleur's behavior was not only atypical, but it also violated the rules of etiquette. Fleur's approach was clearly a test and, to some extent, a provocation. She was constantly being gawked at by several guys, even when she was trying hard not to use Vail charm. However, she came up with claims to me, who looked at her a couple of times out of interest in how her magic would affect me.

"Well, if Carlos leaves the decision to me, then this test is probably sanctioned," I decided.

There wasn't much time to think, so I walked up to Fleur at the proper distance. Acceptable for an English bow, not a French courtly one, so my excessive approach might seem a bit aggressive, which is what I wanted.

"Not at all, mademoiselle," I said, bowing. — I only allowed myself a few glances at you. You're Fleur Delacour, aren't you?" I asked casually, to soften the situation. — You have Vail blood in you, and I was wondering how your abilities would affect me."

"Vail blood?" Fleur pretended to be indignant. — Are you trying to insult me, Englishman?" You are there, the Islands quite out of your mind with his pure blood.

"Not at all," I said, a little taken aback by Fleur's pressure.

— Are you arguing with me, boy?" Fleur pressed down with her Vail magic. "I challenge you to a student duel!" Tomorrow! After school!

Fleur turned and walked away, and I stood there wondering, " What was

that?" I voiced the question for Carlos.

"Fleur Delacour —" Cortez said, smiling.

"I'm talking about what happened, not the name," I said, deciding not to notice the sarcasm in Cortez's words.

— Since I'm always with you, people like Claude Rene can't run over you. Cortez began to explain to me the subtleties of internal currents in the academy. And he didn't say anything about Renee for nothing. Rene was a bully and sometimes called two duels a week. He did not cross the boundaries of decency, but sometimes he walked on the edge. Cortez would have put Claude in his place with a few words, without waiting for events to develop, without allowing him to challenge him to a duel. With Fleur, since she was a girl, Cortez could not interfere.

"Unspoken traditions require you to be tested," Cortez said.

— What kind of tradition?

"It's like Caramboli, they want to include you among their own," Carlos explained, "they almost always have such checks, either a duel, or put you in a situation where you need to act quickly and decisively. You're lucky with Fleur. She is aiming for the place of the leader of the "Carom", has already won several duels with older guys. They're interested in you! Chanticleer can also assign you a test, but of a different plan, " Carlos smiled. — They'll invite you to sing or settle an argument. You didn't pass our test, but I can see that you're a smart guy, and if you pass the Carom and Chanticleer tests, then you've passed my test, too. I'm telling you this is completely official! And know that you don't have to win a duel to pass the test. It happened that the duelist won the duel, but did not pass the test. Sometimes, the person being tested lost almost immediately, but the test passed. But most often, those who fought a long battle were tested, "said the main"Florizel". "You didn't 'float' out of Fleur's charm, did you?" So you have a chance to win.

Cortez gave me a lot of instructions that day, telling me what to do and what not to do. To some extent, he had his own advantage, I would fight for the "Florizels" to some extent, so he carefully introduced me to all the rules so that I knew all the subtleties of the accepted conventions, what you can do, but not welcome, and what can bring additional reputation points.

"The use of combat magic is very limited —" my personal advisor was saying — " and Auror nonlethal spells are allowed. You can safely use any little thing like "seco" or "everte statum" when the opponent is under the shield. Tickle, dumbfounded, aguamenti, incendio, expelliarmus - all this can be used without restrictions. But no bombardments or elaborate curses. I understand that all this "Protego" is very difficult to break through. In fact, the duel turns into a test of your reserve if you decide to just keep the protego. But from time to time it is necessary to attack, otherwise you will be recognized as defeated, for passivity. They'll watch you move around. This is not a sports duel, when you are limited to a narrow pedestal-track, there will be a fairly wide circle, limited by a barrier for spectators. But to win will have to show ingenuity. You know, to break through the "protego", simple spells are not enough, you need to either fill the enemy with magic, surpassing him by a head, or come up with something non — standard, but do not burn Lumos in your eyes, "Carlos warned me," this is not prohibited, but not welcome. And yet, in the beginning, before the duel, the enemy may try to bring you out of your mental balance, in no case do not descend to direct insults and do not go to the person. I looked pointedly at Carlos. "Well, what about it?" Carlos chuckled. "You're officially a Muggle-born, so I should have warned you.

The next day, after school, there weren't many people for my duel with Fleur, but not a few. Cortez was there, along with a couple of other guys from what was now my club. There were some guys from the Carom Club who came to watch the duel and from Chanticleer. As a steward of the duel and the referee was the teacher of the defense against the dark arts for senior courses — Monsieur de Aherad Trefl-Peak. The professor had a ducal title, but he preferred to be addressed as "chevalier" outside of class, rather than "professor" or "Your Grace."

A student duel is different from a sports or honor duel. In a sports duel, the participants are on a straight, not very high track, which can not be left. In some ways, a sports duel resembles sports fencing. In a duel of honor, the rules are different, but the most important and most important rule in all duels of honor is to be on the alert all the time, and the basic principle is to survive. A student duel is more like a training match with a discount on age and with many additional restrictions.

Having sworn an oath to fight a fair fight until I left the circle, I entered the circle. The oath is mandatory, but it does not stipulate the rules themselves, the rollback in case of small violations is minimal. But if I deliberately want to cause irreparable harm, then the rollback can deprive me of magic.

I did a few stretching exercises, jumped a little, and sat down a couple of times to warm up my muscles. He twirled the wand between his fingers in one hand, then shifted it to the other and twirled it in the other. Abruptly, he waved his wand cross - to-cross, drew a pair of eights in the air, and, drawing his hand aside, bowed to Fleur, who was entering the dueling circle.

My Willow wand, which according to Garik Ollivander says that I am an insecure person, or it says that I know how to hide my insecurities.

The core of my wand is made from the heart vein of a dragon. I don't know what kind of dragon it was, but it was probably the most narcissistic and show-off-loving dragon. After all, from time to time, the desire to show off is stronger than caution and prudence.

I remember that in my previous life I used to have a desire to show off. But life never allowed it to unfold. As soon as he straightened his shoulders, he got a kick from life, as soon as he ran away, there was a running board, as soon as you looked up, a slap on the head flew in.

And all trainings aimed at breaking your habits and existing attitudes are useless, because the environment and conditions remain the same, or you will become a sociopath and a psycho in general, or you will return to the previous state, but in an even deeper immersion in yourself.

"You need to pull to the end, push to the last, I can't hold on through!" — experts and masters of training teach. — "When you finally get lucky, you will trample like a tank, nothing will stop you."

They promise to reach new heights in any field for everyone. But success, whatever it is, remains a reward for a select few. Forces are the least closer to the finish line, patience is not infinite, health is not eternal. You're on sale, where everything is a hundred rubles, but you only have ninety-nine in your pocket. To buy something, you will have to find a ruble somewhere else. The ruble has from other buyers. Buyers are different, there are also those who have nine hundred and ninety-nine in their pocket, but they can also have price tags of a thousand. And there are those who can take the goods for free, and their pockets are not empty. The machine that you like will go to someone else. The wife will not be for love, but for the norm, not one of those in love with. That's what life is like…

Magic in that old world was a fairy tale for me, although sometimes inexplicable things happened, and I had to hear different stories. In that life, I learned to want, desire, strive, fall and get up without getting anything in return, just doing it for the sake of life. After all, to live without desires and aspirations is even more terrible. Why does the hamster climb into the wheel every day and run furiously forward? Doesn't he realize that he's going to stay put anyway? Understands!

Here, in this life, the magic for me was completely real and manifested in life every day many times. But that wasn't even the point. The main thing is that this world did not cut my wings on takeoff, did not push me under the elbow at the crucial moment and did not beat me in the gut before the race for a while. Blows happened, but there was no constant pressure on the edge of endurance.

I decided I'd just go out and show what I could do. If my strength and skills are not enough, then so be it. I hid my fear and uncertainty very well, even I will not immediately find it myself, if anything.

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