𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞.

𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒

*anything in italics, in this chapter, is spoken in french

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     𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐒 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐘 Anastasia's favorite pastime. It allows her imagination to wander, exploring the deepest recesses of her imagination and allowing her to conjure up scenes from a variety of genres in her head. One day, she could be drinking tea with Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy in an English rose garden, and the next, she could be on a daring adventure in Neverland with Peter Pan. It's like sitting by a tranquil and serene lake with no interruptions.

     "Ladies and gentlemen, please get yourselves completely ready. We will be arriving soon!"

     Madame Maxine's loud and unpleasant voice boomed through Anastasia's ears, jolting her up from her deep slumber. The carriage was filled with a symphony of squealing teenagers, all of whom were sprinting for any reflective surface they could discover. Anastasia grumbled as she dragged her feet over to a tiny hanging mirror from her warm seat by the window. Her hair was smudged and her lipstick was smeared all over her face, signaling to anyone that she had fallen asleep for awhile. He hat was barely hanging on to its bobby pins.

     "Ah! Troll!"

     Anastasia slowly turned around to see Augustus cowering in mock terror behind Marie, who appeared to have been through this before.

     Anastasia simply looked at Augustus, irritated. "In case you can't tell, I'm laughing so hard," she replied sarcastically.

     "Well, it appears that someone woke up on the wrong side of the...window." Augustus gave a smirking grin. Anastasia sighed and reached into her bag for her hairbrush, which she needed to tame the lion's mane she'd acquired during her slumber.

     "Oh come on, Tasia. You know we were joking." Marie said to her sleepy sister. "You know, you missed a lot of discussion about Hogwarts. Janelle said that headmaster, Dumbly-door or something similar, bewitches the sky in the dining hall to look real. Isn't that incredible?" she added, obviously thrilled. "But before we go, how about we fix...this situation first." Marie snickered as she motioned her hand around Anastasia's entire face. Anastasia sighed as she conceded to the younger girls' requests. Marie took a seat next to her and got to work. 

     Marie clapped and bounced around the room after what felt like an eternity of combing hair and applying cosmetics.

     "Augustus! Take a look at this! If I may say so, this is perhaps my greatest work." She proudly grinned while staring at Anastasia's face, who was oblivious to what she looked like. For all Anastasia knew, this might be one of Marie's tricks, and she could be dolled up as a garden gnome.

     "No. Way. This can't be the Tasia I know." Augustus gasped, reaching out to touch Anastasia's face before Marie slapped is hand away.

     "Don't touch! We must enjoy this while it lasts; she might wipe it all off." Marie told the elder boy. Anastasia chuckled at their antics and moved over to one of the 5,000 mirrors hanging on the wall.

     It would be an understatement to say she was impressed with her sister's efforts. She was speechless. Anastasia had no idea she was capable of such beauty. She was half veela, but those genes didn't operate the same way for her as they did for Marie. This, on the other hand, was an one-of-a-kind moment. Except for the tiny strands surrounding her flawlessly fair skin, she carefully rubbed her finger across her rosy cheek and over her neatly slicked back hair. She had the appearance of a princess.

     "Now all we need to complete this look is Prince Charming." Augustus sighed, leaning on Anastasia's shoulder. She smiled at her best friend's dramatic flair and took Marie's hand in hers, drawing her towards the window. Marie gazed out the window, awestruck, as the massive castle came into view. After catching a sight of the magnificent castle, the girls and boys in the carriage burst out laughing. It was perched on enormous rocks overlooking a vast lake teeming with the most exceptional of animals. Anastasia could see large groupings of students attempting to get a glimpse of the structure soaring through the air as the flying carriage came closer to the ground.

     Madame Maxine strolled back into the room, inspecting her students' looks one last time. She snatched her fingers in front of Augustus' face and drew attention to his crooked tie. He gave an embarrassed smile before immediately repairing it. The veelas in the queue sauntered out of the compartment with their heads held high - they needed to make a good first impression on the Hogwarts students. Anastasia moved gracefully through the crowd, flashing a bright grin to everyone she passed.

     Madame Maxine stated that it was time for their 'dance routine' as they approached two enormous wooden and steel doors. Anastasia groaned, and she could hear Augustus hide a tiny giggle from a few rows behind her. He just created a heart shape with his hands when she turned around and narrowed her eyes at him. An announcement could be heard, most likely from the headmaster Marie had mentioned before.

     "Ladies and gentlemen! Please give a warm welcome to the young men and women from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and their headmistress Olympe Maxine!" the voice bellowed throughout the room directly in front of the girls.

     The doors immediately opened, revealing a large dining room identical to the one at Beauxbatons. Madame Maxine, a few rows behind Anastasia, could be heard clapping her hands to keep time. Marie and Anastasia were among the first lines of females to enter, proudly examining some of the students closest to them. And, as usual, all of the boys in the room went goo-goo eyed.

     Anastasia performed the rehearsed dance, if one could call it that. She sashayed ahead, her neck lifted in the air like that of a regal swan. She had mastered the 'pretty little butterflies,' and had even avoided tripping over her own feet, which was a complete surprise. However, the gratification was fleeting. During a dance, it's natural to want to look about and survey the crowd. In Anastasia's case, she was effectively told that she needed to establish eye contact with the students for her 'veela charm' to work. She exhaled softly as she let go of the blue mist and butterflies in her palm, shutting her eyes for a two-second mental break in the process. When Anastasia opened her eyes, time stopped. She was standing in the center of the dining hall, oblivious to what she was doing because she was enthralled by a single set of grey eyes. They were alluring, as if they wanted to know all there was to know about her.

     "Dupont!" Janelle whisper-shouted at Anastasia, giving her a little push forward, causing her to trip over he left foot.

     Anastasia attempted to restore her balance by breaking eye contact with this mysterious man. She caught up to the other girls in line, hurrying up to Marie, who gave her a sharp look. Madame Maxine trailed after the group, urging them to form straight lines along the room's walls.

     Durmstrang, the other school, entered the hall with just their male pupils. Marie tugged on Anastasia's elbow, rambling about how good-looking the boys from the foreign school were as they marched forward with frigid expressions, but Anastasia found it difficult to focus on what Marie was saying. Her thoughts kept returning to the brunette boy with whom she had made eye contact with moments ago. She assumed it was the veela charm since almost all of the females from Beauxbatons seemed to have that effect on others.

     She examined the corridor, making several observations as she went. Four different colored banners hung from the ceiling, which had been charmed to resemble the sky, as Marie had predicted. Everyone was assigned to one of four tables based on the color of their uniforms. Anastasia assumed this was the house system that Augustus was referring to. Anastasia had a vague recollection of the boy wearing yellow. Or was it green?

     "Tasia! Go!" Marie whispered to her sister, who still looked like she was in a trance.

     Madame Maxine had soon decided to split up the groups of students so that there would be some at each table. She could see Augustus shuffle towards the yellow table, sitting down in front of a blonde girl who immediately shook his hand. Anastasia was impatiently waiting her turn, secretly hoping to be directed in the same direction.

     Madame Maxine finally turned to the oldest Dupont sister, and pointed towards the seat next to Augustus, "Dupont, over there."

     Anastasia had the option of jumping with pleasure. Sitting with random people? No thanks. At the very least, Augustus would be doing the most of the talking. She moved carefully up to the table with the yellow uniforms and gently tapped Augustus on the shoulder.

     "I'm sorry, is this seat taken, good sir?" She asked the boy, a smirk spreading across her features.

     Augustus chuckled lightly and returned the smile, "Of course not my kind lady." Anastasia laughed before sliding in next to the boy.

     "Hannah, this is Anastasia Dupont. Tasia, this is Hannah Abbott." Augustus said, motioning to the smiley blonde girl sitting in front of him.

     "Hi Anastasia! As you know, my name is Hannah, but you could literally call me anything and I'd answer." She said quickly with a giggle, sticking out her hand for Anastasia to shake.

     Anastasia accepted the gesture and gave her a warm smile, "Nice to meet you, Hannah. I see you've met Augustus already."

     "Oh of course! I was extremely excited when they announced that Hogwarts would be holding this tournament. So many new friends!" She clapped her hands.

     Almost immediately, Marie came running up to Anastasia and sat down in the seat next to her.

     "Why are you over here? I thought Madame Maxine put you with the green table?" Anastasia asked her little sister.

     "Oh she did, but I didn't want to sit there." Marie grinned.

     "Hannah, this is my little sister Marie." Anastasia introduced the young girl who shyly smiled at the blonde.

     "I've always wanted to learn French. Were you two born knowing it?" she asked the sisters in adoration. Anastasia thought that this girl was pure sunshine in human form.

     Anastasia smiled at the question, "In fact our mother was French, so we did know quite a bit growing up, didn't we?" Marie nodded at her sister's comment, still looking at the ground. It was the moments like these that you could definitely tell that Anastasia and Marie were sisters—they weren't very good at the whole social interaction thing. Especially with new people.

     Anastasia felt compelled to glance around the yellow table, just in case someone might catch her attention like earlier. Her eyes wandered the entirety of the hall until she felt someone's gaze fall upon her. She tilted her head just slightly to meet the gaze of a young man with untidy brown hair and sparkling grey eyes. Anastasia's chest felt like a dozen fireworks had gone off inside of her, pounding and bursting to the point that she had to gasp for oxygen. She had felt an immaculate spark simply by gazing at this boy. She could feel electricity coursing through her veins, yet she couldn't take her gaze away from him.

     Little did she know that he had felt those fireworks too.

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author's note:

lol idk ab this

question of the day:
how was it?

xx
elle