Emerald green ~ Sirius Black

Chapter 5: The Beauxbatons Houses

September 11th 1971

Katherine was sent straight to Beauxbatons via floo powder to start the week early. She arrived in a brightly lit room several meters tall, windows stretching out along the walls adorned with light blue curtains. Glancing around the room she saw a massive woman sitting at a large desk, a large fur coat wrapped around her broad shoulders.

"Hello?" Katherine called out to the woman, stepping out of the fireplace.

The woman looked up, glancing at her over the small glasses she was wearing, "I see zat Hogwarts hasn't taught you manners" The woman said through a thick French accent, "It eez customary for you to say Madamé when talking to a headmistress, and you'ré tracking soot in".

Katherine smiled awkwardly, "Well Madame, I assume you're the headmistress then?".

The woman sighed, taking off her glasses, "Well, isn't that obvious?".

laughing nervously Katherine wiped her feet on the mat, "I suppose... um, I'm the new student?".

"you're Madamé Travers?" she said doubtfully.

Katherine nodded.

"le Madamé Travers I was told would have impeccable manners and good breeding?" She asked.

Katherine nodded, "Yup, that's me" The headmistress stared at her in disbelief, "Madame" Katherine added as an afterthought.

rolling her eyes the headmistress stood up, "I suppose you're sorting vill tell" she said, walking out of the room.

Katherine quickly grabbed her trunk, following after the tall woman.

"My name is Madame Maxine" the headmistress informed her, "the students here are expected to be the best of the best, with perfect poise and brilliant minds".

Katherine nodded, walking alongside Madame Maxine.

"All students know proper English, so I trust they will be accommodating".

"oh, I speak French" Katherine assured her.

"Je vois, il y a peut-être une promesse en vous" The headmistress smiled. 

(I see, Maybe there is promise in you)

"Merci"

(Thank you)

The two walked together until they reached the bottom of a large staircase, Katherine wheezing from the exercise.

"in there" the headmistress said pointing towards large doors, "is ze banquet hall, ze student body has gathered to watch you complete the test".

Katherine frowned, "test?".

Madame Maxine smiled, "ze sorting" she explained, walking towards the door, and guiding Katherine along with her.

"ze houzes are Bellefeuille which vill be le colour green this is a le house for le Brave, Sensitive and loyal , Pappilonlisse which is purple is for maturity, kindess and idealistically and Ombrelune which vill be blue is known for ambition, logic and curiosity" The headmistress explained.

Katherine nodded, encouraging herself as Madame Maxine opened the door, allowing Katherine to go in first.

Stepping into the banquet hall was nerve wracking. Hundreds of students were looking back at her, some whispering or laughing to their friends at the nervous girl standing in front of them. once again Katherine was surprised by how light the room was, the ceiling was made entirely of glass, a few windows open allowing the chilling air in. in particular at the end of the hall there was a large stained class window with the school logo on it, two wands crossing over eachother. Katherine was even more suprised that inbetween the two wands there  was a large target, the colours made of the 3 Madame Maxine had listed before.

The tables were organised in a circle, with a gap at the entrance so Katherine could walk in the middle. Students from every house were mixed together, it was nothing like Hogwarts.

walking forwards Katherine began to approach the opening to the circle 

clearing her throat Katherine held her head up higher, pushing her shoulders back she walked forwards to a small podium that was sitting in the middle, with something sitting atop it.

as she walked through the gap she felt someone touch her hand and she whipped around to find a boy in her year smiling encouragingly.

"smile" he whipsered, "you've got the whole school watching and right now you look like your dying" he grinned as katherine let out a shaky laugh under her breath, putting on more  of a smile.

When she finally reached the podium she was suprised to see that sitting on top was a large golden bow, a golden arrow laid neatly over the string. picking up the arrow by is shaft Katherine carefully examined it, feeling the thickness which was surprisingly thick.

She had taken a few archery classes as a kid and knew that she preferred skinnier shafts, which was much better for long distance shots, much to her dismay the target that was against the stained glass was pretty close to her. 

taking a deep breath Katherine placed the head of the arrow in the arrow-rest, pulling it back with the string to increase the pressure before she let it go towards the target.

She was surprised to see that it hit on the 1st try, the golden arrow exploding into a cloud of dark blue sparks.

the students all burst into applause, every house clapping as one showing a display of unity between houses that Hogwarts could scarcely imagine.

as Katherine stepped off the podium she was suprised to see that her Uniform had already changed, her hat which used to be a solid pale blue now had a strip of darker blue and the cuffs of her sleeves had changed to match, a sign that she was officially in Ombrelune.

~~~

Once dinner had finished Katherine decided to explore the ground, already bored of the stuffy hallways and bland common room which were no comparison to the beautiful banquet hall.

As she walked through the garden she was suprised to see that everything was very on theme, a large hedge fence was used to surround the castle and the gardens were full of white roses and large marble fountains. 

It was very picturesque and Katherine found herself sitting on a stone bench against the thinned out hedges writing a letter to Sirius.

Dear Sirius

Beauxbatons is beautiful, its serene and the students are nothing like at Hogwarts, its peaceful here. I still miss Hogwarts though, and the common rooms there are much better, it seems all the money here was spent on the gardens.

A few hours ago I was sorted into the house Ombrelune. It sounds very similar to Slytherin but the people in it seem really nice and im sure it will make my mother pleased.

Speaking of the hag she failed to mention that when we moved to France we would also be moving in with a certain someone, you'll never guess who... Tom Riddle, The Dark Lord himself.

But seriously (and dont you dare turn that into a pun) he's pretty intimidating and he has some messed up views on muggles. I wish I didnt have to be in the same house as him but atleast I dont have to see him when im at school. 

I really miss you here, and tell James and Marlene and Lily that I miss them all too, but I dont know how many letters my owl can carry, still by all means, tell them to write, i'd love to hear from them.

Missing you here, XX

                                           Katherine Travers.

When she was finished the letter she tucked it in her back pocket, looking at the stars above her, she slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

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