We woke bright and early from the sound of a sharp bell, ringing above our doorway, that left me discombobulated for a moment as to where I was. Marie, on the otherhand, was used to this alarm clock, and promptly got out of bed, stretched up to her tippie toes and then slowly walked to her dresser, where her uniform hung, nicely steamed, ready for the day.
Looking around the room, I readjusted myself to my new bedroom as the bell kept ringing behind me.
"The bell is enchanted to keep ringing if we don't get out of bed." Marie informed me, as she promptly went behind the screen to change. I quickly placed my feet on the ground and stood up, stopping the bell mid ring.
"How kind of them," I commented as I walked to my own dresser. I heard Marie laugh before returning with her uniform half on.
Thinking about how Samantha would feel at the idea of being woken up every morning by a sharp bell helped lighten my mood as I got ready for the day. I even allowed Oliver to sleep in, although I was sure that if I tried to move him in his grumpy state, I would get sharp claws running down my arm.
With Marie's help, I learned about the various uniforms we wore, and when to wear them. The silk ensemble, complete with hat and blocked heels, were worn in fall and late spring while our wool and cashmere ensemble was to be worn with correct gloves in winter and early spring. My hair was to always be tied up into a low ponytail and my tights were to always be worn, with no holes in sight.
"There's a nice spell to fix those holes, thank merlin! I would have wasted so much money on tights alone otherwise," Marie added as she guided me down the hallway with other girls in tow in their new silk uniforms with their block heels clattering on the marble floors.
Breakfast was served the same as dinner, with different dishes placed for each girl. I had buttered wheat bread with pink sprinkles and a hard boiled egg on the side with a chunk of cheese and milk. Not the worst breakfast coming from a bread lover.
It was during breakfast I was reintroduced to the two girls I met last night, Mila and Anna, all dolled up in their own silk robes and hats. When Anna saw me, she quickly grabbed the hat on my head, and turned it to an angle, before nodding in satisfaction.
"Trust me when I say that Benoît will go after us for anything today, including what angle you wear your hat." Mila scoffed as she joined us at the table, with a handful of grapes in one hand.
"You would know, Benoît only ever targets Anna about how she dresses." I laughed as Anna flicked her friend in the arm before settling down to eat.
My first class was choir, where I was introduced to Professeur Leblanc, a stout little witch with heavy set eyebrows, that reminded me of very hairy caterpillars. Her mouth was smothered in red lipstick to compliment her grey-rose robes, that matched the color of her hair. I was given a choral binder made of grey leather, holding enchanted parchment with a list of songs written in black ink at the top. My name was inscribed at the bottom, so I would never forget it.
We were gathered in a classroom large enough to fit the thirty or so girls scattered around me. A piano stood in the corner where Leblanc stood, taking attendance with a quick quill.
"Mademoiselles, we shall begin with voice classifications, even if you are not a new comer, I expect some of your voices to have matured some since the last semester. One at a time, if you please."
And one by one each and every girl came waltzing to the front of the room, each clasping their hands in front of them, their backs upright with closed feet stances, singing ascending and descending scales as an enchanted piano accompanied them in whatever key Professeur Leblanc instructed it to play.
When it was my turn, I felt myself walk meekly to the front of the room, unknowingly making my first big mistake of the day, my posture.
"Do not make me call in Benoît, mademoiselle. Where is your posture?" Leblanc criticized, as she walked towards me. Thinking fast, I copied the posture of the girls before me, only to have the professeur tap her wand on my chin, making me elongate my neck and drop my shoulders. With a satisfied nod she turned to the piano, demanding it to play the key in D.
I was placed as a high soprano, and went to the opposite side of the choir where I found myself positioned next to the familiar face of Mariana, who was watching me with a wicked grin.
Knowing I was in good hands, I gave a sigh of relief before joining my raven haired friend for the rest of class.
Following choir I caught up with Marie who joined me for charms alongside Anna and Mila. The familiar face of Professeur Beaupré welcomed me as I took a seat among the many long desks in another spacious classroom adorned with mirrors, illuminating the candle light.
Following charms was break, where I was hunted down by Jacqueline and Gisele, who gave me me critiques and compliments on how well I dressed myself on my first day.
"Now all you need is red lips. Gisele, do you still have your box?" Gisele handed Jacqueline a lipstick case, who promptly opened it and dabbed red lipstick onto to my face, making me swat away her hand indignity.
"Let me at least do it before you ruin my face, Jacqueline!" I chided, as I tried to dodge the grinning french girl.
Marie, who had been with me before I got ambushed by third years, used her height to her advantage and took the lipstick case from Jacqueline's hand and gave it to me with a quick swipe.
Turning to one of the mirrors lining the walls of our hallway, I found a red mess on my face, making the four of us roll with laughter, gaining the attention of Madam Benoît, who was monitoring the hall.
"What is this? What do you think you are doing, mademoiselle?" She demanded, marching up to me. I quickly lost my smile and tried to hide the case of lipstick to no avail.
"We're trying to teach the American how to use lipstick. As you can see, Madam, she needs a lot of help," Jacqueline said without letting a smile crack her expression. Marie and Gisele on the other hand were losing it behind her. Benoît gave me a mortified look before taking her wand out and erasing the smears of red on my face.
"I didn't expect to need to teach girls how to apply something so fundamental. Obviously this will need to be added to your curriculum, mademoiselle..."
"Fountaine," Jacqueline added with a cheshire grin. A look of recognition appeared on the governess's face.
"Fountaine? As in Emmeline's little girl?" The witch looked me up and down in astonishment. "And to think your mother had more class at your age. I see now the work I must put into your case. Sit in the front of my class tomorrow morning, Mademoiselle Fountaine. Lord knows you need my attention." Benoît turned her attention to my friends watching the scene with red faces.
"Don't think I am not disappointed in your girls lack of instruction either. I see Mademoiselle De Vries has yet to learn that slouching is unbecoming in girls of her size." I watched as Marie bit her lip as she dropped her shoulders as instructed.
With a final nod, the witch left, leading me to promptly punch a crackling Jacqueline in the arm.
By the time lunch had come around I had been instructed in Herbology, run by a Professeur Moreau and a scary excuse for a class known as Fencing, run by the one male teacher in attendance, Monsieur Bernard. By the time I had been run through the mill, learning how the proper etiquette to hold my new found weapon, a Foil, the term for my sword that I will use, I was starving and excited for lunch.
And boy was I happy at what I found.
Lunch in Beauxbatons was far more grander than the dinner I had last night. Larger portions of food were given to us on our plates and each girl was given a side plate of different fruit to eat as well.
I still could not choose what I ate, but was lucky again to find a familiar sandwich that I loved on my plate, called a Croque Madam, with cut up oranges and apples on the side. I would have inhaled my food had it not been for Madam Benoît, whom since meeting me officially over break, had decided to keep a close on eye on my movements, hoping to fix me in record time.
This meant that when I tried to take the biggest bite from my sandwich, I was hit with quick snap from her wand and told to eat the food slowly and with a fork and knife.
Easy to say, Jacqueline was loving her new found comedy as she watched from a neighboring table.
Thankfully I was saved from the this torture by the mail arriving on my way to fifth period. An owl that I recognized as Sam's arrived carrying a letter from my old friend and so, on the way to my Potions, I read all about Sam's news about how her sister continued to annoy her, how she couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts and all her curious questions she had at hearing that I was already back in school while Hogwarts was still in summer break.
Making a mental note to write back to my friend the moment I got a free chance, I rushed off to potions were I got to sit alongside Gisele, Mariana and Jacqueline in a room polar opposite to the dungeons I was so used to associating potions class with.
The classroom was a corner room in the palace, thus causing all the walls facing the mountains to be enchanted windows that opened during good weather. Tall wooden tables stood in rows behind a massive table where Professeur Martin, my potion's teacher, stood beaming happily at us. She was to be the most bubbly professeur I had ever had.
A witch dressed in pottery green robes, Professeur Martin had long dark brunette hair that she wore in an elegant updo that closely resembled my mother. She spoke with a lilt that made me wish even more that I had no American accent as she explained the syllabus and instructed us to prepare our first potion for the term. Suffice it to say, I was in love with her and that class.
And to end my busy day, I was introduced to a new class that Hogwarts never carried: Reflection.
There was no classroom listed under this class, nor any description as to what I was supposed to do, so if it had not been for Jacqueline and Gisele who followed me out of Potions, I would have been lost.
Reflection was a class where students from each year were made to sit and listen to a new speaker of the schools choice. Sometimes the whole school had the same lecturer and other times, we all had separate lecturers.
Either way, this course had one main goal: to teach the girls of Beauxbatons how to be cultured both in the magical world and the no-maj world. They wanted us to be confident and well prepared for the working world ahead of us.
This week's lecturer was meant for the entire school so we all made our way out to the giant patio looking over the gardens and fountain in the distance. White chairs were every which way with students starting to take their seats. Motioning me to join, Jacqueline, Gisele and I moved to sit with Marie, Anna and Mila in the far back, where Mariana later joined with one of her friends from Portugal, Isa.
When Madam Maxime entered the room, I among the other student stood out of our seats and watched as our headmistress walked to the front of the room, escorting our guest speaker for the day, a familiar witch in a blue and white set of robes with her witch hat pinned in a slant walking alongside her, hiding her profile from my view. When she turned to face us in full, my heart jumped in recognition.
The guest speaker for my first reflection was to be given by my mother,
Emmeline Fountaine.