The anticipation was suffocating. Nico felt as though he could hardly breathe throughout his classes, all the way down to the entrance hall to greet their guests.
Nico doesn't particularly care for meeting new people, as this event is apparently supposed to accomplish. Certainly not some stuck up brats from another Wizarding school.
They force him to stand among his house peers in his year, meaning the surrounding 4th year Slytherins tower over him and come far too close for comfort. They bump into him as they hurriedly make sure their clothes are neat and tidy before Snape comes to inspect them.
"Boyle, tuck in your shirt." Snape walks around, eyeing the painfully obedient Slytherin house with judgement. "Pucey. Save your eating for the feast. Di Angelo, straighten your tie and stand properly."
"Bite me."
"That will be a detention."
Other than the times teachers are actively inspecting students, the crowd chatters in excitement.
Nico can see his friends across the crowd, chatting with Fred and George, the Weasely twins.
"Aha! Unless I am mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!" Dumbledore announces, which does nothing to quiet the crowd.
In fact, it only makes them louder, everyone eagerly searching for where they are appearing from until someone points out something above the forbidden forest.
Nico squints to see it, a large... something. As it gets closer into view, Nico can see that it is a powder-blue carriage pulled by massive horses. He can feel his gut instinct to pull his sword and be on the defensive rise, along with the sickening feeling that unexpectedly appears with seeing something so large in the sky. He just prays he will not be expected to board.
It lands with a clattering bounce, and Nico can spot that the horses look absolutely horrifying up close. They have golden fur, hooves that could crush Nico's head, and fiery red eyes.
The door swings open and a boy in blue robes hops out, fumbling to unfold large golden steps from the base of the carriage.
At least, Nico thinks. Robes aren't just a British wizard thing.
Then a woman emerges from the carriage and Nico loses his breath. She's massive, around the same height of Hagrid. But the last time he'd seen a woman of that size...
No. He shakes his head. He wouldn't. Not today. It had been going well so far and he wasn't about to ruin it. Still, he clutched his sword pendant so hard it dug and cut into his hand.
About a dozen students file out of the carriage, all wearing silken blue uniforms and shivering in the cold air. From the looks on their faces, they were not pleased to be here.
"Come," The giant of a headmaster waves to her students, leading them through the crowd and into the school.
For a few minutes after, the crowd was silent, the only sounds being the snuffling and clipping of Beauxbatons' horses. Nico does not trust those horses, not as far as he can throw them.
"The lake!" Someone yells, drawing the school's attention. "Look at the lake!"
Nico, unfortunately, has a hard time looking at the lake. Now that the crowd around him is all straining to look, he's being squished so much he can barely stand anymore. He's being pushed down, and can only hear strange sucking and gulping noises from the general direction of the lake.
From what he can hear of the chattering crowd, a ship was coming out from the lake. Then, apparently, people were emerging from it, walking up the shore towards the crowd.
"Dumbledore!" A man calls heartily, able to be heard even on the ground. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"
"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff."
A moment later, the crowd erupts with a different kind of excitement.
"Krum! That's Viktor Krum!" Students squeal and squack in hushed tones. Nico doesn't know who Viktor Krum is, but he's causing him to get even more crushed.
Wordcount: 666
Hello, hello. I'm sorry for the wait. As I'm sure you heard, J.K.R. has been doing a lot of transphobic things lately. As a trans person, this made it difficult to like Harry Potter for a period of time. And then as soon as I got back into it, I got mildly ill. Thank you for being mostly patient with me.
Peace out matchsticks.
Love,
Sammy