Chapter Thirty: Beauxbatons
They spent the rest of the night in Neville’s townhouse; Hermione advised they try to lay low for the day, since the Death Eaters would surely be on the look out for them. “Getting to Beauxbatons will be harder enough,” she told them. “It’s heavily guarded, but I’m sure they’ll recognize Neville and me.”
“Why’s it guarded?” asked Lottie.
“It’s a school,” Neville answered from the stove; steam rose from vegetables cooking in a frying pan. “Well, it used to be. Now it’s sort of like an army training base.”
“Sort of like Alsemore, then,” Andrea said.
“A bit,” said Hermione, still perched in her armchair. “Which is why we’re heading over there. Bill and Fleur run the school, don’t they?” she asked. Neville nodded. “Oh, it will be no problem getting in, then. We’ll just have to get past the Death Eaters.”
“Death Eaters!” Lottie shouted, dropping her wand. “There are Death Eaters around there?”
“There are Death Eaters everywhere, Lottie,” Andrea muttered, her nose stuck in an old Charms book she had found on Neville’s bookshelf. “Honestly…”
Hermione and Neville exchanged amused glances.
“But if they’re in front of the school, why don’t they just go in?” Lottie asked as she slipped her wand back into her pocket.
“It’s hidden,” Neville explained, spooning cauliflower and zucchini onto four plates. “That’s why it’s going to be so much trouble or us to get there. And it’s dangerous to send a Patronus messenger, because the Death Eaters would definitely see it. Nobody uses owls anymore and Floo Powder is out of the question. Apparating won’t work, of course. Our best bet is to head over there and hope Bill and Fleur see us before the Death Eaters do.”
Lottie’s jaw hung open. “That sounds awesome!” She brandished her wand in front of her like a sword. “I don’t understand why the adults get to do all of the cool things,” she went on. “I’d love to go on adventures like that and help the cause. I can’t wait to tell everyone at school what we did this summer.”
“You better not,” Andrea said before Hermione opened her mouth. “You know what Palmyitor said about telling anyone. And if you get me in trouble on more time, I swear.” She returned to the yellowing pages of her book.
“I’d love to see what Scrivener”” Lottie stuck her tongue out and squinted her eyes in disgust “”would say when””
“”if””
“”if he found out.”
Andrea laughed dryly. “He’d probably say the only reason he didn’t get to go is because he’s too valuable.”
“A modern day Draco Malfoy?” Neville asked Hermione.
“Not quite as bad,” she said as she picked at her food. “These two just have struck up some kind of rivalry with him.”
“Because he’s stupid and fat and won’t leave us alone,” Lottie said through a mouthful of her dinner. Andrea didn’t say anything, but Lottie could see the corners of her mouth twitching. “And Ally Overton too,” she continued. “I don’t know why she’s even in the school. They should just have left her in the camps to rot.” Hermione raised her eyebrows. Hurriedly, Lottie added, “And it wouldn’t have even been that bad. The half-blood camps can’t be nearly as awful as the Muggle camps.”
“They’re less crowded, anyway,” Hermione said.
They spent the rest of the evening sitting over their empty dinner plates listening to Hermione and Neville’s tales of childhood and school days. Lottie found them fascinating and jumped with excitement when one of them would mention Harry Potter. She had heard all of the stories, of course, but there was something about the friendship he had with Hermione and Neville that satisfied her thirst for information.
That night, Lottie and Andrea fell asleep on cots that Neville had conjured in the living room.
Lottie woke to Andrea shaking her awake and the smell of scrambled eggs. Judging by the light pouring in from the window, it was not early in the morning, but for Lottie it might as well have been. Her body ached with tiredness as she pushed herself out of bed and trudged over to the long, mahogany table. Eggs and potatoes were piled onto Neville’s faded china. She took a seat on a rickety, three-legged stool. “Wh”wh”what time is it?” she yawned.
“Nearly eleven,” Hermione responded from the sink. “We let you two have a bit of a lie-in because the Death Eaters would be expecting us to leave early again.”
“How are we getting to the school?” Andrea asked.
“It’s a bit south of here,” Neville said. “And since we can’t Apparate or go by Portkey or Floo, we’ll be flying.”
Lottie attempted to spoon a bite of potato into her mouth, but ended up hitting the side of her face instead. She had only ever used a broom during the occasional Flying lesson and was not very good at all. She wasn’t the only one who looked nervous; both Hermione and Neville seemed to be mentally motivating themselves for the journey ahead. Only Andrea looked confident.
“Er”and how far will we be going?”
“It shouldn’t be too far,” Neville said. “Maybe an hour in the air before we land in a safe zone and go the rest of the way on foot.”
Lottie gulped. “And you think it’s likely we’ll run into Death Eaters? In the air?”
“Well,” Hermione began, “there probably are air patrols. But when we find out where they are, we’ll do what we can to avoid them.”
“Where are we getting brooms?” Andrea asked.
“I’ve got my own,” Neville said, “and others I recovered from Grimmauld Place.” He pointed toward a pile of brooms in the corner. They each took one and, after Neville searched through the several peepholes around his house and the other three strapped their bags to their backs, shuffled outside.
Lottie inspected the broom she picked up. It was caked in dust and the paint was chipping, but on the handle, she could vaguely read, “Firebolt.”
Andrea pushed her glasses farther up her nose and looked at her own broom. The handle read, “Cleansweep Eleven” in curly calligraphy.
“We’re going to take off,” Hermione said, “and head west first before changing directions.” She laughed at Lottie’s puzzled expression and said, “Don’t worry”just follow me.”
Lottie’s stomach gurgled as she kicked off the ground and followed Andrea in front of her. They started off slowly. Lottie wasn’t a great flyer, but she could tell that this broom was superb. It seemed to know her fearful spasms from her actual attempts at steering and catered to her needs.
Neville turned back and laughed. “Not quite like Harry on a broom,” he observed. “I guess that ruins my theory. You two were starting to seem so alike that I thought you were related.”
Lottie chuckled through a shiver and flew on toward Andrea. “A b-bit nippy up here, eh?” she asked. Andrea smiled but didn’t reply.
The sky ahead was clear; being at this altitude with the wind blowing in her face made Lottie grip her broom tightly to stop shaking. She suddenly regretted her lack of layers.
“We’re going to have to be careful,” Hermione shouted back at them. “It’s clearer than I expected, so try to keep as”” She stopped. Something black had just flown by in a blur. “Get your wands out,” she hissed back at them.
Lottie’s hands were so numb that she fumbled with the sycamore handle of her wand and nearly dropped it. “What was that?” she asked Andrea.
“What do you think? Sshh!”
There it was again, that blur of black moving so quickly that Lottie could hardly see it. A jet of black sparks shot from the Death Eater toward the four. Lottie froze on her broom, but Andrea pushed her out of the way just in time. The sparks brushed the bottom of her hair.
“Thanks,” she said breathlessly.
Hermione and Neville were both flying with one hand steering and the other shooting jets of red light at the Death Eaters. Occasionally, Lottie would let go of the Firebolt and shoot a few herself, but most of the time, she huddled behind the adults and dodged curses. The Firebolt was perfect; it avoided spells sometimes without her even steering.
The Death Eaters shouted rapid French at one another, disappeared and reappeared close by. Their brooms were so good that Lottie could hardly even see them. There were only three left”Hermione and Neville had Stunned the others.
One approached Neville, wand drawn, the other Andrea. The third was suddenly nowhere to be seen. Lottie guessed he had gone for help. Neville Stunned one easily; it fell from the sky, limp as a ragdoll. Jets of light colored the sky. Andrea was a good enough flyer that she could dodge the curses shot toward her until Hermione finally caught the second Death Eater with her jinx.
Lottie felt a sudden tug on her broom. She swore loudly as she was pulled away from the other three. Spinning around, she saw the last Death Eater pulling the Firebolt toward him. She pointed her wand, but her mind was completely blank. The other three hadn’t noticed her yet. “Oi! A little help here!” Lottie could hear the Death Eater laughing as he pulled out his wand. Struck by a sudden idea, Lottie waited and let herself be dragged back far enough until”
WHAM!
She kicked the Death Eater in the face and sped off to rejoin the others. “Great job,” Hermione said. “Very creative.”
“We better land down here,” Neville said shakily. “They’ll be sending more soon and searching the skies for us”we’ll want to be on the ground.”
They landed in a forest clearing. Hermione gathered all of the brooms, shrank them and stuck them in her bag.
“Okay, we’re a bit farther away than I would have liked,” Neville said, staring at his wand lying flat on his palm. “We’ll have to go south”” he pointed in front of him “”to be able to see the castle. Come on and keep your wands out.”
Lottie followed along warily, spinning around every time a twig snapped or a tree rustled. “It’s fine,” Andrea said reasonably. “We would be able to tell if it were a Death Eater.”
They walked for an hour. Lottie’s limbs pounded with soreness as they passed tree after tree. Finally, Hermione held her arm up and whispered, “There’s a group of Death Eaters up ahead. Hear them?” Lottie strained her ears and heard distant laughter. “They’re resting,” Hermione went on. “If we go around them quietly enough, we should be okay.”
Hermione led the way, walking lightly on her feet and avoiding anything that would make a noise if she stepped on it. The other three followed”occasionally, Lottie would have to grab onto a tree or a rock (or Andrea) to keep from falling.
A horrible smell filled her nostrils. Lottie nearly gagged as they got closer. And then she saw them”five Death Eaters huddled around a fire. Lottie found the source of the smell immediately; a human leg stuck out of the flames. She could see the flesh melting away and a piece of chalk white bone amidst the blood.
The Death Eaters were singing a rousing chorus of some French fighting song and didn’t seem to notice as the four crept by. “We’re almost there,” Hermione whispered. “I can see the castle from here.”
Relieved, Lottie did a little skip, but regretted it immediately when her foot caught on a rock and she fell, face pressing against the dirt. She stared up at Andrea, horrified.
“Qu’est-ce qu’il y a?” shouted one of the Death Eaters, rising.
“Run!” hissed Hermione. Without another word, the four took off sprinting toward the forest. The Death Eaters were far enough behind that their spells wouldn’t hit them, but they were quickly gaining.
Lottie’s legs were going to fall off if she ran any farther. Even though she was cramped from flying, she moved as quickly as she could. The forest was thinning; a line of saplings creaked, thinning steadily until the sun broke through their dense leaves. A huge pile of wreckage and mossy boulders sat before them.
“This”is”the”school?” Lottie panted.
“It’s not”quite”as bad”as you think,” Neville said over his shoulder.
They reached the front of the ruins. Neville knocked loudly on what seemed to be a large boulder. “Bill!” he shouted. Lottie looked behind her”the Death Eaters were now within shooting distance. “Bill, it’s me! Nev”er”Victor!”
One of the Death Eaters raised his wand and sent purple sparks shooting toward them. “Move!” Lottie shouted, knocking Andrea away from the blast. They got out of the way just fast enough that the curse only hit the corner of Andrea’s glasses, which shattered. Shards of the lens scraped Andrea’s face. Andrea and Lottie slammed against a rock, their heads down to avoid any more curses.
Hermione spun around just in time to see a second curse flying at her”it collided with her and she crumpled to the floor.
“Bill!” Neville shouted louder, pounding against the rock and staring hopelessly at Hermione’s crumpled body. Lottie could see Hermione’s chest rising and falling, labored though it was. “Expelliarmus!” Neville shouted at the Death Eaters. “Stupefy! Imedimenta! BILL!”
The rock opened. Lottie looked up to watch it morph into a huge oak door to reveal an old man with long, graying red hair and a fang for an earring. His face was wrong”unnatural. Scars across it distorted his skin and made one eye seem to be drooping down his face. “Victor?” he asked through a hoarse voice. “Who are”Hermione?”
He stood there in the doorway, mismatched eyes widened.
“No time to explain,” Neville panted. “Can you just bloody let us in?”
Bill whipped out his wand and pointed it at Hermione. Her limp body lifted into the air and was steered through the great oak doors. Lottie helped Andrea stand up and gave her a shoulder to lean on.
Beauxbatons revealed itself before them. A tall rock stretched and curved into a winding staircase that reached farther than Lottie could see; ridges in the stone extended and became steps. A pair of boulders flattened as though by giant, invisible hands, and became a dusty floor. Moss grew so rapidly upward and formed into a ceiling, and ivy weaved itself into walls. The entrance hall was big and musty, but still elegant.
“What happened?” Bill asked, on their way through the entrance hall.
“Chased by Death Eaters,” Neville said. “And it’s okay if you call me Neville here.”
“Who are these two?” He motioned toward Andrea and Lottie.
Thump. “Ow!”
Lottie glanced at Andrea, whose eyes were squinted and whose arms were extended in front of her like some delirious zombie. Without her glasses, her greatest danger was not Death Eaters, but walking into a wall. Stifling laughter, Lottie steered her around obstacles by her elbow.
“Students at Alsemore,” Neville said. “Where are we going, the hospital wing?”
“Yeah, just upstairs.” Bill took his wand in both hands and carefully ascended the stairs with Hermione gliding in front of him.
“You know about Alsemore, don’t you?” Neville asked. “The school of the rebellion back at home.”
“Right, right. Here we are.”
The Beauxbatons hospital wing was much nicer than the one at Alsemore. Queen beds with light blue privacy screens around them lined the walls. Bill placed Hermione gently on one of the mattresses and sat down on a visitor’s stool.
“Ah! Victor!” squealed a girly voice from the corner. A stunningly beautiful woman glided into the room, her blond hair billowing behind her. Her hair wasn’t like Lottie’s shade of blond”not patchy and stringy; it was perfectly highlighted and always hit the light in the right ways. She was old, but age suited her. The lines on her face were not blemishes, but marks that perfected her even more. “Neville! Quel suprise! Pourquoi es-tu ici?”
“Here on a mission,” Neville answered in English.
Bill looked up and smiled, his distorted face stretching in odd directions. “Fleur,” he said, pointing to the bed where Hermione lay. “Look who it is.”
Fleur gasped. “’Ermione?” she whispered. “But I zought she was”was”what ‘appened to ‘er?”
“It was a Death Eater,” Neville explained. “can you do anything for her?”
“Of course!” Fleur snapped. She stared at Lottie and Andrea. “Zem as well?”
“Ah, yes. Shouldn’t be too difficult, I hope?”
“Not at all. Un moment.”
Lottie glanced at Andrea, whose hands were bleeding from holding onto the shards of her glasses too tightly. Lottie winced as pain twinged along the scrapes across her face.
“How did Hermione get here?” Bill asked. “I thought”she”I thought she had”with Ron.”
“So had I,” admitted Neville. “She’s been under cover at Alsemore, as a teacher there.”
“Well why wouldn’t she tell us?” Bill flipped his long hair out of his face. “We’ve all been grieving here for fifty-three years and she’s relaxing in a cozy teaching job?”
Fleur returned with a tray of potions. She poured one into Hermione’s mouth, waited ten seconds and emptied a second bottle. She turned to Lottie and raised her wand; Lottie winced. “Oh don’t be so silly,” Fleur cooed. She flicked her wand and Lottie could feel her cuts healing in double time. Fleur did the same to Andrea’s hands. “Tsk, tsk,” she hummed, holding the shards of Andrea’s glasses up. “I do not know ‘ow well I can fix zees. Zey were ‘it by Dark magic, non? Andrea nodded. “Well, we will try. Reparo!”
The glasses flew back together, but there was something wrong with them. They were off center; the lenses seemed to be upside-down in their frames and the earpieces stuck out at odd angles.
“We may ‘ave to do zis ze old fashioned way.” Fleur handed Andrea the broken glasses (which snapped in half during the transfer) and a roll of Spellotape.
Hermione stirred. “Bill?” she asked; her throat was dry. “Fleur?”
“’Ermione!” Fleur embraced her in a tight hug. “Where ‘ave you been? I understand zat you were undercover, but could you not send word zat you were alive?”
Hermione smiled. “You sound more and more like Molly Weasley every day.”
Andrea rolled Spellotape over her broken glasses moodily.
“So what made you reveal yourself to us?” Bill asked.
“It was their idea, really,” Hermione said, gesturing toward Lottie and Andrea who were now both sitting on the bed opposite. “Oh, this is Charlotte”” Lottie cleared her throat “”oh, I mean Lottie Rowe and Andrea Woolbright. They’re students at Alsemore.”
“Of course,” Bill said, nodding.
“So Lottie here sto”er”discovered a note from Neville telling her about the Order…” Hermione explained the whole story. Lottie beamed with pride whenever one of the adults would glance over at them, impressed. Andrea was still sulking with her unfortunately deceased eyewear.
When Hermione finished the story, Bill nodded. “Sounds a lot like you, Ron and Harry. Watch out Voldemort, we’ve got the new Chosen One on our hands.” He laughed, but the hairs on Lottie’s neck stood up.
“That’s what we’ve been saying,” Hermione went on, trying to recover her momentum. “Lottie had the idea of turning the Order into an international organization that kept tabs on each country’s part of the rebellion. We talked to Naesa”she’s one of the leaders in England”and she said while we’re here, we may as well get a head start.”
“Interesting idea,” said Bill, scratching his scarred chin.
“And we could ‘ave liaisons between zee countries,” Fleur suggested.
“And meetings at Grimmauld Place,” Neville said.
“But what about Snape?” Lottie asked.
Bill raised his scraggly eyebrows. “Snape is still alive?” he asked. “Merlin, I thought he died years ago.”
“But he knows the secret, doesn’t he?” Lottie persisted. “He could get into our meetings.”
“Palmyitor would let him in anyway,” Hermione said, rubbing her temples. “Even after what he did to Dumbledore, she still trusts him.”
Silence followed as everybody tried to digest that. Dumbledore’s death seemed to be perfect proof of Snape’s untrustworthiness and yet nobody dared to contradict Palmyitor.
“So,” Bill said after a prolonged pause. “It’s settled then? Neville will restart the Order and it will be used to unify the rebellions around the world.”
“Sounds good to me,” Hermione said.
“Excellent.” Neville rose from his chair. “Well, we are planned to be here for about fifteen more days.”
“We can start meeting some of the students,” Hermione said. “What ages are they?”
“All ages,” Bill said with a glance at Fleur. “We’ve been housing pure-blood families, adults who want to help. We get as many Muggle-borns out as we can, but you know how that goes.”
“Are there any beds available?” Hermione asked. “For Lottie and Andrea?”
“I’m sure we could find some.”
“Oh, zere are two!” Fleur exclaimed. “Two on top of zee ‘ighest tower. Remember, Bill? We were going to ‘ave Jean zee caretaker stay up zere, but ze stairs were too ‘ard on ‘is knees.”
“Right.” Bill glanced at Lottie who was restraining her laughter at Andrea, whose eyes seemed to be magnified to three times their normal size under her warped lenses. “So you two will probably want to head up there and put your stuff down.”
“Here, take these.” Hermione handed them two brooms. “In case if you need to make a quick escape.”
Lottie took the Firebolt and followed Bill out of the hospital wing. He led them up a long, winding staircase with doors on either side. “I can see,” Lottie panted, “why this would be hard on someone’s knees.”
Bill laughed and said, “A lot harder to navigate than Hogwarts, eh?” He stopped and frowned. “But you two have never been to Hogwarts, have you? Merlin, talk about an end of an era.”
Bang!
The door to the right of them quivered in its frame. Lottie stumbled back a few steps and pulled out her wand. Bill laughed heartily. “Nothing to be worried about,” he said, patting Lottie on the back. “Just dueling practice.” He opened the door and stuck his head in.” Lottie peaked in as well and was shocked to see two men who were considerably older than her with their wands drawn. “Attention! Il faut garder la chateaux,” Bill told them, a grin spread across his face. Still laughing, he shut the door and explained, “We’re less of a school here and more of a training ground. We take anybody who wants to come and study as long as they prove that they’re not a Death Eater first. Oh, here we are.”
Before them was an aged door with rusting hinges. Bill turned the doorknob and pushed; nothing happened. “Hold on”it sticks.” He rammed his shoulder into the door until it gave way. “It’s a bit dusty,” Bill said, gesturing to the stuffy room. “Nothing a quick charm couldn’t fix though.” He flicked his wand and, as though it were being sucked up by an invisible force, the dust and cobwebs disappeared. “There you go,” he said. “You can drop your stuff off and go back down and meet Hermione. I don’t know what she wants you to do for two more weeks. Maybe you should join one of the training groups.”
“That’d be great!” Lottie said.
“I’ll go ask Hermione about it.” He left, pulling the door extra hard to ensure that it closed.
Lottie dropped the Firebolt onto the bed and her duffle bag next to it. “Cool here, huh?” she said.
“I guess.” Andrea dropped her pack and pulled out her clothes in neatly folded piles. “I don’t know why they couldn’t fix my glasses though.”
“Oh, come on,” Lottie groaned. “They’re still functional at least.” The thickly Spellotaped bridge crinkled ominously. “Er”let’s go downstairs and check out the castle.” Lottie slipped her wand into her pocket, pulled the door extra hard to get out and took off down the stairs. Rolling her eyes, Andrea ran off after her.
The castle was huge and elegant. It gave off the air of what used to be very well taken care of, but after surrendering to the cobwebs on the highest arches, went so quickly downhill that nobody saw it go. It was more confusing than Alsemore”doors opened to stretches of blank walls and staircases led to nowhere in particular.
“Lottie, wait up!” Andrea said, running behind her. “We don’t have to see the whole thing today, you know.”
“Rowe! Woolbright!” Hermione emerged from a door that Lottie hadn’t noticed before. “I could hear your footsteps a mile off. I’ve been talking to Bill and we thought maybe it’d be good for you two to practice your dueling with some of the teachers here.”
“Cool!” Lottie shouted.
“Meet Monsieur Jean Bahorel.” Hermione gestured towards a frail looking old man in a threadbare robe. Thin, white hairs poked out from underneath a navy blue knitted cap. “He battled against Voldemort in the first and second wars and has fought several duels in this war.”
Lottie let out a low whistle.
“Er,” Andrea began tentatively, “does he speak English?”
“Of course I speak Eenglish,” Bahorel said in a rough French accent. “I teach students about your age,” he went on, “but zey do not speak your language.” His face seemed to be stuck in an expression of disgruntlement. “So you will attend zee classes when zey duel against each ozer and do private lessons in Eenglish as well.”
Lottie raised her eyebrows. This man was not kidding around when it came to dueling. ‘Your first lesson is tomorrow,” Bahorel went on. “We’ll see ‘ow much work we ‘ave for zee next two weeks.”
Halfway to Infinity by Eponine
Chapter Notes: Thanks to TheBird for being super quick! In the last chapter, Hermione told her story and Palmyitor told them to go to Beauxbatons and get Lottie and Andrea a dueling teacher.
This chapter is dedicated to my cat, Sam.