A New Beginning

[Isabelle Vernier]

The whole idea of actually going to a school seemed like a great idea when it was thought of but in all honesty it was getting quite frustrating for Isabelle. Many people went to Beauxbatons and so the place was always crowded and Isabelle wasn't really used to crowds. Not only that but there was a schedule and she didn't really like getting told what to do. Homeschooling was much easier and nobody bothered to give Isabelle a second glance at this school anyway so there was no point. As Isabelle had been homeschooled, she had never had the opportunity to make friends and was extremely socially awkward and she doubted she'd make a friend any time soon. Of course, she would never tell her father such thing and hoped that soon she'd be able to fit in with the others. Her father had been sending her owls asking her if she had made friends yet but she refused to reply back as she believed it was better to say nothing than to tell a lie to keep a person happy. She was definitely not going to tell him the truth and would reply back to him when she felt like it, keeping out the fact that there were some things she really hated about this place. On the bright side, she was learning quite a lot despite it not being that far into the semester yet and the library was definitely her favourite place so far. She had borrowed a book from there and was now heading out into the grounds to find a good place to read it. Outside near the grass seemed like such a lovely place to sit and read and hopefully no one would think of disturbing her.

Isabelle held her head high as she made her way through the grounds. She didn't want to look sad or disappointed as she wasn't like that at all today and was in fact in a very good mood. It wasn't that bad at all not having anyone to talk to and at least she was away from her annoying brother until Christmas holidays. She found a small bench to sit on and opened up her book which was written entirely in French. It was a book about Herbology for beginners and she read every word on the page, not leaving out any detail. She wasn't too bad at Herbology but she thought a little bit of light reading couldn't help at all. Her father had already taught her many things about Herbology and, now that she thought of it, he was a rather good teacher compared to some of the teachers at this new school that would give you boring lectures all the time. She didn't quite mind the lectures but when half of it was irrelevant it wasn't really fun to sit and listen to. Her father had always made her lessons interactive which Isabelle had really enjoyed. After all, it was always one on one with homeschooling so if Isabelle needed help she could easily ask. But now it was harder and if Isabelle needed help she had to try and build up the courage to ask the professor in person. Thankfully, there was the library. Books always held the answers to everything and Isabelle smiled as she continued to read, flipping the pages as she went. She knew she would get used to the place soon but for now she'd just have to hang in tight until that time came.

 

[Dove Zhefarovich]

The young Beauxbatons girl finally got all she needed for the day to get started, she'd been studying with Valor the night before and had therefore woken up a little later than she'd intended to that day, which had really put her day in a little spin, since she had to spend the same amount of time getting ready, which with every increasing year grew more and more, she'd long since stopped even bothering with going back to her naturally red hair, she was far happier with her hair in the goldish/brown colour that it now was, she was able to feel so much more confident feeling that she fit in so much more, that she barely stood out at all now because of her hair. The teen was just brushing her hair, using the product to ensure the light waves of her hair would sit perfectly without falling out throughout the entire day and when this was done, the girl then applied a little bit of make up before checking herself over in the mirror three times before deciding the clothes she would wear for that day, given that she had no classes the teen didn't have to wear the uniform, no matter how tempting it was given how much she was sure that her uniform was easier to wear, but instead the teen opted for her normal clothes, a fitted summer dress, the same soft blue colour of the uniform, matching it easily with a cardigan to keep herself warm and matching beige heels. She redid her make up, just to fit better before decided that she was presentable to leave the dorm, and she smiled at her own reflection before leaving the room.

Dove had no idea what she was going to do with her day, she had her bag with the books she might need to finish the essay she'd started a few days ago but she wasn't sure that she was going to be bothered with it. She eventually just made her way outside, smiling at the summer warmth which allowed her to wear the short summer dress with nothing but a cardigan to keep her warm, and she just wandered through the ground of the beautiful french school. She eventually spotted sitting in the grounds on a bench, the bench that Dove usually sat, a girl she didn't recognise from her time at the school. Dove felt that she was relatively popular amongst the different girls in the school, she got along easily with most people and though she hadn't been popular in her first year, she definitely gotten more popular in the past few years, most people knew who she was at the very least, but this girl was someone that Dove had never met before and she just smiled at her, "Hello," Dove greeted her in French as she walked over, smiling in a friendly manner to the girl, "Do you mind if I sit down?" Dove asked in French with a small smile, brushing a few strands of her hair from her eyes, as she motioned to the spot next to the girl with a small smile.
​

 

[Isabelle Vernier]

The cool wind blew Isabelle's hair back as she continued to look down at her book, her eyes scanning every word as she went. Many of the facts in the book she already knew but there were a couple of different ones that her father had never taught her. For example, she didn't learn very much on mandrakes and found that section rather interesting. The fact that she wasn't able to handle any during her time at homeschool was rather disappointing but hopefully she'd be able to here at Beauxbatons. They probably taught things differently at this school anyway and, considering how big the castle was, they probably did many more practical things too. Now that she was getting into her third year she'd be able to take more subjects which meant that her workload was probably going to increase, but she still tried to stay as positive as she could. Besides, the new subjects seemed much more interesting than all of the core classes so hopefully it wouldn't bother her too much.

Isabelle was disturbed and looked up abruptly from her book when she heard a voice approach her. The girl didn't look too much older than Isabelle and seemed like a rather nice person. She didn't know why she had wanted to sit down next to her but moved over to make room and gestured to the seat nonetheless. Perhaps all the other benches were taken? Whatever it was, she was sure the girl wasn't going to be much of a bother anyway. As a matter of fact, she doubted she'd want to stay very long. Looking at her, she seemed rather pretty and Isabelle sent a smile back at her, hoping that she wasn't being too much of a dork already. She was quite surprised that the girl had walked over to her to begin with but thought that her company was delightful anyway. Someone in the school had noticed she existed which Isabelle was quite proud of herself about. She stayed silent the whole time, not having the courage to talk to the girl yet. Besides, there was nothing really to talk about.

 

[Dove Zhefarovich]

Dove was more than used to the silence of people within her school, there were the shy students whom she had heard say practically nothing in the time she'd tried to speak to them, this person who just nodded for Dove to sit was likely one of these people. The young Beauxbatons girl, stretched her legs out in front of her and brushed down on any dust which had attached themselves to her skin coloured tights, brushing too the large heels at her feet with a small satisfied smile at the shoes, the only thing which she found good about her family was the money, the abundance of money in her family was something that she definitely appreciated, something she knew improved her life greatly. The soft wind, brushed her hair into her eyes, and Dove sighed heavily at the fact she hadn't chosen to spray her hair with magical hair gel which would ensure not a strand became out of place, she couldn't believe she'd forgotten such a thing and felt herself blush with embarrassment over it, what would this girl think of her now.

Dove glanced at the girl and gave her a small smile, trying to move beyond her own blush, "This wind is frustrating," she said to her with a polite tone as she spoke in french, while there were plenty of other benches for Dove to sit at she liked this one the most, "I'm Dove, but most people here call me Nicolette, because it's easier to say," Dove introduced herself to the other girl, explaining first her name and then the name most people at the school called her, only a few called her Dove, one of those being Valor. She had no idea as to if this girl would introduce herself in return, but as Dove frustratedly moved another strand of hair out of her eyes she definitely felt better having at least done the good thing and introduced herself to her, "Are you new?" she then asked, adding it on as an after thought, thinking that she'd never seen this girl before, and that it was likely that she was new. Dove figured if anything else she might be able to help her, in knowing a few things about the school she might not have otherwise known.
​

 

[Isabelle Vernier]

As the girl sat down next to her, Isabelle continued reading her book. She didn't think the girl wanted to talk to her anyway and was probably just looking for a place to rest after a lot of walking. She still couldn't believe that the girl had even considered wanting to approach her and it somehow made her feel flattered that a girl who seemed as pretty as her wanted to sit next to someone like Isabelle. Truthfully, Isabelle hadn't even opened her mouth yet to speak so she didn't really know her yet which was probably a good thing. Nonetheless she was sure that this was probably one of the best moments of her life and nothing had even happened yet. She was sure to tell her father of this. Maybe she could convince him that she really had made a friend? Even if she couldn't, at least it looked like someone had wanted to talk to her.

Looking over at the girl, Isabelle simply sat there as she started complaining about the wind. In Isabelle's opinion, the wind was quite refreshing and Isabelle had rather enjoyed spending time outside. If the girl was worried about her hair in the wind then perhaps she could secure it more? Despite this, Isabelle didn't say anything and simply nodded at what she was saying afraid that she was going to mess up if she opened her mouth. The girl introduced herself as Dove, or if Isabelle liked she could call her Nicolette. Isabelle supposed she would refer to her as the latter as that was what she supposed many other people called her too. "Oh, uhh, M-My name is Isabelle." she stuttered in French, supposing that it was probably her time to introduce herself too. Isabelle hadn't really been in a social situation before and she supposed that introducing yourself was probably the first step in making a friend. She hoped she hadn't messed anything up yet and decided she would just go with the flow, only speaking if asked to. It didn't take long before Nicolette had asked another question and Isabelle took a deep breath before replying, obvious now that she was incredibly nervous. "Yeah, I-I'm new. I only just came t-this year." she said, pausing to take a deep breath. "I was h-homeschooled before this." Hopefully Nicolette didn't think homeschooling was stupid or anything. She heard that many people who did homeschooling and then went to a school were bullied for it and Isabelle just hoped that this girl was kind enough to keep that to herself.

 

[Dove Zhefarovich]

Dove felt so frustrated by the light wind, that she almost wanted to go back inside, but she couldn't bring herself too, given that she had struck up a conversation with the girl next to her and the girl seemed new and given that Beauxbatons could at times be a daunting place, she felt like it was only nice to at least be a little kind to her. The girl definitely seemed to be nervous, the way she stuttered slightly as she introduced herself to Dove, "Isabelle is a lovely name," she told her with a small encouraging smile, though Dove had her own issues about how she looked and presented herself to general society and the desperate need for perfect, aside from perhaps internally judging others on their choices, but this girl was new and in a place like Beauxbatons with part-veelas just all over the place, the girl knew that it was definitely difficult to get started, she'd been equally as nervous about her first year, she'd only really grown in confidence when she had physically changed herself to fit in more with those around her.

She just nodded at the girl's statements, she was in fact new and she had been homeschooled prior to this, which wasn't the best thing for her to come into, since Dove viewed homeschooling as one of the primary ways that people didn't develop socially and she couldn't imagine having to still be taught by her mother or various tutors that came to the house, "Welcome," she greeted in french with a friendly smile, knowing that at least one welcome might go a long way, "Homeschooled though, that must've been fun" Dove clearly didn't mean what she said, since she didn't think it would be fun at all, but she realised likely that the other girl hadn't probably enjoyed it much either, specifically because she was now here at Hogwarts rather than at home, "If you ever see me and my friends in the hall, feel free to join us," she offered a little off handedly, "It can be hard to transfer in when all the friendships are sort of already made," Dove explained, she thought it would be better for her to be friendly, to be kind to this girl, it might just help with the transition and perhaps with making her a little less nervous about it all.
​

 

[Isabelle Vernier]

Isabelle smiled warmly at Nicolette as she complemented her name. Isabelle had loved her name too as it was a name that was picked specially by her mother. Her parents found it quite difficult to find a name and Isabelle felt very glad that they named her what they did. After all, she missed her mother and having a name that she had picked herself made Isabelle feel special in an unexplainable way. It was just a reminder that her mother loved her, and probably still does, and nothing could ever change the bond that the two of them had. It might be just a name but it was Isabelle's name and she was very thankful for that. "You're name is l-lovely too." she told her truthfully in French, wondering whether or not she was going to want to take the compliment. Isabelle was never very good at complementing people but she had rather liked Nicolette and she figured that if she just gave her the same compliment back that that should be a good enough thing to do to show her gratitude.

Truthfully, Isabelle had rather liked being homeschooled. She missed just spending time at home with her father and her brother and rather enjoyed being at home with her family than going out and trying to meet new people. The only reason she came to Beauxbatons was because they moved in with her father's fiancee and now he was unable to teach her due to him being so busy all of the time. She figured though that there were some downsides to being homeschooled and saw some truth in Nicolette's sarcasm. If Isabelle had been sent straight to Beauxbatons then she wouldn't perhaps be as socially awkward and she also wouldn't find it as hard to fit in. But there wasn't really anything bad with being homeschooled and hopefully Nicolette also saw the good side of it too. "A-are you in t-third year too?" she asked her, wondering whether or not Isabelle would be able to hang out with people in another grade. She didn't look much older than her anyway and was very happy with the kind offer, although she wasn't sure if she'd be able to pluck up the courage to walk over to a big group of people out of her own will. Nonetheless, she gave her a small "Thanks.", blushing slightly. Maybe Beauxbatons wasn't such a bad school after all?

 

[Dove Zhefarovich]

Dove enjoyed sitting on the bench in the sun, even though it was windy and her hair was just falling about everywhere because of her own oversight, but it was still pretty warm, warm enough that she wasn't too concerned about getting cold, but was pretty concern by the wind which made things worse for her rather than better, she glanced at the girl as she returned the comment and just nodded, she didn't particularly believe it, but mostly since she felt her name was just wrong, it felt wrong on her tongue no matter how hard she tried, or how much she tried to get herself to like it, she just couldn't find herself able to like her own name, it just wasn't possible. Dove had started using her middle name for the school when french people had had active difficulties in saying it and around the time that she had switched most of things about her, she changed everything about herself, but still her name set a little uncomfortably on her tongue, she didn't know how to change it, no matter the nickname or the name she couldn't get it to fit or find herself to like it, so while she liked her own name, she didn't thik it was lovely or that it really suited her at all.

The fourth year tucked her hair behind her ear, knowing that with this wind this was a really pointless thing, that it would take the smallest gust to put her out of place again, but she hated when things were out of place, when things weren't right at all, and she then heard the girl's question, almost as a response to what she was offering but she would always just offer it to someone like this, a new girl, the group of friends wasn't overly selective and she was pretty sure of her central place within the group, so she was feeling pretty confident that she was in the right place, and she was doing pretty well in her place within the group, "I'm a fourth year, but that sort of age gap isn't an issue for my friends and I," she told her with a small encouraging smile, as much as she could manage as she once again pushed the strands of hair back into place, "Whereabouts in France are you from?" she asked with a small smile, moving herself slightly hoping to stop the winds from affecting her so much.
​

 

[Isabelle Vernier]

Isabelle could see that Nicolette was still fussed about the wind. She watched as she tucked her hair behind her ear. Maybe she should tie it back? Isabelle didn't suggest such a thing though and simply just sat there listening as she spoke. It didn't really bother Isabelle much that her new friend was a year older than her but she knew that it would in the next few years when Nicolette graduated and it was just her on her own. It was only going to be a year so it shouldn't be that bad should it? Isabelle had spent the last 13 years of her life with only younger siblings and no friends at all to keep to company. She was always used to being the oldest but she was sure that she would get used to it eventually starting a new life at a new school. There were many people at the school that were older than her so it was probably no surprise that Nicolette was one of them.

The question about where Isabelle was from in France struck her more than she thought it would. She had moved around many times all throughout France during her lifetime and truthfully didn't know where she was from anymore. She had been all over the country and lived in many different parts of it. All she knew was that she was from France and she wasn't quite sure how to answer the girl's question. She hesitated before responding. "Oh, umm... I was born in E-Eastern France somewhere but then I-I moved quite a lot and n-now I live in Southern France in Rhone." she told her, wondering if she had said more than she should've. "What about you?" she asked, trying to keep the conversation going. She knew she wasn't very good at small talk but Nicolette seemed to be pretty good at it so Isabelle only hoped that she would keep it up for a while.

 

[Dove Zhefarovich]

Dove was one of a number of students at Beauxbatons who was not from France, most who found out Dove was from England questioned why she didn't attend Hogwarts there, but Dove hadn't wanted to, she like Beauxbatons, everything her sister had ever told her about the school was great, she had loved hearing about it and loved being a part of it even more so. There was nothing in Dove that didn't love the school, though it could at times be painfully hard to be as graceful and beautiful as the other girls, especially the high volume of veela's but she tried her hardest and usually there was nothing like the wind to stop her being able to do so. Dove had always been taught to strive for perfection, a quality she shared with her older sister and mother, the only other two who really strived for perfect in the same way that Dove did.

Upon hearing where Dove was from, she nodded, it was definitely interesting, she wondered briefly why the girl might've moved so much, but doubted that it was her place to ask such a thing, and instead was happy to just nod along with what she was saying and glance out at the country side the palace was in the middle off, "I'm from England, born and raised in a place just outside London," Dove told her a little bit of pride lacing into her voice as she spoke. There wasn't too much to be proud of, but Dove did like being from London, "Do you want to walk?" she asked motioning to the area in front of them, while Dove had planned on just sitting she liked the idea more now of walking and getting to know Isabelle and while they could do that sitting, walking was always a good option.
​

 

[Isabelle Vernier]

Isabelle found it quite interesting meeting someone from a different country without even realising it. England had seemed like such a beautiful place and Isabelle had always wanted to go there. The only problem was that no one would want to take her and she'd have to wait until she is older to have a trip there herself. She had heard many great things about the place and she had even heard that it had a great wizarding school there which produced many great wizards. She wondered whether or not Nicolette had a choice if she wanted to go to Beauxbatons. Isabelle would much rather go to the school in England than in Beauxbatons, despite how beautiful Beauxbatons was, simply because she had heard many excellent things about it. She couldn't say much though as she had never been there before but she was sure that there would have been a much better atmosphere there too. After all, they did have houses and Isabelle would love to have her own house common room, surrounded by people who had similar interests to her simply because she might just fit in a bit better there. But Beauxbatons was still a good school and Isabelle was glad her father had found the right place for her to get a better education.

Isabelle stood up abruptly when Nicolette offered to go for a walk. "Sure." she said, collecting her book to get ready to go have a proper look at the school. She hadn't really had much time yet to look at it properly and hopefully Nicolette would show her the way around the place to make it a bit easier for her. After all, she wouldn't really mind getting some fresh air, especially now that she had made a friend. The only route in the school Isabelle knew off by heart was from her dormitory to the library. The place was bigger than what it looked and she really did not want to get lost and turn up to one of her classes late on one of her first days there. "W-where are we going?" she asked her, wondering if she had a plan for it or not. Wherever it was, Isabelle would gladly follow her there.

 

[Dove Zhefarovich]

Dove got to her feet, and straightened out her skirt, stretching her legs in the heels before looking back at her new friend and wondered where they might be able to go, there weren't many places for them to be able to go to, but she decided that if this girl was pretty new then she might enjoy being able to find out about the different places around the school, perhaps benefit from knowing where everything was and so she smiled at the new girl and then decided, that if she wanted to they would, "I could give you a tour of the school if you want?" she asked her in french, pointing to the general area they were in and up to the palace before them, with a encouraging smile on her face, knowing that tour would benefit her and allow Dove to at least get the walk that she wanted. Her heels wouldn't be the best thing to walk in, but Dove knew she had to get more and more use to them, so she was keen to get moving, she just had to hope that this girl would want that too.

"You are new, if no one has already, I'd be happy to," she told her with a bright expression, unlike most of her counterparts in the school, Dove always liked to be nice to people who were just starting, it was polite she figured to be like that, the beaux girl smiled politely at Isabelle and waited to see what she would decided, "I've been here since day one, so I can happily show you around, I know the school pretty well," she assured the other girl, before deciding to just stay quiet, letting her gaze linger on the girl in front of her waiting to see if she would take her up on the offer.
​

 

[Isabelle Vernier]

It was almost like Nicolette had read Isabelle's mind. She smiled at her and nodded her head when she offered a tour of the school. "Y-yes, I would love that!" she exclaimed, quite happy that someone was willing to help her. She hadn't really met someone much like that before and she was just glad that she found someone to hang around with until she became fully settled into the school. She truthfully couldn't wait to tell her father that she found someone to talk to and was anticipating the moment that she would finally reply to some of the letters he had been sending her. Isabelle had simply just been too busy burying her nose into her books to worry about replying to him and, besides, she had nothing to write about. But now she did and she couldn't wait to.

"No, no one has showed me around yet so t-thanks." she told her, wondering where they would head off to first. Perhaps she'd take her to her favourite place in the palace first or her least favourite to get it over and done with? Whatever it was, Isabelle didn't really mind and she was willing to be an attentive listener as they walked around the school. She kept her mouth shut as she waited for Nicolette to begin their walk and kept smiling at her. Did she always show the new students around? The whole place was very foreign to Isabelle but she knew she'd be easily able to find her way around after the tour.

Sorry it's short.