Closed Legacies

[Jean Lancaster-Snow]

Jean Lancaster-Snow could hardly believe that he was here. He was walking on the same grounds as his father did, and mother! Jean wondered if he would be a great Quidditch player like his father and uncle, or if he would be grand in Divination like his mother. It was hard to tell since he was only eleven. Lucien Snow had not told him much about the times that he went to school except for the hard loss that he had experienced with Avie Mitchell. Jean could not go over to the memorial yet, because the Avie he thought of was Avery, the new Quidditch captain for Slytherin!

The Slytherin first year instead made it out to the pitch. He did not own a broom of his own, but he did have his father’s old Emerald Streak. It had seen better days before Lucien upgraded to a professional broom. He might start flying now, but he should probably wait until he was actually in a flying lesson first since he did not know how to fly. His father didn’t exactly let him have a toy broom growing up, which made him wonder if Lucien jinxed his old Emerald streak so that it did not go as fast or as high as it could. It was possible, since Lucien was sneaky like that.​

 

[Apolline Fontaine]

Apolline did not have much of an interest in quidditch, it wasn't really a thing either her mother or her father had done, but she was still curious about it. It was still a place worth visiting, it was still pretty cool. She arrived to the pitch, and noted that there was already someone there. She didn't recognise them immediately but she watched as it seemed he was attempting to fly, or considering an attempt to fly. Apolline approached him, "Are you practicing flying?" she asked with a curious tone. She wouldn't fly yet, they hadn't learnt how to and she wasn't sure they were supposed to be on brooms at all until they learnt.

 

[Jean Lancaster-Snow]

Jean did not hear someone approaching, but he wasn't exactly in tune with his surroundings. So, when he heard a girl's voice talk to him, he flinched visibly. He turned around to see who it was, and immediately recognized the outfit as a Gryffindor. Good thing he didn't mind Gryffindor cause that was the house his uncle was in. He was not raised with the same prejudices as some of the ancient others had. "Thinking about it. This is my dad's old broom when he was here. He played as a chaser." Jean held his broom out for her to have a look at it. He wanted to fly on it, but maybe he was not allowed to before their first flying lesson. But he would not mind showing off. "I'm Jean Lancaster-Snow, by the way."​

 

[Apolline Fontaine]

Apolline smiled at the boy and then looked at his broom. it did seem like quite an old broom, but she got using older items from parents. The name was familiar to her, though she wasn't entirely sure why it was. She looked him over, tilting her head a little. "Apolline Fontaine," she replied. "Did your dad come to this school?" she said, thinking perhaps she had heard or seen a name like while looking at her parent's yearbooks.

 

[Jean Lancaster-Snow]

Jean let the Gryffindor girl have a good look at the broom, and then he set it down on the ground for a moment. She said her name, which made his eyes widen. Wait, wasn’t that the last name as the Minister for Magic? "Are you related to New Zealand’s Minister? Her last name is Fontaine too." Come to think of it, his aunt married a Fontaine. He would have to ask his dad. "Yeah, my dad, mom, and several aunts, uncles, cousins. My dad’s best friend died here. He has a memorial and everything." Lucien never told Jean the full story, just that Avie Mitchell drowned. Not that Lucien tried CPR and everything.​

 

[Apolline Fontaine]

Apolline nodded at the question, putting her arms around herself. She didn't want to deal with anyone who might have an issue with her or her mum. "She's my mum," she did reply with a little shrug, before he clarified more about it. She gave a little nod, knowing who he meant from what he said, "Avie," she replied, since her mother had had a friend too with that same story and she had seen the memorial. "My mum was friends with him too, I think, but never really talked about it. It always seemed really difficult. He has a memorial at the school, by the lake,"

 

[Jean Lancaster-Snow]

It was a good thing that Jean paid no attention to politics. He did not even know who his mother voted for. The kids must have been in the dark and away from that sort of thing. But she was the daughter of the Minister, which he smiled. That was pretty cool! "My great aunt used to be Minister too! But that was long before I was born. Do you get a lot of attention from it all?" Jean wondered if Victoire knew who his dad was, since apparently, she was friends with Avie too. He looked in the direction of the lake. "My older brother is named after Avie, but his name is Avery. Our parents had the same friend, but never hung out after school, otherwise we might have been friends before Hogwarts." Jean wondered if that was possible, for him to have a cool friend before attending school. "My dad's name is Lucien Snow, since I know your mom's name, it is only fair you know my dad's name, right?"​

 

[Apolline Fontaine]

Apolline was surprised by that. She hadn't realised that at all, she'd met Lucy Holland, who was the daughter of the last, and then this boy must be related to the one before. Apolline nodded. "Yeah, some days more than others. Also depends where we go, there are spots that don't care as much," She wasn't sure how much he would understand that, but she wasn't going to be boastful about it. "Oh..is that weird?" Apolline asked about his brother having that name, before realising it was likely more to honour the boy who'd died. She had heard of Lucien Snow, just in passing, from the yearbooks. "I wonder why they weren't friends in school, our parents, if they both were friends with this boy who died," and if they had been friends, why was this the first time she was meeting Jean.

 

[Jean Lancaster-Snow]

Jean honestly hoped that no one would bother the children, the underage ones, of the Minister for Magic. To him, it was rude! He did wonder how his great-aunt dealt with it for her children. Or grandchildren. Surely she had some now. "I'd just hate to hear if you get swarmed by like, the Daily Prophet people." Jean made a gesture with his hand, since he did not believe in that sort of thing. "Nope! I was named after my uncle that died too. His name was Jean. He was in a bad Quidditch accident." Jean read about his obituary and everything, and only heard stories. Lucien painted Jean in a very positive light after all. "I heard that my dad only kept a few close friends. My mom and Avie. He wasn't friendly." Jean could not help but chuckle at it since it was like that now.​

 

[Apolline Fontaine]

Apolline gave a little shrug, "They don't swarm...but they can get close," she said, it depended on other news, and what else was going on, sometimes there would be nothing and other times there could be a few. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, trying to remember if her mum had maybe mentioned him. "My mum's been trying or wants to get some legislation passed to make quidditch safer, like proper helmets or something," Apolline said, wondering if perhaps that was why, though her mother had never admitted anything of the sort. "You seem friendly though, we can be friends, even if our parents weren't."

 

[Jean Lancaster-Snow]

Jean wrinkled his nose at the sheer sound and audacity of people getting close to the Minister's children. Or child. He did not know if Apolline had other siblings. He had Avery and that was it. He did wish that he had another sibling though. Might be hard to convince Lucien and Esme. "At least I know what he looks like. He was my dad's identical twin," Jean smiled, to make light of the situation. It did happen way before he was born. "Oh that would be awesome, actually! I do wonder how everyone else will react to it being safer. Hopefully positively." Jean didn't know how his dad would feel about it, as a player himself. "We can keep them apart. Or I just bring my mom. She's a seer. She might know about it before I even plan anything."​

 

[Apolline Fontaine]

Apolline gave a little frown, wondering what it would be like for this boy's dad, whose twin, identical twin brother had died and to still see his face, or the face he would never have. "Yeah," Apolline agreed gently. "If it keeps the sport going but just prevents like one more death, surely it would be worth it," she couldn't imagine a world where quidditch wasn't played, where wizards would get rid of it, but surely people wanted it to be safe? "Oh that's cool," Apolline said. "Would she know from a vision who I am, or just see my face?" Apolline asked, "Because if she just sees my face, we can just never mention my name?"

 

[Jean Lancaster-Snow]

Jean would agree with Apolline. Maybe they could work together to find something? Jean did have a personal experience with it, even if he did not see it or was alive to deal with the aftermath. He beamed, "Maybe we can come up with something! I know we are only 11, 12 now, but down the road, we can propose something to your mom and maybe others will follow?" Jean had no idea how things like that worked, but as long as the game itself was not changed, Jean would be fine with it. Shame he did not know how Esme's powers worked. He shrugged, "I'm not sure! I should ask more about her seer powers. We can cross that bridge when we get to it though!"​

 

[Apolline Fontaine]

Apolline nodded in agreement, she thought they could, if her mother had taught her anything, it was that change was possible at any age. "Mum would listen to us," she said to him with a smile. She didn't think her mother would be against it at all. But Apolline thought it curious that Jean didn't know about how the seer powers worked. Perhaps she was just more curious but she would've asked dozens of questions about it. "Yeah!" she said, after all, they were just assuming there would be problems. "are you going to try the broom now?"

 

[Jean Lancaster-Snow]

Jean was surprised that an adult like Apolline's mother, as high up in the government as she was, would actually listen to children for change. Jean grinned, "That is pretty cool of your mother." Jean would have to pass on the good news to his father, though he was sure that his father might not care at all. Lucien was hard to follow from time to time though. "Oh, I probably should. But it would be rude to fly off and leave you down here, you know? Is there a broom laying around that you can try too?" Jean wondered if the storage was locked at all times. He might be able to try to pick a lock if he had a couple pieces of wire. If it was not magically locked.​

 

[Apolline Fontaine]

Apolline nodded gently, she was sure her mother would listen to her. Listen to them, why wouldn't shouldn't she? Apolline gave a little shrug. "Oh I'll look," she wouldn't have minded just watching this boy fly, but it probably made more sense to be able to fly with him. Apolline glanced around and then spotted a broom which clearly hadn't been put away on the other side of the field. "I'll go get that one, and can join you in the air?" she suggested.

 

[Jean Lancaster-Snow]

Jean hoped that she could find a broom and looked around the pitch as well, but she spotted one before he did, and said that she would join him in the air. Jean beamed, clearly excited to start flying. He mounted the streak that had seen some years and air, but still worked. He gave a small hop in the air, and flew up roughly fifteen feet. He almost lost his balance for a few seconds, but he gripped the handle tightly. "I hope that broom won't try to buck you off!" Jean called out, sure that the broom might not, but it was still to implant that thought - even if it was a joke.​

 

[Apolline Fontaine]

Apolline walked quickly over the broom that had been discarded. She knew the basic steps of being able to fly a broom, so she did them, getting up into the air, and after a bit of a shakey start she was able to join him. She laughed a little at his joke as she flew in next to him. "I don't feel confident here, so it might just happen," she replied with a smile. "Shall we do a lap, just to get used it them?"

 

[Jean Lancaster-Snow]

Jean’s smile did fade with that, since he did not know how to help her if something bad were to go wrong. He felt confident on a broom, but not everyone else did. “Yeah, let’s do a lap. And we can fly side by side so that we can talk, or make sure your broom handles well.” Jean could also keep his in control, if he did manage to figure out if his dad spelled it to keep the speed down. He had a sinking feeling in his gut that it happened.​

 

[Apolline Fontaine]

Apolline nodded with him. "Okay," she said. "I just haven't flown in a while," she said. It had been a long while, her mother had always been pretty dead set on Apolline not flying, which she was usually okay with, until she now did want to fly and thought it might've been more useful to know. She began flying forward, to complete a first lap, she knew she could talk but was for the moment more focused on just flying.