The Death of Conventional Romance | DM

Chapter One.

My dearest mademoiselles of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic,

I hope your summers away have been full and fabulous. I am looking forward to seeing all of my darling girls' faces again. However, this year we will not be reunited at our beloved school in the mountains. This year, as it is every five years, we will be attending the Triwizard Tournament and this year it is being hosted by The Hogwarts School of Magic. I know this is riveting news, and I am sure you lovely ladies will be as enthralled as I am. More information on the tournament will be given once we arrive at Hogwarts. Pack as usual for school and we will meet on the first of September the place that is known to make the journey to Hogwarts. I am so looking forward to this adventure with you my darlings.

With all my affection, Madame Olympe Maxime, Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic 

I read the letter twice. I had to make sure that what Madame Maxime had written was real. It was true. The ladies of Beauxbatons were spending the year at Hogwarts. I was spending my fourth year in school at Hogwarts. 

I had almost gone to Hogwarts over Beauxbatons when I was eleven. My father, Jeffrey Carmichael, had attended Hogwarts and my mother, Nicolette Carmichael, went to Beauxbatons. My father had wanted me to go to Hogwarts, because I would "get more" from Hogwarts. However, my mother overruled this decision, because she wanted me to be at the same school as my older sister, Genevieve. Therefore, I had spent the last three years at the beautiful chateau in the Southern Pyrenees Mountains of France.

It had been three years that have been life-changing; I have never regretted the joint decision that lead me to Beauxbatons. However, I have always felt so isolated from the other teenagers in the British Wizarding World. I am the only British witch in my year at Beauxbatons.

Beauxbatons primarily only accepts witches from France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Additionally, majority of these students are from rich and famous Wizarding families. I do not fit into either of these categories. I was only accepted in Beauxbatons, because I was a legacy and my mother is still very close with Madame Maxime.

I was born and raised in a quaint village in Northern England, which is also the same village where my father is from.  My father and mother own a sanctuary for retired owls. We live a comfortable life, but we do not boast about it. Therefore, my first thought about going to Hogwarts for the year was maybe I will be able to finally make friends from England that know what Diagon Alley is or are fans of the British Quidditch teams like the Falmouth Falcons. 

I had taken such a long time to process the letter that I hadn't noticed my best friend, Ruby Dubois, was currently reading the letter. Once she had finished reading the letter to herself, she looked up at me in excitement with bulging eyes and her mouth wide open. 

Even though, yes this was exciting news, it wasn't uncommon to for Ruby to over exaggerate her reaction to any news. Ruby and I were in the bedroom of our other best friend, Lucille Laurent. It had become tradition that Ruby and I visit Lucie and we return to Beauxbatons together. It was a fact that Lucy's home was chosen as the spot to meet, because she lives closest to Beauxbatons. It also helped that her family had a home that made Versailles seem like the horse stables. 

"Oh. My. Fucking. God," Ruby slowly stated as she got up from Lucie's bed and set the letter down. "Oh my god, Vi, Lu! We, the ladies of Beauxbatons, are going to Hogwarts, also known as a school with boys! With the opposite gender! With testosterone! This is it!" Ruby exclaimed as she used her hands to emphasis her excitement.

"And why is that so exciting for me? Beauxbatons is literally a wet dream for me. The introduction of boys are just more competition for me," Lucie said as she flipped through an old Vogue magazine while sitting on the bean bag in the corner of her room. 

Ruby rolled her eyes at this and made her way across the room. She leaned down and grabbed the magazine from Lucy's hands. She threw it dramatically and it landed on the bed next to the letter. "Oh, come on, Lu! Think about it! Its a boys AND girls school! That means there will be just as many girls for you to meet as boys there are for Vi and I!" Ruby said continuing her expression of enthusiasm. 

Lucy's eyebrows raised at this comment. She leaned her head over so that Ruby wasn't blocking her eyesight of me. "Um, wouldn't that statement just apply to you and me? Huh, Vi?" Lucy inquired. Lucy was referring to my summer romance with Cedric Diggory, whom I met while working at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor in Diagon Alley. 

I had spent the summer living in London with my sister, Gen. She just began an internship at the Ministry of Magic and my parents agreed me moving to London for the summer was a good chance to "bond". I was not opposed to this idea at all; I love my sister. Since she graduated rom Beauxbatons a year ago, I have not seen her much. She spent the year in Romania attempting to work with dragons. However, she came home at Christmas and claimed she never was going to Romania again. 

The only reason I was against spending the summer in London was that  I wouldn't get to spend the summer with my maternal grandparents in Etreat. Etreat was a town on the Northern coast of France where my mother had grown up and we had spent every summer at since I could remember. My favorite memories growing up were made there and I refused to believe that I wouldn't spend the summer there. My grandparents were also getting up there and I did not want to waste the time I had left with them away from them.

In the end, my parents convinced me to go live with Gen. They told Gen and I that we could visit for a long weekend, and that was a good enough compromise for me. I moved in with Gen for the summer and got a job at the parlor to save up for a new broom and have something to do while Gen was at work.

I started working at Fortescue's on a Monday. So did Cedric. The first time I met him I thought he was the second hottest guy I had ever seen. Apparently he thought I was attractive too, because on our third shift together he took my virginity in the utilities closet. Yes, I know scandalous and definitely not sanitary. However, if you had the chance to lose your virginity to Cedric Diggory would you think about the circumstances? 

The secret closet hook ups eventually evolved into me having my first boyfriend. It was definitely not what I intended to happen, but it did. Cedric was to perfect not to say anything but yes too. He had opened my heart. We spent every second together this summer that we could. While we weren't working, he helped me explore London, or we hung out with Gen or his dad.

When the summer came to the end, it was like a bowling ball to the head. Cedric and I had been living in a bubble where nothing else mattered. We didn't have responsibilities. Then last weekend Cedric had his last day at the parlor. He told me he was leaving town to go to the Wizarding World Cup with his dad and he broke up with me. 

I didn't shower, sleep, or eat for two days after it happened. I was devastated. I mean- I am devastated, it's still been less than a week. The boy I gave everything to literally just dropped me. Like I meant nothing.

I understand that maybe it was a summer fling. I even get that it would be hard to make things work across a literal ocean. But for god sakes, give a girl some warning! Don't make her fall in love with you and then drop her like she meant nothing to you. I thought we had something that was special; I thought that he looked at me the way that Dad looks at Mom. 

Enough of that though! As I said, it's almost been a week. Since I arrived at Lucie's, I have not checked the window once for an incoming owl or complained about him to Lucie and Ruby. My new motto for this year was "Fuck Cedric, fuck feelings, fuck boys". 

So... fuck Madame Maxime. She had just mad my new motto for this year literally impossible. 

"No, it doesn't just apply to me. I'm a free fucking agent and I don't know who Cedric fucking Diggory is," I replied to Lucie's inquisition on the status of my relationship.