Beauxbatons Academy of Magic was a school entirely surrounded by gardens.
As Richie followed Annabelle through the castle corridors, she casually explained the academy's layout. Honestly, the whole place oozed elegance and high society. It was spacious, brightly lit, and packed with gardens and fountains of all sizes.
But the biggest difference between Beauxbatons and Hogwarts? The walls. Here, everything was built from pristine white brick, heavily carved with intricate floral patterns. Calling it a castle felt wrong; it was basically a royal palace.
Since it was the middle of the Christmas holidays, the place was pretty empty. Only a handful of young witches and wizards were wandering the halls, occasionally shooting curious glances at the odd duo.
Just as Annabelle and Richie were about to head upstairs, someone called out to them.
"Excuse me! Wait!" (spoken in French)
They turned around to find a young boy in pale-blue silk robes rushing up behind them.
"Good afternoon, upperclassman!" the boy said in French, placing a hand over his left breast pocket and offering a slight bow.
Annabelle nodded in acknowledgment. "Hello. Can I help you?" (in French)
"He's from Hogwarts, right?" The boy pointed straight at Richie. "I recognize the crest on his robes!" (in French)
Richie looked at Annabelle, completely lost. He didn't speak a word of French. Seeing the kid point at him, he could only hope his aunt would translate.
"Yes, he is. Why?" Annabelle asked, starting to catch on. (in French)
"I am Charleston Joyce, first year," the boy declared in French. "And I am challenging him to a duel!"
Switching to heavily accented, broken English, Charleston looked directly at Richie. "As a first-year of Beauxbatons, it is my absolute duty to show our Hogwarts guest the true magical heritage of our school!"
"The glory of the White Palace cannot be ignored! Guest from afar—raise your wand and prove you are worthy of the crest on your chest!"
With that, Charleston drew his wand, tapped his own left shoulder, and executed a flawless, highly formal dueling bow right at Richie.
Richie just stared at him, utterly baffled.
Glory? Raising wands? What is with this whole routine?
"Aunt... uh, sister, what exactly is he doing?" Richie asked, catching himself before blowing Annabelle's 'alumna' cover.
Annabelle's lips twitched into a smirk. "Richie, what you need to do right now is exactly what he just did. Copy his movements."
Even though he didn't fully understand why, Richie obediently drew his wand and mirrored the bow.
"Excellent. I will wait for you in the Star-Wand Dueling Hall," Charleston announced. "Goodbye, upperclassman." (in French)
Richie raised an eyebrow as the kid marched off. "The Star-Wand... Dueling Hall?"
"Mhm. It's the official dueling arena here at Beauxbatons," Annabelle explained, giving him a sly wink. "That little Joyce boy just formally challenged you to a wizard's duel. Didn't you pick up on that?"
Richie rolled his eyes hard. "Coincidentally, no. I had absolutely zero idea."
Honestly, Professor Flitwick had mentioned adding dueling mechanics to their Charms curriculum. They had even started some preliminary evaluations for it; Neville had literally shown up at Richie's dorm the night before to ask for help studying.
But the lessons never actually happened. Rumor had it that Headmaster Dumbledore had flat-out rejected the proposal, leaving the students incredibly annoyed.
At the time, Richie hadn't cared at all. But now? The karma was coming back to hit him right in the face. And his aunt had actively pushed him right into it!
Realizing he'd been set up, Richie shot a lethal glare at Annabelle, who was currently avoiding eye contact and looking entirely too amused.
"Aunt Annabelle, you knew exactly what he was doing. Why didn't you just warn me?"
"Oh, please. If I warned you, you would have just rejected him," Annabelle replied, casually poking him in the forehead. "That kid took the absolute moral high ground. He claimed he was defending Beauxbatons' honor, but he was actually directly insulting your house crest."
She lowered her voice dramatically. "If you had backed down... I guarantee you, by the time the holidays end, the entire school would be whispering about how Hogwarts wizards are too cowardly to accept a simple duel!"
"I can't even imagine what your professors would say if they heard that rumor..."
Watching his aunt gleefully fan the flames, Richie's mouth twitched. "I don't even know the actual rules of a formal duel."
"Don't worry, I'll teach you right now. It's incredibly simple..." Annabelle grinned, victorious, and immediately started breaking down standard dueling etiquette.
Left with zero options, Richie focused up and listened closely. It was already happening; he had to take it seriously. There was absolutely no way he was going to lose and embarrass himself in another country!
Meanwhile...
While Richie was frantically getting a crash course in dueling, Charleston scurried back to a secluded corner of the castle to meet up with his friends.
(Spoken in French)
"Yes, he's actually a wizard from Hogwarts!"
"Ugh, how dare those arrogant, uncultured Brits show up at Beauxbatons? Are they trying to pull some shady business during the Christmas break?"
"I doubt it. Maybe they're just jealous of our romantic elegance and want to transfer here?"
"Hey, keep your voices down. The etiquette monitors are patrolling. If they hear you talking like that, you'll get detention for sure!"
Charleston shook his head, cutting through the gossip. "Forget about all that! I just formally challenged him to a duel! You guys have to come to the Star-Wand Dueling Hall and watch me crush this Hogwarts kid!"
Hearing that, his friends completely lost their minds with excitement.
"By Merlin's miniature gloves! Charleston, you absolute legend!"
"Every witch in the school is going to be completely obsessed with you!"
"We need to go grab more people! Everyone has to see this!"
The group immediately agreed. "Yes! Let's go get everyone!"
Before Charleston could even process what was happening, his friends scattered in every direction, sprinting through the halls to spread the word.
"Hey! Wait! Hey!"
Seeing his friends actively recruiting a massive audience, Charleston suddenly felt a massive spike of pure panic. He tried to call them back, but they were already gone.
"Oh, crap..."
Charleston's palms started aggressively sweating.
He had only wanted a few of his close buddies there to watch. If the crowd was small, winning or losing didn't really matter—just issuing the challenge was enough to prove he had guts.
But if half the school showed up to watch? If he lost in front of a massive crowd, the humiliation would be legendary!
But it was way too late now. The hype train had left the station.
Pacing nervously, Charleston rubbed his chest, desperately trying to calm his racing heart.
"It's fine... maybe he's just really bad at magic?" he muttered to himself.