"'Spy' is such a short ugly word. I prefer 'espionage.'" on Aladren Commons

Madeleine Dautin

May 02, 2016 4:53 PM

"'Spy' is such a short ugly word. I prefer 'espionage.'" by Madeleine Dautin

The Aladren Head of House didn’t seem to be too horrible, Madeleine thought to herself as the handsome professor introduced her and the other students to their common room for the first time. And he was, at the very least, an attractive wizard so that was definitely a plus. Her new housemates, however… Madeleine wasn’t as sure. None of them had that elegant, simple look to them that Madeleine was so used to seeing amongst her friends back home and she was about 95% positive that none of them spoke French so she went up to their new room instead of staying in the common room to chat, planning on changing for bed and going to sleep as soon as possible and get the first day out of the way as soon as possible. One day almost down, one thousand two hundred and thirty eight left. She had counted off the days on the calendat before leaving her room, her Beauxbatons blue dress still hanging on it’s lonesome in the closet because Sonora’s colours were an awful forest green and she hadn’t wanted her favourite dress to remind her about what could have been. At least one of Aladren’s house colours was blue…

She had been tired when she’d first stepped off the wagons, that was for sure, but she was pretty wide awake now, she thought to herself as she changed into her light-weight summer nightgown, a white cotton shift with simple flowers embroidered along the bottom hem and neckline. Madeleine was beginning to wish that she had taken up Myrtille on the Sleep-Aide potion because no matter how hard she tried, she was sure she wouldn’t be able to get to sleep that night. It was absolutely horrid. She couldn’t help but wonder how all the other noblesse kids her and Bastien’s age were getting on. They’d likely be up right about then, getting ready for their first day of classes or perhaps they would have already started. She was absolutely certain that all the others were making great connections and she felt jealous that Léo might have been helping some other pureblood first year around Beauxbatons instead of herself even though he had promised to never replace her.

Madeleine was moving her long hair around her shoulders so that her brush wouldn’t catch on the golden charm necklace that had been a present from Maman on her seventh birthday when she realised that she wasn’t the only one in the room anymore. She considered not turning since she could see one of her new roommates in the reflection of the mirror she was standing in front of but did so anyway since she had been taught that it was rude to turn one’s back on someone during a conversation, but she resisted the urge to roll her eyes just barely since she had been hoping her roommates would have stayed in the common room long enough that she might be able to be asleep when they arrived.

“Hello,” she said with a slightly icy smile, irritated with having been interrupted. “Madeleine Dautin, of France. And you are?” She wasn’t really concerned with making a good impression just yet. To the best of her recollection none of the names of her new roommates were ones of any consequence and so she didn’t need to be on her guard to be perfectly polite from the start.

The covert spy mission continues as Flora Deschamps coolly surveys her sleeping situation for the next several months. It is less than ideal, but a necessary concession as one of the witches in this very room is suspected to have killed the next lead in her mission to rescue the Finnish Minister of Magic. Now it is up to the daring Deschamps to discover the culprit and bring her to justice!

10 Madeleine Dautin "'Spy' is such a short ugly word. I prefer 'espionage.'" 340 Madeleine Dautin 1 5

Arianna Valenti

May 06, 2016 10:29 PM

Just an observer by Arianna Valenti

Arianna pursed her lips as she enterred the Aladren common room, to keep her jaw from dropping. Her family would be very pleased to know that she was living so close to such a beautiful library. And as for her, well, she had never lived anywhere so big. She was pretty sure that their apartment in Brooklyn could almost fit in the Aladren Common Room.

Smiling and thanking the cute Head of House (there was at least one interesting person at Sonora, besides maybe Eliza) she promptly walked off, distracted as she always had been by books. Farrah had already been dismissed as dull, and their third roommate appeared to be a recluse anyway. Maybe Eliza was right, and Arianna was branching out too far by being an Aladren. She should have requested to stay in her comfort zone, with the type of people she knew and understood, and demanded to be sorted into Crotalus.

But for now, she was captivated by the books. Books had always seemed so powerful to her, and there were just so many here! To think that there was all this knowledge she didnt even know existed, long ago when she ahd been ten. And where to start? She had done some reading at home, of course, but there was still so much she needed to know. Tan fingers traced the spines of several books, before she finally settled on a book about Wizarding fashion since the 18th century. This was an urgent matter, she really did need to know if there were any alternatives to these awful robes.

Cradling the large leather bound book in her arms, she went up the stairs and enterred the first year girls' bedroom. Not for the first time, she wondered if wizard fashion had really changed at all in the past century. Seriously, who still wore nightgowns? They were preteens, after all, nearly adults! Or maybe this roommate was from some tiny town, out of touch with current fashions.

Well, apparently not. Madeleine's greeting was reminiscent of the girls Arianna had grown up with, and weirdly comforting after her chat with Farrah. Meek she did not understand, but this new roommate was interesting, even in her weird pajamas.

"Arianna Valenti, from New York," she smiled confidently, not missing a beat before she walked towards the bed nearest her suitcase. Excited to finally remove the awful green robes, she placed her book on the bed and hung the robes carefully on a nearby coat stand, revealing a cream-colored lace sundress, belted at the waist. Placing her gold-colored headband on the nightstand, she let her dark waves fall loosely around her face. She planned to upack and organize everything tonight, of course, but for now she brushed out any wrinkles in her skirt and sat on the edge of her bed. The Brooklyn native had never met anyone from France before, and she was intrigued. She was sure all of her friends from school had traveled there. How jealous would they be that Arianna had a French rommate? Not that any of them had any idea where she really was right now. Who knew what sorts of awful rumors Madison was spreading.

"Where in France are you from?" she asked, setting the book on her lap. She had determined that she would not appear thrown off by her roommate's exotic place of origin, and instead use what she knew from her friends' travels to appear utterly unphased.

0 Arianna Valenti Just an observer 343 Arianna Valenti 0 5

Madeleine

May 19, 2016 11:15 AM

I see. by Madeleine

The witch who had interrupted Madeleine’s nighttime ritual was cradling a book in her arms, which would have boded well for her if Madeleine wasn’t in such a foul mood. She kept from scowling since she knew that a proper young witch didn’t do so. It didn’t really matter how much she wanted to scowl, it was something Myrtille never would have done her first night in a new dorm and therefore something she wasn’t allowed to do. Madeleine placated herself by fully embracing the character of Flora Deschamps and she took in the other girl’s appearance as though she were memorising her entire being for a criminal write-up later on.

Arianna Valenti, from New York oozed confidence, but her introduction did not fool Madeleine. Not only was Valenti among the names Madeleine had been made to learn when she and Bastien were being prepped for Sonora, but as an American her introduction would have sounded much different if she were from a pureblood family. Therefore, Madeleine easily came to the conclusion that she could be with entire certainty that the new roommate she was speaking with was No One of Any Consequence
Still, Madeleine had to applaud the other witch for attempting to pull off a proper introduction in a society she was unfamiliar with.

Her green eyes watched as the dark, curly haired witch moved towards one of the beds in the room and noted the care with which she hung the disgusting green robes up, taking that moment to glance at the title of the book which had been placed on the bed. Huh, a book about wizarding fashion. So at least the witch was going to try and learn a little bit about the culture in which she was now inserted into. An inquisitive mind. That was good. But Madeleine let her nose wrinkle slightly as she took in her new roommate’s appearance. A belted dress, really? They were eleven, not thirty. The headband was kind of pretty, she supposed, though much overdone with the rhinestones and she relaxed her face into a more neutral one as Arianna turned around, determined that she only would only communicate her disapproval through cool tones versus clear disgust across her face.

She wasn’t really planning on talking much with the other witch, but unfortunately it seemed that she was out of luck because Arianna Valenti had made the decision to take a seat on her bed with her book and ask Madeleine a question. Where in France? As if she could be from anywhere else other than “Paris,” Madeleine replied simply with a rather haughty air. She knew quite well that Paris was better than whatever city Arianna Valenti from New York was from and was quite aware that the City of Lights inspired awe in even the important wizarding families around the world. It was the most wonderful city ever, after all.

But, unfortunately for her, spies always took the opportunity to find out more about those who they were spying on and so even though Madeleine really didn’t want to know anything else about the roommate who had interrupted her right before she planned on going to bed, she sort of felt as though she were now required—not just because she was the worldly, first-class spy, Flora Deschamps, but also because politesse and proper societal manners demanded it of her—to ask where in New York the dark-haired witch was from. At some point, Madeleine supposed, she’d have to learn if Arianna Valenti was half or muggleborn (or even a pureblood without much status at all). It wouldn’t matter to her one way or another—French society was slightly more less stringent in it’s own odd little way, but it was one of Those Things that she was Expected to Know and which was Important for one reason or another.

“And you’re from where in New York?” Madeleine’s father had once been to America. She was almost certain he was supposed to have been in the nation’s capital but she had it on good word (her own and Léo’s, as a matter of fact, while hiding under a table in the smoking room at one of her parent’s many functions) that he and a few buddies had swung up to see New York City and have a little bit of fun in the bars with the American witches.

10 Madeleine I see. 340 Madeleine 0 5

Farrah Welsh

May 22, 2016 4:38 PM

Just listening in. by Farrah Welsh

It had been a very long day with very little sleep from the night before and Farrah was finally feeling the effects of the day. Adrenaline and nerves had been the forece keeping her going for the majority of the day, but now that had ebbed away and Farrah was exhausted.

She had gotten to know Killian that afternoon during the orientation and he seemed pretty cool. They had gotten along really well and seemed to have a couple of things in common, which had been a really nice surprise for Farrah. But then, she had gone to the feast and had been sorted into a different house from him. Instead, she had ended up with someone who had the same personality as the girls from back home. Farrah had no idea what or why their exchange started cold and ended downright frosty, but it certainly dashed away any dreams she might have had in regards to becoming best friends with her roommate.

After the tour and head of House lecture, Farrah had remained in the common room reviewing the packets they had been given earlier that day and mapping out the way to the MARS room where she wanted to check out the water room first thing to see if she could practice her ice skating regularly. She had thought coming to a school in the desert would prevent her from being able to ice skate. But, thankfully, she might have an outlet for her skating after all. That had been the best news she had heard since getting onto the wagon.

When her eyes began to droop, she knew it was time to head upstairs and go to bed. She dreaded having to go up to the room as she really did not want to have to deal with Arianna or the possibility that the other roommates might be more like Arianna than herself. Of course, maybe she would get lucky and they would all be asleep by now. Entering the room, Farrah found Arianna and another roommate chatting. Her hopes were completely dashed. The school was a curse. She entered just as the one asked Arianna where in New York she was from. Not wanting to interrupt their conversation, Farrah gave both girls a polite smile but otherwise went to the bed that had her things on it and began to quickly and as quietly as possible, to unpack her bag while getting herself ready for bed.

She attempted to be quiet because she knew that was the respectful thing to do, but also because she wanted to hear what they were saying and how they were interacting. If they got along and were giggling, then Farrah would know she wasn’t going to have a great time sharing a room with them. If they weren’t very pleasant with one another, Farrah wasn’t sure if that would be a plus for her or a minus all around. She wanted to have a friend in her own dorm room, but these girls seemed so tricky.

6 Farrah Welsh Just listening in. 344 Farrah Welsh 0 5

Arianna

May 24, 2016 11:19 AM

Cross-examination by Arianna

Madeleine was not particularly friendly, but she wasn't particularly weird, which automatically gave her a leg up over Farrah, in Arianna's mind. There was a strange comfort in the similarity of Madeleine's demeanor when comoared to the general demeanor of students at her old school. It was a familiar challenge.

"Well, that's lame," Arianna announced, when Madeleine stated where she was from, "To be whisked away from a city like Paris to a desert school with ugly robes. I have family here," she added, to explain her own presence. In truth, her parents had been conpletely unaware of her abilities before her birthday last February. She and Gabe had to navigate this strange new world without any parental guidance. But her chat with Eliza earlier that day had made Arianna more confident that she was not alone in her disdain for the school uniform. Besides, if Madeleine was from Paris, she just had to have a decent sense of fashion. Arianna looked forward to seeing her outfits throughout the year. At her old school, she and her friends had always watched what the older girls wore, and Arianna was always looking for new inspiration.

"New York City," she said with a proud smile, certain her hometown was equal to Madeleine's own, despite never having visited the latter. New York was a bustling place, filled with energy and new ideas and ambitions. Part of Arianna had always wanted to leave to go to California, in search of power and fortune in the Bay Area. Now that she was away from home and in an actual desert, where the only person she knew for hundreds of miles was her dorky cousin, and math and computer classes had been replaced by charms and potions, she was beginning to wonder how she would ever make her ambitions come true.

Speaking of weird, their third roommate had just enterred the room, walked over to her bed, and not said anything. Their first night of seven years as roommates, and Farrah didn't say a word. Who did that?

"Hi Farrah," she smiled with a polite tone, less to engage the girl in conversation and more to let her know that she had not gone unnoticed. As Farrah went to unpack her things, Arianna turned back to Madeleine and shrugged. Some people cold not be helped.

"So is this your first time in the US?" Arianna asked Madeleine. She thought it was pretty random for a girl from France to be all the way out here in Arizona. Surely Europe had its own schools. What had brought Madeleine to Sonora?

Seeing as unpacking seemed to be the thing to do, she put her book down on her bed and kneeled next to her suitcase, unzipping the black bag. The clothes inside were carefully folded, and she was equally as meticulous as she began to organize them in her drawers. They were mostly blacks and neutrals, the style where she was from, with some blues and reds, her old school colors. Though not immediately obvious, many of her trendier clothes were from thrift shops. It was the only way to keep up with her more affluent friends at The Hobart School. Luckily, she lived just southwest of Williamsburg, home to some of the latest trends in the world, and plenty of thrift shops.

0 Arianna Cross-examination 343 Arianna 0 5

Madeleine

June 07, 2016 12:02 PM

You'll have to try harder than that. by Madeleine

So, Arianna had family there. Madeleine still hadn’t heard of the Valenti name, but that meant she had to make a quick decision. Would she continue down the path of distancing herself from the roommate who had interrupted her, or would she ignore this new information and possibly go down a pathway of burning bridges. It was possible that Arianna came from a family that, in a few years time, could be on the rise. Things worked differently in America than in France, Madeleine had been taught, but just because she was in America didn’t mean she had to act American. In France, it was less blood purity that mattered but rather more social status. It was true that these two things often went hand in hand, but it also meant that if one’s family worked at it hard enough, for long enough, in a few hundred years time it was quite possible to rise in the ranks.

In the end, she chose neither. She didn’t really think she wanted to be close friends with the witch—something about her rubbed her the wrong way as she reminded Madeleine of some of the girls that her sister hung out with who Myrtille was too good for but too sweet to say anything about it, but she didn’t want to go about making enemies on her first night in the dorms either even though she thought that perhaps it was a good strategy to be left alone to her own devices as she pleased.

“That’s interesting,” she responded, sounding neither bored nor interested. It wasn’t as though Arianna had much other choice, in Madeleine’s humble opinion. Sonora was pretty much the only school in all of America that was worth going to—she was much happier to be in the desert than stuck at a school intended for the Québécois, but she didn’t disclose this as it wouldn’t do to allow Arianna too much into her head so early on. New York, on the other hand, was slightly more of interest to Madeleine than whether or not her roommate had relatives at Sonora, but she simply nodded as commentary since their third roommate then joined them and silently went to her trunk to unpack.

So, Arianna either knew this other witch from before or had met her recently—Madeleine tried to go through her memories to see which it was, but she didn’t quite have things registered since she had been talking with a Spencer during dinner who proved to be a very nice distraction from her earlier separation from Bastien. Whatever it was, Farrah was…strange and Madeleine watched with a careful eye as the new, quiet roommate began to put away her things. Arianna was starting to follow Farrah’s actions and Madeleine was slightly confused. Weren’t the elves going to do all of that for them? She had been rather surprised that they hadn’t already but chalked it up to American laziness rather than that here she might be expected to do a little bit of work.

She wanted to comment on it, ask them why they were bothering themselves with servant’s work, but refrained from doing so as she supposed they might not have been used to the luxuries that came with being noblesse and that perhaps they didn’t have elves to clean their rooms and organise their closets for them. So, instead she lifted her shoulders slightly in response to Arianna’s question. “And not likely to be my last, malheuruesement. Where are you from?” she asked the newcomer, diverting the attention of the conversation that way, her beautifully carved wooden Reinhardt trunk (something that anyone of any worth would have automatically recognised as being a rarity from the infamous German metal-charming family who, as she had been made to learn, had a few of their American descendants at that very school) sitting, still unpacked, at the foot of her bed.

If Flora was going to solve the mystery of the Finnish Minister of Magic’s death then she’d need to have first hand information of where her suspects were claiming to be from.

*Glossary:
-malheurusement = unfortunately

10 Madeleine You'll have to try harder than that. 340 Madeleine 0 5

Farrah

June 07, 2016 10:16 PM

I'd rather remain as a neutral third party by Farrah

Farrah guessed that a smile was not enough for Arianna, who decided to greet her in the midst of her conversation to their other roommate. “Good evening.” Farrah replied, again giving the smile to both girls. “Sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt.” She said quietly, but Arianna was already back to her conversation with their roommate. Deciding to just let any frustration she had regarding the situation go, Farrah gave herself a deep mental breath and went back to unpacking her things.

She hadn’t actually brought a lot of personal items with her because she wasn’t sure what was a normal thing for people to bring to a boarding school. The majority of it was just her clothes. She had some designer dresses from the junior section of the department stores, some were her skating practice gear, and others were simple pairs of jeans, tees, and blouses. Her mother typically picked out her clothes for her to wear outside the house, but the tees and a couple of dresses were hers. They held her favorite shows or quotes or characters. They showcased her nerdness in a way that was all Farrah and she didn’t care what people said when she wore them. She loved them all. Aside from her clothes and her skating gear, Farrah had a couple of photos of her family and friends. Maybe after she became comfortable, she would bring in some more personal items.

Farrah thought it was kind of cool that her other roommate was from France, Paris, no less. She would have to write home to her mom to let her know that. They were planning on going on a European vacation in the next year or so. At least, that’s what her parents keep saying. Last year they said it but then they ended up going to the Dominican Republic (not that that had been terrible, except that they had to be lathered in sunblock due to their fair skin) and the year before that it had been an Alaskan Cruise with her extended family too (even Aunt Zoey had gotten time off to go!). Maybe this summer they will take that trip to Europe. If that were the case, maybe then she could have more commonality with her roommate who was from Paris, France.

She looked up from her packing to realize that the other girl had addressed her, which wasn’t all that surprising since she had already learned about Arianna. “I live just outside of Manchester Village, Vermont.” Farrah answered. Anyone who knew anything about Vermont would be aware that this was one of the wealthiest areas of Vermont, but Farrah didn’t think about things like that and it was safe to say that no one else did either. “It’s not as exciting as Paris or New York City, but it’s a beautiful place and we’re about equal distance to the cities, like New York and Boston.” Farrah shrugged. Technically, it was a very long car ride to both of those or a quick plane ride, but they were city girls, so Farrah felt like it was important to note that she wasn’t foreign to it.

6 Farrah I'd rather remain as a neutral third party 344 Farrah 0 5

Arianna

June 19, 2016 1:13 PM

Where's the fun in that? by Arianna

Dark eyes continued to observe her surroundings, even as she organized her carefully curated but mostly thrift shop bought clothes in the dresser, and she started to recognize the scene before her. Arianna had gone her whole life like a visitor in a museum, surrounded by beautiful things and constantly being told - "Look - Don't Touch!". She had thought a little magic might change that, thought that she might finally be in a place where she could rise above the rules, especially in a house that valued smarts, like Aladren. Perhaps not.

There was Farrah, the quiet, weird-looking girl casually storing away dresses as beautiful as any Arianna had seen on Abby and Maddie, two of her more well-off friends back home. Of course, there were still some strange t-shirts in there, so she felt her initial impression hadn't totally been off-base. But perhaps the girl was worth further consideration. She could possibly come from some eccentric yet important family, kind of like her friend, Emily. Emily, at least, had learned better taste on her own.

And then there was Madeleine, who was even more of a mystery. Her suitcase was beautiful, and Arianna would bet that she was wealthy, too. Yet she seemed so out of place. Arianna still could not understand why parents would send their eleven year-old daughter halfway across the world for school, when Arianna was sure she had read about other European magic schools. Her own parents hadn't even been initially enthused to send her across the country, and Arianna had a cousin here!

Maybe that was it, then. Madeleine must have family here. But that was weird too, because she had also said this was her first time in the States, and she hadn't sounded very happy about it. Arianna didn't know French, but she spoke Italian at home, and had taken some Spanish at school, and knew enough to know that a word that started with "mal" most likely meant bad. If Madeleine was here for family, why hadn't she visited here before? And why hadn't she mentioned it? Surely people with big, important families loved to talk about such things.

It was decided, her unpacking of clothes was complete, and her roommates were officially Interesting. They were wealthy - like so many of her old classmates - but more than that, they were members of this strange new world. There was so much Arianna needed to know, and she needed to adapt quickly. She had grown up a constant tourist in the lives of people more well-off than her, always close by, but never quite belonging. One day - though maybe not tonight - that was going to change. It had to change.

"So what brings you to Sonora, then?" she asked Madeleine, politely "and not a European school?" While Madeleine and Farrah chatted, she set her pajamas - a simple black tank top and blue Soffe shorts - on her bed. She turned around as she unzipped her dress. She didn’t mind changing in front of other girls, as the Hobart School had required all students to change for gym, starting in fifth grade. That was also the year that just about everyone who was anyone had started to wear training bras, like the white one Arianna currently wore. Mama said she didn’t need it, but Arianna would argue that social law stated otherwise.

She quickly changed into pajamas, but hesitated as she picked up her dress. How did laundry work around here? Recently, Arianna had started to help out with laundry at home, but they hadn’t mentioned anything about laundry room in the orientation or tour. Did the prairie elves handle the laundry? She didn’t know how she felt about that, she didn’t like many people (or creatures) touching her things. She didn’t think her roommates with their beautiful clothing and suitcases would know much about that. So she folded the dress, put it on her nightstand and determined to discreetly ask her Head of House about it later.

“Do you play any winter sports?” she asked Farrah inquisitively, sitting down on her bed. She had decided her odd roommate was worth further consideration. Arianna herself did not play many sports, although she had been skiing a couple of times with her cousin, Gabe, and his family. But all she knew about Vermont was that there were ski resorts there that some of her classmates frequented with their families.

0 Arianna Where's the fun in that? 343 Arianna 0 5