La noblesse on Cascade Hall

Madeleine Dautin & Sébastien Évreux

July 20, 2016 2:44 PM

La noblesse by Madeleine Dautin & Sébastien Évreux

Sébastien sighed as he sat down at the Aladren table next to Madeleine, letting his social mask slip slightly for once. They’d arranged to have dinner together, as they liked to do every so often. It gave them a chance to catch up with each other, as they didn’t see that much of each other, and also the opportunity to relax a little. Bastien certainly was more aware of his appearance and how he came across when he was with other people. However, due to his previous acquaintance with Madeleine, not to mention their alliance, he didn’t feel the need to make as much of an impression on her. She already knew how wonderful he was. Besides, he wasn’t best pleased with her.

“How was your holiday, then?” he asked somewhat pointedly, trying to convey his disapproval at having seen little of her over the break in a way that didn’t seem like the whinings of a disappointed and jealous boy. He wasn’t sure he entirely succeeded, but didn’t really care. She should have known better than to spend all of her time at parties with that Léo Chevalier boy. Bastien was far better company.

From the moment Bastien sat down next to her, Madeleine could tell that he was tiffed with her. And even though a tiffed Sébastien was not her very favourite type of Sébastien, he was at least talking to her so she knew he was probably being petty and didn’t have any real reason to be upset with her. So she replied in a chipper manner, deciding to play innocent. “It was absolutely delightful,” she responded, putting stress on the English word that she had peppered their conversation with. When together, she and Bastien usually spoke French since she found herself yearning for someone to speak her native tongue with since the rest of the day she spent translating shakily between two languages until her brain hurt.

But other than that, there really wasn’t much else to say--both she and Bastien had appeared at a number of the same parties and so she knew that he was up to date on her midterm activities. She supposed there were a few, quieter parties that she had been in attendance for that Sébastien had not, but that wasn’t any of his business, she thought, and so neglected to bring them up. “Yours went well too, I’m assuming?”

So she was going for the innocence approach, was she? Well, two could play at that game. “I enjoyed seeing everybody back home,” he replied. “Some of the girls had interesting stories about Beauxbatons.” Never let it be said that Sébastien preferred a peaceful conversation.

However, his pointed reply did not get the intended response. Madeleine raised a brow. Trust Sébastien Evreux to try to stir a pot that didn’t need stirring. “Ah, oui?” she replied rather coolly, his words reminding her of something that she’d needed to bring up with him since a certain conversation of his last term that had bothered her probably more than anyone would expect it to.

Granted, she didn’t really have a reason to feel annoyed with him because he didn’t know about how his potions partner last term before greatly annoyed her, but she still felt like it was something she was allowed to take out on him. After all, they were supposed to be in an alliance and what good was an alliance if one part of the alliance went around making friends with someone who thought she was all that and a boiled potato despite not being from a very good family? It wasn’t that Madeleine cared about that sort of thing too deeply--if one worked hard enough she supposed it was permissible for them to ascend in society, but to just assume good status without having put in the earlier work? That was something that, as a Dautin, could not be tolerated.

“I saw you working with Arianna Valenti in Potions last term,” she accused. “And I just thought you should know that I’ve decided not to like her.”

This decision was something Madeleine herself hadn’t known about until she uttered the words. They were a little harsh, she thought privately, for someone who really hadn’t done anything other than assume a little more authority than Madeleine thought she was allowed to have and then also talking to Bastien without Madeleine’s permission, but it had been said and now there was nothing more to be done. She had to roll with it.

Bastien raised an eyebrow at Madeleine’s decision. “Is that based on any particular reason?” he asked, wanting to know if there was any interesting gossip he ought to know about Arianna Valenti. Not that Sébastien deliberately indulged in gossip for the sake of it, but he did like to be informed of all that was going on. After all, knowledge was power, and he was rather partial to a bit of power. Either way, he wasn’t going to ignore Madeleine’s decision. If it came to a choice between her and Arianna Valenti, Bastien would immediately choose the Dautin witch. He knew which was the more logical choice (and of course his choice would be nothing but logical).

Madeleine shrugged in response. It’s on a need to know basis, she wanted to reply. An associate of mine has informed me that she is heavily involved with the cover-up of several attempted assassinations and had a hand in the whole problem with Finland. So instead she just replied with “perché sì,” a phrase that her Italian tutor had taught her once which meant ‘because yes’ and was basically something that Italians said when they didn’t have an answer. But it was also, at the same time, an answer, so she couldn’t be accused of avoiding the question. Never let it be said that I am not a Dautin, Madeleine thought to herself, pleased with outmaneuvering Bastien.

“Anyway, she isn’t the sort of witch we were sent here to meet,” she continued, bringing their parents into the conversation in case Bastien decided to question her answer of no answer at all. “And she’s definitely just lower bourgeoise if anything. I don’t know why we’re here instead of Beauxbatons anyway,” she complained, knowing full well why she and Bastien were at the American school. “There’s so much more for us to do there...” After having played with Lily Spencer and Killian Everett that one day, Madeleine had started to enjoy her time at Sonora, but being around Bastien always reminded her of how much better things could have been, bringing out the whiney, spoiled brat that she had slowly been shedding.

“Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we were at Beauxbatons right now?” Sébastien asked. It was something that he thought about occasionally. At Beauxbatons, his name and social status would command more respect than he got here. He did not enjoy the anonymity that Louis Valois seemingly thrived upon, preferring to be recognised as somebody important.

“All the time,” Madeleine admitted. While she enjoyed not being stared at and whispered about since it gave her ample opportunity to do the staring and whispering herself, she disliked how little privilege she had here, something the previously naive witch had taken for granted Before. “But more than anything I wonder if Léo’s got someone to replace me yet. He assures me he hasn’t, but I’m sure he’s lying.” Bastien hadn’t had friends like she’d had before they started school so she didn’t expect him to fully understand how she felt, but she did think Léo was worth mentioning. She was sure what Bastien missed most was the privilege that she, too missed, but somehow she felt that Bastien missed it more. They were just different like that. “What about you, what do you think about?”

Bastien inwardly made a face at the mention of Léo, but wisely decided to keep his feelings to himself, feeling that Madeleine was probably aware of his disapproval. He would never admit it, but the Évreux boy was jealous of Madeleine’s easy friendship with someone else, feeling that he should be more important to her than Léo. Still, he was the one at school with Madeleine, so that definitely gave him an advantage. And he wouldn’t hesitate to use it.

“Obviously things are very different here,” he replied. “People don’t really know who we are and so many things aren’t done in the proper way.” By ‘proper’ he meant French, of course. In Bastien’s eyes, to do things in the French way was the pinnacle of sophistication and really something everyone should aim for. The Americanness of Sonora, whilst to be expected, left him feeling slightly off-balance and confused, especially as it meant he had fewer advantages socially. “But at least I have you with me,” he added, smiling at her.

Madeleine rolled her eyes. “An ally is a good thing to have,” she replied dryly though at this point she supposed that she and Bastien were more friends than allies even if they hadn’t quite admitted it themselves. “And--” she ducked her head behind him as she spotted the Pecari Quidditch Captain and her unofficial enemy walk in the room. “Mais Dieu, je la deteste!” she mumbled under her breath.

Bastien turned his head to see who Madeleine was looking at, mentally adding another enemy to the ever-growing list. This was proving to be quite complicated. However, Liliana was a perfectly understandable source of hatred.

10 Madeleine Dautin & Sébastien Évreux La noblesse 340 Madeleine Dautin & Sébastien Évreux 1 5