They Say Newcomers Have a Certain Smell (Chantal)

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Hogwarts had been kind to Ramsey so far. She had met many people and some were looking as if they were going to be fun, new friends. There was nothing that excited Ramsey more than meeting new friends. And even better than new friends was cute girls and Ramsey had met one in particular. Cecelia Rousseau. Apparently, Cecelia had attended Beauxbatons back in the day and Ramsey was baffled she had never met her before. Certainly she never would have forgotten about her if she had and now that she had met her, Ram was certain she never would.

Ramsey was exploring the grounds. She had heard that there was an owlery where she could send an owl to her parents. She had written two separate letters, one for Mum and one for Dad, that she would be sending to them to tell them about how she had entered her name in the cup and how she was enjoying her time at Hogwarts. When she reached the top of the owlery, she found two owls fairly quickly and instructed them on where to go. Ramsey watched as the owls flew off into the distance, slowly separating from one another to head in different directions and she smiled to herself. The views surrounding Hogwarts were truly breathtaking...

@chantal

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Although Hogwarts couldn’t compare to being at Beauxbatons, it was much more interesting than Chantal had anticipated. Renewing her friendship with Cecelia Rousseau, with whom she had been friends when the other girl had attended Beauxbatons years before, had been nice, because it provided her with someone who actually knew their way around the school and wouldn’t lost in it—or get caught on its moving staircases, which, Chantal had heard, even included a few trick steps.

One part of the castle of the most use to her, besides the Great Hall and the library—to which she was in no particular hurry to return—was the Owlery, where students who didn’t own their own owls could send letters home. When she had been told that it was in the West Tower, Chantal had anticipated that the Owlery was part of the castle itself, not a lone tower, far removed from everything else. It was frustrating that she had to walk so far to mail a letter, and she had to wonder if Hogwarts had done it to minimize student-parent contact during the year. The weather hadn’t even reached its coldest point yet, and, as Chantal ascended the stairs up to the top of the tower, she made a note to warn her parents that her communication with them during the winter months might be sparse.

When she reached the top, Chantal realized just why the tower was so drafty in comparison to the rest of the school: It had no windows. Looking up at the number of owls, she had to laugh; she would have been dinner to them in Animagus form. The top of the tower itself wasn’t very large, so Chantal saw instantly that there was someone else there with her. There was no mistaking that it was one of her friends, in fact, a girl by the name of Ramsey Naidoo. Ramsey’s father was South African, and—if Chantal remembered correctly—still working at the Ministry of Magic there. With her own parents of Senegalese origins and her father serving as the French representative to the International Confederation of Wizards, they had plenty of common ground.

“Coucou!” Chantal smiled and, stepping over the remains of some small rodents, approached Ramsey’s side to look at the view from the tower. “Ça va?”

@ramsey

Dialogue translation:

^{_{“Hey!”
“How’re you?”}}

||MAZE DIRECTION:RIGHT TURN||

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Ramsey found herself momentarily lost and distracted in the beauty of the surrounding scenery to the tower. She couldn't help but let her mind eventually wander back to the brunette she had met just days ago. But hearing a voice approaching her, she was lifted from her trance. She looked up to see she had been joined by Chantal Dembélé, a fellow Beauxbatons student.

Ram greeted her fellow student with a smile. "Bonjour, Chantal," she gave a small, energetic wave. She had always liked Chantal, growing up. Ramsey felt the two of them had a lot in common, and Ramsey didn't have to try too hard to communicate with her. Well, not that Ram usually had trouble communicating with people; she was very outgoing. But not many people were as kind as Chantal, and sometimes it would be harder to speak to those people. "Je vais bien. Bien que, un peu le mal du pays... She trailed off at the end but a smile quickly returned to her face. Ramsey was never one to harp on the bad for very long. "Et toi?"

@chantal
Translation: (I'm using Google translate so this is probably bad c:)
"Hello, Chantal,"
"I am good. Though, a little homesick..."
"And you?"

[Deleted]

Ramsey said that she was doing well, aside from some homesickness. She wasn't the only one. Chantal felt that way, too, although it wasn't unbearable. “Tu n'es pas la seule. Je pense qu'on a tous le mal du pays,” she said, watching cautiously as an owl swooped in over their heads to perch among the rest. Anyone who claimed that they didn't miss being in France just a little bit was lying.

“C'est vraiment joli ici, n'est-ce pas?” Chantal smiled. She meant the view and not the owl pellets and skeletons of various small animals; those she could have done without. Pulling her cloak tightly around herself for some additional warmth, she added, “Il fait froid, mais je pourrais m'habituer à être à Poudlard…” It wasn't anywhere near as dangerous as the news reports had made it seem.

@ramsey

Dialogue translation:

^{_{“You're not alone. We're all homesick, I think.”
“It's really pretty here, isn't it?”
“It's cold, but I could get used to being at Hogwarts…”}}