A Moment's Respite(Willow/Jory)

[Jory Addison]

Jory nodded and propped his chin on his knees. "What's it like at Beauxbaton?" He knew he probably said it wrong, but he wanted to keep this topic up as long as possible. This was better than just talking about his life right now. He wanted to be able to move away from that horrible topic, if only for a few precious minutes.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow shrugged, "it's nice there I suppose. I missed the people here, they are a lot less formal than in France. But the food," she rolled her eyes in remembrance, "is to die for. Not the aspics mind you, but everything else is délicieux." Some days she wished that she could go back just for the food. Of course she'd gained a few pounds while she was there, and exercise had been a must, but she'd lost it again when she came home.

[Jory Addison]

"Really?" Jory asked. He had never been to the continent. He had barely been anywhere in England, much less headed over the water to France. "I've heard their stuff is really weird." Of course, he had also heard that the food in England were weird, too, and he couldn't figure that one out to save his life. He had no desire to go over there, so he guessed he'd never have to worry about any of that.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow laughed at that, "sure it seems weird the first time you eat snails, but they don't taste any weirder than scallops or fish drowned in butter. I think the weirdest thing they eat is the aspics, which is basically meat jelly, but I didn't like that. Truffle risotto though is amazing." Warm and melting, just the right consistency it had that perfect fine edge. Of course boned chicken stuffed with other meats was great too. "The french believe in eating and using all portions of an animal, so they can have some pretty interesting things."

[Jory Addison]

Jory wrinkled his nose at the idea of eating snails, and again at using all parts of an animal. "I think I'll stick to normal food." He had never really gotten into some of the things at Hogwarts, anyway. He had never quite understood the whole blood sausage thing. "I like my fish and chips." He could be pretty picky at times when it came to food.

[Willow Wenlock]

Fish and chips were a definite comfort food that Willow could relate to. "Yeah, I think that was what I missed the most when I was gone. My mom can make an awesome fish and chips." Willow relaxed a bit on her chair, putting her head back against the chair and looking up at the ceiling. She thought about how normal it had been there to have whole fish presented to you in a cream sauce, fabulous, but perhaps to much. "It was really fun to take a jaunt near the Eiffel tower at night on a broomstick." The muggles shut it down early in the evening, so sometimes kids would go look on their own time at what made the muggles so fascinated by a hunk of metal.

[Jory Addison]

"Isn't that dangerous?" Jory asked, surprised that they were allowed to do something like that. "I mean...if muggles saw..." He had heard of many things happening to wizards and witches that were caught by muggles doing things, and it very rarely ended well for anyone, much less the wizarding folk involved. Even if it was something innocent, it could give it all away.

[Willow Wenlock]

Yeah, she thought, it could have ended badly, but her experience had been closely monitored. "Beauxbaton figured out that the students were doing things like that, so they made an effort on occasion to take trips out there and clear the way." She shrugged, "there were students who went on their own. And I think a few of them got in trouble, but I only went on an approved excursion."

[Jory Addison]

"Did they hide you or something?" Jory asked. He couldn't imagine them completely clearing out a place that was probably crawling with muggles at all times of the day and night. "Like, use an invisibility spell or something?" They had to, because otherwise if just one muggle looked up at the right time they would all be seen.

[Willow Wenlock]

"Yeah, a large invisibility, several teachers watching it. It's really not as complex as a Quidditch Championship though. After midnight when muggles shut things down it's even easier." It would be similar to hanging out on the Big Ben in London. It happened sometimes and people did it, so why not encourage it as a school foray to detract from the excitement. It worked for all but the most adamant thrill seekers.

[Jory Addison]

Jory raised an eyebrow at that. So had they made the tower invisible? Or somehow made it so that only the teachers could see the students? He wanted to ask, but he kept his mouth shut. "They never did anything like that at my old school." It had been pretty boring, actually, not that he would ever have gone. Now, he was much more likely to go out and do something like that.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow shrugged, "the french they have a flair for the theatrical." It hadn't made sense to her, but for a short while when she'd been there she had wanted to be the daring student that broke all the rules. "What school did you go to before you came here?" There were the large schools, Hogwarts, Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and a few others, but there were other schools that had cropped up across the world, smaller ones, she wondered if he had attended one of those.

[Jory Addison]

"MI, in London," Jory said. He was beginning to wonder which one was truly better. "It was okay, a lot smaller than Hogwarts. I never did much there." He had stayed to himself even more than he did now. Though now, it was more of a necessity than a life choice. It was nice to have people to talk to, it was one of the good things that had happened.

[Willow Wenlock]

She hadn't heard of MI and her family lived in England, though she supposed if it wasn't as famous as Hogwarts it wouldn't garner much off the board attention. "If you don't mind my asking, why did you transfer here?" Not that Hogwarts wasn't grand by any measure, but if there was a decent school close to home, then it might make sense to start expanding that option to students.

[Jory Addison]

Jory's eyes dropped and he gave the shortest explanation possible. "A guy moved there and we started talking. Then the Headmistress sent an owl saying we were looking at each other too much and we had to stop. I didn't want to stay there if even the Headmistress was against it." He didn't mention Lyric's name this time, since he officially felt no right to anymore.