35 The Enchanted Mist Veil

As I stepped into the barge, I was instantly shocked at the large interior inside. After Randolph mentioned the undetectable extension charm was placed on it, I expected the interior to be a bit bigger, but this was on an astronomical scale compared to what I was expecting.

The entire place was wooden, with tons of tables and areas to sit and chat strewn about. There was catering to one side where some students were getting food as well as windows dotted all around the ship, which was surprising seeing as though the outside of the barge didn't have this many windows. There were also incredibly detailed and decorative chandeliers hanging from the roof.

"It's like a wooden palace in here…" I murmured, unable to contain my thoughts.

I started to stroll in further with my luggage and broom in tow, as I entered the wider area of the barge however, I started to notice gazes drifting my way. 

As the eyes of students, both older and new, were placed onto me I felt my body shiver and instinctively my gaze grew cold.

The surrounding students who were eyeing me up all started to talk to each other with some anxiousness and trepidation. 

I clicked my tongue and sighed seeing this. I never intended to be so off putting but I honestly couldn't help it. The scars from the forest really ran deep as I went into 'fight or flight' mode the second I felt any pressure. 

When I walked around the wharf with Randolph, there were plenty of times I saw these same eyes my way. 

Maybe as a failsafe to protect my own psyche I had developed this method of just supressing all emotions that I felt, painting the world in grey, draining it of its wonder and colour so I could better understand it.

As a foreigner to this world, that was all I wanted. I wanted to break down this world into little pieces so I could learn each part and then put those pieces back together, so I knew how each piece worked. If I understood the world, maybe I would find my place in it.

I shrugged off both these thoughts and the gazes still peering my way, opting to find myself a seat to sit down at instead so I could relax for a moment. The interior of this place was so large that I was easily able to find a spare table quickly.

As I sat down and situated myself, I looked at all the different students around me. Different languages spilled out each one's mouth and as those words drifted towards me, the compass would activate, translating some parts to me.

I could hear talk about teachers, talks about what they were going to do this year, worry about exams and excitement at a new school year. A cacophony of expectations and emotions filled my ears.

I held the same wishes as them, I wanted to feel the same way as them, but I literally couldn't bring myself to be so hopeful and expectant. Whilst the prospect of magic excited me, I was viewing it as a means to an end, a weapon to wield rather than something to learn.

I was not viewing it how they were, a fun thing to learn for everyday life. It was akin to a soldier and scholar going to school. A soldier would want to learn how to shoot a gun and kill a target whereas a scholar wanted to learn how to make a gun and understand why a gun is needed. 

As I dwelled on these rushing thoughts for a while, I felt my eyelids grow heavy. It had been a busy day for me after all with walking around the wharf, nearly offing a respected wand-maker and making an unbreakable vow with Randolph.

Now that I was separated from Randolph, that feeling of solitude I had once forgotten started to resurface. Looking at the cliques already formed around the barge, I felt no place in any of them.

"It's for the best" I whispered to myself. Trying to find comfort in the loneliness I was expecting.

I watched students get on the barge for a while longer and watched what they did to get an understanding of where things were on the barge. The students with luggage seemed to take their stuff over to some stairs and headed down them eventually reappearing with no luggage in hand, seems as though the storage was down there.

The more tired and weary students seemed to head up the stairs shouting things like "See you later!" so I could guess up there was where students rested.

Feeling tired myself, I noted the route to take. I had to put my stuff in storage down the stairs and head upstairs, then I could get some shut eye.

As I was about to stand up however, a woman sat down opposite me with a bubbly smile. She spoke in English, yet her French accent was distinct.

"Hello there dear, it looks like you are a new student". 

I nodded. "Yes… It's my first year".

The woman smiled brightly, so bright in fact that I even felt like squinting for a moment. Her voice had a calming tone and with her petite stature and fair looks partnered with the robes she was wearing I could guess that she was some sort of teacher or faculty member of the school.

"Another star being added to our enchanted sky" She mused. "My name is Cosette Girard dear, but you can call me Madame Cosette".

I nodded. "Nice to meet you… Madame Cosette. My name is Axel".

Her eyes seemed to glow for a moment as she heard my name. Her eyes then landed on dawn-surge, my broom that I had rested against the table, seemingly piecing everything together.

"Ahh you're Randolph's boy, aren't you? Axel Everhart if I remember correctly! I usually keep all the student's names memorized". 

I let out a small chuckle. "All the students? Theres's hundreds maybe thousands here surely you can't keep them all memorized?"

Giggling softly at my comment, she points at her head. "I have quite a good memory you see. Some call it eidetic, makes that part of the job easy".

How enviable. That was a classic trope in a fanfiction reincarnation novel, and she snatched it up instead of me. That would be great to have for school life and learning spells…

Still, near the end of her sentence she mentioned that it was her 'job' to some degree, so she was most likely a teacher. 

Deciding to probe this I asked. "What class do you teach Madame Cosette".

She smiled. "I teach charms dear, as one of the main core classes of the school, you will be seeing my face a lot".

"Core classes?" I commented. Randolph had told me some of the details of the school, but I didn't know all of them. Now was a good time to get some information.

Seeing my questioning she responded. "Yes, the core classes. Beauxbatons as you might have heard allows students a lot more independence in their learning, a lot of classes are optional leaving a lot of free periods however the core classes of the school remain as such so the bare minimum of OWL and NEWT exams are met".

Further adding to this she continued. "The core classes are Defence against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions, History of Magic and Astronomy".

Hearing the list of classes, I felt some slight relief realising that the classes weren't completely different here at least in name. I guess these subjects were universal to some degree in the wizarding world. 

Intrigue welling in my mind I next asked. "What are the optional classes?" 

Seeing my interest in the topic, she smiled further and happily answered. "Well, there's the normal optional classes like Flying, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Divination, Ancient Runes and Magical beast care of course… However, at our school we also have a few classes unique to us".

She used her fingers to count the last few unique classes as she spoke. "Magical Art and Expression, Magical Cuisine and finally Enchanted Tailoring".

Hearing the last few optional classes being mentioned instantly piqued my interest. I knew of all the classes mentioned prior however these three were truly unique. 

She spoke with a light tone as she continued to indulge me. "Magical Art and Expression is a class teaching student's the intricacies of making magical portraits and other art pieces that have magical properties, Magical Cuisine is about using magic in tandem with cooking to create miraculous dishes and Enchanted Tailoring is a class that teaches you how to not only make robes and other clothing but also how to enchant it with defensive spells and all sorts".

Hearing the explanation of all three classes, my mind immediately locked onto the Enchanted Tailoring class. Developing in that field could lead me to methods of creating clothing that were able to shield me in fights. 

With the looming shadow of the Blighthearts that could track me down one day, having clothes that were enchanted was an extremely enticing prospect to me.

Madame Cosette stood up, beaming down at me. "Does that cover everything you wanted to know dear?" 

I nodded. "Yes, thank you Madame Cosette".

As I thanked her, she lifted her wand and pointed it towards my luggage. I felt my body jolt in that moment as my hand started to drift towards my pouch. She seemed to notice this as she lowered her wand with a difficult expression.

"I'm sorry dear, I didn't mean to startle you… I was just going to charm your luggage and broom downstairs into storage. You seem quite tired after all…".

As my body began to untense I sighed deeply, my eyes growing cold not towards Madame Cosette but more inwardly, towards myself. "No need to apologize… Thank you for the help".

Madame Cosette seemed to notice my cold gaze as she paused for a moment before she charmed my luggage and broom down into the storage area of the barge. Seeing the luggage dance across the barge past all the students so skilfully was quite an interesting feat to watch.

I once again thanked Madame Cosette before excusing myself and heading towards the stairs and up to the barges sleeping quarters. 

.

Getting upstairs, it didn't take me long to find a room for myself. There were numerous rooms dotted around for the students with numbers on them signifying how many students to a room.

Most students had already formed groups and probably claimed rooms, so I looked for a single room somewhere and managed to find one far towards the back of the barge.

Entering the room that I would sleep in, it felt quite cozy and reminded me of my room in Randolph's house a bit. The wooden structure, the simpleness, it made me feel a quite a bit at home. 

All the room had was a bed, desk and a chair but considering this was only a journey that would last a few days apparently, this was enough for me. As I stepped into the room, light shined into the room from a window I didn't even notice at first.

I wandered over to the window and was surprised that I was able to see the dock where parents were all stood waving off their children. 

It was hard to wrap my head around it, there was no windows outside the barge but inside there were tons and all of them did truly let you see the outside world clearly. What kind of spell was able to make this work?

As I dwelled on these thoughts for a moment, I noticed that the bridge to the boat that was lowered from the boat had risen and we were slowly starting to set sail. 

Looking at all the parents crying and waving off their children, I noticed Randolph was not anywhere within the crowd.

He did say he would meet Stein for a drink after dropping me off so maybe he headed straight there…

As I watched the crowd of parents grow blurrier by the second, I saw a mother and father who looked like my previous world's mother and father. Their faces that I could still just remember seemed to blur over the two random parents faces as I felt my heart grow cold.

I pushed away from the window and landed on my bed, lifting my arm over my eyes.

The ghosts of my past still plagued me, I still felt a deep sadness and saw my parents randomly on occasion which made my emotions grow cold. 

I really had a long way to go… both in magic and mind…

.

Madame Cosette walked into her room on the barge that was specifically made for her. After all, she had been the one to charm this barge, allowing it to be as grand as it was. 

Due to this, she felt a sort of affinity for the barge she couldn't describe. She felt as though it was her work despite her only charming it and not doing any of the actual building of the ship. 

Due to this 'affinity' she felt, she decided to head the voyage to get students from Wunderwasser Wharf when the opportunity was passed around the faculty.

When she was told, she was going to the Wharf as a guide for the students, one of her colleagues had brought her to the side and spoke to her in private.

He told her that a boy would be entering the school this year, recommended by his friend Randolph Spudmore. His face showed a hint of sadness as he explained to her about the boy's background that he had heard from Randolph. 

He went on to mention that Randolph views that boy as his 'golden jewel' and strictly told him that the boy should be looked after if possible due to the boy being English which was rare at the school.

Madame Cosette nodded, noticing the gravity behind her colleague's words. He was never one to overplay something and she had dealt with troubled children in the past many times, so she felt some confidence in meeting this boy that her colleague had mentioned.

However, when she first spotted a boy sat alone in the barge with scars all over his face and arms, she felt her heart sink. Looking at the other first years who were excitedly talking about the barges size, she looked at this brooding boy and couldn't take her eyes off him.

The two white stripes in his hair, the cold expression and eyes that seemed to be always looking for information. This was not a normal boy; anyone could see that immediately.

Nobody approached the boy, seemingly afraid of the chilly aura he gave off. She heard the other first year students speak amongst themselves about him.

"What happened to him? Are those scars?", "Look at his hair! Do you think he dyed it?", "I think he looked at me briefly, is he going to beat me up?!".

Human curiosity was usually the fuel to most issues. As the other students grew curious about this boy, words spread like a cloud drifting through the barge. Despite this, the boy didn't show any discomfort at all, at least on the outside. His gaze remained cold and calm.

She decided to sit down with him and talk to him. As she started the conversation, she noticed the boy wasn't that bad. He certainly held quite the icy gaze, but his words weren't rude or disrespectful, they were the opposite in fact.

However, as she pulled out her wand to assist the boy, she noticed his eyes go from cold to also threatening. He became instantly guarded, and even seemed to be reaching for his pouch on his hip to get something. 

When she apologized, she noticed the boy's eyes softened yet she sensed there was hate within them, not directed at her but himself.

As she put on her nightgown and laid down on her bed ready for the journey ahead, she found herself constantly thinking about that boy.

A question the entire school would have in the future lingered on her lips. 

"What happened to you Axel Everhart…"

.

Days on the barge passed quickly as I spent most of my time contained to my room resting and thinking about what I needed to do from here. 

Sometimes I would run into Madame Cosette when grabbing food and we'd have some small talk but that was the only real highlight of my days aboard the barge.

On the odd occasion in my room, I would also take out my wand to get a feel for it, after all me and Randolph didn't really let Gregoravich give us much of an explanation on how it worked…

I remembered though that he called the jewel within the wand a 'channel' whilst the core was my obscurus itself.

Putting my thumb onto the jewel, I willed the obscurus within me towards the jewel and into the wand. As I did so the wand seemed to 'activate' as I felt it become an extension of myself. 

Pointing the wand at a cup in my room, I really wanted to try a spell. Thinking back on my own knowledge of the books I thought of a spell that was safe enough to do here.

"Wingardium Leviosa"

Mimicking the swish and flick movement and uttering the words of the spell as best I could, I felt the obscurus rumble a bit as magic did seem to project onto the cup on the table. As I began to lift the cup up however, the slightest movement sent the cup flying into the roof of my room.

A sharp 'bang' sounded as the cup hit the roof and then fell to the floor. Looking at the cup and then at my wand I was completely shocked and not just from being able to cast a spell.

"That… I didn't even imbue that much…"

This wand Gregoravich had given me was truly made for me and me alone. I'd have to learn how to reel back the imbuement process a bit else, I could end up injuring some people on accident with this potency.

Still, this was great and a good start. I was at least able to cast a normal spell without any sign of anything 'off'. The jewel on the wand perfectly masked the obscurus energy that I imbued into it without any leaking out. I had once said its absorption rate was insane being able to eat up every bit, I poured in but now seeing this all-in practice truly left me in awe for a bit.

My end goal however was still a bit far off. Fusing spells with my obscurus to create different effects or end results was what I strived for. I had managed to imbue my fists with that eroding energy so surely at some point I might be able to do it with spells as well…

As I dwelled on these thoughts for a little while I heard a booming voice sound throughout the barge. Despite the loudness of the voice, the tone was quite delicate, and I recognised it was Madame Cosette.

"Students. We will be arriving near the enchanted mist veil any moment now! Second years and above please let the first years get a proper view of the sight as you've all seen it before- "

Hearing her announcement, I headed over to the window of my room and peered out at the surroundings.

We were currently on a river it seemed, which was trippy looking down at as the barge on the outside looked really squished. Unfortunately for me though, the inside of the barge didn't squish like I had hoped deep down… I really wanted to see hundreds of students squashed together but unfortunately the magic on this boat was too cleverly placed for that sight to happen.

Looking towards at where we were heading, I started to see the enchanted mist veil come into sight. White mist started to roll in over the windows and it became a bit hard to see for a while. However, as if we passed through a barrier, the mist then cleared again and in front of us was a huge waterfall with glittering water gushing down violently. 

As the boat entered the waterfall, I knew it was not long before I'd be setting foot into Beauxbatons.