A Visit to France {Open}

Guest

France, in Alexei's honest opinion was the one country that he couldn't help but wish that he had been born in. It was a beautiful country, with so much history to it that the Slytherin just salivated at reading all those history books about it. Not just the magical history but the muggle one as well. So many lords and ladies were born in this place, many of them fell and just as many rose to power.

He had begged his brother to be allowed to go to France for the week, just to spend some time seeing the different sights and enjoying some time away from his studies. His brother had relented only after Alexei had done all his school homework and only after he had promised to be back within the week. Not that Alexei could blame Marcus, their father was on the move again from the rumours that he heard and the man was apparently looking to bring Alexei and Marcus back to Italy, not that he would get the chance. At the earliest moment, Alexei would end his father's life without remorse, the man didn't deserve to see any more of the world after the shitty childhood he went through.

The history of the place wasn't the only reason why he was in France. There were a few reasons, one of them being a woman that he had talked to briefly at Hogwarts.

He hoped to see a certain Mademoiselle Clement but hope was for fools and the only way he would be able to meet with the charming Hufflepuff would only be if he had sent an owl ahead to ask for a meeting, yet the Slytherin still took the chance and prayed that just maybe he would meet with her on accident.

Another reason was because France was the last place his father would be looking for him and look, Alexei knew, he would. France was a territory that not even his father would step a foot on. Antonio Corvanelo was a lot of things but a suicidal fool he was not and stepping into France would be basically committing suicide. Many of Antonio's enemies resided here and all of them would love to see the man's head splatter into a million little pieces.

Having arrived in France the day before and having asked for directions to the nearest library that had both muggle and magical sections, Alexei knew where he needed to go. Slipping inside the unassuming looking building the young man made his way towards the front desk and with a smile on his lips asked. "Bonjour, Je cherche la section histoire." The French, while accented with Italian was clear. "Seriez-vous capable de me diriger dans la bonne direction?"

The woman behind the desk, an elderly looking one, gave Alexei a curious look over before pointing towards the aisles in the back. "Allée 12, section 7." With that she went back to the book she was reading, clearly dismissing the wizard without a goodbye.

Not even bothered by the dismissal, Alexei transversed through the aisles, mentally counting them before finally coming up to aisle twelve. Section seven of the aisle turned out to be in the middle of said aisle and it was a section filled with books from the top of the bookcases all the way to the bottom.

Flicking his eyes over the titles on the spines, Alexei pulled out the ones that seemed the most promising and then made his way towards the closest table, pulling out his notebook and pen that he had brought with him to make notes. Having great memory didn't mean that he'd be able to retain what he read after all and having notes on hand was always better than having to scramble to remember things.

Opening the first book, L'histoire de France, Alexei quickly got imerresed in the words in the book, not even noticing as the time flew by or when someone else joined him at the table.

Guest

Janet rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she threw on a little lilac sundress, twisting her hair into a quick braid as she blinks at herself slowly in the mirror. It had been a long night and she had stayed up pretty late, trying her best to learn French from a website she had found on her little laptop. While she knew there were easier ways Janet preferred the muggle internet and learning from books. Books that happened to be due today.

Janet smiled and rolled her shoulders. She was tired but that was an easy fix. She should really cheer up some, she was in Paris after all! It was a miracle her parents had consented to her coming in the first place, even letting her stay an extra two weeks more than planned.

She had wanted to stay for just a week, see the city, meet some locals, but upon meeting Sierra Stark who offered to teach her some french she had opted to stay longer, after all, who could turn up a chance like that! While the woman had mentioned she was open to mailing or their lessons it just seemed to Janet like that would take much too long, besides if she learned at least the basics while she was here she could learn even more talking to locals!

Janet walked over to her bed, scooping up her small pile of books that she had left at the end of the bed, as she had fallen asleep studying last night. She then maneuvered her cross-body over her neck and with that she carefully exited the hotel room, taking the elevator down to the ground floor.

She left the hotel and began her walk to the coffee shop, directly across the street from the library she preferred. She stopped in and got her usual mocha before crossing the street to the library, dropping the books in the little return section thing that Janet had no idea what to call.

She smiled at the woman behind the desk who had been there the last few days and seemed to be extremely crabby most of the time and gave her a little wave, calling a little french greeting to her before going to browse the shelves, picking out several books and holding them the best she could in the hand that was free of the warm coffee cup.

As the small pile of books grew and at one point nearly toppled Janet decided to go ahead and find a spot to put them down. As she made her way to her usual spot where she had spent the last few mornings she was surprised to see someone already at the table.

The young girl didn't know the library well and wasn't sure where to find any other tables so she continued to the table anyways, setting down her coffee and books and looking at the young man with a small smile. "Bonjour, cela vous dérangerait si je m'assis ici? Je ne dérangerai pas votre lecture, monsieur." She said, as clearly as she could, grinning when she didn't stumble over the words.