Away So No One Can Hear....

Lina sneaked away from her classmates after Charms that morning. Lina had snuck a comprehension book into her backpack before heading off to class without her roommate's knowing. Shortly after her arrival to SWI, Lina's parents sent her a letter and the book. The letter was about her muggle friends and how they missed her as she was away at "an American School for smart kids." The letter continued to say that her friends put their allowance money together and bought her a French comprehension book so when she comes back home for the winter, they can speak French together. She smiled at the thought that her friends still remembered her, but was actually dreading going back home, don't they remember that my worst grade was in Languages?

Remembering the year before, she had a hard time learning French at a more complicated level. She was great at writing, even understanding the language, but when it came to speaking and reading...that was another story. She would constantly mispronounce the words and the once romantic language would sound like a Japanese person speaking words that had 'L's in it for the first time.


Lina walked along the many paths into the heart of the very garden and once she was sure she was away so no one can hear her speak did she sit under a large tree, and opened the book.


Ok, that's easy enough. I can at least say these, she thought. Opening her mouth, she began to say the words, but not very well. "Bonjour, mon nom est Evangelina. Comment e-et-etes vous?" She groaned with every effort she made, why is this so difficult?

As was normal this time of day Mathilde was returning to her residence to catch up on personal business, something she preferred to do away from the Headmistress' Office. It allowed her 90 minutes of solitude with her shoes off, her feet up, and have her house elf serve her biscuits and tea. Of course sometimes she had a small wine instead, even though it was frowned upon, but quel l'enfer, no?

As she was walking out of the Hall and into the Tower Gardens Mathilde thought she heard something, something very faint. Was it... Le Français? The accent was all wrong, but she knew her sister language.

Slowing her pace she found the source; a girl, not far off the main path, wandering north towards the Åsgårdsreia tower. Very small, dark hair. She caught a glance of her in profile, lost in her book, and saw she had the delicate features of someone Eastern Asian.

Not many of those students, she thought, then remembered a girl coming in, 1st Year... Ah, yes! Mórrígan girl, I believe.

Approaching slowly Mathilde cleared her throat to announce her presence so not to frighten the girl. "Bonjour," she said sweetly. "Parlez-vous Français?"

(OOC this post is going to have 3 languages mixed into it. I will put the language of origin in brackets.)

Lina was getting very frustrated very quickly. She learned her father's language just as easily as she learned her mother's, so why was learning her country's second language hard? Japanese was easy to learn, and that has a different sentence structure than English.

As she continued to practice her French, she heard someone clear their throat. Lina was completely still, there was someone here? I made sure to go somewhere where no one will hear me. "Bonjour," the person said sweetly. "Parlez-vous Français?" Where did I hear that voice before? Lina looked up from her book to find the Headmistress standing over her.

"E-eto ne [Japanese] Bonjour [French] Headmistress [English]. Eto [Japanese] Oui, je parle un peu français mais très mal [French]." Lina spoke all three languages at the same time, which probably confussed the Headmistress, but with Lina being so nervous about being criticized with her poor pronunciation of the Headmistress' native language. Why did it have to be her? She probably thinks I'm doing it on purpose.

It had been a long time since she'd heard anything so charming! "Ah, a polyglot!" she said, giggling as she applauded. "Bravo! Je suis très impressionné!"

She stepped closer to the girl, inspecting her coven rank. "Ah, yes, as I thought, the Mórrígan. Have you enjoyed your first week with us, I hope." Mathilde held out her hand. "I am Headmistress Laventure, the madam of the institute. You must forgive me, but I heard you speaking and I do not have many opportunities to hear my own language in America."

She...impressed? Lina was a tad bit shocked that the Headmistress thought that speaking multiple languages was something to be impressed about, but most children in Canada could speak at least two languages. Lina didn't know that in America, most people only speak one language, if they speak two, they're above the rest, but if you speak three, that is extremely impressive.

Lina stood still clenching the book against her chest as the Headmistress stepped closer to inspect Lina. "Ah, yes, as I thought, the Mórrígan. Have you enjoyed your first week with us, I hope." The Headmistress held out her hand. "I am Headmistress Laventure, the madam of the institute. You must forgive me, but I heard you speaking and I do not have many opportunities to hear my own language in America."

Lina reached out to grab the Headmistress' hand to shake it. "Um, nice to meet you Headmistress. I'm Evangelina, Evangelina Cromwell," she said softly. "I really like it the schools here in America; it's a lot different than back home." Lina clenched the book even tighter to her as she nearly whispered, "Back home, English and French are the native languages."

Mathilde picked up on the "back home" right away. "You are not from America?" she asked. "I thought everyone here was American." Then Mathilde remembered just how silly that sounded. "Of course not. We have students from other countries. Vous êtes stupide, la femme," she mumbled.

Spying a nearby bench, Mathilde said, "Let us sit," and walked over to it before Evangelina could say anything. "So tell me," she said as she sat, "why you are here alone speaking French to you alone?"

"Let us sit," the Headmistress said as she walked over to a nearby bench. Lina followed her without complaint as the Headmistress continued to say, "So tell me," she said as she sat, "why you are here alone speaking French to you alone?"

"mmhmm," she hummed as the walked to the bench, "I'm from Canada, but both Mom and Dad were born and raised in the States though." She answered the Headmistress' question, even after she dismissed the question.

Lina sat beside the Headmistress not too sure how to answer her. She didn't want to admit that out of all of her friends back home, she was the only one that couldn't speak French that well, but she figured that honesty was the best policy, "I'm practicing so I can speak it with my friends back home." Lina was so nervous that she started to babble, "Language was my worst subject at the school I went to, it wasn't because I didn't want to learn it, it was because I have a really hard time pronouncing the French language." she paused to look at the ground before her, "It's really different from English and Japanese."

"Yes, language is always difficult." Mathilde thought back to her days when she was young and learning English. "But do not lose confidence in what you can learn. I would not be able to speak Japanese without the help of a charm. To speak le français, hummm..." She closed her eyes and thought of pleasant walks through the country near her home. "It is the romance you bring into your heart when you speak."

Giggling, Mathilde blushed as she covered her mouth with her hand. "But I am being silly. Which is good." She glanced at Lina. "A witch who is not young at heart becomes cold far too soon."

Standing, the headmistress smoothed out her jacket and said, "I wish you good fortune in your studies, Evangelina Cromwell. Le vôtre est une bonne route pour marcher. Do not stop; you will not be disappointed."

All Lina could do was nod at what the Headmistress had told her. There were so many things that she wanted to ask her, but she was too afraid to ask. Opening her mouth, Lina hesitated to ask the Headmistress a question. She just didn't have enough courage to ask. Evangelina, if you don't say anything, no one will know what you want to say! she scolded herself. The worst she can say is no.

Finally, Lina asked, in an almost whisper, "um, Can you help me with learning French?" Lina just couldn't look at the Headmistress when she would say that she's 'too busy' or flat out rejected her plea, so she adverted her eyes and tilted her head down so she wouldn't see Lina's disappointed face.

After the moment of awkward silence that lingered, Mathilde touched Lina upon the leg. "Ah, impetuous youth! How I've sometimes forgotten it."

She then stood, smoothing out her dress skirt. "I am very busy most times, but perhaps..." There was a tiny moment where Mathilde was locked in thought, then: "Stop by my office tomorrow about 13, petit l'un, and we will see if I can help." She turned her head slightly to the right and flashed a coy smile. "Perhaps it is time to increase Le français qui parle population after all."

Setting her case before her, Mathilde said, "N'avoir jamais peur de demander quelque chose que vous voulez, Evangelina." And with that she turned and left the garden.