Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Christmas Ball

~25th of December, 1983.~

~Flamel Manor, Northeast Pyrénées, France.~

 

The evening sky was as serene as ever. The slanting rays of the setting sun gave a warm orange tinge to the sky. At the front gates of the Flamel Manor, a lot of wizards could be seen trickling into the premises, all of whom were dressed rather formally, with the men wearing tuxedos and suits, and the women wearing elegant dresses.

Today was an unusual day for the Flamel Manor. Usually, on a normal day, the Manor would be eerily quiet, with only the sounds of the howling winds, chirping birds, or rustling of trees audible. However, today, the Manor was noisy and bustling with activity, evident by the sheer amount of wizards present at the premises.

The Manor itself was adorned in all sorts of Christmas decorations ranging from advent wreaths, and red ribbons, to dazzling Christmas lights. Currently, the Flamel Manor simply screamed ‘Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!’.... figuratively, of course.

Though, there was something rather off about the manor today. If one looked at a particular window sill on the third floor of the manor, they would see a crowd of birds, both magical and normal, sitting on it and looking fixedly at what lay behind it. The birds were chirping constantly and flapping their wings slightly as they looked behind the mirror, as if talking to each other.

Any observer would immediately dismiss the chirps as animal ruckus, however, the boy behind the window would beg to differ.

The boy behind the window, who was looking at himself in a mirror beside the window, was breathtakingly handsome. The boy had brown hair as dark as Mahogany, iridescent blue eyes, and chubby cheeks. The boy’s hair was gelled and slicked back rather neatly.

The boy, none other than Adrien, was adjusting his bowtie and straightening the jackets of his tuxedo as he looked at his charming reflection. His tuxedo was three-piece and had a white rose on the right side of the jacket.

“C’est parfait.” The boy muttered to himself, with a devilish smirk, as he finished adjusting his appearance.

(A/N: ‘C’est parfait’ ~ It’s perfect.)

*It certainly is Master Adrien... You look dashing.* a calm, and deep voice, which seemed to originate from Adrien’s desk, sounded.

Adrien smiled and turned his head towards the source of the voice. It was from the House of Flamel’s owl, Irwin, who was wearing a bow tie as well. Irwin was your typical snowy owl, with pearly white feathers, amber eyes, and a petite beak.

Of course, Irwin could not talk, he was merely hooting, though Adrien could understand and communicate with him.

“Thanks, Irwin...I’m sure the lads outside would agree with you.” Adrien chuckled and pointed towards the window, where all the birds were perched.  The birds chirped even louder once they saw Adrien pointing towards them.

Irwin frowned and looked at these unruly beasts. Honestly, he was not a fan of these unsophisticated creatures. He didn’t quite understand why his master would choose to befriend such uncultured things. Irwin paid no heed to the animals and instead faced his master and asked,

*Are you ready for the ball?*

“Yeah, I’m all set.” Adrien replied, a smile visible on his handsome face.

Frankly, he was quite excited for the event. It was organized by his parents in order to celebrate Christmas and introduce him to all their friends; kind of like a social debut. Adrien was excited because he couldn’t wait to see, and socialize with all the  wizards he had only seen in movies until now. He was sure he would be seeing famous wizards like the French minister for magic, Newt Scamander, Porpentina Goldstein, Eulalie Hicks, and a lot more.

After all, this was the ball of Nicolas Flamel, a man revered as the greatest alchemist to ever exist, and a legendary wizard. There was simply no way the venue would lack prominent wizards.

“Shall we?” Adrien added to Irwin, stretching his arms out for the owl to hop on.

Irwin merely hooted in response and heeded Adrien’s gesture, jumping on his arm. The duo then proceeded to make their way to the ballroom, which was on the ground floor of the manor.

Soon, the boy and bird reached the doors of the ballroom, which was wide open. 

The ballroom was large, high-ceilinged, and opulent. The roof of the ceiling had a starry sky projection. Antique looking chandeliers floated near the ceilings, and enveloped the entire room with bright lights. Christmas decorations adorned the walls of the room. 

There was music playing in the background, from god knows where, and wizards and witches could be seen socializing with each other, drinking, and dancing at the center of the room. 

 ‘I should probably find Papa.’ Adrien mused as he gazed at the sublime scenery. He turned to Iwrin and asked,

“Irwin, can you help me find Papa?” Adrien asked.

*Yes Master Adrien.* Irwin hooted politely as he unfurled his wings and took off a moment later. After he was gone, Adrien simply stood there with his hands in his pockets and gazed at the picturesque scenery of wizard couples dancing and frolicking around the center of the ballroom. He sighed as he watched the couples dance together, reveling in the bliss of having that special someone.

‘Love is indeed a beautiful thing,’ he said, smiling faintly.

Adrien had never experienced what it felt like to be in love. Although, in his past life as Laurent Blanc, he had been in multiple relationships, he never quite fell in love with his girlfriends. It was exciting at first, definitely, but after a while, his interest in them waned and he ended up breaking off the relationships. After that, a part of him felt love was overrated so he simply reclined to the playboy lifestyle, and with his devilish charms and suave nature, bagging girls was like playing pacman on easy mode. 

Though, the entire experience had been quite…exciting in Adrien’s eyes, to say the least. 

Soon, Irwin returned and perched on our young playboy’s shoulders, 

*Master Nicolas is not far from you. He’s near the back of the hall, where the stage is.*

“Ah..Merci, my friend. Lead the way?”

*Of course, Master Adrien* Irwin nodded his head and hooted in response. He then flew off of Adrien’s shoulders once more, hovered in the air, and led Adrien to his Papa. A few minutes later, Nicolas came into view. He was smiling and talking to a black woman with his hands behind his back.

Adries eyes flickered as soon as he saw the african-american witch his father was talking to. She had wavy black hair, with most of it turned gray, amber eyes, and was wearing a brown gown. 

‘Eulalie Hicks…It’s really her.’ Adrien thought, smiling slightly as he walked up towards them.

Eulalie Hicks was the Charms professor at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and fought in the global wizarding war against Gellert Grindelwald. She was part of Dumbledore’s first Army, and worked with his father. 

“Bonsoir Madame, I’m Adrien Flamel and It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Adrien bowed and greeted politely as soon as he came in front of Hicks.

Hicks immediately stopped talking to Nicolas and smiled seeing Adrien. She glanced at Nicolas momentarily, before saying,

“ It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Adrien. We were just talking about you actually. I’m Eulalie Hicks.” Hicks replied, in a heavy American accent.

Adrien just nodded his head slightly and smiled.

“Ah, Adrien, come here. Ms. Hicks here has a present for you. I think you’ll quite like it…” Nicolas then added, in his old voice, staring at Adrien.

Adrien’s interest was piqued. A gift? He was curious to see what his father said he’d like a lot. After all, he had only ever shown interest in books, magic and the muggle world to him so for his father to say he’d like it a lot, it must be something of value.

Adrien then walked over to his father and stood in front of him, waiting to see the ‘gift’.

Once Adrien was in front of him, Nicolas smiled and waved his hands, and a large egg appeared in them a moment later. The egg was white and had intricate golden ‘scribbles’ around them, in the shape of lightning.

Adrien, with his naturally astute magical energy sensitivity, could feel the imposing magical energy fluctuations the egg was causing. He immediately turned on his Truth Eyes and observed the egg, and once he did, his eyes nearly popped out of its sockets.

 

The magical energy around the egg was chaotic and swirling around it torrentially. As particles neared the egg, they started turning into golden and blue lightning. Adrien could already roughly guess what the egg was, and he couldn’t help but grin madly.

‘No way…Is this really a Thunderbird egg?...If it is, this is absolutely priceless’ he thought, with sparkling eyes. He had read about Thunderbirds and seen them in the Fantastic Beast movie series.

Thunderbirds were large, and magical avian beasts closely related to Phoenixes, and  native to North America. They were powerful beasts and could create thunderstorms as they flew as well as possessed an extremely acute sense of danger.

Thunderbirds were extremely hard to find, and some say that they like to live in areas where storms are prevalent. Because they were powerful, it was almost impossible to tame them, and as such, were classified as XXXX rated magical beasts by all the ministries of magic around the globe, the second highest danger rating any magical beast could be classified as.

Finding an egg of this legendary magical bird was simply priceless.

“Is this a Thunderbird egg?” Adrien asked, his voice laced with tones of disbelief.

Nicolas smiled and nodded his head, “Indeed it is, and it is yours.” he said, handing the egg over to Adrien.

Adrien held the egg as if he was holding a diamond and looked at it with shining eyes. What an excellent gift!

Though, as a sophisticated French man, he reeled in his burning excitement, turned to face Hicks and bowed,

“Madame Hicks, Thank you so much!” he said, with immense gratitude.

Hicks chuckled seeing this, “It’s not a problem. Nicolas is a very precious friend to me, so when I heard he had a child out of the blue and was debuting him today, I was shocked and decided to gift it to you. I just found it actually.”

Adrien was surprised to hear that. Thus, he asked inquisitively, “Where did you find it Madame?”

Hicks chuckled hearing Adrien call her madam. “Adrien, please call me Eulalie. ‘Madame’ certainly makes me feel old.”

Adrien chuckled, “Alright Eulalie.” 

Hicks smiled in acknowledgement, before adding, “As for where I found the egg, I came across it in a ruin in Egypt during my recent research expedition this summer. The egg is very unusual. Usually, thunderbird eggs don’t have those runes inscribed on them. I believe the runes are from some archaic runic language, one which I have never seen before or have a clue about.”

Adrien was shocked when he heard that. What was a Thunderbird doing all the way in Egypt? What were these runes inscribed on it? And more importantly, why was she giving something so priceless to him? She could study it or take it back to Ilvermorny for joint research with the faculty at the school.

Thus, he said, “I see…Eulalie, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but why would you give something so valuable to me? You could study it or better yet, raise the Thunderbird for yourself.” 

Hicks smiled hearing that, “You’re exactly like Nicolas described you.” She started, chuckling.

“Your father has helped me a lot over the years, more so than you can imagine. When I heard you were interested in runes from him, I initially decided to give it to you purely out of gratitude and as a token of my appreciation for the priceless help your father has provided for me. But after seeing you for myself, I would have decided to give it to you purely out of curiosity on what you can do with it.” 

She said, smiling at Adrien.

‘That’s fair.’ Adrien thought, hearing that.

“I see, thank you.” he said gratefully, once more.

“So, tell me about yourself, Adrien. I want to hear about you from you yourself, not Nicolas.” Hicks then said, flashing a bright smile at him.

“Well..”

Like that, Adrien continued to converse with Hicks and Nicolas. After their conversation ended, Adrien kept meeting all sorts of wizards, and they all gave him gifts, way too many gifts. He met Jacob Kowalski, Newt Scamander and his wife Porpentina Goldstein, who gifted him a customized briefcase with a lab and room inside, Beauxbatons Professors (Madame Maxime included), and Thomas Dupont, the French Minister for Magic.

He even met Antoine Lestrange, the father of Rodolphus Lestrange. The man was old, and kept showering him with praise, saying he would do great things when he grew up. Adrien found this odd but didn’t think about it too much. Adrien met Dumbledore again as well, who surprisingly looked quite elegant in his gray suit. 

Adrien continued to meet all sorts of prominent wizards and witches from across the globe, which rapidly drained his social battery. He was going to call it a night and ask his father if he could excuse himself, when his attention was captured by a young girl who was walking alongside a middle aged woman and man not far from them.

The young girl caught his attention for two reasons. 

Firstly, Adrien noticed that quite a few wizards and witches were subtly glancing at her and her mother constantly, as if they were bewitched. The mother and girl seemed to be aware of it, but not paying attention to it. 

Secondly, because the girl was absolutely gorgeous. Now, he was no pedophile, but he had simply never seen a girl as beautiful as that. The girl had light brown and blonde hair,  breathtaking blue eyes, a petite nose, and a symmetric oval face. Her cheeks were slightly chubby and she looked to be around his age. She was wearing an elegant princessly blue dress and light blue gloves.

You are reading story HP: The Legendary Arithmancer at novel35.com

‘Is that Fleur Delacour?’ Adrien thought as he looked at the young girl. He couldn’t tell whether it was her because she looked nothing like the Fleur that was shown in the Harry Potter series; there was no resemblance whatsoever. 

Though, he suspected that fact that people were constantly looking at her was likely her because of the charm she was radiating, something that was probably due to her part Veela heritage. Adrien didn’t know any other French people who were related to Veelas so he simply guessed that it was her.  Adrien even turned on his Truth Eyes to observe the activity of the magical energy particles around the girl. 

Once he did, he got his second shock for the day. Up until now, Adrien had never seen a wizard emit magical energy particles. Normal wizards don't emit magical energy, even when they casted spells. They just channeled the energy particles through their bodies whenever they used magic. 

The girl, however, was actively emanating magical energy. She was emitting what looked like light pink energy particles. The particles drifted away from her and were confined to a few meters away from her. The particles seemed to be phasing through wizards, though very few wizards had what looked like a transparent shield preventing the particles from touching them, something that Adrien mused to be Occlumency.

Adrien then looked at himself to see whether the particles were phasing through him but was surprised to see that he, like those wizards, had a transparent shield blocking the particles from reaching him. He was shocked seeing this, because he had never practiced Occlumency so he didn’t understand how he had this shield.

Though, his shield seemed somewhat weaker than that of the wizards; it was flickering in and out of existence, but was still completely stopping the light pink particles from touching him.

‘Maybe I’m a Natural Occlumens?’ he thought, intrigued at the discovery.

***

Fleur was awfully bored, and tired. She had been following her Maman and Papa everywhere and hadn’t done anything else during the ball. She would rather much be at home, reading a book, or playing with her little sister, Gabrielle.

Thus, she kept looking around the ballroom boredly, hoping to find something fun or interesting, and fortunately for her, she found something exceedingly interesting. Her eyes lit up upon seeing a handsomely dressed boy, who looked to be around her age, standing beside an old looking man. 

She immediately became excited because she could not remember the last time she saw someone her age. What was even more interesting was the fact that the boy was not paying any attention to her, seemingly unaffected by her Veela charm. She had never seen anyone her age unaffected by it.

So, with effervescent eyes, she tugged the dress of her Maman, Apolline Delacour, intending to ask for permission to approach the boy.

Apolline, who was talking to another wizard, halted her conversation and looked down towards her daughter who seemed to be staring fixedly in a specific direction.

Once Fleur saw that she had her Maman’s attention, she immediately spoke enthusiastically,

“Maman, who is that boy? Can I go meet him?” she asked brightly in her soft French accent as she pointed in the direction she was staring.

Apolline looked in the direction she was pointing and once she saw the boy Fleur was talking about, she smiled and turned to face her daughter,

“That is Monsieur Flamel’s son, and the reason there is a ball today. Since you want to meet him, let’s go greet them.” she replied, in French.

Soon, the Delacours reached Adrien and Nicolas, who were just concluding a conversation with another wizard. 

Once they were in front of him and his father, Adrien adjusted his bowtie and approached them.

“Bonsoir Madame, I’m Adrien Flamel. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He said to Apolline charmingly and kissed her hands, a devilish smirk visible on his handsome face.

“Bonsoir Monsieur, It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He then greeted Stéphane Delacour, Fleur’s father, politely.

Adrien then turned to Fleur, smiled and kissed her hands, “Bonsoir Mademoiselle, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” he greeted the young girl politely.

Stéphane and Apolline smiled upon Adrien’s introduction. Stéphane was the first to reply,

“Bonsoir Adrien, it’s a pleasure to meet you as well. My name is Stéphane Delacour. You are quite the charming boy.” he said, with a smile, to which Adrien smiled back.

‘So I was right on the money huh….Fleur looks so different from the actual series’ Adrien thought, as he heard Stéphane introduce himself

“ He certainly is. I’m Apolline Delacour.” Apolline smiled warmly and responded next.

“ Hello Adrien, I’m Fleur. It’s nice to meet you as well.” Fleur introduced herself, with a smile.

Adrien simply nodded and smiled back at them. 

“Ah, the Delacours. I hope you’re enjoying the ball, how have you been?” Nicolas, who had been waiting for Adrien to finish his greetings, said warmly to them.

“We’ve been…” 

Once Fleur saw that the adults were talking, she couldn’t hold her curiosity anymore and questioned Adrien inquisitively,

“How are you doing it?” 

Adrien, who was listening to the adults talking, turned to face the young part-veela witch. He raised his eyebrows and asked,

“Doing what?” 

“You know…resisting my allure.” Fleur responded, looking at Adrien intently.

“Your allure?” Adrien furrowed his eyebrows and asked, pretending to be confused.

“I can make people look at me. My Maman says it's because I have Veela blood.” She replied, as-a-matter-of-factly.

Adrien pretended to be surprised, “You’re a Veela?” 

Fleur smirked proudly, “Oui, but only partly. I’m surprised you know of them.” she said, looking at Adrien intently.

“I read a lot.” Adrien smiled and shrugged,

“And to answer your question, I don’t know how I’m able to resist your allure. I suppose it's natural.” He then added cooly, musing that it would be a bit exasperating to explain to the young girl that he was a Natural-born Occlumens.

Fleur furrowed her elegant eyebrows, “you don't know?”

“Yep.”

“Ah, I see.” She responded; her eyebrows still furrowed.

Adrien chuckled inwardly seeing that. “By the way, how old are you?” he asked, intending to make some small talk.

Adrien’s question snapped Fleur out of her thoughts. She replied, “I’ll be seven next year, what about you?”

'So her age hasn't changed.'

He thought. So far, everything was practically the same as it was in the actual series. Fleur 's looks was the first deviation he had seen aside from his existence. He wondered what other things were different now that he was in this world.

Adrien didn’t want to die in this mystical world, so once he came to terms with the fact that he had reincarnated, he immediately started planning how he was going to survive the storm that was the dark lord. He had paid attention to anything remotely related to the plot to see if they were still the same in this world, and took his magic training very seriously.

‘Well, so far everything has been going like it did in the plot. Voldemort lost his body and Harry survived. Though, I don’t know if Dumbledore still sent him to the Dursleys…Stressing about what could be different is probably not going to help me, I should probably just keep my eye out and prepare myself. Luckily, I was reborn with numerous advantages. I’m rich, retained my eidetic memory, have quite a few innate abilities, and have a ridiculous amount of connections. Hell, Dumbledore’s even my godfather..’

Adrien continued to think, not noticing that Fleur was staring at him concernedly,

“Adrien, are you alright?” she asked worriedly. Adrien had been staring blankly for about a minute now.

Adrien immediately snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at the young beauty.

“Sorry about that…erm…as for my age, I’ll be seven next year as well.” 

‘He’s actually my age!’ Fleur exclaimed inwardly, excited that Adrien was the same age as her. Though, she composed herself, like her Maman always taught her, and responded with a smile,

“C’est super! When’s your birthday?” 

(A/N: C’est super ~ That’s great!)

“19th of February, what about you?”

‘So he’s older than me by a few months.’ Fleur thought.

“30th of October.” she replied, smiling brightly.

“I see.” Adrien responded with a smile, glancing at the center of the ballroom. He suddenly got an idea, so he looked back at Fleur and asked her,

“Fleur, would you like to dance?” 

Fleur thought for a moment, smiled and responded , “Oui, I don’t mind.”

“Excellent” Adrien responded, “Shall we?” he added charmingly, extending his hands for her to grab.

“Oui, let’s ‘ave a good dance.” She replied, taking Adrien’s hand.

Adrien smiled and led her to the dance floor. Once they were there, Adrien gently put his hand above her waist and extended his raised left hand outwards. Fleur held Adrien’s arm with her left hand, and extended her raised right hand to grab Adrien’s. 

Once they were set, Adrien smiled charmingly and commenced the dance, with him leading. 

The music was soft and orchestral, perfect for the dance and as such, the duo danced gracefully on the floor, grabbing the attention of many wizards and witches. They both had smiles on their faces and looked happy and at ease; they were simply adorable in the eyes of the onlookers.

As they danced, Adrien and Fleur’s eyes locked onto each other like magnets. 

‘I think I finally managed to make a friend..’ Fleur thought, smiling brightly. 

‘This is quite…fun.’ Adrien thought at the same time, reveling in the bliss of their graceful, and synchronized dance….

 

~.~.~

A/N: Long chapter today because I didn’t post yesterday. 

I made Fleur’s hair light brown with blonde tips for her young look. As she grows older, her hair turns completely silvery-blonde. Kind of like the way some people’s hair color changes as they grow up.

What do you think of the story? Let me know in the comments.

Hope your weekend goes great. Thanks for reading.

Next Chapter Title: The Dark Day.

You can find story with these keywords: HP: The Legendary Arithmancer, Read HP: The Legendary Arithmancer, HP: The Legendary Arithmancer novel, HP: The Legendary Arithmancer book, HP: The Legendary Arithmancer story, HP: The Legendary Arithmancer full, HP: The Legendary Arithmancer Latest Chapter