Chapter 1 - The Letter

Molly and Arthur Weasley were sitting together in the kitchen at the Burrow sipping their tea in the dimly lit kitchen.  The sun had not yet risen but the sky was growing light and a bright half-moon filled the sky.

"It's going to be so strange this year," sighed Molly setting her teacup down. "I still can’t believe it’s already time for Ron to go to Hogwarts.  I just don't know what I'll do next year when my baby girl leaves too…"  A sob escaped her lips and she folded her arms down on the table, shoving her abandoned teacup to a precarious position, and burying her face in the thin fabric of her robe sleeves.

"Shh... Molly, no worrying about that just yet," Arthur said soothingly. He reached over to rub his wife's back. "There's still another whole year before Ginny leaves...” He paused in his ministrations as a large owl flew in the open window and landed on the table. It was an elegant looking owl, its feathers gleaming both silver from the moonlight and a soft gold from the candlelight, that was standing stock-still while holding out a leg containing two scrolls.  Once Arthur had fumbled about with the purple ribbon attaching the scrolls to the bird’s leg, it took off into the dark sky, not even waiting for a treat or drink of water.

"What is dear?" Molly said, looking up at her husband with her tear-streaked face.

“Just an odd owl post,” he said, frowning at the scrolls.  The thinner of the two was addressed to The Parents of Ginevra Weasley while the thicker one was addressed to Ginevra Weasley.  Breaking the purple wax seal, he then smoothed the letter out on the table so they could both read it.  Molly flicked her wand at a few key points around the room, lighting several gas lamps on the walls so that they had enough light to read the missive by.

Dear Monsieur and Madame Weasley,

We are pleased to inform you that your daughter, Ginevra Molly Weasley, has been selected to attend L'Academie des Sorcieres.

L’Academie des Sorcieres is an ancient school of magic that has been operational for nearly three millennia with the goal of ensuring the brightest and most powerful witches receive an exemplary education.  The witches who come here may not necessarily be gifted in a solely magical field but may in fact have exceptional skills in an ordinary area that change how we view the world.  Our Divinations professors are tasked with finding girls who show great potential and following their recommendations we offer these girls positions in our school.

 This letter has been sent to you at this time such that you may think about the offer. Since Miss Weasley does not speak French, she would be required to arrive here no later than January 2 to gain fluency in the language before the next term starts on September 1. There are no summer holidays but students are permitted to return home for two weeks for Easter holidays and another two weeks for Christmas holidays.

As with any other witch accepted to L'Academie des Sorcieres, everything will provided for your daughter when she arrives here. We are highly specific in the school supplies that must be purchased after her arrival, and as such, we must ask that she bring nothing more than herself and the clothes on her back when she arrives. Similarly, owls carrying any personal effects for the students (other than letters) are strictly prohibited and the intended recipient will be expelled. Anything purchased by the school will be hers to keep. She will be accompanied by a staff member at all times whenever she leaves the school grounds until she reaches the age of seventeen.

Please do consider this offer and reply by owl no later than September 1.

Jeanne Boucher

Deputy Headmistress

Arthur’s jaw had dropped after reading the first line of the sentence and was still hanging open while Molly’s face had taken on an uncharacteristically pale hue. "I suppose we should discuss this with Ginny after I drop the others off today…" said she rather faintly, placing her trembling hands in her lap.

"Yes, we should." Arthur shook his head. "I'm going to leave work after lunch today so that both of us can talk to Ginny about this.  You will be alright seeing the boys off yourself, won’t you?” he asked anxiously.

“Of course I will,” she told him indignantly, and he was pleased to see that his remark had put some pink back into her cheeks.  “Though I still don’t understand why you can’t come with us, it is Ron’s first year after all, and Percy’s a prefect this year too.  Oh, I do hope he gets head boy like Bill!  I’m sure Charlie would’ve gotten it too if he hadn’t decided that chasing dragons around was more important than finishing school.”

“I wasn’t expecting an emergency call this early either,” he said glumly.  “I hope it gets resolved quickly but Frank wouldn’t even tell me what it was about.”  After glancing down at his watch, he gulped down the rest of his tea and pecked his wife on the cheek.  “I’ll be home for lunch, give the boys my love.”  As he walked out the door to Apparate to the ministry, Molly gulped down what remained of her tea before starting a grand breakfast for her children’s last morning at home.

-----

A few hours later Molly was hurrying her five youngest children along the platforms at Kings Cross station. "Now, what's the platform number?" she asked they hurried along.  Her older boys rolled their eyes at her seemingly silly question, but the meaning of it went deeper than they knew.  It was done by many of the parents to help Muggleborns find the platform: the ticket officer obviously wouldn’t be able to help so hopefully if they heard the odd platform number, they would quietly approach the witch or wizard who announced it and find their way to the train.

"Nine and three-quarters!" exclaimed Ginny.  "Mum, can't I go…"

Molly sighed to herself, recalling the letter that had arrived that morning, but she really did need to concentrate and make sure her children managed to get onto the platform unseen by Muggles. "Alright, Percy, you first."

After ushering her sons as well as a lonely little boy through the wrought iron gate, she grabbed Ginny's small hand and the two of them walked through to see the familiar red train waiting at the platform with a faint trail of billowing smoke in the air.  Grabbing each of the twins by a shoulder, she turned them about to face her. 

“Now listen to me you two,” she said sternly.  “I don’t want to be getting any letters from the school about the two of you this year.  I wouldn’t mind it if the letters came from you,” she hinted before dropping her grasp on their shoulders, only to pull them into a hug, banging their heads together.

“Ow!” Fred complained.

“Really Mum, did you have to do that?”

“You know I love you two very much, no matter how much grey I have to charm out of my hair from your antics.”  She pulled back, mopping her eyes for the second time that morning.  “Your father sends his love too!”

“We love you too, Mum,” George said gruffly.

“Yes, Mum, we really do.  However, we must be off since Lee’s got a tarantula already in his compartment!”

Molly smiled at her two sons retreating backs, who for all the trouble they gave her, reminded her so much of her own brothers.  She only had a moment to reminisce before Percy came striding towards her.

“I’m all settled into the Prefect’s carriage,” he informed her.

“Oh, Percy, I’m so proud of you,” she said with a smile, straining her neck to see his face.  “You’ve really gotten too tall, do you know that?”

He laughed.  “Mum, that’s why I asked for new robes as my present.  Even Bill’s longest ones were getting short on me.”

“Well, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you to behave yourself this year.  You will keep an eye on Ron, won’t you?”

Percy puffed out his chest importantly, emphasizing his shiny prefect badge.  “Of course, Mum.  It’s my duty as a prefect but even doubly so as an older brother.”

“That’s my boy,” Molly said proudly.  “Now, you have a good year and we’ll see you at Christmas.  Your father and I love you very much and we’re so very proud of you.”

Percy hugged her back with all the awkwardness of a fifteen-year-old boy hugging his mother in public.  “Love you too, Mum,” he said, before striding back over to the train.

Ginny came bounding back over to her mother’s side.  “I helped Ron pick out a compartment and put his trunk away!” she said.  “I wanted to stay on the train and sneak into Hogwarts but he wouldn’t let me.”

Molly tried to smother her laughter at her daughter’s efforts.  “I’m sure someone would’ve caught you anyways and made you get off if Ron hadn’t,” she said soothingly.

Fred and George came bounding back into view.  “I thought you were going to see Lee,” Molly said frowning.

“We did,” Fred said with a wave of his hand.

“But you’ll never guess who we ran into,” George continued.

“Harry Potter,” they said in unison.

“Oh! Can I go see him? Please Mum!” Ginny begged.

Molly frowned at her daughter. “No, he’s not something to be ogled at in a zoo.”  She turned back to the twins.  “Are you certain it was him?”

“Yeah,” Fred said seriously.  “Saw the scar and everything.  It’s on his forehead, like lightning.”

“He was the boy we helped on the platform,” George supplied helpfully.

“Oh poor dear, no wonder he was all alone.”

Ron approached the twins, but Molly pulled him into a hug.

“I can’t believe you’re so big already!”

“Ow, Mum!  Gerrof!”

“Wait, you’ve got something on your nose – “ At this Molly pulled a clean handkerchief out of her pocket and tried to scrub some dirt off of Ron’s nose.

“Has ickle Ronnikins got something on his nose?” Fred asked, only to receive glares from both his mother and sister.

“Mum!” Ron gasped indignantly as he managed to pull away.

“We should probably get on the train, it’s nearly time,” George said quickly.

Molly was distracted until the train finally started chugging away from the station and she looked down at the little girl next to her. Her bright red hair was blowing wildly in the wind and tears were glinting in her eyes.

"Oh, Ginny dear, don't be sad! Mummy's got a big surprise for you back home!" Scooping her into her arms, she twisted on the spot and Apparated back to the Burrow.  I’m not going to be able to do that much longer, she thought sadly.  Much as she wanted to hold onto her little girl for as long as she could, the letter that arrived that morning, as well as the increasingly obvious fact that her daughter was nearly as tall as she, indicated that her babies were all growing up.

-----

Ginny sat forlornly at the kitchen table while her mother bustled about the kitchen making sandwiches. She finally finished and placed two large trays of sandwiches on the table and gave her a large glass of milk. Apparently her mother felt that she was still feeding six teenage boys since there was definitely enough food out for all her brothers. Grabbing a roast beef and cheese sandwich, she looked expectantly at her mother who had started pacing the kitchen nervously.

Swallowing her bite of sandwich and washing it down with some milk she finally asked, "Mum? Is there something wrong?"

"We're just waiting for your father, dear," she mumbled distractedly, glancing up at the clock where Arthur's hand stayed firmly put at "work".

Ginny frowned at her mother and came to the conclusion that she was hungry and she certainly wasn't going to figure out what was going on until her father arrived home. She began tucking into her delicious sandwich and did her best to ignore her mother as she clearly wasn't going to say what was going on till her father arrived. Just as she was finishing her second sandwich, her mother gasped and seconds later there was the distinct crack of Apparition, shortly followed by her father walking through the door.

"Oh my, oh my," her father sighed. "Who would ever guess that a Sunday morning would be so hectic? Turns out that a witch was running a Muggle dancing school and had bewitched all the dancing shoes so that her students would never make a mistake…" He rambled on in this manner until he had finished eating his sandwiches. Her mother had finally sat down at the table and had listened to his ramblings while wringing her hands all the while.

Ginny crossed her arms and stared at her parents. "What exactly is going on?" she demanded.

Her parents looked at each other uneasily. Scratching his head, her father finally said, "Well, Gin, we got a letter this morning inviting you to attend L'Academie des Sorcieres."

Her mouth gaped open. She had heard rumors of the mythical school but nothing more.  Supposedly only very special, very talented witches ever got to go there, although exactly where there was something she had never managed to figure out, so she had reached the conclusion that it was a made up school for bedtime stories.  Finally, she managed to squeak out, "W-wh-what?  You mean that place actually exists?"

Her mother smiled at her and began to rub her arm soothingly. "Yes, dear, you've been invited to attend L'Academie des Sorcieres. It's a tremendous honor to be asked to attend there." She picked up the scrolls that had arrived that morning and handed them to Ginny. The first one was unfurled and obviously read by her parents already, but there was a second, thicker one addressed to her that was still tightly furled.

"I – I'll just take these up to my room then," she stammered before bolting up the stairs. Throwing herself on her bed, she read the first letter. She found herself both thrilled and terrified by the prospect. She'd be able to go to school instead of being the little baby stuck at home and her parents wouldn't have to worry about buying her school supplies. However, she'd be going far, far away from home all by herself with nothing to remind her of home or have her familiar comforts. Sighing she unfurled the second letter and began to read.

Dear Mademoiselle Ginevera,

By now I trust that you are aware that you have been invited to attend L'Academie des Sorcieres. I will explain why this is such an honor and how we differ from other magical academies, since you have likely not heard too much of our school.

We keep tabs on the most powerful and intelligent witches in the Magical Community all over Europe, with such witches as Morgan La Fay and Circe being some of our more prominent graduates. When the time comes, we send these letters inviting witches, such as you, to join us. Since the school is located in France and we have so many witches with varying native tongues, all classes are taught in French. As such, you will spend the Winter and Summer terms before you are due to start in a French immersion program to ensure that you have enough fluency in the language to excel in your classes in the Fall term. As you will find out when you arrive, being a powerful witch is not simply limited to the standard magical subjects you study and we will do everything in our power to see where you excel and hone your abilities to their absolute best.

Our curriculum also is quite different than those found at Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, or Hogwarts. We feel that it is important to study many of the same subjects Muggles do as well as the traditional magical courses. You will also remain here for ten years rather than the seven the other school require. However, as our program is held in such high esteem throughout the world, you are guaranteed a job immediately following your graduation. We have attached the courses you will be taking over the next year:

Winter/Summer 1992

Total French Immersion

Poise and Etiquette

Fall 1992

Potions 1 with Chemistry

Magical and Muggle History 1

Herbology 1 and Plant Biology

French 1

English 1

German 1

Latin 1

Poise and Etiquette

Winter 1993

Transfiguration 1

Charms 1

Healing 1 and Human Physiology 1

French 2

English 2

German 2

Latin 2

Poise and Etiquette

Summer 1993

Arthimancy 1 and Pre-Algebra

Divination 1

Care of Magical Creatures and Zoology

French 3

English 3

German 3

Latin 3

Poise and Etiquette

After completing all of the basic courses (typically after your fifth year), you may choose a more specified area to study. As mentioned in the accompanying letter, students are not allowed to bring anything of their own to school. This was instituted such that there are no petty rivalries over possessions that would interfere with your studies.

We hope that you will join us in January!

Jeanne Boucher

Deputy Headmistress