The school is alive with the song of singing

[Colette Descoteaux]

Colette was forever the oddity among the students at Hogwarts. Her odd and quirky behavior combined with her strange peculiarities of being a seer, tended to make it difficult for her to find friends among her fellows. By now, one of her lesser known but no less impressive talents had begun to manifest. Her singing voice, Colette for all her faults sounded incredible to anyone with an ear to hear. Which was fortunate for when the musical urge came upon her, she would sing and sometimes even dance to only a tune she could hear. One thing probably spoiled many of her songs however, was they were all in French.

The sun was warm and welcoming, the sky blue with but a tracing of puffy white clouds but instead of the merry buzz of bees and the music of the birds, Colette's song blazed out on this fine Saturday and true to form it was in her native tongue. "Des yeux qui font baisser les miens, Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche, Voilà le portrait sans retouche, De l'homme auquel j'appartiens," Those who may have recognized the song or understood the lyrics may have realized that it was a romantic song and perhaps, Colette was feeling the effects of the lead up to the ball.

"Quand il me prend dans ses bras, Qu'il me parle tout bas, Je vois la vie en rose, Il me dit des mots d'amour, Des mots de tous les jours, Et ça m'fait quelque chose." She sang on, seemingly without a care in the world as she made her way through the gardens, pausing to sniff a flower or two, ignorant of the looks she was getting. "Il est entré dans mon cœur, Une part de bonheur, Dont je connais la cause, C'est lui pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie,Il me l'a dit, l'a juré, pour la vie, Et dès que je l’aperçois, Alors, je sens en moi, Mon cœur qui bat." Colette slid close to a Slytherin seventh year, placing a flower in the front pocket of his shirt before dancing away, ignorant of his blush or his friends teasing.

"Des nuits d'amour à plus finir, Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place, Des ennuis, des chagrins s'effacent, Heureux, heureux, à en mourir." Colette appeared to be completely happy and carefree as she gave voice to the melody. "Quand il me prend dans ses bras, Qu'il me parle tout bas, Je vois la vie en rose, Il me dit des mots d'amour, Des mots de tous les jours, Et ça m'fait quelque chose." At least she happened to be good at singing and evidently knew this particularly song very well. "Il est entré dans mon cœur, Une part de bonheur, Dont je connais la cause, C'est toi pour moi, moi pour toi dans la vie, Tu me l'as dit, m'as juré pour la vie, Et, dès que je t’aperçois, Alors, je sens en moi, Mon cœur qui bat."

She slid herself onto the edge of a stone fountain and gave voice to the last part of the song. "La-la-la, la-la-la, La-la-la, la-la-la, La, la, la-la." Before falling silent, her chest heaving as she caught her breath, a happy light in her eyes instead of the usual dreamlike expression she habitually wore.

...

The song is La vie en rose, by Edith Piaf

[Leo Sakurai]

Despite having lived in the United Kingdom for around two years, Leo still felt terribly out of place here at Hogwarts.

There was no denying that he was an outsider. His Japanese accent wasn’t that heavy, but it was enough to tip anyone off that he was a transfer student. Likewise, the way he carried himself reflected the culture and traditions of his home country. And even the song he was strumming on his acoustic guitar right now was a Japanese pop song that – judging from the lack of interest from those around him – nobody but him had even heard of.

Deru kugi wa utareru. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. That was what his parents had taught him: anyone who was stood out from the crowd too much would invariably attract criticisms, and it was always better to keep one’s head down. Japan was a collectivist society, they would say, and the needs of many superseded the selfish wants of the individual. He had always chafed a little under this societal expectation, and dreamed of the day he would finally be able to embrace his uniqueness and express himself freely.

But now that he found himself standing out from the crowd, he wanted nothing more than to blend in with the rest. Though he had been different from his peers previously due to his upbringing and background, in hindsight he hadn’t been that different. Here at Hogwarts, he stuck out like a sore thumb, and he always had a niggling feeling that people were watching him all the time, ready to pounce on any mistakes he made.

As the song he was playing came to a close, he put aside his guitar and returned his attention to his surroundings again. The lively chatter of the other students filled the air, and mercifully nobody was paying him any attention. He quite liked things that way, having the freedom to do his own thing without being bothered by anyone else, and being alone in a crowd but without feeling lonely.

It was at this point in time when he caught the strains of a song. Pricking up his ears, he tried to tune out the background noise and focus on the singing. It wasn’t an English song, that was for sure, but there was something familiar about it and he had most definitely heard it before, somewhere some time ago. Before long the singer came into view: Colette Descoteaux, a fellow Sixth-Year, and a transfer student just like him. And as she continued on with the song, Leo’s ears managed to pick out the song’s title in the lyrics: La Vie en Rose. Though he recognised the song, he had no idea what the lyrics were all about. But that mattered not: good music transcended language barriers, and he was more than happy to sit back and enjoy her soulful rendition of the song.

All too soon it was over, and he watched as she basked in the afterglow of a rousing performance. ”Sugoi,” he applauded, not caring if he was the only one to do so. It would be a crime not to show his appreciation for a song so beautifully sung. “That was fantastic. I didn’t know you could sing so well.”

[Colette Descoteaux]

Colette Descoteaux knew she was odd, different from most people. Weird even by the standards of the magical world and she either did not care enough to try to hide her differences or was utterly ignorant of them. It was hard for any to say to which she felt. Though a student at Hogwarts, she still missed France, the food, her friends, her native language. English though a pleasant enough language lacked the same expressive nature of French. The sound of someone clapping broke into her thoughts, snapping her to the present and she slowly got up from the fountain and curtsied as if she were before a vast appreciative audience and not one lone individual who valued artistry.

"Merci merci." She replied, blushing at his fine praise of her vocal talents. "I am a lady of many talents, I just do not always advertise them as well as some might wish." Colette responded with a smile, warm and friendly her eyes appearing to slowly change from alight interest and passion, to the same dreamlike expression she habitually clad herself in. She was odd, often leaving conversations part way through, sometimes mid-sentence, other times merely walking away or into the middle of topics of discussion. These quirks of behavior were not helped by her frequent visions, trances, dreams and reading of tea leaves. Frequently her fellow Ravenclaws and those concerned passers by needed to collect her from the tables as she read calmly, casually the marks of the tea leaves.

"Music is a language that needs no translator I find, no?" She added on tilting her head slightly to one side as she did so.

[Leo Sakurai]

Colette blushed at Leo’s compliment, and replied that she was not one to advertise her many talents. “Nou aru taka wa tsume o kakusu,” the boy said, quoting a Japanese idiom. “The wise hawk hides its claws, or so the saying goes. You are as humble as you are talented.”

He gave a tentative nod as she suggested that music needed no translator. That was something he couldn’t refute outright. His hometown, Yokohama, was the jazz capital of Japan, and he had grown up listening to music from the US. But there were still subtle differences in the music from different countries. “Ano… more or less, yes,” he said, before scratching his head as he tried to find the right words. “I don’t know how to explain it properly, but I feel that it’s easier to appreciate a song when you understand the language and the culture. But even if you don’t know the language, you can still enjoy the music for what it is.”

“But there are some things that are difficult or impossible to express in a different language,” he added after a moment with a shrug and a wry smile. “Or maybe it’s because the culture is too different. I don’t know.”

It occurred to Leo that he hadn’t introduced himself yet. “Sumimasen, where are my manners…” His face reddened a little at his faux pas, but he composed himself quickly. “My name is Leo Sakurai. Nice to meet you.” he said, concluded his greeting with a bow. “If I am not wrong, you are a transfer student too? Are you adjusting well to Hogwarts and the UK?”

[Colette Descoteaux]

Colette's blush deepened and her smile grew into a grin at his words. "Merci, you are very kind." She replied, the fact she was a Seer tended to make her more than a little odd. It was still taking the students at Hogwarts sometime to adjust to her unique behavior. "That is true though it can take a while to learn a new language. I find English is not as expressive as French." Colette explained, but she soldiered on, getting better with her English all the time. Though the odd piece of homework did find it's way to the professors in French instead of the preferred English from time to time.

"Oui perhaps, or maybe we'd need to find another means to express such a point." She countered after thinking it over, so long was her pause that it seemed possible that she may have zoned out or otherwise slipped into a trance but for once, she merely happened to be thinking.

Seeing as they had moved onto the introductions and since he bowed, she entered into this game herself with a curtsy. "Colette Descoteaux, it is a pleasure to meet you too." She said before confirming with a nod. "Oui I used to live in France before my father moved us to England. I even had to wear my Beaxabaton uniform for a few days before my Hogwarts uniform was made." Colette informed him before hastily explaining. "Father wanted me to use the traditional family tailor." She had little choice in the matter. "Hogwarts is a nice school and the divination teacher is really good. As for the food I'm afraid the British cuisine is not my preferred diet... But the House Elves they do their best and have on occasion even made some dishes for me from my home which I am very thankful for."

Colette fell silent for a while before realizing she needed to ask him in turn how his time was. "So how are you doing at Hogwarts? I am guessing you are from Japan, the famed land of the Samurai and their poetry." She smiled at him, though in true Colette fashion appeared to be staring or looking at nothing.

[Leo Sakurai]

Leo let out a relieved smile as Colette revealed that she found English to be less expressive than French. So it wasn’t just him then. When he first started learning English, he had found the need to spell out everything explicitly to be strange. Agreeing with Colette’s opinion that they would need another way to express certain things in English, he added, “English seems to have too little… eto… nuance? Is that the right word?” Back in Japan, his gaijin friends often spoke about how the Japanese language and culture seemed so ambiguous. Conversely he had felt that English was too direct and unnecessarily detailed, as though anything that wasn’t said didn’t exist.

His smile broadened as the former Beauxbaton student shared how her experience at Hogwarts had been thus far. And when she spoke about how British cuisine wasn’t her thing, he couldn’t help but nod emphatically. “I’m not used to the food here either. Sometimes I find myself craving for a piping hot bowl of ramen. Or oyakodon.” Just the mention of those dishes were enough to make his stomach growl and his mouth water. “Now I really feel like having some iekei ramen… but maybe I’ll make do with the instant version later. I make it a point to bring with me some instant ramen whenever I come back to Hogwarts.”

“Yes, I am from Japan,” he replied with a little bow, “even though I prefer street dance to kenjutsu and J-pop to haiku.” He gave a nonchalant shrug; that was the way he was, regardless of whether his folks liked it or not. “I’ve been here for a year already, so I’m starting to get used to many things I initially found unusual and strange,” he continued. “Except the food, of course.” He looked around him, almost furtively, before continuing in a hushed voice. “My mother sends me Japanese snacks occasionally. Some of them can’t be found in the UK, like Hello Panda biscuits.” Filled with chocolate cream and adorned with a printing of an adorable panda mascot, the biscuits were a huge part of his childhood and one of his favourite treats. “I still have a few boxes left in my dorm. They’re really delicious, and you absolutely have to try them.”

[Colette Descoteaux]

"Mais oui." Colette answered with a smile, or at least she thought it was. Perhaps they're difficulties with the language came from the fact it was not their first language. Maybe they would have entirely different opinions if they were both born and raised in this country? Somehow Colette doubted she ever might come to regard the British cuisine favorably. Perhaps there was great truth to the old joke of, in hell the Chefs are all British. It reminded her of the Asterix the Gaul cartoon she watched once, where they Gauls went to Britain to help the British fight off the Romans. A surprisingly hilarious little comedy, with lots of jokes at the expense of both the British and the Gauls/French.

Colette nodded politely, not entirely sure what he happened to be going on about. She guessed food, but this is what happens when she zoned out, her mind wandering in places far away from this plain of existence. Even if sometimes, that place merely was the secure confines of her mind. "That is most... Er how do you say fortunate? My father has us living in this country for his job so there is little food coming in from France." She sighed wistfully. "To be so close yet so far away."

She chuckled politely, not entirely sure what all those things were, but he seemed proud of the distinction so they were important to him. "At least you did not have to spend the first few weeks in your Beauxabaton uniform." The seer pointed out, smiling at the memory. The combination of her French accent, strange uniform when compared to the rather dull Hogwarts one, peculiar behavior and her being a seer made her a magnet for attention. That and she spent the first few months constantly getting lost.

"It is very kind of you to offer." Colette began, before abruptly tilting her head to one side then the other before glancing over both her shoulders. "I am afraid I cannot come into your dorm room, let alone the boys part of said dorm." She was touched by his offer of the biscuits, but she could not merely stroll into another house's dorm room, let alone the boys part of it. Even if the former went okay, the latter part was simply not done.

[Leo Sakurai]

Belatedly Leo realised that he had been rambling on and on about food, and using Japanese terms that Colette probably didn’t understand. “I’m sorry, I got too carried away talking about food.” And he nodded as she revealed that her family had moved here because of her father’s job. “So desu ka… We moved here because of my father’s job too,” he replied. Though he was further from home than she was, the fact that France was – in her words – ‘so near yet so far’ made her situation worse than his. “At least you can still count on the kind house-elves if you miss the food from back home,” he offered, hoping his words would provide Colette some measure of comfort.

The mention of her old uniform made Leo uncomfortably aware of the other reason why he had moved to the UK. “I…” he began, his mind racing as he tried to find a way to avoid talking about his old Mahoutokoro uniform. Due to a special enchantment, the Mahoutokoro uniform would turn the uniform a stark white if a student broke the Japanese wizard's code or practised the Dark Arts, and that was exactly what had happened to him after he had used a number of dark spells while being possessed by an ancient spirit with a grudge against his bloodline. Even though it had not been his fault, he was still considered to have disgraced himself, and was expelled and forced to transfer to another wizarding school. “I… my transfer to Hogwarts was delayed by a year because of some administrative issues. I had to take a gap year, so I had more than enough time to get my Hogwarts uniform.” It was a somewhat vague and evasive answer, and he hoped that Colette wouldn’t catch on to anything.

His face flushed a bright crimson when Colette mentioned how she couldn’t enter the boys’ dorms. “S–sou janai desu!” Meeting inside the dorm? That wasn’t what he intended to say at all. So flustered was he about her possibly misunderstanding him that he had slipped right back into his native tongue. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way,” he hastily clarified. “If it’s okay with you, I could meet you outside the Common Room, or in the kitchens. Or anywhere else in school, if that is more convenient for you.”

[Colette Descoteaux]

"It is not a problem." Colette told him kindly, she happened to have an tendency to get distracted or leave a conversation mid sentence. It would be cruel of her to object to his passion for food when she more often than not made conversing difficult for others with her. "Ah... What a world we live in where we move about for the prospects of others oui?" She commented sadly with a quiet sigh. "As nice as Hogwarts is I would have preferred to stay in my old one." Still, she was forming those bonds of friendship here now with a new group of wizards and witches. Plus it provided her with a chance to improve her English.

"They do try their best." Colette admitted with a smirk. "I think my native dishes can be a bit... Er... Complicated? No no... Different for them compared to the food they are used too making." Her smirk grew into a grin. "I appreciate that they take the time to try and cook something specifically for my tastes and liking. It is very kind of them."

She listened, nodding slowly, a slight quiet hum of a tune coming from her. "Oui, I understand, it was most fortunate for you then as walking around in a different uniform draws a lot of attention." Colette informed him, neglecting to mention her unfortunate habit of falling into trances as her innate skill as a seer struck. Once, half way up some stairs only the swift thinking of several nearby fifth years saved her from an extended visit to the infirmary as they caught her as she fell.

Colette noticed his cheeks turned red and he said something in Japanese. Ah, she must have caused him some embaressment. But how? Unsure, she still decided to offer an apology. "I apologize I must have made you feel embarrassed." Maybe he had not expected to be declined? "Ah... Oui wherever you think might be best." She told him with a smile, tilting her head to one side. "Do you think there will be cake with dinner tonight?"

[Leo Sakurai]

Leo nodded thoughtfully as Colette lamented her situation. He could empathise with how she felt about suddenly having her life uprooted… but the people whom they had to make their sacrifice for were their fathers after all, and he felt that it was his duty as a son to support his father. Inwardly he shrugged; maybe the difference between their viewpoints could be attributed to their respective cultural backgrounds and upbringing.

(Or perhaps he had been less resistant to moving to the UK because he didn’t have a choice in the matter at all. After being possessed by the ancient spirit Doumeki and getting expelled from Mahoutokoro as a result, he simply could not stay in his home country anymore. There was no place for a pariah like him in Japan’s wizarding society, and nobody would ever want to associate themselves with someone who, unwittingly or otherwise, broke the Japanese wizard’s code.)

The best he could offer was a sympathetic nod and some words of reassurance. “It’s not easy to leave everything and everyone behind, but it’s part and parcel of life,” he said. “There’s a sentence that I find quite meaningful, and think I heard this sentence from a song: ‘Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.’”

He mirrored Colette’s grin as she commended the house-elves on their effort to make her feel more welcome, but the grin faded a little as the conversation moved on to their old school uniforms. Slightly steering the subject away from the uncomfortable topic, he gestured towards his face. “This face already draws enough attention,” he said with a laugh. “Especially since it can do this.” Closing his eyes, he began to concentrate, and gradually his facial features and hair began to morph and shift until he took on the countenance of Ryan Lovet, his Quidditch captain. And after showing off his disguise for a while, he reverted back to his true appearance – sans his hair colour, which he had changed to a light blond.

When Colette apologised, Leo hurriedly shook his head. “No, it was my fault,” he said, quick to take the blame for causing the misunderstanding and then making her feel bad. “I should have been more careful with my words.” Absently biting his lip, he considered the various places they could meet that wouldn’t spark any weird rumours… and one of the few classes they both took came to mind. “Maybe we could meet after Arithmancy class?” he suggested. “I have something that would hopefully brighten your day after a stressful class with Professor Sigma.”

The very mention of cakes brought the cheer back to Leo’s face. “I hope so,” he replied with an expectant smile. “I’ve been craving for mille-feuille recently.”

Whatever that confection was might have been lost on Colette, because Leo’s accent and pronunciation had turned it into miru-fiiyu instead. Briefly Leo wore a strange look of confusion as he pondered about something, and soon a clue presented itself to Colette. “I just remembered that we have a lot of French-style patisseries in Japan,” he said, hinting that what he had mentioned earlier was in fact a French cake. “Not proper French patisseries, but very much inspired by them. I’m not sure if you know about this, but in Japan, we have a very romanticised view of France.”