But this time around, Isabella proves to be much more helpful than she was earlier in the year. At this point, the foursome look at a remark Isabella makes about how basilisks were used as weapons.

  Pisa, then holding suzerainty over the Judicate of Gallura, was alleged to have used basilisks to threaten it into submission. At the same time, they proved uncontrollable as weapons. Now I have a better understanding of why Sardinians pushed for the outlawing of basilisk breeding! Alejandra finally sees what made basilisk breeding illegal after reading Isabella's notes.

  But, at the end of the History of Magic assignment, they keep doing assignments in their courses, in Herbology for Emmanuelle and Arithmancy for Nurcan. Here they seem to complete it in relatively short order.

  At this point, Nurcan seems to be puzzled about what's to come next. Now that my role with the cahier is done, I can kind of feel like the whole cahier business is just the beginning of something bigger. That I must find a way to get to the Estates-General. Now, I could always fake a transfer to Mahoutokoro, but the school year beginning in April makes it a little jarring academically, since I would be missing three months of school. The Bab-I Humayun will find out if I go that route: I can't simply supply a fake report card. Sure, my parents think that I'm a spy trainee, in which case the cahier stuff might be presented to them as such, but if the issues in the cahier are any indication, they're not going to resolve all of them by the time the school year ends! I need some time alone to think about that properly, which I can't do in Alejandra's presence! I don't think anyone outside of this room knows about the Estates-General, though, as I believed half or purebloods not to have any interest in Muggle affairs.

  The Turkish witch then goes to the library in an attempt to think things through, but as she approaches the library, Mélisande leaves it, which means it's closed. And that forces her to try to find another place where she can have some peace and quiet away from both the library and her own dorm room.

  With the main gate closed for the night, however, she feels like she must wait until Alejandra is fast asleep to get to the bottom of the matter, so she won't be disturbed.

  I think I can rule out the fake transfer to Mahoutokoro route. 3 months of missing school is just too much; I might be a fast learner, but that's a big gap. Besides, the Estates-General start date is set for May, not April. I already sent the cahier to Constantinople, along with the Irad-I Cedid; it's too early to say whether the Estates-General are going to end by the time the school year ends. But since the library is closed, maybe I could either gaze into a crystal ball, or simply wait on tonight's dreams, and hope I can obtain some predictions that way, memories of dream interpretation resurface in her mind.

  More specifically, dreams of the night of the announcement of the Estates-General's convocation. About Geminio first and then Geneviève's cryptic oneiric warning.

  But the following day, she feels more info is needed to properly interpret these dreams. Especially about past Estates-General, for which she goes to the library in the morning.

  First, she skims the editions of the Cri de la Gargouille since her last visit for any indication of wizarding reactions to the convocation of the Estates-General, and possibly candidates to watch out for, if any. But the trail goes cold there, since there's nothing in it that could provide any clue.

  She then approaches the librarian's desk, asking Mélisande for help:

  "Y a-t-il quelque chose sur les états généraux passés?" (Is there anything about past Estates-General?) Nurcan asks a bewildered librarian.

  Mélisande, used to students asking for books on topics related to coursework, furrows her brows upon hearing about this request she deems a little bizarre. "Ces livres vont être un peu datés, est-ce un problème pour toi?" (These books will be a little dated, is that a problem for you?)

  Mélisande's question gives Nurcan a little pause. The latter is deep in thought over what the question could mean to her. When were the last Estates-General held? This seems to be implying that they were held long enough ago for past editions not to have much ability to predict the future... however, they might be useful to me on a different level. Just not for what I want today.

  "Oui..." (Yes...)

  So while Mélisande watches a disappointed Nurcan leave the library, she starts wondering about what she's going to tell her husband, Pelléas, about how Nurcan seems to be increasingly obsessed about the upcoming Estates-General. Pelléas knows that Nurcan is a diligent student, but I'm worried that her obsession about the Estates-General is going to distract her from her studies!

  At the same time, Nurcan is forced to lean on numerology to make a prediction of whether she could expect to be at the Estates-General before they end, and make calculations accordingly.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Let's say that, while the Estates-General were convened for financial purposes, getting hundreds of delegates from every corner of France to agree on such a wide slate of issues would take weeks on just a few issues, let alone all the issues in the cahier I sent to Istanbul last night. At the same time, I'm under no illusions that the other two estates would raise the same issues, much less adopt the same positions on the third estate's issues, Nurcan starts thinking of parameters she could want to add to her calculations. So maybe the wizarding world feels like the Estates-General are an exercise in futility, albeit secretly. And yet, Muggles pinned their hopes on them.

  But the more she tries to add parameters to her calculations, to account for divergences, and other factors she deems relevant, the more she realizes that it might not even have anything to do with how long the Estates-General are expected to take anymore, or even how much progress has been made by the time the school year ends. So she puts these calculations aside for the time being.

  During lunch break, however, Alejandra draws her wand when she sees Nurcan resume these calculations:

  "Confundo!" Alejandra shouts in Nurcan's direction.

  What was that nonsense I was trying to calculate? Nurcan, hit by Alejandra's confusion hex, stops calculating.

  At that point, Alejandra takes the sheet away from Nurcan, while Pelléas is approaching towards them:

  "C'est quoi ?a?" (What is that?) Alejandra's eyes widen upon seeing the title at the top of these incomplete calculations.

  "C'est à moi, ?a!" (That's mine!) Nurcan clamors to her roommate.

  "Durée potentielle des... états généraux?" (Potential duration of the Estates-General?) Alejandra reads a little slowly.

  It was already hard enough to deal with Nurcan when she was obsessed with getting what she called a cahier de doléances, now she's making calculations I don't understand in an attempt to predict how long the états généraux will last? Alejandra, sensing trouble coming, returns the calculations to Nurcan.

  "états généraux? C'est quoi ?a, les états généraux?" (Estates-General? What are the Estates-General?) another student asks them.

  "Du crédit supplémentaire en arithmancie?" (Extra credit in Arithmancy?) Nurcan answered, still feeling the effects of the confusion hex.

  "C'est pas comme si tu en avais besoin..." (It's not like you needed it...) Alejandra smirks.

  Pelléas scolds Alejandra from behind, sensing the hex's lingering magic. "Alejandra! Tu as hexé Nurcan sans provocation! En retenue après l'école!" (Alejandra! You hexed Nurcan without provocation! In detention after school!)

  As the effects of the hex wear off, Nurcan is left wondering if it's a good idea to tell the truth about the Estates-General to the rest of the student body. However, she feels the need to re-read her attempt at a solution to get back in the groove.

  It seems that a slight change in each parameter could yield a significant difference in the duration, but the likelihood of any resolution, on the other hand, appears to have, in arithmantic parlance, a much narrower confidence interval. That is, the likelihood of a prediction to realize increases.

  In the most likely scenarios, I might be able to get to the Estates-General, but only near the end. Now for whether they can make any progress towards their stated objectives... it seems highly unlikely, a few percent at best. Maybe that's the key takeaway from my previous failure to interpret last night's dreams! Nurcan is then pulled aside by Pelléas.

  "Mélisande et moi sommes tous deux inquiets de ton obsession de plus en plus dangereuse pour les états généraux!" (Mélisande and I are both concerned by your increasingly dangerous obsession for the Estates-General!) Pelléas warns Nurcan, who's reluctant to tell the greater Beauxbatons community about the true nature of the Estates-General.

  "Mais pourquoi?" (But why?)

  "On a eu vent de comme quoi ?a t'a causé des complications auprès du ministère ottoman de la Magie!" (We heard about how it caused complications from the Ottoman Ministry of Magic to you!) Pelléas brandishes the permission slip she used last night to hand over the Geminio'd cahier, along with the Irad-I Cedid, to the Bab-I Humayun.

  "Ces complications sont résolues, et n'avaient rien à voir avec les états généraux!" (These complications are resolved, and had nothing to do with the Estates-General!) Nurcan tries to hide the role of cahiers de doléances in the Estates-General.

  It's only now that I faced any kind of dangers because of that... That said, for permission slip purposes, the campus is deemed to include the wizarding side of Visigny. Maybe I won't miss much in the end by not going to the Estates-General until the exams end. If my calculations are correct, anyway. Nevertheless, Alejandra still knows more about the Estates-General than almost everyone else here... Nurcan starts to tremble, shuddering at the thought that, while in detention, Alejandra might reveal what she didn't, out of a perceived lack of interest among the school's community. And yet, Alejandra, who once claimed she wouldn't help me get the cahier, did just that by helping me learn Geminio, albeit indirectly.

  But Pelléas keeps arguing with Nurcan, about what makes her obsession for the Estates-General dangerous to her. Students watch the verbal joust, making this whole business more unpleasant to both parties. However, Nurcan doesn't appear to disrespect authority. Further punishments might be meted out against Alejandra...

  Which turn out to serve as referee for the next intramural Quidditch game on Friday night, the Tigres Vénéneux vs the Abèrations. And man did that game had a lot more fouls called against both teams than all previous games in the season. For this reason, Alejandra was booed more than any other referee that season, since she apparently ruined the game.

  And, of course, Nurcan keeps quiet about the Estates-General in the days to follow, so as to not further anger students, and especially not Alejandra. However, the latter finds herself struggling socially after this reffing disaster, even as she tries to diversify her sources of help in courses such as History of Magic.