Yet, as much as I would like to return home, because I feel like I'm about to witness events that will be beyond me, I can't return home without first having gotten my report card! Didier will receive his at the same time I will, Nurcan ruminates while she's still reeling in from this oneiric warning.

  However, the report card hasn't arrived over the next three days, during which she serves as the ducal family's diviner.

  And, as the Cri de la Gargouille issue of June 20 arrives early in the morning, Didier lays his hands on it first. The headline is about Vincent's life at the Estates-General, and how he got there. The article on it starts by talking about an emergency vote to which all male Breton noble wizards aged 17 and up were invited.

  I guess the Cri de la Gargouille kept quiet about my brother's experiences at the Estates-General until now because they didn't feel there was sufficient interest until now. Today, the wizarding world finally acknowledges openly that the winds of change are coming from the Muggle world, Didier ruminates, before handing the newspaper to Vincent.

  "Il était temps!" (About time!) Didier exclaims upon reading the headline to his older half-brother. Le duc de Trèfle-Picques, député des sorciers aux états généraux.

  "Je partirai d'ici quand mon bulletin arrive!" (I'll leave once my report card arrives!) Nurcan tells the Duke and his half-brother.

  "Pourquoi?" (Why?) Vincent gasps, surprised that the best diviner he had during the Estates-General would leave just a few days after she came to him.

  "Je cours de graves dangers si je reste ici plus longtemps!" (I'll be in grave danger if I stay here much longer!) Nurcan interprets a dream dated from the night of June 17 in front of him.

  "L'augure du jour, s'il vous plait..." (The augury of the day, please...) Vincent asks her.

  "Le roi va mettre de l'huile sur le feu!" (The King will put oil on the fire!)

  After they get dressed, the trio sets off for the Menus-Plaisirs, as they had for the previous 3 days. But the delegates of the Third Estate find the gates of the Menus-Plaisirs blocked by the royal guards.

  "En raison de travaux pour la Séance royale, l'accès à l'édifice est présentement fermé!" (Because of works for the Séance royale, access to the building is currently closed!) one of the guards explains the reason of the closure.

  "On ne va pas laisser la fermeture des Menus-Plaisirs nous arrêter; il faut poursuivre les travaux!" (We won't let the closure of the Menus-Plaisirs stop us; we must continue our work!) Vincent struggles to resist the temptation to use magic to get the work to resume.

  "Je propose que les travaux continuent à la Salle du Jeu de Paume!" (I propose work to resume at the Salle du Jeu de Paume!) Joseph-Ignace, who is best known for being the namesake of the guillotine, proposes to the Third Estate deputies.

  Of course, the ardent desire of the Third Estate delegates to keep debating makes it so that they readily accept to resume work at the Salle du Jeu de Paume.

  On their way to the Salle du Jeu de Paume, Nurcan is left wondering one thing, even as she overhears someone in the crowd claim the King initially wanted the Estates-General to address fiscal issues only. Why is it that these Muggles saw fit to stuff as many grievances as they feel the royal authority could have addressed?

  "Les plaintes dans les cahiers allaient dans toutes les directions. Or, le roi voulait qu'on traite seulement des questions financières. Pourquoi?" (The complaints in the cahiers went in all directions. Yet, the king wanted only financial matters to be discussed. Why?)

  "Le royaume était tellement endetté que la moitié du budget royal était utilisé par le service de la dette!" (The kingdom was so indebted that half the royal budget was used to service debt!) one of the people in the crowd answers her as they move towards the Salle du Jeu de Paume.

  Speaking of fiscal policy, they're reminded that the first decree was about the Assemblée Nationale taking control over public finances, voiding taxes levied without the nation's consent.

  Muggle incompetence might force their hands into asking wizards for help, here as at home. I just didn't realize that when I drafted the skeleton of a tax reform plan, but maybe I could, if the Bab-i Humayun actually took it seriously, be part of a greater effort to get wizards closer to Muggles. However, blood supremacists are the big problem to this on the wizarding side, Nurcan realizes that her actions could carry broader implications that she has yet to see. I can feel Vincent also feels thrust into this position of getting Muggles and wizards closer despite not initially wanting to.

  When they finally arrive at the Salle du Jeu de Paume, they realize that there are new faces that weren't there previously. Also it is a little cramped for the sheer number of delegates, so any spectators, outraged by the closure of the Menus-Plaisirs, must stay outside the Salle. And watch proceedings from wide open windows overlooking it.

  Speaking of which, Nurcan misses the preamble of some sort of oath, and only manages to get to the tail end of it:

  "Nous jurons de ne jamais nous séparer et de se rassembler partout où les circonstances l'exigeront, jusqu'au jour où la constitution du royaume sera établie et affermie sur des fondements solides!" (We swear never to separate, to meet wherever the circumstances demand it, until the day when the Kingdom's constitution will be established and grounded on solid foundations!) Jean Sylvain reads what will later be known as the Tennis Court Oath.

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  And, in his capacity as president of the Assemblée Nationale, Jean Sylvain is the first to sign the oath. Other early birds include Abbé Sieyès, Robespierre, Mounier and Barnave.

  Everything I do here is for the wizarding world. If a constitution made things better for wizards' dealings with the Muggles, so be it; however, without active involvement in the Assemblée Nationale, it may not happen! Vincent ruminates as he waits his turn to sign.

  "Une... constitution? Mais qu'est-ce qu'une constitution va faire?" (A constitution? But what a constitution will do?) Didier asks, gasping after hearing the oath.

  "De la manière dont ils en parlent, ils veulent limiter les pouvoirs du roi, ainsi que ceux des représentants élus du peuple!" (The way they talk about it, they want to limit the powers of the King, as well as those of the people's elected representatives!) Nurcan answers to the best of her ability.

  This means the king will no longer have absolute power once the constitution they swore to do everything in their power to adopt is adopted. Like I can understand these things just fine, but I know that a lot of wizards will struggle to do so. I know not everyone can be like me, Nurcan freezes in place when she talks about possible limitations of royal power.

  When everyone present has signed the oath, with one doing so with the mention "opposant" next to his name, the proceedings continue, with renewed hope of reforms.

  But when, later that day, Vincent is about to attend a meeting of the Club Breton, at Café Amaury, Nurcan realizes that something might be missing about the article on Vincent's journey at the Estates-General. While the refusal of Muggle Breton nobility to participate at the Estates-General was made clear, it never said anything about why Muggle nobles did so.

  "Pourquoi la noblesse moldue bretonne a refusé d'élire des députés aux états généraux?" (Why did Muggle Breton nobility refuse to elect delegates at the Estates-General?) a puzzled Nurcan asks Vincent.

  "La réponse est un peu compliquée pour le Cri de la Gargouille, mais une dispute éclata entre la noblesse et le reste des députés bretons sur leur mode d'élection!" (The answer is a little complicated for the Cri de la Gargouille, but a dispute took place between the nobility and the rest of the Breton delegates over their election!) Vincent summarizes the reason why Muggle Breton nobility stayed out of the Estates-General, along with its high clergy.

  "Oh!" Nurcan gasps.

  "Maintenant, rentrez à la maison de campagne!" (Now, go back to the country home!) Vincent asks both Didier and Nurcan.

  While Vincent attends the Club Breton's meeting, the other two have yet to realize that an owl is en route to the ducal country home, carrying Nurcan's and Didier's report cards.

  When said report cards arrive in sealed cardstock envelopes, the two start wondering how well they did for the year, knowing that, often, half of the final grade rode on the end-of-year final exam. Like Transfiguration for second-year students.

  Memories of final exams start flooding back into their minds. I'm confident I got "Optimal" all year in everything but Transfiguration. I did all the extra credit in Transfiguration since the wand was replaced, and I improved markedly. But will that be enough to push me into "Optimal" territory in that course? I was barely in "Effort Exceptionnel" range in it going into the second half of the year, and I only did that on the back of theory. And yet, I feel like the school zoning questions cost a lot of people some points on the History of Magic final. And certainly Alejandra, along with Emmanuelle, the former feeling like her sources of help have been cut off after this reffing fiasco. She had to work like crazy just to stay afloat in that course.

  Nurcan opens her envelope, finding, as expected, courses listed in alphabetical order of French title. This means Arithmancy goes first. But, confident that she scored "Optimal" in anything other than Transfiguration, she doesn't pay much attention to her grades until she gets to Métamorphose.

  "Woohoo!" Nurcan exclaims upon seeing her Transfiguration grade for the year. Optimal.

  "Tu m'as toujours parue plus intelligente que tout le monde. Qu'est-ce qui t'excite ainsi?" (You always appeared smarter than everyone else to me. What makes you excited like this?) Didier asks her.

  "Vous aurez peut-être du mal à y croire, mais la métamorphose m'a donné du fil à retordre dans la première moitié de l'année!" (You might find it hard to believe, but Transfiguration troubled me in the first half of the year!)

  I'm sure she can function at an ASPIC (Accumulation de Sorcellerie Particulièrement Intensive et Contraignante) level in History of Magic, seventh year, that is. Not sure about Arithmancy, as I have no real frame of reference on this topic. But I won't deny that she's very good at it, Didier makes mental notes on her intellectual prowess, before looking at his own grades.

  And, more specifically, his BUSE results. He scans his report card for Efforts Exceptionnels and Optimals, which would guarantee him a spot in the corresponding ASPIC-level course. Meanwhile, someone who scores an Acceptable on a BUSE is at the mercy of space availability. For sixth year students, the final grade is the higher of either the average of the BUSE and the rest of the year, or the BUSE itself.

  Let's see: Optimal in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Léon probably has that, too. Optimal in Charms, Effort Exceptionnel in Potions and Transfiguration, Didier runs down the 4 subjects he most wanted to pursue at the ASPIC level. At the same time, he couldn't help himself but think of Léon. But Léon might prefer to just go pro at Quidditch instead: he had offers from teams such as the Quiberon Tapesouafles, Grodzisk Goblins, that is, the Prussian club, the Trabzon Trappers...

  But as Didier ponders the implications of his BUSE scores on his future, Nurcan, on the other hand, completes her end-of-year report as required by the Ministry, on which she spends a good portion of the night.

  A night that Vincent spent at Café Amaury debating various Muggle issues as they relate to Brittany, alongside other Breton delegates such as Le Chapelier, Lanjuinais and Glezen, but in which he only managed to slip brief, veiled allusions to the wizarding world.

  Nevertheless, Nurcan seems to think about how implementing a Constitution in the style of what the Assemblée Nationale seeks to adopt and swore earlier today not to separate until its adoption, would look like in the Ottoman Empire. For sure, the yeniceri would attempt to oppose the sultan, if the constitution limited their own power on top of limiting the sultan's. They might have wanted legislative seats specifically for them, at least one. However, they seem to be inactive in fiscal policy beyond having a corps-wide muafiyet. But the population, on the other hand, would probably push for fiscal reforms such as the abolition of the iltizam system. Nevertheless, is either group ready to pay the price to get reforms done? I feel like the price of reform will be paid in blood! Also, is the population even ready for it?

  Then comes the point in the report where she needs to detail the challenges faced during her time at Beauxbatons. While the core challenge Nurcan faced was tied to the language of instruction, the non-academic challenges, on the other hand, well, in Nurcan's mind, appear to have been exacerbated by the Estates-General, convened in the second half of the year. That, as much as the Estates-General allowed her to salvage what she felt was a disappointingly one-sided exchange back then, it isolated her more.