The following day, after she checks out of the Griffon Somnolent, wearing her school uniform, Nurcan returns to échange Scolaire Officielle once again, with her BUSE and ASPIC results.

  "Maintenant que vous avez réussi haut la main ces examens, il y a des modifications à faire à votre horaire!" (Now that you passed these tests with flying colors, there are changes to make to your schedule!) the intake officer hands her the official transcript from the Académie des Examinateurs Magiques.

  And he reaches for her list of supplies, crossing off all supplies related to Arithmancy and Divination. Still a list signed by the very same Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions as last time, Griet van Vliet.

  I still have to take Herbology, DADA and Transfiguration here? If I perform the same on the BUSEs as I did on the SBDs, I may as well continue taking them at the FYBS level upon return! That might become unmanageable, even for me... Or perhaps there's a way to make do with only half a FYBS in these disciplines, with a BUSE to show for it. Remember why the Bab-I Humayun even wanted the Nizam-I Cedid in the first place: getting expertise from elsewhere. I can't know everything, I accepted that. But, even though the ICW deems an ASPIC equivalent to a FYBS in all disciplines, is that really the case on the Ottoman job market? More so for Arithmancy than Divination. Divination is the magical field where academic qualifications mean the least... She starts to ruminate on the implications of taking courses at Beauxbatons she planned not to pursue at the FYBS level had she stayed home. But maybe Transfiguration and DADA might be of help in the Triwizard Tournament, should these 3/16 to 3/32 odds I previously calculated fall on me.

  When the revised list of supplies lands on her hands, all she's really concerned about is books. She then hits Magillard and, even when she doesn't take Arithmancy or Divination, she can see how much work the rest of her schedule might be. Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Herbology, DADA, Astronomy.

  At home, I took 9 classes at the SBD level; you had to take the 7 classes mandated by the ICW, plus Arithmancy, but you aren't allowed to take more than 2 electives. Turkic took up my second elective first year, and we were told not to pursue more than 5 subjects at the FYBS level. If it's like I think it is, it would feel like taking 7 FYBS-level courses, Nurcan starts wondering whether she made the right decision in not going to Hogwarts out of fear that her alleged ties to the Muggle Revolutionaries would cut her stay short, as she reaches for the History of Magic textbook.

  "Tu as l'air un peu troublée!" (You look a little troubled!) an employee of Magillard points out while Nurcan is looking at the shelf containing books on contemporary wizarding affairs next to the History of Magic textbooks.

  "Je commence à regretter d'être revenue ici!" (I start regretting coming back here!)

  "Mais pourquoi?" (But why?)

  "La charge de travail qui m'attend!" (The workload that awaits me!)

  The two discuss the workload associated with her schedule, which is actually pretty "basic" for a sixth-year Beauxbatons student.

  Once that discussion ends, she takes a copy of the History of Magic textbook, and is triggered by the translation of a book's title on the contemporary wizarding affairs section. L'Ascension de Mademoiselle Irad-I Cedid, of which there are only 2 copies in stock.

  Seeing a translated copy of her own book on the shelf raises some questions in the witch's mind. But who could, among the French wizarding community, even be able to translate The Rise of Miss Irad-I Cedid from the original Turkic? I can't imagine a whole lot of people would even want to read about what is, from their standpoint, the influence of the Revolution on other countries' wizards! And how I spent weeks looking for a cahier de doléances, how it made me draft the Irad-I Cedid once I got it, with the arithmantic predictions I made on the Estates-General's length and effectiveness!

  After that, she goes to another section of the bookshop, which, as per usual in the tail end of the back-to-school shopping period, is crowded, looking for another textbook. Like the Potions one: Les Recettes de la Marmite à Bulles, by Fay Frêne.

  When she's done getting all 7 textbooks on her revised supplies list, she returns to the Confiserie Enchantée de K. Rammelle to buy one last candy before the school year starts, a fondant au caramel.

  But as she eats said fondant, she's reminded of that lingering question from the Arithmancy ASPIC about a notion which she understood only under the name of potion decay, and how it describes the effectiveness of a potion decreasing over time.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Under the effects of the caramel in the fondant, or more accurately, the sugar in the caramel, her mental activity increases, and she feels ready to absorb as much as she can about the notion she knows as potion decay.

  L'instabilité d'une potion est mesurée par sa demi-vie, après laquelle une potion ne retient que la moitié de son efficacité d'origine, (The instability of a potion is measured by its half-life, after which a potion retains only half of its original effectiveness) she reads the opening line of the chapter on what she feels is closest to how she understood potion decay when she was taking the Arithmancy ASPIC. And it goes without saying that a longer half-life means the potion can be kept longer after brewing.

  Then the section goes into what can influence a potion's half-life, and a key factor is, of course, the shelf life of ingredients, with how to relate it to a potion's expiry period, that is, seven half-lives. Other factors include brewing conditions.

  After that, she reads a side note goes about the legal considerations all potioneers must know about the expiry dates of potions, if they plan to sell potions commercially.

  A Lumos charm is lighting up in her mind, so that she feels like she understands better what a stable or unstable potion means.

  By then, however, she realizes that she needs to leave Place Cachée behind and face her year-long demons, so she returns to the Barrière de la Ferme Générale to go to the Métro-Floo station.

  At which, this time around, a lot of people go to one specific fireplace at the Métro-Floo Station, which, at this time of the year, is enchanted to carry people directly to Beauxbatons' main entrance without its users having to use a scoop of Floo powder to use it.

  Once she arrives at Beauxbatons, she stays in line to go in front of Griet, as she did last time, for her dorm assignment:

  "Votre nom, s'il vous pla?t!" (Your name, please!) Griet asks, once again, in her signature Austrian Dutch accent.

  "Nurcan Topkara!"

  "Chambre six cent-quarante-sept!" (Room 647)

  This time around, the school's plumbing has been upgraded to include an in-suite bath in all student suites. These plumbing upgrades were funded by the sale of wizarding assets of wizards condemned by Muggle justice, nearly all of whom were nobles tried for crimes unrelated to their use of magic, and often Muggle political crimes.

  As Nurcan is first to arrive, she takes her time to make herself comfortable until the second occupant of Room 647 arrives, a daughter of an émigré wizarding family but who didn't go around transferring away from Beauxbatons.

  Unpleasant memories resurface in her mind, while she tries to recall who her roommate is from her previous stay. I really hope that I won't have Alejandra again this year around! For what I know, she might have become a Royalist, or perhaps circulate rumors about my role among the Muggle Revolutionaries in Sorcière-Hebdo out of spite! Then again, I never imagined her to be that petty! She tried to redeem herself by calling fouls indiscriminately as a Quidditch referee, but became a pariah afterwards. But unless somehow, someone remembers me, I don't think people will immediately think of me as a (super-)genius at this point. If someone does, hopefully people will be more appreciative of me now that I'm no longer taking Arithmancy and Divination. They were unpopular subjects here back then.

  Yet, it seems like she didn't interact much with that person last time. When she introduces herself to her roommate:

  "Je suis Nurcan, je suis de retour en échange ici cette année. Et toi?" (I'm Nurcan, I'm back here on exchange this year. And you?)

  "Christine!"

  Nurcan... I'm sure I heard that name somewhere when she was here. She was hexed over... Arithmancy? All I ever heard about her at the time was about how she's smarter than everyone else! Christine starts thinking about her previous experience of Nurcan.

  Yet, as the two discuss what happened during the intervening years to them, she asks Christine a question about why she remained in Beauxbatons despite having left its zone:

  "Es-tu une Née-Moldue?" (Are you a Muggle-born?) Nurcan asks, suspecting Christine to be a Muggle-born.

  "Non?" Christine gasps. "Pourquoi?" (why?)

  "Le zonage!" (Zoning!)

  "Le zonage? Mon refuge actuel est encore zoné à Beauxbatons!" (Zoning? My current refuge is still zoned to Beauxbatons!)

  So her family didn't settle in Prussia or Austria proper, at least not yet. Yet, she seems to harbor hopes that her family might come back to France, at least long-term, Nurcan starts reading what she can into her "vibe". Which leads her to ask a question that might be a little personal:

  "Est-ce que l'Autriche ou la Prusse t'ont contacté?" (Did Austria or Prussia attempt to contact you?)

  "T'es pas sérieuse?" (Are you joking?)

  "Ils cherchent à profiter des émigrés sorciers pour reconstruire!" (They seek to capitalize on wizarding émigrés to rebuild!)

  That's true! This whole thing reminds me of History of Magic! The lead-up to the Statute of Secrecy, how Austria, Poland and Prussia suffered heavily from wizard hunting and wars... Christine starts getting flashbacks of the first 2 years of History of Magic, although her flashback of second-year material is restricted to the zoning issues.

  "Mais pourquoi la Pologne est moins agressive à aller chercher des sorciers émigrés?" (But why is Poland less aggressive in getting to wizarding émigrés?) Nurcan keeps asking.

  "Tu poses des questions que la plupart des sorciers ne poseraient même pas!" (You ask questions most wizards wouldn't even ask!) Christine retorts. "C'est toi l'experte en géopolitique moldue ici!" (You're the expert on Muggle geopolitics here!)

  If you thought the Ottoman Empire's Muggle government was desperate enough to ask for wizarding help, while still retaining some semblance of diplomatic independence, Poland-Lithuania is basically at the mercy of foreign powers, Nurcan keeps to herself, feeling like Christine has had enough of Muggle geopolitics, even when she was affected by that.