The following day, Nurcan finds herself in DADA class, with the implications heavy on her mind about the Triwizard Tournament. I really hope that DADA will be of help for me going into the Triwizard Tournament. Sure, the odds will be long, but do well and the efforts will be well worth it.

  “Bonjour. Je suis Ronaldo, et je suis votre prof de défense contre les forces du mal pour l’année!” (Hi, I’m Ronaldo, and I will be your Defense against the Dark Arts teacher for the year!) Ronaldo introduces himself with a Portuguese accent.

  Nurcan scans the room for people she might have remembered from her previous stay at Beauxbatons, before Ronaldo calls the class to order, and starts lecturing the class on non-verbal spells. About how non-verbal spellcasting gives its user a temporary edge by not giving a warning as to the type of magic in use, but at the cost of reduced effectiveness.

  By this point, the class is split into pairs, and, once again, faces her old nemesis from this whole cahier de doléances ordeal during her previous stay: Alejandra.

  An Alejandra who’s somehow paired with Nurcan even though her previous dealing with the Turkish witch has been… less than pleasant.

  Which makes Nurcan a little concerned, going into this exercise, especially since she knew Alejandra had more power than she did herself.

  “Un partenaire va tenter de jinxer l’autre sans parler. L’autre va tenter de repousser le jinx en silence!” (One partner will attempt to jinx the other without speaking. The other will attempt to repel the jinx quietly!)

  Here’s my opportunity for a little payback! She made me a pariah for a while because of the fallout of these God-forsaken Estates-General, so perhaps a Jelly-Brain jinx… Alejandra’s unpleasant memories of the Estates-General resurfaces as she attempts to cast a Jelly-Brain Jinx on Nurcan, without realizing that said memories slow her own mind down.

  However, Alejandra’s momentary mental slowness becomes an advantage for Nurcan, who attempts to cast a Shield Charm while telling the incantation in her mind without the word itself leaving her mouth.

  Which ends up absorbing the Jelly-Brain jinx cast by the ghost of her past, leaving her unaffected. And makes her attempt it herself on Alejandra, again with the incantation spoken in her mind only.

  This time around, Alejandra seems to have recovered from this flood of unpleasant memories, and casts a Shield Charm of her own, under the same stipulation as her attempted Jelly-Brain Jinx.

  At this point, however, the jinx bounces back on her, making her a little dazed. And no longer focused on training in non-verbal spellcasting in a defensive context. She struggles to focus enough to cast non-verbal spells…

  Estates-General… Estates-General; why can’t I keep this phrase out of my head? What’s happening? Nurcan’s expression seems to be a little vague after being hit by the Jelly-Brain jinx reflected on her.

  “Il semblerait qu’on a une sérieuse candidate pour le Tournoi des Trois Sorciers!” (It seems like we have a serious candidate for the Triwizard Tournament!) Ronaldo refers to Alejandra, upon seeing a blanked-out Nurcan having lost some focus.

  But, as Nurcan recovers from the effects of the bounced Jelly-Brain jinx, and Ronaldo moves on to another pair of students, more memories about Alejandra’s attitude towards the Estates-General resurface.

  “Je t’ai menti à propos des états généraux, mais je l’ai fait quand tu m’as hexé…” (I lied to you about the Estates-General, but I did so while you hexed me…) Nurcan confesses to Alejandra, albeit over three years after the fact.

  The teacher then turns back to the duo. “Arrêtez-moi ?a tout de suite!” (Stop immediately!) Ronaldo orders Nurcan and Alejandra both.

  Alejandra might be a more powerful witch than I am, but I won’t let her steal my thunder! Hopefully, both of us will make it to Hogwarts, but only one of us will compete!

  By channeling these painful memories, Nurcan seems more determined to make the most out of this drill, not wanting to be outdone by this ghost from her past.

  So she attempts to cast another spell, with, once again, the incantation being spoken entirely within her mind.

  Yet, Alejandra’s mouth seems to increase in temperature, when the orange light hits her as the remnants of her own Shield Charm are pierced by the hex.

  Hit by a magical fever threatening to sear her tongue and palate, Alejandra seems to be a little unfocused, as she attempts to cast a non-verbal counter-jinx to get rid of the magical fever.

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  Which is only partially successful, so while it did help to some extent, it also makes her feel a little nauseated.

  When the DADA course ends, Alejandra comes back to Nurcan, asking her for some explanations about why she suddenly claimed she was lying years before:

  “Tu disais que tu m’as menti à propos des états généraux, c’est quoi la vérité?” (You said you lied to me about the Estates-General, what’s the truth?)

  “Les états généraux n’étaient pas vraiment du crédit supplémentaire d’arithmancie. C’était une assemblée extraordinaire moldue qui avait pour but de régler leurs problèmes fiscaux!” (The Estates-General weren’t really Arithmancy extra credit. They were an extraordinary Muggle assembly whose aim was to solve their fiscal problems!) Nurcan answers to the best of her abilities, fearing to be hexed again if the answer provided didn’t satisfy Alejandra.

  “Très bien, vaut mieux tard que jamais…” (Very well, better late than never…) Alejandra then struggles with the temptation to call Nurcan a closet Revolutionary, feeling like she could be forced to come out of the closet as a Royalist by doing so, potentially falsely.

  A Lumos charm is cast in Alejandra’s mind, while she walks away from Nurcan. That seems consistent with everything I heard about cahiers de doléances back then, but now that I have Ronaldo’s implicit endorsement going into the Triwizard Tournament…

  But before she starts the DADA homework about situations where nonverbal spell casting might be worthwhile, and when it might not be advised, Nurcan starts reflecting on how she viewed the Estates-General then vs now, triggered by Alejandra’s actions in that course. Back then, I held hopes that the Estates-General, even in failure, would still mark the start of something bigger and then leave a lasting legacy out of whatever that something bigger would be. That something would attempt to address the wide-ranging complaints of the population. But now? We are in a situation where Austria and Prussia are courting émigré wizards all over the place, as a consequence of Muggle power squabbles, and the monster that made it happen could trace its lineage back to the Estates-General.

  Of course, the starting point of the DADA homework would be, for Nurcan, when subtlety must be thrown out the window, or when the situation they’re in already involves loud noises. However, she must keep in mind that there are times when time is of the essence in a fight, or when a target’s defenses cannot be overcome with the caster’s nonverbal version of a spell, too. And she adds to that bait-and-switch tactics as part of when not to use nonverbal magic.

  When she goes to the library to expand on these ideas of when to use, and not to use, non-verbal magic in a DADA context, she runs into one of her previous roommates, Isabella.

  “Hé, Nurcan!” Isabella whispers to her in a Piedmontese accent when she gets seated.

  “Isabella?” Nurcan asks her, taken aback upon seeing her read about the Affair of the Poisons. “L’Affaire des Poisons… tu as déjà un devoir dessus?” (The Affair of the Poisons… you already have homework on it?)

  “Oui, et toi?” (Yes, and you?)

  “Mon devoir est sur la magie non-verbale par situations!” (My assignment is on nonverbal magic by situations!)

  The Affair of the Poisons: an event that marked the high point of pre-Statute wizarding criminality. But the assignment is about why it didn’t lead to the Statute of Secrecy, Isabella starts thinking about how to write her essay on the Affair of the Poisons. About “La Voisin” and her accomplices, Muggle and wizarding, including “La Trianon”, the Marchioness of Brinvilliers, and more. It seems that, unlike the Salem witch trials, where innocent people, both Muggles and witches, died at the hands of a judiciary that had both jealous Muggles and Scourers as judges, the Affair of the Poisons featured real crimes, Muggle and wizarding. Said crimes amounted to far worse than anything Salem witches actually did!

  In the meantime, Nurcan stays focused on when to use non-verbal magic and when it becomes a liability. She even looks into stuff such as silencing spells for the former, and concentration troubles for the latter, or other conditions that cause mental discipline to be impaired.

  By the time lunch time arrives, Nurcan ends up with an essay that’s well-researched, and might be a little long for what Ronaldo gave for guidelines.

  Around the lunch table, however, she sits with Emmanuelle on her right and Christine on her left. Emmanuelle begins talking about what her hopes are for this Quidditch season:

  “Si je joue bien cette saison, je pourrais virer pro au Quidditch!” (If I play well this season, I might go pro in Quidditch!) Emmanuelle starts talking about how she sees her future.

  “Je crois que tu vas y arriver, mais es-tu prête à quitter la France pour virer pro?” (I believe you’ll make it, but are you ready to leave France to go pro?) Nurcan makes a forecast on the fly.

  “C’est dr?le que tu en parles; une équipe chinoise semble intéressée, mais aimerait que je réussisse mes BUSE avant!” (It’s funny you mention it; a Chinese team seems interested, but would like that I pass my BUSEs first!) the Quidditch keeper answers Nurcan’s question.

  The Zhanjiang Bain-Maries want no BUSE grade below Acceptable. Until the Zhanjiang Bain-Maries became interested, I never believed a pro Quidditch team to have any interest in prospects’ academic prowess, Emmanuelle is left wondering whether other teams might get any interest in her, at home or abroad.

  “Tu me niaises?” (Are you kidding me?) Christine asks Emmanuelle, even though she knows that the best players in intramural Quidditch routinely go pro.

  “Non. à moins que je me blesse cette saison, je devrais jouer la prochaine saison comme gardienne pour les Bain-Maries de Zhanjiang!” (No. Unless I get injured this season, I should play next season as a keeper for the Zhanjiang Bain-Maries!) Emmanuelle answers Christine about how she sees her future in Quidditch.

  Thierry, on the other side of the table, asks Emmanuelle about Zhanjiang. “C’est où, Zhanjiang?” (Where is Zhanjiang?)

  Emmanuelle proceeds to explain people at her table about where China is, how far away it is from France, and then where Zhanjiang is within China.