{O'Dakota}Marie~!{I know Our Love is New}

[Terence Landon Wittney]

Terence Wittney smiled as he stumbled down the stairs lost in the throng of people. He paused watching as the students pushed by enjoying every minute of the student's frustration when he refused to move. Terry loved the feeling of confusion in the air, and people three inches away, it hid his own sense of confusion.
Shaking his head violently Terence breathed slowing his pace down the stair. The Hufflepuff looked around for a certain sixth year of whom he was assigned to. This particular student was deemed his shadow for the day. Spying the large crowd of teens he looked for a frail, beautiful exchange student from Beauxbaton most certainly to be in peril. Hogwarts contained boys, and boys equaled raging hormones. Marie would be thrown into a new school that included the beasts, and Terry would be her savior for swatting away the nasty things. Although, he was one himself....

[Marie Devereaux]

<sub>Terrified.

That's exactly what the fragile, bird-boned Marie Devereaux was on that first day at Hogwarts. Everyone was so rugged looking compared to her friends back at the Academy. In fact, she'd even taken a train over here. A filthy, smoke-chugging train. Jesus, couldn't they invest in a flying carriage or something? They were so much nicer, and they had a habit of being so much less bumpy.

Not that Marie was complaining. No, on the contrary, she was rather excited. In her old school, she'd been rough compared to all the pristine beauties, half of which were partially Veela. She was just a lowly street urchin who happened to be magical, and had been whisked away to the lovely school. None of the teachers there had liked her. She didn't care as much about the way she looked as everyone else there did. The girl didn't belong there, no matter if she had full-French blood running through her veins. Here at Hogwarts, where everything was fresh and new, was so much better.

Still, the rush of students in the hallways were almost too much for her to handle. She didn't like crowds. In fact, they scared her beyond belief. But she didn't want something as stupid as a little crowding ruin her first day at her new school.

She'd been told to look for a blonde boy wearing robes (not exceptionally helpful, as everyone was wearing robes), and a yellow tie. Naturally, there were a few boys that fit that description, all of whom winked at her flirtatiously and asked her provocatively if she needed some help. She'd asked for the boy by the name of Terrence Whitney. Most had shrugged and changed the subject, but the last one had pointed him out to her over the heads of many students. She'd thanked him in her native tongue before making her way over to Terence.

"Bonne matinée," she greeted him, curtsying and pulling a rather timid smile. A few wisps of hair had escaped the single French braid she'd put her hair in that morning, and were now threatening to molest her face. "Terence? Zat ees you?" Her accent was so plainly obvious, it was almost laughable.</sub>

[Terence Landon Wittney]

He caught his breath and returned the smile. Sure, he'd seen photos of the girl, but the life image was nothing compared the photo. She reminded him of a little french ballerina as she curtsied. His mother dragged him to some muggle ballet, the Nutcracker, he pondered to himself. It wasn't too bad, at least on Wizarding standards. The girls and guys pranced around on stage talking about love and what not. Terence smiled again, and nodded reached for her hand. "I only know a few words in French but, good morning to you too?" Chuckling softly he pulled out a small knapsack from his robes filled with school supplies and Marie's school schedule. "These are your necessities in Hogwarts. There really isn't a map for the place, but if you would like I can try and whip you up one. You probably know but, I'm Terence Landon Wittney, sixth year, and I'm not sure who's house they will be lumping you into. There is Slytherin for the sly, Hufflepuff for the loyal, Gryffindor for the brave, and Ravenclaw for the smarts. Of course there is the social happenings that you will soon see. Hufflepuff, such as I and Ravenclaw are usually split half and half. Half Slytherin, and half Gryfffindor, or neutral. Confusing to take in but you will see soon enough...." Scoffing he pointed toward the top of a staircase. "See, first years here are meat for fourth years and up." At that particular moment a Slytherin sixth year proceeded in pushing a first year down the staircase, their ink exploding upon impact to the ground. "Ten...ez des...sus?" Terry stuttered through broken French, quickly hurrying from the embarrassment. He helped the student pick up his things muttering tergo on his soiled robes. "Dustin! Watch your back!" He sneered as the Slytherin snickered, slithering away from the damage he inflicted.

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[Marie Devereaux]

<sub>She laughed at his telling her that he only knew a little French. It was strange. Most people back at Beauxbatons could speak fluent English, or at least could grasp what English people were saying. But here, in England, at this strange school, hardly anyone had any idea what she was talking about.

As she focused her attention on the boy talking, she immediately became confused. He was talking much too fast and even the nonsense about Houses didn't really reach her ears. Houses? What was the need for those? At the Academy, there were no Houses. Everyone simply slept with all the other girls of their year. So she was royally confused, until she remembered something that Dumbledore had written in her letter.

"I was told zat I would be..euh...staying with ze Ravenclaws," she struggled through the wording of her sentence. She was getting better at this. Normally, when she practiced her English, it was with people who spoke French, so she could simply communicate to them that way if they didn't understand her. But now, she had to express herself in a way that the English speakers would understand. Everything was so much more complicated here.

As she watched the scene unfold, a pang of pity ran through her towards the small eleven-year-old boy who'd fallen down the stairs. He was a scrawny little thing, the male version of herself when it came to size. An idea came to mind.

She winked at the little boy, nonchalantly pulling out her wand and flicking it girlishly at the boy who'd pushed the first year down the stairs. "Densaugeo." She muttered the spell under her breath before slipping her wand back into her back pocket and reaching down to help the small boy up, ignoring the cries of surprise that the Slytherin boy emitted as his teeth grew at an alarming rate.</sub>

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[Terence Landon Wittney]

"Mm, brilliance and beauty?" Terence inwardly chuckled as she casted a charm on the nasty Slytherin. His eyes lingered moment longer as the boy's friends carted him off to the Hospital Wing, shrieks from any student to see the charity case. Helping the kid to his feet Terry handed him his things and sent him on his way to the correct classroom, giving him a few pointers to keep of the slime of Hogwarts. "I do believe I owe you an explanation of Hogwarts. Grading should be the same, I do believe. Ravenclaw, respectful colors blue and bronze was founded by Rowena Ravenclaw. She along with three others founded Hogwarts. Hence the four houses, but I'm probably boring you with my chatter and basic Hogwarts facts, due tell me about yourself, Marie." With an awkward grin he timidly took her hand and led her up the stairs twisting around the late Hogwarts students. A few of his friends gave a wink and a nod, but he brushed them off with a sheepish grin.

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[Marie Devereaux]

<sub>She gave him one of those looks people give others when they're slightly confused about something they've just said. Such as the thing the Huffle had just stated about the beauty and the brains. Sure, she might have been brainy. She'd known THAT her whole life. But being called beautiful was rather new to her.

Perhaps the most lady-like snort that one could ever hear was emitted from the French girl as she saw the boy being hauled off the the Hospital Wing by his friends. "Zerves 'im right, zat leetle imbécile." A rather pretty smirk overtook her face at that point. It was halfway between a smile and one of those jokingly evil grins that friends flash each other. But her face was much too pretty for such a rogue-ish look as that.

She listened, interested in his little spiel. The girl was quite intrigued by this place that was Hogwarts. It simply had a prescence of magic about it, just as Beauxbatons had a sense of elegance and refinery about it. Durmstrang, which she'd been to in her earlier years, had a definite stench of power and strength about it. Something about all of the schools was prevalent. And in this, it was simply the mysterious air of magic.

Something that she found to be quite interesting. No matter how stupid this boy found himself to be, talking about it. But he'd asked about her, and she had to shake herself out of thinking to answer. She brushed a piece of hair out of her eyes. "Well, what iz is zat you want to know about moi?" she questioned, just as he grabbed her hand and began to lean her up the stairs.

Now, intimiate gestures such as these were not foreign to her. Back in France, these were simply the norm. Where do you think the 'French kiss' got its name? As such, Marie didn't find it in the least bit strange that he was holding her hand, even if all of the friends that he saw along the way gave him winks and the likes. She tried to keep her head down, not initiate conversation. She already had enough people-work to do today, without catching people's eyes in the corridors.</sub>

[Terence Landon Wittney]

"Let's start with the basics. Why your here? I mean Hogwarts is dirt underneath the bed compared to Beauxbaton." Sure he found Hogwarts to be structurally wonderful and magnificent, but the atmosphere was deadly and could snap at anything. People were poisoned, snuck love potions, dead for crying out loud. Who in their right mind would even think of coming to a school like Hogwarts? Unless they wanted to watch the Triwizard or something of that sorts. Otherwise Hogwarts was a ticking time bomb and time was running out. Soon enough a full out battle would arrive, and one group would be destroyed. Good and evil, plus hormones, and unpredictable mood swings, would ultimately lead to disaster one way or another.

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[Marie Devereaux]

<sub>It was a rather difficult question to answer, without giving a ton of her self-conscious nature away, as well as the fact that Beauxbatons wasn't a fairytale castle like so many people thought it was. It was pure living hell to people like Marie, who weren't of high-class blood, and didn't really have any business being there.

In fact, just the newness and fresh nature of Hogwarts made it a hellova lot more interesting than her native school. Everyone here actually had a dynamic shape. They weren't simply the pretty airheads, like back at her home school. Practically everyone there was either cruel beyond measure, or simply too stupid to talk to. She didn't really have any friends, so had decided, when they'd offered her the opportunity, that she'd have a better chance at success here.

She frowned, pushing back a lock of her wavy brown hair. "I suppose eet's zimplee zat, euh, Beauxbatons iz a school of preety fazes. Zere iz not anyone zere zat iz of any interest to talk to or be, euhh, civil around." She cursed her accent in that moment, and was infinitely jealous of the easiness with which this Terence boy found his words. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't she simply already know the language?

Perhaps the reason that Marie wasn't scared of the place was because, if you didn't spend twenty four hours a day there, seven days a week, it was very hard to tell that there was anything remotely wrong at Hogwarts. The head of the school had quieted down news of the killings that were happening left and right at the place, and so, if no one told her, the little exchange student would really never know. Neither would she have any idea about the New Order or the Death Eaters. For her pretty head was much too stuck in books and the likes for her to realize such hatred and battle-like things were going on around her.</sub>

[Terence Landon Wittney]

"Just wait my dear, Hogwarts is another story waiting to be unfurled. Where to first? There's the library, the common room. Anywhere you heart desires." Flashing a grin Terry led her up another flight of stairs pausing at the top. There was a certain beauty to the French lady that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Whether it was the accent that made him chuckle, or the thin frame on which her clothes hung on, he felt, at peace? There wasn't one word to describe it, but he respected her far more than any other lady, well girl at Hogwarts. She was intelligent no doubt, and gorgeous, but didn't have that air of, arrogance or childishness.

[Marie Devereaux]

<sub>He was asking her where to go? The girl was confused for a moment, as she'd thought the whole point of a tour was for the guide to show the other around.

But perhaps she was also a bit confused because of the fact that no one really ever let her make decisions. Sure, her parents and her old Headmistress asked her, but they already had plans formulated in their mind, and, as such, simply worked around with her answer like putty, until it fit something they wanted.

That was simply how manipulative the French were.

She frowned a little, before trying to word her answer. One could not know how long it took to translate when they have never done such a thing before. In fact, had Marie been anything less than gifted in the intelligence realm, she probably wouldn't be able to make a sentence without debating for a good fifteen minutes.

"Euhh. Iz zat not your choice, Terence?" she questioned, referring to where they were to be going. "Perzonallee, ze library would be my first choice but, euhh...it iz up to you." Although her words were chopped up by many a phrase of debating (hence the 'euh's) she really did believe she was getting better at this English stuff. Or, at least, she hoped she was.</sub>

[Terence Landon Wittney]

He froze. She had him there. It was his choice, but the lady, always had first choice. "The library it is!" Whisking her up the stairs he guided her through the throng of third years til they arrived at the threshold of the library's doors. "Don't mind the fifth years, they're always crammed in here studying. The librarian is over there, just ask her for help, she doesn't bite, much. Restricted is over there, I wouldn't go in there if I was you. Usually the seventh years and a few luck sixth years, get.... well it." Terence's cheeks flushed a pale pink thinking of it at all. Hogwarts was very crude and over the years changed immensely. "Anyway. There's nothing much too it. If ya want, we can skip the first few classes and hang here. I'm sure they won't mind." Grinning at his words since they were very true. His teachers had given them permission to skip the morning since she was new and all. Terry just had it lucky to be her guide. Very lucky.

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[Marie Devereaux]

<sub>She'd thought this would be more like a tour than what it was turning out to be. But, things were done differently at Beauxbatons. In fact, everything there was so much more formal than it was here at Hogwarts, and Marie was beginning to find that she liked this whole thing much more than she did her own school. It was all a tad more roughed up. Down and dirty (in the least sexual sense of the word). Sort of hands-on (again, don't be thinking dirty). She liked the fact that she'd become so intimate with this Terence fellow. At least she had one new friend at a place like this.

It was good to at least know someone. Back at her old school, she'd been a loner, the girl no one really talked to. She was a quiet thing, rather shy and reserved if one didn't know her well enough to get her talking. The only reason she was talking as fervently as she was with Terence was the fact that she felt safe around him. He was quite friendly. A jolly presence in all this strangeness that was Hogwarts. But it also may have been the fact that she wanted to branch out here. Her main reason for accepting and becoming an Exchange Student to Hogwarts was that she wanted friends. And back at Beauxbatons, everyone already knew her, and didn't like her. But maybe, just maybe, if she presented herself as a little more friendly here, they'd greet her with welcome arms. At least, she hoped so.

As the doors to the library were opened, Marie's jaw dropped. Never had she seen so many books in all her life. Beauxbatons was a school for girls, and believed that women should be trained in the matters of being polite and such, rather than books and knowledge. As such, their library was considerably lacking in most parts. All these books in one place made her almost giddy with excitement. "Zis iz..." She trailed off, the amazement in her voice ending the sentence for the English boy. Her extent of the English language couldn't get her far enough to come up with a word to express such happiness as she had at that moment. So many books. She was in heaven.

She turned and grinned at the boy the moment he suggested skipping class. "I like ze way you zink, Terence," she told him, laughing a tad. The 'r' sound in the boy's name was a tad hard for her, so she simply used her native French 'r', which sounded a bit like someone swallowing and choking at the same time. But no matter. In the next moment, she was at a bookshelf, her eyes and lithe fingers scanning over volumes. God, if heaven had a form, this would be it.</sub>

[Terence Landon Wittney]

A wink and a nod later Terrence led the fragile girl through the library by the tips of her fingers. Pointing at the each of the groups he smiled at the suits. "Well, Hufflepuff there, Ravenclaw there, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fiffth years, O.W.L's of course. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, oh look. Slytherin and Gryffindor fighting for a table, fourth years. How jolly." Grimancing he showed her the shiny gold plates that reflected each of the different subjects. "Here's Care of Magical Creatures, most dangerous subject." He chucked softly watching at a third year Gryffindor attempted to pull out a book but in response had a painful nip at his finger. "Beastly books they are. Well, what are you most interested in?"

[Marie Devereaux]

<sub>The French girl never really understood the concept of Houses. Back in her own country, there were so few girls at the school that such divisions weren't necessary. In fact, Marie believed it would have weakened the bonds that the girls had with each other if they'd been split into Houses when they arrived at the small, breath-taking school.

For House rivalry was something that no one at Beauxbatons had ever experienced. There was no such thing as Quidditch or House Points. Girls were too lady like to play such a sport or be punished in such a crude, strange way. Besides, housepoints wouldn't really mean anything. The girls might be competitive about things like school and vain about their looks, but the schooling at Beauxbatons was more difficult than it was at Hogwarts. There was so much more to worry about. At this English school, if one didn't curtsey upon every arrival in a room, it was perfectly alright, where as, back at the French school, there would be major consequences.

So, naturally, Marie didn't really get the reason why a group of Slytherins and a group of Gryffindors fighting was really any big deal at all. But to Terence, it seemed to be. And that automatically made it something to the Frenchie. In the few minutes she'd spent with this boy, she'd begun to revere him. In fact, as they traversed through the library, she began to really look at him.

He was a few inches taller than herself, and thus, the top of her head came up to about the bridge of his nose or so. Eye contact between the two wasn't too difficult to manufacture. His hair was a nice sandy blonde, something she rarely saw back in France. A delicacy, although that phrasing does tend to trigger more of a food-type reaction. He was slender, but at the same time, she knew he couldn't be blown over easily. A steady prescence, to say the least. But what really amazed her were his eyes.

As he stopped talking, she stepped forward, so they were barely a foot apart. She disregarded what he'd been saying completely in perhaps the nicest, most polite way possible; she wasn't a mean girl. Instead, she reached up a hand to brush that rather long, sandy hair out of the way so she could get a better look at those beautiful blue-green orbs. A slight smile weaved its way through her pretty features. "You have ze most incredeeble eyes..."

Her voice trailed off, and her delicate hand fell back to her side.</sub>

[Terence Landon Wittney]

Mouth wide and eyes staring back at the French girl he laughed.
It was a soft chuckle, nothing more than an out take of breath but it was present. She thinks, my eyes, but her? His baffled thoughts rushing through as he took a deep breath of air, closing his mouth into a thin line of a smile. "Thank you...?" The words tumbled from his mouth falling, eventually pooling around his feet.
How was it possible that this, gorgeous French lady could think anything of Terrence. It would make sense that she would find someone like, Zane Lestrange or Noah Dale attractive. Someone much more poised and structured than Terry. Her locks of chocolate perfection and a smile that could brighten anyone's miserable day. A fragile body to frame around her fluttering soul.
Silly Terry. Tripping over his own heels at a girl he just met. Before he could stop himself the words tumbled from his thoughts and spewed from his mouth.
"Would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?"
Even as the question emerged from his lips he knew they were a terrible mistake. Too fast, too fast! His thoughts screamed back at him. It was worth a shot...?