Beauxbatons Academy of Magic

"Thought to be situated somewhere in the Pyrenees, visitors speak of the breath-taking beauty of a chateau surrounded by formal gardens and lawns created out of the mountainous landscape by magic."

- Description of the landscape around Beauxbatons

Beauxbatons Academy of Magic (French: Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons) is the French wizarding school, located in the Pyrenees mountains of southern France. The school takes many of its students from France, as well as large numbers from Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. It's unknown if students from other countries are allowed. The school's coat of arms consists of two golden wands crossed over one another, each shooting three stars.

History
Founded sometime before the 1290s, Beauxbatons has had many noteworthy students over the years. Most prominent are Nicolas Flamel, the alchemist famed for discovering the Philosopher's Stone, and his wife Perenelle.

Apart from the Flamels, famous ex-students of Beauxbatons include Vincent Duc de Trefle-Picques, who escaped the Terror by casting a concealment charm on his neck and pretending that his head had already been cut off; Luc Millefeuille, the infamous pastry-maker and Muggle-poisoner, and Fleur Delacour, who fought in the world-famous Battle of Hogwarts, married Bill Weasley and was awarded medals of bravery from both the French and British Ministries of Magic. Olympe Maxime, Headmistress in the mid 1990s, was (in spite of her protestations to the contrary) a half-giantess; clever, elegant, and undeniably awe-inspiring.

Beauxbatons participated in the Triwizard Tournament that was held in 1792 and the tournament that was held in 1994. During the 1792 tournament one of the tasks involved catching a cockatrice. However, the beast went on a rampage and injured three of the judges, one of the injured was at the time the head of Beauxbatons. In the 1994 tournament, Fleur was selected school champion and finished in fourth place behind the other three contestants. During the 1994 tournament, Madame Maxime served as head of the academy.

Castle and grounds


The Palace of Beauxbatons is a beautiful chateau surrounded by majestic gardens and fountains magically created out of the surrounding mountains, and has stood for over seven hundred years. In the Dining Chamber, Wood Nymphs serenade the students while they eat, and at Christmas, the hall is adorned with great, glittering, non-melting ice sculptures.

It is said that the stunning castle and grounds of this prestigious school were part-funded by alchemist gold, for Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel met at Beauxbatons in their youth, and a magnificent fountain in the middle of the school’s park, believed to have healing and beautifying properties, is named for them.

Traditions
Students and staff are transported by use of the Beauxbatons carriages (French: Le carrosse de Beauxbâtons). The carriages are a light-blue, pulled by a dozen winged horses. Despite being used as transportation by Beauxbatons, travelling in an Abraxan horse-drawn giant carriage the size of a house is a breach of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. The Abraxan horses are only fed single-malt whisky.

The students at Beauxbatons Academy have been taught to stand at attention from when their Headmistress enters the room until she seats herself, showing great respect for her.

The students wear pale blue robes made of fine silk.

Reputation
Education at Beauxbatons Academy was of a similar calibre of the education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland. Beauxbatons students take their equivalent of Ordinary Wizarding Levels in their sixth year, rather than their fifth like their Hogwarts counterparts. Students who are of age were shown to be able to cast the Avis Charm wandlessly and nonverbally.

Rivalry with other schools
Typically, Beauxbatons Academy has enjoyed a very warm, cordial relation with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the exception being during the Triwizard Tournament, where the two schools have enjoyed a healthy rivalry; Beauxbatons has won the Tournament sixty-two times and Hogwarts has won sixty-three.

In the last of these tournaments from 1994-1995, the Tournament was successfully reinstated. Their relation with Hogwarts in this tournament was strained due to Lord Voldemort's servant placing Harry Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire giving Hogwarts a second champion. However, Madam Maxine returned to Hogwarts for Albus Dumbledore's funeral demonstrating the cordial relationship continued between the schools.

Alumni

 * Various unidentified students

Etymology
Beauxbatons was likely devised from the French "beaux bâtons," literally translated as "beautiful sticks". In French, "baguette" is the word used for "wand" but "bâton" might be a reference to it, although it would be more likely translated as "staff" (e.g. Mad-Eye Moody's staff).

Behind the scenes

 * In the movie, the Beauxbatons Coat of Arms is a shield surrounded by golden lines with two gold wands on the top; in the book it is two crossed wands emitting three stars each in the middle.
 * In, Beauxbatons is pronounced wrong. Dumbledore says boh-BAT-tons. This appears to be an error of pronunciation on Dumbledore's behalf, seeing as the French students pronounce it correctly. In the UK audiobook edition of , the pronunciation sounds even more French, as Stephen Fry does not pronounce the S at the end of the word. confirms Fry's pronouncation, styling it as Bo - batton.
 * In the film of Goblet of Fire all the students from Beauxbatons are female, however, the book makes no such mention of this. Indeed, at least four boys are in attendance in the book, showing it is not a girls-only school. In the film this was probably done to make the all-girls student body appear glamorous and attractive to the male students of Hogwarts, given Ron's reaction to seeing them, however, in the book, it's suggested both the male and female students of the school are good-looking.
 * In it is said that Gabrielle Delacour is already a Beauxbatons student, but in HPDH (book), it is said Gabrielle is eleven, so she would be starting the year to come. It is also possible, though, that Beauxbatons starts earlier than Hogwarts, since it is an individual school with many differences when compared to Hogwarts.
 * Some Beauxbatons students and Madame Maxime attended the final of the Quidditch World Cup in England in 1994. It's unknown if Beauxbatons, like Hogwarts, has summer holidays in August and, if they have, if there is a regular option to stay at Beauxbatons during the summer or if this was a special arrangement for the Quidditch World Cup only.

Notes and references
Academia de Magia Beauxbatons Beauxbatons-Akademie für Zauberei Academia Mágica Beauxbatons Beauxbâtons Accademia di Magia di Beauxbatons Шармбатон Beauxbatons Akademia Magii Beauxbatons