Beauxbatons Academy of Magic

Beauxbatons Academy of Magic (French: l'académie de magie de Beauxbâtons) is a wizarding school located in the Palace of Beauxbatons in the Pyrenees in southern France; the current Headmistress is Madame Olympe Maxime.

The school coat of arms is two golden wands crossed over one another, each shooting three stars. Beauxbatons has a large number of students from France, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Students complete their O.W.L.-level examinations after six years of study instead of five.

Castle and grounds


Beauxbatons Palace 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 Hall, wood nymphs serenade the students while they eat, and at Christmas, the hall is adorned with great, glittering, non-melting ice sculptures.

Traditions
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.

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 to 1995, the Tournament was successfully reinstated, and the group arrived in a pastel-blue coach pulled by twelve Abraxan flying horses which fed only on single-malt whisky. Their relation with Hogwarts in this tournament was strained slightly due to Lord Voldemort's servant placing Harry Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire giving Hogwarts a second champion.

Alumni

 * Fleur Delacour
 * Gabrielle Delacour
 * Luc Millefeuille
 * Nicolas Flamel
 * Olympe Maxime
 * Perenelle Flamel
 * Vincent Duc de Trefle-Picques
 * Various students
 * Ministry Witch
 * Headteacher of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic during 1792

Etymology
Beauxbatons was likely devised from the French "beaux bâtons," literally translated as "beautiful sticks"; however in French the word "bâton" is also used to mean "wand."

Behind the scenes

 * In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Beauxbatons appears to be an all-girl school. However, the book makes scattered references to male Beauxbatons students.
 * In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 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 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the pronunciation sounds even more French, as Stephen Fry does not pronounce the S at the end of the word. Pottermore confirms Fry's pronouncation, styling it as Bo - batton.
 * 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 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, its suggested both the male and female students of the school are good-looking.
 * In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 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.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
 * Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book
 * Pottermore

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