Beauxbatons Academy of Magic

Beauxbatons Academy of Magic
School information
Location	French Pyrenees, France
Headmaster	1792 Headteacher (formerly) Olympe Maxime
Affiliation	French Ministry of Magic International Confederation of Wizards Educational Office

"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

Beauxbatons Coat of Arms

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

File:BeauxbatonsAcademyofMagic.png

Palace of Beauxbatons

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

"As the gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw a gigantic, powderblue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant."

— The Beauxbatons' carriages arrive at Hogwarts

Beauxbatons's carriage

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.

At the Palace of Beauxbatons, they have ice sculptures all around the dining chamber at Christmas. The ice sculptures do not melt to the point that they are like statues of glittering diamond. According to Fleur Delacour, the food that is served at the school is superb, with choirs of wood nymphs that serenade students as they eat.

Uniform

Beauxbatons uniform

The students wear pale blue robes made of fine silk.

Reputation and rivalry

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.

Typically, Beauxbatons Academy has enjoyed a very warm, cordial relation with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as even during the Triwizard Tournament the two schools have enjoyed a healthy rather than bitter rivalry; Beauxbatons has won the Tournament sixty-two times and Hogwarts has won sixty-three.

In the last of these tournaments from 1994-1995, their relationship with Hogwarts was somewhat more strained due to Lord Voldemort's servant placing Harry Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire thereby giving Hogwarts a second champion, though having said that the relationship did not become outright hostile (as individual Hogwarts and Beauxbatons students remained friendly towards one another and some even attended the Yule Ball with one another). In addition, Madam Maxime returned to Hogwarts for Albus Dumbledore's funeral, demonstrating the cordial relationship continued between the schools.

Alumni

Nicholas Flamel

FLEUR1.jpg

Fleur Delacour

GABRIE.jpg

Gabrielle Delacour

Olympe Maxime

Aurélie Dumont

• Luc Millefeuille
• Perenelle Flamel
• Vincent Duc de Trefle-Picques
• Ministry Witch
• 1792 Headteacher
• Various unidentified students
• Davet Dumont

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).

See also

• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
• Durmstrang Institute

Gallery

Behind the scenes

• 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.
• In the book, it's suggested both the male and female students of the school are good-looking.
• 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 UK and US audiobook editions of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the pronunciation of "Beauxbatons" sounds more French, as both Stephen Fry and Jim Dale respectively not having pronounced the S at the end of the name. Pottermore confirms Fry's pronouncation, styling it as Bo - batton.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Beauxbatons is incorrectly pronounced by Dumbledore as boh-BAT-tons. This appears to be an error of pronunciation on Dumbledore's behalf, seeing as the French students pronounce it correctly.

The entrance of the all female students into the Great Hall in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Beauxbatons is pictured as an all-girls school; which is directly contrasted in the novel. At least four boys are in attendance in the book and Davet Dumont, Nicholas Flamel, Luc Millefeuille and Vincent Duc de Trefle-Picques were students in earlier decades, showing it is a co-educational establishment. It was likely intended as a contrast to the students of Durmstrang, who, in the film, are all male.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is said that Gabrielle Delacour is already a Beauxbatons student; the book does not explicitly identify her as such, though she does come to Hogwarts with the other Beauxbatons students. As Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows reveals Gabrielle to be eleven by that point (marking her as eight at the beginning of Goblet of Fire), this suggests that Beauxbatons students start school at a much earlier age than Hogwarts ones.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First mentioned)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book (Mentioned only)
• Pottermore (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: The Creature Vault (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Mentioned only)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay (Mentioned only)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Mentioned only)