Beauxbatons Academy of Magic (French: Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons) is the French wizarding school, located in the Pyreneesmountains^[1] 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.^[1] The school’s coat of arms consists of two golden wands crossed over one another, each shooting three stars.^[2]

History

Founded sometime before the 1290s,^[3] 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.^[1]

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.^[1] 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.^[1]

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.^[1] 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.^[4]

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 fountainin the middle of the school’s park, believed to have healing and beautifying properties, is named for them.^[1]

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^[src]

Students and staff are transported by use of the Beauxbatons carriages^[5] (French: Le carrosse de Beauxbâtons).^[6] 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.^[7] 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. Rumour has it the food that is served at the school is superb, with choirs of wood nymphs that serenade students as they eat.^[8]

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Uniform

 

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.^[9]

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.^[1]

In the last of these tournaments from 1994-1995, the Tournament was successfully reinstated. Their relationship with Hogwarts in this tournament was 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). However, Madam Maxine returned to Hogwarts for Albus Dumbledore‘s funeral demonstrating the cordial relationship continued between the schools.^[10]