Chapter Text
Chute de Pari
Monique Laurent stood in the eastern tower of beauxbatons school of magic overlooking the french countryside the valleys and the fields. She had started to come up here in September after her mother had written that faithful letter. Life at beauxbatons had always been like a kind of dream with nymphs and girls dressed in blue silks, that’d been the day that had changed. Across the dining hall, the line between purebloods and even half-bloods had never been clearer. Looking around Niq had never seen so many blanched faces, but more than that was the sheer distinction as half the school sat in horror and the other went about their day as if nothing had happened or joked and played without a care.
Niq’s friend Tilde had leaned forward at her stark face questionably. “Germany has invaded Poland '', was the fear and shook laced whisper that Niq could manage.
And Tilde had laughed, honestly laughed “seriously that’s what’s got you all worried some muggle government taking over another, don’t worry this happened like a decade ago and it didn’t even touch the wizarding world I honestly thought Grindelwald attacked” then she had put a hand on Niq’s shoulder sobering up “you can’t scare me like that, now we have etiquette with madam Maxine. You should worry more for the poor girls that will have her as headmistress should she ever get her wish”. And was off just like that, like the world wasn’t on the brink of war.
Ultimately time had proven the fear of Grindelwald to be universal in the student body but the fear of Hitler was tearing apart friendships all across the school.
It was in fact a fraying friendship that had landed Niq on the forgotten attack balcony of the eastern tower tonight. Earlier in the day Aline, one of the other muggle-born Parisians, had blown up at dinner. It had been yet another gray lit dream of dancing nymph smiling girls and solemn ghosts when Aline’s friend Yvette had sung out joyously “Last night the Aurors and Dumbledore flushed out and foiled a good half of old Grindi walds men and the horizons on sight for the end of this long and darkening night”.
Half the school had cheered and suddenly it was like someone had lit a fire under her wings Aline was off “The end is in sight Yevette, in fucking sight” Aline had torn out of her seat at this point too stand eye to eye with Yevette. “You are kidding me right, most of France is already under german occupation, Grindelwald has about eight strongholds the size of the one seized last night. The end isn’t in sight Yevette, the middle isn’t even in sight for either war. For god sake we are in a German occupation zone now, what if Hitler has nazi wizards on his side, are you prepared to fight an army of crazed nazi’s Yevette. And all that is forgetting the darkest wizard in our history since Mordred.” and with that she had turn tailed and left the room before even madame Maxine could scold her on her language.
It had been Tilde’s question that had sent Niq running up here after a terse and quiet dinner where she hadn’t even really tried to answer, “So what’s a Nazi exactly?”
So here she was on the night of June 13, 1940, hoping that maybe the line of yellow flashes and ever-distant crashes would come closer again away from her parents and away from her home.
It was nearing ten at night when Tilde joined her. She had come up quietly before she took in what Nuiq was watching and said joyously, “Ahh see look the muggles of Paris are celebrating and just in time for your arrival”.
And suddenly Niq had never understood Aline better in that moment as her entire body was filled with a kind of ice-cold fear and at the same time boiling rage at her once best friends refusal to understand the severity of the world screaming around them. So with one last broken look Niq turned saying a broken and quiet, “Good-Bye Tilde”.
It wouldn’t be until mid-late September when Beaubatons reconvened for the next year that Tilde would understand the severity of her friend's words. At first, assuming that she couldn’t find Niq on the carriage back for the same reason she hadn’t answered her letters all summer, they were still fighting. It would take the current headmistresses announcement and the apparent lack of almost the entire student body for Tilde to realize it would be a long time before she would see her friend.
Niq on the other hand had gone home stealed for a war she knew no to few adult wizards would care about. Niq would spend the next few years running a magic aided underground designed to hide Jews, gypsies, and other undesirables. When the Americans and Englishman finally beat back the wave of nazi suppression she had stashed almost three hundred people in different fidelius charmed houses and had indeed fought nazi wizards on a fourth-year education. On top of that, she had arranged and facilitated Aline and one of her friends to teach both a muggle and magical education to all those that would listen as a majority of the people in those houses were children.
When the war was finally over Niq was awarded a position on the International Confederation of Wizards Auror squad, she was the youngest to ever get accepted and the only one to ever get accepted without her NEWTS let alone OWLS since standardized testing was introduced to the wizarding world. Other than the ICW who was tasked to see the big picture the young girl's efforts were not recognized by any government wizarding or muggle, cause all the rescued had been sworn to secrecy and all the wizarding world cared about was the big firefight between Dumbledore and Grindlewald.
Tilde on the other hand having had to do nothing more than worry about the possibility of Grindlewald attacking and her annoying ex-friend who abandoned her had Owed her owls and newts and was given a relatively high starting position in the department of magical items enforcement.
It would be three years after Tilde’s graduation that they would meet and by then Tilde was well on her way to being department head before she was thirty. Tilde was eternally surprised to see Her old friend Monique escorting an international Magic items dealer that had been wreaking real havoc in France lately after moving here from Japan. And Tilde only watched in awe as her drop-out ex-friend ordered both ICW Aurors and French Aurors like she had seniority over them, or more importantly watched as they attentively followed every order.
She then scoffed and walked away cause her eyes must be deceiving her, but then later when she brought it up with her boss the only answer was, “You mean Niq with a plan Niq, the Head Auror of the ICW Aurors” her boss and then turned to her. “You know her, do you know what he did in the war against Grindlewald, every time someone asks her she scoffs and says that she never fought Grindelwald, but how else do you explain her getting her job as a 17-year-old with only a fourth-year education.”
And with that Tilde was left shook, had those Nawi’s been really a big enough deal that she had gotten that kind of job out of it. It was something that gnawed on the back of her brain until they ran into each other a few years down the road and Tilde straight out blurted out, “so did you defeat a bunch of Nawi’s is that what you did in the fight against Grindlewald” with no niceties whatsoever.
But all the received was a scoff as Niq barely took off again and she could hear as she retreated her companion, maybe her partner, “Is she why never try to explain it to wizards cause that was rough to hear”
“Imagine hearing it as fourth-year watching the bombs in the distance as the nazis took Paris and her calling them fireworks” came the barely heard answer from Niq before them and the sounds they made completely faded.