Beauxbatons, it seems, is not immune to the team-cest that we’ve seen burgeoning on the other foreign teams, as the hormone-laden teens just desperately want someone to relate to. The flirty Frenchies can't keep it in their pants, when they're too busy trying to get into each others’. It's long been thought undersized Beater Danielle Moyet carried on a secret romance with big buff Keeper Aidan de Groen throughout the first term of the tournament, something their clandestine conversations in a little understood language confirmed for us. Everyone, and we do mean everyone, saw him get dumped into a pool at the annual Warbeck gala, but that's not the end of his troubles. By a long shot. You see, de Groen's not over Moyet, and this has led to something of a fierce feud between him and beater Sebastien Popovic. The battle of the burly, built blondes is raging night and day, disturbing what was once seen as the closest, most nurturing team. Cutting remarks, stray hexes and even fisticuffs have been said to have been employed as they rage at each other. It seems Popovic, always a close friend of Moyet—so close that it's whispered they've been sleeping together since before they even came to England—now thinks it's "his" turn; and whether it's because he's earned it through patient friendship or feels entitled to take his shot at his beater partner is anyone's guess. The touchy feely team need to be doing a little less of both, in our opinion! Can they sort out this mess before they're due on the pitch? Or is one boy keeping a beating ready for the other? And can we get ringside seats?
Nor is the love triangle the only romantic entanglement Moyet appears to be involved with. Prefect badge in hand, she has been noticed coming back post-curfew after "studying sessions" with Hogwarts student Maxwell Boot ran overtime. It's certainly not a one-time occurrence, which begs the question, "When will they admit to being a couple?" Or maybe that definition is too constricting for the liberal little European, who perhaps doesn’t want to limit her options, what with her burly teammates openly sparring over her affections.
Things aren’t going so well for two other members of Team Beauxbatons, either. It seems that Seeker Alphonse Lefebvre has yet to make a move on Elodie Labelle, the much sought-after, beautiful part-veela Chaser. After her public outburst on the popular but hardly functional school journals, announcing to the whole student body of her sex life (or lack thereof), we have yet to see the couple do more than hold hands in public. A few sources insist that the Seeker has a lover on the side (one of his many attractive teammates, perhaps?), while others assure that Lefebvre is not interested in women at all! We can only hope this mystery will solve soon, lest Labelle finds love in someone else’s arms. It would not be denied that she has plenty to choose from! In the meantime, Lefebvre would do a good job out of watching his back before he ends up charred by one of the fireballs Labelle's ancestors were so fond of.
Speaking of those ancestors, we aren’t the only ones wondering if the alluring veela appeal is how Labelle secured her spot to begin with. Her lacklustre performance thus far has us all curious to know if a wily smile, bat of the eyelashes, and wiggle of certain jiggly parts quite literally Charmed Headmaster Duarte and Coach Marat into giving her the spot over other, perhaps more qualified players. She wouldn’t be the first, and we say brava to her for working what her mama gave her. Just a shame such charms won’t work on her boyfriend...
Even Beauxbatons Captain Didier Blanchard is also having trouble in his romantic life recently—though for once, his does not revolve around a teammate. Instead, Blanchard appears to have been cooperating internationally with Hogwarts announcer Septimius Rookwood, known around the school as something of a reprobate. While we’re not entirely sure whether it’s the ladies or the gents who ought to be jealous of Rookwood’s good fortune in landing the stunning Captain, it seems that Rookwood’s eye has predictably wandered, and such that the two embarked on a menage a trois with an as-yet unnamed Hogwarts girl. Will this be the undoing of the unlikely couple?
Despite his fellow Chasers’ lack of luck in love, Rene Broussard appears to have good fortune smiling down upon him—in the form of sunny Beauxbatons photographer Cassie Renoire. We’ve certainly noticed her camera lens pointing at him a disproportionate amount of the time—and it is definitely not due to his mediocre performance. When Broussard will wake up and smell the coffee is anyone’s guess, but we hope for his sake it’s before Renoire gives up her crush and moves on to someone more receptive to her advances.
Such a pity all romance can’t be quite so innocent, but we’re sure our readers recall slightly more scandalous trysts from their days at the castle—and it looks as though these days are no different, despite Hogwarts Captain Garrett Flint’s teamwide prohibition on romance. Chaser Elliot Goldstein, recently promoted to the main squad, is teetering on the edge of heartbreak, if castle clamourings are to be believed. It seems the resident royal Philip Delaval, always a close friend of tomboy Elliot, has been making overt moves; bringing her breakfast, romantic rowboat outings on the black lake and even trying out for her vacant reserve spot in an effort to be nearer to the object of his affections! No word yet on what her twin brother Eli has to say, but it's a wonder pretty Prince Philip's had time to study at all! We'd advise Elliot to watch her back—it's not only bludgers that can bring a girl a world of hurt, even one so fearless as our Elle!
Even surly Beater Charles MacFusty, of the famously taciturn MacFusty clan of the Hebrides Dragon Preserve, appears to have found someone he doesn’t entirely hate. One Hailey Macmillan, socialite gone wrong, apparently spent the entire spring holiday visiting MacFusty at his ancestral home way up in the middle of nowhere. As secretive as those icy Scots are, we can only speculate what the two were up to, but we do know those MacFustys like to breed young—and all we can say is that dragons can only guard certain secrets for so long!
With the rampant team-cest occuring on the other teams, this one really should not come as a shocker—though we did think that with the sheer numbers of the student body, the odds might have been in Hogwarts’ favour to avoid this particular brand of team drama. Alas, enter Reserve George Towler, newest addition to the Hogwarts roster, who apparently had one thing on his mind during his trial (hint: not Quidditch). The towheaded kid with the boyish good looks has apparently had his eye on Keeper Rose Weasley (daughter of war heroes Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger) for some time now and seized upon his opportunity. Weasley is, unsurprisingly, head over heels. Will this newly-formed distraction prove detrimental to Weasley’s as-of-yet solid performance?
But of all the romance rumours plaguing the Hogwarts team, this one takes the cake. The four Longbottom children enjoyed some baby-themed cupcakes on the Hogwarts Express back from their spring holiday, apparently in celebration of Chaser Edith Longbottom’s happy (?) news. One wouldn’t have thought war hero and Hogwarts professor Neville Longbottom or his wife Hannah Abbott to be so over the moon about becoming grandparents at this early stage—and particularly not when the alleged father, fifth year Hal Gillespie, is in fact younger than Longbottom—but hey, who’s to deny them their joy? The ones truly weeping here, we suspect, are the Quidditch scouts who’ll have to wait another eighteen years to see if Longbottom’s kid inherited any of her talent on the pitch.
If there’s anything the Hogwarts team has an overabundance of, it’s the children of war heroes—and first among them is Seeker James Potter, eldest child of the illustrious Harry Potter. But riding on his father’s coattails seems to be old hat for Potter, who we hear shouldn’t actually be eligible to play, so atrocious are his marks. It simply wouldn’t do for Harry Potter’s son to be removed from the team—nor, we suspect, to be denied an offer from the Aurors, or to get any fewer than four offers to play professional Quidditch. And thus, a new legend is written—or rewritten.
Nor is Potter the only player whose father may have had no small influence on his role in the Tournament. Rumour has it Marcus Flint, father of Captain Garrett Flint, secured his son’s leadership role with a bribe to Coach McCormack. Flint, who is noted around school as a rather barbarous lout (not the first Slytherin to be described as such), appears not to have much in the way of leadership skills to recommend him for his position, and in fact his choice initially spurred shock and confusion amongst his class- and teammates—which poses the question, why would McCormack accept such a bribe in the first place? Perhaps to see the spawn of Marcus Flint (whom readers will probably not remember for his brief stint with the Falcons) fall—in which case, of course, karma is a bitch.
Yes, of course it is perhaps the single biggest piece of gossip to hit the Hogwarts team all year: the departure of first-string Chaser and daughter of the coach, Coronation Street Pye. While many have speculated as to the reason for the sudden and immediate abandonment, we have it on good authority that Pye actually left of her own accord. The story is, as you can imagine, rather more complex than we have room to share here, so keep your eyes peeled for the full scoop, coming soon right here!