<div class="floatleft">(https://i.gifer.com/HhkI.gif)</div><div class="floatright">(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/e/ea/BeauxbatonsCrestClearBg.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20160630041801)</div><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><strong>NAME:</strong> Valentin Delestrac (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=299655.msg14656422#msg14656422)<br/><strong>YEAR:</strong> Third<br/><strong>BLOOD STATUS:</strong> Half-blood<br/><strong>WAND:</strong> 12½ inches, Ash, Unicorn, Inflexible<br/><strong>WEARING:</strong> Beauxbâtons Academy uniform<br/><strong>DATE | TIME:</strong> Monday, 2 September 2019 | Evening<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong> Grand Hall<br/><strong>CONTENT:</strong> **The dialogue is in French, too lazy to translate**<br/><strong>MOOD MUSIC:</strong> Les Cowboys Fringants - La manifestation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyvyVjQb0-I)<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong> Flora Trémaux, Beauxbâtons students, Open<br/><strong>NOTE:</strong> His speech is continuous and he won't stop even if there are disturbances in the background.</td></tr></tbody></table><br/><hr/><br/><em>"Student union?"</em><br/><br/>Madame Trémaux seemed puzzled by his question, looking at her colleagues hoping perhaps for remindful eyes only to find confused ones. She seemed to consider his request for a moment before giving him an answer. Valentin gulped as he was all ears, ready to present a counter-argument.<br/><br/><em>"You may address the students."</em><br/><br/>His eyes grew wider, while his mouth opened slightly in surprise. He shut it quickly and nodded, his eyes moving around the table as if to find a meaning to Trémaux's words.<br/><br/><em>"But, please do not touch the lectern."</em><br/><br/>"Understood, thank you, Madame," Valentin replied, trying to reciprocate her smile with one of his own, but it only came out as an awkward attempt that quickly died, with repeated fast blinks and his eyes avoiding eye contact with hers. He pivoted on his feet and walked towards the lectern, standing in front of it, making sure not to touch it, even though the curious child in him wanted to touch it. He glanced down, wondering how the mechanism worked, only to remember he was at a magic academy. He felt dumb for half a second there while he took out a piece of paper from his jacket's pocket, he made sure it was the right one, because he had two of them, one for a floor speech and one for a lectern speech.<br/><br/>Valentin was never unprepared.<br/><br/>Beauxbâton's uniform didn't look good on him. The light blue jacket and beige pants just made his big head stand out more, as they did for his messy hair. He had well heard some of the mocking remarks regarding him when he walked up front but chose to ignore them, especially his too familiar sister's voice and her go-to insults. Valentin was not exactly confident of the success of his speech, but he was unfortunately relatively used to public humiliations, so whatever happened would happen.<br/><br/>He was ready to use the sonorus spell to be heard and get everyone's attention, but the spell was already integrated in the lectern which facilitated his task. Clearing his throat, he bent over the lectern slightly.<br/><br/>"Hmm," he let out, which resonated through the Grand Hall, only for Valentin to straighten up and blink a few times, knowing that he had messed up the start. Holding the sheet of paper with his left hand, which he noticed was shaking, he raised his right hand into fist and lifted his chin.<br/><br/>"My fellow students," he began, his eyes looking around at the students, a good portion of which were looking his way curiously while a few others didn't care, as they were eating or in the middle of seemingly more important conversations. "I know what you're thinking. Just who the hell is this guy? Some of you might know me, most of you probably don't," he continued, his eyes inconceivably looking for his sister Ria, hoping for some kind of support. "I am Valentin Delestrac, your comrade and student union president. Tonight, we start a new semester in this great academy. Tonight, we take a step in history by the recognition of our student union, a first in the magical world, despite much progress in that regard in the Muggle world, for comparison. Tonight, we catch up to the Muggles in student representation and student rights through this assembly."<br/><br/>He took a pause, his right arm being numb from being raised for so long, so he lowered it, and looked up from his sheet, judging the crowd for half a second, before continuing his speech, now holding the sheet with both hands, much steadier than when he started.<br/><br/>"The Beauxbâtons Student Union's mission is to defend and promote the rights and interests, both individual and collective, of its student population, in addition to representing the student population with regard to the academy's administration, as well as the Ministry of Magic," he continued his speech, looking down to read from time to time. "The Union has also the mission of promoting collective and political awareness among its members, in other words, you and me. To do so, the Union functions in a democratic process revolving around general assemblies where issues will be discussed and the Union, and thus the student body, will take official position which will act as a means of pressure on relevant actors. Throughout the world, a handful of wizards in fancy robes attempt to impose their version of what education should be to us. One day they might increase tuition on a whim, causing many of us around here not to be able to pursue our studies due to potential greed and mismanagement. One day they might unjustly cause grievance over the academic performance of a student in a particular class. To prepare for such days, the Union is there to organize and unite the student population into a single force. Remember this, comrades, unity makes strength!"<br/><br/>As he said the last words and raised his voice to put emphasis on the word 'strength', his voice cracked. He cleared his throat and pretended like that didn't just happen, putting his hand holding the paper to the side along his thigh.<br/><br/>"I hereby invite you all to a General Assembly a week from now in this hall, after classes, on September 9th. Paraphrasing Marx here, we must let the ruling classes tremble at our union. We have nothing to lose but our chains. We have a world to win. Thank you," he finished, taking a deep breath and lowering his chin to a more casual position.