From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 318: The Delegation Arrives

On October 10th, the professor in charge of the last class in the afternoon ended the class early and let those distracted students leave.

They rushed back to their respective dormitories, put down their textbooks and schoolbags as required, put on the standard Hogwarts black cloaks, hurriedly tidied up their appearance, and came to the front of the hall together.

The deans of the four colleges were directing their students to line up. The first-year students were the shortest, so they stood at the front, and the second to seventh-year students followed suit. The prefects of each college were responsible for helping their deans make fine adjustments to prevent those who were too tall (such as Ron) from blocking the view of the students behind them.

After the team was lined up, everyone walked out of the hall, crossed the steps, and stood in an arc in front of the castle. In the middle of the arc were the professors of the college. Professor Flitwick, the head of Ravenclaw, stood in the front, and Dumbledore, the tallest, stood at the back. Not far from Dumbledore was Ivy himself. He was tall even in Slytherin, which was full of trolls, and he was in the seventh grade, so he was just in this position.

Although Ivy rarely attends classes, he thinks he should participate in group activities at school, otherwise he would be too free.

The crowd was whispering in the cold, crisp air. Professor McGonagall was adjusting her students' attire: "Weasley, turn your collars inside out, Miss Patil, and take that ridiculous thing off your hair."

George and Fred were fixing each other's collars, while Parvati Patil's twin sister, Padma Patil, was in the Ravenclaw team, so she had to untie the huge bow on the end of her braid herself.

The sky gradually darkened. A bright, transparent moon was suspended above the Forbidden Forest. A cold wind blew through the crowd. Many students held tightly to their cloaks with the Hogwarts emblem on them.

Dumbledore was the first to speak up and alert the impatient crowd: "Ah! The representatives of Beauxbatons are here! If I am not mistaken..."

The crowd became more agitated, and they looked in different directions, hoping to see the means of transportation used by Beauxbatons.

"On top of the Forbidden Forest!" a student shouted, pointing his finger toward the moon.

So everyone turned their necks and started looking for it in the bright moonlight.

A huge object appeared in the sky and was growing rapidly. At first, everyone thought it was a flying dragon, then it looked like a giant flying house, until it got closer and everyone saw that it was a carriage pulled by Pegasus.

The carriage was covered in powder blue, giving it a very fairytale feel, with golden harnesses and reins tied to twelve giant flying horses.

"It's a rune horse!" Hermione, who had finished reading the textbook long ago, shouted, "It's a specialty of the French wizarding world! Hogwarts originally wanted to import a batch of them, but there's not enough space on the ranch!"

She noticed the gazes around her and quickly added, "I heard it from Hagrid..."

The loud noise when the huge carriage landed interrupted the students' attention to Hermione.

Each hoof of the Talisman Horse is as big as a dinner plate, and the whole animal is as huge as an elephant. Apart from the universal reason of magic, it is really hard to imagine how this creature can fly.

Beauxbatons' carriage bears their emblem - crossed wands, each emitting three stars.

Beauxbatons' school uniforms are made of light blue silk. They look very gorgeous and soft, but they are not very warm.

The Beauxbatons students following Madame Maxime were like a group of chicks taking shelter behind a hen, shivering in the cold wind.

When the Hogwarts students saw Madame Maxime for the first time, they couldn't help but compare her with Hagrid, especially the sixth and seventh year students who had entered the advanced Care of Magical Animals class.

"She's almost as tall as Hagrid!" Angelina, a sixth-year Gryffindor chaser, said, then looked down at Madam Maxime's high heels that were as tall as a child's sled. "Maybe she's taller than Hagrid! Where is Hagrid? He's also a professor at Hogwarts. Why didn't I see him today?"

"Dear Madam Maxime," Dumbledore had already begun to greet the headmaster of Beauxbatons. He had just kissed the hand of Madam Maxime without bending down, facing the many glittering opal rings on her hand, "Welcome to Hogwarts."

Applause began to break out, and professors and students stared enthusiastically at this unique group of people.

An elegant smile bloomed on Madame Maxime's pretty face, and she greeted Dumbledore in a deep voice: "Dumbledore, I hope everything is well with you."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Madame Maxime asked about the other principal: "Is Karkaroff here?"

"The Durmstrang representative is expected to arrive at any moment," Dumbledore replied. "Would you like to wait here to greet him, or would you like to go inside and warm up first?"

Madame Maxime glanced at her shivering chicks and said sympathetically, "Let's go in and warm up first. But those magic horses——"

"We have three professors of Care of Magical Animals, a fully functional Pegasus ranch and related breeding base. We can definitely take good care of them." Dumbledore must be showing off.

"Ah, I heard about it." Madame Maxime dispelled some of her concerns. "I heard that your Ministry of Magic sent people to investigate Pegasus farms all over Europe, but didn't bring in Rune Horses? I must say that only people with great strength can take good care of them, as they have too fierce a temper."

"I can guarantee that Hagrid is absolutely capable of doing this job..." Dumbledore was interrupted loudly before he could finish his words.

Hagrid squeezed out from the line of professors, which shocked those who knew him. They had never seen such a short Hagrid, and the short here meant that he was a little shorter than Dumbledore.

"Of course! Principal Dumbledore!" Hagrid shouted with full energy, looking up at Madame Maxime in front of him. His expression was even more eager than seeing a dragon.

Madame Maxime was somewhat bewildered by his enthusiasm, and after examining Hagrid for a moment she spoke: "I suppose you are Hagrid? I'll trouble you to take care of these rune horses; they only drink single malt whiskey."

Everyone could see that Hagrid didn't hear what Madame Maxime said because his attention was completely on the tall headmistress in front of him. "Sorry?" Madame Maxime frowned uncomfortably and reminded in a low voice, "Professor Hagrid?"

"Oh!" Hagrid suddenly came back to his senses, and seemed to realize that his messy hair and beard were unsightly. His face turned deep red and was quickly turning purple. He did not answer Madame Maxime's question, but lowered his head and took out a pendant from his collar. He fiddled with a few thick fingers, and his whole body swelled up rapidly.

Facing the surprised gazes of the Beauxbatons students, Hagrid turned into a big man who looked very compatible with Madame Maxime. At least in terms of body shape, they were about the same size.

"You are..." Madame Maxime was speechless.

"Same as you!" said Hagrid cheerfully. "Just used a little magic, a friend of mine helped me to fly on Pegasus. Of course, our Pegasus is smaller than the Rune Horse... I wonder if you are interested..."

"Hagrid!" Dumbledore had to interrupt him, "Let's let our Madam Maxime go into the hall to warm up for a while!"

"Oh! You're right, Headmaster." Hagrid lowered his head to examine Madame Maxime's obviously too thin clothes, then looked back at Dumbledore. "I'd better take your rune horses to the ranch first. We may need to build a new stable. If you're willing, you can always come to the ranch to find me... I mean, the rune horses."

Even a blind person could understand what Hagrid meant, but the students of Beauxbatons did not hear their headmaster's refusal, but instead heard her slightly flustered voice: "Thank you, Professor Hagrid, I will go check on the magic horse..."

After saying this, Madame Maxime rushed into the hall with the students standing in her shadow. A female student with a scarf wrapped around her head stopped beside Ivy.

A hoarse female voice with a distinct French accent said, "You haven't written to me for a whole year, Mr. Doom? Don't you have anything to explain?"

Ivy had already recognized Fleur. He smiled and whispered, "Dear Miss Delacour, I remember that I wrote to explain the situation about a month ago. To be honest, I am also curious why you didn't receive the letter."

"Miss Delacour?" Fleur snorted. "You don't even want to call me 'Fleur'! And do you think I would believe your nonsense letter? Going to another world, how can you say that!"

"That's a pity." Ivy's expression did not change. He could forgive Furong's presumption. After all, not every wizard could cast a teleportation magic across the universe like him. "But to you, Furong, I have never told a lie."

Furong tilted her head back slightly with her scarf wrapped around it. She seemed unable to adapt to Ivy's sudden bluntness. "Okay... if that's the case, then tell me what you think of me?"

"You?" Ivy looked up and down at Furong's thin silk school uniform. Compared to two years ago, this girl from France was even more outstanding and attractive. "A beautiful, brave, sincere, and passionate girl?"

Although Ivy's evaluation was already very high, Furong was still not satisfied. It seemed that she could not stand the cold wind in late October, and she seemed impatient with the inquiring looks of the people around her. She only said, "See you at the Triwizard Tournament. You are not afraid to face me, are you?" and turned and walked into the auditorium.

Although the Slytherins closest to Ivy were very curious, when Ivy turned around, everyone immediately turned their eyes to the moon above the Forbidden Forest, pretending that nothing had happened.

"French girls are a bit difficult to deal with, aren't they?" Dumbledore, who was standing not far from Ivy, teased, "Perhaps we should tell a joke to lighten the mood?"

Ivy snorted twice and tried to pass over the topic.

What attracted the crowd's attention before Dumbledore's joke was the movement from the Black Lake.

Ripples appeared on the calm water surface, and the ripples soon turned into huge splashes of water. The splashes created waves, and the waves formed whirlpools. A long black mast rose from the whirlpool, followed by tattered sails and rigging entangled with various water weeds.

"A ghost ship!" Ron exclaimed.

It was indeed a ghost ship. It looked like a skeleton or the wreckage of a ship that had been sailing under the water for a long time. The faint light coming through the porthole made people shudder, and they couldn't help but think of skeletons and zombie-like sailors, as well as a pirate captain with an octopus head and a hook instead of hands.

The ghost ship had completely emerged from the water, swaying on the waves of the Black Lake for a while, and then sailed towards the shore.

Its style has attracted most of the boys at Hogwarts. Who wouldn’t like such a stylish ghost ship?

The girls at Hogwarts obviously didn't like it very much. It looked wet, and all kinds of suspicious crustaceans were attached to the side of the ship, making it look messy.

Durmstrang's ghost ship dropped an anchor on the shore and placed a long protruding wooden board on the shore.

Many people wearing fur cloaks came out of the boats and began to go ashore in an orderly manner. The fur cloaks were all black, with tangled hair on them. Only the thin man in the lead was wearing a silver fur cloak, which matched his silver hair.

"Dumbledore!" called Karkaroff in a warm voice, wrapped in his silver cloak. "My dear old fellow, how are you doing?"

"That couldn't be better, Professor Karkaroff." Dumbledore also replied loudly, "Welcome to Hogwarts!"

Karkaroff's voice sounded smooth and mercenary, and combined with his silver hair, cloak, and goatee on his chin, he made people feel that he was not a headmaster, but a sinister businessman.

"My dear Hogwarts..." Although Karkaroff smiled with yellow teeth, there was no smile in his eyes, only endless indifference and hostility. "It's great to be here, so great... Viktor, come here quickly, I'll take you to meet Professor Dumbledore... You don't mind, do you, Dumbledore?"

"The Triwizard Tournament is for the young talents from the three schools. I certainly don't mind." Dumbledore's blue eyes also showed a smile. "Welcome, Mr. Krum."

"Thank you," Krum said in his stiff English, "Professor Dumbledore."

(End of this chapter)