Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 298 You can't attribute all the fearful behaviors of magical creatures to me...

The atmosphere of anticipation and tension throughout the school lasted until evening.

When the bell rang for the last class, they hurried back to the lounge, put down their bags, changed into their cloaks, and went to the foyer.

The deans of each college are supervising their students to prevent them from making a fool of themselves in front of people from other schools because of their attire.

“Weasley, put your hat on properly,” Professor McGonagall admonished sternly. “Norton, your hat should be on your head, not your butt—and you, Pettier, take that ridiculous thing off your hair.”

Parvati removed the large butterfly decoration from her braid, while Ron and Cohen made only a perfunctory attempt to tidy themselves up before returning to their original state while Professor McGonagall checked on the other students.

“It’s almost six o’clock.” Ron glanced at his watch. “How will they get here? By train?”

“If it were me, I’d ride a dragon; that would be spectacular,” Cohen said. “Speaking of which, I always get a strange sense of déjà vu when people call me by my last name…”

“What’s wrong with Norton?” Harry asked.

“Riding a dragon would get us arrested by the International Magical Federation immediately,” Hermione said, frowning. “They’ll probably use some more legal methods…”

"Schools aren't allowed to keep dragons?" Cohen sighed. "The Ministry of Magic is too rigid."

“Your taste in magical creatures is starting to resemble Hagrid’s more and more,” Ron said with some concern. “Don’t tell me you told Hagrid what those Blasttails like to eat…”

Cohen didn't actually tell Hagrid what the Bombtail liked to eat—because the hundred or so Bombtails Cohen brought back to the box had all ended up in the bellies of the little basilisk and Norber.

Afterwards, the little snake monster didn't give it a good review either, because it thought the fried snail "tasted like hot mud."

The sunset was no longer visible in the sky outside, and stars began to faintly dot the dark night sky.

However, several distinct points of light could be seen moving across the sky.

"Ah! If I'm not mistaken, Beauxbatons' representative has arrived!" Dumbledore said from the back of the crowd.

"Where? Where?" The students stirred, looking around for the possible location of the representative, Beauxbatton.

Finally, someone pointed to the Forbidden Forest.

It was a huge, house-like shadow approaching the castle along the sky above the Forbidden Forest.

“That’s a fire dragon!” exclaimed a first-year Gryffindor student.

"The dragon isn't that square," Cohen pointed out to his junior. "It's a carriage."

“There’s no way a carriage could be that big!” Dennis Crevy exclaimed excitedly. “It’s a house flying!”

Of course, speculation couldn't beat Cohen, the spoiler—the result was that Beauxbatons' mode of transportation really was a huge horse-drawn carriage.

It was pulled by twelve winged horses with golden manes and silver wings, their bright red eyes burning like fire.

Everything went smoothly from the descent to the landing, and the Hogwarts students were stunned by Beauxbatons' dazzling entrance—at least before the horses sensed Cohen's presence.

Logically speaking, such odd-toed ungulates should have immediately mistaken Cohen for a unicorn.

But clearly, Beauxbatons' divine horse observation skills were incredibly sharp.

As the student from Beauxbatons got off the bus to open the door, the divine horses began to thump their hooves restlessly, hiss, and flap their wings erratically, startling the student.

"Aaaaaah!!!" The Beauxbatons boy, dressed in a light blue robe, had just jumped off the carriage when he was so frightened by the runaway rune horses that he scrambled back into the carriage. The Hogwarts students gasped and took a step back in awe, lest the giant horses charge and trample them to death.

"What happened?" Hermione covered her mouth.

“Are these horses really that fierce…” Ron shrank back.

Harry looked at Cohen.

“Why are you looking at me? I didn’t mean to scare them,” Cohen argued.

As if just realizing what was happening, Dumbledore glanced at Cohen while scanning his own students, then dramatically slapped his head, prompting Professor McGonagall to clear her throat and give him a warning.

He secretly cast a silent spell toward Cohen, and after a moment of panic, the horses could no longer smell the cursed and fearful scent in the air.

"I'll handle it," a calm female voice came from inside the carriage.

Then, the carriage doors opened, and a golden ladder automatically descended from the carriage to the ground.

A black high-heeled shoe, about the size of a child's sled, emerged from the carriage first, followed by a large woman.

She had a beautiful olive-colored face, her hair was styled into a shimmering bun at the nape of her neck, she wore a black satin dress, and her hands were adorned with numerous sparkling opal jewelry.

“Tais-toi. (Quiet!)” the woman snapped at the horses, though they were no longer agitated.

“Dear Madam Maxim, welcome to Hogwarts.” Dumbledore led the applause for Beauxbatons’ arrival, as if the accident had never happened.

Madam Maxim's previously stern expression softened, and she smiled gracefully, extending her hand towards Dumbledore.

Dumbledore gave it a polite kiss—even though he was tall, he didn't bend down when he kissed the hand.

That's enough to prove her half-giant status, even though she never admits it.

“Dumbledore,” Madam Maxime said politely to Dumbledore. “I hope you are doing well.”

Then she introduced her students.

She brought only twelve or thirteen male and female students this time, who should all be elites from Beauxbatons—after all, it's an international competition, and students who aren't skilled enough can't participate.

"Has Karkaroff arrived?" Maxim asked.

“He could come at any moment,” Dumbledore said. “Would you rather wait here to greet him, or go inside and warm up?”

Maxim noticed that his students were shivering from the Scottish cold (because the school uniforms in Beauxbatons were made of silk that offered little protection against the cold), and opted to go to the warmer castle.

“My divine horses are very spirited,” Maxim said. “And they don’t seem to be adapting very well to this environment—”

“Our Master of the Guardians of Magical Creatures will be happy to look after them,” Dumbledore said, “after he’s dealt with a little mess…”

"What happened to Hagrid?" Harry turned to Korn and the others and asked.

"Maybe the blasting snail escaped," Ron said with a grin.

“No,” Cohen said, estimating the time. “It’s the first batch of Blasttails that are about to mate—but I feel like they won’t mate at all, so their inherent fighting instincts will make them start attacking each other immediately… The Blasttails in my box are like that too, but thankfully the little basilisk has already completely solved this problem for them.”

(End of this chapter)