Chapter 540 Beauxbatons and Durmstrang

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There was an air of pleasant anticipation in the school that day, everyone was a little absent-minded in class, more interested in the people who came from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang in the evening, and even the potions class was more tolerable than before, because It ended half an hour early.

To be honest, Fan Lin was a little scared about this, trembling in the shadow of Furong.

What I have to admit is that when she was at Beauxbatons, Fleur was the only one who still teased her little brother.

When the bell rang, Harry, Ron, Vernon and Hermione hurried back to Gryffindor Tower.

As requested, everyone put away their school bags and textbooks, put on their cloaks, rushed downstairs, and ran to the front hall.

Deans of various colleges are directing students to line up.

"Weasley, put on your hat," Professor McGonagall called to Ron, "Mr. Putt, take that ridiculous thing off your head."

Pwight frowned and took a large decorative butterfly from the end of his braid.

"Follow me, quickly." Professor McGonagall said, "First-years first...don't push..."

They filed down the front steps and lined up in front of the castle. It was a cold evening with no clouds in the sky. Night had fallen and the pale translucent moon shone over the forest. Harry and Hermione were between them. , Ron was next to Harry, they were standing in the 4th row at the front.

From this position, they could see most of the people. The first-year students were trembling with excitement. They had just arrived to catch up with such a grand event, and they were full of expectations for it.

"It's almost six o'clock," Ron said, looking at his watch, then down at the road leading to the front door. "How do you think they're going to get here? By train?"

"I doubt it," said Hermione.

"How about that? Sitting on the broom?" Harry guessed, looking at the starry sky.

"I don't think it's that...it's not that far..."

"By portkeys?" Ron guessed. "Or will they transform -"

"You can't transform inside Hogwarts, how many times do I have to tell you?" Hermione said impatiently.

"Don't you know that every school has its own interview tools? It's just for prestige." Fan Lin said, "I know Beauxbatons's, that will surprise you."

"Anything more to reveal?" Ron said curiously, "I almost forgot that you stayed at Beauxbatons for a long time, and their candidates..."

"If I said it, then you wouldn't have any expectations. This is very boring." Fan Lin complained because Hermione pinched him secretly.

"It looks like you're all better," Hermione said.

Fan Lin didn't dare to speak his accent.

"If you know the inside story, just watch and don't talk too much."

Immediately afterwards, the three people looked excitedly at the darkened ground, but there was no movement. Everything was as quiet as usual. Harry began to feel cold. He hoped that they would come soon. The foreign students were preparing for a dramatic event. Appearance...

He remembered what Mr. Weasley said at the camp before the Quidditch World Cup -

"It's always like this. When we get together, we can't help but show off..." Dumbledore's voice came from the back row, where he and several teachers were standing, "Ah!

If I'm not mistaken, the Beauxbatons representative team is here! "

"Where?" Many students asked eagerly, looking around.

"Over there!" said a sixth grader, pointing toward the forest.

A big thing, much bigger than a broom - or something much bigger than 100 brooms, flew across the dark blue sky, growing bigger and bigger.

"It's a dragon!" a first-year student screamed, completely confused.

"Don't be stupid...it's a flying house!" Dini Kelivi said.

Dini's guess was more accurate. The huge black shadow passed over the treetops of the forest. The light from the castle window hit it. They saw a huge, pink-blue carriage, as big as a large house. Roaring toward them, twelve winged horses, each as big as an elephant, pulled the chariot through the air.

"Back off!" Hagrid held up two big signs. He stood in the distance and seemed to be guiding the carriage.

Unfortunately, he was quite tall. When he turned around, the rune horse's hoof almost hit him.

Hagrid had to throw himself aside.

The carriage flew lower, and the students in the first three rows took a few steps back. The carriage suddenly stopped on the ground. A loud noise made Neville jump back and stepped on the foot of a fifth-year Slytherin student. Those hooves, bigger than plates, slammed to the ground.

Immediately, the car also lowered, the huge wheels bounced a few times, the golden horse turned its head and rolled its big, red eyes.

Before the car door opened, Harry just happened to see a layer of defensive totems on the car door (two crossed golden wands shooting out three stars each).

A boy in a light blue robe jumped out of the car, leaned forward and groped on the floor of the car for a while, then unfolded a golden ladder. He stepped back respectfully, and then Harry saw a shiny black high-heeled shoe. Sticking out from the cart were shoes as big as a child's sled, and then, almost instantly, the tallest woman Harry had ever seen stepped out, explaining at once why the horse and cart were so large. Several people gasped.

Harry had only seen one person as tall as this woman, and that was Hagrid. He doubted whether there was even the slightest difference in their heights, but somehow—perhaps he was used to seeing Hagrid—this The woman (who now went to the bottom of the stairs and looked around at the wide-eyed welcoming crowd) looked even more unusually tall.

(Girls look taller? How about a giantess?)

She stepped forward, shrouded in the light from the front hall, she showed a handsome skin, smooth face, big and dark eyes, water quality, aquiline nose, hair combed back into a bun, in Sparkling at the nape of her neck, she was clad in black satin from head to toe, fine dazzling opals glittering around her neck and on her thick fingers.

Dumbledore began to applaud, and the students burst into applause, many standing on tiptoe to get a better view. She walked towards Dumbledore, with an elegant smile on her face, and she stretched out her shining hand. Although Dumbledore was not short, he hardly had to lean down to kiss her hand.

"Dear Madam Maxime," he said, "Welcome to Hogwarts!"

"Dumbledore," Ms. Maxim's voice was deep, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Dumbledore said.

"Classmates," Ms. Maxim said, waving her big hand casually behind her.

Harry had been paying attention to Ms. Maxim, and now he saw about a boy and a girl. Judging from their appearance, they were all over sixteen years old. They came out of the car and stood behind Ms. Maxim, their The boys were made of fine silk. None of them wore cloaks. Only a few wore scarves around their heads. No wonder they were trembling.

This actually surprised Fanlin. You should know that there were fewer people selected at the beginning, and there were very few boys.

But now...

Maybe something happened?

Anyway, he saw familiar faces among these four students, our beautiful Miss Fleur, the lovely Gabrielle and...

Why is Brown coming too?

This group of boys is not very friendly to Fan Lin, but... they shouldn't be stupid enough to cause trouble for Fan Lin now.

This is Hogwarts, Fanlin's territory, and...

I'm not targeting everyone here, but I just want to say that the Beauxbatons boys are simply weak.

Fan Lin looked up and his face was exposed under the hat.

Furong immediately found Fan Lin in the crowd, and she smiled...

If the principal hadn't been there, these beasts would have screamed, Fan Lin can guarantee it.

However, some people in the crowd were still talking quietly, but they deliberately lowered their voices and communicated very briefly. This was a matter of face, at least on the first day.

"Is Karkaroff here?" Ms. Masim said.

"He will be here any minute," said Dumbledore. "Would you rather wait for him here, or go in and warm yourself?"

"Warm them up, I think," said Madame Maxime, "but these horses—"

"Our Care of Magical Creatures professor will be happy to look after them," said Dumbledore. "He will be looking after your horses when he comes back from his - um, other business. He's taking care of a little bit right now. Little things.”

"Hagrid is still far out in the water, maybe he needs to change his clothes." Ron said to Harry with a smile.

"My horse is - well - not very tame, it needs to be tougher," Madame Maxime said, looking as if she doubted that any Hogwarts ghost teacher would be up to the task. "They are very strong..."

"I guarantee Hagrid is fully capable." Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Excellent." Madame Maxime bowed slightly, "Please tell that Mr. Hagrid that these horses only drink malt whiskey."

"I will do as you ask," Dumbledore said, and he bowed.

"Come on," Mahim ordered her students. The Hogwarts made a way for her and her students to pass through the stone steps.

"Do you think Hagrid can subdue these horses?" Seamus leaned out from Lewenden and Pwight to talk to Harry, Ron and Fanlin.

"I don't see anything wrong with that," Harry said.

"Maybe they escaped," Ron said hopefully.

"Oh, don't say that," said Hermione, shaking, "to think these things got away..."

"It doesn't matter, Hagrid can handle even Nobo." Fan Lin said, "But where is Nobo?"

"It seems to be in Romania." Ron said, "After all, Hagrid is himself. There is something wrong with Nobo. After all, he is not yet an adult. Charlie should be able to take care of him."

Several people talked quietly. They all stood trembling slightly, waiting for the arrival of the Damsian team. Most of them looked at the sky hopefully. For several minutes, the silence was only broken by the snorting and stamping of Madame Maxime's horse, and then ——

"Did you hear something?" Ron said suddenly.

As soon as Harry heard it, a strange sound floated from the darkness, mixed with roaring and sucking sounds. It seemed like a huge vacuum cleaner was moving along the river bed...

"Lake!" Li Jordan pointed to the lake below and said loudly: "Look at that lake!"

They stood on the top of the lawn overlooking the ground. From here they could clearly see the black and smooth lake surface - but suddenly the water surface stirred, there was movement deep in the center of the lake, large bubbles formed on the water surface, and waves crashed against the muddy lake shore - Then, a whirlpool appeared in the middle of the lake, as if a big piston had just been pulled out from the bottom of the lake... What looked like a long, black piston began to rise slowly from the middle of the whirlpool, and then everyone saw it. Sail rope...

"It's a mast!" Harry exclaimed, expressing shock and joy to his companion.

The ship slowly and majestically surfaced on the water, shining in the moonlight. It looked strange and skeleton-like, as if it were a repaired ruined ship. The blurry lights shone in the portholes like ghost eyes. , finally, there was a huge sound of water being discharged, and the ship completely emerged, undulating on the rippling water, and began to sail towards the shore. After a while, they saw the splashing sound of the anchor being thrown into the shallow water and the sound of the planks being laid ashore. Bang.

The people were disembarking, and they saw their silhouettes in the porthole lights as they passed, and Harry noticed that they were all as big as Crab and Goyle... but as they moved further in, onto the grass, leaving the vestibule When the light came in, he realized that their tall figures were due to their long-haired woven fur cloaks, but the man leading the way to the castle wore another kind of fur cloak, which was smooth and silver, just like his hair.

"Dumbledore!" he greeted warmly, walking up the ramp, "how are you? My dear fellow, how are you?"

"Very well, thank you, Professor Karkaroff." Dumbledore replied.

Karkaroff's voice sounded a bit pretentious and falsely enthusiastic, and when he walked into the light of the front door, they saw that he was tall and thin, with a build like Dumbledore's, but his white hair was very short, The beard on his chin (trimmed into small curls) did not completely hide the slackness of his chin. He moved closer to Dumbledore and took Dumbledore's hand in his.

"Dear Hogwarts Castle," he said, looking up at the castle and smiling. His teeth were extremely yellow, but Fanlin noticed that his eyes were not smiling, but cold and cunning.

"It's so nice to be here, so nice... Viktor, come here and warm yourself up... Do you mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a cold..."

Karkaroff called one of his students forward, and as the boy walked past, Harry caught a glimpse of a prominent hooked nose and thick, dark eyebrows, without Ron punching him in the arm or tapping his ear. Even with a shush, Harry could recognize the silhouette.

"Harry - it's Krum!"

In fact, Fanlin always thought that Karkaroff was a middle-aged man similar to Professor Snape.

However, this is not important information. Regarding his age, Fanlin should be concerned about his identity.

This is a Death Eater, just like Professor Snape, Karkaroff is a Death Eater.

It's just that he doesn't have Snape's acting skills or Lucius's mind. He relies on contributing people's names in exchange for freedom.

The owner of this name may be in the castle now, and he also appeared in the Quidditch World Cup, Barty Crouch Jr.

Then, things get interesting.

Will Barty Crouch Jr. let go of Karkaroff, the former betrayer?

There is also the symbol of the Death Eater. Karkaroff must be having a huge headache now.

The Hogwarts students lined up and followed the Durmstrang students upstairs.

Ron was very shocked, "I don't believe it! Harry, that's Viktor Krum!"

"For God's sake, Ron, he's just a Quidditch player," said Hermione.

"Just a Quidditch player?" Ron looked at her and couldn't believe his ears, "Hermione - one of the best searchers in the world! I didn't even know he was still there. In school."

Krum's admirers... maybe it's time for Ron to find a way to take some medicine.

They followed the other Hogwarts students through the Entrance Hall and towards the Great Hall.

Fanlin saw Li Jordan jumping up and down with his bare feet, just to get a better look at the back of Karen's head.

Nine sixth-grade girls were walking around frantically digging into their pockets—“Oh my god, I can’t believe it, I didn’t even bring a pen—” “Do you think he would sign my hat with lipstick? "

"Ah, it's true!" Hermione exclaimed with great pride.

They passed the group of girls, who were now arguing over that lipstick.

"If possible, I'd like to go get his autograph," said Ron. "Harry, you didn't bring a pen, did you?"

"I've got it, it's on the top of my bag," Harry said.

They walked to the Gryffindor table and sat down. Ron deliberately sat on the side facing the door, because Krum and his companions were still gathered around the door, and it was obvious that they were not sure where to sit. Sure.

The students from Beauxbatons had already sat down at the Wewen Carlo table.

They looked around in dismay, surveying the hall. Three people were still holding on to their headscarves and shawls.

"It's not that cold," Hermione looked at them, a little irritated. "Why don't they bring their cloaks?"

"Come here! Come and sit here!" Ron hissed, "Here! Hermione, move in a little bit, squeeze out some space -"

"what?"

"It's too late." Ron was frustrated.

Viktor Krum and his classmates have already sat down at the Slytherin table. Harry could see that Crab and Goyle were very pleased with this. Malfoy leaned forward to speak to Krum.

"Yeah, that's right, flattering him," Ron said sarcastically, "I bet Krum can see right through him, even though... of course there are always people around him who are flattering him... you think they'll sleep with him Where? We can make some room for him in the dormitory, Harry... I don't mind giving him my bed, I can sleep on the folding bed."

Hermione scoffed.

Fanlin was very satisfied, even secretly laughing?

"They seem to be much happier than the Beauxbatons gang," Harry said.

Durmstrang's students were taking off their thick leather coats and looking at the starry black ceiling with interest. One or two of them picked up the gold plates and goblets and looked at them carefully, obviously very affected.

Over at the staff table, Filch, the caretaker, was adding chairs, and for the occasion he had donned his old, moldy tuxedo.

Harry was surprised to see him adding two chairs to either side of Dumbledore's chair.

"But there are only two more people," said Harry. "Why did Filch put up four chairs? Who else is coming?"

"What?" Ron asked blankly, still staring at Krum with concern.

After all the students entered the hall and sat down at their respective tables, the staff came in and lined up to take their seats at the table.

At the end of the queue were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons School. When she appeared, the Beauxbatons students jumped to their feet.

Some of the students at Hogwarts laughed. This made them quite embarrassed, and they did not dare to sit down until Mrs. Maxime sat down on Dumbledore's left side.

But Dumbledore was still standing, and there was silence in the huge hall.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts - and especially guests," Dumbledore said, smiling at the foreign students. "You are very welcome to Hogwarts. I hope I believe you are here too. You will live comfortably and happily.”

A Beauxbatons girl, still clutching the scarf on her head, let out a sneer, it must have been a sneer.

"No one forced you to stay!" Hermione growled at her in a low voice.

Fan Lin looked over, and he had no impression of that girl. Was she a fourth-grade or fifth-grade prefect?

"The competition officially begins after midsummer," Dumbledore announced. "Now please don't be polite, please come."

He sat down, and Harry saw Karkaroff immediately leaning over to talk to him.

As usual the plates in front of them were full of food. It looks like the elf door in the kitchen brings out all the storage. Fanlin had never seen so many different dishes at Hogwarts, and several of them were obviously dishes from other countries.

"What's that?" Ron pointed to a plate of clam-like stew placed next to a large plate of kidney pudding.

"Fish soup," Hermione replied.

"God bless," said Ron.

"It's French food," Hermione said. "I had it on vacation last summer. It was delicious."

"I take your word for it," said Ron, starting to eat the black pudding.

Although there were only about forty more students, the hall seemed much more crowded than usual.

Maybe it's because of wearing different colored school uniforms. After taking off their leather clothes, the Durmstrang students revealed dark red robes, which were much more eye-catching than the black robes worn by Hogwarts students.

Looking at Beauxbatons’ sky blue satin.

Fanlin remembered that they had winter uniforms, but they seemed to be in the wrong season.

Poor Fleur and Gabrielle, I hope those two can still remember the warming charm he taught them.

Now there was a stark reaction in the hall.

Black, red and blue school uniforms, these days will last a whole school year.

To be honest, if you don't take Voldemort into account, the Three Wizards Fighting Competition is really a very interesting project.

If there were no Death Eaters to cause trouble, he might still be able to participate in the Three Wizards Fighting Competition, but now it seems that such a thing has been cancelled.

This is undoubtedly a very bad thing. He will never have this opportunity again, he is already in fourth grade. (To be continued)