Chapter 122
The notice that appeared in the hall had a significant impact on the people living in the castle.
In the following week, wherever Soren went, it seemed that people were only discussing one topic: the Triwizard Tournament.
Rumors spread quickly among the students, like highly contagious bacteria: Who would compete to be Hogwarts' champion? What events would the tournament include? How were the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang different from them?
Soren also noticed that the castle seemed to be undergoing a thorough cleaning. Several dirty portraits were scrubbed clean, and the figures in those portraits were quite displeased. They huddled in their frames, grumbling unhappily, wincing in pain every time they touched their newly exposed pink flesh. The armor suddenly gleamed brightly, and it no longer creaked when moved.
As soon as Filch saw a student forget to clean their shoes properly, he would explode in fury, scaring two first-year girls into hysteria.
The other staff members also appeared particularly tense.
"Crabbe, Goyle, do me a favor and don't let the Durmstrang students see that you haven't even mastered a simple spell!" Professor McGonagall shouted sternly just before the end of class. The lesson had gone particularly poorly, with both dimwits having grafted their ears onto a cactus.
Time passed, and it was now October 30th.
That morning, as they went downstairs for breakfast, they found that the Great Hall had been completely redecorated overnight.
Huge silk banners hung on the walls, each representing one of Hogwarts' four houses: the red background with a golden lion was Gryffindor, the blue background with a bronze eagle was Ravenclaw, the yellow background with a black badger was Hufflepuff, and the green background with a silver serpent was Slytherin. Behind the staff table hung the largest banner, featuring the Hogwarts crest: a lion, eagle, badger, and serpent united around a large letter H.
On this day, no one learned anything at all.
Finally, the afternoon dragged on, and the students quickly changed into their robes and made their way to the entrance hall. The heads of the houses were ordering their students to line up. While the other three houses were still in disarray, the Slytherin wizards had already formed an orderly line.
The students filed down the steps, standing in line in front of the castle.
It was a cold, fresh evening, and dusk was falling; a pure white, translucent moon hung over the Forbidden Forest. According to previous announcements, the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were expected to arrive promptly at six o'clock.
Just a minute before six, Dumbledore's voice rang out from the back of the crowd, "If I'm not mistaken, the representatives from Beauxbatons have arrived!"
A colossal object, much larger than a single flying broomstick—or even a hundred flying broomsticks—was swiftly soaring across the deep blue sky, heading toward the castle, gradually growing larger.
As the dark, massive object swept past the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and was illuminated by the castle's windows, they saw a gigantic powder-blue carriage flying toward them. It was as big as a house, pulled through the air by twelve winged horses, all silver-maned, each roughly the size of an elephant.
The carriage flew lower, descending at an incredible speed, and the students standing in the front rows quickly stepped back—then, a thunderous crash echoed as the hooves struck the ground, each the size of a dinner plate. In the blink of an eye, the carriage landed on the ground, shaking on its enormous wheels, while the golden horses shook their massive heads, their fiery red eyes spinning.
On the carriage door, the emblem of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic was visible: two golden wands crossed in an X, each emitting three stars. A woman, about the same height as Hagrid, stepped down from the carriage—Madam Olympe Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons.
Then, twelve young male and female students descended from the carriage, standing behind Madam Maxime.
From their appearance, they all seemed to be around eighteen or nineteen years old, each of them trembling slightly. This was not surprising, as their long robes appeared to be made of exquisite silk, and none of them wore cloaks. A few students had wrapped scarves or headscarves around their heads. They all looked up at Hogwarts with expressions of trepidation on their faces.
Soren sighed softly; isn't it common sense to check the local climate and temperature before embarking on a long journey? The intelligence of this group of wizards is concerning! Even if they wanted to show off their French fashion sense by deliberately choosing silk robes, they could have added temperature-regulating features! Temperature-regulating clothing isn't some high-end luxury item. As representatives of a school, every action and demeanor reflects the institution's image and honor. Shivering in the cold for the sake of looking good—doesn't that make people question the competence of these representatives?
Dumbledore and Maxim spoke softly for a while before directing the Hogwarts students to make way, allowing the Beauxbatons delegation to enter the castle first.
Another half hour passed, and even the Hogwarts students began to tremble from the cold.
Soren, Daphne, and Astoria watched the others shivering nonchalantly. The sisters had long since changed into the temperature-regulating robes that Soren had bought for them, which came with several thoughtful features. Although they couldn't compare to the supreme wizard robes, they were still unique high-quality items. Of course, Moray, who was in the Ravenclaw line, also had a set, making her an object of envy among her peers.
Draco pulled out his wand and quickly cast the "Cooling Charm" on a few people nearby, which made them feel a bit better.
Soren squinted slightly. The "Cooling Charm" isn't difficult to learn, but it's quite an obscure spell. In the original text, even Hermione, with her vast knowledge, couldn't master it; she used the "Fire" spell to keep warm, which involved conjuring a small blue flame that could be placed in a bottle to provide warmth.
Draco's behavior was becoming increasingly perplexing to Soren.
Sometimes, Soren felt as if Draco had become a completely different person, whether in terms of the cunning he displayed or his abilities, which gave her that illusion. But at other times, Draco would revert to being somewhat childish, attention-seeking, loud, and prone to unnecessary trouble, with normal abilities.
At that moment, a loud, strange sound drifted toward them from the darkness—a suppressed rumbling and sucking sound, like a massive submarine moving along the shore.
The students stood on the grassy slope overlooking the area, clearly seeing the calm, dark surface of the Black Lake—first, ripples began to appear, then suddenly a commotion erupted, creating huge waves that crashed against the damp lakeshore.
In the center of the lake, a large whirlpool appeared, as if a giant cork had suddenly been pulled from the bottom of the lake.
A dark, long object slowly rose from the whirlpool, followed by masts and rigging...
Gradually, a magnificent large ship emerged from the water, shimmering under the moonlight. Its shape was peculiar, resembling a skeleton, as if it were the wreckage of a sunken ship recently salvaged. The portholes flickered with dim, misty light, resembling ghostly eyes. Finally, with a splash, the ship fully surfaced, bobbing on the undulating water and beginning to sail toward the shore.
This was the legendary ghost ship! The ghost ship, a renowned legendary alchemical item, is on par with the Deathly Hallows, the Philosopher's Stone, and the Erised Mirror.
Soren's gaze was fixed intently on the ship. As far as he knew, the ghost ship was a highly advanced alchemical product; there were only two such ghost ships in the global wizarding world. Besides this one from Durmstrang, the other was the "Flying Dutchman," notorious for its rampages in the Caribbean.
This was not just an ordinary means of transportation; it possessed strong and comprehensive combat capabilities, making it nothing short of a mobile fortress.
Soren had heard that in the early nineteenth century, the "Flying Dutchman" caught the attention of a high-ranking official from the American Magical Congress, who led a group of exceptionally powerful Aurors to ambush it at sea. However, they didn't even see the main ship and were frightened into retreat by a single shot from the enemy's magical cannon.
Moreover, Soren has always been suspicious that the ghost ship actually has the ability to fly; otherwise, why would it be named "The Flying Dutchman"?
Even if Soren's guess is wrong and the ghost ship cannot fly, it is still an incredible masterpiece.
Taking the ghost ship Durmstrang as an example, it can at least use the water surface as a medium for long-distance transformation. With Soren's mastery of spatial magic, he can see that the principle involved is probably similar to the Floo Network, only the medium has changed from fire to water.
Just this point is already quite remarkable. Most of the ground in this world is covered by water, and being able to transform across any water surface means there are more places to go. Moreover, large bodies of water like freshwater lakes can also transport larger objects. In comparison, the Floo Network doesn't even know if it can transport Hagrid!
Hmm, this seems like a good research topic, Soren suddenly thought—didn't the original text only mention Hagrid riding a flying motorcycle and taking the Knight Bus? Could it be that Hagrid simply cannot use the Floo Network?
Setting aside the convenience factor, "The Flying Dutchman" can operate freely at sea for so long, which clearly indicates it has a means of movement that the Ministry of Magic cannot monitor. This implies that the ghost ship's transformation technology is completely independent of the Floo Network—therefore, in addition to convenience, it also has the advantage of concealment.
This is also why, even to this day, magical governments around the world have no way to deal with "The Flying Dutchman," and even the identity of its owner remains a mystery.
In contrast, Karkaroff is quite foolish, sitting on a treasure mountain without knowing how to utilize it. If he could cultivate loyal followers among his students, relying solely on this ship and focusing on escape, it would probably be difficult for Voldemort to track him down using the Dark Mark.
He usually doesn't understand how to manage subordinates, and when he finally has the opportunity to take the top students abroad to communicate with other magical schools—a great chance to build rapport with them—he chooses to enjoy himself alone in the cabin while the students act as laborers to steer the ship. It's no wonder that after his incident, not a single student felt sad for him.
Hmm, one could say the only problem with the ghost ship is the operation issue; it is clearly not an alchemical item that can be operated by just one person. Based on Durmstrang's situation, at least twelve people are needed to operate it smoothly.
After anchoring and stopping the ghost ship, thirteen representatives from Demstrang, clad in thick fur cloaks, slowly walked down from the ship's hold. The one at the forefront, an old man with white hair and a goatee, shook hands warmly with Dumbledore—he seems to be the principal, Igor Karkaroff.
As the Durmstrang students approached, a small commotion arose among the crowd at Hogwarts. Clearly, someone recognized that the Demstrang student behind Karkaroff was the famous Seeker from the Bulgarian national team, Viktor Krum.
Once Dumbledore and Karkaroff finished their pleasantries, the little wizards, who had been freezing, could finally return to the warm hall.
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