Shortly after Beauxbatons' headmistress, Madame Maxime, who was of the same height as Hagrid, arrived with her students, the Durmstrang team also arrived at the Hogwarts premises in an equally surprising manner.
It began with a loud, strange sound that floated toward the crowd from the darkness: a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, like a giant vacuum cleaner moving along a riverbed…
Although, the originally calm surface of the Black Lake suddenly produced violent fluctuations, and it seemed that a huge monster was moving in the water in the middle of the lake, huge splashes appeared on the water surface, and waves hit the wet lakeshore—
Then, right in the middle of the lake, a huge whirlpool appeared, as if a huge plug had been suddenly pulled out from the bottom of the lake...
A long black pole-like object slowly rose from the whirlpool, followed by the sails and rigging...
Slowly, a magnificent ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight.
The ship looked eerily skeleton-like, as if it were a recently-raised shipwreck, and the portholes flickered with dim, foggy lights that looked like ghostly eyes.
At last, with a great splash, the ship emerged completely, pitched over the choppy water, and came ashore, with a wide plank of wood laid on the shore.
When the people on the boat came ashore, the students of Hogwarts noticed that they were all very tall and strong. Of course, not as exaggerated as Madam Maxime, but about the same as Crabbe and Goyle...
It was quite exciting to see a group of strong men getting off the boat together and walking towards the crowd at Hogwarts. Many young wizards were a little scared.
At this moment, Ron suddenly shouted loudly, breaking the depressing atmosphere.
"Harry, isn't that... isn't that Krum?" He slapped Harry's arm rapidly.
"Krum? Which Krum?" Harry was stunned.
Without waiting for Ron to explain, he recognized the figure instantly when he caught a glimpse of the striking hooked nose and two thick black eyebrows walking down from the clothes.
"It's Viktor Krum!"
Ron exclaimed in a fuss.
"I can't believe he actually came to Hogwarts! I have his action figures in my dorm!"
"For Merlin's sake, Ron, he's just a Quidditch player." Hermione glanced at Ron with disdain.
"Just a Quidditch player..." Ron stared at her in disbelief. "Hermione - he's one of the best seekers in the world! I didn't expect he was still a student!"
The headmaster of Durmstrang, Ingor Karkaroff, with a slanted smile on his face, walked over and shook hands with Dumbledore as if he felt superior.
"Dumbledore!" he called warmly as he walked up the ramp. "My dear old fellow, how are you?"
"Excellent, thank you, Professor Karkaroff." Dumbledore smiled seriously.
"Dear old friend, ah, finally I'm back at Hogwarts..." He looked up at the castle and said with a smile.
His teeth looked very yellow when he smiled. Although his face was smiling, there was no smile in his eyes, and he was suppressing a trace of annoyance.
"It's so nice to be here, so nice... Viktor, come here and warm up... Do you mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight cold..."
Only when he used a big celebrity like Viktor Krum to show off in front of Dumbledore did Karkaroff's smile seem more sincere.
Seeing this scene, Dracula, who had been standing nearby bored, frowned.
This guy actually showed off in front of him
Can't tolerate it.
Isn't it just a star student? It's like everyone has one.
"Potter, come here."
Dracula said calmly.
“…Ah? Me?” Harry asked in surprise when his name was suddenly called.
While asking, he was also reflecting on whether he was a little excited after seeing Krum and did not grasp the basic etiquette... But Ron and the bunch of girls next to him were obviously more excited
"Besides you, is there another person named Potter here?" Dracula said impatiently, "Come here quickly!"
Harry hesitantly pushed through the crowd in front of him and walked to Professor Dracula.
He could see that even Dumbledore was looking at the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor with a puzzled look, as he suddenly came up with something.
Just when Harry reached the front of the team so that everyone from Durmstrang could see him clearly, Dracula's expression changed, and a perfect breeze blew, just blowing away the bangs in front of Harry's forehead.
The lightning-shaped scar that was famous in the wizarding world was revealed. At the same time, a ray of moonlight coming from nowhere just illuminated Harry's forehead.
Everyone present subconsciously drew their attention to it—
"Oh my god! That scar, that's..."
"What the newspaper said is true. The Boy-Who-Lived is indeed in Hogwarts!"
"He's... He's Harry Potter!"
"… "
The students who came to visit Durmstrang really started talking about it.
Harry's fame is not limited to the British wizarding world.
Back then, Voldemort and his Death Eaters actually caused a lot of trouble around the world and launched terrorist activities in many different countries.
In addition, the British Ministry of Magic was at a disadvantage in the war against the Death Eaters for a long time at that time and was unable to take care of other areas. The wizarding world of other countries did not have a great wizard like Dumbledore who could make Voldemort feel fearful, so the He who must not be named plunged the whole world into fear.
The emergence of Harry Potter, the boy who survived, brought relief to people all over the world.
Although more than a decade ago, on the surface, only the British wizarding community was celebrating the departure of the mysterious man, the wizarding communities in other countries, such as America, also condemned the British wizards for letting owls fly around and releasing weather spells to celebrate, believing that they had violated the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy.
But in fact, those countries that voiced condemnation were already very happy.
They hoped that Voldemort, a terrorist who no one could control, would be defeated quickly. Otherwise, what would happen if another Grindelwald appeared and swept across half of the world
It is also because of this that Harry's fame has long gone beyond the UK and spread throughout the world.
Looking at the shocked reactions of the Durmstrang students and the gloomy expression on Karkaroff's face after his show-off of his star student was interrupted, Dracula raised the corners of his mouth with great satisfaction.
"Excuse me, Professor Karkaroff," Dracula said with a pleasant smile, "Actually, Harry has a slight cold as well. I think he could talk to Mr. Krum about his condition."
"No, I didn't..."
Before Harry could finish his subconscious rebuttal, he saw Dracula glaring at him, so he lowered his head silently.
It's better to catch a cold than to embarrass Professor Dracula...
Karkaroff nodded stiffly and looked at Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore, who is this...?" he asked in a low voice.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce you, Karkaroff." Dumbledore glanced at Dracula with a smile, and secretly gave him a thumbs up behind his back, then looked at Karkaroff and said, "This is Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Dracula!"
Karkaroff had a gloomy face and wanted to say a few more words, but when he heard Dracula's name, his face changed. It was unknown what he was thinking about, and he dared not say any words of rebuttal.
"Let's go, Victor."
He tossed his sleeves and called Krum and the other Durmstrang students up the steps to the Great Hall.
Krum followed without saying a word. His behavior from beginning to end was very taciturn, which was completely different from his high-spirited performance when riding on his broom.
But this does not affect the enthusiasm of Hogwarts students at all.
As a celebrity as well, Harry Potter lived with them day and night, and his normal performance was not that outstanding, so there was not much halo effect left.
But Viktor Krum was different. It was the first time for many young wizards to see a living Quidditch star up close!
The students at Durmstrang felt the same way when they saw Harry.
Karkaroff led the Durmstrang students up the steps, and as Harry squeezed through the crowd back into the line, he saw Lee Jordan in the Gryffindor team jumping up and down on tiptoe, trying to get a better view of Krum's back.
Several sixth-grade girls were mumbling to themselves while frantically searching their pockets for something—
"Oh, I can't believe I didn't have a quill with me—"
"Do you think he'll sign my hat with lipstick?"
"That's ridiculous!" Hermione raised her head proudly and looked down upon the girls who were arguing over a lipstick.
"You're at a big disadvantage, Harry!" Ron grabbed Harry and shouted, "You were so close to Krum just now, why didn't you take the opportunity to ask him for an autographed photo?"
"Uh..." Harry scratched his head.
He couldn't say that Professor Dracula called him to the front to save face for Hogwarts and to suppress Krum, right
If he suddenly asked for an autograph, the professor's plan would fail...
Harry shuddered, not daring to imagine what kind of cruel treatment he would suffer from Professor Dracula if this continued.
"It's okay, Ron. Krum will be staying in Hogwarts for a long time." Harry patted Ron's shoulder seriously. "You will have plenty of opportunities to ask him for an autographed photo."
The last to arrive were the wizards of Yin Famouni.
Harry accidentally noticed that on the Hufflepuff side, Rolf Scamander looked a little unhappy, and kept shrinking behind the tall Cedric next to him.
"What's wrong with Rolf?" Harry looked over there with some confusion.
The next moment, the ground suddenly shook violently. When he subconsciously turned his head to look at the lake where the vibration came from, he was suddenly startled.
In addition to the carriage as big as the Beauxbatons house parked on the shore and the luxurious ship moored on the lake, a tall tower had appeared in front of them at some point, standing abruptly on the mudflats of the lake.
The surrounding damp sand seemed very soft and did not look like it could support such a building.
Yet the tower stands there unnaturally, showing no signs of collapsing.
"How...how did it come out?" Harry swallowed and stammered to Ron.
"No... I don't know, I just suddenly came out from underground." Ron also stuttered.
As if a competition had already begun, the appearances of these three magic schools were more exciting than each other.
The tower door opened and out stepped a dark-skinned, elderly, white-haired witch, who waved enthusiastically at Dumbledore as soon as she saw him.
"Long time no see, Professor Hicks." Dumbledore also waved with a smile and hugged the professor named Hicks.
It can be seen that Dumbledore and the headmaster of Invermorny are more familiar with each other than the previous two headmasters.
"Oh, it's been a long time since we last met. We've become estranged from each other." Professor Hicks blinked teasingly, "Albus, I remember you should always call me Larry?"
"Ah, that's my problem, Larry." Dumbledore also laughed. "After all, this is a formal occasion representing the meeting of two schools. I thought you would be a little more serious."
"Really?" Professor Hicks smiled and suddenly lowered his voice, "If you were really that serious, you wouldn't have tried every possible means to trick my outstanding student away!"
As she spoke, she looked at the Hufflepuff team. "It's pretty easy to spot. It's the same color as the scarf Newt often wears. Um... Brat, stop hiding. I see you!"
Rolf, who had been hiding behind Cedric, reluctantly poked his head out and sighed deeply.
"Good evening, Professor Hicks." He greeted Professor Hicks with a bitter face.
"You still know that I'm your godmother?" Professor Hicks scolded with a smile, "Rolf, when you ran to Hogwarts to study without telling your grandmother, why didn't I realize that you thought of us?"
Rolf stood there weakly and didn't dare to speak. The little wizards around him looked at him in surprise. They didn't expect that this little badger who transferred to the school had such a relationship with the principal of Infamony School of Magic on the other side of the ocean.
Faced with this situation, Dumbledore had no choice but to speak and act as a peacemaker.
"Ahem..." He coughed dryly, "Lally, Rolf was just influenced by Newt and wanted to come to Hogwarts to experience the life of a Hufflepuff... As it turns out, Hogwarts is more attractive to him."
"Well, since you said so, Albus, I will give that kid some face and save the punishment for later." Professor Hicks said, "But during this time, I want to see what is so attractive about Hogwarts!"
…
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