Rove escaped the disaster caused by Professor Hicks, but not the other one.
Compared to Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, the number of students from Invermorny who came to Hogwarts was not that many, and they could be counted on one hand.
But when Rolf saw the young man with blond hair, a strong physique and a funny mustache who was leading the group, he shuddered all over and tried to get behind Cedric.
However, Rove's position had already been exposed by Professor Hicks. The student of Yin Famoni saw Rove at a glance and walked over with a big laugh.
"Ah, it's been a long time, Rolf!" he said generously.
Cedric was pushed in front of Rolf, and he was not sure whether the boy in front of him had good intentions or wanted to harm Rolf, so he had to dutifully protect Rolf behind him and fulfill his duties as a class monitor.
"Excuse me, fellow student of Invermorny, I'm Cedric Diggory, the prefect of Hufflepuff." He said politely, "May I ask what you want from Rolf?"
To Cedric's surprise, the sturdy wizard with a mustache was surprisingly easy to talk to.
"Oh, it's nice to meet you, Prefect Diggory." He smiled and held out his hand to Cedric. "I'm John Kowalski, and I'm Rolf's cousin. My grandmother and Rolf's grandmother were sisters."
"Hello, Mr. Kowalski." Cedric shook hands with John, then turned to look at Rolf, "Rolf, is this your cousin?"
Rove didn't want to admit it, but under John's smiling eyes, he couldn't say the word of denial, so he nodded reluctantly.
However, his admission confused Cedric.
"I want to know if there is any problem between you two cousins?" he asked.
"No, we have always had a good relationship." John said with a smile, "It's just that this kid seems to be a little guilty recently and doesn't dare to face me. Am I right, Rolf?"
Rove said nothing.
John didn't take it seriously, and then said to Cedric, "I originally wanted to train Rolf to take over from me and become the student union president after Invermorny, but he ended up going to Hogwarts to study... so he feels guilty!"
Cedric thought about it carefully and made a judgment secretly.
So he nodded and moved aside Rove who was hiding behind him.
"You two brothers should solve your problems yourselves." He looked at Rove with sympathy.
Rolf was horrified. But without Cedric's obstruction, he was immediately caught by his strong cousin, who grabbed his shoulders and pushed him towards Hogwarts Castle.
Now, everyone from the last magic school had arrived, and the "greeters" of Hogwarts finally didn't have to stand like wooden sticks in the cold lake breeze. They returned to the auditorium shivering.
Harry and the others went to sit down at the Gryffindor table, with Ron deliberately sitting on the side facing the door, because Krum and his Durmstrang classmates were still gathered at the door, seemingly unsure where they should sit.
Led by John Kowalski, the president of the Student Union, the students of Invermorny naturally sat next to the Hufflepuff table, and a group of people surrounded the lonely Rolf.
Harry silently mourned for two seconds for this good friend who had once gone on an adventure with him...
Other than that, the students of Beauxbatons quickly chose seats at the smallest and quietest Ravenclaw table.
After they sat down, they looked around the hall with gloomy expressions on their faces. It seemed that Hogwarts did not match their imagination. Three of the students wrapped their heads tightly with scarves and turbans.
"It's not that cold." Hermione looked at them and said unhappily, "Why don't they wear cloaks?"
"Here! Come and sit here!" However, Ron didn't pay any attention to what Hermione was saying, and shouted hoarsely, "Here! Hermione, move over a little and make some room -"
"What?"
"Alas, it's too late!" Ron said regretfully.
Viktor Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students had taken their seats at the Slytherin table.
Draco Malfoy and his two lackeys, Crabbe and Goyle, were all very proud of themselves. Malfoy even stood up and leaned forward to talk to Krum.
"Ah, yes, Malfoy is fawning over him," said Ron sharply. "I bet Krum saw right through him... I bet Krum is fawned over and flattered wherever he goes..."
"Where do you think they'll sleep? We can offer him a bed in our dormitory, Harry... I'd give him my bed and sleep on the cot."
Hermione snorted.
"They look a lot happier than the guys at Beauxbatons," Harry commented pertinently.
The Durmstrang students took off their fur cloaks and looked up at the dark, starlit ceiling with great interest. Two of them even picked up golden plates and goblets and examined them carefully with obvious interest.
Over there at the staff table, janitor Filch was adding a few chairs. He had put on a musty old tailcoat for the occasion.
Harry was surprised to see that he had added five chairs, two to the left of Dumbledore's main seat and three to the right.
It's a bit strange to say, but Filch's physical fitness seems to be not as good as before. The janitor who used to be able to run all night chasing the little wizards who wandered around at night, now he is a little out of breath after moving five chairs.
"But there are only three extra professors," said Harry, puzzled. "Why would Filch bring out four chairs? Who else is coming?"
"Hmm?" Ron answered vaguely, still staring at Krum.
After all the students entered the auditorium and sat down at their respective house tables, the faculty also came in and filed to the guest of honor seats and sat down.
Walking last were Dumbledore, Professor Hicks, Karkaroff and Madame Maxime.
The school rules of Beauxbatons seemed to be very strict. As soon as the students of Beauxbatons saw their headmaster appear, they stood up quickly and did not dare to sit down while the headmaster was standing.
Seeing this, several young wizards from Hogwarts couldn't help laughing. But the representatives from Beauxbatons didn't seem embarrassed at all, and they didn't sit down again until Madam Maxime sat down on Dumbledore's left.
Dumbledore did not sit down, but stood in front of his seat waiting for the hall to quiet down.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts, and especially our distinguished guests," Dumbledore smiled at the students from other schools, "It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to Hogwarts. I hope and believe that you will feel comfortable and happy here."
A girl from Beauxbatons, still with her scarf tightly wrapped around her face, uttered a sneer that was undoubtedly a question.
"No one forced you to stay!" Hermione muttered.
At this moment, a familiar voice suddenly came to her ears:
"The hardware facilities at Beauxbatons are indeed much better than those at Hogwarts. It's normal for them to look down on them."
Hermione turned around and saw Dracula standing nearby, chuckling and looking at the masked Beauxbatons girls with interest.
"Professor Dracula?" Hermione asked in surprise, "I thought you should be in the professor's seat now?"
"That's how it was originally, but Potter has cooperated well with me before, so I think he should be given a little reward." Dracula said, "I might forget about it in a few minutes, so why not just give it to him."
As he spoke, he pulled a small object from his pocket and tossed it to Harry.
"Professor, this is..." Harry caught the small thing, but couldn't tell what it was.
"Oh, I just had an idea and made a portable flashlight." Dracula glanced at Harry's forehead and said with interest, "It has a little magic attached. When the light shines on a certain place, people around will unconsciously look at the place where the light shines."
"For example, when you run into Krum head-on, in order to avoid being overshadowed by him, you can shine this flashlight on your forehead and draw other people's attention to your scar. It's guaranteed to be useful!"
Harry couldn't help but cover his face.
This kind of operation is too shameful...
"Professor, you just said that the hardware facilities at Beauxbatons are better than those at Hogwarts. Is that true?" Hermione fully demonstrated her curious nature and asked as if she was asking a question in class.
"Of course, after all, they are much richer than Hogwarts." Dracula chuckled, "Nicolas Flamel is the alchemist that Potter and Weiss had a remote chat with before. He is the director of Beauxbatons."
"As you know, Nico has a magic stone that can turn everything into gold, and he has more money than he can spend. So he donates a large sum of Galleons to Beauxbatons every year, so that the school has the confidence to undergo a major renovation every few years."
"I've visited there a few times. Their school is indeed very beautiful... At least it can't be compared to a school like Hogwarts that is barely able to maintain its operation with the help of a few stingy pure-blood families and a small amount of donations from alumni."
"But they can't look down on Hogwarts, can they?" Hermione was still a little indignant.
"Indeed. But considering the personalities of these little guys, it's considered quite patient of them not to taunt you."
Dracula smiled and left the Gryffindor table, returning to his seat as a professor, leaving Hermione, Harry and Ron sitting in their seats in a daze, not understanding why Professor Dracula had become so easy to talk to.
At the same time, Dumbledore's speech came to an end -
"The tournament will begin at the end of the banquet," said Dumbledore. "I invite you all to eat and drink as much as you like at home!"
Then he sat down and chatted happily with Professor Hicks on his right, occasionally smiling and glancing at Rove, who was surrounded by a group of Yin Famo Ni students and looked embarrassed.
The plates in front of the little wizards were piled with food as usual.
The house-elves in the kitchen seemed to have done their best. Today's dishes were more sumptuous than usual, and a variety of dishes were placed before them, some of which were definitely of foreign flavor.
"What's that?" Ron asked.
He pointed to a large plate of what looked like seafood chowder next to a large steak and a cup of pudding.
"Brilloux," said Hermione.
"Is it for those people at Beauxbatons?" asked Ron.
"That should be it." Hermione nodded. "This is French food. I ate it during the summer vacation two years ago. It tastes delicious."
"It's you who fell, our Miss Know-It-All." Ron joked noncommittally, then served himself some black pudding.
It turned out that the little British wizards were not very interested in French cuisine, and no one touched the plate of French fish soup for a long time.
Just then, a voice said, "Excuse me, would you like to eat this plate of mixed fish soup?"
It was the Beauxbatons girl who had laughed when Dumbledore was speaking just now.
At this point, she finally took off her scarf.
She had long, silver hair that fell to her waist like a waterfall, and a pair of big, deep blue eyes and a row of neat, white teeth on her beautiful, enchanting face.
Ron's face flushed crimson and he stared at her blankly. He opened his mouth to answer but only made some strange little noises, as if his throat was clogged.
"Okay, you take it," Harry said for Ron, pushing the plate to the girl.
"Have you finished eating?" the girl asked.
"I'm done," Ron said breathlessly, "I'm done. It's delicious."
The girl carefully carried the plate to the Ravenclaw table. Ron still stared at the girl with wide eyes, as if he had never seen a female classmate before.
Harry laughed cheerfully, and his laughter finally brought Ron back to his senses.
"She's a Veela!" Ron croaked at Harry.
"Definitely not!" Hermione stabbed the steak in front of her with a fork and said through gritted teeth, "I didn't see anyone staring at her like an idiot!"
She wasn't entirely right.
As the girl walked through the hall, many of the boys turned their heads to look at her, and several of them seemed to become speechless for a moment, just like Ron.
'This is a half-Veela,' Hermione thought to herself.
She suddenly realized why Professor Dracula had said that before - the Veela did have a bad temper. In the previous Quidditch World Cup, the Veela, who was the Bulgarian mascot, almost fought with the Irish mascot.
Hermione looked at Dracula's long silver hair, which was brighter than that girl's, and suddenly felt that she had discovered something extraordinary.
Could it be that Professor Dracula is also a half-Veela...
"That girl is really extraordinary!" Ron, who was standing by, had no idea what Hermione was thinking. He just said this while turning sideways so that he could still look at the girl clearly. "There is no such beautiful person in Hogwarts!"
"The girls at Hogwarts are pretty good too," Harry said without hesitation.
He subconsciously followed Ron's gaze towards the Ravenclaw table and saw Qiu Zhang, a girl with smooth black hair, sitting not far from the girl with silver hair.
Harry's gaze paused for a moment, then he suddenly shook his head with a smile and turned his gaze back to the Gryffindor table.
He saw that Ginny, who was sitting not far away, was staring at him eagerly. When she noticed his gaze, she blushed and lowered her head.
Yes, the girls at Hogwarts are pretty good too.
It's not just the girls from Ravenclaw, it's the same with Gryffindor girls as well.
…
…