Three-way Championship

Representatives of Boothbaton and Demstrong will arrive at 6pm on Friday, October 30. The afternoon class will end half an hour in advance. At that time, students are asked to send their schoolbags and textbooks back to the dormitory, gather in front of the castle, welcome our guests, and then attend a welcome banquet.

Silver read out the words on the notice board.

"Great!, that afternoon was Moody's class." Michael said excitedly.

The students around Gryffindor glared at him with some disgust.

"Oh, I thought you would like Moody's class." Silver said.

"How is that possible! After a person uses the Soul-Snatching Spell to force you to jump a samba in front of the whole class, it is difficult for you to have a good impression of this person."

"That's just because you're not strong-willed."

"Hey, Jack, not everyone can easily resist the soul-catching curse like you. I've asked about it. In addition to you, Potter and a few outstanding senior students barely resist the soul-catching curse."

"It's only one week!" Ernie McMillan of Hufflepuff Academy squeezed out of the crowd, his eyes shining, and said, "I don't know if Cedric knows it. I'll tell him..."

"Maybe we need to tell Davis?" Michael said after hearing Ernie McMillan's words.

"Forget it." Padma said, "that guy who loves to show off must have known it a long time ago, and I don't think he can become a Hogwarts warrior."

Silver pretended to cough: "Padma, Davis and we belong to the same academy after all, so we can't speak too directly."

The notice that appeared in the foyer had a significant impact on the people living in the castle. In the following week, no matter where they were, people seemed to be talking about only one topic: the Triple Championship. Rumors quickly spread among students, such as highly contagious bacteria: who would compete to be the Warriors of Hogwarts, what events would be available for the Championship, and how are the students of Boothbaton and Demstrong different from them.

The castle was being thoroughly cleaned. Several dirty portraits were scrubbed, and the people who were scrubbed were very dissatisfied with it. They shrank and sat in the frame, muttering in a coquettish manner. Every time they touched the newly exposed pink flesh on their faces, they grinned in pain. The armor suddenly became shiny and no longer creaked during the movement. The gatekeeper Argus Felch was furious when he saw a student forgetting to wipe his shoes clean, which scared the two first-grade girls into hysteria.

Other teachers also seemed particularly nervous. Even the good-tempered Professor Frieve got angry because of the students' absent-mindedness.

On the morning of October 30, when they went downstairs for breakfast, they found that the auditorium was decorated overnight. Huge silk banners were hung on the walls, each representing a college in Hogwarts: Gryffindor with a golden lion on the red base, Ravenclaw with a bronze eagle on the blue base, Hufflepuff with a black badger on the yellow base, and Slytherin with a silver python on the green base. Behind the teacher's desk was the largest banner, which was the heraldic sign of Hogwarts: lion, eagle, badger, snake, and snake were connected together, surrounding a large letter H.

Hermione and Pettier ran over from Gryffindor's table.

"Hermione, Pettier, don't leave the Gryffindor team at will when you go out to greet the people of Busbaton and Demstrong tonight. Although the deans don't say anything, they should take a little care of their face at that time. Now everyone thinks you are students of Ravenclaw."

Hermione smiled and said, "I know, the Sorting Hat suggested that I go to Ravenclaw at that time, but I chose to go to Gryffindor myself."

Pettier said: "I want to go to Ravenclaw, but the school hat said I'm more suitable to go to Gryffindor. What a pity, Professor McGonagall is too strict, and I prefer Professor Flitvie."

"You guys say, how did Boothbaton and Demstrong get to Hogwarts today? Are you also taking the Hogwarts Express?" Antonin said vaguely as he swallowed the bread.

"No," said Silver. "Bothbarton and Demstrong have always wanted to compare Hogwarts, and they will definitely use a special means of transportation to Hogwarts."

"What would that be? Are there a fire dragon sitting?" Michael said.

"Anyway, I'll know tonight, so there's no need to worry about guessing."

That day, the air was filled with a sense of anticipation. In the class, no one was listening attentively. Everyone thought that Boothbaton and Demstrong were coming to the night. After the ringtone rang early, the students rushed to the common room of their respective colleges, put down their schoolbags and textbooks as instructed, put on their cloaks, and then rushed down the stairs in two steps to the foyer.

College deans are ordering their students to line up.

"Weasley, put the hat right," Professor McGonagall said to Ron sternly, "Miss Pettier, take away the ridiculous thing from his hair."

Parvati frowned unhappily and took a large butterfly headdress off the tip of the braid. Silver looked at her and muttered, looking at her mouth as if it was "Why am I not Ravenclaw".

"First-grade students are in front... don't be crowded..."

The students walked down the steps and stood in line in front of the castle. It was a cold evening with fresh air. Night was falling, and a white, translucent moon had already hung over the forbidden forest. They looked excitedly at the darkening site, but there was no movement. Everything was silent, quiet, no different from usual.

"Ah! If I'm not mistaken, Busbaton's representative has arrived!" At this moment, Dumbledore, who was standing in the back row with the other teachers, shouted.

"Where?" many students asked anxiously, looking in different directions.

"There!" a student shouted, pointing at the sky above the Forbidden Forest.

A giant, much larger than a flying broom—or a hundred flying brooms—is rapidly passing through the deep blue sky and flying towards the castle, gradually getting bigger and bigger.

When the black behemoth passed the treetops of the forbidden forest and was shining by the lights of the castle window, they saw a huge pink-blue carriage flying towards them. It was as big as a house, and twelve winged horses pulled it into the air, all of which were silver-maned horses, each of which was about the size of an elephant.

The carriage flew even lower and was landing at an extremely rapid speed. The students standing in the front three rows hurriedly backed back - and then, a shocking sound - the horses' hooves fell on the ground, all of them as big as vegetable plates. In the blink of an eye, the carriage also landed on the ground, vibrating on the huge wheels. At the same time, the golden horses trembled their huge heads and their big red eyes were spinning.

A boy in a light blue robe jumped out of the carriage, bent down, fumbled on the floor of the carriage, and then opened a golden spiral ladder. He jumped respectfully and saw a shiny black high heeled shoe stretching out from the carriage-the shoe was as big as a small sled for children-and followed by a woman, who was so big that it was stunning. In this way, it was self-evident why the carriage and the silver-maned horses were so big. Several people were in shock and took a breath of air conditioning.

The woman seemed even more bizarre. When she walked into the lights sprinkled from the hall, everyone found that she had a handsome olive face, a pair of black and watery eyes, and a very pointed nose. Her hair was combed behind her head and tied into a shiny bun at the base of her neck. She was wrapped in a black forged dress from head to toe, with many luxurious opals shining around her neck and on her thick fingers.

Dumbledore began to applaud, and the classmates slapped them. Many people stood on tiptoe, trying to see the woman more clearly.

Her face relaxed, and a graceful smile spread out, and she stretched out a glittering hand and walked towards Dumbledore. Although Dumbledore was tall, he almost did not bend down when kissing the hand.

"Dear Mrs. Maxim," he said, "welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbledore," said Mrs. Maxim in a low voice, "I hope you are all well."

"Very good, thank you," Dumbledore said.

"My student," said Mrs. Maxim, waving casually behind her with a huge hand.

At this time, about twelve or three male and female students had already got off the carriage and were standing behind Mrs. Maxim. Judging from their appearance, they were about eighteen or nineteen years old, and they were trembling slightly. This is not surprising, because the robes on their bodies seemed to be made of exquisite silk, and no one was wearing cloaks. Several students wrapped their heads with scarves or turban certificates. They all looked up at Hogwarts with a look of vigilance on their faces.

"Is Kakarov coming?" asked Mrs. Maxim.

"He will come at any time," said Dumbledore. "Are you willing to wait here to greet him, or are you willing to go in and warm up first?"

"Let's warm up." said Mrs. Maxim, "but those horses-"

"Our magical creature teachers will be happy to take care of them," Dumbledore said. "He came back after a little mess, and it was his - well - something else he was going to take care of."

"My horses need—well—strong people to take good care of,” Mrs. Maxim said, seemingly doubting whether Hogwarts's magical biology teacher could do the job, "they are very strong..."

"I promise you that Hagrid can do this job well," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Very good," said Mrs. Maxim, bowing slightly, "Can you tell this Hagrid that these horses only drink pure malt whiskey?"

"I will take care of you," Dumbledore said, bowing.

"Come on," Mrs. Maxim said majestic to her students. So the Hogwarts crowds dodged a passage and allowed her and her students to go up the stone steps.

The students continued to wait for the arrival of the Demstrong delegation, and were already trembling slightly. Most of them looked up at the sky with their eyes. For a moment, there was silence everywhere, and only the sound of Mrs. Maxim's huge horse sniffing and stomping her hooves. At this moment—

A very loud and weird sound floated towards them from the darkness: a suppressed rumble and sucking sound, like a huge vacuum cleaner moving along the riverbed...

"In the lake!" someone shouted, "Look at that lake!"

They stood on the slope of the lawn overlooking the site and could clearly see the calm and dark water surface-but the water surface suddenly became no longer calm. There was a commotion under the water in the middle of the lake, and huge splashes of water were rolling on the water surface, and waves rushing against the wet shore. Then, in the middle of the lake, a large whirlpool appeared, as if a huge plug was suddenly pulled out from the bottom of the lake...

A black long pole-like thing slowly rose from the vortex...

Slowly, extraordinary, the ship rose out of the water and shone brightly in the moonlight. It looked weird, like a skeleton, as if it were the remains of a newly salvaged shipwreck, with a dim and misty light that looked like the eyes of a ghost. Finally, with a splash of water, the ship completely emerged, pounding on the undulating water surface, and began to sail towards the lakeshore. After a moment, they heard a plop, an iron anchor was thrown into the shallow water, and then another snap, a wooden board was placed on the lakeshore.

The people on the boat were getting ashore, and the students could see the silhouette that caused people to pass the porthole light. Their frames all looked very tall... However, when they got closer and walked into the light from the foyer, the students realized that they looked very big because they were all wearing a black fur cloak with chaotic fur on them. However, the man who led them to the castle wore another type of fur: silver-white, soft and smooth, much like his hair.

"Dumbledore!" the man shouted enthusiastically as he walked up the slope, "How are you, my dear old man?"

"Great, thank you, Professor Kakarov." Dumbledore replied.

Karloff's voice was round and sweet. When he walked into the lights shot from the main entrance of the castle, they saw him as tall and thin as Dumbledore, but his white hair was short and his goatee did not completely cover his thin chin. He walked up to Dumbledore and shook hands with both hands.

"Dear old man Hogwarts," he said with a smile looking up at the castle--his teeth were yellow, and although his face was smiling, there was no smile in his eyes, and he was still cold and sharp. "It's great to be here, it's great...Wickdor, come here quickly and warm up...Don't you mind, Dumbledore?Wickdor has a cold..."

Kakarov signaled one of his students to come forward. Many people were whispering as the boy walked by.
Chapter completed!