When Ron asked Sherlock whether the other two schools would arrive by train like they had, Sherlock definitively gave a negative answer.
"Based on current circumstances, they'll definitely choose an impressive way to make their entrance. Arriving by train clearly isn't that."
"Could it be flying broomsticks?" Harry looked up at the starry sky, speculating.
"The distance is too far, not practical enough." Sherlock still shook his head.
"Surely not a Portkey?" Ron thought of how they'd traveled to the Quidditch World Cup.
Sherlock chuckled lightly. "Dear Ron, unless you consider arriving in a dusty heap an impressive entrance."
"Maybe they can Apparate, perhaps in their country, people under seventeen are allowed to Apparate?" Harry speculated again.
"Harry, you can't Apparate on Hogwarts grounds..." Hermione said somewhat helplessly.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot."
As time passed, the young wizards on site began feeling somewhat cold.
Their initial excitement gave way to hopes that these foreigners would arrive more quickly.
"Sherlock, looks like you were right. These foreigners are probably preparing a dramatic entrance!" Ron stamped his somewhat numb feet and couldn't help saying.
Hearing Ron's words, Harry also recalled what Mr. Weasley had said at the campsite before the Quidditch World Cup. "It's always the same. When people gather together, they can't help wanting to show off a bit..."
Showing off in front of others truly seemed to be human instinct.
"Ah! If I'm not mistaken, the Beauxbatons representatives have arrived!" Just as the young wizards were growing impatient, Dumbledore, standing in the back row with the other teachers, called out.
"Where?"
"Where are they?"
Many students asked urgently, quickly looking in different directions.
"There!" A sharp-eyed student shouted loudly, pointing toward the sky above the Forbidden Forest.
Everyone looked where he indicated and saw an object rapidly crossing the deep blue sky, flying toward Hogwarts castle.
At first, it was merely a small black dot. As the distance closed, it gradually grew larger and larger.
Finally, what appeared before everyone was an enormous object.
"My god, it's a dragon!"
"Don't be ridiculous... it's a flying house!"
Remarkably, the latter statement was actually closer to the truth.
When that dark enormous object swept over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, illuminated by the light from the castle windows, a gigantic powder-blue carriage flew toward them.
It was as large as a house, pulled through the air by twelve winged horses.
They were all Abraxans, each as large as an elephant.
Watching the carriage fly lower and lower, students in the front three rows realized what was happening and hastily began retreating.
With a tremendous crash, the massive carriage finally landed at tremendous speed.
Sherlock naturally noticed more than the others.
On the carriage door was an emblem: two golden crossed wands, each emitting three stars.
Clearly, this must be the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic coat of arms.
The next moment, the carriage door opened, and a boy in pale blue robes jumped down.
He bent down, seemingly fumbling for something on the carriage floor.
Before long, he opened a golden spiral staircase.
As he respectfully jumped back, a shining black high-heeled shoe emerged from the carriage.
This scene gave those present tremendous shock.
Because this shoe was as large as a child's small sled.
What kind of person would have such large feet?
They quickly received the answer to their question.
A gigantic woman appeared in everyone's field of vision.
After several people clearly saw her full appearance, they couldn't help gasping in shock.
"My god, she's... she's as tall as Hagrid!" Harry couldn't help murmuring.
Sherlock shook his head. "No, slightly taller than Hagrid."
"What?"
Hearing Sherlock's words, Harry and Ron, along with Hermione standing in front of him, all turned to look at him in surprise.
They didn't doubt Sherlock's judgment because Sherlock's eyes were as good as a ruler.
"She's probably also a giant," Sherlock continued. "And very likely a half-giant."
What prompted Sherlock to make this judgment was still height.
Although from an ordinary person's perspective, the nearly twelve-foot-tall Hagrid and this woman were already very tall, within the giant population, they would still be considered relatively short.
As this woman slowly walked into the entrance hall, everyone could see her appearance clearly through the indoor light.
Surprisingly, she had a very striking olive-colored face, large dark liquid eyes, and a pointed nose.
Looking at just her face apart from her height, she could definitely be called a beautiful normally.
Her hair was combed back, into a shining knot at the nape of her neck.
She was draped from head to toe in black satin, with many magnificent opals gleaming on her neck and thick fingers.
Dumbledore immediately began applauding, and the students followed suit.
Many in the back rows stood on tiptoe, wanting to see this woman more clearly.
At this moment, her face also relaxed, breaking into an elegant smile as she extended a glittering hand and walked toward Dumbledore.
Dumbledore's six-foot-plus height barely required him to bend when kissing that hand.
"Madame Maxime," Dumbledore said, looking up. "Welcome to Hogwarts."
"Dumbledore, I hope you are well," Madame Maxime spoke, her voice was low and magnetic.
"Very well, thank you," Dumbledore answered.
"My students." Madame Maxime said, raising one enormous hand to wave carelessly behind her.
From the moment Madame Maxime appeared, almost everyone's attention was firmly captured by her.
Only Sherlock, after completing his observation of her, turned his attention to the carriage that had brought them here.
By now, about twelve or thirteen students had successively disembarked from the carriage. Among them were both males and females, with slightly more females.
The rumor that "Beauxbatons is an all-girls school" could now be confirmed as false.
They stopped after standing behind Madame Maxime.
Sherlock swept his gaze across them, noticing most were around seventeen or eighteen years old, and nearly all were trembling slightly.
This wasn't surprising because their robes were made of silk, and none wore cloaks.
In such weather, they would naturally feel cold.
Madame Maxime was so tall that they were all hidden by her enormous shadow, making it impossible to see their facial expressions clearly.
But judging from the few whose faces could be seen, they all looked up at Hogwarts with awe on their faces.
"Has Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime turned to Dumbledore and asked, seeing her students were ready.
"He'll arrive any moment. Would you prefer to wait here to greet him, or would you like to go inside and warm up first?"
"Let's warm up," Madame Maxime frowned. "But the problem is the horses..."
"Not to worry, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to look after them," Dumbledore smiled slightly. "He'll return after handling a small disturbance. Something happened with his... well... some other creatures he's caring for."
"No need to guess, it's definitely the Blast-Ended Skrewts," Ron said in a low voice, grinning at Sherlock and Harry.
Sherlock and Harry both nodded. This wasn't surprising at all.
However, Madame Maxime seemed somewhat doubtful whether Hogwarts' Care of Magical Creatures teacher could handle this task. She said hesitantly, "My steeds require... well... very strong people to care for them properly. In fact, they're quite spirited..."
"I assure you, Hagrid is fully capable of handling this task," Dumbledore's smile remained unchanged.
"Very well." Since Dumbledore said so, Madame Maxime could hardly question further.
But she still bowed slightly. "Could you please inform this Hagrid that these horses only drink single-malt whisky?"
"I'll take care of it," Dumbledore maintained his smile and also bowed.
"Very well... come along!" The latter half was directed at her students. Her voice sounded very authoritative, and so the Hogwarts crowd opened a path, allowing her and her students to ascend the stone steps.
"Sherlock, how big do you think Durmstrang's horses will be?" Ron asked curiously.
"First, Durmstrang may not adopt the same entrance method as Beauxbatons, which means they may not necessarily bring horses. Second, even if they do have horses, the size of Durmstrang's horses has no necessary connection to the size of Beauxbatons' horses. Finally, if they're even larger than these horses, then even Hagrid probably couldn't handle them."
The first two points were logically rigorous deductions, while the last was a joke.
Everyone laughed together.
"Um... Hagrid hasn't been injured by his Blast-Ended Skrewts, has he?" Harry said somewhat worriedly. "I wonder what kind of disturbance they caused?"
"Probably escaped," Ron said hopefully.
"Oh, please don't say that," Hermione shivered, leaning closer to Sherlock. "Just imagine those things crawling all over the grounds..."
After Madame Maxime led the Beauxbatons students into the castle, out of politeness, the Hogwarts faculty and students still stood there, waiting for the Durmstrang party to arrive.
Having stayed outdoors for quite a while, most people were already shivering slightly from the cold.
Seeing this, Sherlock directly cast several Warming Charms on himself and those nearby.
"Oh, wonderful, thank you, Sherlock!" Hermione turned around, both surprised and delighted.
How wonderful! Sherlock actually knew how to care for people!
Seeing Sherlock's action, most of the young wizards began imitating his operation.
Neville quietly asked Hermione about the incantation for this spell. Just then—
A loud and very strange sound drifted toward them from the darkness.
It was a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, like a giant vacuum cleaner moving along a riverbed.
"A surprisingly unexpected entrance method," Sherlock chuckled lightly.
"Sherlock, you saw it?"
"Yes, in the lake."
Almost simultaneously, Lee Jordan also shouted loudly, pointing at the lake surface to get everyone's attention quickly. "Look at the lake!"
Their current position happened to be on the sloping lawn overlooking the grounds, so they could clearly see that expanse of calm, dark water.
Of course, the water surface was no longer calm. A large whirlpool appeared at the lake's center, as if a drain plug had been pulled.
Next, a black pole-like object slowly rose from the whirlpool's center. It was a mast.
After the mast, a magnificent ship emerged from the water.
It gleamed in the moonlight, its portholes flickering with dim, misty light.
Once the ship completely surfaced, it began pitching on the rippling water toward the shore.
Approaching the bank, an iron anchor was thrown into the shallow water, followed by a wooden plank being placed on the shore. The people on the ship began coming ashore along the plank.
"Looks like the Durmstrang students are all first years," Dean joked.
As everyone knew, at Hogwarts, only first-year students entered the castle by crossing the lake.
However, no one responded to Dean's joke. Everyone's attention was focused on these people.
They all appeared quite large because everyone wore a kind of fur cloak with tangled, matted fur.
However, the man walking at the front, leading them toward the castle, wore a different kind of fur: silver-white, soft and smooth, much like his hair.
Needless to say, this must be the Karkaroff that Dumbledore and Madame Maxime had just mentioned.
"Dumbledore!" Sure enough, as soon as the man walked up the slope, he immediately called out to Dumbledore. "My dear old friend, how are you?"
Compared to the authoritative Madame Maxime, Karkaroff was clearly much more enthusiastic. His voice had a smooth and sweet tone that didn't match his appearance.
"Splendid, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied as politely as he had to Madame Maxime.
Professor Karkaroff's build was very similar to Dumbledore's. Both were tall and thin.
However, his white hair was very short, and his goatee with curled ends couldn't completely conceal his thin chin.
He walked up to Dumbledore and shook hands with him using both hands.
"My dear old Hogwarts, it's so good to be here, so good..." He looked up at the castle and said with a smile.
Seeing this, Sherlock raised an eyebrow.
By observing Dumbledore's reception of these two school leaders, he had already deduced some information.
At this moment, Professor Karkaroff seemed to be smiling happily, as if coming to Hogwarts was something that made him very pleased.
However, Sherlock could see clearly that there was no smile in his eyes. The depths of his eyes were full of coldness and sharpness.
Sherlock smiled slightly. "Interesting."
"What's interesting?" Ron quickly asked.
"I didn't expect to see him here."
"See whom?" Harry asked.
But soon Sherlock didn't need to answer.
Professor Karkaroff gestured for one of his students to come forward. "Viktor, come here quickly and warm up..."
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