Soon, the squid satisfied its curiosity and submerged back into the Black Lake, while the people by the shore finally saw the true appearance of this "Kelpie"—
It was a gigantic wooden submarine, painted with dark green and light green, forming the shape of a monstrous face resembling that of a monkey. Four iron cables suddenly shot out from the diadem atop the monkey's head, plunging fiercely into the mud on the Black Lake's shore.
Then, the Kelpie's mouth opened, and a roll of pale pink "tongue" spilled onto the ground.
"...So green."
This was the only thought lingering in the minds of the Hogwarts students as they saw the little wizards emerging from the Kelpie's mouth.
Green seemed to be the only theme of Castelobruxo, from robes to belts, even the tips of shoes peeking out from under clothes and the fluffy black curls. Everything exuded an aura of "freedom" and "health," making Harry swallow his saliva—
He felt like he was seeing a whole row of cauliflowers.
...Standing for so long made him a bit hungry.
Then, the white-bearded old cauliflower in front suddenly opened his arms and approached Dumbledore.
"Dear Professor Francis, long time no see—"
"Oh, Dumbledore, old friend!"
The two old men, together likely over 240 years old, started exchanging pleasantries, prompting everyone to follow Professor McGonagall in applause. The group of "cauliflowers" in green robes quickly formed a line, standing between Uagadou and Hogwarts.
The cauliflowers started greeting their peers around them with giggles, seemingly very good-natured people.
Harry was standing a bit far from them, so he could only quietly turn his head to see.
"Ms. Maxime hasn't—"
"Oh, York, you're the first to arrive today, perhaps they've been delayed by something..."
"Fire, fire, fire dragon!!"
Suddenly, a first-year little wizard pointed to the sky, his voice laden with indescribable excitement.
"Don't spout nonsense... It's clearly a house that's flying!"
Colin Creevey interrupted his brother's foolish statement, squinting at the sky and made the second foolish statement.
Everyone's gaze was drawn over as the dark, huge creature skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, illuminated by the castle window lights—
They saw a gigantic powder-blue carriage flying towards them, as big as a house, pulled through the air by a dozen gold-winged Abraxan horses, all beautifully silver-maned, each horse roughly the size of an elephant.
Amidst the exclamations from the little wizards, the carriage flew lower, descending at an incredibly swift speed—then, with a thunderous crash, Harry jumped back in fright, stepping on Ron's foot, who couldn't help but cry out in pain—
Their hooves landed heavily on the ground, creating giant shallow craters, and in a blink, the carriage touched down, its enormous wheels vibrating, while the golden horses shook their massive heads, their fiery red eyes rolling around.
Finally, they all turned in one direction, starting to snort impatiently.
A moment later, the carriage door sprang open, a boy in a light blue robe jumped down, bent over, and rummaged for something on the carriage floor.
Soon, with a "clack," a golden spiral staircase dropped to the ground.
The boy nimbly stepped aside, and then, William widened his eyes—watching the woman descend from the steps, unable not to be surprised, among all the humans William had seen, probably only Hagrid's physique could compare to this woman, so her identity was unmistakable—
"..."
Well, the question now is, Hagrid's giant genetics come from his mother, implying Hagrid has a father daring enough to "innovate" and "challenge." As for this half-blood giant... never mind, it's not hard to guess, anyway, William has difficulty imagining a pairing between a male giant and a witch.
That would definitely lead to disaster!
This lady was, to date, the most unique among all the professors and headmasters sent by the academies.
By now, the woman had reached the front of the crowd, and they saw her handsome olive-colored face clearly. Her beauty arguably qualified as beautiful, but when magnified several times proportionally, her appearance became somewhat intimidating.
"Dear Ms. Maxime." Dumbledore approached, kissing the woman's extended right hand, "Welcome to Hogwarts." Dumbledore raised his head and said, not even bending over as he kissed her hand.
"Good evening, Dumbledore." Ms. Maxime's voice was deep yet magnetic, "I hope you're doing well."
"Very well, thank you." Dumbledore nodded.
"These are my students."
Ms. Maxime spoke while casually waving one of her gigantic hands toward her back.
That's when attention shifted from the woman's physique to notice about a dozen male and female students alighting from the carriage, now huddled behind Ms. Maxime. They wore thin clothing, only a gray-blue robe seemingly made of silk.
"Kakaloro—"
Madam Maxime's gaze swept over the students' heads nearby, and she quickly noticed the missing one. But before she could say anything, a huge explosion suddenly erupted among the Hogwarts students, and everyone instinctively turned to look—
"What are you doing?! I clearly said you couldn't pull it—"
A green "Cabbage" suddenly and righteously spoke up, and at the center of the explosion, Malfoy stood there bewildered, his hands cupped awkwardly in front of him. His face was smeared with paint in all colors, the boy opened his mouth, flushing bright red, but was quickly interrupted by the Cabbage—
"There, are you happy now?! You cold-hearted person! I will never..."
"Ahem."
A light cough came from the front of the Cabbage line, and the previously aggressive little Cabbage decisively shut its mouth, leaving the speechless Malfoy trembling under everyone's gaze. Amongst all the laughter and attention, what Malfoy couldn't stand the most was Snape's gaze—
Damn it, he had caused such a disgrace for Slytherin under everyone's eyes, and now he had Professor Snape's attention as well—great, now he'd have to be careful with every meal and drink for the next two days, or else who knows when he'd swallow some poison Snape might sneak in.
"Malfoy, he..."
Ron forced down the smile tugging at his lips. He didn't want to, but Professor McGonagall's dagger-like stare shot over from the front of the line.
"He's been framed."
Beside Ron, Fred said with a grave face.
"?! You're sympathizing with Malfoy?"
Ron listened to his somber tone, incredulous, while in the row ahead, Harry and Hermione turned their heads in confusion.
"Of course not!"
Fred widened his eyes, bewildered by their thought process—"It's because we've met our match!" said George from the side, his face equally serious as the twins stared intently at the line of Cabbages, their eyes gleaming with eager anticipation.
"This is a prank war; now, the war has begun—"
The sharp yet uncharacteristically serious voice came from their feet. Instinctively they looked down, only to find Peeves standing firmly next to Fred, his tall hat barely reaching Fred's chest—
At this moment, Peeves wore an unprecedented solemn look. The twins glanced down, exchanged a glance with the ghost, and a flash of camaraderie flickered in their eyes.
"...We're finished."
Hermione, seeing the revolutionary camaraderie among the three, couldn't help but utter in despair—she had a premonition that this year, Gryffindor's house points might fall into negative numbers.
The girl looked a bit gloomy, wondering how many times she'd have to raise her hand this year to earn back the points?
...
The commotion at the back didn't last too long, finally concluding with Snape dragging Malfoy away with a dark expression, and Madam Maxime turned her gaze back to Dumbledore.
"These horses—"
She turned around, a bit surprised, to look at the large, restless winged horses that never usually behaved like this before her, despite their wild nature.
"Although our professor for the Magical Creatures class isn't here, someone will still take care of them, right, William?"
Dumbledore blinked, addressing William.
"Of course."
William stepped out from the crowd and snapped his fingers at the winged horses.
"My steeds need—hmm—a very strong hand to care for them, they're fierce in nature..."
Ms. Maxime clearly didn't think someone only as tall as her navel like William could manage the Abraxans, but the next moment, her eyes widened because the group of Abraxans suddenly trotted over, forming a line before William; the two at the front even bowed their heads toward him—
"Don't worry, I'm quite good with these guys—learned from Mr. Newt Scamander."
As William spoke, he leaped onto a horse, and as the latter half of his sentence came out, the last trace of worry vanished from Madam Maxime's face—Scamander, that made perfect sense.
"Oh, and they only drink pure malt whiskey," Madam Maxime added.
So, under everyone's gaze, William lightly tugged the reins, turning the horse's head. Despite its large size, the carriage turned lightly by the Black Lake, heading towards the Forbidden Forest, "Rest assured, ma'am, you'll see them at the edge of the Forbidden Forest—"
But whether a few wouldn't want to return to Beauxbatons with you, I couldn't say.
Sizing up the well-fed, strong horses, William gleefully rubbed his hands—
A new brochure, a new brochure!!