Old Blood at Hogwarts

After the Beauxbatons delegation entered the castle, the teachers and students of Hogwarts continued to stand there, waiting for the arrival of the Durmstrang delegation.

The weather was very cold at night, and most people were already shivering slightly from the cold.Everyone looked up at the sky eagerly, looking forward to Durmstrang's delegation arriving soon.There was silence all around for a moment, except for the snorting and stamping of Madame Maxime's giant horse.

At this moment, Aaron seemed to vaguely hear a very loud and strange sound floating towards them from the darkness.It was a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, like a giant vacuum cleaner moving along the riverbed...

So Aaron asked Colin: "Did you hear anything?"

"What?" Colin listened carefully and heard the strange sound, "What is this sound?"

At this time, more and more people heard the strange sound, and people looked around, looking for the source of the sound.

"In the lake!" Lee Jordan suddenly pointed at the lake and shouted, "Look at that lake!"

They stood on the lawn slope overlooking the grounds, and could clearly see the dark lake in front of the castle.At this time, the originally calm water surface in the center of the lake suddenly became no longer calm. There was some kind of commotion under the water. Huge splashes rose on the surface of the water, and waves crashed against the wet lake shore.Then, right 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 long black pole-like thing slowly rose from the whirlpool, and then Aaron saw the sail rigging, which was a mast.

Slowly, an extraordinary large ship rose out of the water, shining brightly in the moonlight.It had an eerie, skeletal appearance, as if it were the remains of a sunken ship that had just been raised.The portholes glowed with a dim, misty light that looked like ghostly eyes.Finally, with a faint splashing sound, the big boat emerged completely, bumped on the undulating water, and began to sail towards the lake shore.

A moment later, Aaron heard a splash as an anchor was thrown into the shallow water, and then another snap as a plank was set on the lake shore.

The people on the boat began to go ashore, and Aaron and the others could see the silhouettes of people passing by the light in the portholes.Aaron noticed that they were all similar in stature to Crabbe and Goyle.However, when they came closer and walked along the lawn into the light cast by the foyer, Aaron realized that the reason why they looked so big was because they were all wearing a kind of fur cloak with shaggy and tangled fur.But the man who led them towards the castle wore another kind of silver-white fur, which was soft and smooth, much like his hair.

"Dumbledore!" the man called enthusiastically as he walked up the ramp. "How are you, my dear old fellow?"

"Excellent. Thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied.

Karkaroff's voice was mellow and sweet, and when he walked into the light from the castle's main entrance, people saw that he was tall and thin like Dumbledore, but his white hair was short, and his goatee (the ends (with small curls on top) did not completely cover his thin chin.He walked up to Dumbledore and shook his hand with both hands.

He looked up at the castle and smiled and said, "Dear old Hogwarts, it's so good to be here, so good!" His teeth were yellow, and Aaron noticed that even though he was smiling, , but there was no smile in his eyes, but instead they were full of indifference and sharpness.

"Victor, come here and warm yourself up." Karkaroff motioned to one of his students to come forward. "You don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a little cold..."

As the boy walked past, Aaron caught a glimpse of a striking hooked nose and thick, black eyebrows.Aaron immediately recognized the figure. It was Viktor Krum, the seeker of the Bulgarian team in the World Cup!

Obviously, many students recognized Krum, and Aaron could hear various whispers coming from around him.As they walked through the foyer again toward the Great Hall with the other students at Hogwarts, Aaron saw Lee Jordan jumping up and down on tiptoes, trying to get a better look at Krum's back.Several sixth-grade girls were rummaging around in their pockets like crazy as they walked.

As Aaron walked past them, their excited voices could be heard:

"Oh, I can't believe I don't have a quill with me."

"You mean he'll sign my hat with lipstick?"

When Aaron walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down, the Beauxbatons students had chosen seats at the Ravenclaw table.After they sat down, they looked around the auditorium with sullen expressions on their faces.Three of the students still had scarves and headscarves wrapped tightly around their heads.Krum and his fellow Durmstrang alumni were still gathered at the door, seemingly unsure where they should sit.

Finally, Viktor Krum and his fellow Durmstrang alumni chose to take a seat at the Slytherin table.Aaron could see that Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were elated by this.He saw Malfoy leaning forward to talk to Krum.

Durmstrang's classmates looked up with interest at the dark, starlit ceiling as they took off their students' fur cloaks.Two of the students also picked up the golden plates and goblets and held them carefully, obviously very interested.

Over there at the staff table, the janitor Filch was adding a few chairs.For today's grand occasion, he put on that moldy old tuxedo.Aaron saw that he had added four chairs, two on either side of Dumbledore.

After all the students entered the auditorium and took their seats at the tables in their respective houses, the faculty came in and they filed over to the guest of honor seat and sat down.Walking last were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime.The Beauxbatons students stood up quickly as soon as they saw their principal appear.Several Hogwarts students couldn't help but laugh.But the Beauxbatons representatives did not look embarrassed at all, and they did not sit down again until Madame Maxime sat down on Dumbledore's left hand side.Dumbledore remained standing, and the auditorium gradually became quiet.

"Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, ghosts, and... special... distinguished guests." Dumbledore looked at the foreign students with a smile and said, "It is with great joy that I welcome you. Hogwarts. I hope and trust that you will feel comfortable and happy here."

A Beauxbatons girl, who still had her head wrapped tightly in a scarf, let out an unmistakable sarcastic sneer.This is undoubtedly very impolite behavior.Immediately, several Hogwarts students stared at the girl.

"No one forced you to stay!" Aaron heard Colin whisper next to him. No doubt he was also annoyed by the girl.

Just listen to Dumbledore continue: "The competition will officially start at the end of the banquet. I now invite everyone to eat and drink as much as you would at home!" He sat down, and Aaron immediately leaned over when he saw Karkaroff Go and talk to him.

The plates in front of them were piled high with food as usual.The house elves in the kitchen seemed to be pulling out all the stops.Aaron had never seen such a rich variety of dishes before them, several of which were definitely foreign.

Somehow, the Great Hall seemed much more crowded than usual, even though there were less than twenty students, perhaps because their different colored uniforms stood out compared to the black robes of Hogwarts.Durmstrang's student took off his fur cloak, revealing the blood-red robe underneath.

Ten minutes after the banquet started, Hagrid slipped into the auditorium through a door behind the staff table.He took his seat at the end of the table and Aaron saw that one of his hands was wrapped in many bandages.

At this moment, Aaron suddenly heard a voice next to him saying: "Excuse me, do you still want to eat this plate of mixed fish soup?"

Aaron looked back and saw a Beauxbatons girl holding a large plate of what looked like a seafood chowder next to a large piece of steak and kidney pudding.Aaron recognized her as the Beauxbatons girl who had laughed when Dumbledore was talking.She had already taken off her scarf, and her long, waterfall-like silver hair reached her waist.She has big blue eyes and neat white teeth.

Aaron has never seen such a beautiful woman. Her beauty can only be compared with that of the Veelas who appeared at the opening ceremony of the World Cup.Aaron couldn't help but stare blankly for a moment, but he quickly reacted and replied: "I won't eat."

"Then can I take it away?" the Beauxbatons girl continued to ask.

"Of course, I'll help you get it." Colin on the side suddenly said politely, pushing the plate to the girl, completely forgetting that he had expressed dissatisfaction with the other girl's impolite behavior before, "Do you want anything else? ?”

"No need." The girl said, carefully carrying the plate and walking towards the Ravenclaw table.

Colin still stared at the girl with wide eyes, staring at her blankly, as if he had never seen a female classmate before.Colin wasn't the only one obsessed with the girl, though.When the girl walked through the auditorium, many boys turned their heads and looked at her. Several of them seemed to have become speechless for a while, just like Colin.

When Aaron withdrew his attention from the Beauxbatons girl, he discovered that the two empty seats on the rostrum had been filled for some time.Ludo Bagman sat on the other side of Professor Karkaroff, and Percy's immediate boss, Mr. Crouch, sat next to Madame Maxime.

When the second course came, they noticed that there were many sweets that they had never seen before.Colin examined the strange, white blancmange carefully, then carefully moved it a few inches from his right hand so that it could be seen from the Raven Crouch table. See it clearly.However, the girl who looked like a Veela seemed to be full, and she did not come over to take the plate of sweets.