Chapter 60. The Arrival of the Guests.
It was a cold, clear evening. All the students and teachers were lined up in front of the castle, eagerly awaiting the guests.
"It's almost six. I wonder what they'll arrive on?" asked Ron, who was standing nearby.
"Are you sure you want me to ruin the surprise for you?" Andromeda replied to him with a slight smirk.
"Hmm, probably…" the boy mused seriously.
"No, he doesn't," Hermione answered for him. "We just have to wait a little bit longer, and we'll see everything."
"And why are you deciding for me anyway?" Weasley was indignant.
"Because you're not alone here."
"So what? Are we wizards or not? It's not hard to make it so only I can hear."
"Alright, quit your cooing already," Harry decided to intervene.
But those words seemed to light a fuse.
"What?! To think I'd ever... with him?! I'd sooner see Hell freeze over!" Hermione was incredibly outraged.
"Come on now, Hermy, Harry was just joking," Andromeda said soothingly, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Look over there instead," pointed Regulus, who was standing nearby, towards the Forbidden Forest.
"What is it?" Hermione lost her steam and looked in the indicated direction. There, right over the forest in the sky, a small, rapidly approaching dot was visible. And as if in confirmation, Dumbledore's voice soon rang out across the grounds:
"My heart tells me the delegation from Beauxbatons is not far off!"
"Where? Where?" the delighted students immediately began turning their heads.
"There, over the Forbidden Forest!" shouted a girl standing behind us who had heard our conversation perfectly well.
Meanwhile, what had been a small dot was rapidly growing larger, and soon everyone could see a gigantic carriage, more resembling a mansion in size. It was pulled through the sky by a dozen winged, golden horses with white manes. They were descending at tremendous speed and landed with a loud crash. It was obvious that if not for magic, the carriage itself and those inside would have been in for a rough time.
The carriage door opened, and a boy in blue silk robes jumped out, who lowered the steps. Following him out of the carriage came a veritable giantess, who was even taller than Hagrid.
Still standing on the top step, she looked around carefully.
Dumbledore began to applaud. The students joined in. Many stood on tiptoe to get a better look at the giantess.
Her face broke into a smile. She approached Dumbledore and extended a bejeweled hand. The Headmaster, tall himself, merely bowed slightly to kiss it.
"My dear Madame Maxime! Welcome to Hogwarts!"
"Dumbly-dorr," said Madame Maxime in a deep voice. "I 'ope I find you in good 'ealth?"
"Excellent, thank you," said Dumbledore.
"My pupils," she said, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her.
Several dozen teenagers in blue silk robes disembarked from the carriage. Some of them were wrapped in scarves, feeling the cold, though they oddly didn't seem to have thought to use magic for warmth.
"'As Karkarov arrived yet?"
"He should be here any moment," said Dumbledore. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"
"Warm up, I think," said Madame Maxime. "But ze 'orses —"
"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them," said Dumbledore, "the moment he has returned from dealing with a slight situation that has arisen with some of his other — er — charges."
"Did Hagrid really create Blast-Ended Skrewts?" we asked Hermione. After all, we weren't interested in Care of Magical Creatures, so we didn't attend Hagrid's classes, and unlike Harry and Ron, we hardly ever talked to the half-giant himself.
"Yes, you couldn't imagine anything more revolting," Ron answered instead of the girl, irritating her, though she suppressed it.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore and Madame Maxime had finished their conversation.
"Vairy well," said Madame Maxime, bowing slightly. "Will you please inform this 'Agrid that ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"
"I shall make sure of it," said Dumbledore, also bowing.
"Come," said Madame Maxime imperiously to her students.
And the Hogwarts students parted, letting the guests through to the stone steps.
"The Durmstrang horses are probably no smaller, right?" Seamus Finnigan asked Harry and Ron over the heads of Parvati and Lavender.
"If they're bigger than these, even Hagrid won't be able to handle them," Harry shook his head. "That is, if the Skrewts haven't finished him off yet. I wonder what happened with them?"
"Maybe they escaped?" Ron suggested hopefully.
"Don't get your hopes up," Hermione snorted.
"One shouldn't expect both delegations to arrive in the same manner," we stated, ignoring the question about the Skrewts.
"That's logical," our friend nodded.
"So how will they arrive?" Harry asked with interest.
"They will arrive from the direction of the lake," Regulus answered him.
Meanwhile, Durmstrang was clearly in no hurry, and it was starting to get a bit cold, forcing those who knew how to warm themselves and those nearby with magic.
"No shame, no conscience, it's long past six o'clock," Ron grumbled irritably.
And as if they had only been waiting for that, a giant whirlpool appeared in the middle of the lake, from which an enormous ship began to rise, looking for all the world like a ghost ship. An anchor was dropped, and then a gangplank was lowered, down which people began to descend.
"Dumbledore!" he exclaimed joyfully as he climbed the slope. "How are you, my dear fellow?"
"Bracing," said Dumbledore with a smile.
Karkaroff's voice was velvety, with a syrupy undertone. He was tall and thin like Dumbledore, but his white hair was short, and his goatee, ending in a small curl, did little to hide his weak chin. Approaching Dumbledore, he grasped his hands and shook them firmly.
"Dear old Hogwarts," he said, looking up at the castle and smiling. His teeth were rather yellow, and his smile did not reach his cold, shrewd eyes. "How good it is to be here… How good… Viktor, come along, into the warmth. You don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold…"
Karkaroff beckoned forward one of his students. The boy came forward.
"I can't believe my eyes!" Ron exclaimed.
The Hogwarts students were filing back up the steps into the castle behind the visitors. Ron was beside himself with excitement.
"Krum! Can you believe it, Harry? Viktor Krum himself!"
"What's the matter with you, Ron, Krum's just a Quidditch player," Hermione shrugged.
"Just a Quidditch player!" Ron repeated, scandalized. "Hermione — he's one of the best Seekers in the world! I had no idea he was still at school!"
"And what, do you think he might be even better than us?" we provocatively asked Ron through Andromeda.
"Ugh, you don't understand," the boy dismissed, turning back to Harry.
"Harry, do you have a quill? I want to get his autograph."
"Calm down, you maniac," Regulus rapped the boy lightly on the head.
"What was that for?" Ron immediately protested.
"Are you really going to embarrass yourself and rush him for an autograph right now? He'll be at Hogwarts for a whole year; there'll be plenty of time for an autograph."
"If, of course, you still retain this excitement by then," we added through Andromeda.
With the arrival of Durmstrang, there was no longer any need to wait, so everyone headed to the Great Hall. The Beauxbatons students were already sitting at the Ravenclaw table. And the Durmstrang students headed to Slytherin, much to Ron's chagrin.
The differences were noticeable from the very first moment. Among the Beauxbatons students, there were plenty who were not overly pleased with Hogwarts, which in turn caused displeasure among the Hogwarts inhabitants, Hermione included. The Durmstrang students, however, were largely curious and noticeably more cheerful.
"The Triwizard Tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," Dumbledore announced as if nothing had happened. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"
As the Headmaster finished his announcements, the tables groaned with food, now also including foreign dishes. The house-elves had truly outdone themselves.
"Amusing," we suddenly chuckled, serving ourselves some of the food we fancied.
"What's amusing?" asked Hermione.
Somewhere in a parallel universe, perhaps you, Hermione, would be agonizing over how unfairly house-elves live and would even refuse the food prepared by them.
"What nonsense?"
"Never mind, it's not important," we shook our heads in unison.
If you thought about it, we truly had had a colossal influence on this Hermione, who had grown into a truly wonderful young woman. Even the part-Veela, Fleur Delacour, who had come over to our table, seemed less attractive to us now than our friend, or perhaps than ourselves.
"Listen, Hermione."
"Yes?" the girl tilted her head slightly, distracted from her dessert.
"You are aware there will be a ball in the winter, right?"
"Yes," the girl answered, slightly bewildered, not understanding where we were going with this.
"How about being Regulus's partner?"
"Huh?!" she exclaimed, clearly not expecting such a question. "Why would you even... wait, no. Of course, I agree," the flustered girl quickly corrected herself.
"Then we'll be waiting with anticipation," Andromeda leaned in almost close to Hermione and whispered seductively into the ear of the rapidly blushing girl.