Wizard noble families hidden in the dark side of the world.
This was actually a rather high-sounding but very broad term.
It generally referred to those wizard noble families who kept an extremely low profile and had little fame, yet possessed great power, enough to influence the world or even secretly control its direction.
To be honest, that sounded pretty ridiculous.
It was almost completely at the level of an urban legend.
But just like some Muggles who believe in the Freemasons and lizard people, many wizards just happened to believe in this sort of thing.
For a moment, the people in the small square all became excited.
One by one they looked at Link and Emily with hopeful expressions. Some wanted to step forward to strike up a conversation and get acquainted, yet didn't dare.
Meanwhile, Link and Emily ignored all those looks.
With blank expressions, they walked straight up to Gabrielle.
The powerful presence surrounding Link and Emily and the special aura coming off them made Gabrielle's breathing grow noticeably heavier.
She was almost unable to maintain her original serious and dignified posture.
Fortunately, at that moment Link restrained his sharp aura and revealed a gentle smile.
"Miss Gabrielle Delacour?"
"Y… yes!"
Gabrielle straightened her back abruptly in excitement as she answered.
"Hehe…"
Seeing this, Emily covered her mouth with her white silk-gloved hand and laughed softly.
This made Gabrielle's cheeks turn slightly red.
Link glanced at Emily but didn't stop her behavior. He simply extended his hand and said, "Nice to meet you, Miss Delacour. I'm Mike Washington, and this is my wife, Emily Washington."
"Nice to meet you! Mr. Washington, Mrs. Washington!", Gabrielle spoke nervously as she reached out and lightly shook Link's hand, then immediately extended her hand toward Emily.
However, Emily wasn't as friendly as Link.
Facing Gabrielle's outstretched hand, Emily covered her mouth, showed a look of disgust, and only gave a slight nod.
This arrogant posture made Gabrielle extremely embarrassed. She could only withdraw her hand and lower her flushed face.
But Gabrielle didn't feel too angry because of Emily's attitude.
In fact, she had experienced scenes like this many times and was already used to it.
Just like Fleur, her Veela traits were far too obvious.
This had caused her to frequently receive all kinds of contempt and mockery after Beauxbatons and even the entire French magical community began advocating pure-blood supremacy.
To be honest, someone like Emily already counted as polite.
Normal nobles wouldn't even want to look at her face, as if doing so would dirty their eyes.
Someone like Link, who treated her courteously and even shook her hand, was actually part of the minority.
And this was something Link had already learned during his early investigation.
It was precisely because of this that Link had Emily act this arrogantly.
It was more reasonable this way, and also easier for Emily to play the role.
After all, both Link and Dumbledore possessed master-level Occlumency and Legilimency. They were basically natural actors.
But Emily was different.
If the new persona differed too much from her original personality, forcing the act would easily expose flaws.
"Hoo..."
Taking a deep breath, Gabrielle finally adjusted her emotions, then raised her head again and smiled.
"May I ask where my sister is?"
"Perhaps she got too excited seeing you. Fleur twisted her ankle a bit when getting off the carriage, so treatment took some time." Link looked toward the carriage. "But she should be fine soon… Oh! Look, here she comes."
"Gabrielle! My Gabrielle! Have you been well?", Fleur's surprised voice suddenly rang out.
Her movements were so fast that Link only saw a silver-white blur, and then Fleur had already pulled Gabrielle into a tight hug.
"Uh… I'm… fine… you should… let..."
Gabrielle struggled in Fleur's arms with a flushed face. By the end she seemed to get annoyed and actually shouted, "Put me down!"
Buzz!
A dull sound rang out between the two.
Immediately afterward, Fleur was suddenly pushed back by a burst of magic from Gabrielle.
The control of this magical burst was extremely precise. While it pushed Fleur away, it just happened not to injure or knock her down.
But even though she wasn't physically hurt, Fleur looked as if her heart had been shattered by that blow, her face full of disbelief and hurt.
Meanwhile, Gabrielle's face carried a trace of coldness.
She quickly straightened the clothes that had been messed up by Fleur's hug, then put on a polite, practiced smile again and respectfully said to Link and Emily, "My apologies for the scene. But sister, shouldn't you also introduce these two distinguished guests to me?"
When two parties meet for the first time, a third party should give a fairly complete and appropriate introduction.
This was a rule in high-level European wizarding circles.
It helped avoid the awkwardness of self-promotion.
So even though Link had already told Gabrielle his name earlier, and the recommendation letter Fleur gave Gabrielle also contained the detailed fake information about Link and Emily, Gabrielle still asked Fleur, the third-party recommender, to make a formal introduction again.
After all, this was the proper etiquette.
Hearing this, Fleur finally came back to her senses.
She looked at Gabrielle with a complicated expression for a moment before speaking,
"Gabrielle, these two are Mr. Mike Washington and his wife, Mrs. Emily Washington. They are wizards from America."
"The Washington family they belong to mainly engages in commercial activities in the American magical world, and some family members also work at the American Ministry of Magic."
Politics and business both flourishing.
This was the path most pure-blood wizard families took.
Very ordinary. Nothing special to say.
Fleur's introduction was practically meaningless.
But many other pure-blood noble wizards nearby who were paying attention showed shock and excitement in their eyes after hearing it.
What caused such a reaction were the phrases "American magical world" and "Washington family."
The first president of the American Muggle government had the surname Washington.
This was common knowledge even among wizards who didn't pay much attention to Muggle society.
Now, a Washington family based in the American magical world had suddenly appeared.
And these two Washington family wizards in front of them both possessed such noble and unique temperaments.
It was hard for imaginative wizards not to continue connecting this to their earlier suspicions about hidden families.
So in the minds of many wizard nobles nearby, the image of a terrifying hidden wizard family that had controlled the entire American Muggle government for hundreds of years suddenly took shape.
At the same time, their gazes toward the main body of the Beauxbatons castle became even more heated.
If even such a terrifying hidden wizard family had been drawn here, then Beauxbatons Academy of Magic must truly be excellent!
"Of course, we also have two other members on this trip," Fleur said, looking toward the carriage. "Brian Washington, and the Washington family's chief steward, Mr. Skar."
As soon as she finished speaking, Dumbledore and Krell also got out of the carriage.
Dumbledore had also completed his transformation.
But unlike Link and Emily, his transformation actually made him younger...from a very old man into a slightly younger old man whose hair still had some black in it.
As for Krell, he didn't need to transform at all.
After all, if you ignored their clothing, humans really couldn't tell the difference between house-elves.
The only tricky part was Krell's special temperament and personality compared to other house-elves.
But it wasn't a big problem. As long as he restrained himself a little, it would be fine.
"Mr. Brian Washington is Mr. Mike Washington's uncle. This visit is to accompany Mr. Mike Washington as he inspects Beauxbatons Academy of Magic for a younger member of the family.", Fleur said slowly.
Link and Dumbledore both nodded along.
Though the look Link gave Dumbledore was a bit cold.
After all, no one would be happy about suddenly gaining an uncle, especially when Dumbledore had originally wanted to be his "grandfather."
But this scene took on a different meaning in the eyes of others.
This uncle and nephew must not get along.
Maybe it was even an internal struggle over family inheritance.
This kind of conflict wasn't rare in big families.
Thinking this, the great nobles nearby all became excited.
Even though their status was also very high, their love of gossip still remained.
Gabrielle, however, didn't think that much.
She was still relatively simple.
In fact, Link suspected she hadn't even noticed the deeper hidden-family persona they were presenting.
Hearing this, Gabrielle simply nodded and then frowned and asked, "If this is to choose a school for a younger member of the family, why didn't that person come?"
Because that kid isn't even an egg yet.
Krell complained silently in his heart, his eyes involuntarily drifting toward Emily's stomach.
"Hmph!"
Emily snorted coldly and said, "He doesn't have the right to choose. It's enough for us to choose for him!"
Gabrielle's brows furrowed even tighter.
She didn't really like Emily. This person was too arrogant.
Especially now that Emily had even said she could decide for her child.
While it made sense logically, it was also full of disrespect.
But considering their status, she didn't say anything more and calmly led Link and the others toward the main Beauxbatons castle.
"Beauxbatons Academy of Magic is divided into three parts," Gabrielle introduced as they walked.
"First is the outer protective layer. It's made up of many protective spells and effectively keeps out Muggles and dark wizards."
"At the same time, it's also a place where students go on outings during holidays. Every spring and autumn, professors organize lower-year students to go on trips into the Pyrenees."
"Upper-year students are allowed to move freely in the mountains. During this time, the French Ministry of Magic also sends Aurors to provide security."
"This is both to prevent outsiders from entering the mountains and to stop some more lively students from leaving their designated areas and running into danger."
"Second is most of the buildings on this small mountain island."
"A large portion of these buildings are various small workshops and commercial shops, somewhat similar in nature to Diagon Alley, though smaller in scale."
"Some other buildings are residences for the staff working in those shops and workshops."
"These people rely on Beauxbatons Academy of Magic for their livelihood, providing all kinds of commercial services for students while also living here."
Link and Emily both nodded when they heard this.
They understood.
The commercial area Gabrielle mentioned as the second part was basically a variant of Hogsmeade.
The only difference was that Hogsmeade was independent from Hogwarts, a self-contained all-wizard village.
The commercial area around Beauxbatons was more direct.
Because of the strict defensive perimeter, they had simply moved in and merged with Beauxbatons itself.
"Third is the main Beauxbatons castle where we are now."
Gabrielle spread her hands in a presenting gesture.
Then the massive wooden doors in front of them slowly opened, and through the entrance hall everyone quickly noticed the enormous main hall of the castle, almost like a cathedral.
"This is where Beauxbatons' staff and students live their daily lives and carry out their studies and work."
"Many internal areas were also extensively expanded last year with Undetectable Extension Charms to meet the growing space needs of students and staff. Now, please follow me."
As she spoke, Gabrielle led Link and the others into the main hall.
Only when they personally stood inside did they fully appreciate the magnificence and beauty of this hall.
This was a kind of beauty different from the Great Hall of Hogwarts.
The design philosophy of the Hogwarts Great Hall leaned more toward the integration of humans and nature.
That was why the ceiling had been enchanted by Slytherin into a magical display that could show the real-time weather outside.
This idea was also reflected in other aspects.
For example, even though it was already the twentieth century, Hogwarts still used magical candles for lighting, making the entire castle feel gloomy.
Beauxbatons was different.
The construction of this castle had clearly "borrowed" many elements from Muggle cathedrals.
Its overall structure was solemn and grand, and the walls were filled with large arched stained-glass windows, even forming various human figures within them.
Sunlight shining through the glass and into the main hall created scenery that felt like being inside a dream, or even heaven.
This beauty was also visible above their heads.
Across the high ceiling of the entire hall was a huge magical mural.
The mural seemed to depict a banquet. Inside it, people dressed in various ancient formal clothes were laughing, drinking, and eating, occasionally even looking down at Link and the others below.
"This is Beauxbatons' Great Hall. We usually have our daily meals and various celebrations here. As for those murals, they depict the founders of Beauxbatons."
"The scene shows their first celebration banquet after they initially completed the structure of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic," Gabrielle explained.
"At night, the scenery here is even more beautiful. All the magical lights are turned on, and fairy spirits perform music for us. That kind of beauty…"
Gabrielle stopped speaking, her face filled with longing, as if immersed in some memory.
Meanwhile, Link and Emily looked at Dumbledore with teasing eyes.
Bright colored lights everywhere, like being surrounded by neon pathways, fairy music playing nearby, drinking freely with companions, and in the pauses between conversations you could even raise your head and toast the predecessors in the ceiling who were also feasting…
Compared to this, Hogwarts' banquets were like outdoor countryside feasts.
Even Hogwarts' unique ghost performances, compared to this grand scene, seemed like the poor performances of low-tier traveling entertainers.
No wonder the Beauxbatons delegation had complained about Hogwarts' poor conditions when they came for the Triwizard Tournament.
The gap between the two really was quite large.
Dumbledore showed no expression.
He simply looked quietly around at everything, then coughed and said, "Miss Gabrielle Delacour, perhaps we should pause the discussion about scenery for now."
"To be honest, we're not very interested in these things. After all, we've seen too much already. I think it would be better if you focused on introducing Beauxbatons' teaching characteristics."
Dumbledore's cold voice pulled Gabrielle out of her memories.
"My apologies, I lost focus."
She bowed slightly to Link and the others before continuing, "As for teaching characteristics, you needn't worry. Beauxbatons Academy invests more heavily in education."
"We did not choose a house system like Hogwarts or Ilvermorny. Instead, we chose a more excellent unified system."
Hearing this, both Emily and Dumbledore frowned slightly.
Earlier, they could tolerate Gabrielle openly showing off Beauxbatons' superior facilities.
After all, in that regard they truly were better than Hogwarts.
But now Gabrielle had begun openly putting Hogwarts down.
That was going a bit too far.
Seeing this, Gabrielle smiled slightly and said, "Since you come from the American magical world, you must be more familiar with Ilvermorny's house system and feel more attached to it."
"So it's normal for you to feel resistant to what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is the truth. Please allow me to explain slowly."
"Whether Hogwarts or Ilvermorny, the original intention behind creating house systems was to allow competition between houses, thereby promoting the overall quality of students through healthy rivalry."
"For this reason, Hogwarts even established honorary awards like the House Cup."
"This mechanism is classic and very effective."
"The many outstanding wizards produced by Hogwarts and Ilvermorny throughout history are the best proof."
"But the problem is, the drawbacks of this mechanism are also obvious."
"That is, when this kind of competition lasts too long, it often turns into a hierarchy of disdain between houses, as well as other malicious, large-scale bullying incidents!"
[T/N: I have started a new fanfic guys: "Demon Slayer: This Time, I Won't Follow the Plot". Enjoy it and leave a review. Thank you~]