Old Blood at Hogwarts

One day a week before Halloween, Aaron was heading to the auditorium for lunch when he noticed a sign that had been erected under the marble staircase in the first-floor foyer.A large group of students were crowding around looking at the notice above.

Aaron came to the crowd to have a good sleep. He stood on tiptoe and looked at the notice board. He saw the notice saying:

Triwizard Tournament

Representatives from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will arrive at 10pm on Friday, October 30.Afternoon classes will end half an hour early.At that time, students are asked to return their schoolbags and textbooks to their dormitories, gather in front of the castle, greet our guests, and then attend the welcome banquet.

The notice in the foyer had a clear impact on those who lived in the castle.Over the next week, wherever Aaron went, people seemed to be talking about only one topic - the Triwizard Tournament.

Rumors spread quickly among the students, like highly contagious germs: who will compete to be the Champion of Hogwarts; what events will be included in the Tournament; what will the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students have to do with them? different……

Aaron also noticed that the castle seemed to be undergoing a thorough cleaning.Several dirty portraits were scrubbed clean, and the characters who were scrubbed were very dissatisfied with this. They sat huddled in the frame, muttering unhappily, and every time they touched the newly exposed pink flesh on their faces, He grinned in pain.The armor suddenly became shiny, and it no longer creaked when moving.When Argus Filch, the janitor, saw that a student had forgotten to clean his shoes, he flew into a rage that scared two first-year girls into hysterics.Other faculty members also seemed extremely nervous.

On the morning of October 10, when Aaron went downstairs for breakfast, he found that the auditorium had been decorated overnight.Huge silk banners hung on the walls, each one representing a house of Hogwarts: Gryffindor on a red background with a golden lion, Ravenclaw on a blue background with a bronze eagle, and Ravenclaw on a yellow background. The one with a black badger is Hufflepuff, and the green one with a silver boa constrictor is Slytherin.Behind the teacher's desk hung the largest banner, with the Hogwarts crest on it: a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake joined together, surrounding a large letter H.

That day, there was a joyful mood full of anticipation in the air.In the classroom, no one paid attention to the lecture. Everyone was thinking that people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were coming tonight.When the bell rang for the last class in the afternoon, everyone returned to their dormitories, put down their schoolbags and textbooks as instructed, put on their cloaks, and rushed down the stairs to the foyer in three steps at a time.

Deans of colleges are ordering their students to line up.

"Weasley, put your hat straight," Professor McGonagall said sternly to Ron, "Miss Patil, take that ridiculous thing off your hair."

Parvati frowned unhappily and removed a large butterfly headdress from the end of the braid.

"Everyone, follow me. First-year students in front...don't crowd..." Professor McGonagall said.

They filed down the steps and stood in line in front of the castle.It was a cold, fresh evening, night was falling, and a white, translucent moon was already hanging over the Forbidden Forest.Aaron and Colin stood in the middle of the third row from the front, followed by Harry, Ron and Hermione.Aaron was shaking with excitement when he saw Dennis Kerry standing with the other first-year students.

"It's almost six o'clock," Colin said, looking at his watch and looking at the driveway leading to the front door. "How do you think they're going to get here? By train?"

"I don't think so." Aaron looked up at the starry sky and guessed, "Maybe their appearance will be special."

He remembered what Mr. Weasley said in the camp before the Quidditch World Cup final: "...Whenever we get together, we can't help but show off..."

They excitedly scanned the darkening field, but saw no movement.Everything was silent and peaceful, just like normal.Aaron was starting to feel a little cold, and he hoped they would come soon.At this moment, Dumbledore, who was standing in the back row with other teachers, shouted: "Ah! If I am not mistaken, the Beauxbatons representative has already arrived!"

"Where?" many students asked eagerly, looking in different directions.

"There!" a sixth-grade student shouted, pointing to the sky above the Forbidden Forest.

I saw a huge thing flying rapidly across the dark blue sky, flying towards the castle, gradually getting bigger and bigger.

"It's a dragon!" screamed a first-year student, extremely excited.

"Don't be silly...it's a house flying!" said Dennis Creevey.

Dennis is more correct.

As the dark behemoth passed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and was illuminated by the lights from the castle windows, they saw it was a huge pink-blue carriage flying toward them.It was as big as a house, and it was pulled through the air by twelve winged horses, all of them silver-maned horses, each as big as an elephant.

The carriage flew lower and was landing at an extremely fast speed. The students standing in the first three rows hurriedly stepped back.Then, there was an earth-shattering loud noise, which scared many people and jumped back.I saw those horse hooves hitting the ground with a thud, each one as big as a vegetable plate.In the blink of an eye, the carriage also landed on the ground, vibrating on the huge wheels. At the same time, the golden horses shook their huge heads and their big fiery red eyes turned.

Just as Aaron had time to see a coat of arms printed on the car door (two golden crossed wands, with three stars emerging from each), the car door opened.

A boy in a light blue robe jumped out of the carriage, bent down, groped for something on the floor of the carriage, and then opened a golden spiral staircase.He jumped back respectfully, and Aaron saw a shiny black high-heeled shoe sticking out of the carriage.The shoe was as big as a child's sleigh, and behind it appeared a woman bigger than he had ever seen in his life.It is therefore self-evident why the carriage and those silver-maned horses are so large.Several people gasped in shock.

Aaron had only seen one person in his life who could be compared to this woman in size, and that was Hagrid, and he suspected there was almost no difference in height between them.The woman was now at the bottom of the steps, turning around to look at the waiting crowd with wide eyes.When she walked into the light that spilled from the foyer, everyone found that she had a very handsome olive face, a pair of black and large watery eyes, and a very pointed nose.Her hair was slicked back and pulled into a shiny bun at the base of her neck.She was wrapped in a black wrought garment from head to toe, and many gorgeous opals shone around her neck and on her thick fingers.

Dumbledore started to applaud, and his classmates also clapped. Many of them stood on tiptoes, trying to get a better look at this woman.

Her face slackened, a graceful smile spread out, and she walked towards Dumbledore with a gleaming hand.Although Dumbledore was also tall, he barely stooped to kiss the hand.

Just listen to Dumbledore say: "Dear Ms. Maxim, welcome to Hogwarts."

Madame Maxime said in a deep voice: "Dumbledore, I hope everything is well with you."

"I'm very well, thank you," said Dumbledore.

"My pupil," Madame Maxime said, waving her huge hand carelessly behind her.

Aaron had just been staring at Madam Maxime, and then he noticed that about twelve or three male and female students had gotten off the carriage and were standing behind Madam Maxime.Judging from their appearance, they were all around eighteen or nineteen years old, and all of them were trembling slightly.This was not surprising, as their robes seemed to be made of fine silk, and none of them were wearing cloaks.Several students had their heads wrapped with scarves or hijab badges.From what Aaron could see (they were all standing in the huge shadow cast by Madame Maxime), they were all looking up at Hogwarts with wary looks on their faces.

"Is Karkaroff here?" Madame Maxime asked.

"He will be here any minute," said Dumbledore. "Would you rather wait here to greet him, or would you rather go in first and warm yourself up?"

"It's better to warm up," Madame Maxime said, "but those horses..."

"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be happy to look after them," said Dumbledore. "He's coming back from a little mess that was caused by his... um... other things he was looking after."

"My steeds require... well... very strong people to take care of them." Madam Maxime said, seeming to doubt whether the Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts was up to the job. "They have very fiery tempers... …”

"I assure you, Hagrid is perfectly capable of the job," said Dumbledore with a smile.

"Okay then," Madame Maxime said, bowing slightly, "could you tell this Hagrid that these horses only drink single distilled whiskey?"

"I will take care of it." Dumbledore also bowed and said.

"Come on," Madame Maxime said majestically to her students.

So the crowd at Hogwarts moved out of the way, allowing her and her students to walk up the stone steps.