Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 545: Durmstrang

Chapter 545: Durmstrang

Gabrielle seemed to want to come over and have a couple of words with Evan.

But her little hand was tightly held by Fleur, and she couldn’t pull it out. She could only use her other hand to wave to him.

It was not until Evan waved back to her that she put down her hand satisfied. Then, seeing all the Hogwarts students staring at her, her face turned red.

The girl was obviously embarrassed. She was so excited after seeing Evan just now that she forgot there were so many people here.

“Who’s the French girl waving to Evan?”

“I don’t know, but she’s pretty, isn’t she?!”

Many boys were staring at Gabrielle and seemed to be attracted to her immediately.

Fortunately, Gabrielle was still young, and the magic of Veela blood in her blood was not too strong.

Everyone just felt that this little girl looked very beautiful and lovely, with an inexplicable sense of cuteness, but they were not fascinated.

Soon, more people noticed the expressions of other Beauxbatons students, especially the boys, who were gazing at Evan one by one. There seemed to be tremendous hatred on their faces, which could not be concealed.

The young wizards whispered about it again. Although no one knew what Evan had done in Beauxbatons at the end of the last term, it was not surprising that he suddenly became the focus of attention.

They had been used to it for the past two years. It seemed that if not, it would be abnormal.

As for Evan, he had no time to think about what other people thought. He didn’t pay much attention to the Beauxbatons students who were looking at him with bad eyes.

He just said hello to Gabrielle, and as soon as he put his hand down, Hermione suddenly came close to his ear.

“Who is she?” she asked in a low voice.

“Gabrielle Delacour!”

Hermione nodded. She knew that Evan had such a pen friend, and that she sent him letters almost every week.

They also discussed at the time the difference between the French and British owls.

Evan waited for a while, Hermione did not continue to speak, and he did not know what she was thinking. He looked back at her in surprise and thought she would continue to ask.

Hermione was now like a kitten, very quiet, but with a sly look in her proud eyes.

Evan turned around and was secretly glad that it was Gabrielle who had come. If it was Elaine that was here, it would have been terrible.

There was a brief commotion in front of the castle, and the conversation between Dumbledore and Madame Maxime continued in the entrance hall.

“The last time I came to Hogwarts, it was more than forty years ago. It still looks so beautiful here!”

“The gates of Hogwarts are always open for you, and you and your students can come whenever you want,” said Dumbledore with a smile.

“Yeah, in the past, the wizarding schools often exchanged students with each other. It was a good tradition. I hope we can get back to it.” Madame Maxime continued, “You know, since those two men appeared, the overall level of the European wizarding world has declined dramatically in many areas.”

“This time, the Triwizard Tournament should be a good start.” Dumbledore said pointedly.

“Yes, has Karkaroff arrived yet?” Madame Maxime nodded.

“He should be here at 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 the horses…”

“Don’t worry, 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 charges.” 

Obviously, it was those Blast-Ended Skrewts, getting bigger and bigger, that were causing trouble. They were now trying to run out of the boxes, and Hagrid had to catch the runaway ones.

“My steeds require forceful handling,” said Madame Maxime, looking as though she doubted whether any Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts could be up to the job. “You know, they are very strong.”

“I assure you that Hagrid will be well up to the job,” said Dumbledore smiling.

“Very well!” said Madame Maxime, bowing slightly. “Will you please inform this Hagrid that the horses drink only single-malt whiskey?”

“It will be attended to,” said Dumbledore, also bowing.

“Come,” said Madame Maxime imperiously to her students, and the Hogwarts crowd parted to allow her and her students to pass up the stone steps.

When all the people from Beauxbatons went in, the topic shifted to Durmstrang.

“How big do you reckon Durmstrang’s horses are going to be?” Seamus Finnigan leaned over and said.

“I don’t know, but if they’re any bigger than these horses, I am afraid that even Hagrid won’t be able to handle them,” said Harry. “That’s if he hasn’t been attacked by his skrewts. I wonder what’s up with them?”

“Maybe they’ve escaped,” said Ron hopefully.

“Oh don’t say that,” said Hermione immediately. “Imagine that lot loose on the grounds….”

“Don’t worry, Hagrid will handle them well, and Durmstrang won’t necessarily have winged horses.” said Evan.

He whispered to the surrounding people to explain the origins, the rareness of the Abraxans, and the cost of raising them.

The young wizards were amazed again. They had actually thought that these horses were the legendary Pegasus.

Everyone stood there waiting for the arrival of the delegation from Durmstrang. More than twenty minutes had passed, and they were shivering slightly.

Most people were gazing hopefully up at the sky. For a time, there was silence. Because it was too long, and it was too cold, they had no interest in speaking. They could only hear Madame Maxime’s huge horses snorting and stamping.

Suddenly, Colin asked, “Did you hear anything?”

Then Evan heard it too, a loud and oddly eerie noise was drifting toward them from out of the darkness: a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as though an immense vacuum cleaner were moving along a riverbed. 

“The lake!” yelled lee Jordan, pointing down at it. “Look at the lake!”

From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water.

But the surface was suddenly not smooth at all. Some disturbance was taking place deep in the center; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks, and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake’s floor. 

What seemed to be a long, black pole began to rise slowly out of the heart of the whirlpool, followed by a sail rigging.

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