I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 255 Beauxbatons School of Magic

The Divine Horse is a breed of Pegasus, characterized by its enormous size and exceptional strength.

It looks almost like an elephant.

With its entire body white-gold, beautiful silver mane, and fiery red eyes, it is a very rare magical animal that usually inhabits the area around the river in the forest near Beauxbatons School.

As is well known, Pegasus is found all over the world.

Winged horses exist in every country in the world.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was a magical animal called "Tianma," which looked like a large white dog.

It has black fur on its head and a pair of wings on its back. When it sees people, it will take flight.

The Statue Horse of Beauxbatons is actually a hybrid of a Pegasus and a giant horse that is extinct in ancient times.

This is a very delicate and magical animal, a species bred by human intervention. All such artificially bred magical animals are either violent and wild, or quiet and gentle and lack the most basic stress response to the outside world. Regardless of which one, they cannot survive normally in the wild.

Ms. Maxim's horses are even more unique; they only drink single malt whisky and can only be properly cared for by someone with great strength.

Raising a horse like that would probably be enough for Miss Granger to write several more books.

A thunderous roar echoed from the sky.

Hearing the sound, all the young wizards raised their heads and watched in astonishment as the huge, dark creature swept across the treetops of the Forbidden Forest. When it was illuminated by the lights from the castle windows, they realized that it was a massive, powder-blue carriage flying toward the castle.

It was as big as a house, and twelve winged horses pulled it into the air.

The carriage flew even lower, descending at an incredibly rapid speed.

The first-year wizards in the front row all gasped and scattered to the side.

In the crowd, the line at the front began to break down.

Dozens of people were thrown into chaos. Then a deafening roar followed, and the first-year wizards all pushed and shoved to the back.

"Neville, you stepped on me!" Ron winced in pain.

A perfectly clear footprint appeared on his clean black leather shoes.

"Oh! Sorry Ron, it was Colin who was bumping into me." Neville turned his head with difficulty.

"No. My brother and the others were frightened." Colin's voice came from ahead: "Dennis, don't push, it's just a carriage."

"My goodness! These horses are magnificent. Hagrid would absolutely adore them," Harry exclaimed, his gaze following the Spellhorse.

Looking at those beautiful horses, he suddenly felt a desire to ride them.

Riding such a handsome horse past the Ravenclaw Tower, Cho Chang would surely be impressed if he saw it.

"Bang! Bang!"

The ground trembled.

The horseshoes thudded onto the ground, each one as big as a serving plate.

In the blink of an eye, the carriage landed on the ground, shaking on its huge wheels, while the golden horses shook their enormous heads, their fiery red eyes darting around.

Harry had barely caught a glimpse of a badge on the car door (two golden crossed wands, each with three stars) when the door opened.

A boy in a light blue robe jumped off the carriage, bent down, and groped around on the floor before opening a golden spiral staircase.

Then he respectfully jumped back and climbed the stairs in front of him.

Then Harry saw a shiny black high heel emerge from the carriage.

"Merlin's beard!"

He suddenly understood why the carriage and those silver-maned horses were so big.

The group gasped in shock.

"She's really big." Ron glanced at Hermione beside him. "She's at least half a head taller than Hagrid. I thought you were joking."

"Rude, Ron!" Hermione glanced at him. "I'll say it again, Madam Maxim is a purely human witch; she's just—born with a larger frame."

She had previously introduced Ron and Harry to Ms. Orim Maxim, the headmistress of Beauxbatons School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

She was described as a powerful, elegant, and wise witch.

In fact, the wizards who can become headmasters at Beauxbatons are no ordinary wizards; it's not a place like Durmstrang, where even a former Death Eater could become headmaster.

With Nicolas Flamel overseeing things—although this 600-year-old man will not be directly involved in the affairs of the French wizarding world, nor will he be involved in the management of Beauxbatons.

However, his influence was simply too great.

No French sorcerer could ignore such a great man, over six hundred years old, who dedicated his life to the romantic land of France.

He doesn't approve of many witches.

The most famous one should be the girl from Orleans that Owen always talks about. (Because believing in Merlin brings misfortune.)

In third grade, Hermione told them many stories about Lady Orim Maxim, including how she debated with a group of witches to prove she deserved the position of Headmaster of Beauxbatons.

Although this half-giant woman appeared enormous, she actually possessed exceptional eloquence and negotiation skills. Unfortunately, in the original story, she was facing a group of giants. This is why their plan to recruit the giants to fight Voldemort failed.

Unfortunately, neither Ron nor Harry focused on the achievements of Lady Orim Maxim.

Their attention was entirely focused on her figure.

—That's just how men are! Humph!

George and Fred have been arguing with Ron Harry about whether Ms. Orim Maxim, whom she mentioned, is actually a giant half-blood.

Because they don't believe that normal humans can grow that tall.

Even though Hermione repeatedly emphasized that Fleur told her that Madam Maxim was a pure human witch who was just born with a large frame, she was still unaware of the truth.

"Is this what you call a slightly large frame?" Ron stared wide-eyed.

He suddenly shoved Neville forward, exclaiming, "She looks like she's 11 feet tall! 11 feet!!!"

"Fleur said that their headmistress," Hermione explained impatiently.

Although she also found it somewhat absurd, she chose to believe her best friend.

After all, this is a magical world—her knowledge is still too limited. The world is so vast, what if there really are wizards with skeleton-like figures?

"She (Fleur) will definitely not admit it," the twins said bluntly from behind. "They won't admit that their school's headmaster is a wizard-giant hybrid—because they'd be ashamed."

"Only Dumbledore didn't care about wizards' bloodlines. As long as they were capable and of good character, he would invite them to join Hogwarts."

Fred continued.

His words suddenly reminded Hermione of Lavender.

Last semester, after she was bitten by a vampire, her mother was worried that her daughter had turned into a vampire and would be expelled from Hogwarts.

Irving once said that Dumbledore would not refuse you a place in school just because of your bloodline.

The great, forgiving headmaster who would play the funeral march for the twins at the opening ceremony will forever belong to Hogwarts.

Harry, standing nearby, was also watching the witch who was getting off the carriage intently.

Her shoes were as big as a child's sled, larger than he had ever seen in his life.

He was almost as tall as Hagrid. In fact, because of her shoes, she looked even taller than Hagrid.

At this moment, Mrs. Maxim had reached the bottom of the steps and was turning around to look at the crowd waiting with wide eyes.

When she stepped into the light spilling from the foyer, everyone noticed that she had a very pretty olive-colored face, a pair of large, dark, watery eyes, and a pointed nose.

Her hair was combed back and tied into a shiny bun at the base of her neck.

She was dressed from head to toe in a black satin garment, and her neck and large fingers were adorned with many exquisite opals.

While the young wizards were in a daze, Dumbledore led the applause.

Then the awakened young wizards began to applaud.

Her face relaxed, a graceful smile bloomed on her lips, and she extended a shimmering hand toward Dumbledore.

"Welcome," said the old headmaster. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

He kissed the hand that Ms. Maxim extended.

"Dumbledore," said Madam Maxim in a low voice, "I hope you are well."

"Furthermore, I think we need to discuss the details of the match."

"We can discuss this in detail later," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Thank you!" Mrs. Maxim nodded, gesturing casually with her large hand behind her. "These are my students."

At this moment, everyone seemed to notice that about twenty male and female students had gotten off the carriage.

At this moment, they were standing behind Mrs. Maxim, in the huge shadow she cast.

Judging from their appearance, they were all around eighteen or nineteen years old, and they were all trembling slightly.

This is not surprising. The clothes they are wearing may be warm enough for France, but this is Scotland, and the cold winds of the Highlands are blowing against their silk robes.

Moreover, none of the people in this group were wearing cloaks; most of the girls had their heads covered with scarves or headscarves.

From Owen's perspective, these young wizards were all handsome men and beautiful women, if they weren't trembling.

Of course, trembling doesn't mean they're at a disadvantage in terms of momentum.

In fact, it's quite the opposite.

As the young wizard from Beauxbatons approached the carriage, his eyes met those of the young wizard from Hogwarts.

George and Fred had strange smiles on their faces.

I bet a hundred prank ideas have already popped into my head.

Hermione spotted Fleur in the crowd, along with her sister Gabrielle.

To be honest, she wasn't in very good condition; she looked very tired.

The young wizards around her kept their distance.

But no one dared to show her any displeasure.

In fact, most of the young wizards in Beauxbatons looked at her with awe.

I wonder what this girl has been doing these past few months.

"Has Durmstrang arrived?" Ms. Maxim asked.

"He could come at any time." Dumbledore gazed into the distance, a strange anticipation flickering in his blue eyes.

Irving saw it very clearly.

This made him curious about who would lead Durmstrang this time.

It couldn't possibly be his maternal grandfather, Grindelwald, could it?

He probably wouldn't appear at Hogwarts so openly.

After all—that's Grindelwald!

If the Federation was able to pardon Wenda Rozier, it was because the Rozier family had squandered their fortune, and she may have made significant contributions to the Federation in some areas.

This is barely acceptable, but it still drew criticism from most of the international community.

But Grindelwald.

Irving couldn't think of any other way to pardon him besides overthrowing the Federation.

"Would you like to greet me here, or would you like to go inside and warm up first?" Dumbledore then asked.

"Let's warm up a bit," said Mrs. Maxim. "But what about the horses?"

"Don't worry, our Protector of Magical Creatures teacher will be happy to look after them," Dumbledore said. "He'll be back after dealing with a little mess, something of his, well, something that's in his care that's gone wrong."

It's obvious—it's his creation—the blasting snail has grown up.

Irving snorted softly from the side.

"My horses require a very strong person to take good care of them," Mrs. Maxim said with concern, seemingly doubting whether the Hogwarts teacher in charge of protecting magical creatures could handle the job. "You know they have very strong tempers."

"Don't worry, he's Mr. Scamander's student," Dumbledore said with a smile, delivering a swift rebuttal to Mrs. Maxime's skeptical look.

Newt's name is known to wizards on half the planet.

After all, apart from the Far East, almost all other magic schools use his book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" for their magical creatures classes.

Of course, Newt is also constantly adding to his works, and perhaps one day even the Far East School of Magic will purchase his works!

"Yes, I certainly trust Mr. Scamander's expertise in this field." Ms. Maxim paused for a moment, then continued, "Please tell Hagrid that these horses only drink single malt whisky."

"I will," Dumbledore said calmly.

Then they made way for the path leading to the castle.

"Come on!" Mrs. Maxim said sternly to her students as she turned around.

The young wizards of Hogwarts parted to make way for them, and amidst their scheming glances, they entered the castle.

Professor McGonagall went over and took charge of the reception.

"Alright! Whose turn is it, Durmstrang or Ifamoni?" Hufflepuff, Justin, and Hannah stood together.

"They certainly won't come in a carriage," Ernie said confidently. "There has to be something new!"

Although they thought this way, most wizards still looked up at the sky with longing eyes, because they couldn't think of any other way to get to Hogwarts.

For a moment, all was silent. Because it had been so long and the temperature was so cold, no one had any interest in talking. All that could be heard was the snorting and stomping of Mrs. Maxim's giant horse.

"It's so cold." Some of the young wizards at Hogwarts started shivering.

In November, especially near lakes and the sea, the humidity in the air makes the perceived temperature much lower than the actual temperature.

The temperatures in the Scottish Highlands are no joke.

Sometimes she was even colder than Durmstrang, who was far away in Northern Europe.

This is--

Owen, who was standing next to Dumbledore, was awakened by the cold.

Yes, he was already so sleepy he was dozing off.

The professors standing nearby twitched at the corners of their eyes, but none of them spoke.

Because Dumbledore was right next to him, and the old headmaster even transformed into a mast for him to lean against.

"hiss!"

A gust of cold wind blew directly down Irving's neck.

The little black boy trembled all over and woke up with a start.

"This damn weather," he cursed.

"It's only the end of October, what are you trying to do?! Can you be serious for once?"

Irving said to the Scottish weather.

But soon he started complaining again, why doesn't Hogwarts have heating?

Installing heating in the castle would solve most of the problems.

Owen frowned; the cold made him draw his wand. "Veravitto!"

A subtle transmutation spell will emanate from the tip of his wand.

Like a conductor, Irving raised his hands high.

Then several booming sounds suddenly came from the ground.

Suddenly, huge marble slabs grew out of the ground.

Throughout the garden, marble pieces transform into various shapes, eventually forming a small pavilion.

Then, with a flick of his right hand holding the wand, flames instantly ignited the brazier atop the pavilion.

At least a dozen pavilions were set ablaze at the same time.

However, his mastery of ancient magic has improved considerably.

For him, altering the structure of matter in this way was incredibly simple.

Wow!

The young wizards let out a joyful shout.

Then most of them turned around and glanced at Irving.

This is the great demon king of the castle. Although everyone dreams of pinning him to the ground and beating him up, his occasional acts of kindness have earned him immense prestige.

Within the castle, his prestige even surpassed that of some professors.

Of course—it's also possible that the professors will at most just lock them up, while Irving will take direct action.

Dumbledore watched from the side, a smile gradually appearing on his calm face.

He could sense that the child was changing little by little.

The intense heat dispelled some of the chill.

Everyone started chatting and laughing again.

Suddenly, a strange sound drifted from the darkness.

It was a suppressed rumble and sucking sound, like a giant vacuum cleaner moving along the riverbed.

"In the lake!" Lee Jordan shouted, pointing to the lake. "Look at that lake!"

They stood on the slope overlooking the lawn, where they could clearly see the calm, dark surface of the water.

The water suddenly became turbulent; a disturbance arose beneath the surface, and huge splashes of water rose to the surface, waves crashing against the damp shore. Then, right in the center of the lake, a large whirlpool emitting a green glow appeared, as if a giant plug had been suddenly pulled from the lakebed.

A long, dark pole-like object slowly rose from the whirlpool, followed by the sails and rigging.

"It's a mast!" he said to Ron and Hermione.

Slowly and majestically, the large ship rose above the water, gleaming in the moonlight.

(End of this chapter)