The courtyard of Beauxbatons was laid out like a formal garden, arranged in vertical geometric lines. Neatly trimmed hedges and shrubs, level lawns and flower urns, and waterscape sculptures all came together, displaying symmetry and order everywhere. Around the courtyard stood two symmetrical rows of enormous ice sculptures of magical creatures, while gravel in a monochrome color scheme formed a crushed-stone path.
At the end of the path stood a Mythallar as tall as a person. Though it had not yet been activated, it still refracted the sunlight in a brilliant, dazzling shimmer.
Protected by a waist-high white carved railing, the wizards could not observe it up close—especially since a glaring warning sign hung on the railing: "Death upon contact." The red writing looked bloody, and the twisted letters appeared especially savage.
Even more intimidating were the three Iron Golems that surrounded the Mythallar in a triangle. From time to time, they flexed their thick iron arms, which effectively stopped the naturally freewheeling French wizards from ignoring the warning and getting too close.
In this courtyard, Madame Maxime, newly appointed Minister of the French Ministry of Magic, stood beside it with a group of people. Compared with a few days earlier, when she had still been headmistress, Madame Maxime was now wrapped from head to toe in a black satin outfit. Unlike before, when she had worn many luxurious opals as ornaments, she now wore only a single opal brooch, and her hair was all pinned behind her head. It made her look less like an extravagant headmistress and added the capable steadiness of a minister.
In the arms of the half-blood giantess was a Spirit Cat—huge to an ordinary wizard, but just the right size against her towering frame. The cat was pitch-black all over, with somewhat odd limb