Guests Arrive

The notice that appeared in the Entrance Hall had a significant impact on the people living in the castle.

For the next week, wherever Skylar went, people seemed to talk about only one thing: the Triwizard Tournament.

Rumors spread rapidly among the students, like highly contagious bacteria: who would compete to be the Hogwarts Champion, what the Triwizard Tournament would consist of, and how the students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were different from them.

Skylar also noticed that the castle seemed to be undergoing a thorough cleaning. Several dirty portraits had been scrubbed clean, much to the displeasure of the figures being cleaned. They sat huddled in their frames, grumbling sullenly, wincing in pain every time they touched the newly exposed pink flesh on their faces. The armor had suddenly become gleaming and no longer creaked when it moved.

Filch would fly into a rage whenever he saw a student forget to wipe their shoes clean, which terrified two first-grade girls so much that they became hysterical.

The other faculty members also appeared extremely nervous.

"Goyle and Crabbe, please, you two have some decency! Don't let the Durmstrang see through your act and let them know you haven't even mastered a simple Switching Spell!" Professor McGonagall roared as class was about to end. That lesson had gone terribly wrong; both of them had their ears grafted onto a cactus.

And so, October 30th arrived.

That morning, when they went downstairs for breakfast, they discovered that the Great Hall had been renovated overnight.

Huge silk banners hung on the walls, each representing a house in Hogwarts: Gryffindor with a golden lion on a red background, Ravenclaw with a bronze eagle on a blue background, Hufflepuff with a black badger on a yellow background, and Slytherin with a silver boa constrictor on a green background. Behind the faculty desks hung the largest banner, displaying the Hogwarts crest: a lion, eagle, badger, and snake joined together, encircling a large letter H.

That entire day, no one learned anything.

After finally making it to the afternoon, the students quickly changed into their robes and went to the Entrance Hall. The heads of the houses were ordering their students to line up. While the other three houses were still in chaos, the young wizards of Slytherin had already lined up in an orderly fashion.

The students filed down the steps and lined up in front of the castle.

It was a cold, crisp evening. Night was falling, and a bright, translucent moon hung in the sky above the Forbidden Forest. As previously agreed, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang's students would arrive promptly at six o'clock.

Just one minute before six o'clock, Dumbledore's voice rang out from directly behind the crowd, "If I'm not mistaken, Beauxbatons' representative has arrived!"

A colossal creature, much larger than a Broomstick —or rather, a hundred Broomstick —was rapidly skimming across the deep blue sky, Accio toward the castle, growing ever larger.

As the enormous, dark creature swept through the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and was illuminated by the castle window lights, they saw a huge, powder-blue carriage Accio toward them. It was as big as a house, pulled by twelve winged Mara, all with Abraxan, each about the size of an elephant.

The carriage flew even lower, descending at incredible speed. The students in the first three rows hurriedly retreated—then, with a deafening roar, the horses' hooves, each as large as a plate, thudded onto the ground. In the blink of an eye, the carriage landed on the ground, vibrating on its enormous wheels, while the golden horses shook their massive heads, their fiery red eyes darting around.

On the carriage door, one could see the emblem of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic: two golden wands crossed in a cross shape, each wand adorned with three stars. A woman, roughly the same height as Hagrid, stepped down from the carriage— Madame Maxime. Olympe Maxim, the headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.

Then twelve young male and female students alighted from the carriage and stood behind Madame Maxime.

Judging from their appearance, they were all around eighteen or nineteen years old, and they were all trembling slightly. This was not surprising, because their robes seemed to be made of fine silk, and none of them were wearing cloaks. Several students had wrapped their heads with scarves or headscarves. They all looked up at Hogwarts with apprehensive expressions on their faces.

Skylar sighed softly. Isn't it common sense to check the local climate and temperature before embarking on a long journey? The intelligence of these wizards is worrying!

Even if the choice of a silk robe was intended to showcase France fashion sense, a temperature-regulating function could have been added! Temperature-regulating clothing isn't some high-end, expensive item. As representatives of the school, their every action and demeanor reflects the school's image and honor. To shiver in the cold for the sake of a stylish outfit—wouldn't that make these representatives seem questionable?

Dumbledore and Maxime spoke quietly for a moment, then directed the Hogwarts students to make way for Beauxbatons' delegation to enter the castle first.

Another half hour passed, and even the Hogwarts students began to shiver from the cold.

Skylar, Daphne, and Astoria watched the trembling others with nonchalant expressions. The two sisters had already changed into the temperature-regulating robes Skylar had bought for them, which were thoughtfully equipped with many functions. Although they couldn't compare to the Supreme Robes, they were still unique and high-end items. Of course, Morrie, who was in the Ravenclaw line, also had one, making her an enviable figure among the Ravenclaws.

Draco drew his wand and quickly cast a "Warming Charm" on the people around him, which made them feel a little better.

Skylar narrowed his eyes slightly. The "Warming Charm" wasn't difficult to learn, but it was a very obscure spell. Even Hermione, with her vast knowledge, hadn't mastered it in the original story. She used the "Cold Bluebell Flames" to keep warm, which worked by conjuring a small blue flame that could be stored in a small bottle and placed on her body for warmth.

Draco's performance is becoming increasingly incomprehensible to Skylar.

Sometimes, Skylar felt that Draco was like a completely different person, both in terms of his cunning and his strength. But other times, Draco would revert to being the somewhat childish, attention-seeking, loud, and troublesome Draco was, and still possessing his normal strength.

Just then, a loud, strange sound drifted toward them from the darkness—a suppressed rumble and sucking sound, like a giant submarine moving along the shore.

The students were standing on the grassy slope overlooking the site, where they could clearly see the calm, dark surface of Black Lake —first ripples appeared on the surface, then suddenly a commotion arose, huge waves crashed against the damp lake shore.

In the very center of the lake, a large whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had suddenly been pulled out from the bottom of the lake.

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

Slowly, a magnificent ship rose from the water, Winky in the moonlight. Its appearance was strange, like a skeleton, as if it were a recently salvaged shipwreck. The portholes flickered with a dim, misty light, like the eyes of Ghost. Finally, with a splash, the ship emerged completely, tossing and turning on the undulating water, and began to sail towards the lakeshore.

This is the legendary Ghost Ship!

The Ghost Ship, a legendary alchemical artifact, is on par with the Deathly Hallows, the Philosopher's Stone, and the Mirror of Erised.

Skylar's eyes were fixed intently on the ship. As far as he knew, Ghost Ships were a very high-end alchemical product. There were only two such Ghost Ships in the global wizarding world. Besides Durmstrang, the other was the Flying Dutchman, which roamed the Caribbean Sea and had earned a notorious and fearsome reputation.

This is no ordinary means of transportation; it possesses extremely strong and comprehensive combat capabilities, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a mobile fortress.

Skylar had heard that in the early 19th century, the "Flying Dutchman" was noticed by a high-ranking member of the MACUSA. He led a group of Aurors with exceptional combat power to ambush them at sea, but they were so frightened by a single shot fired from one of the enemy's magical cannons that they retreated without a fight.

Furthermore, Skylar had always suspected that the Ghost Ship actually possessed the ability to take flight; otherwise, why would it be named the "Flying Dutchman"?

Even if Skylar's guess was wrong, and the Ghost Ship couldn't take off, it's still a remarkable masterpiece.

Taking the Durmstrang Ghost Ship as an example, it can at least teleport long distances by using the water surface as a medium. With Skylar's expertise in spatial magic, he could tell that the principle was probably similar to Floo Network, except that the medium was water instead of fire.

This alone is quite remarkable. Most of the land in this world is covered by water, and being able to teleport on any water surface means there are many more places to go. Moreover, large bodies of water, such as freshwater lakes, can also be used to transport larger objects. In comparison, Floo Network doesn't even know if it can teleport Hagrid!

Hmm, this seems like a good research topic. Skylar suddenly thought—the original work only mentions Hagrid riding a flying motorcycle and Knight Bus. Could it be that Hagrid is actually unable to use the Floo Network?

Putting aside the advantage of convenience, the Flying Dutchman's ability to operate so lawlessly at sea for so long clearly indicates that it possesses a mode of movement that the Ministry of Magic cannot monitor. In that case, the Ghost Ship's teleportation technology is completely outside the Floo Network —so in addition to convenience, it also has the advantage of stealth.

This is why, even today, various magical regimes are still powerless against the "Flying Dutchman," and even the identity of its owner remains a mystery.

In contrast, Karkaroff was incredibly foolish, possessing a treasure trove of resources yet failing to utilize it effectively. Had he cultivated a loyal following among his students, relying solely on this ship and focusing solely on escape, Voldemort, capable of tracking the Dark Mark, would likely not have found it so easy to kill him.

He was never good at managing his subordinates. It was a rare opportunity to take his top students abroad to exchange with other magic schools, a perfect chance to build teacher-student relationships. Instead, he chose to enjoy himself alone in the cabin while his students did the hard labor of steering the ship. No wonder not a single student felt sorry for him after his accident.

Well, you could say the only problem with the Ghost Ship is its operation. It's clearly not an alchemical artifact that can be operated by one person. Judging from Durmstrang's case, it would take at least twelve people to operate it properly.

After the Ghost Ship anchored and came to a stop, thirteen Durmstrang representatives, draped in thick fur cloaks, slowly descended from the ship's hold. At the very front was an old man with white hair and a goatee, who warmly shook hands with Dumbledore —it seemed he was Headmaster Igor Karkaroff.

As the Durmstrang students approached, they caused a small commotion among the Hogwarts crowd. Apparently, some people recognized the Durmstrang student behind Karkaroff as Viktor Krum, the famous Chaser from the Bulgarian National Team.

After Dumbledore and Karkaroff finished their pleasantries, the young wizards, who were half-frozen, were finally able to return to the warm hall.