Waiting was a tedious business.
But when a whole crowd waited together, chattering away, time did not seem to pass all that slowly.
Seemingly in no time at all, it was already four in the afternoon. According to the arrangements, the six magic schools should be arriving one after another.
The young wizards of Hogwarts grew even more eager. They were curious to see which school would arrive first.
Just after four, dozens of black dots became faintly visible in the sky in the direction of Hogsmeade, flying rapidly toward them.
"What's that?" The first to notice was a Hufflepuff student. Not much of a reader, he had slightly better eyesight than the other students.
The other students looked over at his words.
"They look like birds? Are those wings flapping?" Ron shaded his eyes with his hand, sounding uncertain.
"Surely not? If they're birds, they're far too big." Harry shook his head.
While the young wizards peered curiously in that direction, the black dots drew closer and closer. Sharp-eyed Harry could already make out what they were.
They were actually twenty-odd people! But each of them had a pair of enormous white wings behind them. At first glance, they looked like angels from myth.
A closer look, however, revealed that the wings reflected a metallic sheen in the afternoon sunlight. Clearly, they were not real wings, but metal contraptions.
Within moments, thirteen figures appeared above the Quidditch pitch, then slowly landed before the assembled Hogwarts teachers and students.
Just as Harry had seen, there were twenty-three people, twenty of whom carried a Metal Casing on their backs. Extending from either side of each casing were huge white metal wings, every feather clearly defined.
After landing, they tapped the straps of their casings. The metal wings immediately gave a series