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Chapter 544: Beauxbatons
🕑 Added 2019-07-12 17:44:00 +0000 UTC
"God, what’s that?"
"It's a dragon!" shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely.
"Don't be stupid, it’s a flying house!" said Dennis.
His guess might be closer, but more accurately, it was a horse-drawn carriage.
Evan had seen these Abraxan horses when he visited Beauxbatons before.
They were the size of an elephant each, all palominos, pale golden, with beautiful silver mane and red eyes. They usually lived around the rivers in the woods near the Beauxbatons. They were very rare magical creatures.
It’s known that the winged horse is one of the branches of the extinct fantasy species Pegasus. It is a hybrid of Pegasus and Giant Horse.
Possibly due to mixed blood, the success rate of reproduction of the winged horse is very low, and its growth cycle is slow.
The Abraxan eats a large amount of food and is extremely delicate. It has extremely high requirements for food and does not eat ordinary fodder.
Once they are not well cared for, they will fall ill and die.
Some have calculated that the annual expenses of a magic horse are roughly equivalent to the expenses of a hundred wizard families.
Probably only Beauxbatons and Nicolas Flamel, who regarded gold as mere stone, could afford so many Abraxans.
Of course, the benefits of having an Abraxan are also very obvious. Indeed, the Abraxan is probably the closest magical creature to the Pegasus.
In many legends, the sacred Pegasus is the mount of the gods, which is of great significance.
Due to various characteristics, Pegasus was used as a mount in the ancient times when ancient warlocks still existed.
Later, because of over-capture, the destruction of its habitat and other reasons, the Pegasus gradually disappeared and became extinct.
Now all the young wizards raised their heads and were surprised to see the gigantic black shape skim over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, and when the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw a gigantic, powder-blue carriage, soaring toward them.
It was the size of a large house, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses.
"I’m not mistaken, am I?!" A seventh-grade student rubbed his eyes and exclaimed, "They’re Pegasus. These are magical creatures that have been extinct for thousands of years. I saw it in the book." Because he was too excited, his voice was shaking.
Hearing what he said, the young wizards around looked at the huge carriage even more strangely.
The carriage hovered over Hogwarts Castle and seemed to be showing off.
A moment later, the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed, and the front three rows of students drew backward and stuck tightly together to make room for the huge carriage.
Then, with an almighty crash, the horses’ hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground.
In the blink of an eye, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes.
The door slowly opened, and a boy in Beauxbatons’ pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage. He bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps.
The boy sprang back respectfully, and then everyone saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage. It was Madame Maxime, whose shoes were the size of a child’s sled.
Everyone in Hogwarts was amazed. They had never seen such a large woman in their life. A few people even gasped.
In their view, Madame Maxime was as large as Hagrid.
But it might be because everyone was used to Hagrid, this woman seemed even more unnaturally large.
At this moment, Madame Maxime was at the foot of the steps, looking around at the waiting, wide-eyed crowd.
As she stepped into the light flooding from the entrance hall, she was revealed to have a handsome, olive-skinned face, large, black, liquid-looking eyes, and a rather beaky nose. Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck.
She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fingers.
As the young wizards stared at her, Dumbledore started to clap. The students, following his lead, broke into applause too, many of them standing in tiptoe, the better to look at Madame Maxime.
Her face relaxed into a gracious smile and she walked forward toward Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand. Dumbledore, though tall himself, had barely to bend to kiss it.
"My dear Madame Maxime!" he said with a smile. "Welcome to Hogwarts."
"Dumbledore!" Madame Maxime replied in a low voice. "I haven't seen you for several months. I've heard some things. I hope you are all right.”
“In excellent form, thank you,” said Dumbledore.
"My pupils," said Madame Maxime, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her.
At this time, everyone noticed that about dozen boys and girls had emerged from the carriage and were now standing behind Madame Maxime in her enormous shadow.
From their appearance, they were in their late teens. They were shivering, which was unsurprising, given that their robes seemed to be made of fine silk.
Moreover, none of them were wearing cloaks, and most of the girls had wrapped scarves and shawls around their heads.
Only Gabrielle did not do it, her little head excitedly looked around, and she whispered in French to Fleur beside her.
When they just got down from the carriage, Evan saw the girl.
She seemed to be a little over-excited, and had no girl's reserve at all.
Evan heard many boys beside him talking about the beauty of Gabrielle.
Although it had not yet grown, her Veela Blood was enough to attract the students attention.
If Fleur next to her put down the scarf on her face, it would probably cause a sensation all over Hogwarts.
Gabrielle's bright eyes swam through the crowd, and then she saw Evan.
The girl’s face showed an angelic smile and she waved to Evan.
All the young wizards of Hogwarts turned their heads, and Evan suddenly became the focus of attention.
Everyone was very curious about how he met this French girl.
The other Beauxbatons students also looked at Evan with a clear look of vigilance and contempt on their faces.
