"Is this Rubeus Hagrid?"
"Yes," Dumbledore replied with a smile as he led the shy Hagrid over to them to introduce the magical creatures expert.
Madame Maxime was concerned about whether ordinary men could handle her horses, but upon seeing Hagrid's size, much of her worry disappeared.
Kindly, Madame Maxime said to Hagrid, "I appreciate your help. My horses only drink pure malt whisky."
"No problem," Hagrid replied excitedly. He wanted to say more, but Madame Maxime interrupted him with a gesture and fell silent, standing to the side. Hagrid had no choice but to obediently go to work.
After a while, a loud and strange noise came from the Black Lake, something akin to a muffled, sucking sound, as if a huge vacuum cleaner was moving on the riverbed.
The Durmstrang team had arrived.
"Look at the lake!" Fred's friend, Lee Jordan, exclaimed loudly.
At that moment, the calm waters of the Black Lake were violently disturbed, breaking the reflection of the setting sun, and in the center of the lake, a large whirlpool appeared. A long mast rose from the center of the whirlpool and spun in circles around it. Finally, a large ship surfaced on the lake.
"The ghost ship," that was Tom's first impression of Durmstrang's ship. If the ship were to be compared to a person, Durmstrang's ship resembled a skeleton. It was like the remains of a shipwreck submerged at the bottom of the water, with a damp hull covered in moss and algae. However, the dim light filtering through the dark, misty windows of the ship demonstrated that there were still active people inside.
Once the ship had fully emerged, it began heading towards the shore.
Tom took a step forward, capturing everyone's attention. Dumbledore, noticing this, discreetly withdrew his hand from his sleeve and tightly gripped his wand.
"Atmospheric-Glacies," Tom exclaimed, raising his staff, invoking the name of his spell, the Atmospheric Freezing Charm.
When the staff struck the ground, Tom's face suddenly turned pale. This spell consumed much more than the previous atmospheric spells because the weather was not yet cold enough to freeze; in fact, the Black Lake of Hogwarts was an unfreezable lake, even in the cold winter.
Now Tom was attempting to freeze the surface of the Black Lake, something nearly impossible to achieve. Therefore, the magical energy consumption of this spell was extremely high. After casting the spell, magic seemed to fade from Tom, leaving him almost faint from the immense expenditure.
A layer of frost extended from beneath Tom's feet to the edge of the Black Lake. In an instant, a thin layer of ice covered the lake's surface, emanating white vapor.
While Tom cast his spell, Dumbledore moved his lips slightly and silently cast a freezing spell too, helping reinforce the layer of ice on the Black Lake's surface.
Initially, there was only frost on the surface, but by the time Durmstrang's ship docked at the shore, a layer of ice had already formed at the edge of the Black Lake. The ice rapidly spread, surrounding Durmstrang's large ship. Ultimately, the combined effort of Tom and Dumbledore managed to create a 100-meter-long, tens-of-meters-wide, and five-foot-thick strip of ice at the edge of the Black Lake, freezing Durmstrang's ship on the surface of the ice.
The professors and students of Durmstrang seemed to realize the unusual situation and gathered at the ship's railing, watching this magnificent spectacle.
"An excellent freezing spell," Madame Maxime applauded.
Tom replied with effort, "Unfortunately, my magical power isn't enough to freeze the entire Black Lake."
Madame Maxime looked at the vast expanse of the Black Lake and was left in silent awe. Freezing the entire lake's surface required exceptional magical power; even Dumbledore probably couldn't achieve it, could he?
Fortunately, she and Dumbledore had established age restrictions beforehand, preventing this young man from participating in the Tournament. If he could participate, what would Beauxbatons and Durmstrang have to do with it all?
At that moment, the Durmstrang professors and students began to move. First, they anchored the ship in the lake and then placed a wooden plank on the ice.
A burly figure cautiously walked from the wooden plank onto the ice, making sure it was firm enough before signaling to his companions to follow suit. Once they were all on land, they walked across the grass towards the light, revealing that these men appeared bulkier due to layers of animal hides tangled in their cloaks, making their bodies look two sizes larger.
The leader of the Durmstrang students was wrapped in a smooth silver animal fur cloak.
"Professor Karkaroff, you've finally arrived," Dumbledore said as he waited for Karkaroff to approach the front of the group.
The leader of Durmstrang turned out to be Karkaroff, who had previously fled to Japan. However, for some reason, he had returned to Durmstrang and continued to lead this prestigious European school.
Karkaroff's voice was sweet and syrupy. In response to Dumbledore's greeting, he enthusiastically replied, "Oh, Dumbledore, my dear old friend, it's been so long! May Merlin protect you and keep you in good health."
Although Karkaroff spoke with enthusiasm, his eyes appeared empty, like an emotionless machine, even with a certain air of insincerity.
In response to Karkaroff's greeting, Dumbledore's reaction was quite calm, in marked contrast to his attitude toward Madame Maxime.
"Can we enter the castle now? Excellent freezing spell," Karkaroff said as he approached Dumbledore, noticing Tom with his staff in hand. He now understood why there was ice on the lake's surface, so Karkaroff turned to Tom and offered a few words of greeting as a friendly gesture.
Karkaroff didn't need to say it; Dumbledore was also about to invite both parties into the castle, so he made a hand gesture indicating that everyone could proceed.
Thus, Madame Maxime led her students into the castle, followed by Karkaroff. When the Durmstrang group began to move, there was a muffled whisper among the Hogwarts ranks: the student at the front of the Durmstrang group, right behind Karkaroff, was Viktor Krum, who had excelled in the recent Quidditch World Cup Tournament.
After both groups of guests had entered the castle, the young wizards of Hogwarts also began to move.
Tom could hear the voices of the students behind him discussing Krum.
"Oh my god, it's Krum!"
"I know, right!"
"Ah! I can't believe I didn't bring a quill! Do you think he could sign my hat with lipstick?" Some enthusiastic fans were already planning to get an autograph.
Krum's popularity even surpassed that of Lockhart in his prime.
"Harry, do you have a quill? If possible, I'd like to get a signed photo too..." Tom heard Ron excitedly discussing with Harry behind him.
"It's so boring and ridiculous, don't you think?" Hermione caught up to Tom. It was clear she was eager to comment on what she had just witnessed.