By the time Ivan and the others arrived, the entrance hall was already packed, with House prefects and Filch trying to maintain order.
"Don't crowd them, line up!" Professor McGonagall shouted, turning her attention to Ron and Parvati.
"Weasley, fix your hat! And Miss Peltier, you need to get that ridiculous thing out of your hair."
Ron fiddled with his hat, and Parvati scowled, but removed a large butterfly headdress from the end of her hair.
Professor McGonagall then proceeded to correct a few of the older students, who were all disheveled.
"All right, everyone, follow me! The first years go first…"
With McGonagall leading the way, they soon found themselves standing on the lawn in front of the castle.
It was late October, and it was evening, so the weather was gradually turning cold. From time to time, a cold wind would blow, causing several young wizards in thin clothes to shiver.
However, the cold wind did not affect everyone's enthusiasm at all. Everyone looked at the distant road and discussed in low voices.
Even the prefect's repeated berating could not calm them down.
"It's almost six? How do you think they'll get here? By train, like us? With broomsticks?" Ron asked expectantly, glancing at his watch.
"It could have been a Portkey or Disapparated, since it's so far away!" Harry suggested, remembering that spectators from all over the world had used Portkeys to get to the Quidditch World Cup.
Apparition had a similar effect, if both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students were able to perform the spell successfully.
"It can't be Apparition! I read somewhere in Hogwarts history that the castle was enchanted with anti-Apparition!"
Hermione retorted, then seemed to think better of it and continued, "Only house-elves have magic that is unrestricted, and they can move freely through the castle to serve the wizards who live here!"
Harry and Ron turned their faces away and pretended not to hear her when Hermione mentioned slave labour again.
Ivan quickly changed the subject and pointed into the distance. "Stop arguing, everyone. Look over there. It should be Beauxbatons!"
Taken aback, Hermione and the others looked in the direction Ivan was pointing and saw a black dot on the horizon.
"What's that? A herd of hippogriffs?" Harry tried to squint, but they were too far away for him to see clearly, so he could only guess.
The surrounding young wizards also noticed the abnormality in the sky and looked up.
The black dot on the horizon grew larger and larger, and gradually, everyone could clearly see a huge object passing through the clouds, flying lower and lower over the Forbidden Forest towards them!
"My God, what am I seeing? A castle in the sky!" a first-year student screamed.
"Fool, that's a carriage, a flying carriage!" Ron retorted excitedly.
As everyone watched, the behemoth flew over them.
It was a pink and blue carriage the size of a house, with many ornate decorations and a badge on the door that looked like two golden wands crossed over each other.
It was pulled aloft by twelve winged silver-maned horses.
The horses were magnificent, with blood-red eyes, and they were pulling the carriage down rapidly.
A large shadow fell over the students below, and the young wizards in the front row hurriedly took a few steps back to avoid being hit, but before they could regain their balance, the ground shook violently—and the huge carriage landed less than a meter in front of them.
The carriage door flew open and a boy in a light blue robe jumped out. He fumbled to open a golden spiral staircase and an expensively made-up middle-aged witch stepped out.
The students, including Ivan, gasped when they saw her.
Because this witch was too tall!
In contrast to the elderly Professor standing at the very front, Yvonne thought she was as tall as Dumbledore himself!
Of all the people Ivan had met, only Hagrid was a match for this witch in height.
A half-giant?
Yvonne thought of Hagrid's claim in the original timeline, which the Beauxbatons Headmistress, Madame Maxime, vehemently denied, but now it seemed likely.
It is unlikely that a normal person would grow to be so tall.
The tallest people in the Muggle world are not more than three meters tall, but Hagrid and Maxim are over four meters tall!
As a fellow wizard with magical creature blood, Ivan was somewhat interested in Maxim.
He knew so little about bloodlines, and only learned about them through Slytherin's copy of The Origin of Blood and many other notes.
So Yvonne thought she might be able to get something out of Maxim.
However, judging from the giant's size, Maxime's situation was similar to Hagrid's, presumably due to his parents having an intimate relationship with a giant.
In The Origin of Blood, it was the lowest method to obtain a bloodline!
Most of these anomalies occurred by accident, as few wizards had such a strong taste.
He, Tom Riddle, and one of the ancestors of the Dumbledore family used far more sophisticated methods, such as potions, contracts, and the like, to steal the power of magical creatures and make them their own.
While Ivan was distracted by these thoughts, Dumbledore smiled and greeted Madame Maxime.
From the huge carriage behind them, a dozen students emerged, all of them in their late teens, most of them girls, all of them beautiful and dressed in gorgeous silk robes.
Ivan stares at them, trying to find the legendary half-Veela.
However, several Beauxbatons girls had wrapped scarves and headscarves around their heads, so Ivan did not know who Fleur was.
As the girl was young and short, she was too obvious in the crowd…
"Are you looking for something, Ivan?" Hermione asked, interrupting Ivan's thoughts, her mouth pursed and her expression sour.
"I'm just here to watch the fun. This is the first time I've seen a student from another wizarding school!" Ivan laughed, turning his head back to face her.