Honestly, I can't remember how it was in the movie or the book, but in real life, the ship from Durmstrang came out of a rather scary water vortex. It looks very pathos-y and brutal, like "even the elements obey us and serve us to please us". And the ship itself is very beautiful, and it also smells of something so... determined, rough, strong.
I don't know how to put it exactly. It was the first time I had seen a real sailing ship, but I found myself thinking that this is how I had imagined it — stubborn and proud, forcing its way through the elements. And the captain must be a strong, bearded man with gray hair, boots, and a pipe in his teeth.
The presence of a parrot/monkey on his shoulder is not essential. And don't give me the "...I saw it in "Pirates"..." and similar crap. I have seen those movies too, but in real life everything is different and this ship made an impression on me. The boys and girls from this ship came out with confident and determined faces, and their fur coats... in short, the style of the genre was "excellent".
No one was allowed to talk to the guests, only those who arrived from the ship were immediately taken to the castle, Hogwarts students stood aside — as if and met them, but did not let them feel.
The carriage itself and the "ponies" turned out to be really healthy, in the sense of proportionally much larger than normal. A herd of Frenchmen was sent to the castle very quickly, so skillfully that even I could not see anyone, although I smelled that strange reaction I felt at the end of the ritual at night. As everyone began to disperse to prepare for the feast that would be served in an hour, I went to the Pegasi. I'd been taught how to handle horses, and these winged beasts were highly magical, and I could always find a common language with such creatures.
Hagrid, a strange, uneducated, a little funny, but very kind man. He's very much a child, in the sense that he's not devious, not looking for a big payoff, what's in his heart and soul is on his tongue. He's not stupid or dumb, he just doesn't feel human, he's closer to the magical races, so he thinks differently and perceives the world around him differently than humans. I thought he was the obedient lapdog of the headmaster. Partly he is, but only because in Hagrid's eyes Dumbledore is the model of a kind and intelligent being, which the Headmaster takes advantage of.
Hagrid is easy to be friends with, if you close your eyes to some peculiarities of behavior and logic. Here, for example, the brothers seemed to me strange and with twisted logic after our meeting. But I did some thinking in meditation and came to the conclusion that when these two spirits appeared in my life, I was actually lonely. I didn't even have anyone to talk to, unless it was about more important and sensitive topics, but simple conversations about the weather or tastes. Friends? Parents? Ridiculous! Constant tension, moral exhaustion, development of misanthropy and phobias.
The psyche needed a moral anchor, and Kajo and Hino became that moral anchor. Even Baa-san's feelings for me were warm until recently. But the brightest spot, the flash of warmth in this world, are the dragons. Mother had tarnished her image, and I realize now that I was angry, but the habit of being "on edge" would not let me go for a long time.
I still don't take off the thin bracelets with the swords and universal seals, not to mention other "jewelry". Now that I've let go of the tension and gotten closer to different people, it's hard to communicate with the brothers like I used to — I'm just used to the logic of the spirits, and it's very different from human logic.
Well, Hagrid was just getting to grips with the Pegasi, but there were a dozen of them, so I was able to talk to one of the horses. I couldn't make out what kind of apples they were — big, green, slightly flattened — but the Pegasus liked them. The beast was magically very strong, literally imbued with the magic of air and wind, and had a character to match its element: impetuous, headstrong, but not evil, curious.
And the Pegasus was not at all surprised by the thought-image communication, as spirits communicate, but was pleased and immediately poured an emotional stream of images, tastes, smells, sounds and sensations of the wind on his skin and wings upon me. I could barely stand on my feet and my eyes went dark for a while.
I stood there with my eyes in a heap, and this blue-eyed horse with pearly short hair looked at me, radiating interest in the emotional background with impatience. When I realized what I was talking about, I laughed out loud, and Fluffy joined me, hopping from foot to foot and telling me to hurry up.
Hagrid jumped up to me and looked around excitedly, but when I told him the gist of the question, he just waved his hand and said, — Go on, but not for long, for the owners are not questioned. Normally you would have to ask, but Fluffy even pulled me by the coat and invited me to fly, and the fact that he was tired and drank a bucket of hard whiskey ten minutes ago did not matter. I don't care, I'd rather apologize later than ask for permission now! And I won't steal it, really!
Sitting on a Pegasus is not easy, you still have to figure out how to hold your legs, because their sides are much wider than a normal horse, and even wings. I do not know how it is recommended to do it "correctly", but I bent my legs at the knees and kept my thighs and shins on the mighty ribs of the beast, my hands gripping the braided plaits. With the sheer force of the Pegasus and the power of its magic, the beast literally leapt into the sky, leaving the ground somewhere below in a matter of moments.
Fluffy didn't pick up his mighty legs, but continued to push them straight up out of the air, but only in leaps, creating areas of highly compressed air. Junko had shown me a similar "Air Step" technique. We flew very little, though — about fifteen minutes, and then we both noticed on the field near the castle, above and circling, several figures releasing colored sparks. I smiled broadly as we landed, for I recognized one of the others as a handsome blond....