Chapter 240: Durmstrang Institute

After the delegation from Beauxbatons departed, the staff and students of Hogwarts remained, waiting for the arrival of the Durmstrang delegation.

They were starting to shiver from the cold, most of them gazing eagerly up at the sky. 

Silence fell over the grounds, broken only by the snorting and hoof-stamping of Madame Maxime's giant horses. Just then—

"Do you hear that?" Hermione suddenly asked.

A loud and peculiar noise floated toward them from the darkness: a suppressed rumbling and sucking sound, like a gigantic vacuum cleaner moving along a riverbed...

"It's in the lake!" someone shouted, pointing at the water's surface. "Look at the lake!"

Standing on the slope of the lawn overlooking the grounds, they could clearly see the calm, dark water—except it was no longer calm. 

There was agitation beneath the surface at the center of the lake, with large splashes and waves crashing against the wet shore. 

Then, right in the middle of the lake, a large whirlpool appeared as if a massive plug had been suddenly pulled from the lakebed...

Something long and black like a mast slowly rose from the whirlpool, with rigging hanging from it...

"It's a mast!" Hermione exclaimed.

Gracefully and impressively, the large ship emerged from the water, gleaming in the moonlight. 

It had a peculiar appearance, resembling a skeleton as if it were the remains of a recently salvaged wreck, its portholes flickering with dim, misty light like ghostly eyes. 

Finally, with a loud splash, the ship fully emerged, bobbing on the choppy surface of the waves and beginning to sail toward the shore. 

Moments later, they heard a thud as an iron anchor was thrown into shallow water, followed by a snap as a plank was laid down on the lakeshore.

People were disembarking from the ship. 

From afar, they all looked tall, but as they approached and walked into the light cast from the castle's main entrance, people realized they appeared larger due to the fur cloaks they wore, tangled with fur. 

However, the man leading them toward the castle was wearing a different kind of fur: silver-white, soft and smooth, much like his hair.

"Dumbledore!" The man greeted warmly as he climbed the slope. "My dear old friend, how are you?"

"Very well, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied.

Karkaroff's voice was round and sweet. 

As he walked into the light from the castle's main entrance, they saw he was tall and slender like Dumbledore, but with short white hair and a goatee with small curls on the tips, not fully covering his thin chin.

He approached Dumbledore and shook hands with both hands.

"My dear old Hogwarts," he looked up at the castle and smiled warmly—he had yellow teeth, and despite his smile, his eyes remained cold and sharp.

"It's so good to be here, so good... Viktor, come warm up a bit... You don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor's caught a bit of a cold..."

Karkaroff gestured to one of his students. As the boy approached, young wizards caught sight of a striking hooked nose and thick, dark eyebrows, and many recognized the figure.

"It's Krum!"

There was a gasp among Hogwarts students; many knew him because he was the seeker for the Bulgarian team in the Quidditch World Cup, and Bulgaria's ability to secure second place was largely due to his outstanding performance.

Karkaroff seemed to relish the gasp. Viktor Krum was Durmstrang's star, which is why Karkaroff had just mentioned Viktor by name.

Durmstrang's students were the same; they seemed to disdain Hogwarts students' admiration for Krum.

However, Dumbledore just smiled absentmindedly, and it was Hermione who seemed somewhat disgruntled.

"For God's sake, he's just a Quidditch player," she said, looking around at the somewhat fanatical young wizards, pursing her lips.

"They used to swarm around Cho Chang like this, and now they've changed their target. Viktor Krum is nothing more than a man you defeated, isn't he, Cho?"

"Heh," Cho smiled helplessly, "yes... yes, but I think it's fine like this. At least they won't be flocking around me anymore."

"How can that be?" 

Hermione glanced angrily at her classmates' embarrassing behavior, especially Slytherin's Malfoy and Gryffindor's Ron, looking at them with obsequious looks, if they could they would lick Viktor Krum's boots.

"By the way," Hermione suddenly had a thought and pushed Cho Chang ahead, "Go and say hello to that loser."

Cho Chang staggered forward. As a prefect, she was already standing at the front of the team, but now she stood out even more.

At this time, she immediately attracted everyone's attention. The professors and Durmstrang's students all looked at her, the chatter stopped, and the scene suddenly became quiet.

Even after playing and winning the Quidditch World Cup, such an unexpected situation still made her a little embarrassed.

"Hi," she waved dryly, "welcome everyone from Durmstrang to Hogwarts, and, long time no see, Viktor."

In the Quidditch World Cup finals, Cho Chang used her powerful flight skills and sharp reactions to make Krum suffer a big loss, causing him to fall off the broom twice, which gave him the opportunity to crush the opponent's Seeker all the way to the finals. 

Viktor was very much impressed with her.

Now he saw this beautiful girl again, the first opponent who even made him feel a little scared. 

Although he had been prepared for it, Krum was still taken aback. He took two steps back involuntarily, and there was a dull pain all over his body.

In the eyes of others, this was a sign of fear.

In fact, Cho Chang was much more famous than Krum. As, she was younger than him, a woman, and was more skilled.

She and her team were the winners, which made Cho Chang have far more fans around the world than her opponent.

The wizards at Hogwarts definitely admired Cho Chang even more. 

However, because they met Cho without looking up, the young wizards were already quite familiar with her, and this was how the scene just happened.

Now, the scene became more lively. This time, Durmstrang's wizards started shouting and casting admiring glances at Cho Chang. Even Hogwarts wizards started talking about it.

"Oh my god, it's that talented girl, the Seeker of the Irish team, Cho Chang."

"Is that the Seeker who defeated Krum?"

"She looks much younger than Viktor."

"Look, Viktor backed away just now, right after seeing her!"

"Isn't this natural? After all, she defeated and also injured him."

"Yes that girl also made Viktor fall from the broom to the ground twice in a row. I dare say that Viktor has never suffered such a big loss!"

"It's amazing."

Such comments obviously made Karkaroff look very ugly. 

In front of Hogwarts, his tactic of increasing popularity through Viktor failed for the first time. 

What made him even more angry was that it seemed that Durmstrang's students all became even bigger fans of Cho Chang.

"Humph! Let's go in." His fake smile disappeared as he said that with a straight face.

"Okay, please come inside, old friend." Dumbledore was still smiling.

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