Chapter 551: A secluded grove of trees

Since the next day was Saturday, most students usually got up very late.

But Ivan was up early. Last night he had promised Gabrielle to show her around the Hogwarts campus.

Hogwarts was exceptionally quiet first thing in the morning, and Ivan followed the empty corridor to the castle gate.

The sky was a little dull, the sun had not yet risen, and there was no wind outside.

From a distance, the Durmstrang boat floated lightly on the lake, shrouded by a layer of fog.

Last night, because of the darkness, it could not be seen clearly; now it looked even more monstrous!

It was like the ghost ships usually depicted in fairy tales, with nasty black and dark green trimmings. It reflected blackly in the water, like a skeleton.

Although it looked horrible, Ivan would like to visit it if he could.

The ship was covered in a lot of magic, including black magic. Many of the magical designs and reactions were unknown to Ivan. He wanted to study and research, but Durmstrang would surely not invite him.

Ivan looked away and walked across the lawn by the lake to Hagrid's hut.

The giant powder blue Beauxbatons carriage had been parked two hundred yards from Hagrid's door. The flying elephantine horses that had pulled the carriage were now grazing in a makeshift paddock beside it.

Not far away, near the pumpkin patch behind Hagrid's hut, terrible explosions and crashing noises could be heard from time to time.

It was the restless, exploding-tailed Escreguto that were now rampaging and trying to escape from Hagrid.

Each Escreguto was now almost three feet long and they were even starting to kill each other.

Hagrid had to place them in sturdier wooden boxes, but this had little effect.

Ivan circumvented Hagrid's cabin from a distance. As soon as he reached the wagon, he saw Gabrielle.

She was crouched in the aisle like a kitten, looking as if she had been waiting for Ivan for a long time. She wore a dark blue mage's robe and her loose, waist-length hair seemed to shimmer in the morning sun.

With a charming smile on her face, her eyelashes were fluttering and she was looking at Ivan with fervor. This made her look very cute, which gave Ivan a warm feeling.

"Keep your voice down, my sister is still sleeping inside!" said Gabrielle softly, gently pressing her finger to her lips.

Behind her, Ivan could see that the interior of the carriage was very luxurious, well in the style of Beauxbatons.

Gold and red were the main tones. After passing the foyer, there was a large sitting room.

Inside, there were small rooms, where the boys lived, and the girls all lived upstairs.

Gabrielle stood up carefully, perhaps because she had been squatting too long, shaking as she stepped down from the carriage.

She was afraid to touch the glass door of the carriage, so that the wind chimes would rattle and disturb the people inside, and she was about to fall....

Ivan hurried to hold her, and then they fell heavily together.

The earth on the floor was very soft, and it didn't hurt to fall, but Ivan felt the little girl's body softer.

Now Gabrielle was lying completely on top of him, where was this going to end?

They looked at each other and could feel each other's breathing, and the girl's face turned obviously pink.

She quickly got up from Ivan and apologized repeatedly to him. She was extremely shy.

Ivan didn't know what to say to Gabrielle either. It seemed that he was deliberately trying to take advantage of her fall.

Thus, they both set off for the castle in a somewhat nervous and strange atmosphere.

Ivan and Gabrielle visited Hogwarts castle across the lake and the atmosphere soon returned to normal.

Ivan introduced Gabrielle to the surrounding scenery. They chatted very happily and Gabrielle was very interested in everything. She and Ivan also agreed to go to Hogsmeade, a rare wizarding village.

Then the topic naturally moved on to the Triwizard Tournament and the champions.

Madame Maxime asked the Beauxbatons students to go to the castle after breakfast and put their names in the Goblet of Fire.

They were rigorously selected at the school, and even Nicolas participated in the evaluation, and finally a dozen of the best young wizards and witches were chosen.

Of course, Fleur was the strongest of them, and not by chance, she would definitely become the champion of Beauxbatons. Otherwise, Gabrielle would not have followed her to Hogwarts.

She was not old enough. It was Fleur who had asked Madame Maxime to let her come with the delegation.

Gabrielle, who had no burden, simply took this trip to Hogwarts as an excursion. She could see Ivan and see many new things.

When she learned that Ivan was not going to be champion, Gabrielle had a slight disappointment on her face, but then quickly comforted Ivan.

"My sister says that you are extremely strong, and that your power has far surpassed the level of young mages. You don't need to participate in the tournament to prove anything."

Ivan was not allowed to participate in the tournament. In addition to his age, which did not meet the requirements,

Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had also excluded him from the tournament. Fleur should have known that before she said it.

"By the way, your sister doesn't seem to be very pleased with me. She didn't talk to me much last night," Ivan said, remembering Fleur's behavior the night before.

"That was deliberately put out for all to see. You know, after the events of last term, the students at school didn't like you very much. A lot of them wanted to fight you or something." Gabrielle was quick to say, "But the girls think highly of you. They were still talking about you last night..."

Her voice was getting smaller and smaller, and her face was a little flushed.

He was obviously embarrassed to tell Ivan that he was the subject of the girls' private conversation.

Seeing the cute look on Gabrielle's face, Ivan suddenly wanted to tease her. "Now you're in contact with me, aren't you afraid of what others at school will say?"

"I'm not afraid. I don't care what they say," Gabrielle said, raising her head to look at Ivan. The girl's serious, bright blue eyes were enough to make one's heart shudder.

Ivan held his breath and looked at Gabrielle, and went blank inside his head.

They looked at each other closely for a moment before recovering.

Gabrielle quickly lowered her head, her face flushed to the root of her neck, as red as a ripe apple.

Looking at her, Ivan didn't know what to say, and the tense atmosphere was eerie.

To relieve the embarrassment, he hurriedly raised his head and looked around.

It turned out that they had unconsciously walked around the castle for a long time. Now they were in the secluded grove on the side of the castle. And there was only them...