Dumbledore, Karkaroff and the other professors walked to the front, while Hogwarts students followed Durmstrang and his group into the castle.
Many were whispering excitedly about Durmstrang's Krum, especially the Quidditch fans, who were frantically searching their pockets for paper and pen to get Krum's autograph.
Everyone crossed the hall and Dumbledore led Karkaroff and the professors into the staff common room on the first floor as the students advanced into the Great Hall.
Students from each of the four Houses took their respective tables, while those from Durmstrang paused at the main entrance, debating which table of which House to sit at.
The Beauxbatons students had already chosen a seat at the Ravenclaw table, and when they saw Fish enter, they stood up and waved their arms at the cat, letting out a regretful sigh when they saw Fish head to Gryffindor and sit down.
"With Fish's spell, it's not cold anymore, is it?"
Hermione said unhappily, glancing in the direction of the Beauxbatons students.
Fish followed her gaze and saw that three of the Beauxbatons students had their heads wrapped so tightly in scarves and hoods that it was impossible to tell what they looked like, except from their bodies, they were three girls, one of whom was much smaller and looked about the same as when Fish had first entered the school....
The girl with her head covered caught Fish's attention and immediately jumped off the bench and tried to run toward him, but was stopped by another girl with her head covered who gave him a slight nod and then whispered to the girl in French.
Fish flapped his ears... and mumbled... unintelligibly.
And by then, Krum and his classmates, after a moment's hesitation, opted to sit at the Slytherin table, with Ron and the others showing expressions of reluctance on their faces.
The choice of Durmstrang students is not hard to understand, Ravenclaw already has people from Beauxbatons, and Hufflepuff has a large number of people, the only options available were really Slytherin and Gryffindor.
Slytherin's long table...it's closer to the door.
After all the students entered the room and were seated at their respective House tables, the staff entered and took seats at the guest table. At the end of the row were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime.
The Beauxbatons students rose to their feet as soon as they saw their Headmaster appear. Some Hogwarts students couldn't help but laugh. But the Beauxbatons students did not seem embarrassed until Madame Máxime sat to Dumbledore's left.
Dumbledore remained standing, and the Great Hall gradually fell silent.
"Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, ghosts, and.... especially... distinguished guests," Dumbledore said, looking at the foreign students with a smile, "It is with great joy that I welcome you to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that you will feel comfortable and happy here."
After briefly welcoming the guests, Dumbledore added, "The tournament will begin at the end of the banquet. I now invite you to eat and drink as much as you like, as if you were in your own home!".
At his words, the plates on the long table were instantly filled with food, as usual, and several new dishes were added to them.
"Those are French dishes," Hermione said pointing to a few, knowing how much Fish loved good food. "I ate them during summer vacation the year before last, and they tasted great."
"It's great nya!"
? ()?
Fish immediately shuffled some of the dishes Hermione pointed out onto his plate.
As Hermione had said, the French food was very good, it was a different kind of food than Chinese food, and Fish was glad to eat it anyway.
As for the English food...
emmmm ...
Fish fry is still delicious.
"Is your grandmother a Veela too?"
As Fish ate his food, a pleasant, crisp voice was heard next to him. Fish looked over and saw that it was the girl with the head covering who had snuck into the Gryffindor table.
The girl had already removed her hood and scarf, revealing her waist-length silver hair and big blue eyes that looked at Fish with curiosity and intimacy.
"Veela is a bird, right? Fish is a cat nya"
?(?ΦΦ?)?
Fish replied, raising his hand and pointing to his cat ears. He then looked at the girl's long silver hair and asked in turn, "You're a Veela nya?".
"Gabrielle and I have a quarter Veela bloodline," another pleasant voice rang out, and behind the silver haired girl was a slender figure similar in appearance to Gabrielle, only a little more mature, "Fleur Delacour, this is my sister Gabrielle Delacour, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Fish was fully aware that, when Fleur appeared, many of the boys turned their heads to look over their shoulders, and a few, like Ron, fell back in a daze.
Fish had seen similar and even more exaggerated scenes at the Quidditch World Cup, so he was not surprised.
When Fleur finished, she reached out her long, white right hand and placed it in front of Fish's face, with the back of her hand up in a way that suggested she wanted Fish to kiss her hand.
The cat, however, did not know how to mince words, "My name is Fish McGonagall." He grabbed Fleur's outstretched palm and shook it up and down nonchalantly, before quickly releasing her hand and asking with sparkling eyes: "So you can also turn into the kind of bird that can throw fireballs?"
?()?
Fleur couldn't keep her elegant expression immediately and replied grumpily, "Sorry, no!"
"That's too bad..." sighed Fish as his ears instantly lowered.
"Yes, yes," Gabrielle said, approaching Fish with a confident look, "My sister also said that state is too ugly and can't be changed for the better!"
"What's ugly about it?!" Fish looked incredulous, "How pretty those feathers are! And they can throw fireballs!"
(?⊙△⊙?)
"Yes, yes!"
Gabrielle agreed, nodding her head excitedly and looking at her sister in disgust, much to Fleur's chagrin.
Suddenly, Gabrielle took two steps forward, hugged Fish and said, "Gabrielle likes you, why don't you come back to Beauxbatons with me? Gabrielle can share her favorite doll with you."
The girls, who had only been watching the conversation between Fish and Fleur, were upset.
Seeing that they are guests, they've been allowed to chat with Fish for so long, and now they still want to kidnap Fish?!
As Fish's girlfriend, Hermione was the first to step forward.
"I'm sorry, but Fish's mother is Vice Headmistress of Hogwarts and Dean of Gryffindor, so there's no way she's going to follow you to Beauxbatons."
Hermione said with a half-smile, still maintaining her restraint and not speaking ill of Hogwarts guests.
But the others weren't as sensible as Hermione....
"Besides, Hogwarts is the best wizarding school in all of Europe, why would Fish go to Beauxbatons?". said Lavender from the sidelines.
"Beauxbatons is the best wizarding school!" replied Fleur.
"We, Durmstrang, can't pretend we didn't hear those words."
A loud voice sounded, and everyone turned their heads to look, and it turned out to be Viktor Krum walking with two Durmstrang students.
Fish and the Delacour sisters were the flashiest people in the Great Hall, and now, with the addition of Krum, the quidditch star, things suddenly perked up.