After learning that delegations from other schools were about to arrive, Hogwarts fell into a state of complete excitement.
The students' conversations became entirely focused on the Global Young Wizards Tournament.
Everyone eagerly discussed what events the tournament would include, how it would be organized, and, naturally, the various magical schools from around the world.
More knowledgeable students enthusiastically introduced their classmates to the customs and cultures of those schools. Some even corresponded with pen pals from other schools, exchanging information and trying to gather intelligence on potential competitors.
"So Krum is actually one of Durmstrang's champions?!"
"Hurry up, tell me! Does Beauxbatons really produce beautiful girls? What? They only speak French? If I start learning French now, is it too late?"
"You definitely need to learn French..."
"If Beauxbatons is coming, will the Great Hall start serving new dishes? Surely they can't entertain French students with British food, can they?"
Discussions like these could be heard throughout every corner of Hogwarts Castle.
Of course, not every conversation was quite so harmonious.
"What kind of world are we living in when someone like Longbottom gets to represent Hogwarts?"
"I heard Professor McGonagall practically loses her temper every weekend during tutoring sessions because of him."
"Hey, let him go! I heard Castelobruxo is a thousand-year-old school in South America. Human sacrifice was common there a thousand years ago. Maybe that idiot Longbottom will end up as one of their offerings!"
"Don't be ridiculous. South Americans have high standards for sacrifices. A fool like him isn't even qualified."
The group immediately burst into loud, grating laughter.
Many Slytherins were dissatisfied.
They could accept the Greengrass sisters and Rhys Lint being selected as champions.
But Neville Longbottom from Hufflepuff?
Why him?
A coward who was always forgetting things and couldn't even raise his voice properly was somehow representing Hogwarts?
The topic wasn't limited to Slytherin.
Many Ravenclaws were equally puzzled, while Gryffindors expressed concern. Only the Hufflepuffs supported Neville unconditionally. After all, he and Cedric Diggory were the house's only two representatives. If they didn't support him, who would?
Through the selection ceremony, the Sorting Hat had chosen thirteen champions to represent Hogwarts.
Ravenclaw and Gryffindor each had four representatives.
Slytherin had three.
Hufflepuff had the fewest, with only two.
What surprised everyone was that older students did not dominate the roster. More than half of the positions had gone to students below fifth year, which worried many people.
According to the information they had gathered, most other schools were sending older students or even those close to graduation. They possessed a significant age advantage.
Furthermore, every major magical school had brought out treasured heirlooms for the tournament, some of them passed down for a thousand years, comparable to Hogwarts' own Sorting Hat or the Sword of Gryffindor.
...
The sea churned violently beneath stormy skies.
A gigantic seabird, roughly the size of a Muggle passenger jet, sped through the tempest.
Fourteen people sat or stood upon its back.
Protected by magic, they remained completely unaffected by the towering waves crashing around them.
At the front stood a man completely bald.
His hunched posture, along with his entirely white eyebrows and beard, revealed his advanced age.
This man was Gendanxi, the current headmaster of Japan's magical school, Mahoutokoro.
Rumour claimed he was already one hundred and fifty years old.
The moment he learned that Hogwarts would be hosting the first Global Young Wizards Tournament, he had immediately selected a group of outstanding students and prepared to lead them personally.
He was determined to achieve an excellent result and make Mahoutokoro's name known throughout the magical world.
Behind Gendanxi sat thirteen students in orderly rows.
It was obvious that the three students wearing golden robes held the highest status. The remaining nine students ranked slightly lower.
Yet all twelve of them instinctively kept some distance from a young man dressed in white robes.
This student had once attended Mahoutokoro but had later been imprisoned by the Japanese Ministry of Magic.
Headmaster Gendanxi had personally extracted him from prison.
The white robe symbolised his crimes.
Mahoutokoro students wore magical robes that grew alongside them and changed colour according to their achievements.
At first, the robes were pale pink.
If a student achieved the highest marks in all magical subjects, the robe would gradually turn gold.
However, if the robe became white, it signified that the student had violated the Japanese Wizarding Code, committed illegal acts, or broken the International Statute of Secrecy.
Whitening was a terrible disgrace.
The student would be expelled and handed over to the Japanese Ministry of Magic for trial.
Yet in the face of the temptation of becoming the "world's greatest magical school," even such disgrace seemed acceptable.
'I've gone so far as to bring a Dark Wizard along. Surely that will be enough to deal with the inexperienced brats from the other schools.'
That was Headmaster Gendanxi's reasoning.
At that moment, the giant seabird suddenly came to a halt.
Someone was floating in the air ahead of them.
The wind howled, rain lashed down, and enormous waves crashed below.
Yet the figure simply stood there motionless.
It was as though he were standing on a scenic observation platform rather than above the middle of the ocean.
A faint stir ran through the students riding the seabird.
Gendanxi merely glanced back at them.
Every student immediately fell silent.
"My old friend, it truly has been a long time."
Stepping forward, Gendanxi greeted the man in fluent Latin.
"Indeed, it's been a very long time. How about we find somewhere a bit drier to talk?"
The man glanced at the giant seabird beneath Gendanxi's feet and couldn't help commenting:
"Why is Mahoutokoro so obsessed with riding these things everywhere? If nothing else, taming a dragon would be a lot cooler than this, wouldn't it?"
Gendanxi smiled and told him that it was an ancestral tradition he had no intention of changing. Besides, arriving this way looked impressive and would leave a deep impression on the teachers and students of Hogwarts.
He then turned to his students and instructed them:
"You may proceed to Hogwarts first. I need to catch up with an old friend. I'll join you shortly."
With that, he grabbed the man's arm.
A loud crack echoed through the air, and the two vanished.
The next moment, they appeared on a sunny island.
Gendanxi was just about to compliment his old friend on having improved his teleportation skills yet again when his eyes suddenly narrowed.
A stranger wearing sunglasses was walking toward them.
"Don't worry. He's a friend of mine from the organisation."
That single sentence immediately put Gendanxi at ease.
"Oh, I see. Since he's your fri—"
Gendanxi abruptly stopped speaking.
The man in sunglasses had removed them, revealing a pair of pure black eyes.
His gaze met Gendanxi's.
A faint transparent line seemed to materialise in the air, linking the two together.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI