Infinite Magic (Male Reader x Harry Potter)

Durmstrang and Beauxbatons

There was a pleasant feeling of anticipation in the air.  Nobody was very attentive in lessons, being much more interested in the arrival that evening of the people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.  Even Potions was more bearable than usual, as it was half an hour shorter.  When the bell rang early, we hurried up to Gryffindor Tower, deposited their bags and books as we had been instructed, pulled on their cloaks, and rushed back downstairs into the entrance hall.  The Heads of Houses were ordering their students into lines.

McGonagall: Weasley, straighten your hat.  Miss Patil, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair.  YN, put your glasses on, not your blindfold.

I sighed, switching them as Parvati scowled and removed a large ornamental butterfly from the end of her plait.

McGonagall: Follow me, please.  First years in front...no pushing...

We filed down the steps and lined up in front of the castle.  It was a cold, clear evening.  Dusk was falling and a pale, transparent looking moon was already shining over the Forbidden Forest.

Ron: Nearly six.  How d'you reckon they're coming?  The train?

Hermione: I doubt it.

Harry: How, then?  Broomsticks?

Ron: I don't think so, not from that far away.  A Portkey?  Or they could Apparate, maybe you're allowed to do it under seventeen wherever they come from?

I did my best impression of Hermione's voice.

YN: You can't Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds, it says so in "Hogwarts: A History".

My friends all laughed.  Except for Hermione, who just pouted.

Ava: Suguru, you must know have an idea of how Durmstrang's getting here, right?

He smirked.

Suguru: Not gonna ruin the surprise, though.

We scanned the darkening grounds excitedly, but nothing was moving.  Everything was still, silent, and quite as usual.  Maybe the foreign students were preparing a dramatic entrance.  And then Dumbledore called out from the back row where he stood with the other teachers.

Dumbledore: Aha!  Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!

Something large, much larger than a broomstick, or even a hundred broomsticks, was hurtling across the deep blue sky toward the castle, growing larger all the time.

First year: It's a dragon!

Dennis: Don't be stupid, it's a flying house!

Dennis' guess was closer.  As the gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, we saw a gigantic, blue, horse drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.  The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed.  Then, with an almighty crash that made Neville jump backward onto a Slytherin fifth year's foot, the horses' hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground.  A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes.  I just had time to see that the door of the carriage bore a coat of arms, two crossed, golden wands, each emitting three stars, before it opened.  A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps.  He sprang back respectfully.  Then a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerged from the inside of the carriage.  A shoe the size of a child's sled.  It was followed by the largest woman I had ever seen in my life.  The size of the carriage, and of the horses, was immediately explained.  A few people gasped.  I had only ever seen one person as large as this woman in my life, and that was Hagrid.  I doubted whether there was an inch difference in their heights.  Yet somehow, maybe simply because I was used to Hagrid, this woman seemed even more unnaturally large.  As she stepped into the light flooding from the entrance hall, she was revealed to have a handsome, olive-skinned face, large, black, liquid-looking eyes, and a rather beaky nose.  Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck.  She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fingers.  Dumbledore started to clap.  The students, following his lead, broke into applause too, many of them standing on tiptoe, the better to look at this woman.  Her face relaxed into a gracious smile and she walked forward toward Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand.  Dumbledore, though tall himself, had barely to bend to kiss it.