Early in the morning, at the front gates of Hogwarts.
This was originally where the older students boarded the Thestral-drawn carriages when returning to school at the start of term. But once the opening day ended, the Thestrals no longer had any carriage-pulling duties, so they returned to the Forbidden Forest and resumed their usual invisible, almost comically antisocial lives. Under normal circumstances, this place was just an empty stretch of ground that almost no one visited.
But today, in order to send off the champion candidates who were about to shoulder the prestige and glory of Hogwarts, nearly the entire school had gathered here, watching Dumbledore and the twenty-odd figures behind him with a mixture of envy and excitement.
According to the original tradition, before heading off to participate in this kind of competition—one that was very likely to get them killed—the champion candidates were supposed to hand over their prewritten wills to the Deputy Headmistress in front of the entire student body, as a sign of their resolve. The atmosphere on such occasions was usually filled with solemn tragedy and gravity...
But since the organizers of this year's Tournament, Dumbledore included, had repeatedly guaranteed that there would be absolutely no danger to life, that step had been omitted.
"Thank you, all of you. Thank you for the good wishes you have offered our champion candidates."
Dumbledore smiled and waved to the students, then pressed his hand downward, signaling for them to quiet down.
"Although their departure is a glorious occasion, I also understand that many of you may feel a certain sadness at being separated from your friends for an entire year. And so, for that reason, I have saved one piece of good news until now."
Watching the students' eyes widen all at once, he stroked his beard and smiled even more happily.
"In past Triwizard Tournaments, because the three schools were so far apart and magical technology was not yet sufficiently advanced, the wonderful performances given by the champions could only be seen by the students of the host school. This meant that students from each school had to wait a full fifteen years to witness a single Tournament in person, and indeed, most students never had the chance to see one with their own eyes at all..."
"To solve this problem, we have spent the last eight months working together with the Daily Prophet and Wizarding Wireless Network, and together we have overcome that obstacle. We can now ensure that every scene taking place in the Durmstrang arena during the Tournament will be transmitted back to Hogwarts in full. You, too, will be able to witness the champions' performances as though you were seated personally among the spectators."
"And furthermore—"
He pointed at his own mouth, his magically amplified voice barely managing to suppress the students' cheers—
"the Daily Prophet will also continue reporting on the champions' daily lives and their preparations before each task, making the entire Tournament feel even more vivid and exciting in your eyes."
"Well then, I believe that is enough said—Champions, it is time for us to depart!"
In a rare move, Dumbledore directly drew his Elder Wand and gave it a light wave, causing the tightly shut school gates to swing open at once. Then, leading the twenty-odd students behind him, he strode forward under the gaze of the entire Hogwarts faculty and student body, crossing beyond the bounds of the school grounds and coming to a stop beside the platform they usually only passed through at the beginning and end of term.
There, crouched upon the tracks, was the Hogwarts Express, the train normally used to transport students. It was already sitting there, eagerly puffing out white steam.
"Everyone, into the first carriage and take your seats!"
Dumbledore lightly tapped the old locomotive with his Elder Wand, and the entire train seemed to be infused with life, giving off several cheerful hums. Then the door of the carriage nearest the engine slid open on its own, revealing a spacious entrance.
This should originally have been the prefects' carriage, but using it here seemed perfectly appropriate. After all, of the twenty-odd champion candidates, half were prefects, and the rest were all the sort of fearsome people who might as well have been prefects anyway...
At this moment, however, the interior of the original prefects' carriage had long since been remodeled into a spacious meeting room. A long table, nearly bed-length, occupied most of the carriage from end to end. Chairs were lined up on both sides, and in front of each seat were paper, pens, and drinks.
"Go ahead and sit wherever you like."
After the students filed in one by one, Dumbledore followed them inside as well. Closing the door behind him, he sat at the very front end of the long table and looked at the twenty-some faces before him, faces full of excitement and a little tension, then gave them a relaxed smile.
"I suggest you sit firmly, first of all. After all, it has been more than a century since this function of the train was last used. Though I have already done some maintenance beforehand, there may still be a bit of shaking..."
"Everyone ready? Then—let us depart!"
At Dumbledore's command, a long, resounding whistle rang out, and the Hogwarts Express began moving just as it did every year before the holidays. Accompanied by the sound of turning wheels, it started forward slowly, then gradually accelerated, so that the scenery outside the windows began slipping backward faster and faster...
"Wait—"
At first, the students were all looking around the carriage in confusion, not noticing anything different about the train compared to usual. But it did not take long before someone spotted the problem.
"Look outside the window!"
Under Dumbledore's smiling gaze, everyone turned to look through the windows behind them—and all of them widened their eyes in astonishment.
In their eyes, the scenery outside was not only retreating faster and faster, it was also getting smaller, growing more and more distant from them!
And in the eyes of the Hogwarts faculty and students watching from afar, the sight was even more breathtaking:
The entire enormous steam train had actually risen into the air under the influence of some unseen force, spraying smoke as it sped joyfully into the distance like a dragon gliding among the clouds. Length after length of railway track appeared out of thin air beneath the first wheel, only to vanish again after the last wheel passed over it, carrying the Hogwarts Express racing through the sky at astonishing speed...
"Our train... can fly?!"
Someone stared blankly out the window, reaching up to touch the glass, hardly able to believe that this old companion, who had been with them for six or seven years, had been hiding such a trick all along.
"This was one of the functions built into the train from the very beginning,"
Dumbledore replied with a soft chuckle.
"Although the Triwizard Tournament had already been discontinued long before trains were invented, the designers of this train still instinctively included the function of carrying participants to the Tournament. It could not really be helped—before that, compared with the transportation used by the other two schools, Hogwarts's champions' means of travel had always been somewhat... ah... lacking in visual impact."
"In those days, the Hogwarts champions would each ride in a Thestral carriage, forming a flying convoy as they traveled to the other schools. But Durmstrang had a great ship that could transport itself across bodies of water, while Beauxbatons had a carriage larger than a house. So the designers back then felt that Hogwarts ought to have something equally imposing and majestic, and that is how this train came to possess the ability to fly... Though regrettably, until today, that function had never once been used."
"Well then,"
Only after the students had listened to the story with complete satisfaction did Dumbledore finally bring the topic to a close.
"That is enough history for now. Next, let us talk about life at Durmstrang."
(End of Chapter)