On the right hand side of Dumbledore, sitting in the front seat was Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, a very big woman.

  Evan had only seen one person in his life that could be compared with her; Hagrid! There was almost no difference in height between them.

  Evan knew that was because they were both half-giants!

  However, perhaps just because he was familiar with Hagrid, Madame Maxime seemed even more bizarre.

  Under the candlelight above, he found that Madame Maxime had a handsome olive-skinned face with a beak-like nose and large, black, liquid-looking eyes.

  Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck.

  She dressed from head to foot in black satin, and was laden with opal jewellery, sparkling on her neck and on her thick fingers.

  Madame Maxime, with an elegant smile on her face, politely looked at Sirius who had just entered the Great Hall and invited him to sit on the vacant seat to her right.

  Equally noticeable in the hall was Fleur Delacour, who was sitting at the head of the students bench.

  She had long, silvery-blonde hair that fell almost to her waist, and looked very beautiful.

  She looked like an adult version of Gabrielle, both part Veelas. She had large, deep blue eyes and very white, even teeth. She was breathtakingly beautiful.

  Possibly because of regular exercise, Fleur was also in good shape. Her fair skin was wheat-colored and she looked extraordinarily healthy. Despite wearing the same uniform as others, she was still the most eye-catching among all Beauxbatons students.

  Needless to say, when Evan’s eyes moved away from Madame Maxime, they fell on Fleur for the first time, marveling at her beauty.

  There was a vacant seat beside Fleur, which was especially reserved for Evan.

  After Sirius was invited to the guest table by Madame Maxime, she stood up with a smile and gracefully walked over to Evan, inviting him to come and take his place.

  “Hello, Evan Mason!” Fleur reached out and shook Evan’s hand with a smile and said, “My name is Fleur Delacour, I am honored to meet you!”


  She spoke English, with a slight French accent.

  Fleur’s voice sounded very special, slightly edgy.

  “Thank you, I am glad to meet you, too.” Evan replied hurriedly, and followed Fleur to the seat beside her and sat down.

  Before they could talk again, Madame Maxime had stood up to speak.

  “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and our distinguished guests!” Madame Maxime said with a smile and motioned to Dumbledore beside her. “Tonight, with great joy, we welcome Albus Dumbledore, the world’s greatest wizard, who came with his companions from Hogwarts to Beauxbatons. I hope and believe that you will feel comfortable and happy here.”


  There was a round of applause in the Great Hall. While Madame Maxime was speaking, all the students of Beauxbatons stood up.

  They all looked sideways at Dumbledore, hoping to see what he looked like.

  But when Madame Maxime said that Dumbledore was the greatest wizard in the world, Evan clearly heard a sarcastic sneer.

  He turned his head and saw several senior students looking at him provocatively with arrogance and disdain on their faces, as if to see what he would do.

  With such people, Evan’s treatment of choice had always been to ignore them completely.

  He turned his head back as if he hadn’t seen them.

  Behind him, there was a glimmer of disappointment on the faces of the guys, who frowned and looked at each other, surprised by Evan’s indifference.

  Fleur looked at the change of expression in their eyes, but she remained calm and composed.

  Her blue eyes stared at Evan as if she hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

  Evan looked at her and she smiled and blinked.

  Evan didn’t know if it was an illusion, but he could feel that Fleur’s relationship with her Beauxbatons students was not very good.

  Her classmates, especially the girls, were all alienated from her and deliberately kept a distance.

  But at least, so far, she had been kind to Evan.

  Or more accurately, she was very interested.

  At the main guest table, Madame Maxime had finished her speech. Instead of sitting down directly, she took out her wand and waved it gently.

  A light sound of music came of somewhere, and all the students in Beauxbatons began to sing. The voices grew louder and louder, and the Great Hall fell into the sea of music.

  They sang a French song, which Evan could not understand.

  However, he could feel the melody getting lighter and relaxed.

  This song had that French character, like a pub tune, which sounded pleasant.

  A few minutes later, after the song ended, Madame Maxime motioned for everyone to sit down.

  When the banquet officially began, the empty dishes were full of French cuisine, and all kinds of dishes were placed in front of Evan. He was not sure which dish he should try first.

  “You can try this Bouillabaisse (T.N: Bouillabaisse is a French miscellaneous fish/seafood soup). It tastes very delicious. It’s been cooked in the authentic French way. I believe it would be difficult to find it in your country. You will like it.” Fleur said, pointing to a dish in front of Evan that looked like a sea food Salmagundi.

  “Thank you!” Evan served himself a bowl and asked uncertainly. “That song just now sounded good. Is it your school song?”


  “It’s indeed the school song of Beauxbatons, and we sing it at the beginning of the semester or at major events.” Fleur frowned and said, “But I don’t like it. The tune sounds very light, but the lyrics are very tragic. This song has been handed down from the Middle Ages, how to say it, the style is somewhat dark…”


  After the Bouillabaisse, Evan began to taste a quirky dessert. He didn’t know the name of the dish because he had never seen it before.

  “Evan, can I call you that?!” Fleur said with a smile. “In fact, I often hear my little sister talk about you. You are her idol.”


  “We are faithful friends. We often write to each other since Christmas.”


  Evan looked back at Gabrielle, and found that the little girl was looking at him in return. She immediately looked down shyly when their eyes met.

  He smiled at Fleur and said, “She mentioned you in her previous letter.”


  “Oh, what did she say?” Fleur was interested.

  “She calls you the best sister in the world!” Evan repeated Gabrielle’s true words, and made Fleur laugh.

  Usually, the two of them got along fairly well.

  The others on the long table looked less happy, not to mention the provocative students.

  Most of the remaining people were also dissatisfied with Fleur’s exclusive occupation of Evan.

  Noticing that, Fleur also ignored all of them.

  Evan’s feeling was proven true to him. Fleur and her classmates did not get along very well.

  This didn’t seem like something caused just by his presence; it seemed that their relationship was like this in regular times as well.