The Death Knell

When the police on the street weren't paying attention, Hermione took out her wand and pointed it at the back of the bronze statue. It came to life, lifted up the hem of the skirt, and the rusty bronze became as soft as gossamer. .

It was said to be under the skirt, but rather a special method of space transformation. Su Ming and Hermione just felt that their eyes were dazzled, and they stood on the street full of wizards.

This place is like a bustling market. The road is at least three times wider than Diagon Alley, but the flow of people is denser. Pointed hats crowd the streets. Various French hawking sounds come and go. There are also artists using magic. He controls dozens of Muggle instruments at the same time, playing alone on the roadside.

"There used to be a replica of the statue in Forstenburg Square in the Sixth District. That was the original passage. Through the statue, you can see the headquarters of the French Ministry of Magic."

Su Ming spoke to the curious Hermione, so that she would not stop staring at the magic clown on stilts on the roadside and fall down without looking at the road:

"However, during World War II, the magical and movable replica was moved away by the Germans and given to the Führer. After the war, the French wizards could only choose this authentic cultural relic in the third district to transform into a new key. .”

"It's... really spectacular here."

Hermione felt overwhelmed because there were many things here that she had never seen in the UK. The French were more lively than the British, and they showed more love for life.

For example, there is a magical circus that uses animagus to attract customers on the street, a transforming cinema that uses magic to play Muggle movies, and a cafe that floats in mid-air. There are many different forms of magic.

Various people in strange costumes wandered the streets, handing out balloons or flowers to strangers, as well as wizards performing mime and performance art. They made themselves colorful and constantly glowing.

"The Academy of Magical and Performing Arts is in Paris, not far from here. If you are really interested in magic and performing arts, and you didn't receive an invitation to Hogwarts last year, I think they will also send you an admission notice. .”

Su Ming smiled and touched Hermione's head. The little girl seemed to have regained the curiosity she had when she first entered the magical world. She was interested in everything on the roadside.

Looking at the bearded but shabbily dressed performance artists on the street, performing tricks with wands, Hermione still shook her head. The gap between magic stars and Muggle movie stars was too big.

"It looks like their graduates are not doing well."

Su Ming nodded and took out a handful of silver coins so that Hermione could reward the street artist: "You can understand if you are from a Muggle family. If famous schools like Hogwarts are equivalent to junior high school education, then a junior college is equivalent to In technical secondary schools, the schooling period is only three years, and many of their students cannot even apparate after graduation."

"It sounds a bit pitiful..." Hermione squeezed through the crowd and walked to the street. She put a few silver coins in the old wizard's hat and got a magic flower turned from paper. She walked back Next to the professor: "I used to think that wizards were just like the people I knew."

"Everyone has different talents, different destinies, and life is naturally different." Deathstroke took the balloon given by a stranger and gave it to Hermione to play with: "For you, the transformation technique that you can do in the first grade, maybe That’s the limit for that old mage.”

"How cruel! Don't say it in such a sad way!" The little girl glared at him, and the good mood of the trip was ruined!

"Okay, but you have to know that even Hogwarts students still need to pass O.W.Ls, which is the Ordinary Wizarding Examination Level Test, in fifth grade. There are a total of twelve courses. If you fail to pass the corresponding course , that is, an evaluation of A or above, then you cannot choose this course in the sixth or seventh grade. If you cannot get a certificate in any course, you will be expelled. Doesn’t this sound much fair? "

The professor said a fair thing, that is, if fifth-year students fail every subject, Hogwarts students will end up on the streets. If they are lucky, they may be able to work as slave labor in an automatic wand shop.

"..."

Hermione didn't answer, just asked, 'Are you a devil? ’ Look at the professor with this look.

"Being expelled is not a big deal. Look at Hagrid. He was expelled in the fourth grade. How can he become fat and strong?" Su Ming touched her head and took her to a shop selling cat food on the street. Take a look: "There is also Newt Scamander, the author of the book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them". He was also expelled in the fourth grade. With his family connections, he found a child labor job at the Ministry of Magic and earned a weekly income. There are two silver coins."

"Do you think I won't be in fifth grade at Hogwarts?" Hermione frowned. She was most confident about her grades. Her first grade courses were all A's.

"Then let's wait and see." The teacher just smiled mysteriously. He turned to the clerk in the store and said in proficient French: "Please pack me the bag of 'Cat Creature Wonderful Multi-flavored Beans'."

"Bad Professor, you are bad." Hermione kicked his shoes, but gradually her attention was attracted to the cat food, because the professor kept looking at it with an interesting expression.

Unfortunately, it was all in French and she couldn't understand it, so she stood on tiptoe a little anxious.

The professor paid the money, took her to sit down at a chair in the shop, and pointed out the instructions on the back of the bag to her word for word: "This is a French specialty, multi-flavored beans that cats and magical animals love to eat. You don't want to give her to foster care Do you want to bring some gifts back to Hannah's Crookshanks? It is written here that if the cat eats catnip flavor, it is the first prize, followed by dried fish flavor, canned fish flavor, smoked mouse flavor... .”

"What's the worst?" Hermione's eyes widened.

A weird smile appeared on the PE teacher's face, and his finger slid directly to the end of a long string of words: "The worst thing is the smell of human decaying corpses. Ha, the French have a much better sense of humor than the British."

Hermione took a deep breath and pursed her lips into a straight line. She felt that she had endured a burden that was inconsistent with her age:

"Shall we go directly to the French Ministry of Magic?"

....................................................

‘Incanté, Envouté, Conjuré. ’

The entrance to the French Ministry of Magic headquarters is located in the center of Furstenberg Square. The roots of the trees around the fountain will rise out of the ground, forming a birdcage elevator around visitors, leading to the underground Ministry of Magic headquarters.

The three words engraved on the gate mean 'casting spells, chanting spells, and summoning'.

It was founded in 1790 during the French Revolution, so its motto is very similar to the motto of the French Muggle government at that time, "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité" (Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité). At the same time, its representative coat of arms also features the Three French color, a woman wearing a Phrygian hat.

But even underground, the magic still makes it seem like it's floating in the sky. There are transparent glass in all directions, so you can see the blue sky. There are fountains and music in the spacious hall, and an elegant fragrance that can't be described as a plant permeates the air. in the air.

The wizards here, both men and women, are all brightly dressed, with warm smiles on their faces, and everyone is personable.

Even though Hermione was unhappy when she came here, her expression relaxed and she began to have good wishes for her trip to Beauxbatons.

"Okay, let's go register the wand. In the next semester, your learning task at Beauxbatons is to learn more than thirty foreign languages, learn the etiquette of the wizarding world, and make friends with every student. This is Beauxbatons. The specialty of Sparton is that it recruits students all over Europe. Originally, I could teach you foreign languages, but after thinking about it, it is more contextual for you to be in an environment where multiple languages ​​coexist..."

Before she could be happy for a while, the professor told her new bad news. Just when she was about to bargain, things were completely out of her control.

The professor knew she wanted new beautiful clothes and took advantage of her weakness.