Harry Potter : Bloodraven-Chapter 134: Opening Salvo (I) (CH - 154)

Professor Caesar, you can't be serious," McGonagall said dryly, raising an eyebrow. "Of all the grand entrances we could make, you're suggesting we hop on a Muggle bus?"

In the Hogwarts staff room, the professors sat around the long table, joined by the Headmaster and his deputy, deep in discussion about the upcoming Inter-School Quidditch Tournament at Beauxbatons—now only a weeks time away. frёeωebɳovel.com

The fireplace kept the staff room warm, but it wasn't the flames causing the heat.

McGonagall had a plan—something bold, theatrical, the kind of entrance that would make every other school whisper about Hogwarts.

Maverick, however, had suggested something very different.

Muggle transportation. Trains, planes... maybe even a cruise ship. That was Maverick's proposal—to let the students experience the Muggle way of getting around. Besides, who said you couldn't be flashy without tearing a hole in space?

He received mixed comments—some supported, a few stayed neutral, and the rest disagreed. The debate dragged on for a while until Dumbledore decided it was time to settle things democratically.

"Shall we put it to a vote?" he proposed. "Travel by Muggle means, as Professor Caesar suggests... or do we go with Professor McGonagall's idea and arrive in magical carriages... complete with Thestrals, emerging from a spatial rift at Beauxbatons' front gates?"

Hands went up around the table. And by a narrow margin—just one vote—Maverick's proposal won.

Even Snape had raised his hand in Maverick's favor, to his quiet astonishment. He couldn't quite figure out what had crossed the brooding bat's mind, but he didn't bother to ask.

Dumbledore looked at him with that familiar twinkle in his eye. "I do support giving our students a taste of the Muggle world's means of transportation," he said warmly. "But I'd rather not have Hogwarts seem too... ordinary, either. You understand, of course."

Maverick nodded with an unreadable smile. If you want me to flex, old man, just say so.

"Completely," he replied aloud, and Dumbledore's eyes sparkled in return.

Whatever passed between the two of them, the rest of the staff missed it. But Dumbledore knew exactly what Maverick was capable of when it came to spectacle.

Maverick turned to McGonagall and said, "Well, Professor, I think we'll need to hold a separate meeting of our own."

She raised an eyebrow, still a little stiff from being outvoted, but gave a curt nod. At the very least, she'd gathered from that last exchange that things weren't going to be as dull as she had thought.

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Over the next few days, Hogwarts was practically humming with excitement. News had spread like wildfire that the Quidditch team and the supporting group of students weren't heading to Paris in enchanted carriages or via any magical means at all.

They were flying. On a Muggle airplane, of all things.