Yippee, the holidays have finally arrived for me! No more school for two whole months! I'm going to use it to catch up on anime and movies:) In fact, I just watched a movie yesterday, Fast 5 of the Fast and the Furious series, and it's one of the best action flicks I've watched recently. All the fighting, chases in alleys, speeding cars and guns were just exhilarating. The best bit was that the show even had an interesting plot with some twists to it, something which not all movies in this genre have.
Haha, enough of that, now on to the story…
Chapter Twenty-One: Durmstrang Year Four Part I
This year, the atmosphere in the cabin of the Durmstrang ship was both relaxed and formal at the same time. While the students were interacting easily with one another, one could see that the hierarchy of order within Harry's informer court of followers was adhered to; only Harry was seated on the centre bench, together with Daphne (who was considered out of the hierarchy system). The rest spread out over the other bench, sat on the floor or stood against the wall, holding quiet conversations amongst themselves.
"Did you enjoy the Quidditch World Cup, Harrison?" Daphne asked animatedly. Harry had kept in contact with her regularly throughout the summer, even though Daphne had been holidaying with her family the month before the World Cup, though he had been too busy with a mission after the World Cup to do so. Harry shrugged slightly. "You know I'm not as crazy over Quidditch as Draco. But I must admit, it was pretty exciting."
Daphne smiled coyly. "As was the…incident after the World Cup, wasn't it?" Harry tossed his friend an amused smile. "Definitely. Did you witness the chaos firsthand?" Making a face, Daphne shook her head mournfully. "Unfortunately, Daddy thought that we should not be around for such scenes – he made Mommy take Astoria and I home before the riots. I did read about it in the Daily Prophet though."
Harry smirked even as he waved his hand nonchalantly. "They were pretty accurate…this time." He did not add that this was probably because Uncle Stan, on his father's orders, had pulled a few strings to ensure that it was indeed so. Daphne eyed him and allowed a small knowing smile to blossom on her face. Harry then spent the time conversing with Daphne on some of the current affairs of the Wizarding World. He was rather surprised actually, at how shrewd she was to see beneath some of the puffs to the crux of the matter beneath…but then Daphne had always been intelligent, although she did not make a point of exhibiting that intelligence.
On a spur of the moment, he asked her to coordinate their network of informants in the school this year, freeing up his second-in-command, Aleron, whose job it had been previously, for other things. Daphne had been surprised but readily agreed. After all, she was already responsible for recruiting most of the informants. Daphne, Harry had found, had a talent for getting others to underestimate her. People were always taken in by her beautiful and innocent doll-like features. Before they knew it, they had inadvertently managed to compromise themselves and some ways, and were blackmailed into doing her bidding (so subtly that they sometimes did not even recognize the fact that they were being blackmailed).
Very soon, they had arrived at Durmstrang. At the Great Hall, Harry exchanged greetings with all his other Group mates, aware that their numbers were, by now, nearing forty. If things kept up, his Group would soon be surpassing the Blood Ravens in numbers and not merely rankings. The latter Group had, in Harry's first year, drawn the majority of its members from the sixth and seventh years, as well as the talented fifth-years. This year however, one quarter of the sixth-years had been in Harry's Group since their third year, making a severe dent in their numbers.
Harry to force himself to pay attention as the Highmaster Karkaroff begun his usual start-of-the-year speech. He noted that the man looked slightly triumphant about something, and soon realized what it was when the man announced, "Please give your congratulations to our new Head Girl, Sidonie Orianna Blishwick and our new Head Boy, Harrison Maximus Riddle." Harry fought not to allow his jaws to slacken as he slowly stood up. Blishwick, a seventh-year distant cousin of Korbin and the current head of the Blood Ravens as of this year was an expected choice, but he had expected the Head Boy to be either the new leader of the Jade Talons, another seventh year, or in light of their recent drop in rankings, perhaps the second-in-command of the Blood Ravens. It was infrequent, but not rare, for both Head Boy and Girl to come from one Group, usually when their rival had so diminished their standing. It was much rarer, however, and practically unheard of, for a fourth-year like him to be made Head Boy. And since the position was given based on voting amongst the professors, it wasn't entirely due to Karkaroff's bootlicking that he got the position either.
As Harry bowed to the Great Hall, he was aware that his Group had erupted into extremely loud clapping, some of them offering their congratulations while others beamed widely. Even members of other Groups, most of them in sixth-year and below, clapped vigorously – obviously happy for him.
Well, this certainly changes things, thought Harry smugly. Stage five of the plan can be brought forward.
Still, his plans had to take a back seat for the time being. Harry spent the first few weeks concentrating on his academia. He informed his Professors in European History of Magic, Necromancy and Wards of his intention to sit for his OWLs in those subjects this year, one year ahead to schedule, as he felt that he was more than ready to tackle them at that level. Other than Necromancy, Harry had consistently gotten perfect scores in the other two subjects, so his professors had been delighted when Harry indicated his intentions. Unfortunately, Alexei had joined him in the fast-tracked Necromancy programme, much to Harry's concern.
"Have you come to a decision, Alexei, on the subject of pursuing Necromancy as a career?" Harry had questioned Alexei one night. The latter had sighed softly, and then replied flatly, "Since the World Cup, my parents have not looked at me even once. I am fully convinced that they do not see me as a part of their family. They would be no great loss should I choose to take this path." His eyes were emotionless even as he revealed his deepest sorrow to Harry.
"But my prince, you were right. I would miss the bond with our roommates, it is the only emotional attachment I have." Harry knew Alexei was not exaggerating; he had always been a loner and the only friendships he had been with the other three. Alexei met Harry's gaze as he continued, "However, there is something more, something yet stronger than familial or friendship bonds. The vow of loyalty I swore to you, my prince, surpasses any other claims on me, whether it be my future career or otherwise – I will abide by your unstated wishes. I will continue to pursue Necromancy, however I will not become a full Necromancer unless I have your leave to do so."
Harry blinked in surprise. Alexei was an independent and strong-willed person, he had not thought that he would surrender his choices in this matter to him. Not for the first time, Harry had to reconcile his mind to fully comprehend the extent of power he held over his followers' every choice. And, in turn, his responsibility to them as well.
"Very well, Alexei. Thank you for your trust in me." Harry replied sincerely as he inclined his head.
The next day, Harry spent the first Prefect Meeting jockeying for power with the Head Girl, who was slightly disgruntled that her counter-part was a fourteen year-old boy. Fortunately for Harry, his voice had completely broken into a smooth and rich baritone, even if he still looked like a young teenager. He found that as many people were misled by appearances, it was much easier if he did look mature and older, so he had dressed accordingly. It was also because of this tendency that Harry had given his old Prefect position to Silas instead of Emlen – while Silas would have to prove his worth to the other prefects, Emlen would have had it twice as hard because of his youth. Most Prefects present were fifth year and above.
Blishwick called for attention with two claps of her hands, starting the meeting. Harry allowed her to do so unchallenged, ignoring such petty exhibits of leadership. On the agenda that day was a petition by students pleading for the Prefects and the two Heads to advance their cause, so that they would be able to visit a relatively nearby village, Kaltes, during weekends. Kaltes was down the lake, requiring a fifteen minutes ship ride to reach – its inconvenience was one reason Durmstrang students were not allowed out of school grounds during the academic year, unlike at Hogwarts.
Harry sat back and listened to the arguments from all the Prefects as to whether it would be possible to get the Highmaster to approve the visits, and most importantly, whether it would be in their best interests to do so. The extra work the Prefects would no doubt have to do looking over the students at the village versus how it would endear them to the student population. The role of the Prefects. Their responsibilities. And so on.
For half an hour, Harry merely sat there and listened to their arguments, watching Blishwick argue voraciously against the adopting of the petitions' cause. Harry had already, from Daphne's network of informants, gauged the mood of the school – the petition needed to be passed, with or without the Head Girl's support. Once he felt that everyone had enough time to get their opinions out, he stood up.
Sidonie Blishwick felt a chill creep down her spine when her male counter-part stood up and got instant silence. She had been trying to maintain control for the pass half hour, and here he came and took it away from her with a single gesture! It has to be his reputation, Sidonie decided irritably. The boy who defeated the previous Head Boy last year, the boy who can speak in Parseltongue, the boy who could control Fiendfyre at thirteen and so forth. In fact, rumours were already flying around that he was either somewhat related to the Dark Lord, or that he would become the next Dark Lord.
If his dueling skills and magical powers were his only strength, Sidonie would be able to deal with that. Unfortunately, she had to concede that the boy was adept at politics too. His subsequent speech placated both sides, both those for and against, and ended with a smooth, "As such, I will speak to our esteemed Highmaster about this. Should nothing come of it, we will simply drop the matter. Is this agreeable to everyone?"
A rhetorical question, Sidonie sniffed disgustedly as murmurs of agreement filled the room. The boy then turned to her with a small smirk on his face. "Is there anything else you'd like to add, Miss Blishwick?" Sidonie merely glared. There was nothing she could add and he knew it. Anything else would only make her seem like she was aiding the boy. She could not object either, as his suggestion was entirely reasonable.
"If there's nothing else, then I declare this meeting over. Have a good weekend, my friends." With another smirk, the boy disappeared with his two lackeys.
A couple of weeks later, Harry was regretting choosing Silas as his replacement. The idiot had challenged some seventh-year from Blood Ravens to a duel because the latter refused to stop hitting on Aleron. Challenging someone to a duel over something as stupid as that…and losing on top of it! Now the tension with the Blood Ravens had intensified further, and the last thing Harry wanted was an all-out war at this point of his Head Boy career. He had much subtler ways of forcing them into submission…Harry felt like hexing Silas to bloody pieces, but restrained himself to a severe tongue-lashing while Silas knelt on the cold stone floor in contrition at his feet.
"If I was my father, you'd be writhing under a Cruciatus now," Harry had informed the brown-haired teenager after a twenty minutes lecture. Silas flinched slightly, and then squared his shoulders. "I'm sorry. It was indeed very rash and foolish of me, my prince." Harry gauged the sincerity of the teenager kneeling at his feet with narrowed eyes before snapping out, "See that it doesn't happen again." Then, he stalked off to his room.
One good thing came out of the incident. Harry had decided that should any of his Group mates decided to challenge others to duel in the future, they would not be losing. Hence, after easily obtaining permission from the Highmaster, he conducted dueling lessons for all his Group members who were in his year and above, about twenty of them. It started with teaching them how to use what they had learnt in class to duel effectively, however, it soon progressed to Harry teaching them some of the rarer Dark spells and curses.
When the news spread that Harry was teaching his Group members the Dark Arts, the rumours intensified and some started to refer to him privately as the Dark Prince…the Dark Prince of the Dark Court of the Night, as Harry's Group was formally known as.
"Do you mind?" Daphne had asked him curiously one day. "After all, you didn't like it when they all started calling you 'my prince'." Harry gave his friend a half-irritated, half-amused glare. "And who started it?" Giggling, Daphne merely gave him an innocent look. Harry shook his head and sighed, "No, I guess I'm used to it by now. What with my father being who he is…the title does fit. And it'd help move my plans along…"
Indeed, one side effect was that many from other Groups approached Harry with requests for Group transfers, even some seventh-years from the Blood Ravens. The Durmstrang students were hungry to learn that kind of magic, especially after Silas asked for a rematch with the seventh-year, and won easily after merely one month of lessons. However, Harry only took the best of every year – namely the most talented six or seven students in that year.
By December, the Night Serpents had almost fifty members.
Harry was elated. His plans were on track…soon, the Blood Ravens would lose their position as unrivaled top dog. He even grinned when Steffi Stockmann offered sincere congratulations to him one night in the common room, her vixen-like eyes sparkling in a manner that caused Harry's heart to give a small thump…
Afterwards, Harry pondered on the implications of that tell-tale heart-beat. He was not an innocent – far from it. What with all the tales that his Death Eater uncles sometime liked to tell of their youthful exploits, Harry thought himself very well taught on such matters. He had however, no practical experience though. And now that his body was undergoing puberty, well, perhaps it was time to get some.
And sixteen year-old Steffi Stockmann was as good a place to start as any, since he appeared to be attracted to her. She was pretty enough in a foxy way, with her short red-haired bob, upwardly-slanted vixen-like eyes, honey-coloured skin and a devilishly hot, curvaceous body…and Harry knew she had had many boyfriends before, even if she currently had none now, so it wasn't like Harry would be corrupting an innocent…
If anything, Harry was the one being corrupted, he thought amusedly two weeks later. Harry had spent a couple of days flirting with Steffi, practicing his technique, learnt from watching how Aleron had acted around Silas last year. Steffi had been slightly stunned at first, surprised that her Group leader was acting flirtatious with her, before reciprocating with passion. Harry supposed that she found him attractive because of his power, for he knew his still-developing body couldn't be that impressive to a sixth-year like her. He thought she knew that he was merely making use of her, nevertheless, she seemed willing enough and Harry was quick to take advantage – they had progressed to kissing on the third day and that was what Harry was currently doing.
Licking her lips delicately, Harry parted her lips with his tongue before plundering her mouth passionately – Steffi had taught him some kissing techniques after his first sloppy and inexperienced kiss. After a couple of minutes, they broke apart. Seeing Steffi gasping with a flushed face, Harry smirked, "How was that?"
Steffi licked her lips coyly, winking at him. "Very delicious, my prince. Feed me more?" Harry shook his head regretfully. "Unfortunately, I have a Prefect meeting to attend in a few minutes. And yes, there they are…" He brought down the privacy wards only to see Aleron and Silas waiting a respectful distance away. Harry was not worried as to how long they had been standing there, for the privacy ward he had cast had ensured that no one would be able to see anything but a blur, nor hear anything but a slight buzzing.
"I'll see you tomorrow morning Steffi." Harry petted his pouting…girlfriend, at least technically, on the head before heading towards the two Prefects.
"That's an impressive conquest, my prince." Aleron murmured softly. "Steffi only goes for the best. She was with Vicktor Krum a couple of months ago, and before that, she was with the previous Jade Talons Group Leader..." Harry laughed at that. "Luckily for her, I have a liberal policy concerning fraternizing with other Groups' members…" Casting a side-long glance at his second-in-command, he noticed a hint of worry in the latter's eyes, worry that he knew was for him.
"I appreciate your concern, Aleron, but you don't need to worry. I have no intention of having my heart broken by that girl, even if she did do that to Krum. Our arrangement is entirely mutually beneficial." He watched as Aleron visibly relaxed, even as he smiled ruefully. "I should've known…you're not the kind to be lured in by a pretty face, Young Master. And I know I have no right to interfere in your private life, especially as you've been so generous with our relationship…" Here, he glanced at his partner involuntarily, well aware that it would have been within Harry's rights to put his controversial gay relationship to a halt, but he soon continued, "But I couldn't help it…"
Harry cut his off with an abrupt wave of his hand. "You're my friend too, Aleron. You may voice your concerns at anytime. But, once I've addressed it, I expect you to accept my decision and to keep all future opinions on the subject matter to yourself. That goes for you too, Silas. Is that understood?"
The two sixth-year Prefects exchanged glances, then bowed in acknowledgement. "Yes, Young Master." Harry nodded, satisfied. He would not tolerate anyone objecting to his arrangement with Steffi. Her reputation as a girl drawn to power only served to increase his status, while her sinfully hot body hinted at his own physical maturity. Of course, she was also teaching him all sorts of things about the art of lust, as well as courtship. The only down side, as far as he could tell, was that Daphne seemed to disapprove. Although she did not voice her opinions, she had been rather aloof since Harry started kissing Steffi – he put it down to jealousy, as she had been the only female friend that Harry was close to.
Late that night, Daphne Persephone Greengrass stood at the window of the dormitory room which she shared with some of her yearmates. Disillusioned and with a privacy charm cast, Daphne allowed her eyes to take in the vista of the light cast upon the shimmering lake by the waning moon and the twinkling stars in the night sky, even as she settled down to do some thinking.
For the past two weeks, Harrison had been constantly in the company of one Steffi Stockmann, the voluptous sixth-year student who went around the castle breaking hearts. While Daphne liked Steffi well enough, somehow, when it came to accepting the fact that Harrison was with the girl, she felt the irrational urge to hex something. And that was saying something, for Daphne was not the most emotional of persons by nature.
Daphne suppressed a mental sigh. She had always had a bit of a minor crush on Harrison. After all, the boy was charismatic, powerful, intelligent and good-looking. What she had not suspected however, was that her feelings appeared to run deeper than that. Were it a mere crush, Daphne was sure that she would have gotten over her jealousy easily. She was, after all, not inexperienced on the dating scene in Durmstrang, although she had never had a steady relationship. Now, it seemed that Harrison had finally discovered his interest in the opposite sex. And it had taken that fact for Daphne to discover her interest in Harrison.
So where did she stand now? Daphne knew that eventually, she wanted a chance at a relationship with Harrison. But not now. Not when he was still new to girls, easily mesmerized by the first pretty face and hot body that he saw. Daphne sighed. That was perhaps a little uncharitable, but Merlin knew she wasn't feeling very charitable at the moment. Nevertheless, Daphne had patience in abundance. It was what made her good at sniffing out valuable information from her informants and the school's rumour mill after all. She could wait for her chance with Harrison.
And in the meantime, Daphne would follow her mother's advice; it was time to grow up. Daphne's mother had suspected that on most days, Harrison saw her as something like a little sister. He was protective towards her, had a soft spot for her, yet did not treat her as an equal, and as such, was unlikely to have romantic feelings for her. Mother's words does make sense...If Daphne wanted to eventually gain his attention, she would have to show that she was his equal. Heading the information network in Durmstrang was merely a start. No matter. Daphne had inherited foresight and pragmatism from her father, a man who, in hopes of a future relationship between the dark heir and his elder daughter, had sent said daughter to Durmstrang instead of his alma mater Hogwarts. She would put it to good use.
Harry spent the rest of the time before Christmas holidays doing three things, one of which was slowly exposing those of his Group who did not yet know of his status as the dark heir to the Dark Lord's plans and ideals, dropping hints of the Dark Lord's return. The very smart ones or those with parental connections had long since suspected or known of the fact and were quite receptive – Harry thought that all the fourth, fifth and sixth years that were not already in the know would be ready for recruitment right after Christmas, in line with his father's plans. For the younger ones, Harry planned to let the seeds of loyalty he had planted grow. After all, the fourth-years and above had been under his influence for at least four years – the younger ones as yet needed to be more strongly influenced before they could be captured.
Other than that, Harry also spent time speeding through his fourth-year material in Necromancy, Wards and European History of Magic. He intended to complete his fourth-year coursework by the end of December, so that he could start on his fifth. The subject of wards was extremely easy for him, given his rare talent, and European History of Magic involved merely a memorization of facts and forming valid conclusions on them, nothing difficult for Harry. It was only for Necromancy that Harry had to put in more effort – he still found the summoning of zombies rather taxing. As such, he was only able to summon and control one at a time, while OWL level Necromancy required the simultaneous summoning of three. At this rate, he'd never be able to summon an Inferius, which was an even higher-level of zombie, since they were quite sentient. And that, after all, was his only goal for learning Necromancy – to be able to help his father with his army of Inferi during the coming war. At least I'd have Alexei for that…he mused thoughtfully. Alexei was already able to summon a couple of Inferi at the same time, though he was far from Voldemort's level.
The last thing that Harry focused on was to get his Quidditch team ready for the upcoming Quidditch matches. By now, the Night Serpents' Quidditch team was the best in Durmstrang, despite the Maroon Wings' possession of international Quidditch star player Viktor Krum. While the latter had one exceptional player, Harry's team consisted of seven excellent ones. In the end, while Harry had not managed to get the Snitch before the talented seeker, his team still won merely because their score was more than a hundred and fifty points ahead of the other team when Krum had caught the Snitch – a situation which Harry had forced Krum into, for if the latter had not caught the Snitch then, Harry would have done so. Still, what mattered was that the Night Serpents had still won the five hundred points that were at stake.
All these events served to put Harry in quite a good mood. The cherry of the cake was when Karkaroff had stood up during breakfast one morning, and had announced that he had approved the petition. "It has brought to my attention that the student population has recently submitted a petition for weekend visits to the village of Kaltes. As your Head Boy, Mr. Riddle, has argued so persuasively in favour of this petition, I find it difficult to withhold my permission. Therefore, I hereby allow all students who are able to get permission forms signed by their parents or guardians over the holidays to visit Kaltes whenever a trip is granted." Cheers erupted in the Great Hall, and chants of "Dark Prince! Dark Prince!" could be heard through the furor. Harry's smirk was wide when he caught sight of a furious Blishwick, no doubt worried by Harry's popularity, seated two tables away.
By the time the Christmas holidays rolled around, Harry was in an extremely cheerful mood, despite Daphne's recent aloofness towards him. Her work with the network of informants was exemplary as usual, but she had begun giving him the cold shoulder over small things. Where before she would sit beside him, or at least near him, at breakfast, she now sat with the rest of her female friends several seats away. And even though they conversed as frequently as before, there was now a distant chill in her manner – she maintained a mask over her emotions, a mask that she never before put on when alone with Harry, a mask that she only ever wore with acquaintances – those outside their Group. She was never emotionless, no, not Daphne, but the light words, sweet smiles and lilting laughter she gave lacked sincerity.
No matter. She would come around eventually, Harry thought amusedly, when she realized that he was merely using Steffi. Perhaps he would send her an extra-nice gift this Christmas, to make up for the perceived slight.
Yes, I've finally started slipping in some relationship stuff. Thank you for all your suggestions, as of now, Harry will be paired with Daphne. I reserve the right to change my mind should the pairing not work out though. Be warned: this will be a very slow-developing relationship, that will span many, many chapters, but only touched upon lightly. In other words, I will not go in-depth into it, because I have no wish to turn the story into a romance (which I do not know how to write about anyway).