CH 8
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
Two weeks before Harry's eleventh birthday and he received several letters, a few related to his potions' N.E.W.T. results. The first had been one from Madam Marchbanks congratulating him on breaking another record of being the youngest to beat the last record holder by twenty-three points. The previous record holder had been one young Severus Snape who still was the youngest Potions Master on record.
That information had Sirius swinging the boy around with loud congratulations. Harry had reveled in the swinging since he'd never experienced much connection to people that way before. He remembered his cousin and how his father had lifted him high until the boy was too large to do such a thing anymore.
"This calls for a celebration or something," Sirius commented.
"That can wait until he's opened the rest of his letters," Remus nodded to the small stack in the boy's hands. "There's one from your private tutor in there plus something from the Gabris ladies too, I believe."
Harry nodded happily and opened the one from his tutor first out of respect for the gobliness and everything that she's done for him. "Blimey," he looked at the contents with wide eyes. "I hadn't planned on continuing my studies or anything like that…"
"What does she say," Remus asked.
"She's offering me an apprenticeship to be active during my summers away from magical schooling," Harry said. "She understands that I work two jobs during my summers, but would like me to drop one of them in order to apprentice directly with her. She says that within two or three summers minimum that I'd get up to Journeyman status after which she'd release me to the world for a year or two of personal private study prior to testing me for an actual Master's Degree in Potions." He swallowed and looked confused at the two men in his life. "I don't know what to do."
"Put it down and truly think on it," Remus advised. "Meet up and talk to her. I understand that you've only met her once. You really should meet her again and discuss everything in depth about her expectations and your own with regards to the study of potions. If you really feel that it's not something that you'd like to pursue right now well then you'll have talk to her about it with honesty."
"Thanks Uncle Remy," Harry sighed and hugged the man. "It felt a little overwhelming reading that." He read two more letters of the same nature and figured that there was a little competition among the Potions Masters and Mistresses about who'd teach him. It was a good thing that they didn't know that Lunar Black was actually the Boy-Who-Lived or else Harry suspected that he'd have more letters offering to teach him potions. However they were all human and he wasn't familiar with their work, so he planned to let them down politely.
"What are the other three," Sirius asked.
"Another offer of apprenticeship, this one in the Ukraine," Harry said as he put it aside too. "One is from Potions Monthly about my snake venom antidote. They're looking for something similar to the essay I'd written on the Invigorating Draught from my O.W.L. exam and they want to interview me for their September issue because I'm the youngest to pass any N.E.W.T. exam within last two centuries." He paused to look at the last letter in shock. He'd never heard of anyone in the UK being invited to go to school that far away. "The last is an invitation to go to school at Durmstrang Institute."
"Really," Remus said and held out his hand. "How do they know where you live?" He looked at it and was surprised to see the logo of the school. The letter included the long list of supplies all written in a Slavic language with a wand circle that could be tapped to change the written language to one that the student would be comfortable using. The letter had been addressed to:
Mr. Harry Potter
Apt. 6AB, Hagen Junction, South 400
Telford Proper West, United Kingdom
Harry - James - Potter
(…Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to offer you a place within our stronghold for magical education at Durmstrang Institute. It is our understanding that you fully comprehend a couple of our glorious languages and that you've earned an O.W.L. in the art of potions.
Our school can offer you further education in that skill and we are also well versed in Martial Magics and other forms of magical skills. We have excellent instructors from the Eastern Countries to teach physical self-defence and in Defense Against the Dark Magics, including a renowned Professor in the Natural History of Magic.
Please find enclosed a generalized list of equipment, supplies, books and other items that you're required to have in order to attend our school. Term begins August 28th and we'll await your reply no later than August 3rd in order to include you among our ranks.
Yours,
Edgar F. Gorsky,
Deputy Headmaster of Durmstrang Institute
Baronin von Sigersdorf
Zweiter Klaus, Orden von Myrrdin (…i…)
Harry - James - Potter
"Well," Remus said. "That's quite interesting. How did they know about your potions O.W.L.?"
"Shouldn't be surprised that he probably paid someone to find out about it, it'd be quite like most those others," Harry muttered as he re-read the letter from the editor of Potions Monthly. "Do you think I should go? They do seem to offer a lot more courses there."
"NO! Absolutely not," Sirius said in a loud tone of voice.
Harry frowned and wondered why not. "It's not like the course choices at Hogwarts will keep me occupied. I know I'll be bored there. At least at Durmstrang I'll have some physical exercises and I can request that my true name not be used there. Besides I haven't even received a letter asking me to attend Hogwarts yet."
"Why wouldn't you want your name to be used there," Remus asked.
"I think that Harrison Black would be a better student name for Durmstrang than Harry Potter," Harry said and then explained, "They wouldn't have the same expectations of me either. I'm quite tempted to go there for the first year since I'm curious about all of the courses they're offering. There are three pages attached to the letter with the full list of equipment, books and other stuff."
"You'd have much more fun going to Hogwarts," Sirius told him with a slightly disappointed look on his face.
"I'd also have much more time on my hands with less subjects to study especially since I wouldn't be taking potions," Harry replied. "I want to learn more about magic and they seem to have an interesting array of subjects to choose from based on the books I'm expected to bring with me. See here…Standard Book of Rituals-Levels 1 & 2, Magical Creature History-Level 1 & 2, Unfogging the Future…" He paused to continue reading, before saying, "It says here that I need to bring a full set of ice water fishing gear and a complete animal skinning and tanning kit, how interesting!"
"Unfogging…" Sirius exclaimed. "That's a third year class."
"Third year for Hogwarts," Remus said. "It's offered in first year for Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students."
"What," Sirius asked, completely surprised by the difference. "Why and since when?"
"They probably believe that if you have that kind of gift, you should learn about it as soon as possible. You do know that some gifts need to be discovered in order to perfect them," Remus supposed and he looked at the second page of the list. "They also ask that the first year students bring a book called Basic Magical Art, along with a personal and full art supply kit made to match each chapter being studied within the book and to bring healing kits with similar supplies."
Harry looked up from the letter and said, "I'm awfully tempted to go there for my first year. The only downside to that is that the classes will all be done in German or Russian or something Slavic and I'm not certain how well my grammar would hold up under constant use order to continue on there. I understand it when reading well enough, but composition…um…not too sure about it."
"Do you think that you'd transfer to Hogwarts for your second or third year," Sirius asked.
"Well I still haven't received a request to go there yet," Harry told him. "I'll just have to wait and see what courses they offer me. I can figure that out based on the books and equipment they say I'll need."
Sirius palmed his face and sighed. He looked at the number of pages that contained the long list of supplies and wondered what most of them were. His friend grinned and explained that most were outlining general things like winter underwear, cotton lined or wool-lined shirts, pants and furs.
"Furs," Sirius frowned.
"They are located in the north," Harry explained. "From a reference I read a while ago, it explained that they rarely used fires. So maybe the furs and heavy clothing are to keep us warm or they may be used to enforce the survival part of their program?"
"How do you know that," Sirius asked.
"When I researched Hogwarts, I researched the other magical schools too," Harry said. "I guess I wanted to know the differences between them. I have a file somewhere around here with the differences listed including courses they seem to give and what year they give them in. Did you want to see it?" He asked hoping that they'd say yes.
"Go and get it," Remus said with a wave of his hand. "I, for one, am curious about the differences."
"Okay," Harry got up and eagerly left to get his file.
'They're going to be surprised at the differences. I think that maybe I can get away with going to Durmstrang for the first year and then go to Hogwarts for the rest or maybe I'll alternate years until year four. That should piss the old manipulator off. It will line up nicely with finding the next two Horcruxes, since I've already taken care of the Ring and the Locket. Hogwarts alone will have the diary and the tiara for my second year, I think.' Then he thought of something else, 'If I choose not to go to Hogwarts this year, I wonder if the old meddler will still bring the Philosopher Stone into the school or wait until I actually show up. If he does, I certainly hope that they do a better job of hiding and protecting it.'
He returned and plunked down the good sized file in front of Remus before he went to his desk to make notes for the Potions Monthly magazine's request for an essay from him about snake venom and the cure he'd made from memory.
Harry - James - Potter
Harry had eventually received his Hogwarts letter one week before he was to reply to it. He looked over the book list, sighed and then complained to his uncles. "There's barely any interesting subjects listed there," he handed the book list over. "These are all basic books and quite frankly I don't see how I'm going to learn much at Hogwarts compared to what's offered at the other school."
Sirius frowned and wondered how to keep his Godson within the UK. However he did have to reluctantly admit that the amount of generalized classes given at Hogwarts had gone down since his time there.
"Where did the Magical Art classes go," he asked Remus. "I remember that being an option in year one."
"Cut backs," Remus told him. "I don't know why either, but there are rumours that many old classes had been eliminated over time."
"My mother had mentioned a class in spell crafting history," Harry said. "I don't know what year she had that, but it did sound interesting."
"That was an offshoot of the charms, transfiguration and history of magic lessons," Remus said. "Usually you have to look up the history of the spells along with the magical laws that apply to making a spell or charm successful. That used to be a second year class, now I believe that it's only extra credit work."
Sirius looked at his godson and having gotten to know him for the past couple of years he could very well understand why the boy would be bored during the first year of Hogwarts. The German school had so many course options for students to try their skills, after which the guardians and students would receive an evaluation on the student's magical skills. There was nothing set up in the UK for that, not even some kind of outside company that could test for a specific ability.
The dark haired, blue-eyed man coughed and said, "All right." He smiled at his godson. "You're about to turn eleven, so this will be your first adult choice." He fluffed the boy's hair. "You've been invited to two distinctly different schools. The choice is yours."
"Yes," Harry jumped up and down, clapping and waving his hands in excitement.
"May I ask you a question first," Sirius said and received a nod. "If Hogwarts had even half of the options offered at Durmstrang would that have helped you lean towards choosing it?"
"It might have," Harry nodded. "I really would like to go to Durmstrang Institute for my first year anyway though. They have all kinds of choices geared to studying your own magical strengths. I thought maybe about alternating between the two schools every year until my fourth year or so, if they'll let me."
"Hm," Sirius noised. "I'll expect an owl at least once a month from you."
"Agreed," Harry said with an eager nod.
"Not so fast Harry," Remus got his attention. "How can we get you more interested in attending Hogwarts?"
"Add more classes like these," Harry said, waving the list of supplies that belonged with the Durmstrang Institute. "It's not like I'll need Arithmancy or Runes either, so when those options occur in third year at Hogwarts, I'm still going to be limited or bored because I already know them and am close to taking the O.W.L. exams already. Either add more classes or allow me to continue some kind of correspondence schooling to supplement their obvious lack."
"Right," Sirius said. "I suppose it's time to check out the other schools and other Ministries of Magic including how the Hogwarts' O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s exam levels compare against the requirements to further a person's chosen magical career within our society."
Harry grinned and handed him the extra file that he'd brought down, but had not given to them yet. "You'll need this then."
"What is it," Remus asked as the boy's godfather just groaned after having peeked inside the folder.
"He's gotten most of the research done," Sirius whined as he looked over charts comparing the levels of achievement between the different magical schools. He didn't even limit them to the top three in the Eastern Hemisphere he had compared the magical schools on a totally global scale. It was quite upsetting to the ex-convict to notice the decline of Hogwarts in such an obvious way.
The international speciality competitions that Hogwarts used to be invited to compete in showed that the students' scores were no longer high enough to get his old alma mater invited to them. Sirius groaned and wondered just what the hell was going on.
Harry lounged over the man's shoulder in a half hug and said, "Just think. If you get more courses added to Hogwarts by using your position on the Board of Governors, you'll be able to say that you've enticed the Boy-Who-Lived to attend a proper English school."
"You're planning to use your fame for this," Remus asked in a semi-shocked tone as he read the lengthy statistics. They were unbelievable.
"It's gotta be useful for something right," the mischievous boy said with a large grin. "Maybe during the Yule Holidays, if I happen to get accosted in Diagon Ally by some intrepid reporter," he gagged mockingly with his finger down his throat before he continued. "The regular population in the UK may just find out why I refused to attend Hogwarts and how bad the educational standard there really is."
"HARRY!" Both men exclaimed, shocked at the boy's readiness to put down Hogwarts.
"What," Harry replied. "They need to know that the courses available elsewhere were the prime reason I wasn't at Hogwarts for my first year."
Sirius grabbed him round the head and dragged him down with playful noogies, gentle tussling and tickling. "Alright you imp," he said. "Go write your replies and accept Durmstrang's invitation. We'll need to go to Russia and Germany to shop for most of those supplies. I have the feeling that we'll be taking a trip to a few magical places farther north of here."
"Thank you Sirius," Harry said as he stood up to gather his letters and send off responses. He skipped out of the room, whistling a cheery sounding tune.
Sirius looked to Remus as the werewolf looked back at him. "I was not expecting his choice, but I really should have," the dog animagus said. "I guess I'd been hoping that he'd want to go to his parents' school no matter what."
"He does want to go," Remus told his friend in a comforting tone. "I think that there is something more going on here than just a sudden choice to go elsewhere. I think that he's taking the opportunity to show certain people that he's not going to be dancing to their concerned advice."
They'd already discussed the type of influence that Dumbledore had had on the placement of Harry the day the boy's parents had died. They hadn't been happy to find out where the boy had gone nor did they appreciate the old man's curiosity in the boy's upbringing. The two of them had been able to obfuscate much and it seemed that the Headmaster of Hogwarts still believed that Harry was living with his deplorable relatives. The last two true Marauders of Hogwarts felt that they didn't need to inform the man about the Boy-Who-Lived's change in living and education situation.
"He is very independent," Sirius nodded. "I wouldn't have wanted him to be docile or anything of that nature." He shrugged and then said, "I guess I'm glad that he knows what he wants and is aware of the consequences of having any kind of celebrity status in our world."
"He's also got a point about Hogwarts," Remus said. "Look at these."
They looked over the information that the boy had 'researched' and found that the current standard for some of the classes rank well under the International Educational Standards. They also looked at the passing rates required for those that wanted to continue their magical education at a magical College or University type level.
The boy had even looked into Master Levels requirements and had listed them with a comparison chart based on Guild Standards.
They found that the UK Ministry of Magic had lowered the minimum pass rates which had severely affected the all students coming out of Hogwarts. They also discovered that when a student had finished their seventh year at Hogwarts were actually finishing somewhere around a fifth or sixth year level internationally.
"That's…" Sirius had been shocked to read the findings.
"Horrible," Remus nodded equally shocked. "We need to change that as soon as possible or else the quality of a Hogwarts education will not be worth the price of the parchment used for their diploma. The quality of education must change before Harry goes there, if he ever does."
Sirius shook his head. "Well I guess we know where to begin." He moved some of the papers into the semblance of order to plan his next attack within the Wizengamot Legislation. "The Wizengamot along with the Board of Governors are responsible for this so we need to bring forth many corrections."
"Harry's lucky that the WEA is independent of Hogwarts' standards for education," Remus commented.
"Of course," Sirius knocked his head in hand. "Only those that can't afford private tutors or some qualified home-schooling program go to Hogwarts. My father always told me that they used to only send second or third sons and daughters out for schooling and that the heirs were kept home for private lessons. The heirs always took the WEA exams at the Ministry locations because they never attended formal schooling."
"The WEA exams are where people can go to get their educational levels properly recognized on an international level," Remus said. He frowned and then added, "I wonder if they have different exam levels for Hogwarts than for those that choose to take them at the Examination Centre."
Sirius took out a sheet parchment and began to make his notes. "Something to ask then, to which I think we can send our questions to Madam Marchbanks," he said. "We should definitely find that out before presenting something new to the Ministry. Think I should re-take the Black Family seat on Hogwarts Board of Governors too?"
"You really should," Remus said. "You've a right to be there since the Black seat for the Board is inherited and cannot be taken away, unlike those that had been voted into the position. It will give you more clout to push for course changes at the school."
"Hm," Sirius nodded. "At the very least the research here will open a lot of eyes." He waved the file.
A couple of days later Harry reread the following letter, he ignored the titles and read:
Harry - James – Potter
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Harry - James - Potter
Harry shook his head. He'd already sent off his reply to Durmstrang Institute stating that he'd attend there for the first year as their course options seemed more advantageous to him. He did mention that he couldn't accept any further education in the field of potions since he'd been looking forward to learning something new in a formal school environment.
He also explained that he had minor celebrity status in the UK and that he wanted to use his secondary and official name, that of Harrison Black for his time in attendance to Durmstrang. To which he recently received a reply that the secondary name of Harrison Black had been added to his file and that his anonymity would be preserved to the best of their ability.
He now looked at the Hogwarts letter and realized quite a few things. The old Headmaster of Hogwarts had planned for his ignorance in his first life. The line of 'you have a place' was not found on any muggle-born letters that he'd ever seen in the past. Theirs had always contained the line 'you've been accepted to attend'. This one had been sent to him with the assumption that he'd be going to Hogwarts, period.
'It even sounds as though they already received my tuition fees,' he thought. He made a quick note and sent it off with Jester, Remus' owl to find out from his management team the truth of the matter. His reply was going to be sent with one of the village's standard post owls. He explained in his letter that he planned to go to elsewhere for his first year and that tuition fees had already gone to the other school. 'My team will take care of the rest of this.'
Harry took out a piece of foolscap paper to jot down his reply to the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. He re-wrote it a few times until he had the following penned down neatly on his family letterhead parchment. (…ii…)
Harry - James - Potter
Dear Deputy Headmistress McGonagall,
It is with regret that I must decline the opportunity to attend Hogwarts as your letter found me only four days before the day of my birth which happens to be July 31st. By the time I received your letter I'd already accepted to attend a different magical institution for my magical education.
I'd be pleased to consider attending the same school that my parents had matriculated from for some other school year. However please consider the timing of your letters more carefully or I'll forever be receiving them too late to accept the opportunity you've graciously presented me.
Yours,
Harry Potter,
Boy-Who-Lived
Harry - James - Potter
Minerva McGonagall had received all acceptance and declining letters. The one that had her most puzzled and upset because of the tone it held, had been the one she'd received from Harry Potter. 'He's going to another school,' she thought. 'I wonder which one?'
She shrugged and struck his name from list of students that were going to be sorted for their first year at Hogwarts. A house elf popped into her office to remind her of the meeting between the Headmaster and the Heads of Houses. They needed to come up with a plan regarding the number of students that were projected to attend and ensure that all students had access to their world.
"Thank you Pippa," she said. "I'll be right there." The house-elf bowed to her and popped away. She swished her wand and did a calculation of all the letters sent out and of the number of responses she'd received. She also made a note on the number of muggleborns and those muggle-raised before heading to the meeting as they needed to assign Professors to guide them in their first year shopping.
"Ah there you are my dear," Headmaster Albus Dumbledore said. "We were just wondering while we waited if you'd received replies to all of the letters you sent out?"
"I have," she said as she took out her notes from the folds of her robes. "All students from last year are returning and I've the set number of first years added to the sorting list. There will only be thirty-two new students coming to Hogwarts in September."
"No doubt some parents are choosing to home school their children or send them elsewhere," Pamona Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff commented.
"There were a few," Minerva acknowledged. "The response from others seemed to be similar in that they felt Hogwarts would not meet their educational needs. A few had written that they'd be attending other schools to which they'd been invited."
"So be it," the Headmaster said with a put upon sigh, but secretly he was pleased since he could devote more of his time on the upcoming war that he knew a child was about to be made the figure head. "Now as you all know Harry Potter will be coming to Hogwarts and we must…"
"Actually Albus," Minerva interrupted. "Harry Potter will not be attending Hogwarts come September."
Everyone focussed on her as the old man asked, "What did you say?"
"Harry Potter will not be attending Hogwarts this year," she confirmed.
"Why ever not," Professor Filius Flitwick, Master of Charms, asked her.
"Well," she hedged. "As he put it in his letter, our notice was received too late and that he'd already made other educational arrangements."
"That's not possible," Albus said. "Put his name on your list and I'll go see what's going on."
"I'll wait and see what you find out before doing any such a thing," the woman replied with a stern look. "You told me to ensure that his letter was posted to be received one week before his eleventh birthday. I sent out Neville Longbottom's out July 15th with all the others and his birthday is also very close to that of young Harry Potter's."
"Why delay the post for Mr. Potter," Severus Snape, Potions Master and Head of Slytherin asked. "Giving him special treatment like that has obviously just blown up your cauldron."
"I believed that there may have been some difficulty in him receiving his letter," Albus waved his hand. "Hence the necessary delay."
"You thought that that family of his wouldn't allow him to receive his letter any earlier," Minerva leaned forward with her hands on her hips. "Isn't that right, Albus?"
"Please calm yourself my dear," the Headmaster said. "I'll go there tomorrow to see what is going on and whether I can convince young Mr. Potter to attend our hallowed school."
"You should just let the spoiled brat go elsewhere," Severus crossed his arms wanting nothing to do with the education of Harry Potter, boy celebrity.
"Now, now Severus," Albus said. "We shall see what we shall see."
"Why don't you see if Black knows where the brat is going," the dark haired man said. "He's always been close to Potter."
"Excellent idea," the Headmaster said. "I'll invite him to the school. Maybe he'll bring young Harry along for a tour of our school. What a marvelous idea, thank you Severus. I trust that you all will be here to represent your Houses."
Severus' eyes widened slightly, but quickly turned to a glare.
The meeting soon dissolved into arguments for supplies, assistants and other items on the teachers' agenda, all for the preparation of a new school year.
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
TBC...
(…i...) Used - www dot word hippo dot com (remove the spaces and replace the word dot) to sort of translate Order of Merlin, Second Class into German.
(…ii…) Just a simple note to my readers…I will not be describing much of Harry's first year at Durmstrang, unless something inspiring comes along. I will probably not be going in depth, as to the legislative changes that his uncles will do in order to get changes affected at Hogwarts either.