CH 10
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
"Here's the shop," Remus said as he looked to the faded sign that said, 'Riecher's Temple Wands' in Russian. "Temple," he looked around. "Small cathedral would make more sense."
"Temple," Harry repeated in a questioning tone. He joined the man on the side walk looking up at the building and agreed that the shop had the look of a cathedral with a dome and everything rather than what he imaged a temple would look like. He looked around and noticed that all muggles on the street ignored them.
"We must be on another magical slab," he observed looking down at the square patch of cobblestone sidewalk that had been outlined in iridescent pearl-like stone. That pearly stone had outlined several squares of cobbled stone found in front of several magical stores while the rest of the side walk look like a normal cobble walkway without pearly square frames. Only the magical folk could see the different squares and enter the magical shops that dotted the city's market centre.
Sirius came out of one small magical shop where he'd been flirting with the staff, angling for a discount while he bought a couple of expensive bottles of alcohol. He found that his two companions were about to walk into another magical shop. "Wait for me," he said and caught up to them. "I want to see this place too."
They walked in and the bell above the door announced their arrival. A man came from the back of the shop looking pretty much like an absent-minded professor with a heavily patched sweater and fly-away hair. He had that same distracted look that the adults had always observed in Ollivander which had them wonder if all wand-makers looked the same.
"Vand, yes," the man asked in broken English.
"Da," Harry replied in the man's own language. (…I need one…)
(…A proper speaker, welcome to my shop, I'm Riecher…) The old man said. (…Come on then...) He looked at the two men behind the boy and said (…They can come with you, but they're not permitted to influence your choices…)
Harry nodded. His uncles nodded that they understood about non-interference and had decided to remain in the front, sitting in a corner of the shop set up for guardians to wait for their children or wards. They planned to discuss things in the Wizengamot and things to bring up at the next Hogwarts Board of Governors meeting, while setting up an old magical chess board that had been on the table for those that chose to wait for their children to get their first wand.
(…This way then…) Riecher waved at him to follow. They walked towards the back of the shop as the front was more like the cloakroom to a church than the actual church area with chairs or pews and alter.
Harry followed the old man and was pleasantly surprised that the interior of the shop was actually an expanded chapel with a greenhouse feel, since all the magically enlarged stained glass windows let in the sunlight for the trees living in there. (…Wow…) he whispered, awed. (…It's still got that churchy, quiet zen like feel…) He looked at the number of different trees in and was shocked that it looked like there was one of each kind living here. (…How many trees do you have?...)
(…We have a little over two thousand different kinds each with a pair for pollination purposes…) Riecher explained. (…This place has been preserved as is for several millennia…)
(…I can appreciate that…) Harry looked up in awe of the coloured light from the windows floating over the treetops. (…The church look must have come at a much later date though. This building can't have always been here or like this…)
(…Quite right. It was originally a large forest that was eventually encased in a greenhouse at a time when the muggles were beginning to build the city. The wand makers had wanted to preserve as much of the natural forest as possible and needed a way to prevent the muggles from destroying what was there. Declaring this sacred ground was the best way to go about it…) Riecher sounded pleased at the boy's deduction.
(…First thing's first, you must walk among the trees seeking the wood for your wand…) He handed Harry a small sack with long sticks that had bright blue flags attached. (…Any tree that you feel strongly about, just plant a flag near its base. Keep doing it until no more call out to you…)
(…Is it normal to have more than one tree or wood for your wand…) Harry asked since he'd never heard of multiple woods being used for wands.
(…Depends on the witch or wizard…) Riecher said. (…Not many have the patience to seek out all woods that would work for them and then again it'll also depend on a person's purity of magic, meaning how they have access to and the kind they have an affinity for…)
(…I like that concept…) Harry stated with a quiet smile. (…Purity of magic sounds so good to me…)
The old man just nodded at the kid. He'd heard that line before, but never with such wistfulness. He waved the boy to walk among the trees and then waited patiently to see which ones called out to the boy and whether the boy would actually hear any of them calling.
Harry wandered among the trees. He followed the lanes marked out by different coloured paths that he figured had to do with the types of trees. There were some the smelled strongly and were marked with purple stone paths whereas some that looked to have been pine trees with loads of needles were near a blue stone path. Large oaks type trees were surrounded by brown stone paths and smaller trees of stone fruit, like peaches or nectarines were near yellow stone paths.
As he walked through he'd felt different tugs on his magic. It was something that he knew he'd never have felt before the teenaged phase in his magical maturity and he doubted that he'd have been able to change his wand under any circumstances other than what had happened in his past life. Now he just planted a coloured flag here and there whenever he felt an especially strong pull.
Overall there were five different trees that called to him quite loudly, but a couple had quieted after he'd planted the flags. The trees were interesting in their forms and their scents. He knew that more could have been added, but that had felt somewhat greedy of the situation so he'd only selected the ones that were the loudest.
"Herr Riecher," Harry called out. (…Sir, I'm finished…)
The old man came out and noticed the trees that had flags. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. (…I've never seen a child seek out five…) He commented. (…Are you sure that you got them all?...)
(…There are few where the pull was more…faint than the others…) Harry confessed. (…I wasn't sure if I was to plant a flag with them or not…)
(…Interesting…) Riecher said and spelled the colour of the flags to have a diagonal black stipe. (…Go plant those with the ones that have a quieter voice…) He watched the boy plant three more flags and nodded. They'd been calling to his magic too, but they'd been quieter than the others. (…Good, now to find your wand core, come with me. I'll show you the core room. It is a similar process, but this time you only need to put one of these magnets on the metal plate on the front of the drawers holding the core objects. Come I'll show you how to navigate the catacombs…)
"Catacombs," Harry questioned out loud.
"Da," Riecher nodded. (…As you surmised the church was built after the city came into being and we needed to file an actual building blueprint with the city archives, so we called our underground vaults…)
(…Catacombs…) Harry finished for the man with a chuckle. He was lead into a room that had the look of a vault that looked to have been made up of back-to-back drawers stacked in high shelving units. The room looked like a maze.
(…Blumenblatt…) Riecher called out and a small female house-elf popped before him. (…Answer this boy when he calls for you to guide him out of here when he's done…)
(…Yes, Meister Riecher…) Blumenblatt the elf said. She curtsied to the boy with a nod and popped away to return to her duties.
(…That's a lovely name for your elf…) Harry commented. It was a lovely name in German as it translated to 'Petal' in English.
(…Thank you…) Riecher said. (…It was my wife's idea. She was a fine woman who believed that all elves needed decent names. Run along boy and find your wand core. I can't make your wand without it…)
(…Yes sir…) Harry said. He walked in the direction where the tug of a magical core was strongest. He didn't think that it would take long to find them as there were only three strong sensations that were tugging at his magic equally this time around. However he did have to walk quite a ways and make sure that he found the right drawer to leave the coloured magnet on it.
"Here you are," he said at the drawer he'd reached up on his tiptoes to attach the magnet. Once the magnet was on the metallic brass looking plate, the tug vanished and that's when he walked around the vault to find the next source.
In the end Harry had found eight wand woods and three core materials.
Riecher was nearly at a loss on what to do for the strange English boy, but he still had diagrams of old wand plans from all past owners of his shop that showed him how to inlay wood shapes onto a primary wand length. He could afford to use one or two of them as inspiration to create a unique wand for this peculiar client. It was the challenge of it that had kept him interested in this type of work after all.
He'd asked the boy to make rune marks on a piece of parchment before he'd let them go. (…Just put down a single rune or a word in runes that you feel strongly about…) he explained. (…Just go with your gut and make sure they are words or runes that you can live with for the rest of your life. They could mean anything from simple protection to a complicated word that you identify with as begin who you are. I can't explain it more than that…)
(…I understand sir…) Harry said. He proceeded to write down a few Parseltongue and Strigizoot words. For a good measure of luck he'd even written a few of the symbols or runes in ancient Gobbledegook because he'd felt strongly about them, just as the wand maker had said. He'd gone with his gut and had written them down with notations about which ones he'd felt were more important to him.
(…Come back in three days…) Riecher said as he looked at the page of runes, making notations about which direction the word needed to go on the length of the wand. (…It will be done by then…)
(…Thank you…) Harry replied. "Uncles, I'm ready to go now."
"Where's your wand," Sirius asked.
"We have to come back here in three days," Harry said. "We can go to Rendao's and come back in time to pick it up."
"Good idea," Remus said. "We do have an appointment to keep." He turned to thank the shop owner, but the old man just shooed them all out of his shop and turned the store's Welcome sign from 'Offen' to, 'Geschlossen'. (…i…)
The werewolf shrugged and then laughed as Sirius was tugging Harry's arm. The boy mock protested all the way down the road to a shop that looked to be half muggle, half magic and all practical jokes, candy, trinkets and other such goodies.
Harry - James – Potter
August 28th
The morning of August 28th, Sirius and Remus had been feeling a bit melancholy while Harry buzzed about his personal room excited, packing up last minute items in his thick dragon hide backpack-satchel bag. It was a very dark green pack made from the skin of a Romanian Longhorn that he'd purchased during his travels. It was a new feeling for him being excited to be going to a magical school, well any type of school really.
'First time around I was too overwhelmed about magic and Hogwarts to be excited about going away to a school where I could actually be free to really learn something,' he thought as he packed up a few magical and muggle toys to play with on the train. They were interesting toys similar to the sets that he'd purchased, however these were more complicated and further helped a person develop a knack for directing their magic in a more pin-point form of precision. He didn't care if he looked childish with them. They were going to be useful to him.
He'd also bought an alarm clock that looked like a small round mechanical owl. It was one that he had admired in a magical shop during their summer travels. It had been linked to his magic and would run forever. Well only until the day he died or whenever he decided to pass it down to one of his children if he ever had any.
Harry looked to his trunk and then to the large cage that he'd bought for Hedwig. It was a cage that had no door. Since he was a Striparole he could talk to his owl and convince her to remain inside unless she truly felt the need to fly. (…Hedwig do you know where the Durmstang school is?...)
(…I know the direction…) She hooted back at him. (…I'll travel in the cage first, since I don't know how far it really is and I'd rather sleep today…)
(…All right then, I'll have a letter ready to send to Sirius either tonight or tomorrow morning…) Harry replied. (…I'll make sure that the cage is properly covered for you and that the covering is secured to the base. No need to let anyone know that you're not locked in there…)
(…Thank you…) Hedwig said. (…I'm going to hunt for a snack. Tell your elf that I'll be back in a bit…) Harry nodded and watched as his owl hopped to the ledge of the window and dove out to go hunt for a small snack.
"Xeni", he called to the female house-elf that that had bonded with him long ago and who would follow him to Durmstrang Institute to take care of him and his belongings. "Make sure that you're all packed. I want to you remember that the footwear and over cloaks are part of your uniform. They're to protect you from the harsh elements there. If you believe that you do not need the footwear then that's fine, but do bring them just in case."
"Yes Master Harry," Xeni replied with a nod and a small glare at the lightly furred boots he'd purchased for her. She knew that they were going further north, probably closer to the Arctic Circle and that no elf really knew how much their inner magics would protect them from the natural elements until they got there.
She'd been bonded to him for a several years and was still considered young. She'd been out of her training time for three years before having chosen to bond with the Boy-Who-Lived. She had run away due to the strong advice of her sire as the human family they'd been serving had planned to experiment with their bonded house-elves, forcing them to birth creatures that usually killed their carriers. Her sire had told her to run and never look back. It was something that she could do since she hadn't been bonded to the family yet, but they were about to demand it of her. In her fear she'd stumbled onto the hidden house-elf community and had eventually found a secure home with Harry Potter.
Harry - James - Potter
Harry had learned about a small, hidden community of unbonded house-elves that had strident representatives or spokes people in the form of the goblins at Gringotts, long before he'd been looking for any house-elf that would willingly bond with Remus. The goblins had presented him and Remus with free elves at different times.
The elves had been seeking magical Family bonds with good humans that were not linked to the darker magics in the world. Remus had immediately agreed to the elves' terms which basically boiled down to zero punishment and the permission to wear protective uniforms based on mutual choices between the wizards and the house-elves.
The Boy-Who-Lived already had ideas of such items and had brought along several older catalogues that had been dated between 1723 to 1899 to which they'd shown a listing of standard human servant uniforms based on the actual work done. For example, the catalogues had outlined butler, footmen and stable uniforms for men and housemaid, housekeeper and kitchen uniforms for females as cooking in those times had generally been considered a female job, unless the men had gone to the topmost Chef schools or were cooks during wars. The number of men cooks or chefs though weren't that many in those days.
The house-elves had been pleased with the choices, but had mentioned that full footwear would not be suited to their needs. When asked about it, it had been explained that the reason they went barefoot all the time was that their feet and the soles of their feet were elementally conditioned. They never felt the extremes of cold or heat and never had any problems with functionality because of the varied temperatures either.
So in going through the older catalogues they'd found a section on exotic footwear that featured the wooden 'Geta' sandals for men and women. A passing fad of the times, but still useful in allowing the house-elves to have something to protect their feet from stabbing type injuries as opposed to protecting them from the elements since they were pretty much immune to temperature extremes.
Arwen and Xeni were two female house-elves that had chosen to bond with Harry when he was five years old and new to the Wizarding World.
Luckily due to the age of his magic, the magical bonds with the elves could hold. House-elves needed someone strong in their magics to maintain the needed magical connections. Those that were generationally bonded to certain families could live at a family's magical estate and continue living there without fear that the lack of a bond would kill them because the estates were magical and had been infused with the magic of those that had lived in them for generations.
Arwen had been pregnant with Tizzy at the time and she'd wanted a safe home to raise and educate her unborn son. Harry had readily agreed and had promised not to force the baby elf to work until he'd been fully educated or under permission by his parent. His other five Potter elves would rotate their work around the family estates and from time to time would visit and work for him directly. It allowed them all to get to know their young Master and build a strong magical connection to him personally.
Xeni was considered his personal elf in all things and they had agreed to a learning-type of partnership, something that had the small female confused with him as he acted more like a friend than a Master. He mentioned that he may require her help in fulfilling an old promise. He never explained it to her which had her curious, but she refused to question him on the matter until the situation eventually arose.
Years later through the same service at Gringotts, Remus had found a matronly Gibby experienced in house-keeping and her mate Kappa who had extensive experience in building repairs and general grounds-keeping. He found a third house-elf prepared to do kitchen work which included producing any number of healthy meals. The third elf was also able to work and maintain a food garden to supplement normal food purchases and was named Ajix.
There was an old house-elf at Grimmauld Place who was still there and had been reformed by Harry's own house-elves after the boy had destroyed the locket Horcrux. It had to be done, but he'd allowed Kreacher to keep it and the old elf had agreed to follow the Potter elves' orders. He'd been aging and slowly declining from lack of use. He still rebelled against Sirius' orders because he preferred the boy.
Sirius didn't care about any elf doing the cleaning as long as the place was properly taken care of. He decided to go the house-elf relocation services to hire a pair that would live in the house and had found a third that would work as the Head Elf in his household.
Those new elves tolerated Kreacher's presence and allowed the old elf to follow orders that never came from the Head of the Black Family. They knew that the elf was too old to do a bond transfer to go into service to a new family name, so the old elf was still permitted to reside in the Black Family home, but he followed only Harry's orders or those of his personal house-elf, Xeni.
Harry - James - Potter
Harry carried his shoulder pack to the main sitting room of Grimmauld Place where the three had been living after they'd returned from their journey for his specialized school supplies. He returned briefly to his Hagen Junction apartment to properly shut it up and sort his house-elves with tasks that they were to do while he was away at school. Much of the estate ran by itself, but he still received correspondences that would need to be dealt with and forwarded to him to action while he was away.
"I don't know what will happen for Yule this year," he told his elf staff. "I'm hoping to spend it with Sirius and Remus so I'll talk to them about it before I leave or during our correspondences." He gave all of them private instructions and attentions, such as pats to their heads, stroking their clean hair, holding their hands and allowing his magic to flow into and around them which they fully appreciated before they returned to their duties.
He'd done the same with Kreacher. The older elf had been visibly upset by the fact that the boy was leaving him behind. The old elf had spat on him leaving a large trailing goober and then dropped a bag at his feet with a visibly wet 'splat' sound before he popped away with a clearly upset grumble.
The boy had opened the bag and then immediately stored the contents away in a preserving jar to keep the precious potion ingredients that the old elf had gifted him with. Any other owner might have been offended in receiving a bag full of recently killed murtlaps, but he appreciated the fact that the old elf had remembered a passing comment about needing more of the little rat-like animals with an anemone-like spiky things growing from their backs.
He even gathered the willingly given aged house-elf spittle because it too was a potion ingredient that was useful in certain types of potions. (…ii…) He'd been gifted with it a few times and on occasion he knew that it wasn't a gift. It was just the old elf being pissy or grumpy about something. However anything 'willingly given' was considered 'willingly given' no matter the circumstance of when, where or why it was given.
"All packed then Harry," Remus questioned as he saw the boy wearing pair of semi-thick boots and the heavier dark red cloak hanging, tied securely to his pack.
"All set," Harry nodded and nearly bounced on his feet in his excitement. "I can't wait to get there."
"A word Harry," Sirius asked and waited for the boy to approach. "Don't let them push you around and don't let them bully you or anyone else. Durmstrang is a harsh school from what I've heard, but I believe in your good sense to know right from wrong and to take care of yourself."
Harry looked into his godfather's concerned eyes and said, "Don't worry Uncle. I've got plenty of aces up my sleeve. They can't really hurt me there and I really will be much better off going there this year. You know this to be factually true. Those statistics can't lie."
"Yes, but I'm still allowed to worry and caution you about these things," Sirius hugged him. "We have the portkey that will take us to the docks where you'll take the ship to get to the school. You're to have a private meeting in the morning with Headmaster and I want you to send a report to me about it as soon as you can?"
"Of course," Harry replied tightening his arms around the man's waist. He felt someone place their hand on his head and he turned to add the werewolf to the hug he was giving. He sighed and then released the men. "I promise to do the both of you proud. I'm just hoping that my classes will be challenging and fun too."
"We do hope the same for you, young man," Remus said. "You may have to take an oath to never reveal the location of the school."
Harry nodded, "I know. I think that's part of why I have to meet the Headmaster right away."
Xeni popped into the room with Hedwig's covered cage to which her Master checked that his owl was safely in there. His trunk was by her side and she was wearing a traveling cloak that was made to take a fur liner. Her magic was linked to her master's personal items including the trunk. She'd be following them to the docks as her magic would always guide her to wherever her young Master was.
Sirius held out a torn bowler hat. They each placed a finger on it and waited for the hooking magical tug that would whip them away from their home. It was a special Durmstrang made portkey that had been timed to allow parents to drop off their children at the docks and force them to leave after ten minutes of saying goodbye to their children.
The school didn't believe in allowing the parents or guardians to linger dockside. It was also a method in keeping certain feuding families away from each other and it promoted peace on the docks. The city had approved of it and the method had been in use for several hundred years.
The men waited with Harry on the docks, holding the bowler hat between them. They wished him luck and he grinned at both of them saying, "Don't worry about me. I'll be on my best Marauder like behaviour."
Sirius barked his laughter.
Remus chuckled and said, "Please try not to get into any trouble."
"Oh that will have to be a wait and see situation Uncle Remy," Harry laughed. "I have a feeling that I may be a bit disruptive depending on the situations, but that can't be helped." The men each gave him a thumb up as they felt the pull of the portkey taking them back to Grimmauld Place and the bowler hat disintegrated from their hands.
They looked at one another and wondered how the foreign Headmaster would treat the Boy-Who-Lived.
What they should have been worried about was how the Boy-Who-Lived would treat the Death Eater Headmaster of Durmstrang, but they weren't certain who the Headmaster was as the names of that school's Professors had been kept a mystery to them too.
Harry - James - Potter
Meanwhile Harry's smile dropped. He kept a bland, neutral and unimpressed expression on his face. It was a mask that he'd perfected. It carried with it all of the teenage apathy look that he'd planned to have for his teenaged school career at Durmstrang. He needed to demonstrate that he was Harrison Black. He needed to be a true Black in nearly every sense of the word so that the Headmaster of the Slavic school would not question him or his actions.
However he knew what the man had been like and about the man's past associations. He already planned to study and eventually develop a potion that could block the Dark Mark and its harsh magical influences, mainly the nasty, mandatory magical obedience conditions. Above all that, he'd already planned for the known Death Eater, one Igor Karkaroff to become his guinea pig.
The Headmaster of Durmstrang didn't know what he was doing when he accepted Harry Potter to attend his school. It had been that school's Deputy Headmaster that had approached his superior with the suggestion and explanation that the boy could be useful. The Headmaster had thought, 'Why not?' at the time and had been genuinely surprised to see the boy's acceptance letter.
Harry stood there and watched as child after teen after tween were dropped off by parents. Some were first years like him and others were teenagers with seemingly harsh appearances. Many had similar expressions as him after they'd been left behind by their parents or family. They'd been smiling and friendly with their folks and siblings, but their faces had turned bland or even meanly scowling at everyone as soon as their families had left them.
He didn't know if they were acting or if they were really mean. He'd already told his house-elf to keep an eye on which student was which. She was to make reports on the students in the school and on the professors too. He needed to be prepared for any eventuality.
A girl had been dropped off next to him. She looked like a first year and there was a boy on her other side. "Erst Jahr," she asked him. He looked at her and nodded, confirming that he's a first year.
"Sie," Harry asked and received a nod.
(…Thank God…) She said. (…I'm Magdalla Scalvini and this is my twin Tsaran…) They both had similar looks in their somewhat high cheekbones and vivid blue eye colour. Their hair was dirty blond, more dark than light, but the girl had one bright fluorescent pink steak about an inch and half wide down the right side of her head.
(…Harrison Black, call me Harry…) He told them and held out his hand for them to shake. (…You seem to be worried…) He observed.
(…I don't like the rumours I heard about this place, but it was the only school that had invited us to attend…) She told him. (…We don't even live in the jurisdiction of this school. My parents were surprised by our lack of invitation to Hogwarts. So we both accepted to come here instead of being home-schooled…)
"Really," Harry exclaimed in English.
"Oh thank goodness," Magdalla gave a relieved sigh. "We had to do crash studies in the Russian, Croatian and German languages to hopefully be able to meet the essay composition requirements for the classes here."
Tsaran moved to the other side of Harry and said, "How are you with the languages?"
"Proficient," Harry confirmed. "I've been using them on and off for a few years now. But I do know several translation spells that will allow you to adapt to different languages more quickly and eventually you'll never need those spells again. Books can be bought with imbedded rune spells that are wand-tap activated to alter language."
"Our parents did regular translation charm spells on us every morning this past summer," Tsaran said. "Could you cast it on us tomorrow?"
"How about I teach it to the two of you," Harry suggested. "If you do your own casting, the language adjustment will work that much more quickly. If you've a house-elf they can do it for you and they'll learn it as you do too."
The twins readily agreed to learn the spell from him. They did have an elf for the two of them, but both felt that if they could learn the spell they might learn the language more quickly.
They continued to watch the students of Durmstrang gather on the docks when the prefects or overseer students used a Sonorus Charm. (...All students may now board the ship...) One of them said. (…Your elves are responsible for your trunks and any gear that you've brought with you. If you do not have an elf, students year two and up make sure that you see one of the fifth year students with the green armbands and they will assist you this time around…)
(…First year students without an elf, see the sixth year students with the blue bands on their arms…) Another student announced.
Harry didn't have to do anything, but watched as a few students with blue armbands walked around helping the first years sort their trunks. Basically they'd cast shrinking and feather-light spells on them in order for the first years to carry around their own luggage.
One of them turned to him with their wand raised, but he shook his head. (…I'm fine…) Harry said. (…Thank you…)
The politeness of the reply had shocked the student, who then shrugged and moved on to another student.
(…Students will now line up by year…) The first seventh year told the waiting students. (…We board the ship in descending years which means that first years will be the last to board the ship. You'll have to make do with the remaining compartments, understood…good…Seventh years, board now…)
Year by year they were called to board the ship while the first years waited. It was quite a different process, but it had given Harry the impression that they were trying to establish a hierarchy within the student population. He also had the feeling that the cabins that the first years would be able to access would not be the ones in good condition.
(…First years, board now…)
"Finally," Tsaran said. "This is ridiculous."
"Understandable though," his sister replied. "They're trying to put us in our place. I don't know how long we'll be able to stay here."
"Mother wanted us to have some kind of structured learning at a magical school. We were home-schooled until we received our invitation," Tsaran explained to Harry who'd followed them aboard. "I'm sure that Father would have preferred that we go to his old Alma Mater."
"What about you Harry," Magdalla asked. "Where did you want to go?"
"I'd have liked to have gone to Hogwarts too, but their course selections seemed pitiful to me," Harry said. "I was invited here first and then I'd received an invitation to go there. I chose the one with the most magical courses available."
"More courses, really," Magdalla perked up enough to question. "How so?"
"Hm," Harry paused and the snapped his fingers, but wasn't a signal that his house-elf had chosen to respond to. He'd only snapped them as a recall device for his memory or subject. "I have a copy of their letter and the list of their required supplies in my trunk. I can show you tomorrow, but for now I'll just say that a two page letter with a single sheet for a supply list versus a four page invitation with three pages dedicated to supplies, two of which were purely for course materials…well you can guess which one is offering more education wise."
"Wow," Tsaran said. "Only two pages, what were the supplies?"
"Standard starter potions kit, loads of books grade or level one," Harry said. "Basic school robes and nothing about any needed winter gear. It was a small list. It even limited us on our choices of familiars by calling them pets for first year and saying that we could only bring with us an owl, a cat or a toad and nothing else." He shrugged at their incredulous looks. "No brooms either."
"Bloody hell," Tsaran swore. "Seriously, no brooms," and Harry shook his head. "Why ever not?"
Magdalla looked at him with a frown and said, "Language. Don't get used to swearing or Mum will kill you when we return home."
"Bah," Tsaran said. "I'd like to see her try it, this far out in the world."
"I'm guessing that they like to be in control of who learns to fly and when," Harry had shrugged and then grinned. "I like to try and find alternative words to actual swearing," they looked at him and he replied with a wicked grin, "Something like fecal spot or bogey stain or pimple infected rat knackers."
The twins had paused to think about it and then they snorted, chuckled and giggled madly. "Fe…fecal spot," Tsaran howled. "Oh that is bloody brilliant."
"Bogey stain," Magdalla huffed and shook her head. She hid her grin at the last one. "All right laddies," she said as they continued to walk around the ship looking for a place to settle. "Let's find us a cabin before we play with big words."
The two boys giggled at one another, thinking about the last insult.
The better cabins had been filled with the upper years whereas the first years were stuck in the hold of the ship. The hold had several partitions with closed loo facilities at either end; one for boys and one for girls. The partitions did allow for some privacy and they'd been able to find a squared off section with a couple of benches.
"Why do this?" Harry was puzzled.
"Hierarchy is probably a big thing," Magdalla said. "I don't know if I'm going to like this school."
"Too late to change your mind now," Tsaran observed as he looked about the place that tried to look like a cabin and failed.
Harry looked at them and shrugged. Some of the first years were upset by their location and others were just upset because it was the first time that they'd left home.
(…Secure yourselves to your seats…) A voice announced. (…The ship will launch in five minutes…) The announcement was repeated several times.
"This has got to be some kind of test," Magdalla said as she looked around the 'room'.
"No," Harry replied as he pointed to the seat belt looking things that were imbedded into the walls of the partitions. "Those are seat belts."
"Seat belts?"
The twins watched him tie the belts together. He took the upper left one, crossed it over his chest to the lower right and clicked it in the hole. He repeated the process for the opposite side, from upper right to lower left.
"Oh," the twins muttered and quickly followed his example.
Several older students with coloured arm bands had wandered among the first years to help them out and had been surprised when a few of them had discovered the security mechanisms. (…Good for you…) They praised the three first years. (…You'll be able to remove them while we're in transit. But you'll need to be seated and secured for the launching and docking of the ship. Pay attention to the shipboard announcements…)
(…Thank you…) Harry said and the twins copied his manners. They looked at each other wondering what the rest of the trip and their first year of school, was going to be like.
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
TBC...
(…i...) Used following sight for German words to English - www dot wordhippo dot com/ what-is/ the/ german-word (remove the spaces and change the word dot).
NOTE: In future chapters that specifically and prominently feature Durmstrang school, professors and-or students, the (...German-Russian-Slavic language…) will not be identified by the usual brackets and three dots, it will just be as though they were talking normally. When in Rome and all that, when they're back in England they'll be speaking English with their (…second language…) as displayed.
(…ii…) Yes, shamelessly got the idea from the actions that the White Queen had taken in the re-make of Alice in Wonderland with Depp as the Mad Hatter. You know… when she'd made a potion for the girl and had to spit in it, to empower it.