Disclaimer: not mine

Time skip

Chapter 3

Igor studied his waiting students, ensuring they were all looking their best. Things had changed a lot since that woman had come to him four years earlier and while he hated to admit it, the changes had been for the best. Overall grades had improved and skills had increased with the students working together. It wasn't Hogwarts and no one wanted it to be, Durmstrang had its reputation for a reason after all. They were a school for the Dark Arts, but that didn't mean they ignored all other magic.

His eyes roamed over the group, spotting Viktor Krum among them, fresh from the World Cup in England and a magnificent catch even if their team had ultimately lost. Not far from him was someone whose presence could cause issues once in Britain…Harry James Potter. Although he attended the school as Harrison 'Harry' Kakós, one of the ways to translate his Mother's name into Greek. The infamous scar had healed well and the child did not look exactly like the books described, but there was still the chance someone would realise. Still, the young Prince had signed up to be one of the younger students going to cheer on their Champion.

Kakós was a good student, top of his year, if a bit of a loner. He had friends but no one that would be what children called 'best friends'. The school Quidditch competitions were definitely interesting with both him and Krum as Seeker's. If the boy was eligible, there would have been arguments from the national team over which of them to sign. Thankfully, he was too young and not Bulgarian so there had been no trouble.

There had been worldwide uproar the year he had started at the school and the famous Boy-Who-Lived simply never showed up at Hogwarts or any other school, as far as the world knew. Maleficent had been very careful in ensuring her son's privacy and he could understand wanting him raised away from all that. The boy would give Albus Dumbledore a heart attack if he ever learnt of his true identity for the child was most definitely a Dark Wizard and Dumbledore was incapable of seeing the difference between Dark and evil.

Still, he was worried about the possibility of the boy being revealed while at Hogwarts, in the country where people had known his birth parents. Yes, his hair was a lot longer than James Potter had ever worn his and because of that rather straight, but he still had Lily Potter's emerald green eyes although with yellow flecks around his pupils, the same yellow as Maleficent's eyes and his eyelids were darker than normal, although not the purple hers were. His skin was pale although his lips were red, but that could be due to the location of their school and how cold it was most of the school year. He missed the summer months because he returned to wherever it was his Mother lived. At least he did not wear glasses, that would also help differentiate between him and expectations. He was one of the taller boys in his year but rather slender, although it was a mistake to assume that made him weak. One of his few detentions had been due to sending a bully flying into a wall by hitting him. He did very well in their martial classes as well as the magical ones. Someone too had once made the mistake of comparing him to the fairy tale Snow White, that had not ended well either.

Igor knew Maleficent wasn't human and had to wonder…would the boy still be so in a few more years?

Among the rest of the group was a mix of students from all walks of life, from the children of the wealthy, politicians, all the way to those attending on scholarship. Hopefully that would help both celebrities hide and not be inundated by fans or worse. At least he had been given a way to contact Maleficent in case of emergency.

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Harry leant against the porthole of his room, watching the world flash by as they travelled towards great Britain…and Hogwarts. When the Tournament had been announced and the chance to put his name down to attend had been given, he had honestly been prepared to turn it down. He had no desire to return to the country of his birth and the people who worshiped him while forgetting the parents who had died for him. Still, he had informed his Mother about the offer…and then apparently the Fates had shown up again. If he went, there was a chance to end the Prophecy for good. Otherwise it could be hanging over his head for another three years or more.

The thought of finally being free of the Prophecy and his ties to this World was beyond appealing. He just wanted to go Home and train with Mother or play word games with Hades, maybe he'd even let him go with him to taunt Hercules for a bit. He was the only one out of the group that Harry liked, he had a wicked sense of humour and great pets. It wasn't like he hated school or anything, the classes were mostly interesting, but he just…didn't feel like he fit in, he was friendly enough with his year mates and even some of the students in other years but there was something missing. Mother had colleagues, not friends, maybe he wasn't destined for any either? Maybe it was a sign that he would be a Dark Faerie too one day?

He sighed and brushed a stray strand of hair back behind his ear before straightening up to tie it back since it had dried. Drying charms just made it all staticky and that was a pain. He looked up at a knock on the cabin door, hearing the call for lunch. They would be arriving at Hogwarts in time for dinner. He slipped his boots on and then smirked, he wondered how Hook would react to seeing Durmstrang's ship, it was so much better than his, even if it couldn't travel between World…yet, who knew, maybe one day.

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Sora laughed as Kairi shrieked in outrage as Riku dumped her in the surf, the girl coming up spluttering. "Run Riku!" he yelled and his best friend looked at him and then back at Kairi before taking off down the beach, Wakka and Tidus cheering him on.

"Sora!" Kairi yelled and he held his hands up.

"Wasn't me!" he grinned as she stomped her foot before marching up the beach, dripping everywhere.

She sat down beside Selphie who pulled out a towel for her, letting Kairi dry her hair. Kairi was getting….girly. He liked it better when she would have laughed and played when dumped in the water even fully dressed. Sora got up and headed around the beach, grinning when he found Riku leaning against the retaining wall of logs that helped keep the upper level and bridge up.

"She calmed down?" he asked.

"Huffed over to Selphie to dry off," Sora shrugged and sat down in the sand.

"Oh," Riku mumbled. Nice to know he wasn't the only one missing the old Kairi.

"Wanna race on the course?" he offered, wanting to cheer him up.

Riku grinned and reached down to ruffle his hair.

"Hey!" he mock grumbled.

"Race ya there," Riku took off, and Sora scrambled up after him.

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They stood on the front stairs of the castle, dressed in their best uniforms and wrapped up in scarves and hats against the cold as the sun dipped towards the horizon. The air was filled with the excited chattering of the students, all craning to spot the expected arrivals.

Hermione ignored her Housemates, she wasn't all that interested in the Tournament, it would take teacher's focus from their classes. Then again, the chance to see students from the other two premiere European schools could be a good learning opportunity, she could practice her French. Although Durmstrang made her nervous, would it be a whole school of people like Malfoy?

And then Dumbledore called out from the back row where he stood with the other teachers, "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"Where?" asked many students eagerly, all looking in different directions.

"There!" yelled a sixth year, pointing over the forest.

Something large, much larger than a broomstick, or, indeed, a hundred broomsticks - was hurtling across the deep blue sky toward the castle, growing larger all the time.

"It's a dragon!" shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely.

"Don't be stupid, it's a flying house!" Dennis Creevey countered.

Dennis's guess was closer. As the gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw a gigantic, powder blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.

The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed, then, with an almighty crash that made Neville jump backward onto a Slytherin fifth year's foot, the horses' hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground. A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes.

Hermione just had time to see that the door of the carriage bore a coat of arms (two crossed, golden wands, each emitting three stars) before it opened.

A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps. He sprang back respectfully. Then Hermione saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage - a shoe the size of a child's sled - followed, almost immediately, by the largest woman she had ever seen in her life. The size of the carriage, and of the horses, was immediately explained. A few people gasped. Only Hagrid was of a similar size; she doubted whether there was an inch difference in their heights. Yet somehow -maybe simply because she was used to Hagrid - this woman (now at the foot of the steps, and looking around at the waiting, wide-eyed crowd) seemed even more unnaturally large.

As she stepped into the light flooding from the entrance hall, she was revealed to have a handsome, olive-skinned face; large, black, liquid-looking eyes; and a rather beaky nose. Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck. She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fingers.

Dumbledore started to clap; the students, following his lead, broke into applause too, many of them standing on tiptoe, the better to look at the woman. Her face relaxed into a gracious smile and she walked forward toward Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand. Dumbledore, though tall himself, had barely to bend to kiss it. "My dear Madame Maxime," he greeted. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dort," Madame Maxime answered in a deep voice. "I 'ope I find you well?"

"In excellent form, I thank you," he assured her.

"My pupils," said Madame Maxime, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her.

Hermione, whose attention had been focused completely upon Madame Maxime, now noticed that about a dozen boys and girls, all, by the look of them, in their late teens, had emerged from the carriage and were now standing behind Madame Maxime. They were shivering, which was unsurprising, given that their robes seemed to be made of fine silk, and none of them were wearing cloaks. A few had wrapped scarves and shawls around their heads. From what Hermione could see of them (they were standing in Madame Maxime's enormous shadow), they were staring up at Hogwarts with apprehensive looks on their faces.

"As Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.

"He should be here any moment," said Dumbledore. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"

"Warm up, I think," said Madame Maxime. "But ze 'orses -"

"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them," Dumbledore promised, "the moment he has returned from dealing with a slight situation that has arisen with some of his other - er - charges."

"Skrewts," Ron muttered to Dean, grinning.

"My steeds require - er - forceful 'andling," said Madame Maxime, looking as though she doubted whether any Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts could be up to the job. "Zey are very strong…"

"I assure you that Hagrid will be well up to the job," Dumbledore smiled.

"Very well," said Madame Maxime, bowing slightly. "Will you please inform zis 'Agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"

"It will be attended to," said Dumbledore, also bowing.

"Come," said Madame Maxime imperiously to her students, and the Hogwarts crowd parted to allow her and her students to pass up the stone steps.

"How big d'you reckon Durmstrang's horses are going to be?" Seamus Finnigan asked, leaning around Lavender and Parvati to address Ron.

"Well, if they're any bigger than this lot, even Hagrid won't be able to handle them," Ron answered. "That's if he hasn't been attacked by his skrewts. Wonder what's up with them?"

"Maybe they've escaped," Dean suggested hopefully.

"Oh don't say that," said Hermione with a shudder. "Imagine that lot loose on the grounds…" Hermione pointed out.

They stood, shivering slightly now, waiting for the Durmstrang party to arrive. Most people were gazing hopefully up at the sky. For a few minutes, the silence was broken only by Madame Maxime's huge horses snorting and stamping.

"Can you hear something?" Ron asked suddenly.

Hermione listened; a loud and oddly eerie noise was drifting toward them from out of the darkness: a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as though an immense vacuum cleaner were moving along a riverbed.

"The lake!" yelled Lee Jordan, pointing down at it. "Look at the lake!"

From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water - except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all. Some disturbance was taking place deep in the centre; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks - and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake's floor. What seemed to be a long, black pole began to rise slowly out of the heart of the whirlpool…and then Hermione saw the rigging...

"It's a mast!" she called out in excitement.

Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide toward the bank. A few moments later, they heard the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank.

People were disembarking; they could see their silhouettes passing the lights in the ship's portholes. All of them, Hermione noticed, seemed to be built along the lines of Crabbe and Goyle... but then, as they drew nearer, walking up the lawns into the light streaming from the entrance hall, she saw that their bulk was really due to the fact that they were wearing cloaks of some kind of shaggy, heavy, fur.

But the man who was leading them up to the castle was wearing furs of a different sort: sleek and silver, like his hair. "Dumbledore!" he called heartily as he walked up the slope. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied.

Karkaroff had a fruity, unctuous voice; when he stepped into the light pouring from the front doors of the castle they saw that he was tall and thin like Dumbledore, but his white hair was short, and his goatee (finishing in a small curl) did not entirely hide his rather weak chin. When he reached Dumbledore, he shook hands with both of his own. "Dear old Hogwarts," he said, looking up at the castle and smiling; his teeth were rather yellow, and Hermione noticed that his smile did not extend to his eyes, which remained cold and shrewd. "How good it is to be here, how good…Viktor, come along, into the warmth…you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold..."

Karkaroff beckoned forward one of his students. As the boy passed, Hermione caught a glimpse of a prominent curved nose and thick black eyebrows. She didn't need to overhear Ron's excited hiss to realise who he was

"Dean- it's Krum!"

Hermione looked passed him and found herself staring at another student, he looked younger than Krum, his features aristocratic and there was something… green eyes met hers and the boy nodded his head cordially enough before passing with the rest of his schoolmates.

I don't believe it!" Ron said, in a stunned voice, as the Hogwarts students filed back up the steps behind the party from Durmstrang. "Krum, Dean! Viktor Krum!"

"For heaven's sake, Ron, he's only a Quidditch player," Hermione snapped, already tired of his hero worship.

"Only a Quidditch player?" Ron said, looking at her as though he couldn't believe his ears. "Hermione - he's one of the best Seekers in the world! I had no idea he was still at school!"

As they recrossed the entrance hall with the rest of the Hogwarts students heading for the Great Hall, she saw Lee Jordan jumping up and down on the soles of his feet to get a better look at the back of Krum's head. Several sixth-year girls were frantically searching their pockets as they walked - "Oh I don't believe it, I haven't got a single quill on me -"

"D'you think he'd sign my hat in lipstick?"

"Really," Hermione said loftily as they passed the girls, now squabbling over the lipstick.

"I'm getting his autograph if I can," said Ron. "You haven't got a quill, have you, Dean?"

"Nope, they're upstairs in my bag," Dean answered, looking annoyed at himself for not having them at hand.

They walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down. Ron took care to sit on the side facing the doorway, because Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students were still gathered around it, apparently unsure about where they should sit. The students from Beauxbatons had chosen seats at the Ravenclaw table. They were looking around the Great Hall with glum expressions on their faces. Three of them were still clutching scarves and shawls around their heads.

"It's not that cold," said Hermione defensively. "Why didn't they bring cloaks?"

"Over here! Come and sit over here!" Ron hissed. "Over here! Hermione, budge up, make a space -"

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"Too late," said Ron bitterly.

Viktor Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students had settled themselves at the Slytherin table. Hermione could see Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle looking very smug about this. As she watched, Malfoy bent forward to speak to Krum.

Her gaze once again found the boy from before, sitting at the other end of the group to Krum, having shed the furs already to reveal a rather militaristic looking deep crimson uniform beneath. He was looking around the Great Hall, studying it and everyone within with little expression but at least it wasn't disdain.

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Riku put his pen down and leant back in his seat, done with the test. He saw Wakka across the room still working away. He was bored and couldn't wait for school to be done for the day, not because it was his birthday, his parents weren't big on birthdays after all. He knew Sora's Mum would have a cake for him and his friends would give him presents but he didn't care about that, he just wanted to spend time with them.

It was better since the others had started high school…even if he was forever getting into fights. Sora was his best friend and no one was allowed to tease or bully him like that. So what if most of the time he acted half his age? That was just Sora, he was a bright bubbly light that their world didn't appreciate. More and more every year, he felt the need to leave and see the other Worlds they knew had to be out there, otherwise where had Kairi come from? He glanced across the room, spotting her bright hair and then she shifted and caught his eye, smiling at him. She'd been skipped into his grade that year, which had made Sora pout. They'd both told him that if he focused on his studies he was more than smart enough to skip as well, but Sora just wasn't an academic.

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Harry observed the school his parents had wanted him to attend, getting a feel for it. it felt…sick, like there was a rift that had needed healing for centuries but instead was only growing. Surely it wasn't the rivalry between those two Houses? That was ridiculous. He found the girl who'd met his eyes outside looking his way again and nodded to her. It didn't hurt to be polite after all and getting to know a local student could be useful for not getting lost or making others mad. And she seemed…isolated from the other students in her House which was interesting.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and - most particularly - guests," Headmaster Dumbledore spoke, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh. Harry understood, he found it a bit warm thanks to the thickness of their uniforms but the poor French school were dressed rather flimsily for the weather.

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," said Dumbledore. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

He sat down, and Harry saw Karkaroff lean forward at once and engage him in conversation. So far, no one had given him a second glance and why should they? No one would expect him to attend Durmstrang or come for the Tournament if he did. He just wished he knew how his being there could bring the Prophecy to a close.

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Maleficent watched the feast, immediately picking her son from the crowd, pleased to see him speaking with those his age. She would be paying close attention to her son this year, as were the Fates and Hades. The timing was not the best, they were getting ever closer to the final stages of her plans, but if Harry could be freed from the Prophecy so soon then it was worth it. Diablo would keep a careful eye on him, her proud companion thankfully liked watching over him, even if he had to associate with owls to do so.

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Igor kept one eye on his students, two in particular, as he spoke with Dumbledore. He'd put the attention onto Viktor for a reason back there, to keep them focused on the famous Quidditch star and therefore ignoring the rest. Hidden by his furs and cap, no one would recognise the younger boy, but now that the students had stripped down to their uniforms? He would do his best to keep attention well away from him but sooner or later he feared someone would realise the truth.

TBC…