Chapter Five

Harry frowned at the mentioning of Salazar Slytherin. Wasn't he one of the four who founded Hogwarts? The dark wizard who went rogue and took off? He was sure the head master of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, had said something about it when talking to Severus.

Viktor elbowed Harry.

"Listen!" he hissed. "Believe me, you'll need it."

Harry obediently turned his attention to professor Aino and listened as he started to speak.

"Some of you may wonder why I, the professor in martial arts, am going to tell you the history of Durmstrang Institute," he began, his melodic voice creating a strange resonate in the huge hall. "I will tell you why, I will not deceive you. The truth is that I was once the servant of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the dark wizard who proclaimed himself the sole heir to Slytherin. And hereby I show you the mark to prove it."

Nataniel rolled his left sleeve up and held out his arm, letting everyone see the ugly, black tattoo imbedded there. Harry wasn't overly impressed or interested. After all, Sev had the same mark branded on his arm, and he had told Harry what it meant. He was somewhat concerned about where the deputy head masters loyalty lay. He mentally made a note on writing Severus the same night and turned his attention to Nataniel

"The Dark Lord told all his Death Eaters the story of Salazar Slytherin," Nataniel continued, covering his arm again. "He told us the story of how he left Hogwarts and Britain to go to the North, where he founded Durmstrang after his own liking and became the first head master of this school. He wanted to teach survival, and he didn't limit the knowledge to the non-lethal kind, but let his students taste the real world.

"The Dark Lord didn't tell his followers everything though. The only one who knows everything, is his closest man and most loyal Death Eater everyone knew by the name Riddle, due to his second form, a sphinx. Moreover, the last time I saw him, he told me that Slytherin wasn't the mudblood hater I thought he was, but rather the opposite. A fact that we at Durmstrang has long practised by producing Aurors to protect those born of muggles. We do not hate muggle born or muggles, we have realized that we cannot provide protection for their families while they learn magic. Because in the moment you become a wizard or witch, your family become a target. Not a significant one, but a target yet. In addition, while pureblood and half blood families have the resources to protect themselves, muggles have not. Therefore, we let those magic gifted go to those schools that can offer that protection. But now I shall leave the word to head mistress Kira once again."

Unusually quiet, Harry turned his gaze to Kira. He had heard this before, and with much more details, but never with the name of Salazar Slytherin. Severus had simply called him Salazar and never mentioned his last name. And he couldn't help but wonder why.

"Have you ever talked with Sev about this?" he fiercely whispered.

Viktor gave him a surprised look.

"Why should I?" he whispered back. "He's a teacher at Hogwarts. He would know that already."

He didn't have the time to reply as Kira started to speak.

"The rules of Durmstrang Institute must be obeyed," she seriously started. "And if not the fact that they are rules motivate you enough, I'll give you an account for what will happen to you if you disobey them.

"Rule number one, no one is to be outside the school after sunset or before sunrise without the company of a professor or a leader of advanced level. These are recognized by their lavender and silver robes with the snake tattoo on their cheek. Disobeying this rule will lead to suspension for a month the first time and expulsion the second. Readmission is not possible.

"Rule number two, no one is allowed outside their quarters between midnight and five o'clock except professors and advanced level students. Disobeying this rule will lead to a month of detentions the first time, a month of suspension the second time and expulsion the third time. Readmission not possible.

"Rule number three, no fights in the corridors. Will lead to a week of detention. Repeated breaking of this rule will lead to a week of suspension.

"Rule number four, do not come late to your lessons without a legitimate reason. Will lead to detention.

"Rule number five, do not avoid handing in your homework. You will not get a second chance and repeating this behaviour will lead to detention and a talk to your deputy head master.

"That will be all, dismissed."

Noise immediately started to fill the air as Viktor turned to Harry.

"We have a few free hours until dinner," he told Harry in Bulgarian. "I suggest that we older students show you how to get around in the fortress and show you our dorms. Then we could answer your questions and you could get acquainted with those in your group. After all, you will be the one to lead them during your stay here."

Harry nodded.

"It sounds good," he agreed in the same language. "Where can we get our stuff?"

Viktor smiled.

"It has already been taken to our rooms," he informed his little brother. "Why don't you tell your group what we're doing and we'll get going?"

Harry nodded and turned to the four fellow children he'd so suddenly become the leader of. They were looking at him, waiting for him to tell them what to do.

"This is my brother," Harry smiled and speaking in both sign language and English. "Viktor Krum. He's the leader of the other students at our table. He suggested that they'd show us around, answer our questions and then let us get acquainted. Do you agree?"

They nodded, and Viktor started showing them around the four-floored building after being informed by Harry of Mira's hearing problems. After about an hour, they knew roughly how to find their way around the four-floored fortress. The dorms were on the fourth floor, the classrooms and the professors' offices were on the third and second floor while the library, kitchen, dining hall and so on were located on the first floor. Every room was conveniently labelled next to the door, and at the beginning of each corridor was a round stone one could tap to find out which rooms were down that corridor.

They had also been showed their dorm and divided the rooms between themselves, two persons in each room, the girls and boys separated. It seldom happened that a boy and a girl shared room if they weren't lovers, and neither of the students was quite ready to do such a thing yet.

"Neat!" Harry commented as they all sat down in the common room each set of twin groups had. "Are everyone satisfied with the room division?"

No one disagreed, and so Harry turned to his brother.

"All right," he grinned. "Tell us what horrors we first years can expect to meet the first days at Durmstrang."

Viktor smirked and grimaced slightly, his group members looking slightly green.

"Well," he said, "it's the same for all years, and you repeat it at the start of every school year. We will spend the next days determining what skills you already have in the compulsory subjects. Two subjects a day with both practical and theoretical tests. If you are good enough at them, you will spend the next two days (not including week-ends) taking tests to determine your skills in the secondary classes of your choice. And if you are deemed promising enough in those, you will spend the next day determining in which subjects you will take advanced classes together with your legal guardian or a person appointed by your legal guardian. Those who do not to any of these parts will start taking the classes they have been appointed with those in the same class."

Harry felt rather weak after Viktor's rather intimidating summary of the coming seven schooldays. And it didn't help knowing that the weekend was stuck in the middle of them, as he had strict instructions from Severus to him and Viktor on the reading they had to do on their free time. Tutoring didn't stop just because you began studying in school. Viktor seemed pretty down too.

"The three levels you can study are basic, secondary and advanced," he finished. "We will all dress in the blood red robes of the basics until the testing are over. Then, the secondaries will wear blood red and black while the advanced wear lavender and silver."

Harry glanced at his brother. This seemed to be a very tiring school year.

***

That was that chapter. Now, if you have had any questions and don't have an answer to them, check the FAQ below. Ad don't forget, review!

FAQ

What about Hogwarts, will Harry go there?

Harry will not go to Hogwarts, but he sure will visit. I will follow the canon loosely my way, so he will spend time there though.

Will this be a slash story?

No, it will not.

What do you mean with Harry's 'greatest father'?

Besides the horrible grammar? Honestly, it's one of the hints needed to build a base for the coming stories.

What about Padfoot and Wormtail?

As I stated in another chapter, everything happened the way it did in the books except for the matter that Sirius never let Pettigrew frame him. Both got away though.

What will happen to Ron, Hermione, Draco, Sirius, Remus and co?

Harry will meet all of them again if he hasn't already, and most of them will play a big part in the stories.

What did the strange wands mean?

It's another hint towards the future. It's rather comical when you know what will happen.

Will Harry take advanced classes as he knows so much already?

He will get classes suitable to his knowledge as you learn in this chapter. And Severus has mostly provided a firm base to his continued learning so he has the time to take all subjects he need.

Will you go more in dept into his Hogwarts visit?

I will. It will show up as a stand alone some time soon.

Will Harry hide his ability to do wandless magic?

No, h won't. But as he uses both his wand and wandless magic, it will not be much noticed.

Why didn't everyone recognize him by his scar?

No one but the Krums saw him after he defeated Voldemort, and so, no one knows of it.

How does Harry look?

Well, if you can take my horrible painting, you can find a picture on my site, Harry 2, which picture an older Harry. Be aware that I have a light screen though. And about his height, I checked some growth charts on the Internet, and he should lie in the upper end of a ten-year-old boy's height. He's actually about my height at that age.

What does the twin thing mean?

Oh dear, I seem to have confused you some. Ok, we'll take it step by step. Group A and group B sit at the same table and Harry is the leader for group A while Viktor is the leader for group B. And together group A and group B make a class. This class is called a twin, as it's two groups joined together for classes.