For I am a wicked child
Horseface
***CHAPTER THREE***
In a place so far awayDraco was, reluctantly, awaken early the next morning by the Malfoy house elf. An hour later, he was ready to leave and the house-elf was ready to be hospitalized. The sun still had not risen, when he walked down the stairs to the entryway of the manor, where his father was already waiting for him. The battered house elf, which had brought down Draco's luggage for him, quickly scampered off and brought him his cloak and gloves. Draco showed his gratitude with a kick softer than usual, before he and his father got into the Malfoy stagecoach. Once they were inside, the stagecoach began to rise from the ground. Slowly it rose, until Draco could quite clearly see the top of the manor and the fields behind it, before it set off on its way.
The journey to Bulgaria was silent, punctuated only by small nothings of conversation. When the carriage finally landed, the sun had been in the sky for several hours already. Peering out the window, Draco saw they had landed on a small dirt road that was surrounded by fog. The carriage continued to go forward, drawing closer to the edge of a large forest where the road was blocked by fallen trees, overgrown weeds, and what looked to be some form of devil's snare. Draco looked back at his father, who seemed completely aware of this and not in the least bit bothered by it. As they drew closer to the forest, Draco knew he shouldn't be worried, but couldn't help be wary of the devil's snare. The last thing he wanted to do was get strangled to death on the day he was supposed to start school. The carriage was so close now, in reach of the hostile plant, when it suddenly recoiled. Draco watched with interest, as all the plants moved out of the carriages way. It revealed a dimly lit dirt road, with enormously tall trees lined neatly on either side. As they continued down this road, Draco saw the faint outline of a clearing at the end. They drew closer, and soon enough the outlines of people started to come into view.
The carriage came to a halt when it reached the clearing. As Draco leaned over to open the carriage door, Lucius stopped him. He looked at his father, who was wearing an expression of utmost seriousness.
"Be mindful of your actions Draco. This isn't Hogwarts," warned Lucius, "Everything's different now."
Having said that, Lucius pulled the collar of his cloak tighter and moved past Draco to step out of the door. Draco stayed behind for a second as his father's words settled in. It was typical of his father to tell Draco something as obscure yet important as that the minute before he was expected to carry it out. He faintly shook his head and straightened the sleeves of his robes, pushing his father's advice aside for the moment as he exited the carriage.
The small clearing was populated with people, most wearing heavy fur cloaks, which wasn't surprising considering how cold it was. Draco especially could feel the chill in the air, seeing as how his cloak wasn't nearly as thick as he'd like it to be. His father however, didn't seem to mind. Lucius quickly signaled some people over to take Draco's luggage. Draco watched idly, as they made their way through the dense fog and soon came to the realisation that this clearing was actually the bank of a very large lake. His luggage was taken over to one of six very large wooden ships, that all had white sails bearing a large D in blood red. Just past the ships, Draco could just make out the shape of a few snow-covered mountaintops. 'So that's where Durmstrang is…' he thought.
"Draco."
Draco turned back to his father, who was not by himself. Lucius motioned to the man that was standing next to him. "You remember Mr. Grigori Tamas?"
'Vaguely' thought Draco, who recalled the time they had briefly met when he was 6 years old. He nodded, however, and politely smiled. Mr. Grigori Tamas smiled back. It was similar to Draco's father… less calculating, but equally rigid.
"How do you do, young master Malfoy?" he asked, with a thick Slavic accent.
"Very well sir," replied Draco automatically.
"Good to hear."
Mr. Tamas then turned behind him, gesturing for someone to come over.
"I'm sure you both remember my son, Nikolas?"
Draco glanced behind him, to see a young boy around his own age walk towards them. His large dark fur robe dragged across the ground. Upon reaching them, he pulled back his hood, revealing his face. Draco recognized him; he had accompanied his father that time Grigori had visited the Manor. Although Draco didn't think much of Nikolas at first, since his mother had forced him to keep Nikolas company, Draco had actually ended up getting along quite well with him. So well that Draco had decided not to leave him trapped in the basement with the boggarts as he'd initially planned. Nikolas looked quite different from when Draco had last seen him, but Draco supposed that was because he was a lot older, not to mention he had hair back then. Currently Nikolas' head was shaved, leaving only a dark shadow from where his hair was slowly growing back. Combined with the high collar of his robes and hollowness of his cheeks, Draco thought he looked like a punk. Lucius seemed to be thinking the same thing, and was smirking patronizingly at him. Nikolas turned to Grigori, and replied in the same thick accent,
"Da, father?"
His face was blank, but Draco saw that he was annoyed from the way his green eyes darkened.
"Nikolas, I'm sure you remember Lucius Malfoy,"
Draco noticed Nikolas' eyes grow slightly wider at the mention of his father's name. Lucius smirked, "Hello Nikolas,"
"… Hello sir,"
Draco rolled his eyes. Wherever they went, everyone seemed to know of Lucius Malfoy. Grigori turned to Draco,
"And this is his son…"
Nikolas nodded, "Ah… Draco, right?"
Draco forced a smile.
"Right."
He turned back to his father, who nodded at him before turning to face Grigori. Grigori turned towards the boys.
"If you'll excuse us, we have other matters to attend to. Nikolas, I shall see you soon."
"Da, father."
Grigori looked at Draco, "Good seeing you again Draco."
"As well as you," he replied.
Draco turned to his own father, and nodded.
"Father."
"Draco."
Lucius nodded in reply, before turning to Grigori. As they walked off, Draco was left with Nikolas. Nikolas tilted his head to one side, slightly looking up at Draco.
"Well. Draco Malfoy. It's been a while."
Draco smirked. "Just not long enough."
Nikolas laughed, his warm breath mixing with the frosty air, to create a translucent fog in front of his mouth. "You always did have a dark sense of humour, Malfoy."
"What can I say. It's a gift."
Nikolas returned Draco's smirk.
"It's something all right. Come on."
Draco had no choice but to follow him, as they made their way through a crowd of people, before stopping in front of two other boys.
"Hey!" he shouted in Bulgarian.
The two of them turned towards Draco and Nikolas.
"Hey Nikolas," said one of the boys.
"Who's that?" asked the other, gesturing towards Draco.
Before Nikolas could say anything, Draco interrupted.
"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."
The two boys glanced at each other, looking surprised and interested, before turning back to him. Nikolas shook his head, smiling. He turned to Draco and said, in English, "Draco, this is Damek Breton."
He gestured to the first boy, who replied with a nod,
"And this is Ivan Ambrus."
Damek stared at Draco coolly, before saying, "Hello."
Ivan gave him the once over, taking in the sight of his light clothing.
"You are not cold?" he asked in heavily accented English.
"No. Why, should I be? Just because you are?" replied Draco snidely, in perfectly articulate Bulgarian.
Damek and Nikolas exchanged looks, snickering.
"Let's go," said Nikolas, still shaking his head. "Everyone's starting to board the ships. He looked at Draco.
"You might not be cold," he smirked, "but I am."
He turned around, and the four of them quickly made their way up the gangplank to the nearest of the six ships, heading for Durmstrang.
"So Draco, tell me…" began Ivan, "Why did you transfer to Durmstrang?"
Draco paused, remembering his father's advice on being cautious. Despite the fact he was now going to a school where students specifically transferred to study the dark arts, bragging about being a future servant for Voldemort didn't seem to be the smartest move. Placing his arm on the back of his chair, he rested his head on his fist and with a casual wave of his hand, he replied, "Because of the weather."
Draco gestured outside, where it was dark from the fog blocking everything out of sight. Damek started laughing, while Ivan and Nikolas smirked. It turned out that, Ivan and Damek had both come from very respectable and wealthy wizarding families. Of course, seeing as Draco was 'a Malfoy,' they immediately took a liking to him. Draco knew this was based solely on his family's reputation, but he wasn't surprised. He did that sort of thing all the time. The four of them were sitting in four large chairs arranged in a circle, on the first level of the ship. The ship looked like it had recently been remodeled, as the deck they were on now had new furniture and the dark wooden walls of the ship were still glossy from the varnish. Draco had also heard from Damek, that the sleeping quarters on the lower deck had been done up as well. Apparently ever since Professor Karkaroff, the old headmaster, had disappeared two years ago, Durmstrang had improved quite a bit. 'Well, it can't be any worse than Hogwarts,' thought Draco. He brought his attention back to the other three boys, who were talking amongst themselves.
"Hey… where's Gunnar?" asked Damek.
Nikolas shrugged. "He's probably on another ship."
Ivan snorted. "Da, with that idiot Breuning."
Draco suddenly became very interested in the conversation. The Breuning's were one of the most esteemed wizarding families in all of Europe. Draco had never met any of them, but he had heard his father speak quite highly of them, which rarely ever occurred.
"Breuning?" asked Draco.
Ivan nodded.
"Da, with Gunnar Eszes," he said, rolling his eyes.
Draco immediately recognized the name Eszes, another wizarding family of great fortune, with a well-regarded family lineage. Nikolas suddenly started laughing.
"Don't get all worked up over Breuning. Just because you two don't get along."
Ivan scowled.
"That's putting it lightly."
Damek was laughing as well. "Da, remember the last day of school?"
Damek turned to Draco and told him how 'someone' had mysteriously snuck into Ivan's dormitory and hexed him, so that he was permanently attached to his bed. The whole morning, people had been telling him to 'stop being lazy and get out of bed.' It was only until Ivan had started screaming and threatening to use the 'Unforgivables' on anyone who didn't help him that people realized he was stuck. It took a couple of professors to detach him, and that took a while, seeing as how struggling only made the curse stronger, and Ivan had been thrashing about for a few hours. He had ended up missing the ship back, and his father, who had to come by to pick him up, was not at all impressed. Draco couldn't help smirking.
"Shutup. It's not funny," said Ivan, his voice scolding.
Nikolas rolled his eyes, then looked over at Draco. Both of them exchanged mocking grins, before seeing Ivan staring daggers at them.
They had been on the ship for about an hour, when Nikolas glanced out one of the portholes of the ship.
"We're almost there," he turned back to Draco, "You better get changed."
Draco looked outside the window, where he could still see nothing but fog. However, even though they were inside, Draco could still felt the cold air through his thick cloak. He nodded, and got up from his chair.
"We'll meet you on the upper deck," said Nikolas.
"All right," said Draco, before turning and walking away.
He walked down to the deck below, where he managed to find a small empty room with a lock on the door. Inside, he quickly pulled out his wand and summoned his robes.
"Accio robes," he called, and soon his large, dark fur robes appeared.
As soon as he put them on, he felt immediately warmer. For a moment, he couldn't help admiring how well made they were, with very fine long fur and thick black lining. The hood of his robe had the same black lining, and came down just above his eyes. Using a returning charm, he quickly got rid of his cloak and made his way up to the upper deck to rejoin the others. As soon as Draco stepped out into the open air, he was immediately hit by a sharp gust of wind. Pulling his robe tighter, he started to walk around the deck, looking for the other three boys. He had almost walked around the whole deck, where he had gotten a few appreciative smiles from some girls, until he found the rest of them on the stern side of the ship. Ivan and Nikolas were casually leaning against the railing, while Damek was sitting up on top of it.
"Hey," said Damek, as Draco joined them. Just then a group of girls around Draco's age, walked past. Ivan and Damek didn't seem to notice, until one of the girls said, "Hey Nikolas."
Nikolas bowed his head slightly.
"Hello."
Draco glanced over his shoulder to look at whom he was talking to. A girl, who had dark brown hair with honey-coloured highlights and pretty hazel eyes, was looking at Nikolas, before she saw Draco. She smiled shyly, from behind her hair falling slightly over her eyes. Draco inwardly frowned. There was something about this girl he didn't like. He quickly turned back towards the other boys, where Ivan and Damek were looking at Nikolas and shaking their heads in disapproval.
Nikolas shrugged innocently as if to say, "What?"
"Honestly, Nikolas," said Damek. " You shouldn't encourage them."
Draco watched as Nikolas scowled and swallowed hard. Folding his arms, he looked away from the rest of the boys and out to the horizon.
Draco stepped towards Ivan and quietly asked, "What's that all about?"
Ivan shook his head again, folding his arms. "There are certain… people we tend to avoid at Durmstrang. That girl is one of them."
Draco was going to ask him to elaborate, when Ivan tilted his head, looking at the middle of the fog.
"A few more minutes 'till Durmstrang," he said.
Ivan turned back to Draco, giving him the once over before saying, "I think she's taking a liking to you, however."
He was referring to the way that girl was looking at him. Draco wasn't blind. He'd had girls flirt with him a lot, Pansy especially, so he knew when a girl was interested.
Draco turned to Nikolas, who glanced at Draco for a second, before looking away again.
"I realised. Unfortunately." said Draco, boredly.
Ivan sniggered, and then looked back out into the fog, "Durmstrang's coming into view."
Draco furrowed his brow in confusion, and stared ahead. All he could see was fog and lake. The mountains were still very far away… suddenly Draco caught a glimpse of something through the mist.
"What…?" he said softly. Slowly, something was emerging through the cloudy haze. As the ship continued to move forward, the fog started to disappear and Draco could clearly see a large stone castle… that was magically floating on the surface of the icy lake. The addition of the mountains sitting far behind the castle would've created a picturesque scene, if the school didn't look so menacing.
"Not bad hmm?" said Ivan.
Draco looked at him. He shrugged, acting indifferent, before turning around again. By now, the fog had completely disappeared, and Draco could see the castle of Durmstrang more clearly. The castle looked like it was made up of a very dark shiny stone, possibly obsidian, which under normal circumstances would have sunk to the bottom of the lake. It was smaller than Hogwarts, but then again, that was built on solid ground. No wonder almost nobody knew where Durmstrang was, they were all probably looking someplace on land. Up ahead, Draco saw a large wooden dock, where ships were coming in and hundreds of students were making their way up to the castle. It was not long before Draco's ship had docked, and he soon found himself walking along the dock with the others, up to the castle.
The great wooden doors at the entrance had been pushed open, and as he walked through, Draco saw that when put together, a large engraved D, (with Latin written underneath,) was formed. The interior of Durmstrang was very dark, lit only with a few candles hung up on the walls, widely spaced out from each other. Up ahead, Draco saw students moving into what had to be Durmstrang's great hall. As he drew closer, Draco saw two large staircases on either side of the hall. Where they led, Draco couldn't tell. He could barely see what was in front of him.
Upon entering the hall, Draco noticed that, it too, was also different from Hogwarts. The staff table was still at the front of the hall, but the student's tables were arranged differently. Instead of four long tables, there were countless smaller ones in two main columns, lined up in rows along the hall.
As the four boys made their way up to a table somewhere in the middle, a lot of people greeted Nikolas, Ivan and Damek. Draco noticed many of the same people stare at him, lowering their voices and asking about who he was. As they sat down, Ivan glanced around the room.
"Dammit, Breuning isn't here."
Nikolas rolled his eyes.
"You know that Breuning and Eszes never attend the start of term assembly."
Ivan snorted, but didn't say anything. Shortly afterwards, the entire hall rose from their seats and the headmaster came in from a side door, followed by the members of the faculty. The headmaster looked to be around 50 years old, with dark eyes covered in bushy eyebrows, and short black hair that matched his dark robes perfectly. Lucius had informed Draco that Durmstrang's new headmaster was Professor Vertov, an old acquaintance of his. Having heard this, Draco wasn't exactly expecting him to be a 'Dumbledore.'
Professor Vertov gestured for everyone to sit down, which they did, in complete silence. Vertov scanned the room slowly before beginning.
"Welcome," he said, in a voice that completely contradicted that statement.
"We are at the beginning of a new school year. For those of you returning to Durmstrang…" he stopped for a moment, again looking around the room before speaking in that cold steely voice,
"You know what is expected of you… and what will happen if you fail to meet those expectations."
Draco glanced at Nikolas, Damek and Ivan, who all rolled their eyes and made mocking "blah, blah, blah" gestures with their hands.
"For those of you who are starting this year and do not know what is expected… you will quickly learn."
Again, he paused, before saying,
"Cito fit quod dei valunt."
Draco recalled the Latin writing on the main entrance. Based on his knowledge of the language, he roughly translated it in his head.
"Cito fit quod dei valunt… What the gods want, happens soon…"
It was Durmstrang's motto. No wonder his father favoured it over Hogwarts. His attention was brought back to the front of the hall, where Professor Vertov loudly clapped his hands once, and food magically appeared on the table in front of them. Draco shook his head, reminded of meals at Hogwarts. Some things never change.
After they had finished dinner, Draco and the others were just about to make their way over to the dorms. Unlike Draco's former school, Durmstrang did not have a house system. So instead of being sorted and put into houses with their own dormitories, the students were split up by gender and age, into small classes. There were only three 6th year classes this year. Draco didn't know which one he was in yet, he'd know tomorrow. Recently, the dormitories had been rebuilt, and were now floating on the lake, separated from the castle. They left the great hall, and to the right, just a bit before the staircase, was a long corridor that Draco failed to notice last time. They were just about to set off down the hall, when somebody called out from the staircase on the right.
"Hey."
Draco watched as someone slowly descended from the stairs.
"Hello Gunnar," said Nikolas. Draco gave him the once over. His eyes were dark blue, and he had short golden brown hair with the kind of chiseled face that most girls liked to stare at for hours. He was tall and his muscular build made his fur robes look awkward on him, although he seemed like the kind of guy that could easily endure extremely cold weather without them.
'And eats his meat raw,' thought Draco. Ivan looked at Gunnar, then behind him and then back to Gunnar again.
"Where's Breuning?" he said, his voice dripping with contempt.
Gunnar smirked. " Are you still mad about last year?"
Ivan scowled, "How would you like it if that happened to you?!! I was stuck there for hours, my father was so angry…"
"It's in the past."
Draco and the others all turned their heads up to see someone standing in the middle of the staircase. A girl. Her hair was long, falling past the shoulders of her fur robes and curling softly at the ends; in the dim lighting it looked as though her hair was light brown, though it was probably some shade of blonde. Her pale green eyes looked distant, adding to her general impression of aloofness. She made her way down the stairs and over to Ivan, where she stood just above his shoulders.
"Get over it," she said nonchalantly.
All of a sudden, she turned and looked at Draco. Her eyes moved up and down, scanning him from head to toe before turning to Nikolas, eyebrows raised enquiringly. Nikolas gestured to Draco,
"Eszes, Breuning, this is Draco Malfoy. Malfoy… Elisabet Breuning."
Gunnar nodded, while Elisabet observed Draco again, with more interest.
"Malfoy?"
"Breuning," said Draco.
Elisabet stared at him, contemplative. The next words she spoke were in English.
"Bulgaria's a long way from England… Malfoy."
He had to give it to her; the girl knew her stuff.
"Yes. It is," replied Draco, not missing a beat.
Elisabet smirked, before Gunnar interrupted.
"What are you two talking about?" he asked, in Bulgarian.
Elisabet turned her head slightly towards Gunnar, before looking back at Draco. She didn't say anything. Draco watched Gunnar as slipped an arm around her waist. Elisabet remained perfectly still, but Draco could tell from her eyes she was aware of everything going on around her.
Gunnar smiled at her, before leaning his forehead on top of her head. She still didn't move. Gunnar looked up at the other boys.
"I'll see you later," he said to Ivan, Nikolas and Damek, before turning to Draco.
"Malfoy."
"Eszes."
Elisabet broke off her gaze from Draco, as Gunnar and her started to leave.
"Bye Breuning," said Damek. Elisabet glanced at him, and then continued to walk down the hallways.
Ivan scowled as Gunnar and Elisabet walked off together.
"That Breuning… is so… gargh!" he spat.
Draco smirked.
"My, my, Ivan. You certainly have a way with words."
Ivan shot a look of daggers at him. Draco just folded his arms casually in reply. Ivan let out another yell of frustration.
"I hate that girl. I hate her!"
Damek laughed.
"I'd like to see you tell her that!"
Ivan glared at Damek. "You think I'm afraid of her?"
"No," said Nikolas, "but we all know that you won't cross Gunnar. And as long as she's his girlfriend, you won't do anything to her."
Ivan was fuming, but he remained silent.
"Come on," said Nikolas, "Let's go to bed. That is…" he paused to look at Ivan, "If you're not too scared."
Draco couldn't help grinning, as Ivan began to storm off towards the dormitories, leaving the rest of them to follow him.
AN: A bit of story, a bit of buildup. This is just my idea of Durmstrang. I have no idea what J.K's image of it is like. Lots of Original Characters I know. I'm not a big fan of them myself. But there will be cameos from the other characters in upcoming chapters.