- Chapter Thirteen -

Sturm und Drang

At dawn on the twenty-fifth of December, when Harry and Ginny entered the living room with a packed rucksack, wrapped in a warm coat and thick scarf, the portkeys – a tattered toilet seat – was waiting for them. They both couldn't wait for the clock to strike seven when the portkey would start, for Mrs Weasley was constantly hustling around them.

'Always dress properly when you go out because it gets very cold. Ginny, always have your gloves on, you know how your fingers always turn blue in winter...'

'Is Fleur not coming with us?' Ginny asked, cutting her mother off.

'She'll be leaving from the Shell Cottage a few minutes after you,' replied Mr Weasley.

Harry knew that Fleur was one of the invited guests who didn't appear the Durmstrang director had hinted at in the Daily Prophet, as she did not want to be separated from her newborn daughter for even a moment.

'Bill persuaded her to go to the ball,' the wizard informed them. Mrs Weasley continued to worry:

'Take good care of yourselves! Wherever you go outside the ball, wear your invisibility cloak!'

'Don't be afraid, Mrs Weasley,' said Harry kindly, 'We've basically lived underneath it in Hogwarts. I'm not out of practice yet.'

Both Ron and Hermione got up, and Percy had already left the day before for Durmstrang from the Ministry as one of the organisers of Tournament.

Ron yawned profusely, and Hermione blinked sleepily over her morning coffee at Harry and Ginny. Only Mrs Weasley didn't look sleepy.

'Harry, make sure she eats properly and doesn't walk around barefoot, or she'll get a cold...'

'Mom!', Ginny said, 'Thanks for always talking about me like I'm not even here!'

'All right, Molly,' said Mr Weasley soothingly, and putting his hand on his shoulder, he pulled Harry aside. 'I'd like a word with you in private.'

They moved to the other end of the kitchen, where Mr Weasley turned to him confidentially.

'Harry, I want you to be very careful. The Durmstrang is not the safest place for you, there are many followers of Voldemort there. Do your reconnaissance, find out all you can about the teachers, but don't overdo it. And keep an eye on my daughter.' The wizard blinked at Ginny. 'She can be a bit hot-headed sometimes... So look after her, will you?' He waited for Harry to nod, then patted him on the shoulder. 'And be careful...'

'I'm not a child, Mr Weasley,' Harry looked at him with some reproach. The man nodded gravely.

'I know,' he said. 'That's exactly why I'm saying this.'

'What?', said Harry, bewildered.

'You used to be more careful,' Mr Weasley explained, shaking his head. 'Back in the old days... when you were afraid.'

Harry just gaped like a fish. He hadn't expected such a sudden, open assault. He was so surprised he forgot to protest, not that Mr Weasley had given him the opportunity.

'It's time to go,' he said hurriedly, and motioned Harry to the portkey, who obeyed without a word. He was still thinking about the phrase, "back in the old days... when you were afraid.'

Both Ron and Hermione hugged them, and Harry felt as if they were travelling not for two days, but for a whole decade.

'Have fun!' Ron said with a thumbs up.

'While you're away, we'll visit Professor Dumbledore's portrait,' Hermione added. 'When you're back we'll tell all about it!'

The day before, they had discussed in the smallest room that it would be worthwhile to find out as much as possible about the mysterious Fourth Tower and its possible black sorcerer members, and the most obvious solution for that was the portrait of the old headmaster at Hogwarts.

Harry stood next to Ginny and took the portkey. Before they were out of the room, he looked up at Mr Weasley.

'I promise I won't do anything rash,' said Harry, with a sudden impulse. 'You're right, Mr Weasley: sometimes a little fear is good.'

'We'll be careful, Dad,' Ginny nodded.

'I dare hope so...' he sighed, then stepped back as the toilet seat began to vibrate.

The next moment, Harry felt the wild jolt around his belly button, and with it the living room of the Burrow disappeared from his sight, only to see Ginny flying past him in the black void, longer than ever before, farther than he had ever been before in his life.

The whirling journey through the magical vortex of the portkey lasted almost five minutes, though Harry couldn't check his watch because his hand was glued to the toilet seat, which flickered, glowed and spun with them.

Never before has he had the opportunity to observe a trip with a portkey in such detail – previous occasions have always lasted only seconds. It was as if they were flying inside a wild tornado, but you couldn't tell whether they were going up or down – the concept of up and down was meaningless because they were nowhere. Streaks of light flew past them, tiny stars twinkled inside the vortex like tiny bugs.

They came down harder than usual, their legs buckling under them and they sprawled on the cold stone. Ginny cursed softly. Harry hadn't shaken the aching pain from his hand when a familiar voice rang out above his head.

'Look who the vind blew in!'

Harry looked up and saw the outline of a thick-browed, slightly scowling, black-haired wizard.

'Hi, Viktor,' Harry said, and groaned as he got up.

They were welcomed by Viktor Krum, the famous Bulgarian chaser of the Vratsa Vultures. He obligingly helped Ginny up, kissed her from right to left and then shook Harry's hand.

'So you are be the big, djealous boyfriend?' he asked with a smile.

'What?' blinked Harry, puzzled.

Krum laughed, and Harry and Ginny looked at each other; neither of them had ever seen the boy so happy. They were not in a very good mood, especially as they were freezing in the cold. Harry, despite his thick coat and scarf, was shivering, as was Ginny; he put his arm around her shoulders and held her close to him, while they watched in dismay as Krum stood beside them in a knitted sweater and a light robe, seemingly having a great time.

Harry looked around. It was night, the stars were shining in the sky, and all around them tall pine trees stood still in the windless frost, their branches thick with snow. They were in an icy, slippery clearing in a forest, and the only source of light was a lamp fixed to an ornately carved wooden pole, in which an everlasting candle burned. Apart from the three of them, there was no one else in the small field.

'Where are we, Viktor?' Ginny asked, pulling her coat tighter around her.

'Not far from Durmstrang,' Krum replied, with a slightly crackling accent, but Harry couldn't help but wonder how much his language skills had improved. 'Ve can leave in a minute, but let's wait for Fleur, she'll be here soon...' Then he looked at Harry. 'Long time no see.'

Harry forced himself to smile, as his muscles seemed about to freeze in the cold.

'Not as long ago as you think,' he said shakily. 'Remember the red-haired boy at the wedding who asked you about Gregorovich?'

Krum's thick eyebrows were visibly raised.

'Vas that you?'

Harry nodded, and Krum laughed again, his breath billowing into the air like little puffs of steam, as if he were spewing smoke.

'You've done a wonderful thing,' he said again, stopped laughing, but the mirth never left his face.

'I wasn't alone,' Harry replied, glancing at Ginny, 'Many of us had to sacrifice a lot for it.'

Krum nodded, but said nothing. Harry squirmed a little uncomfortably beside him, and Ginny just hummed to herself in the cold, turning her head to look at the black nothingness around them.

After what seemed like hours (Harry glanced at his watch every few minutes), another portkey flashed, and the silver-haired, reed-thin Fleur appeared in the exact same place they had arrived. Krum and the girl greeted each other happily with a hug and two kisses, and the wizard obligingly took Fleur's luggage, which, Harry was sure, contained the heaviest make-up kit, nail varnish bottles and lipsticks.

Fleur and Krum immediately struck up a conversation, and Ginny and Harry followed them, shivering, down the small path into the thicket of pine trees. Harry sincerely hoped they hadn't arrived in the Durmstrang's equivalent of the Forbidden Forest, with forest trolls, giants and who knew what other unknown monsters of the North instead of spiders and werewolves. Harry was just now thinking that perhaps he shouldn't have dropped Hagrid's care of magical creatures classes.

'You didn't come to the first task,' said Krum, as he marched steadily at the front of the queue. There was no reproach in his voice. 'There are a lot of things I vould have loved to show you. It's too dark now... In summer the view of the sea is very beautiful, but in winter you can only see the rocks and hear the sound of the sea...'

'Will it be this dark all day?' Fleur whined.

'No,' Krum replied immediately. 'But it von't be very light either. You can barely see the sun on the horizon... It's alvayz dark in the northern rooms, and you need to have the lights on.'

'How wonderful...' Ginny murmured, barely audible, but Krum heard her and smiled.

'It's quite depressing at first,' the wizard nodded. 'When I came here to Durmstrang at the age of ileven, the first vinter vas very bad. But you get used to it...'

Harry remembered that Krum had once told him that fire was only used for magic in Durmstrang, and the memory of the Bulgarian boy swimming in the freezing lake of Hogwarts to prepare for the second task was vivid in his mind. He sincerely hoped that he would not have to experience the cold-worship of the northern people first hand.

They came out into another clearing, barely bigger than the one they had arrived in with the portkey. The trees here were in an almost perfect circle, and large black shadows rose on either side of the path. Harry stopped, and so did Fleur and Ginny.

'Viktor...' said Ginny quietly. 'What is this place?'

Krum slowed his pace and stopped in the middle of the clearing. Harry held up his wand to illuminate as much of the area as possible. The rays of the flickering blue flame fell on carved, round stones, half buried in snow, but still it was clear that there was writing on each.

Harry swallowed; that was how he had inscribed the inscription on Dobby's tombstone next to the Shell Cottage, an eternal memorial to the house elf who had saved his life. He knew where they were – the rocks marked a graveyard.

'Here...' the wizard pointed around, 'Dumbledore defeated the evil Grindelwald.'

Harry and Ginny opened their mouths, Fleur only raised her arched eyebrows in interest.

'This is where he lost the duel,' he continued. 'Some of his strongest servants died here as vell. You see?' Krum flicked his wand, and a small wave of heat swept across the field before them, melting the snow. 'Since then nothing grows here.'

Even in the darkness of the night, Harry and the girls could see the black earth, on which not a single blade of grass grew, which should have remained despite the snow.

'This is where my grandfather died,' Krum turned towards the rocks to the right of the path. 'He fought against him. As long as he could.'

He waved the wand again, and the snow and grit melted off one of them, revealing the names carved on it.

'Here he is, you see?' he pointed to the stone in the middle.

Harry spelled out the name (Todorov Krum), then looked at the others, but did not discover any familiar ones. Some of the victims' names were written in characters he didn't recognise, one of which he discovered was Chinese, but there were also Cyrillic letters. Harry was surprised: had so many people been involved in breaking up the empire of Grindelwald? As it turned out, Ginny had the same thought:

'How many countries they came from!' she said. 'When we fought Voldemort, we were on our own.'

'Yeah,' Harry muttered. 'Only the French were represented, weren't they?' he looked up into Fleur's face.

She flashed her ice-melting, dazzling smile. Harry saw Krum's face, on the other hand, darken slightly.

'Unfortunately, our country did not support your fight,' he muttered darkly.

Harry thought it better to leave it at that. He stood up with Ginny and turned to the other stones.

'Do you mind if we 'ave a look around?' Fleur asked.

Krum shook his head and conjured a stronger light with his wand, by which time the rest of the snow had melted from the stones, running in thin streams of water down the convex surface. The three guests wondered through rows, looking at the names, making out the readable ones.

'Mag-da-lena Grin-del-wald...' Fleur spelled, and then turned to Krum with a questioning look. 'What is a Grindelwald doing 'ere? I thought these stones were erected for his enemies?'

Both Harry and Ginny stared at the inscribed name.

'Some of his family members turned against him,' came the reply. 'Magdalena vas his vife. She sacrificed her life so that her husband may fail.'

Harry heard Ginny's breath catch.

He turned to another stone, but before the light of his wand could shine on the cold rock, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his right hand.

He cried out and dropped his wand.

'Harry, what happened?' Ginny and Fleur ran up to him.

The sudden pain passed as soon as it came, and Harry stared at the back of his hand, stunned.

'What happened?' Fleur asked again with a worried look. ' 'Arry?'

Harry now stared at his wand lying on the barren ground. A crazy thought occurred to him: he was sure that the pain was coming from his wand. It was as if he got electrocuted... It reminded him of the time when, as a child, he had carelessly touched the bare wire sticking out of Uncle Vernon's old radio.

'Are you OK?' Krum joined in the line of questioners, looking at him with frowned eyebrows that, if Harry didn't know him, would have made him take two steps back.

'Well... yeah,' he finally replied.

'You don't look it!' Ginny said, and Harry could see genuine fear light up in her eyes.

'My hand just started to hurt. It must be because of Umbridge,' he lied.

He knew for a fact that it was not the inscription on the back of his hand that hurt, especially because it never hurt him, at most it only tingled and ached. But this felt like a lightning strike that made his fingers twitch.

'Umbrijje?' Fleur looked at him, puzzled. 'What is an umbrijje?'

Harry finally lowered his hand, and at Fleur's questioning, Ginny explained the story of the former Chief Inspector's "handprint".

'This Umbridge voman reminds me of our headmaster,' Krum remarked, frowning. Harry thought he already missed the laughing, jovial Viktor Krum.

'Let's keep going, shall we?' he suggested quickly, to distract them. 'It's very cold.'

Under the gaze of Ginny and Fleur, he bent down to pick up his wand, but Krum apparently find the little interlude too relevant, just grumbled and continued along the path.

'I'm fine,' Harry reassured the two girls, who continued to look at him with frightened expressions.

But that was also a lie. His hand was perfectly fine, and his wand had not shaken again, but he could not suppress his concern. Visions, sudden pain, mysterious hooded figures, murders... It all started like this a long time ago.

He started down the road after Krum, not looking back at the two girls, so that they would finally move, not just stare. He didn't blame them, he was scared too. Here they were, in the middle of a dark forest, near a school presumably full of black sorcerers, and maybe he was also here. Marius, the blue-skinned man. Maybe he was lurking right here, looking for someone, here at Durmstrang... But who could it be?

He watched the swaying red cloak of the wizard ahead of him as he followed him down the winding path. Ginny and Fleur's huffing told him they were right behind him. He did not think that Viktor Krum had anything to do with the inner circle. He simply couldn't imagine the boy who invited the beaver-toothed, badger-haired Hermione Granger to the ball as a black sorcerer.

People change, a wise little voice whispered in his head, reminding him of the old Dumbledore.

But he would not... Krum's not like that.

Slowly, the trees began to thin as they descended a gentle slope towards a valley, and Harry could see the lights of a large building.

'We're almost there,' Krum announced, looking over his shoulder.

The trees faded, they emerged from the dense forest and saw the Durmstrang Academy. Harry was stunned.

Most of the school was a wooden structure, made of carefully crafted, incredibly massive and ancient carved wooden beams. It was a single large tower, ten to fifteen stories high, each window sparkling like a star in the black night.

It was nowhere near the size of Hogwarts, yet as they proceeded on the beaten path towards the school, Harry had a growing sense that he was heading for something gigantic. The building was surrounded by magic, the air around it almost sparkling, the figures carved into the old wood – which Harry could only now make out – seemed to move. Bears, wolves, ravens, giants were carved into the beams; they were still, and yet at the same time they seemed alive, as if they were following the passers-by beneath them with their carved eyes.

'Amazing...' whispered Ginny in admiration, and Harry had to agree with her.

He had never really thought about what Durmstrang would look like, but he would never have expected such an impressive building. Although the school was no match for Hogwarts, Harry had to admit that if he had spent seven years here, he would probably think Durmstrang was more fantastic than anything else.

Only the foundation was built of stone, and here a huge entrance door like that of Hogwarts opened, towards which the four of them were now heading. The soft whir of their footsteps gave way to a dull thud as they reached the pathway cleared from the snowy, muddy path, and the tower loomed over them, as if about to fall upon them. Only now did Harry detect a certain menace in the lines of the imposing building, as if to say to the intruder, "Come and be my guest for dinner, but if you're not careful you could end up as the main course..."

Krum was in the lead and when they approached the huge double doors opened of their own accord without making the slightest creaking sound. The door itself was full of carvings, ancient runes that Harry couldn't understand, but he was sure Hermione could have.

'Sturm und Drang,' Ginny whispered.

'What?', Harry looked at her.

The girl pointed a cold-blue finger at one of the wings of the door.

'The runes,' she said. 'Storm and stress.'

'What a confidence booster...' Harry muttered.

Inside, unlike Hogwarts, was a narrow corridor with a high, vaulted ceiling. Ironed doors opened in the walls to right and left, reminding Harry of a cold prison. Krum slowed his pace and took on the role of tour guide:

'This is the oldest part of the school,' he explained. 'The founders built a deep cellar here. Many parts of the cellar have collapsed, but ve know that even far from here there are some parts below the ground.'

Meanwhile, at the end of the corridor, they came to an almost circular hall, the ceiling of which was made up of an intricate system of wooden beams, hard to make out from the masses of mistletoe and red-ribboned pine branches that decorated it. In the centre of the room stood a large bonfire, in which a red fire burned, which, however, didn't emit smoke.

'Who founded the school?' Ginny asked in a chatty voice. Krum shrugged.

'We don't know, their names are not listed. It vas founded by members of the vizard chancellery at the time, perhaps eight hundred years ago.'

In the meantime, they circled the huge bonfire by which a few students stood throwing dried leaves into the fire. They wore red fur-lined robes almost in harmony with the flames, with shiny black boots. They all stared at the guests as they passed, one of them even opening his mouth as his gaze slid to Harry's forehead.

'Professor Ulatov is here,' said Krum, as a small, flushed-faced old woman hurried towards them from the staircase at the far end of the hall, with youthful vigour.

Krum stopped, and so did Ginny, Fleur and Harry. As the old woman approached, she spread her arms wide, a broad smile on her face as if she wanted to embrace the entire hall.

'They have finally arrived!' she greeted them from afar. 'Did you have a good journey?'

Harry thought it was a slightly odd question, given that it hadn't lasted more than five minutes.

'Yeah, just long,' Ginny said, smiling back at the witch.

Harry raised an eyebrow; to him the answer sounded even more stupid than the question.

'I'm Ursula Ulatov, the deputy director,' the old woman introduced herself, shaking hands with Fleur and Ginny in turn. 'Who may you be, Miss?'

'Ginevra Weasley.'

'Very nice to meet you. Mr Harry Potter? Guten Tag!'

'Uh... hello,' Harry muttered uncertainly, and he shook her hand. Despite her small stature, she had a rather strong grip, he thought.

She wore a baggy Russian-neck shirt in dark green, and dark red trousers with a similarly baggy leg, and what looked like comfortable slippers instead of boots. She wore her white hair in a tight bun, and her whole appearance reminded Harry of McGonagall's shorter, older sister.

'On behalf of the Director and all the inhabitants of Durmstrang, I sincerely welcome you!' she said cordially. 'I hope you will enjoy your stay with us... Er... I understand that Viktor has not yet shown you your accommodation?'

'We were just on our way, Professor,' Krum replied politely, and Harry could see by the look on his face that Ulatov was probably one of his favourite teachers.

'Viktor is such a nice boy, he's agreed to guide you around,' the witch smiled, patting Krum's arm, who was two heads taller than her.

'It's nothing, Professor.'

'Ha!' she waved her hand. 'He still calls me professor, even though he's no longer a student...'

'You speak such good English, Madame Ulatof,' Fleur said kindly.

'I've had the pleasure of visiting the kingdom a few times,' the professor said, brushing off the praise. 'And please, call me Ursula or Ula...' and then she glanced at her pocket watch. 'I'm terribly sorry, but I must hurry, I have to meet Minerva McGonagall, I'll tell her you've arrived.'

Then she turned to Harry once more.

'Pleasure to meet you, Mr Potter.'

'Pleased to meet you too, Madame Ula,' Harry replied politely, and followed Krum and the girls up the stairs from where the witch had come.

It seemed to Harry that every nook and cranny of the school, every exposed surface, was decorated with carvings, each depicting noble animals, magical creatures, hunting scenes and battles. A spiral staircase led upwards around a column that looked like the barky trunk of an oak tree.

When they reached the eight floor, they came to a corridor circling the inside of the tower, with a similarly high ceiling, but here the floor and walls were made of wood, and their footsteps tapped softly on the parquet floor. There were no windows, the glass globes floating under the ceiling glowed like a multitude of bright stars. Doors opened on either side, and Krum informed them that the bedrooms began here, the classrooms all on the lower floors.

Doors were slamming constantly, some rooms were wide open, music blaring in one or two of them, children shouting coming from others, and the sound of wand puffs from a few places.

Three flushed-faced students ran past them, excitedly babbling something to each other that Harry couldn't understand.

'So tell us, Viktor,' Ginny tapped the wizard on the shoulder. 'Why does everyone here speak German? I thought Igor Karkaroff was Russian.'

'He vas Lithuanian, actually,' Krum replied, 'but the school vas founded by German-Roman vizards. It originally taught students in Latin. But in the 17th century it vas changed to German.'

Harry couldn't help but wonder how well Krum knew the history of his school. Reflecting on it more, he, too, knew Hogwarts as well as anyone, perhaps better than most, given that he had spent half his childhood wandering every hidden corner of the school under his invisibility cloak, along with Ron and Hermione. Although he didn't imagine Viktor Krum as a boy who would have enjoyed forbidden nocturnal prowling, but rather as someone who spent every spare hour either hunched over some books in the library or on the Quidditch pitch.

'And what about those who don't speak German?' Ginny asked.

'They learn,' Krum answered simply, 'or they go elsewhere.'

They were faced by students, all wearing red robes, none of them in ordinary wizard's attire or even Muggle clothes, though there were certainly no classes on Christmas Day at Durmstrang.

Harry quickly turned his face away to avoid being stared at, but then his eyes fell on the wall. He paused and gaped at the huge triangular sign, the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, which Harry knew had been placed there by Gellert Grindelwald himself.

Krum noticed that Harry had fallen behind and told the girls to wait for them. He stepped up beside Harry and looked at the sign with a dark expression.

'This is what I told you about at the wedding,' he muttered under his breath. 'It's his sign.'

'Ehm...' Harry cleared his throat. 'The truth is, no it's not.'

Krum turned to him with an unchanged scowl.

'What do you mean?' he furrowed his thick eyebrows.

'This is the Deathly...'

Then someone bumped him hard on the shoulder, knocking him over. Harry fell, and involuntarily groaned as his wrist twisted underneath him, sending a numbing pain through his entire arm.

'Was ist, Potter?' said a mocking, drawling voice, at the sound of which Harry for a moment expected Malfoy, but when he looked up he saw standing over him a tall, strong, haughty-faced boy, who must have been about sixteen or seventeen, and yet a much bigger than himself. He wore a red durmstrang robe, as did his three companions, who stood behind him, laughing.

'Dark glasses, eh, Potter?' the boy looked down at him. 'Der blinde Held...'

Krum whipped out his wand, but the Durmstrang foursome laughed and moved on before anything else happened.

The wizard cursed in Bulgarian as he helped Harry up off the ground. The two girls finally ran back to them.

'What happened?' asked Fleur, a little frightened, but Ginny had the wand in her hand.

'Has someone tried to pick a fight with you?' she asked in a challenging tone, raising her wand.

Harry smiled and pushed her hand down, turning it away from the walking students who were looking at them with distrustful eyes.

'Nothing serious, I just fell,' Harry tried to smooth things over, but looking at Krum's face he could see that the little interlude was unlikely to be an isolated, one-off event.

'Forgive me,' the wizard shook his head. 'I should have told you that not everyone velcomes you here. Let's move on quickly...'

Harry and Ginny shared his opinion, as more and more people pointed at them, but Fleur made a face as if she hadn't witnessed a little teasing, but had seen Harry being impaled with a sword. Krum took the girl's arm, who looked at the Durmstrang pupils with slightly frightened eyes, and pulled her along with gentle violence.

'Don't worry, you'll be fine,' Krum tried to save the prestige of his school, but in Harry's mind it added to the thousands of dark things he'd heard about Durmstrang: when Draco Malfoy told his friends that his father had wanted him to study there first, the disgusted look on Hermione's face when he spoke of the excessive attention paid to black magic, or when it was revealed that Igor Karkaroff wore the mark of Voldemort on his arm.

Krum accompanied them to rooms ten and nine, opened the door and handed them the keys.

'I'll wait for you out here while you change and you unpack,' he said, 'and then I'll take you down to breakfast.'

Harry and Ginny took room nine and Fleur room ten. Harry had a suspicion that Krum wouldn't want to leave them alone for a moment after what had just happened, and it would be difficult to find out anything about Marius' possible target. To tell the truth – Harry thought, as he unpacked his bag – every other person he saw could have been a member of the inner circle, with cursed objects in their trouser, jacket and shirt pockets. Ginny, too, had changed into a more comfortable robe, and he stuffed his invisibility cloak into his pocket, placing his newly purchased sneakoscope on the bedside table – the device spun and flickered constantly, more wildly than Harry had ever seen it.

They were quickly ready, and joined Krum in the corridor, who was strutting about with one hand hidden behind his robes like some kind of martial bodyguard, making grim faces at all passersby. Only for Fleur they had to wait, who took half an hour until she had finished changing, putting on her make-up and combing her hair, but the long preparation had paid off – the blonde girl was stunningly beautiful despite her simple grey robes. There was no inhabitant of Durmstrang who didn't freeze at the sight of her and Harry was glad to be in someone's 'shadow' at last. Fleur, however, looked at no-one, her pretty head bowed as she walked alongside Krum – still frightened, no doubt, by what had happened.

Harry thought this excessive fear was silly, but he remembered Mr Weasley's warning, 'You used to be more careful, back in the old days... when you were afraid.'

He can't complain though, Harry thought. He had his invisibility cloak at hand, as well as the spare wand he'd once snatched from Draco Malfoy, and never got around to giving it back to him. He and Ginny both had extendable ears and decoy detonators. They were as prepared as if they were about to break into the Ministry again. And one couldn't call it a break-in this time, they were just guests, who would look around only a little more than was appropriate.

They descended the spiral staircase to the second floor, which was above the red bonfire hall. Harry was a little disappointed – the dining room was nothing like the imposing Great Hall of Hogwarts, it was much smaller, with many small five-seater tables scattered around the room instead of four long ones. But there was no lack of wood carvings on the walls and columns, which were now covered with Christmas decorations. There were no windows here either.

' 'ow can you liev with such a small dining room?' Fleur asked, looking around the room.

'There's another dining room and a kitchen upstairs next to the rooms,' Krum replied as he led his guests to a table. 'And the teachers they eat separately,' he pointed to a door that opened on the right side of the room.

The tablecloth appeared on the small goat-legged table as soon as they were seated, and a large wooden platter laden with breakfast delicacies appeared with a soft pop in the middle. Harry was used to Hogwarts' huge selection, but he didn't complain at the sight of cranberry jam, acacia honey, scrambled eggs, toast, sausages and bacon. Ginny did, however, miss the porridge (she made this known loudly to all those around them, including the four boys who had nudged Harry and were now scrutinising them with dark looks), and of course Fleur was not happy either, who turned away her nose at the sight of breakfast and would only drink tea.

Harry buttered his bread and spread cranberry jam on it while he looked at the Durmstrang folks. Boys and girls of similar ages sat at tables, chatting merrily or hunched over a newspaper with their morning cocoa. Some were not eating breakfast, just playing chess or cards, and at one table a couple of lower-school students were torturing a puffed spider with great relish.

'This is still a stronghold of black magic,' Krum suddenly said.

Harry stopped eating his bread and stared at him. He, too, was looking at the spider tormentors.

'It's disgusting,' the boy said plainly, and Harry was forced to agree.

'What are you doing?' he asked in a whisper, when he saw Krum take out his wand and point it at the students. 'It's not worth it...'

Krum blurted out the incantation, and the next moment, the spider that had been the victim swelled to enormous size. The table collapsed under its weight, its tormentors fleeing shouting from the dining room, as did some of the other students.

Harry, Ginny and Krum were clutching their bellies laughing as the spider raced after the fleeing students. Fleur just smiled in confusion, kept stirring her tea and tried to ignore the bullies sitting next to them. The large Durmstrang student and two of his companions were staring at the blonde girl, but the fourth stood up immediately after the bloated spider started to rampage and ran after it to stop it.

'Sometimes I think,' said Krum, 'that we should have a dark lord, too.'

Harry's jaw dropped.

'What do you mean?' he asked.

'So that people will see,' Krum explained, 'so they will realize out what people like your Death Eaters are like.'

Ginny leaned closer to the wizard.

'Do you have people like them too?'

The boy nodded.

'Many,' he said. 'Only they call themselves different. Since Grindelwald...' he said, his face twitching from the contempt as he said the name, 'there are many. But not strong like him. And they fight among themselves for little power. Like Karkaroff previously, and now Moloh.'

Harry took a drink from his wooeden cup and put it back on the table.

'Moloh?' he asked back, though the name sounded familiar. 'Who is that?'

'Maude Moloh,' Krum gestured with his head towards the door of the teachers' canteen. 'The headmaster'

Harry noticed the boy's face twitch again.

'Is he a black sorcerer?' Ginny asked wonderingly, peering at the closed door as if waiting for it to open and a hooded, masked figure to appear.

Krum just waved his hand.

'Almost everyone here is a black sorcerer. I'm partly one myself,' he admitted with a shrug. 'Everyone here is taught dark magic. But there is a difference between people...'

'What do you mean?'

Before answering, he downed the contents of his cup and leaned back in his chair, sighing heavily.

'Ula was supposed to be the headmaster, but the wizard chancellory decided otherwise,' Krum continued, 'Moloh was appointed headmaster, and he introduced many rules that he said would... 'cleanse' the school of evil.'

Harry furrowed his brows, and like Ginny, he glanced at the door. He agreed with Krum's earlier observation that this Moloh reminded him a little of Umbridge.

'And what does 'e mean with this cleansing?' Fleur asked.

'Harsh punishments for misdemeanours, supervision of teachers during lessons, a ban on quidditch... All to make students obey him, and those who don't, are expelled or locked up in Nurmen...'

Harry understood everything, and took his rising anger out on his spoon, which he angrily poked into the jam jar. The same thing was happening as had happened at Hogwarts under Umbridge. A cruel, extremist view is being propagated to keep a grip on power. But looking at the students, Harry could not see a single rebellious, angry face among them who wanted to do something about Moloh.

'So is that why Durmstrang didn't want to organise the Triwizard Tournament?' Ginny asked. 'Maybe the headmaster was afraid that... I don't know, maybe the Hogwarts students would set a "bad example" for his students? That they were giving them some "wrong" ideas?'

Krum grinned bitterly.

'Yes, I believe that.'

Looking at the wizard's face, Harry sensed for the first time that Krum might not like this place after all, might even hate his school for being a repository of black magic.

After breakfast, Krum showed them the rest of Durmstrang, the classrooms, the trophy room similar to Hogwarts, where he himself had collected a good number of Quidditch cups, and now there was the Triwizard Cup under a glass container, the same beautifully crafted piece that took Harry and Cedric to the Little Hangleton cemetery. Here they met some Beauxbatons students, with whom Fleur immediately struck up a conversation.

Krum didn't leave them alone for a moment, so Harry and Ginny didn't have a chance to wander around the school under the invisibility cloak, though they wouldn't have known where to go. The terrain was new to them, they needed to know their way around, so they asked their tour guide questions after questions about where everything was, where the teachers' offices were, what interesting secret places he knew of in Durmstrang, and the like.

The first familiar face they met was Hagrid, out by the enclosure. Earlier, Harry had whispered in Ginny's ear that they should look around outside now that it was a bit lighter, and she made her request to Krum, saying she was fed up with the windowless building and the confinement, and wanted to go for a walk.

The corral stood at the edge of the forest, less than a hundred metres from the tower, where the Hogwarts's thestrals and the Abraxan winged horses of the Beauxbatons were kept. The black carriages and the French blue cart were pushed in beside them, and Hagrid was having a hand-and-feet discussion with his Durmstrang colleague about the care of the animals when Harry and his friends approached him.

'I was jus' explainin' to Gronhold tha' the horses don' like tha' awefully strong stuff he gives 'em,' Hagrid said, after giving Harry and Ginny a bone-crushing hug. 'They only like fine whisky, but I don't think they've even heard of brandy around here in the outback...'

Gronhold, the local gamekeeper, cursed in a foreign language and left Hagrid in the lurch, having surely grown tired of not being able to understand each other.

'I heard Fleur had come, but I don' see her,' said their friend, as one by one he let the Abraxans out into the valley beside them so he could clear the corral.

'She stayed inside meowing with the other frenchies,' Ginny said, and pulled out her wand to help Hagrid clean the stable floor, which reeked of wet hay and feces.

'But what are yeh doin' here? I though' yeh were avoidin' the Tournament by far!' he looked down at Harry.

'I'm not here for pleasure, Hagrid,' he said. 'It's official business, a ministerial assignment.'

'Is that so!' chuckled the gamekeeper from behind his beard. 'The eyes of the Auror Office reach far...'

'Ah come on!' Harry said impatiently. 'Rather tell me, have you seen anything strange since you got here?'

Hagrid released one of the winged horses into the wind, then stopped in front of them with his hands on his hips.

'Strange?' he asked back, frowning.

'Yes, something strange,' Harry lowered his voice confidentially, though he didn't know why. There wasn't anyone near or far... 'You know, the 'black sorcerers conspiring in the background to murder everyone' type of strangeness.'

Hagrid laughed, but shook his head.

'I'm sorry, Harry, but I can't help yeh,' he said, returning to his work, 'but I can tell yeh that these people are so phony tha' you can tell from far. Just like that wimp Karkaroff...'

Ginny and Harry looked at each other.

'But I don' think they're half as dangerous as they make 'emselves out to be,' continued the gamekeeper. 'They like ter call 'emselves great dark wizards, but they haven' done a thing since I've been here, except ter look at me and Olympe as if we were some sor' of scum. But they're not dangerous. I don' understan' what an Auror is doin' here,' he looked down at Harry with a grin as he lifted the heavy saddlery and harness off one of the Abraxans.

'To stir up trouble, as usual,' Harry muttered in reply.

'Will we see you at the ball, Hagrid?' Ginny asked him, shivering again in the cold as they followed Hagrid and the last horse out of the corral.

'I wouldn't miss it!' replied the gamekeeper, and then he slapped the Abraxan's back, and it darted off down the valley to join its companions, wings spread.

Hagrid looked at them for a while, then took a small something out of his pocket and showed it to his friends.

'Ginny, do yeh think Olympe will like it?'

'What...? Wow, Hagrid!' she looked down with open mouth at the small box in the ranger's palm, hiding a bracelet-sized ring.

'Is that what I think it is?' Harry wondered.

'Mm-hmm,' Hagrid nodded, his black eyes gleaming. 'You know... I'm getting quite old...'

'You're not old!' protested his two friends at once, but Hagrid ignored them.

'I cannot always be alone. And it's about time I settled down with someone...'

Ginny smiled and patted the gamekeeper's elbow, because that was as far as she got.

'Well true, it would be good if you could finally choose from your many girlfriends!' Harry joked, but Hagrid didn't laugh this time, just put the box back in one of his many pockets.

'I'm savin' it for the ball,' he muttered, and Harry could see how serious he was. 'Then I will ask her.'

Harry also hugged Hagrid and wished him luck with the proposal. He tried to picture in his mind his old friend in his horrible, hairy brown suit and checked tie, with Madame Maxime beside him, also of enormous stature, in the latest French fashion wedding dress. He had to shake his head to get the thought out, so bizarre was the image that flashed before him.

Hagrid continued with the care of the Abraxans, and Harry and Ginny said their goodbyes and headed back to Durmstrang. Meanwhile, Krum had left them when they reached the corral, for Madame Ula had sent him an urgent message with a boy, and for the first time they were finally on their own. Harry thought it an excellent opportunity for a little investigation, especially as he had already drawn a map of the school in his head. He pulled his invisibility cloak from his jacket pocket and was about to ask Ginny to come with him when she beat him to it.

'Hagrid and Madame Maxime will make a nice couple, don't you think?' she said, with a faraway look.

The honest answer would have been "no", but Harry thought that was too cruel, so he just shrugged diplomatically. He still found it hard to believe that Hagrid had put his mind to marriage. First poor Lupin and Tonks, then Fleur and Bill's wedding, already Charlie and his Romanian girlfriend were engaged, Neville to Hannah Abbott, and Ron and Hermione looked like they were already looking for names for the future brood of children.

'Of course, we'll find out over the years, won't we?' Ginny asked him, glancing at him with one eye as he walked beside her.

Harry hummed.

'Mom told me that she and Dad knew right away, at first sight, that they were the ones they wanted to spend their lives with. Do you believe in that kind of thing?' she looked at him again.

'Well, erm...' Harry was reluctant to answer, but finally he said, 'no.'

The answer was obvious, he thought to himself. He didn't believe in such rosy nonsense as love at first sight, for Ginny was proof that love often only knocks – or rather, bangs – on the door at second or third or twenty-third sight.

'No?' she asked back, meanwhile wrapping her arms in Harry's. 'Of course, Mum and Dad didn't get married right away. They went out for a long time, Dad showered her with presents, flowers, sweets... Mum always had a sweet tooth...'

As Ginny chatted, Harry remembered that he had not yet given her the necklace he had bought on Diagon Alley. As they trudged slowly towards the tower, lit by the faint rays of the midday sun, the sound of the nearby sea and the rustle of the forest trees could be heard – Harry felt this place would do.

'Ginny, I... erm... I have something for you,' he muttered as he rummaged in the inside pocket of his coat, begging for the necklace to be there.

The girl stopped as if struck by lightning, and Harry looked up at her when he finally found the small box in the huge pocket. Ginny made a shocked face as if Harry had grown another head.

'What's wrong?' he asked her, and for a moment it occurred to him that she might be ill from the heavy breakfast.

'Are you...' Ginny began. 'Are you... are you going to do what I think you're going to do?'

Harry blinked at her and pulled the box out of his pocket.

'Well, I just...'

Ginny squealed and put her hand over her mouth.

Harry frowned his brows; she shouldn't be that surprised!

'Oh, by Merlin's beard!' Ginny muttered with her mouth hidden behind her hand, and Harry opened the box.

'I saw this necklace on Diagon Alley,' he explained. 'I immediately thought that it would look much better on you than in a display case, so... I bought it,' he finished, and held it out to her, as if luring her with birdseed. He brushed the ridiculous image from his mind and smiled at Ginny, who finally dropped her hand from her mouth and revealed her flushed face.

'Oh,' she said, devastated. 'Oh... it's really... beautiful.'

'May I?' Harry stepped behind her after taking the necklace from the box. He pushed aside the girl's thick, fiery-red hair and fastened the little jewel.

'Do you like it?' he asked her hopefully, because her face looked a little disappointed.

Maybe Ginny had expected something bigger from him? After all, it's just a tiny little thing, Harry thought, hardly worth more than two hundred galleons, and it might not even be worth that much, just the jeweller taking advantage of a fool who knew even less about trinkets than a niffler. Ginny might have spotted right away that he'd bought her a worthless piece of junk when he had so much money at Gringotts he didn't know what to spend it on.

'It's very nice!' she smiled at him and kissed him. 'Thank you very much.'

'You're welcome,' Harry tried to smile back, but deep down he was already cursing himself for his stupidity, and vowed to look at the book of good ideas Ron had given him for his seventeenth birthday when he got home. He felt he could still use a little help with girls...