Durmstrang Institute

By Jamnaz79

Professor Alton Richter, Second chair in Charms, had been given an interesting demand from the Headmaster of the Durmstrang Institute. He was told to make certain that Harry Potter would attend their school over Hogwarts by any means necessary. There was no reason given for this choice, though the fact that getting Britain's golden boy to leave their shores for their own seemed obvious. The benefits offered of a thirty percent raise if he succeeded seemed a wonderful plus so he asked little questions. He was given a year and unlimited resources to succeed so why shouldn't be try his best. If not for the prestige them damn it he deserved that raise!

The Institute had a reputation since the Grindelwald years of being a dark school compared to the other two top schools of Europe. If they could somehow lure the golden child of the light to their school it would offset this belief greatly. That was not to say that Durmstrang was a dark school, it was no darker then Beauxtons in France or a number of schools across the world. But, appearances are all that mattered for the world view.

So Professor Richter traveled to the Britain. He had to admit the country was far too wet for his taste. It was early June and he had spent the past five months using contacts and coinage to track down the whereabouts of Harry Potter's muggle relatives. It had taken months to find out that he was staying with muggles and their names along with a few discreet bribes. After that he tried to use magical means to find them but had been unsuccessful, so he had turned instead to muggle means. Finally he had found out the location, backgrounds, employment, and general details of the muggles. So he was ready for his travel.

The international portkey had taken him to London where he checked in with the International travel department. His reason given for visiting the Isle was not fully disclosed just that he wanted to see a few students here that did attend Durmstrang. He did indeed plan to visit them later but first he needed to complete his mission.

According to tradition Hogwarts letters acceptance letters arrived only on the child's eleventh birthday. So he should beat their arrival over a month to get the child's guardians agreement, and perhaps even get supplies and other needs for the boy taken care of. Since he didn't know the exact details of where he was going he transfer some money at Gringotts in the U.K for muggle money. Thank the sacred ancestors that they had dwarves in Germany instead of these little rude beasts. Then he took a muggle taxi to Surrey.

The Professor arrived at a small neighborhood that had a nearby park. Every house appeared to be same boring colors and details filled in. They came to a stop before number 4 Privet drive and he bid the cabbie goodbye. He tipped the man and watched him drive off. The House didn't look any different than any other on the street except the immaculate garden including rose bushes. He had read that from the private eye the muggles didn't treat the boy well and disliked him. He had also read that they had spread rumors that he was a troublemaker and dangerous.

The man looked up at the sun as it was dying behind the clouds, it was close to dinner time. He let out a sigh and hoped that they would all be home and walked to the front door to knock.

It was a few minutes before the door slowly opened and a small boy with dark messy black hair and bright green eyes answered it. The boy was far too small, wore clothing monstrously huge on him and was sporting a black eye. "Hello, can I help you?"

The Professor believed that a first impression was key to success in everything. He offered his warmest smile at the boy, "You must be Harry. I was hoping to speak with your relatives about an important change in yours and their lives."

"You are not selling anything are you? Uncle doesn't like salesmen." The boy frowned at the man studying him over suspiciously. A slight cringe came over the boy at the thought of his uncle angry.

Alton Richter shook his head slowly back and forth with a smile, "No young man. I am not selling anything but it is very important that I speak with them."

The bright green eyes narrowed a moment then slowly opened the door, "Please wait in the doorway. I will tell them that there is company. They are finishing up desert."

The Professor stepped into the room and straightened his muggle tie carefully. He wore a military style suit with a number of pre-world war two German military awards on his brown jacket. A pair of expensive pressed black slacks matched the jacket and white shirt well. His fingertips ran over his smooth chin by habit, he had cut down his winter beard a few months ago but still felt it sometimes. The beard had been salt and pepper like his hair. He was not a handsome man with a scar cut into his left cheek and a hard chiseled chin. But with his dark black eyes he was a man that could calm a wild boar with a gaze, a man made for the military with his demeanor.

It was five minutes, a rather rude long time, before Vernon Dursley and his wife came to greet the Professor. It appeared to them that desert outranked company. Then again from the large girth of Vernon, he most likely just ate a dozen strudels and wouldn't be full. Still the Professor kept to his plan and executed a formal military style bow, "Vernon and Petunia Dursley?"

"Who are you? Why are you in our house? I don't want to buy anything." The large walrus of a man grunted. His horse faced wife looked over the Professor more carefully studying him with more than a hint of annoyance in her eyes.

"I am Professor Alton Richter of the Durmstrang military institute. We are a year round boarding school in Northern Europe. We are looking to expand recruiting to England and have determined that your nephew is a good candidate. We are looking to offer not only a full scholarship to the boy but a payment for the guardians of the boy if he attends." The professor smiled warmly as he spoke to them. He could see the glint in their eyes and greed in Mr. Dursley's eye. According to his research they wanted to get rid of the boy, they hated him and the chance not only to get rid of him but send him somewhere unpleasant had to spark interest in them. Add to the possibility that they would get paid for it and bingo.

"Perhaps we were hasty. Come inside. Boy, go get the professor and us some tea." Vernon glared at Harry and rushed him off.

Over the next hour Professor Richter was able to not only convince the Dursley to send Harry to Durmstrang but they even agreed to start him in an early summer program. The boy would attend year round classes, since the school kept a continuous rotating schedule unlike most other schools in Europe. In addition for the sum of one thousand pounds a month for the next seven years, they signed over the guardianship of the boy. Little did they know that since he had not started magical school yet, Harry Potter had just become a ward of the Durmstrang Institute!

Author Note: Harry never received any offers from other schools. Why not? He was a major celebrity. Everyone would have wanted him to attend. If the letters were being returned why not try to reach him another way? In this case Harry goes to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts. Him going to school full time and not returning to England for a few years would be a very interesting idea.