"Professor Karkaroff said we'll have a match against a Hogwarts team at the end of the year, so at least there's that."
"What about our yearly professors' match?"
"With who, Tamara?"
Harry recognised who the grumbling voice belonged to, having seen a picture of Viktor Krum in the Daily Prophet's Sports section. Under his Invisibility Cloak, he decided to walk ahead of them, in order to see their faces better. He recognised some of the students from when he'd follow Percy into the mock conferences, however he rarely got the occasion to hear them speak without Percy, Pann, or another Hogwarts staff member present. And he was curious what they could talk about.
He learnt by now that Durmstrang served several countries, and had been magically enchanted for all the students and staff to hear their own language when they spoke with one another. Harry figured he was hearing English no matter what language they all spoke, and Viktor Krum would hear Bulgarian, and the other students- well, whatever language they spoke. He hadn't learnt their names, as when he'd spy on Percy, they would call each other 'delegate' and the name of the school they represented, but now he could associate them. Tamara, with her hoop earrings, headscarf tied over her forehead and her braided hair, was the Beauxbatons delegate who laughed loudly at the stupidest jokes.
"Hayk, Akin…" Tamara started counting in a hopeful tone, raising about five fingers as she must have named more professors in her head. "Even Karkaroff. We can ask him, as a last favour. I heard he played once, before he became Headmaster."
Krum scoffed at her in response, waving his hand and raising two fingers.
"Even with him, there's seven players in a team." he grumbled. "Since Touza resigned, there's not enough professors that play Quidditch, let alone who want to play us. Pann said so too."
"Can't have a student in the staff team?" a red-haired girl asked, turning interested towards Krum.
"Can't."
"Well… then we're simply fucked." Tamara chuckled amused, raising her shoulders.
"Oh, shut up, Lex, like you care." a tall, broad-shouldered student chimed in, pushing her into Krum and stepping forward in front of them. "You just want to cheer Akin one last time 'fore he resigns next year too. You've all been salivating for that-" with a wide motion, he stepped forward and turned to show his rear to the group of Durmstrang students, but what neither he nor Harry expected was for them to bump into each other, the student not having expected a hidden figure to be in front of his step, and Harry not having expected the Durmstrang student's lunge.
Probably as heavy as Crabbe and Goyle put together, the student knocked Harry's wand and glasses off him, and they both fell into each other, as the group of students gasped or yelped at the scene. He realised soon enough that his Invisibility Cloak was no longer covering him, as he heard the first muffled whisper of his name.
By the time he found his glasses on the floor and put them on, he realised that the Durmstrang students had all taken a good look at him, but before he could say anything, he saw a couple of heads turn, and the red-haired student, 'Lex', had grabbed his wand and Invisibility Cloak off the floor, and motioned something for the others before grabbing Harry and pulling him down the corridor and into the first open door, which appeared to be an office.
"What's-"
He watched her fiddle with his Invisibility Cloak as a cacophony of voices and footsteps approached, and he pulled it away from her and over himself.
"Hey, me too! Fuck, if they catch me here-" She hissed in a low tone, looking at the spot where Harry disappeared under.
Harry was sure that he would be done for, and that the Durmstrang student would be dragging him to in fact face Karkaroff, Pann, or another professor, and wondered why she would want to help him. They literally had a class entitled Dark Arts, pumping out dark wizard after dark wizard, according to everyone. They were the equivalent of a school full of Slytherins. But here he was, watching a Durmstrang student, so full of confidence before, now back towards a corner of the office after helping him hide, cowering and trying to hide herself behind furniture.
He rushed close to her and pulled the Invisibility Cloak over her as well, right as the steps entered the office.
"Why-" He meant to ask who she was hiding from, but the girl put a hand over his mouth.
"Shh!"
They watched as Pann entered the office and leaned against her desk, snapping her fingers towards the black dog that followed her. The enormous, black dog followed her snaps to a corner with an enormous folded blanket laid out on the floor, and spun itself once before curling into a donut shape and closing its eyes. Harry noticed however that its ears stayed upright and alert, and his head turned to a second pair of footsteps entering the office, recognising Professor Lupin.
"I don't know what's gotten into them. I swear to you they're not always like this."
"Everyone is on high alert, with Sirius Black on the loose…" Remus Lupin started, closing teh door behind himself.
"Oh, not them." she scoffed, taking a seat and inviting him on a sofa.
Rada knew the kids couldn't care less about the fugitive from an actual safety perspective, apart from studying his escape and crimes in a sensationalist manner. Especially not the group they'd just bumped into, with their theatrical gasps and whines, who had spent the last few weeks enacting a mock trial of Sirius Black.
"They feel safe here. They'd certainly complain to high heavens if they didn't, half of these kids are here on merit or because of where they're from, half of them have parents high-up in various ministries and paid for a place here. Although Durmstrang is slowly becoming a shell of what it used to be, on account of-... well, some."
She stopped for a moment, rubbing at her forehead with a finger, before snapping her fingers once again towards the dog. He didn't seem to move, however, from his curled-up position, simply keeping his ears raised, and she furrowed her brows at the oddness. Remus noticed it too, and cleared his throat, bringing the subject once again back to the dog.
"Your Durmstrang students here seem to like your pet."
"I don't know what I'd do without him. Felix, I named him. Like Felix Felicis." she grinned a toothy smile, turning towards the dog. "He's been my lucky guide since I stumbled upon him on a trip to London a few months ago. He's a smart one, never bit me or a student, listens to all commands. I've seen him protective over a hexed student or two on the hallway, and he's following me like a shadow when-... well, whenever I need someone to bark his points up. I don't know what I would have done these past months without him." her face darkened as she repeated herself, and she leaned in, lovingly poking at the dog's tail with a finger, before giving it a pat on the hip. "Figured that with Sirius escaped as well, he'd be something of a help if need be. He's a good judge of character, which you've probably seen. He hasn't snarled at you once, but Igor on the other hand…." she stopped for a moment, before leaning against the desk, and speaking in a tone so low, that neither Harry nor Alexandra could hear. "Do you think they knew each other, back when…?"
Remus furrowed his brows. He dreaded to think about Sirius, his time as a spy for He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, his pretence of being James's best friend as he was plotting his death, becoming Harry's godson at the same time as he was probably in service for the soon-to-be killer of his parents. He avoided thinking about him as much as possible, but in these times it was impossible. Especially since Dumbledore hired him as he was one of the last people alive who knew him best.
Everyone else was dead.
"I doubt it. Sirius was always the kind of person who preferred to work alone." he replied curtly, looking over to the dog, watching over for any motion that would betray him as Sirius in his Animagus form. Yet with Rada in the office, he could not try a spell to simply find out and be done with. No, that would have meant admitting that he knew about Sirius's Animagus form all along, and that would land him in Azkaban outright, with no trial.
Her question, however, raised an interesting point that he only now was starting to grasp.
"So you know that Karkaroff is a convicted Death Eater."
"And reformed, if you care to believe him." she shrugged him off. Yet how reformed he was was anyone's guess.
The facts were, the curriculum from five years ago looked completely different in subjects ranging from Potions, to Duelling, to the subject she used to teach, History of Magic. Dark Arts, Ritualistic Studies and Alchemy were based on theory and had theoretical assessments, yet now they were subjects entrenched in practice. The staff looked different as well - good staff, teachers that really cared for the name of Durmstrang and for the students, started being pushed out through a variety of means, and slowly replaced with acquaintances of Karkaroff.
"Dumbledore recommended me to take a job here, if you can believe it, under the previous Headmaster. As for Igor Karkaroff… he was just a teacher when I started, some eight years ago, no one important. I kept in touch with friends in Britain and knew he was convicted, and avoided him, but then I fell in love with this place, with the students. It had prestige, it had good people, scholars came out of here each year… it had something special." she crossed her arms, and seemed to lose herself in her thoughts of Durmstrang's long-gone glory, before speaking again in a low voice that the two eaves-dropping students could not pick. "You can't escape these people anywhere you go. No one expected Barty, Sirius… at least with Igor, I know what to expect. And I've been his shadow for years, keeping an eye on him for Dumbledore."
By the time their conversation finished, Harry knew that he needed to find out what a Death Eater was, that Karkaroff was one, whatever that was, and that there may have been a connection between Black and Karkaroff, most likely through Voldemort. He knew it. And if Professor Pann allowed a link between Black and Karkaroff, with that black dog in tow, she could not be trusted either.
He had to find out what a Death Eater was.
Remus Lupin knew that he had to find out what exactly was the deal with Rada Pann's dog, and that he would have to enter Durmstrang a few more times to get that dog in an enclosed space with him - surely in that form, there was a very slim chance for Sirius to have a wand on him. And if Rada had a point, if there was any chance that Karkaroff and Sirius may have known each other… Karkaroff could have then washed his sins of betraying his fellow Death Eaters if he had helped and provided a way for Sirius Black to enter Hogwarts.
He had to see Dumbledore.
Alexandra Szabo knew that she had to help her new Hogwarts friend get out of Durmstrang without either of them being caught, because he would owe her one, and she could really make good use of that Invisibility Cloak.
She had to borrow it at least once.
As for Karkaroff… well, the list of things that he had to know and do simply kept increasing, day after day. Because while others thought he was looking forward to helping Sirius Black achieve his goals of avenging his master and ridding the world of Harry Potter for once and for all, Igor Karkaroff wanted to prove the opposite through agreeing to host Hogwarts temporarily. With his Dark Lord gone, he wanted to get back in the good graces of the Western world, and what better way to prove his allegiance than help Dumbledore, one of the most influential living wizards? After all, he knew the old man had a soft spot for his previous students, and was well aware that Rada also still revered her old Headmaster.
"Where would you like our child to study then? Durmstrang, or Hogwarts?"
"I would insult you greatly if I would not say Durmstrang, would I not?" Rada answered, taking a sip of her drink. "Why ask me these questions, Igor…"
He watched her disappear from his study, and return back with filled drinks. If there was anything he appreciated about her, is that she must have felt his recent stress and turned more docile, bringing him drinks and food, dressing herself in clothes nicer than the stuffy, dark, woollen robes she wore with students. In the candlelight, as she gave him his drink, he could admire her figure..
"To ensure you are thinking about this subject as much as I have been. I'm greying, love, look." he tugged at the curl of his goatee, and grinned at her. "I'm not getting any younger."
"I've heard of wizards having children in their seventies."
"I aimed to enter my forties with a child, and I certainly will not leave them without one. There's potions, you know…"
"I know, and I don't care for them. This is the only one I care for…" she beckoned him to drink his wine, and he did so, before getting up, grasping her by the back of the neck. She let him, as she had for the past few weeks, letting him kiss her and caress her back, and counted from ten in her head as he slowly got heavier and heavier in her arms, until she could almost no longer hold him and pulled him to his bed, dropping an asleep Karkaroff onto his own bed.
Rada Pann could bear many things. After all, in private, Karkaroff could be quite insolent, but he was certainly not an aggressive man, and he could be gentle when he wanted to -he fancied himself a sentimentalist. But what she could not bear was being the mother of Igor Karkaroff's child or knowing that a Death Eater, convicted and certainly not fully reformed, wanted children to educate in his awful creed.
She finished her drink, and placed him comfortably on the bed, before proceeding to take off his shoes, his socks, and his robes, throwing them haphazardly on the floor before throwing a blanket on him. She threw her own earrings and belt, and when she stepped back, it certainly looked the part.
Rada tiptoed back to her room, and patted Felix on the head, pressing her cheek against his ear, before jumping abc in her own bed. She finished the tea on her desk, and without changing, jumped into her bed, facing the window. Sometimes, Igor drank and the nights were quiet, such as now. Other times, the nights were not so quiet, and it was her that had to have a different sort of potion.
In the middle of the night, as she fell asleep, Rada wondered why Felix was rustling around sleeplessly, yet found herself too tired to turn her head back and check, and drifted into a dreamless sleep not unlike Igor Karkaroff's.
Harry, however, could not find himself sleeping, as he could swear, as him, Ron and Hermione were in the Library in the middle of the night, Hermione hunting for the definition of a Death Eater, him and Ron looking at twelve-year-old issues of the Daily Prophet stacked in another corner, that he saw the dog again. Careful, as he took the Invisibility Cloak with him and left Ron and Hermione still digging through records, he stepped out of the Library, and in a whisper, called out.
"Felix…?"