To outsiders, Durmstrang was built on secrecy. But to its staff and students, Durmstrang had no secrets, and its legacy was built on rumours. Igor Karkaroff, much like most of his staff, was familiar with both sides of the coin.
Now, Igor Karkaroff enjoyed being a Headmaster greatly, especially to a school as renown and infamous as Durmstrang. The power, the authority, the reverence, the fame,, the money - all of it was certainly enough to make him ignore certain less glamorous aspects, such as the paperwork, being in charge of decisions he couldn't care less for, and of course… the teenage gossip.
A lot of paperwork was delegated to the Deputy Headmaster by default, and when he had relegated Rada from the Professor of History role to put in an old acquaintance of his, he acquiesced to her wish to instead have more duties as a Deputy. He made it seem, of course, as if the decision was a favour, and that he greatly enjoyed being stuck in that office with unending stacks of parchment, doing timetabling, being stuck in disciplinary meetings, or deciding how much the groundskeeper should be paid.
As for the gossip, well, in two years exactly, he would finally be able to rid himself of the current Year Ten and Eleven cohorts, the final students who had known him from when he first stepped into Durmstrang as a Dark Arts teacher in 1983, only a few months after he had been signed off for release from Azkaban.
Luckily for him, due to a sudden illness in an already dwindling staff body, the professors in the Dark Arts position in the year before his appointment had been mostly comprised of other professors scrambling to cover for the class, thus teaching disjointly or taking advantage to keep up with the material from their own classes, old and creaky retirees who'd fall asleep in class or 'inexperienced young lasses', as per the previous Headmaster, straight out of school benches, who found themselves having to teach students who they used to know as classmates. Not a single one lasted more than a few weeks, especially as the older students found themselves enjoying spending those few hours of week doing nothing, and would torment all external substitute professors.
The Headmaster before him had coincidentally been his own Dark Arts professor, a cunning, albeit a bit cuckoo witch named Maryam Varda. Varda was one of the few professors of Durmstrang around whom almost no rumours formed, because surprisingly enough, no one knew enough about her to claim a single thing. Varda was certainly from a wizarding family, some parents would say, because it was a wizarding name, and they had a vague memory of her from school, but no one could state many other facts. And why make rumours when the conspiracy theories that she would spout each class were more interesting than anything any student could come up with about her?
Igor knew very well that Varda hired him on the spot specifically because of his status as a convicted Death Eater. While that did not mean much for the students, as the British war had barely reached the continent, and foreigners such as himself that involved themselves in the war were few and far between - Igor himself only knew about Dolohov-, the fact that the new Dark Arts professor had been a convicted criminal boosted once again the profile of Durmstrang and their most important taught subject.
The students, however, especially the older ones, were quite disappointed when the man before their eyes was not who they had pictured - they expected a proud man who would boast about his deeds, and did not picture a man who had been haunted by Dementors for the past few months, who claimed he 'put it all behind himself', as he still had to protect his own image, in case the British Ministry would catch on that he had not fully redeemed himself. His old professors, however, now colleagues, welcomed him back with open arms, especially in the beginning.
Anna Samovich, the Herbology and Zoology professor whom he used to dread as a student, remembered her previous student fondly as a bumbling young man, and supplied him with concoctions of herbs that would make his nights, plagued by bouts of terror and nightmares at the mere memory of Azkaban, easier to bear. As a professor, Igor now found that the favourite pastime of Miel Bouha - still the Astronomy professor, still as round and bald and toothless as he always remembered him - was to drink mulled wine under starry nights, and for many sleepless nights, he had joined the old wizard atop the roof, sipping on warm wine and letting the cold breeze dry the sweat on his forehead.
When old Varda died in her sleep and instead of deferring to the Deputy she made Igor the new Headmaster in her final will, breaking an unwritten contract of centuries, he did not forget the kindness offered to him by his old professors, and kept a few of them, such as Samo and Bouha, on.
"For as long as you, for the pay that you want, for everything you have done in the school's best interest."
That was a phrase that he had learnt from Varda, which he decided to make us of liberally as a Headmaster, even as 'Durmstrang's best interests' became his own.
Now, most of the students knew him as Headmaster Karkaroff, which he had been for the past five years, and feared him accordingly. A couple had had him as a Dark Arts professor, but he learnt to use the strictness and cruelty of his previous professors quickly.
The students in year Ten and Eleven, however, had seen him at his weakest point, and while they would not say anything outright, Igor could still feel it a decade later. In their eyes, in how they looked at him, in their tone as they addressed him still as 'professor'. And he could not wait to be rid of them.
Unfortunately for him, Igor could not expel students. Staff members, yes, and he easily disposed of any professors he did not like in favour of old friends, but the formalities of official student expulsion had already been written for centuries in the Tome the Headmasters had to abide by, and Headmasters had to formulate elaborate proposals to the Governors for any rules they wanted expunged - the last Headmaster to unofficial expel a student withdrew from the post only hours after she had done so.
Fortunately for him, what Igor could do was make life so unbearable for any students he despised, that they would withdraw themselves from the school. And he liberally did so, as he had no one to oppose him. There was, however, a fine like to be walked in this matter as well, as some students which he could not wait to be rid of were also students who brought his name in papers all across Europe, and beyond.
There were Krum and Khachaturian in Year Ten, the latest in his rising array of Quidditch stars - and luckily for him, the boys had never given him any grief, as they mostly kept to themselves. Krum had not had a single day of detention as of yet, which was a rarity even among Igor's 'favourites'. There were Bulgakova and Papastere in Year Eleven, who had already made names for themselves in their respective national teams - however, in their case, all Igor had to do was forge some grades and convince the professors closest to him not to fail either student.
Bauer, a Year Eleven international Duelling champion across Europe and Asia, was annoying him tremendously, as she kept violating an insurmountable amount of school policies, always claiming with a lipsticked grin -one of the most common policy violations on her record- that 'she forgot'. Truth be told, Igor could still not figure out if she was only smart when it came to one thing, or if she just enjoyed playing the 'dumb and pretty' card. At some point at the beginning of last year, Igor decided he did not care enough, and started ignoring her policy violations altogether.
But no one exasperated him as much as Szabo from Year Ten, the Wizarding Chess Grandmaster. Because unlike many of the others 'favourites', Szabo knew that with each trophy she won and each time she'd gotten to defend her title, Igor Karkaroff's name would also appear in the news, a saviour of 'the magical education of a poor girl whose own father left, leaving him and his school to pick up the pieces and mould them into the young lady you see today', as he would claim each time.
And Alexandra Szabo played the game and smiled for the pictures and shook Karkaroff's hand with a grin the public ate up, because she knew she could leverage it later. Because Szabo paid attention and saw how much Karkaroff's eyes lit up when he started noticing the list of championships she would participate in and win. And not only that, but Szabo was also part of another small group of 'favourites' of Karkaroff, who would lessen their own punishments and days spent in detention by providing the Headmaster with the latest gossip and rumours floating around about himself and other professors.
Igor, however, was getting quite impatient with the girl, especially this year, when his attention had to be not only on his own students, but Hogwarts, as well. Not to mention, there were the interminable meetings about the revival of the Triwizard Tournament, which meant discussions not only with the other Headmasters, but also with about a dozen countries' Ministries, countries which were feeders for Durmstrang.
There was the refusal of the transfer of Lucius's son - which he had to deal with the fallout of-, ensuring he kept up to date with news regarding Sirius Black, checking on the exchange program which Dumbledore, McGonagall and Rada convinced him to run, and speaking of Rada, he had to keep an eye out for her as well, as she'd been acting odder and odder since they have decided on hosting Hogwarts. From refusing young Malfoy's transfer without checking with him, to getting that damned, enormous dog who would not stop barking, to eating her meals at Hogwarts, to not wanting her class overseen by a specific Hogwarts professor by the name of Remus Lupin - when he'd asked Severus about the bloke, his response was evasive and structured almost like a riddle, which Igor couldn't care less about. When he asked him if there was a history between them, which was the main aspect he cared about, Severus shrugged, and responded that he himself could not care less about that aspect. Later, when he asked the Duelling professor, Toma, about Remus Lupin, she confessed that she barely talked to him when he came, leading Igor to think that everyone around him was truly useless in matters so simple…
"Talk to the man next time he comes, would you?" he spat looking down at the small professor. He did not like Toma much, neither the wife nor her husband, and tried to avoid them as much as possible. "What am I doing this whole exchange for, if you just sit there and don't even bother!"
He left her office at once, not caring for her reply, as he knew all too well how acidic her insults could be. However, he did not wish to get into a spat in his current mood.
Later that week, as he stepped in his office, Igor was surprised to see none other than Remus Lupin sitting in one of his office chairs, in his usual drab robes, before remembering that he must have had another 'teaching exchange' that day.
"Professor Lupin, is it?... And in my office, what a surprise." he smiled, coldly, not knowing what this could be about. "How did you get into- ah. Miss Szabo."
Needless to say, Igor was not surprised to see Alexandra Szabo on one of the other chairs, awfully quiet. Igor sat himself down with a weary sigh, wondering what must have happened that involved a Hogwarts professor.
"Well, spit it out, then."
"He hexed me, sir, Headmaster Karkaroff, sir." She raised her hands in front of herself, with a dramatism in her gestures and tone which ensured Igor the opposite must have happened. If she did anything to ruin their relationships with Hogwarts, damned be her championships, he would finally kick her out. "I did nothing, I swear."
"Professor Lupin… Please elucidate this for me." Igor never thought he would be finding himself deferring to a Hogwarts professor, however there he was, leaning back on his chair as he fixated Szabo. She did look like she had an odd red smudge on her forehead, and he wondered if there perhaps was any credence to what she was saying.
"There was no other professor on sight when I caught the scene, Headmaster, so I was a bit unsure of what to do apart from bring the student here. I am unsure what happened in the beginning, but I saw this young witch here strike a fellow student in the nose, and I stepped in to stop her from further attacking him."
"Is that true, Szabo?"
"Technically." She made a motion with her fingers to signal 'a little bit'. Ah, an admission. That must have meant there were several witnesses, Igor figured. "But I didn't start it. Liolev was being an ass about what happened between him and-" realising she was detailing it to what was essentially a stranger, she briefly stopped herself from giving the name of the other students. "one of my classmates last night, Headmaster sir, out loud in the middle of the corridor, so since he's claiming to be such a stud, and since we've had unregulated duels outlawed, well, I just asked him if what happened was 'like this'-" At that, she put her head forward, lightly. Igor, doubted, however, that was what was said, or that the motion was that light. "Then, before I knew it, my wand was across the corridor and-"
"So your wand was in your hand." Igor interrupted.
"I may still be in shock, Headmaster, sir, after being aggressively jinxed."
"Professor Lupin, may I guess that you may have used the Disarming Spell, and that's how young Szabo's wand found itself on the floor, instead of the hexes and jinxes mentioned?"
At the same time as Lupin agreed that was what happened, Alexandra Szabo claimed she was simply a victim, to which Igor could not help but agree.
She was a victim indeed. Of two weeks of detention, as he just informed her.
"I'll deal with Liolev later. Out now. And next time, my girl, decide if you want to have detention for dealing with matters as a wizard, or as a Muggle. A week of that is strictly for dealing with it like an uneducated brute."
By the motion of writing she made before leaving, however, Igor figured she'd shave that week off, and he'd receive a nice little letter detailing the latest in terms of what is happening around Durmstrang that he was not privy to.
After all, how else would Igor find out that when it came to himself and Rada, a large proportion of students firmly believed that they apparently were to be married, and he left her at the altar, and that was why Rada Pann was always acting cold towards him? Igor could not help but laugh tremendously when he found out about that particular rumour, which could not have been further from the truth.
Igor turned towards Remus Lupin, and wondered how his conversation with Szabo would have gone if there wasn't for the third party. There would have been less politeness and more threats of expulsion, certainly.
"I apologise for the scene you must have witnessed back on the corridor, professor."
"I understand, Headmaster - after all, they are teenagers, and at their age they are quite a handful. We have our own troublemakers…"
"And we were young ourselves once, after all." Igor mused, wondering if he could perhaps get the information he was looking for himself. Ah, Alexandra Szabo, dear girl, if this line of inquiry is successful, you'll get yourself the entire detention scrapped. "Speaking of, professor, you must have been classmates at Hogwarts with my Deputy, am I correct?"
"Well-" Remus Lupin furrowed his brows, however, Karkaroff cut him off, in the same manner he had cut off his student.
"I was wondering, when I found about her removing you from monitoring her class, why she would do such a thing…"
"I'm afraid I did not interact much with professor Pann before your arrival at Hogwarts these few weeks." Remus answered patiently, slowly starting to understand the tone in Rada's voice when she explained that Krakroff replaced him with Snape without giving her any choice. "I was wondering the same thing myself before she explained it was about the subject matter."
"Is that so?"
Remus did not dignify a verbal response for a few seconds, before responding that he could check with his own Deputy, if he did not believe him. He raised himself from the chair and prepared himself to leave, escorted by Karkaroff, when he heard an odd tapping sound on the floor. The two men turned their heads at the same time, only to see an enormous black dog in the hallway. The dog growled as it made eye contact with Karkaroff, hair raising on its back, before it only briefly made eye contact with Remus - yet enough for him to wonder if-... no, it can't have been.
"Felix? Felix! C'mere. Good dog, good puppy- Good boy!" voices of students arose as the dog turned away from the two men, wagging its tail as an array of students on the corridor started calling out its name, promising pets and treats as it approached them.
"That's odd, a dog in a wizarding school." Remus started, wondering if-... no, surely not. And yet, its eyes were exactly like-
"That's Rada's mutt. Got it a few months ago… Why, I could not tell you, but I've been looking to get rid of it since she got it. Unfortunately, it seems that it took a liking to most around here, but the moment it bites a single student, I'm sending it the way of your hippogriff."