"Krum..." Draco mumbled in disappointment but he didn't let it show on his face, "I have indeed heard of him, it's quite difficult to not notice a rising Quidditch star who I heard is getting selected for the Bulgarian team."
"Yes-Yes... A star, that he is." Igor said proudly, "But it is really a bit of disappointment that you couldn't enter Durmstrang from the beginning. As far as I know, Lucius wanted you to go there, didn't he?"
"Yeah he did but mother worried about Durmstrang being a bit too far away, but I am quite happy here in Hogwarts. It's not really that bad as some might think." Draco said, "I have been meaning to ask, aren't there any good students in Durmstrang, as in academically."
"Well almost all of them excel in every subject but there hasn't been anyone exception like you." Igor said again praising Durmstrang again, "I hope within these six months you make your mind up to chose the right school for yourself."
Draco ignored most of the conversation throughout the whole rest of the journey with just simple nods. Draco was trying to figure out what Ryan was actually trying to achieve, the way he acted was completely different from how he appeared in front of people. After all the investigation he had done with the help of Snape, he had concluded two very important details.
One, Ryan was creating an army of his own filled with wizards and witches and even magical creatures. Last he heard any information about it was that a pack of werewolves had joined his cause willingly. And that wasn't all, he had even managed to influence wizards with the imperius curse to work for him, though not so big, he had quite a decent battle power right now, especially if he wanted to sneak attack, the opponents might not stand a chance at all.
Second, Ryan was completely anonymous in these things to the point where nothing could be traced back to him, suggesting someone else was doing his bidding for him. Snape and Draco had come to the same conclusion that it must have been a very faithful servant who is very close to him. Which suggests that the person was in Durmstrang. Though the investigation suggested that things in Durmstrang were normal, the suspicion that there was a faithful servant hiding behind all the students and teachers their made things much more complicated.
The person could be anyone even Igor who was chatting with him right now. For a cowardly dark wizard who snitched on his fellow Death Eaters, and someone who used to follow Voldemort, the suspicion on him wouldn't be too far-fetched. Every wizard who used to follow Voldemort wanted one thing, 'Power', whether it was for dominance or it was to get back on the top, it all correlated to wanting power. So Igor could have easily submitted himself to Ryan, but that was all suspicions besides he had found something much more interesting.
Silas, who was staring at him. Though he looked normal on the surface, the aura around him told a different story. In fact, Draco had never seen anything like it before, just the whole vibe of animal-like killing intent Silas was giving off was really intensifying. He had never felt the same way about any other person he had met before and from the way, things were looking, he was sure Igor couldn't feel anything of the same.
The feeling was hard to describe but in general, it felt as if a predator was looking at its prey as if it was barely holding back from ripping the prey to shreds. Draco was sure the only reason he could feel it was because he was now a half-veela of some sort and was quite a bit sensitive to nature magic but what made Silas so different was really amusing to Draco. Throughout the whole journey, Draco had already found his main suspect, though there might be others or even Silas himself could be innocent but the feeling he was giving was enough to decide there was something wrong with him.
Through a not so long journey, Draco could finally see Durmstrang in sight.
Durmstrang Institue really lived up to its name for being one of the three largest wizarding schools. Durmstrang, like Hogwarts, is a castle, though their castle is not quite as big as Hogwarts it is still large enough to shock someone. The castle is four stories tall and has the same medieval feeling to it. It also has very extensive grounds and is surrounded by lakes and mountains.
From what Draco knew of the school is that it is Unplottable meaning no maps can ever trace its location, similar to Leaky Cauldron and Durmstrang also conceals its whereabouts from plain sight with additional magic added to it, to keep Muggles away from the place at any cost.
Durmstrang was founded during the Middle Ages by the great Bulgarian witch Nerida Vulchanova, who served as the first head of the school. She was succeeded after her mysterious death by Professor Harfang Munter, who established Durmstrang's reputation for emphasizing martial magic as an impressive part of its curriculum. One of the few reasons, Draco was really interested in this school as it not only prepared students for duels but also for real life-fighting scenario as one is very unlikely to follow the rules of a duel in a death match.
The other thing that made this school very interesting was because of a single person, Gellert Grindelwald, one of the most powerful and dangerous Dark Wizards of all time, who was accepted into Durmstrang Institute back in the day. Although the school was oriented towards the Dark Arts, Grindelwald's experiments in dark magic were considered too dangerous for the students. After a certain amount of time, Durmstrang could no longer ignore Grindelwald's dangerous studies and expelled him.
For a school that was so proud of its history of dark magic, it was kind of ironic to expel a student for it. But the fact they did suggests how ruthless and dangerous Grindelwald's magic was, to the point where it even made a school like Durmstrang to expel him. But even after all that, to this day, Grindelwald is still marked as the best student in the school's history. Draco had heard of students who were so proud about the fact that they went to the same school as Grindlewald that they went on to brag about it, only to get taught a lesson in the form of retribution by the people who lost their family members to Grindelwald.
And last but not least, he was kind of happy to meet Crabbe and Goyle again. Though they weren't really too close friends, he still considered them to be a sort of responsibility since he had changed their entire fate. For someone who was supposed to stay in Hogwarts, they had to leave for Durmstrang which wasn't really that much of a nice place as Igor made it out to be. One of the main reasons being Igor himself.
Igor Karkaroff, after being acquitted as a Death Eater by betraying Voldemort by revealing information to the British Ministry of Magic, rose to the position of Headmaster of Durmstrang and had created an immensely unpopular image of himself in this position. To the point where several students were removed from the school by their parents for his ruthlessness. But even after all the backlash, he still insisted on an environment ruled by fear and intimidation from his students, leading many to view him as egotistical and unprincipled.
So seeing Karkaroff, act all chummy with him made him feel extremely uncomfortable. Though his unusualness wasn't comparable to Silas, as his behavior could be interpreted as him wanting to impress Draco but it still didn't feel right at all.
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