Harry Potter and the Boy Who Lived

Chapter 4: Durmstrang Spring Part 1

A Cold Welcoming

Location Unknown, (Jan. 11 th )...

Harry had used Portkeys before, so he thought he knew what to expect. While there was the typical jerk behind the naval as soon as the Portkey activated, he was not instantly deposited at his location like most of the Portkeys Professor Dumbledore had made for his family over the years. Instead, Harry was spun around in a swirling vortex for what seemed like several minutes. Harry was just starting to get dizzy from spinning around in circles when he felt his feet abruptly smash into the earth.

Harry hadn't fallen from a Portkey in years, and his experience with how to properly land was the only thing that saved him from collapsing in a heap on the ground.

Two things immediately assaulted Harry's senses the moment he landed. The first was that it was dark. If Durmstrang wasn't known to be somewhere in Europe, Harry would have sworn that he had traveled to the complete other side of the globe. He had left his home at ten in the morning, and it looked like the middle of the night where he had arrived. Looking up at the stars, Harry could perfectly see several constellations, and the only hint of light came from a faint reddish glow in the distance.

Knowing that he must be very far up north, Harry's senses quickly alerted him to something else. It was very cold. A sudden gust of wind kicked up, and Harry nearly screamed at the bone chilling rush of cold air. Cursing himself for not putting on the heavy furs he had been instructed to buy at Madam Malkins, Harry cast a warming charm, however, not even that was enough to completely keep out the cold. Desperately, Harry looked around for the Professor that was supposed to be meeting him.

"Impressive," commented a man with a Slavic accent, "I had thought you vould fall like the rest of your countrymen. You haff much practice with Portkey travel, Potter?"

Harry turned in the direction of the voice, but he could only make out the slightest hint of a person standing in the darkness. Slowly, Harry's eyes began to adjust, and the speaker came into view. It was a fairly tall, yet thin, man dressed in very thick red robes. He had long dark hair that reached down from beyond a heavy fur hat, and a pair of cold dark eyes that didn't look like they belonged to anyone who ever smiled.

"A little, sir," Harry replied in German.

"Ah, you haff come prepared," the man replied, flawlessly switching to German. "That is good. I am Dominque Grausam, your instructor for the Dark Arts. Now, you follow me."

Harry nodded and began to follow his Professor down an icy path that seemed to wind through the snow around them. As they walked, Harry did his best to ignore the temperature by surveying the landscape around him. The dim light made it difficult to see very far, but Harry was fairly certain that he could make out mountains in the distance.

"Sir," Harry said, testing out his German. "It cold much here. No?"

Professor Grausam glared at Harry before saying, "You need more time vith the language charm, Potter. That vos some of the most disgusting German I haff ever heard. Say in English if you are not able to speak decent German. At least then I do not feel the desire to hit you vhen you speak."

Harry couldn't stop his face from flushing in embarrassment. "It's a lot colder than I expected, sir."

"You are stupid, Potter," Grausem said mockingly, "Do you think ve tell you to buy heavy coat for fun?"

"Where are we, sir?" Harry tried to keep his voice respectful, but between the cold and his professors attitude, he was growing very impatient.

"Ve are in the Kautokeino province."