The Durmstrang Girl

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The characters belonging to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling. I only own Emily Karkaroff and the plot.

Today was the day, the day the Dark Lord would take vengeance on the Potters. He had spoken about it to me before I was sent to Azkaban. I never went back after I was released for giving the Ministry of Magic names of some of his followers. I knew that if I tried to go back I would have been killed for my treason.

I now sat behind my desk, in my office, in my school. My name is Igor Karkaroff, and I am the Headmaster of Durmstrang. It was about to be the beginning of a new year and I was getting some of my papers settled, getting a list of students that were enlisting this year.

As hard as I tried I couldn't stop thinking if the plan had gone smoothly. I hadn't kept any contacts with any other one of the Death Eaters, except Severus Snape, but that was because he also worked at a school called Hogwarts in England.

I was almost done for the night, when I heard a knock on my office door. I left my desk and opened the door to find a person with a long cloak and a hood over its head with, what looked like, a bundle of blankets in his arms. The man slowly and gently placed the bundle at my feet, quickly turned around and disappeared.

It took me awhile to process what had just happened. My eyes traveled down to the bundle and there was a white envelope with nothing written on it, not even a signature. As I reached down to grasp it, the bundle began to move. I jumped back slightly, afraid if it was something poisonous...like a snake, but when I glanced back down, there was no longer a blanket covering the mysterious object wrapped inside it, it was now bare with nothing but a small shirt and a diaper covering its small, defenseless body. It was a baby, with brilliant brown eyes. I picked up the letter and began to read it aloud:

'Good day to you, sir. I bet you have guessed what is inside this strange package. It is my baby girl, I have named her Emily. Please take care of her, for I cannot, it was too dangerous to keep her with me. I beg you, sir. Don't let any harm come to her. I will come back someday to collect her.

Sincerely,

A grateful friend'

I was speechless all I could do was pick up the baby and go in search of one of my employers. The first one I found was Professor Figans, to my knowledge he had four children. He looked at me puzzled when I came, practically running into his office panting, and the time really didn't help my circumstances. I began to explain to him what had happened just minutes before, and he began to check the condition of the child. I just watched from a far, but before long he turned around with a small grin on his face,

'Looks like you have a new baby girl...and also you need some more diapers.' was all he said.

'A baby girl!?' I thought, 'What was I going to do with a baby girl? After all I ran an all boys school.'