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TWENTY FOUR.
ARABELLA FLANNERY had spent the whole of the previous night awake. Thinking of what the kitchen elves had said about dark magic, about Karkaroff and the training at Durmstrang . . . did everyone think that Viktor Krum was a dark wizard now? She hoped not, for his own sake.
It was the weekend, meaning that Bella had a little too much time to think, hence her incessant worrying about the elven encounter the night prior. Her worrying was also brewing from the Third Task – she needed to help Viktor with a strategy if he was going to win the Tournament, but this was proving difficult following their current "it's complicated" relationship (that's what the redhead would say if anyone asked about him, anyway).
So there she was: walking over to the Durmstrang ship where it resided in the Black Lake dock. As much as it would pain her to talk to him, she knew that her anxiety wouldn't pass if she didn't.
Bella held a few large books in her hand that she had borrowed from the library, ones about mazes, in the hope that herself and Viktor would be able to talk about the Third Task without an argument. (She wasn't counting on it, though.)
Knocking on the door of the ship cabin, it felt eerily familiar to the Ravenclaw. After all, the last time she walked upon the ship was following Zoe's brutal attempt to harm her. Thank Merlin that Zoe got expelled.
To her surprise, Viktor answered the door. His eyes were wide in shock. "Bella."
"I need to talk to you."
They entered the main room of the ship, which was vastly bigger than she remembered it. "Ostavi ni." Viktor mumbled to the other Durmstrang students, and as if by order, they left the room.
Viktor sat on a sofa of blood-red velvet, and as Bella did the same opposite him, she couldn't help but wonder how a red chair could be symbolic for the blood that Karkaroff spilled. After all, if he was a dark wizard or even a Death Eater (like the student rumours had suggested), he would've undoubtedly killed people. Not that she would be surprised though; the man was mysteriously creepy anyway. The redhead was just worried for the sanity of Viktor – she didn't want him to be like that too.
"There has been talk amongst some people that Durmstrang trains its students in dark magic. And Karkaroff: apparently he's, um, not a good person." Bella fiddled with her broken nails as she spoke.
"What do you mean? Who has been saying this?" Viktor scowled.
Arabella shrugged, avoiding his eye contact. "Hogwarts students. It's just a rumour, so it doesn't mean that it's true. I'm just curious."
