The Daughter of a Knight

Один (1)

They both knew this was goodbye. Maybe not forever, but still a goodbye. Something they weren't very good at.

Once they let go Ekaterina exhaled quietly and shook the fear out of her body. She needed to leave this house. She was determined to leave this life behind, whatever the cost. There wasn't much for her to live for anyway.

So she opened the door and stepped into the warm summer air. She was still not used to this warmth. Growing up North in Russia she had only ever known the cold. The temperature was almost always under 0 degrees. Always minus something. Even in the summer. And Ekaterina missed that, she missed the cold.

Before she could leave the house Andrei decided to speak to her.

"Я люблю тебя, Катя!"
(I love you Katia)

Katia, was a nickname only her mother and brother used with her. Everyone else called her Ekaterina. Nicknames weren't really that popular in the circle of people her father and brother were involved with, unless they were derogatory, of course. Technically she too was involved with them, but she tried to forget that.

"Я тоже люблю тебя!"
(I love you too)

With that Ekaterina closed the door and apparated from the mansion in Ireland to Hogsmeade in Scotland.

She was legally not allowed to apparate yet, but since she knew how to and going on foot wasn't really an option she chose to ignore the illegality of it. She wasn't really registered there anyway so her using magic while underage most likely would never reach the English ministry.

Ekaterina looked around, taking in her surroundings.

The village was beautiful. A big street lined with small and interesting shops. Small streets going between the buildings and toward the small cottages lining the village. Windowsills covered with colorful flowers.

It was stunning.

She saw an enormous castle beyond the houses and the trees.

That had to be Hogwarts. The place she was looking for.

So without waiting a minute Ekaterina was moving toward it. She was almost running. Once again she ignored the burning sensation in her arm and legs. She wanted to get to the castle as quick as possible.

But once she was out of the trees she halted.

Her great aunt's description of the castle was not nearly as magnificent as it really was. Ekaterina couldn't believe such a structure even existed. Her old school had been nowhere near as large or beautiful as that enormous structure. In all honesty, it had just been a glorified dump.

But once again she forced herself to start moving.

Ekaterina's great aunt Yelena Yakushkina was the only Yakushkin to ever attend Hogwarts. Ekaterina still didn't know the reason she had broken the family tradition of attending Koldovstorits, the school young Russian witches and wizards attended, but young Ekaterina loved the stories about Hogwarts.

Ekaterina's father also attended Hogwarts. That's where he met his master. He was already wrapped up in all this in his school time. He had always been an awful person, but Ekaterina's love for her father and her youth had blinded her. Only half a year ago she had seen him for how he really was. And she was disgusted with the man she used to call her papa.

Soon enough Ekaterina found herself inside of Hogwarts. The problem was, she knew her destination, but not how to get there. And getting distracted by the beauty of the castle didn't help her either.

The walls that were covered in paintings and candles, the large hallways all connected to each other, making it a maze for Ekaterina, the huge hall with a starry sky for the ceiling with hundreds or even thousands of candles floating under it. She could not believe that such a place was real.

She just kept turning into corridors, climbing the stairs and looking into every room she could, basking in the beauty of it.

About an hour into her search Ekaterina saw a cat.

And a second later heard screaming.

"Student out of bed!"

First chapter! I wrote this like six months ago or something, but I'm finally publishing it.

I am going to say it right now, I don't speak Russian. I have studied it for quite a few years, but it's a hard language to learn. So I know some stuff, but I definitely will make mistakes. Feel free to correct them:)

Also for anyone that is confused, words in Russian all have a gender, even last names, so for women there is usually an a at the end of the name. It's not really necessary nowdays as I understand, but this takes place the seventies so yeah.

And also, this is the time where the Soviet Union still existed and I thought about somehow including it, but I feel like it wont be important to her nor the wizarding world in general? So I probably won't add anything about that.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will enjoy the rest of the story as well!