Marauder's Daughter (Eventual Tom Riddle X OC)

Chapter 64: Durmstrang

Two months. For two damn months I've been wandering all the ice covered islands in the northern regions of Europe. And now I finally found what I've been looking for.

"Finally!" I exclaim out loud, my voice muffled by the teal cloak I have wrapped around my shoulders, nose, and mouth.

I have been searching for two months on my own to find the hidden location of the Durmstrang Academy. Now, I'm standing along the shore of a lake in a winter tundra, and the floating locator items I have for detecting magic finally ricocheted off an invisible barrier. 

I left on my journey just after dropping Harry off for school along with half the Order. Dad had officially retired from his position at Hogwarts and actually got promoted at the Ministry and is now second in command of the entire Auror department.

Remus has been stationed by the Order to be in Hogsmeade to look after the city and grounds of Hogwarts since they have heard rumors about Voldemort becoming erratic ever since the ambush at the Ministry. Several of the Death Eaters were either caught or killed at that attack. I was pleasantly surprised that Lucius Malfoy and his family were reported as missing, so I'm glad he took them into hiding. I know they're safe because Voldemort apparently went and trashed their mansion looking for them in a rage when Malfoy abandoned him.

I set out to find more information about souls before I attempted to extract the fragment inside of Harry, and I only had one potential lead on where to look. Thanks to some of my conversations with Alexei about his school, I know there is a library within Durmstrang that is loaded with a twisted and evil restricted section. Nothing sounds more tempting and promising than a restricted library in a school that teaches the Dark Arts.

I've been on my own this whole time, I wasn't able to bring Bruce with to send messages at all since he wouldn't have been able to handle the cold environment. Dad did give me a mirror that can communicate with him, but I don't have anything to report so I've only responded when he calls me with it, which hasn't been frequent. Dad is busy with his cases, so really my only company is Tom, but that was just fine. 

Tom was becoming my best friend anyway, which was another motivating factor for going to Durmstrang. He doesn't know it, but I'm also finding ways to safely get him out of the diary. His main focus should be on his remorse, which he is doing a great job on, though it is difficult to watch the process. He is becoming ridden with guilt, and the look of sorrow is marring his cute little face. I can feel the remorse when I reach out and feel his emotions, it actually starts to hurt me when I do since it's growing so strong.

Standing at the edge of the half frozen lake, I stripped down to a swimsuit and stored all my clothes and belongings in my backpack I have, casting a waterproofing spell on it. I strapped my wand to my forearm with a carrier after casting a warming spell and the bubblehead charm on myself, and dove into the lake. 

I knew from both Alexei and from the fact that the Durmstrang students all came to Hogwarts on a ship, I was looking for a lake surrounded by snowy mountains in Northern Europe, so I hopped from island to island and found every body of water I could until l I found this one. I've dived into I don't know how many lakes at this point that I feel like I'm part fish.

Another thing I did before jumping in was take my custom eyesight enhancing potion. I haven't used it on every dive, but since I finally found some actual trace of magic I think this is the right lake. I can't take the potion very often since it burns my eyes when it wears off, but it is damn useful when it is active. Snape and I couldn't find a solution to the afterburn, but he did find a way to relieve the burn with a counter potion I can take after, so there's that at least.