Obviously, I have to make up how Durmstrang functions but bare with me, I'm doing my best to make it fit. It'll be very much how Hogwarts is run but altered slightly to fit the appeal of Durmstrang. Anyway this is way late and I'm exhausted.
Auf Wiedersehen,
Shan
_____________________________________________________________________________
I don't know if this is just in my own mind but it seems that all my mornings start with my mom calling for me like she can't do anything on her own.
"Milena!" She pounds on my door but I just put my pillow over my head.
"Asphyxiate me, please." I grumble.
"This child!" She huffs and that's when I've had enough.
"Child!" I hiss, throwing the door open. "You're the one beating down the door like a five year old that hasn't yet got her way. Now what do you want at this ungodly hour of the morning?"
"It's 5:30." She snips.
"And the sun's not up." I point out.
"You've got to get ready so we can go get your things."
"Was that all?"
"Listen here; I'm your mother."
"That would be debatable to some. Now I think I've got to get ready." She huffs again, turning on the balls of her feet and storming away.
I can already feel that today isn't going to be the best of days. So I get dressed as fast as I can so I can get it over with. I throw on a pair of jeans, plain shirt, hoodie and trainers before running downstairs to get something to eat.
"Do you have your list?" Mom snips again.
"No I figured maybe I could consume something to sustain me before you try eating my soul." I smile. I collect a bowl, spoon, soy milk and cereal then sit at the table.
"Morning." Sebastian grumbles, shuffling into the kitchen.
"Not the best for you either?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Does she always do this?" He asks in a soft, groggy voice. I nod and he groans.
"The shops don't open for another couple hours." Sebastian complains.
"Seriously!" I snap. Mom glares at me. "I'm going for a run."
"No you're not." Mom stands in front of me.
"Why not?"
"Because I said so."
"You're lucky grandma and grandpa raised me to have more respect for you." I hiss before calmly walking back to my room. Sebastian's heavy footsteps follow me.
"Rough start." He says conversationally.
"It happens." I shrug.
"I need to ask a favor of you."
"What?"
"Go easy on your mom."
"I think I was pretty gentle."
"She can't be stressed right now." He says intensely.
"Right because I can spare a few years of my life to save your marriage." I say viciously but it hurts a little because Sebastian just doesn't deserve it. "Sorry."
"I understand but it's really important that neither of us stress her out."
"Is there something besides the huge wedding you're planning that you're not telling me." I tilt my head to one side.
"Absolutely." He grins and walks back downstairs. I stand there stupidly trying to understand what he's said. Then it strikes me like lightning.
"Sebastian!!!!" I run to the kitchen where Sebastian is making breakfast with Mom. "You're pregnant!" I scream. She looks at me with big wide eyes.
"Surprise." She smiles tentatively. I shake my head and run back to my room, a scream ripping through my throat as I slam the door. Thoughtlessly, I lash out at the wall. Bruising my knuckles on impact at the very least.
"Milena?" Sebastian peeks into the room.
"What could you possibly want?" I sob.
"I just want to make sure you're okay."
"I'm not." I admit and stare at him through watery eyes. "She's barely my mom."
"Maybe she just needs a second chance; a better atmosphere. I've tried to start this right."
"So I was just a mistake and for sixteen years worth of second chances she's couldn't make it right but you come along and you can fix her?" I say breathlessly. He shakes his head. "Whatever. It's not like I'm not used to this." I wipe the tears away.
"We'll do this right." He tries to reassure.
"Nothing's ever right." I shrug. "Just let me know when we're leaving."
An hour later and I'm called down to the sitting room. I snatch my school list, fold it up and shove it in my back pocket. Mom comes in my room.
"Sweetie, I wanted to say sorry about this morning."
"Forget about it Mom."
"No, I was really out of line."
"It's fine." Mom goes to sit on my bed and I can't stop her fast enough. I hear the clear snapping of my wand. "Oh my god." I rush over and take the pieces in my hands. "It's broken."
"Sweetie, I'm so sorry."
"It's broken." I repeat.
"I'm sorry. We'll get you another one."
"I don't want another one. I want this one." I'm three years old again clinging on to my favorite toy.
"Come on. We'll get a new one." We go downstairs and travel by floo powder to whatever little village it is that you get supplies at here.
"Alright, first your uniforms." Sebastian insists.
"Actually we need to go to the wand maker." My mom says, biting her bottom lip.
"Don't you have a wand?" Sebastian asks me.
"I did." He raises an eyebrow at me.
"I broke it." Mom answers. "Not on purpose but she needs a new one."
"Right. That would be Gregorovitch." Sebastian explains and with a hung head I follow him.
"Velcome." Gregorovitch eyes me curiously as we enter the shop.
"We're looking for a replacement wand." Sebastian says and the wand maker comes from behind the counter to examine me.
"Yes." He nods and waddles away, bringing back several boxes. He hands them to me one after the other but each time is less successful than the last. "You were very connected to your wand." He muses.
"I guess you could say that." I shrug.
"Then this one." He hands me a wand with beautiful filigree on the dark wood handle, slender built with a wispy shaft of light, almost blond wood, and it's warm to the touch.
"What is it?" I ask.
"Special." He smiles. "Canary Whitewood, Lignum Vitae and Phoenix feather; thirteen and three-quarters of an inch."
"I've never heard of either of those woods." I say honestly.
"They aren't common woods for wands but the lighter one ,Canary Whitewood, it's strong, flexible but most importantly sympathetic. The handsome dark handle is of Lignum Vitae, it's good for healing and powerful magic. In Latin it means 'wood of life."
I smile at the wand.
"And it's yours." Gregorovitch claps. Suddenly, I didn't miss my old wand and had a more pleasant mood after exiting the shop.
"Thanks." I tell Sebastian and kiss Mom on the cheek. "Uniforms, right?" Sebastian leads us to the robe shop where everything is in a blood shade of red or brown, accents of black here and there.
"Milena!" A girl squeals. I whip around to see Laura running at me. "What a surprise."
"Yeah."
"I can't wait for you to get your robes. I've just come to get a new set too." She jumps up and down. "Mom and Dad are still at the book shop. Hi Sebastian. Natalia. Come on let's go." Laura drags me into the shop where she guides me in selecting all the appropriate robes and taking them to the squat shop owner to have them fit.
"You don't look like you're comfortable with uniforms." Laura giggles, glancing over from her own pedestal.
"We didn't have to wear them at my old school." I'm careful to fight the urge to shrug lest the fussy seamstress pokes me with something.
"At least Durmstrang uniforms are cute. Well they can be made to look cute. Not that you need much help." She eyes the black pencil skirt the seamstress is currently working on. I chuckle but am immediately brought to a stop by a sharp prod of the woman's wand.
I walk out of the shop with two sets of work robes, a set of regular and a set of dress robes, five button front shirts, two skirts, three trousers, a heavy red coat and a more moderate jumper, and a leather fur-lined cap with matching gloves.
"Can you believe school starts next week?"
"Yeah." Laura rolls her eyes at me.
"I can't wait to show you around the castle."
"Yeah, that's great. Where did my mom and Sebastian go?"I look down the main village street.
"Probably at the book shop with my parents." I groan and we lug our bags to the book shop where Laura's parents, Mom and Sebastian are all chatting it up. I knock on the window to get their attention and signal them to come outside.
"Got the rest of your things, Sweetie." Mom smiles and points to the large bags in Sebastian's hands. "And something a little extra. I know you never wanted one but I had to."
"What did you do?" I groan, expecting the worst.
"We got you a pet owl. She's already at home."
"That's not so bad." I say and Mom looks just as surprised as I am with my reaction.
"Speaking of home." Sebastian cuts in. "We should get there. I don't know how much longer I can carry all this stuff."
"See you at school!" Laura squeaks and wraps her arms around my neck firmly.
"See you."
"We can use the fireplace in here." Sebastian indicates the book shop.
Okay so I was wrong. The day wasn't completely for crap. But I was still trying to figure out how I was going to survive this new school.
_*_*_*
The morning of the first day at Durmstrang came too fast. My trunk was packed, my wand carefully put in the satchel slung over my shoulder. I sat on my trunk cradling my knees, waiting for the sun to peek over the horizon through my window. I hadn't slept much. I had nightmares that I forgot books or tried spells to make my skin match my fair skinned peers. One nightmare had me in a coldsweat as I dreamed of falling from my broom as it hovered a mile into the low hanging clouds.
My door creaks as it opens and if I hadn't been sitting here for the past hour I would have thought this was the start of another nightmare.
"Mom?" I whisper cautiously.
"Geez, you scared me." She gasps. "What are you doing awake?"
"Couldn't sleep."
"Do you have everything?" Her eyes dart around, looking over my trunk. I nod.
"I've quadruple checked." I yawn.
"Let's get you some hot breakfast." My mom takes me by the shoulders and we walk down to the kitchen. I slump into a seat and rest my head on my arms.
"Sleep. It teases me." I moan as my body almost relaxes when my eyes close.
"Coffee?" Mom asks.
"Please. Strong." She giggles. Soon the smell of coffee, waffles, eggs and sausage are all dancing around the kitchen.
"Smells good." Sebastian enters the kitchen, kisses mom on the cheek and sits across from me.
"My food." I growl. He laughs at me. Mom sets a plate of food in front of me and a cup of black coffee. "Thank you!" I jump up and hug her and then quickly sit back down, forgetting my manners and dig in like an animal.
"Are you ready for school?" Sebastian asks and whatever I've consumed threatens to make a grand reappearance.
"In a manner of speaking." I swallow. He laughs at me.
"You've got all your things packed?"
"Definitely." Mom answers for me.
"And your owl. What did you name her again?"
"Hakidonmuya. She's in her cage." Haki is raven black with a chest of spotted grey feathers. Hakidonmuya means 'time of the waiting moon'. "I have a question though." Sebastian lets me continue. "How do I get to Durmstrang?"
"Boat of course." He grins from ear to ear.
"With all of the students?!"
"No just your year." He chuckles.
"Is it long? The trip I mean."
"Magic is the fastest mode of transportation there is." Sebastian smirks.
"I guess it's a good thing I don't get seasick."
Thinking about it now however, I'm pretty sure I could get seasick. I stood with Mom, Sebastian, Laura and her parents beside the massive Year Six ship.
"Oh my god there he is!" Laura points at someone behind me. I turn.
"Who?"
"Viktor Krum." She says breathlessly and swallows. "He's walking our way. I've never even spoken to him."
I instantly don't like this Viktor Krum. He walks with a posse and his nose is so far up I find it hard that he can see where he's walking. His height and obvious handsomeness couldn't even sway me to the side of fondness.
"Mister Profter. Mister Vistark." Viktor gives a shallow bow.
"Viktor." Sebastian grins. "This is my fiancé Natalia and my soon to be stepdaughter Milena."
Viktor holds his hand out for mine and I comply with a handshake but he turns it, kissing the knuckles of my gloved hand.
"You are new then."
"If you mean I've never been here before, then yes." A breeze tickles the back of my exposed neck and I shiver. Viktor takes hold of the collar of my heavy red coat and flips it up.
"I vill see you in the castle then." He smiles crookedly.
"It would seem so." I match his smile in a much less enthusiastic way and he walks down to the Year Seven ship.
"I can't believe he talked to you!" Laura whisper yells as he leaves. I shrug it off. "He doesn't talk to anyone."
"Then he seems even more like a prick."
"I can't believe you said that." She gasps.
"Ohmigawd!" I mock her.
"Didn't you see that Man-God?"
"Yeah I saw that he had is nose was so far in the clouds he could tell us next weeks weather." She stammers on for a bit before dropping it to board the ship.
"You and Viktor would make the perfect couple." Laura starts in again. I roll my eyes. "I mean just look at you, already looking like the queen." She winks. I look down at myself and cock an eyebrow at her. My hair is in a sleek high bun, coat fastened to the hollow of my throat, black trousers, black leather boots and gloves. I had looked in the mirror and thought I looked fairly dull and unassuming but I found out quickly that I wasn't going to go unnoticed here.
"Laura!" A group of girls cheer and I'm introduced to Laura's friends. I stand uncomfortably as they gossip. I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn to see a rather tall, lanky boy but none the less handsome and his shorter, brawnier companion.
"Can we save you?" He smirks.
"Consider me saved." I smile and signal to Laura that I was going with the boys.
"My name's Petar." The lanky one says with a handshake.
"And I'm Yanic." The other introduces.
"Milena. Pleasure to meet the pair of you."
They go on to tell me how the school is divided up and how competitive it gets to win at the end of the year to win a house trophy. They explain that sometimes Quidditch becomes more important than school work. I ask about a dueling club and they chuckle and warn that Durmstrang's dueling club is solely for the brave and not the faint of heart.
"I'm well versed." I say simply but continue on. "How are we sorted?"
"The head of house picks you like a muggle school game." Petar shrugs.
"So if they don't like how I look I just go to a default house?"
"Typically."
"That's a load of dung." I scoff.
"Then don't get picked last."
"Oh, I won't."
"Speaking of 'The Line Up'." Yanic begins and the ship comes to a stop. "They'll be -"
"New-vill-uh Gar-tsa, Milena" One of the staff calls by name butchering it all the while. "Follow me."
I follow the man up several flights of stone stairs, into the castle and in a large holding room with all the tiny Year Ones.
"You have been chosen." The man says evenly.
"By who? I just got here." A harassed looking man approaches me and pins a badge on my coat.
"This is your house." The man says. "Villhund."
Finding where I'm supposed sit is easy. Villhund has the biggest and boldest banner above it.
"Velcome to Durmstrang, Milena." Petar greets me in the giant dining hall. "Oh Villhund. You must have really impressed somebody." I glare at him. "They're very selective. Just a little secret. Viktor Krum just barely made the cut." I giggle. "Better sit. The Year Ones are coming." He walks in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?" I don't want to let go of the only vaguely familiar thing I have here.
"I'm in Bjorn. Second best but just as good." He smirks.
I imagine that the loneliness I feel now contains some permanence and now I had a half-wit celebrity to deal with because if my theory is right - and they usually are - Viktor Krum had something to do with this. How else do I get picked for the most prestigious house right off the boat?