Living in Durmstrang was vastly different than how it was in Hogwarts. It didn''t have different houses, and for example, not everyone had a room within the castle. Only those with sufficient backgrounds, influence, and prestige could live there. The rest had to either live on the grounds, find their own way, or in the nearby town of Valdemar and commune to school every day. This also meant that we, as newcomers, didn''t get to live inside the castle. Not that I minded it, so instead, we rented out one of the abandoned houses in Valdemar. We only bought what we needed for it as we didn''t know how long we would stay anyway.


    I can''t lie; I enjoyed it. Because Grindelwald was a teacher, he had to live in the castle, so it gave us a certain autonomy, taking care of ourselves and governing our days as we saw fit. It forced us to use brooms to get to school, which was also fun, and I didn''t mind flying in the early morning, watching the sunrise as we headed to Durmstrang. It was... serene. Peaceful.


    The only thing that both Quincy and I disliked was the constant need to drink polyjuice. You just can''t get used to the taste. In the end, we were placed in the 4th-year, and I was surprised at how welcoming the others were. I did not expect that. Neither did I think that the guys were going to show this much interest in Quincy... I didn''t know they would be this blatant about it and coming to me asking what my ''sister'' liked and how to court her... It took a great effort to keep myself calm and polite while being bombarded by these questions.


    As for Grindelwald, he became a teacher who fulfilled his duty to the best of his ability and very quickly became loved by the students. I could see why his lessons about magical beasts were captivating. Instead of just reciting from a book, he summoned bewitched images of the different monsters every time, displaying them in front of the class without the need to procure one and place everyone in danger.


    Of course, some were saying it was a cheap imitation because what if his fabrication displayed something wrongly, teaching the children incorrect facts? I understood why they thought that way, but I had a strong feeling that he knew what he was talking about.


    "Haaah..."


    "What is it?" I asked, sharing an orange juice with Quincy, sitting on the stone wall surrounding the back garden of the school, enjoying our lunch break, munching on a sandwich.


    "You saw it, and you still ask?" She grumbled, elbowing me in frustration. "It was the sixth guy I had to tell that I am not interested!"


    "Well, you are popular, even when you... look like this!"


    "Pft, maybe I should beat you up?" With a stifled laugh, she couldn''t help but roll her blue eyes, making me grin.


    "You can always try~!"


    "Cocky."


    "I wanted to say that!" After our laugh died down and I looked around, making sure nobody was there, I quickly leaned in for a kiss. "What do you think?" I asked, leaning back before we were discovered.


    "I prefer doing it when we are normal."


    "Not about that!" Now it was my time to elbow her gently, making her blush after realizing she misunderstood me. "I was asking, what do you think? How long are we going to be stuck here?"


    "Dunno... Until he says otherwise. Maybe the thing he is looking for has been moved or discovered; who knows!"


    "Maybe..." I whispered, going back to munching on my bread.


    "It''s not like back home, is it?"


    "No, it is not." I nodded, "It does have its unique atmosphere. I like it here, but it made me realize what we have lost and that we will never get it back. It also made me think about what the others may be up to."


    "Do you still have it? The handbook you made?"


    "Yep!" I answered, rummaging inside my bag before pulling it out, "I kept it, but I did tell them to destroy their own. So it is nothing but a memento."


    "Even if they did not, I enchanted them so if anyone else wanted to take a peek at it, it would look normal, and if they began prodding it with magic, they would self-destruct." She murmured while getting out a pencil and quickly writing into it while I watched with a smile.


    It was a simple message. ''We are fine. Keep yourself safe.'' Of course, we didn''t expect an answer, but to our surprise, messages began appearing, one after the other, expressing their relief and thanking us for saving them. Some even tried to explain why they didn''t destroy it, but... I was not mad. I felt warm inside. What made me not suspect them was one part, Quincy''s spell, and on the other, none of them tried to ask us where we were at the moment... and lastly, their handwriting. I know that portion could be faked, but still, I wanted to believe. It made me feel happy.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Ask them what happened after!" I urged Quincy, becoming excited, watching her hurriedly scribble it down, also breathing a bit more quickly while waiting for their answers.


    What they told us was not pleasant. In the battle, there were more than a dozen students who were caught in the crossfire, perishing, killed by either the Death Eaters'' or the Orders'' spells. Were they trying to fight? Nobody knew, but both sides were saying the same thing... those who died all tried to fight back. Against who? Well... Everybody blamed the other side.


    From those who escaped with us, many returned, and because of the chaos, not many asked how they got out. Those who decided to stay away hid amongst the muggles, afraid of retaliation from both sides. It was not pretty, and neither was the atmosphere in Hogwarts.


    Those who were back in school told us that the new Headmaster was Voldemort himself, while Snape was now the new Dark Arts teacher. The whole castle became much more opressive and colder than ever before. Luckily, they all said that it is rare to see the Headmaster, probably because he has his hands full with the Order, causing troubles everywhere around the country. Which there are a lot of.


    There was even an outbreak in Azkaban, freeing prisoners whom Voldemort kept in secret for who knows what purpose, probably for some magical experiments he was conducting when he was bored. Right now, most of those who graduated from Hogwarts are forcefully being drafted into the Death Eaters, and even 7th-year students are being given missions, taking them outside of Hogwarts as graduation tests.


    I couldn''t tell them much about our situation, but I encouraged them to keep working together and supporting each other, and once the time was right, we would meet again. As for when? I didn''t know, but one day, everything is going to change. Order? Death Eaters? None of that would matter anymore.


    ...


    ....


    .....


    "Is it true?" Brigitte asked after being stunned by the news that Elodie had broken for her just now.


    "Yes! I just asked the teachers, and Hermione is on indefinite leave! They said it is because she can barely concentrate with the constant headaches she is having..."


    "I can''t believe it... Where is she?!"


    "I tried looking, but they said she had already left!" Elodie continued in a sad and concerned voice as it was unlike Hermione... She wouldn''t have left without saying why or her goodbyes.


    "What is happening...?" Brigitte whispered, not really expecting any answers. Since what happened to them in Switzerland, she also felt weird. Somehow, the school lost a lot of its charm, and she couldn''t help but feel unsafe within its walls.


    As for Hermione, she felt even more than her friends. She just could not trust their Headmaster anymore. That distrust was consuming her, and very soon, she could no longer ignore it. Using her affliction as a cover, she asked for leave until she could recover. There was not much pushback; the school even made sure she could enter a sanatorium for witches and wizards to recuperate, but for Hermione, this felt like simply being placed from one camp to another, still keeping her under check.


    Of course, she never mentioned this to anyone and thanked the Headmaster for the opportunity, willingly accepting it... just so she could disappear while traveling to the sanatorium. Since then, nobody has seen her... As for where she was, maybe not even Flamel would have guessed.


    "Let me see..." Hermione murmured, reading her little notebook, filled with names and places she intended to visit, standing on a boat, crossing the channel between England and France.


    She debated about whether she should visit her parents or not, but she didn''t know where they could live right now. Maybe they stayed in the same place... or perhaps they moved cities. But that was not her goal right now. She wanted to find those names she had learned about, people who had interacted with the now-dead Anguine family. She even had in mind to visit the old estate... as a tourist.


    Unlike pureblood wizards, she grew up as a muggle and was unfazed by navigating through their world. She even found an old tourist ad that spoke about visiting a preserved, traditional, ancient English village, and when cross-referencing it, it was very close to the Anguine''s villa. She was determined to find out whatever was going on, and for that, she had to start out alone. She couldn''t trust the Order and their people, not anymore.


    "If you want to know the truth... you have to do your own research." With a soft smile, she happily tucked her bushy hair behind her ear as the ship neared the coast of her homeland, filling her with a sense of purpose and adventure.


    ...


    ....


    .....


    I was coming out of the bathroom, finally being back in my original shape, when I almost had a heart attack. There was someone else beside Quincy in the living room, but after I saw his face illuminated by the fireplace, I realized that it was Grindelwald.


    "It is dangerous to stop drinking the potion." He commented calmly, and it was hard to say whether he was angry or not. "No matter; I am here because I located the first cache where I hid some of my possessions."


    "Was it hard to find?" Quincy asked as I walked next to her, sitting down beside her.


    "I removed my memories of it, so I needed time to recall where it was, and I am still looking for triggers that will make me unlock more. Here."


    "A map?" I murmured, looking at the paper he was giving us, showing us a ruined castle with a well marked in its garden.


    "This is Castle Volgonid. In two days, your class will take a tour there. It is one of the old ruins, just to the east of here. While visiting, get down to the well and collect a lockbox. You will recognize it as it will have the symbol of the Hallows on it. Bring that back to me; that is it."


    "Sounds easy, sure." We nodded, feeling relaxed about it, but what he said next made our blood freeze.


    "Try to use minimal magic. I don''t know if they cleared the ruins or not, but the last time I was there, Lord Volgonid was not happy about human presence on his land..."


    "A ghost?" Quincy asked, but watching his eyes, I knew it was not that. He wouldn''t have warned us about a ghost.


    "A vampire."