By now, the scenery outside the windows had turned into nothing but vast stretches of white cloud and pale sunlight. The green earth below had disappeared completely. Avada sat in front of one of the windows, with the neat and imposing solid wood table before him, pens and paper arranged tidily upon it, while beneath him was a soft leather seat.
The feeling was extremely strange.
It was as though he were sitting in a private jet with oversized windows, holding a meeting with his business partners...
In a way, it fulfilled one of the dreams from his previous life.
"First, a few matters regarding Durmstrang."
Seated at the head of the long table, Dumbledore spoke with the ease of a true executive.
"The location of Durmstrang has always been their highest secret. Even the students who attend school there do not know where it actually is. All we know is that Durmstrang is located somewhere in Northern Europe, but we do not even know which country it lies in. As a result, Durmstrang operates with a considerable degree of independence and is entirely beyond the control of any Ministry of Magic..."
"That's probably why they can openly teach Dark Magic."
Someone muttered under their breath in annoyance.
"Therefore,"
Dumbledore pretended not to hear and continued calmly,
"I ask that you also respect their traditions and refrain from inquiring into, or attempting to investigate, anything related to their location. They have even placed magic over the sky above the school so that it projects the stars of other places. So do not imagine that you can work out the location through astronomy, either."
"..."
This time, even Avada fell silent. He had not expected Durmstrang to go to such insane lengths in concealing its location.
Then again, it was not impossible to understand.
After all, the school really did have just a tiny little problem with making enemies.
To speak only of recent history, Gellert Grindelwald—who once threw the entire international magical world into chaos—and the large gang of dark wizards under him had, in all likelihood, been outstanding products of Durmstrang. Their current headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, also had an openly notorious Death Eater background...
And if one went farther back, their founder, Nerida Vulchanova, had also been a heavyweight dark witch. The Three-Layer Theory of the Soul, which occupied an important place in the history of soul research, had originated from her—and in that backward age, the process of researching the soul hardly needed to be elaborated upon.
So under those circumstances, if Durmstrang were as careless about its address as Hogwarts or even Ilvermorny, and did not take special precautions, then one day it might very well suffer an unfortunate little campus fiendfyre incident...
"And Durmstrang will not be providing us with accommodation."
While Avada was thinking, Dumbledore continued speaking.
"So for the next half year or more, we will all be living aboard the Hogwarts Express. That is also why I brought the entire train with us. There is no need to worry—the carriages have all been specially modified, and they will certainly be no worse to live in than your dormitories."
"For example, the kitchen and dining hall are in the carriages behind this one. If you are not used to Nordic cuisine, you may come back and continue enjoying the familiar flavors of Hogwarts. The remaining carriages contain your personal rooms, which you may go and identify for yourselves shortly..."
"What about our classes, Professor?"
One student raised a hand.
"Will we be attending lessons together with Durmstrang students, or will you be teaching us directly?"
"Ha, I hardly possess the ability to teach every subject from fifth through seventh year by myself."
Dumbledore could not help smiling as he waved a hand.
"You will be experiencing two terms of Durmstrang's curriculum, and there will be no language barrier. After all, Durmstrang's admissions have always covered a broad range of regions, and the students' native languages are equally varied, so most of the time they also teach in English."
"And as for the fifth-years and seventh-years, there is no need to worry about your examinations. The Wizarding Examinations Authority has entrusted the three headmasters with the right to design papers based on the material actually mastered by the students, which will serve as specialized O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. examinations for the champions. But do not expect me to go easy on you—the papers will still need to be reviewed and approved by them."
"We should arrive at our destination at around seven in the evening, and I will come and call for you before then. Very well, that is enough for now. Once you have lived there for a while, you may come to me at any time with questions. For now, go and have a look at your new rooms. And do not forget to enjoy the scenery outside—the chance to see views from such heights does not come often!"
Having finished explaining the most important matters, Dumbledore did not repeat the things he had already drilled into them many times before. Instead, he picked up the drink before him and emptied it in one gulp, then gave a cheerful wave of his hand, urging the students to leave and go explore things that were newer and more interesting. The students were more than happy with that arrangement, and after saying goodbye to Dumbledore, they lined up and headed toward the carriages behind them...
The second carriage behind the meeting room was surprisingly large because it combined both the kitchen and the dining hall, and there was no partition between the two sections. At a glance, one could see the piles of ingredients stacked to one side, as well as five house-elves. As the students passed through, the elves all bowed and enthusiastically asked whether anyone wanted an extra meal right then and there, even though they had in fact just eaten breakfast before boarding.
Beyond that stretched a full corridor that could be seen from one end to the other. On one side were the train windows, and on the other were more than twenty neatly set doors, each engraved with a number. It looked very much like a hotel hallway.
"So this is where we'll be living... Everyone, just pick a room."
A seventh-year glanced over the rooms, then casually opened one of the doors beside him.
"Does anyone have any special superstitions about numbers?"
"Nope—I didn't take Divination."
After a burst of laughter, everyone dispersed and chose rooms of their own. Avada also picked one at random near the middle and moved in. Cedric was right next door, and Baron was in the room beyond his.
And the interior was indeed just as Dumbledore had said: spacious and comfortable, with almost no difference from the dormitories back at school. However, since the rooms no longer belonged to separate Houses, and decorating them in all four House colors at once would have seemed a bit too gaudy, the décor here was simpler. The bed and curtains were white, while the floor and walls were pale wood, making the whole place look no different from a decent hotel room.
But when paired with the high-altitude view outside the window, it gave off the feeling of a luxurious bedroom on a private jet, making Avada feel all at once as though his personal status had risen by quite a bit.
(End of Chapter)