"... And so he was stood in this magic circle he had drawn, believing he'd be protected from them when we found him," in space of the classroom floor, the Professor gestured around him with both arms as if to illustrate a circle drawn upon the floor around his feet.

"A string of garlic around his neck, churchyard grass on fire, praying to his Muggle god. Honestly it was a sight to be seen. He'd been driven mad by their presence, trying everything to stop them." With each description his hands moved to illustrate the location of each from his memories. It was rare to see Professor Storm quite so animated and engaged in physical description of a scene, but since the quite lovely Magda had visited him that morning, he felt almost able to go back to old times, where such stories were of amusement and far more ordinary conversation than Hogwarts would be proud to permit.

"Even when we'd driven stakes through the hearts of two either side of him, and were attempting to capture the ones who were making off as bats, he was still utterly convinced it was some great being in the sky that was keeping him from harm - not the garlic and the fire. The circle was a throwback from when the village had last been plagued with vampires, and our kind had attended to matters."

With a shake of his head, his arms dropped to his sides and the Professor headed back over to where they had been perched, and tapped the teapot between them to warm it through again.

"Only I can't recount even such tame things to the younger years without the Muggleborns getting hot under the collar about my poor opinion of Muggles." He gave a shrug of his shoulders and added thoughtfully, "It is times like those I miss Durmstrang, yes, and others." He poured them both a fresh cup of tea without really asking if Magda wanted another, just glad to catch up with one of his former students at very long last. That, and she might let slip something of use to Hogwarts in the tournament...

"Would you have enjoyed your studies as much if you had come here, do you think?" He asked Magda, eyes keenly examining her reaction. It was so good to have a chance to talk to her, through lessons and the briefest of conversations outside of them, it was hard to establish much of how things were for her.

"There's not quite so much of a focus on stretching the best here."

Vampires.

There were few magical beings that so captured Magda’s attention— and she was the granddaughter of a legendary hunter.

There was, of course, a sharp difference between the beasts Auberon tracked with a crossbow, and those shadowy humans who survived on the lifeblood of others: once-humans, a book she had read had called them.

She followed Professor Storm with a rapt gaze as he told his story, light stare beneath dusky brows seeming to pack in a host of blustery thoughts about muggles and vampires while also showing great regard for her old professor. She could not help wondering, even as she zeroed in on the details of the bloody scene in a little village, why such a wizard would trade the Unplottable fortress for this softer place.

“It can’t be against the law-” she said, a slow drawl, humored. “-To give a few muggleborns some nightmares.” She smiled, calm but somehow assured; she could share a joke with her former professor at the expense of absurd muggle culture and not have to worry about  dishonoring Durmstrang. “I think it’s stories like these that make the Durmstrangen miss you, Professor.” A none too subtle hint that he should return, that they would welcome it, that Magda did not know why he preferred this place.

But Scotland had its charms. And Professor Storm had many stories more than this one.

“It’s less challenging,” she offered. It was an opinion that had not changed much since she had arrived. “But that can make it harder in a way. There is more… of a populist approach. They’re quick to assume all witches and wizards are equal, aren’t they?” Another smile. “Why sort someone into a house before you see their potential? Why not make them earn it?” As an Oberteil, she had many advantages, privileges that others did not have, but Magda had earned her rank, whatever her family’s rich history with Durmstrang. “It’s very fixed.” It was safe. It could hold someone back. “I think I might grow bored,” she said, and there was still amusement in her gaze. But she had not, surprisingly, been too bored since arriving.

“Do you think you might have saved delusional muggles from a vampire takeover if you hadn’t gone to Durmstrang?” She tried to imagine a puberty-addled Hufflepuff staking a blood-hungry being with fangs. But then, they had a very effective Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. “The lessons are not unlike our own,” she admitted. “The emphasis is just a bit different.” Durmstrang did not shy away from certain topics, while Hogwarts seemed to take an exceptionally ethical approach, one that bordered on coddling for some of the professors. "Anyway, I believe everyone should know that spells work better than prayers."

It was touching to hear that Magda thought that the Durmstrang students missed him, though he took it with a pinch of salt. He hadn't been their favourite, as he'd been pushed down the pecking order by Auberon and the rest of the senior staff, he'd become less popular for the students to 'befriend' to any great benefit.

He nodded at her analysis of the lack of challenge.
"Yes, here the weakest and the strongest much be taught just as well, though it makes it harder to stretch the best as a result." The Professor explained on equality.

"Do you think you might have saved delusional muggles from a vampire takeover if you hadn't gone to Durmstrang?"

Ignan frowned a little in thought, trying to picture himself studying at Hogwarts as he had grown up. Had his late father scorned his late mother back when he had been conceived, and had denied her to marry him, he might well have attended. It was only that Merik was to return to be the deputy headmaster of Durmstrang before Ignan's birth that his mother had elected to leave Britain and spend the rest of her life with the Durmstrang professor.

"Probably not. Or not with such style, my travelling companion at the time was also Durmstrang stock, we're definitely a different breed." He shook his head, and raised his teacup in a subtle toast to the difference before taking a sip.

"Yes, though muggles only have their prayers, without magic. And there we have one argument why the muggle-lovers want us to reveal our position, to look after our cousins without magic again. Because that worked so very well with them relying on us, resenting our superior skills. Not to mention some of us let it get to our heads."

Ignan's knowledge of the history of magic was rather tainted by the Durmstrang approach to things, of course. He did not at all agree that Muggles should know about them, for simplicity and because the magical world would be obliged to become caretakers while interbreeding and diluting the magical blood.

Meanwhile, he had no qualms with friends engaging with Muggles for society or even romantic sake - he'd not been past it himself - just that it all sat a little uncomfortably with his upbringing, so he didn't like to dwell on matters - he'd only question his own beliefs and get irritated.

"So in all, has it been a worthy final year for your Durmstrang studies? Or will that remain to be seen on the results?" The Professor asked, not making it clear whether he meant any final tournament results (he as much in the dark as the rest of them over whether another challenge lay ahead) or examination results.

"Where will you go next?"

In Magda’s opinion, the weak earned their place just like she did. They ended up where the belonged. If there were certain lessons they were not allowed to attend, things from which they were barred, it was for their own good. And those who could rise to the challenge weren’t held back. The world was changing since the last war, but it didn’t mean that people’s nature had altered very much.

“It is a modern approach,” she offered, diplomatically, though it was obvious she agreed with him that stretching the best was limited. Or perhaps it wasn’t that modern: it had seemed to work for Hogwarts for a thousand years. And yet, it had caused tension here and there, over the years.

"Probably not. Or not with such style, my travelling companion at the time was also Durmstrang stock, we're definitely a different breed.”

This answer seemed to please Magda. She bore her teeth in a smile. That a Hogwarts professor could admit as much confirmed her hard-held notions that Durmstrang was superior (at least in the education it provided, though certainly she found it superior in several ways). “Perhaps vampire-hunting should be a task in the next tournament. Or this one…” If there was another task on the horizon, it was a well-kept secret. Magda thought Durmstrang had it in them to reverse the current standings and return them to their natural order. Vampires would surely be a way to prove that. “Do you teach about them extensively here? I saw that half-vampire child recently.” There was something in her eyes, a curiosity that was not altogether separate from a hunter’s interest in prey. Magda did have a level of respect for certain vampires, those who could offer unique, first-account perspectives on history. Their savagery, though, that other side of them, made them ideal targets.

She sipped her tea, in small, polite sips as she listened. It was a precarious balance, the amount of magic to reveal to the other side of the world. Leaders had to know, for practical reasons. Muggleborns needed to explain things to their families, assuage their fears. While Magda agreed that it was best not to lord over a class of people who resented them, she didn’t believe in coddling muggleborns, in evaporating their childhood fairytales quickly and sometimes painfully. But there were reasons that Durmstrang was pickier about admittance. In some ways, the governance was easier than it was at Hogwarts.

As she listened, she thought she could agree. “Every muggleborn should know the superiority of magic,” she revised. If they were to be permitted to their schools and world. “I suppose it is too complex for muggles, for their science and their religion.” From what Magda knew, the muggles had enough on their plates, debating those two without the injection of magic. It was tedious, even hearing the summary. If wizards also had their debates, and if the Eisenberg girl was less quick to admit the tiring nature of the arguments, well, she wouldn’t claim to not be biased. “The things they would want us to fix for them… Infrastructure, medicine… politics.” The last in the list was especially painful (in an annoying way) to think about. Her tone was one of agreement, an acknowledgment he was right. From Magda, it was a sign of respect.

“Yes, I’ve enjoyed it, even with the differences here. The challenges are good ones.” The annoying hurtles of cultural difference had proved helpful in her studies… and practical training. “I’m ready for my exams,” she offered confidently. But on the subject of what she might do after school, Magda was less confident. The uncertainty irritated her. She had several ideas, but no set path; she wanted to explore them all. “I can’t decide whether I want to stay here and keep pushing myself, or return to Denmark and follow my parents. I’m not sure I can see myself working for the government, but if it’s something to do with spells or advancing magic, perhaps. I could go to Germany, even. I’m sure my grandfather would be happy if I ended up there.” She could not picture herself in the role of a professor in ten years, but it didn’t mean she wouldn’t eventually follow in the footsteps of her grandparents or Professor Storm. “Maybe something in the field of Beings.” She smiled, thinking again of vampires.

"Do you teach about them extensively here? …"

"Not so much, they are considered less of a present threat in Britain owing to their restrictions." The Professor explained, and sipped at his tea.

She always spoke so eloquently and with such insight. Had she still been his student at Durmstrang he would have been so very proud. Small mercies this year to have the Durmstrang students back in his classroom.

"I'm ready for my exams," the confident young witch informed him and he gave a nod of agreement.

"I am sure whatever you turn your hand, and wand to, you will be successful. With such a bright mind and daring talent." He set aside his tea and thought for a moment on any advice he might be able to offer.

"Remember that you are young, however wise the head upon your shoulders is. You have much you can learn, see and experience, and much yet to grapple with the world. If anything, your twenties will be the years that teach you more than the school will." His shoulders raise and lowered as he suggested it.

"Government is quite a secure job, and certainly one that appeals to parents - fair wage, progression prospects, respected roes in society. But you'll ask yourself if you could do more." He gave a somewhat knowing look.

"What was the last thing you read or were taught about which really caught your attention? I can't help thinking that with your upbringing and a Durmstrang education, you feel that you have heard everything, and are a little bored?"

Magda considered the restrictions on such creatures for a moment. She was fascinated both by the prospect of hunting rogue vampires and interacting with creatures that had a human component. The restrictions here were no doubt necessary, and vampires as a whole perhaps not to be entirely trusted, but she could easily imagine herself submerged in a conversation with one, stubbornly unafraid. She had seen or interacted with them fleetingly in public, but had not yet had the chance to pick one’s brain. There were vampires of sorts among the Oberteil. Some of them were more fun than others.

Her next smile was mild, but unmistakably proud around the edges. She knew that most of her professors had great confidence in her; it was nice to hear Professor Storm did, too, even if he was now dueling for the other team. She wondered privately whether he had as much confidence in his students. She knew better than to voice her biased answer to that silent question.

“Yes,” she agreed. She was young; now was the time to take risks. (Not that Magda in twenty or fifty or a hundred years would not.) “If I take the traditional year to travel, I could do a few internships along the way. My classmate’s family runs a dragon sanctuary. Maybe I could spend a season there, and then work under some of my family’s contacts in Germany.” And from there, the choices were endless. Both options sounded like they might pack in more experience than the average semester, even at Durmstrang Institute. It was the minute details, the unexpected factors that came with being out of a hyper-controlled environment with referees that would offer the next level of education. Magdalena was ready for that much, even if she had yet to settle on just one path. Why couldn’t a witch have many? She simply didn’t want to show weakness in indecision.

"What was the last thing you read or were taught about which really caught your attention?”

“A book on spell development,” she said, unfaltering. There was a power in that; some spells had been used for thousands of years, fixtures in their society, natural as blinking. Others, rarer or more complex ones, had evolved over time, or were even still being worked in the shrouded corners of Ministries. “The right spell could change everything.” She imagined layered Shield Charms that defended against Unforgivables, or more nefarious spellwork that shattered magic as sensitive as a Shield Charm. And how those other things she was interested in— like beings, magical creatures— factored into the landscape and power grab when magic shifted.

It was true, that training hard at everything all of the time, studying into exhaustion and then studying some more (because that was what they were trained to do) could be tedious, could make things that seemed interesting five years ago irreversibly mundane. Magdalena’s ego was big enough to let this sort of boredom get to her at times. While on a logical level she knew that there was plenty left to learn, that she was young and had to trust in her mentors, Magdalena the girl could feel restless, bored at the top of the Durmstrang food chain.

“Everything here is very regulated,” she continued, drawing back to their conversation on vampires. “There must be places where magic goes unchecked. I’m not advocating overthrowing governments,” she continued, smiling more toothily now. “But it’s an interesting thought, isn’t it? Being unrestricted.”

It sounded as if Magda wanted to do everything in the world at once, which was why she felt so indecisive about her possible career. The world was her oyster. To be her age and in such a position! At this time in his life he had been pretty sure where he was heading - to the German Ministry, a respectable career. He'd done the whole travelling bit in great depth later in life.

"The right spell could change everything." She told the Professor who blinked slowly and nodded.

The young witch continued, elaborating further her interest into experimental magic, which pleased him no end. Such areas of magic needed the brightest and best minds like hers.

".. isn't it? Being unrestricted."

He lifted his gaze, a genuine, fleeting smile crossing his features as he considered her statement.

"It's liberating." He agreed, "but not without great risk. The average witch or wizard does not know how to handle their magic outside of the boundaries set by their education. They may dabble, they may hope on the off chance, but it takes time, learning and skill. Most aren't capable." He averted his eyes and continued.

"However, those who do know, can expect to achieve magic of great and monstrous force. You can achieve magic that you thought could not be contained within one person. There are other cultures, other branches of magic that can be studied and understood, and used. It's very easy to get caught up in trying to understand everything, to creating new spells, experimenting. It's risky, but ... intoxicating."

He recrossed his legs and looked back to Magda, feeling it was a pity that they were not still both at Durmstrang, where they could experiment with magic a little more - even if Auberon would have wanted to lynch them both for any damage.

"Take advantage of our international friends - the Americans study ritualistic magic, for one. Though Hendurabi must have taught you a fair deal in my departure?" He referred to the spellworks professor who he understood had a wide interest in branches of magic.

Things which were both liberating and risky were things which were either highly frowned upon or highly encouraged at Durmstrang, with little room in between. Usually the latter, despite strict expectations. It was for this reason that the professor’s words only encouraged her— and, though she wouldn’t say it, offered some comfort regarding her indecision.

"The average witch or wizard does not know how to handle their magic outside of the boundaries set by their education.”

The tournament had certainly been a trial for that. But even that had its boundaries when compared with the hazy field of spell creation. And seeking loopholes in certain commonly held laws. Magda tried to push herself past her personal boundaries. It was harder here, a drawback of life at Hogwarts, where students had both more and far less autonomy.

She took Professor Storm’s words to mind, and perhaps too, to heart. Monstrous force. This reinvigorated the smile that had sobered while he spoke.

“I might have given the wrong impression to some of the Salem students,” she explained, her face still pleasant, almost childish for a moment. “We have different ideas about how to deal with the enemy.” Giant arachnids were killers who needed to be killed, for example. Lest they all end up lunch. “But I’m sure we could have plenty of interesting conversations on regional magic.” As long as they did not involve Acromantula Awareness and crusading half-giants. Or bastardized versions of quidditch. “Even if they focus their passions in strange places.” Which was to say nothing at all of the Beauxbatons crowd.

“Professor Hendurabi is very skilled,” she agreed, nodding once. “They chose a good replacement for you.” Here her expression became almost too brash, as there one turned a note warmer, but Magda was well-versed in respecting her elders. She greatly appreciated both professors for different reasons. “We’ve studied quite a bit, but I do think going further with it could be interesting… particularly in conjunction with Occlumency.” It was a strange thing, still, to think of magic beyond her wand, which might have been just another appendage for Magda. But mind magic was a force of its own, and ritual magic would now doubt strengthen it.

"… They chose a good replacement for you…"

The Professor felt the corners of his mouth twitch in response. He was sure Auberon rejoiced in seeing the back of him and getting in some young blood, but that said, what he'd met of Hendurabi, he had no particular qualms with the wizard.

"We've studied quite a bit, but I do think going further with it could be interesting… particularly in conjunction with Occlumency."

"Oh?" Professor Storm replied, at first surprised, and then he saw reason for her curiosity.

"Well, the expert in the castle with regards to that is Professor Gries of Beauxbatons. I would recommend sitting down to talk with him, I did just before Christmas[1] and it was most illuminating. Are you attending his seminars?"

Regrettably, the Professor had not been able to attend the seminars which had begun in the Autumn term and were now moving to cover the basics of legilimency this term. Matters of being the Deputy Headmaster, and a full teaching timetable had kept him from attending successfully.

"He has experience in using it for healing purposes, which is a far more positive slant on the method than what is traditionally taught." He looked back to Magda,
"But that's legilimency, forgive me, you specified occlumency. How long have you practised?"

1.	Thoughts are not Etched on the Inside of Skulls

“I did catch the end of his most recent one.” Usually punctual, Magda had never the less found herself quite busy… with more practical lessons. But the Oberteil did not dismiss the importance of seminars in conjunction with their traditional lessons and lectures. She had attended a good handful and now that the third task was complete, had more time to dive into them on a regular basis. “I've been attending the Durmstrang-led ones as a priority.” However well trained they were in diplomacy (shortcomings included), Magda still supported her school above others. “Our professors are very good at keeping attention.” Or demanding it. She grinned.

Magda offered a mild expression on the subject of healing. It was a necessary, respectable field but it did not hold her attention half as much as the grayer other uses for mind magic. “A healer’s life is not for me.” Magda did not have the warmest of touches, not for everyday common witch or wizard. She knew that much, knew she could eliminate that option from her post-graduate adventures. “I’ll pass the advice along to the Legilimens in my rank.” Not that her closest, mind-magic-studying friends would make good healers, either. A few of them were likely to send people to St. Mungo’s. Still, the seminars would be useful to her.

“A couple of years now. I do want learn Legilimency, too, eventually, but I wanted the foundation.” Protecting her mind from others seemed more urgent, if surprisingly more defensive than offensive for Magda. “Especially with some of the people in my year.” They were ruthless, so Magda had to be to. But it was fun, the dance of powerful magic. “Have you studied both extensively?” She asked, tilting her a bit, deciding rather suddenly on a fishing expedition, since she had Professor Storm’s attention to herself. She would have to gather her things and head off to practice very soon, but with luck she would have a direction for their next conversation, and for future mentoring. Professor Storm was much more in line with the sort of mentoring Magda wanted from their host school before she graduated.

"… Have you studied both extensively?"

"In years past, quite a bit, yes. By no means to a level where I feel I could be considered a leading source, but certainly well enough for purpose and to teach," the Professor explained after a moment's pause to consider the question.

"I passed formal occlumency training on entering the Ministry after my own Durmstrang days. I regret I didn't quite capture the skill before - my father tried to teach me during my studies and when he was Headmaster, but there are things a young man does not want to share by chance with his father." He looked away, almost a little bashful, and drew himself upright again, gaze raising to the ceiling of his classroom as he considered the opposite.

"Legilimency came second, much for the same reasons as you. No good attacking if one cannot defend. I used it in the field to interrogate the enemy when lives were at risk and we were sooner to cut throats than take our captives to trial. Wouldn't happen these days - morals are a lot better," he assured Magda. It would be entirely unheard of for aurors to do the same now, but nobody really counted who or why in the Black Forest when they were fighting for their lives.

"I don't teach legilimency to students for the obvious hazards. I find Hogwarts students are too loose in the jaw, and nothing stays a secret for long." He raised his eyebrows and smirked.

"Navigating someone else's thoughts is never the same between two people, and they have a degree of control on how they lead you through, or try and shut you out. I would have to let you in, but once in, I could try to flood my thoughts entirely about… well, perhaps a favourite British food - baked beans, to the point you'd be tasting the sweet tomato sauce and smelling them too. But you can use verbal or even physical queues before reaching in, and that makes retrieving what you're looking for far more easy, as if someone had fetched them up, or provided a map." As he explained, he gestured with his hands between the two of them.

"I could always make an exception if you feel you had time for such. You are more than capable my dear."

Magda found herself smiling again, with somewhat private satisfaction, at the idea of a very young Professor Storm having things to hide form his own father. It became a bit more discreet when he stopped looking at the ceiling. Even for someone who had drilled the tool of logic into her own brain, it was occasionally hard to comprehend men like Storm and her own grandfather, with his booming voice and bearish aura, ever having been as young as she. She supposed her grandfather would have been exactly the same, no matter his age. Stories and pictures suggested as much. More hair, perhaps.

"Wouldn't happen these days - morals are a lot better”

“It got results,” she observed, going quiet for a moment. “Some morals are necessary, but when they hold people back, I’m not sure they’re always worth it.” Less rules and more occlumency sounded ideal.

Much like the shift in bureaucracy, Hogwarts had a rather modern— and firmly founded— moral compass. She could certainly see his personal hesitations to teach legilimency here, though. ‘Loose in the jaw’ was putting mildly. How the Chamber of Secrets had remained a secret for as long as it had, Magdalena did not know. “Maybe it would tighten their jaws to have their minds invaded, Professor,” she suggested, innocently enough. (Or maybe not.)

She had done well in her studies, but she had not yet reached the point he was talking about. To taste someone else’s thoughts, to surrender or take over someone else entirely— it was the biggest reason why she was so interested in the field, but she was careful not to say so… not bluntly. Magdalena couldn’t wait to master occlumency and delve into the offensive part. But patience had brought her this far (though sometimes it was very short, particularly with certain classmates and their skills).

“I would absolutely make time,” she said, sounding a bit more excited than usually did speaking with a professor. “I have class soon, but if you had a free period later in the week, or month—“ She knew how much professors had. “I would love to learn how to master those cues before I take my exams.” Even if they wouldn’t test for that, Magda wanted to be able to prove she was capable.

At his suggestion that he may have time for her in a more practical capacity, Magda's expression brightened with great intensity and delight, her whole stance suddenly poised. It was a refreshing stance, one he cultivated in the brightest if he could.

"I will contact you, or give you word after one of the lessons," he assured her kindly, "to give me time to work out a few plans."

Behind his blue eyes, plans were already forming, and the chance to teach Magda again was intriguing, though he couldn't waylay a small part of him that suspected that Tetrawizard espionage might be afoot as a consequence. Not that he knew much more than Auberon would about what was to come for their champions.

"Ever the full plate, hmm?" He pondered to Magda as he got back to his feet, straightening out the cloth of his robes. "Nothing less from an Eisenberg." He remarked and looked to her fondly for a glimpse.

"It has been a pleasure, but please do not be late for lessons. I will call on you soon, I promise." He assured her and stood still to wait for her to depart gracefully from the classroom as their conversation led to a natural mutual conclusion.

Nothing less from an Eisenberg, as long as she was happy. Some of them grew up too quickly, though the paths they took were not for children.

End