Maka entered Durmstrang Castle under the watchful eyes of a large number of students.
Unlike Hogwarts, Durmstrang's castle only has four floors, but it is still very majestic. Compared with Hogwarts Castle, its architectural style is less rounded and more angular.
Around the castle, there are large tracts of vast land. Except for a few days in the summer when the snow melts slightly, it is completely white most of the time.
Behind the castle, there is a large lake that is maintained by magic and never freezes, as well as several mountains that look particularly high. In addition to Durmstrang's ships floating and docking in the lake, some unknown ghost ships can occasionally be seen appearing or disappearing there.
The year-round low temperature environment makes students here wear thick coats. Although due to the materials they are made of, they are not as bulky as Muggle winter coats, but most of the girls here cannot show off their beautiful figures.
Summer is almost over here right now. Otherwise, Maka can still experience the wonders of Durmstrang College's top specialty - the summer sun.
"I'll take you to the principal's office first." Krum said reluctantly.
To be honest, since Igor Karkarov took over as principal, many parents of students have taken their children out of school because of his ruthlessness.
In terms of his reputation alone, it may be regarded as a historical low for Durmstrang College.
This school, which originally did not have many students, now has even fewer students. Maka followed Krum through several long corridors, and except for the occasional portraits on the wall where people glanced at them casually, they met few people.
"Are those students on the boat just now?" Maka asked curiously.
"Yes, since the principal took office..." Krum shook his head and did not finish the sentence, but what he wanted to say was already expressed clearly.
"Dong dong"
The two soon arrived at the top left side of the castle, where the principal's office was.
"Come in."
A cold voice sounded, and Krum immediately opened the door and stretched out his hand to indicate to Maka. It was obvious that he himself did not want to follow any further.
Maka nodded indifferently and walked calmly inside.
This principal's office looks very spacious, and because there are windows on both sides, the lighting here is good before the sun goes down.
On the right side of the door, a row of tall bookshelves are leaning against the wall side by side. The books on them are arranged neatly. It seems that no one is taking them for reading, but they are purely for decoration.
When Maka moved his gaze to the deepest part of the room, he saw a tall and thin wizard with short white hair and a curly goatee on his chin.
He was standing behind a large desk, staring at Maka with his old face, his eyes cold and sharp.
"Hello, Mr. Karkaroff." Maka spoke first and greeted calmly.
"Yes, hello... Mr. McLean, who has great fame in the Quidditch World Cup." Karkaroff's sharp eyes kept staring at Maka without even blinking.
The wand he always held in his hand flicked, and a gray, bulging piece of folded paper suddenly floated up from the table. With a "crash", it spun and flew towards Maka.
Maka pulled out the wand hidden in her sleeve and shook it lightly. The stack of papers immediately escaped Karkaroff's control and stopped steadily in front of Maka.
He waved his wand again, and the paper unfolded, and the information on it immediately came into Maka's eyes.
This is the latest "Daily Prophet", and the headline on the front page is a large piece of news that denounced Maka for causing a disturbance at the World Cup finals.
In the center of this news, the scene of Maka riding a broomstick with more than a dozen Death Eaters standing behind her was vividly photographed by the reporter - well, this is a magic photo after all, if any one can't move, that one It could be because many of them were already half dead.
"I thought I could be photographed cooler. After all, being on the front page is an event that only happens once in a lifetime... Oh, yes, columnist Rita Skeeter can write such a wonderful thing. 'There is probably no one else but her who wrote the article."
Maka tapped the name on the newspaper with the tip of her staff, and then waved it casually.
The newspaper was instantly folded and then shot towards Karkaroff at a faster speed than before. Just when Karkaroff frowned and stretched out his wand to plan what to do next, the newspaper suddenly lost its flying speed, and the entire copy turned into an icy blue color, lying on the desk in front of him. It fell into a piece of fine ice slag.
"Stop playing these little tricks, Karkaroff." Maka put away the fake smile on her face and said expressionlessly, "Didn't I make it clear enough in my letter? Do you want to go to Voldemort's place?" What happened?"
"Damn it! Don't mention that name here!" Karkaroff became nervous immediately. For him, this name means taboo.
Maka looked at him calmly, staring at Karkaroff until he felt a little hairy, and then walked towards Karkaroff step by step.
"Since I made a big fuss and attracted his attention, he probably hasn't thought of dealing with you as a traitor for the time being - but you should understand that for you, it's just a difference between earlier and later..."
Maka stood still in front of the desk. Seeing Karkaroff's eyes begin to twinkle, she couldn't help but sneered: "Don't even think about escaping. Do you think you can escape?"
When Maka suddenly pointed out his thoughts, Karkaroff's hands immediately couldn't help but tremble.
As a former Death Eater, as a traitor who betrayed Voldemort in order to leave Azkaban and provided the list of Death Eaters, how could the Dark Lord who had returned possibly let him go
"Avatar—" "Bang!"
As the principal of Durmstrang College who advocates dueling and is keen on teaching combat magic, Karkaroff is far less powerful and invincible than Dumbledore, but his fighting ability is definitely not weak.
The moment he decided to attack Maka, he had already understood Maka's strength and had already prepared a series of responses. There were even a dozen subsequent curses!
But Karkaroff never expected that when he stretched out his wand to Maka, what greeted him was a fist.
"Expelliarmus."
Karkaroff's wand just flew to the corner of the room.
"Oh, I'm sorry..." Maka retracted her fist, grinned and rubbed it, "I'm used to fighting dementors in Azkaban, so this is really not aimed at you."
"You...what do you want!" Karkaroff fell on the chair, looking flustered, with a layer of fine beads of sweat on his forehead. "You asked someone to send a letter to threaten me out of nowhere, and now you still Come to my office and taunt me...what do you want from me?"
"Didn't I make it very clear in the letter? It's just a transfer student quota from Durmstrang. By the way, I will be taken to Hogwarts..." Maka spread her hands and said, "You know, three Strong competition."
"you know-"
"Of course I know," Maka immediately interrupted Karkaroff's nonsense and continued, "I also know that this time not only restarts the Triwizard Tournament, but also makes its final reward more attractive. , isn’t it?”
"You even know this? You... Could it be that you and Dumbledore..." Karkaroff was so shocked by the information Maka revealed intentionally or unintentionally that he was almost speechless.
"So, this will be your only chance." Maka called Karkaroff's wand over and threw it back into Karkaroff's hands. "By cooperating with us, you may be able to safely take it as yours." Principal; if you don’t cooperate with us, then you should be ready to escape at any time!”
"...Yes, that's right...then you will be caught by him in any nook and cranny, and he will personally take you to have afternoon tea with the God of Death."
Karkaroff clutched the wand that was back in his hand. After a long time, he slumped in his chair and waved his hands in frustration.
"It's all up to you, just do whatever you say..." Karkaroff said feebly, "I finally understand that in this world, everything depends on strength."
"Maybe!" Maka said noncommittally, "By the way, shouldn't you change your bad habits? Look at how many students there are in the school?"
"It's none of your business!" Karkaroff said impatiently.
"Students are the foundation. If you can manage it carefully, you won't be thinking about running away now."
Maka pointed out the window, where there were scattered students still playing and laughing. Although the number was small, it vaguely showed the vitality that a school should have.
Karkaroff stood up and turned his head to look outside. He gradually became lost in thought and didn't even notice when Maka left.
"It's better to let him use his crooked brain than to focus on escaping. At least it can distract him!" Maka thought as she walked in the slightly empty corridor.
Now, let’s move forward a little bit…
In fact, shortly after Maka left the World Cup, the British Ministry of Magic was already in chaos.
It was like a bombardment of howler letters from all over the world, and the Ministry of Magic was filled with scattered scraps of paper and yelling voices.
And the news from the "Daily Prophet" is adding fuel to the fire every day, reprimanding the officials of the Ministry of Magic with some unnecessary details.
No, Ron's father, Mr. Weasley, suffered.
The newspaper claimed that a Ministry of Magic official showed up shortly after the Dark Mark appeared. He claimed no one was harmed but declined to say more. But just an hour later, several bodies were carried out of the woods.
Although the newspaper said that this was just a rumor for the time being, readers would never pay attention to this.
The writer of this news is naturally the same Rita Skeeter who always loves to make trouble about nothing and whose articles are full of gimmicks. Her manuscripts have always had a tricky angle, which appeals to readers who are afraid of chaos in the world.
"I wonder how Hermione is. There has been no news about her since she came home..." Ron said to Harry beside him, "We should go see her."