The Serpent of Durmstrang // A Harry Potter FanFiction

Chapter Eleven

The night after the First Task was quite possibly the best and worst for Harry Potter. The celebrations within the Durmstrang ship was something to remember, with booze being passed around like candy, and the professors turning a blind eye. To say the least, Harry did not get enough sleep, yet he had the best one so far these past few weeks.

The next two weeks after the task had most of everyone in Durmstrang scrambling around due to the exams that were scheduled just before the Christmas holidays. Harry was exempt from them, and therefore had the most time for himself. Viktor had cursed his name more than a couple of times already, while Kassandra had taken to glaring at him when they ever saw each other in the study lounge of the ship.

Harry took this time to unwind and relax, stowing away the Golden Egg from the first task, and instead taken to reading light novels. The pressure of the tournament weighing less, especially since the next task was scheduled for February, a long ways away in his opinion.

"Harry, do you want to join the team?"

"What?" Harry replied, causing Viktor to grumble and hit him on the back of the head.

"Stop spacing out. I was asking if you wanted to join the Durmstrang team for the Quidditch pick-up game tomorrow?"

Harry shook his head, "Can't, the Highmaster wouldn't be too happy about that."

"Fuck him, we need a good chaser," Viktor cursed, "and you're a good chaser, at least compared to the other blockheads in our year."

"Thanks for the compliment, I think?" Harry sighed. He had wanted to join the team they were building since Viktor was approached by a gangly red-headed seventh year from Gryffindor. Ronald, if he remembered the name correctly, wanted to, in the spirit of inter-school unity, host a pick-up of Quidditch between the three schools. From what he had heard, Beauxbatons was still very reluctant, especially since Quidditch was not one of their forte's, but Durmstrang, especially Viktor, was immediately gung-ho about it.

The second they had all come back from the ship that night, Viktor had immediately started drafting their year-mates into making a team, nitpicking the best and discarding the worst. And ever since that night, Viktor had pestered him about playing as their chaser, but a quick intervention by their Highmaster made sure Harry was not allowed to join in the fun.

Viktor stood up and stretched, eyeing Harry before a smirk played on his lips, "Well, you better head to bed, you have a big day tomorrow."

Harry nodded, his barely kept excitement was showing through a small smile, "Yes, that I do."

Both boys started heading towards their respective rooms. Harry more pensieve than ever, already thinking about his date with Fleur tomorrow. He had a rough plan on what they would be doing, and he was hoping it would go without a hitch.

As Harry turned to his door, Viktor stopped him with a hand on his shoulders, "Since you're not playing, you better come watch tomorrow afternoon."

"I will, promise!"

Viktor nodded, and let Harry walk inside his room. A quick Tempus spell told Harry it was just past eleven, and he already knew he wasn't going to get any sleep that night. Tossing and turning, Harry replayed the worst possible scenarios that could happen the next day, and before he knew it, he had barely slept a wink and it was already dawn.

With a grunt, Harry stood up from his bed and started to prepare with a cold shower to wake himself up fully. A quick change of clothes, and he was as presentable as he can be. Wearing a grey-coloured sweater, with a white collared shirt inside. Harry rolled up his sleeves, trying his dragon-hide boots that was tucked underneath a dark blue pair of jeans. Harry was not the most fashionable, but he did well for himself.