"Doblest, Pronitsatelen, Vȗtreshno, and Istinski," Annie said softly as they put on their uniforms prior to being transported to Durmstrang.

"All right?" Cait said, spreading her hands in confusion.

Annie smiled, straightening up. "Doblest, meaning valor. Its colors are red and black, and its animal is a Peryton," she explained. "Pronitsatelen, meaning insightful. Its colors are royal blue and silver, and its animal is a Graphorn. Vȗtreshno, meaning inward. Its colors are purple and gray, and its animal is a Mackled Malaclaw. Istinski, meaning truth. Its colors are green and white, and its animal is a Nogtail."

Cait blinked, amazed that Annie seemed to have all this information memorized. "Do all the wizarding schools have this system?"

"Yes," Annie said with a nod. "Beauxbatons in France has three houses, while Hogwarts in Scotland and Ilvermorny in the United States have four."

Cait felt her brows knitting together then. "Will we have to buy other uniforms, to match our house colors?" she asked.

Annie shook her head with a small smile. "No, of course not. Once we're placed somewhere, our robes and uniforms magically take on the colors and emblems of our houses."

"What houses were your parents put into?"

"Doblest, just like all the Krums and Markovski's," she said.

Cait felt a lump developing within her throat then, wondering what would happen if she was not sorted into Doblest, and had an inkling that she would be rejected again.

Cait and Annie went downstairs for breakfast shortly thereafter; Vlad was sitting at the head of the table, his nose buried in that morning's edition of The Circadian Chronicle. Lina was gently telling their house-elf, Tessy, what would be appropriate options for breakfast. And Viktor was chewing on a piece of buttered toast as he waited for Tessy to finish breakfast.

"Good morning, girls," Vlad said without looking up.

"Really, Vlad," Lina scolded gently, shaking her head at her husband as she looked at Annie and Cait, and got to her feet, smoothing their hair slightly and caressing both their cheeks. "How did the two of you sleep?"

"Well, thank you, Máyka," Annie said with a smile, slipping into her customary chair, with Cait sitting just beside her. "I think we're ready for the day."

"Are you?" Vlad asked, folding up his newspaper and setting it aside. "You've told Cait about Doblest and all that?"

"Yes, Tatko," Annie told him with a nod. "Cait listened."

Cait giggled. "The best that one can do so early in the day before breakfast."

Lina laughed at that. "So true. How are things coming, Tessy?"

"Tessy is making everyone's favorites today, Mistress Lina," Tessy squeaked from the kitchen with a smile.

"Thank you, Tessy," Lina said to the elf.

Breakfast was served shortly thereafter—a mess of crepes, sausages, eggs, Mesenitza, Patatnik, and Banitsa, which was quickly becoming a favorite of Cait's. They spoke of little over breakfast, other than Annie and Cait's upcoming day and what traveling would entail. From what Cait gathered, the location of Durmstrang was top-secret, with very few actually knowing its formal location. All people did know was that it was somewhere high in the mountains, a place that was so uninhabitable that Muggles hadn't stumbled across it yet and, those who happened to get to close, were suddenly diverted by the anti-Muggle wards.

Once breakfast was finished and Tessy began darting about the kitchen cleaning it up, everyone went back upstairs to wash their hands and faces, as well as brush their teeth again. Viktor would be remaining at home in Tessy's care while Vlad and Lina escorted Annie and Cait to the drop-off point for Durmstrang. Viktor had been a bit sullen over the morning meal, due to the fact that he was still deemed too young to attend Durmstrang, and accompany the girls, plus Vlad and Lina, to the station. Once they'd finished cleaning themselves up, Lina took both girls aside and put a long braid in Annie's hair, and two long braids into Cait's hair.

"Why the braids?" Cait asked, lifting one and then the other.

"Shows that we're in the same family," Annie explained. "It shows that I'm the elder sister, and you're the younger one."

Cait shrugged it off and went to gather her trunk; the beast of a thing had been painted with C.S.S., for her initials, while Annie's said A.M.K. for hers. They said goodbye to Viktor, who was still slightly bitter this morning because he wanted to come to school as well, and waved to him before they all Apparated with a crack out of the living room. Cait found herself in an alleyway with Vlad, Lina, and Annie shortly thereafter, and they turned a corner, filing in with the crowd of people around them. A nearby sign declared the place Sofia Central Station, and Vlad explained that they had to get to the wizarding platform.

"There's a wizarding platform?" Cait whispered.

"Yes, of course. It's Platform 12¼," Annie said softly.

They made it to a stone wall not too far into the station, and Vlad instructed first Annie, who ran through with him, and then Lina, who took Cait, to run through it as fast as they could. On the other side, with Annie proclaiming with excitement that the Durmstrang Cavalcade had been found at last. The train itself was a striking green color, all with white trim and, as they stepped forward, around the mass of parents saying goodbye to their children, a smartly-dressed luggage gatherer motioned them forward. He lifted both of their trunks with ease, letting them know that the trunks would magically find them in their common rooms later that evening. Once their cases were taken away, Cait and Annie turned to regard Vlad and Lina, who were doing their best to put on brave faces in their respective ways.

"Don't worry about a thing," Lina said, breaking first and bending down to embrace the both of them fleetingly. "You two will have such a wonderful time."

"And make Doblest," Vlad put in.

Lina pulled back from the girls and glared at him. "Vlad, really..."

Vlad cleared his throat on a wave of emotion. "Right, right. Um... Have a wonderful time. Use the stationary that we got you and write every week."

"We love you," Lina said, embracing the two of them again. "Promise to be safe."

"We will be," Cait and Annie said at once.

Finally, Vlad persuaded Lina to turn them loose, and the girls turned around, heading into the train itself and searching for a compartment. The cushions on the seats were red, trimmed with white, and Annie explained that the trio of colors symbolized Bulgaria. Cait nodded at that, as she was well-aware of what a Bulgarian flag looked like, but remained silent as they came to an empty compartment and slipped inside. Cait sat by the window and Annie did the same, the latter smoothing her robes and fumbling with her wand.

"What are you doing?" Cait asked.

"Just waiting."

Cait blinked. "For what?"

"Zakharoza Bonbon," she said softly.

"Not following," Cait whispered back.

"It's the sweets trolley," Annie explained with a grin. "Why do you think Máyka and Tatko gave us so many Galleons?"

Cait raised her eyebrows. "They're for sweets?"

"Well, of course they're for sweets!" Annie said, practically bouncing with excitement. "You'll have to figure out what your favorite treat is."

"Which one's yours?"

"Sugar Quills," Annie said with a dreamy expression on her face. "You can nibble at them whilst pretending to study. It's all in great fun."

The trolley came by when they'd been on the train for a good hour, and the kindly, elderly witch was quite patient with them as they looked over her wares. Cait watched as Annie selected Sugar Quills, Peppermint Toads, Crystalized Pineapple, Exploding Bonbons, Sugared Butterfly Wings, and Pumpkin Pasties. Cait stepped forward next when it was her turn, ultimately selecting packages of Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Glacial Snow Flakes, and Fudge Flies.

The girls, once they'd purchased all they'd wanted, and a very happy witch trotted away from them to the next compartment, they piled their sweets between them. Annie would encourage Cait to try various things, and, with the exception of the toads, pineapple, and the pasties, Cait enjoyed all the treats they'd bought that day. Cait had never been fond of mint, or very many fruits, and pumpkin seemed to be something one would carve for fun, and not something that needed to be ingested in any way.

Cait turned and looked outside as they headed further north, and saw the faint outline of a mountain range beyond, which Annie declared had to be where the Durmstrang fortress was. It was quite a shock for Cait that Annie seemed to know it was a fortress, but perhaps Vlad had filled her in on its architectural style; after all, it wasn't forbidden to give your children some information on the institution. Cait figured that Vlad and Lina had prepared both Annie and Viktor for the day when they would arrive at Durmstrang for the first time, and had given them as much information as they were allowed to give.

Annie would pull at her robes intermittently as her nerves threatened to get better of her; girls at Durmstrang were required to wear a long-sleeved, white, button-down dress shirt; a knee-length black skirt or black trousers; black tights if a skirt was worn, or simple black dress shoes and socks if trousers were worn; a black sweater atop the shirt; a black robe; black dress shoes; and a decorative silk ribbon inside the collar of their shirts, the gold color magically changing when they'd been sorted; the boys would wear elegant ties. Each ribbon was held in place by a pin, in the shape of the animal whose house they'd been sorted into. There were various cuts of the uniform, Cait had noticed as well, with the more expensive ones being tailored to the person expertly, with undetectable Extension Charms or Reduction Charms in case the person gained or lost weight during the year; these were the robes that Cait and Annie wore now, and it was clear to Cait that the Krums spared no expense.

The sky seemed to darken as the journey continued, and, when they finally were pulling to a complete stop, Annie darted to her feet, and pulled Cait up with her. The first-years were instructed to cross the stone bridge across from the train tracks and come directly into the school, while the second-years and above would go around to the back entrance to get into the Great Hall, known formally as the Stolovaya, which neither girl had been permitted to see yet. Both girls fell in line with the smallest group of students and navigated themselves directly to the stone bridge; darkness enveloped them completely, and if it wasn't for the massive torches which illuminated the bridge on either side of them, Cait wondered if they would go toppling off the edge and into the water.

They stepped inside of the school and were immediately directed to a grand staircase by a suit of armor, who seemed to come to life at their approach, bowing in welcome, and promptly extending its sword towards the staircase, so that there would be no mistake as to which direction the young witches and wizards needed to go. Cait raised her eyebrows at the display and her gaze promptly wandered upwards as they advanced upon the staircase, and it was then that she noticed the pristine-looking witch waiting for them. She heard a gasp from beside her as Annie found her hand, squeezing it gently. She turned and regarded Annie for a moment, whose face was flushed with excitement.

"That's Deputy Headmistress Albena Vulchanova," she whispered breathlessly as they all stepped closer to the witch with dark red hair. "Her twenty-ninth great-grandmother was the headmistress here, back when the school first opened in 1294."

"Is she good at her job?" Cait whispered back.

Annie nodded. "Very. She's Head of Doblest House, too," she said softly as they student body stopped walking and gathered around the top of the staircase.

"Good evening, and welcome to Durmstrang Institute," said the Deputy Headmistress to the new group of students, in what could only be described as a reverent tone. "The sorting ceremony will begin shortly, and, in case your parents or guardians haven't informed you of what that entails, I will be here to let you know right now." She looked around then, her deep blue eyes looking over the new students, and came to rest briefly on Cait, before she continued speaking. "All of you will come forth into the Stolovaya, while the rest of the already-established students will be watching you from the risers around the area. You will be called alphabetically, and you will drink from the Chalice of Choice, which has been filled with Gamza. You will then feel the overwhelming urge to spit, but you will instead breathe fire out of your lips. Whatever color the fire takes on will be the house in which you will be sorted into, and will take the form and shape of its animal, as well as emit the sound from said animal. You will remain in the house the Chalice of Choice has deemed appropriate for you until your commencement from here, when you are seventeen, or eighteen, years old. If you are all prepared to do so, please follow me into the Stolovaya, where the sorting ceremony will begin."

With that, Deputy Headmistress Vulchanova turned about in a sea of elegant red and black robes, and led the new Durmstrang first-years into the Stolovaya. True to her word, the second-years and above were situated on various risers in the four corners of the room, while the back of the room was taken up by a large table. At the large table, there was an ornately-carved throne in the direct center, where Headmaster Karkaroff was seated, and, all around him—save for the slightly understated throne beside him, which Cait guessed was where Deputy Headmistress Vulchanova sat—there were seats filled with rather imposing witches and wizards.

On the center of the floor of the Stolovaya was another table, which was atop a jagged stone, which Cait readily recognized as the shape of Bulgaria from her geography textbooks at her Muggle school. The table was as highly-polished as the professors' table was, and there was a bolt of expensive-looking lace upon it and, atop that, was, Cait presumed, the Chalice of Choice that the deputy headmistress had mentioned before. It was golden in color, and although seemed to be very old, seemed to be quite clean overall. Around the top of it, Cait noticed that it was studded with garnets, jeremejevites, lavender chalcedony, and aventurine, which she deduced were likely to represent Doblest, Pronitsatelen, Vȗtreshno, and Istinski.

Cait took the opportunity to survey the rest of the room; there were long tables, four of them, which had been pushed back against the respective walls, and she guessed that they were for the students' use when first-years were not being made a spectacle of. The walls were made of stone, limestone, if she remembered correctly, on which were carved ancient-looking runes, likely for the four houses. Atop the ceiling—which was easily fifteen feet high—was a massive stained glass portrait, which featured a red and black Peryton, a blue and silver Graphorn, a purple and gray Mackled Malaclaw, and a green and white Nogtail. These images moved, bowing down at the first-years which stood directly below them, almost as if they were welcoming them to the fortress itself, and silently betting on who would be sorted where.

Deputy Headmistress Vulchanova now held a long piece of parchment in her hand, and she turned about to address the students. "When your name is called, you shall step forward, lift the Chalice of Choice, drink of the wine, and you will be sorted. Stefan Antonov," she intoned, and a boy stepped forward.

It took a few moments for all the names from A to J to be called, and Cait could sense Annie's nerves again threatening to get the better of her as they stood to wait. Annie's hand caught Cait's again as the name Georgi Jović was called, knowing that her surname began with the following letter. Cait smiled, permitting Annie to hold tightly to her hand, unknowing what the eventual outcome would be for any of the students surrounding them.

Finally, Annie got the opportunity to go up and take her chance, and was sorted into Doblest, just like the Krums and Markovski's before her. The rest of the K surnames were called, and as L through R were called, Cait didn't feel the nerves taking over. It was only when the name Anelia Serafimov was called that the nerves caught hold of her and wouldn't let go. They twisted around her then, like sea serpents, not turning her lose, and as Anelia stepped away, after being put into Istinski, that silence seemed to seep out from each corner of the room.

"Catherina Serban," Deputy Headmistress Vulchanova called out then, effectively breaking the silence around them.

Cait, despite the lump in her throat, left the crowd and stepped forward. She nodded in thanks as the deputy headmistress performed a Cleaning Charm on the chalice—which magically re-filled with the wine after each person drank their allotted swallow—and lifted it as she had seen the other students doing. She sighed inwardly, knowing that it was now or never, and tipped the wine back into her throat. Quickly, the burning sensation arrived, and she did indeed feel the need to spit out the drink. Cait concentrated then, and parted her lips, a stream of mighty red smoke bursting forth, immediately taking the shape of a Peryton, who stomped its impressive hooves, the sounds from said hooves easily managing to reverberate around the Stolovaya, and flapped its beautiful black wings, before soaring up to the stained glass ceiling, and molding to its glass counterpart.

"Ah, Doblest," said the deputy headmistress with a kind smile, and motioned for Cait to walk over where Annie was.

Cait didn't need telling twice; she moved as quickly as she could to Annie's side, who instantly took her by the hand and whispered a heartfelt "congratulations" to her. Her foster sister did not let go of her hand until the sorting had ended, and Headmaster Karkaroff got to his feet, making a quick move of summoning the tables back to their respective places, and vanishing the risers that the older students sat upon. Once Cait and Annie were directed to their intended table, the headmaster, who had remained standing, gazed at the now-larger student body.

"Welcome, new students, to Durmstrang Institute," he said to them all. "And to those of you in second-year and above, do welcome back. I am pleased to introduce myself to the new students here this evening—for those of you who do not know, I am Headmaster Igor Karkaroff. In line with manners, you will either address me as 'headmaster', 'Headmaster Karkaroff', or 'sir'. As for our distinguished professors, you will address them as 'professor', 'professor' with their surname attached, or 'sir' or 'madam'. I am quite sure that your parents mentioned to you that Durmstrang is unable to be found on any map, even a wizarding one, and that is completely true, I am proud to say. What people know is that we are on a high mountain, and that it is always quite snowy here, hence why furred coats and caps are to be worn at all times when you are either attending classes out of doors or merely walking the grounds. As the rest of you know," he went on, and gazed at the entirety of the hall, "Durm Selo, at the base of the mountain, is restricted to those below their third-year here. If you are a fourth-year this term, you may seek advice from fifth-years and above, as well as the professors, about how to be a prefect. As for the sixth-years, do feel free to speak to seventh-years or professors on how to be Head Boy or Head Girl for your final year. Well, I shall now permit the feast to begin, then. Have a wonderful year, boys and girls," the headmaster said, and slapped his hands together once, and mountains of food on gold platters appeared on each table.

"What is Durm Selo?" Cait asked Annie softly, putting some roast chicken and potatoes onto her plate and turning to look at her foster sister.

Annie grinned. "It's the wizarding village at the base of the mountain," she replied. "Tatko would go there when Máyka was still a student here. They would get hot drinks and wander up and down the streets, just talking, for hours."

"Why do we have to wait until third-year to go?"

"That's just during the school year," Annie told her quickly, putting some stew onto her plate and sniffing the air as it steamed upwards. "During the holidays, if Tatko and Máyka wanted to take us, they certainly could."

"All right... But why do we have to wait until third-year?"

"Probably so that we have a better grasp upon our magic," Annie said with a shrug. "I've never questioned that rule myself."

Cait felt a pair of eyes on her as she cut a piece of chicken, and slowly turned to see Headmaster Karkaroff staring at her, unblinking. Cait, not knowing what else to do, nodded at him, before she turned back to her evening meal. Dinner passed quickly, as did dessert, and soon, she and Annie, as well as the rest of the Doblest first-years, were taken upstairs by fifth-year Durmstrang student Alexandra Stoica, the younger female prefect for Doblest House that year. She had raven-black hair and piercing blue eyes, and spoke efficiently as she brought the new batch of Doblest students up the staircases and towards the Doblest common room.

Inside the stone door, there were swaths of red and black throughout, with red carpeting and curtains, and black furniture that was finely upholstered. There was a great stone fireplace within the circle of two armchairs and a massive couch, creating quite the little sitting area. There was a spiraling stone staircase beyond, which Alexandra informed the first-years led to the various dormitories, and that their suitcases and such would be up there waiting for them. It was explained that curfew for first-years was precisely at eight o'clock, and would continue to go up one half hour per year so, by seventh year, their curfew would be eleven o'clock.

Soon thereafter, they were excused to head upstairs; each dormitory in corresponding years were opposite one another, with the girls' on the left and the boys' on the right. The first-year dormitories were just a few steps up, and, once inside, Cait detected an Extension Charm, which permitted the beds to fit, plus a large bathroom, which was complete with a few toilet stalls, one for each girl; a two rows of spacious-looking showers; a bathtub which took up the entirety of the rooms' back wall; and a line of generously-sized sinks. There were six girls to the dorm, and each one of the girls introduced themselves—pretty, blonde and vivacious Malvina Kyrkos of Greece; the dark-haired mischievous twins Teodora and Tamara Jovanović of Serbia; and auburn-haired, soft-spoken Veta Lazarevski of North Macedonia.

The girls then opted to shower and, once they were each garbed in their nightdresses and brushing their hair, they all spoke of home. Malvina's parents had married young and she had three older brothers, the youngest of whom was in his final year at Durmstrang, while the other two were touring the world. The twins were the only children in their family, but they had an abundance of cousins on both sides, and had unfortunately lost their mother at the age of three, while their father was constantly at work, so they had been brought up by various nannies. As for Veta, she was an only child for years until she had a younger brother who had been born just two years before, after her parents had tried for years to conceive again.

As the conversation went on, it became clear that all the girls were very excited to hear that Cait was actually an American Pureblood, who had been given away by her family at birth. Each one of them were embittered towards whoever had given her up, with Cait's guess that it was Margaret officially on the table, as they felt that they would have been lucky to have her. Cait, so unused to people—other than the Krum family the last handful of months—defending her in such a way, was amazed that people, who hardly knew her, would do such a thing. She thanked them all profusely, and seemed pleased to have a new set of friends who liked her.

"What's it like being a twin?" Cait asked Teodora and Tamara.

Tamara laughed, twirling her fingers in her hair, which was just a shade darker than Teodora's, making it easier to tell them apart. "Like there's an exact copy of you out there."

"And you'll always have a best friend," Teodora put in, resting her head down on Tamara's shoulder with a small sigh.

"Being the only girl was always something I struggled with," Malvina put in a moment later as she tossed her blonde mane. "Cletus, Elias, and Galen always were excited to spend time together, and talk about Durmstrang. They all seemed a bit disappointed that I got accepted, because they were of the mind that women shouldn't practice magic..."

"They were?!" Veta cried, her blue eyes widening in a moment of shock. "That's terrible. I know that Majka and Tato will never teach Mihail those values..."

"I think it was our grandfather, Alec, who planted the idea into their heads," Malvina said, and shook her head. "Thankfully, he just had my dad and his brother, Adrian, to parent. I'd be afraid to think about if I had any paternal aunts."

"My parents have invested all their hopes in Viktor," Annie put in with a small sigh. "I don't think they even thought that I'd get into Durmstrang."

"What's Viktor like?" Veta asked.

"He wants to play Quidditch," Annie said, throwing herself back onto her four-poster bed in a moment of disdain. "But they're afraid that he'll hurt himself, so they hold him back in an effort for him to hone his accidental magic..."

Cait straightened out the blankets on her own bed and sighed. "I didn't even know I was a witch, until Headmaster Karkaroff met me at my school last winter."

"What tipped him off?" Teodora asked, looking up.

"Her powers," Annie said, grinning at Cait.

"Powers? What powers?" Tamara wanted to know.

Cait smiled slightly then, and turned to look at Annie's bedside table, which boasted a glass of water. Effortlessly, she reached out with her index finger, gently gliding it upwards, and the water spurted out of the cup. Next, Cait pushed her entire hand towards it, leaving it suspended in midair, while all the girls gasped aloud at her prowess. Finally, having enough, she jutted all five of her fingers out, thus returning the water to the glass.

"Maybe that'll lead you to finding your family," Malvina said quietly.

Cait shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know if I even want to anymore," she confessed. "Why should I let them in now, when they didn't even want me before?"

. . .

Cait soon learned that the whole rumor about Durmstrang Institute being so inclined towards the Dark Arts within its curriculum was completely true. The Dark Arts professor, Professor Petar Gushtanov, was Macedonian and was quite tall, with honey-colored eyes. He was quite passionate about the subject, and, according to Annie, had been teaching at Durmstrang for around fifteen years. The classroom itself had a dark and brooding air to it, and Cassia sat with Annie at one of the provided desks in the second row.

Professor Gushtanov swept into the room at the appropriate hour, his expensively-cut red and gold robes reminiscent of the Macedonian flag. He gave a tight smile as he addressed the new clutch of students before him, and instructed them to take out their books—The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble. Cait did as she was told, with Annie mirroring her actions from beside her; as she had done in the shop, Cait gazed questioningly at the black cover of the book, which seemed to hold dark secrets within it.

"Today," Professor Gushtanov began, "we will be discussing the hag, a child-eating creature of human appearance," he said, and peered around the classroom. "Who here can tell me how one may readily spot a hag?" he wanted to know, his eyes fanning out expertly, until they came to rest upon Cait, who startled slightly in her seat. "Ah, yes, the third child of Krum," he said knowingly, and Cait could hear Annie seething from beside her, and wanted to ask her why, but decided to keep her mouth shut instead. "Perhaps you could enlighten us how one can spot a hag?" he wanted to know.

"Warts," Cait said softly, and Professor Gushtanov looked disappointed at her answer. "Muggle fairy tales often like to depict witches with warts, sir, but you'll find that the hag has more warts than the average witch."

"Yes, well, I suppose ten points to Doblest House would be appropriate," he growled, and there was a shuddering from within the castle walls, indicating that it had been done, and the points had been added. "Now then, a hag has four toes on each foot, resemble that of a troll, and have an aptitude for rudimentary magic..."

"I should have warned you properly," Annie told Cait as they slipped from Defense Against the Dark Arts and made their way to herbology, across the castle and down the stairs onto the expansive, mountainous grounds. "Professor Gushtanov is also Head of Istinski House, and is an alumni of the house," she explained, not wanting to get caught spoken out of turn in the castle corridors. "He went to school at the same time as Tatko and Máyka. He's always hated our family, because of his rivalry with Tatko."

"What happened?" Cait wanted to know.

"Máyka threw over Professor Gushtanov for Tatko," Annie whispered, her voice deathly quiet as they reached the ground floor, and moved towards the double doors to take them out onto the castle grounds.

Cait raised her eyebrows. "Threw over?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

"Máyka was promised in marriage to Professor Gushtanov previously, from the time that they were in the cradle," Annie went on, stepping through the doors, which came open when the girls arrived there. "However, when Máyka was fourteen, she fell in love with Tatko, and begged her parents to end her betrothal to Professor Gushtanov. When her parents realized she would never love the professor, they agreed, and she and Tatko became engaged when they were eighteen, and married shortly thereafter."

Cait did her best to follow Annie's words, although it was slightly difficult, due to the uneven ground they were forced to cross to approach a series of greenhouses. "But that doesn't explain why the professor would take it out on us," she whispered, and Annie took her hand to ensure that she didn't fall. "We haven't done anything..."

"Nor do you bear the name of Krum," Annie said, not unkindly. "Methinks that he is looking for a fight and, if encouraged, it would mean the loss of points."

Cait turned and faced Annie then, just before they stepped into the greenhouse for their first class with Professor Ekin Lončar. The professor in question, who was seen peering over some impressive potted Riveting Roses; roses, Cait remembered, were the national flower of Bulgaria, and the Riveting Roses were cultivated here at Durmstrang Institute, which Lina had informed both her and Annie about in the weeks leading up into their admittance to the school. Professor Lončar turned then as the last few students filed into the greenhouse, and she smiled, two rows of perfect white teeth gleaming ever so slightly, as she put the final pots of roses down onto the working table in the center of the warmed area.

"Good morning, first-years," she said in a friendly manner.

"Good morning, Professor Lončar," everyone chimed back.

The woman gleamed at her students, looking them over one by one, her long blonde hair done up in a complex style beneath a fashionable kerchief. "Today we will be discussing Riveting Roses, the form of roses that we cultivate most in the Wizarding World. Now, while in the Muggle world, there are no black roses, that is not the case here. However, those are known formally as what?" she asked.

Promptly, Annie raised her hand at the question.

"Yes, Miss Krum?" asked Professor Lončar.

"They are known as Ruinous Roses, professor," Annie replied with a smile in the woman's direction. "In an essence, the effect of using black roses, say in a potion that did not specify a color to use beforehand, it could prove disastrous."

Professor Lončar smiled and raised her eyebrows. "And what color, Miss Krum, would you suggest one uses for rose petals within a potion?"

"Depends on what the potion is being utilized for in the first place, ma'am. If one wanted a catastrophic result, then black roses would, in that situation, be appropriate. However, if one wanted something good to happen, I'd say something like white, for goodness, or one could use yellow, for something like joy."

"Methinks that you took a potion with blue rose petals, for superiority, Krum," said Stefan Antonov, a member of Istinski House, said in a scathing manner, which caused his cronies, Ivan Utkin and Nikolai Vasiliev, to laugh heartily.

Annie flushed red at the implication, and Cait glared at Stefan, her wand itching to get into her palm, so as she could hex him right there.

"That's enough from you, Mr. Antonov," said Professor Lončar¸ looking none too pleased with the boys' actions. "Ten points from Istinski House, each, and one more negative word out of you about your fellow classmates will see you in detention."

Stefan looked most put out by the professor's words, but humbled himself accordingly and hung his head, his cronies doing the same. "Yes, ma'am," he replied.

"Now, if you don't wish for a detention, you three will apologize accordingly to Miss Krum," the woman went on, and Cait reached downwards, squeezing Annie's hand.

Stefan looked up at Annie, his eyes bright, and said, "I humbly apologize for my behavior towards you, Miss Krum. It shan't happen again."

Annie nodded. "Thank you," she said shortly.

"Now then," said Professor Lončar, "let us continue with our lesson. Riveting Roses have several magical properties within them, and must be handled with both care and sensitivity when you are cultivating them..."

"I don't believe that rat for a moment," whispered Annie to Cait, as they packed up their things at the end of Professor Lončar's invigorating lecture.

Cait turned slightly so as she would appear to be listening to Professor Lončar's final remarks, when, in reality, she was listening to Annie. "Why not?" she asked.

"The Antonov family is as powerful as they are small-minded, mean, and pig-headed," Annie explained as quickly and quietly as she could as they filed out of the classroom, and made their way towards the outer grounds, where they would receive their first flying lessons.

"Seems to me that a lot of Purebloods are like that," Cait said with a shrug, although she said this softly, as most of the student body of Durmstrang was made up of them.

Annie tucked her arm within Cait's and continued, "The Antonov's are like the Malfoy family in Great Britain, or the Romano family of the United States."

Cait knew of the Malfoy family—what member of the Wizarding World did not?—but something seemed to stir within her at the mention of the Romano family, which she could not explain, as she had never heard of them. "Who are they? The Romano's," she clarified, wanting Annie to know that she knew about the Malfoys.

"The Romano's are as dark as they come," Annie told Cait with a shudder. "They support You-Know-Who as much as they can, although they are on the other side of the pond. Their collection of dark artifacts and books is said to be legendary, and they even have connections to the wizarding mob in Italy."

"Surely they cannot be that bad..."

"Money can get you out of so much—take Lucius Malfoy," Annie went on. "You know as well as I do that he was able to get Britain's Wizengamot to believe he was under the Imperius Curse when he served under You-Know-Who. The head of the Romano family teaches his beliefs from the time his children were in the cradle, and they themselves taught their children. He only had two—a son and a daughter. The son's children are eating up the philosophy of the Romano family; as for the daughter, she had a daughter and the son. The daughter is our age, and should be starting at Ilvermorny as we speak, and her brother still has a couple of years before he begins his magical education..."

"Has the daughter—?"

"Cassia," Annie told Cait with a smile. "The Krums have always been in contact with various Wizarding families across the globe, and birth announcements are popular. Cassia is the name of the daughter, and her younger brother is called Edgar."

"Are they leaning towards the teachings of their family?" Cait asked, feeling worried and a little frightened to feel some magic thrumming just beneath the surface of her skin, as she and Annie spoke of this girl, Cassia, whom she hadn't even known had existed mere moments before.

Annie sighed. "Cassia is intelligent, and methinks she will work out for herself what she believes is right and wrong, no matter what she is taught at home," she replied. "As for Edgar... Well, he has made himself quite the pet of his mother—he's the favored child out of the two—and it seems he doesn't even know his own mind, or, rather, is perfectly content with it being made up for him, so to speak."

"Merlin," Cait whispered with a shudder. "To live in a family like that... I mean, most of the foster homes I was in were bad, but..." Cait stumbled then, as if something had made contact with her back—it was the sensation of a rope slashing at her skin, opening it for a period, before the sensation was gone.

"Cait?" Anne asked, peering into her face. "You all right?"

Cait shook her head and cleared her throat. "Yeah, sorry," she said, and forced out a laugh. "I sometimes get caught up in memories of my former life."

Annie smiled an easy smile at that and put an arm around Cait. "Well, maybe trying to fly will cheer you up," she declared, and steered her towards the flying portion of the campus.

. . .

Flying did end up cheering Cait up, so much so that she had been encouraged to try out for the Doblest House Team, gaining the role of reserve Chaser in the interim, provided that she kept up with her schoolwork. Annie was delighted to have her closest friend, whom she quite thought of as her sister, upon the team, and both she and Cait eagerly wrote back to the Krum household that Cait had been made Doblest's newest Chaser. Both Vlad and Lina were ecstatic, and promised to come to as many games as they possibly could.

As the school year continued, Cait discovered her passion for charms and Magical Theory, and would impress Professors Hamilton and Vulchanova more than once during class time. She found that she truly adored magic, and wanted to learn as much as she possibly could about it, no matter what the cost. Sir Skovgaard, the librarian and bookkeeper for Durmstrang, who was normally a bit standoffish towards students—for he felt as if many of them didn't understand how to treat books with respect—was all too happy to assist Cait in finding the best books necessary for her assignments, and Cait, in turn, kept quiet during her lengthy reading and study sessions within the library.

The library itself was beautiful, and unlike anything one would consider being a part of such an austere fortress like Durmstrang. Sir Skovgaard had explained to Cait and Annie that the theme was reminiscent of Russia's impressive library, The National Library of Russia. There were a plethora of pillars within the space, which were carved and painted expertly. The ceilings themselves were high and decorated with intricate patterns and paintings of former headmasters and headmistresses of Durmstrang in oils, all via Wizard Space, according to Sir Skovgaard. The shelves themselves were a combination of deep cherry wood and gilt, which framed the edges and carried the massive and ancient-looking tomes reverently. Each section of the library had platinum plaques placed just so, with the carved words of the subject matter of the books within them, to ensure that no student ever got lost among the stacks. It was seldom, according to Sir Skovgaard, that such students of Cait and Annie's age that cared so much about the subjects they were learning. Although it soon became clear that Annie much preferred that of potions and transfiguration to Magical Theory and charms, but she was always polite, and so there was plenty for her to read by default, or perhaps it was her association with Cait.

It was after class at the end of their third week at Durmstrang that found Cait and Annie in their dormitory, resting and looking over their homework before heading downstairs to dinner. Cait was looking over their upcoming essay for Magical Theory, while Annie was reading ahead in their charms' textbook, The Book of Charms and Spells, Grade One by Miranda Goshawk, while Cait was buried within Magical Theory, Grade One by Adalbert Waffling. Annie was lying on her back, book raised up in the air reverently, while Cait in turn was upon her stomach, her red stocking-covered legs dangling in mid-air.

"Have you heard about Halloween yet?" Annie asked casually, lowering her charms text and looking over at Cait.

Cait shook her head, her eyes never leaving the book; in the twenty-one or so days that the girls had been students at Durmstrang, she had made herself a favorite of Professor Vulchanova, and the woman seemed to like her very much. "No, I haven't," she replied.

Annie pursed her lips before she pitched herself upwards, putting her thumb into her charms book and clutched it tightly. "Goblins."

This was intriguing enough for Cait to turn her head away from Waffling's writings and look over at her foster sister. "What about them?"

Annie grinned, pleased that she now had Cait's attention. "Well, in my latest correspondence from Tatko and Máyka, they told me about Durmstrang's Halloween tradition."

Cait's brows knit together at that, and she, too pushed herself upwards, peering closer at Annie in a moment of confusion. "What do goblins have to do with that?"

"Apparently, they're made welcome into the school for some reason, but Tatko and Máyka refused to give me any more information," Annie pouted.

Cait crossed her arms. "Well, it could be that they are guest lecturers for Dark Arts," she said thoughtfully. "After all, Professor Gushtanov told us that we'd be covering goblins next month, after we finished with hags this month."

Annie got slowly to her feet, running her fingertips along the intricate patters of the glossy four-poster of her bed as she stepped into her shoes; dinner hour was fast approaching, after all. "I suppose we'll just have to wait and see," she mused, waiting for Cait to put on her shoes as well, before following her.

Cait and Annie didn't have to wait too long to find out about the goblins.

There were whisperings for weeks afterwards from the second-years and above about the Halloween celebrations, but there seemed to be an unspoken pact between them that they wouldn't go telling the first-years about it. Cait, Annie, and the rest of their Doblest dorm mates were growing annoyed, especially given that Stefan Antonov continually wandered around the corridors, a smug expression on his face, as if he knew everything about it. Cait rolled her eyes at the expression, and Annie kept muttering that his father must have told Stefan about it, because he was first and foremost a spoiled little boy with no patience.

"Can you believe that Hogwarts School has something as lowly as a gamekeeper?" Stefan sneered as he, Ivan, and Nikolai trooped towards History of Magic with Professor Reeves, during the second week of October. "Half-giant, he is, you know. The great buffoon got expelled from Hogwarts decades ago, but the sentimental old fool of a headmaster they have now begged to keep him on the staff. They shouldn't be subjecting students to the presence of a half breed like that!" he declared.

"Disgusting," Cait muttered, out of earshot from Stefan.

Annie nodded. "Absolutely disgusting."

"So what if they have a gamekeeper and we don't?" Cait queried. "So what if all of our provisions are brought in directly from Durm Selo, or imported in?"

"Not like we have a forest to hunt down game, anyway," Annie said stoutly. "Hogwarts is surrounded by a forest, you know."

Cait blinked. "No, I didn't know."

"It's forbidden," Annie whispered. "Magical creatures run around in there, and there could be a lawsuit if one of the students got hurt or killed wandering around in there."

"Sounds reasonable," Cait allowed.

"And Hagrid is the half-giant's name, according to Tatko," Annie said with a smile. "Tatko says that Hagrid is as gentle as a lamb."

On Halloween night, Cait and Annie, plus the rest of the first-years, journeyed downstairs to the Stolovaya in a middling state of trepidation and excitement. They all went towards their house tables and waited for Headmaster Karkaroff to speak. It seemed as if the headmaster wanted to keep things short that evening, for he merely wished them a wonderful evening and told them to enjoy the feast that had been laid out for them. There were numerous kinds of desserts on offer for pudding that night, and Cait smiled to herself, remembering her handful of years in foster care while still in the States, and how big a deal Halloween had been for the youngsters, due to trick-or-treating.

Once dinner formally began and Cait was chewing on some roast chicken, and Annie upon some heavily-seasoned kebabs, they could distinctly hear some crashing and splintering sounds from outside the Stolovaya. Perplexed, the pair looked at one another, and then towards the other side of the great room when the doors suddenly came crashing open, and dozens of goblins—garbed in torn clothing and carrying what appeared to be ancient-looking spears—charged inside. They let out guttural screams, which easily drowned out that of the students' yells, who slipped in between the creatures and charged out into the hallway, the goblins at their heels, swinging their spears back and forth menacingly.

Cait grabbed ahold of Annie's hand and charged ahead, wanting to put as much distance between herself, her best friend, and the goblins as possible. They went up the first staircase they saw and headed directly how the corridor they met upon the first landing, shoving themselves into a particularly deep alcove as quickly as possible. Smashing their bodies upon the stone wall, Cait's wand came down her sleeve then, and she pointed it at the end of the corridor, knowing that she had to do something.

"Repello Cobalus," she whispered, the light haze escaping from the tip of her wand, and filtered every which way around them, hovering around them for a moment, before it drifted off in the direction where the shouts of various students were coming.

"If this was the Halloween tradition Tatko and Máyka were talking about," Annie declared as she spoke through her teeth, and smoothed out her robes, "I don't much care for it."

Footsteps came down the corridor shortly thereafter, and Cait peered around the edge of the alcove, swearing internally when she caught the glance of Professor Gushtanov. "This evening can't possibly get any worse," she muttered to Annie.

"Miss Serban and I assume Miss Krum," the professor said, stopping about a foot away from the alcove. "Come out of there at once."

Cait sighed, but nevertheless slipped out from the alcove, Annie at her heels. "Yes, professor," she said, trying her best not to sound morose.

Professor Gushtanov looked the girls up and down, and ran his hand through the air. "I sense a fair amount of complex magic through here," he observed softly. "Which one of you casted a spell?"

"I did, sir," Cait said softly, awaiting punishment.

"What was it you cast, then, Miss Serban?"

"A repellant charm for goblins, sir," Cait told the Dark Arts professor steadily.

"And how did you come up with this?"

"Reading, mostly, sir," Cait said, staring at the floor.

"Explain it to me, Miss Serban."

Cait looked up at the man, slightly taken aback that he was not being condescending. "Well, I modified the Muggle Repellant Charm, sir, and adapted it for use for goblins," she said with a short shrug. "Apparently, it worked, because none of them came up here. That, or they're only permitted upon the first floor of the school."

"That is...quite advanced," the Dark Arts professor stated, clearly impressed with Cait's reasoning, despite her deep connection with the Krum family. "I must admit, whenever I did happen to spot you reading, I thought it was..."

"Muggle romance?" Cait asked with a sneer.

Professor Gushtanov actually laughed at the suggestion. "Merlin, no, although I did suspect Muggle literature of some kind," he replied.

Cait rolled back on the balls of her feet, knowing full well she would never be this confident, had Annie not been there. "Well, Shakespeare does impress me at the end of things, although sometimes I do wish he'd hurry up and get to the point. Pretty words and their meanings can only go so far, especially when you spend paragraph upon paragraph trying to reach the main point of the discussion at hand."

"You're eleven," Professor Gushtanov said softly. "Usually, from what I can recollect of the Muggle educational system around here, it is not even broached upon as a subject matter until your gymnasia school years..."

Gymnasia? Oh. High school or secondary school, Cait quickly reminded herself. "I was raised in Muggle foster care until the age of eleven, when Headmaster Karkaroff arranged for me to be placed into the care of the Krums," she said matter-of-factly, and Annie quickly moved forward, so as she stood just beside Cait, in a moment of protection and loyalty. "I soon came to the conclusion by the age of five—shortly before I came to this country—that I wouldn't be adopted, due to the fact that strange happenings happened."

"Accidental magic?" Professor Gushtanov asked.

Cait sighed; it would have to come out to more than just the headmaster or the Krum family sooner rather than later, and Merlin preserve her, Cait would decide when that was. "Among other things," she allowed.

Professor Gushtanov looked confused. "Why do I get the feeling that you're holding something back from me?" he asked, not unkindly.

Cait nibbled at her bottom lip. "Perhaps because I am, sir."

"As a professor at this school, I don't wish any harm to come to the staff or students..."

Cait growled underneath her breath, and sighed, knowing that it had come to this. "It won't cause any danger," she said, and held out her wand. "Accio goblet," she said, and a golden goblet came sailing from the direction of the staircase, landing with a smack into her palm. She then held it steadily in one hand, whilst pointing her wand inside it. "Aguamenti," she uttered, and water flowed from the tip of her wand.

"You don't have to do this," Annie whispered from beside her.

Cait sighed. "I do if I want to put this somewhat to rest," she answered. Pocketing her wand once more, Cait threw the goblet up into the air, the water cascading around them, while Annie, thinking quickly, used a Levitation Charm and Summoning Spell so that it did not clatter to the stone floor beneath them. Lifting out her own hand, Cait immediately proceeded to wave the water this way and that, and Professor Gushtanov looked positively shocked at the admittedly impressive display before him.

Once the water show was over, Professor Gushtanov regarded Cait carefully. "And you truly have no idea where you come from?" he asked.

Cait shook her head, admittedly a bit weakened by the invention of the spell earlier to deter the goblins from following her and Annie, the Summoning Charm for the goblet, and the display with her Hydrokinesis. "No," she replied, "I just always thought I was different. I was abandoned at birth; I know I'm from the States, and that I was born in King County—an area in Washington State—but not much else. I was immediately surrendered to foster care at birth, and had no idea about the Wizarding World until the headmaster found me."

Professor Gushtanov looked shocked at the declaration. "The headmaster found you?" he wanted to know, perplexed. "Usually, if a child is in a Muggle kind of situation, they don't know about the Wizarding World until their letter arrives. Then, there is a male or female representative from the school they've been accepted into who is assigned to the young witch or wizards' case, and they explain to the child and their family about the world, their school, and the Statue of Secrecy, if need be."

Cait shook her head once more at the Dark Arts professor. "None of that happened for me," she said quietly. "After five years in American foster care, I heard about an academic competition wherein the selected student would study in Bulgaria. Since I spent a lot of my time reading, I managed to teach myself a couple of languages, in addition to English. Libraries are free, after all," she said with a self-deprecating shrug.

"What languages could you speak by the age of five?" asked the professor.

"At five? English, Spanish, French, and Bulgarian, of all things," she said. "It always sounded like something not many five-year-olds would know, so, of course, I had to learn it. I also had excellent preliminary marks in school, and I had to write an essay about why I would want to go to Bulgaria for school in the first place."

"An essay? At five-years-old?"

Cait laughed at that. "Had to find a dictionary for that word, I admit," she told him. "But, once I found one and then another book about writing style and whatnot, I was able to write about what being educated in a new country would really mean to me. It all broke down to a new start, so to speak, and I wanted more than anything to get out of my foster home."

Professor Gushtanov looked angered at that last statement. "Were they abusive?"

"Neglectful, which, I suppose, is a form of abuse," Cait said softly. "I don't remember much about my treatment at their hands, thankfully. All I know is, I was dead-set on winning the competition, so that I could find a way to make my escape."

"And you did," Professor Gushtanov said.

Cait nodded. "Yes. Which is where Headmaster Karkaroff found me, at my school the Anglo-American School of Sofia," she said softly. "All the students had gone home for break, but I was rooming there. I was in the woods surrounding the school, and playing with the snow around me and just trying to forget about schoolwork for a while... I suppose the onslaught of magic is what alerted the headmaster to me in the first place. He was very intrigued about my abilities, and told me that I was a witch, and a Pureblood one at that."

"A Pureblood?" asked Professor Gushtanov in surprise.

"Yes," Cait confirmed. "Like I said, I hadn't found any family so far to tell me about anything to the contrary about my background. For all I know, they were killed in the First Wizarding War, whilst hiding out in the States."

"Is that the theory you're going with?"

Cait sighed, rolling her shoulders. "I've yet to come up with a better one," she confessed with a small smile. "But, perhaps, I am not meant to know."

"Perhaps you are not meant to know yet," said Professor Gushtanov softly, and a genuine smile appeared on his face. "I am quite close with Sir Skovgaard," he went on, and Cait raised her eyebrows, something telling her that the staff members were much closer than friendship, but decided not to pry. "Perhaps you would permit the two of us to look into your family background a bit, to determine who you truly are."

Cait smiled. "I cannot tell professors or staff members what they can or cannot do, sir," she said, and felt relieved when the man laughed.

"You deserve answers," the professor informed her. "I suppose the proper question is, do you want to know who you are?"

Cait sighed. "Yes," she admitted. "Yes, I do, sir."

Professor Gushtanov nodded. "Very well, then," he said, taking out his wand and casting a brief but effective Tempus Charm. "Oh, my. It is nearly past curfew," he said, and clapped his hands in an efficient manner. "The two of you best get upstairs to your common room."

"Yes, professor," the girls chimed, and quickly made their way away from there, not wanting to be caught out late by another staff member.

"I'm not sure that I like it," Annie whispered, once they were properly out of earshot from their Dark Arts professor.

"You don't like what?" Cait asked.

Annie sighed. "Professor Gushtanov's motives," she admitted. "I mean, he only offered to do the investigative work after he saw some of what you were capable of."

Cait bit her lip. "That may be true," she allowed, "and yet I've nothing to go by."

"Genealogy?" Annie queried.

Cait shook her head. "There was no information underneath the surname of Serban," she said in a belittling tone.

"Could it be wrong?"

Cait stopped walking then, nearly stumbling over her own two feet as she did so, and Annie turned to look at her. "What?"

"Well, it's entirely possible that someone forged the paperwork connected to you when you were put into foster care," Annie replied with a shrug. "It makes sense with your theory that someone was seeking to keep you hidden."

Cait shook her head, amazed that Annie had come up with that information so quickly. "You're brilliant, you know that?"

Annie grinned. "We'll ask Branimir at once!" she declared, yanking Cait in the direction of the common room.

"Branimir?!" Cait demanded, and Annie slowed her pace.

"Sorry—my cousin," she whispered. "Dad had an elder brother, but he was merely a half-sibling, and when he was murdered in the First Wizarding War, all connections were burned from existence to keep Branimir safe. His surname is Bonheur," she went on. "Their mother, Anastasia, attended Beauxbatons, as she is a Muggleborn."

"'Their' mother?" Cait asked, stopping her steps again.

"Branimir and his twin sister, Vasilisa," Annie told her with a smile. "Branimir loves mysteries and reading, and Vasilisa loves solving them," she explained as they headed into the common room at last. She looked around then, spotting two fourth-years that Cait had seen around the school a handful of times since the start-of-term, and Annie waved them over; they both looked guardedly around them, before Vasilisa put up what appeared to be a complex Silencing Charm, prompting Annie to bound over to the two of them, pulling Cait behind. "Bran, Lisa!" she cried out then, and Branimir got to his feet, yanking Annie into his arms and swinging her around in an enthusiastic manner; he looked quite similar to Viktor.

Vasilisa smiled at the display before she peered around the pair, and got to her feet, putting aside her potions textbook, which Cait noticed was called A Collection of Above Three Hundred Receipts in Cookery, Physick, and Surgery. "You must be Cait," she said, offering her hand for a moment, before she promptly stepped forward and pulled her into a gentle embrace.

Shocked at the display, Cait found herself nevertheless comfortable with the display, and hugged the fourteen-year-old witch back. Once the hug dissipated, she was promptly spun around by Branimir, who greeted her with touching enthusiasm. Once greetings had concluded, Cait and Annie seated themselves upon the couch opposite the twins, seated beside the massive and warm fireplace, and Cait tucked her hands into her lap. Giving Annie a sideways glance, she also gave her a quick nod, letting her know that she could inform her cousins of what was going on in their lives at the moment.

"We've a mystery to solve," Annie declared.

Vasilisa smiled then, resembling that of a cat, and leaned back upon the couch, twisting a strand of her thick and beautiful strawberry-blonde hair around her long, tapered finger. "And, I suppose, that's why you came to us, malen'kiy cousin?" she queried, her green eyes flashing with intelligence.

Branimir smiled openly at Annie; his head, like Viktor's, was shaved, and he had the same dark brown hair the Krum men appeared to be blessed with. "Leave her alone, Lisa," he told his sister, flashing her a look with his brown eyes, which clearly said, 'knock it off'. "We'd be only too glad to help, konfetka. What can we do?"

Annie worried her lower lip for a moment before she finally spoke. "We need to find out who Cait really is," she whispered.

Vasilisa looked shocked at the statement and promptly turned to look at Cait. "You don't know who you are?" she asked.

Cait shook her head. "No. I was handed over to the foster care system upon the occasion of my birth, and there have been no records of anyone with my surname matching what little information I have managed to track down."

"She can't be a Muggleborn," Vasilisa said, leaning back and closer to Branimir. "Karkaroff would never have granted her admission here otherwise..." Vasilisa appeared disgusted that Blood Status would be a determent for admittance, and Cait realized that Vasilisa seemed to be quite loyal to her mother.

"Well, the process of elimination can formally begin, then," Branimir said, squeezing Vasilisa's arm for a moment in comfort before turning back towards Cait and Annie.

"I know I'm a Pureblood," Cait supplied in what she hoped would be a helpful manner. "I mean, when the headmaster first met me, he told me so."

"He's always been able to see right into someone's magical core," Vasilisa said, staring into the fireplace, her expression appearing lost. "He likes to weed out the unlikelies from attending Durmstrang... Almost didn't let me in, and I'm a Half-Blood."

"You know good and well that he would have let you in," Branimir said.

Vasilisa turned and looked at her twin, and something seemed to pass between them, something unspoken, which caused Branimir to clench his jaw. "He always needs someone," she whispered, before the look of devastation was wiped off her face, and she turned back towards her cousin and her aunt and uncle's ward. "What can we do?"

"Research," Annie said softly, obviously disturbed by her cousins display. "As much as you can handle or stand. Perhaps the Wizarding Library in Durm Selo could be of help to you."

Branimir nodded at Annie's thinking. "Our next trip down there is in two weeks. We could write down what we know until then."

"And what we don't," Cait said, trying not to get caught staring at Vasilisa, but knew full well that there was something underlying between the twins, but she couldn't pinpoint what. "I always seemed to meet with dead-ends..."

"What brought this on?" Vasilisa wanted to know, looking between the girls. "I mean, we've all been here for weeks. You didn't introduce us to Cait..."

"Sorry about that," Annie apologized. "I wanted to keep you safe, you know that."

"Family is everything," Branimir assured her. "Now, tell us, what brought this on tonight, of all nights?" he questioned.

"Professor Gushtanov," Cait replied.

Vasilisa laughed aloud. "Catch him with Sir Skovgaard yet?"

Cait blinked. "Oh... No," she said.

Branimir looked at his sister in a scolding manner for a moment before turning back to Cait and Annie. "It's odd that homosexuality is tolerated at Durmstrang, but Muggleborns are not... No matter," he said with a sigh. "What did you give him?"

"A demonstration," Annie said, crossing her arms before turning back to Cait. "I didn't want to frighten you, Cait, but I think he Compelled you."

Cait's jaw dropped. "You're not serious?"

"What's going on?" Vasilisa asked.

"Cait is Hydrokinetic," Annie said softly, looking at her cousin.

Vasilisa shook her head. "That would do it," she allowed. "Everyone knows that there's at least one professor at a school who would do anything to get ahead."

Cait bit her lip. "You really think so?"

Branimir nodded emphatically. "My Galleons are on Gushtanov, no question."

Cait sighed, massaging her temples. "When will this end?"

"It won't," Annie said simply. "Not until it's formally begun."