Fall of the Dark Lord

Harry's Room, July 31 st

It was a very subdued thirteenth birthday for the two Potter boys. The threat of Peter lying in wait in his Animagus form just outside the wards kept both boys firmly inside the boundaries of the house, and neither of them were allowed to visit Diagon Alley or any other major wizarding area. However, Peter wasn't the only thing that dampened the mood for the two recently turned thirteen year olds.

Nathan's best friend, Ron Weasley, had written weeks earlier and told Nathan that he wouldn't be able to come over for his birthday after his family won the Daily Prophet's annual 1000 Galleon draw. The normally cash-strapped Weasley family had decided to go on holiday to see their eldest son Bill in Egypt. Nathan's other best friend, Hermione Granger, was likewise holidaying in France with her parents, and apologized for not being able to be at his birthday either.

As for Harry, he received a card and a present from Viktor, who explained that unlike the Junior National Team, the Bulgarian National Team had people who were paid to cater to the "petty whims" of the Quidditch players and would go out and buy things like presents when the players didn't have time.

Opening Viktor's gift, Harry was pleasantly surprised to see an interesting looking book on enchantments as well as several small objects. A knife, a teacup, a small stuffed Veela doll wearing a Bulgarian National team Jersey, and four unenchanted Quidditch balls that were typically given to little children. After quickly reading Viktor's letter, Harry smiled. Viktor had given him a book that described several interesting and difficult enchantments, along with the items to enchant. He would certainly enjoy Viktor's present later in the summer. Testing what he could do with enchantments was always fun. Dangerous, yes, but fun nonetheless.

Putting Viktor's gift aside, Harry made his way downstairs where his brother and father were listening to the Pride of Portree play the Appleby Arrows on the wireless.

"Who's winning?" Harry asked more to announce his arrival than caring about the match.

"The Arrow of course," James said proudly. "210 to 140."

"Did you hear about how Bulgaria destroyed Poland a week ago?" Harry asked curiously.

"Of course," James said, clearly a bit surprised that Harry had suddenly shown an interest in Quidditch, "Everyone thought that the Poles would win since Bulgaria had nothing to play for. I tell you, that new Seeker of Bulgaria's is something special. They might be trouble for England if we get stuck in their group for the World Cup."

"I don't think anyone is going to top England. Sheer is playing at the top of his game," Nathan declared.

"Maybe," Harry said, "but England is legendary for fielding amazing teams only to come up short. We haven't won the World Cup since the sixties."

"Hey," James said indignantly, "that wasn't so long ago. I was born in 1960 you know, Harry."

"Wow, you're getting up there, Dad. Dumbledore had better watch out," Harry smirked.

"I'll show you who's old," James said, playfully drawing his wand and casting a color-changing charm at Harry's hair.

Harry watched the spell leave his father's wand and swiftly deflected it right at Nathan whose eyes widened dramatically at the spell's radical change of direction. The spell hit Nathan in the face, turning his entire head bubblegum pink.

Harry laughed uproariously. "It's a good look for you, Nathan."

"I'll get you for this, Harry," Nathan warned, drawing his wand.

"Put that away, Nathan," Lily chided, removing the color-changing charm with a casual wave of her wand. "I swear, I leave the three of you alone for a minute, and you devolve into chaos."

"Dad started it," Harry muttered as two large birds swiftly flew into the room. Harry immediately identified both birds as being from Durmstrang, and they quickly landed near him.

"Oooooo," Nathan said with a wicked grin. "Did your grades arrive on your birthday, Harry? Talk about bad luck!"

Harry simply rolled his eyes as he removed a letter from the smaller of the two birds. "Some of us, Nathan, are confident enough that we did well."

"Okay, Mr. Confident," Nathan smirked. "Let's see how you did."

Opening the letter, Harry immediately recognized the first part.

Dear Mr. Potter,

Congratulations. Your academic scores for your second year have been judged, and you will be allowed to continue your education at Durmstrang Institute of Magic.

Please note that classes begin on the 26 th of August. This letter will function as a Portkey to take you to Durmstrang; however, it will only be active between the 20 th to the 25 th of August. Should these dates prove problematic for you, please contact us no later than the 7 th of August. Activation word is Crete.

Sincerely,

Demetri Überzeug

Assistant to the Highmaster

Taking a deep breath, Harry glanced down and took a look at his scores.

Charms: M

Transfiguration: M

Dark Arts: M

Herbology: J

History of Magic: M

Potions: M

Spell Creation: M

Mr. Potter, you have passed all of your classes, and you have been cleared to take Fifth Year Charms and Transfiguration, Fourth Year Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, and Potions, and Third Year Spell Creation. You may also choose to take any number of electives, which include Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Astronomy, Divination, and Magical Creatures.

Harry let out an excited 'whoop' and did a little jig before pulling his brother into a hug. "I did it! I did it!"

"Seriously?" Nathan asked before getting a look at his brother's score card. "Wow."

"Did what, Harry?" Lily asked curiously.

Smiling widely, Harry showed his parents his scorecard, and quickly explained his goal of breaking Grindelwald's academics for the most first place rankings in a single year. Needless to say, both Lily and James were flabbergasted by what Harry had managed to achieve.

"That's unbelievable. I can't believe you topped Grindelwald," James said in awe. "How long was that record standing for?"

"97 years," Harry said proudly. "Grindelwald set it in his fifth year at Durmstrang, and I just beat it!"

"You would think that the letter would have mentioned something about it," Lily said, re-reading her son's scorecard to ensure that she hadn't missed anything.

At the mention of a letter, the remaining owl reminded everyone of its presence by making a very loud and angry screeching sound.

Harry quickly made to remove the letter from the larger owl, only to discover a decently sized manila envelope tied to the owl's leg. Once the envelope was removed, the owl departed after sending a glare at each of the four Potters for seemingly wasting its valuable time.

Opening the envelope, Harry was surprised to see a magazine and a letter fall out.

Dear Harry,

By now you should have received your grades. I mailed this letter at the same time, so they should have arrived together.

If you haven't looked at your grades yet, please do so.

Now, let me be the first at Durmstrang to congratulate you on surpassing Grindelwald's academic marks for the most Master rankings in a single year. I knew you could do it, Harry! Every one of your teachers are so very proud of the effort you put into your studies last year, myself included. A small ceremony will be held during the Welcoming Feast to honor your achievement, so please wear dress robes.

If I were you, Harry, I would expect to receive several letters and tokens of appreciation from not only your other teachers and peers, but also from many grateful witches and wizards of Central and Eastern Europe. You might now be asking yourself, how are random people not associated with Durmstrang going to know you beat Grindelwald's record?

I would ask that you now turn your attention to the copy of Transfiguration Today that I attached to this letter. The magazine is an early copy of their August British edition. Please turn to the story that spans from page 5 to page 8.

I knew I would be seeing great things from you, Harry.

Keep up the amazing work,

Professor Rosemburg

Harry glanced down at the copy of Transfiguration Today. Flipping to page five, he gasped and nearly dropped the magazine. There on the front of page five, was a large picture of himself and Professor Rosemburg that Harry remembered had been taken near the end of the term. Harry blinked twice as he stared incredulously at the story, which took up several pages in the famous magazine.

Harry James Potter, Defeater of Grindelwald!

As many of you know, Nathan Potter, The Boy Who Lived, is the only known survivor of the killing curse and defeater of the powerful dark wizard known as You-Know-Who. What is less commonly known is that Nathan Potter has a twin brother named Harry, who also has a penchant for defeating dark lords. In the case of Mr. Harry Potter, however, the dark lord in question h as long been captured and punished for his crimes.

Still, long after his defeat at the hands of Albus Dumbledore, the Dark Lord Grindelwald had, until recently, managed to hold onto the record for academic excellence at his old alma mater. Before he became the infamous wizard , Gellert Grindelwald was simply an exceptionally brilliant young man who, during his fifth year at Durmstrang, set the record for the most first place individual rankings in the school's history.

Unlike Hogwarts or Beauxbatons, who rank students by their overall performance in their combined classes, Durmstrang not only ranks students overall performance, but in each subject as well. Grindelwald set the standard for excellence at Durmstrang with five first place rankings in 1897, a feat that has long been considered by many professors to be unbeatable at the academy. "No one in the last 97 years has come close to matching Grindelwald's academic mark," comments Durmstrang Charms professor Alexander Kosarev. "Typically there are three or four students in each subject who all compete for the honor of the top spot, and it's very rare for any one student to get more than two first place rankings."

Very rare, but not impossible. Just ask Harry Potter. Mr. Potter transferred to the Durmstrang Institute of Magic from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry halfway through his first year. After taking Durmstrang's mandatory placement tests, Mr. Potter tested into third year Transfiguration and Charms classes while testing into Second year Potions, Herbology, and History of Magic. When asked about Mr. Potter's incredible placement test results, a spokesperson from Durmstrang said, "Mr. Potter's placement test was one of, if not, the finest entrance examinations in the history of Durmstrang. The young man did things with a wand I would never have believed possible from an eleven year-old ."

Mr. Potter placed first in his third year Charms class at the end of his first year at Durmstrang by perfectly crafting a Semi-Permanent- Enchantment-Receptacle, an O.W. L.- level charm. However, besting peers several years his senior was not nearly impressive enough for Mr. Potter. Earlier this year, Durmstrang Transfiguration professor contacted this publication with a major discovery made by one of his students. The student in question is, of course, Mr. Potter.

The end-of-term project at Durmstrang makes up for a large percentage of each student's final grade and i s designed to not only demonstrate the student's understanding of the material taught, but to go beyond what has been explained in the class. While working on his final project in Transfiguration, Mr. Potter managed to find an exception to the age old theory that living and nonliving things are incompatible with each other in switching swells (To see the full discovery analysis, please turn to page 7).

After following the instructions in Professor Rosemburg's correspondence, we confirmed that Mr. Potter had indeed made a crucial discovery in the field of Transfiguration, and we were prepared to publish the discovery in our May edition. However, just prior to running the article, we received an additional letter from Professor Rosemburg asking us to delay the publication of Mr. Potter's discovery. Professor Rosemburg explained that Mr. Potter was attempting to do the impossible by challenging Gellert Grindelwald's academic mark at Durmstrang, and how many professors, himself included, were beginning to think that the young man was capable of beating it. Naturally, we were intrigued, and so we agreed to shelf the article for the time being.

Well lady witches and gentle gentlewizards, it gives all of us at Transfiguration Today a great deal of pleasure to report that Harry Potter has indeed succeeded in surpassing Grindelwald's academic record. Mr. Potter achieved the top spot in six classes (Transfiguration, Charms, Dark Arts, Potions, Spell-Crafting, and History of Magic), besting Grindelwald by one! Everyone at Transfiguration Today gives Mr. Potter their best, and if we are to believe Mr. Potter's Transfiguration professor, we will be publishing the young man's discoveries for many more years to come.

Mr. Potter's Final Projects Broken Down...Page 6

Using Broken Enchantments To Facilitate Switching Spells….Page 7

Experts Debate New Discovery ...Page 8

After briefly glancing at the other pages, Harry numbly handed the magazine over to his parents, who gasped and quickly began reading the articles. A few moments later, Harry found himself in a bone-crushing hug from his mother.

"Oh Harry, I'm so proud of you!" Lily said happily. "I can't believe you're published at 13! And you would have been at twelve, had they run your discovery in their earlier edition."

Once Lily released him, Harry found himself to be immediately brought into a tight hug from his father. "This is absolutely brilliant, Harry. I can't wait to show Sirius and Remus. Your uncles are going to be so proud."

The rest of the day was a daze for Harry. He remembered his uncles coming by to congratulate him on his discovery, and how everyone said how proud they were of his achievement. It was all so very surreal that in the years to come, Harry would remember very little of the actual day. However, he would always remember that night.

Lying in bed, Harry was reflecting on the incredible day he had just had when there was a soft tapping on his window. Looking up, he saw a small, inconspicuous-looking owl, painfully trying to stay afloat while carrying a decent sized parcel.

Quickly getting out of bed, Harry let the owl into his room, which, once relieved of its burden, flew back out the window. Glancing down at the small wrapped package, Harry opened the small letter that was on top.

Harry,

Please return this to me the moment you get back to Durmstrang.

Happy Birthday,

Calypso

Happy that his friend hadn't ignored his birthday, Harry carefully unwrapped the gift, which turned out to be a small leather-bound book. When he saw the title, his eyes widened. Opening the book and reading the table of contents, Harry reverently and carefully closed the cover.

From what Professor Dumbledore had said, Harry knew books on Occlumency were rarer than rare, and coveted by just about everyone. From the note, Harry inferred that the book belonged to Professor Rosier, and that Calypso had probably taken it without his knowledge. Harry did his best not to think what his Dark Arts professor would do if he ever found out that Calypso had just sent one of his rarest magical tomes several thousand miles away with a small, undersized owl.

Looking at the old book, Harry vowed that Calypso's father would never pluck the information from his mind. Romulus would never know Calypso sent him the book.