Link was someone who respected the strong.
Whether it was Dumbledore, Voldemort, or slightly weaker ones like Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick, they all held a relatively high place in Link's mind.
The old cowboy, Longer, had also reached Link's standard for what counted as a powerful person.
But when Longer, like everyone else, started talking about presenting Grindelwald's head to the International Confederation of Wizards as a ceremonial offering on the anniversary day, and then burst into wild laughter, Link's opinion of him plummeted instantly.
A person couldn't, or at least shouldn't, be this shameless.
At his core, Longer was no different from people like Hartmann. They were all purely despicable individuals.
After coming to that conclusion, Link suddenly found the magnificent, luxurious banquet hall unbearable, almost reeking.
Fortunately, the business they needed to discuss had already been concluded. Link had no patience left to waste more words on these people. Without so much as a goodbye, he stood up and walked straight toward the door.
That move immediately set everyone's nerves on edge.
The Kugel sisters quickly stepped in front of him again, forcing smiles.
"Link, don't be in such a hurry to leave! The meeting's over, sure, but there's still a grand banquet afterward!"
"Yes, Link! We've just reached an agreement, now's the perfect time to get a little closer, build some rapport. Don't worry, we'll make sure you're well entertained."
As one of them spoke, Link couldn't even tell whether it was the elder or the younger, she flirtatiously scratched the palm of his right hand.
Link frowned, took a few steps back, and a small mass of clear water condensed out of thin air, wrapping around his hand and spinning rapidly to wash it clean.
He despised any physical contact with this pair of sisters, not because of their reputation as social butterflies, but because of the shameless, filthy things they had said earlier during the meeting.
"I'm not interested in banquets," Link said flatly. "If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving. Anyway, I wish you all a pleasant evening."
With that, he followed the path Arkham had already cleared for him and walked out, leaving the Kugel sisters standing there with frozen smiles.
Beckman, following behind, looked delighted. He spread his hands toward the sisters, clearly amused, he was very pleased with Link's behavior today.
"Please wait, Mr. Flamel!" a young man with black hair, little Schwartz, hurried after Link.
"The matter with young Hartmann earlier was all a misunderstanding. Please believe we meant no harm to you. Besides, the reason we wanted you to stay for the banquet is because… a friend of yours might be coming later."
"Oh? Who?"
Link stopped, turned his head, and looked at Schwartz with a blank expression.
The latter straightened his posture, completely ignoring Arkham, who was now slithering around his legs and flicking its tongue toward his thigh as if about to bite.
Smiling warmly, Schwartz said, "Victor Krum, Seeker for the Bulgarian national Quidditch team, and also Durmstrang's champion in this Triwizard Tournament.
Surely you're not unfamiliar with him?"
Link raised an eyebrow. "So it's him. Well, that does make things a little more interesting."
———
Half an hour later, the once solemn banquet hall had completely changed.
The conference table was gone, replaced by endless trays of wine and food that caught everyone's attention.
Even the two Veela who had been tending to young Hartmann had returned, their sultry, suggestive performances resuming amid loud, lively music.
A luxurious fireplace made of pure gold now stood in one corner.
With the constant popping of fireworks and Floo sparks, one elegantly dressed witch or wizard after another stepped out of the flames and joined the revelry.
Beckman seemed perfectly at ease.
He moved deftly through the guests, greeting people with practiced familiarity, occasionally joining a few white-haired old men in commenting on the Veela's show, after which the whole group would burst into lewd laughter.
Compared to him, Link was much less sociable.
Despite the Kugel sisters and the Schwartz family introducing him to many people, he sat motionless in his chair across from the golden fireplace, half-lifeless, ignoring everyone.
He had no interest in getting to know any so-called German wizarding nobles.
Besides, Link had done thorough research on all the wizarding aristocrats in Germany.
Any noble with a name worth remembering, he already knew about them.
And not a single one of those true elites had shown up tonight. All who came were small fry, people of no importance.
Pop!
Another burst of green fire flared inside the fireplace. Out stepped Krum, along with an extremely frail old man.
Seeing this, Link straightened up, the main guest he had been waiting for had finally arrived.
Krum clearly noticed him at once too, and his expression turned awkward.
"Ah-ha! Our distinguished guests have arrived!" Little Schwartz, who had clearly been keeping an eye on the fireplace, rushed forward immediately.
"Welcome, welcome! Professor Doug! And of course, our greatest Seeker, Mr. Krum!"
Link was certain that the old man called Doug was the oldest living person he had ever seen.
The man was completely bald, his head covered in age spots. His body was terribly stooped; he leaned heavily on a cane and needed Krum's support just to walk.
When Schwartz spoke, Doug blinked his clouded eyes a few times and said weakly, "Mr. Schwartz, it's truly an honor that you came personally to greet us. Thank you."
"No need for such courtesy, Professor Doug! Come, let me introduce you, this is none other than the famous Triwizard Champion, Mr. Link Flamel! I'm sure."
Schwartz spoke while pulling both of them toward Link.
Krum looked even more uncomfortable now. From the moment he arrived, he had been trying to hide behind Professor Doug, but his broad, bear-like frame made that utterly impossible.
Professor Doug seemed to notice his embarrassment. After giving Link a quick look, he took Schwartz and walked away, leaving plenty of space for Link and Krum.
Link was sure that Doug had done it intentionally, thinking the two young men might talk more easily without an elder present.
But the outcome wasn't quite what he expected.
From the way Krum was glaring at Arkham, it looked like he was secretly hoping the snake would just bite him to death, at least then he wouldn't have to endure the humiliation he felt now.
Link cleared his throat and finally spoke first.
"Krum, I really am curious, why are you at a banquet like this? Do you even know who's hosting it?"
That question wasn't random.
Based on everything Link knew from his long acquaintance with Krum, Durmstrang, ever since producing the infamous Grindelwald, had been under constant ideological supervision by the International Confederation of Wizards.
Far from being as dark and evil as rumors suggested, its students were actually rather upright, more so than some of the ones at Hogwarts, in fact.
Krum was a prime example.
Nearly all his relatives from his grandfather's generation had been slaughtered by Grindelwald. Combined with Durmstrang's years of reeducation, his hatred for Grindelwald could only be described as eternal.
So for him to appear at a banquet hosted by former Grindelwald supporters?
That was the truly shocking part for Link.
At his question, Krum's eyes darkened. He lowered his head, his fists clenching and relaxing again and again before he finally said, struggling, "Of course I know. And I know that my being here makes me look contemptible in your eyes. But I have my reasons, reasons I couldn't refuse."
"I don't look down on you," Link said.
Krum grimaced. "I… fine, sorry. I know you're not that kind of person. But still, I can't help feeling ashamed, especially running into you here."
"So?" Link pressed. "What's this all about? You know, I was actually planning to leave earlier, but I stayed because I heard some concerning news. I wanted to see what was going on."
Hearing that, Krum's expression eased slightly. He took a moment to organize his thoughts before saying,
"Do you remember what I told you before, about Durmstrang still not having chosen a new headmaster?"
Link nodded.
That had come up when they last parted ways at Hogwarts, but at the time it hadn't seemed significant.
Now, hearing it again, Link could sense something was very wrong.
After all, no normal magical school would go so long without appointing even an acting headmaster.
"The reason it's been so hard to choose,"
Krum said bitterly, "is all because of that bastard Karkaroff! The International Confederation of Wizards originally appointed him as headmaster of Durmstrang because, after he betrayed so many Death Eaters, they thought he'd never dare join any dark lord again, that he'd be loyal to them forever."
"But in the end, he betrayed the Confederation too, and even used fake Death Eaters disguised as Durmstrang students to frame the school itself!"
"He's long dead, yes, but his actions still infuriated the Confederation and terrified our professors."
"They think whoever becomes Durmstrang's next headmaster will face even stricter control, maybe even threats to their families. So none of them are willing to take the position."
Krum looked utterly dejected. He pointed toward Professor Doug, who was now chatting happily with members of the "Despicables' Alliance," and said, "Just like you love Hogwarts, Durmstrang means something special to us too. We had no choice, so we turned to Professor Doug."
"He's a 152-year-old former Potions Master, once one of the greatest in all of Europe and a longtime Potions teacher at Durmstrang. Though long retired, when we begged him, he still dragged his frail body back to take up this burning-hot position."
"Without him, we wouldn't have even managed the summer pre-admission process for new students."
"Then you ran into a new problem, didn't you?" Link said. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be here tonight."
Krum forced a weak smile.
"You guessed right. After electing our new headmaster, things should've stabilized, but the International Confederation moved faster than we expected.
And their retaliation wasn't against Doug personally. It was simpler, and crueler.
They pressured Durmstrang's board of governors to stop all funding, cutting off almost all of the school's finances.
If that were the only issue, we could still manage. Durmstrang charges tuition, after all, especially the wealthy foreign pure-blood families obsessed with the school's reputation for pure lineage.
They pay large fees to send their kids to us. With that money, plus our already modest living standards, we could have survived for a while longer.
But then, Madame Maxime of Beauxbatons showed up."
At that, Link's expression turned strange.
This was getting more and more unbelievable, what did Maxime have to do with any of this?
But Krum was already too deep into his story to stop. His face twisted as he went on, "She paid a huge sum of Galleons and, after getting approval, brought Fleur Delacour and some other Beauxbatons students to Durmstrang for a so-called summer exchange camp."
"But that was just her excuse."
"In truth, she's been bitter ever since Beauxbatons lost so badly to Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament."
"So when she heard about Durmstrang's troubles, she decided to propose an educational alliance, and claimed that if we agreed, Beauxbatons would invest heavily in us, higher salaries for teachers, better living conditions for students, and improved school facilities."
"Of course, this alliance would be led by Beauxbatons. To put it bluntly, if we agreed, Durmstrang would become its subsidiary. Our top professors and resources would be siphoned off to Beauxbatons."
"In the past, we'd never have accepted such a deal."
"But now, with the professors all terrified and thinking of leaving, and Headmaster Doug lacking the authority to control them, we're desperate."
"So, to keep Durmstrang alive, he made the same promises, to improve salaries and infrastructure."
"But he's got no money. He may be a famous Potions Master, but he's too old and frail to brew anything anymore."
At that point, Krum suddenly stood, raising his arms and turning in a slow, bitter circle.
"And so, here we are!"
"A once-honored old professor, and a slightly famous young man dragged along for show, attending this disgraceful banquet, bowing and scraping before a bunch of despicable bastards, just to beg for a bit of sponsorship!"
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