Silent Year

Chapter One: A Winter Meeting

The snow fell in gentle drifts outside of the castle. All of the Durmstrang students sat in quiet rows on hard wooden benches. A bowl if green stew sat before them, steaming in the frigid air. The teachers, all hard faced and squinty eyed, sat quietly up at the grand table, eating meats and pastries. Suddenly, the doors burst open, and one of the guards dashed in, running up to Karkaroff and whispering in his ear. Karkaroff stood up instantly and nodded to the students. “Follow!” he barked, and all of the boys stood up and followed Karkaroff to the icy wasteland that was their school grounds. There were figures standing there, all clad in black except for two, which were dressed in white linens. “Karkaroff, as per our agreement, your librarian is here.” Said one of the people in white, stepping forward, and Karkaroff himself walked forward. “Well, let’s see this librarian.” Said Karkaroff, and the two white robed figures stepped aside to reveal a very quiet looking girl. She wore a dark green sweater vest over a white blouse and a long black skirt.

There were a pair of large, round, glasses on her face and her light jade eyes peered out shyly from behind them. She had hair as white as snow and tanned skin. Her hair was back in a braid down her back, but she didn’t seem cold at all. She was rather pretty, as all the boys were ogling her, but that could have been due to the fact they hadn’t seen a female in years. “This is Quiari, one of our best.” Said one of the white robed figures, and they nodded to the girl. She walked forward silently, her feet not making any tracks in the snow at all, and she stood in front of Karkaroff, bowing slightly before standing up straight. “She certainly has the look down.” He said, and the young woman smiled slightly in appreciation of the silence breaker. “Then will you take her?” asked one of the white robed figures, and Karkaroff took the young woman in a second longer before nodding. “She’ll do just fine, thank you.” He said, and the young woman’s soft lips curved up in a small smile. “Very well.” Said the white robed figures as one, and then a black robed figure stepped forward with a sack and handed it to the young woman. She looked at the figure with eyes of sadness and longing, and the two hands brushed before the young woman looked away.

Two days later and the young woman stood quietly behind the counter of the library, dusting things off quietly. A salamander suddenly came through the door, moving under it, and the girl knelt down and took the note off the salamander quietly. “Thank you, little one.” She said quietly, her voice echoing through the extremely large library, which stood silent. The stone floor was covered in dusty books that teachers had poofed to their classrooms and sent back without organizing them. This was what the young woman was working on, cleaning and organizing. She put the salamander down and then walked along the stone, her high heels clicking against the stone loudly. She went to the pile of books and started sorting through them, finding the three incredibly thick books she’d been looking for easily, and she stacked these up in her arms carefully before clicking out of the library and out into the hallway. She dashed down the hallways and stairs to the classroom, braid flying out behind her, and she arrived in a minute. She took in a deep breath and then tapped lightly on the door with her heel.

“In!” barked the teacher and she used her elbow to open the door. She stepped into the classroom, walking on her tip toes so that the heels didn’t make any noise. “Ah yes, Quiari. Would you please set those on the table here?” asked the teacher, and she nodded and let the door shut behind her. She took a tentative step forward, her heel clicking lightly on the stone floor. She took another step and then another, walking along the thin aisle between the two sides of the classroom of boys. “Class, where are your manners?” called the teacher, who was standing in front of the black board, and all the boys stood up and turned to face her. She stopped where she was and gulped, shrinking down slightly before continuing. Her heels seemed even louder on the stone now that there were no quills scratching on the parchment. She walked past the teacher’s desk and set the books down before she turned and tried to walk out of the classroom. She kept finding herself wanting to run, she’d never been noticed before, and now…all these boys…she could feel their eyes on her as she walked. “And Quiari?” asked the teacher.

The young woman stopped right in front of the door, trying not to look down, trying desperately not to run.

“I was wondering if you’d like to stay and watch class proceedings for a while.” Said the teacher, and the young woman stayed quiet, breath held.

“The others said you were particularly fond of Transmogrification. So, please, join us.” Said the teacher. The young woman closed her eyes, desperately wishing she could fall through the floor. She let out the breath she’d held so well, and then turned and walked forward again, moving to the chair the teacher offered, a chair in front of the class. Again she felt the boys’ eyes watching her every move. She got to the chair and then sat down quietly in the chair. She sat stiffly, facing the board, and the teacher nodded to her and then continued with the lesson. A small while later and the teacher had written an equation on the board. “Isn’t that right, Quiari?” he asked, turning to face the young woman, and she gulped before shaking her head. “It’s not the right formula?” asked the teacher, and she shook her head again. “Well then,” said the teacher, backing away from the board, and he tossed her the piece of chalk.

The young woman caught it with both hands, barely clasping her fingers around it, and she made sure she caught it by drawing her hands to her chest instinctively. “Come up and show us the correct way.” The teacher finished, and the young woman stood up. “Pay attention class!” the teacher called and all the boys’ heads instantly snapped up. The young woman took a few tentative steps forward, her heels clicking loudly on the stone, and she stood before the black board while the teacher stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest. The young woman swallowed and looked up at the blackboard. The formula was above her head, and she stood on tip-toe as she erased a few things with a cloth. She reached up and started writing in strange symbols and equations, taking up very little space on the board.

And she extended the formula.

It now stopped right before her nose, and she ended the long explanation with a flick of the wrist before blushing and putting the chalk down gently on the board. She stepped to the side and the teacher looked at the formula. The boys were all staring at the young woman. No one had ever dared before tell that teacher that he was wrong. The young woman lifted her right hand and gripped her left arm hard, her knuckles turned white, and she wouldn’t look up from the ground. The teacher stayed silent for a moment, taking in the formula, and then he smiled. “It appears your caretakers were right. It seems you should be the teacher and I the librarian.” Said the teacher, and the young woman shot her eyes up, blushed, and then her grip on her arm tightened.

A salamander suddenly slipped beneath the door and dashed up to the young woman, who picked up the reptile. It had silver scales, with a bluish tint to them, and flaming red eyes. There was a note tied to it. The young woman looked the salamander over before taking the note off its back and putting the salamander on the floor, it instantly scrambled away. The young woman turned to the teacher and bowed slightly, not looking up, and then she hurried out of the classroom. The clack of her shoes could be heard even when she’d gotten to the end of the hall. She dashed up to the tower the library was in and collected the books she needed before dashing back down the stairs to another class.

```````````````````````````````````````
Please review, sorry it started so slow, but please bear with me. Thank you for reading this far. ^_^. Nezumi-kun