Chapter seven. Durmstrang

On the morning of the first of September, about seven in the morning, Ignat hammered on the door of the hut with his fist, and although Kolya, his brother and sister, and their guests had long been up, they jumped from surprise.
Kolya went to open the door, and on the threshold, smiling broadly, stood the Forester in his formal attire, a huge owl perched on his shoulder, its head buried in its feathered feathers.
"Ready?" Ignat asked.
- Of course, everything was collected the day before!
- Good morning, - Sunny, blinking his eyes and trying to sneeze said the Forester, - not like last year-just before sending poured a downpour, everyone got wet.
"I remember! Kolya said. Vasilisa wet her hair, which she did for four hours, she remembered it before the new year holidays!
-Well, since everyone is gathered, it's time to go, - said the Forester and tickled the owl's belly and asked, - what do you think?
"Uh - huh," said the owl sleepily.
- See, he agrees with me!
Kolya smiled, and they entered the hut.
Began the usual for such cases to fuss, everyone got their things and went down the path to the tree, which was usually transgressively.
Mitrofan and Maria took turns kissing the children and wishing them a successful school year.
"I hope to see you on New year's eve," Maria said to Ira and Sasha.
"We'd love to stop by on our way home," they said.
"It's time," said Ignat, and held out his hands; the children took them in their hands and in a split second were plunged into darkness, and when they emerged again into the light, they were standing in the edge of high mountains near the lake, and the first rays of the rising sun illuminated the upper parts of the towers of the majestic castle.
"Oh, my!!!!- in one voice screamed in surprise Irka and Sasha, they never imagined that there are such huge and beautiful structures, Kolya at least saw the castle in the picture in the textbook of his sister, although it did not convey all the greatness and secrets that enveloped the castle.
The bottom of it was still covered with fog, and a cool wind still blew from the lake.
Students began to appear here and there, in large groups of several dozen people, mostly delivered by Junior teachers or older brothers who were already allowed to transgress. There were exclamations of surprise, and a huge black ship rocked on the lake, its sails catching a fair wind.
Gradually the newcomers ceased to appear, and the crowd moved towards the castle gates. Everything was green, butterflies were flying, and birds were jumping on the branches, singing different tunes.
Two figures in long dresses stood in the doorway of the school, one a fair-haired young woman all in white, the other a brunette, as beautiful as she was, dressed all in black.
"These are the deans of the faculties," said Ignat Kolya.
"You've probably heard they're sisters?""what is it?" he asked.
- Vasilisa told me, and boasted that she is the namesake of the light sorceress Vasilisa Petrovna!
"So it is," said Ignat.
"And the great dark sorceress is called Elvira Petrovna.
"They are both strict, but fair.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kolya noticed the girl with blue eyes that he had seen in the Witch's cul-de-SAC, this time she was even more beautiful and radiant, her blond curls fluttering in the wind, and he stared at her so intently that when everyone moved up the steps, he stumbled and almost fell.
"Be careful! Ignat whispered, or you'll break your nose just before distribution.
Kolya nodded.
"Welcome to Durmstrang, young wizards and witches!"!! For those who do not know, we have two faculties: the faculty of light and the faculty of dark arts, now everyone will line up in a row and try to cross the line that we will draw, those who succeed are the light ones: them to Vasilisa Petrovna, and those who fail: the dark ones-those to Elvira Petrovna, " the second sister picked up.
They stood in the center of the room, pointed their wands at each other, and waved them:
- The shadow and the flame! Choose your students!
Immediately, two streams of red and purple fire struck each other from their sticks, and a line formed on the floor, from which a wall rose up like a transparent mist.
"Be bold and decide your fate,"the witches said in unison, and one by one the children began to pass through the wall. Some succeeded, some did not.
Kolya for some reason did not doubt that he would get into the light, because all the children of his family were light, although they were born from a dark sorceress, he was more concerned about whether Ira and Sasha would be distributed with him, since they had become very friendly over the summer, and he wanted them to stay together at school always.
To his delight, both of his friends followed him easily over the barrier and crossed to the other side, where he watched the others with interest. To his great disappointment, the girl with the blue eyes couldn't break the barrier, and now she was standing on the other side of it with a dark-haired, pretty boy, discussing something.
When the action was over, the witches went to their respective departments and said:
"Let's go to your rooms."
What the girl, sobbing, that the told the other....
Vasilisa Petrovna approached her and asked what had happened.
-My sister and I were divided into different departments! And I'm so used to always being with her!"Oh, no," she said.
-My dear, do not worry, we, unlike other schools, do not shy away from people from other faculties, you will communicate in class and see each other often, our directions compete only in sports and studies, but not in the dining room and recreation! You can see how close my sister Elvira and I are!
- Yes Yes! the girl spoke up happily.
"All right, now let's go to your bedrooms."
They went down a long corridor and came to the door, Vasilisa Petrovna touched them with her hand and they opened and gave a view of a fairly large hall in light colors, decorated with paintings of great wizards of the past, as well as scenes from their lives, wizards waved their hands in greeting, and one even took off his hat bowed and said:
-I adore your beauty incomparable Vasilisa Petrovna, so good to look at your age....!
- Come, come, Veleslav, I am flattered by your gallantry, let's not talk about my years, I always strive to think that I am just like a couple of hundred years ago eighteen ....
"Where is our Kuzma?"- she asked, and clapped his hands, suddenly out of thin air with a cotton materialized brownie, he was dressed very extravagant: he was wearing boots, embroidered pants tied with a sash, vest, top, head decorated with a hat, one ear which was dangling to the side...
-Welcome the incomparable beautiful mistress!"I'm sorry," he said, and curtsied to the ground.
- Kuzya place the children in their new home, distribute their animals - Yes, in General, what I teach you, you are a thousand years old, you know everything better than me.
"It will be done, mistress!" the brownie reported, putting a military hand under his visor.
"I'll see you all at lunch in two hours, but in the meantime, you can settle in and get acquainted."
And the sorceress went out the door.
"So friends," Kuzma began, " there are a lot of rooms here, and if someone wants to share with their brothers and sisters, friends, then please.
"There is a place in my room," Vasilisa said to Kolya, without taking her eyes off Sasha.
That was the end of it. Vasilisa, something on whispered to Kuza, and he snapped his fingers, in the blink of an eye moved all their Luggage to her room.
- Kuzma is a miracle!- she said, - he has one trouble, he likes to eat at night, so he walks around the rooms and always crunches something - but you get used to it quickly.
They went to their room.
When they entered, they found their Luggage neatly laid out, cages with animals stood on the bedside tables, and Kuzma tickled Kolya's spotted kitten behind the ear and said:
"Oh, what a furry animal! We'll be friends for sure!
When he saw the guys coming in, he smiled, looked busy, and said:
-There are a lot of things to do today, I can't stay with you for a long time, unfortunately, and I will meet everyone, but I will definitely drop by your place in the evening.
-I really missed you, my nanny! said he Vasilisa and lovingly looked it in eyes, here is how many girls in Durmstrange - and love I only you!
"And he's not the only one!"- with a smirk, Ira said, - poking Sasha in the ribs with her elbow.
Sasha shyly waved away, saying, well, you see, I'm not the only one in love with Vasilisa, and began to pick at the parquet floor with his foot.
"Wait, Kuz! I have a gift for you,- with these words Vasilisa took out a piece of birthday cake and gave it to the brownie.
- Mmm... what a delicious treat!- he smiled, and in the blink of an eye, the whole piece completely disappeared into his mouth, and what did not fit Kuzma shoved a finger, which made his cheeks swell like a real hamster, and a split second later the cake was finished. Kuzma bowed and kissed Vasilisa's hand:
"Thank you again!" It was delicious, but now you can settle down, and in an hour I will run and take you to the dining room, where there will be a feast on the occasion of the beginning of the school year.
Friends are located on the beds looking around the room, it is like their living room, was in light colors, only without pictures, but the window offers a beautiful view of the lake with the ship, which seemed to glide into the sky on a path paved by the sun, and light ripples raised by the wind from the high mountains completed the picture.
Irka released the Falcon to fly, the others also released their animals to freedom.
The five of them were very comfortable in the room, and besides, Ira and Sasha were almost already members of their family.
The only thing Nikolai regretted now was the girl with blue eyes-if she had been at the faculty with them, there would have been no limit to his happiness. But as you can see, fate had a different opinion on this matter.