Chapter 295 – Durmstrang is No Longer What It Used to Be

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For Harry, the start of a new school year was nothing unfamiliar. However, this September 1st would be different. Instead of boarding the Hogwarts Express to head for Hogwarts Castle, he was now boarding a brand-new Boeing 777 model from 1990, bound for a place nestled deep within the mountains and fields—

Durmstrang Special Military Academy for Magical Warfare.

Compared to Hogwarts, Durmstrang was known as the most 'strict' among the three major magical schools in Europe. Its quasi-militarized management left little room for slackness or disorder. That said, deterioration in discipline is something that can happen anywhere—even in a school as regimented as Durmstrang.

Founded by the legendary Bulgarian witch, Nerida Vulchanova, Durmstrang had faced a tumultuous history. One of the main reasons was that many of its headmasters over the years had been extreme hawks—radical hardliners, verging on terrorists. While they might not have been terrorists in the literal sense, their moral boundaries were so low that their actions were virtually indistinguishable from those of actual terrorists.

In their pursuit of combat power—or rather, to wield the strongest and hardest fists—they tolerated the use of dark magic and all manner of forbidden arts. These shadowy methods did indeed bring Durmstrang considerable success in wizard duels and magical combat, but their underhanded tactics also severely tarnished the school's reputation for a time.

Fortunately, peace had become the norm in the wizarding world over the past few centuries. Unlike the Muggle world, which endured two World Wars, the wizarding realm had seen little large-scale conflict since the Abyss War a millennium ago. Especially wars with widespread, devastating consequences.

After all, if you consider the Soviet Union part of Eastern Europe, then the wizards it produced—those fierce warriors from a battle-hardened culture—were formidable in their own right. But just to the east of them lived an even more warlike nation, one that had been embroiled in conflict for thousands of years. Now that these warmongers had finally stopped trying to expand their territory, would you dare light fireworks in your house? What if the noise piqued their interest again, prompting them to lob a shell into your yard and claim there had always been a border there? That would be a real mess.

Amid this broader atmosphere of peace, Durmstrang's 'later years' were no longer dominated by rabid extremists. While terrorism no longer had a foothold there, the school's overall tone still remained somewhat... unique.

Still, after it came under the control of Gellert Grindelwald, a man widely considered the "most dangerous wizard of the 20th century," rumors began to circulate that darkness and terror would once again shroud the school—that Durmstrang's dark age was about to return.

Whispers claimed that the Purity Party planned to use Durmstrang as a breeding ground for their followers—a den of darkness where every wizard who entered would be brainwashed into a fanatical zealot, ready to wreak havoc on the world.

But such talk only spread in magical nations not under Purity Party rule. As for what was actually happening there—unless one visited in person, it was nearly impossible to know the truth.

As for Harry himself, he didn't believe a word of it. Even though he hadn't visited Nurmengard, he still found such rumors laughable.

After all—

Durmstrang had even gone so far as to develop its own private aircraft, while Hogwarts was still stuck using that centuries-old steam locomotive.

Sure, magical fields could interfere with electronic equipment, but not to the extent of making a short flight—one that lasted only a few hours—end in catastrophe. That is, unless some idiot started casting spells mid-flight, flinging magic left and right. But anyone who tried that would be immediately arrested for endangering public safety—best case, fined and detained; worst case, sent to Nurmengard as a disposable test subject for magical experiments.

Adaptation to the times—that's what this is all about.

Of course, the development of Durmstrang's private aircraft wasn't just for show. The school had significantly relaxed its admission standards, especially for Muggle-born wizards. Durmstrang now accepted any magical practitioner who wasn't a Squib, lowering its threshold so much that it had driven most small magical academies out of business.

For instance, take the jester Harry had faced during the dueling competition—a graduate of Arkham. His alma mater was forced to close down because Durmstrang's relaxed enrollment policies drained it of all prospective students.

Durmstrang's transformation had begun fifteen years ago, and compared to Hogwarts—stubbornly clinging to its small plot of land and unwilling to innovate—this magical academy had undergone a complete metamorphosis.

The Durmstrang of today is nothing like the Durmstrang of the past, and as for the direction it's now heading in—even Harry, without personal experience, couldn't begin to guess.

However, certain clues could still be gleaned from the admission letter he held in his hands.

The most obvious? Durmstrang's curriculum and reading list, which stood in stark contrast to Hogwarts'.

At Hogwarts, the courses were set in stone. Only from third year onward could students start to choose elective subjects. Until then, the entire academic load consisted of seven core classes: Charms, Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, and Astronomy.

Durmstrang, however, was different. Having undergone educational reform, it now resembled a modern university.

Not merely a military academy dedicated to producing fighters and soldiers, Durmstrang had evolved into a comprehensive institution that encompassed all aspects of the magical world.

With the exception of Charms, which remained a mandatory subject, everything else—Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, and so on—was considered an elective. Grindelwald had long understood that no two wizards were the same. Each person had different talents and aptitudes, and in today's world, what was needed wasn't wizards who were "jacks of all trades," but wizards who were specialized and skilled.

Those capable of being both versatile and exceptionally skilled were rare; the vast majority of the magical population were simply ordinary. The elite had their own way of learning, and so did everyone else.

Forcing someone with no talent in Potions to study Potions was worse than killing them. The teacher would be pained by their performance, and the student would suffer through every lesson. And yet, even a Potions idiot might possess unique talent or interest in another subject. Rather than letting them be tormented in areas they're ill-suited for, it was far better to let them excel where they shined.

Of course, there were also those who excelled at nothing, whose only talent was eating—and even these so-called "useless eaters" had one thing that set them apart from Muggles: they were wizards. They had magic in their veins. Even if their brains were underdeveloped or barely functional, as long as they possessed magical power, they could still contribute.

Muggles had natural high-capacity energy storage crystals, but the magical world lacked any reusable power source for magic. While there were considerable reserves of magical ore in nature, and the Abyssal "quarries" continued to supply more, the looming threat of another Abyss War meant a significant portion of these resources had to be stockpiled for future conflict.

Thus, a new profession emerged: the "Flesh Battery." Durmstrang designed a specialized curriculum for these individuals, enabling them, after graduation, to enter major alchemy workshops or other magical processing institutions as renewable "resources"—living supplies for magical consumption.

Just reading through the precise and well-structured course list, Harry could already sense the intent behind it.

"Grindelwald really is serious about all of this... But which courses should I choose?"

His gaze lingered on a particularly intriguing line, and then he lightly drew a checkmark beside it.

"A wizard who doesn't know gun-fu can't possibly be a good wizard, right?"

(End of Chapter)