So... Durmstrang students are too competent for Hogwarts?

 

The average Durmstrang student must be better at dueling, almost by definition. That gulf of experience is just too great. Perhaps Hogwarts once had a Dueling Club that didn't suck, and maybe things would have been different back then, but not any more.

In the other shared subjects, I'd expect the average student to be roughly the same - Durmstrang is a better place for certain types of students and worse for others. But dueling and dark arts? Fuck naw.

 

On the part where Mr. Rosier being out, I would like to say it is that time when the darkmarks are becoming clearer...maybe Rosier went to check whether the rumours are true....

 

I've mentioned it before, but this really isn't a mystery at all.

He is clearly punishing Calypso for not showing up that their regular meetings and giving reports on Harry. This has nothing to do with him trying to push Harry into darker areas of magic or areas of the Dark Arts that Calypso is unfamiliar with. Similarly, he isn't vacationing to find Voldemort or hatch plans with Malfoy. He is doing it as a way of punishing Calypso by not being there to help her learn new useful spells and practice dueling/Occlumency.

 

The problem is that we didn't really get any clear idea of how well canon-Harry dueled at any point, but it seems that at the end of third year, Harry is already more practiced at dueling than he was after running the DA for a year in canon.

 

...nvm I'm an idiot....

 

JKR's world does not lend itself to objective quantification of any advantages a fighter might have over another. We do not know the reaction time, the rate of fire, the hit to miss ratio over a distance, the ability to penetrate or destroy shields, the stopping power of hits, etc. We can't judge the relative strength of combatants because success in combat appears to correlate very loosely with perceived ability and skill.

The canon protagonist was, IMHO, a poor wizard at the end of the series. The average wizard trained by what Dumbledore had for DADA teachers had no ability to fight at all (ministry people who couldn't use shields and stunners), and capable fighters were few and far between. The most capable fighter on Voldemort's side was killed by a person who spent most of her adult life barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Compared with IRL modern first rate muggle military training, all wizards except Dumbledore and Voldemort are amateurs, and their way of fighting is so different from how their underlings fight we might a well call those two by a different word than "wizard".

 

Yes, true. But Santi does give us some indication of how his Harry fights by the end of third year. It seems that he is already well on his way to becoming a competent duelist, and it seems likely that by the end of his Durmstrang education he will have begun seriously using Transfiguration the way Dumbledore and Voldemort do in combat. Not on the same level, obviously, but still...

 

This is because JKR is less concerned with the mechanics of magic and more concerned with the choices her characters make. It is sort of how she 'feels' as if there are 3000 wizards in the UK. That isn't to say that is the correct number; it is just how she likes to picture her world. That is the main problem with analyzing canon.

She likes to picture her world differently at different times. She wants a small somewhat cozy atmosphere most of the time, but for the World Cup, she through all of that out to show the excitement and grandeur of the event because that is how she felt the World Cup should be.

I think it is the same with magic. She likes to picture different wizards in many different ways. It's like comparing Hermione to the Marauder's generation. By that definition, the smartest witch of Harry's generation is woefully inept.

The Santi has given us a more firm foundation in his universe that isn't subject to how he 'feels'. It is part of the reason why this story is so successful. Well that and the little things. I believe in the first chapter it was mentioned that Nathan had high cheekbones which common in Purebloods, and it was brought up again in the most recent chapter.

Sadly, we don't see too much of Santi's Hogwarts so it is futile to guess about the average level of a Hogwarts wizard because we only see very limited instances of Hogwarts. I have confidence that the Santi has carefully thought out where the average (and above average) Hogwarts wizard should stand though.

 

Which reminded me of his description of Harry slicking back his hair in a 'traditional pureblood way' with gel, which I thought was weird because the only pureblood who does that is Draco.

Seems like it's going out of style.. :|

 

I'm curious about Harry's implanted memory. Did Ivan implant it or did someone else? I'm also interested in learning Rosier's intentions toward Harry. Does he really want his daughter to marry Harry or is his interest related to gleaning more information on the Potter family/BWL or for some other reason? Why does he push Harry to learn really dark magic? I thought he might want to marry his daughter into a "light" family (with his talk of past mistakes I thought he might want to move his family form a dark affiliation to a light one), but that doesn't mesh with wanting Harry to practice the Unforgivables or other really dark magics. It seems like Calypso's the one who wants to marry Harry, but I'm still unclear on Rosier's plans.

Why has Harry not told his parents Calypso's last name yet? Does he plan to? They might reject her, but it doesn't seem smart to leave them in the dark if they meet her at the World Cup. He should explain how they became friends. I can see them giving her the benefit of the doubt and giving her a chance. Harry has known her for a while now and I think they would trust his judgement at least to a degree. However, I find it odd that they have never asked to meet her before she became their son's girlfriend, especially since they have Nathan's friends (and family) over quiet a bit.

I think this last update was my favorite chapter so far. I like how Harry skills are steadily improving at a realistic pace. If Harry masters Aqua Eructo in time I can see him using it during the first task, either to knock his dragon unconscious or as some kind of shield against dragon fire. It creates some epic imagery if the canon tasks are used. I loved the Harry/Sirius/Calypso scene. You write Sirius really well, and I usually don't like his character. Awesome update.

 

Wonder what the odds are of the Potters ending up in the same box with the Malfoys and Weasleys. The Potters seem to have bought the tickets with their own money so they may not get box seats.

 

I suppose since Nathan is famous, Fudge may invite the family to the Top Box. The Bulgarian Minister was there (and there may have been some representative from Ireland) so Fudge may want to appear to be friendly with the Boy Who Lived.

 

Actually I highly doubt that Calypso would have mentioned to the Malfoys that she was dating Harry Potter anymore than Harry has mentioned that his girlfriend is a Rosier. So you would end up with an awesomely tense scene with the Malfoys on one side, the Potters on the other and Calypso and Harry in the middle trying to figure out where everything went wrong after Sirius asked why Harry's girlfriend was sitting with the Malfoys.

And queue conflict...

 

Why would Calypso be sitting with the Malfoy family? She isn't going with them as Krum is the one giving her the ticket, and the last time I checked, she spent most of her summer cursing Draco when she was at their house. Even if they knew she was dating Harry, it wouldn't really matter much.

James and Lily think everyone in Calypso's family that they fought in the war is dead. It isn't like they would be afraid she was being raised as a dark witch. They wouldn't even know who her guardian was to draw those sorts of conclusions from. If anything her dislike of Draco combined with the previous prank played on Sirius and her high grades would probably only help her.

The real problem could occur from the fact that Snape told Lily about Harry's conversation with Calypso that had to do with potentially spying on their family. If it was brought up, it could force Calypso to admit that she was researching for a marriage contract which would be highly embarrassing.

 

Last I checked, Harry is going to the game with his family, not on Krum's ticket, so is Calypso just going to show up at the Cup by herself?

I think not.

If she's insistent on attending then daddy is going to ship her off with the Malfoys again. I'm sure Lucius would have no problem getting her an extra seat.

 

I doubt Calypso would end up sitting with Potters and Malfoys...She is supposed to be hidden from the British wizarding world. She will probably meet him when the Potters are at their tent. She might take Krum's offer for tickets.

 

I agree with Howdy and Carmine.

Harry will go with his family, so in theory they will have their own box. However, as we know the character who is the Minister Cornelius Fudge, and if there is the slightest possibility to invite the Potters to the stage ministerial, I'm sure he will it.

Regarding Calypso, his father did not want to be with her ​​during the summer (either because he wants to impose her a punishment because of her refusal to submit further details on Harry, or because he is scheming for the procession of Death Eaters at the end of quiddicth or Voldemort's resurrection), will surely be lodged with the Malfoys (her only close relatives living in England, to our knowledge) and whether or not her original plans, she finally attend the Quidditch World Cup Final along with the Malfoys, because if she know that Harry will not be the Viktor's box, I don't think she wants to be alone with Kira except she wants to start WWIII without Harry's help.

That if, both James and Lily did not stop to keep an eye on her because of the memories that Snape saw Occlumency during classes in the previous summer. Therefore, I doubt very much that the fights she have with her cousin Draco help improve her image before Harry's parents. However, that will surely help in the case of Nathan and his friends, and maybe in the case of Sirius and Remus.

 

She can still meet up with Harry and his family at the Cup even if they are view the game from different areas. I have a feeling Krum's ticket will lead to a very secure box seat. This is assuming that she even bothers to tell her father that they have different tickets. He is spending most of his summer away from her, and she has started to show an independent streak as of late. It seems like people want her to sit with the Malfoy family to create drama for no reason other than to create drama.

It isn't some giant secret. Her name will come out and eventually someone is going to let it slip that her father is alive and teaching Dark Arts at Durmstrang. That will create plenty of drama I'm sure. As much as I'm willing to bet that Lily and James can look passed a name, I'm equally willing to bet that they will go mental over a death eater teaching their son Dark Arts. They had a hard enough time dealing with the fact that the Highmaster was a death eater, and he isn't directly involved in their son's education.