Chapter 359: The Life of Ego

Chapter 359: The Life of Ego
With the threat of the Dark Mark removed, and having seen Sherin's amazing strength in the Pensieve, Karkaroff's mind began to become active -

He knew that Xie Ling would not recruit him on a whim, and he had finally followed the right boss. If he wanted to gain his attention, or to achieve a higher position in his circle or organization, he must prove his worth to him.

Karkaroff's origins are quite complicated. He was born and raised in a middle-class pure-blood extremist family in Bulgaria. At the age of 11, he chose to enroll in Durmstrang, which was generally regarded as an "elite education" by European wizards. However, during a conflict with his classmates, he attacked a classmate of Muggle descent with black magic and was directly expelled by the then principal without even a chance to defend himself or appeal.

It was obvious that both sides were wrong in this conflict, but at that time, Durmstrang had just produced a dark wizard named Grindelwald who caused unrest in the global wizarding community. Under pressure from public opinion, the school management, in order to quell everyone's dissatisfaction with Durmstrang's educational philosophy and to avoid suspicion, began to lean towards the wizard faction that supported peaceful coexistence with Muggles in the overall political and management system.

In this context of public opinion, if the news of using dark magic to attack wizards of Muggle descent were to spread, it would definitely become an excellent reason for the mass media to attack Durmstrang, making all the efforts made by the school to calm public opinion become empty talk, which is undoubtedly a consequence that the school cannot accept.

The headmaster's favoritism towards those of Muggle descent made him bear a grudge ever since, and he made a vow in his heart - he would reform Durmstrang's admission rules during his lifetime and only accept students of pure descent!

Later, he transferred to Hogwarts under the management of Armando Dippet, where he met a group of like-minded companions. He thought he had found his confidant in life - Lucius Malfoy, Troyven Selwyn, Corban Yaxley, Thorfinn Rowle... and under the influence of these people, he joined the Death Eater family.

After graduation, with the help of his partners, he obtained legal residency in Great Britain, and began to engage in Death Eater-related business, recruiting followers for Voldemort and expanding his power.

But what he could not forget was the shame he suffered as a student - he wanted to gain strength here, and then return to Durmstrang to regain his lost dignity!
After the fall of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, his life did not become miserable or unbearable. Although he was despised by other Death Eaters for betraying their fellow Death Eaters, several of them - such as Lucius Malfoy - still kept in touch with him secretly.

He had seen through Lucius - there was a famous saying about the Malfoy family, "You'll never see a Malfoy at a crime scene, even if the wand used to commit the crime is covered with their fingerprints." This saying could not be more appropriate to describe Lucius.

Lucius likes to make friends and support the younger generations. On the surface, he is an enthusiastic senior, but in fact, he just regards these people as a knife and a tool.

Karkaroff left Great Britain and chose to head to the Nordic lands to seek new development - he never forgot his oath that one day he would return to Durmstrang.

With Lucius's secret matchmaking and bribery, as well as his own almost crazy efforts, he began to accumulate his own followers in Germany. He had his own connections in Germany, Denmark, and Norway, and they were all powerful local pure-blood families.

These forces have all participated in Grindelwald's Alliance to a greater or lesser extent, and were subsequently purged and suppressed by the Ministry of Magic after Grindelwald's downfall, causing their power to suffer great losses and decline.

Karkaroff was clear in his mind. He knew very well that these forces would not give up. They were just lying dormant temporarily, waiting for an opportunity to return to their glory. To do this, they needed a figure in the limelight to bear the pressure and blame from the masses on their behalf and become the knife in their hands to clear obstacles on their behalf.

Karkaroff, who was determined to fulfill his childhood wish, seized the opportunity this time and willingly became that person - he obtained huge resources that he could not imagine, and finally after ten years of hard struggle, he successfully returned to Durmstrang and became the headmaster.

After taking the position of headmaster, the first thing he did was to drastically tighten the admission policy, and even set up strict screening mechanisms for this purpose, so that Durmstrang would only recruit students with pure blood and ancient bloodline certificates.

The scene returns to Schelling.

Karkaroff immediately understood where his greatest value lay.

He is the headmaster of Durmstrang. He has the final say over Durmstrang's educational philosophy and policy. In other words, one of his reforms is enough to affect thousands of young wizards. At the same time, he has a lot of connections in Germany, Denmark, and Norway. As far as he knows, this is what Schelling lacks.

Although Schelling was on good terms with the Hohenheim family, the latter was an alchemy family who were absorbed in the study of alchemy and were not very good at politics and business.

In Germany and Switzerland, they are indeed the most powerful family, but that is based on their strong alchemy skills. Wizards are generally full of respect and fear for the mysterious and advanced alchemists, because alchemy can create miracles and rewrite many rules that limit spells and transfiguration.

Karkaroff's connections tend to be those family forces that do not have strong magical powers but have amazing wealth and strong heritage, a bit like the Ollivander family in Great Britain.

Thinking of this, he said with a shrewd look: "Master Malfoy, please believe my determination to serve you till death."

He took out a black iron plate with a double-headed eagle and a deer head engraved on it. Sherin recognized it as the school emblem of Durmstrang.

"Please accept this iron plate," Karkaroff held it in both hands and presented it to Sherin, saying respectfully, "This is a certificate that allows you to enter Durmstrang. It is only for the headmaster. Even I, as the headmaster, only have three of them."

"With this iron plate, you can enter and leave Durmstrang freely. Once you master Apparition, you can even Apparate freely inside without regard for restrictions." Karkaroff said.

"I heard that the location of Durmstrang is considered the highest level of confidentiality by the school, and all visitors must undergo a memory manipulation spell to erase their memories of this matter afterwards. Is this true?" asked Sherin.

"That's true." Karkaroff added hastily, "But you, the young master holding this iron plate, are naturally an exception. Don't worry, I guarantee with my life that the entire Durmstrang will only be full of respect for your visit and will never offend you."

"Okay," Xie Ling showed a satisfied smile, "I'll take this iron plate first."

[Obtained the "Drmstrang School Badge Iron Plate"! ]

"One more thing, Master Malfoy," Karkaroff said, "calculate the days. The semester is almost over. If you plan to visit Durmstrang during the summer vacation, you might as well allow more time and stay a little longer -"

"I have several well-known professors in Durmstrang who are my confidants. I would like to introduce them to you," Karkaroff continued. "I also have several loyal allies in Germany, Denmark, and Norway. I think they would also like to meet you, a young talent."

"Okay, I will." Xie Lin said, "Let's just say it's settled. I'll send the house elf to contact you to confirm the date and time."

"Yes, Master Malfoy," Karkaroff said, "I will be waiting for you then."

Although Karkaroff's life story was made up by the author, it is very likely that it is the real official setting in Rowling's mind. Karkaroff's first words when he arrived at Hogwarts were "good old hogwarts", which means that he had stayed here and even studied there. However, it is undoubtedly unrealistic for a Hogwarts student to become the headmaster of Durmstrang, so there must be another allusion. This setting by the author should be able to make up for the contradictions in the original work.