Writing about such a minor character like one of the Durmstrang students, Poliakoff, who even doesn't have a first name in the canon is probably silly. Writing AU about him where he becomes Triwizard Tournament champion just by chance is probaly even more silly. But that's what the fan fictions are for. To write about ideas the canon doesn't cover.

Originally this text was a piece written on a writting challenge. Greetings for Zoe, whose idea was to challenge me. I would never write this other way. Also, great thanks for Perosha. It was her idea to put poor Aleksei in that all mess ;)

This story is written for you, Perosha. Without you writing about Durmstrang, Karkaroff and Poliakoff didn't had too much sense.

A lot of thanks for Idunn for the translation into English.

The Pride of Durmstrang

Aleksei Poliakov had always been unlucky.

He kept getting in his teachers' bad books and finding himself in stupid situations. Generally, he perfectly fitted the role of the clumsiest pupil in the class. Each time somebody did mischief with the guilty one remaining unknown, it was Poliakoff that everybody suspected. Karkaroff got him grounded practically every week.

That's why he could not believe that he was a member of Durmstang delegation for the Triwizard Tournament trip. It was only later that he found out that it had happened almost accidentally, after the number of participants had been increased from ten to round twelve people. One of teachers seemed to announce his candidacy simply to spite Karkaroff.

That way or another he believed that Fortune had finally smiled upon him. A trip to Hogwarts was a really cool thing. Aleksei had never been abroad, so he was happy that he would see some world outside of Russia. And the Tournament itself... Being able to see it with one's own eyes, that really meant something.

"So, Alosha? Do you intend to put yourself forward? Do you think you will be chosen?" asked Bogdan with a mean smirk, while they were all heading for the castle for breakfast.

"Get off his back, will you?" Aleksandr got him down. "We are all to put a piece of paper with our name into the Goblet. Don't you remember what the old goat said yesterday?

"Shoud I?" Poliakoff was surprised.

He could missed it, as he used to, or maybe that day he had detention again. Cause he experienced this pleasure regularly for regular breaking some parts of the ship. Aleksei was pretty surprised that Karkaroff would need any kind of pretext to ground him. Any aside from Aleksei being alive.

"Why would everyone put themselves forward?" he asked to his amazement, peeking towards the headmaster, who was talking to Krum. They were both leading their small group. "We all know that it is Victor who will be chosen. He is the best student, the best in charms, the best Quidditch player...

"Just for show" said Nikolai. "To make our school look good"

"Why do you even care" said Aleksandr. "Let Viktor deal with this Cup"

"Certainly, Poliakoff doesn't need to care. He is in no danger to be chosen by the Goblet " laughed Bogdan. Several other disloyal friends joined the chorus.

Aleksei really wanted to retort, but no adequately caustic words came to his mind. In his case, the ideas for I-would-sure-had-a-go-at-him cutting answer tended to be late.

"Ignore him" Tatiana advised Poliakoff. "If the Goblet listens to the voice of reason, it will not accept Bogdan's candidacy and will spit his sheet right out."

"The champion for Durmstrang is Aleksei Poliakoff" said profesor Dumbledore solemnly, reading out the name written down on a piece of parchment.

The Great Hall resonated with applause. Several people, however, were less enthusiastic.

"What?" Bogdan was so surprised, that he came close to pouring pumpkin juice all over his robes.

"What?" stammered Aleksei, believing he must have misheard something.

"WHAT?" screamed Igor Karkaroff, much like a wounded animal. Severus Snape, who at the teachers' table sat just next to the Headmaster of Durmstrang, gave him a look of thorough disapproval.

Karkaroff clutched his goatish little beard and froze in this position, staring at Poliakoff with a look of total disbelief.

"A bit bizarre reaction for the choice of a champion, don't you think?" said Auriga Sinistra to Liza Vector, sitting next to her.

Among the students of Durmstrang only Victor Krum did not look much surprised. On the other hand, his constantly grave facial expression had rarely been any clue as to his feelings.

"Come on, go" hissed Aleksandr to Aleksei, who had not moved an inch.

Poliakoff stood up, even though his legs had turned to jelly. The Headmaster of Hogwarts was looking at him hesitantly, much as the rest of the guests in the Great Hall. So many a looks were pretty depressing. He felt guilty, even though he had not done anything wrong.

Probably.

He gave a quick glimpse at Karkaroff. The old goat looked as if he had a totally different opinion on the matter. If sight could kill, Aleksei would have been already dead. On the spot.

While passing the girls, Tatiana gave him a look of support, but it didn't help much. It seemed to him that the journey towards the teachers' table, where the Headmaster of Hogwarts' had been waiting, lasted forever.

"Congratulations" Dumbledore smiled at him and shook his hand. Gently, though firmly he showed Aleksei the way to the room next to the Great Hall, where he was to wait for the choice of the rest of the champions. Poliakoff's first response was to head for the exactly opposite direction.

With stone walls and solid doors between him and the rest, he fell on the chair standing close to the fireplace, trying to think clearly. The portraits of witches and wizards, hanging on the walls of a small room, were looking at him with curiosity.

What, the hell, has happened? How was it possible that it was him that had been chosen? It was not possible. It was supposed to be Viktor. It must have been Viktor! Nobody would have ever considered any other possibility.

A moment later the two final contestans joined him. A girl from Beauxbatons and a boy from Hogwarts. Both looked exhilarated and excited about the perspective of the participation in the Cup. Poliakoff's feelings, quite different, must have been pretty clear from the look of his face, because the Hogwarts' student asked:

"You all right?"

Poliakoff only lowered his head, although the only feeling his experienced was an overwhelming fear.

And then Harry Potter entered the room. Aleksei didn't even have enough time to get surprised, when the Cup jury from the Ministry rushed to the room. Karkaroff, Maxime, Dumbledore and two Hogwarts' teachers followed them closely.

Poliakoff became petrified, as he was certain that the old goat was going to attact him, but he probably didn't even notice Aleksei. Karkaroff was angry with Dumbledore, and Potter was the reason.

„A fourth champion? How is that possible?" „ thought Aleksei, listening to the argument in silence.

He must have looked as silly as Potter, but he wasn't, at least, the centre of attention. Poliakoff gave the boy a glimpse of sympathy. He was perfectly aware of how it is to be a scapegoat.

The jury finally managed to reach consensus and it seemed that there really would be four champions in the Tournament, including two of Hogwarts. He barely assimilated instructions concerning the First Task, presented by the head of the committee to the participants.

"Alosha, congrats!" Aleksandr was first at his side, as soon as the champions left the room. Nikolai, Piotr, Andriei, Tatiana, Katia and Irina also approached him. The rest stayed aside. Gloomy Karkaroff said nothing.

"Go back to the ship" he snarled at his students and rushed off, without looking at Poliakoff.

Aleksei, though still flabbergasted, had to admit that the look of Bogdan and his mates' stupid faces gave him a little bit of satisfaction.

However, he didn't sleep a wink, being tremendously freightened of tomorrow. Karkaroff probably cheered himself up with vodka – there was no secret that drinking was one of the headmaster's favourite pastimes. But when he gets over ...

"He will kill me" mumbled Poliakoff in the morning. He was sitting on the steps leading to stern, holding his chin in his arms, looking as if he was soon to die. "He will murder me, he will."

"Oh, stop it, Alosha" said Tatiana. She was standing next to Poliakoff, leaning her back against the wall of stern superstructure and staring at the boy disapprovingly. "Why are you all so afraid of him? You are now the champion of Durmstrang and Karkaroff must accept this, whether he likes it or not..

"Poliakoooooff" shouted Bogdan, sticking his neck out of the companionway. "Oh, here you are" he said more quietly once he noticed him. "To the headmaster's. He is waiting in the representative room."

"See?" said Alexiei to Tatiana. "It has already started."

With his heart in his mouth he went below the deck down the narrow steps and got through the corridor to the afterdeck, where the captain's living room was situated. He gently knocked at the door.

"Enter" he heard an icy voice.

Aleksei took a deep breath and sneaked inside. He stopped doubtfully on the threshold and looked around discreetely, having been a rather rare guest. The living room was extremely elegant. There was a beautiful table with six chairs in the middle. The panelled wooden walls were covered with maps, photos and numerous travel souvenirs.

He wished he could run away from here.

Karkaroff was standing near the arch-shaped stern windows, with his back towards him. He looked back over his shoulder at Poliakoff. The grimace on his face suggested the urge for biting someone.

The wish to run away intensified.

The old goat turned and stared at him gloomily.

"Well, Poliakoff" he said slowly, through clenched teeth. "Sit down" he ordered with such a voice that Aleksei doggered and fell on the nearest chair next to the table standing in the middle of the living room.

"I haven't got the slightest idea why it is you that has been chosen" started Karkaroff "but there is no use crying over spilt milk. It is a magical contract, which you must fulfil." he pulled a face as if he suffered a toothache. "And now listen to me carefully. You have to represent your school with dignity. If you discredit Durmstrang, I swear that you will suffer consequences, I will look into it personally."

Aleksei felt drops of sweat on his face. Rasputin's sake, this mess has beaten everything, even this scandal from the sixth year. Then, a young, nice teacher, who knew how to talk with Karkaroff, took his side.

This teacher wasn't here.

"Certainly, you have my full support, Poliakoff" stated the headmaster. Aleksei's jaw dropped.

He hadn't expected he would ever hear anything like this from the old goat.

"Questions?"

Aleksei only shook his head in negation.

"Better get down to business right now, Poliakoff."

Aleksei stood up and left the living room. He still couldn't believe that is was happening for real.

"How long are you going to be mad?"asked Severus Snape, turning over the page of the Daily Prophet.

Igor didn't answer, only snarled something under his breath.

Snape smirked, when he had finished reading the article about the Triwizard Tournament. He caught a glimpse of the author - Rita Skeeter, certainly.

"They have misspelled your name, it's Karkarloff" he stated kindly, handing him the paper. Teasing Igor was the only case in which he would share his paper with him.

Karkaroff gave the text a quick look, then gave Snape an unkind look which didn't impress the Potions Master much, then left the table, pushing back his chair with a loud sound. He left out with no goodbye, mumbling something in Russian to himself. He hadn't even finished his tea.

Minerva McGonagall cast as him the glance of deep disapproval. Clearly, she didn't like at all the theatrical presentation of dissatisfaction manifested by the foreign guest.

"What has happened to him?" wanted to know Auriga Sinistra.

"Is he still furious that Potter has been chosen?" suggested Liza Vector.

Severus looked at them over his paper.

"Partly. I mean, he is doubly furious, because he doesn't like the choice of the champion of his school neither."

"But the Goblet has chosen the best candidate" said Auriga.

"Well, he disagress with that" mumbled Snape and went back to his paper.

The closer the First Task was, the closer was Aleksei to total panic. He almost didn't leave Hogwarts' library. Aleksandr, Tatiana and Nikolai were trying to help him to the best of their abilities, but it didn't change the fact in the Tournament he would be on his own. The gloomy librarian look at the group of foreign students suspiciously, but didn't attempt to make their lives difficult. Only sometimes did she remind them to keep silence, when they started talking too loudly in Russian.

"Merlin's mercy, I can't do it!" cried Aleksei, clutching his head. He had been reading a massive volume on the charms, but he had understood precisely nothing of its content.

"Stop nagging" mumbled Aleksandr, sitting down next to him. "Here you are, it may be helpful." He put on a table a book about antijinxes, grubbed about on the shelves of the library.

"I can't make anything of this" said Poliakoff, turning over the pages of the book of charms.

"Come on, you know English better than we do" claimed Nikolai.

"Besides, you have learned something for the last six years in our beloved school" said Tatiana, skimming through one of the books and marking the more important fragments with colourful strings of paper, put in between the pages. "There is no likelihood that you forget everything in one second. Noone will ask any theoretical questions, while you are pretty good in practical charms. Moreover, I am certain that you know more jinxes and hexes than all the rest together."

Aleksei seemed not convinced at all.

"You know where is your problem, Alosza?" Aleksandr got a little mad. "You just don't believe in yourself. When I start a match, I don't think about what I can fuck up, I concentrate on what saves I can pull off. And if I concede a goal, I don't brood on that, I just do all I can not to lose the next one. I can't think something will surely go wrong!"

"Sasha is right. You must pull yourself together" added Tatiana, putting one book aside and taking another one.

Aleksei felt better for a moment. And then he realised that there are only three days and the First Task begins. And he started to fear again.

Being called by Karkaroff usually meant that Poliakoff had something on his conscience. He couldn't figure out, however, why the hell would the old goat call him in the middle of the night. It was the eve of the First Task. Aleksei intended to burn the midnight oil, just like before the exam. Somewhere around half past one Piotr knocked at his cabin's door with the information that the old goat calls him. He also had no idea why.

Karkaroff had run into a group of students coming from a Slytherins' party, when they had been approaching the ladder. Their jaws had dropped, as they had expected a reprimand for such a late shipcoming, but the old goat almost hadn't noticed that. Obviously, he had no awareness what the hour had been.

"He looked somewhat weird" said Piotr.

"What do you mean weird?" asked Poliakoff suspiciously, stopping in the doors. "Drunk?"

"No, but he looked as if he has been crouching through some bushes."

Aleksei shrugged his shoulders and went to Karkaroff's cabin. He knocked and entered inside.

"You has finally come, Poliakoff!" said the old goat lively. "The First Task are dragons" he declared.

Aleksei was staring at him for quite a while pretty vacantly.

"What do you mean?" he answered hollowly.

"Dragons" repeated Karkaroff impatiently. "I've seen them with my own eyes."

Poliakoff noticed that the headmaster had leaves in his hair and his robe was dirty. He was wondering what he had actually been up to, but he was not courageous enough to ask.

"So, what are we supposed to do?" asked Poliakoff uneasily, trying not to think that they might have been violating the rules of the Tournament.

"I'm not sure." Karkaroff began to reel his goatee around his finger. "I suppose you will have to neutralise them somehow..."

Neutralise a dragon, Merlin's pants!

"All is clear now" said Karkaroff, neither to Poliakoff, nor to himself.

Nothing was clear now, but Aleksei preferred not to reveal the truth.

"Have you been thinking over this task, Mr. Poliakoff?" inquired Karkaroff the next moring with a friendly voice.

Aleksei startled and stopped staring at the dark depth of the water, splashing against sides of the sailing ship. Had he been thinking about it? He hadn't sleep a wink, but it didn't equal finding any reasonable solution. In the morning he decided that the situation was merely hopeless and was just considering drowing himself in the lake.

"Er... " he said not very intelligently. "I mean, yes, I have. I have been thinking about it all night."

"Good, good. Do you remember the charms we discussed during six year classes?"

Poliakoff only googled at him.

"Stupyfying curse" suggested Karkaroff.

"Stupyfying curses" repeated Poliakoff, but was unable to add anything more.

The old goat lost his patience.

"Conjunctivus" he stated almost with disgust and left.

Aleksei liked dragons. Which meant that he liked admiring them in the pictures in the books about magical creatures. And on murals in Durmstrang.

Now he was to face such a beast.

And he really started to fear.

How to beat a dragon? Conjunctivus... He was familiar with this curse, certainly, but was this really the best option? A dragon could have gone crazy, paralysed with pain. What if the curse wouldn't hit him precisely enough? When angry, the dragon could tear him up into pieces...

What choice did he have...? Actually...

Probably, all champions would choose to use strength against the dragon, these creatures were not the talking kind. However, Aleksei had a different idea. Risky, to tell the truth, but with some changes for success.

He drew a Swedish Short-Snout. He looked at the tiny figure depicting his dragon, which sat on his hand, staring at him suspiciously with his little red eyes. He sighted with relief. The Swedish one was the best to fit his plan, a horntail would not be so likely to cooperate.

He was enetering the arena with pounding heart, the first of the champions. The audience was deadly silent. He stopped, clutching a wand in a sweaty palm. Some metres from him, just on the opposite side of the arena, the dragon was waiting, looking at him carefully. Aleksei immediately recalled all he knew of the species. Presently, he could compare the book illustration with the original... the very alive one. Grey and azure husky skin, short mouth, frilled head, razor-sharp teeth hidden behind narrow lips, a line of sharp thorns lining down the spine.

And one more particular feature, the one of which not many knew... If only The Book of Dragons was right...

The dragon hissed and opened his ruff, immediately when Aleksei approached it. Poliakoff, trying not to wink, was staring right into its red eyes. He knew the dragon would attack when in danger. A few more careful steps. The dragon bared its teeth and stretched its wings slightly. Poliakoff stopped. The animal lowered its long neck and tilted its head, squinting its eyes.

Aleksei said the words of a charm. The audience murmured with surprise. Noone had expected that the representative of Durmstrang would create ... a guitar.

Poliakoff clutched the instrument and started to play, being ready to hide anytime, anywhere.

In the beginning he was playing a bit out of tune, but with time he was geting better and better. It had been some time since his last playing attempt, he should have practiced before. Unfortunately, this idea had hit him a bit too late. The dragon stretched his neck, clearly intrigued. It started swinging its head, listening to the music. The ruff was lying flat on its neck. Signs of relaxation appeared. The dragon must have been really stressed, forced to the middle of the arena with no apparent reason, to please the crowd. It closed its eyes and lowered its head, lying it on the forepaws.

Aleksei was playing for a longer period, even though his fingers started to hurt due to striking the strings. Only after he had been certain that the dragon was sound asleep, did he put his guitar carefully away and he skimmed through the pile of real dragon-eggs, spotting the golden one. He took out his wand and summoned it. Later, he stepped back very slowly, still looking at the dragon. The animal was still asleep. Poliakoff turned back and rushed off towards the arena's exit door.

There was a thunder of applause. Aleksei was almost unaware of what was happening around. He looked with sympathy for the dragon, which, confused with the noise, suddenly lifted its head, looking around. Friends rushed to congratulate him, Nikolai was shouting something, Aleksandr patted him on the back benevolently, Tatiana threw her arms around his neck...

He almost did not understood that he was awarded maximum number of points. Allegedly, the headmaster of Hogwarts himself had said that the music is the greatest magic imaginable, but Poliakoff didn't hear it himself.

"You really didn't know that dragons enjoy music?" he asked his friends when they were heading towards the gradinata, from where they could have watched the struggle of other champions.

Aleksei was standing on the deck, enjoying the morning solitude. He was awfully sleepy, but happy. Yesterday they had been celebrating the completion of the first task. All came. Bogdan was the only one who did not find strength to congratulate, he only muttered something like: "I though you went totally crazy!". Karkaroff said nothing about his artistic show, except one word. Mumbled charasho was his only commentary. Tatiana, who was a member of the regular crew of the ship, claimed, that it was the greatest compliment that he was capable of producing. Well, if there was nothing better... Poliakoff preferred to take it as a compliment.

The day was pretty cold, but it was nothing compared to the weather typical of the northern Russia, where Durmstrang was located. There was every likelihood that the snow was covering the castle courtyard in huge amounts, with the temperature well below minus twelve degrees.

Someone stopped next to him.

"It was a good job with the dragon" said Viktor Krum. "This solution would never enter my mind."

"Thanks" mumbled Aleksei, a bit surprised.

"Listen, I need to tell you something..."

"Yes?" encouraged him Poliakoff. He didn't have the slightest idea what it was all about. Viktor and him had never been friends, they hadn't even talked much before, and all of a sudden he wanted to talk to him with no witnesses...?

"It was I who got you into this Tournament. Well, not directly. I didn't want to take part in this circus and... I found a way to cheat the Goblet."

"But you put yourself forward! I've seen it!"

"I threw a blank parchment."

Aleksei winked at him with surprise.

"Sorry, Alosha. I didn't think it would be you... I thought it would be Nikolai or Aleksandr..."

"Thanks for appreciation" mumbled Aleksei pretty coldly.

"Don't misunderstand me. You're a brainy guy, you proved it yesterday. Anyone could try to hit the dragon with Conjunctivus, with no better ideas at hand. And you chose a different way, a better way. Well, Potter was pretty good too, but the old man must have deducted him some points. It's just your bad luck, you know..."

Aleksei found no answer. He must have been taken aback, 'cause never before had Viktor said so many words to him at once.

"Well, good luck on." Krum looked at him as if less gloomily and maybe even smiled. "Seriously, Alosza, you can win this."

"I doubt it. Still, thanks."

When Krum went below the deck, Poliakoff leaned himself against the balustrade of the bulwark and kept staring at the opposite bank. There were majestatic mountains above. The mountain tops were hidden in the milk-white mist, falling down slowly over the slopes, crossed with brooks, towards the calm deep of a lake. He smiled to himself. To hear something like that from Krum... Who would have thought?

Well, he faced a dragon and survived. Moreover, since he had become Durmstrang's representative, the old goat had not put him into detention, not even once. That was undoubledly good news.

Bad news was there were still two more tasks to go.

The end