"Are we there yet?!" Feliciano Vargas pressed his face against the glass of the window in the giant horse-drawn carriage that was taking him to the Durmstrang Institute for the first time.

"For the last time Feli, no! Take a damn nap or something, we'll get there when we get there! Now sit your ass down and stop smudging the window!"

Feliciano felt the tug on the back of his collar as his older brother roughly yanked him back to his seat.

"Ow! But Fratello! I want to see the Aurora!" Feliciano whined, adjusting his pale blue robes more comfortably after such rough treatment.

"What the?! Is that why you've been bouncing around since we left? We're only passing over the Netherlands now! You can't see the Aurora yet you idiot! now settle down!"

Potions professor Francis Bonnefoy raised an eyebrow over at the two bickering Italian brothers. "Alas Feli, Lovino is right sadly, but we will be there before too long. Lovino, would you take care not to manhandle your brother?"

Lovino grumbled something unintelligible in response and crossed his arms with a long suffering sigh. "Hear that Feli?" His tone softened just a little. "I know its beautiful and you want to see it and paint it, but I promise you if you take a nap, we'll be there in no time. But if you keep whining and waiting like this, its gonna feel like forever."

"But I can't sleep Fratello! Don't you want to see the view? What was it like when you were at the Academia? You got to take a lot of trips didn't you?" Feliciano practically bounced on his seat, causing his older brother to bury his head in his hands.

"Neptune's Beard! I can't believe I transferred out of the Academia to join you with these perverted bastards here at Beauxbatons just to have to deal with this." Lovino grumbled. Feliciano was fourteen and in his fourth year at the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, where he had begun his education. Meanwhile, his brother was three years older than him and starting his final year, but until now he had been schooled at the much smaller Academia del Magia in wizarding Rome - a messy arrangement that came about thanks to their parents' even messier divorce, but what was important was that they were together now. Feliciano had missed his brother fiercely, even though he could be annoying in the way older siblings could be. It saddened him to realize now with a bit of maturity just how much Lovino had shielded him during the divorce, leaving his older brother permanently angry, cynical and downright difficult for most people to deal with. Feliciano hoped that now they were together, that he could help his brother know how to be happy again.

Walking over to his frustrated brother, Feliciano pulled a tomato out of his pocket and grinned. "But at Beauxbatons we have a better greenhouse - even you said so!"

Sighing in defeat, Lovino accepted the peace offering, as Feliciano knew he would. When he bit into the tomato, his older brother's face actually had a second's moment of peace and bliss - savoring the sweet, tangy and juicy flavor.

"Fucking genius..."

"Lovino! Language." Francis cheerfully called from his seat.

"Like you care, French pervert." Lovino responded with a roll of the eyes. "Don't go moralizing to me just because you're a professor now. Besides, I was being nice. They keep telling me that a former herbology student was responsible for these tomatoes at your greenhouse. Well whoever that was, is a genius. I'm going to steal some back home once put this whole business behind me. I'll find out the secret to these tomatoes yet."

As Lovino and Francis settled into a somewhat strained conversation - one full of swearing and the other full of amused attempts at correcting such behavior, Feliciano pressed his face up against the glass again. They were in southern Norway now, and steadily flying further and further northwards...to Durmstrang...towards long nights and darkness punctuated by those heavenly lights...and...

Feliciano closed his eyes and remembered. Four years ago he was starting his first year at Beauxbatons. He had come to the Palace trembling all over in his pale blue robes and cap. Thankfully, Francis and his best friend Antonio Fernandez Carriedo - two final year students - took pity on him and became a sort of surrogate big brothers. That was the year of the previous Tri-Wizard Tournament, hosted in the Palace. Everything had been so new, frightening and amazing that Feliciano could hardly process it all.

From the British Isles came the black robed, formal, pointy hatted and tie-wearing students of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had befriended a jovial and mischievous boy by the name of Fred Weasley who tried to explain to him the four separate Houses and school system...but it seemed completely alien and unnecessary to Feliciano - why divide one school into four rival groups? It was almost as if the founders had wanted the school torn apart. While Francis had tried to explain to him that competition sometimes brought out the better skills in a community, Feliciano personally never had time for such unpleasant games. Still, when the Goblet of Fire chose Arthur Kirkland from the notorious Slytherin House, Hogwarts had managed to unite itself against international competition.

From Feliciano's own school, the Goblet chose Jeanne d'Arc. It was a surprising choice. Many had expected the champion to be Antonio, but Jeanne was a respected student who sought neither fame nor favor. She refused to take part in the silly reputation games that teenagers played, and freely gave her time to younger students who needed help. She captained and played Keeper on the school's Quidditch team, but allowed the others to grab most the attention. As a result, when her name was called, everyone at the Academy understood that she was the best choice, and felt a little sheepish for not thinking of her before.

However, the school that left the strongest impression with Feliciano were the strong, imposing and primal looking students of the Durmstrang Institute. Perhaps primal was not the best word to describe them, but the heavy and deep red fur-lined cloaks they wore made Feliciano think about the earliest witches and wizards working with the very basic elements within their environments. This was a time of experimentation and discovery - before anyone had built castles, or invented wands to try to tame magic. He imagined a witch standing alone in the midst of a blizzard to invent the first warming spell, a wizard in the middle of a stormy sea perfecting what they took for granted these days as a shield charm. Feliciano imagined that the students of Durmstrang - living in almost constant night, at the top of the world with Trolls for neighbors in a winter landscape - were the most connected to these most base survival instincts of their shared magical heritage. Perhaps he mused on such history because the Vargas family had Nereid blood. As such, they always felt a special connection to the Mediterranean Sea, especially the Adriatic - their maternal grandmother's home, and the Tyrrhenian - home to their paternal grandmother. Due to that connection, the Vargas brothers were more bound to nature and had a more instinctual connection to their magic.

The Durmstrang champion had been Gilbert Beilschmidt, the grandson of the Institute's current Headmaster, who had taken the office two years ago and went by the ancient name of Germania. Gilbert was a constantly grinning and wild young man, prone to challenging life itself. His red cloak made his oddly colored eyes look like blood, something he used to his advantage to try to intimidate his rivals. It never worked - neither Arthur nor Jeanne could be intimidated, but with three equally strong rivals, the previous Tri-Wizard Tournament had been an amazing contest to witness.

Feliciano managed to ignore most of it though, because in the company of Durmstrang students was a serious and blushing blonde and blue-eyed boy around his age who always managed to be close by. At first, the boy always looked angry or irritated, scaring Feliciano too much to be able to speak to him, even though he had felt drawn to him, and had wanted to make a friend from the other school. This boy was Gilbert's younger brother - Ludwig.

Feliciano smiled, remembering Ludwig, and how sweet he was once they did become friends - Ludwig was a little perfectionist, a boy whose stern face hid a big heart that was always concerned for those he loved. He was worried for his brother, but proud as well. It was Ludwig who first told Feliciano about the Aurora - the fire in the northern skies, and promised to show them to Feli one day. Ludwig who explained that the Beilschmidts were a family of dragonologists, specializing in dragon charming and handling for centuries. Ludwig who had made his beloved school sound so wonderful and ethereal when most distrusted Durmstrang. However, Feliciano only realized the obvious when he found that his sketchbook and canvases were full of one stern-faced, blue-eyed boy looking back at him, his blonde hair hanging over his forehead and just the slightest smile around his lips, which somehow softened everything.

Love, or at least, the eventual realization of it, swept Feliciano away in a cocoon of warmth and exhilaration. He still believed in love, despite what had happened to his parents. He simply believed that his parents had stopped fighting for it, stopped working at it. And so, Feliciano believed that this connection and feeling he had with Ludwig was worth fighting for, which was why he kept it a secret from everyone - so Lovino would not find out and raise a storm. Unfortunately, tragedy struck - the third and final challenge went horribly wrong, and at the end of it - Jeanne had been badly burned and left permanently scarred, Arthur Kirkland had to be sent to the nearest hospital, where he stayed for almost a year, and Gilbert...Gilbert threw down his wand, forfeiting the tournament because his little brother Ludwig was collateral damage - saving Feliciano from the blast. No one knew who Feliciano was to Ludwig because of the secret, and Beauxbatons was quickly abandoned by its visitors. All Feliciano knew was that Ludwig had lost his memory. As happy as he was that Ludwig survived, he often wondered as the years passed - did Ludwig ever regain his memories? Was he able to return to studying towards his dream? Did he look up into that fiery northern sky and remember that somewhere south in warmer climes, someone missed him and loved him?

"Hey idiota, we're here!" Feliciano grumbled slightly as Lovino shook his shoulder roughly. It seemed that in the midst of remembering everything, he had fallen asleep after all. Feliciano stretched up with a yawn and took a quick look around their spacious compartment. "Where did Professor Bonnefoy go?"

"Something about sending his daily love letter to his wife before everything really gets busy. You know if it weren't for how cool she is and how much he took care of you at school when I couldn't, I think I wouldn't be able to stand the sight of him. Now come on, we have to get going - make a show of a grand entrance and all that."

Feliciano nodded and hurried along. "Ve Fratello, isn't it sweet? How much they love each other?"

But Lovino's expression turned frigid and angry. Too late, Feliciano remembered that Lovino had been living with the realities of their parents' divorce and the legal battle in Italy, while he had been sheltered in the Pyrenees. "They've been married for a fucking year. That barely counts. I won't hold my breath."

Feliciano felt stabbed and guilty. Despite wanting to contradict his brother's words, Feliciano decided that silence was the best option. Now that he was back in Durmstrang, he would look for Ludwig, or at least find out what had happened to him, and he could do that easier without Lovino suspecting anything.

The Vargas brothers exited their compartment together to meet with the rest of the students in the carriage's gold decorated main ballroom. The students of Beauxbatons always lived and traveled in splendor. One of the academy's graduates in the 17th century had disguised himself as a muggle architect in his life, secretly weaving magic into his work. One of his masterpieces was the Palace of Versailles, whose designed he had based off his beloved school.

Not all students from the academy made this journey. Mostly, the carriage consisted of students in the sixth and final year of study (as they were those of age and eligible to compete in the tournament), and one selected guest from each (if they chose). Lovino of course, had chosen his brother. As a transfer and a self-confessed mediocre wizard, he had no expectations of having to compete. Finally a large, imposing, elegant and stately woman - Headmistress Olympe Maxime appeared and all went quiet. Though Beauxbatons Academy also welcomed students from Portugal, Spain, Andorra, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and occasionally Italy, the language of living and instruction was French.

"As you all know, this year, we will be hosted by the Durmstrang Institute for the august and time honored tradition of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Many of you must undoubtedly be surprised, that the three schools have decided once again, to continue the tradition. However, every effort has been made this year to make the tournament safer for all. There have always been objections and complaints, but the three major wizarding schools of Europe,"

Here Lovino softly scoffed.

"Have long appreciated the opportunities for international cooperation and relations in the magical community. Many of you will have left your homes for the first time thanks to this competition, and I hope that all of you will develop life-long friendships with our friends from the British Isles, Northern, and Eastern Europe. It is our fervent hope that one day, a safe and global tournament will be possible, allowing you to meet your brothers and sisters living on the other continents of this world. Our experience with the former dark Wizards Voldemort and Grindelwald have proven to us that our communities cannot live isolated from the other. We never know when we will need to ask for aid. Events such as this tournament, help us to foster these ties."

"Now, as before, this carriage will be our home for the year. Most of you are entering your final year. Let me be clear that our Academy is a place of excellence, and you will not be granted any excuses for sub-par performance on your finals. The Baccalauréate Magie will not be any kinder to you for your travelling."

Feliciano could feel the tenseness from the older students, and felt quite sorry for them. None however, would express any verbal disagreement in front of the Headmistress.

"I also expect all of you to understand that while the Goblet will only select one of you to be our Academy's champion, the responsibility of representing our Academy falls not only upon the champion, but with all of you. Your accolades or glory will be added to our long annals of achievement, but so would your misbehavior tarnish our reputation should you forget yourselves. I will make this very clear right now: there will be no tolerance for any misbehavior!"

There was a loaded feeling of threat and impending doom with those last words. For a moment as well, it looked like Madame Maxime actually grew in size. Feliciano let out a tiny whimper and he saw Lovino frown in response.

"But above all," she continued, the atmosphere of the room lightening once again. "Remember why we are here. Beauxbatons has won the tournament sixty-three times in the past, and is the current reigning champion." She smiled. Some whoops and cheers from the students filled the air. "You will be seeing a familiar face - our very own Jeanne d'Arc - at the end of the competition, when she comes to present the trophy to the next champion. I expect that this champion will also be wearing our colors." More cheers, and a flush of pride on Francis' face at the mention of his wife.

"Now with that said, it appears we are the last to arrive. Come join me as representatives of our Academy. Let us give our school more reason to be proud!"

They lined up as they had rehearsed for the past month, and filed out behind her to Durmstrang's welcome.