Every magical school was protected by spells such as Anti-Apparition Magic and Unplottable Charms; Durmstrang was naturally no exception.
Because Durmstrang openly taught Dark Magic, the spells it used to protect the school were even more rigorous than those of other schools.
If a visitor wished to enter Durmstrang, they needed a handwritten letter from a professor in order to find the entrance to the school.
Under certain extreme circumstances, Durmstrang professors would cast Obliviate to erase part of a visitor's memories before sending them away from Durmstrang.
Snape knew what he needed to do now. He took a deep breath, recalled the contents of the note Voldemort had written, and then strode resolutely into the valley.
Ripples spread through the air, as though someone had lifted an invisible curtain. In the once empty, desolate valley, the outline of a castle appeared.
The castle had only four floors. It was not as towering as Hogwarts Castle, but it exuded a heavy, oppressive feeling.
Both the castle's dim gray walls and the outer ramparts were covered in cracks of varying depths. Smooth blocks of ice, like crystal, were embedded in those cracks, gleaming with a faint, chilling light.
Durmstrang's gates were even more exaggerated. A massive crack ran from the tops of the gateposts to their bases, with ice likewise frozen within it.
The protruding ice was sharp and fierce, like great crystalline ice swords embedded in the stone pillars, yet also like bizarre thorns woven from stone and ice.
As Snape approached, the black iron gates slowly swung open, revealing a broad path paved with fine gravel.
As Snape walked along the path, he could hear the crunch of ice crystals beneath his feet.
Before the castle's firwood doors stood a cloaked figure: Barty Crouch Jr., who had been waiting