"Poliakoff! Poliakoff! What are you doing, boy? You need to go!"

I blinked as my Potions master, Professor Müller, rushed towards me.

"Go where, Professor?" I realized that this was the wrong thing to say when he smacked his forehead with his hand.

"The ship, Poliakoff! It sails in five minutes! Have you forgotten so soon that you must leave for the Tournament?"

The Tournament! Everything came back to me in a rush. I was leaving Durmstrang, to go with Professor Karkaroff and some fellow students to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to perhaps represent my school as a Champion in the Triwizard Tournament. Our ship was leaving at eight o'clock, which was five minutes away. I had to run!

I of course tried to run, but I was facing a wall. Sighing, Professor Müller took my by the shoulders, pointed me through the open door, and gave me a push. Then I ran, out the slowly closing gates and into the grounds, stumbling slightly over a tree root.

Three minutes later, I arrived at the edge of the lake, panting and clutching a stitch in my side. Ilya, I saw, was just pulling the ladder up to the ship's deck. I tried to yell, but it came out as an embarrassing, but loud, squeak. He looked up, and, seeing me, sneered.

"Professor, we forgot Poliakoff!"

Professor Karkaroff appeared on deck, his nose wrinkled with annoyance.

"Let the ladder down, Levsky. Hurry, Poliakoff, you are making us late!" he turned around and disappeared from view.

I splashed out into the lake and ended up having to swim to reach the ladder. As I set foot on the deck, dripping wet, Ilya shoved a towel into my hands.

"Get down in the hold, Poliakoff. Stay out of the way for a bit, and try no to cause any trouble, hm? Honestly, how the Professor ever let you come is beyond me."

I felt my face burn, although I tried to hide it by wiping my face with the towel.

"Levsky, just because you have a brother who made it to the World Cup doesn't mean that you have a right to boss others around. Do something 'useful' yourself, or we'll all end up in the middle of nowhere." I recognized the voice of my good friend Katia. "Come on, Isay," she said, "Professor Karkaroff wants you to help Martin plot our course. He knows you have a head for numbers."

I followed her over to Martin – a tall boy, thin and blonde – my best friend. He had some rolls of parchment in front of him and was already scribbling out equations on one of them. Katia smiled and left us, flipping her dark hair as she did so. Martin looked up, relief spreading over his features as he saw me.

"You're here – excellent! Now you can figure out where we're supposed to go. I can't make sense of these instructions, and you'd know what to do – your dad being a sailing fanatic and everything," he grinned and handed me the parchment, "I'll copy down our final results so its fair, all right?"

I took the proffered scrolls with a grin, "That's not fair, you liar!"

"It's more fair than if I hadn't done anything at all!" he retorted, dodging the fake punch I threw at him.

"It's fairer, Martin. Honestly, when are you two going to grow up?" Katia was back, looking a bit flustered, "Professor Karkaroff wants that course plotted in three minutes!"

I stared at her. "Three minutes? That's impossible!"

She rolled her eyes, "Not when you have magic, Isay. Here, Martin, let's see if we can help him."

She and Martin bent their heads over the parchment and I began to work, nearly shaking with excitement. I was going to Hogwarts; the Triwizard Tournament awaited!