I know that things are getting tougher When you cant get top off from the bottom of the barrel Wide open road of my future now... Its looking fucking narrow All I know is that I don't know All I know is that I don't know nothing -Operation Ivy, Knowledge

Chapter 11

Unasked Questions

Detention with Snape was uneventful; Snape had him cleaning cauldrons. At the end of each detention Snape would tell extinguish the candle so it was completely dark. Harry would walk out with his scar throbbing and tired.

The week seemed never-ending, when Friday came, he had four reports due Monday and one due Tuesday and to top it off he hadn't even started to get his things ready to go to Durmstrang for their first game. He didn't even realize that no one was up.

When he finished packing, he looked at his watch to find it being 7:30, he picked up his robes and went to take a shower. He then changed into his new robes and went to breakfast to find Ron and Hermione already eating. Harry crossed the hall and sat next to Ron who looked sick to his stomach.

"What's up, Ron?" Asked Harry.

It wasn't Ron to answer, but Hermione. "Ron's just nervous, you know with the game on the way."

"Yeah, I guess..." he said and then looked to Ron. "Mate you better eat, you're going to need your strength once were at Durmstrang. They probably are really good."

"Viktor is the coach... from what he said they have the Durmstrang team trained by the Bulgarian Quidditch team," Hermione said reading a letter.

"Did Vicky send that?" Ron asked, who was poking his food with a fork.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, he did," Hermione said and then put the letter away. "We better be going to our first class, Ron, Harry. We have Care of Magical Creatures, come on!" Hermione gathered all of her books and stood. Harry and Ron did the same and soon they were marching down the slopping lawns on a warm November morning.

Hagrid was standing in the front of his cabin with five crates towering casting huge shadows over the grounds.

"Wha' are yeh doin' here, yeh three? Aren't yeh supposed teh be goin' teh Durmstrang' fer a Quidditch match?" Hagrid called, casting a piercing stare at them.

"Er- Yeah, Professor McGongall said they'd send someone to get us during this class," Harry said frowning. He knew something was wrong.

"Someone should'a told yeh! Yeh were supposed teh be going from breakfast, 'Arry! Go on, get back up to the castle! And do me a favor won't yeh, 'Arry?"

"What's that?" Harry asked him.

"Win, that's all!" Hagrid said and then embraced Harry in a big hug. Harry couldn't breath, but he didn't complain. When Hagrid finally released him he felt as if alot more words were spoken then were said. He felt loved.

"Thanks Hagrid," Harry said and the trio ran up to the castle, with their bags over their shoulders. They came to a stop in front of Professor McGongall.

"We were looking for you, Potter, Weasley, Granger. Now as I was telling the rest of the group, we are going to walk to Hogsmeade, there we will board the Hogwarts Express and leave for Platform 9 3/4. Then, we will transfer to a muggle plane to Bulgaria and then they will have transportation for us from there. We should be there by morning;" Professor McGongall said and then nodded to Professor Dumbledore who was behind them. "I will not be joining you, but Professor Dumbledore accompanied by Professor Lupin, Professor Snape, Nymphadora Tonks, Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shaklebolt and Molly, Arthur and Charlie Weasley will be your chaperones. They will be arriving momentarily."

And right on cue Snape walked up from the dungeons, Lupin and Tonks walked down the stairs and the rest walked into the great hall. The Weasley's standing out with their bright red hair. Mrs. Weasley walked over and gave Harry and Ron a quick hug and then walked over to where the rest of the chaperones were standing.

***

The journey to King's cross was boring, even with his closest friends. Harry climbed to the luggage rack and fell asleep for a few hours, but was soon woke by Ron who told him to change into his extra clothes, (which not everyone brought), but Professor Dumbledore had shirts made for them. They were plain black (some silver) with the Hogwarts crest sewn onto the front. Harry pulled the T-shirt on and grabbed a pair of jeans out of his bag. The jeans, which were once Dudley's, were at least fifteen sizes to big for him. Harry then put on a pair of old converse and put his robes in his bag.

They stopped at King's cross and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Ernie all got off of the train bags and brooms over their shoulders. But then Hermione pulled him to the side.

"Harry, since we're going into the muggle world you should wear this" she pulled a beanie out of her pocket. It was black with a single silver stripe. Harry nodded and put it on Hermione straightened it and made sure it covered his scar completely.

"Thanks," Harry said and then looked around, "did Fudge tell the muggle Prime minister the name of Hogwarts?" He asked her.

"Not that we know of, Anyway they'd probably think we're from some boarding school. We're not carrying our brooms with us, owls are taking them," Hermione said and then smiled. "Harry, did I tell you? My mom and dad are coming to the game! They said they want to watch me play quidditch, I don't think they even know what it is, really."

"Right," Ron said. "Come on, its clear." Ron pulled Harry and Hermione through the barrier. And Harry saw the person he was least expecting to see on the other side of the barrier. He saw Uncle Vernon picking Dudley up from a train. He looked sick to his stomach.

Harry followed his group to the exit; the sun was setting Harry observed. Uncle Vernon and Dudley were at Platform six. And his Uncle noticed them, obviously they didn't actually fit in, some of them were wearing bright silver shirts with a black stripe and some silver. They were lead by a man who wore a long purple robe and a man who had a boulder hat pulled low over his eye. Tonks chatted cheerfully to Professor Lupin.

Uncle Vernon spotted Harry and looked at his with utter disgust.

"Isn't that your uncle, Harry?" Ron asked Harry smirking.

"Er- Yeah," Harry responded.

"What's he doing here?" Ron asked.

"Looks like Uncle Vernon is picking Dudley up from Smeltings, but I can't see why... It's only November, and Christmas break isn't until December 22... Dudley probably ate one of the other kids hopefully Piers" Harry snorted. He remembered yelling at Piers the previous summer. Ron and Hermione laughed.

"I would have gone to Smeltings," Hermione said. "But since I got my letter here, you know."

"I dunno where I'd of went," Ron said. "I knew I was getting my Hogwarts letter, you know. I've been doing magic since I was five... so I knew I wasn't going to be a squib," Ron looked to Harry. "I've been down for Hogwarts since I was four" Ron said pompously.

"I'd have been going to Stonewall High" Harry rolled his eyes. "From what Hagrid told me I've been down since I was a baby."

"Oh," Ron said.

"Potter, what're you doing here?" Dudley asked.

"Manners, Dudley, manners..." Harry whipped out his wand in the blink of an eye and so did Ron, Hermione, Ernie and Ginny.

"You think you're such a big man, Potter. What're you without your stick of wood?" Dudley said smirking. That was it, Harry punched Dudley, and received a nasty punch in the gut that knocked him backwards, his wand slid across the floor and Hermione picked it up. Dudley then tried to punch him while he was down, but with Harry's quick reflexes from quidditch training he rolled to the side and then got to his feet.

Dudley quickly recovered and punched Harry in the jaw, which knocked him onto his back, but Harry got Dudley before he fell, but it didn't effect him. Uncle Vernon grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him to his foot who was bright red and fuming. He dropped him to the ground.

"Potter! How dare you punch Diddy Dudley-kins? Just wait, Potter..." then he turned away and walked out of King's Cross.

"You OK, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Er- Yeah" said Harry wincing as Dudley's punch to his jaw took effect.

"That's bruised already, Harry" Hermione handed him his wand.

They took three Minerstry cars to the airport and they walked around until their plane would be boarding.

"Plane's leaving you five! Quit socializing and get on!" Said Tonks who's hair was in a pink and black tri-hawk. She handed them their tickets and they all walked to their seats.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Harry's scar prickled uncomfortably and his jaw ached.

"Harry you should put some ice on that, its starting to swell," Hermione said and then conjured some ice.

"Fine," he took it.

The rest of the trip they just talked about the upcoming game. They got off of the plane at about 5:23 A.M. Everyone on the train was tired, and almost falling asleep... not one of them slept on the plane ride there. They were meet by a van driven by no other then Karkaroff.

"Ah Albus, how are you? Just telling Viktor about how scouts for the World Cup teams will be looking for players at this match," Karkaroff said looking at Dumbledore who climbed in the front seat. The fourteen Hogwarts students climbed into the back, which was made magically bigger. The chaperones climbed in next to the teams.

"Harry Potter?" Karkaroff said looking and seeing who all was there. Harry didn't really change much since his fourth year, except he grew about five inches and he looked older, and tired.

"Yeah, it's me; don't you see my scar?" Retorted Harry pointing to his scar, which was burning and he felt Karkaroff's stare there.

"Yeah, I see it, Potter. So what are you doing here? Playing the hero again?" Karkaroff said, smirking. The last comment made Harry feel sick.

"No, I play and have played Quidditch for Gryffindor since my first year. The youngest player in-" Harry was cut off by Ron who finished his sentence.

"A century," Ron said with loathing in his voice.

"According to McGongall," added Hermione her voice low and quiet.

"Potter, you know you look alot like James? Except for the eyes you have Lilly's eyes. I went to school with James and Lilly; James was a superb seeker, not as good as Viktor here, but great. He was on the Tutshill Tornados did you know that?" Karkaroff asked looking at him.

"Er- no," replied Harry. They started going and Harry was left tracing his finger over his scar. When Karkaroff mentioned James Harry's scar prickled uncomfortably and it didn't stop until they arrived at Durmstrang.

The castle wasn't much smaller then Hogwarts, but only a fool would think they didn't take Quidditch seriously. They had two Quidditch pitches with two teams practicing and Harry had to admit they both were excellent. As they walked through the front doors it was as if walking into an oven. The school was about 90ºF inside.

The Entrance Hall wasn't as grand or breath taking as Hogwarts. There was a main staircase made out of maple wood. There were about five corridors leading off the Entrance Hall, leading to where Harry did not know.

"You shall be sleeping in the Gastgehäuse wing. Viktor will show you the way," Karkaroff said and Viktor nodded. And he stalked off toward the corridor to his right. Harry and his group followed.

"Her-mi-ninny, how vas the trip?" Krum asked Hermione.

"Pretty good. How've you been?" She asked him and he nodded to tell her he was fine. He turned left into a smaller passage and there was a set of steps. They climbed the steps and turned right. There was a door with Gastgehäuse written on it. He opened it and it was pretty plain. It had white walls, with a stone floor and there were about twenty-five beds.

"'Ere is vere you'll be staying, The Great Hall is in the entrance hall. Straight across the hall from 'ere. You vill be expected at the Feast in the Great Hall at four fifteen," He said nodded farewell to Hermione and walked out.

Harry threw his bag down on one of the beds and as he did his broom landed on the bed. And everyone else claimed his or her beds. Ron was next to him and Hermione took a bed on Harry's left. Harry yawned; he hadn't slept since Thursday night.

"Now that we are here, I think you should be allowed to get to know your rival school of magic's students. You may go and explore, just don't make too much noise and remember to meet back here at 3 so we can go to the feast together," said Lupin who stood up and walked over to Harry. "But be heed, a chaperone must accompany you."

"Want to go exploring?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione. Ron nodded and Hermione said, "sure." Harry then asked Lupin if he wanted to come with them and he did.

Lupin had changed since he lost Sirius, Harry guessed that they all changed some what because of Sirius's death. Harry wanted to know more about the veil, and he still didn't understand how... well how Sirius died when he just went through? He started to ask but thought better of it. Lupin seemed to know what Harry was thinking.

"Harry are you going to ask about the veil? There are alot of mysteries that the unspeakables study in the Department of Mysteries - Time Travel, The universe, Love, Lust and the most mysterious of everything studied there, Death. For a long time they studied that and tried to bring people back from the dead.

"And that lead to the fascination of opening a portal to the dead. And thus the veil was made. They threw people in there for science, but they didn't know they were..." He broke off and looked Harry in the eyes. Harry knew what he was going to say wasn't going to be good.

"Condemning innocent beings to a force worse and greater then death. They condemned them to be spirits and wonder the world. The innocent being that was pushed through unjustly would be given the choice. Now the veil is used as a gateway to the afterlife.

"Like how Sirius was pushed unjustly, and I know he will be waiting in the light for us. He's probably with James and Lilly as we speak."

"He is. I-I know... I-I remember..." Harry said and then closed his eyes and remembered everything his dad told him. Every dream and every moment of his life. First his mum and dad's death... Hagrid telling him he was a wizard... Fighting the basilisk... Finding out Sirius was his godfather... Voldemort returning and them dueling... he saw his mother and his father coming out of Voldemort's wand... Cedric's limp lifeless body lying on the ground.... Countless nights of cutting 'I will not tell lies into his hand'... and Sirius falling through the veil. For a moment Harry felt as if he understood everything and then as it came it gone as if with the wind. And Harry was left with the memory of Sirius in his mind.

"You remember?" Lupin asked, looking at him, with not a look as if he though Harry was crazy, but the look as if his long lost friend had returned from the dead. And the feeling made him feel glee and sorrow at the same time. Harry nodded and Lupin embraced Harry in a hug.

They now were in a passageway that was bright with sunlight. They let go and continued walking. And for the first time in a while, his scar wasn't prickling. They returned to their dorm to find it almost empty. There was only Dumbledore, Snape and Mr. Weasley.

Harry sat down on his bed and Ron and Hermione sat on theirs.

"What do you think of Durmstrang?" Hermione asked Harry.

"It's Ok, I guess. I like Hogwarts better," Harry replied monotonously. His scar started throbbing painfully again. "Voldemort's pissed about something," He said. "Something or someone didn't do something as he wanted..." Harry said and the words sounded as if they weren't his own, but he knew they were true.

"Harry, you're supposed to be blocking those things out!" Hermione said.

"I know, but I'm I can't use Occlumency all day, can I?" Harry replied, shrugging. "Do you think I want my scar to burn? Do you think I want any of Voldemort's thoughts?"

"No, I suppose not" Hermione replied, looking around.