A/N: Thank you to all those that have been reviewing. Please continue. I'm open to suggestions to the story so please R/R.

Disclaimer: I wish I could be as good as JK Rowling but I'm not. This is her stuff and not to mention the influence that this story took from various fanfics.

Chapter 12
Searching for Clues

Harry and Ginny made there way to the library and sat near the back where Hermione usually sat. The study table was empty because Hermione spent so much time there that the other students left that table alone because they didn't want to upset Hermione. Harry and Ginny pulled out there current textbooks.

Harry asked, "How do you want to go about studying?"

Ginny said, "I'm not sure."

"How about we just intensify your studies for the O.W.L.s.? This way you would be both ready for the challenge and for your O.W.L.s."

"That's not a bad idea but what about those other subjects that aren't covered on the O.W.L.s.?"

"We can dedicate a day to foreign subjects, I guess. At least, I don't think that too much emphasis will be given to non-traditional subjects."

"Alright than, so where do we start Mr. Potter?"

"Let's go with DADA. That's my best subject and where I feel most comfortable tutoring."

Ginny nodded her approval and the two of them set off with their studying.

The next morning at breakfast, Ginny and Hermione were talking with each other about what they learned last night, Harry and Kayla were talking about there practice with each other and what they're going to do quietly, Ron was talking about quidditch while Neville was avidly listening and eating, and Luna was eating and reading the quibbler.

The morning post arrived and most of the students and teachers were looking towards the arriving owls to see if they had a delivery. Harry didn't spot Hedgwig in the crowd of owls so he returned to his conversation with Kayla. Kayla didn't seem to expect anything but thought the arrival of the owl posts looked beautiful with all the different type of owls flying in and taking off almost immediately.

It didn't take long for the Gryffindors to be interrupted again when an owl dropped a package in front of Ginny. She picked up an attached letter and when she finished reading she was looking around the hall to see if anybody was looking at her. Her eyes were spending more time somewhere that would put Harry in her line of sight with hope filled in her eyes.

Harry asked, "What is it?"

Ginny handed Harry the note and read it:

Ginny,

Please do not be afraid but I've noticed you for some time. I've watched you from a distance and felt that it was time to tell you that I believe you to be one of the smartest and the most beautiful witch in the entire magical world. I know how much you love to play quidditch and hope that this will help you in the near future. I will reveal myself in due time.

FireFlight

Harry showed no emotion when he read the letter. He handed the letter back to Ginny but it was taken by Ron. Ron's eyes sharpened as he read the letter and the anger in him could be seen rising. Ginny saw this coming and yelled at her brother, "Ron, give that back to me! That letter was addressed to me not you!"

Ron stood up and asked, "Who sent you this?"

He knew he was wrong for acting like this but couldn't control it. Now an argument broke out that held the attention of most of the Gryffindors and a few from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Ginny yelled back, "Like I would know! Obviously, you can tell from that letter that I don't know who wrote it or do you need Hermione to spell it out for you!"

"Don't you talk to me like that, I'm your older brother and it's my job to protect you, especially with all of the gits that's out there!"

"I don't need you to protect me! I can take care of myself!"

"If you're going to be getting stalkers who are afraid to show their faces than don't you think that there is something wrong with them? Apparently, you didn't notice that you were being watched and you claim to be able to watch yourself!"

"Anybody would be afraid of revealing themselves if they knew that the girl they like has five older brothers that love to threaten anybody that goes near their sister!"

Harry interrupted them by casually saying, "She is right. I would be afraid of Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, and Ron chasing after me." He turned to Ginny and asked, "What about Percy?"

Everybody turned to look at Harry like he was crazy. They were all thinking, 'Where did he come from?' Ginny faced Harry and asked, "What?"

She was so involved in her argument with Ron that she didn't make out what he was saying. Harry said, "You have six brothers. What about Percy?"

Ginny huffed and said, "He has a long way to go before I forgive him. Plus he is so much into himself that he wouldn't even notice who I go out with."

Hermione was glad that Harry managed to stop the siblings from arguing. She asked, "Ginny what was the in the package?"

Ginny said, "I'm not sure. I didn't get to open it up yet because my git of a brother."

Ron started to say something but Kayla said, "Why don't you open it up?"

People started to gather around so they could get a look at what Ginny just got. She unwrapped it and it was a long blue box. Once she opened the box, there were gasps from everybody that managed to see the present. Hermione didn't get to see it yet and asked, "What is it?"

With wide eyes, Ginny lifted the gift and said in awe, "It's the Firebolt F1."

The Firebolt F1 featured a much more comfortable ride than the best Nimbus brooms yet it had just slightly more speed than Harry's Firebolt. The F1 is a red broom that matches Ginny's hair with deep burgundy streaks along the broom to give it a faster appearance. The bristles were tightly wound, burgundy in color, and looked like a tornado on its side.

Ron forgetting about the argument that just took place also in awe said, "That's the fastest broom in the world. There are only ten of those in the entire world and there's only one being used on all of the international quidditch teams."

Harry said, "Ginny, it looks like you're going to be untouchable on the broom."

Ginny was still staring at her broom as Ron grabbed the broom lovingly and said, "This is the fastest broom in the world. It's faster than Harry's Firebolt with incredible handling and comfort. I hear it also has a special charm that nobody knows about that makes the broom unbreakable."

Hermione wasn't as excited about the new broom as everybody else said, "Look at the time, it's almost time for our first class." She was dragging Ron and Harry out of the Hall while everybody else followed. Ginny placed the broom back in its box, shrunk it, and placed it in her pocket.

Upon their arrival to DADA, Remus and Tonks were in the front of the class talking while waiting for the class to arrive. There were chatter amongst the class about Ginny's new broom and who her secret admirer could be. The bell chimed and it was time for class to start. Remus and Tonks turned to the class and Remus said, "Quiet down. Today we're going to have a little fun. We're going to start a dueling tournament in this class."

There were cheers amongst the class while Harry was not as excited about the announcement. Tonks continued on where Remus left off and said, "The winner of the tournament will be given a chance to take on both Professor Lupin and myself. If you win than you will automatically receive an extra 'O' in this class which will take the place of your lowest grade."

Harry was thinking, 'Well, I can just throw this tournament. I don't want people to know about my abilities just yet.'

There were more cheering from the class. As if Remus was reading Harry's mind, he said, "if there is any cheating or if somebody holds back and not try their best within the confines of the rules of the tournament than you will receive a 'D' which will replace your highest grade.'

Nobody seemed to really care about what Remus just said except for Harry. Tonks said, "We have randomly chosen who will be facing off with whom. Now when I call your name please come to the front of the class." While Tonks was speaking, Remus was in the background setting up half of the class for the duel. He transfigured a large blue dueling platform with swirls of white in it. The platform stood about two feet off of the ground and he placed a shield charm around the platform to protect the spectators from stray spells.

Tonks called out, "Hermione and Ernie."

Hermione Granger and Ernie MacMillan took to the dueling platform and bowed to each other. They each took five paces and turned around ready to duel. Once Tonks finished her count to three Hermione yelled, "Stupefy!"

Ernie jumped to his right and fired back with, "Petrificus Totalus!" The spell didn't reach Hermione as she summoned a shield charm which absorbed Ernie's attack. Hermione fired another stunning spell which forced Ernie to jump again but was hit by a stunning spell that followed the first one. Everyone was surprised that the duel was so short but Hermione seemed excited of her first win.

The class clapped in congratulation for Hermione on winning and Ernie doing his best. The two of them took there seat with Hermione smiling while Ernie felt a bit put out. Ron faced off with Dean and managed to defeat him with ease. Everybody was looking forward to watching Harry duel.

Harry and Susan Bones took to the platform. They bowed to each other and wished each other luck. They took there five steps and turned ready to duel. At the count of three both Susan and Harry yelled, "Stupefy!" The two spells hit in mid-air and the two spells were trying to break its way through the other spell for a few seconds and than Harry's spell overtook Susan which stunned her.

The class was shocked to see two spells hit each other in mid-air to make it more surprising, Harry's spell absorbed the impact of Susan's spell and stunned her afterwards. The class was completely quiet as Harry walked over to Susan and muttered, "Enervate."

Susan opened her eyes abruptly and Harry helped her up. Harry whispered, "Sorry about just now," to her and she just whispered back, "It's alright." The two of them made there way back to their respective seats with the class still in silence. Remus and Tonks who were much older than Harry and having seen so many duels and fights, yet they never saw that happening before. Both of them have heard of it happening but one of two results always happened. The first and more common result was that the two spells hit each other and dissolve shortly after impact. The second and extremely rare case was that the two spells hit each other and one spell overtakes the other but doesn't have enough strength left to make a significant effect upon impact.

Susan wasn't disappointed that she lost to Harry because she knew that he was better. In fact, she expected to lose but didn't expect to lose in less than five seconds though. When he took his seat, the class started to clap in congratulations to Harry and Susan for doing her best. Ron said, "Bloody hell Harry. I can't believe that you did that just now."

Harry asked, "What's so special about what happened just now?"

Hermione said, "Harry, I don't believe that anybody has seen what happened just now before. I have never heard of two spells hitting each other and still have enough power to still work."

He turned to Ron who nodded his agreement. Harry thought, 'Great, now there's something else to make me different. Hopefully, everybody will still talk about what happened this morning with Ginny's admirer instead of talk about this. I've got to remember to not use that much force anymore. It's a good thing that I only used three-fourths of my strength.'

For the rest of the class, the dueling tournament continued. The second to last match was between Kayla who in her last match, managed to defeat Hermione to the surprise of the class with an unknown spell that made Hermione glow for a second than fall over in a body bind. The person she was facing off against was Neville who also got there by surprise. In his last match, he managed to defeat Ron by using a spell that replicated an image of himself. The illusions of Neville than shot multiple spells at Ron which confused him for he didn't know where to focus his shield and was unlucky enough to choose the wrong spot to use his shield. This resulted with Ron being stunned on his upper arm.

Kayla and Neville stood with their wands ready to duel and awaited the count. Once the duel started it was a heated fight. The two of them were jumping around the dueling platform dodging stunning and bludging spells with the use of shield charms. Neville tried to use the trick that he used on Ron but Kayla sent a charm to the dueling platform which negated the use of illusion charms. The two of them kept on exchanging spells while the class watched on.

Subconsciously, everybody in the room was surprised that Neville seemed to have developed a great deal over the summer and in confidence of his own abilities. Although some thought it might be because of his new wand, because his old one was broken at the Ministry of Magic last year during the fight with Deatheaters. Others believed that Harry and his friends were able to instill some confidence and faith in him which he started to see in himself, but most believed that it was a combination of both.

The class also agreed that Kayla was an excellent duelist. She didn't appear to get tired easily, comfortable with her abilities, and very knowledgeable with different types of spells because most of the class haven't heard of one spell or another that she was using. Harry knew that he would learn a lot from her and hoped that he would be able to teach her in return because she seemed able to take care of herself.

The duel ended when Neville went to dodge a stunning spell aimed directly at him but for a split second lost his balance. He wasn't used to dueling for so long and became tired. Kayla started to show the first hints of fatigue but managed to maintain her composure. She was able to get an Expelliramus spell to get Neville while he wasn't balanced. He loosened his grip on his wand and it was just enough for the spell to pull the wand away from Neville and in that split second the duel was over.

The class gave both of them a standing ovation which both of them took a bow because Tonks insisted that they did. On their way back to their respective seats, Neville and Kayla were shaking hands with their classmates who wanted to thank them personally. Neville blushed slightly because he wasn't used to the compliments.

Harry was waiting for the winner which was Kayla to get ready for the next duel to determine who the best in the class is. Kayla just finished a long duel and Harry didn't want to show something that he didn't want others to know about. Kayla also didn't want to have to show all of her abilities to the class.

Kayla and Harry looked at each other nodded to each other. Harry raised his hand and Remus asked, "What is it Harry?"

Harry said, "Professor, Kayla and me would like to call our duel a draw."

The class immediately turned to Harry and were wondering what was going on. Tonks asked, "Why is it that you want your duel to be a draw?"

Harry replied, "Kayla is a much better duelist than I am and she just finished a long and tiring duel."

Remus asked, "Kayla what is your take on Harry's proposal?"

Kayla said, "Professor, I would like our duel to be declared a draw also. Although, I believe that Harry is a better duelist. It's just that I have some personal reasons that I don't wish to duel against Harry and he understands why."

Remus said, "You do understand that because of that I can not award the 'O' to each of you in order to be fair to the rest of the class."

They both said, "Yes."

Remus looked over to Tonks and said, "Alright than, so the winners of this tournament is Miss Kayla Rapp and Mr. Harry Potter."

The class congratulated both of them and Hermione asked, "What is the personal reason that you don't want to duel against her?"

Ron said, "Yeah, mate. What is the truth?"

Harry said in a low voice so nobody could overhear them, "Kayla knows that I don't want to show too much of my abilities. She's doing this for me and not for her."

Hermione and Ron knew that was a good idea when Harry said that so they didn't push the issue further. There was only five minutes left to class so there was no point in starting something new so Remus and Tonks dismissed classed early.

Everybody left the class and Harry bid his friends bye for he had the period off while everybody headed off to Charms. Harry and Kayla were standing in the hallway and he remembered something so he told Kayla to go on ahead to the Room of Requirement ahead of time.

Harry ran back into the DADA classroom and said without thinking, "Professor Lupin, I needed to talk to you for a…"

Harry just froze at we he saw, he walked in on Remus and Tonks snogging in the classroom. When Harry rushed into the door, Remus and Tonks tried to get out of a compromising position but they didn't do it quickly enough. Harry continued to stare as Remus and Tonks got more embarrassed about being caught.

Remus said, "Harry, close the door and we'll explain everything."

Harry closed the door, casted a silencing charm on the room, and asked, "OK, now start explaining."

Tonks said, "It started the night that you went missing after the Dursleys were attacked."

Remus noticing Tonks still feeling a bit embarrassed continued on, "Harry, that night you disappeared, we didn't know what to think. The entire Order, the Weasleys, and the Grangers were all scared that you had died that night or was captured by Voldemort."

Harry said, "I'm sorry about that but there wasn't much that I could do. I went to the first place that hoped in my mind."

"It's alright Harry. I know that the place that you went to was extremely safe." There was a pause than Remus continued, "Well, everybody pretty much went into there own little world. I retreated back into my room and Tonks came in to comfort me. She knew that I would take it hard and would blame myself for not having taken better care of you."

Harry interrupted, "I don't blame you for what happened. We all know that that day everybody was stretched fairly thin. You can't watch over me all the time and even if something did happen while you were there, you have to remember that whatever happens is not your fault. I would never hold you responsible for something like that."

Tonks replied, "Harry, you have to remember that also. That if anything happens, we don't want you to blame yourself for what happens because I'm almost sure that Voldemort is responsible for it."

Harry sighed and nodded. Remus said, "Well, since we have that settled. Tonks spent the night comforting me and it didn't really get any better at all. We ended up falling asleep without even knowing it. The next day when you were able to deliver the message, I had a strange feeling that I recognized Nightlight somewhere but couldn't remember but knew that you were safe."

Tonks continued on where Remus left off, "After we received the letter, everybody was glad that you were alive but there was still some question as to were you really safe and were you physically and mentally well. We knew that the phoenix was a good sign but wasn't sure if you were in the open and would be an easy target to attack."

Harry said, "I can promise you that I was safe and well at the place I was hiding."

Tonks nodded and continued on, "Since we didn't know where you were and even if you were safe we had to find you. Remus and I went searching around your Aunt's place for clues. We didn't find anything so we decided to go and to a pub to see if we could overhear somebody talking and maybe we would be able to locate you. That didn't really help at all."

Remus said, "What we didn't realize was that we were spending so much time together and enjoyed each other's company a great deal. We slowly became much closer with every plan that was developed to go search for you. Than one night, while we went undercover as a married couple on our honeymoon in Madrid, Spain, to do something for the Order, we saw somebody that was coming that would recognize us if we didn't do something drastic."

Tonks said, "I pulled him into a kiss but we didn't stop. We just continued to do that until we almost forgot about our mission. When we arrived back at Headquarters, Remus and I had a talk about different things like him being a werewolf and I'm so much younger than him."

Remus continued, "We concluded that it didn't matter much plus threatening me with the tip of her wand and ever since than, the two of us have been a couple."

Harry said with a smile, "I'm glad for the two of you. I hope it works out."

Remus and Tonks smiled realizing that Harry didn't have a problem with it. They said, "Thank you," at the same time.

Remus said, "Only the Order knows about this Harry so please don't tell anybody."

Harry said, "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody."

Remus said, "Thanks, now what is it that you wanted?"

Harry said, "Oh, I wanted to know if you tried the new Wolfsbane potion that I made for you a few weeks ago."

Remus smiled than said, "I used it the day before school started. It seemed to work great. I didn't have any known complications, my transformation was incredibly smooth, there was little pain, nothing broke, it didn't wear down my body or mind, and I was still able to control my actions with ease."

Harry was trying to not jump up and down with joy when he said, "That's great. I'll try to get some more to you soon. There's no shelf life for them so I can probably produce a large batch and you can store it and use it as necessary. There's possibly another benefit but I can't confirm it yet but if I find out that it will happen than I'll let you know."

Remus said, "Thank you Harry. You don't know how much this means to me." He pulled Harry into a hug.

Harry hugged him back and said, "It's not a problem. Besides I got to use my time for a good purpose."

Harry asked them, "The two of you just gave me an idea, can the two of you help me with something?"

Remus said, "Sure, just as long as it's not illegal or will get you kicked out of school."

Harry and Remus talked a little bit more in hushed tones afraid that somebody might overhear them even though there was a silencing charm over the room. There were some giggling from Tonks through their discussion.

Tonks said, "It looks like our break is over. The next class is going to arrive soon. Why don't you go on ahead Harry?"

Harry said, "Alright, I'll talk to you two later." As he was leaving the room, Harry took the silencing charm off the room. He headed over to the Room of Requirement where he saw Kayla reading a book on a couch.

The room was different because half of the room was for comfortable sitting and the other half of the room had a large open area with a soft surface to soften impacts if you fell on the ground. Harry said, "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. It just took a little longer than usual."

Kayla looked up from her book and said, "It's alright. I was rather enjoying this book." She placed the book away in her backpack and the two of them headed over to the clear area in the room.

Harry asked, "How do you want to work this?"

Kayla said, "Today, I want to see what your abilities are and you can see what mines are without everybody looking so we don't have to hold back."

Harry said, "Alright, let's get ready."

The two of them assumed the dueling stance and Harry did the counting. On the count of three Harry let loose with a barrage of stunning and bludging spells which resulted in a hail of colorful lights shooting at Kayla. Kayla on the other hand had little difficulty blocking the spells with something Harry had never seen before. Kayla was standing with her right hand out that had a single strip of white paper with Chinese characters written on it that Harry did not recognize. The strip of paper had a faint blue flame dancing around it.

After a minute of the constant barrage of spells, Kayla's shield started to slowly break. Her blue flamed paper slowly changed to a red flame. After the first spell broke through the shield, the paper disintegrated and Kayla had her wand out firing spells back. This forced Harry to change his fighting technique to that of a balance of attack and defense.

The two of them looked like they were dancing amongst a room full of laser lights. As the duel progressed, the fighting became more intense as the speed of the battle increased along with the strength of the spells. Both of them used the entire room from using furniture to shield themselves to all out assault against each other. They continued doing this for about half an hour with the both of them restricting there spell use to those that they learned in the last five years of school.

The duel ended when Harry shot a full body bind spell at Kayla while Kayla summoned another shield with another white strip with Chinese characters on it. This time Kayla was worn and was a tenth of a second too slow which was just enough for the spell to hit Kayla and her body froze and fell over.

Harry revived her and helped her up. Harry said, "That was a great duel. I don't think I've been this exhausted in a very long time."

Kayla said, "That was really good. I didn't think that I would last that long against you. Well, near the end I wasn't holding back anymore and had to use much of the advanced spells that I learned at the end of last year."

They transfigured some new chairs because the ones originally in the room were destroyed along with much of the room. There were craters along the wall and pieces of the walls and ceiling all over the place. The room looked like it was just the scene of a major war.

Harry said, "You know, you can probably beat any student. You're really good at dueling."

Kayla replied, "Thanks, I was just trying my best."

"How did you learn all those different tricks, I've never heard of what you did before."

"Remember earlier when I told you about me learning different styles of magic like from Asia and Africa?" Harry nodded and Kayla continued, "Well, I told you that I liked to take those extra classes in school to learn about it but what I didn't tell you about was that I loved to study those different types of magic that I was in charge of a student club that practiced Asian and African types of magic for the last three years. I guess it was similar to your DA that I hear about but we weren't banned and was open to everybody."

Harry asked, "That would explain why you're so good. What was that thing you did with the strip with what I'm guessing were Chinese characters on it?"

After conjuring some tea for the two of them, she said, "It's an ancient form of magic practiced by the Chinese and Japanese. It has three true types but I only learned two of its uses so far. The first use was a protection shield. It is an extremely strong shield that is reflective of the magical strength of the caster. That was what I did. The second use is detection. It can be used to ward off and detect evil spirits or souls. This is an effect method for determining intruders. It is not a strong at protection therefore the stronger the enemy the less effective it becomes at warding. The last use is attack. To be able to use it to attack is extremely rare and requires a great deal of magical energy. It is not very effective at precision attacking but great for grand scale attacks."

"Why is it not good for precision attacking?"

"The focus required to do a precision attack is so high that only three people during recorded history has been able to do it. The attack is so focused that it can be deadly. Imagine using the equivalent of twenty stunners in the form of one."

Harry said, "You definitely have to teach me how to use that type of magic."

"That's not a problem but you've got to show me how you were able to balance dodging, attacking, and defending without being worn down. I exercise on a regular basis and this fight was worse than most of my work outs."

"That's not a problem. I can show you some other stuff too that I learned on my own."

"So how will this work out?"

"How about you do the teaching on Mondays and I'll do it on Wednesdays. If we need more time we can always work at night time when we're free in this room. How about a change of scenery though?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking the quidditch pitch would be better. It'll help us with endurance by working outside, we'll have much more room to practice, and everybody will be in class so we will have the place to ourselves."

"Alright, that's not a bad idea."

The two of them spent the rest of the time talking about what they were going to learn and teach for the next few weeks. Harry also agreed to help her during this time to prepare for the first Durmstrang challenge.

A/N: Here are my responses to my reviewers since my last posting. Please continue to review.

CeDDD: Thank you and I'll keep the updates coming.

Nightwing 509: Thank you and Harry will be doing more of it later on.

IamSiriusgrl: I'm glad that you were glad with the posting and hope you feel the same way about this one also.

BferBear: I hope that you are able to get back into the story. She does become critical to the story and she is not all powerful but she may seem that way. Here's a hint. Not all is as they seem.

Dancerrdw: Thank you and I'll keep updating.

Bobboky: Thank you and hopefully you like this posting.

Lonsome-love: I'm glad you liked it and don't worry the love story is going to evolve more quickly now.

Wytil: You're getting a little warm but you'll see what happens with Kayla. Right now, I plan on having Snape and Harry going to war with each other but haven't written it yet so that could change by the time I get there.

White Merlin: Thank you and hope that you liked this chapter also.

Bommor: Thank you and it is possible for Harry to participate without revealing too much and I did contemplate that issue but wanted other characters to take a more active role in the story.

Angelofdarkness13: Glad you like the story and good luck on yours when you start. Yes there will be some Hermione and Ron along with Lupin and Tonks in this story. So far no Neville and Luna put it is a possibility. What was the couple that JKR said that won't take place?

Realfanficts: Thank you and I'll fix that error with Michael's name from now on in the story.

Gaull: Thank you.