A/N: Thank you to all those that have been reviewing. Please continue. For all intents and purposes for this story, Durmstrang will be located in Bulgaria because I'm going to base it on Viktor Krum being the seeker for Bulgaria. 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 15
Durmstrang's Arrival

Harry and Ginny were sitting in Harry's library in his trunk. They were going through some last minute review before the first competition was to take place. The two of them have been inseparable for the last few weeks much to the pleasure of Ginny. She was still confused about him though. They would be seen occasionally walking around holding hands or when one of them did something great like solve a problem or accomplish a spell they couldn't before while practicing they would hug each other unusually yet comfortably longer than they would hug somebody else for the same reasons. Ginny's been trying to get the courage up to ask him about how he feels about her but didn't want to risk the close friendship that the two of them share that some would say making her closer to Harry than Hermione or Ron.

To make matters more confusing for Ginny, she had an admirer that she really wanted to meet and appeared to be very nice. Not to mention, the method of approaching her seemed romantic. The added benefit of this secret admirer method was Ron losing his top every time Ginny received another letter which appeared to be coming every other day. Many people at first suspected that it was Harry, Dean, or Colin. Colin and Dean denied being the admirer or knowing who the admirer was which left Harry. The idea that it was Harry confused much of the school because everybody knew that Ginny still liked Harry and would be able to get her if he wanted to. Nobody could confirm that Harry had romantic feelings toward Ginny because he refused to talk about anything personal anymore. What nobody knew was that Harry wasn't going to reveal anything about himself anymore until he can find out more about Wormtail's letter. Although the school debated that if Harry was to choose a girl it would either be Ginny or Kayla. Harry seemed oblivious to all of this.

Ginny was unable to concentrate on what Harry was telling her about protection charms that are placed on inanimate objects given to other people as gifts. Harry noticed this but continued on for a while longer until he stopped his explanation and tapped Ginny on her shoulder which brought her out of her daze. He asked her, "Ginny, what's bothering you? You seem distracted today."

When Harry asked her that, she went back into thinking about what was bothering her, Harry had to snap her out of it again and asked, "What's bothering you?"

Ginny said, "Nothing really, I guess just the secret admirer issue."

Harry closed his books knowing that nothing else was going to be accomplished for the rest of the day than asked, "What about the secret admirer?"

"Well, it's just I wonder who it is. Not to mention, why hasn't he revealed himself yet? Plus, I wonder why it is that he likes me because he must know that when people find out whom he is than there will be lots of questions to answer. You know just things like that."

Harry nodded while saying, "Have you talked to anybody about it?"

Ginny shook her head. She said, "There's not much to talk about I guess, everybody has the same questions about him as I do. I guess everybody is just as clueless about this situation as I am."

"Only you know who it is that you have talked to over the years and became friends with. So it must be somebody that you know."

Ginny thought about it for a moment than said, "Harry, have you been searching for who it is? I know you talked about wondering who this person is and is this person really safe to be around."

Harry didn't want to tell her the truth because he did know who this person was. Harry looked away from her acting like something caught his attention than said, "No."

The answer was just too short and Harry was acting too weird for her to believe him. She knew that something was going on and that Harry knew. She asked again but more bluntly, "Harry James Potter, who is my secret admirer?"

Harry tried to sound confident, turned to face her again and said more boldly, "I don't know who it is."

Ginny's instincts were telling her that he knew who he was so she became more aggressive and said, "Don't try to lie to me. You're a horrible liar and this act is you're putting on is not very convincing. Harry, I know that you know and you're just better off telling me who it is."

Harry relented because he did not want to get the youngest Weasley mad because even if she is the youngest of the clan, she is also one of the most dangerous to mess with when angry. Harry told her, "I do know who it is but I can't tell you."

Ginny calmed a bit with Harry's answer but quickly asked, "Why can't you tell me?"

"I know your admirer and know that he has the best of intentions and will do anything to protect you. That is part of the reason why I can't tell you. He has to figure a few things out first but I have a feeling that he will tell you soon enough."

"What is it that he needs to figure out?"

"Well, your admirer wanted to let you know that somebody did like you and for some time. Ever since he found out that you were not seeing anybody he decided to make his move that way you would keep him in mind if he ever decided to reveal himself. He wanted to figure out how to go about your family because he knows how they react every time you have a boyfriend not to mention the dangers you would be in because he tends to attract trouble."

Ginny nodded, thinking that those would be some of the reasons that would deter many from entering a relationship with another person especially given the war that was going on now. She said, "I don't think that my family will accept who ever it is that wants to go out with me at first but if he stands by me and proves that he will protect me and care for me with all his heart and soul than my family will be fine with him. It's just that they want to make sure that I am taken care of not to mention the over protectiveness of their little sister." She paused a moment than continued, "Everybody knows that I get myself into enough trouble. I'm not afraid if trouble comes to find me at an increasing rate or I become You-Know-Who's main target. I will always stand by those I love and will fight with all my heart and soul to join the fight to protect them. They also know that I'm really good friends with you and would put my life on the line if it meant that you would be protected."

Harry sighed than said, "Ginny, I know that you would die for me and I hope that you would not. If I enter a fight, I don't want anybody else to be injured. What happened last year at the Ministry of Magic snapped me back to reality that me and my friends are not immortal and can easily die. This is really a fight that I wished everybody stayed out of, if I die than only I will die and not anybody else because of my foolish mistakes or what Hermione calls the hero complex."

Ginny looked at Harry's eyes and saw all the emotions that filled him through his life. She saw sorrow, doubt, regret, pain, and for the first time she saw fear. Her emotions flared at all the abuse that he went through all his life. She wanted to just wrap him in her arms to tell him that it would be alright. Ginny said, "There's nothing that could happen that will keep me from being by your side and helping you Harry. We know all the dangers and hurt that will bring with being associated with you and we will not abandon you. You are more than a friend to Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Kayla, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Lupin, Tonks, my family, and especially me."

Harry saw determination and hope in her eyes as she was talking. He said, "I know that you all would stand by me no matter what happens but that's just it. I wished that you all wouldn't so if I die in this war than nobody would be hurt. Sometimes I wonder if it was a good thing meeting Ron for the first time in the train on the way to Hogwarts during first year."

Ginny felt hurt that Harry had said that but masked her emotions. She asked, "Harry, do you regret being our friend?"

Harry's eyes filled with determination when he said, "I don't regret it at all. You all are my friends and pretty much what I consider to be my family. I've learned more of how to love others and live my life from all of you. If it wasn't for each of you and in each a unique view of life and the hope for the future and your respective friends and family, I don't know if I would have lived this long. It's just I wished that I didn't carry so much luggage which makes being friends with me hard. Each one of you almost died because of me with the exception of Kayla but with my track record she will be included pretty soon."

Relief swept through Ginny when he said that he didn't regret knowing them. She said, "All of us share a bond that is just as close as a family. All of us have an unspoken bond that no matter what happens we will be there to help each other, fight for each other, and if we have to die for each other. I know that my dad would be more than willing to lay his life down for you and so would I just like I know that you would do for me. You already proved that during my first year when you went to the Chamber of Secrets and saved me at your expense. You would have died if it wasn't for Fawkes." She looked away from him for a moment than turned back to face him gave him a hug and said with a smile, "Thanks Harry. Thanks for saving me."

They pulled away from each other slightly but still wrapped in a lose hug when Harry responded with a smile and said, "Anytime you need me I'll be there to help you."

The two of them were lost in the other person's eyes as the two of them just stood there and stared at each other. There faces were about a foot apart and slowly got closer and the foot difference became inches. The inches slowly became centimeters. Ginny's mind was racing, 'what is about to happen? Is Harry about to kiss me? Am I going to finally kiss him? It's been so long, I've waited for so long. It's just him and me. Does he feel the same way as I feel about him?' Her mind continued to race with other questions and concerns as there lips came from centimeters to millimeters apart.

There lips were about to touch when they heard Ron yelling down into the trunk, "Harry, Ginny, it's time to go!"

The two of them snapped back to reality and pulled away from each other with Ginny thinking, 'I'm going to get that git of a brother for doing that. I almost got Harry.'

Harry on the other hand was relieved that Ron interrupted and thought, 'The admirer.'

Harry yelled back to Ron, "Alright Ron! We're just finishing up! We'll be up in a minute!" He turned to Ginny held out his hand for her to take and asked, "Shall we?"

Ginny took his hand and the two of them made there way back out to meet the rest of their group waiting in their private common room. The group waited for everybody to assemble and made there way to the front gates of Hogwarts. There they met up with the rest of the school as everybody awaited the arrival of Durmstrang.

Moments later Durmstrang arrived without the ship that they showed up with last time. They arrived with a quick pop as they portkeyed in formation. When the gates to the entrance of Hogwarts were open there were seven rows of students wearing black battle robes with the Durmstrang crest over their left arm and the Bulgarian coat of arms over their right arm. In the front of each row was a gonfalon bearer that was holding a gonfalon with the Durmstrang crest on it and an insignia at the lower right corner that represented the year for which that gonfalon belonged to. In front of the seven rows of students were a row of ten teachers lined up perpendicular to the students behind them with ten students in front of each teacher who was the Durmstrang team that Hogwarts was going to compete against.

The Headmaster of Durmstrang came forward and was greeted by Professor Dumbledore. The two of them were speaking to each other and appeared to be getting along with one another even though nobody could hear what was going on except for the two smiling men.

It looked like all of Durmstrang showed up this time as they were standing at attention awaiting the order to move like they were in the military. If anything it looked like they showed up ready to fight and enter a war like any trained soldier with years of training. All of them showed blank expressions. Dumbledore turned around and nodded to McGonagall who gave the order for all the Hogwarts students to line up on the right side in a long row starting from the front gates all the way to the entrance to the Great Hall. All of the Hogwarts stayed with their respective houses and the order started with Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, than Gryffindor who were the closest to the Great Hall.

The Headmaster of Durmstrang turned around and gave a nod to his students and starting with the first years, they followed their respective rows lead by their gonfalon and formed a single line opposite that of the Hogwarts students in the hallways. When they were done reaching there spots they turned to face their counterparts from Hogwarts while the two sides scowled at each other.

The teachers from Durmstrang walked in ahead of everybody else and joined the remaining Hogwarts professors in the Great Hall at the Head Table. The Great Hall looked like it doubled in size as four more long tables were added to the ones of the four houses of Hogwarts. The Hogwarts tables were lined on the right side in the same order as before with their house banners floating proudly above the respective tables with every other banner as the Hogwarts banner.

On the other side of the Great Hall were four tables for Durmstrang and above each table were banners that were representative of each gonfalon that the students were carrying alternating banners between each year and the Durmstrang Crest as the students from Durmstrang were not divided by their respective years while at Hogwarts. The Durmstrang professors were on the left side of the Head table which was extended to accommodate the Durmstrang faculty while the Hogwarts professors were gathered on the right side of the table.

All of the professors were standing behind their respective seats waiting for the arrival of the students and Headmasters. McGonagall made her way to the entrance of the Great Hall and called the two schools to enter and take there respective seats. The Durmstrang students sat at the closest available seats and filed in behind each other with the Gonfalon seated behind the tables against the wall. The Hogwarts students went to their respective house seats. Everybody sat and waited for all the students to gather while the professors remained standing awaiting the arrival of the two teams and the Headmasters.

The two competing teams walked in two straight lines behind their respective Headmasters. To Harry something didn't feel right as he had his right hand over his holly wand the entire time which went noticed by everybody else from the Hogwarts team and they also had their hands in their pockets hanging onto their wands. The two groups made there way through the now empty corridors and into the Great Hall. Upon their arrival cheers erupted from the Hogwarts side of the room as they chanted out support for their team which resulted in Durmstrang cheering for their side.

For the first time that night, Durmstrang did not look like a military but a group of students just like those from Hogwarts although they were a bit more reserved about the cheering than the Hogwarts students were. The Headmasters made there way around the Head Table to their respective seats at the middle of the table while motioning for the students that were competing to stand in a row shoulder to shoulder in front of the Head Table and facing the rest of the school.

Dumbledore motioned for the Durmstrang Headmaster to take a seat and after he did so the rest of the faculty from both schools took their respective seats. He raised his hands to calm the students and call for order. Shortly after, the students became quiet and took their seats with the only ones left standing are the two teams representing their schools.

Dumbledore said, "Thank you and I wish to express a warm welcome to the faculty and students from Durmstrang to Hogwarts and hope that you have a pleasant time on your visit."

After finishing what he said, the Hogwarts side of the room clapped politely to welcome there guests. After the clapping died down, Dumbledore continued on by saying, "Unlike during the tri-wizard tournament, Durmstrang will not be staying on Hogwarts grounds during the year due to both security concerns from both schools. They will be staying in Bulgaria until the day of the respective challenges."

Dumbledore waited for the Headmaster from Durmstrang to nod his agreement. He continued on by saying, "I would like to introduce everybody to the Headmaster from Durmstrang, Headmaster Lechkov. He is in his first year as the Headmaster of Durmstrang after being appointed recently by the Bulgarian Ministry of Magic."

The entire hall gave another polite clap to welcome the Headmaster to Hogwarts. Dumbledore sat down as Lechkov stood up. Lechkov said in a heavy accent with an Eastern European accent, "Thank you Headmaster Dumbledore for your warm reception. I would like to express my gratitude to Headmaster Dumbledore, the faculty of Hogwarts, and the students for the welcome."

After he said that there was another round of clapping as Headmaster Lechkov sat back down. Dumbledore stood back up and said, "I would like to introduce everybody to the two teams that will be representing Hogwarts and Durmstrang in the competitions over the next few months."

There were clapping and cheering going on from the two sides of the Great Hall for their respective teams. Most of the people standing were blushing and happy from the support that they were getting from their respective schools while Harry was thinking, 'This is how it should be. The students and teachers should be cheering and not worrying about a war. This is how school and life should be like. People should be cheering for a side instead of dying for a side.' With that thought his eyes and Cho Chang's eyes were locked on each other as if they were thinking the same thing. The two nodded to each other as if they knew what the other person was thinking and agreed with them.

Dumbledore motioned for the two teams to go take there seats. The Hogwarts teams headed back to their house tables while the Durmstrang team took the first available seat to them. After they took their seats, Dumbledore said, "Let these competitions be fair and peaceful for both schools. I hope that everybody enjoy these days of peace that are few and far between since the war has started."

Everybody seemed to agree with this and several nodded there agreements from both sides of the Great Hall including the Head Table. After the short pause, Dumbledore said, "With these last words let the competition begin." He paused, raised both his hands as food started to appear on all of the tables and said, "Tuck in."

The feast was a happy affair as everybody got more than enough to eat with both food traditional to England and Bulgaria on all of the tables. There were some reluctance at first to eat the other cultures cuisine but that soon disappeared as a few people were brave enough to try what the other culture had to offer and everybody was happy that they tried out all the food.

After the feast was over, Dumbledore stood up and announced, "Tomorrow will be the first day of competition starting with the educational task. This task will be conducted here in the Great Hall and all is welcome to watch as classes are cancelled for tomorrow."

There were cheering from the Hogwarts students as the Bulgarian students were envious that they had no classes tomorrow. Dumbledore than continued on by saying, "Headmaster Lechkov has already told me that Durmstrang's classes are canceled for tomorrow also so that everybody can come and watch the first task."

On that note the rest of the Great Hall erupted with clapping as everybody seemed to be happy that they would be able to go and see this competition take place. After much cheering from both sides, Dumbledore raised his hands to calm everybody down. After the Great Hall became quiet once again, Lechkov stood up beside Dumbledore and said, "It's time for us to take our leave for tonight. We will return tomorrow morning for breakfast." He turned to face Dumbledore and said, "Thank you for your hospitality."

Dumbledore nodded his return. The students and faculty from Durmstrang stood up and all of them clutched a necklace that nobody seemed to notice that they were wearing before. With a quick flash, all of them disappeared and the Great Hall was half empty again with only those from Hogwarts present. After Durmstrang disappeared, Dumbledore said, "It's getting late now. So will prefects lead all the students back to their houses?"

Everybody went back to their houses with little complaint. Harry and his friends made it back to there suite. When they got back, Hermione said, "I think that we should cram tonight so we will be ready by tomorrow."

Kayla and Ginny groaned at spending the rest of the night studying for they were tired of it since they were spending the last few weeks doing nothing but studying with the occasional quidditch practice. Ron responded, "Hermione, I think that you all should take the night off and just rest. We don't know what's going to be covered and have been training non stop for the last few weeks so why not get a good nights rest before tomorrow."

Hermione was getting ready to respond when Harry interjected, "I think that Ron might be right on this one Hermione. You all should get some rest because if you don't get some sleep than you all won't be able to think straight tomorrow."

Kayla, Ginny, and Luna had hopeful looks in there eyes that Hermione would concede while Ron was relieved that Harry decided to back him up on this issue. Hermione thought about it for a minute than said, "I guess you're right. I'll just get some reading done before I go to sleep though just to brush up on a few things." She turned to face Harry and asked, "Harry, are you going to be using your trunk tonight?"

Harry thought about it for a moment than said, "I wasn't going to do anything of importance. Why don't you go ahead and use it. I'll just sleep tonight on the bed in the boys' room."

Hermione said, "Thanks." She than ran off to her room to get some books and walked over to the boys' room than down to Harry's library to read. Everybody else seemed happy that there wasn't going to be another fight between Hermione and Ron plus the added benefit of not being forced to study all night.

Luna spent the rest of the night reading another edition of the Quibbler which she held upside down to read. Neville and Kayla were talking to each other in front of the fireplace about different types of plants and medicines used in America which Neville found fascinating. Ron and Harry were playing several games of wizards chess which Harry lost every game even with the help he was getting from Ginny who was watching the two of them play.

They trickled off one by one to go to sleep with the girls going to sleep first because they were going to be competing the next day. Even Hermione didn't stay up as late as she usually does and followed Harry's advice of getting a good night's sleep.

That night, Harry was the last person to go to sleep. Before he was even able to finish getting changed, he could hear Ron's snoring and saw that Neville already had his bed curtains pulled signaling that he was already asleep.

Harry was having a dreamless sleep until all of a sudden he found himself standing in the middle of a thick fog in the middle of what looked like a field because he couldn't see very far in the fog. He walked around and it seemed like he was getting no where until he heard some voices calling out his name.

Harry called out, "Who's there?"

This continued on for a few more minutes until the fog cleared and before Harry stood his parents and Sirius looking very disappointed at him. Harry was surprised; he didn't have this dream since the day he left the Dursley's house. Harry asked, "What's going on here?"

Sirius walked over to him and pulled out what looked like a wand which prompted his dad and mom to pull out their wands. Sirius said, "We're disappointed in you Harry. We thought that you wanted to be with us, why didn't you come to join us? Who really cares about those that are alive when you're dead?"

Harry said, "I do want to be with you. Why do you want me to die so quickly?" He extended his hand to see if what he was seeing was real.

Lily said, "You should be here with us Harry. You should be with your family. But don't worry, we'll fix this. We'll end this now." The three of them pointed there wands at Harry and said, "Avada Kedavra!"

The green light sped towards Harry but before he was hit by the three spells, he woke up in a pool of sweat with Ron, Neville, Tonks, and Remus over him. He was in a daze and couldn't make out what was going on or what everybody was saying. All he felt was his scar burning when he reached up to soothe the pain with his hand, he felt something wet and when he lowered his hands so that he could see his hands, Harry saw that his hands were covered in blood.

Madame Pomfrey came rushing into the room followed by Dumbledore and McGonagall who had worried expressions on there faces. Pomfrey raised her wand and muttered a few incantations that nobody could make out what she was saying while small soft glows erupted at the end of her wand and slowly trickled over Harry's body like drops of water. When she finished what she was doing, Harry managed to put on his glasses and regain enough consciousness to make out what everybody was saying.

Pomfrey said, "Harry has been poisoned." There were gasps from a few people.

Remus than asked, "Is he going to be fine?"

Madame Pomfrey said, "Yes he will be good as new in a few hours. His body is doing a good job of fighting off the poison. I suspect that the phoenix tears that entered his system a few years ago in the Chamber of Secrets is helping him right now. The poison wasn't fatal in the first place. He would have recovered on his own though I'm not sure how long it will last but the tears seem to be doing their job by speeding up the recovery. This poison only weakened his mind but he should be fine soon. I would guess that somebody hexed something that he was eating."

A few people let out a sigh of relief as Madame Pomfrey finished her explanations. Harry asked, "What happened?"

Ron said, "We heard you tossing and turning and talking in your sleep. Neville and I woke up at the same time and went over to wake you up but when we got to your bed we saw you sweating a lot and blood coming from your scar. So I tried to wake you up while Neville went to go get help."

Neville continued on where Ron let off and said, "I ran into Professor Lupin doing his rounds while trying to get help. He sent me to go get Professor Dumbledore and when I was making my way back, I ran into Professor Tonks who was out looking for Professor Lupin. Shortly after we arrived you woke up."

Harry nodded. Remus asked, "Harry, what happened in your dream?"

Harry thought about telling everybody in the room because he wasn't sure if the spy was in the room with them at the time. He felt some light mental probing but couldn't really identify who it was or if it was really probing but he manage to erect his mental barriers to block it out quickly. He decided to just tell them as he couldn't hide his dream so he told them what he was dreaming. When he finished everybody was quiet thinking about what could be going on.

Tonks interrupted the silence by saying, "I'll let the girls know that Harry's fine." She turned to leave as Ron explained that the girls heard all the commotion but told to wait outside the room.

Harry decided to wait a few hours before attempting to go to sleep because he wanted to make sure the poison was going to wear off before attempting sleep again even though Madame Pomfrey gave him some dreamless sleep draught. Harry told everybody else to go to sleep and everybody else reluctantly left to go back to sleep with the exception of Ginny.

Everybody went back to sleep around one in the morning with the exception of Harry and Ginny who spent the time awake just talking to each other while sitting on the ground in front of the fireplace. The two of them ended up falling asleep in the common room in front of the fireplace.

Remus and Tonks came back to check up on him one final time but when they saw the two of them peacefully sleeping, Remus conjured a blanket and wrapped the two of them in the blanket and left them for the night.

A/N: Now to all of my reviewers since my last post. After reading a few of the reviews I'm intrigued as to who you all think is the spy and who is Ginny's admirer so if you want to take a guess than add it to your reviews. Oh yeah, who do you all think is the person that poisoned Harry?

Dancerrdw: Thank you and I'll keep updating.

Nightwing 509: Thank you and there will be more surprises to come with the DA and the spy.

David M. Potter: Thank you and don't worry only a few more chapters and Harry and Ginny will get together.

JPx: Thank you and I agree that the flashback was a bit out of place but I couldn't figure out a better way to lead into the flashback because I needed a foundation for Harry to start the DA and let Kayla further into the DA. I will try working on their thoughts to make it flow better because it will become important later on to understand the character's motives. Oh and sorry about the 'than' and 'then' stuff because I always over look those and will try to pay more attention to it.

Rivenn: Thank you and I gurantee that so far the spy if there really is one is going to be a surprise.

Bandgsecurtiyaw: Thank you and I'll try to keep up the story.

IamSiriusgrl: Thank you and I guess I did overlook the keeping an eye out for the spy part. I will try to be clearer on it but until the spy is found though, Harry is a bit more alert and his anger is building at the same time as things slowly build up. If I do fail to mention it though, Harry is taking in everything slowly to weed out the spy if possible.

Whitefish: Thank you. Harry and Ginny will be getting together soon along with the development of Harry's political side and leadership position.

Lonsome-love: Thank you and I agree that the first kiss is going to be important. I'm trying to work on that right now to make it memorable.

BeautifulLady: Thank you. You are very close on the spy bit but won't say more about it. Harry is stronger than what he is letting on and the action will pick up soon once the foundations for the climax is set.

JohnnyEmo: Thank you and no problem on the response. I always try to respond to reviews but not let much of the story get told.

Shadowssongs: Thank you for your praise and honored that you would compare me to JKR. I'm pacing the updates right now just in case I get writers block and there won't be an unusually long wait for an update. I have a general outline that I'm using but I didn't want to take the chance of being unable to expand on the outline.