A/N: Thank you to all those that have been reviewing. Please continue. Now to the long awaited first competition. 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 16
The Educational Test

Harry woke up early the next morning while still feeling a little tired. It was about five in the morning which meant he only had a few hours of sleep but his body just seemed to naturally wake up at that time now ever since he was able to get himself in rhythm with his personal training. At first he was startled to see his arms wrapped around Ginny than instantly the events of last night came back into his mind. He slowly pulled his arms away from her and lowered her back to the ground so not to disturb her sleep too much.

Harry went through his regular routine of getting ready in the morning and when he made it out to the quidditch pitch for some exercise, he decided to just take the day off and relax to give his body more time to recover. He ended up sitting in one of the benches in the stands at the quidditch pitch. He was scratching Blaze behind the ears while staring aimlessly into the forbidden forest thinking, 'When did I get poisoned last night? I don't remember ever having exposed myself openly to an attack and I doubt that the house elves would poison me. Who would want to poison me? Is it somebody from Slytherin when all of my attention was over with Durmstrang? Is it from Durmstrang, and they wanted to sabotage Hogwarts? Maybe there's a traitor around me somewhere? How is it that the poison did not affect me for very long? I wonder how long the Phoenix tears will stay in my system and protect me. Are there any other students that were poisoned outside of me? What was the poison that they tried to attack me with? I need some answers.'

With that last thought, Harry decided to go see Madame Pomfrey to find out more about the poison. It was only six in the morning and he was hoping that she was already awake not wanting to get on the bad side of the lady that has healed him more times than he cared to count. Harry knocked on the door to the hospital wing and heard Madame Pomfrey say, "Come in."

Harry proceeded in and saw the door to Madame Pomfrey's office open so he walked in to find her at her desk with a few books open that all appear to be medical reference books from what Harry could tell. Harry said, "Good morning, Madame Pomfrey."

Madame Pomfrey replied in a tired voice, "Morning Mr. Potter, how are you feeling this morning?"

Harry said, "I'm feeling better, as a matter of fact I feel as if there's nothing wrong with me other than a bit sleep deprived but that's just because I'm used to waking up this early."

"That's good. I'm also an early riser and decided to get some more details on what poisoned you. I'm assuming that is why you are here this morning."

"Yes ma'am. I was wondering if you could tell me more about what happened last night."

Madame Pomfrey gestured to a seat at the side of her desk for Harry to take a seat. Harry sat down as Madame Pomfrey closed a few of the opened books after book marking the pages than said, "I believe that what poisoned you was what we call a Memory Reduction Draught."

She saw the confused expression on Harry's face than continued on saying, "The Memory Reduction Draught is designed to weaken a person's mental defenses for a short period of time."

Harry asked, "Why would somebody use that potion?"

She responded, "The potion was created about one hundred years ago to help break into the minds of witches and wizards who are very proficient in Occlumency. It was used when Veritaserium were in its testing phase. They used this potion with the help of Legilimency to determine if somebody is telling the truth and find secrets from opposing sides."

"I've never heard of it before. Why not continue to use this potion instead of developing Veritaserium?"

"Legilimency is a very difficult skill to master and the development of Veritaserium made it easier for everybody to determine what is truth and what is no." She paused for a moment than continued on by saying, "I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of it because it is not commonly used. Even if it were used, most people wouldn't know it unless somebody tried Legilimency on them."

"Are there any side effects of the potion?"

"There really aren't any side effects that are known other than a weakened mind."

"How is it that I had such a bad reaction to it?"

A voice that Harry recognized behind him said, "I think that I can answer that Harry."

Harry's eyes closed briefly as he tried to keep his temper from flaring, Harry said, "Good morning Headmaster."

Harry must have managed to control his voice because nobody reacted to what Harry just said. Dumbledore said, "Good morning Poppy. Good morning Harry."

Madame Pomfrey said, "Good morning Albus, what brings you here this morning?"

Dumbledore said, "I was looking for Harry and had the feeling that he would come here to ask you about what happened last night."

Madame Pomfrey asked, "Why do you think that he would come to see me? From my understanding, he has always gone to you in the past to seek advice or guidance."

Dumbledore sighed and said, "I believe that things will never be the same between Harry and me." He paused to look at Harry and said, "I thought that things were clearing up between us but I see that there is much work to mend our relationship. Plus, you are more than capable to advise Harry on matters of health and medicine."

Harry just stared and Dumbledore the entire time Pomfrey and the Headmaster were talking. He was thinking, 'There is much to do but I will not divulge anything privileged with you anytime soon Headmaster until I know that I can trust you again.' When Dumbledore finished talking, Madame Pomfrey was about to ask a question that Harry felt was going to bring the rift between Harry and Dumbledore in the open so Harry interrupted her and asked, "Sorry for the interruption but you were going to tell us why I had a bad reaction to the potion, Headmaster."

Madame Pomfrey was about to say something about Harry's interruption but the Headmaster raised a hand slightly to quiet her than he said, "Harry, based on what you told me last night. I believe that while your mind was weakened last night, Voldemort managed to break into your mind and plant the nightmare in you. It was either that or your Occlumency shields managed to block out all nightmares that naturally occurred but I believe the first made much more sense considering your history with everybody involved."

Harry was thinking, 'That makes sense if I really think about it. I guess my parents wouldn't want me dead if they did they had sixteen years of trying to get me to do that. I know that Sirius wouldn't want me to do that either but who broke my defenses. Madame Pomfrey said it was a draught than it struck him.' Harry turned to Madame Pomfrey and said, "Madame Pomfrey, I didn't drink anything last night other than the pumpkin juice that was served. To think of it, I didn't drink much of that either, how much do you have to take in order to be affected?"

Madame Pomfrey thought about it for a second than said, "Well, although it is called a draught, you don't have to take it by drinking. This potion only needs a few drops into a drink or can be added when food is prepared. It is odorless, colorless, and tasteless so you wouldn't know if there was anything out of the ordinary."

Harry asked, "Is there a way to detect it?"

Poppy nodded and said, "There is a simple spell that you can use to detect if there are any potions or poisons added to your food or drink. You hold your wand over your food or drink and say 'Posinium Revelus.' If a faint purple glow starts to appear halfway between the wand and the food than there is some kind of potion added to your food or drink. If a faint yellow glow shows up than there is a deadly poison in your food. If there is no color that show up within three seconds of saying the charm than nothing was added to your food or drink."

Harry whispered, "Posinium Revelus," and repeated it a few times to commit it to memory.

Madame Pomfrey interrupted Harry's repetition by asking, "Harry, do you know who might have done this to you?"

Harry thought about it for a moment than said, "I'm not sure. I was either with my team or with my friends the entire time. I don't think that anybody had the chance unless it happened before yesterday. But I can say this, when I find out who is responsible, there will be hell to pay."

Professor Dumbledore said, "I think its time for you to get ready for today. Harry, you can come back later when Madame Pomfrey has more time but I need to talk to Madame Pomfrey for now."

Harry thanked Madame Pomfrey for answering the questions that he had and bid both her and Professor Dumbledore bye before he left to go back to his trunk to get ready for the day. Harry didn't feel like running into anybody because he wasn't sure about how far the story of what happened last night has gone. Instead, he went to the nearest broom closet, closed the door, locked it, and used his portkey to appear in his trunk.

Harry took a shower and got dressed. He walked around his trunk to make sure everything was in order and confirmed that the lid to his trunk was locked so nobody could come down unannounced. Harry used his portkey to return to the broom closet that he used earlier than proceeded over to the Great Hall for breakfast which was well underway. Upon his arrival, he noticed that Durmstrang had already arrived and everybody seemed to be busy eating or talking to somebody even the Head Table seemed to be filled with every professor. He saw his team and friends sitting together at the far end of the Gryffindor table and made his way towards them.

Hermione was the first one to notice his arrival and nervously asked, "How are you Harry? Are you feeling better today? We didn't see you this morning and thought you left for breakfast before the rest of us were up."

Harry sat down between Ginny and Kayla and said, "I'm fine. I was just walking around that's all." Harry looked at the food and decided to not use the charm that he just learned because the food was coming from the same batch of plates that his team was eating from when he arrived. He started to grab some toast, spoonfuls of eggs, and a few slices of bacon. He took a few bites and noticed that the members that were going to compete today were quiet and was either not eating or just poking at their food. Harry looked at them and said, "Guys, you're going to do fine. Don't worry about it. You all should eat because it will make it easier to think."

A few of his teammates gave him some grateful smiles and managed to eat some breakfast. Harry saw that Ginny still wasn't eating and asked her, "Gin, why aren't you eating?"

Ginny stopped playing with her food and said, "I guess I'm just nervous and not to mention what happened last night is still on my mind."

Harry looked at her closely as everybody stopped to stare at the two of them. They were also thinking the same thing and wanted to find out if Harry knew anything new. Harry was oblivious to everybody else as all of his attention was on Ginny. He subconsciously took Ginny's hands that were now under the table and held it down to stop her from fidgeting. The two of them looked at each other and he said, "There's nothing to worry about. What happened yesterday was harmless and I went to talk to Madame Pomfrey this morning about it already. She said that there's nothing to worry about. Just focus on the task today and if you have any questions, I'll answer them tonight."

Ginny let out a sigh of relief and was able to calm down a great deal. She gave a grateful smile and squeezed his hand to show that she understood. She turned to look at her food and Harry said, "What is it that you want to eat or…" He smiled and said, "Or do you want me to feed you?"

Ginny gave a mischievous smile than said, "I think that I would prefer that you feed me."

Harry didn't expect that answer but decided to play along so he picked up her butter knife and spread some butter on her toast just like how he always seen her do. Everybody looked what the two of them were doing at a loss for words. They have never seen Harry act like this before. Harry finished buttering the toast raised it to Ginny's mouth which she opened up and took a bite. After eating the rest of the toast as Harry fed it to her, Ginny was happier. The two of them were acting on impulse and letting their subconscious nature taking control that they didn't realize all the people around them were staring at them openly flirting with one another.

Ron interrupted them by saying, "What do you think you're doing with my sister?"

This snapped the two of them back to reality and Harry asked, "Huh?" He was still confused what was going on but was saved from any further explanation with the sound of somebody tapping a goblet on its side from the Head Table.

Dumbledore stood up and said, "Since we are now done with breakfast. Will the two teams representing Durmstrang and Hogwarts please enter the room to my right." Dumbledore motioned to the door that Harry went through a few years before for the Tri-wizard tournament. He continued on by saying, "Will everybody else please step outside for a moment so the Great hall can be prepared for today's challenge."

The Gryffindors led by Neville wished the team good luck and were followed by the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. The Slytherins were the first out of the Great Hall. After receiving encouragement from the three houses, the team made there way into the side room that was mentioned earlier.

The room had two rows of tables facing each other with ten seats lined up on the outside of the table and faced the middle of the room. There was a small pedestal that was directly in front of the large fireplace in the room. The two teams sat opposite of each other with McGonagall, Flitwick, Lupin, Tonks, and Sprout standing behind them.

Durmstrang had a team of six boys and four girls. Their appearance was as diverse as the Hogwarts team with varying height, eye and hair color, plus they didn't seem as intimidating when not surrounded by their schoolmates. There were also five professors standing behind them at attention. The room was quiet as everybody seemed either nervous or just staring at different parts of the room trying not to make eye contact with anybody by mistake.

Harry decided to stand up as everybody in the room stared at him. He walked over to the Bulgarian side of the room to the person closest to him who was a girl that was sitting closest to the pedestal and fireplace. When Harry reached her, he extended his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

The pretty brunette was startled by what Harry was doing than stood up and shook his hand and said in a heavy Eastern European accent, "Hello, my name is Petia Levski." She paused as if she was contemplating a way to say what she wanted than said, "I have heard of you before from Viktor Krum. He says you're a good man, he said that it was a shame of what your ministry and newspaper said about you last year." She paused with the same expression as earlier that she had when she was thinking than said, "It's an honor to finally meet you. Although you are not as popular in Bulgaria as you are here in England, we do know of your reputation and what Viktor says only confirms that you're a good man."

Harry bowed his head briefly and said, "Thank you Petia. I hope we're able to get to know each other better." He paused for a moment than asked, "How do you know Viktor, I thought he graduated already?"

Petia said, "He did graduate, the two of us write to each other often because he is a close friend of mine."

Harry nodded and said, "I haven't heard from him for some time. How is he doing?"

Petia said, "He is doing well. Viktor still plays for Bulgaria and is currently considering playing for the Cannons."

Right when she said Cannons, Ron jumped up and asked, "Viktor Krum is going to get traded to the Cannons?"

Petia looked over at him and said, "Yes, I believe that he is considering it saying something like being part of a team that is rebuilding from the ground up and being able to help make it happen."

Ron was excited; he was jumping up and down saying, "See Harry? I told you that the Cannons were going to go all the way. I knew that Krum was a good person."

With that statement, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny all rolled their eyes because Ron always talked bad about Viktor ever since he escorted Hermione to the Yule Ball during their fourth year. With the conversation between Petia and Harry along with Ron's outburst, the tension in the room broke and everybody started talking to each other. The two teams got up and met each other and shook hands with the professors also talking to the professors from the other school.

The Bulgarian team seemed eager to finally meet Harry Potter, the boy that defeated Viktor Krum when he was fourteen and saved the Wizarding World when he was one.

The four girls from Durmstrang seemed to be just as infatuated with Harry as the girls from Hogwarts but not because of his fame but just physical attraction. This did not go unnoticed by Ginny who stood by Harry as he was talking to the girls from Durmstrang.

Everybody in the room with the exception of Harry, Ginny, and the four girls from Durmstrang was watching what was going on around Harry. The girls seemed to have engaged in an unspoken war with Durmstrang going up against Ginny for Harry's attention. Even the faculty from Durmstrang found this amusing and by the looks of how Ginny is so protective of Harry knew that the girls from their school did not have a chance at winning Harry.

After about an hour of getting to know each other, the room went quiet again as the entrance to the room opened up again to reveal Professor Dumbledore and Headmaster Lechkov coming into the room followed in by Madame Maxine. Madame Maxine is the Headmistress from Beauxbaton which was the third school that participated in the tri-wizard tournament.

Everybody went back to where they were sitting before Harry walked over to Petia to talk. The Headmasters and Headmistress walked behind the podium with Dumbledore in the middle. Dumbledore said, "Welcome everyone. I would like to introduce Madame Maxine from Beauxbaton who will be serving as our impartial judge in this competition." He gestured over to where the Headmistress was standing. She bowed slightly at her introduction as everybody else in the room also bowed slightly to acknowledge and welcome her. Dumbledore went on to say, "If there is a dispute between who is right or wrong concerning any of these challenges than she will determine what the outcome will be. Due to her participation and per her request, the students from Beauxbaton will also be here to watch these challenges. They will not compete but remain spectators like the rest of your schoolmates. Are there any questions?"

Nobody said anything and Dumbledore stepped back as Madame Maxine stepped forward to where Dumbledore just stood. In her French accent she said, "Welcome. I am now going to fill you in on the details of the first challenge. Five people from each team will represent their school. The challenge will fall on two parts. The first part is a trivia competition that will test your knowledge in the fields that will be announced later on. The competitors will be holding onto these buzzers behind your podium. You will choose a category and level of difficulty. The more difficult the question the more points you will receive. The points range from ten to fifty depending on difficulty. Once a question is asked from a category and a certain level of difficulty than that option will no longer be available. For example, if you were to choose Charms for thirty than once that question is read, it is no longer available for the rest of the competition once the correct answer is given. If the wrong answer is given than the opposing team has a chance to answer the question. Should you give the wrong answer than points will be deducted from your team score. All scores are team scores. Are there any questions?"

Hermione was thinking that this sounded similar to a muggle game show called Jeopardy but simplified and more straightforward. Everybody seemed to understand what the Headmistress was saying because nobody asked any questions.

Madame Maxine continued on by saying, "The second part of the competition is a practical. There will be five subsections to the practical part of the challenge. Only one person from the team will compete in each section and you can only compete once therefore everybody will be participating. These categories will be announced later on also. To make it easier for both teams and to reduce any unfair advantage, I will be administering the challenge and there will be an option to wear a charmed ear piece which will instantly translate what it is that I'm saying. I will be reading the questions in French. Are there any questions?"

Harry raised his hand and asked, "What do the people who don't compete do?"

Maxine said, "You will be sitting with the rest of your schoolmates. Are there any other questions?"

Nobody said anything than she said, "If you will all follow me, we will start this competition. When we enter the Great Hall please proceed to go to your spots which will have your names on them. Those not competing will join their schools. Good luck to both teams and let's have a fair and fun time."

The group followed Madame Maxine into the Great Hall which didn't look anything like it did before. There were three large sections of Stadium style seating that formed three sides of a square and an open area with a large shiny white board forming the fourth side. The ceiling of the Great Hall looked like it grew taller as the scene from the outdoors showed through. Walking in from Harry's point of view, the left side of the hall was filled with Hogwarts students and what looked like a few reporters from England. The right side stadium seating was filled with Durmstrang and a few reporters from Bulgaria. The center seating area was filled with Beauxbaton and reporters from the rest of the Wizarding World. On the ground level, there were ten podiums, with two rows of podiums. The two rows of podiums faced each other with the room divided into the Hogwarts and Durmstrang. The ten students competing took there spots as everybody else joined their classmates.

The Great Hall was filled with the sound of cheering for the two schools. Headmaster Lechkov and Headmaster Dumbledore took seats to the right and left of the podium respectively. Madame Maxine stood behind the podium and raised her hands to call for silence which quickly followed.

Madame Maxine welcomed everybody and explained the rules of the Educational Challenge to everybody in the stands and the reporters. She told them the same thing that she briefed the teams on. She turned around and tapped her wand on the white board and the board divided into three separate areas. When facing the board from the stands, the left side of the board had the word 'Durmstrang' on it with the Durmstrang Crest below it. There was a box with a zero in it which is for the score. The right side of the board had the word 'Hogwarts' on it with the Hogwarts Crest below it. There was also a box below it with a zero in it for the Hogwarts score. The middle of the board was blank.

Madame Maxine asked, "Are both teams ready?"

When she said that the middle of the white board broke into three horizontal parts. The top part translated what she said into English, the middle part translated it into Bulgarian, and the bottom most part showed what she said in French. Both teams nodded and Madame Maxine. She said, "Let's begin and now the categories are as follows." The middle section of the board that translated what she said disappeared an a game board popped up with the first row starting with the first column to the last column had Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Healing, and History.

Since Durmstrang was visiting they got to choose the first question. Petia chose Charms for ten points. The middle part of the white board disappeared and the translated section popped up with the English part saying, 'what is the incantation for the charm used to levitate objects by use of wand movement swish and flick?' while Madame Maxine read it in French.

Kayla's buzzer and booth lit up than Madame Maxine acknowledged her. Kayla said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Madame Maxine said that it was correct and ten points showed up on the white board on the Hogwarts side. There were some clapping and cheering and Madame Maxine told everybody to hold their applause till the end of the first part of the Educational Challenge.

After the points showed up on the board, the middle section on the white board changed back to the game grid with the categories and point values. This continued on with much reaction from the spectators with excited whispers when somebody knew the answers or sympathetic awes when their team got a question wrong. The score was close and there was only one question left with fifty point value under history.

Hogwarts was leading by 100 points. Madame Maxine read, "Who is the murderer that betrayed James and Lily Potter to You-Know-Who?"

Almost instantly, Ginny's booth lit up and she answered, "Peter Pettigrew." There were cheers from most of the Hogwarts stand on getting the last question right but they were quickly quieted when Madame Maxine said that it was wrong. The Hogwarts team wanted to dispute this and Harry just froze when he heard the question and couldn't believe that they would ask that.

Durmstrang buzzed in and answered Sirius Black which was accepted as the correct answer. Durmstrang was jumping up and down having tied the score with Hogwarts losing fifty points for the wrong answer and Durmstrang earning fifty points. Hermione wanted to launch a protest but Madame Maxine said that her decision was final. Harry just stood up and left the Great Hall, not wanting to hear more about this and not wanting to let his anger out on the people.

Later that day, Ginny found Harry sitting under an Oak tree by the lake. He was just sitting there and staring aimlessly. Ginny sat down next to him and the first words she said were, "I'm sorry Harry. We didn't win."

Harry turned to look at her and pulled her close to console her and said, "I'm sorry that I walked out on everybody like that."

She rested up against his shoulder and said, "We all understand why you left. As a matter of fact, the rest of us wanted to leave too but Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall made us stay. They said that you would be fine."

"Tell me what happened."

Ginny took a deep breathe than said, "Well, as you already know the trivia part of the challenge ended in a tie. The practical part was in five parts. The competitors were separated by a screen so there was no cheating. The first part was transfiguration which Kayla represented us in. The objective was to transfigure a feather into a weapon. Durmstrang transfigured the feather into a fairly nice silver broad sword that had some engravings on the blade. There was gold swirl that ran from the tip of the sword to its hilt. It looked really nice. Kayla transfigured the feather into a beautiful archery set. It was a shiny blue metallic single string bow with a quiver that had ten silver arrows that were tipped with gold arrow tips and tail. Each arrow had a name of one of the person that was on the Hogwarts team. The bow was engraved with the words Hogwarts on the inside closest to the string. It turned out that she broke the feather into smaller pieces so she could pull off the multiple pieces."

"It sounds really nice, I would have never thought of that."

"It was beautiful. I don't think that any of us could have created anything that beautiful. You should have seen McGonagall's face. She was actually smiling. Durmstrang received forty points for it and Kayla got us fifty points on it."

"What was the second practical?"

"Oh, the second practical was on potions. Hermione represented us in this because she was the most comfortable with potions. They had to brew some Pepper-up potion from scratch and from memory. The two of them were able to do it with no problems and both earned fifty points for the teams."

"I guess there was really no doubt with Hermione working on that. What about the third practical?"

"Michael represented us in the third practical. It dealt with Astronomy. The ceiling of the Great Hall changed to look at the night sky and they had to identify all of the constellations in the sky. They had five minutes to identify all of them and write them on a parchment and turned it in to Madame Maxine. There were five and both of them had identified all of the constellations. In the end both of them received fifty points each."

"Michael should be familiar with the stars considering how much time I've heard he spent in the Astronomy tower. At least now we know that he wasn't snogging all the time up there. What about the next practical?"

"The next one dealt with Muggle Studies and Luna represented us on that task. There were five objects worth ten points each. You get five points for identifying what the object was and five points for giving the explanation on what it is used for. Surprisingly enough, both sides got everything right."

"I guess that just leaves one event left and you the last one on our team."

Ginny didn't seemed too happy when she said, "Yeah, the last challenged dealt with Charms. Specifically curse breaking but we didn't know that until the Charms competition was about to begin. We each received a trunk and had to try to break through all the charms and curses protecting it. I knew that I should have paid more attention to what Bill says when he talks about curse breaking." She paused a moment than looked out over the lake and said, "I broke through four of the charms and only had one left but the time ran out. Durmstrang managed to break through the fifth charm when time was about to expire so they got fifty points and I got forty points."

"Don't feel bad, you didn't lose, the final score would be a tie than, so we tied the first competition. From what I learned from the Durmstrang team all of them are either in the 6th or 7th year. They have been doing this longer than you and I didn't focus enough on that with you."

Harry gave her a hug and Ginny said, "Thanks Harry, I really needed that. Everybody else said the same thing but I guess I just wanted to hear it from you."

Harry looked her in her eyes than said, "Ginny, you've always been strong and never needed anybody's approval. I'm always behind you to support you so don't ever worry about needing my approval because you will always have it."

The moment was ruined when they heard Harry's stomach growl because he hadn't eaten since breakfast. Harry was embarrassed but Ginny just grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the Great Hall for dinner. Durmstrang did not stay for dinner and left after the last practical and the tie was announced. After dinner all of Hogwarts spent the rest of the night doing leisurely things with Harry and his friends joined by a few other people out having a pick-up game of quidditch. Hermione joined them but as usual just sat there and read while looking up occasionally to watch the game.

A/N: I know that some of you are a bit put off with the tie but it had to happen but at least you all know that Hogwarts should have won but was cheated out of their victory. The competition was also a bit shorter than expected because really couldn't think of questions for each category but the single question that I needed to happen did happen. The majority of the guesses say that Harry is the admirer but in the next chapter I wonder if you all are going to continue with that idea when I give the next clue. The next competition is Quidditch and who do you think will win? Will it be the Harry Potter led squad or will it be the precision driven school that generated champions like Viktor Krum. Well, now to address by reviewers since my last post.

Nightwing 509: Thank you and the poisoning saga will continue. I gave another clue to who it might be so try to take another guess if you like.

IamSiriusgrl: Thank you and your guesses are really close.

Bandgsecurtiyaw: Thank you

Dancerrdw: Thank you and I'll try to continue the updating.

JPx: Thank you and Durmstrang's strive for perfection will play into the challenges. Sorry couldn't elaborate more on this competition though because I couldn't think of any more questions. The power struggle will develop to greater detail later on as soon as the love story is settled.

Rivenn: Thank and interesting answer. Especially since Dobby and Winky are not there to keep an eye on Harry's food.

YelloWitchGrl: Thank you and I understand your motivation for not trying hard to take a guess. I like to be surprised also.

Tanydwr: Yeah! My favorite crazy reviewer returns. Thank you and I hope you continue to like how the relationship development will continue. I also want a DA watch and you have hit Kayla right on the nose. She's here to train Harry in something that Hogwarts does not teach.

Annie: Thank you and the action starts up to a greater extent in a few chapters. I just need a few more chapters to lay the foundation for the "Fireworks" to follow. I hope that you can hang in there for now.

Lonsome-love: Thank you and I guess you're pretty confused about Kayla. Well, with the clue I gave at the beginning of the chapter about the poisoning, do you have a guess now?

Dragonstorm316: Thank you and I hope I didn't disappoint you on the first task but my real motivation was behind the quidditch and the dueling. This is a school so I figured this was required to show that they learned something. Well, I can say the traitor will be revealed in a few chapters so hang in there.

Shadowssongs: Thank you and sorry for making you wait so long but the time available to write is dwindling down and I had to space out the update a bit. Once I get more time, hopefully during Spring Break I'll be able to get more up.

Gaul1: Thank you and hopefully the clue in this chapter helped with the poisoning.

yorkvillebird: Thank you.

Firebirdgs: Thank you and I appreciate constructive criticisms. Well, I know the story is a little slow on the action right now but the HG story needed to be set first in order for the second phase to begin. Don't worry, the action will return quickly after the HG issue is settled.

Frostinglolo: Thank you and I hope the clues in this chapter helps with the poison question.