Chapter 87

Durmstrang

The students of both Hogwart's and Beauxbatons were out on the front stoop and courtyard of the school awaiting the arrival of the students from Durmstrang. They weren't sure how they were going to be arriving, but were pretty sure that they would be arriving in the same fashionable way that the French Students arrived. When there was a light mist that began to cover the grounds and the area of the lake, they all turned towards the lake to see what was going on. What they saw made some of them gasp in awe, and a lot of them to applaud the eccentricity of the students from the school in Bulgaria. They had arrived in a beautiful boat that was coming out of the lake it seemed. It settled in at the shore of the lake, and a gangplank lowered showing the sight of the multitude of students standing at attention awaiting their headmaster to depart and be greeted by Dumbledore.

The man that came down from the boat first was an interesting man to say the least. He walked up to Dumbledore and introduced himself. "I am Igor Karkaroff, the headmaster of Durmstrang. It is a pleasure to meet you Albus Dumbledore, and we thank you for allowing us to come to your school for this tournament. Ahh, Madame Maxine, it is so good to see you again also. I assume that since you are here, that your students have arrived already?" This was said more as a statement than a question, when he said this he took her hand and bowed and kissed her knuckles.

"It is so good that you have made it Headmaster Karkaroff. Was your trip uneventful, I hope?" Dumbledore had a twinkle to his eyes still, and looked at the man with admiration as he shook his hand.

"Yes our travel was good, and we had a long one. Now may I introduce my students, and let them come and meet and greet?"

"Yes yes, we are having a social to have the students meet your students in the Great Hall, and have the three schools meet and get together. Now if you would have your students come off the boat, and follow me, we will be going to the Great Hall, and the Minister of Magic sends his apologies for not being here right when your two schools got here, but he has said that he would be joining us tonight at the meet and greet. He will be having a couple of his sons with him, one is going to be one of the handlers during the first task, and the other one just wants to come and visit his family." Dumbledore led the three heads of the schools, and the students from Durmstrang towards the Great Hall, and smiled as one of his younger students saw who was in the crowd of students, but kept his distance for now, even tho he is a great fan of his.

"Harry did you see who is in the group of students from Durmstrang?" Ron was so excited, but Luna was holding him back so that he didn't make a fool of himself.

"No I didn't Ron. Who is in the crowd of students that has you so excited?" Harry was laughing a bit about the antics of his brother.

"It's Viktor Krum. You know that along with cheering for the Chudley Cannons, that he is one of my favorite Quidditch players of all times. I hope that I will get a chance to meet him tonight, or sometime during the school year. I wonder if he is going to be trying to get into the Tournament. If he is, and is chosen, then I don't know who I will route for, him or our schools Champion. I know, I will route for our champion, and if it turns out that when it comes down to it, that it comes between the student from Durmstrang and the one from Beauxbatons, if it's Viktor, I will route for him. I hope that he doesn't take that wrong. I am a big fan of his, he is one of the youngest Seekers on the Bulgaria National Team. You remember, they won the world cup this last summer. Well I guess you might not have known, but I had heard all about it since we got back from Hawaii this summer." Ron followed the rest of the students into the Great Hall, holding onto Luna's hand, and walking towards where the rest of the Durmstrang students were sitting, and getting ready to meet people. He walked up to Viktor Krum, and waited his turn patiently, which was something for Ron. When it was his turn to meet him, he introduced himself and Luna along with Harry and Hermione. "Excuse me Mr. Krum, I know you probably get this a lot, but I am a big fan of your Quidditch playing. It was a great game that you had in the finals of the Quidditch World Cup this year. Congratulations to you and your teammates. My name is Ron Weasley, and this is my girlfriend Luna Lovegood. These other two are my two best friends, Harry Potter-Weasley, and his girlfriend Hermione Granger." Ron stuck out his hand to the young Bulgarian, and smiled one of his winning smiles.

Viktor looked the four of them up and down, and gave what might to them look like a scowl, but to him was actually a smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Weasley, Potter Weasley, Ms. Lovegood and Ms. Granger. I thank you for your fandom of my playing, do you play yourself?"

Ron was flabbergasted at the thought that he might actually be friendly to them, but smiled as he went on. "Oh yes, I'm the reserved Keeper on our house team, and Harry here was the youngest member of the house team when he made Seeker in his first year. We are with the House Gryffindor, Hermione is in our house also, but Luna is in Ravenclaw. We are all fourth years, your in your final year aren't you?"

"Yes I am. Do you like going to school here? Wait did you say that your name was Harry Potter-Weasley, as in the same person that defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort?" He was intrigued now to meet the person that had defeated him, and hoped that they might become friends.

"Yes I am, but I don't like talking about it. Names Harry." He smiled his lopsided grin, and shook Viktor's hand.

"You all can call me Viktor, may I call you by your first names also?"

"Of course you can Viktor, it's great to meet new friends, especially when your new to an area. My name is Hermione, and this is Luna. But we have already been introduced." Hermione smiled at Viktor, and blushed a bit as he bent down and kissed the back of her hand and did the same to Luna.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all. Ron, Harry, Luna and Her- Her- Hermione. It's an interesting name, for someone who looks to be an interesting person. You are a lucky man Harry. If you two weren't already a couple, I would probably have asked her out myself." He gave what they could tell was a genuine smile now, and started talking to some of the other students from around the area.

A/N: The next chapter will be the Goblet of Fire coming into being seen and the students putting there names into it for the tournament. It will also be showing who the champions are, and I am telling you now, that Harry is not going to be one of them. Pleas keep on reading and reviewing. —Donald