A sound that surely resounded throughout not only the entire school, but for miles, came crashing down the North Wing. A knight completely covered in silver armour came tumbling down the stairs, completely stiff and landing upon its metallic face.

However, once the noise of all the armour crashing and bumping into the floor was over, Harry was able to distinctly make out a muffled sob that seemed to be coming from inside the armour. Harry bolted over to the suit of armour and slipped off the knight's head and to his surprise, he found Neville's head to be underneath it.

"Harry! Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle… they cornered me after Charms and used Petrificus Totalus and trapped me inside this on the top of North Tower and I was trying to get out of the suit and well… you know the rest." Neville spoke with a dejected tone in his voice. Harry noticed that a few teardrops were beginning to form in the corner of Neville's eyes. He felt furious at Malfoy for doing this.

"Viktor! Help Neville out of this suit, I'm going to find Malfoy. Wait here. Neville, once you're out of that, go and see, uh…" Harry wondered if it was really the best course of action to leave Neville when he was clearly in such a traumatised and scared state. Even though he inwardly wanted to exact revenge on Malfoy for doing this to Neville, Harry could get his revenge later. Focusing on making sure Neville was at least okay first was the utmost priority.

Viktor spoke, a little surprised. "If you say so, Harry," and he moved over to the armour that encased Neville's body and began breaking apart the parts of the armour. Harry walked back over to Neville and spoke to him while Viktor removed the armour covering Neville's torso, allowing him to sit up.

"I'll get him back for this later, Neville. Just, once Viktor gets you out of that, go to the Hospital Wing if you're hurt. Then-..."

Harry was abruptly interrupted. He looked behind him and saw none other than the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling as they always did behind the moonlit glasses he always adorned.

"Professor Dumbledore sir!" Spoke Harry, attentively. He wasn't sure what Dumbledore would say. Harry had always felt like Dumbledore could see deeper to any situation laid out in front of him, this being one.

"Harry! How wonderful to see you. I see Mr. Krum is also with you! Zdraveĭte, Viktor!"

"Zdraveĭte, professor." Mumbled Viktor. Harry could Viktor was in shock at being introduced by Dumbledore this way."

"I just happened to be in the vicinity and I was wondering what all the noise was, so I decided to come investigate at my own perusal. It seems Mr. Longbottom has gotten himself into quite the pickle - let me help out."

And with a rather nonchalant flick of his wand, the armour came out from every angle and Neville was freed from the armour in seconds. With another gentle flick, the knight began to reform itself and was completely mended within a matter of seconds. Then, it could be seen floating back up the stairway, presumably returning to wherever the knight originally stood.

"Now what was it I heard about Mr. Malfoy whilst I arrived here?" piqued Dumbledore's curiosity.

"Malfoy stunned me after class and him, Crabbe and Goyle all brought me up here and trapped me inside the knight and-..."

"I see," spoke Dumbledore aloud. "Well, that will just not do. I will need to inform Professor Snape of his actions. If you don't mind, Neville, could you do me the honour of accompanying me whilst I reported this act of aggression to Professor Snape. I assure you, you will be completely fine."

Neville turned to look at Harry, almost imploringly. He seemed to want Harry to answer for him. Harry gave him a swift nod to indicate that the best course of action was to go with Dumbledore. Neville stood up and Harry noticed his legs were quite unsteady as he paced over to Dumbledore.

He glanced around at Harry and Viktor, "Thanks, you two.." and he slunk off at Dumbledore's side, his body visibly jittering beside Dumbledore's. Within seconds, they were both gone. Harry turned to Viktor.

"Hey, Viktor. Thanks."

"What do you mean, Harry?"

"For helping my friend out. It's just really nice of you, especially since he's one of the only few people still being friends with me."

Viktor aimed a soft smile at Harry and spoke in a chivalrous tone, "You do not need to thank me, Harry. I am happy to assist you and your friends when you are in trouble. Even if they think it odd that we are talking, considering we go to different schools. I think the most surprising thing to me was your headmaster's acknowledgement. He is a very kind man, Dumbledore. Professor Karkaroff does not seem to share my sentiments, however."

Harry felt a warm flush in his cheeks as Viktor complimented Dumbledore. He didn't know why, but perhaps he was similar to Hagrid, in the regards that an insult onto Dumbledore was an insult onto him. "Yeah, Dumbledore is an amazing wizard. I'm happy you like him. Shame about your headmaster, though." Harry said this in a rather unconvincingly apologetic tone. Truth be told, he didn't care much for Karkaroff's opinion as even though Harry barely knew the man, he sensed a bad aura.

Viktor then spoke up, changing the subject. "So, our initial plan before we got interrupted by others…" Harry remembered in a jolt. He was meant to be showing Viktor the ins and outs of Hogwarts. After everything that had just happened, he had completely forgotten. He gazed up at the taller boy and said, "Oh, yeah. You're right, let's get back to what we were doing then," and he took a few steps forward but yet again, they were interrupted. This time, by Hermione.

She came pelting towards Harry and spoke in a rather flighty tone, "Harry! I've been wondering where you went off to since History of Magic ended. I heard the noise and - who's this?" She looked up at Viktor. Harry could tell by the expression on her face that she instantly recognised who Harry had been talking to. "Oh, have I interrupted something? I didn't realise,"

Before Harry could speak however, Viktor replied to her first. "You are the girl that I always see in the library. I did not know she was your friend, Harry. It is nice to make your acquaintance." He threw out a hand, gesturing for Hermione to shake. Somewhat awkwardly, Hermione shook Viktor's hand and seemingly became a lot more like her calm and sophisticated self.

"Well, you are right you do see me a lot in the library. It's quite mutual, actually. I also see your fan club who follow you into the library and it's quite apparent they don't understand what a library is meant for, clearly." She side eyed Viktor in a cool fashion and Viktor placed one hand at the back of his head, rubbing it and saying in a rather nonchalant laugh, "Well, I am sorry for that. I often tell the girls to leave."

Hermione didn't speak more on the subject, but judging by how the two were both smiling he was thankful that both of them hit it off well. "Anyway, Hermione, what was it you were looking me for?" he spoke in an inquiring tone.

"Oh! You left your book in class," she said, turning around and quickly unzipping her bag, taking out a copy of 'A History of Magic' by Bathilda Bagshot and placing it in hands. "Don't be so forgetful next time. I almost missed it too!" Harry murmured under his breath, "Thanks, Hermione." and threw it into his bag avoiding Hermione's gaze. He scoffed a little - he was a slight bit embarrassed being chastised by her right in front of Viktor Krum. To his delight though, Viktor didn't seem to mind much. He was chuckling.

Then he spoke, "Well, Harry, I think I should head back to my ship actually. Professor Karkaroff hasn't seen me at all today and he will be wondering where I have went off to." Harry replied, "Oh, alright. Do you want me to come with you or…?" but he was interrupted by Viktor's shaking hand, stammering, "Oh, no, it will be quite alright. You stay with your friend, Hermione." Harry noticed that as he said this, he had a certain difficulty pronouncing her name. To Harry, it sounded like he had said 'Her-mo-ninnie-'. He chuckled and waved goodbye, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Good! I hope it's not another week again before we see each other." said Viktor. To Harry's surprise, he followed this up with a wink and a small wave and was ambling down the corridor, surely navigating his way back to the Grand Staircase.

Hermione and Harry stood in silence for a few seconds before Harry spoke in a bright tone, "Well, let's just go back to the common room, then." Harry was about to move but he noticed Hermione still looked rather frozen in place. "What's up?" he inquired.

"Oh, Harry, come on! How can you be so oblivious?" She shook her head in disdain. "When were you planning on telling me that you had became friends with Viktor Krum? Also, why did he wink at you? What were you both doing up here? Did you two create that noise? I'm surprised I've only found you two up here. Quite strange no one else came up,"

Harry explained to her about the situation with Neville and Malfoy's gang, and the arrival of Dumbledore. He also accounted for his and Viktor's blossoming friendship and he had simply told her he hadn't told her because it hadn't crossed his mind of telling her. Which was partially true - Harry didn't ask Hermione for every little thing she did when she wasn't around him.

Though, he supposed becoming friends with one of the most famous wizards currently wasn't something you could simply forget to mention. He wasn't going to say anything if Hermione wasn't, though.

The two of them headed to the common room, and time seemed to have passed rather fast today. Harry knew with winter approaching, the nights would rapidly get darker but he felt like he had not done anything today and was surprised to find he was already in bed with the curtains drawn round to hide him from view and it was pitch black out. He hadn't seen Ron come to the dormitory yet, nor had he heard him.

He poked his head out of the curtains and noticed to his right that the curtains around Ron's bed was drawn. He shook his head dismissively and sat on his own bed, both of his hands resting at the back of his head. Something had been bothering him today, but not the absence of Ron in his day to day life. Sure, he missed Ron, but he wasn't crying wolf over it, because he knew he was in the right, and Ron wasn't. He would wait until Ron was ready to apologise.

No, the thing that mystified Harry was the fact he missed Viktor. For some reason, the fact Viktor had departed for the Durmstrang ship early was a little saddening. He was genuinely excited to explore Hogwarts with him. He didn't know why he felt this way - he wasn't this excited back when he initially came in his first year, but the prospect of uncovering unfamiliar areas in Hogwarts with Viktor was what enticed him.

"With Viktor," he spoke under his breath.

He didn't want anyone to hear him. Not when he felt this confused. He wasn't sure if confusion was the emotion. He felt a lot of things. Feelings that were foreign to his mind. In the midst of it all, one thing was a constant in his mind - his headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, saying "Love," and that was all. This made him feel even more perplexed by what was going on.

He tried to shake what was happening off, and laid his head to rest and within minutes, fell into a deep sleep.

Vikor was pacing the cabin he called his own. There was a fire that was alight due to magic, the gentle patter of rain against the ship was slightly soothing to his ears. He had reported to Karkaroff earlier and as per usual, had been questioned about what he had been doing that day. His usual reply was to tell him he was studying and the headmaster of Durmstrang would no longer investigate into the matter.

He felt alone. He knew he technically was alone, as he was isolated in his cabin, but it extended beyond that. He had been feeling this way ever since he had got back from the castle. Without Harry. He had decided to leave because he was scared. Not because of Harry, or even his hot headed friend Hermione, but of himself.

Viktor was scared of the fact that he was acquiring romantic feelings. Feelings that were for someone not only younger than him, but surely not going to be reciprocated. He didn't know why he felt such a connection with the young boy. Perhaps it was his unwavering kindness towards him. He tried to justify inwardly that everyone in Hogwarts had been kind to him so far, but it felt different with Harry.

Perhaps it was the fact that, as a homosexual man, his sexuality was something uncommon amongst most wizards and he'd be afraid of his secret ever getting out, but something inside him just drew him to enjoy Harry and his presence. Something about him was so satisfying for the young Bulgarian. Not only was he a pleasurable person to talk to, but he'd be lying if he said Harry wasn't good looking for his age. He made an inward joke about understanding why the Goblet of Fire had confusion when it came to recognising him, but once he thought about it more, it didn't make sense. He laughed awkwardly.

He had only spoken to Harry on three separate occasions, and yet he already felt this strongly for him. He realised he also had to spend the entire year school with him, and he was sure that his lust for Harry's affection and approval would become stronger, tenfold. He was befuddled on what to do. Somewhere, deep inside him, he wanted to tell Harry how he felt. He had once pursued a boy back in Durmstrang, and he regretted deeply never speaking up then, and he wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

He walked steadily over to the mirror where he could look at his full frame and spoke aloud, as if he was actually talking to Harry Potter himself.

"Harry Potter. Obicham te."

The only problem was - how much harder would it be to say that in English?

Viktor carefully took his clothes off, folding them neatly and placing them on a desk. He was left in just boxers and socks and had went back to the mirror and admired his body for a tiny bit - he was attractive to boot, and a tough, masculine man and one of the biggest names in the Wizarding World currently, yet he was too scared to tell someone he had a crush on them.

He gathered his thoughts and climbed into bed, making a quiet vow before falling straight to asleep.

"I will tell him. I will."

Harry hadn't even bothered attending class today. He had woken up rather late and no one was to be seen in the boys dormitory. He had made his way downstairs and to his surprise, the only other people he found were students that were far older than him and were most likely in their last years of Hogwarts. He brushed this off and walked out of the Fat Lady's portrait, not sure of where to go.

Due to the abuse he'd been receiving by people in the school lately, he wanted to just take some time for himself. Subconsciously he found himself making his way down the various floors before stopping a few steps away from the library that was hidden from view by great, tall oak doors. He pondered if Viktor would be in there and he walked briskly towards it. He had nothing to lose just by checking.

He slipped in and like always, it was dead silent. You could have heard a pin drop. Madam Pince was sitting at a desk near the entrance and she gave him a piercing and also surveying look. He walked past her awkwardly, not knowing if she would pop off at him for simply existing like she usually did with everyone that entered the library.

He proceeded towards the back of the library, knowing it was where he could usually find Viktor residing. To his astonishment however, Viktor was nowhere to be found. In fact, there was no trace at all that anyone had been there today. He scratched his chin curiously, pondering as to where he could be. "No point sticking around if he isn't here," he thought.

With swift steps he made his way back down the long library hall and slipped out of the doors, noticing that Madam Pince was still sitting there, watching over the few other students that were also in the library. She questioned if he was taking any books out of the library and once it was apparent he wasn't, she let him go without another word.

He continued to make his way down to the Entrance Hall when he noticed something or rather, someone, had came bursting out of the doorway that led to the Grand Staircase. As they bombarded up the stairs Harry could just barely make out that it was Hermione who was advancing up the stairs with no apparent care. She seemed to be rushing for something.

"Hermione, what the…" but before he could finish the sentence, Hermione had whirled around and just noticed that she had ran past her own best friend and she ran right back to him, seemingly clutching a stitch in her chest and her breathing heavy, going in rapid succession. Harry was about to ask what was going on, but it seemed she had already got there before him in informing him.

"Harry! You have to… go down… quidditch pitch… Viktor Krum… is looking you." All of this was very drawn out by Hermione's rasping breaths, her hand gripping tightly onto Harry's arm for support. Harry wasn't sure of what to say, so he said the first thing that sprang to mind. "Aren't we supposed to be in class right now, Hermione? Are you going there?"

However, he never got a reply to this question. He noticed Hermione had began lightly pushing him down the staircase and he seemed to get the gesture of: go meet Viktor. He spoke, "Alright, alright, I'm going! Where should I meet you when I come back?" Hermione spluttered out a response as she heaved her body up the marble staircase. "Gryffindor… common room!" Harry waved goodbye, although he wasn't sure Hermione saw it as she was blazing up the stairs, surely in pursuit to be in some class.

As Harry made his way into the Entrance Hall, he wondered why Hermione, of all people, had been talking to Viktor Krum and was now informing him to go meet him at the quidditch pitch. What was so special about the occasion that Viktor couldn't have met him himself at the library and why did he feel the need to tell Hermione about the occasion. How did the two of them even meet to talk about this?

Harry was completely confused as he walked over the threshold, ambling down to the quidditch pitch. He could hear the faint buzz of chatter from the greenhouses as people were surely having lessons in there. He had also glanced at Hagrid's hut, and to his surprise, found that he wasn't there. No lights were on inside the house, which suggested Hagrid wasn't there. Harry wondered what Hagrid had gotten up to, but he'd have to find out some other time.

He neared the quidditch pitch and decided to go into the changing rooms in which he had brought Viktor the first time they did something together outside of the castle. He opened the doors that held the changing rooms inside and to his delight, he found Viktor, standing inside, yet he was turned to face a locker that was the exact opposite of the door holding the entrance to the changing rooms. One hand was not visible

"Viktor…?"

Viktor suddenly straightened himself up and spoke in a more serious tone than usual. He didn't turn around to face the other boy, however.

"Harry. I'm glad you came. I will have to thank your friend for telling you to come so quickly. I was worried you would not have came.. But, let's forget about that and move onto the next thing I want to say. Harry… I'm very happy we have became friends in the short time I have been here. There is still a long way to go, and I am happy we can be friends. You have been so nice to me and I am, well," he let out a nervous chuckle and turned around. To Harry's bewilderment, Harry could plainly see the boy was wearing clothes that complimented the muscles all over his body, his abs poking out.

The most noticeable thing, however, was the fact Harry could see Viktor's hand now. He also saw Viktor was now moving towards him, holding the rouse lustfully in his mouth. Harry wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but his brain reacted and told him not to move. He was giddy.

Viktor gently moved Harry against one of the lockers used for the various players. When the two were so closely pressed together like this, it was profoundly noticeable that Viktor and Harry were much different in height. Something about this fact made this foreign encounter to Harry even more enticing. He looked up at the boy, the rose in his mouth now hanging over his head in Viktor's mouth.

With one large hand, Viktor removed the rose from his mouth and set it in between the two, their bodies holding it up. Harry then gasped out of shock as he felt something touch the top of his head. It didn't take a genius to work out the fact that Viktor had just planted a kiss atop his head. His breathing was steady. He felt slightly nervous, but wasn't apprehensive to this contact.

Viktor lifted his head and smiled a deep, caring smile at Harry. Harry returned the smile and as if he was inviting Viktor to his lips, he obliged and the two boys lips had met and feelings that had been bubbling beneath the surface for a short while now were blossoming in the meeting of the two boys lips.

Harry felt completely at peace as the two locked lips. He had never kissed before and was entirely new, but he felt Viktor guiding and making himself at home as the two locked lips. The swapping of saliva had occurred and Viktor was exploring Harry's mouth with his tongue. The two's tongues had touched, and Harry felt as if he wanted to laugh at this interaction.

Even though the kiss felt like forever, the two seemingly parted as soon as it started. Harry looked up at Viktor, his glasses slightly askew.

Viktor spoke in that tantalising voice.

"Harry…"

"I love you."