"Where do you reckon he'll be then?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, but that's a good thing, I reckon we could use this as an opportunity to check out the Durmstrang ship!" Amy said

"Don't you reckon we should get permission first?"

She stopped and and raised an eyebrow at me

I got her meaning and smiled

"No, of course not, there wouldn't be any fun in that would there!" I said

She laughed "Yeah, I was about to say, you had me worried there for a moment!"

"You think we should go get Demelza? It's she who's suspicious of him after all"

"Nah, she's become too sensible recently"

We walked up to the boardwalk that the ship was moored to, taking a moment to once again appreciate it's vast magnificence.

"It really is beautiful isn't it?" Amy said

"Yep, they definitely won the entrance award" I replied

We made our way up the sloped pathway that was connected to the ship from the dock, and found that the main entrance was unlocked. I poked my head in and had a look around inside. Deserted.

"Coast is clear, come on Amy"

We began exploring the ship, and soon found that it consisted of 3 decks, the lowest of which was actually beneath the water, strangely. This deck consisted of student dormitories.

"You reckon it was designed this way, or is it just the effect our lake creates?" Amy asked

"Only one way to find out" I said, and I pushed open one of the doors, and gasped. Inside was a luxurious double bed, fitted with the Bulgarian national Quidditch team colours and a large Bulgarian flag across the ceiling. There was a gold plated desk and mirror, and various other extremely expensive items. Out of the large window we could see nothing but the murky darkness of the lake.

"Well, umm, there's the answer to our question then" said Amy

"Yeah, and although this is Krum's room, I doubt he's got any of his most valuable stuff here, he'll want to keep it safely at home" I said "Let's move on"

"If this isn't his most valuable stuff then I can only imagine what is!" said Amy.

The middle deck consisted of mainly storage rooms, for food, drinks and luggage. Obviously this was a magically powered ship, so there were no engines.

The top deck obviously had all of the sails, as well as the main steering wheel and a large amount of oars. At one end, there was a cabin, with the name "Igor Karkaroff" written on.

"Well, if we don't find him here, guess it'll be time to search the school" I said.

"What are we gonna say to him if he is in here?" asked Amy

I bit my lip

"We'll just improvise" I said eventually. "I'm good at talking my way out of trouble"

Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the door. No-one was inside. At first glance, the room looked perfectly normal, just a bed, cupboard, a desk with files and folders, and a large Durmstrang crest on one of the walls. I turned to leave, but Amy grabbed my shoulder.

"What?!" I said

"Look at those!" said Amy, pointing to a shelf above the bed.

We moved closer, and saw that there were several objects there, which sent chills through my spine. There was a skull carving with a wand sticking through from one side to the other, a jar with some seemingly perpetually burning flames inside, some gooey slime like substance, and a bowl of yellow liquid with what looked like a rat's head inside it.

"What on earth would he want or need with any of these, and what the fuck are they?!" I exclaimed

"Maybe they're just stuff for his classes, you know they teach the dark arts there" Amy said

"Maybe they're for some sort of ritual, that could be one of the tournament tasks" I said

"Maybe he's just experimenting" came from Amy

"Or maybe" said a thick Northern European voice from behind us "he's just arrived back to his cabin and is wondering why 2 Hogwarts students are here without permission"

We jumped and turned around. There he was, standing before us. Igor Karkaroff waved his wand and the door shut behind him and bolted.

"So" he said, and he started pacing around the room. "So"

I gnawed on my lip nervously as I watched him, waiting for his next move. Amy however, decided to make things ten times worse, as she said "So what?"

"Don't talk back to me like that, silly girl!" Karkaroff spat. "You are in enough trouble as it is, don't make things worse for yourself!"

I had my head in my hands at this point, how could Amy be so stupid! I had to act fast.

"Look, professor, we're sorry, we were just exploring-" I began desperately, holding up my hands, but Karkaroff cut me off.

"Oh, exploring, were you? You think that is ok, you think you can just go wherever you want without telling anybody or even asking? To enter the ship without permission is one thing, but my private quarters, that is another. I have never encountered such boldness from any students!" Karkaroff said. Then he relaxed. "Ok, I will give you a chance, tell me what is it you want. To trespass like this, it is brave, and I respect that, so I will give you the slightest benefit of the doubt for that alone. You better have a good reason though, so spit it out before I change my mind"

I bit my lip, thinking. Was there any point in lying? Perhaps if I told the truth, I would get the truth in return. After all, we were in a lucky break so far, he was giving us a chance to explain ourselves. I wondered briefly why the ship and his quarters were unlocked, and how he could complain therefore if anyone managed to gain access, but I didn't think it would help our situation to ask. Amy opened her mouth, probably to voice this, so I stopped her by holding up my hand.

"Let me handle this, mate"

Amy looked frustrated, but complied.

"Ok, so a couple days ago, our mate Demelza said she felt there was something unusual about you, but she wouldn't specify what. We therefore boarded the ship hoping to find you, or if not, then at least a clue as to what she could possibly suspect. And to be honest, when you have objects such as these- I indicated to the shelf- I can't really blame her"

Karkaroff stared directly at me for a full 20 seconds, and I got the bizarre feeling that he was reading my mind. He stood for a while, seemingly thinking about what to say.

"Ok, I will tell you something" he said "The objects behind you may look suspicious, but when we arrived here, your Professor Moody gave this ship a thorough search, and gave it the all clear. I can assure you that those items are merely for teaching purposes. I have no ulterior plans or motivations, I am here simply to support my students and enjoy the Triwizard Tournament. Trust me, if I had anything dark or suspicious planned, Professor Moody would have discovered it. They do not call him the greatest Auror of all time for no reason. Does that satisfy you?"

"Not really-" began Amy, but I cut across her

"Yes, thank you sir, we will leave now" I said

"Indeed you will. Let me warn you though, if I catch you in here again, the consequences will be... severe"

"Yes sir, understood"

I dragged Amy off the ship and didn't stop until we were back on the grounds, well out of earshot of anyone.

Once I'd finally stopped and let go of her, she rounded on me

"What the fuck is your problem?!" she yelled

"My problem?! Amy, you were the one making sarcastic remarks back to the Durmstrang Headmaster, you tried to tell him his explanation wasn't satisfactory! Were you trying to get us expelled or something?!"

"No, I was trying to figure out what was going on!"

"He told you what was going on!"

Amy laughed mercilessly

"Oh Ginny, you didn't actually believe him did you?"

"Yeah I did, why shouldn't I?"

Amy laughed harder

"Ginny, you of all people should know when someone's bullshitting! That whole room stank of Dark Magic! I don't care what he says those objects were for or what he claims about Moody, there's something not right about him! I'm going to investigate this further, and I won't stop until we find out the truth!"

"So you want to get expelled do you?"

"Pah, Ginny, they're not gonna expel me if I expose a Dark Wizard to them are they! Just look what Harry and Ron got after they tore the rulebook in half to rescue you from the Chamber! You know, you're starting to sound like Demelza!"

"And that's a bad thing?"

"Yes"

I was shocked. How could she say something like that about one of our best mates?!

"Well, ok then, if that's how you're gonna be, then I don't want to be with you!" I said.

Without another word, I turned and walked back to the castle, not looking back once.