The long awaited rewrite of Tainted Life! *trumpets sound*

*wipes away a tear* Oh, it's so beautiful. *sniff*

I first want to say sorry for the long wait and second that I'm glad I took my time. I had to do so many revisions to the timeline, including more from the book, the mechanics of universe integration, and just what I wanted Ryou and Bakura's relationship to be. Basically: I threw out almost everything I had.

I went back to my original plot for this (which took less than a page... ow I didn't plan much) and really integrated the parts that I wanted in the way that I wanted. I also learned recently that my love of run-on sentences do not make for good reading. Damn.


The afternoon after Hogwart's last midterm was a time for relaxing at last. The Golden Trio could be found in their common room, lounging in front of the fireplace. Hermione was doing a bit of 'light' reading as Ron once again decimated Harry in a game of Wizard's Chess.

The bludgeoning of Harry's knight was interrupted by a tapping from the window. Glancing up at the brown speckled owl on the sill Hermione let the owl in as Harry attempted to salvage his game - or at least his dignity.

Stepping aside from the window to let the owl find it's recipient Hermione was surprised when it simply held out the letter to her. Taking the letter in confusion the young witch brightened upon seeing the sender. Thanking the owl (which hooted and then took off) she closed the window and returned to her seat. "My parents wrote me back about staying with you two for the holidays." She answered their curious looks.

"What's it say, then?" Ron asked after destroying another of Harry's pawns.

Hermione rolled her eyes good naturedly at her friend's impatience and proceeded to open the letter and read it out loud.

"Dear Hermione,

"We're so pleased to hear that your classes have been going well and that your study group has been so well liked.

"You're sixteen now and normally we'd have no problem with you staying with your friends but we had hoped to surprise you this year. You see, your cousin Ryou wrote us in October and since then we've been talking about him coming for the holidays. We've already scheduled it so that we can pick him up from the airport after getting you from the station so we really can't let you stay somewhere else this year.

"Perhaps you could arrange to spend some time with your friends over the summer?

"Love,
Mum & Dad
"

"What? That's Bull!" Ron exclaimed, abandoning the game completely. "You can see your cousin any old time. This is Christmas."

"Christmas is supposed to be a time for family in the first place." Harry informed his friend as he reset the board (thus fixing all the pieces) before putting it all away.

"Well, yeah, but she spends Christmas with her folks every year." Ron bluntly pointed out.

Harry was about to respond that Ron's entire family was going to be there when he caught the look on his female friend's face. "Hermione?"

She bit her lip and tore her eyes away from the letter for the first time. Seeming to mentally debate for a moment she started slowly before picking up steam. "Actually, I can't see Ryou any time. In fact, I haven't heard from him since I first started Hogwarts." She looked back at the letter intensely like it would give up all the secrets behind her cousin. "I haven't even heard about him since October in first year."

Harry frowned. "What do you mean? Did he move away?"

Hermione held another small debate before answering. "Ryou had already moved away. You see, we used to live in the same neighborhood - just three blocks from each other actually - but one day there were a whole bunch of ambulances leaving their house and the next day, they moved."

"Ambulances? What for?" Harry asked as Ron looked between them not understanding the significance.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't really know. I overheard my parents once talking about Ryou's friends being in comas but none of it made any sense."

"Hey, what's an amboolance and what does it have to do with comas?" Ron asked trying to understand the muggle terminology.

"An ambulance is a special car that takes people to a hospital." Hermione absentmindedly supplied before frowning at the letter again. "What I don't understand is where my cousin has been all this time and why he never contacted us before now."

"Well since you're picking him up from the airport, doesn't that mean he's been in another country?" Harry supplied.

"Not necessarily. He could just be coming from Scotland. Or maybe Wales." the brainiac rebuffed before huffing. "There's no way to really know until I talk to him, I suppose." she put down the letter which was promptly picked up by Ron.

"What kind of name is Rye-oo?" he squinted at the page seemingly willing it to change what it said.

"It's Ryou, not rye-oo, and it's Japanese. His father is originally from Japan but he got his doctorate from Oxford and that's when he met my aunt. Since my Aunt didn't want to move across the world my uncle moved here. His name is Haru Bakura." she stopped before adding. "Ryou means 'dragon' by the way."

Ron contemplated for a minute. "Dragon? That's a pretty cool name. I bet Bill would like it. So what's he like?"

Hermione brought her legs up beside her in the armchair before answering. "I'm not quite sure. I haven't seen him in four and a half years. I can tell you what he was like though." Ron and Harry settled themselves on the couch across from her more comfortably. "He has white hair-"

"White hair?" Ron interrupted.

"Yes Ron, white hair. It's a family trait from his father. Now as I was saying, he's two years older than me. He has a very willowy build but he might have filled out by now. He always had his hair around his shoulders - which isn't that strange since Uncle Haru kept his hair long too." She stopped to think for a moment before continuing. "He's always been quite nice. He loves games - I'm sure that hasn't changed. His favorites were always Table Top RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons - it's just a game Ronald. There's no real dragons or dungeons involved." the ginger snapped his mouth closed. "Let's see... he always had this habit of writing to his sister instead of writing in a diary."

"Why would he write to his sister?" Ron asked trying to imagine writing to Ginny.

Hermione looked down at her hands in her lap before looking out the window. "Amane died ten years ago in a car crash. Aunt Livia had picked them up from school and was taking them home. When they were crossing an intersection a driver didn't stop. He crashed into the driver side where Amane was. Amane died on impact and Aunt Livia passed away in the hospital. Ryou got out of it with a broken arm."

"I'm sorry." Harry said firmly and Hermione nodded in thanks.

"I don't remember them much - I was six at the time but it hit Ryou hard. He was always such a dedicated big brother. So responsible and kind. Actually, that's a good word to describe him. Ryou is a very kind person. I don't think he could wish harm on anyone."

"Come on Hermione. No ones that nice." Ron cajoled.

"He used to get bullied at school for his white hair but he never hated them. It's just not in his nature." Hermione defended before sighing. "Or at least it wasn't. Like I said, I haven't seen him in a long time. People change. Just look at me. Doing magic, breaking rules... helping an escaped convict." The trio shared smiles at this. "I doubt he'd even recognize me."

Harry stood up and stretched. "Guess you can't know till you see him again. Besides, you can probably come up to London for a day and we can meet up."

"Harry, that's a terrible idea. What if I'm followed? Someone could find out you're in London." Hermione exclaimed quietly, wary of eaves droppers.

Seeing Harry getting annoyed Ron interjected, "We could meet in Diagon alley. They decorate the square in front of Gringotts with a huge tree and have faerie lights floating everywhere."

Feeling it was still a bad idea Hermione glanced at Harry before smiling at Ron. "That sounds wonderful. Maybe you could talk Tonks into it? I'm sure Snuffles will be dying to go out."

And with that their evening tied up with the many schemes Sirius was sure to have to escape his house arrest.


Yup. Just a prologue. Now do I have any volunteers for a beta? I'd like to have someone read over my work before I post it so that I'm sure everything makes sense and I got rid of all the funny wordings. Basically I'm asking who wants to read it early and be my sounding board.

Also: This is kinda important to me. I was depressed at the time I was first writing this and I feel that came through in my writing. I'm sure that my tone has changed and if the change in tone is bothering you I'm very sorry. I just feel like I'm in a much better place emotionally and mentally right now and don't want to shove myself into that dark corner of my mind just so I can get the tone right.

Thanks for reading and I hope I've kept some of the standards you expect from Tainted Life. ^^ (Please review and tell me if I should change something.)