Hello guys. This is me 4 years later deciding to put the parts of the story that I had previously written back up. I'm still embarrassed about the writing but I guess this is still a story project of a scale that I simply haven't attempted since. So it's special to me in a way. YOSH!

I've taken out some of the more embarrassing things...

I'll aim for a chapter a day. And maybe I'll reformat the previous chapters if I can be bothered to. XD

Note: This story is situated after Battle City and Ship, before the whole Egypt thing. Several differences: Malik has his Rod, Yami Bakura is less than canon (more like fanon...) and the same goes for Blaise Zabini, if you have read HBP. This story was started in 2004 dammit! I was just incredibly... lazy and unmotivated.

Disclaimer: Yes, this will apply for the rest of the story. Yu-Gi-Oh and Harry Potter are not mine, they are Kazuki Takahashi's and JK Rowling's respectively.

And yes, I am using anime-/manga-style titles for each chapter. Sue me if you want! Ha ha ha ha ha!

Chapter 1 –

"Disappearance! The unexpected beginning"

The night air was cool and darkness enveloped the surroundings. Sniffing the air, the Thief King held a dagger close to him protectively, holding it carelessly but ready to strike at any moment and set off for the convenience store just across the road.

Yami Bakura, in one of his 'moods', had been rummaging the kitchen, desperate for something to eat, but could not find anything at all. Ryou had been asleep in his soul room but no matter how hard Yami Bakura pushed or how he tweaked the lock he could not get the door open, and no amount of knocking or banging could wake up his hikari. So he had no choice but to pay a late-night visit to the local store to get some instant noodles and the groceries while he was at it.

On the way back, hands full with two huge bulging bags of foodstuffs ranging from ice cream to eggplants, he stuck his hand casually into the mailbox. Hey, you never know when you might get something telling you you won the lottery.

He pulled out several advertisements, bills, the norm, before stopping at a strange letter with a foreign postmark. Before he could fully investigate it, however, he was distracted by several sweeping figures in black cloaks heading towards the city. Or, to be more specific, the Kame no Game Shop.

He turned around and went home. The Pharaoh could deal with those people by himself.

Once safely back at home, he glanced at the letter. It had been addressed to 'Bakura Ryou, Upstairs Northwest Bedroom, 13 Wakaba Lane, Domino, Japan' in green ink. Who in the world used green ink? Opening it, he found that it was written in an extremely loopy cursive hand, in English. Nobody wrote letters to each other in English in Japan. Obviously.

And so it went on. As he skimmed through the letter, Bakura found doubts surfacing in his mind. He'd never heard of a school called Hogwarts before. Sure, he believed in magic, but he was special. And who the hell cared if Ryou scored a place in that strange school anyway? Cauldrons, pet owls, flying brooms – it was downright weird and zip, nada, zilch, none of his business!

He left it lying on the table for Ryou to find the next day anyway.

It was another day for Kaiba Seto. Just another day. Ho-hum, just ignore the boycott of KaibaLand by its many former employees, won't you?

Anyway, apart from that minor matter things were going well. Seto had managed to strike yet another multibillion-dollar deal with one of the greatest foreign marketing companies in Japan, ensuring that both KaibaCorp products and Duel Monsters would steadily grow in popularity. When his workday ended, his chauffeur drove him home, where he was immediately greeted by his ever-clingy and big-hearted younger brother Mokuba.

A servant walked up to him and gave him something which he accepted without even acknowledging her. Walking with Mokuba to his study, he examined the letter thoughtfully. It was addressed rather disturbingly to 'Mr Kaiba Seto, 3rd Floor Southwest Bedroom, 2 Suzuki Avenue, Domino, Japan'. It was slightly disturbing that the sender knew so much about him, and yet the letter looked so much like an advertisement. He opened it and read it, then promptly crumpled it into a ball and threw it in the bin.

Mokuba caught it as it floated, though, and uncrumpling the letter, he read it. "Hogwarts, eh?" he mused. "Come on, onii-sama."

Seto sighed in relief. At least Mokuba didn't believe in this any more than he did.

"It's a great opportunity, onii-sama! How could you even think of not going? You could learn all sorts of new, useful things! Why in the bleeding face of the earth would you not want to go?"

Seto blinked. Apart from the fact that Mokuba had obviously learned how to swear, he was also saying that Hogwarts was an OPPORTUNITY. He couldn't really form an intelligent-sounding response to that.

Finally, he managed, "Mokuba, don't swear."

Malik sighed as he woke up. Stretching and yawning, he casually stuck his hand out of the window into the mailbox. Yes, the temporary apartment that Isis had found was small enough for Malik to do that. Malik hoped Isis would hurry up and find that mansion she had promised to soon.

After skillfully somehow getting the letters securely in his hand (after all, he'd had months of practice!), Malik withdrew his hand from the window and settled down on his bed. Finding an unusually thick leather written on – what, parchment? – he opened and read it.

"HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)

Dear Mr Ishtar,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress"

Malik didn't know what to say. He believed in magic, or to be more specific Shadow Magic, but to receive a letter, from England especially, inviting him to study in a school for magic was just not right. It had just barely begun to sink in, and for a few minutes he just sat there staring at it.

Then Malik found another note, in the same loopy handwriting as was on the envelope.

"Dear Mr Ishtar,

My name is Albus Dumbledore. You will probably not know me, but I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts. You are a very special boy, Malik, and your Millenium Rod makes your powers even more illuminating.

The wizarding world is facing a crisis now. An evil wizard, previously lying dormant, has risen again. Lord Voldemort and his organization, the Death Eaters (who can be identified by black cloaks), are very dangerous wizards who take lives without mercy and they have to be stopped. We urgently need you and your friends' help to defeat Voldemort, which is why you have been invited to join Hogwarts.

I hope you will genuinely consider our plea for help.

Signed, Albus Dumbledore

PS: If you do not believe this letter, touch my signature above. It should turn into a frog."

Now Malik wasn't unsure of what to believe anymore. In fact, he was very, very sure. Sure that this entire thing was total baloney and well, crap. He wondered how the strange guy knew about his Millenium Rod, but decided to drop it.

As he carried it to the bin, his finger brushed lightly over the signature. Malik watched, bemused, as the signature twisted and turned as if trying to get out of the paper. Then in a split second it turned into a frog and hopped out of the open window.

Now Malik wasn't sure again.

It was a nice, sunny day. Jounouchi Katsuya was returning from his summer job in the library. His father was out again, probably somewhere in the shady areas of town. Jounouchi didn't really want to know. As far as he was concerned, he would live his life without worrying too much about what his father did.

When he entered the apartment block he collected his mail and found a suspicious-looking letter...

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" everybody cheered.

Harry Potter stared in amazement at the presents for him. For HIM. He had never received so many presents in his life. He had never had a birthday party in his life either. Staring at his friends grinning back at him, Harry scratched the back of his head and said, "Gee, guys..."

You see, today had just been another day for Harry. He had been invited to Grimmauld Place two weeks prior, and although the place still held painful memories of Sirius, he had accepted. Today he had just woken up, had breakfast, and walked into the living room right into his party. His friends and even the members of the Order had fully gotten into the spirit and had decorated the entire room, perhaps even the entire house. Little Gryffindor flags and a banner saying 'HAPPY 16TH HARRY!' hung on the fireplace, and Hermione had temporarily brought a cartoon version of Harry, drawn on cardboard to give it durability, to life. It was currently acting out the time when Harry lost the bones in his arm in his second year and was flopping its hand rather pathetically.

As his friends sang the birthday song, Harry could've sworn he had never felt any happier in his entire life. He grinned happily, but was taken aback by a sudden painful throbbing in his temple. Damn. Trying to fight it, but knowing what it meant, he fell to the floor.

Jounouchi headed towards Yuugi's house after a short bout of video games at Honda's, intending to ask him what he thought about the strange letter he had received. He really didn't know what to make of it – magic, wizards, owls? He had no idea what the whole thing meant but didn't mind trying it out. If it was real.

Swinging into the Kame no Game Shop, he called out a greeting before stopping short.

The Duel Monsters card shop was completely ransacked. Panicking, he called Yuugi's name again, and his grandfather's as well for a safe measure.

The shop was silent.

Knowing he should call for help, Jounouchi ran off to the arcade, where all his friends would be at that time of the day. But apparently Honda was still at home and Anzu was studying; the only people there were Ryou and Malik. Ryou turned towards him but Malik stayed where he was, concentrating on his pinball game.

Jounouchi said, "The Kame no Game Shop's burnt and empty. Yuugi and Jii-san... are gone."

Malik froze in the middle of his pinball game and the silver ball fell into the hole with a clang.

What? You didn't know that Bakura is that selfish? I find it hard to imagine that he'd dump all his shopping (his noodles!) and the letter and run, without knowing who the hell those people were, to the Kame no Game Shop to save the Pharaoh, no less. Haha.

Please review and I would really, really appreciate constructive criticism!

And I gotta say... damn. My English has improved so much.

Hopefully in 8 days you will be looking at 8 revamped chapters + the newest chapter huh?