Professor Mcgonagall was handing out schedules. Harry was eying the staff table while Ron and Hermione were quarreling over the Daily Prophet. No Hagrid, but a smiling Umbridge who was playing with her food as if it was repulsing.
Dumbledore was as always watching the students, but this time he wasn't the only one, Professor Muto was also watching them, with amusement on his face. Every now and then his gaze spaced out as if he was in very deep thoughts. It looked a bit weird but Harry had no doubt that he was attentive.

A sudden "Yes!" from Ron made Harry look away from the staff table. "What is it?" he asked.

"We've got History of Magic first class today!" he said overly pleased.

"I never thought you'd say that", Hermione said amused and sat with a hand in her bushy hair.

"Do mine ears deceive me?" Fred said and squeezed himself down on the bench with George beside Harry. "Now that he has become a prefect he suddenly starts to like all the boring subjects. Look at your Monday!" He was hovering over Harry's schedule "It is the worst I've ever seen! History of Magic, however that can only have become better now, double Potions, Divination..." Hermione wrinkled her nose at that class but everyone ignored her. "and double Defense Against the Dark Arts. I don't believe that Umbridge woman will be much to celebrate."

"Of course not", Hermione said and shot Umbridge a poisonous look. "She is just here to keep us quiet on order of the Ministry."

"Well you don't know that", Ron protested, but Harry thought Ron was being way to positive about Professor Umbridge.

"Keep the hope on Professor Muto and don't wast any on that pink toad, she's a lost case anyway", George suggested.

They kept talking about different thing, mostly Fred and George trying to scare them for their new year, their O.W.L year. Then it came to Fred and George's future plans and Harry pretend to drop his knife so no one would see how red he turned when Hermione asked where they'd get the money from. In fact it was Harry who had given them the money he had won the previous year.
But Ron was oblivious to all and was unable to sit in his seat, when the clock turned 8.50 he called out: "Time to go to class!"

"I wish he always was this enthusiastic", Harry muttered.

"I don't!" Hermione said, sounding horrified. "Just think about it, Ron, like this all the time. It'd be terrible."

On second thought Harry had to agree with Hermione.

To their great surprise everyone was already there, including the Slytherins who didn't often bother coming early. It was simply odd.

Everyone jumped when at exactly nine o'clock the two huge black doors swung outwards and the short Professor Muto stood in the door opening smiling at them in a rather friendly looking way. Not at all like the little laugh Umbridge always carried.

"Come in", he said warmly, turned his back towards them and walked towards his desk.

They all stood and hesitated in the hallway. To everyone's surprise it were Parvati and Lavender who were the first to enter and their surprised gasp persuaded the others to enter too.
They all grasped for breath when they saw the room, it was entirely different from what it once had been.
The benches weren't standing in rows like they usually did but in V format; like a group of birds heading out the door. The formation created a lot of room in the center of the classroom and with one gaze Professor Muto could see what each one of them was doing when sitting at his desk.

Right then he was leaning against it with his hand beside him on the desk. He was wearing the same tank-top as the day before but had gotten rid of the bracelets. He was wearing blue jeans and a blue jacket in the same colour. He still had his choker, the up and down pyramid, the little red bag, the belts and buckled boots. Once again Harry was amazed by the triple-colored hair, Professor Muto had to be a Metamorphmagus.
However it weren't the formation of the benches nor the Professors hair that caught everyone's eyes. It was the way the room was decorated. The floor had turned into a lot lighter kind of wood, it wasn't nearly white but just as light. The walls were nearly gold of color, like the sands of the Egyptian desert the way he had seen it on pictures. And perhaps that was exactly what it was meant to resemble because at the wall where the blackboard hung there were stones with pictures and hieroglyphs carved into them. It was rather amazing.

"Hermione, what do they say?" he asked the clever girl.

She shrugged "I don't know, I am too far away to tell."

"I believe we might have taken a wrong turn", Crabbe said to no one in particular.

"I like to hear that", Professor Muto said out loud and the whispers went silent immediately. "It means I have achieved my goal. Please all take a seat so we can get started.

Harry could notice that Professor Muto was observing the group carefully as they sat down. Then he smirked. "Alright, I've got your names here. I am going to call them out loud, I want you to give a sign of your presence when I do so. Alright. Brown, Lavender?"

"Here!" she called out eager to get this over with and start class.

"Finnigan, Seamus?" and so Professor Muto swiftly worked down the entire Gryffindor list then he went on to the Slytherins. "Bulstrode, Millicent?"

"Present", she muttered and started to write figures on her bench with her fingers.

When Professor Muto was done he looked at them with a bothered smile on his face. "United you were suppose to stand, however I can tell simply from the way you are sitting that you aren't!"

For some reason everyone was looking at Hemione, even the Slytherins, and as the benches were standing that was more than obvious. "How am I supposed to know what that means?" she protested nearly shyly.

Professor Muto chuckled. "I'll explain. The human mind is created so that we automatically make ourselves part of a group, so we feel safe, however it is often this instinct that keeps people from becoming one united front, because they are unable to go outside that group. Right now this room is divided in five different groups and in one of them I stand alone. Rather depressing if you look at it like that. Let me explain it more thoroughly. I could draw a line right now so you can see what I mean."

And just as Professor Muto said it a dark blue line appeared, no not one, three Harry noticed. Everyone was leaning over their benches to watch them appear.

"What are they good for?" Malfoy asked with a touch of annoyance in his voice to mask the uncertainty.

"They point out the flaws of the human mind. Look at how you are sitting. I can read your personal relationship to each other but it is most clearly that Gryffindor and Slytherin stand divided, why else would each house have chosen a different side of the classroom. Then there is the fact that the boys sit gathered and the girls sit gathered at both rows. This is what I call divided."

Everyone was gaping at him like fish but Harry could not deny the fact that what he said was true.

"Let's try something. I want you, miss Granger to swap places with miss Parkinson. You, mister Thomas can swap places with miss Greengrass and you miss Brown can swap places with mister Zabini."

They all kept staring at him as if he had spoken a foreign language.

"Was I unclear? Come on", he persuaded.

Harry was at least glad that he could remain on his place but he felt sorry for Hermione who was now sitting in between Malfoy and Millicent. He, Harry, and Parvati sat now next to Pansy Parkinson. Daphne Greengrass sat now in between Seamus and Neville while Dean now sat in between Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode.

"It would have brought me joy had you only been united in such a way that you would not find this strange and uncomfortable", Professor Muto said. "Alright, before I tell you this years course aims you'll have to do a task for me. You will all make an oral presentation from different subjects of history. It doesn't need to be long or all too detailed but teach me how your history looks like. The English history of magic."

He picked one of the many pieces of parchment, which looked rather forlorn on his deck.

"Good, miss Granger you will take the 90s. Which includes the current status of the Wizarding World. Be as honest as you deem possible."

Harry found that a rather weird task and he wondered how much Professor Muto knew about the subject he was about to teach. Was he a fake, like Lockhart? He hoped not.

"Mister Potter you will be taking the 80s. Mister Nott the 70s . Mister Zabini the 60s. Mister Goyle the 50s and since mister Thomas and miss Davis seem to have become such good acquaintances they can take the 40s together."

Malfoy looked horrified and Harry was well aware why. Dean was muggle-born, at least Dean thought so, and Malfoy would never approve of someone of his house working with a muggle-born but for some reason neither Tracey or Dean seemed to mind. Harry was not sure whether he found Dean a betrayer or very brave for trying to make conversation with a Slytherin. He decided to go for the latter and take a positive point of view on it.

Professor Muto kept distributing years and when everyone had himself a year Professor Muto said. "Go sit where you want to sit. It's really not my business anyway. Everyone returned to their original places, except for Dean who told Daphne that he'd like to be where he was. Daphne was forced to sit in the one remaining free bench in their row, closest to the door next to Blaise Zabini. Not one of the Slytherins was very pleased with Dean's refusal to go back to the Gryffindor row.

"The oral presentation will be done on Thursday. Any questions?"

Nearly all hand shot up in the air.

The Professor laughed and said: "Any questions regarding the task I gave you?"

"Why do you want us to do this? As a teacher you must have heard all this a hundred times and besides, isn't it up to you to teach us what happened?" Malfoy complained.

"I do not know much about English history of magic. I'm not from here and though I am interested we will not cover that subject in my class this year. So I'll leave you to teach me and the others, it is also a good opportunity for me to see what you all go for."

"Professor where are you from?" Lavender asked curiously.

"Partly from Japan, partly from Egypt."

"Is that why this room is so terribly gold-colored?" Malfoy asked scornful.

"Perhaps mister Malfoy. However that is not gold-colored, gold is darker. It's yellow and it has been proven that people have easier to learn in a yellow room or surrounded by yellow colors. Would you prefer to work in this kind of room?" As Professor Muto asked it Harry looked around himself. The walls turned a dark red and heavy black curtains covered the windows. Their benches had been a color somewhere between the color of the wall and the floor but now they were a dark brown that made them look much heavier.

"I'm a Slytherin, I prefer green and silver", Malfoy said and pretended to be unaffected by the fact that Professor Muto had changed the entire room without even using his wand.

"Do you have animals at your home, mister Malfoy?"

"Peacocks, why?" Malfoy asked confused and glared at everyone that laughed. He even hit Crabbe on the back of his head.

"Animals like cows give better milk if they stand in a green stable, which is rather natural", Professor Muto said with a mischievous smile.

"When was that proven, I've never heard about it", Parvati asked. She wasn't doubtful, simply curious. Not that Parvati ever doubted such things, she even believed Professor Trelawny.

"It's a muggle study. Rather useful, many muggle schools painted their classrooms yellow."

"Beh, it can't be correct if it is a muggle study", Crabbe claimed.

"Why not?" Professor Muto asked and had a little smile on his face that made Harry feel as if he had missed a joke.

"Well..." Crabbe said, clearly feeling cornered.

Goyle came to his aid: "They are muggles, they can't do anything good. All they ever do turns out a failure. They are failures!"

"Exactly!" Crabbe said and threw Goyle a grateful look.

"Ever met one?" Professor Muto asked. He was clearly amused, yet bothered.

"Of course not! I don't sink to that level!" Goyle protested.

"There are loads of fine humans among muggles!" Hermione proclaimed fiercely. "There are also loads of people you don't want to get to know! Just like among wizards."

"Shut up, mudblood!" Malfoy barked.

"Hey!" Professor Muto called out, all amusement gone from his face. "By all means, discuss your opinions but do not insulted each other! Any of you that will prevent someone from saying what they think can stay after class!"

"Hermione is right", Dean said and Harry found it rather odd to see him sitting among the Slytherins. "There are many good people among muggles. The only reason why you would think they are less than yourself is if you've never been in their company. They are just regular people like ourselves. Muggles are not inferior to wizards and wizards aren't inferior to muggles."

"For your information I can say that all of you have been in the presence of a muggle. I have no doubt", Professor Muto proclaimed and got a mischievous smile on his face.

"How can you know that?" Malfoy asked condescending. "I'm sure I've never been in the presence of a muggle."

"Oh, yes you have. You have even talked to him, listened to him, obeyed him."

It dawned on Hermione first. "No way!" she exclaimed with a voice somewhere between excited and worriedThen Harry realized it too and he gaped at Professor Muto, who was grinning.

"What?" Ron asked and couldn't figure out why half of the class was staring at the Professor as if he just had confessed he was responsible for the creation of the giants. Crabbe, Goyle, Lavender, Millicent and Pansy had the same problem. "What?" they all asked their neighbors.

"Ron", Harry said. "I believe that Professor Muto is a muggle."

"What?" Ron asked incredulous but Harry ignored him and had his entire attention focused on the Professor.

"As most of you already have figured out I am a muggle by your standards. I do not own a wand and I have no desire to have one either. I've got what I need and don't fool yourselves elieving I'm powerless."

"This is despicable!"Malfoy cried out. "How could Dumbledore sink to such a low level! My father will hear about this! He'll get both you and Dumbledore out of this rotten place!"

Harry had expected Professor Muto to become angry but he remained calm. "Draco Malfoy." The named one was glaring at the short Professor in front of him. "I'd like to meet your father, however not yet. It'd be too early, much too early." It was as if Professor Muto had forgotten about them for a while. He was staring at the floor and when he looked up he had a glimmer in his eyes that Harry found unnerving. "I am a teacher and I will be treated with the same respect as one. Class dismissed, do not forget about the oral presentation!"

They all left the room with different mixtures of feelings. Harry himself was both looking forward to the next lesson, despite the oral presentation, but he was also worried about the new Professor. Last year people had gone missing and were killed by Lord Voldemort. Harry was sure that Professor Muto would also end up on the lists of targets if Lucius Malfoy came to know about him.

As if Ron had read Harry's thoughts he asked: "Why do you think Professor Muto would like to meet Lucius Malfoy?"

Harry had no time to answer before they were attacked by Ron's elder brothers.

"And what was he like?" George asked nearly jumping up and down with curiosity.

"Absolutely unexpected. You'll see what I mean", Ron said. "When do you have him?"

"We don't", Fred said disappointed. "He doesn't teach students that have passed their O.."

"Then let me tell you about him", Ron said with a smile. "He changed the entire classroom into some gold yellowish color and you know what..."

"Hey, Harry", George said, interrupting his brother. "Where is Hermione?"

/I'm proud of you, partner?/ Atem said sitting in spirit form on the chair behind the desk. /You did a great job with these students and you treated young Malfoy just like any other student/

/Do you think these values are his, or his fathers?/ Yugi wondered.

/I don't know, however we are not alone yet. Look up/

Yugi did as Atem suggested and looked up. Hermione Granger was still standing in the classroom.

"Miss Granger?" Yugi asked. "Something wrong?"

"No not at all", she said quickly. "I was just wondering if I … could have a look at the hieroglyphs on the wall."

"Can you read them?" Yugi asked surprised. Had he known that someone was able to read them he might not have put them up there. At least he had been smart enough not to put his duplicate of The Tablet of Lost Memories in the classroom. Atem on the tablet looked simply a bit too much alike him for the students not to notice, especially not if they wanted to have a closer look at it.

"I study Ancient Runes and they have taken up the subject of hieroglyphs once and I got interested. But still only a bit, they are complicated. Can you?"

"Yes, something like that. Come have a look if you'd like." Yugi sat down and watched the brown-haired girl as she studied the first thing on the wall.

"This is from the Pert Em Hiru, isn't it?" she asked and referred to a piece of parchment magically attached to the wall.

"Very good miss Granger. It is indeed. Can you tell what this scene shows?" Yugi asked, eager to find out the lengths of her knowledge.

"No, I've never seen it before. What does it show?" she asked with a frown.

"The creation of seven items to punish tomb robbers. That's what the story tells anyway. Although these items exist it is not because of that they were formed." Yugi said and frowned. Atem had always been reluctant to tell him exactly how they were forged.

"Then why were they created?" Hermione asked curious.

"Once Egypt was under attack by an enemy so great that everyone thought it was lost. However the brother of the ruling Pharaoh, Akhnaden, found a way to beat them with an army of seven. He preformed a spell that forged seven items that possessed great power, a very dark power. The enemy was defeated but the spell that was preformed had a nasty side effect. It resurrected Zorc, a demon from eons before the creation of these items. He tried to kill everyone who had helped in creating the seven items, beginning with the brother of the Pharaoh, but he gauged out one eye and used the Millenium Eye to repel Zorc, sealing him in the stone which created the items. On their way home every soldier died, the story doesn't say why, but only the Pharaoh's brother survived."

Hermione Granger was listening fascinated.

"The nephew of the man who created the items, was Pharaoh at the moment Zorc decided to make his move; he was about to destroy the entire world. The Pharaoh locked Zorc away in the tablet where he first came from and the Pharaoh's soul got sealed in one of these seven items, a pendant, it was the sacrifice he had to make to free his country from the Shadows. He wiped his memory blank and entrusted a family of tomb-keepers to guard it for him so he, and only he, would be able to retrieve it when he needed it again. He also gave order of wiping his name from history. His name, which was the only thing that could free the demon again. "

"Wow", Hermione said. "That's fascinating."

"I know. Shall I continue?" Yugi asked, well aware what she was going to answer.

"Yes, please!" she said eager. Then, slightly blushing: "If that's okay."

Yugi laughed. "Sure. When the pharaoh's memory and the pharaoh's soul got locked away the pendant shattered, making it a puzzle. It seemed like little else than a very sad ending. But Zorc had a priest, a dark priest called Zorc Necrophades who locked his own soul in a different one of the seven items, to awake again when the Pharaoh's soul returned. The pharaoh's soul would return the moment the puzzle was solved. And when the puzzle was solved a complicated game started. The pharaoh did not recall who he was or why he existed like he did, a mere restless spirit. The dark priest at the other hand manipulated everything in order to once again resurrect the demon Zorc."

"Did he succeed?" Hermione asked.

"Yes and no. Zorc was ressurected, but not quite in a way that the dark priest had anticipated. Because the dark priest could not find the Pharaoh's name he used the locked away memories of the pharaoh to create a very dangerous game. And he lost this game. Zorc was resurrected, but he was defeated with the help of the people who had gotten to know the Pharaoh after he returned to this world. They altered the past and the Pharaoh's soul was no longer trapped in the puzzle and he regained his memories, while both Zorc and his priest were gone forever."

"Poor guy", Hermione said. "Brave though."

Yugi smiled and glanced at Atem was standing next to the chair, invisible to the student. He smiled a bit.

"How do these powers work?" she wondered.

"How would I know?" Yugi asked making it sound as if he didn't. He did, he just didn't want to tell her.

She moved on to the next thing on the wall. "I can read this, a bit." She said and pointed towards a duplicate of a stone.

"Let's see. This means Pharaoh and that six ... eh, priest … death?" she wondered. "Hm, evil. Sacred … door … pray … evil … Pharaoh. This is way to hard for me. What does it say?"

"The young Pharaoh and the six upper priests gave their lives to seal a great evil behind the sacred door. I pray that this evil will not be revived with the Pharaoh's memory", Yugi said. "This is about the same Pharaoh as I told you about. Everyone rather wanted him to be without memory and be free from Zorc than that he regained them and risk Zorc destroying the world again. Despite that, not all of the six priests died, one survived and he took command over the armies when the others had fallen but he survived until the Pharaoh was able to seal Zorc. Though his beloved died in that fight when she saved his life. After the young nameless Pharaoh sealed himself he became ruler of Egypt. He was the Pharaoh's cousin after all. It is written that he became a very good Pharaoh. The sixth person who died had been priest, once, he wasn't anymore at that point."

"Wow, how amazing. How long ago was that?" Hermione asked fascinated.

"Five thousand years ago. However miss Granger, if I was to tell you the entire story until you got it we'd be here the rest of the day and I still have a class to teach while you, I'm sure, still have a class to attend to."

Yugi couldn't hide a smile when he saw her shocked face. "Oh no, I've got to go! See you Thursday professor!"

The brown-haired student ran out the black double doors. With a glance at the clock Yugi could see that his next class was about to start within ten minutes so he hurried to get the things he needed ready while Atem was watching him silently.

Eventually he chose to say something. /Why did you tell her so much?/

"She asked and I wasn't going to lie to her", Yugi said simply. "She has no idea that it is true."

/This is a world in which the government acknowledges the use of magic. She just might/ Atem said. /If the powers of the Shadows fall into the wrong hands … you know what happened with Bakura!/

/You're right. Of course you are. We shouldn't risk the control we have over the Shadows by telling people about the Millennium Items. It's just that.../ Yugi wasn't sure whether he wanted to tell the Pharaoh or not.

/What Yugi?/ Atem asked softly. It was a tone he only ever used to Yugi.

/You remember that Ishizu told us that your window of opportunity would close if we didn't hurry?/

Atem nodded. /I do/ Patiently he waited for Yugi to continue.

/It's just that … well … What if you are forced to stay within the puzzle forever without anyone knowing you are there? I just want someone to know about the sacrifice you made for saving Egypt. I mean now that you are stuck … What if I die? What happens to you then? Will you go back to the puzzle? I just want someone to think about you sometimes, when I can't anymore/ Yugi cast his eyes down. He was somewhat ashamed over admitting that.

It wasn't something that happened often but Atem was touched. /Yugi/ he said lowly and stood up. He placed a hand on his friends shoulder as he always did when Yugi was sad. /Thank you/ He gave his surprised host a hug.

"You never hug", Yugi said sounding rather incredulous.

/I have learned that it's a common way to show brotherly affection in this time and right now if felt appropriate/ Atem was completely serious when he said that and it made Yugi laugh. /Did I say something wrong?/ Atem asked tentative.

/No, you said something exactly right/ Yugi laughed and let go of Atem. He looked at his schedule and saw that the next class were fourth year Hufflepuff and Slytherin.

/You know partner, I like this castle/

Yugi was slightly taken aback by that unexpected comment. /Why?/

/You never smiled before you came here/

"Before we begin today's lesson", Snape said, as he stared around at all of them; for a moment he seemed surprised. "Where is miss Granger?"

At that exact moment Hermione came storming in the classroom.

"Ten points from Gryffindor miss Granger. I hope you had no intention of repeating this, I will not allow late comers in my class."

"She will have some explaining to do", Ron whispered to Harry.

Later in the Great hall Harry had already started his lunch when the others arrived.

"That was really unfair", Hermione said consolingly. "Your potion wasn't nearly as bad as Goyle's, when he put in..."

"No way, Hermione", Ron said. "You are going to tell us why you are late. You are never late!"

Hermione went red and looked down.

"Tell us Hermione", Ron pressed on.

Hermione helped herself to some food and fingered a bit with her knife before she said: "You remember those hieroglyphs Professor Muto had on the wall. I stayed to ask him what they read. He told me what they read and the myth behind them. It's a really sad story."

"Anything is good enough to skip potions for", Ron remarked.

"I mean it!" Hermione said angered. "But it's very complicated. I don't get it entirely yet. It is as if he knew too much details to actually be able to tell it but wanted to pretend he simply had once heard it been told."

"Tell us", Harry said, his curiosity awoken.

And that was what Hermione did the rest of the lunch break. She told them about the page from the Pert Em Hiru, about the creature called Zorc, about the young Pharaoh and the items. Everything.

"Still I can't believe that you skipped class for that", Ron said skeptical.

Hermione blushed again. "I had no intentions of skipping class, but something is off with the new Professor. He sounded so sad when he told that story and he described as if he had been there when everything happened."

Ron took a large bite and frowned. He shook his head and swallowed. "You don't actually think he has something to do with that myth. I mean it can't be true, can it? Was it true I'm sure I would have heard something from Bill, he was in Egypt before he came back home. Anyway how is it possible that there is a legend you don't know?"

Harry chuckled. That was the first thing that had crossed his mind too.

"I know a lot, not everything", she said as if it was obvious, which it kinda was. "Well I know something is off about him and I intend to find out what. Right now the only clue I've got is that he knew a story that is unknown in the wizarding world."

"Perhaps that is because he's a muggle", Ron suggested.

"Even then I'd known it", Hermione snapped at him. "I'm muggleborn!"
She took a piece of blank paper and started scribbling on it fast. The ink splattered all over the table when Hermione in her eagerness wanted to start a new sentence. She didn't bother about it but simply dipped her feather in the ink on the wooden table.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked and when he realized how stupid it sounded he added: "Who are you writing too?"

"Bill", she said loudly and kept writing frantic.

"Bill?" Ron and Harry asked simultaneously.

"Yes of course! Who else am I supposed to ask about an ancient Egyptian legend?" Hermione said, clearly pissed.

Neither Harry or Ron could give a decent answer to that.

It was a pain to write Yugi's conversation with Hermione. I hope it was good enough. I know the story which makes it a whole lot more understandable to me than to Hermione.

This is the last day of the vacation and I have a week worth of schoolwork to catch up on so I have no idea when I'll update again. I hope before or during the coming weekend. Next chapter will contain another cannon figure.

Review please.