Torn Fate, Bound Destiny

Chapter Four

Murder

Disclaimer: I own neither Yu-Gi-Oh! or Harry Potter, they belong to Takahashi and Rowling respectively and I take credit only for the situations in which I put their characters. I am also not making any sort of profit out of this story…would be great if I did, but I'm not so that's that.

Summary: The Ceremonial Duel ended and the Pharaoh was given the choice of either moving on or staying. Too used to the World of the Living and attached to his friends, he decides to stay and is given his own body to inhabit in this new life. With his destiny fulfilled and the world safe once again, the Pharaoh feels without purpose and unneeded…at least until a certain young wizard comes into his life, binding their fates and taking the Pharaoh into a whole new set of crazy adventures. Action, Adventure, Angst and Slash!

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Bright rays of sun shone through a half-opened window, coming to fall directly over a certain young wizard's stubbornly closed eyes and disturbing his very much needed, very much troubled sleep and driving him back into the much too problematic waking world.

Last night had been interesting in a very horrific, nightmare-inspiring way for the poor boy and so it came to no surprise when he woke up when it was already nearing noon. Atem had not had the heart to wake him up even when the Pharaoh himself had awakened much earlier, all set and ready to get the boy back to his home and go about dealing with last night's evildoers.

The black-haired boy had been so utterly exhausted last night after explaining as much as he could about his 'world' that the Pharaoh had gone as far as to give up his comfortable bed – unfortunately, the room was for one single guest and so contained one single bed – and sleep in the suitably comfortable couch instead. Harry had been most reluctant to accept, but his weariness had finally beaten him and stopped his protests.

"Wasimeisit?" The boy's rather non-understandable mumbles came from his place still tangled in the bed covers.

Atem snorted amusedly, watching the younger try to run the sleep from his eyes and fail miserably, his hair a perfect representation of a bird's nest that could almost compete with the once spirit's own chaotic locks.

"I will assume you are asking about the time" The regal adolescent said, having more-or-less translated the boy's sleepy words into English. "If it is so, it is now eleven o' clock in the morning"

At that, the green-eyed teenager jumped out of the bed; unfortunately for him, his legs remained tangled in the sheets which made him to fall down right back into the bed and caused Atem to chuckle at his misfortune before the poor boy had the chance to right himself and try to recover his dignity.

"That late!" The younger exclaimed, disentangling himself from the positively evil linens at the same time he tried to make his sleep-wrinkled clothes – which were muddy, bloody, torn and just one step away from unfit to wear anyways – look a bit more acceptable.

"I have to get back to school…" He paused there, giving up his futile quest with his clothes for a moment. "…to tell them about…about C-Cedric" His voice was almost a whisper at the end, his hands clenched tightly and gripping the fabric with much more force than necessary.

Atem frowned at that, his thoughts going back to the boy who had perished last night, the one he had been much too late to save. He had come to the conclusion that it was that boy's death, the spell that caused it, which had called his attention to the events occurring in that awful graveyard in the first place. It was ironic and sad, but that boy's death might very well have saved the life of the younger one.

"I am sorry" The Pharaoh finally said after a long silent pause. "I didn't get there in time to help your friend. My deepest condolences" his words were honest and heartfelt, for he knew what it was like to watch others die, had gone through it three thousand years ago and could still not completely get over it.

"It wasn't your fault" The boy said, shaking his head sadly and keeping his gaze firmly away from the ancient teenager's.

Atem knew what was going through the younger's mind – without having the need to use an Item and read his thoughts, it was plainly written in his face. He was blaming himself for the other's death and probably going over all the things he could have done or not done that would have changed the tragic outcome of last night's events.

"Neither is it yours" The Pharaoh stated firmly, his eyes not leaving Harry's form. "There really was nothing you could have done for him"

The grieving teen merely grunted out a noncommittal sound before turning his back entirely to the Pharaoh to look around for his apparently misplaced wand. It made Atem want to shake some sense into the boy, but he supposed the job was better off left for people said boy trusted and knew more than he did the Pharaoh – other than his name, Harry didn't really know anything else about him.

"I should get going" The boy finally said, having just found his wand and finished putting on his half-torn shoes.

The Pharaoh nodded in understanding and moved away from the wall he had been comfortably leaning against as he conversed with the other teenager, his arms crossed over his chest and look of confident determination back in his face.

"Very well" He agreed. "I will be accompanying you as far as I can. I believe you said something about a pub from where you could find your way back to this school of yours" The Pharaoh said, recalling parts of the conversation they had held last night.

"The Leaky Cauldron, yes" The boy confirmed before blushing for a moment and turning his gaze to the floor. "You don't have to come with me, though, I can get there myself"

Atem only grunted in response, mimicking the sound the boy had given just a minute before and moved to exit the hotel room, rather obviously stating that he would go with the younger anyways. It was enough to make Harry narrow his eyes but he didn't otherwise oppose the other's resolve.

It took another cab ride for them to get to Charing Cross Road, where the wizarding pub was supposedly located. Atem paid the cab driver, which got him a mumbled 'thank you' from his temporary companion. The boy had wanted to pay for the expense of getting there, but it was clear that he carried no money on his person at the time; not that this had stopped him from promising to pay Atem back sometime.

The two walked the short way to the pub in silence, not really knowing what to say. When they finally got the place, Atem noticed that the other pedestrians seemed to completely ignore the place, as though it didn't exist at all, and chalked it up to some sort of enchantment the wizards had placed on it, which made sense once he thought about it.

"Well" The Pharaoh said, stopping his stride when they were at the pub's threshold. "This is where I leave you. I have other business to tend to in London. Good luck and good bye"

"Bye and thanks for everything…again" The boy said, finally meeting gazes with the regal teenager before diving inside the dingy-looking, magic-concealed place.

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As soon as he closed the door behind him, he knew there was something wrong. It was probably some sixth sense born in him from his rather impressive curriculum of adventure, some sort of danger radar or something that at the moment was strongly insisting he get away and fast.

Unfortunately and like any good adolescent, he didn't always listen to his senses and in this case decided to ignore it. In his defense, it can be said that he did glance at the pub's interior to check for mask-wielding, killing-curse-casting black-robe-wearing Death Eaters. The Leaky Cauldron was free of Voldemort's followers –thankfully, he didn't know how much more of those guys he could take – and although he did notice an inordinate amount of stares fixed on him, he put that off as people wanting to stare at the 'famous Boy-Who-Lived' once again and paid it no mind.

His second clue that something was not right – first being his currently ignored danger sense – was when a woman sitting with her children in some random table leapt back from her seat, dragging her young ones behind her as if to protect them from some crazed psychopath with a loaded gun. The reaction made him freeze, which was probably a big mistake in retrospective.

The third and most definite clue was when Tom the barkeeper shouted alarmed at some man behind the counter.

"Call the Aurors!"

Now, Harry had had a very traumatizing night yesterday and he was emotionally drained still and so it was probably one of those psychological reactions meant to protect said emotions and keep him from stressing out which made him think that perhaps, just perhaps, they wanted to call the magical counterparts of the police force because he had been reported missing by Dumbledore and they would escort him back to Hogwarts. Still, stress-preventing psychology or no, Harry Potter was not a normal boy and, having seen and done all he had so far, the childish hope of being rescued by the Aurors died a very quick death.

It was probably helped by the fact that, not one minute after Tom's panicked cry, said Aurors came crashing though the fireplace, wands at the ready and looking for all the world like they were about to attack Sirius Black – who was innocent but as the Aurors didn't know made a good example.

"Get him!" Yelled one of the four red-robed members of Law Enforcement.

And that shout – so very similar, almost identical in fact, to Voldemort's last night – was what finally shook him awake and made him bolt away from the place, banging the door to the Muggle World open and then slamming it closed in some perhaps childish but certainly comforting attempt to keep his pursuers away.

He was now running through the streets of London, feeling more than actually seeing the Aurors at his heels, firing a stupefy every now and then, which he was fortunately dodging so far and saw fly past his head – some colliding with some very unfortunate and now panicked muggles.

It was probably a very cruel and twisted joke of Fate that, the moment he looked back to try and catch a glimpse of the attacking Aurors and stopped paying attention to where he was going, he crashed headfirst into a person; and not just any person, no, it just had to be Atem – the tricolored pointy hairdo was unmistakable.

He heard the other groan from his place underneath him, but he was much too busy listening to the Aurors yell to actually pay attention and feel bad about throwing him to the ground. For some reason Harry himself could not explain – but would always suspect was due to déjà vu from last night – he grabbed the older teenager's hand and dragged him up and away.

"What the….? Harry?" Was all Atem could think of saying as the two ran through the busy city streets, a contingent of angry wizards at their heels once again.

"Just run!" Harry answered, throwing panicked glances back at their pursuers every once in a while.

It wasn't until Atem finally followed his example and looked back that he finally noticed their less than cheery company. The regal boy's frightening red eyes narrowed into an expression that could only be called angry annoyance – making said eyes look even more intimidating, if possible.

"This way" The older boy said, rather calmly too for a person who found himself dragged into yet another one of Harry's chaotic moments.

Atem proceeded to take control of their escape, dragging Harry instead of the other way around. He dove around the crowd of people easily and with a grace Harry could most certainly begrudge him – especially since he did crash into one or two unfortunate individuals – and trying to lose the wizards in the mass of civilian muggles.

A few blocks and quite a number of annoyed people mumbling about irresponsible youths later and the Aurors were still after them. And although the two boys seemed to have gained some ground on them it was obvious that they wouldn't manage to outrun them before a lucky spell hit them or a stray one caused some tragedy. That was when Atem jumped into a random alley – and really, what was with this guy and dark alleys? – and roughly pulled Harry in after him. And as though that much manhandling wasn't enough, the red-eyed boy pushed Harry against the brick wall before leaning over, crushing the younger's body with his own and creating a very much uncomfortable and awkward situation for the wizard.

"What are you..?" But Harry didn't manage to finish his befuddled and slightly indignant question before Atem shushed him harshly.

"Shhhh! Don't talk and whatever you feel, don't scream" Atem's voice was firm and full of authority as he ordered this.

His words unfortunately were not at all reassuring to poor Harry, who could feel his heartbeat accelerate almost dangerously as he wondered if the guy was about to murder or molest him.

Both of his suspicions were proven incorrect soon enough, thankfully…or maybe not quite so much. He saw some tendril of dark mist – it looked kinda like mist, but not any kind of mist he had ever seen before – rise quickly from the ground, crawling over both the boy's bodies and finally covering them from head to toe. He understood what Atem meant with the 'don't scream' comment, the sensation of that thing crawling all over him left him feeling cold, breathless and somehow doomed – it was remarkably similar to that 'stepped over my grave' thing that some people described, only a thousand times worse.

And as though that was not enough stress on his poor heart, the Aurors soon came running right next to the alley. Harry knew that they were not deep enough in the alley to not be noticed, and it was noon so the place was perfectly illuminated; there was no way they wouldn't be seen and caught.

Only, it didn't happen. The Aurors went by – one even poked his head into the alley! – but it was as though they were covered by his beloved invisibility cloak because the men kept going without ever noticing the two escapees.

A minute or so later Atem seemed to deem it safe enough and moved away from Harry and the dark mist finally dispersed into nothingness, making the young wizard able to breathe normally once more. However, as soon as he looked into the older boy's crimson stare he found that he would much prefer to deal with enraged Aurors; Atem could be intimidating like that, Harry had found.

"What happened?" The mysterious teen's voice was more regal and commanding than should be legal for a guy his age, and it made Harry cringe slightly.

"I don't know!" The boy yelled, overstressed from the streak of bad luck that didn't seem to leave him alone. "I just went in and next thing I know they sent the bloody police after me!"

Atem's eyes widened in surprise and then narrowed back in suspicion, making Harry realize that maybe that hadn't been the smartest thing to say to the guy he had dragged during that little merry chase.

"The police?" The multicolor-haired boy stated in a dry, unimpressed voice. "Why, exactly, would they send the police after you?" He said, staring at Harry with enough intensity to make the very brave young Gryffindor squirm.

"I don't know!" He repeated, still panicky and exasperated "It's like they thought I was a criminal or something but I didn't do anything!" He said, protesting his innocence.

Atem narrowed his eyes some more and, unknown to Harry, prodded at the wizard's soul gently, trying to determine the honesty of his words. Finally, he sighed in defeat and nodded, agreeing to the younger's claims of innocence. That, at least, brought Harry some relief, since it probably meant he was not going to be dragged down to the Leaky Cauldron and delivered to the Aurors.

"It could be a misunderstanding" Atem stated, turning his gaze to the entrance of the alley and the city outside it as he contemplated possibilities. "Is there some way for you to find out?"

Harry thought about it, coming up with ideas and then discarding them just about as soon. He couldn't send a letter to Ron and Hermione because Hedwig was still back at Hogwarts and any owl for rent he could get his hands of was in Diagon Alley, which would mean going through the Leaky Cauldron and the angry crowd inside it. He also could not contact Dumbledore or anyone else in the Wizarding World for the same reason. In other words, he was pretty much screwed.

And then, just like that, an idea – a very crazy and probably inadequate one – came to his mind and would not leave him alone. Atem seemed to notice that he had stopped thinking options as well as his reluctance to speak and raised a curious eyebrow at it.

"Well?" He prompted, making Harry wince at being caught so easily.

"I-I think…" The boy paused for a moment, gathering his courage before starting to speak again "The people at the Leaky Cauldron have to know…but…well, I can't go" He said, staring at Atem and hoping his unspoken suggestion was understood.

It was. Atem sighed again, and Harry had the feeling that he would have groaned were it not both rude and kind of out of character for him.

"But I can" He finally said. "Very well" He said, agreeing with the plan and making the young wizard want to sigh in relief.

"But you stay here while I go" The ruby-eyed teen said, eyes firmly trained on Harry. "Do not move from this place"

Harry felt a little insulted that the guy though he had to repeat himself and speak to him as though he were some little misbehaving child, but was much too grateful for Atem's continued help to really protest too much and so – other than an apparently ignored glare – he let it pass.

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Atem considered it might not be all that bad a thing, having to check this wizarding place out himself, since he had pretty much decided to explore this newly discovered sub-society. Of course, he hadn't planned on having to investigate why his most recent companion had gone from kidnap victim to wanted felon, but life can be unexpected like that.

He opened the door and walked inside the dark pub, his stride as confident and regal as that of the king he had been once a lifetime ago, looking for all the world like he owned the place and knew it – that was a little technique he had learned and copied from none other than Seto Kaiba, Mr.-King-of the business-world.

His entrance seemed to get the attention of all of the Leaky Cauldron's patrons, but most just glanced once at him before dismissing him as unimportant and going back to their business; though a few people stared at him and muttered irritably about 'muggle fashion these days'. Atem ignored them all.

The barkeeper, and old man who seemed to be missing quite a few of his teeth, gazed at him for a few moments before finally seeming to decide that Atem was out of place and he should go investigate the new arrival on his establishment, mumbling about stay muggles. That word was starting to get on the ancient teen's nerves.

"Are you lost, boy?" The man asked, a bit rudely in Atem's opinion, but his opinion might be slightly skewered due to the fact that he was a Pharaoh and was used to being treated with utmost respect.

"No" Atem said, complete confidence in his voice even though he was mentally scrambling for some way to get the information he needed without being obvious about it.

Fortunately, the gods seemed to be in his favor today and he spotted what could certainly be the most interesting newspaper he had ever seen in his life – and considering a few of the headlines you could see in Domino, that was saying something – with moving pictures and all. Atem moved towards the discarded paper lying on a barstool, ignoring the barkeeper for now as he had something much more interesting than a grouchy wizard with bad dental hygiene.

There on the front page, written in bold and flashing black letters and accompanied by a picture of the young wizard he had left in some alley, were the words:

"Harry Potter Murders Fellow Tri-wizard Champion Cedric Diggory"

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Author's Notes: And the plot thickens! It seems nothing is ever easy for Harry and Atem, ne? At least not when I'm the one writing XD So, what do you think? Will Atem turn Harry in? Will the Aurors find them, or at least the now lone Harry? Stay tuned to ''Torn Destiny, Bound Fate" and find out! ^-^

Chiro Fukana: Thank you very much for the review ^_^ Yeah, well, I'm trying to make those two take things slow, so they are starting as mere acquaintances and will advance on to friends and then finally to something more XD

Tarica: Thanks for your review, I really do appreciate your points of view ^^ Oh, I could have written it, I guess, but knowing me I would have written at least twice as much as the chapter already had just to go onto details and making sure I covered stuff I would need Atem to know later on ^^U

goldenqueenofthecove: First of all I want to thank you for the comment :3 Yeah, that part is probably like my second favorite from the movie (and only because I absolutely love dragons and the first task looked great XD) so I tried to keep it as emotional as the original. Oh and yes, there is major freaking out coming along sometime soon *cackles evilly*

aquabless Thanks a bunch for the review ^-^ Well, since they are very different branches of magic I really couldn't tell you which one is strongest, especially since wizard magic is so versatile so if you compare Shadow magic to…let's say a levitation charm then yeah, it beats wizard magic hands down but when compared to a killing curse then they might be more equal .

A big, great thank you to everyone who reviewed this story. I would really like to encourage you people to leave comments, as it helps a lot to know what you think of my work and also how you think it could be better so comments, suggestions and ideas go in the review box! ^-^