Author's Notes:

Wow, this is late. No, it's not because I just wrote it or because it was just finished being edited (that sounds weird). It's because of this stupid book…which is pretty funny, known as Animal Farm.

By the way, there is an extreme time jump. But this missing parts will appear in flashbacks :)

12 Grimmuald Place

Hermione's P.O.V

Okay, so Harry is coming tomorrow, but more importantly, who are the mysterious students the Order keeps talking about? I've seen Dumbledore come in once or twice to talk to the Order; he even came up to me personally and asked if I would like to tutor two of the new transfers, saying that the others wouldn't need it for undisclosed reasons. Then, of course, when Harry comes in tomorrow, he is going to be raving and begging for answers to questions that I don't have answers to. He is going to be infuriated and I am going to look like a terrible friend for not placating him.

The sound of wood banging against…something resonates through the house, followed by a gush of hot air. The curtain flies open, revealing shrieks of terror and hatred that intermingles with the hot air, creating a scene not much different from a B-rated horror movie. Taking the stairs two at a time to see who could've made such an entrance, I am vaguely aware of Lupin and Sirius heading in the opposite direction, but ignore it in favor of my curiosity.

Once in the main hall, a new form of yelling overtakes my senses, and a stranger screaming in some foreign language storms into the hall. Befuddling, seeing as how I know most languages still spoken by Muggles.

"Shut up!" A higher-pitched voice demands, the owner of said aforementioned voice with hair just as white as the previous stranger's storms into the room. Hmmm, they must be brothers.

"Shut up, hikari," The other person barks back.

A small screech escapes the more masculine one's mouth, and he grabs a rather important part of his body. My hands fly to my mouth, but whether it is out of horror or fear that I'll start laughing at the elder's face, I do not know.

"Why the bloody hell did you kick me in my fucking nuts?" He bellows, glaring at the other, undoubtedly younger one.

"You know what…you take the body and feel the pain that you've caused us." The older one yells, and I raise an eyebrow in confusion.

With a flash of light blinding me, the younger one disappears, and the first one morphs to look to like the second. Then, the older one reappears next to the younger one, who now seems to be in . Probably a trick of the light…

"Ow 'Kura, you handle pain better than me." The boy whines. Why is he suddenly in pain? Did he not kick the older one moments before? Did he not simply switch places with his older counterpart? Taking the time to gloss over the inhabitants of the room, I am aware of five other strangers, along with Ron and I, watching the argument transpire.

"Haha, I guess he does have balls!" The one with the sandy, gel-spiked hair that defies gravity cackles.

"Mariku, I will kick you in the nuts too..." The younger white haired boy threatens.

"Damn 'Kura, your hikari has been quite pissy lately, hasn't he." The one aforementioned to be Mariku snorts.

"Yeah," the one named 'Kura grunts, wholeheartedly glaring at his younger brother.

The speed in which a foot can connect with someone's crotch and cause the victim to shriek in pain stuns me. The young one with white hair huffs, glaring at his brother and then at the pineapple-haired, sandy blonde, before exiting the house altogether.

"Wow, you two had a complete personality flop." A brown-haired man with startling blue eyes standing in the corner of the room comments. I feel a slight blush tinge my cheeks as I look at him; he's really handsome, just standing mysteriously in the shadows. No Hermione, bad. Focus on the problem at hand.

"So, not to be rude, but why are you guys here?" I ask, trying to make a normally insolent statement sound polite. First impressions are key to building relationships…or extracting information…

"I'm sorry. Professor Dum-Dumbledore advised us to come here after we were attacked by a group of figures in black dresses. My apologies if they were your friends, but a few of my comrades got annoyed and…got rid of them." One with spiky black hair and crimson eyes apologizes. His voice is very regal, like Draco's without as much condescension, maybe his father...and thus he earns my immediate dislike.

The one next to him, who looks exactly like him—probably his younger brother gives me a soft smile. "Um, do you think…by any chance…is there a place for us to sleep?" He asks softly, pulling what only could be called a panda-face. Or is that how he regularly looks?

"Well, there are quite a few rooms, but they are all single bed rooms." I answer, hoping my helpfulness will earn their trust. The boy continues to smile at me, "That's fine, we only need four beds anyway." He replies.

Continuing my smile, I nod to him before turning, ready to show them to their rooms. Wow... I guess their relationship as siblings must be considerable; I doubt Ron is that close to any of his brothers. Speaking of him, his cheeks are bright red like he's about to start screaming. It's kind of shocking that he listened quietly for so long; Ron's quite explosive at times.

"There are seven of you, aren't there? Are you saying that you would willingly sleep with another guy? And who the hell are you? You think you can just waltz up in here and demand housing. And what's with your moody friend. He better not think he can act like that around us! We are not tolerating your bullshit," Ron lectures. Gosh…Ron can't let anything be simple.

The older star-shaped hair teen shrugs, "I don't mind sleeping next to you, aibou; do you mind, aibou?"

His younger brother's cheeks turn bright red in embarrassment, but he nods.

Ignoring the other's rejection, he continues, "Well, as for who we are, I am Yugi Motou, this is my friend Yami Sennen, the one with white hair is Bakura..." The one addressed as Yugi begins, but stops.

"Bakura Tozokuo," the one addressed as Bakura corrects.

"The Egyptian with the wild hair is Mariku Ishtar, and the one next to him is Marik Ishtar, but they aren't related—a statement met with an inquisitive gaze—the one who stormed out earlier is Ryou Bakura. He's actually usually the most polite and shy out of all of us, but he's been very...stressed...ever since he arrived back in England." Yugi goes on to explain. Strange, I'm pretty sure Yugi is the nicest, shyest one out of the group. But then again, he did take the liberty of introducing everyone. A figure slips in through the open door and closes it silently behind him, remaining in the back of the room with his eyes downcast. He looks nothing like the boy I met earlier.

"I-I'm sorry for my behavior earlier. Things have just been tough. Don't worry, I will never act like that again." The boy apologizes rather softly.

Wow, with such a personality flip, even Ron notices it along with a few more discrepancies with the group as a whole.

"What the hell was that? You come in and act like a complete ass, and then you leave and return like somebody completely different. What, do you have some disorder or you completely insane? Or are you just mental?! And as for you guys, sharing a bed with a complete stranger...er...friend...well...," Ron trails off, though he jumps back right into his whining when he gets the word he was looking for.

"All of the above," Bakura teases, wrapping an arm around his younger look-alike's shoulder, slyly or at least attempting to be sly in using his hand to cover the boy's mouth.

Ron looks at the rest of the group like they are all mental, and I have to repress a shudder; what if they are all crazy? Can we trust them? He finally speaks up, though he changes the subject abruptly.

"Hmm...Bakura...that sounds like a familiar name." The boy muses. Both Ryou's and Bakura's eyebrows shoot up at his musings.

After a bit of pondering, Ron comes to his conclusion, "Oh! Now I know...uh Professor Bakura! He works with my older brother Bill...do you know him?" Ron asks.

Taken aback by the name, Ryou is slow to reply. "Yes, I know him; he's my father." His focus is once again on the dusty, wooden floors of the room. He's trying to hide his bitterness, but he's failing miserably.

The one known as Marik wraps his arms around the younger boy protectively. Hmm...this group is definitely strange, and I think Ron senses that too. But, the glare he seems to be receiving from Marik is enough to keep the boy silent.

"So, let me show you guys to your rooms." I say, trying to stop the awkward conversation from continuing. I lead the boys to each of the four rooms, the group slowly dispersing as they go into their appointed room.

Yugi's P.O.V

Wow, this place is so nice...well...quaint. I have to say, it looks better than the game shop, at least to me. Yami keeps ranting about how dirty and old this place is, even though I am pretty sure that he is older than the house—more or less the entire country known as Britain itself, actually.

"So, Yami? What are we supposed to do now that we're here?" I murmur, trying to gain his attention without directing his ranting to me. Who is he ranting to anyways? Oh…I think it is me.

Yami stops his ranting and looks me in the eye, and I feel my heart melt. Those eyes... They. Are. Amazing.

"Yugi?" The voice jolts me out of my reverie and I refocus on the tangible Yami.

"Yes?" I jump slightly at the crisp tone of Yami's voice, and look at him as innocently as I can, which is pretty innocent. I mean, not to sound cocky, but I'm kind of adorable!

A slight look of irritation crosses Yami's face, and like coal to fire, my cheeks heat up. "I said we help out however we can without being bothersome. School starts soon, so we should be leaving any day now. Remember, we are guests here, and the adults are the ones in charge." Yami lectures. I restrain the urge to roll my eyes, Yami knows that I am respectful of elders; why would he ever have to speak down to me?

I nod towards my darkness before slipping into the king sized bed dominating the room, leaving enough room for Yami to join in if he wants to.

Yami sighs, "Aibou, are we not having dinner?"

I look back over at him, realizing just how NOT hungry I am. "You can go, I'm not hungry." I reply.

Yami gives me a look with the utmost concern, and I understand why. Ryou hasn't eaten in almost four weeks, and Yami doesn't want me falling into that same type of rut.

"I'm fine, Yami, really. We had a big lunch...remember." I explain, futilely attempting to recall the lunch we had before all the people in black cloaks appeared and Ryou went crazy trying to get us away from them. He knows some things that we don't, and it's starting to bother all of us.

Dinner...Third P.O.V

Dinner rolls around, and oddly enough, everyone is downstairs eating with the exception of Yugi and Ryou. Conversation is light, only hinting at the suffocating tension that saturates the room.

"So, where are you guys from?" Hermione asks softly, trying to keep the guests feeling welcome. They might've felt welcome too, had Ron not scowled at them for the duration of their meal. Ron giving them the nasty eye. Glare, take food blindly glare, stuff food in mouth, glare…glare a little more for the hell of it—it's like his "piss off magical foreigners" routine.

"Egypt." All the boys say in unison except Seto. Once everyone else finishes their reply, Seto grunts out, "Japan."

Hermione arks an eyebrow at Yami and Bakura, as if questioning their origins.

"How the bloody hell are you two from Egypt? Egyptians are tan, and they don't have bloody British accents!" Ron exclaims.

Bakura guffaws, "If your tiny brain could handle the knowledge or had I trusted or even liked you, then there might've been just a slight chance. However, since you're imbeciles, I would rather not waste my breath."

Yami lets out a heavy sigh, "Please excuse him, really. But seeing as we're forbidden from answering that question, we must remain silent on the matter." Yami says in defense to his own silence.

Ron just scowls at Bakura, and without really trying, Bakura matches his scowl.

"So, why are you entering Hogwarts now? Did you not receive your acceptance letter on your 11th birthday?" Hermione asks cautiously.

Bakura and Seto scoff simultaneously. Yami sighs again, but is cut off by Marik. "We can't say anything about that either. Actually, we aren't even too sure ourselves." Marik replies evenly.

Hermione nods, and seeing that this topic is going nowhere tries something else. "What are your hobbies?"

"Dueling," Yami and Seto say together.

"Killing and stealing," Bakura and Mariku reply half-heartedly with a maniacal smile on their faces. Ron and Hermione move away from the two psychos, their eyes wide with horror.

Marik just shrugs, "I haven't really gotten one yet. I'm still trying to get used to this life." He replies shamefully.

"Well, you do bitch a lot, and you are a control freak." Bakura offers; Marik glares at him.

"I'm sorry for my friend; he's an asshole." Marik apologizes, only getting a shrug from the former Thief King.

"What about you?" Yami asks, interrupting the fight between his two cronies.

Hermione smiles, "I like reading and learning." Hermione replies.

Bakura scoffs, for like the hundredth time today. "You sound like my Ra damned hikari."

Hermione raises an eyebrow. "Ra...hikari?"

"Ra, God of the son. Hikari, uh...light I believe." Bakura replies.

Hermione sighs, "I know who Ra is, but why use an Egyptian God? Don't tell me you seriously believe in them; why would you even call someone you know 'light'?"

Bakura growls, completely done with the inane fools surrounding him. Huffing, he shoves some food onto his plate and stomps to his room. "Good night."

Hermione looks down, assuming that Bakura's hostility is her fault as her eyes well up with tears.

"Ignore him; he's just been moody lately because his hikari, Ryou, has been down lately. As for Ra, he is real and has damned Ryou. Literally. As mentioned before, some things must remain hidden though, such as why he calls Ryou his light." Yami hastily tries to reassure Hermione as Ron rubs her back in small circles.

Hermione sneers at his words, instantly forgetting Bakura's actions as she takes in Yami's. "There is no such thing as Ra!" She states, "If so, science would've proven his existence long ago."

All the others except Seto freeze. Marik and Mariku immediately get up and leave the table, not even bothering to take their plate up with them.

Hermione, this time however, is not fazed; she told the truth, there is no such thing as a higher deity or else there would have been proof.

Seto snickers, "Well, I would agree with you…Hermione...but once you've seen and experienced the things that I have, you would believe too."

Hermione shrugs, "Well, I guess we should be getting to bed now." She deadpans, disappointed in their lack of scientific knowledge. So much for intellectual friends.

The others nod in agreement, getting up and bidding each other a good night before heading off to their separate rooms.

Ryou's P.O.V

Bakura storms into the room with his signature 'I'm-gonna-kill-the-next-person-who-fucks-with-me' look and a small plate of food in his hand. I turn to look at him and blink repeatedly to show my confusion.

Bakura plops down on his bed, not even noticing the fact that I am staring at him...well, at least that's what I thought. "Hikari, you should hide your thoughts better." Bakura states flatly. And I wonder why I even bother to use my eyes…

"You should eat." Bakura continues, shoving his plate towards me. Instantly nauseous at the sight of food I turn around in my bed.

Bakura, stubborn as he is, isn't going to allow that. He manhandles me until I'm sitting next to him, and he shoves the plate towards me with one hand and a forkful of food with the other.

"Now open up, hikari." Bakura whispers into my ear, but I don't move.

"You know I can punish you if you don't. You need food, and I'm gonna give it to you whether you want to eat it or not." With that, Bakura tries to shove food in my mouth, but I keep it firmly sealed. The fork pokes at my lips uncomfortably, and I worry that he will poke a hole in them and injure me. That sounds like him.

"Hikari," he purrs into my ear, causing me to shiver. "Just open your mouth; it'll all be better if you do." He coos, moving the plate to my lap so that I can see it.

"Now, are you going to eat or not?" Bakura asks, as I watch the hand that winds around my neck move to play with my hair.

I open my mouth immediately, and obediently chew on the food he provides. Uncomfortable, I start to fidget and divert my gaze to anything other than the food in front of me. Failing to keep my agitation hidden, I know Bakura is getting some kind of sick satisfaction out of this. He has always been sadistic, gaining elation from the deepest wound to the smallest annoyance.

"Good hikari," Bakura commends when I am done. I dive back under the covers, not even waiting for Bakura's reaction. Within a few seconds, I can feel Bakura's presence within the ring. Popping two pills from my bedside table into my mouth, I readjust myself, preparing for a night of dreamless sleep.

Author's Notes:

Don't expect too much next month. I would have to give my author the next chapter from now. Regardless, thank you for reading this story so far.

Anyways, let's thank my amazing editor who did this after Thanksgiving (where would I be without her).

Lastly…please feel free to drop a review…or look at the poll on my page.