AN: Here's the next chapter. Sorry for the delay.
Luiz4200: Yes, yes they are.
Chapter 3: Cross Section of Life
Harry sat in Sirius's room, looking the Black family tree. Ever since the gained those strange scales he had been drawn to the mural. For hours he would look at it, but he wasn't sure why.
"Still looking at that old thing." Sirius asked as he entered the room.
Harry didn't look away. "I don't know why, but I think I'm missing something important."
His godfather nodded. "Any idea what?"
"No clue."
Sirius shrugged and set next to Harry. "Any more strange dreams?"
"Any more items coming out of nowhere you mean."
Sirius smirked at that. The entire Order of the Phoenix was confused about what to do about the Scales. Dumbledore looked them over and agreed that they were powerful, but had basically told everyone to let Harry keep them. Bill came in to look at them as they were Egyptian, but refused to say anything after he saw them. No one but Fleur knew he then took a week off to hide under his bed.
Harry never mentioned it, but after gaining the scales he started seeing strange things in everybody's shadows. Creatures like he had never seen before. Sirius had a strange dog guarding him; Hermione had some kind of golden statue guarding her. Snape confused him as he had two shadow creatures, two women, one; a nun, the other a demon of some sort. Ron annoyed him as his shadow kept shifting; several comic book hero looking beings seemed to trade places every other time he looked at Ron.
And his shadow. He only saw it once. It seemed to be a true shadow. A dark dragon surrounded by light. His head hurt when he thought about it.
"I wonder what became of them." Sirius said, breaking up Harry's thoughts.
"Became of whom?"
Sirius used his wand to shine a light on the tapestry. Right beneath Bellatrix LeStrange were two names, Stephen and Malcolm LeStrange. "The only good things to come out of that nutcase."
"She had children!" Harry was beyond shocked.
"Stephen was the oldest, about two years older then you. Malcolm was born about three years after the fall of snakepants. The Malfoys gained custody after I was imprisoned, and I understand that Bella was arrested trying to drown her youngest a week after he was born."
Harry just stared at the names. "Malcolm would be starting Hogwarts this year if he's a wizard."
"He's still alive then?"
"The tapestry would show if they were dead." Sirius chuckled. "No one has seen them since Stephen turned 11. More then likely Lucius dropped them off at a muggle orphanage after Stephen didn't get his letter." Or at least I hope so, he added to himself.
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Gringotts bank was the only bank in the wizarding world. And the London branch was the branch to go to. Seto Kaiba walked into the bank carrying a briefcase. He had arrived in Diagon Ally early and had spent time at each store to get a feel for the exchange rate. Upon entering the bank he went not to a teller, but instead to the one of the information kiosks. Looking over the pamphlets Seto realized two things. His past was going to come out, and two, the wizarding world needed an economic shake up.
He went to the closest open teller. "How much?"
The goblin looked at him. "What do you mean, 'how much'?"
Seto's smile chilled the goblin. "How much for the bank?"
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Within five hours of this words being spoken, the wizards found Gringotts closed. Two hours after that the bank announced that it was under new management. The Ministry, of course, tried to invalidate the sell, but by then it was too late. Kaiba had arranged the buyout perfectly, and implemented new banking rules. Fair ones this time. The Ministry tried to arrest him, but found out that he, one, had paid the goblins well enough that they were now his bodyguards. And two, had turned the bank into a private institution, and as such, not subject to those laws the ministry had passed.
Lucius Malfoy was mildly amused. The wizard who bought the bank was still unidentified, but the confusion the buyout had caused was more than enough to allow him to gain access to certain files the Dark Lord had wanted. Several loyal Death Eater had been rendered soulless, but, unlike Dementor victims, they still lived. Investigations by the Ministry were classified, but easy to get in the confusion.
"My Lord," Lucius said as he entered the Dark Lord's chamber. "I have the files you asked for."
Voldemort turned his gaze to his servant. "Good Malfoy, you serve me well." Taking the papers he looked them over. "And your plan to remove Potter from Hogwarts?"
Lucius cringed. "It... failed my Lord."
Not even looking up from the papers, Voldemort smiled. "As I would have told you." Lucius buckled under a wandless non-verbal Crucio. "Still, Fudge must truly hate Potter now."
Panting, Lucius answered his master. "And Dumbledore. He is planning to make a play to take control of Hogwarts this year my Lord."
"How?"
"Appointing his undersecretary as the DADA teacher. Also, he wishes to give her more power, but that will need the Wizengamot's approval."
Voldemort appeared to be in thought. "Assist the small man. The more we can distract Dumbledore the better."
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As the deputy headmistress, it was Minerva McGonagall's job to meet with the families of muggleborn students. Her last meeting of this year was with Seto Kaiba, older brother and guardian of the first year Mokaba Kaiba. The younger Kaiba was not at the meeting, but that was not required. Such meetings are often more for the parent then the child. Seto had worked on his computer during the meeting but the professor was sure he had paid more attention then it seemed. His questions were to the point and dealt mainly with the wizarding world more than the school.
Overall, she came out of the meeting with the feeling that Kaiba knew more than he was telling.
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The Egyptian White Scale is the smallest pure dragon breed. It is know not just for its pure white color, but it's piercing sapphire eyes. They are also the only dragon breed a wizard can legally own. This is not because it is docile, in fact, White Scales are known for being far more aggressive than any other breed (including the Norwegian Ridgeback and Hungarian Horntail), but because they will "choose" a wizard to bond with. Any wizard with a White Scale as a familiar is considered a wizard to be listened to.
It is because of this that Draco Malfoy was currently trying to figure out the rules of a muggle card game.
A White Scale had dropped off the briefcase full of cards earlier that day. At first he was going to toss them but his father warned him not too. The Dark Lord also found out about the delivery. After looking at the cards, he smiled (at least Draco hoped it was a smile), and demanded that the boy learn the game. Even the Dark Lord knew to listen to anyone that could make a dragon carry mail.
The game was confusing to say the least, but one thing stood out more than anything else. Putting down the rule book, he picked up the one card he knew would be in his deck. While the image was frozen, like all muggle images, for some reason the card sang to him. Smiling, he put the Red Eyes Darkness Dragon back with the rest.
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Hermione was worried. She looked at the card for the thousandth time. Wandless magic. Harry had preformed wandless magic. Then the Scales had showed up. Bill had been called in to look at them. And he did. And left after the briefest of looks. As he left, fled really, he told them to not take the Scales from Harry. She looked at the card again. He wasn't seen for a week after that.
Judgment Dragon. That's what Harry had summoned. She looked at the card again. She played Duel Monsters during the summers. Most Hogwarts students wouldn't play it. The game wasn't big in the UK. She also knew Harry didn't play. His relatives would never buy him cards. And yet...
She looked at the card again. Judgment Dragon. A rare card. She was lucky to have even got one. Sighing, she knew what to do. Opening her trunk she got out her writing supplies. Her parents might not like running errands for her, but she needed to find out what was going on. And to do that, she would have to teach Ron and Harry how to play.
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Yugi, Tea, Joey, and Tristan sat in the back of the cargo plane. Ishizu had told them it would be uncomfortable, but right now they needed to be in England. Marik wasn't with them. He had contacted a few of the remaining Rare Hunters. Though he had disbanded the criminal side of the organization, many members still felt some loyalty to him. He was already rounding them up, this time as something less evil. Surprisingly, many members were already preparing to do just that without him. With him, it was so much easier.
In a few hours, the friends would arrive in London. And from there, the search for answers can begin.
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The Prime Minister sat looking over the information that was just delivered to him. Seto Kaiba, the youngest billionaire on the planet, head of a multinational gaming corporation, had just given the PM more information then he knew what to do with. And, was currently asking permission to host a Duel Monsters tournament.
The pamphlets were bad enough. Whoever wrote them didn't seem to understand fiscal planning. Then came the "law books." He didn't know whether to laugh or scream at them. Ever since he found out about the "magical community" he had pretty much ignored it, but the information given here... he could ignore that.
Of course he couldn't do anything right now. Too many unknowns. But, if Kaiba could pull off the tournament...
AN: For anyone who missed it. Seto and Mokaba are Stephen and Malcolm LeStrange. Seto was born 2 years before Harry and end up mostly watched by Sirius until he was imprisoned. Minor HP Canon change, Bellatrix and her husband went on the run looking for ways to bring Voldie back after torturing the Longbottoms. They were arrested just after Mokaba was born. She tried to kill the boy for slowing her down and letting the Aurors catch up. Kaiba is a squib, (or is he), and was dropped off with his younger brother after Lucius found out.