Edited as of 12/8/14 - Responses to reviews were deleted.
Italics are thoughts and languages other than English.
Yadonushi -Landlord, host
Dissociative Magics
Bakura leaned against the wall, enjoying the nonexistent feeling of solid support against his intangible form. The curtains were closed, no candle or magical light brightened the room - all the darker for him. He revered in the shadows and the comfort they brought. His host complained they brought a feeling of despair, but he knew Ryou took comfort in them.
His eyes opened to mere red slits, casting his gaze around the room. Though everything was cloaked in shadow, he saw it all. His eyes narrowed further. He scanned every inch of the room, never mind that he never moved from his spot against the wall. The room rippled.
Shadows swirled in front of him, coming to mold a humanoid shape before dispersing like fog just as quickly. The broken doll in Dark Necrofear's arms held out a sealed letter. Bakura pulled it away from the grubby fingers, wondering what the deal was with the fancy snail mail. The monster burst into shadow as soon as the letter broke contact, fleeing as a mist.
Bakura eyed the letter. On the front had Ryou's name in kanji. He slid a fingernail underneath the wax seal, and pulled out the papyrus.
Dear Ryou and Bakura,
Where did you go and why haven't you come back yet to tell me about it? I want to know if wizarding Britain is any different from wizarding Egypt.
Someone tried to rob the museum yesterday. It was reported to be by a bunch of people in black cloaks, so Isis thinks I'm manipulating the Ghouls again. I need a place to crash for a day or two while this blows over. I'd crash at your place, but I don't know what traps you have set up. Can you show me where you're staying?
Malik
The end half of the letter glistened with ink, having been written seconds before.
I'm in your kitchen. It's the only place I know hasn't been affected by your paranoia.
Bakura dropped the letter, but instead of falling, the papyrus stayed in the air. Large chunks tore away from it, as though eaten by a starving animal, until all evidence of there having been a letter was gone. Red eyes melted into the shadows.
The eyes opened a second later, halfway across the world in a much more modern setting.
Bakura stepped in to the lit half of the room, striding over without a sound to an Egyptian teen cradling a mug of coffee, careful not to be seen. Sneaking behind him, he waited for the perfect moment. When the Egyptian raised the mug for a swig of the bitter drink, he struck.
Malik stumbled away, coughing and choking on coffee. "What-what was that for!" he yelled, massaging his now tender shoulder, checking if the punch left lasting damage. "If anything, I should be the one punching you! You never contacted me or anything!"
Bakura glared daggers at Malik, joking aside. He growled, "You could have told me about the effect of first-time apparation."
"That's what you're upset about?" It started as a chuckle, and soon Malik broke into laughter.
Malik leaned back against the counter, mirth still tugging at the corners of his lips. He took a steady sip of coffee, and said, "You, a 3,000 year old thief king, got upset because you weren't forewarned about a minor discomfort?"
"Bedridden for four days hardly counts as a minor discomfort."
Malik spat out his drink before he could choke on it again. "Four days? From apparation?"
Bakura stepped to the side, settling back into the shadows, his body losing its corporal look. His disembodied voice drifted to Malik.
"Yadonushi hasn't been able to get out of bed at all. I'm barely able to move, myself. I haven't connected with the shadows before this morning."
Malik shook his head. "That never happened with my first time. Maybe it's because half my clan has magic and I've been surrounded by it most of my life."
Bakura said nothing, basking in the shadows a while longer. Malik continued sipping his coffee. For a while neither of them said anything. Finally, Bakura spoke.
"I have to get back. That woman might check on Yadonushi at any minute."
"You mean I can't visit?" Malik asked, voice dripping with mock whining.
"I'm still too weak. Yadonushi will send you a letter." Bakura vanished in the shadows once more, reappearing in Grimmauld Place. The door creaked open and Mrs. Weasley bustled in, heading for the window.
Sunlight filled the room, chasing away the shadows and forcing Bakura to be corporal once more. Mrs. Weasley turned around, and her hand flew to her heart when she came face-to-face with Bakura. Seeing it was only him, she calmed, and a smile flitted on her face, but she still looked pale.
"I see you're feeling better. Good thing, too. You have to study four years' worth of books to catch up to the others in your year."
Mrs. Weasley scuttled out, and came scuttling back with an armful of books. She repeated this several times over. After the second time, Bakura stopped watching and picked up a book. By the time she came back only with a plate of food, Ryou had wakened and had his nose buried in Unfogging the Future.
"Good morning, Mrs Weasley," Ryou greeted when she came in with breakfast. She smiled and mumbled something about cleaning before leaving him alone.
Ryou switched with Bakura to look at that morning's memories. In control, Bakura sorted through the mountain of books, throwing them in either the 'useful' pile or 'waste of time' pile.
/You can't access the shadow realm?/
Bakura groaned. Trust Yadonushi to not watch the entire memory before asking questions.
"I can," Bakura said, "But the connection is weak. Were you not paying attention to the memory?"
He felt Ryou get flustered and apologize, /I'm sorry- I shouldn't have- I rushed to conclu-/
Bakura shoved the memory back on Ryou, effectively cutting off the apology. He opened the first book that Ryou had closed upon taking control, and after a moments thought, opened the divination textbook he had closed himself.
Once Ryou had the memory, he took spirit form to read the divination book. When Ryou finished a page, Bakura turned a page. They continued like that for some time, until a creak of the floorboards alerted Bakura to another person entering the room.
"What do you want?" Bakura snapped at Harry, who flinched at the tone.
/Weak./
/What is?/ Ryou piped up from his book. Still looking at Harry, Bakura turned the page, drawing Ryou's focus away from the proceedings. This caught Harry's attention.
"How can you read two books at the same time?"
Bakura grinned, revealing sharp canines to enhance his already predatory features. "That's for me to know, and you to find out."
He flipped a page in his own book. A minute later, he did the same with Ryou's.
Harry scowled, thinking Bakura was showing off to get him to think he was talented. Bakura rolled his eyes. This kid kept his thoughts clear to everyone. Harry asked another question.
"I've heard aparration is like being pushed through a tube. Is it?"
"Yes; a tube lined with needles. I'm surprised my face isn't disfigured."
The mental image appeared in Harry's mind, turning his face green.
/I want to write a letter to Malik./
"Do you have anything I can use to write a letter?"
"Sure." Harry dived to his suitcase and dug out parchment, quill, and a bottle of ink. He handed them to Bakura. "We use quills here."
Bakura positioned the parchment on the cover of one of the books from the 'waste of time' pile and balanced the ink bottle on another book. Taking the quill, he gave control to Ryou.
Ryou gasped. He either had underestimated or unprepared for the pain. The sound caught Harry's attention, however, he ignored it and went back to reading a book. Ryou bit his lip and began the task of writing the letter.
"Who are you writing to?" Harry, whom Bakura assumed was bored, asked.
"A friend in Japan. I found out he was a wizard the same time I got my letter," Ryou said. Harry blinked, apparently shocked at how cheerful and soft his voice was compared to a few minutes before.
"What language are you writing in?" Harry's eyes followed the stroke of Ryou's quill.
"Japanese. Malik doesn't know English." Ryou paused. he gave a small, light chuckle. "But I guess since this place is secret, I'll have to write in a secret language." The writing switched to detailed drawings.
"You can write in hieroglyphs?" Harry gasped.
"Malik taught me. His family is Egyptian. I can even speak Ancient Egyptian," Ryou said the last part in the mentioned language.
"What?"
"I said, 'we're both fluent in the language' in Arabic, the national language of Egypt."
/My my, you're becoming like me, Yadonushi!/
Ryou pointedly ignored the spirit.
The next few days continued with monotonous studying. Ryou sent his letter through the shadow realm, calling up a monster to give it to one of Malik's. The nights passed with Bakura fading into the shadows for reprieve from the pain.
"Ryou dearie?" Mrs. Weasley asked. It had been a source of annoyance to Bakura, and a small comfort to Ryou, that she insisted on adding 'dearie' to Ryou's name.
"Yes, Mrs. Weasley?" Ryou gave her a small smile, hesitant to give control to Bakura after feeling the spike of anger. The rest of the teenagers had been rushed up to bed, and now he was left.
"You don't mind staying up a bit late, do you?"
"Why?"
"Dumbledore's coming tonight, and he asked to meet you."
Ryou blinked owlishly. "Okay."
At that moment, they heard a soft knocking, loud enough for them to notice, but quiet so as to not wake Mrs. Black. The Order members fell silent. Someone exchanged hushed whispers with another at the door.
Two wizards strode in the room; Moody, and an old man better fit to the wizard stereotype. He had the old, wizened look of a fairy tale Merlin, with whimsical, starry blue robes to match. His twinkling eyes landed on Ryou first out of everyone in the room.
"Hello, Ryou. I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts." Dumbledore bowed low, as per custom of Japan.
"Hello," was Ryou's simple greeting. He made no move to stand and bow, his limbs still aching as though he'd run miles without rest.
Dumbledore's brows went up. "Is something the matter?"
Lupin filled in for Ryou, "He had an abnormal reaction to apparation and has barely been able to move since he arrived here."
"I'm slowly recovering," Ryou piped up.
"I can tell why you want him in the Order, though," said Sirius, leaning back in his chair. "The kid's a genius, he figured out Voldemort's battle plan with barely any knowledge on the wizarding world."
"Genius?" Dumbledore murmured quiet so no one but Bakura caught it, "So there's more than just power."
Louder, he said, "I know a spell that might help ease the pain. Would you like me to cast it on you?"
/If something like with the apparation happens.../ Bakura left the threat hanging, leaving Ryou to idly think back to the many times the yami had made similar threats and executed the punishments. The possibilities stretched a mile wide.
Ryou nodded. Dumbledore summoned his wand with a flourish of his hand, and began to utter a low incantation.
The scalding Ring against his chest was the only warning Ryou received before the tsunami of pain. The wave knocked him into a dead faint.
With a snarl, Bakura took control. The prickling of the invisible needles was too close to the feeling from apparation to be coincidence for him. He shot up, pushing off of the table. The wizards tried to grab hold of him, thinking to help. Bakura batted their hands away. He staggered to the corner as fast as this pain allowed him, the closest patch of shadow. The shadows stretched toward him, as though sensing his distress, wrapping themselves around him.
Halfway across the world, Bakura stumbled out of the shadows in to a kitchen, knocking over and breaking a good number of dishes in his search for a solid support. A stream of curses poured from his mouth in a number of languages between yells for another shadow mage.
His shouts fell on deaf ears. His head swam, his lungs gasped for air. Bakura fought to stay conscious, hoping to reach someone who might know how to help them. The wizards had inflicted pain, twice now, and might do it again. Yugi and Atemu wouldn't know how to treat him as they didn't know a thing about wizards. So that left Malik and Isis, both wizards and shadow mages. However, Malik wasn't in Ryou's apartment.
"Damnit, Malik," Bakura growled, reaching for the shadows again.
He recalled why the Ishtals came to Japan in the first place, and stumbled in to the back room of the local museum.
His vision blurred, he could no longer see if he had happened upon an Ishtal. He heard a crack, though it sounded faint, as though only an echo from far away.
Author's Notes
Yeah, short chapter. Not much copying stuff word-for-word from the book. For now I'm filling in the time where the HP characters are cleaning. And the trial. Different events happen during the trial for Ryou. I've wanted for so long to say "Ryou blinked owlishly."
Editing so far has been small changes, spelling and grammar fixes, some additions to flesh out paragraphs.