Kitty: (yawns) Today's Saturday, and all's well...

Yugi: And you've finished the next chapter.

Atem: (peeks his head in) But I thought you were going to work on Egyptian Nights before you posted the next chapter.

Kitty: Yeah...funny thing. You know how I sometimes write my favorite parts of the story first?

Atem: Yeah...

Kitty: Well, this is one of them. All I had to do was edit a few things, and VOILA! It was finished.

Bakura: (still on Kitty's chandelier) Cool. Am I in it?

Kitty: No...I think you're in enough trouble already.

Bakura: (rolls his eyes)

Atem: R&R!

Chapter Five:

Talons Equal Trouble

September started with very little enthusiasm, but Diana found that there were plenty of new experiences waiting for her already. Mokuba was sorted into Ravenclaw with his older brother, much to his delight, but had, in truth, had very little time to spend with Seto and the others thanks to their difference in years.

It was the usual in the third years' normal classes so far, and out of the new elective classes Diana took as a third year, Divination was easily the most boring. Professor Trelawney, the Divination teacher, would always make a fool out of herself by screaming and making a fuss over the Grim in Harry's teacup. Diana would always look into Yugi's teacup and pretend to see more reasonable stuff: a sun for happiness (which wasn't hard on Yugi's part) and a man for a visitor (which she pretended was Professor Lupin).

Hermione, who easily considered Divination total garbage, had enough to deal with in all of her other classes, which Diana soon found quite clear.

One day, when the friends were on their way to the Great Hall after Potions, the seam on Hermione's bag came undone, spilling her books all over the floor. Yugi bent down to help her pick them up, and then looked at some of the books' titles.

"Mione-kun, why are you carrying all these around with you?" the King of Games asked, "You couldn't possibly have all these classes. It's only Care of Magical Creatures and Defense Against the Dark Arts today."

"Oh, yes," Hermione replied vaguely, but she still pushed all of the books back into her bag and headed toward the Great Hall, "I hope there's something good for lunch today, I'm starved."

The others watched after her, feeling slightly staggered at her reaction.

"D'you get the feeling Mione's not telling us something?" Diana asked the others, her left eyebrow raised.

Yugi, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Diana arrived at Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures, to see that the Slytherins had already gathered around a small paddock near the house.

Hagrid was to be the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher this year as the old teacher, Professor Kettleburn, retired, apparently wanted to "spend more time with his remaining limbs," according to Dumbledore. The Brits and the Japanese boys were obviously delighted for Hagrid: after all, it was no secret that Hagrid loved animals, and after being gamekeeper ever since he was expelled from Hogwarts in fifth year, Diana felt Hagrid deserved a chance to show what he really could do.

Marik came over to, grinning broadly. "Hagrid-san told us he's got something really exciting for us today."

"Just as long as it's not too exciting," Yugi commented dryly.

"What, Mutou, lost your faith in your giant friend?" Malfoy mocked.

"Go back to your rat hole, Malfoy," Diana growled.

Malfoy was never one to listen to Diana, though.

"This place has seriously gone to the dogs," he said loudly, "That oaf teaching classes? I should tell my father about it, I think he'd have something to say about this…"

"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Harry.

"Careful, Potty, there's a dementor behind you-"

Harry's reaction to the dementor on the train somehow spread through the school, and Malfoy seemed eager to have something else to tease him with. This time, however, the Slytherin barely finished his scornful comment, for he was interrupted by a delighted squeal of "Ooh!" by Lavender Brown.

On the opposite side of the paddock, being led around by Hagrid, were a dozen of some of the most peculiar creatures Diana had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs and tails of a horse, yet the front legs, wings and heads of an eagle.

Hagrid steered them toward the fence where everyone was waiting, and the class backed up as he stepped in front of them.

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid exclaimed, "Beautiful, aren't they?"

Diana, Harry and Marik were the closest to the paddock, and they could see what Hagrid meant. Once you got over the surprise of seeing something that was half horse and half bird, they really were quite beautiful creatures.

"Now, firs' thing ya gotta know abou' hippogriffs is they're real proud," Hagrid instructed, and Diana smiled at how well he was doing it for a first time, "Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing ya eva do."

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't paying attention, but were whispering to each other in a huddle, and Diana could almost guarantee they were trying to ruin the lesson…one way or another.

"Ya always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued, "It's polite, see? You walk toward him, ya bow, and then ya wait. If he bows back, you're allowed ter touch him. If he don't bow, then get away from him hasty-like, 'cause those talons will hurt. Right…so, who wants teh go first?"

The whole class took a step back at Hagrid's proposal. Even Diana's friends had their misgivings.

"No one?" said Hagrid, looking desperate.

"I'll do it," said Diana, jumping over the paddock fence.

"Good lass, Dare!" Hagrid stated, grinning broadly under his beard, "Right then, let's see how ya get on with Buckbeak."

He pulled a steel gray hippogriff away from the others and in front of Diana, slipping off his leather collar.

The rest of the class seemed to be holding its breath. Malfoy was watching Diana with narrowed eyes, as if imagining what would happen if she messed up.

"Alright, easy, Dare…" Hagrid said, "You've got teh get eye contact, and then try not ter blink… Hippogriffs don't trust ya if ya blink too much..."

Diana's eyes immediately started to water, but she didn't shut them. Buckbeak was staring arrogantly at her with his orange eyes.

"That's it," Hagrid said, "That's it, Dare…now bow…"

Diana bent down at the waist, not taking her eyes off of the hippogriff until the last few seconds. She came back up and waited.

Then, to Diana's surprise, the hippogriff bent his scaly front knees into an unmistakable bow.

"Well done, Dare!" Hagrid roared, "Now ya can touch 'im."

Diana walked slowly up to Buckbeak.

"Hello, Buckbeak," she whispered, trying to look trustworthy without blinking too much.

She gently stroked the hippogriff's feathers around his neck, smiling subtly and not saying anything else. Buckbeak closed his eyes lazily and made a kind of purring sound in his throat, as if enjoying the attention.

The rest of the class broke out into applause, except for Malfoy and his cronies, who looked disappointed.

"Right then, Dare," Hagrid continued. "I reckon Beaky might let ya ride 'im!"

Diana looked at Hagrid, not worried but excited.

"Ride?" she repeated, looking back at Buckbeak at the thought of it, "Really?"

"Sure!" Hagrid said, smiling at Diana's enthusiasm, "Just climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint."

Diana nodded, not looking like she had an ounce of fear. She carefully hoisted herself up onto the hippogriff's back.

"Go on, then!" Hagrid exclaimed, slapping Buckbeak's hindquarters.

Diana quickly wrapped her arms around Buckbeak's neck as they soared upward. She looked down to see the others, pointing up at her excitedly.

/This is so totally wicked/

She wasn't really flying that high, but it still seemed amazing. It almost felt like she was riding a horse, except she didn't feel a galloping of hooves, but a flapping of wings.

"YAHOO!" Diana yelled.

After a few seconds of silent triumph, the redhead felt Buckbeak land roughly back on the ground. She climbed off of the hippogriff's back, before stroking his neck again.

"Thanks, Buckbeak," she said quietly, and Buckbeak nuzzled her face affectionately.

"Good work, Dare!" Hagrid congratulated as almost everyone cheered, "Okay, who else wants a go?"

The rest of the class, emboldened by Diana's success, cautiously starting bowing to the other hippogriffs. Ron and Harry had decided to practice on a silver one, and Yugi was riding the black one he and Marik had bowed to.

"THIS…IS SO COOL!" Yugi yelled, "WAHOO!"

He heard his Yami click his tongue disapprovingly, and he smirked.

/Your turn, Yami-kun…/

Suddenly Atem was on top of the black hippogriff instead of Yugi.

"AH!"

The past Pharaoh wrapped his arms around the hippogriff's neck and closed his eyes as he felt them go higher and higher and higher…

/Open your eyes, Yami-kun/ Yugi urged, /C'mon, it's fun/

-No way am I looking down!- Atem snapped back, forcing his eyes completely shut.

/Damn it, Yami-kun, open your eyes/

Shocked at his Hikari cursing, the past Pharaoh opened his eyes.

And he realized…

Yugi was right.

This was fun…

"YEAAAAAHHHH!" Atem whooped, shaking one fist in the air like a triumphant cowboy on his bucking bronco.

Diana was watching Hermione as she tried to get one of the chestnut ones to bow back to her when three familiar Slytherins ruined Hagrid's class.

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak, who had already bowed to the three of them; Malfoy was petting the creature's beak, a derisive look on his face.

"This is easy," he said loudly, "I knew it must be, if Wrong-Sex Randall could do it. You're not dangerous at all, are you?" he looked arrogantly at Buckbeak, "Are you, you big ugly brute?"

What happened next was in a flash of talons and a girlish scream. Soon, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar while trying to get to where Malfoy was curled up on the grass, blood staining the left sleeve of his robes.

"I'm dying!" he wailed as the class panicked, "I'm dying! It's killed me!"

"You're not dyin'!" Hagrid said, his face very white as he supported Malfoy up to the castle.

The rest of the class followed.

After Hagrid was out of earshot, the Slytherins began shouting furiously.

"They should fire him, right away!" Pansy Parkinson shrieked, traces of angry tears in her eyes.

"It was Malfoy's own fault!" snapped Diana, "If he had just listened to what Hagrid said instead of being an idiot, he wouldn't have gotten scratched!"

Pansy didn't pay attention to Diana's statement: instead she turned on her heel and sniffed, "I'm gonna go see if he's okay!" before heading for the Hospital Wing. The other Slytherins continued to mutter rude things about Hagrid, except for Marik, whose furious eyes could've shot fire and burned them all to a crisp.

"D'you think he'll be alright, though?" asked Yugi, sounding worried, "If anything lasting happens to him, Hagrid-san might have to quit…or he'll be fired…"

"Relax, Yugi," said Harry, "Madame Pomfrey can heal anything. She had to re-grow all the bones in my right arm last year. She can fix Malfoy's cut in a about two seconds."

"Figures, don't it," Diana muttered sullenly, "The best class I've ever had ended up being ruined by Malfoy. I mean, Buckbeak really was pretty wicked…in fact, by Hagrid's standards, he's quite cute."

"Don't worry, Dare," Hermione consoled, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder, "I'm sure everything will work out."

"I sure hope so, Mione," Diana replied with a sigh.

Kitty: End chapter.

Atem: Wow, I had fun in this chapter.

Yugi: Thanks to me: is it just me, Yami-kun, or do you always end up doing the right thing if you listen to me?

Atem: (glares) It's just you.

Noa: (comes into Kitty's room) Hey, Kitty.

Kitty: Hey, Noa-kun. How's Lina?

Noa: As stubborn as ever...she threw stun darts at me as soon as I started talking about Artemis...that stupid bitch.

Bakura: DON'T GO TALKING AOBUT MY GIRLFRIEND LIKE THAT, YOU VIRTUAL BRAT-

Kitty: AHEM. If you don't mind, Bakura, I need to answer the reviews, so shut up.

Lilyqueen777 I love Remus, too: he's my fav Marauder, although Sirius is definitely a very close second. And what do you know? I have updated much sooner than expected. Well, Bakura doesn't really care about Atem, but he does understand the Hikari-Yami dependance...if anything, it's his caring of his own Hikari that helps him understand how Atem feels about it. Mokuba's a pretty smart cookie, though, and obviously his desire to be in Ravenclaw is another reason he likely ended up in Ravenclaw (Harry's a good example to this). I only am not able to respond to reviews in script format (a.k.a. having Yugi, Atem, Bakura et all answer it with me), which does put a damper on my spirits as it's really fun to have the chars express their opinions, but oh well, at least answering reviews isn't barred completely.

Seto's Girl 2004 Thank you kindly, dear. Hope this chapter came fast enough for your liking. Seto isn't here at the moment as his work is keeping him at KaibaCorp, but I'll be sure to call him in his office and tell him you said hi: I usually call him anyway to tell him a new chapter's been posted and to annoy the hell out of him, so it'd be convinient. (wink)

ANAYAS-CREATER I'm pleased you liked it: it's always good to get praise from people who write stories I love to read as much as they like to read mine. Awesome for you! I've heard braces can be a pain, although I've never had them myself, but at least they've finally liberated you from their grasp!

SGCred (Claire) I say for now the best thing I can do with Lina is to just leave her alone and let her cool off...really, she can be so stubborn...then again, I can be too. Ha, Seth's always trying to be the mature one: he doesn't really like the Tomb Robber, but he's learned that holding grudges doesn't really help anything...Atem and Bakura, on the other hand, certainly love trying to think up ways to hurt and tease each other. Well, as Bakura's still a little shaky from his encounter with the dementor, I guess I'll have to kick him myself...if I can get him off my chandelier for just a few seconds. (glares in Atem's direction) Blackmail is always one of the best ways to keep people quiet...and hey, Yugi and I had fun, so it all works out. (smirks) Yeah, poor Dare: it gave her a reason to need to hold back Artemis, as she never wishes to hurt her friends like she had that girl. She was very young at the time, too, so that scarred her badly. And to Bakura...it has to do with the Egyptian past mostly, and why he hates Atem so much. It does have a tiny bit to do with Artemis, though: it's part of the reason the two were so close. More about it will be explained as the fic progresses. Marik's memory will be explained by the end of the fic, around the same time as Roth's warning finally becomes clear. Peter would be a welcome guest at the Bash-a-thon, methinks. (grins evilly) And don't be worried if Drake comes back to you with his body bruised and his sanity damaged...I couldn't keep him away from Atem and Yugi. (winks) You KNOW that Yugi and I won't ever pass up an excuse to have some fun. (hugs) Thanks for talking to the stork for us, mate: Yugi-chan will be ecstatic...even if he'll probably faint at the thought of being a father first. (sweatdrop)

Setoglomper Well, here's more writing to read! (glares at Seth) YOU MEANIE! (whacks him on the head) How dare you dash her dreams! (sighs) Of course, I can't lie and say Seto loves you, but we ALL know that Kaiba secretly likes all of his fans. It boosts his self-confidence...I should know. (smirks evilly) Melisanne is a wonderful source of information.

Egyptiankitty (Engie) Mokie's in Ravenclaw! (lets you cheer) It's alright that you weren't able to review immediately, hun: better late than never, especially when it comes to reviews from friends. Thanks for your praise: I haven't had much practice with angst and usually I don't act out angst as well as humor, but it seems that writing is a different story, as I am really liking this. (grins) And Artemis really doesn't understand how much she ends up scarring Dare...if she weren't my own char and she didn't have a fascinating past, I'd be tempted to hurt her severely.

Kyte Thank you for that, dearie: I've been trying to get him to leave Yugi and me to our business since forever. And I think it's be at least more comfy to sleep on a pile of gold than a chandelier...for one, there's no support really for a sleeping boy, and secondly, if he tosses and turns, his hair and clothes could catch on fire. (shivers) Dementors are scary, scary things...and the worst part is I'll have to write about them all over again around Order of the Phoenix... (whimpers) You're in Drama Club too? Cool, what's going to be your next performance, do you know? (smiles) Well, "dark" is what I was attempting: at least I know it worked now.

Jimmy It's alright, my loverly: I don't mind if reviews are late. (frowns) Sorry about being grounded...I know that can REALLY suck ass. I'm really glad you like it, though. Hope you will be liberated from your horrid grounding soon. (gives you a hug)

Kitty: Well now, let's see...I've still got to work on Egyptian Nights and I'll Worship You Forever... (sweatdrop) Posting this chapter just made me force their updates down even more and feel even more guilty.

Yugi: (gives Kitty a hug) It'll be alright, Kitten.

Kitty: (gives Yugi a peck on the cheek)

Noa: R&R, peoples!