Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Harry Potter or The Nightmare Before Christmas


The whole school was buzzing about two things: the troll, and, more importantly, the dance. Because it had been postponed to Saturday night the teachers were allowing the students to wear costumes, as long as they were not dangerous or had anything living on them (something the Weasely twins were unhappy about). Everyone was trying to decide what to go as, and up in the first year Gryffindor boy's dorms it was no different.

"I'm going to go as a knight."

"I want to be a dragon! Do you think they'll let me spell my costume to breathe fire?"

"I doubt it. Plus you couldn't do that anyway! But a dragon would be cool. Then I could slay you!"

Tristan glared at Joey. "Okay... maybe not a dragon then. What about a ghost?"

"I don't think Nearly-Headless Nick would like that," said Harry.

"Well what are you going as then Harry?"

"Um... I'm not sure actually."

Yugi grinned and walked over. "What about an Elf?"

Harry nodded slowly. "That could be cool. Yeah, why not? What about you Ron?"

He pulled a maroon sweater out of his trunk and frowned. "I don't really know either."

"I've got some cool stuff to make a Samurai costume if you want."

"A Samurai? What's that?"

Tristan grinned. "They were the most kick butt warriors ever."

"Really? What did they wear?"

While Tristan and Ron talked Harry turned to Yugi.

"So what are you going as?"

Yugi's face lit up. "I'm going to be the Dark Magician."

"That's the card you beat me with!"

"Yup. It's one of my favorites."

Harry nodded. That card turned up in most of Yugi's duels, and he had a lot of cards in his deck to compliment it.

Soon enough the Dark Magician ran down the stairs, quickly followed by an Elvish warrior dressed in green, a green Samurai with a sword hanging off his hip, a knight also with a sword, and Tristan had finally decided to go as a cyborg. A lot of the details on the costumes were Hermione's spell work, but each of them were proud of their costumes and excited to show them off.

"Where are the girls? Seriously, how much time does it take to get ready?"

Just as Joey finished complaining Hermione and Tea walked down the stairs from their dorm. Tea was dressed as an angel with pink wings and Hermione was dressed as an elf with a long green dress and a small silver circlet.

"Finally. Now let's get to the dance! Everyone else has left already!"


The Great Hall was completely different from the night before. The tables were gone and leaves were falling gently from the ceiling to vanish about 10 feet from the floor. Giant Jack-o-lanterns lined the walls, and every so often bats would fly out of them to fly in formation above the floor. Orange and purple streams of fire lined the walls, interspersed with green lanterns. A student band was tuning their instruments on a stage at the front of the Hall. A few tables lined one wall and was filled with perpetually re-appearing food.

But by far the most interesting part was the costumes. The variety was staggering. As the group looked around they saw a girl that looked like she had leaves and flowers growing out of her hair and clothes, an asthmatic guy wearing a black armor and mask with a cape, and some goblins. Another girl looked like she had actual snakes in her hair and her friend looked like she was wearing a dress made of snake skin and had bright yellow eyes. They were obviously Slytherin students. A Ravenclaw second year with long blonde hair was dressed as a Harpy. Across the room another Ravenclaw second year stood near the wall, glaring at anyone that came within five feet of him. He wasn't in costume at all, but wore a tight black outfit with black boots and buckles and an odd white trenchcoat/cape that flared out behind him, looking like it was blown back by wind, but there wasn't a breeze in the Hall at all.

The group walked over to Fred and George who, to their surprise, didn't look like they were in costume either. They were wearing blue sweaters that had 'F' and 'G' knitted on the front.

"Um. You do know this is a Costume Dance, right?"

"Of course we do!"

"That's why we're dressed,"

"As each other!"

Yugi raised an eyebrow as them. The thing is that with the twins, they do that all the time. So you never know which you're talking to. Fred could be dressed as George, or he could be George pretending to be Fred dressed as George. You just never knew.

"But you look the same as you usually do!" Tea frowned.

The twins grinned and nodded. "Why mess with perfection?"

Tea opened her mouth to answer, but at that moment Professor Pegasus walked up onto the stage.

"Welcome to the first Hogwars Halloween Dance!" He spread his arms and grinned. "I'd like to personally thank Opus Inferno, our own school band, for preforming tonight and remind the students that your dancing will be graded." Confused groans filled the air and several students, mostly Slytherins, shot death glares at him. "Just kidding. I'm just kidding." He laughed. "Let's get this party started!"

Up on the stage the students did some last minute tuning and a tall boy walked up to the mic. The drummer, a girl with long blond hair, started a beat and the columns of multicolor fire erupted all along the walls of the Hall, forming pictures in the flames. The columns grew and curved to the center of the room, forming a huge sphere of flames that hung over the student's heads. They looked up in awe as images of nightmarish creatures danced across its surface. Periodically spurts of flames would branch out from the sphere and form three-dimensional monsters that would run around the room before vanishing in clouds of smoke or erupting into sparks. As the beat continued the orb started to pulse with it, growing and shrinking while the flames changed colors. The pianist started to play, joined quickly by the guitarist and bassist. After a few measures of the intro flaming magicians appeared behind them, adding an entire orchestra and brass band to the living students playing. The lead singer grabbed the mic and started singing.

"Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?"

The bassist joined in:

"Come with us and you will see
This, our town of Halloween!"

The other band members joined in now as well.

"This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night

This is Halloween, everybody make a scene
Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright
It's our town, everybody scream
In this town of Halloween"

The band took turns saying the lines, the fire responding to song, bringing it to life. The students responded with enthusiasm, joining in singing and many of them formed a mob near the stage.

The Gryffindor first-years grinned at each other and joined the dancing mob.

"Uncle Tim is so awesome!" A Ravenclaw third-year laughed and her friends nodded.

As the band finished their first song they moved into another. This one a slower and sweeter.

Yugi smiled and started to sway to the music when someone grabbed his arm and pulled him towards them.

"Lavender?!" he said in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Dancing silly." She batted her eyelashes at him and pulled him closer.

He gulped, trying to ignore Yami laughing in his head, and took her hand, placing the other gingerly on her waist. She grinned and started dancing. He struggled with the steps, trying not to think about how he was supposed to be leading.

"Moving through the darkness

I cannot find the light.

Shadows wrap around me

And pull me to the ground

I can't find the fire

I just can't fight it anymore!

I'll never let you go

Because I'm never far away

And I won't let this happen

I just don't want this to end.

I can't see the sun,

Nothing burns me anymore

The only thing I feel

Is this pounding in my head

The silence of the darkness

And the loneliness of the night

I'll never let you go

Because I'm never far away

And I won't let this happen

I just don't want this to end.

I feel you beside me

And finally I see a glow

That glimmer in the darkness

Chasing away the shadows

And the demons in the night

I can only see your smile

And the hope you fill me with.

I'll never let you go

Because I'm never far away

And I won't let this happen

I just don't want this to end.

I just don't want this to end.

I just don't want this to end."

Yugi let go of Lavender as soon as possible and thanked her for the dance before walking quickly back over to his friends. Joey took one look at his face and busted out laughing.

"Did you enjoy your dance?" He asked innocently.

Yugi stuck his tongue out at him. "Lavender is a fine dancer. I'm just not fond of slow dancing."

"Oh, that's too bad." Tea sighed and turned to Tristan. "Will you dance with me then?"

Yugi turned beet red and sputtered while the group laughed their heads off. He pouted and walked over to the buffet table to get a drink of pumpkin juice.

A few students were over there, but most of them were dancing. He sighed and picked up a goblet, draining it quickly.

"Not enjoying the dance?" A quiet voice asked him.

Yugi turned to see Ryou grabbing a cookie.

"I am. I just wanted a drink."

Ryou smiled knowingly. "Right."

Yugi reached to grab a cookie and Ryou did at the same time. He brushed against Ryou's arm briefly and a sharp jolt passed through him from the Millenium Puzzle.

"What was that Yami?"

"I don't know Hikari. But I think Ryou felt it too."

Ryou looked shocked for a second and shook his arm out before a grimace of pain flitted over his face and he gripped his head with his hands. He groaned slightly and collapsed to his knees.

"Ryou! Are you okay?" Yugi grabbed his arm and tried to pull him to his feet. He shook off Yugi's hand and stood up himself, his hair looked a little spikier than before and his eyes flashed red.

"I'm fine. It's just a little stuffy in here." He grabbed a goblet of pumpkin juice and downed it in one gulp. "Much better." He grinned and turned to Yugi. "That's a very interesting pendant Yugi. Where did you get it?"

Yugi's face lit up. "My grandpa gave it to me. It's called the Millennium Puzzle. I just finished it a little while ago."

"Is that so? I guess you like puzzles then?"

"I like all games. Puzzles are a lot of fun."

"Well maybe you'd like to play a game with me sometime then?"

"Sure! Until then do you want to hang out? It seems like you were all alone over here."

"I'd like that." He smiled, but if it seemed a little forced Yugi didn't notice.

Yugi grinned and walked back over to his friends. Ryou followed.

"Hey Yuge, and Ryou!" The group was jumping around to the latest song, it was quite upbeat and everyone was jumping with their fists in the air. As the song ended they took a deep breath.

"I'm hungry." Joey and Ron exclaimed at the same time.

"You're always hungry!" Hermione laughed.

Tristan started walking with them towards the buffet table. They came back quickly with plates full of cookies and other treats. The group rolled their eyes. Yugi laughed and took a cookie from Ron's plate.

The band started another song and the group decided to go sit by the wall for a bit. After a minute the Twins walked by.

"Having fun?" George asked. At least Yugi thought it was George. He had an 'F' on his shirt anyway.

They nodded. "The pyrotechnics are pretty cool." Joey grinned.

The twins looked at each other. "We've got something in the works that'll beat the pants off of this stuff."

Harry looked up at the flaming orb which was now shooting off rockets of flame that danced around the room before jetting back into the columns or the ball itself.

"Really?"

"Yeah. We just don't have them finished yet." They laughed. "But you just wait till we do. They will blow you away!"

Yugi hoped they didn't mean literally, but knowing the twins, they might.

The dance continued until quite late. Soon students started leaving for bed, taking a last cookie or drink before heading out the door.

Yugi stretched and grinned. "I'm getting tired, what about you guys."

A few quiet groans answered him and he laughed.

"I'll take that as a yes."

They started walking towards the Great Hall doors when the lights went out suddenly, plunging them into pitch blackness. The band went silent and a few screams pierced the dark. Slowly a dim light grew, allowing them to see some vague shapes and the floor. It increased slightly in a swirling pattern, allowing brief views of other people, but they were back to being vague shadows in seconds.

The group backed up into the middle of the Hall and were quickly joined by everyone left in the hall, including the two Ravenclaw second-year students they had noticed before. Yugi looked around to make sure everyone was around him and not lost in the dark. Ron, Tea, Hermione, Joey, Harry, and Tristan. He looked around, but Ryou's white hair was nowhere to be seen. What was going on?

"Ryou?" He called out hesitantly.

He was answered by harsh laughter, seeming to come from everywhere.

"I've been waiting for you Pharaoh!"

Yugi frowned in confusion. "Pharaoh?"

"And now I shall have what is rightfully mine!"

Yugi gasped as pain ripped through him. He collapsed to the floor, followed by everyone around him. "What's going on?"

"Don't you know yet?! This is a Shadow Game!"


Sorry it took so long for me to update... and now I'm leaving you with a cliffhanger... he he he... I'll try to update quicker this time and with a longer chapter, hopefully... but school is getting really busy, so sorry if it takes a week or two...

This chapter was really fun for me to write, especially the decorations. By the way... before anyone complains about the costumes I do have plans that need those costumes... but if you really have a problem with them let me know... :)

Yes. I used part of "This is Halloween" from Nightmare Before Christmas. No I don't own the song or the movie (sadly... it's awesome). I thought it fit really well in this.

By the way... does anyone have any ideas for who the lead singer or other members of the band should be... I have an idea, but I want to know if anyone has an opinion. They may or may not play a part in the next few chapters.

I've asked this before and I'll ask it again... Is anyone interested in knowing what wands everyone has? I've put a lot of thought into it and I'll bring it up sometime... but if you want to know it does explain a bit about some stuff so let me know...

Anyway.. till next chapter! Please review and tell me what you think!