Summary: When a politically charged Magical world in turmoil suddenly becomes his problem, Kaiba finds that not all fairytales are just stories and sometimes, in the absence of a hero, even a reluctant Anti-Hero will do. HPYGO
Warnings: May contain minor traces of Shounen-Ai, a good dash of nasty language and a side-serving of occasional death.
Book One of Eight;
Chasing the Dragon
-Chapter Six-
The Daily Prophet.
-Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus-
Seto had jerked to his feet and grabbed the newspaper before he had even realised what he was doing. The curious stares that followed him were dutifully ignored as his fingers brushed listlessly over the two moving black and white photographs that sat side by side beneath a large, bold headline; 'Arrests Made in Ministry Round Up.'
It was one of the last places he had expected to see the faces of Bakura Ryou and Otogi Ryuuji.
Seto frowned at the sight of his two class-mates, people who he had (somewhat unwillingly) seen only a couple of days ago. His eyes were magnetically drawn to the fine-print article that stretched out beneath the two faces;
'Investigations made by the Ministry of Magic into use of illegal magic struck gold for Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, yesterday afternoon when the arrests of two foreign teenagers were made. The arrests (made by Ministry Aurors under the authority of the Japanese Ministry late yesterday afternoon) are only the beginning of what Fudge says he hopes to be a clean-sweep of illegal magic-users.
The arrests are the first to be made in light of Fudge's new zero-tolerance policy in regards to the unregistered use of dangerous magic. Despite Fudge's insistence that it has nothing to do with certain errors made over the past twelve months, many have made the not-so-distant connection between the installment of the new system with the Ministry's recent blunders concerning You-Know-Who's return.
The details concerning the two teenagers' arrests have yet to be released, but Head Auror in charge of the operation, James Dawlish, has said he is confident that both suspects will be convicted at their double-hearing on Wednesday morning.
Dawlish firmly denies the rumored accusations that further arrests were met with resistance. Whether this will be enough to quash the rumors that known Aurors have been seen being admitted to St Mungo's is yet to be seen.
- Article continued, Page 8' (1)
The paper dropped silently from Seto's trembling fingers as he stared at the floor.
It all seemed to fit neatly into place now. The 'yesterday evening' would fit in around the same time that he had been rescued (if you could call it that) by Snape. They had all gone off in their separate directions on the way home. Him and Mokuba – Yuugi, Jounouchi, Honda and Anzu - and Bakura and Otogi.
He could feel a large rolling wave of Set's anger sweeping over him as the Priest began a furious tirade of thoughts that Seto wasn't entirely sure he was supposed to be hearing; 'I would have thought the Tomb Robber could have handled these modern-day wizards. I suppose they overpowered him – cowards.'
The fact that Set was angry on the Tomb Robber's (as he so belligerently continued to call him) behalf was enough to show Seto just how disgusted the Priest was by the Wizards actions. Set had something of a very serious grudge (bordering on vendetta)against the Tomb Robber. It had something to do with the desecration of sacred places; Seto had decided not to ask.
Seto shut the spirit's thoughts out as his temper began to skyrocket. He had had quite enough of these wizards after only a few days spent in their was fairly sure that Otogi Ryuuji didn't possess an ounce of magic. The likelihood that he was just an innocent by-stander enraged Seto beyond anything he could comprehend considering the usual indifference he felt towards his classmate. This so called 'Ministry of Magic' had taken things much too far, if he ever saw this Cornelius Fudge he doubted the man would come out alive.
"Seto? What's wrong?"
Seto's blood caught fire and his lips turned in a sharp, furious line. They would pay.
"Seto?"
The pair of black and white photographs stared up at him. Otogi's headshot was smirking, long fingers curled in his dark hair and as Seto watched the boy in the photograph winked at him, unerringly flirtatious even in such dire circumstances, while Bakura's photograph sneered and snarled, a clear indication of just who was in control of the body at that point in time. Seeing his classmates staring back at him from beneath that ominous headline seemed, somehow, to cement his unwilling, precarious position within this foreign world just a little bit more. It struck him as nothing else since being wrenched up out of his comfortable little life and thrown into this strange, dim house had.
The warmth of the Sennen Rod ebbed outwards and ghostly arms draped around his waist, whilst feeding soothing affirmation into his mind.
"Seto, what's going on?"
Mokuba's hand seized hold of his brothers arm, hard, and he stared in startled confusion at the mirror image that had attached itself to his brother's waist. Now that Mokuba could see Seto's face he saw the cold lines of fury that had been etched there. Seto's eyes were stormy as he dropped the paper from his fingers to land, face up, at his feet.
Mokuba followed the newspaper's descent, confusion warring with the worry on his face before a gasp of horror escaped him and he dropped to his knees. His fingers reached out, stricken, to trace over the faces captured so faithfully in the photographs.
"What's the matter with you?" Ron grunted loudly through a mouthful of stew.
The bushy-haired girl next to him gave a loud reprimand of, "Ron!" that silenced him immediately.
The fact that Seto was trembling with rage didn't escape the spectators' attention. Nor did Mokuba's horrified reaction to whatever discovery that his brother had made. Mrs Weasley's feelings of hostility vanished the moment she caught the expression on the younger Kaiba's face and, spurred by motherly instincts that she had never been able to deny, she made to stand. "What on earth is the matter?" she asked, concern shining in warm brown eyes.
A hand on her arm gave her pause and she watched, surprise crossing her face, as Mokuba rose to his feet and buried his face into his brother's chest rambling in rapid, anxious Japanese. A surprisingly gentle hand rose to rest atop Mokuba's unruly hair.
Seto's anger appeared to have drained away at the first signs of his brother's distress.
"Don't worry Mokuba," Seto informed his brother, his tone firm but with a fondness that coloured his brother's name, "I won't let them get away with this."
There was a very good reason why Seto Kaiba had such a curious affinity for his dragons. The fact that the temperament of the creatures was almost as explosive as his own was one of the reasons, and perhaps a rare insight, into the blazing intensity that smoldered off of Seto's devastating blue eyes that were so akin to that of his favourite duel monster.
Unwittingly Cornelius Fudge had made a very dear and extremely costly mistake; he had crossed Seto Kaiba.
Very few people in the history of the world that had been in such a precarious position as the Minister of Magic had found himself in had ever come out of it unscathed. In his ignorance Cornelius Fudge had, quite accidentally, woken a sleeping dragon. (2)
"You aren't very sociable," was the disgruntled observation that Ron Weasley made the following morning.
"And you aren't very smart, did I point it out?" Seto retorted irritably.
Harry hid a grin behind 'Flying with the Cannons' as Ron turned a marvelous shade of scarlet and turned his head back to the Chess Board.
Seto merely scowled.
It hadn't taken long for Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny to discover his safe-haven and, for some mysterious reason, they seemed to take particular pleasure in inflicting their company upon him.
Seto had a very strong feeling that Molly Weasley had something to do with it.
It had seemed that the woman had decided, of her own accord, that Seto didn't really mean to be as rude as he was and that he was really just too shy to express himself in a proper manner. In short, she seemed to think that Seto was lonely.
So, in an attempt to make Seto a much more satisfactory person, it seemed she had strong-armed her son, daughter and their friends into trying to crack Seto's impressive defenses.
As it was they seemed closer to simply making him crack.
There was something awfully reminiscent of Yuugi's band of friends in the motly crew of teenaged wizards and witches. Something that made Seto fear tremendously for his blood pressure and his sanity.
Over the past few hours Seto had come to realise that he was a source of great interest to the four teenagers, who had failed miserably in their digging for information. Seto had dealt with more reporters in his lifetime than he cared to remember, he knew very well when he was being grilled for information and these wizards and witches were anything but subtle. (3)
The only reason that Seto tolerated their presence, insofar as he hadn't gone in search of a new place to sit and brood in, was the fact that Mokuba seemed to enjoy the change in company. Or rather, it gave him something to do.
Seto shot a glance towards where Mokuba was engaged in a game of Wizarding Chess with the youngest of the Weasley brothers, Ron. He had very quickly determined that it was very similar to the version of the game that he was accustomed to, the only differences being that the chess-pieces were quite animate, spent most of their time alternating between hurling insults and advice at one another (and, depending on the state of the game, the players) and rather violent. It had been a great source of surprise to Seto that Ron, who he had taken to be a bit of an idiot, was rather good at it.
But then again, perhaps he was to Chess what Jounouchi Katsuya was to Magic and Wizards; a pure fluke. Seto figured there had to be someone in every sport like them.. Someone to provide the comic relief that was.
What Ron Weasley had failed to figure out was that being the brother to the infamous Game-Master Kaiba had its benefits in that you learned all of the tricks of the trade.
The red-head was losing dismally.
Seto had his suspicions that Mokuba, never having been the most scrupulous of players, was cheating.
It only took a few more moments of observation before Mokuba swiped another of Ron's chessman while the red-head wasn't looking, hurriedly stifling it's attempts to cry foul in one of his pockets. Seto fought back the fond smile that threatened his lips at the (not the least bit unexpected) revelation.
Ron swore violently as he surveyed his troops, his attention once again returned to the game at hand, before muttering suspiciously aloud, "I could have sworn I had a bishop left."
Seto rolled his eyes while Mokuba faked a loud cough to cover the muffled swearing that was emanating from his pockets. Far be it for him to interfere with Mokuba's fun, he had more important things to worry about.
There were several things that Seto knew he had to take care of. For one, he knew that no matter how dangerous that old fool had said it would be for him to go home, there were things that he simply needed in his possession. For the sake of his and Mokuba's livelihood, if not for the economical stability of Domino City and in turn, Japan.
The second was a much more demanding and infinitely more complex task; he had to help Bakura Ryou and Otogi Ryuuji.
This was something he had spent a lot of time thinking over. Seto had no idea what kind of sentencing the pair were likely to be facing, nor did he know what would happen if they were, indeed, convicted.
It wasn't as if he could go charging into some Wizarding Court-room (assuming they had such a thing) demanding justice from the very people who were looking to convict him of similar if not identical charges. He doubted that that course of action would be particularly effective.
He had gotten a very primitive, tit for tat feeling about the wizards judicial system from what little he'd been able to subtly coax out of the four teenagers who'd made it their business to talk to him. Harry in particular had seemed to hold something of a grudge against what he had called the Wizengamot. Seto didn't think he wanted to know what would happen to his class-mates in a worst case scenario.
The fact that Seto actually cared about the fates of his class-mates was particularly puzzling to him. He doubted that if Yuugi Mutou were around to save the day that he would have bothered himself with anything resembling this crusade for justice against the wizarding higher powers. However, with Yuugi Mutou likely still stuck far away in Domino, he was left with little choice.
Mokuba would never forgive him if he left the pair to rot away in some sub-standard prison.
Seto's thoughts were abruptly wrenched away from the predicament of Bakura and Otogi when he found Set's voice echoing impatiently in his head, 'Don't forget about your lessons, omote.'
A snort escaped Seto's lips, drawing several interested faces in his direction, to which he stared stonily back. 'How could I possibly forget? You've been reminding me every five minutes since I said it.'
Set's voice was decidedly sulky when he spoke again, 'I thought you would be interested in learning something that could help you gain more power, Game-Master Kaiba.'
Seto grimaced. People had stopped calling him that a long time ago, more precisely around the time that he had been beaten by a certain spiky-haired midget.
Seto's response was silky smooth and carefully calculated, 'Are you implying I'm power-hungry, Set?'
There was just enough emphasis placed on the right words to make Set bristle. Lingering memories of the shadow game that Seto and Yuugi had witnessed during the Battle City finals came, unbidden, to mind. The fact that Seto had, until very recently, considered the memories to be nothing more than a strange shared hallucination (maybe epileptic fit, caused by a malfunction with the Duel Disks) was blatantly ignored in favour of one-upping the High Priest.
Set let loose some truly prodigious snarls that very quickly degenerated into some not-so-flattering names and descriptions of his reincarnation.
Seto felt a smirk curl easily across his lips as he lazily goaded the spirit. 'So much hostility, Set.'
'I'll give you hostile,' the spirit uttered back darkly.
Allowing the smug feeling of triumph to settle for a while, Seto absently rubbed a finger along the warm gold of the Sennen Rod where it was tucked into the waistband of his pants. That brought another reason for getting out of this hovel (however briefly) to mind.
He and Mokuba needed more clothing (clothing that was not musty old robes or hand-me-downs from any number of Weasleys). There was only so much longer that they could exist with only the clothes on their backs and the more attractive that those hand-me-downs and robes got, the more convinced Seto was that this place was beginning to lay a claim on them.
Seto glanced up, effortlessly ignoring the snide comments that echoed through his mind regarding his previous train of thought and inspected the progress of Mokuba's chess game. He rolled his eyes with something akin to exasperation, that was just getting ridiculous.
The pockets of Mokuba's jeans were bulging with swearing swiped chess-pieces from Ron's side of the board, a fact that Mokuba was masterfully hiding by keeping up a loud running commentary of just about anything he could think of and the red-head was beginning to look desperate.
"I bloody well know I had a knight on the board. I don't understand," the red-head was muttering aloud as he pulled at his hair with a rueful expression, completely ignoring the visible wince of pain Mokuba gave as said knight jabbed him indignantly in the thigh.
Mokuba's own pieces seemed to find their players outright treachery rather amusing.
In a feat of kindness that Seto wasn't likely to repeat any time soon he gave a pointed stare in Mokuba's direction, "Quit cheating, you little brat."
Mokuba started visibly and turned wide (definitely annoyed) eyes toward his brother before letting out a frustrated yell of, "'Nii-sama! I was just about to win!"
Ron blinked once, then again, as he looked from Seto to Mokuba slowly before comprehension dawned, his ears turned a magnificent shade of pink and he roared, "He was cheating? I knew it!"
The red-head's accusing, narrowed eyes fixed on Mokuba who unrepentantly stuck his tongue out before tilting his head back and informing his opponent in an infuriatingly amused voice, "It's not my fault you're such an easy target."
Ron let out a splutter of indignation while a loud snort of laughter erupted from the floor where Ginny and Hermione were gathered throwing corks for an enormous, fluffy ginger cat to chase. Harry did a very good job of hiding his grin behind the pages of his book.
Mokuba shot a dire warning in Seto's direction before turning to the red-head with an unabashed stare of presumed innocence.
"So, wanna play again?"
Ron seemed to forget his fury and appeared to seriously consider the offer before he choked on realization and bellowed with glowing cheeks, "No you little con-artist!"
Suppressed laughter finally escaped from behind Harry's book and Ginny and Hermione exchanged amused grins.
Seto was the only one who noticed when the door was pushed further open to admit a faintly amused Remus Lupin who had obviously caught the tail-end of the exchange. He scanned the rooms occupants before his stare came to rest on Seto.
"Professor Lupin!" Hermione exclaimed, her surprise to see the man evident as he expertly caught a rogue cork beneath his foot and gave the girl a brief, sad smile.
"Remus, Hermione. I'm not your Professor anymore," he corrected absent-mindedly as he rolled the cork beneath his shoe.
"What are you doing here, Pro – Remus?" Harry asked curiously, having set aside his book to regard the older man closely.
Lupin cast a somewhat worn smile at Harry before he answered, "Actually, I was hoping to have a word with Mister Kaiba," the elder Wizard's eyes travelled the short distance towards Seto to hover over him.
Seto obligingly rose from his chair and the smile on Remus' face solidified into something more substantial as he waved him toward the door. Seto could feel Mokuba's eyes burning into his back as he left the room and was sure that the boy knew he was about to miss out on something, once again.
Seto followed Lupin down the long corridor that stretched along the bottom floor of the house and took the time to properly size-up the elder Wizard for the first time.
Lupin was surprisingly young beneath that tired, stretched expression he seemed to wear like his own skin. There was a lingering tragedy burning somewhere in the back of that carefully maintained, mild expression; a sadness that lingered in the lines around his eyes. He was a man that, Seto suspected, had seen far too much for someone of his age but had refused to allow it to break him. Beneath the patched, shabby robes and grey-streaked hair was a defiant strength and resilience. If Seto looked at him too closely he got the odd, niggling feeling that it was the sort of expression that could sometimes be found on his own face.
The elder man held the door open for him and Seto belatedly realised that their destination had been the kitchen. Seto slipped through the door with the faintest of grimaces turning down his lips. What was with these people and that kitchen?
"You wished to talk to Dumbledore again, did you not Mister Kaiba?" Lupin inquired as he allowed the door to close behind him and strode passed the elder Kaiba towards the table.
Several pairs of eyes rose to look up at them as Remus settled himself into a seat and gestured for Seto to do the same. It didn't take Seto long to notice that, while none of the present faces belonged to the aforementioned Albus Dumbledore, one did belong to Severus Snape and he didn't seem particularly pleased about Seto's presence.
"Yes," Seto replied, a frown settling into place around his mouth as his eyes returned to fix on Lupin's.
Remus gave a patient smile, his eyes twinkling with a ghost of amusement as they turned from Snape, who was muttering darkly beneath his breath, and back to Seto again. Snape seemed to realise the attention he'd been accorded and scowled. The Daily Prophet rustled loudly as it was drawn further up over his face.
"I'm afraid that Albus is rather busy at the moment and can't spare the time. He has instructed me to answer any questions that you may have in his place," Lupin acknowledged in a cool, polite tone that Seto found himself unable to broker any irritation at.
Set's presence returned enthusiastically into the foreground of his mind, apparently calling truce over their previous run-in in order to give a few suggestions as to what Seto should question the man about. Seto wondered, briefly, why the spirit showed such enthusiasm when it came to interrogation and came to the conclusion that he probably didn't want to know.
Seto addressed the other man without hesitation, all business now that the opportunity had presented itself, "It is extremely important that I return to Domino."
Lupin's eyes were startlingly unsurprised, he let out a faint sigh, combing a hand through his greying hair as he spoke, "I'm afraid that is one thing that I cannot agree to."
Seto was not to be deterred. His dark stare pinned the older man down with many years of practice and he spoke slowly and smoothly every inch of the professional he had built his business reputation around, "This isn't a trivial demand, Mister Lupin, I require certain items if I am to remain in this household. I take the running of my company very seriously."
There was a snort of distaste from behind the covers of 'The Daily Prophet' and Seto caught a low silky muttering of, "I'm sure that your precious company will survive without you."
Remus Lupin harboured a serious concern that Seto's eyes would burn right through the newspaper, such was the intensity of the glare that rested upon it. When Seto opened his mouth to speak his voice was dangerously calm, "You are obviously not a businessman then, Severus."
Snape allowed the papers to droop so he could peer over them and narrowed his dark eyes at Seto. Dislike carved every line of his face.
"If that were the case than I would not have bothered you. As it is, over the past few years Kaiba Corporation has become an integral part of Japan's economy," Seto's blue eyes were hawkish and calculating as they darted briefly between Snape and Lupin's faces, "But if you wish to be responsible for an entire countries economical decline.."
Seto's eyes returned to rest a pointed stare on Remus Lupin's face as he allowed his sentence to linger, unfinished and ominous, in the air. Perhaps slightly exaggerated, but Seto had been in business long enough to know that sometimes a good bluff was necessary to achieve your goals.
Remus didn't seem to know quite what to say, he mustered a frown to his face, observing Seto carefully. "What is it precisely that you need Mister Kaiba?" he finally inquired, an odd twitch tugging at the corners of his lips.
Seto felt Set begin to snicker to himself and suppressed a smile as Lupin's knowing eyes surveyed his own and the spirit commented, 'You're a great deal more manipulative than I had realised, omote.'
"I require my laptop, my briefcase and some extra clothing for Mokuba and myself."
Lupin chewed his lip absently as he mulled the idea over in his mind, before an idea clubbed him forcefully over the head. He could barely contain the smile that threatened to spill over his face or the twinkle that sparked to life in his eyes as he glanced surreptitiously towards the newspaper that hid Snape's face before returning his attention to Seto.
Not for the first time, someone realised that perhaps they had underestimated Remus Lupin's character.
"In that case, I'm sure Severus will have no objections in taking you."
The Daily Prophet fell with a rustle to the tabletop and Lupin was assailed with a livid, black stare. Remus had been right in assuming that Snape had been listening close to every word that had been said.
"I most certainly will not take him anywhere!" the Potions Master ground out, the expression on his face decidedly intimidating even by Seto's high standards.
Lupin gave a wan smile and tilted his head absently on an angle to inspect Severus as though he were a mildly interesting insect he was considering capturing in a jar. His amusement was evident. "I do believe, Severus, that at present you are the only one of us who can spare the time. Especially considering recent developments."
Snape growled viciously under his breath as though he'd very much like to throw something at Lupin's head (preferably a particularly disfiguring curse) before turning his glare onwards to where Seto was sitting. To Severus' surprise, however, Seto was not looking at him or Lupin. Instead he seemed very much interested in an article he had spotted in Severus's Daily Prophet.
Snape growled as he realized Seto had reached over and grabbed the newspaper without his knowledge.
"If you don't mind," Severus growled reaching out to grab the paper but had his hand promptly slapped away.
"I do."
Seto hadn't even looked up.
More than annoyed, Snape rose to his feet to reach out for the newspaper but was stilled by a sharp look from Lupin's direction. The man had leaned over to see what it was that had caught Seto's attention.
Seto himself was visibly effected by the news that he found splashed across the middle pages of 'The Daily Prophet'. It was the second time in as many days that he had found bad news concerning people of his acquaintance and he was beginning to think that the paper consisted of little but.
The fact that Seto hadn't heard anything of the Ishtar family since Battle City had never particularly bothered him up until now. As far as he was concerned the Ishtars' were nothing but bad news; much like the paper he was reading.
The headline that stretched across the article didn't mean much at first to Seto; 'Death Eater Involvement Suspected in Egyptologists Murder.'
It was the word Ishtar that had jumped out from the page at him that caught his attention, now as he read it, Seto was beginning to wish he hadn't seen the article at all.
'The death of Muggle-Egyptologist Isis Ishtar has been under investigation by the Egyptian Ministry of Magic after rumors that Death Eaters were involved. Miss Ishtar, a noted scholar of the more obscure dynasties of Ancient Egypt was in the process of translating a newly discovered stone-tablet when she was found dead under suspicious circumstances in her home.
Ishtar's younger brother, who was assisting in the translation of the tablet, has also been reported missing and their step-brother has been at the center of questioning by both Muggle Police and the Egyptian Ministry of Magic.
The suspicion of You-Know-Who's involvement is rumored to be highly likely as a green sign, reportedly the Dark Mark was seen hovering over the Ishtar's residence several hours before Miss Ishtar's body was discovered. This is uncertain however as the Dark Mark had disappeared before authorities arrived. This is just one of several, suspicious recent deaths occurring outside of British soil that have led to worries that, this time around, You-Know-Who is hoping to extend his influence beyond the British Isles.
It seems likely that Miss Ishtar is yet another victim of You-Know-Who's return to power – this reporter only wonders whether her death and others like it could have been prevented.'
Lupin hadn't failed to notice the whitening of Seto's cheeks or the trembling of his hands as he pushed the paper away from him towards Snape's still outstretched hand. He turned shaken blue eyes firmly onto Remus with determination before he announced resolutely, "I want to know about this You-Know-Who."
When Seto left the kitchen after the lengthy, unfinished story that chronicled the Dark Lord, Voldemort and Harry Potter, the room was silent for some time. The Daily Prophet lay open on the kitchen table at the pages that Seto had previously been looking at, the article currently being the object of attention as two men stooped over it.
A subtle shoving war had been in progress for the past five minutes.
Remus Lupin drove his elbow outwards, effectively pushing Severus Snape out of the way long enough to get a satisfactory once-over of the article. Snape delivered a dark stare in response.
Glancing up from the article the conclusion in Remus' eyes was obvious; it was the same one that Snape had come to five minutes ago.
"I think it's about time we figured out precisely what it is that Mister Kaiba is hiding from us," Lupin muttered aloud with a barely detectable sharpening of his eyes.
Snape let out a barely detectable snort, "'About time'? I've been trying to get you and Dumbledore to agree with me for days."
Lupin raised an eyebrow lazily as he sank back into a chair, the one Snape had been occupying incidentally, and ignored the glare that he received.
"Really? I don't seem to recall..."
Snape glowered.
Lupin's mouth twitched and he reached over to pour himself another cup of tea. (4)
Standing in the hallway of his own home Seto felt somewhat odd.
Snape was staring around at the grandeur of the entrance hall, his lips twisted into some hybrid version of a scowl and a sneer. His dark eyes belied the expression however, they were widened with something akin to awe that a mere teenager could claim ownership of such a place.
Set was enjoying making a running commentary of Snape's reactions through Seto's mind, 'Now it appears that Severus is trying to conceal his awe through scowling..'
Seto steeled his expression against the amusement threatening to break through as he strode swiftly towards the staircase and swept upwards. He didn't trust Snape's patience enough to linger for too long.
It didn't take him to long to pack up all of the necessities that he hadn't, necessarily, mentioned to Lupin. His laptop, cellphone (and a spare) and Duel Disk 3 Prototype were slipped quickly into his briefcase. A suitcase was untidily filled with clothing and Seto slipped a trench coat over his shoulders, glad that he had chosen to leave his other one back at the hovel.
He quickly moved onto packing Mokuba's essential items. He slipped several game boys and a game console into the suitcase while Severus wasn't looking and shook his head with amusement before hastening to add Mokuba's MP3 player. His brother would probably kill him if he forgot it.
Set's amused voice filtered through his mind as he kept up his adopted role as commentator, '..And Seto checks to his left, to his right, finds an opening and in goes the luxury items. Severus doesn't suspect a thing...'
Seto pulled a face and hefted the suitcases and his briefcase in his arms before glancing smoothly in Snape's direction. The man was regarding his luggage with a poisonous expression as though he couldn't comprehend someone needing that much clothing.
Snape grimaced and hefted one of Seto's many trophies off of his bedside table, turning it over in his long pale fingers with an odd sneer on his face. Seto shot a sharp look in the man's direction and was looking to protest when Snape produced a wand from his pocket, tapped it once and muttered, "Portus."
Seto watched with surprise as it glowed blue before it was pressed into Seto's hands and instructed to, "Hold onto this."
Seto was startled as Snape dissapeared with a resounding 'crack!' before a familiar sensation wrenched his stomach and the world dissolved from beneath him.
Seto Kaiba decided that he didn't like Port-Keys very much.
When Harry, Ron and Hermione discovered Mokuba later that afternoon they were surprised to find that Seto wasn't with him. Mokuba was sprawled across his usual couch looking decidedly content with his Game-Boy blaring happily in his hands, thudding bass pounded from the headphones that cradled his ears.
Mokuba had been more than happy to discover that Seto had smuggled him in some 'non-essential' items which included several of his beloved game-consoles. Mokuba had decided this constituted as an excuse for his brother not taking him with them.
When he spotted the three curious stares upon him, Mokuba pulled the headphones from his ears and paused his game to eye them with a raised eyebrow. Ron thought he looked disturbingly like his older brother when he did that.
"Where's your brother?" Harry asked curiously.
It was a rare sight to see one without the other after all, Harry wondered absently if the brothers did that to avoid being caught off-guard. Harry decided that he was probably being paranoid.
Mokuba gave a faint smile and gestured downwards with one thumb. All three stared at him blankly and Mokuba let out a long suffering sigh before clarifying.
"He's under the house."
Hermione raised an eyebrow and looked very much as if she would like to laugh, Ron didn't have the decency to keep his laughter to himself and Harry simply looked perplexed.
"What's he under there for?" Ron sniggered out.
"I was looking for electricity sockets," was the sharp reply from behind them that made Hermione and Ron jump.
Seto was covered in dust and grime and looking decidedly less intimidating than usual with his long sleeves rolled back and lacking his usual ensemble of buckles and belts.
Harry raised an eyebrow at him and spoke up with a faint hint of confusion, "This is a wizarding house.. I don't think they're even connected to the electricity."
Seto gave an oddly pleased sort of smirk and commented in decidedly good-humor, "Now they are." (5)
He heard Mokuba give a faint whoop under his breath and turn excitedly towards him, "Does that mean my game-consoles will work now?"
Hermione eyed him suspiciously with precisely the sort of expression that she used on the Weasley twins when trying to descern whether what they were doing was illegal, before asking, "What do you mean 'now they are'?"
Seto's lips quirked and he proceeded to rather pointedly ignore her. Stalking passed the trio towards where Mokuba was seated. He hefted a shining silver briefcase from off of the ground and clicked it open before proceeding to rummage through it, producing with a flourish what seemed to be an electricity cable and extension cord.
Something about the briefcase must have unstuck something in Hermione's mind. For in the precise moment she saw the light reflect off of the immaculate surface she let out a gasp of realisation as though someone had just dealt her a blow with the, 'Oh, of course!' mallet.
"You – you're Seto Kaiba," she exclaimed with sudden, wide-eyed realisation.
Ron stared at her as if pondering if she was quite batty.
Mokuba let out a snort of amusement and flicked his headphones back over his ears.
Seto raised an eyebrow.
Harry was inclined to follow Ron's example.
"I should think that was obvious," Seto dead-panned, a trace of amusement reeling through his mind and striking Set violently over the head.
"No! You're Seto Kaiba. You're the owner of Kaiba Corporation. You're in the muggle papers nearly every day. I don't know why I didn't recognize you before.."
'Because he hasn't been modeling his range of starch-ware,' Set cheerily filled in the blanks, despite the fact that Hermione obviously couldn't hear him.
Seto's smirk slipped minutely.
Set was proving much harder to ignore than the rest of the world; he supposed that was the way it tended to be when the one you wanted to ignore was a resident of your own mind.
Good humor drizzling away, Seto slumped down into his chair and proceeded to ignore the three of them.
This succeeded in thoroughly irritating Hermione (who was bursting to question him as to why he of all people was here of all places), amuse Harry (who had noticed Hermione slipping into 'Investigative-Mode' and therefore was waiting for Seto to crack under the pressure) and bewilder Ron (the red-head still hadn't managed to fathom how anyone could go for so long without saying a word and still be so intimidating.)
He didn't even look up when the door opened and admitted the Weasley girl. He had picked up his briefcase and begun to rummage through the papers in search of more cables.
His mind eventually began to wander however, his brain had apparently decided to go on holiday with the amount of time he had managed to avoid going to work. Of course it didn't help that Set had taken to hanging over his shoulder and breathing on his neck (a curiosity indeed as the spirit neither needed to breathe nor had the necessary organs to do so) – nor did it help when the spirit drawled directly into his ear, 'What's that?' every five minutes.
Apparently Set possessed the much feared touchy-feely gene that Seto had obviously been deprived of.
In spite of the obstacles presented Seto felt he had made rather substantial progress in his self-appointed tasks. He had not only managed to acquire his laptop and cellphone, (which put him firmly back in control of Kaiba Corp) but he had also in the process managed to discover a great deal about the 'dark sorcerer' that all of the wizards seemed to fear so much.
He had also discovered why all of the wizards treated Harry Potter like the proverbial cherry on top of the sundae.
Mokuba was easily satisfied with his video-games once again in his clutches. He had even begun to teach the Weasley girl, Ginny how to play some of them. Though this was mostly because she seemed to have nothing better to do than throw corks at Hermione's bad-tempered, beast of a cat.
The only dilemmas that were left were ones that he wished he didn't know about. It was presently Tuesday evening and the following morning Bakura Ryou and Otogi Ryuuji would be facing a hearing and there wasn't anything that he could do about it. The other was the problem of whether or not he should tell Mokuba about Isis Ishtar's death.
He didn't know whether or not he should upset Mokuba with the news or just hope that it never came up. Seto slumped back into his chair and glanced briefly towards where Ginny and Mokuba sat side-by-side on thecouch playing video-games.
The sight helped make his decision a lot clearer, he would have to tell Mokuba. He wasn't a little kid anymore and certainly didn't appreciate being treated like one.
Seto shook his head with a sigh. The other problem was out of his control. Whatever happened now was in the hands of Bakura Ryou and Otogi Ryuuji, he simply didn't have the resources or knowledge of this world to help them.
He could only wish them luck.
Footnotes:
1. Oooh, Atemu got mad...
2. Waha, fear my connections to the Latin at the start of the chapters..
3. The Junior Detectives are at it again.
4. I figure that with Sirius out of the picture someone needs to maintain the Snape torture.
5. Kaiba the Technician Whiz strikes again.
AN: Lalala, revision!
Feed me lots of sugar...