Thinking back, I really had absolutely no reason for choosing Ryou's house other than what worked best with the vague plot ideas I had in my head. I actually regret my decision a little, but I'm not changing it now xD I'll just have to think of a way to make it work...
Edits- last scene of previous chapter tacked onto first scene of this one
The remaining days passed on into oblivion. All too soon, it was time to leave for Hogwarts. Ryou was remarkably pleased with his progress with magic. With the nudging from the aurors and assistance from Hermione, he managed to get himself solidly into third-year charm territory. His work with transfiguration was awful, but he figured he could ask the teacher of that particular class for pointers when he got to the school. His potions were flawless, and even Snape gave him a curt nod of approval after he successfully completed an OWL-level potion.
Before he left, he took a break from magic and read through Hogwarts, A History. He had never gotten a chance to read it, and he was sure Hermione wanted it back soon. It was a fascinating read. Bakura doubted that the book held all of Hogwarts' secrets, however, and was determined to occupy his time with exploring. Ryou was fine with that. As long as Bakura stayed out of trouble, he could do as he liked.
On the day of their departure, Ryou got up early, same as usual, with his things packed and ready to go. It had been the same relaxing morning he was used to, and no different than any other for a while.
Until he left the sanctity of his temporary bedroom, that was. Outside it was chaos. People were hurrying around in a rush, all of them searching for some misplaced something or other. The twins kept 'CRACK'ing in and out of sight, popping here and there in search of things they'd stashed away in hidden niches. Ron and Harry overslept.
After everything was finally settled, Moody took their luggage ahead of them, planning on loading it on a cart for all of them and allowing them to walk themselves up. Ryou had asked why they were walking, since it seemed like it'd be safer for them all to just ride in cars, but he'd only been told that they hadn't been able to get them this year. But then, it was only a brisk twenty minute walk, so Ryou didn't mind much at all. He'd been missing fresh air.
They'd been cooped up for weeks inside, and it had gotten to be miserable. Ryou really felt for poor Sirius, who'd been stuck inside for months before he'd even arrived. He didn't blame the man for wanting to leave. He'd been one of the people who stuck up for Sirius's decision to join them. It had absolutely nothing at all to do with the fact that he was curious as to what Sirius looked like a dog. Okay, well, maybe a little.
It was funny to see him romping around, Ryou thought. He acted very little like a real dog. It was entertaining to watch. Even Harry and Ron got a good laugh out of him chasing a few cats and spooking a few birds.
The best part had to have been once they got to King's Cross Station, though. At first Ryou had been confused, as there was clearly no platform nine and three quarters as implied by his letter. But once they'd met up with Moody, his porter's cap pulled low over his mismatched eyes, they'd gone through the wall between platforms nine and ten. Never mind the fact that theoretically, that would have made it platform nine and a half.
There had been an entire new world inside of the pillar, one populated by throngs of magical students. Ryou held Uraeus a little closer to him inside of his sleeve, not wanting the serpent to slip out in all of the excitement. He had a bad feeling in his gut about bringing the snake with him, even if Bakura had told him to, because the letter had said nothing about snakes for pets. Students were allowed a cat, toad, or owl. Nothing was mentioned about snakes.
Not wanting to get lost, he hurried to catch up with the others. He could just sit with them, he reasoned. Of course, that plan went down the toilet when Ron and Hermione, prefects, had to go down to a special carriage for other prefects like them. Fred and George also left, wanting to hang out with someone named Lee. That left just Harry, Ginny, and Ryou.
Ryou scuffed his toe nervously along the ground, not fully sure what to do, when Ginny spoke up. "Come on," she told them both. "If we get a move on, we'll be be able to save them places."
Ryou and Harry both nodded, gathering up their things and struggling to find an empty compartment. For reasons Ryou didn't understand, in every compartment they investigated, people whispered and pointed at them. This went on until they finally reached the final carriage, where they met someone Harry and Ginny seemed to know. It was a slightly portly boy who was fighting to keep a one-handed grip on a toad.
"Hi, Harry," he panted. "Hi, Ginny, uh..."
"Ryou, Ryou Bakura," he said with a smile.
"Neville Longbottom," the boy replied hastily. "Everywhere's full... I can't find a seat..."
"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked. Ryou glanced over to her, realizing she had slipped past Neville to peer into the compartment behind him. "There's room in this one, there's only Loony Lovegood in here." Neville muttered something about not wanting to disturb someone and Ginny laughed. "Don't be silly! She's all right!"
Ginny slid the door open and pulled her trunk inside. The boys followed her without question.
"Hi, Luna. Is it okay if we take these seats?" she asked.
A dreamy looking girl whose protuberant eyes gave her a permanently surprised expression gazed up at them. She struck Ryou instantly as different, and he felt for the girl who was reading a magazine upside down and wearing a necklace of bottle caps. He wouldn't have been surprised if she got bullied too, especially considering the offhand way Ginny had called her Loony, rather than Luna.
She looked them all over, her gaze ranging over Neville, lingering on Harry for a moment, and settling on Ryou. She nodded.
"Thanks," Ginny said, smiling.
They all stowed away their luggage, Luna's gaze constantly darting between Ryou and Harry.
"Had a good summer, Luna?"
"Yes," she replied dreamily. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter," she added, her large eyes settling on Harry.
"I know I am," Harry replied.
Neville chuckled. Luna's gaze flickered over to him. "And I don't know who you are. Or you," she added, looking back at Ryou.
"I'm nobody," Neville said quickly.
"No you're not," Ginny said sharply. "Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," Luna said in a singsong voice. "Oh, but who are you? I know I've never seen you before."
"I'm Ryou Bakura," he said for the second time of the day. In a way, he relished the feeling, because he had an excellent feeling that the people in this compartment could very well end up as more friends. That little fact made Ryou very excited.
They chatted for a while, Neville eventually producing a small, misshapen cactus that, when prodded, spewed a noxious substance he called 'Stinksap'. Bakura had gotten a good laugh out of that. Ryou felt really bad for Harry, though, because shortly after the cactus blew, a pretty girl Harry obviously had a crush on opened the door and saw them all covered in cactus slime. His cheeks were scarlet when she left, and Ryou felt even worse. Wishing to be helpful, he whipped out his dual-core wand and said a firm, "Scourgify!" that made all of the Stinksap vanish. That was the end of that.
"Sorry," Neville said again and again in a small voice.
A little while later, the food trolley came by. Lucky, too, because Ryou was ravenous. With a little bit of Bakura's help, Ryou collected a few of the fat gold galleons from the shadow realm (secretly of course, a small portal in his pocket had worked surprisingly well, although he would never mention to Bakura just how privately brilliant he could be) and bought as many of the colorful, magical sweets he could. He planned on saving the leftovers for tomorrow as a birthday present to himself.
It was great fun swapping Chocolate Frog cards with the others. It was almost like duel monsters back home- everyone seemed to play it, have their own set. It wasn't as fun as duel monsters, of course, because it was just a collection, not something you played with, but it was still interesting.
Hermione and Ron entered the compartment not long after, both looking disgruntled and tired. Ron flopped into his seat with his eyes closed, while Hermione sat a little more primly.
"Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each House," she said. "Boy and girl from each."
"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" Ron groaned just as the compartment door slid open.
"Me, Potter," a voice said, and Ryou's gaze flickered immediately up to the source.
His jaw dropped open slightly. "Draco?!"
"Ryou?" Draco seemed genuinely surprised to see Ryou sitting amid the Gryffindors. "I thought you-"
"No, I'm fine," Ryou said, smiling pleasantly. "It's great to see you!"
"Wait, how d'you know Malfoy?" Ron suddenly said.
"Draco's my cousin," Ryou said, looking confused. "Why, what's wrong?"
"Hey, Hermione, do you remember? The tapestry?" Ginny asked.
Hermione nodded. Harry and Ron looked displeased. "Oi, Ryou, you don't want to be seen talking to Slytherins like him," Ron said.
"Yeah, the arrogance might be contagious," Harry added.
"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," Malfoy drawled. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."
"Yeah," said Harry, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone." Laughter filled the compartment as Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville all dissolved into giggles.
"Just don't forget that my dear cousin may just end up a Slytherin, too. But I suppose you haven't even stopped to think about it, have you? Of course you haven't."
"Get out!" Hermione said, standing up.
Malfoy snickered, throwing Harry one last malicious look before turning to Ryou, who hadn't moved the entire time. "You coming, Ryou?" he asked.
Ryou was sure that if he could see himself, he'd very closely resemble a deer in the headlights. You see, he had no idea what he should do. Duty and Dumbledore, not to mention new friends, kept him tied to the Gryffindor (plus one Ravenclaw) pack. But was that more or less important than family?
Malfoy's face scrunched into a sneer before Ryou could even decide. "It isn't a trick question. Crabbe, Goyle, let's go," he said. Ryou's heart sank just a little bit. He hoped that he'd get the chance to make things okay soon.
"Nice job, Ryou!" Ginny cheered, her hand up and awaiting a high-five. Ryou halfheartedly returned it.
"Gryffindors and Slytherins never get along..." Luna mused. "I wonder why..."
"Because Slytherins are all conceited, arrogant, self-serving gits," Ron muttered. "There isn't a single wizard who's gone bad who wasn't in Slytherin house. Now, Gryffindor House," he began, effectively turning the conversation around, "is much better." Ron then went on to explain, in great detail, why courageous Gryffindors were better than cowardly Slytherins. Supposedly much of it had to do with inbreeding.
Ryou didn't feel like pointing out the fact that if all pureblood Slytherins were inbred, and Ryou was likewise a pureblood, Ron was saying that he, Ryou, was a product of incest. Which he wasn't, thank you very much.
He sat in silence for a while. He didn't want to admit that he was upset, but he was. Draco's reappearance shook him more than he cared to admit, and brought to mind wonder about what had happened after he and Bakura had disappeared from the Malfoy house. He hoped nothing too bad had happened. And then there were Ron's thoughtless words that made him resent the red-head just a little bit for as long as Ron talked about it.
It wasn't much later that they all changed into their robes and the train pulled to a stop. They could all hear the brisk call of a female voice saying, "First years line up over here, please! All first years to me!"
A lantern swung toward the group and they saw woman guiding first-year students into boats.
"I think I have to go that way," Ryou said to the others, feeling awkward as he said it.
"Good luck!" Ginny called, waving.
Ryou nodded to himself as he walked down the gangplank, securing a boat to himself due to his seventeen (tomorrow) year old self being somewhat larger than the average eleven year old. The boat was no more than a little dinghy. He would have called it a paddle boat, even a rowboat, had there been some way of propelling it, but it seemed like that job had been left to magic.
Had Ryou mentioned he loved this magic? Because he loved this magic. Despite all of the petty rivalries between its users, life was made so much easier with it. Shadow magic took its toll on the body, but this sort of magic had no ill-effects on the user. Objects could even be bewitched to hold their own magic for long periods of time. He wondered if Yuugi and Malik were able to use the same sort of magic...
/I doubt it. From what I've seen, this magic is an inherited trait. It would seem that, since your mother and father had it, you received it too. I doubt the midget's parents are magic. It's possible that the tomb keeper could, since he's got a lot of magic running through his veins anyway, but I don't think we'll ever know/
/I guess so. Still, it would be neat to teach them when we get back!/
/No way in hell am I allowing you to teach that baka pharaoh's light how to use new magic/ Bakura growled.
Ryou scrunched up his nose and let his fingers trail in the water. Small wakes were formed where the pale digits skimmed the murky water. /Fine, I'll just teach Malik, then. He'd be interested/
/For five minutes, maybe, if you're lucky. He and his psycho have the combined attention span of a rodent/
/You're really cynical today, aren't you?/
Bakura twisted Ryou's lips up into a wry smirk. /Huh, whatever would give you that idea?/ he said scathingly.
Ryou frowned at the water. Something brushed against his fingers and he yelped, retracting his hand immediately.
/Is that a squid? Now that's a big fish!/ Bakura exclaimed, seeing the faint silhouette of the sinuous body below the surface.
"How much longer?" Uraeus grumbled from Ryou's billowing sleeve. "That sssquid'sss making my ssscalesss itch."
"Quit complaining," Bakura scoffed, perching, half-visible, on the nose of the boat. "See? He's going back down."
"Whoa!" "Wow, look at it!" "It's amazing!" All around him, first years were breaking out into excited cheers as the castle loomed into sight. Ryou himself sat transfixed. It was absolutely beautiful. Firelight, as if from candles, flickered in the windows. The lake itself captured the reflections in its mirrored surface, pinning stars and flickering candles alike to the rippling surface. It was like a castle from a dream-land.
A small 'sugoi' slipped from Ryou's lips before he checked himself. He'd been doing so well at keeping himself speaking English thus far, and he didn't want to give it up now. Although, he didn't blame himself much for the mix-up. Considering the number of languages he knew, it was a marvel that he could stick to one so well at all.
Malik, for instance, could be jabbering away in Japanese before suddenly switching to Arabic halfway through the sentence. Actually, he did it on multiple occasions. Ryou usually was less attentive with which language he used when talking to Malik, anyway, as they understood most of the same languages. Malik was a little rough with English, and Ryou wasn't great at Arabic yet, but they understood each other flawlessly from their amalgamation of those two, as well as Japanese.
Ryou sighed. He actually missed Malik. Maybe he'd send his friend a letter tomorrow? Malik probably had no idea how to contact Ryou, so he figured it'd probably be up to Ryou to establish some form of correspondence. Supposedly the school had something called an owlery that was full of birds ready to send letters for students. He could just borrow one of those.
The boats drifted to a stop, thudding against the shore. He climbed out. His joints popped, stiff from being cramped for so long on the tiny ship. He ignored the pointed stares directed at him, the pointing fingers, in favor of following the woman as she led them to a large hallway.
Everyone was positively exuberant. Ryou was no exception, bouncing on his heels and listening to the whispers all around him. One first year actually approached him and asked the same question every other girl and boy was asking each other. "Why are you here?"
"I'm being sorted, same as you," he replied, smiling at the little boy.
"But you're old," a little girl pouted.
And therein existed the crux of why everyone was whispering about him: at a school where you were sorted at age 11, it was strange to see someone of Ryou's size and age waiting with a group of tiny first years.
Ryou turned his kind smile to her. "It's my first year, here, too." It only made sense for him to try and answer their questions as well as he could, he figured.
"But why?"
"Because I didn't go when I was 11 like you."
"Why not?"
"I wasn't living here when I was 11."
"Where were you?"
"Let's seeā¦" Ryou mused, thinking. "I was in... France then?"
"Did you have to go to Beauxbatons? My big sister said that there was another school in France for wizards to go to."
"Oh, I wasn't there for long enough. I moved to Belgium after a month or two," Ryou said with another smile, not sure what Beauxbatons was, though he thought it was a fairly safe guess that it was another school. "I move all the time. I've just come back temporarily. I've been living in Japan for a while, actually..."
"Wow!" all the kids said, or at least some variation thereof.
"Can you speak Japanese?" another asked.
"Of course I can," Ryou said, letting the foreign words slip easily from his lips. "I can also speak a little Arabic. My French is awful though..."
That garnered a few laughs before it cut off abruptly with the appearance of a severe-looking woman. "That will be quite enough," she told them. "It is time for the sorting to begin." Ryou found a place for himself at the tail-end of the line the others formed as they were guided into the Great Hall.
It was absolutely gorgeous. Candles floated high above his head, casting wavering light evenly across the room. The ceiling was spun from a dense cloud cover that looked like the outside sky, scattered stars and all. Four long tables full of excitedly chatting students filled the room, all pointing up to the long table set up from the other four.
This table was quite obviously set aside for teachers, as he could make out Snape and Dumbledore seated up there. The woman from the boats was sitting up there, as well as a woman in an atrocious pink cardigan.
Finally they stopped walking, standing together at the front of the hall. By this time, every one of the students had paused their previous conversations, their attentions to the front. There were many, many eyes directed at him. He didn't like being the center of attention, but he was at least used to standing in front of a student body. He'd introduced himself to so many classes, had he wanted to count them on his hands, he'd need many more fingers. There were a few more people than there usually was, but it wasn't that much different, was it?
The woman who had brought them here set a stool and a tattered old hat in front of everyone. Everyone fell silent, staring intently at that hat. Ryou was certain he could have heard a pin drop. And then the hat split open and what looked like a mouth appeared in the folds of voluminous fabric. A song poured forth from that mouth, leaving Ryou to wonder where the hat's vocal cords were.
The song itself consisted of a story, one that neatly summed up the history of the school. As the tale went, the four founders were all great friends who decided to create a school for magic. They all had differing opinions as to who to teach, so they simply divided the school into four houses. Eventually, though, the houses began to turn on each other. The fighting lasted all the way until Slytherin left, and it seemed that ever since then, Gryffindor and Slytherin had been rivals. It was almost exactly like the tale recorded in Hogwarts, a History.
Ryou really hoped that Luna's question had been answered during the song, because it made quite a bit of sense to him. But the song hadn't ended at the fascinating history lesson. The hat had also gone on and given everyone a message, and Ryou was left to wonder if this message was included every year. Because the hat had said that Hogwarts was in danger, and that they needed to unite or they would crumble. That certainly didn't sound like something the hat said every time it sang, especially with the whispered remarks being exchanged across the room.
Professor McGonagall wasn't the type of person to allow people to talk over her, however, and as she approached the head of the hall she threw the students a shriveling, scorching glance before drawing out a long list of names.
"Abercrombie, Euan."
A frightened-looking boy stumbled up to the stool and put the hat on his head. The hat adopted a considering expression for a moment before the brim ripped open again and shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Applause rang through the crimson and gold Gryffindor table as the frightened boy sank into a seat. Names continued to be read, and Ryou's name was completely glossed over. He stood there feeling incredibly out of place as the shield of first years that had somewhat hidden him began to thin. The final name belonged to the tiny little girl who had assisted in his interrogation, "Zeller, Rose", who was sorted into Hufflepuff.
He did his best to ignore the many looks he was receiving as Dumbledore rose to his feet. "Thank you, Professor," he said, giving McGonagall an acknowledging tilt of the head. "And now, I would like to present our new transfer student, who will be joining our fifth-year class, Ryou Bakura!"
Smatterings of confused applause echoed through the Great Hall. No doubt about it, this school didn't get many transfers.
Ryou stepped nervously up to the stool, taking a seat as thousands of eyes followed his every move. And then everyone vanished as the ratty old hat was placed low over Ryou's eyes.
"My, my, aren't you an interesting fellow. I've sorted people with multiple personalities before, but never one quite like you," a voice said from inside of Ryou's head. For many, a strange voice like that would be cause for panic. For Ryou, it posed only as an unwelcome intrusion.
Ryou frowned. /I don't have multiple personalities!/
Bakura echoed the sentiment by laughing loudly. /I'm not him and he's not me/ he said, barely able to speak through his chortling.
"I see..." the hat mused.
With a start, Bakura realized that the hat, too, was digging through their minds. However, he was much more adept at picking out what he needed than Voldy-whatsit (/Voldemort/ Ryou corrected) was, and was out before Bakura could say or do a thing about it.
"Where one soul ends, the other begins. Complete opposites."
/Tell me something I don't know.../
"You are arrogant but clever, prime Slytherin or Ravenclaw territory," he said, giving Bakura a stern look before turning to Ryou, "While you are considerate and loyal, willing to do anything for your friends. You'd fit easily into Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, which I see you're rather desperate to join in order to stay with your friends. I'm sure of it- you two clearly do not belong in the same house."
/Sort hikari, then. It's his body/ Bakura said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Ah, but it's not that easy. I have to take both of you into consideration."
/If I could make your job easier, I'd be fine with just going to Hufflepuff. I know I might not be brave enough for Gryffindor/ Ryou reasoned, sending the hat the sweetest smile he could.
/Hikari, if you want something, you just take it. Don't say what we all know you don't really want. How many times do I have to tell you this?/ Bakura chastised, and Ryou directed the best glower he could muster to Bakura without actually moving his facial muscles.
/As many as I have to remind you that you can't just take everything you want/ Ryou said simply.
/I know that. You have know how to get it, too. You can't just walk into a store and take something, someone will catch you. You have to know how to hide it/
/You know that isn't what I meant!/
Bakura only chuckled.
For a moment the hat was silent, contemplating. "You know, many Slytherins and Gryffindors believe themselves superior to each other, when the truth is that they are far more similar than most know. Salazar and Godric were friends, you know, before they went their separate ways. They valued many of the same qualities."
/And that means?/
"It's much the same with you two. There is no reason for you to get along, and in fact it would appear that you hadn't for many years. And yet, you do now. There is a camaraderie between you just as I wish for one to grow between the two houses. Your family and your, what do you call him, yami?, pulls you to Slytherin, while your duty and friends pull you to Gryffindor. Perhaps you could heal the rift between the two houses..." the hat mused inside Ryou's head.
/Exactly/ Ryou sighed with a grateful smile. Gryffindor, here he came.
Finally, the hat's wide brim split open and began to speak aloud. "Better be-"
Ryou peeked out under the hat as best he could without moving much, noticing how people were snapping their heads up to the hat as if they'd been sitting there for a while, bored. He smiled broadly. Oh yes, here it came...
"SLYTHERIN!"
YES! Wait, what? The smile fell from Ryou's face. He blinked rapidly at the crowd. To his right, a sea of green and silver were clapping loudly. The faces of his friends were watching him warily.
/What do you mean Slytherin?!/ he thought quickly.
"A pureblood like you? You're far more manipulative than you know. And Slytherins, disloyal as they may be, are known for strong alliances with each other. Your bond with your dark half is proof enough that you belong among them," he explained silently.
/But- but, this has to be a mistake-/
"I never make mistakes. You are destined for greatness in a way you'll never expect. Your house awaits," the hat said aloud as he was lifted from Ryou's head. He stood on shaky legs, making his way over to the beaming face of his cousin, who had a decidedly smug air about his person. Harry and his friends were stanch rivals of Slytherin. How would he do his job now?
Ugh... Ryou's a Slytherin. Kinda wish I had made him a puff or a claw. Oh well, a lot of my notes are already written up, and it could be much worse. I could have Ryou being a Slytherin without any notes whatsoever.
Updates are taking longer than I originally planned, but my work has been keeping me busier than I originally planned so I guess that's that. On the plus side, I should be getting a nice fat check soon that will get me most of the way to a new laptop which will significantly speed both edits and new chapters.
