Author's Notes: No, it's not an update. This is the ORIGINAL chapter 7. Before I thought chapter 6 needed some explaining and I had to lessen the drama.
VII: What Keeps Us Together
That night Harry had arrived at the Black Manor aka the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Ron swore not to tell what he'd heard although he had Yugi and Judai swear not to tell others what they've told him first. Yugi assured Ron that at least Dumbledore knew their circumstances, which made him breathe a little. Ron had joined where his friends were as Order members piled up inside.
"Where's Yusei?" Yugi asked one of the Orders passing by. It happened to be Tonks.
"Stayed behind. He said there's something he needed to do. He'll be back," Tonks said, waving a hand. "We've got an Order meeting tonight so I'm sure he'll—"
"Tonks!" Mrs. Weasley admonished.
"Oh, right, sorry, it's top secret," she said, winking before leaving.
"Yugi, Judai, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, "I know this is your house now but could you two head upstairs for now?"
The two nodded. They crossed the dingy landing and headed to their room. Judai had promptly fallen down to his bed though he had not fallen asleep just as fast.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Yugi said, playing with his Puzzle. "Aren't you a bit worried?"
"Who? Yusei?" Judai asked, curling into the bed that Yugi couldn't see Judai's face. "I think he can take care of himself."
"Well, I'm worried about him too, but I'm more worried about what Ron said," Yugi said.
"Was that Yusei?" Judai asked, raising his head.
"I think so...let's go see."
They hurried downstairs and only managed to get halfway down when they saw Mrs. Weasley having a row with Yusei. Harry and the other Hogwarts students have gone down to see what was going on too.
"Mrs. Weasley," Yusei said calmly"We have discussed this earlier. A word with my friends and—"
"I know what was discussed in the meeting!" Mrs. Weasley said. "But Dumbledore didn't ask you to leave immediately. Attacked by Dementors—you looked like you've been tortured by the Cruciatus Curse! And what hit you in the face?"
"I've eaten one chocolate. Thank you for your concer—"
"Yusei Fudo, you act like you're not even of age, no better than my sons in Hogwarts!" Mrs. Weasley interrupted angrily. "Stop this foolishness at once please! You will join dinner with us and rest for tonight!"
"Molly is right," came Mr. Weasley's placating voice. "Yusei, there's no need to be rash—" He put a hand on his shoulder, but Yusei immediately flicked it away.
"I got it," he said when Mrs. Weasley was about to open her mouth. "I'll need some sleep. Good night."
Yusei headed upstairs, followed by Yugi and Judai who dared not to speak until they were out of earshot. They disappeared into their room, leaving Order members heaving a big sigh.
"You lot," Sirius called Harry, beckoning them with a hand. "Help us prepare dinner. A lot of guests tonight."
"Ginny, come here," Mrs. Weasley said tiredly. If not for the doleful expression on her mother's face right now, Ginny would've outright refused. She said goodbye to them and followed Mrs. Weasley into the kitchen.
"What's wrong with him?" Harry asked his grandfather as they dispersed to the kitchen. Ron and Hermione were at his side.
"Just being difficult, mostly to himself," Sirius said.
"Mrs. Weasley's right," Hermione said. "He doesn't look fine at all."
"Not when he almost got his soul taken," Sirius said grimly. "Judai's not real well either. I don't know what Dumbledore had in mind letting their lot get into our mix. How about you, Harry? Are you okay?"
"It was a close call," Harry said. "What's wrong with Judai?"
"You mean you never felt anything around him?" his godfather asked. Harry, along with the other two, shook his head. "Hmm, I guess you're too young to sense it. It is rather rude if we say it aloud, but we can feel something's not right about him. He's not a spy or anything - at least I hope not - but don't let this cloud your judgment, all right? Good. Whenever we're close to him, we feel a bit heavy like he's a walking Anti-Happiness Air Refresher. It's similar to when you were growing up magical. You let loose your emotions with some bit of magic so we know easily if you're about to explode in anger or cause accidental magic. So we thought it's perfectly natural for Judai, but it's getting worse these days."
"Don't you think," Ron began indecisively, "that things for us may not apply since they're from another world?"
"I've looked up in The End of Endless Possibilities and It's A Many World After All about alternate realities and parallel universes but both of the books said it's just a bunch of fiction and magical theory!" Hermione said. "They don't even look like aliens or something to prove that they came from outside the planet."
"Aliens?" Sirius asked. "That green thing with big black, hollow eyes?"
"They must have done something to convince Dumbledore," Harry said. "What did he tell the Order to convince them?"
"That he trusts them completely just like that slimey Snape," Sirius said bitterly. "He gave us his word and that's more than enough for most of us."
"Most of you?" Harry asked.
"Ironically it's Snape who can't swallow it easily. He hates Yusei as much too, judging by the nasty looks he'd send him."
"Well, I guess that settles that. If they're bad in Snape's eyes, I say they must be pretty reasonable," Ron said, grinning.
They set down the plates on the table, Fred and George setting the knives magically, causing Mrs. Weasley more ire. When they were gathered, crowding on a table that cannot accommodate them all comfortably, pulling additional chairs with magic, Harry recognized one of the Order members that just arrived.
"Aren't you that Auror that came to break my wand?" Harry asked.
The Auror smiled. "I am. We've never been formally introduced. I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt."
"Harry Potter," he said, shaking his hand. "So you're one of Dumbledore's spy?"
"One of them," he said. "Tonks and Arthur among the others. We're trying to get more supporters from the Ministry, in secret of course. Dumbledore in particular wants Atlas in. Pretty thick young man but he has the right mindset – most of the time...His links all over the wizard world would be helpful too."
Mundungus Fletcher, nicknamed "Dung" came to Harry to apologize uneasily. It was the first time for them to meet so Harry was first unsure what he was talking about. It turned out that Dung was supposed to be the one watching Harry back in Privet Drive. Yusei, who was working on intelligence at that time, merely passed by to greet Harry, but Dung took it as an opportunity to sneak out of work and deal with a "good business he couldn't miss." He asked Yusei to fill his spot for a while.
"Knew 'e can't do magic, good as a Squib," he told Harry, bringing out a pipe from his pocket. Dung took a big whiff of it and blew out an immense, black smog. "Taking 'e's job seriously. Too seriously."
"Mundungus, I told you not to blow that pipe in front of the children, not especially right before dinner!" Mrs. Weasley said.
"Oh, right, sorry 'bout that..."
Harry was rather perplexed. So Yusei can't do magic? That explained why he used his fists like any other Muggles would. But surely something about him was magical. That dragon in the graveyard a few months ago, the glowing mark he had on his arm, and the whole alternate universe thing...
Surprisingly they were joined by Yugi shortly while eating. There were lively conversations going around the table like how Hermione was discussing her SPEW with Lupin, Dung telling jokes and blokes he met in his business, and Tonks making ridiculous faces with her Metamorphmagus ability.
"Thank you for the meal," Yugi said.
"Shouldshn't you've be shaying shat after eating?" Ron asked, his mouth full of food.
"Where are Judai and Yusei?" Harry asked.
"Yusei wanted some time alone," Yugi said, thanking Mrs. Weasley for serving him sauteed chicken strips. "Judai's fast asleep. I'd wake him up but I didn't want to be kicked in the gut twice today. And Ron it's more polite for us to thank first than after."
Harry peered Yugi over his glasses, quietly eating and half-listening to Ron's story about another Lockheart he saw drinking tea in Madame Puddifoot's. He considered asking Yugi about some of the questions at the top of his head. The last he heard of those three where in the Leaving Feast when Dumbledore had announced that they were visitors from an alternate universe. Majority of the populace of Hogwarts took it as a joke, but from the conversations he had gotten since he came here Harry doubted Dumbledore had simply felt extra-eccentric during the feast.
All the worries with the upcoming war and Voldemort had taken Harry's attention away from the three of them. He barely knew them too so he had easily forgotten they even existed. Meeting Yusei in Privet Drive again and staying with them in the manor was like some sort of fate; Harry was quite convinced that they were somehow involved in all matters now.
"How was summer, Harry?"
Harry looked up and saw Sirius slicing his beef steak.
"Terrible," Harry said, trying to keep his voice neutral and face blank. He had been frustrated by the lack of news all summer. The useless owls Ron and Hermione kept sending were all the same; they both wrote to him how they couldn't write more in case letters were intercepted. Then there was also the fact he had been tailed without his knowledge...all on Dumbledore's orders.
Sirius must have been reading his mind because he knew exactly what was going on Harry's head. "Be patient, Harry," he said in a low voice. "You'll have your answers soon."
"Why can't you tell me now?" Harry asked, a little louder than he expected. Conversations had instantly died and Harry saw how alarmed everybody else was. He didn't care. "Yusei and I saw Voldemort's revival but you all let him know about what's going on! He's even in the Order! Why can't I be in it?"
"Yusei is old enough," Sirius said. "And he has a reason to fight—I'm not saying you don't have," Sirius stressed when he saw Harry fighting back the need to shout. He waved to Yugi, who had abandoned eating all together, "But you know their situation. Yugi and Judai wanted to join the Order too but Dumbledore wouldn't let them in. It was only part of a compromise that Yusei was allowed to join."
"But they're outsiders!" Harry said. "They have nothing to do with—this—with Voldemort or the magical community! Why are they even here anyway? Why did Dumbledore take them in? Why didn't he just let them be? I mean, they're the ones who came into this world in the first place. Not everyone's going to take them in out of nowhere!"
"Harry!" Sirius said sharply. "Have you forgotten that Yusei saved your life?"
"Of course not, but what does that—"
"Then you owe him, Harry. You, of all people, shouldn't be suggesting on kicking them out," Sirius said.
"That's not what I meant!" Harry said angrily. They had already gone off-topic from Voldemort to these three.
"Yusei saved your life without question," Sirius said calmly. "Right now he's doing the same thing. Risking his life for strangers like us."
"That's just stupid," Harry grumbled.
Sirius smiled dryly. "A Gryffindor trait if you ask me. Having Cedric Diggory die was a drive for him until this day."
Harry was utterly confused. "But that's not his fault! I was the one who told Cedric to hold the Cup together."
Sirius shrugged.
"Let's not forget that Voldemort had seen Yusei's face," Lupin said, appealing to reason. "Even if they are outsiders, there's no denying they're involved already."
"Okay, but I still deserve to know what Voldemort's up to," Harry said, annoyed that he had been squashed.
"You do," Sirius said. Mrs. Weasley gave him a meaningful glare that Sirius ignored. "But we were all specifically told not to tell you, Harry."
"By Dumbledore?" Harry asked, his voice strained.
"By Dumbledore," Sirius confirmed, nodding.
Harry had gone back to his plate to stare at it. It was Dumbledore again and Harry was right. It was him who was keeping him the dark as Ron and Hermione had said. He forbid them to tell Harry anything. Did he think Harry couldn't be trusted? That he was incapable? After he had prevented Voldemort from taking the Philosopher's Stone? After he had stopped Tom Riddle from killing Ginny? After he had saved his Godfather and revealed Wormtail's true colors? AFTER HE HAD FACED VOLDEMORT AND ESCAPED—
"Back in our world, there's a game called Duel Monsters."
Everyone in the table looked at Yugi. He picked his spoon and fork back and continued eating.
"It's where we, Duelists, learn one important thing we can never live without. It's something we all share and respect, something our cards have taught us," he said. "Faith. Trust. Our bonds with each other. We believe we are all connected and it is through that connection that keeps us together no matter what. At times of crisis we should remember each other. Don't let others break that bond.
"Sorry, but Dumbledore just reminds me of Yusei," Yugi said, chuckling. "Yusei was named after the Planetary Particle Project at his time because his dad wants Yusei to be bonds that keeps others moving. Dumbledore is kind of like that, isn't he? It's his bonds to us that makes us work together as a team. He can't be the one causing the discord. If anything it's Voldemort who's behind this and Dumbledore knows that. It's what Voldemort's probably best at...causing bonds to break, people doubting each other. That's what's happening, right? The Ministry's already broken ties with Dumbledore. And soon it would be the people. More than ever, Dumbledore needs us and I honestly think he needs you often, Harry."
"He's right, Harry," Hermione said before Harry could register what Yugi said. How could a powerful wizard that even Voldemort himself fears be needing an under-age Hogwarts student like Harry? "Dumbledore has his reasons. He always have. He's facing a lot of things right now but he'd never forgotten about you. He wouldn't keep you in the dark without a reason."
"Harry," Mrs. Weasley said softly. Harry saw there were glitter of tears in her eyes. Ron looked away. "It could just be a big misunderstanding." Mrs. Weasley's voice cracked.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said guiltily. He didn't want her to cry. "I'll wait. Maybe Dumbledore will show up!" he added in a false, cheery voice.
"Yeah," Fred said. "Maybe he'd Apparate into thin air all tanned up and invite us to a beach party."
"Everyone could use a vacation!" George added. They laughed lightly.
"Well, it's getting late!" Mrs. Weasley said cordially, wiping tears on her eyes. "Off to bed."
They shuffled to their feet as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, and Yugi leave. Order members have stuck around and Harry knew they had matters to be discussed. Most of them were probably not going to sleep tonight as they would.
"It's not your fault," Ron said to Harry once they had gone to their room. Hermione and Ginny were sleeping together in another. "She just remembered Percy."
"What about Percy?" Harry asked. Come to think of it Harry hadn't seen Percy at all.
"The prat got promoted," Fred said sadly. "Junior Assistant Secretary."
"He told us a week ago back in the Burrow. Was really ecstatic. Pretty good considering he just graduated Hogwarts two years ago," George said.
"Except Dad thinks it's a way for Fudge to spy on him," Fred said, "and to an extension, Dumbledore."
"They had a big row," Ron said. "Percy said horrible things like calling Dad an idiot that's why we don't have—that much gold, y'know—and he packed his things and left to live in London."
"Don't know who Mum is kidding calling that misunderstanding," Fred said darkly. "We've always thought Percy was ambitious but we didn't think he'd go this far..."
"He couldn't possibly be thinking of selling you out!" Harry said. "His own family!"
"Wouldn't put it past him," George said, jumping to his bed. "Well, g'nite Harry. Hope you see Dumbledore in your dreams. Maybe he's just waiting for you to sleep so he could talk to you."
"Good night," Harry said, smirking, as he placed his glasses on the table.
"Night mate," Ron said.
Harry was already thinking in the dark. It's not like he never thought Dumbledore didn't have his reason keeping him in the dark...but he supposed to had affected his judgment. With the lack of information and isolation in the summer he had thought he'd been cast aside. Harry knew he was connected to Voldemort...four times now he had defied him...he must be angry at Harry...but he didn't face Voldemort alone this time around...was Yusei in danger? Harry felt bad for what he said earlier, especially since Yugi was right there...Yugi vouched for Dumbledore, the way Harry should have...did Yugi knew Dumbledore more than the others? Dumbledore had always been a powerful figure for them—a leader—but they didn't know him really well...not on a personal level...
Harry slowly swam into his vague dreams. He didn't dream of Dumbledore but he dreamed he was back on Hogwarts, back at the maze where he and Cedric were about to take the Cup. They took the Cup and raised it proudly. Harry could see Ron and Hermione's faces from the stands, cheering wildly. Malfoy looked like he had been turned into a ferret again by the false Mad-Eye Moody. Harry basked in the pure glory. No more sneering or jeering behind his backs. He was a hero, along with Cedric. This was Hogwarts' victory.
But something cold just made him deaf to all sounds. Everyone had suddenly vanished. Cedric was still there, but he had turned chalk-white pale. A black cloak swooped right out of the Cup and grabbed Cedric with its slimy, bony hands. Harry tried to scream but it was as if he had been cast a Silencing Charm. Cedric fell limply on the ground, his eyes empty, his chest still rising and falling...neither dead nor alive...
The Dementor was going after Harry next. He strongly thought of his wand, but he couldn't find it anywhere. He needed to defend himself. Was Yusei going to save him again? No one was there. He couldn't be lucky forever. He was alone. Ron and Hermione were never there when he needed them. Dumbledore doesn't care. Sirius was stuck in the house because Wormtail had gotten away. They were unable to prove his innocence. The Weasleys had their own problems. Harry was just an extra baggage...he made Mrs. Weasley cry...
The Dementor was feeding on his insecurities quickly. Harry just wanted it to suck his soul and be done with it. He'd be just like Cedric, lying there like an empty shell.
"What spell was it again?" a boy asked.
Harry saw a boy roughly six or seven years old. He was bathed in light that distracted the Dementor for a moment.
"You..." Harry said, his eyes widening in recognition. "You're that kid who saved me back then."
"You'd have to tell me the incantation again!" the kid said. "It's soooo hard to remember them all like they're Greek or something.
"Latin," Harry pointed out.
"Latin," the kid amended.
He was seeing the boy clearer now. He had thick, chocolate brown hair that distinctly reminded Harry of a fluffy furball, and beneath his fringes were wide, dark brown eyes.
"So what is it?"
"Expacto Patronum," Harry answered.
"Ohhhh, now I remember!" he said, hitting his palm with the side of his fist. "All right, let's do this! Expacto Patronum!"
It wasn't anything like Harry expected. He didn't even use a wand in the first place. It was as if he commanded magic right out of his hand; light came out of it and a dragon of some sort came out. It was a pretty big Patronus considering the kid's height. It was even taller than Harry!
The Dementor didn't even get the chance to flee. It disintegrated right on the spot, leaving not a speck of particle behind.
"Gotcha!" the kid celebrated, jumping on his feet. "I'm pretty good, huh?"
"Who exactly are you?" Harry asked.
Harry didn't know if he got the answer or not, but the next thing he knew was waking up to the window-rattling noise downstairs. He reached for his glasses and saw Ron and the twins rising from the noise too.
"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers—"
Ron groaned. "This early? Who was the bloody idiot that did it?"
"Who's screaming?" Harry asked. "What's going on?"
"C'mon," Ron said, putting on his slippers. "No point sleeping. She's going to wail until we stop her."
"Who?"
When they reached downstairs, a number have risen groggily from their bed too. Harry realized there was more than one voice shouting and it wasn't a person either. It was a portrait, the one with moth velvet curtains along where heads of House Elves were hung.
"Harry, look!" Hermione gasped, pointing.
Right where the portrait of the screeching woman was was an old man with long, silvery beard that reached his knees, spectacles with twinkling blue eyes behind, and maroon robes flowing to the floor.
"Good morning," Dumbledore greeted cheerfully to his students' shocked faces over the blaring yells. "Forgive my clumsiness. My body is not responding as well after two days without sleep."
