Disclaimer: I'm sleepy. I'm grumpy. Must you ask?
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Chapter Ten: Floating Water
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Harry studied his rescuer.
He was young, maybe in his mid-twenties, had dark brown hair and wore gray-blue robes. He also had an expression of shock. "Dementors..." he said, white and pale.
"Yeah," Fred said, shivering still, "They must have had their charm on full blast, I feel awful."
"I can't believe it... he said that there would, but..." the wizard said to himself, shaking his head. "This close... I wonder... They were even trying to give out Kisses..." The wizard looked around, his face ashen and grim, "Oh no... it got him..."
"Maybe," Ginny said, scared and trembling, "But he could have just fainted. I hope."
Yugi staggered over, and touched a finger to Ryou's palm, "He's still there." He withdrew the finger; having sensed Bakura was still there --unaware but still there.
"This should wake him, if he still there," the wizard said doubtful. He had seen over eighty dementors, the boy's chance of not having been Kissed were low; hell, it was very luckily as was that the other still remained in possession of their souls. And with one of them Harry Potter, if his guesses were right, and what Charlie had been saying was true, they were double lucky. "Ennerate."
Ryou stirred and whimpered slightly, "Please, go away, you've had your fun... But it isn't my fault... PLEASE!" Then with a start, he sat up, panting heavily, he saw the strange wizard and jerked away, eyes wide and terror filled.
Yugi could now understand why Yami was so suspicions of the other spirit. "Bakura," he said gently, putting a hand down on one shoulder, "it's all right, calm down. It's okay."
However, the shoulder Yugi had put his hand down on, was the left.
Bakura shied away from him, old instinct taking over. Then seeing it was Yugi, he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, wishing way the pain and telling himself that time was over. He opened his eyes again, to see the concerned faces around him. He tried to smile, but it fell flat.
"Shook of most the shivers?" asked the unknown wizard.
Ryou nodded, not trusting his voice, he knew he would be fine --after a while, but still... He shivered again.
"If you can stand that would be enough for now. We need to move--" The man broke off, he saw the splinters wood, with a little red and gold fuzz. "Whose wand was snapped?"
"Mine," Harry croaked, "It was mine."
"Yours? Well, pick up the pieces if you wish, but don't dally. Many escaped, they could come back in full force..."
Harry nodded, and quick scooped the remains into his pocket. "Umm, thanks," he said coming back over to the wizard, "for helping and all."
"What was I supposed to do?" the wizard as rhetorically, helping Ryou to his feet, "I'm one of Charlie's friends, so when I saw there was a disturbance on the pool, and it was a patronus... Hopkirk wouldn't call in a couple of Hit Wizards, as we're down to skeleton staff there. I came myself; since that is one of the spells that one doesn't use for showing off, or when mad."
"Thought I recognized you," commented Ron, "Now what? It took us an hour to get up here. And the dementors could come back any time now."
"Well, we could--no, that wouldn't work." the wizard said, struggling to come up with another idea, but failing. "I think I am going to have to do a mass apparate."
"Aren't those really easy to bungle and get splinched?" Ron asked, nervous.
"Yes, but I have done it a handful of times, and I can't think of a better way. I don't want to go back to the headquarters to get Hit Wizards and come back to find you all Kissed." the wizard said, nervously.
Yugi knew he was out of the loop, something was big about kissing, but Yugi figured now was not the time. He did make mental note though, not to kiss anyone until he knew what was behind that.
"If it's the only way..." George said, dubious. "What do we do?"
"You'll need to all stand very close together in front of me so I can see you all," he said, wiping his hands on his robes. He swallowed; this was not going to easy with seven extra people. "Okay," he said as the seven did as he had told them, Yugi still supporting Ryou some. "Now need to try and empty your mind of most thought, it helps if I don't have to struggle against you. Also, try and keep your eyes closed. Some people don't like what apparate looks like at first, and try and stop it then, which is the number one cause of splinching."
Everyone closed their eyes. The Weasley and Harry because a couple weeks ago Percy had splinched himself, when he had apparated down the breakfast table. For some curious reason, no one had an appetite till lunch. Ryou and Yugi did it because you don't argue with the one who knew what he was doing.
"Just keep them closed now until I say so, I'm going to be apparating to HQ because the Burrow has wards that keep people from apparating in who aren't family members." Then he said something illegible.
A cool sensation whooshed over Harry, who squeezed his eyes closed even tighter to keep from looking. Then he felt another whoosh, and the temperature returned to normal.
"Here we are," the wizard wearily announced, "The Ministry of Magic headquarters. That was easier than expected..."
And so they went in; each had to tell the tale repeatedly, much to their
annoyance. Yugi spent most of his time mentally telling Yami he was fine;
apparently whatever it was that had affected him also had affected Yami.
Ryou was rather quite, only speaking when spoken to, which was actually
often, as they were all questioned aggressively. Finally when Ginny sarcastically
asked if they where going to be staying the night, they got the hint. But
it was a close call with that. And the Minster of Magic even showed up;
he didn't seem to impress Yugi and Ryou at all. Each person was given a
portkey to the Burrow.
Harry felt the pulling on his navel stop, which meant they had arrived. He opened his eye to see one of the four Hit Wizards that had come with them in addition to the Minster, Even, as they had found out their rescuer was named, also had come along.
Fudge knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Again he rapped on it, but nothing came of it. "This is the Minster of Magic, open up!" he bellowed.
"Just a minute!" came from the house and the wood door inched open slowly. Mr. Weasley only stuck his head out. When he saw Fudge, he opened his mouth, some odd expression crossing his face. Then saw the children, pale and tired. "What happened?" he asked.
"Some rouge dementors were in your woods." Fudge answered, pulling out a handkerchief and he mopped his brow.
"ROUGE DEMENTORS?! HERE?!" Mr. Weasley yelled, then regained control. "Oh my! Come in, come in!" he opened the door to reveal the reason he had not opened it all that widely. For some reason or another, he was only wearing a bathrobe.
Maybe he was going to take a shower, Harry thought as he came in.
"MOLLY!" yelled Mr. Weasley up the flight of stairs, "YOU HAD BETTER GET DOWN HERE! THE KIDS RAN INTO DEMENTORS."
Mrs. Weasley came down the stairs at a dead run. She too had a bathrobe on. "What?" she demanded clearly flustered. "Dementors? Oh you poor dears!" she said hugging Ginny tightly.
"It will be okay ma'am," said one of the Hit Wizards, "As we speak, six teams are combing the woods."
"The west woods, right?" Mr. Weasley asked his voice suddenly sharp, "That was where they were, and if they weren't..."
"Yes, yes, they're combing the forest to the west. According to our estimates, it was only about ten..."
"Ten!?" exclaimed Evan, "Ten?" he repeated, "A hundred is more like it!"
"Your mind exaggerated them, it was at most fifteen." Fudge said, waving away his protest with a hand.
"But--"
"It was fifteen, max," Fudge said, and glared at Evan.
"Yes, sir," said Evan, looking as though he wanted dearly to say something else, but he decided not to risk his job.
"I think that you might want to hear what happened," Fudge said, "Harry, I think you should tell it."
Harry sighed, but could see no recourse, so he told them; when he got to the dementor snapping his wand, both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave slight gasps. When that tale had ended, Evan had to tell his.
He worked at the Improper Use of Magic Office. Evan had been doing his usual job, watching the pool that could detect magic, for any signs of underage magic. He saw the patronus spell, and put the facts together. He told Hopkirk, his supervisor, who had demised it. Luckily, Evan's suspicions were not so easy to allay. He was a friend of Charlie's, one of Ron's brothers. He had gone to the Burrow many times and had met Mrs. Weasley. That had formed the opinion that something would have to be wrong for someone to use magic. Hopkirk had said she would send some Hit Wizard later, when they came back from their break, but for Evan, that wasn't enough. He had apparated to the disturbance, and saw the dementor trying to Kiss someone.
"Well," he said, concluding it, "I used the patronus charm, and Harry's told you the rest. Good thing for you guys that I aced Advance Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Yes, good thing," said Mrs. Weasley, getting up, "Well, Minster, I'm sure you have more important things to do than comfort distressed mothers, and the Ministry won't run itself."
"All too true," said the Minister, doffing his hat, "Good bye." he and the Hit Wizard strode out, and Evan followed a minute later, after giving shrug and a farewell.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley both sat down, looking shell shocked. After a few minutes Mrs. Weasley finally spoke, "That was... unexpected to say the least. I'd better call the Professor." She went over to the fireplace, and threw a handful of powder on it. "Albus Dumbledore," she commanded, and after a little while, the old man's face appeared in the fire.
"What is it, Molly?" he asked concerned.
"Harry, tell him what happened. I know you feel like you've told it a million times, but this is the last time it's necessary." Mrs. Weasley said, positioning Harry in front of the fire.
So once more, for what felt like the seven hundredth time, Harry told of what had transpired that afternoon. When Harry got to the part about his wand, Professor Dumbledore turned stony.
When Harry had finished, Professor Dumbledore said: "Ginny, can you describe how you felt?"
"No, not really it was just a feeling. I felt a sort of darkness and well what I can only describe as a feeling of... evil... I know, I know, silly, but it's what it felt like," Ginny said, trying to laugh at her self.
"No, it isn't," said Dumbledore, "It makes prefect sense. You, and Yugi and Ryou too, probably can sense magic. It is a rather rare talent, no more two dozen living wizards have it."
"W-what?" asked Ginny. Was it true for once she was special?
"'You heard me well enough, I think. Arthur, go into the next room and preform a splell."
Mr. Weasley nodded, and went.
"Now, Ginny, Ryou, Yugi, close your eyes and just try to feel what spell he's doing." Dumbledore said.
The three teens did, that and tried. Then each felt it. Ryou felt as though he was in a sea, but that couldn't be it, so he pushed that effect away and tried to feel the magic. Ginny felt as though she was floating on a cloud. Yugi felt like he was trying to walk on water. The feeling died away.
"Well, what do think it was?" asked Mr. Weasley as he came back into the room.
"Umm... a spell... that does... ummm... Can you come back to me?" asked Yugi.
"No, not the spell," Professor Dumbledore chided, "the feel."
Ginny and Yugi described how they felt, but when it came to Ryou--
"I didn't really sense anything," he admitted, shamed.
"Nothing different than usual?" pressed Dumbledore.
"No, not..." Ryou trailed off. Just maybe it was that feel, after all it was a little more... moist then the others, "I did feel like I was a drift in a sea..." But that was rather normal for him, feeling lost and alone.
"Well, Arthur, now that we heard their feelings, tell us what spell you cast."
"A simple levitation charm."
"Hmm... that wouldn't explain the feeling that each felt involving moisture though," said Dumbledore, pondering.
"I did levitate water... Would that explain it?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Yes, that would..." Dumbledore fell silent for a little while. "Well, no matter," he finally said, "you three can sense magic. And in time you'll learn how to identify what particular spell is being used, and if the feeling of water each of you had is any indication, will learn how to even get a general idea of what it is being used on. you will likely far surpass me. How humble will I be when this summer ends?" he asked himself, seeming to forget that the connection was still open.
"Professor," Ginny said, ignoring his little ramblings to himself, "why is it that for a while that feeling went away?"
"That is a very good question. They could have gone away, or they can mask their presence... They've done it before. Magic sensing can be very useful, it can show who where people are when there invisible," he said, giving Harry and Ron one of his looks, "but it can also be tricked. It should be like any tool, should be treated with some caution. Is that all for now?"
"I think it is..." said Yugi, looking at Ryou with a little concern. He had been quite for a while... maybe this was normal behavior for him. Yugi was now beginning to realize just how little he knew about him.
"Good," said Dumbledore, "Molly, Arthur, I need to talk to you."
Once more the youths were shooed out. They sat at the kitchen table,
eating chocolate (which was another thing about their well being that the
Hit Wizard forgot).
After some time, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley returned.
"Well," said Mrs. Weasley, "tomorrow we're going to Diagon Alley..."
"That's good," Ginny replied, rather intent upon the chocolate.
"Hey, Mum," Ron said through a mouthful of chocolate, "why are you wearing bathrobes?"
"Umm... about that..." Mr. Weasley said, blushing.
"That's none of your concern," Mrs. Weasley interrupted.
Ginny's eyes all sudden widened to the size of saucers. "Mum, Dad, you didn't!" she exclaimed.
Mr. Weasley flushed beet-red, but did not protest. Mrs. Weasley just sat there, as if to say 'so what?'
"Didn't wha--" Fred began, then he too figured it out. "Oh God, they did."
Ron mouth formed a soundless 'ohhh'; George and his twin exchanged a
look; Harry was clueless for a second, then recalled a movie that Dudley
had watched, that his parents didn't know about; Yugi was slightly philosophical
about, after all, all those other children... However, Ryou just looked...
confused...
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Stella: Sorry this was so late, again.
I need info on Yami Bakura. Anything from the manga or the sub is great!