Yes this is a very early update. I am going away for a week or so, so I thought I would update now. Next update will be a few weeks away, don't worry I haven't disappeared.

Chapter 11: Travel

Harry watched Yami. He was supposed to be doing another essay for Snape, but something about the Shade's face earlier that day had made him think. Yami had been distracted for the last week. Harry hadn't even spotted his shadow form more than three times. Even Yugi didn't know what he was up to, though the elf seemed less curious than Harry.

It had all started after that last lesson with Dumbledore. Now for the first time in three days Yami was once again in the common room. He was sprawled in his favourite chair by the window. His face was dark and thoughtful, Harry really thought that he should talk to him, but there was something in the look on Yugi's face, the elf was sitting on the Yami's lap, which made him want to leave whatever it was until the absolute last minute possible. Whatever the problem it had upset both of them and Harry really didn't need anything else to worry about at the moment.

He tried to focus on the parchment and what he had been writing, but it was very difficult. He had so many things cramming themselves into his head that he didn't even know where to start. After a couple of minutes where the only word he added to his essay was 'Edna' for a reason that totally escaped him, Harry gave up and pulled a spare piece of blank parchment towards him. On the top he wrote the title, 'What's bothering me now.'

And then continued to write down everything, some of the things kind of startled him.

Yami is distracted, this is never good, find out what is wrong

Yugi is worried, this is worse than a distracted Yami, find out what is wrong!

Voldemort is planning my death, not much I can do about it at the moment

Ron and Hermione are at odds, try to get them back to being friends

Girls are all staring at me, don't freak out

The next Quidditch match is coming up and Katie is not back, find a replacement

I have too much homework; do some instead of making stupid lists

Harry looked down at the list. First things first; he looked around the common room and located Dean. Sliding from his chair, receiving a startled look from Hermione he threaded his way around the room and stopped in front of Dean. "Hey Dean. Look it doesn't look like Katie will be back in time for the next Quidditch match and you flew the next best, so do you want to fill in for her?"

Dean's whole face lit up. "Yeah, that'd be great Harry, when's practice?"

"Tomorrow night, see you then." Harry headed back over to their table. After he had sat down he looked down at his list and crossed off point six. He felt better and seeing as point three and five were ongoing and point seven was unlikely to change all he had to do was reconcile Ron and Hermione and talk to Yami. Easy.

Harry grabbed his essay, scribbled out Edna and dove back into it. Yami wouldn't talk to him when the common room was this full, he would have to wait until later and hope that Yugi would be able to locate the Shade if he decided to leave.

Harry had dawdled as much as he could however he wasn't the only one bogged down with work. By midnight there were still a crowd of sixth and seventh years huddled around the tables. Ron had gone up to bed, but Hermione had decided to wait for him and so was now reading through his finished essay.

Finally Harry gave up, it didn't really matter if people saw them talking. After all Harry was known for being the only one not worried by the Spirit of Hogwarts tendency to be a little snappy.

Harry pulled a chair over and Yami turned his attention over to him. Yugi was fast asleep on Yami's lap, so Harry spoke softly. "What's wrong?"

Yami's eyebrow rose ever so slightly. "Nothing." He didn't whisper, but somehow his voice only just carried over to Harry.

"You've been distracted for the last week." Harry said, he realised as soon as he said it that this was going to be pointless. Yami didn't understand the need for humans to stick together, to keep an eye on your friends. Yami was solitary, he watched for himself alone.

"Nothing." Harry recognised the look on Yami's face, if he pressed this Yami was going to leave.

Harry gritted his teeth and backed off. Yugi stirred, typical, Yugi could have made Yami answer. The elf yawned and then glanced at Yami through half closed sleepy eyes. Answering some unspoken request Yami picked him up and handed him to Harry.

Harry sighed and went to pack up. Hermione had already done so, Harry picked up his full bag gave her a tight smile and carried Yugi upstairs.

Yami had once again disappeared overnight so Harry spent the rest of the day trying to think of a way to get Yami to talk to him. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he nearly forgot that they had Quidditch practice. It wasn't until Ron came up to him dressed in his Quidditch robes that Harry muttered a curse and dashed upstairs to get changed.

By the time he had pelted down to the Quidditch grounds everyone was already in the air and practicing. Harry practically threw himself in the air and joined in.

Harry was kind of startled at how well they were doing. He had left Yugi with Hermione and was hoping that Yami was going to keep up his non-appearance. Everything seemed to combine into a near perfect practice.

OOOOOOOO
OOOOOO
OOOO

Yami wound his way through the halls to find Harry, he had finally made up his mind and was going to go and hunt this giant mage. It had taken him four days to ensure that all the protections on the school were up to standard, his standard, and now he was going to go.

Yugi had informed him that Harry was down practicing Quidditch, Yami had promised to ensure that Harry wasn't hurt so long as Yugi brought Hermione to an empty class room so that he could talk to them all together.

Yami met Ron and Harry halfway down the next corridor, he didn't bother to take human form. Harry's eyes met him the instant he came around the corner and Ron's snapped over to him when he got closer. "I need to speak with you." Yami told them.

Harry's face lit up a little and Yami realised that he was still wondering what Yami had been distracted about for the last week or so. Ron pulled aside a tapestry which covered the entrance to a hidden short cut. Then both the humans went very still.

Inside the small corridor was Ron's sister with her face pressed up against one of the other males.

"What's going on here?" Ron bellowed. Harry looked like someone had hit him on the head.

Yami edged closer as the two pulled apart. Ron's sister was furious and her eyes met her brothers without fear. Yami edged closer again. He was going to need full reserves to pull off his fight with a giant mage.

Ron's sister was yelling at him. The boy she had been with had disappeared, feeling frightened. Harry was standing between them, still shellshocked, preventing them from attacking each other. Yami watched for a few more moments, then he decided to take action. He lunged forwards and picked up Harry, Ron and his sister and headed off to meet Yugi and Hermione.

Ron struggled, so Yami pinned him, Ginny was shaking in horror and Harry was dead still.

Yami set the three of them down in the empty room moments before Yugi and Hermione arrived.

Harry staggered sideways, Ginny collapsed and Ron sat down very quickly. Hermione looked horrified and went immediately to Ron. Yugi just looked at Yami before wandering over to Harry and sitting down next to him. Yami took a seat and waited while they all sorted themselves out. Harry looked up at Yami. "I thought I asked you not to do that again?"

Yami studied him for a moment, unsure if Harry was trying to make a joke. He was almost sure that he wasn't so he replied. "You would have continued arguing for a long time. I do not have any desire to listen to you all yell at each other." Yami paused, "Not that it is not entertaining. More importantly I am leaving Hogwarts.'

The four humans stared at him, and then Harry asked. "Why, is something wrong?"

Yami shrugged. "I have told you that my spy system has discovered a giant mage." He waited for them to nod, "I am going to find him and either convince him to side with your Order of the Phoenix or kill him. I can't use my spies to locate him from here so that the Order can to do it so I am going to have to go and look for him myself."

"How long will you be?" Hermione asked, she actually looked worried. They had become so used to his protective presence that they were actually worried that something was going to go wrong without him there. Yami rolled his eyes. How had they survived without him? "You should not become so used to me, but for now I have improved the protective spells on Hogwarts nothing will be able to get in." Yami was damn confident about that. Of course it would surprise any of the other humans who attempted to enter the castle grounds, it would almost be worth staying just to get the energy when they realised that they couldn't cross their own anti-Shade spells.

Harry looked relieved. "How long will you be gone?" Ron looked away from his sister long enough to look at Yami and look worried, probably about their Quidditch matches.

Yami shook his head, "I don't know. I have no way of knowing how far away the mage is, but I will try to be as quick as I can. Tell Dumbledore not to expect any news, he will have to do some work himself." While the four humans looked astounded Yami dropped from his seat to his knees and Yugi walked up to him. The elf looked very sad. /Please don't stay away for too long, I'll miss you./

Yami hugged him tightly, /I will miss you too, if anything goes wrong call to me./ Yugi nodded, his bright eyes full of tears. Yami got to his feet and tried not to look at him knowing if he did he would never leave.

Finally Yami grabbed Harry by the arm and dragged him to a quiet corner of the room while the other three started arguing. "Harry, it is up to you to keep Yugi safe."

Harry stared at him, but Yami could tell that his mind wasn't on their conversation. "Sure, yeah, whatever." Harry muttered and looked over Yami's shoulder at Ron's sister.

Yami grabbed Harry's chin and forced his face around, standing on his toes so that they were almost nose to nose. "Is this going to be a problem?"

Harry blinked and looked embarrassed. "Is what going to be a problem?"

Yami glared at him, but rocked back on his heels. "You were not happy to see Ginny and the other male kissing." Yami was a little startled when Harry gave a slightly forced laugh.

"I just agree with Ron, she shouldn't be kissing people in the hallway." Harry was lying, but Yami didn't really care.

"Fine, but if anything happens I am holding you responsible."

"Unha." Harry muttered; his attention once again on the other three humans.

Yami grunted and dropped back into shadow form, he didn't understand humans. He slid out of the window and joined the three darkings who were going to guide him to the giant mage.

OOOOOOOO
OOOOOO
OOOO

Harry was sitting on his bed staring at the hangings. Yugi was curled up next to him, but Harry knew that he wasn't asleep. Harry didn't know what to make of the angry fire that he had felt when seeing Ginny kissing Dean. Then to add to it all Yami had sprung on them that he was leaving. Harry felt as though too many things were happening all at once and his head was about to explode. Harry shook his head then he realised that his scar was burning. Moments later the inside of his bed curtains disappeared to be replaced with a vision of two Death Eaters screaming in agony. "Why have you not found this giant?" Harry hissed at them.

"My Lord please we are trying, but he is working to not be found, we are trying."

Harry lowered his wand, killing them now and sending new ones would only slow the process. "Try harder, the next time you report you will have the giant with you or you will feel the true strength of my wrath."

"Thank you my lord." Both the men bowed their way out of the room and then the image was replaced with Yugi's concerned face.

"Are you alright?" Yugi whispered. Harry dragged himself to a sitting position and realised that he was shaking. Yugi looked terrified so Harry gave him a quick hug and fished a Sugar Quill out of the box sitting next to his bed. "Voldemort isn't happy. Apparently the Death Eaters are having a lot of trouble tracking down that giant mage. Do you think Yami will have better luck?"

Yugi took the quill out of his mouth, "Yes, he has hunted down giant mages before so he knows what to look for. The Death Eaters do not."

Suddenly a horrible thought entered Harry's mind, "Yugi he isn't going to kill that giant is he."

Yugi shook his head very vigorously. "No, I made him promise not to. He is going to make the giant mage side with us instead, in return for a protective earth magic spell against Shade magic."

Harry was surprised that Yami would think of offering a giant something like that, then he realised that Yugi probably recommended it. Yugi lay back still sucking on the sugar quill. "I don't like that he has left, it makes me nervous."

Harry settled back next to him and looked up at the pattern of shadows over his bed, for a moment he could have sworn that there was something in the darkness, but he blinked and it was gone. "Yeah, I've kind of gotten used to him being around."

Yugi giggled softly. "Not many humans could ever say that."

Harry grinned at the ceiling and sighed, his eyelids dragged themselves closed.

OOOOOOOO
OOOOOO
OOOO

Yami travelled over the tree tops so that he didn't have to dodge trees and assorted magical and non-magical beings. His path was largely uninterrupted, though it was also very winding, typical of following darkings who navigated by the patterns of magic in the surroundings. It was surprisingly peaceful travelling like this. He hadn't done so since he had been very young.

The ground flowed beneath them at a very rapid rate. There weren't even many Shades in this area due to the high number of elfin villages scattered around the forests. The elves didn't respond to his passing through, though he could almost sense them all pausing to see what he was doing. Yami cruised absently past three villages before he realised that he was quickly scanning each of them with his mind and magic to see if either she or her mate were there.

As he moved out of the region which contained the majority of the elves he considered something which had been bothering him for more than a year. She hadn't died, so why had she abandoned Yugi. It was one of those problems which spun around in his mind until he shoved the thought away and focused on where he was going.

The darkings were all for stopping frequently along the way to taste the various magics. Whenever they ventured within another Shades territory or over anti-Shade magic Yami waited outside of the area for them to return, hoping that the promise of giant magic was enough to entice them to return.

It was while he was waiting at the edge of a Shade territory that something slightly unexpected happened. Yami was sitting in human form at the base of a tree when a slight movement caught his eye. Yami turned his head to see another Shade appear at the inner edge of the boundary spells. Yami ignored him, keeping his attention on his hands. He didn't have the time to fight this Shade, nor could he spare the strength.

At least that was what he was telling himself, in truth it was taking all of his attention and will power to resist the urge to lunge across the space between them and attack.

The other Shade watched him for a long while before he spoke. "Why do you not attack?" Yami glanced up. The other Shade was younger than him, though still easily old enough to have his blood eyes, the scarlet iris which marked a Shade of over a thousand years. Interesting that Yami would encounter one of the few blood-eyes on the island here, still so close to Bakura's territory.

Yami recognised him as one of the Shades who had fought with Voldemort. "I have more important things to do." He replied, keeping his voice at the courteous level which he used mainly when talking to elves.

"More important than tradition, attack damn you." A whip of magic passed over the boundary and shattered a nearby tree. Yami gritted his teeth and ignored it, wishing the darkings would emerge from this territory sooner rather than later.

"Yes more important, I am tracking a giant mage." That shut the other Shade up. All Shades were careful about giant mages, being that they were one of the few other races which had magic strong enough to damage them.

"I didn't think that there were any left?" The other Shade mused softly.

Yami nearly laughed. If there was anything that had the potential to unite Shade's it was the chance of a good fight. "Nor did I, until one surfaced south."

The other Shade's darkings flittered over to Yami, drawn by the traces of human and elfin magic which drifted around him. Typical of a Shade who was very in tune with his darkings the other lifted his head. "What is wrong with you?" He demanded. Yami realised that the darkings were probably tasting the elfin and earth magics which rippled over and through his extremities.

Yami stretched and got to his feet, he could sense his own darkings returning. "I had a run in with some elves." He left it at that. If the other didn't recognise him or hadn't heard the rumours of his and Bakura's status from the darkings, then he must live in a veritable hole. Yami's darkings danced through the darkness and coiled around him. Yami immediately began to disassemble his human form. The other Shade watched in silence as Yami moved away from him.

That had been interesting, but Yami had to concentrate on the giant mage who they were very rapidly approaching according to the darkings. In fact now that Yami looked closely he could see traces of giant magic everywhere. Yami slowed his pace and took control of their navigation, concentrating on tracking the very specific giant magic through his vision filters.

Alrightly, I have something to ask, would people like me to base our friendly giant mage on one of the Yugioh characters, and if so who do you think would be best, or would you prefer an OC. It's up to you, I can write it either way. Leave a review telling me who you would prefer. My only condition is that the mage is male, if you really want a female you'll need to give me a really good reason.