LOOK HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO TYPE THIS! TWO FUCKING MONTHS! ARGH! I'm so pathetically stupid. I'm amazed you wonderful people don't already hate me. Okay, all this crap below – they're my comments from... a long time ago. I just didn't bother to delete it. You guys... are way too nice to me! WAAAHHH!!!! starts sobbing I'm so sorry....!!!!! And I'm sorry this chapter stinks! My life is horrible...
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Okay, here's the next chapter! Wow, I haven't really found any time at all to type this. How do all the other authors do it? Well, anyway, on to the chapter. It's number... 12, is it not?
Oh, and another thing. These are the results for the Draco/Hermione pairing. Remember, there's still some more time, so you can still cast your vote!
Yes: 5
No: 2
Don't care: 1
By the way, Draco already knows about the Millennium items and all that. That's 'cause he's specialler than the others.
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"Mmm... Yami... stop... we have to — ahh!" Yugi's closed in ectasy. Yami grinned from behind him, where he had been busy layering Yugi's pale neck with little kisses and... doing certain other things.
You were saying?he purred over the mind link, playing with Yugi's hair as he did.
/We... have to... get to the Entrance Hall!/ Yugi panted. He made a huge effort to get untangled, pulling his shirt back down, and then... fell off the bed.
Yami raised an eyebrow.
"Ouch." Yugi shook his head a little to get it back into focus. "They're going to leave without us if we don't hurry!" he told his dark.
Oh. In that case...Yami dematerialized into the puzzle as he trailed off, red eyes sparkling playfully still.
"Thanks a lot, Yami," the other mumbled, grabbing the Millennium Puzzle hurriedly and slipping it around his neck. "I know you did that on purpose. Sheesh." He dashed out of the dormitory.
.O.O.O.O.O.
"There he is!" Draco said, turning back to Filch, who didn't look too happy. Yugi was sliding down the huge banister (which was probably not allowed), a huge grin plastered on his face. He stayed unfazed by the enormous height, jumping the last few feet and landing semi-gracefully. He... uh, landed on his feet, but kind of lost his balance at the end and toppled over.
He got back up in a flash. "Wow, what a rush!" he exclaimed, cheeks still flushed with exhilaration. After all, he had slid all the way from the seventh floor. He started running towards the rest of the group gathered at the doors. It didn't help much that his legs were so short.
"Sorry!" he gasped. "I was a bit... preoccupied."
"We can tell," Ryou laughed. He looked pointedly at Yugi's tousled hair and slightly bruised lips. There was also a pretty apparent spot on his neck. Yugi blushed cutely and straightened his buckle at his neck to hide the mark, and then ran a hand through his hair quickly.
His eyes flickered to Filch. Filch backed away just a bit at the enormously huge and innocent eyes. "I'm not too late, am I, Mr. Filch?" Yugi asked hopefully.
"Er, no," the caretaker said gruffly, marking him off of the list.
"Yes! Now we can finally go!" Malik said excitedly. Seto rolled his eyes.
"Y'know, you've probably been there about a dozen times already. What's so special now?" he asked as they stepped out into the cool, crisp air. It was a pretty chilly day. There wasn't a hunt of sunlight. The carriages were waiting for them, and somehow, the whole group stuffed themselves into one carriage.
"What have we not done?" asked Yami Bakura loftily. He had taken over. "We've already found a couple dozen secret passageways, camped out in the Forbidden Forest, and broken just about all of the school rules."
"Yeah, and why're you out already?" asked Malik in a muffled voice, his head still sticking out the window. The wind was whipping his long hair back.
Yami Bakura blinked. "Ryou says that he's sleepy," he informed them.
"Oh? Did he not get enough sleep? What were you two doing, Bakura?" Malik asked deviously, taking his head back in to smirk at Yami Bakura.
"I just went out for a stroll," the tomb robber said innocently. It didn't quite work.
"Right... in his body, and probably for hours, tiring him out," Malik added. "C'mon, I know you."
Draco, on the other hand was studying Yami Bakura carefully.
"What?!" the spirit of the Ring finally snapped in annoyance.
"Oh, it's just that... Malik's told me about you, but I've never really met you. You and Ryou are pretty different, aren't you?" said Draco.
"No shit, Sherlock. And for your information, I do not appreciate people ogling me like that."
"'Kay, whatever, dude." Draco turned to stare out the window instead, suppressing a boyish grin.
Yami Bakura's eyebrow twitched. Had he just been called a 'dude?' Malik was definitely rubbing off too much on Draco.
.O.O.O.O.O.
"Ah, so this is Hogsmeade!" said Yugi, spinning around as he walked to take in all the sights. He was very impressed. "Let's go to Honeyduke's first!" he suggested brightly, stopping in front of a shop that was crammed full of students.
"No!" Everyone looked at Yami in surprise. He looked... well, panicky. And frantic. "Trust me, you do NOT want a sugar-high Yugi!"
"But Yaaamiii!!!!" Yugi whined, latching onto his other half's neck and hugging him tightly. The others sweatdropped.
"No." came the firm reply. Yugi pouted, but gave them the thumbs-up from behind Yami's spikey thingies. He leaned forward and whispered something into Yami's ear. Yami gulped. It was clear that the ex-pharaoh was fighting a losing battle. Yugi snuggled into his neck, eyes closed.
Malik was almost dying from laughter. Let's just leave it at that.
.O.O.O.O.O.
"Bouncy bouncy bouncy!" Yugi giggled, hopping up and down, a jumbo candy cane sticking out of his mouth. One sentence. They'd gone to Honeyduke's.
And gotten about ten pounds of different chocolate, all of the different toffees that were in stock, and at least a dozen pieces of everything else. Yami had taken refuge in his soul room AGES ago.
"There's gotta be something that can cure hyperness," Yami Bakura growled. "Come on, you guys know fucking magic! Isn't there something?"
"Nope," said Malik happily, sucking on a blood-flavored lollipop. "Already checked. Here, try one of these, they're actually okay. Not as good as real blood, though."
Seto massaged his forehead. "Knew I should've stayed back, knew I should've stayed back..." he groaned. He had, of course, refused to buy anything for Mokuba from Honeyduke's, being the caring brother that he was. Besides, Mokuba seemed to have an unlimited supply of sugar anyway.
Draco was just walking alongside all of them nonchalantly, trying not to attract too many stares from the villagers.
"This way," he called to them, heading purposefully for the Shrieking Shack. It would give them at least a little privacy. There was nobody there save for two third years, new to Hogsmeade. They quickly walked off after looking at them, keen to get away from the new — and strange — sixth years.
"What's this?" Malik commented, walking around the perimeter of the wooden building.
"The Shrieking Shack," Seto told him. "Long ago people believed that there were spirits haunting it because of the howling noises that came out." At this point, Yami Bakura snorted. "Nobody knew that it was actually a werewolf that took refuge in it every full moon to hide."
"See? You do know everything!" Draco exclaimed. Seto looked at him, confused. Nefertari suddenly popped out of thin air, gave a soft call, and alighted on Draco's head, as if she were indignant. Yup, Draco was suffering.
"What?" he asked, trying to bat her off his head.
"Well, first of all, it means that she trusts you," Seto said. "So don't try to bat her off."
"Fine. But you still seem to know everything that you're not supposed to," Draco grumbled. "What's up with that?"
"I dunno. Things just come into my head," Seto shrugged. "Anyway, where'd Bakura go?"
"Somewhere," said Malik, flopping down on the hill. "He's going to meet us up there later. Draco, you're coming too. We're going to go talk to Harry, Ron, and Hermione about you-know-what. You don't mind, do you?"
"Nah."
"Thought so. 'Sides, you'll get to gloat at them for not knowing yet while you found out. Partly on your own. Three whole weeks ago."
"Yeah, I guess you've got a point," the Slytherin laughed. "They have been known to be pretty dense." He lay down beside Malik on the grass, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "I found out about the Sorcerer's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, Sirius Black, Mad Eye Moody, and all that crap way before them," he said, ticking them off on his fingers. "Basically everything 'hard and difficult' they've encountered so far at Hogwarts. I just kept my mouth shut because they practically hated me."
Neither talked for a little while.
Then the silence was interrupted by a loud 'MEEOORRWWW!!!!!' They turned to Seto, who groaned and pulled out a super-mini-mini-mini laptop and opened it.
"Wha — ?" Malik and Draco were looking confused. Yugi was still bouncing around, now chasing the non-existent butterflies.
"It's Noa," Seto explained. "See? Remember him, Malik?"
"Noa?" Malik said incredulously, red lollipop falling out of his mouth. He rushed over to the screen, Draco hot on his heels. "Wow!"
A very indignant Noa Kaiba was glaring at them from the screen. There were cats. Lots of them. Hissing at Noa, who waved them off. They blurred, and then the particles floated up and dissipated.
"Who's he?" Draco asked, examining the laptop more closely. He'd never really seen one of these, because, well, he'd pretty much stayed away from Muggles up until now. It was amazing how efficiently Muggles had managed to live without magic. Oh, anyway, back to the kid in the laptop. He had aqua hair and... blue eyes. Actually, he resembled Seto in many ways. Although he did look a few years younger.
"This," Seto said tiredly, "is my brother. My older brother."
"No way," Draco breathed. "Why is he in there?"
"Well, you see," said Malik, a lopsided grin coming onto his face now, "he doesn't really have a body. His mind's in a virtual world Seto created after the first one was destroyed. They're actually step-brothers, and technically, Noa did come before Seto, so... there ya have it."
"What's up, Noa? I haven't seen you since Japan."
"Yeah. I've been annoying Seto, mostly. I can connect myself to Mokuba's laptop too, so I've been chatting with him quite often. Seto promised to show me Hogsmeade – and he almost forgot! I had to torture the cats, you see." Noa smiled impishly up at them. He waved at Nefertari, still on Draco's head, and she ruffled her feathers just a bit, clearly happy to see him.
"Fine, fine. Let's go," sighed Seto, starting to make his way over to Yugi. "Drevearus," he said, pointing his wand at the hyperactive sugar- high teen. Yugi fell backwards with a thud, eyelids dropping closed. A moment later he sat up abruptly, looking around at them.
"Oh, hi, you guys," he said cheerfully, as if nothing different had happened. The others sweatdropped. Yugi then spotted the laptop. "Noa! How're you doing? Still terrorizing the cats? Getting bored in the virtual world that can take you virtually anywhere?"
"Sadly, yes," Noa replied. "D'you mind giving me a tour of Hogsmeade? I can get Seto to give me a holographic body so I'll feel normal for once, and not tiny. Seriously, your heads are huge on the screen!"
"Sure, no problem!" Yugi said gladly. "To tell you the truth, we've only gone to one place so far, so you haven't missed much. Draco's going to show all of us the sights."
"Alright!" Noa punched the air. "C'mon, Seto, do your thing!"
Seto pulled the laptop back and set a levitation charm on it to float in midair while he typed.
Soon, a green cyber-net structure materialized. The image got clearer with each computerized beep. Soon, a pretty solid looking Noa Kaiba was standing in front of them.
"Okay, I've got the sensory indicators linked up as well," Seto said, typing rapidly, not blinking at all. Now all we need is a stationary object to link the imager to. It doesn't have to stay completely still, but I'm sure not about to hold this thing for the whole time."
"What about Nefertari?" asked Yugi, pointing at the blue bird on Draco's head. "She can just sit there for the whole time, right?"
Draco opened his mouth in protest, but Noa thrust a fist through his head playfully, knowing full well that this would send electrical charges throughout the boy's body, since the transfer of data was not yet complete. The head, as the central system, would send the most pain through the body.
Draco stifled a gasp of pain, and then nodded weakly.
"Oops. Sorry 'bout that, Draco," Noa said sheepishly. "I forgot not to aim for the head."
A row of blue strips flicked from LOADING to COMPLETE. The last bar powered up, and then a series of beeping noises confirmed UPLOAD COMPLETE.
"Yes! Finally! You're a genius, Seto!"
"I know I am," the taller Kaiba replied smugly. He fastened a small transmitter to Nefertari's head, whispering in her ear. "You don't mind, do you, girl?" She cooed softly again. The device would send constant signals to one of the KC satellites in space somewhere, which had special microchips installed by Seto himself. The satellite would supply the hologram for Noa.
Noa flung an arm around Draco. "I wish I could actually feel you," he commented. "There's only a faint sensation when I'm out in the real world. I can only hear, talk, and... move. I can sorta smell, but it's kind of hard. Oh well. Sorry again about the whole electrical shock thing. It shouldn't happen again, now that I'm fully uploaded."
"Y-yeah. Great," Draco muttered. There were little shocks still playing around his fingertips, he had a weird hologram walking beside him claiming to be Seto's older brother, and a magical blue bird sitting on top of his head. If they had looked like a strange group before, just imagine what they looked like now.
"Here's the plan, you guys," Yugi said, checking his watch. "After we go see everything, we're going to have to meet up with Bakura at the cave. So we've got... about... two or three hours."
"Fine by me," Malik said, stretching. "Where to first?"
.O.O.O.O.O.
"Awesome place!" Noa exclaimed, looking back down at the magical village a few hours later. They were now climbing the cliff that led to the secret cave.
"Yeah, whatever. We're about twenty minutes early," Malik said. He looked up at the jagged rocks up above and groaned. "I don't want to climb this whole thing! Ah, screw it, I'm using magic!" A cloud of Shadow Magic surrounded him, levitating up. "See you guys at the top!"
.O.O.O.O.O.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stepped through the cave entrance, getting ready for total darkness, only to see that there was already a small fire – a weird blue one – blazing in the middle of the cave. What they saw was even stranger. Yami Bakura was sitting in one corner, glaring at them. Ryou was... asleep in his lap. Yugi and Malik were having yet another Duel Monsters game, and Seto, Draco, and a kid with aqua hair were talking quietly. They all looked up as the three stood awkwardly at the cave entrance.
"Hi," Yugi said, gesturing toward an empty space beside him. "You can sit down, unless you want to stand." He smiled cutely. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down, across from Ryou and his yami, and diagonal from Seto, Draco, and the other teen.
Hermione was staring at Yami Bakura with an unreadable expression on her face. He growled. Why were so many people goggling at him today?
"Uh, Tomb Robber, you might want to wake Ryou up," Malik pointed out.
As if in response, Ryou shifted, snuggling closer to his yami. He mumbled, "Go 'way. Let me sleep..." and then promptly buried his head into Yami Bakura's hair.
"O...kay..." Draco half-laughed. "Let's just get started without him then."
"Wait a minute," Ron said, turning to Yugi. "You mean that Mal— that Draco already knows?"
"Uh... yeah?" The three Gryffindors glanced at each other.
"He figured it out by himself, alright?" Malik said loudly, trying to break the tension in the air.
He inwardly groaned. This was going to take a while.
.O.O.O.O.O.
I'm skipping the explaining part. 'Cause all of you people know. And... it doesn't matter if I write it out or not. Either way, the characters from HP are gonna know. Because I made them know. So there.
.O.O.O.O.O.
"Wow." An hour later, Hermione looked as if she was still trying to absorb all the information.
Ryou was finally awake, though still sleepy. He was curled up against Bakura in one corner. Malik looked bored to death. Yami and Yugi were sitting directly opposite to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, doing most of the talking.
"So... you guys are spirits from Ancient Egypt?"
Yugi nodded. "Yami and Yami Bakura are."
"Bloody hell..."
"And he," Harry pointed to Noa, "is Seto's older brother."
"Older step-brother, except now I'm virtual and have no body," Noa replied airily.
"Bloody hell..."
"Those... Millennium Items," Hermione said slowly. "They're the ones that Voldemort's after, right? I wonder why he hasn't tried to attack you yet. You say there are seven? Do you think the other item holders are safe?"
"I guess so... Isis – she's my sister – can defend herself pretty well, and Shaadi pretty much disappears unless he needs to say something about the cosmic balance or that kind of crap."
They had told Harry, Ron, and Hermione the complete and total truth (unlike with Dumbledore). It was probably all for the better. Now... to see if they would accept the fact that...
"You guys are together?" Harry asked, motioning to Ryou and Yami Bakura, and then to Yugi and Yami.
"Yeah. You... don't mind, do you?"
"No! Not at all." At this, Malik snorted.
"Are you sure?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "You will be once you start hearing these sounds everywhere." The three looked a little uncertain at this. Yugi hastily interrupted before they could say anything.
"Okay! Then it's settled! Uh, we're sorry for leaving you in the dark for so long. You see, we can't really trust too many people nowadays." Yugi smiled apologetically at them.
"Yeah... with all those people set out to kill you... It's almost as bad as Harry!" said Ron shakily.
Malik coughed. Loudly.
And Hermione turned her eyes towards him. "YOU were one of the people trying to 'completely and utterly destroy' Yugi, isn't that right, Malik?"
"Um... I've reformed...?"
She grinned, seemingly forgiving him, and turning back to the others. The atmosphere seemed a lot lighter. "Alright. From now on, no more secrets," she said. "Friends?"
"Yeah. Friends."
The group that made their way back down the cliff and to Hogwarts was a very cheery one indeed.
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Holy. Shit. That was an awful end to this chapter. I'm really going to have to improve on my writing. I'm sorry, guys. You shouldn't have to read crummy writing like this. sigh I think I might have writer's block. Well... every single time I have a good idea, I never bother to write it down. And then... I forget it all. I'm hopeless, I tell ya. So... review if you want. Although I think it's rather pointless, since this chapter sucked so much.
And.... If you want to read the stuff down below, which I wrote in... MAY, you can. It's probably best not to, though. Pointless stuff. Dumb rantings. Idiotic things.
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All-State's over, after about 7 hours of non-stop violin playing. Well, we did get to have lunch, but that was about it. It was... full rehearsal, sectionals, lunch, full rehearsal, and then the concert. Wonderful, eh? The full rehearsals were about two or three hours long, the sectionals (Ms. Johnsen scared the crap out of the people who didn't go to our school. Go Ms. Johnsen!) were over an hour, and then the concert took up the rest of the time. I am definitely NOT going to do this next year. My neck hurt, my shoulders hurt, my arms hurt, the fingers on my left hand hurt, and most importantly, my butt hurts from all that sitting! Besides, it's not like I can rank any higher than concertmaster, so who cares?
Oopsies. Sorry for ranting on like that.
Sapphire: I wanna lollipop!
Silver: Oh, no. Not again. I thought I'd gotten rid of you!
Sapphire: Nya! I'm not that wimpy! A few hexes, curses, frying pans, and hours of violin playing won't hurt me! I was the one who kept on talking to you during All-State to keep you sane, remember?
Silver: More like making me insane. I almost started screaming bloody murder.
Oh, and one more thing. Do you guys want to be able to do unsigned reviews? I just realized that I was only accepting signed reviews. So, do you want unsigned reviews? As my friend brought up, I'd probably get a whole lot more reviews that way. And don't forget to vote for the Draco/Hermione thing! Arigatou, and sayonara!
