Gotc: Alrighty. I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?
Ace: The good news.
Gotc: Really? You don't want the bad news out of the way?
Ace: Nuh-uh. I want something happy to cling to when you open that seventh ring of-
Gotc: Yeah, ok I get it. So the good news is I've decided to kinda come up with a soundtrack for the fic. Not turn it into a song fic or anything, but since I listen to a couple of songs over and over while I write certain chapters, I thought it might add a little something to the whole experience. It's not gonna be every chapter, but every now and again.
Ace: That was it? Sheesh. So what's the bad news?
Gotc: Lara Chubb found us.
Ace: 0.o….(Takes off running)
Gotc: Ace and good ol' Lara have a history. She's quite possibly his oldest fan, and stole him from my attic where I store him when I'm not using him and locked him up in her basement for a couple weeks while her cat guarded him. I don't think he had fun, since he actually came running back to the attic….
Ace: (In distance) AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Gotc: But that's hardly relevant to the fic. And so without further ado….SQUEAKY!
Squeaky: Squeak! (Keep running Ace! Oh and it may even be possible that Lara's got a partial claim on Ace too so, go look for better things to take elsewhere.)
Gotc: So true. Enjoy the fic!
Harry Potter and the Order of the Rising Dragon
CHAPTER 20: House of Mirrors..or Plates…
Yugi didn't think it would ever be possible to get the smell of fertilizer out of his nose, much less the rest of him. At least he didn't have to worry about getting some privacy from prying eyes tonight, since everyone at the Gryffindor table was making it a point to sit as far away from the fifth years as humanly possible.
"I will never have a garden for as long as I live," Ryou muttered taking his seat next to Yugi. The Great Hall wasn't quite full just yet, most of the classes now starting to pour in for dinner, so Malik and Kaiba were nowhere to be seen.
"Ditto," Yugi groaned, digging into his food. After two days of hardly any appetite, he suddenly found himself ravenous. But he seemed to be the only one focused on getting a bite to eat. The doors swung open with a thunderous crash, and a tall dark skinned girl came striding up to a weary Harry, looking absolutely livid.
"Oy, Potter!"
"What now?" Harry muttered tuning his head only enough to see who it was coming towards him now, turning to face Angelina Johnson.
"I'll tell you what now," she said, poking him hard in the chest with her finger. "How come you've landed yourself in detention for five o'clock on Friday?"
"What?" said Harry. "Why… oh yeah, Keeper tryouts!"
"Now he remembers!" snarled Angelina. "Didn't I tell you I wanted to do a tryout with the whole team, and find someone who fitted in with everyone! Didn't I tell you I'd booked the Quidditch pitch specially? And now you've decided you're not going to be there!"
Yugi and Ryou both looked at each other, simultaneously deciding there was something about this conversation worth listening to. They'd seen a couple of students playing a few little games here and there, but nothing that looked like a promising new frontier until Kaiba managed to get working duel disks into the castle.
"I didn't decide not to be there!" said Harry, as Yugi and Ryou scooted as close as they dared, not really wanting to get in between the two. "I got detention from that Umbridge woman, just because I told her the truth about You-Know-Who."
"Well, you can just go straight to her and ask her to let you off on Friday," said Angelina fiercely, "and I don't care how you do it. Tell her You-Know-Who's a figment of your imagination if you like, just make sure you're there!"
"You know what?" Harry said to Ron and Hermione as she stalked furiously out of the Hall, "I think we'd better check with Puddlemere United whether Oliver Wood's been killed during a training session, because Angelina seems to be channeling his spirit."
"Hey Harry," Yugi asked tentatively, once he was sure Angelina was well out of range, "What's Quidditch?"
Ron gave Yugi an incredulous look at his question, not quite sure if he'd heard him right.
"You're serious?" Ron gaped, "Aren't you some great game master?"
"King of Games," Ryou corrected him, "And isn't kind of hard to play a game you've never heard of?"
((It's not like his highness hasn't done it before.)) Bakura pointed out, but Ryou only rolled his eyes and ignored him. It was hard enough trying to keep all outward appearances normal enough until they figured out exactly what the other three had seen of them the night before, without having another conversation going on in his head.
A part of Harry was wary of saying too much to Yugi and Ryou. They could be fishing for information, maybe trying to cover up what had happened the night before, or just genuinely curious. The two didn't look like they were even capable of a malicious thought, much less some evil plot to turn Hogwarts over to Dumbledore or whatever, and before the logical side of him could even argue, he found himself rattling off everything he'd learned about his favorite sport.
"It's a game played on broomsticks," Harry started, before he even realized what he was saying, "There are two teams of seven, three chasers, two beaters, one keeper, and one seeker, and three different types of balls, the Quaffle, Bludgers, and the Snitch."
Harry felt like he was having an out of body experience, screaming at himself and reciting back everything that they'd overheard the very same people talking about last night in that dark corridor, but he only continued on.
"It's the job of the Chasers to take the Quaffle down to the other end of the pitch and throw it past the other team's Keeper and through one of three hoops," He said, ticking off the positions with his fingers, "The Bludgers are like flying bowling balls, trying to knock you off of your broom, and it's the Beater's job to make sure they're aimed at the other team instead of you. And then the Seekers are searching the entire field for one tiny golden ball that size of a big walnut. It's worth a hundred and fifty points to catch it, and it ends the game, so it's a pretty important job."
Harry shook his head, as he realized just how fast he was talking, the tiny voice telling him to stop now virtually nonexistent.
"I'm sorry," He apologized for his hurried explanation, "That must not have made a whole lot of sense-"
"No, you explained it," Yugi said, "Chasers score with the Quaffle, Keepers block the hoops, Beaters use Bludgers to knock other player's off of their brooms and the Seeker tries to find and catch the Snitch to end the game."
"Uhh…Yeah," Harry blinked, surprised at how easily Yugi had grasped even the basic concept of a game it had taken him days to figure out, "I mean there's a little more to it than that, but I wasn't super thorough in explaining it."
"I'm a pretty quick study," Yugi said bashfully, "But I'm better with practice."
"Well, I'm not so sure how well that'll work out with you three in detention during Keeper tryouts," Ron pointed out, not trying very hard to hide his distaste with Yugi and Ryou.
"Yeah," Harry sighed, the unpleasant thought of spending the evening with Professor Umbridge was not one he was looking forward to, "Well I guess I'd better figure out some way to convince her to let me off on Friday…"
"And just what do you think the chances of that are?" Ron asked.
"Is there something less than zero?"
Harry took a large swig of his pumpkin juice and looked up at the clock before gathering up his belongings.
"Speaking of, we should probably get going," He said gesturing to the clock ticking ever closer to their date with the frilly professor, "No reason to give Umbridge any more reason to slam us with more homework…"
Yugi and Ryou nodded, just as depressed about their destination as anyone as they followed Harry out of the Hall and in the direction of Delores Umbridge's room. Ron and Hermione watched them carefully, waiting until they were well out of earshot to say just what was running through their minds.
"This is too weird." Hermione said taking a sip of her drink, "One minute, it's like those two are in their own world, the next, they're the world's nicest people."
"I overheard something that the Kaiba guy was saying about them being bipolar or something," Ron suggested hopefully, "I mean, they all knew each other before they came here, and that Kaiba guy's the only one who acts like he wants nothing to do with the rest of them."
As if on queue, the sandy-haired CEO materialized out of thin air, looking slightly harried.
"Have you two seen Yugi or Ryou?" He said, more or less demanding the information rather than asking for it, "I need to talk to them. Now."
"They just headed off to detention with Umbridge-" Hermione started, more than a little put off by Kaiba's tone, but was cut off by a frustrated growl from him.
He started to walk away, but Hermione's hand shot out and grabbed him by the shoulder, spinning him around to face her. There was a split second where she regretted her actions, as she found herself on the receiving end of furious icy glare. Even Ron discovered he wanted to put as much space between himself and that look as humanly possible. But Hermione wanted answers, and at this point didn't care who she got them from.
"Why do you need to talk to them so bad?" She asked scrutinizing his every expression.
"If it were any of your business, I'd tell you," Kaiba snapped, turning to leave again, "But since it's not, back off."
"No," Hermione said defiantly, cutting him off, "Not until you tell me why you and the others have been acting so strange since you've got here."
"Don't lump me in with them," Kaiba growled dangerously.
"Then why are you running around acting like you're their nursemaid?"
"Because, I may have been dragged into this mess with them, but I'm not going to be held responsible because they can't follow the rules!"
Kaiba realized his mistake even as the words were coming out of his mouth. He saw Hermione's eyes widen slightly from her scrutinizing gaze. Swearing silently to himself, he made a hasty exit, all the while looking for Malik to warn him before anything more leaked out.
"So what do you think she'll make us do?" Ryou asked, trying to fill the silence as they drew nearer and nearer to their destination.
"Dunno," Harry muttered dimly, knocking on the oaken door. "Something boring I'll bet, she looks to be the type in favor of a good old fashioned 'traditional punishment'."
They waited for a moment for the echoing knock to subside, before they heard Umbridge's sickly sweet voice beckon them inside. For a Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher's office, it certainly didn't seem to fit the criteria. The whole room seemed to be lined with lacy doilies while countless vases occupied every other available surface. Even the walls were not spared, having been decorated with ornamental plates, each sporting a fluffy little kitten, every one with a different bow. Ryou was certain if his yami had a body of his own, he would have been physically ill, instead of gagging in the back of his mind like he was doing now.
"Good evening you three."
Like some kind of demented chameleon, Yugi, Harry and Ryou hadn't noticed Professor Umbridge sitting behind her desk until she spoke. All three were now wishing she hadn't, since now that they had seen her, she was almost impossible to ignore. The garish set of flowery robes that had blended in with the rest of her room so well moments before, now made her stand out like a failed window display.
"Good evening Professor," They said in a droning unison, trying not to stare.
"Well you may take a seat," She said waving her hand towards a table, draped in more lace, with three chairs and just as many blank parchments laid out.
Ryou and Yugi both started towards the tables, but Harry had yet to move from the spot.
"Er," said Harry, "Professor Umbridge. Er - before we start, I - I wanted to ask you a… a favor."
Yugi and Ryou exchanged looks already knowing what the outcome of this would be, as Professor Umbridge leaned forward a but in her chair, relishing in the power she held over them.
"And what might that be?"
"Well, I'm… I'm in the Gryffindor Quidditch team," Harry started, " And I was supposed to be at the tryouts for the new Keeper at five o'clock on Friday and I was - was wondering whether I could skip detention that night and do it - do it another night… instead…"
All three of them could tell that it wasn't going to happen even as Harry had uttered those first words.
"Oh, no," Umbridge said, her wicked grin spreading from ear to ear "Oh, no, no, no. This is your punishment for spreading evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories, Mr. Potter, and punishments certainly cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one's convenience. No, you will come here at five o'clock every night, and you will do your detentions as planned. I think it rather a good thing that you are missing something you really want to do. It ought to reinforce the lesson I am trying to teach all of you."
Yugi watched Harry's fists ball up beneath his robes, feeling a pang of guilt for their situation. True, Harry had been the one to start it, but maybe he wouldn't have let it go so far if they hadn't been there to encourage him with their own comments. And Umbridge only looked like she was trying to provoke him further.
"I could do Harry's detention," Yugi piped up, trying to diffuse the situation, "I'd come back next week too-"
"If you don't learn to control yourself in my class Mr. Muto, you will be," Umbridge warned as she walked over to where they had all taken a seat, "Now, you all will be doing some lines for me, and here's the quills I would like you to do them with."
She strode by their table, handing them each their own thin, black quill. They took them without complaint, but was the ebony feather brushed against skin, Yugi felt a strange tingle run up his arm, and judging by the way Ryou was turning his over in his hand, he'd felt it too.
"Mr. Potter, you shall write: I must not tell lies, Mr. Motou and Bakura, you will write: I shall respect my elders." She said, not even so much as looking back to make sure they'd heard her.
"How many times?" Harry asked, straining to keep the feigned politeness in his voice.
"Oh, I think as long as it takes for the message to sink in." Umbridge said sweetly, "Off you go."
"But you haven't given us any ink," Harry pointed out.
"I think you'll find you won't be needing any," She said, sending a menacing grin their way.
The three shrugged and began scribbling their lines on the blank parchment. Or started to. The instant pen touched paper, Yugi and Ryou felt the Millennium Items suddenly grow white-hot, as well as the pens in their hand. Not wanting to draw anymore attention to themselves, they tried it again, once more feeling the familiar Shadow Magic clash with whatever spell had been placed on the pens.
"Is there something wrong?" Umbridge's voice interrupted.
"Um..the pens you gave us aren't working," Yugi said nervously.
Umbridge stood up from behind her desk, her bulgy eyes narrowing dangerously, as if Yugi had just swore in her face.
"What do you mean 'they aren't working'?" She snapped, stalking back over to the table.
"Th..they're not writing anything," Ryou said, scribbling with his own pen as if to illustrate the point.
Ryou jerked his hand back, as Umbridge snatched the pen from him, looking it over again and again like they'd purposely broken them and getting more and more aggravated when nothing showed itself. With huff, she tossed the pens onto her desk and pulled out two lacy cloths and threw them to Yugi and Ryou.
"Since something seems to be wrong with my pens, you two will be dusting the room," She said gesturing to what seemed like the hundreds of decorative vases, knickknacks and plates, "And don't forget the ones up there on the wall; I'm afraid this castle is a bit dustier than their last home."
Ryou was alone most of the time, with his dad always gone, so cleaning was a part of his daily life. And Yugi was no stranger to tidying up the house and game shop, but even so the task that stood before them seemed daunting and borderline overwhelming.
It seemed like hours, cleaning to the faint sounds of pen against parchment as Harry continued with his lines, and Yugi and Ryou went from table to table, carefully dusting its contents before moving on. The worst was the plates. Yugi could hardly be considered the tallest person alive, and Ryou wasn't terribly gifted with height either. It took a call to the gnarled old caretaker to send for a couple of ladders to even reach the things. And once they did manage to get up high enough to clean them, it wasn't exactly a walk through the park. Every time they tried to get close with the rag, the dainty kitten would suddenly growl and hiss viciously, trying desperately to scratch and bite, despite the fact it was little more than an animated painting.
It was the last plate in the row, when one gave such a resounding hiss that Yugi had nearly fell off of the ladder provided for the menial job, and was only spared the fall because the Puzzle's chain had somehow managed to get caught around one of the shelves. Still, his surprised yelp caught everyone's attention, the Puzzle pulling out from under his robes as it halted his fall. He flailed his arms about to catch a hold of something else and pull himself back up, all the while trying to stuff the glinting gold back into his robes. The last thing he needed was more criticism for wearing "outlandish" jewelry.
"Mr. Motou!" Professor Umbridge barked, having seen his display, "I would greatly appreciate it if you would not make as big a distraction in this detention as you have done in my classroom."
"S-s-sorry, Professor!"Yugi panted, finally managing to grab onto the ledge and steady himself.
"Hmm, Mr. Potter, will you come here?" She said now turning her attention to Harry.
Slowly, Harry rose to his feet and trudged over to Umbridge's desk, where she held out her fat hand that looked more like a bunch of jewel encrusted sausages.
"Hand." She demanded, and Harry reluctantly obeyed, flinching at her touch.
"Tsk, tsk. Didn't seem to make much of an impression did we?" Umbridge said, almost with a hint of laughter in her voice, "We'll just have to try again tomorrow, you may go. Mr. Motou, Mr. Bakura, you may go as well once you return those ladders to Mr. Filch's office."
Ryou and Yugi gladly scrambled down the ladders, grabbing them and their things as fast as they could, wanting nothing more than to leave that horrible pink nightmare as far behind as possible. They looked around for Harry, but he seemed to have had the same idea, and was already long gone by the time they managed to get out through the door with the bulk ladders.
"You'da thought he could have waited," Ryou huffed, adjusting his grip on the ladder, as they walked through the darkened halls, "We were in there because we stuck up for him…"
"Our yami's did that," Yugi corrected him, his normally spiky hair starting to droop a little. He was tired enough by this point to catch a glimpse of the caretaker's office, despite the fact its owner may be lurking about.
"All the same, "Ryou grunted, setting his ladder against the wall next to the darkened door.
"He probably wanted to get out of there just as bad as we did," Yugi suggested, "I get the feeling Umbridge is going to look for any and every excuse to land us back in detention from here on out."
"Speaking of," Ryou jabbed Yugi with his elbow, "I thought for sure she was going to say something when the Puzzle got caught on that shelf."
"Same here," Yugi nodded, "I guess she must not have thought anything of it-"
Yugi's sentence suddenly cut off, as if he had just choked on what he was about to say. The abrupt stop didn't go unnoticed by Ryou who stopped to look at the expression of sheer horror plastered all over his face.
"Yugi? Yugi, what's the matter?" Ryou asked.
"Umbridge didn't see the Puzzle," Yugi managed in a horse whisper, "Harry did."
Gotc: Phew. So a chapter a while in the making here folks, and to be entirely honest, I had planned to have the story a little further ahead than this by this point, but this just worked a little better. I mean, I had to write about Umbridge's detention! And the cat plates….
Ace: You only thought of that cause you got bit by a cat at work and had to go wait in urgent care for two hours.
Gotc: Animals get so much better healthcare than we do…But you take inspiration wherever you can get it. Anyway, I'm going to try to have the next chappie up quicker, but no promises cause it seems like whenever I make one, it ends up being a month later before I do post. Lots of reviews make it happen faster though! I write when I am happy and those reviews make me happy indeed! So click the button, tell me what you thought, and I'll se you all next chappie!