Have I even mentioned I regret making Uraeussss talk like thissss? Drivesss me up the wall. I could always retcon it away but I'm too lazy. Anyway...
Much of this was spontaneous and heavily influenced by some of my reviews last chapter because you know what fuck notes :) Thanks so much, you guys! Time to address some of your concerns and questions. Hope this clears a few things up.
Sorry for the delay, by the way. Life, y'know? Back to school and all that jazz. Here's a nice big one to make up for everything. Not edited as much as I'd like, but whatever. I hope 12,000 words pleases.
"I am a bit surprised so many people saw the thestrals," Hermione mentioned. She dumped a scoop of dragon dung onto her Fanged Geranium and frowned. "Especially considering how you have to not only see the death, but process and accept that it happened. Four people in a class..."
Beside her, Harry and Ron looked up from their own Herbology assignments. It was halfway through the class period, and Hermione had been hard at work for much of the time. Ron and Harry, less so, goofing off slightly and nearly getting bitten by their geraniums.
"What are you going on about?" Ron asked.
"Ryou Bakura," she mentioned. "He saw the thestrals too. But he didn't tell Umbridge whom he saw die, and he was... Well, Harry, what was he doing? Playing with them?"
Harry nodded slowly, thinking back to the way the thestrals had acted and the way Ryou had laughed at them, looking, for a brief second, completely at ease and happier than he usually seemed to be. "He did seem to like them," Harry mentioned. "And they liked him, too, it looked like."
"I wonder who died... He must have been close to them..." Hermione mentioned.
"Does it matter, 'Mione?" Ron asked. "It isn't like the bloke's going to tell us the truth. He's a snake."
"He's still a human being, Ron," Hermione snapped. "And if you must know, it looks like he isn't that close with Malfoy and the others right now. I originally thought that he was happy in Slytherin, but he looks downright miserable there right now."
"But isn't Malfoy his cousin or something? The way that slimy git was acting, you'd think he would be trying to get Bakura to like him," Ron said.
Harry shrugged. "You would think. But... I'm starting to wonder. Why was Bakura in Grimmauld Place this summer if he was just going to get sorted into Slytherin? Couldn't he give secrets away to to Malfoy?"
"My first thought was that he was there because Dumbledore wanted him for the Order," Hermione said. "But that doesn't make sense at all, especially given he's still a student. Even if he is of age, he still doesn't have magical experience. You saw how bad he was when he first got his wand. There's no way he could be of any real help to Dumbledore."
"Maybe he's a spy?" Harry asked. "Dumbledore needed someone he knew could get close to Malfoy?" Hermione's eyes narrowed in consideration.
"Doubt that," Ron said. "And even if he was, what side would he be spying on? He could be telling Malfoy everything right at this very moment."
Hermione sighed, patting the soil around her fanged geranium. It mouthed her hand affectionately. "I don't know, Ron. I just don't know."
Harry stared long and hard at his plant. "We don't know anything about him, do we? An entire summer and we just know that he's good at cleaning and bad at magic."
"There's something off about him, I know that," Ron said. "I don't think it's smart to trust him when he's obviously keeping secrets."
"We should find out more," Hermione said. Ron and Harry exchanged glances. The look on Hermione's face was a very familiar one. There was no doubt about it- the library was going to have a new tenant for the foreseeable future, if Hermione got her way.
A minor explosion rocked the Room of Requirement. Ryou yelped and fell backwards onto the open couch behind him. Uraeus made an odd, strangled noise that sounded halfway between a Parseltongue swear and a yelp of surprise. Bakura laughed.
"You're not very good at that one, are you?" he roared, clutching at his sides, head thrown back. Ryou flushed.
"Sh-shush, Bakura!" he said, holding his wand, which had caused its third explosion in the past hour, close to his chest. "I'm alright at Transfiguration, and Charms isn't too hard, but I just can't get any of these defensive spells down!"
Bakura smiled indulgently. "I wonder why." It didn't take a genius to know that Bakura was referring to Ryou's superb education in the branch.
Ryou huffed a little and set his wand aside. "Is it all Umbridge's fault, though? Maybe I'm just not cut out for these sort of spells... They're really major stuff. Although... it is one thing to silence a raven when you're given a raven and time in class to practice. It's quite another to disarm something when you don't even have a target to disarm." Ryou looked pointedly at Bakura.
"I already told you, I'm not going to let you point that thing at me," Bakura said, eyes lingering distrustfully on Ryou's silver lime wand. "Too many explosions, too strange of magic."
Ryou smiled. "You still think this magic is strange? I think it's wonderful. It isn't shadow magic, of course, but it's like you're only limited by the words you know and how much you practice. You can do just about anything given enough time and effort, and there's a lot of satisfaction from that. Plus, more people can use it, and it isn't as likely to harm you."
"Just because it's more controlled, it doesn't make it less dangerous. It just gives you a false sense of security. There have to be words that cause death and pain just the same as the shadows can. You've been so focused on the spells and application that you miss the broader picture. The shadows don't pretend to be anything but what they are-a force of pure power."
Ryou had his own indulgent little smile. "You're just biased to the shadows. You can't even use my magic, can you?"
"Of course I could," Bakura scoffed. "I inhabit your body, don't I? I just choose not to. There's no need." Ryou's smile widened. "Really. I'm telling you. Stop looking at me like that, dammit. I can do whatever I want."
Ryou giggled. "You," he started, reaching for his wand, "should put your money," he grabbed it, "where your mouth is." He held the wand out to Bakura. "Prove it."
Bakura glared at the wand for a moment, then at Ryou. Ryou kept smiling. Bakura huffed and rolled his eyes. "Mother of Osiris, fine," he snapped, snatching the wand up. "I just... point it like this?"
Ryou reached over and adjusted Bakura's hand on the wand. Bakura shuffled awkwardly as Ryou's fingers skimmed lightly over his until everything was as it should be. Ryou stepped back and beamed. "There, that's how to hold it. Now... something easy..." Ryou darted to the bookshelf and grabbed a thin tome from a shelf at eye level. He opened it to the third page. "Aha. Wingardium Leviosa. Swish and flick. Try it. If you can," Ryou baited.
Bakura's cheeks were an unusual shade, a tiny bit pinker than usual. Ryou sincerely hoped he hadn't made Bakura angry. But Bakura shook his head like a dog and locked eyes with Uraeus, who looked a bit nervous all of a sudden.
"Uhm, Masster?" Uraeus said. "I don't think-"
"Wingardium leviosa!" Bakura barked, swishing and flicking the wand the way Ryou had when he had practiced the spell in Grimmauld Place. Nothing happened. He tried once more, but aside from Uraeus letting out a sigh of relief, nothing still happened.
With a low growl and the desire not to be shown up by his light, Bakura flicked his fingers at Uraeus. Wisps of darkness appeared and tugged the snake into the air, setting him adrift through the room as if he was an astronaut in a space movie.
"Massster!" he wailed, turning circles like a catherine wheel. Bakura laughed.
Ryou yanked on Bakura's arm. "Stop it!" he said. "Put him down, don't be so mean!"
"But it's funny," Bakura said, pointing at Uraeus, who didn't look quite as terrified now as he had before, but still not pleased.
Ryou gave Bakura a hard glare and Bakura glared right back, each willing the other to look away and cave. Uraeus meanwhile kept drifting through the room, passing by the loaded down bookshelves of Ryou's favorite titles, the half-set gameboards and checkmated game of chess, and the freshly repaired portrait of Ryou's family that had greeted Ryou the day after he had torn it up.
Suddenly, Ryou jutted out his lower lip and made a sad little sound. "Please, Bakura. Just put him down." Ryou's tone was gentle and pleading, and his green eyes were wide. A thin skim of hair brushed just slightly over his eyes and curled just-so around his face, framing it delicately and giving the whole thing an air of innocence.
Bakura's resolve visibly weakened. He redoubled his glare, but after another second, he growled and looked away. Uraeus yelped as he suddenly plummeted, landing square on the couch cushion and rolling to a stop. Uraeus sighed in relief.
Ryou brightened immediately. "Wow, Uraeus. You were right. It did work. I guess you win."
Bakura immediately looked affronted. "Win? What the devil are you going on about?" he asked.
"Well, Uraeus and I were talking the other day about what happened with the, well, you know. The walls." Ryou looked a little sheepish. "And he mentioned that if I got upset about something, you would try to make it better, regardless of what it was, and that you would do what I said. I didn't really believe him because, well, you're Bakura. You do what you want."
Bakura harrumphed.
"So we made a bet. If it worked, I owed Uraeus bacon for a week. Not that he needs it, he's going to get fat." Uraeus gave a contented hiss and flicked his tongue, not the least bit upset by the idea. "If nothing happened, then Uraeus promised to tell me a story about your life in Egypt. I... I've been a little curious lately," Ryou admitted.
Bakura looked like he didn't quite know what to make of that, and several varying emotions were flickering across his face, some of them readable, some of them less so. Was he angry? Oh, Ryou hoped he wasn't. He flushed.
"Please don't be angry with Uraeus. It's my fault, I swear!" Ryou blurted, his hands balling into nervous fists to hide behind.
The expressions kept flickering. "What is it that's your fault?" Bakura finally asked, settling into something unreadable and straight-lipped. "Just for clarification."
The question threw Ryou for a loop. He shuffled his feet a bit. "Well... uh... everything?"
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Like I thought. Always your fault. Yeah. Just go to bed, Hikari. You're done with magic for the night, unless you can stop blowing everything up." He jerked a thumb at a pile of ash that used to be a set of playing cards. Only the ace of hearts was left now, smoking faintly and charred a bit on the edges.
Ryou's face took on an even brighter shade of red than before. "I'm done, I swear," he said quickly, pocketing the wand. "So... uh... does this mean you aren't mad?"
"No, Hikari, I am not mad. Mostly surprised. You know, it's a little strange. You didn't like Uraeus much at first. Now you two are conspiring behind my back." Bakura's tight grin was more a warning than a sign of encouragement. "Just wondering if I need to watch you two a bit closer in the future."
Uraeus made that odd, swear-yelp-choking noise again. Ryou glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
Bakura laughed and vanished on the spot.
Ryou kicked a discarded bottle of butterbeer and it rolled noisily along the floor. "Well. I guess that was weird," he said.
Uraeus nodded, still staring at the spot where Bakura had been standing. Then he lifted himself up with as much dignity as he could muster and slipped down off the sofa. "If you don't mind me, I'm going to find a nice, quiet spot in your room to hide in. I think I'm done with magic for the day."
Ryou stowed away his wand and watched Uraeus disappear. "I think I'm done too."
He headed for the door and pulled it open.
He locked eyes with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who stood in the hallway beyond, Harry's hand outstretched to open the door himself.
Ryou cried out in surprise and stumbled backwards, his foot landing on the butterbeer bottle and shooting forward. He wheeled his arms, trying vainly to regain his balance, and fell backwards over a blackened end table that had been pushed to the middle of the room for practice. He ended up sprawled on his back, legs propped up by the table and waving in the air.
He groaned and rubbed his head, trying to look at the three standing in the doorway. What were they doing here? Did they know about the room? Surely something like that was impossible, Ryou had thought that no one knew about the room! But there they were, looking down at him with expressions that reflected the same emotions of shock and confusion that dominated Ryou's own face.
He couldn't help but feel apprehensive. There was no way of knowing how the three would react to seeing Ryou, what they would say, or why they were even there in the first place. He groaned as he sat up, awkwardly shuffling his legs off of the table.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" Ryou asked, rubbing at the spot on his head that still throbbed vaguely. His eyes darted between Harry, Ron, and Hermione with something that might have been fear. They looked at each other like they weren't entirely sure what to say.
He picked himself up, a bit unsteady. /Do you need any help?/ Bakura asked. /I can kill them if you want/
/No, no. That-that's not going to be necessary. Just, let me deal with this/ Ryou muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked. Her voice was a strange mingling of guarded concern and curiosity.
"I've had worse," Ryou said, his hand unconsciously going up to his arm. Hermione was still looking at him, but Harry and Ron's eyes seemed to be on the room, taking everything in with poorly hidden fascination.
"You know about the room?" Harry asked. He looked like he hadn't quite expected anyone else to know about it. Ryou wasn't surprised. He had thought he had been the only one to know it had existed, too.
Ryou nodded. "You do, too?" he shot back. Harry was still looking around and nodded vaguely.
"This is...?" Hermione asked, taking a cautious step in as well. Ron tried to pull her back, hissing 'It could be dangerous', but Hermione reclaimed her arm and dragged him in behind her with a disapproving 'Ronald!'
Ryou knew his nervousness was evident all over his face, and he was probably trembling just a little bit. There were people in his private room, people in the one place he went to get away from everyone in Hogwarts. It was like someone breaking into Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Joey and Tristan invading the miniature Bakura Castle the last time they all played Monster World. What were they doing there and how did they get in?
Harry picked up a Duel Monsters card and turned it over a few times, examining the back and front of it. "Change of Heart," he read aloud. Ryou's hands clenched in terror, but Harry put it back gently enough, and Ryou sighed in relief that the card wasn't damaged.
"Games?" Hermione asked. "Do you come here a lot, Bakura?"
"Anou... I would prefer it if you called me Ryou," he said shyly. "And yes, I do come here often. Several times a week. I don't usually stay here this late, though. Is that when you use the room?"
Hermione looked to Harry, who glanced at Ron, who was looking at Hermione. Ryou might have otherwise found it humorous. Whatever they were doing, they didn't seem to want to talk about... Ryou narrowed his eyes slightly. Were they up to something that could get them in trouble?
"So, how often do you come up here?" Ryou asked. Clearly not often, if they had never bumped into each other before, but he wanted to see what they would say.
Hermione glanced at the others before taking a step closer. "Not often, really. Just... every now and again."
"Well, I guess you can see what I do in here," he said. He glanced at the Monster World table where Harry and Ron were standing, looking it over with poorly disguised fascination. Behind it stood a bookshelf full of spellbooks and horror novels. The chessboard beside it was still sitting at checkmate from the last time Ryou had lost to Bakura. "But... what would you need the room for?" he asked.
"Nothing much, really," Hermione said evasively.
Ryou perked up. "Is it a secret?" he asked.
Ron sidestepped from the table and returned to Hermione's side with his arms crossed in front of him, looking a bit standoffish if you asked Ryou. "Sorry," he said. "But it is. Right, Harry?"
"Erm, yeah," Harry said. By this time, he had made it as far as the chess table. A few more meandering steps, and he was in front of the little table with the ashes of the playing cards. He picked up the ace and it crumbled in his fingers.
"Oops," Ryou said. "That wasn't my best work." He turned around, pretending to have forgotten all about the matter of the secret, and smudged a line through the ashes with his finger. They shifted their weight around like they were eager for him to leave, and soon. He smiled a little at Harry, trying to will this whole situation to be less awkward.
The events of the last few days and weeks still rang in his mind like they had happened only hours ago, but were at the same time strangely dulled. Being here, talking to Harry and Ron and Hermione, was a little strange, and certainly surreal, but at the same time, it was also enlightening, even though little of actual consequence was said.
Maybe it was strange for Ryou to try and judge them based off of the way they treated him when they were all thrown off their guard. Maybe it was the best thing he could think of.
He was still angry at Draco, although it seemed like everyone else in Hogwarts knew that Ryou would never stay mad at family, especially when Draco had the sense to steer clear and let him cool down on his own terms. Just as well, because Malfoy had been acting worse lately towards the Gryffindors when he thought Ryou wasn't watching, and it was starting to get on Ryou's last nerve, making it difficult to forgive him. All of this senseless feuding was going to drive Ryou nuts.
But was this 'good' side worth defending? Were they really that good?
Already they were skirting around the rules, or at least, Ryou figured he could safely assume so. The only other time he had seen looks like theirs was when Tristan and Joey had gotten into some sort of mischief and knew that they were close to getting caught. At least Bakura had been able to teach Ryou to keep a straight face.
At least, Ryou hoped that he was straight-faced right now. He was trying to project a calm exterior. Inside, he was a raging ball of tension and nervousness. The butterflies in his stomach had butterflies of their own.
But with all of the rules, especially with new ones being instituted all the time, what was the rule that they were breaking, to be so skittish and secretive around Ryou? It couldn't just be that they were nervous of him, would it? They were sneaking around the third floor hallway trying to get into a room that very few people knew about. This secret couldn't just be limited to Ryou, otherwise they would have stayed in the Gryffindor Common Room.
And then it hit him. The last time the three had acted so secretive was when they had met with those other students, the ones from nearly every house except for Slytherin, at the Hog's Head That had been a few weeks ago, which was when Hermione mentioned that they had started coming here. Immediately after that day, Professor Umbridge had banned student meetings. He hadn't noticed the connection before, of course, but now...
What was the one thing that Umbridge would not tolerate? What was the one thing that she would so vehemently object to that she would prevent other student organizations just to snuff out one in particular? What was Ryou himself trying to do in this room not five minutes before?
Students practicing Defense Against the Dark Arts spells, or likely any spells at all.
"You're practicing magic in here, aren't you?" Ryou said suddenly, as the realization of it washed over him. His eyes widened and his head tilted to one side.
"Wh-What?" Hermione asked, laughing a little. "We aren't- I mean, why would you-"
"Well, I don't know how it is in Gryffindor's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but for Slytherins, we don't get to do anything. Sometimes I try to practice in here but... it's really hard to do that without other people to practice with. The cards..." he said, gesturing lightly. The cards had been unintended victims, but victims nonetheless.
Then Ryou brightened.
"But there's three of you, so you guys can probably come up here and practice with each other whenever you want. And you three have been here at Hogwarts so long, I'm sure you have lots of friends you can practice with, too." There was a touch of sadness in his smile. "I'm a little jealous of you guys, if that is what you're doing."
Hermione looked at Harry, narrowing her eyes. He shrugged at her. Ron mouthed 'no' frantically and shook his head. That seemed to steel Hermione's resolve, and she grabbed Ryou's hand and pulled him out of the room.
"Hermione!" Ron whined as he and Harry followed her.
"What? Wh-where are we going?" Ryou asked nervously as they reached the hallway.
"Trust me on this," Hermione said, more to the others than to Ryou. She stomped back and forth in front of the door a few times until the shape of it changed slightly. She opened it up, swept quickly inside, and returned in a matter of seconds with a piece of loosely folded parchment.
"Harry, do you have a quill on you?" she asked, running her fingers over the fold so that it would crease and stay put. Anything that was written on the parchment was hidden now, except for the inch or so at the bottom that was left blank. Harry produced a slightly ruffled quill and a little bottle of ink from his bag.
"Sign, and we'll tell you what you want to know," Hermione promised, placing the folded parchment on the wall and holding out the quill.
"Hermione, what are you doing?" Ron asked, outraged. She ignored him.
Ryou bit his lip and glanced between the three of them and the parchment on the wall. Whatever it might have said was suspiciously hidden, except for the barest hints of other signatures peeking out from the bottom. The names were impossible to read, but there were clearly more people than just the three standing before him. The piece of parchment was certainly long...
Would it even matter if he signed it? Ryou couldn't spend time with the Gryffindors without incurring the wrath of Slytherin House. Slytherins didn't fraternize with Gryffindors, and they certainly didn't befriend them. But Ryou didn't need to befriend them, really, did he? All that mattered was what Dumbledore had said, because he was the main reason Ryou got to go here at all.
But at the same time... If this was what Ryou thought it was, then it could be just the thing. Not only would it be a way to practice defensive magic skills, which he was severely lacking in, but it would also be the perfect way to study the three and find out if this was worth it all, in the end. Ryou took the parchment cautiously, considering.
/Don't you dare/ Bakura warned.
/...Why?/ Ryou asked. It was becoming so tempting to sign it, if it meant knowing what had them so skittish and secretive about everything, if it meant spending time with the Gryffindors in a way they would never get out to Slytherin House (or at least, Ryou hoped), and if it meant improving his skills.
Bakura groused quietly through the mind link. /Can't you feel all the magic in that parchment? It's been spelled, or jinxed, or whatever it's called. You sign that, and who knows what will happen?/
/There are other signatures. It can't be that bad/
/Light, you are naive/
/And you are paranoid/ Ryou said matter-of-factly, feeling a little touchy. His mind was suddenly made up, if only because of Bakura. /I'm going to sign it/
/You'd better not/ Bakura warned.
Ryou fought the impulse to stick out his tongue. /What are you gonna do to stop me?/ he asked. He snatched up the quill and leaned over to sign the page when his hand suddenly froze. Bakura had taken control of it.
/I could do that/ Bakura said.
Ryou made a face and then slowly grinned as an idea came to him. /And I can do this/ he said, ripping the quill from his right hand and using the left to quickly write his name before Bakura could stop him.
A small amount of wizard's magic, so subtle that most people wouldn't have noticed it unless they were used to a very different sort of magic, rippled over Ryou, sending chills down his spine as it washed over him. It was a pinky promise multiplied exponentially in power, simple and elegant. Don't tell anyone. And that was it.
Bakura was positively livid in the soul room, probably because of how absolutely smug Ryou felt at the moment. /It's to keep people from ratting them out, is all. I told you it'd be fine/ He beamed to himself and turned back to the others. "Is that all I had to do? Was I right?"
Hermione smiled and opened up the door once more.
"You were right," she said. She unfolded the parchment and showed it to him. He started skimming over it as she continued to talk. "We are practicing magic in here. But you can't tell anyone about it. By signing that parchment, you agreed to keep it a secret, and if you tell anyone... well, do you know a girl named Eloise Midgen?"
"No...?" Ryou said, glancing up for only a second.
"Well, nevermind then," Hermione said with a terrifyingly pleasant smile. Ryou's fingers convulsed reflexively. He knew a threat when he heard one.
"Dumbledore's Army?" he asked.
"A joke," Harry said. "It was going to be the Defense Association... We just call it the DA though." Ryou peeked through the open door and his mouth dropped before Harry had even finished.
It was absolutely perfect for practicing magic.
Just inside the door, Ryou's games had been replaced by gadgets and toys, targets and spellbooks, and countless cushions for falling back on should a spell go awry. The room was also now several times larger than it had been for Ryou. Plenty of room for spellwork.
"It's amazing," Ryou breathed. He took a hesitant step further inside. The bookshelves, which were oddly similar to the ones that had been in his own room, were now filled with defensive spell books, jinxes and curses and the like. "But... why would you..."
"It's not like you can tell anyone now, can you? Well, I suppose you could, but..." Hermione trailed off, and Ryou caught the gist of it, peeking back at her with a bit of fear in his eyes. She was still smiling. "It's not in your best interests, now, is it?"
/Watch that one. You just made a mistake, Light, and now you're paying for it/ Bakura growled.
Ryou waved the remark away. Bakura was being paranoid. "Are you practicing tonight?" he asked.
"We were planning on it," Harry said. "Are you going to stay? I'm not sure how the others will take you being here, though..."
"I can stay in the far corner, if you don't mind me staying. I... probably won't be able to do any of the defensive spells anyway. I'm still reading books from your third year, and I can't hardly do those... But, just watching might help. Who is teaching your group? Dumbledore himself?"
"Harry is," Ron said. "And if you don't like it, you can just go."
Surprised, Ryou blinked and turned to Harry. "You're teaching? You must be really good, then!" he said, beaming his most disarming smile. Anything to make them less afraid of him. It must have worked, because Harry actually looked a little embarrassed, and Hermione looked very much like a contented cat.
Half an hour later, Ryou was sitting on a cushion in the corner of the room watching nervously as people filed inside in ones and twos. Ron and Hermione were busy setting out more cushions around the room, and Harry greeted the newcomers as they arrived.
He could almost feel it, every time that someone new noticed him sitting in the corner. Their stares were heavy and weighted with suspicion and distrust, some outright and blatant, others a little more secretive about it.
It didn't help that he wore the brilliant green scarf and tie of Slytherin house, and Ryou was positive that his white hair was a dead giveaway as well.
Being in this room gave him that distinct feeling he had thought he was done with by now, that feeling of everyone's eyes on him. The kid who doesn't belong, the newcomer, the foreigner. He could add new ones to the list. Rival. Threat. A different house, someone who could give away the secret meetings and earn everyone in this room a detention, or worse.
It was horrible. He had thought that this would be a good idea. He never in a million years thought that this many people would be involved, and certainly not that every single one of them would be glaring so obviously at him with undisguised hatred.
/Bakura?/ He broached cautiously. He got no answer. He tried again, but he was ignored. Was Bakura really this upset about what Ryou had done? Ryou couldn't help but make a face. /Sulk, then/ he said, crossing his arms and wishing Uraeus was there so he would at least have someone to talk to.
This was just what he deserved, Ryou thought miserably. This was a mistake. Maybe if he ducked out now, he could just forget about this, pretend it never happened and tell no one about it. Bakura would still be angry, but he would get over it eventually, wouldn't he? Yes, this could work. All he'd have to do is-
"I know you," a dreamy voice said, startling him out of his thoughts. He jumped. "You were on the train with us, weren't you?"
"Oh, well, yes," Ryou said, trying to slow the rapid-fire beating of his heart as he looked at the girl standing before him. "You're..." Her face was familiar, as were the wavy blonde hair and the necklace of butterbeer caps around her neck, but he couldn't place the name.
"Luna," she said. "And you're Bakura Ryou Bakura?"
Ryou blushed. Had he still been mixing the order of names up when he had introduced myself? "Just Ryou is fine," he said quickly. She smiled, and it had the distinct, dream-like quality of someone whose head was in the clouds.
"Are you here to practice as well? I thought that Slytherins weren't allowed in, but I guess not. Or are you just a special case?" Luna asked.
"A special case, I think," he said, trying not to let his emotions show on his face. The other Slytherins were acting like monsters lately, and it was downright embarrassing. Ryou knew that a lot of schools had cliques and such, but this took it to the extreme, and he hated it. He had no idea if the others were really acting like that because they wanted to, or if it was just the roles they were meant to play as opposing houses. As much as Ryou hoped it was the latter, he just wasn't sure.
The door opened once again, this time with another familiar face. Luna smiled and waved Ginny Weasley over to them. A strange, fluttering tightness built in Ryou's throat as she came closer.
"Ryou! What are you doing here?" There was nothing accusing about her tone, only genuine curiosity. He shrugged and looked away nervously. Everything happened so quickly, even he barely understood. He certainly didn't know what to say.
Ginny seemed to notice his discomfort. Maybe it was because she looked uncomfortable as well.
She let out a deep breath. "Ryou... I've been wanting to apologize for what I said the other day. I felt horrible afterwards, and I know it doesn't make it okay, but I was upset and angry and-"
"It's okay," Ryou said. "If anyone needs to be sorry, it's me. I shouldn't have been in your way, and everyone's emotions were running high... It's my fault." He bowed his head out of habit, but even when he caught himself, he didn't pull his head up for a long moment.
Habit or not, it was still respectful, whether he was in England or in Domino. When he finally looked up, Ginny looked confused. "No, Ryou, it's really not-"
"It is, though," Ryou said, looking away.
"What happened?" Luna asked.
Ginny shook her head, looking, surprisingly enough, genuinely sorry. "I said some things to Ryou after Harry was kicked off the quidditch team, and they weren't very nice."
"I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and ran into Ginny and knocked her down, and she was already unhappy about what my house had done... It's my fault," Ryou said. "I shouldn't have been in that hallway anyway."
Ginny made a face of disbelief.
"Ryou, do you always take the blame for things?" Luna asked.
Ryou frowned. "No, of course not, I-" He broke off suddenly. "Well, sometimes..." he amended, wishing the floor could just swallow him up. Maybe sometimes he did try to shoulder more fault that was strictly necessary, but...
Ginny stuck out her elbow to Ryou. "You know what? Come on," she said, smiling widely, no doubt in an attempt to diffuse the awkwardness that was nearly palpable in the air. "Practice with me and Luna."
Ryou stared blankly for a second. This was a second chance, wasn't it? Put the past behind them and just focus on the magic swirling in the air.
Ginny had always been nice to Ryou, even after he had been made a Slytherin. While others had judged him by what they saw, it was Ginny who looked past that. He was just Ryou and that was nice.
"I'm... not very good... I wouldn't want to get in your way," he mumbled, trying to keep the soaring feeling of hope down and out of sight. He peeked up at Ginny through his bangs.
"If you're having troubles with defensive magic, you won't get any better hiding in this corner. Come on. We insist. Right, Luna?"
Luna gave a lethargic nod. Ginny still stood waiting.
Ryou grinned and linked arms with her. "Well, If you really don't mind... I'd love to." He extended an arm to Luna as well, and the three of them marched to the middle of the room, despite the flickering glances that turned their way.
Now that Ginny and Luna were there, their gazes seemed to skip away the second that Ryou noticed them. But even though there were fewer blatant stares, Ryou had a feeling that there were more people watching him than there even was before.
They had every right to be nervous. There was no telling what the wolf in their midst would do, and it was people's first instinct to be cautious. But it was getting a bit annoying.
"They know I signed the contract, don't they?" Ryou mentioned softly. "I won't... I can't tell anyone what happens in here."
Ginny sent him an understanding smile. "Hermione already told me you did, but I wasn't really worried about it. For a lot of people in here, this is more than just a place to practice for the OWLs. This is serious. And you don't seem like the kind of person who would take this away from all of us. You hear that?" she suddenly said, a bit louder than was necessary. "Ryou's not going to tell anyone, is he?"
Feeling the weight of over a dozen new eyes, Ryou tried to hide in the collar of his robes as he nodded meekly. "I- yes, I won't tell anyone."
"I shouldn't think so," Luna said, seemingly oblivious to the onlookers.
There was a lingering moment of silence, before Harry cleared his throat awkwardly. "Ahem, well, er... Shall we get started then?"
The room settled down quickly after that. Harry started talking about the Impediment Jinx, looking a bit hesitant at first, but quickly building in confidence the more that he spoke. And as it turned out, the more that Harry talked about the Impediment Jinx, the more convinced Ryou became that Harry really did know what he was talking about. There was a sense of experience in his explanations, very been there, done that.
Harry approached teaching seriously. It was exactly like Ginny had said- there was more to this than just practice for exams or improving skills. These kids were training for some higher purpose- being able to defend themselves and those they cared about when it counted.
When they broke off to practice the spell amongst themselves., Ginny and Luna dragged Ryou to a cushioned area near the far wall. He tried making contact with Bakura once more, but he got no answer beyond the slamming of the mental barrier as Bakura pointedly ignored him.
"Alright," Ginny said, drawing her wand. "Think you can do it, Ryou?"
Ryou grimaced, letting his fingers flutter along his own silvery wand. "Well, I... maybe you should try it first..."
"Everyone messes up their first few times, and Harry is good about making sure everyone can get it right, if that's what you're worried about," Luna said.
Ryou flushed. That was one of his concerns, but not everything. He doubted his ability to even cast the spell, yes, but even more than that, what if he was able to cast the spell? What if Ginny or Luna got hurt? What if the spell backfired and hit Ryou? What if someone missed the cushion, or worse, what if-
"Ryou, are you alright?" Ginny asked.
"Fine, just... fine," he said lamely. "What was the spell again?"
"Impedimenta," Luna said, giving her wand a languid wave. A cushion flew backwards through the air.
Ginny nodded enthusiastically. "Great job!"
After that, they practiced on the cushions for a while, and for that, Ryou was glad. Ginny caught on to the spell quickly enough, and after Ginny corrected his pronunciation once or twice, he eventually got it down as well.
Hermione dropped by for a moment and spoke quietly with Ginny while Ryou kept practicing with Luna, and when she left, Ginny decided they had practiced on the cushions enough. It was time to do the spell for real.
They arranged themselves into a triangle, wands at the ready. Ryou bit his lip. "Are you sure about this?" he asked.
"Of course!" Ginny said. "You can do it, Ryou. Don't worry about it. Luna, mind if I go first?"
"Go right ahead," she said, moving to stand in front of a large number of cushions.
Ginny waved her wand and shouted "Impedimenta!" The glittering spell struck Luna in the chest, and she was thrown back onto the cushions, immobilized. "Oops," Ginny said, cringing a little at the power of the spell. "Sorry, Luna!"
Luna started laughing as the immobilization faded away. "That was fun!" she shrieked, attracting a few stares by her own right and clearly not hurt in the least.
Ryou watched her sit up, frowning slightly. It was... fun? She did fall backwards onto the soft cushions that covered the ground... Ryou's curiosity was suddenly piqued. He wanted to try it next.
Ginny smiled. "Your turn, then?" Luna nodded as she stood up.
"Ready, Ryou?"
/What do you think you're doing?/ Bakura said suddenly, making Ryou flinch violently in surprise.
/Bakura?/
/Who else would it be? Just what do you think you're doing?/
Bakura had ignored him for the better part of an hour, and now he was talking? When Ryou was about to finally practice the spell for real? Ryou huffed. /I'm doing what I was trying to do earlier, and that's actually cast a spell. Since you won't practice with me/
/I mean, are you just going to let that girl jinx you?/ Bakura hissed.
/What does it matter? It's perfectly safe. Luna was laughing!/ Ryou said, positioning himself in front of the cushions. "Go ahead, Luna," he said, forcing a smile onto his face. /I'm doing this, and I won't let you stop me/
/Hikari, if you think-/ Bakura warned. Ryou closed his eyes tight and focused all his efforts on keeping Bakura back.
He was so focused that the spell hit without warning, his body going rigid and his limbs locking in place. He fell backwards onto the cushions like a trust fall, and feeling himself sink into them was great. Ginny high-fived Luna. Ryou sat up slowly, grinning. "That was actually... a lot of fun," he said.
/See, Bakura? I wasn't hurt. Why were you so worried?/
/Isn't it obvious?/ Bakura snapped. /The host body cannot be damaged. Who knows what would have happened?/
Ryou frowned. /Why are you overreacting so much? I mean, I was a little worried before, but it's completely safe./
/Really? And what if the spell had gone awry? What if you missed the cushions?/
/You were ignoring me not even a minute ago, and now you're suddenly all concerned? What's wrong with you?/
Bakura huffed and crossed his arms inside of the soul room. /You don't understand anything, do you?/
/There's no need to insult me/ Ryou growled, turning to Ginny, who was standing in front of the cushions now, ready for her own turn. "Impedimenta!" he said. Ginny froze for a second, wobbling backwards and unfreezing about halfway through her fall, so that she was giggling even as she hit the cushions.
His spell had been a little weaker than the others, but it had worked. Ryou was almost elated. Almost.
But with Bakura fuming, Ryou felt a little irritated.
He practiced with the two girls for the rest of the time, Bakura growling a little bit under his breath every time that Ryou's body hit the cushions, and that lessened Ryou's enjoyment greatly.
Harry made rounds through the room, making sure that everyone could do the spell, and for the most part, the others seemed to get it down with time and practice. The last one to get it was Neville, but even he managed to freeze Hermione by the end of the session.
Finally, it was time to leave the Room of Requirement, and at Hermione's request, they staggered their departures so that they weren't all flooding the corridors just before the curfew. He walked with Ginny and Luna as far as the stairs, chatting and laughing with them more easily than he ever did when he was with Yugi and the others, until they eventually had to part ways.
Their dorms were all in different areas of the castle, and Ryou waved goodbye as he took the stairs all the way down to the Slytherin dormitory at the very bottom of the castle. It wasn't lost on him that he was the only person to have to make the journey, that no other member was from the Slytherin house.
He swept into the dormitory shortly before nine o'clock, making his way into his room with a yawn on his lips. Draco was changing as he walked in. Ryou stopped in the doorway, about to back out again, when Draco spoke.
"Ryou," he said. "You're out late."
"Studying," Ryou said, faking another yawn. Too late. Draco had seen him. Ryou slipped into the room, forcing his suddenly-tense shoulders to relax. "Did you just get in, too?"
"I was in the common room," Draco said. He tilted his head slightly towards Ryou. "Hey... You aren't mad still, are you?
Ryou froze. "Uh... No?"
Draco smiled, but it had a slightly wolfish quality to it. "Excellent. I was just wondering. Night, Ryou." He drew back the posters of his bed.
Ryou turned around and pulled the tie from his neck, staring at the ground. Draco was family. It had been long enough since anything had happened that thinking about it no longer stung, like the sharp edges of the memories had been dulled.
Ryou knew he shouldn't be mad at his cousin still. But if that was true, then why did Ryou still feel that little spark of resentment every time that Draco spoke?
He changed quickly and crawled into his own bed. Why did he feel like this? It couldn't be normal. Maybe he was just being irrational about all of this, overreacting to something that never should have been a big issue in the first place. But, if that was the case, shouldn't he feel better about telling Draco he was over it?
Maybe it was because he very obviously wasn't over it. Even if Ryou didn't know what kind of people Harry, Ron, and Hermione were (he had been so distracted by Ginny and Luna's antics that he had barely paid attention to Bakura's grumbling, let alone the three people he actually planned on watching), Ryou was still of the opinion that no one deserved to be treated like that, not even by people that were only one off from immediate family.
It still made him doubtful that he was making the right choice. This should be a matter of logic. Ryou should make this decision off of the merits of both sides, and the loyalty he had that was inherent to both his family and to Dumbledore. But more and more this decision was falling to his emotions, and he couldn't allow that to keep happening. He had to think logically!
But why, oh why, was it so difficult? Every single time he tried to picture in his head a happy future where he chose one side or the other, it never seemed to focus. With Dumbledore, he could see the disappointment of his family and Bakura's eternal derision for blindly choosing 'the good guys' once more, just like he had when he had sided with Yugi and the others so long ago. But with his family, he could almost feel the anguish that would surely tear him apart if he knowingly aided whatever creature it was that he had seen Malfoy's family serving.
It was enough to make him want to scream aloud, rip his hair out, this twisting feeling in his gut that made him curl into tortured shapes on the bed, keeping his lips pressed tightly shut so no sound could escape-
/HIKARI!/ Bakura yelled, and Ryou jolted in his bed.
/W-what?/ Ryou managed, clutching at his chest where his heart fluttered rapid fire. As his mind struggled with the occluding sensations of doubt and fear, the one thought that managed to bubble to the surface was that Bakura was angry, and the last thing Ryou needed was an angry Bakura right now, when all he wanted was solace.
But if Bakura was still mad... that wasn't good. A chill raced down Ryou's spine as he thought about it, like cold water to wake him up. Bakura hadn't been truly angry in a long time.
Ryou imagined himself inside of his soul room, feeling his body go limp as his consciousness left it.
The room had been restored, just as the Room of Requirement had been, although the Soul Room had taken a bit more effort on Ryou's part. Ryou had taken it upon himself to remake the bed, repair what was broken, and reorder all the things that had been thrown into disarray on his side of the room. It was almost like it had been before. Except, for some reason, it was almost... cleaner for the effort. Like the faint dinginess that had stained the corners of his room was now cleaned up into a pristine, immaculate state. All down the line, the white had never looked so bright and pure.
However, Bakura's side of the room was even worse than before. The darkness was almost pervasive, curling hungrily and angrily along the line, occasionally flickering over the edge as if reaching out, then recoiling as if the bright whiteness burned it. Some of the piles of treasures, great heaps that took up more than their fair share of the room and left little space to wander between, had actually toppled slightly onto Ryou's immaculately kept half of the room, like Bakura had thrown a small hissy fit and knocked them over. Without the wall, nothing held the piles in place anymore.
Ryou's eyes were drawn to the same tiny handprints in the distant corner, but he made his eyes keep moving until they landed on Bakura's back.
Bakura stood off to one side of the dark half of the room, rummaging through a heap of glittering gold and jewels that put any dragon's horde to shame. The muscles in his back were in sharp relief, tensed and furious. He threw things behind him as his hands landed on them, searching for something lost inside the pile.
"Bakura?" Ryou asked tentatively.
Bakura lifted his head just enough to glare at Ryou from the corner of his eye and then returned to his search.
"Bakura, don't be angry. I- I just..." Ryou took a hesitant step forward, dodging an errant jewel-encrusted chalice that had been sent flying. "Bakura..."
He reached out nervously, placing his hand on Bakura's left arm to keep his darker half from throwing something else. Bakura stilled very suddenly.
"Bakura? Are you looking for something?" Ryou asked softly. His voice was quiet, the sort of tone that someone would use to calm a wild animal that could lunge at any moment.
Bakura narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips so tightly together that they were white. He was quiet for a lingering moment. "Play chess with me," Bakura demanded.
Ryou stepped back. "What?" Of all the left field comments, this one took Ryou the most by surprise.
"You heard me," Bakura said. He made a broad gesture behind them, and a chess table appeared on the line between their rooms. "Play chess. With me. Now."
"But-" He caught sight of the look on Bakura's face and broke off. There was something almost petulant about his baleful glare, something that Bakura didn't even seem to notice, despite it giving him a slightly childish look. "Alright," Ryou said meekly. "We can play, I guess."
They took their seats on either side of the table, the middle line of the board following the room's dividing line perfectly. Ryou doubted it was coincidence, but he didn't say anything about it as he set up his side of the board, arranging the little black pieces along the squares.
"What is this about?" he said, daring to look up at Bakura's severe expression.
"Funny, isn't it?" Bakura asked. "When I have reasons for something, you ignore me. But when you don't understand, you follow directions perfectly."
Ryou stared intently at the board. Of course Bakura was irritated that Ryou had ignored him earlier. Ryou let a breath rattle through his lips.
Bakura moved one of his pawns two squares forward. "Your move, Yadonushi."
"I know I apologize a lot." Ryou started, moving a pawn of his own to block Bakura's. "But I really am sorry for blowing you off like that."
"You're always sorry. But you do it anyway, don't you?" Bakura said. He moved a second pawn so that it was directly beside his first. When Ryou took it, Bakura smirked. It sent shivers racing through Ryou. "You ignore me. Disobey me. Spend time with them even when it will only result in tragedy."
Ryou frowned. "As I remember, it only ended in tragedy when you had something to do with it," he said icily.
Bakura narrowed his eyes and moved his bishop to the middle of the board. "Really now?"
Ryou ducked his head down, studying the pieces carefully and trying to keep from making the wrong move. Bakura could move the bishop once more and take the one pawn that stood between the king and victory. But... Ryou winced. It was risky, but he moved his queen. "Check," Ryou mumbled, knowing Bakura would fix that very quickly.
He did. Ryou fought back a tired yawn as he chewed on his lip, moving another pawn which was quickly taken. With a dangerous sort of finesse, Bakura worked the pieces on the board until Ryou's queen was boxed in between a few pawns, but Ryou couldn't take any of them. If he did, then one of Bakura's other pieces would sweep in and take the queen.
It was attack, attack, attack. Ryou was reeling, trying to keep from losing anything too valuable. Bakura didn't care about his pieces hardly at all, it seemed, even sacrificing his queen to Ryou's knight in his pursuit of checkmate.
And then, too late, Ryou could see it, as he pulled his hand away. He had missed it, somehow. Bakura moved his last bishop. "Checkmate," Bakura announced, smug.
Ryou sighed. The arrangement of the pieces only allowed for the king to go two places- into the path of one knight or the other. And if the king stayed put, it would be taken by the bishop. The game was done. Bakura had won.
Ryou leaned back in his chair.
Was it any surprise that Bakura had won? Ryou usually lost these games against him, anyway. So why would this game be any different?
Why did they even play at all? He looked up at Bakura, exhausted. "Happy, Bakura?" he asked. "You won. Isn't that what you wanted?"
For some reason, Bakura didn't look so smug anymore. "Yes. Exactly what I wanted." He slammed his hands on the table and stood up abruptly. "I'm so happy now." Darkness curled around him like tendrils of smoke, causing him to fade from the room. His glare was the last thing Ryou saw before Bakura was gone. There was a curious weight on the back of Ryou's mind, the weight of the mind link being closed off completely.
Ryou slumped in the chair, letting his head fall back. That was clearly the wrong thing to say. But what had gotten into Bakura? He never used to act like this, years ago. All of a sudden, these last few months, the last year or so...
Really, ever since that incident in Egypt involving the role-playing game. It had changed something in Bakura. Steeled his resolve for revenge, of course, but also... embrittled? Was that the word for it? Bakura was not gentle or fragile by any means, of course. But though Bakura was wound up tightly and unyielding with hate for the pharaoh, the sharp edges of his demeanor seemed less sadistic than before, more disjointed and lost. Some vital piece was missing. Ryou wondered what it was.
Was it possible that Uraeus would know? Ryou perked up immediately, returning to his body with the goal already in mind.
He sat up, patting down the bed sheets for the little serpent and eventually finding him draped over the far edge of the pillows.
"Uraeus," Ryou hissed as softly as he could, letting the Parseltongue flow easily from his lips. In the gloomy darkness, he could just make out the lithe, glittering form rise up slowly, almost sleepily.
"Whaaat? I was ssleeping," Uraeus groused.
"I'm sorry, but I wanted to ask you a question about Bakura." Ryou said.
Uraeus blinked a few times, processing the words. "And... thisss couldn't have waited until morning?"
"You're nocturnal. Don't give me that," Ryou said with a pout. Uraeus let out a rattling sigh.
"Touche. Fine. What did you want to know?" he asked.
Ryou stifled a yawn before quickly relaying the day's events. Once Uraeus was caught up, Ryou asked, "Why was Bakura acting like that? I know that what I did was a little risky, but it wasn't dangerous by any means. The only thing it could have hurt was my ability to do what Dumbledore asked of me, and Bakura doesn't care at all about that."
Uraeus chuckled. "You can't tell?"
"Tell what?"
"Bakura iss jealouss."
Ryou made a face. That was nonsense. Bakura didn't get jealous, and certainly not about anything that could have happened today. Ryou sometimes wondered if Bakura envied Atem for his easier life, but that had no relevance to today's events. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Oh, but it doesss," Uraeus said eagerly, looking overly pleased about something. "He'sss jealouss that you're sspending time with other people. You sssaid you needed Bakura by your ssside, and then went gallivanting off to play with thosse Gryffindorss after he told you no good would come from it. Not only did you ignore what he said, you ignored him in favor of spending your whole evening with them."
"I didn't... gallivant..." Ryou muttered, but he was doubtful. His eyes flickered across the expanse of his bedspread as the thoughts roiled through him. "So... does that mean that the chess match was because Bakura... wanted to spend time with me? Why?"
"I don't have the sslightest clue!" Uraeus cackled.
Ryou huffed and flopped backwards onto his bed. "You're crazy. Bakura wouldn't get that worked up just to spend some time with me." Ryou pressed his lips tightly together.
"He might. I don't control what Bakura doesss and doesssn't do. But he usually hass hiss reassonsss, doesssn't he? At leasst, when he issn't letting hiss pessky little emotionss rule hiss motivess, anyway."
"Bakura is Bakura. Why would his emotions get in the way of anything I did?" Ryou said. He scratched his head and groaned. "Ugh, this makes absolutely no sense at all!"
"It does if you realize that Bakura gets attached to things. Same as any mortal might."
"You're talking about the ring," Ryou said slowly, trying to piece together some sort of answer that made more sense than whatever it was Uraeus was saying. "How Bakura wants to get it back, along with the other items. But he needs my help, right?"
Uraeus sighed a long-suffering sort of sigh. "Look at it thiss way. Bakura'ss greatesst sstrengthss are alsso hiss greatesst weaknesssess. He iss sstubborn, arrogant, and above all proud. He musst alwayss win, he musst alwayss ssave face, and he cannot allow anything to be beyond hiss control. Yess, all that can make Bakura a powerful and dangerouss enemy to have. People who know of him dare not trifle with him. But it makess him abssolutely imposssible to deal with! So I'll put it asss ssimply asss posssible. To Bakura, you are more than jussst a hosst. You are ssomething infinitely more preciousss to him than that."
Ryou gave Uraeus a disbelieving look, which Uraeus ended quickly with a sharp glare.
"Do you think, for even a moment, in light of what I jusst ssaid, that Bakura would ever come out and sssay that? You are clossser to Bakura than anyone hass been in 5,000 yearsss of exissstence. Five millenia of watching mankind risssee and fall, watching mortalsss live and die and dream, and you are firsst that Bakura actively protected."
"That's- that's because... Well, Bakura can't let me just die, he needs to get to Yugi and the others, right? He's never been this close to all of the items. If something happens to me, his chances of that slip away to almost nothing, just because of the timing of things. I'm- I'm nothing special, I mean- surely..."
"Ryou," Uraeus said sharply. His eyes, more of the same translucent green crystal that his entire body was composed of, narrowed. Ryou sank into his shoulders, feeling small. "Why do you owe me bacon?"
Ryou was silent for a long time, before he closed his eyes and sighed softly.
"I see..." he murmured.
His head fell onto his shoulder and his eyes fluttered open, staring at the green satin sheets that covered the bed. The hangings around him darkened the space of his bed until it was nearly impossible to see anything, but the fabric was just silky enough to reflect the faint light that managed to filter through. Uraeus glittered dully.
Ryou twirled his fingers absently along the edges of the comforter, thinking. Bakura... he had done as Ryou had asked, simply because Ryou had been upset. Or, at least, he had seemed to be upset. Ryou chewed on his lower lip, almost not wanting to believe such an utterly ridiculous notion. But of course, it was pointless to think otherwise anymore. "Is it possible that... Bakura really does want to be friends?"
"That'ss a word for it," Uraeus muttered to himself.
Ryou didn't seem to hear, only continued frowning at the coverlet. Bakura had been so childish on the day that the word friend had first been spoken with any real meaning. He lashed out, acted petulant and vengeful. Just like today, when Bakura had demanded the game of chess. If he really just wanted to spend time with Ryou... But when Ryou had only grudgingly accepted the game, complained about it even? Of course it would set Bakura off.
Ryou hadn't been hurt of course. In retrospect, Ryou was startled to realize that it wasn't even a concern, and hadn't been in a long time. At least... not since...
Why did everything keep coming back to Egypt?
Ryou closed his eyes and fell backwards onto the pillows. Absolutely nothing made any sense whatsoever to Ryou. All he knew now was that the next time he saw Bakura, he wasn't going to apologize. Bakura had made it very clear that apologizing wasn't going to work. Not this time. And while confronting Bakura directly about what had happened today was going to be just as risky as it had been to move his queen to the middle of the board during their chess game, Ryou had few other options. Ryou only hoped that the gamble turned out better for him than it did in the game.
After everyone had left the Room of Requirement, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood alone in the now-empty room. There wasn't any more idle chit-chat to be had. All that was left on any of their minds was the fact that Ryou Bakura, a Slytherin, possibly a traitor, possibly a spy, possibly an innocent drawn into a world he didn't understand, had spent the evening learning a defensive spell that could potentially be used with them or against them. And the worst part was that they had no idea which it would be.
"I still think that was a bad idea," Ron said.
Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, but even she looked like she was doubting herself slightly. "He had it mostly figured out, Ron. Even if he wasn't for sure about what we were doing in here, all it would have taken is for one word of this to get out to Umbridge or Malfoy, and everything would be ruined. He... he can't talk about any of this now."
"But you helped him with magic! Ginny helped him! My own sister helped the bloke! I can't even believe it!" Ron said. He shook his head, disgusted.
"I didn't do anything. That was all Ginny and Luna," Hermione countered. "And anyway, it was just an impediment jinx, Ronald. It isn't like we were teaching him Unforgivable curses!"
Ron rolled his eyes. "'Course not. He's got death eater friends to do that for us."
"Harry," Hermione said, turning to face him. Harry's expression was one of someone who had just gotten thrown under the bus. "What do you think?"
"Oh... er... well, I didn't really pay much attention to Ryou," he said, looking embarrassed. He had been preoccupied with making sure that everyone could cast the spell; there hadn't been much time to keep an eye on any one person in the room, not even the one person who probably should have been watched.
Hermione sighed, disappointed in him. "What I want to know is how he knew about the room," she said.
"Probably stumbled across it by accident," Harry said. "Maybe he was bored and wanted to play games and the door just... appeared."
Hermione nodded slowly. "You may be right..." Suddenly she froze. "But if that's the case, who did he play with?"
"What?" Ron asked.
"Most of the games in the room, they were for two players. Board games, cards, chess... I can see him probably practicing alone in there, what with all of the burnt things that were all over, but was he playing those games all by himself too? That just doesn't make any sense. And if it is what he's doing, then it's sad, too," Hermione said.
"How do you know he wasn't playing any of those with Malfoy or someone in Slytherin House?" Ron asked. "If Malfoy knows about the room, we're not going to be able to keep meeting there, not if we might run into him like we ran into Ryou! We all know that slimy git isn't going to sign anything before running off to Daddy."
Hermione looked dubious. She started pacing slightly, back and forth across the room, thinking hard. Harry's eyes went towards his bag. They narrowed slightly.
Harry stooped and started digging through his bag, eventually pulling out the Marauder's Map from where it had been stowed away. The map wouldn't show the occupants of the Room of Requirement, but... "If we check this often enough, I bet we can see when Ryou goes into the room... and it'll tell us if someone goes in there with him." He tapped the map with his wand, saying, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," and held it out to the others.
"This could work," Hermione said as she peered down at the map. Three pairs of footsteps appeared on the seventh floor when they stepped from the room, one for each of them and labeled with their names. "He did say that he comes to the room most days. We would just have to wait for his name to disappear, and then watch for it to reappear. Oh, but what if they don't go inside together, or leave separately..."
"Well, what will it hurt to try?" Harry said. He started to fold the map up, then paused, eyes drawn to the corner of the page, where the Slytherin Common Room was located. "That's strange," he muttered, turning the map so that he could see it better. It was a particular pair of footprints in a room where 'Draco Malfoy' prints were already standing.
It was definitely Ryou, as the two dots were labeled 'Ryou Bakura'. Directly underneath the name, however, was written 'Bakura (Akefia)', like some sort of secondary name. Even stranger, there was another pair of feet directly beside it labeled 'Uraeus' that stayed in the room, even as the second line 'Bakura (Akefia)' flickered away.
"Where did the name go?" Ron asked, tilting the map closer to him in order to see better.
"Who's Uraeus?" Harry asked. He tried to look closer at the map, but Hermione took it away from both of them and looked hard at Ryou's twin, foot-shaped dots.
"This is so strange," Hermione mused. "Where have I heard Uraeus before? I swear I've read it in a book..." She shoved the map back at Harry and stomped off.
"Where is she going?" Ron asked. Curfew was almost upon them, and students were not allowed to wander the corridors at night. There was no way Hermione would make it to the library and make it back to the common room in time. Harry shook his head and shrugged.
"Beats me. I'm more confused about the name... It's never done that before," Harry said. "Just flickered away like that?"
Ron looked back at the map. "Maybe it was another person? And they disapparated!"
Harry frowned. "No, that can't be right..." he mused. "The footsteps matched up perfectly. They would have had to have been walking right on top of each other."
Ron nodded as if it all suddenly made perfect sense. "I guess so. Must be a mistake, then."
"I don't think the map makes mistakes," Harry said, frowning. Eventually, he shrugged and returned the folded map to his bag. "But stranger things have happened. Come on, let's get back to the Common Room. If it gets any later, we're gonna have to dodge Filch."
FRIEND-ZONED! Can't you just see Uraeus facepalming at how painfully oblivious Ryou is?
Oh, and before anyone asks- I have this headcanon where the map uses a form of legilimens to identify the dots on the map. It goes down to how you subconsciously identify yourself. For instance, Barty Crouch Jr. still came up as Barty Crouch in the fourth book, despite the polyjuice potion, because he still saw himself as Barty Crouch. He wasn't actually Moody, just pretending to be in order to serve Voldemort effectively, and the map could see that (even if Harry didn't). But if you, say, legally changed your name, and that was who you mentally became (no longer identifying as the old name), then the map would adapt. I don't know if that is how the map actually works, but it would be cool, wouldn't it?
I use movie footsteps instead of the dots that were in the book because it shows the direction people are facing and I like that.
Also, and this is official- the reason the map can find where people go is because of the homunculus charm, and homunculus refers to humans and humanoids, basically anything with at least near human-like intelligence, be it ghosts, a person who looks like a rat, or a snake that's just a little bit cleverer than the average snake.
Thanks so much, guys! Don't forget to leave a review~