"Japanese"

'Thoughts/Mindlink'

"Normal speak/English."

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

After a short, but terrifying free fall Yugi and Seto landed on the half charred remains of a plant, there was just enough still alive to break their fall. The plant tried to wrap around them, and it succeeded in capturing Seto, but it was repelled from Yugi by a flash from the puzzle. Yami dropped to the ground under the plants, landing on his feet with the grace of a cat. He stood up cautiously, brushing ash and plant remains from Yugi's robe as he did so.

Yami's bright red eye scanned the surrounding area with little interest. Though his did not miss a single detail of the chamber he was now in, and was pleased to note that there were no other traps under the plant. He looked up and saw that Seto was struggling against the plants angrily, which were tightening rapidly. Yami frowned and drew Yugi's wand. He muttered the slicing hex multiple times, and freed Seto from the binds of the plant, which had been growing tighter then Seto could escape from on his own.

Seto dropped to the ground with a much less graceful landing them Yami. Seto got to his feet, scowling and sending his trademarked death glare at the plants. Yami thought that might have been a trick of the light, but he could have sworn one of the plants vines backed away from the glare.

"Hurry up Kaiba! We don't have much time to catch up with them!" Yami said, and then frowned; there were two doors in this chamber, one that was in plain sight, and one off to the side, concealed by a thin layer of shadows. You wouldn't notice it unless you were looking for it, or you were in a hurry.

"Well then, tell me this Motou. Which door do we go through?" Seto sneered. "It's not as if we can just know the way they went!" Seto was not a fan of Herbology or plants of any kind. So he was in a rather bad mood after being attacked by a plant. Plants that could think were just one of the many things he hated about magic.

"Well then I suppose we must guess." Yami said, flashing a confident smile. "Fate will guide us to our friends, or at least that is what I pray it will." Yami had decided that he would just have to trust his instincts, and pray that fate shined favorably on their little group. Yami headed for the more out of the way door, but Seto grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks and preventing him from going any further.

"You really think those Idiots would have noticed a second door in their haste to stop whoever is trying to steal the stone?" Seto asked annoyed. "No, they would have done through the first door they saw!" Seto motioned to the one that was in plain sight. "By all logic, that has to be the door they went through. Cut the crap about fate and luck or whatever. And think logically for once Motou!" Seto snapped. This entire situation seemed to be driving him to the edge of his rope. Too much more and Hogwarts may just have four less students come tomorrow morning.

Yami sighed. "You may be right Kaiba, but I feel that this door will help us catch up to them faster." Yami said. He trusted his instincts more than Logic. Because sometimes Logic had no place in a situation and Yami was certain this was one of those times.

"Listen here Motou, I don't know what's brought on this ridiculous change in personality but I'm going to make one thing very clear." Seto hissed. "If you want to prevent the deaths of your fellow Gryffindor's you had better listen to logic! Because Faith, destiny, the heart of the cards none of that will be of any use here!" Seto snapped, in no mood for whatever insanity had come over Yugi. Whether Yugi had finally snapped or not was not their current problem.

Yami sighed; he could see there would be no reasoning with Kaiba on this issue. "Alright Kaiba, we will do things your way for now." Yami followed Seto through the other door and down a short passage which lead to another door. Beyond that door was the sound of many wings in flight. Yami frowned, would they have to fight an avian creature of some sort? He hoped not, a fight of any kind would slow them down. It would crush Yugi if anything happened to their friends.

Seto scowled, he was in no mood for these stupid challenges. If those Idiots hadn't gone on this crazy mission, he wouldn't be here trying to save their hides from certain death. They had better be grateful that he and Motou were going through all of this trouble just to make sure they didn't die due to their own stupidity. Otherwise, Seto would kill the trio himself and make certain that their tombstones said 'Died due to their own Idiocy'.

Yami strode ahead of Seto and flung open the door bracing him for an attack that never came. Inside the room where thousands of what at first glance appeared to be birds with glittering wings flying in all directions. But a second look confirmed that they were not birds. But keys, keys charmed with wings to fly around the room and confuse whoever had survived Fluffy and the deadly plant under the trapdoor.

On the far side of the room was a large door, locked tightly with a large silver brass padlock. Seto had a suspicion that the lock would not come open with a simple unlocking charm. No, they would have to find the correct Key, and open the door the muggle way. Seto spotted some brooms cast to the side carelessly. That was all the confirmation Seto needed; the idiotic trio had definitely come this way. They had beaten the challenge, and so would he and Yugi.

Seto strode confidently over to the brooms, they were a model he had never heard of, school brooms probably. That mean they would be slow and hard to control. But that was just fine with Seto. As long as they would still get off the ground, there was no problem as far as he was concerned.

Yami was a whole other matter. Though the spirit had seen flying at Quidditch matches, he had never flown himself. It frankly, was not something he would do when there was a better option. Thus, Yami strode over to the door, rather than towards the brooms as Seto was.

"Where are you going?" Seto snapped. "I highly doubt you're going to get that door open without the key!" Seto was annoyed as it was and even if Yugi's sanity was leaving him, Seto did not have time for it!

"I believe I may know of a way to De-Spell the door." Yami said examining the lock curiously. Vaguely wondering what kind of magic was in place to stop one from simple unlocking it with a charm. Not that it really mattered, if he was correct, what he had in mind was far more powerful the wizard magic.

"Oh yeah right, get real Motou." Seto rolled his eyes. "Two first years like us will be lucky to find those Idiots alive after these challenges, and the odds of us knowing any magic that could unlock that door without the proper key. It's not possible." The ever logical newly appointed CEO was sure of this.

Yami rolled his eyes. "Kaiba, you attend a magic school halfway around the world from your home. You took control of your fathers company only months ago, and you're turning a company geared towards war weapons towards games. I would have thought you had learned that anything is possible by now." As it turned out, Yami was not in the mood for Seto's 'I'm-so-sure-of-myself' close minded attitude. He did not need Kaiba peering over his shoulder and complaining about every single decision he made. If only he could game him . . . But he had promised Yugi he wouldn't, unless the person in question truly deserved it.

"Yes, anything is possible with careful planning." Seto snorted. "You can't just perform impossible feats at will!" Seto was getting very sick of Yugi, though he had to wonder what had come over the quiet, nice Gryffindor he had spent most of his year with. This was in no way the Yugi he had grown accustomed too, either the shorter boy was a much better actor then one would have thought, or he was missing something important. And Seto Kaiba did not like being left out of the loop.

Yami scowled. "Kaiba, kindly shut up before one of us doses something he will later regret!" Yami had an amazing amount of patience. Yet somehow Kaiba could bring him to the end of his rope faster than a Kuriboh could explode on contact with the enemy.

Seto sensed a dark presence; this . . . Not-Yugi was dangerous. He would be a fool not to back down, if not only a small bit. "All I'm saying is that no matter how much magic we think we know we'll have to get the key if we want to open that door and prevent Voldemort from murdering those fools!" Seto said, failing at reigning in his temper.

Yami scowled, both boys had a temper to rival Professor McGonagall's. "You know much about wizard magic Seto Kaiba, but there are many other types of magic." Yami said coldly. He spun sharply on his heels and pulled a card from Yugi's deck holder without looking. "De-Spell!" He snarled pointing the spell card at the lock. The entire room glowed brightly with the force of the shadow magic's activation. All around them Winged Key's fell down to the ground, lifeless as the spells placed on the room vanished all at once.

Yami did not even bother turning back to find out Seto's reaction. He flung the door open and stalked through it. He was somewhat calmed at hearing the satisfying the bang the wooden door made as it collided with the wall.

Seto raised an eyebrow, and in an attempt to mask his utter shock adopted an emotionless expression. He followed Yugi with an air of 'I couldn't care less'. The next chamber was a giant chessboard, and Seto smirked, if this was the next challenge, they would have no problem getting past it.

But Yami noticed something Seto hadn't. "Ron!" He ran to the side and kneeled at the side of Ron Weasley, who was unconscious. Blood, just barely noticeable due to the other boy's red hair, was dripping off of his head. Yami frowned in concern. "He's been hit, with something."

"No, not with something, he's been hit by someone." Seto corrected, but he wasn't looking at Ron anymore. He was now looking at the lifelike statues, the faceless chess pieces, the creatures that guarded the next door.

Yami frowned. "I will get Ron help and then we will move onto the challenge." He said with finality, his tone left no room for argument, even from someone like Seto.

Seto was surprised to hear such a tone coming from Yugi but masked it with a 'Whatever' expression. "Fine, but what can you does? It's not like anyone knows we came down here." Seto said.

Yami rolled his eyes. "There is a simple explanation for that Kaiba, unfortunately I do not have time to explain, and I will simply have to show you." Yami pulled another card from Yugi's deck. "Activate, Waboku!" The three silent sorceresses appeared. "Heal him; take his damage as you would any one of your comrades." Yami ordered. They nodded and got to work.

At that moment, someone came through the flames covering the door on the other side of the room. Seto was the first to identify the figure. "Hermione, you're alive!" Hermione shot him an indignant look.

"Why would I not be? No matter, what are you two doing here!" Hermione hissed, not pleased to see them at all. But before Hermione could say anything more, Yami had run over to her, with more speed then Yugi had even shown and snatched the half empty vial of potion from her hand. "What do you think you are doing?" She snapped.

"I'm going to help Harry." Yami said as if it was obvious, but before he could drink the potion that would take him back through the flames Seto snatched the vial from him.

"No way Motou, You're not going after Potter alone!" Seto snapped Hermione looked taken aback by the anger and pure frustration in his tone. But then again, Hermione had no idea what Seto had gone through in the last half hour. He was in no mood for Yugi to play the hero. Though, he couldn't say it wasn't unexpected. Yugi had always seemed like the type.

Yami tried to snatch the bottle from Seto, but, even with the boost in height switching with Yugi gave him. He was nowhere near as tall as Seto, who could easily hold the bottle out of his grasp. Yami growled.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at them in question. But she wasn't going to get an answer anytime soon. Considering Ron regained consciousness at that moment. "Ron!" Hermione gasped, running over to help him stand up. The women she had noticed when she had entered the room had vanished, but they had slipped her mind entirely by this point.

Ron groaned. "Bloody hell, McGonagall couldn't have made those things a little less brutal?" He asked, not taking notice of the two other students in the room.

Yami was actually jumping up and down in an attempt to reach the potion. He did not have time for this! If they had any chance of saving Harry he needed to get that potion now! Couldn't Kaiba see that? Apparently not, he was just standing there, holding the vial out of reach with that infuriatingly smug smirk of his.

Ron finally noticed them. "Hey what are they doing here!" He demanded, about just as pleased to see them as Hermione was, no wait, on second glance it was a little bit less than that. Seto raised an eyebrow and lowered his arm just a small bit, for just a fraction of a second. But that was all the time Yami needed.

Yami jumped again and snatched the vial. He drank the remainder of the potion before anyone could stop him and was through the flames before anyone had processed exactly what he had just done.

The Spirit emerged from the flames in another chamber, with a stone table in the middle, it was holding many vials. There was a scroll set on it next to a tall bottle. Yami picked it up, his red eyes scanning the riddle that lay written on it. He cast the scroll aside in annoyance. None of the bottles left on the table would be of any help, unless Seto wanted a drink after this. Though he loathed admitting it the CEO was certainly going to need it. More than ever after dealing with Ron and Hermione, Yami wasn't exactly looking forward to encountering Seto during the aftermath of this venture.

Yami sighed and looked around the chamber. "Surely they wouldn't be foolish enough to leave only one vial of the forward potion in the room would they?" Yami wondered aloud. He was truly curious. As far as he could see, these wizards were not nearly as powerful as they thought they were. He found no sign of a secret compartment or anything of that sort that could hide a spare vial of potion. In retrospect, he was trapped.

He sighed again and Yugi's deck from its holder. Yami started shuffling it as he thought. Minutes later he drew the card that would help him. He smirked and held up the card. "Activate, Magical Neutralizing Force Field!" He declared, not bothering to keep his voice down. He would not be heard over the roar of the flames in front of either door.

A pale blue, nearly white force field appeared around Yami. He smirked, and without a second thought Yami strode confidently through the flames.

Yami stepped out of the flames as the spell he had placed on himself vanished. He looked around the chamber, the torches set about the room made long moving shadows. Meaning he had yet to be spotted. Neither Professor Quirrell nor Harry has any idea that he lurked in the shadows, watching them, and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Moving a moment too soon a moment too late could mean the end for all of them. His, Yugi's, and Harry's lives were all at stake here. He had to be very careful.

It did not take long for such an opportunity to present itself. Quirrell ceased muttering speculations about the Mirror he was pacing in front of as a ghostly voice echoed around the chamber, seemingly from nowhere at all. "Use the boy!" It commanded harshly.

Yami watched as Harry lied to Quirrell about what he had seen in the mirror. Harry had hesitated just a second too long in coming up with a lie. Yami wondered what Harry actually saw. Saying what he had truly seen the first time he has looked into the mirror would have been a better choice. Yami could only assume that the mirror in front of the two was the same one Harry had encountered over the holidays.

He raised an eyebrow in surprise as Quirrell cast Harry aside furious. Yami could not for the afterlife of him understand how anyone would believe such a poorly constructed, made on the spot, lie. Clearly they had overestimated Quirrell; it was his mysterious master whom held the real cards here. Voldemort, of that Yami had no doubt, was the one behind all of this. Dare he try to finish what he started those ten years ago; he would find himself facing a very dangerous and very angry spirit.

Yami was not disappointed, as not two minutes after Quirrell cast Harry aside, the voice, which Yami could only guess was Voldemort's, rang out once more.

"He lies!" It hissed the voices tone indicating that its owner was furious that Quirrell had thought even for a second, that Harry was being truthful.

Yami could not help but feel relieved, that he was not the only one to see the lie for what it was. Thus far, he had been sorely unimpressed with these wizards. If there was truly a powerful sorcerer among them, he would be rather surprised.

While Quirrell was trying to force Harry to tell him what he really saw. Yami was given the opportunity he had been so patiently waiting for. They were both distracted, Yami could strike with ease. But it was not until Quirrell looked angry enough to curse Harry that Yami felt the need to intervene. "The Door to Darkness has been opened." Yami stated calmly folding his arms across his chest. "I'm sure, that in your own, deluded and foul way, you believe that what you are doing is right. That it is in some way just, you most likely believe that you are working for a worthy cause correct?" Yami had the attention of both wizards now. His red eyes were trained on Quirrell, who in turn was starring at the golden eyes that had opened up on Yami's forehead. The shadows of the room trailed behind him, circling the three and causing the room to grow darker.

Harry stared at him in shock. And Yami could understand why. Harry did not know of his existence yet. To him, it would seem that Yugi held this, highly dangerous type of dark power. "I give you one chance to leave now fiend. Leave or I shall be forced to seek vengeance for those you have caused harm in your quest to resurrect your dark master!" Yami declared using a commanding, dangerous tone of voice that Yugi would under no circumstances ever posses.

Quirrell laughed coldly. He did not seem to realize the danger he was suddenly in. "What sort of vengeance could you possibly take Motou? I have seen you in class; you are nothing but an average first year!"

Yami's eyes narrowed. "It would appear so. But I shall let you in on a little secret. I am not Yugi Motou." Yami said his bright red eyes alight with a dark fire that would send any smart man running to their mothers. But it would appear that Quirrell was not a smart man. He did not look like he believed Yami, but Harry was fully on board with the idea that the person in front of him, was not Yugi at all.

Yami drew himself up to his full height, which was admittedly not much. But the look on his face was enough to tell anyone pinned under his glare, that he was not someone to mess with. "I am the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, an ancient and powerful artifact, which Yugi has, after many years and much hard word, reassembled. I am for this reason, forever in his debt. I will let no harm come to Yugi or those close to him. You have made a grave mistake in siding with the spirit tethered to this earth by dark magic, the being that calls itself Lord Voldemort." Quirrell seemed to be getting the idea that he was in danger now.

"And now," Yami smirked, which slightly terrified Harry. "Your chance to surrender has been forfeited." The Spirit informed closing his eyes, still smirking. "Now I have but no choice other than to offer you another way to salvage your blackened soul." Yami's tone of voice indicated that he was anything but regretful of what was about to occur. "Hear me now, and heed my words if you wish to keep your existence." Yami opened his eyes and said the words that would forever doom Quirrell. No one would see him after this. "The only way you will leave this chamber with your life, is if you can defeat me, in a dangerous game, a dark game, a game where only one can be victor, a Yami No Game!" Yami declared pointing at Quirrell, a tad too dramatically Harry thought.

The shadows rejoiced at the promise of a new soul to feed on. Quirrell was backing away now; he could see that that he would stand no chance against this . . . spirit. To think such a being was living within the kind Gryffindor boy this entire time, it was a rather unsettling thought.

Yami smirked, a slightly crazed smirk he would admit, but it had the desired effect on Quirrell. "You do not speak, but there is no need. Now is the time for actions not words! What I mean is that, it is time to play our Yami No Game. So, let's play a game shall we?" The shadows took their cue beautifully, swarming Yami and Quirrell, generating a bubble of shadows around them, one that Harry found he could not penetrate.

No one, not even Professor Dumbledore, who arrived just as the Yami No Game ended, knew what had occurred in the labyrinth. No one other than their little group that is, Yugi explained to everyone about Yami's existence. Leading to Yami giving them all the full story of what happened in the game, ultimately it ended with Quirrell's master attempting to enter Yami's mind. This ended with both of them becoming trapped in the shadow realm for all eternity. Or so it would seem. Yami was unaware of this at the time, but not even an Eternity lasts forever.

In a surprising turn of events, Gryffindor stole the house cup from Slytherin by a mere ten points. The resulting feast and all night party in the Gryffindor common room had, in Harry's opinion, been the perfect way to end the school year.

The group gathered in one compartment during the train ride home. Seto Harry Hermione Yugi and Ryou exchanged Phone numbers, and in Hermione Seto Ryou and Yugi's cases, email addresses. Everyone promised to right or call every day. Or visit if they could. No one wanted their group to grow apart, not after the crazy year they had just had.

Then they moved onto explaining their plans for the summer holidays. Seto was planning to continue his work with KaibaCorp. If he was lucky he could get the company geared fully towards gaming in just a few months.

Hermione admitted that her plans consisted of entering a few Duel monsters tournaments and possibly playing in the regional's if she grew to that level in time.

Yugi planned to help out at his Grandfather's shop, get his homework done, and possibly enter a tournament himself. Though he admitted that Yami was much more interested in the last part then he himself was.

Harry Neville and Ryou didn't speak nearly as much as the others. They didn't exactly have any great or exciting plans to speak of. They would just be enjoying their vacation which in truth was exactly what everyone else was looking forward to as well. A Vacation from Magic and a vacation from the danger they had experienced and the excitement as well. No one thought for even a moment danger would follow them outside of school.

The rest of the train ride was spent playing games and enjoying their last few hours together before they were separated for the next two months.

The group parted ways at Kings Cross station, each of them promising to get together again before the school year began. Their vacation was off to a perfect start.

"Yugi!" Seto called catching up with the shorter boy before he could leave the station. "I couldn't help but notice, your plan doesn't leave until early in the morning." Seto said casually. "I feel inclined to offer you a ride home with myself. My private jet has more than enough room after all. . . "

Yugi grinned; he could see Seto was unused to offering such a thing. And it made him happy that Seto felt close enough to him to do so. "Thanks that would be great." He smiled, and Seto returned it with a slight smirk; Yugi could see that this was the start of a great friendship.

Note!

And that's it folks! This story is over! Subscribe to me and look out for the Sequel!

Yugioh: A Vacation from Magic should be up before the end of the month! Hope you had as much fun reading this story as much as I did writing it!

So see you next time! I hope to see all of my faithful reviewers again once the Sequel begins!