A/N: Yes! Here's chapter 25, exactly two weeks later, like I said. I'm determined to finish this fic, even if it kills me...Oh, and I stopped being upset about book seven coming out this summer, and now I'm just as excited as everyone else. But I'm still going to try to finish this fic before book seven comes out. Expect chapter 26 in two weeks. (:
Chapter 25: Casual Conversation with Dumbledore
"Canceled!"
"Canceled? I can't believe it...!"
Yugi came down into the Gryffindor common room to see a crowd of both annoyed and disappointed faces assembled around the notice boards.
Yugi saw a couple of his roommates sitting in the large comfortable chairs next to the fireplace and asked curiously, "What's going on?"
The first shrugged. "Dunno. I don't think it affects us first years, though."
"Oh." Yugi glanced at the crowd again and started to walk on past, but, his curiosity getting the best of him, he went up a little closer and asked, "What happened?"
Yugi looked up around at all the Gryffindors who had turned to look at him and recognized Harry first. "What's going on, Harry?" Now that he'd been around Harry for a couple of months and been in Apparitions lessons with him, he felt a lot less intimidated.
"Oh, the trip to Hogsmeade for tomorrow's been canceled," he explained, sighing a little as he glanced up at the notice board again.
"And it was my birthday, too," said Ron, who was standing beside him. "I needed that to balance out the fact that I have stupid Apparition on that same day..."
"The trip's been canceled?" asked Yugi, staring glumly at the board. "And after all that trouble I went to in order to get Grandpa to sign that slip..."
Sadly, when Yugi had first written to Grandpa, the Game store owner had flatly refused to sign the form. This was mostly because he couldn't read English and therefore didn't know what he was agreeing to. Well, Yugi couldn't argue with his Grandpa's logic on that one, but it still proved rather inconvenient.
The two of them continued to correspond for some time after that, arguing back and forth (Grandpa ceased commenting on the strangeness of sending and receiving mail by owl after the third or fourth time) until Professor McGonagall finally got him a Japanese version of the permission form to send him, which Grandpa signed without any hassle. Apparently, immediate family of those attending Hogwarts were permitted to know the wizard secret, whether they themselves were magical or not.
On the other hand, Bakura, as they had expected, didn't even need a permission form, being already seventeen.
"But you wouldn't have been allowed to go to Hogsmeade Village anyway, would you?" Harry asked. "You're still in first year."
"Yeah, I know," said Yugi. "But it's because I'm a late-starter and not a regular first year. They let me take Apparition, too."
"Oh, yeah," said Harry. He kept forgetting Yugi wasn't really an eleven-year-old like the other first years. "So did Bakura get permission to go to Hogsmeade too?" he asked conversationally.
"Oh, well he—" But Yugi was cut off as Ron suddenly jumped in.
"Why do you always hang out with him anyway?" he asked.
"I—" Yugi began, taken aback. "I, well, why shouldn't I?"
"Well, he's in Slytherin, isn't he?" Ron asked, as though this settled the matter. "I mean, think about it. Why would anyone in Slytherin suddenly want to be friends with someone in Gryffindor? Unless he just wanted to cheat off your homework or get inside secrets about Gryffindor Quidditch practices or something."
Harry shifted uncomfortably, debating whether he should step on Ron's foot to get him to shut up or not. He didn't really see anything particularly abnormal about Bakura and Yugi's friendship, since they were both probably the only late-starters to Hogwarts in, well, forever, so it was only natural they'd want to stick together no matter what their houses were. Even if it turned out to be true about Bakura being a bit sneakier than he appeared, Harry highly doubted Yugi would actually listen to Ron.
"What?" Yugi sputtered. Yugi was normally a quiet, shy boy who was nice to everyone. But at this, a touch of anger flushed his face.
"Bakura wouldn't do something like that," he said. "And he's the one who helps me with my homework."
"You never know," Ron said darkly. "I wouldn't put anything past a Slytherin."
"Ron..." Harry warned.
"I know the Gryffindors hate the Slytherins," Yugi began, staring hard at the ground, his small fists shaking at his sides. "But that doesn't mean everyone in Slytherin is as evil and conscienceless as the Gryffindors think..." His eyes still had that naturally wide, overall innocent look about them, but he suddenly lifted them to stare at Ron, looking almost fierce. "And even if they are, Bakura isn't anything like the others."
They watched Yugi turn away and, though he nearly tripped over the entrance in his haste, he walked briskly through the portrait hole.
The two shared a look.
"What?" said Ron. Harry only shook his head.
Meanwhile, Yugi breathed deeply to calm himself down. He knew Ron didn't intend to be mean. He was just a little unwittingly insensitive sometimes. Still, Yugi couldn't just stand by when people talked about his friends that way.
/Are you all right, Yugi?-/ came the calming voice of his other.
/Yeah, I'm fine,-/ Yugi answered, smiling despite himself. /I just wish people knew the truth about Bakura. Then they'd know who was really to blame./
/I don't know if that would solve a whole lot,-/ the pharaoh answered. /People would probably just end up more afraid and shun him even more. As unfortunate as it is, most don't seem to have a great appreciation for whose fault it really is as long as it isn't someone they know or care for./
Yugi sighed. "You're probably right..."
Down in the Great Hall, Bakura didn't seem all that surprised to find out about the canceled Hogsmeade trip.
"It's only natural after what happened at the last one," he said, taking the roll Yugi had picked up for him from the end of the Gryffindor table as the two of them stood off to one side. While the other students continued wandering in, they weren't too conspicuous so they could talk awhile before going to sit at their own tables.
"Why? What happened?" Yugi asked through a mouthful of toast.
"Well," said Bakura, pausing for a moment to finish chewing a piece of his roll, "there was a girl who was attacked. You know, Katie Bell, one of the Quidditch players for Gryffindor. It was a cursed...I mean, I don't really know any of the details, but it was pretty serious. She's still in the hospital now, I think." Bakura glanced away.
After thinking it over, he'd figured that the chances that it had been his cursed necklace that had injured the girl were relatively small, but he still couldn't help but find the whole subject rather uncomfortable. Yes, he was always getting himself senselessly worked up over the smallest things, but he couldn't help it.
"Oh," said Yugi sadly, also looking away. "I'm sorry to hear that."
An awkward silence followed and Bakura quickly spoke up again to try to lighten the mood.
"So—what are we going to do tomorrow if we can't go to Hogsmeade?" he asked.
"I dunno," said Yugi, shaking his head. "Of course we have Apparition, but that's only an hour, so we'll have the rest of the day."
"Yes," Bakura agreed in a voice that was clearly less than enthusiastic. "Apparition."
The crowd by the door was beginning to thin now and the tables of the Great Hall were nearly filled. Unless they wanted to be the only ones standing around just waiting for his Slytherin house mates to notice and start verbal targeting practice, they probably needed to go sit down now.
"Well, I'm sure we'll think of something tomorrow," said Bakura, starting off toward the Slytherin table. "See you, Yugi."
"See you, Bakura," Yugi answered, waving a little. He started toward his own Gryffindor table.
/Hm, I wonder what really happened to Katie Bell,-/ came the voice of the pharaoh. /Bakura certainly sounded as though he was trying to hide something./
Yugi shrugged, somehow unable to bring himself to feel that the occurrence would be any more of a misfortune if the spirit had been the cause of it as opposed to some random wizarding villain. It was still the same sad result. Deciding to humor his other self though, he said, /Maybe the spirit was indeed involved. But then again, I have a feeling that Bakura takes everything like this that happens a little too personally./
/Perhaps,-/ the pharaoh answered. /Perhaps you are right. However, I mentioned it because I keep worrying that the spirit is up to no good, and we won't find out until later that we could have saved ourselves a lot of pain if we'd confronted him now./
/I hear you, other self,-/ sighed Yugi. /I hear you./
The Apparition Lesson the next day went fairly normal for the sixth years and two first years. For the spirit of the Millennium Ring, this meant not much Apparating, and a lot of frustration.
Though they'd had four to five lessons already, he hadn't managed to Apparate once. For awhile, he'd entertained the idea that Bakura's body was just incapable of Apparating, like it was incapable of so many other things, but he was given new hope when Yugi finally managed to splinch himself during the last practice.
However fortunate this was, as it proved that most likely those whose power came from a Millennium Item were indeed capable of this kind of magic, the spirit still found the pharaoh's host succeeding in doing something before him rather irksome. So, feeling restless, the spirit decided not to let his host regain control right after the practice and, expertly avoiding Yugi who tried to catch his eye, left the grassy slopes and went back inside to wander the immense, maze-like castle.
He strode down the corridors, his eye flickering from one spot along the wall to another, automatically looking for anything that might be a hidden passageway or a switch that led to one. In a way, this castle wasn't so different from the old Egyptian tombs he once raided, and he had an easy time navigating the place and uncovering its secrets. He also took note of every person he happened to pass, most of them sixth years returning to their common rooms from the Apparition lesson.
Full of nervous energy that gave him the irritating feeling of wanting to do anything and everything—yet not feeling like doing any of it, he agitatedly paced up and down the different corridors, suddenly impatient for something to happen—something interesting. It had been awhile since he had played a Shadow Game...
He found himself on the main floor, and he paused next to the staircase that led down to the dungeons and the Slytherin common room.
The Slytherins were all down there, he thought to himself, not to mention the Slytherin first years who were always getting in his way and interfering with his host's academia. Perhaps...
The spirit's breathing grew slightly heavier, his chest rising and falling in a gathering excitement. It wouldn't matter who it was. Just one, to teach the others their place. Nothing permanent...
Suddenly gritting his teeth, he forced himself to turn around and head back toward the other staircase that led back up to the first floor. Now was not a time to become reckless.
As soon as he reached the top, he promptly went up to the second floor, then the third. When he reached the seventh floor, he finally stopped. The corridor he was in now was deserted, save one little girl standing stationary in the center of the hall a little ways away from him, clutching a set of scales used in Potions. But he'd already known that she would be there.
Reaching up, he casually touched the scarf covering his left eye. Then, putting his hands in his pockets, the spirit started down the hall at a slow, casual gait.
The girl watched, looking frightened as the tall figure approached her. What does he want? the spirit heard her wonder. What can I do if he decides to pick a fight, looking like this?
However, once he reached her, he walked right on past and, just as the girl was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he stopped. His back to her, so she didn't see him smirk.
"Tell Malfoy we missed him at Apparition, would you?" The spirit's grin broadened as he heard a clatter as the girl dropped her scales, apparently in fright.
'That's right Malfoy...' thought the spirit as he continued on down the corridor. 'Stay in there until you finish it.'
He felt a little better now. At least he had something to look forward to.
He continued on walking and when he reached the end of the corridor, he turned to go down the next one.
Malfoy's little "project" that he was working on in that hidden, magical room along that hallway was the thing that would set everything into motion, and set the stage for the spirit to get to work. He had to wait until Malfoy's project, his mission, was complete. Ah, Harry knew that dear Draco was up to no good, but he was so far from guessing the truth. The truth of Malfoy's goal, that would successfully remove the barrier of uncertainty that stood between the spirit and victory, eliminating that one man...
"Mr. Bakura?"
The spirit stopped, pulling his hands out of his pockets. He turned his head just in time to see a stone gargoyle that had apparently leaped to the side to allow someone to pass move back into place. The man who'd addressed him surveyed the spirit through a pair of half-moon spectacles, his expression solemn and almost exhausted.
"Headmaster," the spirit acknowledged, but still did not turn completely around.
"Since fortune has lotted us to run into one another again, I will tell you that I've been needing to speak with you." Though he spoke with his usual courtesy, his face was unsmiling.
Out of all the Professors at this school, it was Dumbledore that made the spirit the most nervous. Not afraid per say. Just nervous. Dumbledore's mind seemed to be the only one that the Millennium Eye couldn't grasp. Oh yes, he could penetrate the man's mind with the Millennium Eye and he'd gotten quite a bit of information out of him, too. Even Professor Snape, who specialized in keeping others out of his mind couldn't stop the great power of the Millennium Eye.
No...It was more like Dumbledore's mind was simply too large for him to completely read using the powers of the Millennium Eye. Only fragments of the man's character and personality came across to him and, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't gain an understanding of the man's true nature. The man possessed great power in both mind and body, and he was utterly unpredictable to the spirit. Still, it was the few things he had managed to gather from the mind of the Headmaster that made the spirit so certain that Malfoy would succeed.
"Really?" said the spirit, every bit as shy and polite as his host would have been. "What about, Headmaster?"
"I'm afraid Professor Snape has been reporting some rather, how shall we say, disturbing occurrences to me. According to him, your actions this year suggest that you are somewhat...unstable."
The spirit considered this carefully. "So I'm crazy?" he asked innocently.
"I think the precise words Professor Snape used were 'Severely moody and imbalanced in both mental state and physical ability.' Hmm, yes, I do believe that may be what he meant to say."
"I see," said the spirit, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.
"However," the Headmaster began, his voice more serious now, "I want you to understand, Mr. Bakura. I ask that you please do not take the fact that we have allowed you the privilege to come to this school for granted. These are times of war, and if you appear to be a threat to any of the other students, it would be an easy matter to have you expelled."
The spirit didn't reply, so Dumbledore went on.
"Professor Snape also told me that you are unusually gifted for someone just starting his first year. In regard to these unique talents, I ask that you do not use them against your fellow classmates or use your advantage in size to fight with them, even if it is in self-defense."
Ah, so Snape had told Dumbledore about that little incident after all. It was a wonder that the Headmaster hadn't approached him with this months ago when it had happened, but then, the man was probably too busy with all that was on that prodigious mind of his. Particularly, his "investigations"...
"I'll be careful, Professor," said the spirit and began to walk again. He could feel the thoughts of the Headmaster through the Millennium Eye. The man knew that he was not nearly as innocent as he acted; not in the least. Knowing that the Headmaster was thinking this, it gave the spirit a certain thrill, the way having someone else sensing his own great powers that he took such pride in always did.
The man's character and mind may have been far too intricate to ever comprehend completely, but if there was one fragment that the spirit had managed to obtain, it was the sheer ability of this man to understand the way others thought and find their true motivations. In fact, the spirit was almost certain that the man, should he ever find the will to do so, could even come to an understanding of the spirit himself and it would be the Headmaster with that coveted power of manipulation over him...
Malfoy had better hurry up.
The next morning, when Yugi went down to breakfast, he found Bakura pacing incessantly at the bottom of the staircase. Ravenclaws and Gryffindors continued to pass him on their way to the Great Hall, but he didn't seem to notice, his eye focused intently on the ground as he walked.
"Bakura? What's wrong?" Yugi asked in confusion as he reached the bottom of the staircase.
Bakura stopped pacing and looked at him. "Oh h-hi, Yugi," he said, apparently straining not to look as upset as he clearly was. "Uh, d...did you hear about what happened yet...?"
Even more confused now, Yugi shook his head. "No. What is it? Something happened?"
Bakura began unconsciously wringing his hands and answered in a would-be casual tone, "Oh w-well, you know...Ron, from your house, he was..."
"Oh, that's right," said Yugi, finally understanding. "Yeah, he got poisoned or something by accident in Professor Slughorn's office. Everyone was saying it was probably a bad potion or something, but they said he'll recover completely in the next couple of weeks."
"Yeah," said Bakura, but despite this good news, he still continued to wring his hands. "I...I was thinking we could pay him a visit. I mean, since we had Apparition together and he is in your house..."
Remembering Ron's dislike of Slytherins and his negatively speculative comments about Bakura the other day, Yugi rather thought this might not be a good idea.
"Oh, he's not dying or anything," said Yugi, trying to look positive. "I mean, we might be in the same house, but I don't really know him that well, so he might think it was a little strange for me to go visit him."
"Oh...I see..." For some reason, Bakura sounded completely dejected.
Yugi studied his friend with some confusion. Bakura had always been a sensitive person with concern for others, but this reaction seemed a little too much, even for him.
"Come on, let's go get something to eat," said Yugi at last, and pulled lightly on Bakura's sleeve.
Bakura pulled away. "Just a moment, I... I forgot something down in the common room. You go on ahead, Yugi."
"Are you sure?" Yugi asked. He was starting to wonder if it wasn't something else upsetting his friend.
"Yeah," said Bakura and started toward the staircase, but hesitated. "Hey Yugi," he said softly, not quite meeting his gaze. "You don't know, by any chance, what time of day Ron's accident happened, do you?"
Yugi raised his eyebrows curiosly. "No..." he said slowly. "No, I don't. I didn't ask."
Bakura shook his head and it seemed to take a great effort to smile. "No, don't worry about it. Well, I'll see you in a little while."
Yugi watched Bakura go, frowning a little in worry. He would be glad when this whole thing was over and Bakura didn't feel like he had to hide things anymore. But then, maybe it never would be over, maybe this battle with the Millennium Items would never end. And besides that, maybe Bakura was just someone to whom hiding his feelings came naturally.
As soon as Yugi had entered the Great Hall, Bakura stopped his slow, almost indecisive walk toward the dungeon stairs and turned around, instead heading quickly toward the staircase that led to the next floor up. The hospital wing. He'd never been there before, but he still knew where it was.
As he weaved his way against the crowd that was moving toward the Great Hall, he couldn't stop his heart from pounding heavily in his throat. From the moment he'd heard that someone had been seriously hurt yesterday, he'd been gripped by a silent panic.
Yesterday. Where had he been yesterday?
He went up to the second floor, then found the staircase that led up to the third.
Ever since the first Apparition lesson, the spirit had begun to always take control during that time without giving Bakura an explanation as to why. However, every time he'd always let Bakura have control again right after the lesson was over. Except for yesterday. What had the spirit done during all that time after Apparition?
He reached the third floor and started down the hallway that led to the hospital wing.
He had to know. He had to find out if Ron was really going to recover, or if he was lying in a bed with white sheets, his body as healthy and functional as anybody sitting down in the Great Hall, but his mind unrecoverable, doomed to eternal sleep. Bakura had to see for himself if, by some grace-given chance that, whatever it was, it really had been 'just an accident'...
As he walked with his head bowed, staring at the ground, he glanced up to see how close he was to the room and saw Harry coming his way. Probably back from visiting his best friend, Bakura guessed.
"How is he?" Bakura asked.
Harry stopped walking, looking somewhat taken aback at the look of great concern on Bakura's face. "Er... he's doing better now, I guess," he answered hesitantly. "He's awake, at least."
"Really?" said Bakura, his downcast expression replaced with a look of genuine surprise. "He's awake?"
"Yeah," Harry confirmed.
Bakura considered this a moment, thoroughly confused, before he asked in a hopeful tone, "Harry, I wanted to ask...I mean when, when did the accident happen exactly?"
Being the first time that someone had asked him when it happened as opposed to wanting to know every little detail of the event, Harry wasn't sure whether to be relieved or weirded out. He didn't really know that much about Bakura, and he hadn't talked to him that much in a while as he'd given up on him as a possible source to find out what Malfoy was up to a couple months ago.
"Oh, yesterday morning, I guess," he said, not sure what else Bakura could want.
"Before Apparition?" Bakura pressed hesitantly.
Harry nodded.
To Harry's surprise, Bakura face suddenly split into a smile. "Oh well, that's—that's—"
Apparently too happy to describe just exactly what this information was, Bakura just shrugged, still smiling. "Well, I'm sorry about what happened. But it's such a relief to hear that it's going to be okay. I'll see you later!" And with that, he continued on down toward the hospital wing, much more jauntily than before.
"Er," said Harry, quirking an eyebrow. He didn't remember ever seeing the nervous first year actually smile before, and he couldn't figure out what he'd said that could make him so happy. "See you, then," he muttered, though Bakura was already halfway down the corridor.
It was funny, but the almost-randomness of Bakura's actions reminded him a bit of Luna Lovegood.
Bakura reached the hospital wing and, after taking a breath to reassure himself, walked on in.
Poking his head into the ward, he saw Ron sitting up in his bed, eating breakfast on a silver tray. Bakura breathed a deep sigh of relief; Ron definitely wasn't in a coma.
Ron must have heard his sigh because at that moment, he glanced up. Seeing Bakura, a look of surprise crossed his face before he frowned.
"Whadduan?" he asked through a mouthful of toast. Then, swallowing, he repeated more clearly, "What do you want?"
Bakura had always wondered how people on television could bring themselves to act cheerful when it was obviously irritating to the other person. Well, he didn't wonder at it anymore.
"Just wanted to see how you're doing," he said, smiling brightly.
Ron raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you...Are you okay?" he asked uncertainly, in such a tone to suggest that he was more concerned about being alone in the same room with a crazy person than he was about Bakura's well-being.
"Fine, thank you," said Bakura, still beaming. "Hope you feel better soon—it's Ron, right? Good luck on your recovery."
With that conclusion to the obscenely short visit, he pulled his head back out of the doorway and left, leaving Ron to just stare in bewilderment.
Ron finally shook his head. "Not all right in the head, that one."
"I could tear you limb from limb right now, but that wouldn't make up for Kul Elna."
A/N: Thanks for reading, and if you have the chance, please review! :J