It's 4 May, it's snowing …
It's actually snowing …

It's 6 May, it hails

Isn't it spring?

"You're asking me?" Rebecca just stared at him, completely unable to comprehend the question.

"Well, yeah, I thought … I dunno … Why not?" he said and looked at the ground stubbornly. For a moment Rebecca thought he would deny asking at all, but he didn't.

"But … What?"

"You really shouldn't be that surprised", he said, covering his nervousness with a uncordial tone.

"I am!" Rebecca called out and reminded herself that they were standing in a crowded hallway. She would under no circumstance make a scene here.

"I noticed that, although I can't see why", he said, still sounding somewhat unfriendly while trying to hide a blush.

"Can't you? It really wasn't the first thing on my mind. I had completely forgotten that it was on that day." Valentines day … Rebecca had hardly even noticed that the next trip to Hogsmeade's would be on Valentines day and she had definitely not expected anyone to ask her, especially not Peter.

"Now you know." Peter wasn't the least pleased by Rebecca's reaction. He had expected her to either turn him down friendly or to laugh at him, not complete surprise.

"Yeah, I do", she said, her tone indicating how astonished she was.

"Are you going to turn me down?" Peter asked, simply wishing to get it over with. He couldn't believe he had even asked. He'd kill Ginny for telling him to just ask Rebecca, he'd kill her.

"Eh, I don't know. My mind is blank. Give me some time to comprehend." Rebecca and Peter were facing each other and the tension between them was quite awkward. Not one of them dared to look the other in the eyes.

"It, it doesn't have to be that, you know", Peter said eventually, afraid he had ruined things between the two of them.

Rebecca however did not like hearing that. "Oh yes, it does. It's the wrong day for anything else. And you asked like that, so, yeah it does."

"You're confusing", Peter stated simply, although somewhat disappointed.

"I am confused and my mind is still blank", Rebecca said and closed her eyes so she could focus while Peter kept scolding himself on his idiocy. How could he have asked her such a thing. He really should have known that dating wasn't on Rebecca's list of priorities.

Then suddenly: "Yes."

"What?" Peter asked bewildered.

"Yes, I'll go with you. I mean, why not?" Rebecca said and give him a smile.

"Really?" Peter stared at her wide-eyed.

Rebecca's smile grew. "Had you expected me to turn you down?" she wondered slightly amused.

"Yes, I actually had", Peter admitted and went red.

"Is it a good or bad thing that I didn't?" Rebecca asked, teasing him.

"It's a good thing. It's a great thing", he said and he started smiling.

Together they walked off to their common room. Neither of the two mentioned it again for the rest of the day. They went to classes as usual, ate lunch as usual and did their homework in the common room as usual. It was as if they both were in denial.

That evening while eating dinner Rebecca was confronted by Ginny. "Did he ask?"

"Who was supposed to ask what?" Rebecca said and took another bite, pretending to be oblivious to what Ginny meant.

"You know what I mean", Ginny said, annoyed by the American student and slightly afraid she was sincere.

"No, Ginny, I really wouldn't know", Rebecca said, hiding a smile. Luna who had seen Peter asking Rebecca remained quiet too and just kept eating her pudding, not looking at either of them.

"Luna!" Ginny wondered, "Does she really not know what I mean?"

Luna shrugged. "How am I supposed to know that." She got up and left the Great Hall.

"Did or didn't Peter ask you out for Valentines Day?" Ginny asked, a little too loud for Rebecca's liking.

As she had expected someone reacted. Tracey got up from her isolated spot at the Slytherin table and walked towards Rebecca. "Is what I hear true?" she wondered with a teasing smile. "Is cold Rebecca loosing up?"

"She won't answer me", Ginny said, "I know Peter wanted to ask but that he wasn't sure if he dared."

"He asked", Rebecca confirmed silently, bothered by Tracey's words.

"And you turned him down", Tracey stated self-assured.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow and turned around so she could face the two girls who were disrespectfully hoovering over her shoulder. "What in the world would make you think that?"

"Didn't you?" Ginny asked genuinely surprised.

"That wasn't what I said", Rebecca retorted and took her cup, "I asked why you would think such a thing, you didn't answer."

"You turned him down!" Ginny called out disappointed and her expression slumped. "Why?"

"Damn it! No, I didn't turn him down. Now answer my question!" Rebecca said and sighed annoyed. "Why can't any of you ever answer the questions asked and stop jumping to conclusions?" She leaned back against the table and looked at the Gryffindor and Slytherin opposite her.

"You always take distance from people whenever they try to get close to you", Tracey said, "I thought you'd take your distance from someone if they asked such a thing too."

"I get along great with, you two, and Peter and Luna. What do you mean take distance?" Rebecca said insulted.

"Peter and Luna both were outcasts, so am I now, the only one a little in row is Ginny", Tracey said and crossed her arms. "And even we don't know half the things about you that there are to know. You never tell us anything."

Rebecca made an avoiding gesture. "Some things you're better off not knowing. Has that thought ever crossed your mind."

"Why would it be better for us not to know?" Dean joined the group and slid an arm around Tracey's waist, but the look in his eyes was slightly odd.

"What exactly are you referring to?" Rebecca asked him.

Dean didn't answer but Rebecca saw that his eyes moved towards Yugi who was sitting at the Staff table, eating in silence. She gave a short laugh.

"Because there could be more to it than can be understood", Rebecca said with a mysterious smile. "And prejudice could mess things up, you should know that Dean. Just look at Tracey."

"But if it is dangerous?" Dean wondered, ignoring Rebecca's comment on his girlfriend.

Rebecca chuckled. "Why would I hide anything dangerous? How would I keep a deadly secret? How would that have happened. If I've ever kept a deadly secret it's something all three of you are aware of", she said and meant the DA.

Dean just rolled his eyes.

Tracey broke the tension. "So you have plans for Valentines Day, then?"

Rebecca nodded. "It looks like that. It would be at first."

"Really?" the three others asked in chorus, each of their voices stacked with disbelieve.

"I'm a Ravenclaw. My priority is knowledge, not love", Rebecca said with a harsh laugh and threw out her arms.

Tracey's face darkened. "That sounds like simply burned", she stated distasteful.

Rebecca looked her in the eyes for a minute. Then she nodded slowly. "Yes, I suppose. Though burned is not the correct choice of words. They didn't burn, at least not that." With those words she drained the remainder of her cup and walked out the Great Hall. She knew that Tracey was right. Ever since the massacre she hadn't even bothered trying to make friends with anyone, but she hardly wanted to admit that.

She started to do her potions homework and was busy until deep in the night. She could however not quite concentrate. For some reason things were awfully calm, it was as if everyone was waiting for the great strike that would put everything out of perspective. At least now she had something to look forward to.

The simple hotel in Domino had been just that, simple but quite to Theo's content when they arrived there at the end of the afternoon. They had taken a couple of hours to shower and to recover from their long trip. Cole even slept an hour or two before they went to Burger World to get a meal. Once they got back to their room Cole nearly fainted from exhaustion.

Theo made sure Cole was awake long enough to change to a pajama and brush his teeth, but after that Cole fell on the bed and slept before he had the chance to cover himself with the sheets.

Theo on the other hand was surprisingly fit at the moment and decided to make sure that they'd actually be able to meet Mokuba Kaiba in the morning. All by all, that would be the greatest challenge of them all, that, and to convince him that the cards were real. It was probably a good thing that Cole had brought Yugi's entire deck.

It took Theo less than a minute to find KaibaCorp's website. It wasn't that hard to find contact details either to this or that department, they were so many however that Theo realized that he wouldn't get through to Mokuba like that at all. Instead he did another search on the Blue Eyes White Dragon and was more lucky. The entry was four and half a year old and the newest comment was from three months ago. Mokuba had really gone all out when it came to finding his brothers cards. It wouldn't surprise Theo if Mokuba had given up on them a long time ago.

Theo wrote down the number that was with the entry and did a search on Yugi Muto instead. Like he had expected, the internet was covered with the unexpected encounter with Yugi Muto in central London. Once again Theo wished that he could have been there, it would have been such an unique experience. The long lost King of Games on the streets of London in the company of the ingenious young duelist Rebecca Hawkins. Yeah, it really would have been something. Theo looked at his brothers backpack. In that ugly thing laid the most valuable cards that currently existed.

It was however not their monetary value that made him sigh, it was the emotional value attached to them. The emotions of thousands of people like him and a couple of years older that with their breath held had watched the duels of the famous teenager. That very same Dark Magician, that very same Curse of Dragon, that very same Kuriboh …

It could be Yugi's unexpected step into the light that could get them to Mokuba. He considered his next step and then made up his mind. He just called the number he had just written down and held his breath.

The man who answered the telephone greeted them in Japanese.

"Excuse me", Theo said, "Do you speak English?"

"Yes I do", the man said, his accent thick but his English understandable. His tone was quite unfriendly.

"I came in the possession of the three Blue Eyes White Dragon Cards a couple of weeks ago", Theo said, not knowing how else to put it. He decided that the simple truth would be best.

"Sir, it's more believable if you claim that you have only one", the man said, clearly annoyed.

"That would be a lie. Would it make me more trustworthy if I claimed that I do not only have the three Blue Eyes White Dragons but also have Yugi Muto's entire deck with exception for the God Cards?" Theo wondered. The fact that Yugi Muto had given one of the bystanders something was common knowledge, even if Yugi had told everyone to leave before he did so.

"That would be a rather odd truth", the man said, although Theo could tell that the man's interest was now more genuine.

"I assume you know that Yugi Muto was spotted in London and that he was stopped by an assembly of duelists?" Theo asked, his tone casual.

The man grunted something that Theo couldn't understand, then said: "I can repeat the entire conversation for you word for word right here and now."

"Impressive", Theo laughed, "Then I assume you know that Yugi Muto talked to a ten year old called Cole and gave him something?"

"Naturally."

"It was his deck. His deck and several other cards, among them the Blue Eyes White Dragon, all three of them even", Theo told him. "The reason I know this is because Cole is my younger brother. He was not familiar with the so-called Dueling Legends like Seto Kaiba, Katsuya Jonouchi, Bandit Keith, Kujaku Mai and so on. He did however know enough about the King of Games to recognize him. When I informed him of everything else he asked me why Seto Kaiba's younger brother didn't have the cards instead. Family means a lot to Cole."

"I see", the man said. "I hope sincerely that what you are saying is not another well made-up story, it's the first call we've gotten for a while now. Master Mokuba has already given up hope on the Blue Eyes."

"I don't know how I can convice you of my honesty other than by giving you my word", Theo said calmly, "And I've been told often that my word is worthless."

"I think a private meeting is in order here", the man said, "I assume you are located in England?"

Theo shook his head before realizing that he was using a phone for communication. "No. For the moment we, my brother and I, are in Domino City."

The man didn't comment that statement, he just said: "When can we meet?"

"The day after tomorrow. Give us some time to recover from our trip", Theo said and threw his sleeping little brother a look.

"Understandable. I expect you at KaibaCorp's headquarters during noon the day after tomorrow. Ask for Isono", the man said, leaving no options.

"We will be there", Theo said and hung up the phone. He had been surprised by how easy that had been, though he supposed that Mokuba Kaiba really wanted those cards back. He yawned and decided to go to bed. It would be a wise decision.

A small figure was looking at the boy with the colorful hair. The figure had been told to watch Yugi as much as he could, although to return on occasion so he wouldn't wear himself out too much. The creature didn't mind observing, he was good at it, he just found it slightly weird.

It was obvious to him that things weren't going all too well for his masters and that the two of them were suffering, suffering a lot. He wished that they had never come here. It would have been easier for all of them.

It was for that reason that he hated Lucius Malfoy almost as much as his masters did. He had never understood his masters' friends, but he had known that they had been important. His friends had both been Yugi's strength and weakness and now that they were all gone he clearly felt worse than ever, but at the same time no one seemed to be able to harm them anymore either.

He grieved his masters. Once upon a time it would have been great to serve at the King's side, now the King wasn't like that at all. Darkness had overtaken them, a darkness that shouldn't be with someone like Yugi or the Pharaoh. He wished he could do something to change the situation that the two were in, but he knew he couldn't. A prophecy had been made and the beasts just had to wait for it to be fulfilled, one way or another. The outcome could be disastrous or just what Yugi and his companion needed. The shadow creatures had to wait for their decision and on that they would act.

The scenario they had to avoid at any cost however was that either Yugi or Atem were harmed before they could fulfill the weird woman's prophecy. That's why he had to keep a close eye on the two.

He followed as his masters walked out their room. A cat crawled out from underneath the bed and followed too.

Mokuba waited outside the conference-room, not feeling like having the face of another cheap prankster in his mind. There had been thousands of them, Mokuba had been prepared for that, but he just couldn't stand to see another swindler. Instead he had asked Isono to take care of them. If it turned out that they could be talking the truth he would see for himself, no earlier.

Mokuba wondered what his brother would have said had he seen how things were now. He'd probably have been revolted by all the tricksters. Although Mokuba wasn't sure if Seto would have been so proud of Mokuba now either.

Being CEO had been a job just as hard as Seto had claimed. Mokuba had been busy nearly all day and rarely ever had gotten a chance to sleep. He had tried to keep KaibaCorp running for as long as he could, but Mokuba had known that he didn't have the skill to keep it up, businesslife had been nothing for him, it never had. At the other hand he didn't want to close or change the parks he and his brother had built with so much effort. It was when he considered taking pills to stay awake that he realized something had to be done.

In the middle of the night he had called Leon Von Schroeder who had been in a more favorable time-zone and requested a meeting. The week after every employee of KaibaCorporation had received the news that KaibaCorporation would become a part of Schroeder Corporation but that they would continue like they always had. Mokuba had sold all his shares of the company to Schroeder Corporation under the promise that they would leave the theme parks intact. Not a single person was fired and the money Mokuba received for his shares was far enough to live two lives from.

Eventually he had gotten bored and asked Leon for a job, a simple, everyday job preferably. He ended up being the referee of the larger Duel Monsters tournament organized by KaibaCorp or the Schroeder Corporation. For some reason neither Leon, Zigfried or anyone else had found it necessary to change KaibaCorp's name. They were still seen as a separate part of Schroeder Corporation although it actually wasn't. Duel Monsters became entirely KaibaCorp's and Industrial Illusion's area, Schroeder Corporation concentrated on other games.

Mokuba was sure that his brother would have a fit if he had known that Mokuba had sold his company to the Schroeders, but at least the theme parks still prevailed the way Seto had wanted. Mokuba had collected every drawing, blueprint and document Seto had ever made and had given them to Leon.

Mokuba had been surprised to learn that Seto had created far more sketches and ideas for theme parks all over the world than Mokuba had known and Leon had engaged Mokuba in the creation of the parks since no one had known Seto Kaiba better than Mokuba. Mokuba had been in charge of the design of every theme park that had been built since the death of his older brother. He and Leon had become good friends in the years they had worked together and Mokuba got along with Zigfried too, even though that was only on an acquaintance and business level.

No one would notice that Mokuba was still one of the richest persons in all of Japan since he didn't behave like it. His car was as normal as that of the everyday teenager, his clothes were from normal stores and he lived in a small apartment in the city. His neighbors were unaware of who he was, after four years he could live somewhat undercover, only someone really into Duel Monsters would be able to recognize him. The focus had never been on him anyway, it was just that he had been by Seto's side so often that real duelists would recognize him.

He knew that the people who knew who he was talked about him. They frequently whispered about his brother and how sad it must have been to lose his last relative. That he never smiled anymore and always was alone, almost isolated from the rest of the world. How he desperately searched for his brother's most prized possessions and how saddening that was. Every word they said regarding him was filled with pity.

Mokuba didn't need their compassion, what they said might be true, but he was fine as it was. Seto had been the only person in the world he had cared for and now that Seto was gone all he could do was make it on his own, just like his brother would have.

It were the theme parks and the cards that mattered, nothing else. Those parks had been their life-long dream and it would come true, no matter the costs. Mokuba had eventually shared his and Seto's dream with Leon who in his turn had told Zigfried, soon the work on the Theme parks had escalated. Mokuba was satisfied with the results even though it had meant hard work and the only thing he missed was his brother's satisfaction at seeing their dream come true.

When Isono came out the room Mokuba snapped out of his thoughts. "And?"

"They don't only have the three Blue Eyes White Dragon cards, they have Yugi's entire deck and fragments from master Kaiba's and Jonouchi's deck too. They aren't fake, I've checked carefully", Isono said.

"Are you sure they aren't exceptionally well done fakes?" Mokuba wondered distrustful. Isono had been wrong before …

"A teenage and a ten-year old wouldn't fly to Japan to sell us some cheap copies, besides, they don't want anything for the cards", Isono added and looked at the door.

"All of them?" Mokuba asked bewildered.

Roland shrugged. "I didn't ask."

Mokuba thought for a while and then nodded. "I'll talk to them." He entered the room, closely followed by Isono.

The room was simple. No windows, white plaster walls without decoration, a large conference table in cheap wood and twenty chairs around it, a single large lamp hung from the ceiling and the door was dark with glass and blinds. All by all, it looked like an interrogation room and actually that was exactly what it was.

The two English boys were sitting next to each other, the younger one clearly not entirely comfortable. The other one was perhaps two or three years younger than Mokuba and held his brothers hand comfortingly. On the table lay the three Blue Eyes White Dragon cards in plain sight turned face up, to Mokuba they were perfection. A pile of Duel Monster cards laid next to them, the pile was too large to be a single deck, there had to be up to eighty cards at least.

"I'm Kaiba Mokuba", Mokuba greeted them and held out a hand.

The two foreigners stood up and the elder of the two took Mokuba's hand in a firm shake. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Theo Clancy, this is my brother Cole." Cole just raised a hand in greeting.

Mokuba, who had a soft spot for everything that was cute, young and shy, just smiled reassuringly at Cole. Then his face went stern as his gaze fell upon the three cards on the table. "To this day no one has been able to trick me into believing their fakes were real. If yours are, you'll be no exception", Mokuba said with an almost threatening voice.

"I can assure you that each and every card here is real", Theo said quietly.

"I'm sure that you don't mind if I double-check that, do you?" Mokuba wondered. When neither Cole nor Theo protested Mokuba took one Blue Eyes at a time. Not one of them was in perfect shape like everyone would have expected them to be and they often were faked just like that, unscathed, perfect. Mokuba however knew that they had been so well-used that his brothers cards being unscathed was simply impossible. Mokuba checked all the standard signs that made out a real card but it weren't those that verified to him that these were indeed the real cards.

"It's nearly unimaginable that after four years someone finally shows up with my brother's cards", Mokuba said, more to himself than to them. "Let me tell you a story."

Theo cocked his head. He was glad to learn that Mokuba had been able to tell that they were real, but he couldn't imagine what he would be telling them. Cole just nodded.

"Everyone thinks my brother treated these cards as something sacred and in many ways he did, sometimes he went even slightly overboard with that." Mokuba smirked but didn't explain. "However they were used and used a lot and they were definitely not in perfect shape. In fact, there is blood on one of them. It wasn't uncommon for Seto to get into trouble now and then. He once saved himself from being shot with the use of a card, Gyakutenno Makami."

Like Mokuba had hoped Theo reached for the large pile of cards. He quickly scanned through them and handed Mokuba Gyakutenno Makami. The card was clearly damaged in the middle although still usable.

"That's the one", Mokuba stated and looked at it with a bittersweet affection in his gaze. "Anyway, cards are sharp."

Cole nodded in agreement and Theo suppressed a laugh. They all seemed to have a certain experience with that.

"Seto didn't care for sports, but if he threw something it always reached its goal, that included throwing cards at people. When he, Yugi and Yugi's friends got in some real trouble he threw a card at a man's hand and it dug into it, remaining stuck there. Seto couldn't remove the blood without tearing his card and that's why this Blue Eyes has a darker corner." Mokuba held up one of the three dragons. "Seto got angry at the man for damaging his most prized card, he always got angry at people damaging his cards, even if it was his own fault, he just had to be mad at someone. No one knows this and no one fakes blood on a card, that's why they all failed to trick me." Mokuba sat down and put the card on the table. "Now tell me what happened in London."

"I wasn't there", Theo said and looked at Cole.

Cole took a deep breath and started telling. He was only interrupted by Mokuba a few times. When Cole told him about Rebecca he was surprised, Rebecca had been quite an active duelist but half a year ago she had just disappeared. It could hardly be a coincidence that Rebecca too vanished and then showed up with Yugi again. She must have come across Yugi and refrained from dueling since then, I wonder why?

When Cole was done telling Mokuba laughed. "That sounds like Yugi, alright. I wonder with what he meant by his help being needed elsewhere."

"You want to find him?" Cole wondered.

Mokuba nodded and smiled. "Naturally. Yugi is a friend, one of the few left. Besides, I don't think he's doing alright."

In addition to that, Mokuba really wanted to know what had happened with the second Yugi, the one who turned out to be an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh whose name was Atem. He doubted he could ask the two foreigners that though. "I wish I at least could have attended Arthur's funeral, oh well, I suppose Yugi and Rebecca didn't want to call too much attention to themselves. It's a surprise Pegasus didn't go to find him, he feels his tournaments are quite useless without the King of Games to pass on or defend his title, although I suppose that Yugi once again proved that no one else but him is worthy of that title." For a moment he felt like crying.

'My days as a duelist are over …'

They had been Yugi's words and for some reason they sounded final to Mokuba. They marked the end of an era that he couldn't call anything else but beautiful, despite all the hardships. To that day he had hoped that Yugi once again would show up and prove to everybody that he was the best, never truly defeated. Mokuba had longed to see him face an opponent again with that challenging calm in his eyes, it would have meant that not everything had ended that day in Egypt. Now however a door slammed shut behind Mokuba. He wasn't a kid anymore, the legendary duelist was gone forever and his brother was dead.

Mokuba had refereed so many duels, but nothing had lived up to the duels where Seto or Yugi had dueled, or even Jnouchi. It was as if the real dueling had vanished from this world, as if the life had disappeared from the game. All those magnificent battles had turned into gray skirmishes of little interest to him.

"I still can't believe he gave you all his cards", Mokuba sighed, his gloom clear in his voice.

"I think that's the only way for him to end it", Theo guessed. "After all, it must be hard to be reminded of what happened again and again."

Mokuba looked Theo in the eyes and Isono looked down at the table. Not many people would have considered Seto Kaiba as a good boss, but Isono hadn't minded it. "It is", Mokuba confirmed silently. "Although neither Yugi nor I even have the possibility to forget. We can't get rid of the things that remind us about it most no matter how much we'd want to."

As you all can guess, next chapter is Valentines day and since I have a vague feeling that part could be quite long I'm going to refrain from putting it here and am going to keep this chapter a little bit shorter.

I was quite satisfied with Mokuba in this chapter. Everyone asks for Ryou and I throw in Mokuba, for some reason he always gets neglected in post-YGO fanfics. Although I must say, I have a bigger role planned out for Ryou than for Mokuba, so no worries.

Snow to everyone who reviews, and if they don't want snow they can feel free to send it here. (Since I deleted a chapter, you all know which one, you apparently can't review if you reviewed the previous chapter. It be nice if you could do it 'unsigned' and just put your name under it ^^)