Shadows of Knowledge
Summary: Kaiba has failed another year of high school due to how much school he's missed. Yugi and Ryou are in the same boat. The board of Kaiba Corp and his investors aren't happy. Instead of staying at Domino High School for another year SetoKaiba sets up his own school with plans to learn more about the Shadows.
Chapter Eleven
There was a book terrorizing the dorm room. A BOOK! The book was covered in hair, which actually resembled the hair on a spider. He didn't know where the book had come from. If it was a shadow creature that had escaped from the Shadow realm or something else entirely. Whatever it was it had made a mess of the common room. Papers, broken electronics, shredded curtains, destroyed furniture. Worst of all, it had shredded a pile of paperwork, his paperwork! Worst of all his laptops screen was smashed. Whoever released that monstrosity was going to pay, and dearly.
Joey was standing on the table, shouting at the book to go away. Amane was standing in the corner of the room crying about the book attacking her. Mokuba had scaled to the bookshelf, a bruise forming on his leg. It looked like the book had bit him.
Rebecca was chasing after the book. She'd obviously raided the cleaners room, running around with a broom, whacking the book. Unfortunately causing just as much destruction as the book, she was trying to stop. He rolled his eyes. That girl was a whole lot braver than his brother and Joey. Scared of a book, honestly!
"Seto!" Mokuba called out, seeing he was now in the room.
His brother scaled down the bookshelf and was in his arms moments later. Sobbing just as much as Amane. He walked his brother over to the corner Amane was crying in. He wasn't the only one who needed comforting right now. Ryou was standing in the doorway, looking at the mess with a stunned look on his face, and didn't look like he was going to comfort his sister anytime soon. Joey could fend for himself; no way was he going to comfort the mutt.
Ishizu and Yugi were both missing, which made him question why Joey was in their dorm if Yugi wasn't around. He had Amane clinging to him on one side, and Mokuba, on the other. He would let Rebecca deal with the book; she seemed to be doing fine on her own, even if she was making a mess.
"Amane, I told you not to touch my things!" Ryou Bakura shouted at his sister.
Amane buried herself into his side even more.
"I'm sorry Ryru. The book bit me," she told him.
No way he could make Amane pay for releasing the dangerous book. She was completely innocent, her brother, on the other hand, he would make him pay dearly for owning the dangerous monster book.
The book had latched onto Rebecca's leg.
"Momo, come here," Ryou called out to the book.
The book was named Momo? Of course, Ryou would give the monstrosity a cutesy name. The book let go of Rebecca's leg and looked like a happy dog as it made a beeline towards Ryou.
"Naughty Momo! You shouldn't mess up the dorm room and terrorize my sister and friends." Ryou scolded the book.
The book sat in front of him whimpering.
"You are a good boy for coming when I called you." Ryou picked the book up and began stroking the spine. The book was purring. "Good Momo. Time for bed." Ryou cooed at the book.
Ryou returned the book to his room.
"It's not going to come out again, is it?" Joey asked Ryou when he returned to the common room. "Remind me to never go in your room again."
Seto rolled his eyes. Joey never went in Ryou's room anyway because he was scared of all the horror movies and games he owned, plus books on real life horrors.
"He only did that because he was scared," Ryou replied. "Amane, I'm sorry for yelling at you." Ryou apologized to the girl who was still clinging to Seto. "But there are things in my room that could hurt you, not only the book but other things as well, more dangerous than the book. I don't want you going into my room while I'm not around okay."
"Sorry," Amane apologized again before finally letting go of his arm and clinging to her brother.
Ishizu and Yugi both returned to Joey still standing on the table and the rest of them tidying the dorm.
"What happened?" Yugi asked.
"Amane scared my Monsters Book of Monsters. It got loose and terrorized the dorm." Ryou explained to his friend.
"A book did this? What type of book causes this much damage?" Yugi asked. "Was it from the Shadow realm?"
"No, it wasn't a shadow creature. It was a textbook for my care of magical creature's class when I was in my third year at Hogwarts. The books really sweet once you get to know it." Ryou told his friends.
Once Ishizu and Yugi turned up. Set took the dorm room mess as a chance for a lesson on cleaning and repairing rituals. Which meant that Mokuba, Amane, Joey and Rebecca didn't have to help with cleaning the mess. It was actually more exhausting using magic to clean everything. The only good thing that came from it was he was able to repair all his paperwork so he didn't have to re-do everything. The laptop, he would've preferred to repair non-magically. Nevertheless, Set insisted he should repair it magically. He enjoyed taking electronics apart and repairing them with his own hands. So was a little disappointed he didn't get to tinker around with his laptop.
KC
Their normal lesson took place after they'd recovered from performing the cleaning rituals. Reversing the wrongs, they'd committed with Shadow magic, that was what they were currently doing in their lessons. They had all passed staying in the Shadow realm for long periods of time. They would occasionally still have lessons staying in the Shadow realm, but not as frequent as previously. Now they were using Shadow portals to travel to the locations of the different victims of Shadow Magic and rejudging them. He only had his adoptive father and the Death Eaters on his list. Gozaburo was dead, so not much could be done about him. Even Set agreed that the old mad deserved what he got. Set had also agreed that the Death Eaters had been correctly judged and would only reverse what happened to then after Voldemort was gone for good and leave the magical world to deal with them.
The Thief King had a long list of victims spread out over the globe and not just when he was in control of Ryou's body. It was going to take a long time to track every single one who was still alive. Atem, on the other hand, had around a dozen, mostly concentrated on the Domino area.
"Some of those people deserved to be added to my collection," the Thief King replied.
"That may be so. We will be rejudging everyone. But that doesn't mean you get to keep them in your ... collection" Set replied to his former enemy.
They were starting with Atem since he did not have anywhere near as many victims and Seto and Ishizu didn't have anything they could do for these lessons.
"You're still under the effects of the curse that make you live your worst nightmares." Set had explained to Kaiba. He already knew he was still under the nightmare curse.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't realise." Yugi apologised on behalf of Atem.
"I was already reliving my worst nightmares. All your little spell did was slightly intensify what I was already experiencing." Kaiba replied in a bored tone.
The Thief King scoffed at his remark. "What I know of shadow magic is that nothing is ever slightly intensified."
Ryou was looking both nervous and excited about reversing what the Thief King had done to his former friends. He had brought along a box of monster world figurines, which represented every person that had ever had their soul captured by the Thief King during Ryou's life. He also had a heap of souls trapped in Duel Monster cards. Set was going to leave these ones to Ishizu and Seto. Apparently Yami Bakura had won the soul cards in a duel from Pegasus when he took ownership of the Millennium Eye.
"They will all hate me when they wake up," Ryou replied with a sad smile.
"Majority of them will." He agreed with Ryou.
"Kaiba!" Yugi scolded.
Kaiba rolled his eyes are Yugi. "I'm not going to sugar coat the facts. Most of his former friends are going to hate Ryou for what happened. He needs to accept that fact." He then turned his attention to Ryou. "You need to remember, even though some of them will hate you, possibly all, you still have Yugi, Ishizu, myself and your other friends. Them waking up and hating you for what happened isn't going to change things for us."
"I'm your friend no matter what," Yugi told Ryou with confidence.
"Thanks." Ryou gave everyone a weak smile.
He wouldn't be alright until everything had been reversed.
"What do I need to do, to reverse Kaiba's curse?" Yugi asked.
Set explained to the teenagers what they would need to do. He felt a little uneasy at the prospected of being on the receiving end of untested magic. Yugi seemed just as nervous. He stood still and hoped that Yugi wouldn't make anything worse.
"Well done Yugi." Set congratulated the young boy.
"I don't feel any different," Seto told the spirit.
"You should notice a difference what you dream," Set replied.
Atem then proceeded to tell them about every person he'd mind crushed. They took a class trip to Domino to begin helping Yugi reverse mind crushes and rejudge everyone.
KC
Harry and Hermione were discussing the Horcrux's with Severus. He had been assisting them for a number of months and had been a big help.
"I wish Dumbledore had you helping us from the start instead of having you play spy," Hermione announce. "Having an adult's help, an adult who knows what he's doing has been a big help."
Harry nodded in agreement. Whoever would have thought his least favourite teacher would end up being someone who he could count on and respect.
"We have the Slytherin's locket, located in the Black family home. Ravenclaw's Diadem, located in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. With no way to destroy either item. Already destroyed is the gaunt family ring and ..."
Severus was pale, he interrupted Harry from continuing. "I don't believe the soul fragment contained to the diary was destroyed." The potions master told the two teenagers. "I believe it just destroyed the container and not the actual soul fragment?"
"What makes you say that?"
"The Gaunt family ring, it was the Horcrux that was meant to have been destroyed by the headmaster. The ring itself doesn't contain the Dark Lords Soul any longer." Hermione pointed out, pulling out the fragments of the ring."
"I can feel a part of his soul in the stone," Harry told them, his face paling. "It feels like the locket and diadem. Does that mean we have to track down that soul fragment from the diary? Is that even possible?"
"Amane Bakura," Hermione shouted out. "She's the container for the soul fragment!"
"Oh, that would explain so much," Harry replied. "Does that mean that Amane's dead? Or will she get better after Voldemorts soul is removed?"
Hermione whacked him on the head for saying his name ... once again.
"Sorry, forgot," Harry apologised.
"I don't know any methods for extracting a Horcrux from a living being. Without the host dying in the process." Severus told them. "It was never discussed in any of my research about the dark arts."
"We don't know for certain that she is a Horcrux yet. If there is any part of her still alive. We need to check it out in person first." Severus replied
"What if Ryou's the one possessed and not Amane?" Hermione questioned.
"How is that even possible?" Harry asked.
"Remember what Remus said. After Ryou left Hogwarts he started developing mental health issues, rumours suggesting he'd been diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. What happens if he was the one that now possessed You-Know-Who's soul fragment?"
"If that is the case, why would he kill Vol...Riddle and the Death Eaters?" Harry asked.
"The soul fragment from the diary would be one of the first. Half of Tom Riddles soul. Maybe he thought of the partial fragment as weak and pathetic. You have to admit after the inner circle had their souls taken, the remaining Death Eaters are a sorry bunch."
"So we need to track down Mr and Miss Bakura. Do either of you know if Miss Bakura is still at St Mungo's?" Severus asked.
"She's not," Hermione replied. "She was released into Ryou's care, so both are most likely still together."
"Remus mentioned they are both students at the schools he's currently teaching at," Harry replied. "If we pay a visit to Remus at the school, we should be able to see Ryou and Amane."
"So we have three Horcruxes; one that we thought was destroyed. One that is possibly Amane. What about the last two?"
The spent time discussing the possibilities for the unknown Horcruxes.
KC
Severus decided they were going to travel the muggle way. They didn't want the magical world to know their movements. The ministry of magic was still a mess. That meant Harry had to get a passport. Hermione and Severus to their surprise already had one. To apply for a passport, Harry needed a birth certificate. His aunt had his birth certificate. As a result, Harry needed to pay a visit to his aunt. He was nervous about seeing his family again. They had parted on better terms, so hopefully they would see each other on better terms during this visit.
He was surprised to find his aunt and uncle back at Privet drive. He'd gone there first but hadn't actually expected them to be there.
His aunt was stiff when she answered the door. She was looking both him and Hermione up and down. Harry saw past his aunt, she had company.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" she finally asked. She was clearly impressed with how Hermione looked. His aunt lingered on his ever-messy hair.
"This is my friend Hermione Granger. We've been friends since we were eleven, she goes to school with me. Her parents are both dentists in London." Harry introduced his aunt to one of his best friends.
"Well come in," She told them both. "Take a seat."
His aunt wasn't alone and had company from her ladies gardening group.
"I don't believe we've met this lovely couple before? Are you new to the neighbourhood?" One of the women asked.
"Don't be silly Iris. This is my nephew Harry. The lovely young lady is his girlfriend Hermione Granger." Petunia told the ladies.
"Actually," Harry started. Hermione grabbed his hand and squeezed.
"It's fine Harry," she told him giving him a smile. It was easier to let them assume than to correct them and explain they were just friends.
"My goodness, Harry, I didn't recognise you. You have certainly grown. I hope you've grown out of the trouble maker phase." Iris exclaimed.
"Oh yes, Hermione made sure of that," Harry replied. Grinning at his female best friend, she was always the best at keeping him in line.
"How did you two meet?" One of the other women enquired. Harry couldn't remember her name.
"We met when we were eleven. I'd tutor some of the students, including Harry." Hermione replied politely.
Hermione was well aware of the story that had been told to everyone about where Harry went to school. They both sat through multiple questions from Petunia's friends.
"Pet, we will let you have time with your nephew and his charming girlfriend." Isis interrupted.
Petunia showed the ladies out. Returning to the living room.
"I'm assuming you're not here to introduce me to your girlfriend though I do have to say what I've seen of Hermione so far, I approve," Petunia told him, still just as polite as when her ladies group had been around.
He didn't bother correcting his aunt that Hermione wasn't his girlfriend. Especially since they were going to be travelling together for a while.
"I'm here to ask if you have a copy of my birth certificate. Hermione and I are going to visit a friend of my parents who is currently working in Japan. We plan to travel the normal way." Harry told her.
"I'm glad to see that the two of you aren't using magic for everything." Petunia smiled.
Harry had been surprised when he was handed a passport. He didn't even know he had a passport. He'd also been handed his birth certificate, both muggle and magical which is what he'd gone there for in the first place.
Harold James Evans-Potter read all the documents for the muggle world. His magical world documents didn't have his last name hyphenated.
"If you already have a passport, we can travel a lot sooner than planned," Hermione told him with a beaming grin. That speed everything up a great deal.
"How do you plan to pay for this international holiday? I hope you're not wasting all your inheritance?" Petunia asked him. "I know your parents are well off, but I don't want you waste everything in one go. It needs to last. Yes, I knew about your inheritance." She told him, seeing the shocked look on her nephews face."
"I can't access my money in the magical world at the moment," Harry admitted. "We've been using what I had out since before the war got bad and what Hermione had saved up."
"I have something for you." His aunt told him, she went searching through more draws and came back with a bank card with his name on it. "It's your inheritance for the muggle world. I haven't touched anything, in fact, I've made deposits into the account for years. Consider that money your pocket money for all the chores you do around the house. Vernon knows you have a trust fund that you could not access, but did not realise I had been contributing to it. Don't spend it all at once. Please be sensible. I'm sorry for how I raised you, it was wrong of me. I can see that now. I didn't want you to go back to the magical world. I don't want to lose you like I lost my sister. I tried to keep you distant so I didn't get attached."
"Thank you, Aunt Petunia," he smiled at his aunt.
"Oh come here." Petunia pulled him into a hug. "Don't be a stranger now. Dudley and I both want to include you in our lives more. We're slowly working on Vernon. Dudley will be disappointed he missed you. He's studying business at the University in London."
"Tell him I said hello." Harry smiled. "I'll make sure to see him when we get back."
He took Hermione's hand as he left. The visit had gone a lot different and better than he'd imagined.
