I had a suggestion, and it makes sense, I really should get myself a beta.
Ah well. Yankee Sampson, thanks for the recommendation, you're right, the first bit was unnecessary. So this chapter's for you.
Turns out this story is actually going to be shorter than Light in the Shadows, in terms of Chapters that is, in terms of words it's a bit longer. I've just finished planning the second to last chapter, now I just have to write it. Updates still once a week though, I don't want to overload you, especially since these chapters are kind of long.
Chapter 29: Agreements
It was nearly two weeks after Gryffindor had won the Quidditch cup when the first year handed Harry the piece of parchment. Harry looked down at it with a momentary flash of irritation. He was late to class, but he suspected that this was a letter from Dumbledore. Yugi tugged on Harry's robe and he picked him up. Handing the parchment to Yugi, Harry took off at a quick walk. "Can you read that to me please?" He asked the elf. Yugi picked open the seal and examined the letter for a moment. "Harry, please come to my office tonight at seven O'clock, bring your Invisibility Cloak." The elf read and glanced up at Harry his hair falling forward into his eyes as they moved.
Yugi looked up. "Do you think he has found the next…" Yugi stopped talking and went pink. Harry had rounded a corner and stopped at the Charm's classroom where everyone was waiting. Several people turned around and looked at them, but turned away when they saw it was just Harry. Harry smiled faintly; no one would have even noticed the different voice speaking.
Harry pushed his way through the crowd and found Ron and Hermione. "Hey guy's I have something I need to talk to you about." He muttered to them.
Hermione nodded when she saw the note and the serious look on Harry's face. "In class." She said. Flitwick opened the door and people began to funnel into the classroom and find their seats.
Once everyone was settled and the usual chaos which was Charms began Harry cast the Muffalto spell and turned to Hermione and Ron. Yugi handed the parchment back to Harry and Harry passed it to his friends. "So what do you think?" He asked.
Hermione passed the note back and they all waved their wands and spoke the spell they were supposed to be practicing as Flitwick walked past. "You think he has found the Horcrux?"
Harry nodded. "Yugi thinks so too, don't you?"
Yugi nodded and glanced around. As usual he was reluctant to speak when there were people around, and he always seemed to need to make sure the spell was working properly. "Yes, I think he has found it. Why else would he ask you to come to his office with your Cloak? I just think though, that someone should go with you."
They all looked at him. "What do you mean, I'll be with Dumbledore. It's you I'm worried about. I'd bet anything that whatever Malfoy is doing will come together when Dumbledore is gone." Harry told him.
Hermione shook her head. "Harry I don't know, we still don't even know what it is Malfoy is doing."
Ron scoffed, "Maybe not, but Harry's right whatever he's doing it isn't good. Not that it matters I can't see Yami letting him get away with anything."
Harry nodded, "well no matter what happens I want you two to keep Yugi safe."
"Hey!" Yugi perked up indignantly, "I am coming with you."
Harry shook his head. "No way, I'm in enough trouble with Yami without taking you into possible danger where he probably won't be able to go."
Yugi shook his head stubbornly, "I am not letting you go with just Dumbledore to protect you, what if you get hurt?"
Harry shook his head. "You can't come, no way, and we can't take Yami because we'll probably be apparating."
Yugi pouted and disappeared back under the desk. Harry sighed, but the hint of emotions he got through the bond to Yugi told him that the elf wasn't sulking.
Harry turned his attention back to Hermione and Ron. "Please can you guys keep an eye on things while I'm gone?" He glanced down under the desk. "And can you warn Yami that we will be away and things might start happening." The last was directed at Yugi and he received an indecisive hum in reply.
Ron nodded, but Hermione looked reluctant. The two of them spent the rest of the lesson convincing her to help. Harry knew that things would go better if Hermione was there; she really was the most magically skilled of the three of them.
After Charms Hermione headed to her Ancient Runes class and Harry, Ron and Yugi returned to the common room. Harry sighed as he settled into a chair and pulled out his latest potions essay.
Harry found his mind wandering absently over the last few weeks and tonight's trip with Dumbledore. He didn't know what it expect, but he was excited to finally be doing something about defeating Voldemort.
A whispered musical note disrupted his thoughts and brought him back to the present. Harry looked over at Yugi; the tiny elf was seated in front of the fire muttering to himself. Harry suspected he was talking to Yami, though the Shade was nowhere to be seen.
Yami had made no appearances at all in the time since his attack on Hogwarts. People were finally starting to recover from it and no more students had been withdrawn. Harry turned a page in his book and gave Yugi a second glance.
His ward hadn't grown at all in the last two years. Elves were children for a human lifetime that was what everything he had found out told him, but Harry wondered if they spent that whole time as children and never became teenagers. He wondered, as he had many times in the last year, exactly how old Yugi was. Whenever he had asked, Yugi had gotten teary about his lost family and Harry had hastily changed the subject.
Harry looked back down at his essay. It was boring and he was excited about tonight, and if he admitted it, a little nervous. By the time their next lesson came around Harry hadn't progressed through his essay at all, but had mused considerably over which Horcrux Dumbledore had found and hoping that whatever Malfoy was planning wouldn't come off tonight.
OOOOOOOO
OOOOOO
OOOO
Yami slunk into the common room through the window. Yugi was seated alone by the fire; he had decided to stay in the common room while Harry went to his lesson. Yami wasn't entirely sure why Yugi had asked him to come here. Yami had been avoiding all the humans as much as possible. Shades were very good at holding grudges and Yami had good reasons for holding this one. He was going to avoid Harry at all costs because he doubted he would be able to contain himself if he saw the stupid human. Yami focused on Yugi; drew his shadows into human form and put all thoughts of Harry out of his mind.
This lasted about half a second after he took a seat across from his elf. "I want you to go with Harry tonight." Yugi said in lyrical elfish, the language he preferred to speak when they were alone. Yami paused a moment to consider if Yugi had gone nuts and then phrase everything in Yugi's native tongue. "What?" Not particularly eloquent, but Yugi had surprised him.
"He and Dumbledore are going to get one of the Horcruxes and I would like you to go with them and keep them safe." Yugi said calmly, looking at him though those irresistible eyes.
Yami stared fixedly at the wall near Yugi's head, maybe if he avoided Yugi's gaze he wouldn't give in. "I am not going near him." Yami said firmly.
"Please Yami. He is going to be in danger. I do not care if Dumbledore is going along, I feel like something terrible is going to happen tonight." Yugi pleaded.
Yami looked down into his lap, still trying to avoid Yugi's gaze. Yugi had shown some slight future sight before, but he could just as easily be working off instinct. "I am not leaving you here unprotected. Even he is better protection than nothing."
Yugi shifted, "Someone has to stay here to protect everyone else."
"Then I will stay here and you can go with Harry." Yami said. Then stopped, no that didn't help Yugi would still be in danger. "I mean..."
Yugi giggled, "I will be safer in the school, set all the protections you like. Barricade the school up with every spell you know, please Yami." Yugi reached out and touched Yami's knee. Yami shifted. "If they are apparating then I cannot go, it will exhaust whoever carries me and I am not transporting myself it is too tiring." Yami said. Why was Harry going into possible danger anyway? Yami really wished he knew more about where they were going. Yami needed to keep Harry alive because Harry was Yugi's only lifeline to life. The tiny elf wouldn't survive a second abandonment.
"I can put more spells on Harry so that he can apparate with you without hurting himself, please Yami, he is definitely going and I do not want him to go alone, I will be fine." Yugi said gently. Yami grumbled to himself. He had never been able to refuse Yugi anything; he just hadn't worked out how yet. Bakura was always telling Ryou what he could or couldn't do and the elf would agree, mostly. Yami had little to no control over Yugi. Yami leant back against the wall. "When are they leaving?" He asked reluctantly.
Yugi glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Seven O'clock." He said.
Yami sat bolt upright. That didn't give him very long at all. He narrowed his eyes at Yugi. "You did that on purpose." He grumbled, Yami now had hardly any time to set his protections down.
Yugi shook his head, "This was the first chance I had to talk to you; Dumbledore only sent Harry the message an hour ago."
Yami grumbled a little more, "Are you going to come with me or find Harry?" He asked.
Yugi scrunched up his face, "You are going to be doing Shadey things aren't you." Yami nodded. "I will find Harry. He is meeting Dumbledore at his office at seven, please be there."
/I have said I will be haven't I?/ Yami thought to him as he considered the security he needed to add.
/Not in so many words, please keep him safe./ Yugi stepped out of the portrait and vanished down the hall. Yami departed via the window, made his way to the boundary and began to re-add his enhanced boundary spells so no one would be able to get into the school until he returned.
The spell had worked perfectly last time; Yugi had been required to call in three elves to take the spells apart and they had needed to use earth magic to do it. The spells would stop people from crossing the boundary in any of the conventional methods. However it wouldn't stop people who were already inside, Yami was certain that there were no Death Eaters within the school, but there were students and they could be just as dangerous.
Yami called up the darkings. The minuscule shadows took his instructions with delight, they loved going into the school. Yami sent them to patrol the hallways and asked them to obey Yugi. After a bit of wheedling Yami managed to convince Yugi to command the darkings to eat any attacking magic which was cast if it was needed. Eight darkings set themselves to following Yugi and being his connection to the others around the castle. Yami prowled into the kitchen, the spells and organising the darkings had taken nearly four hours, he was running out of time. The kitchen was full of House Elves.
Yami eased himself into human form and waited until the excitable creatures had calmed down. "I would like to ask your assistance. I am leaving Hogwarts for a short period of time, would you all please watch and protect Yugi until I return?" There was an uproar of tiny piping voices yelling that they wouldn't let anything happen to Yugi. Yami shrugged his thanks, normally he wouldn't have asked, but Yugi's apparent premonition made him a little nervous.
The House Elves wouldn't let anything happen and they knew their way around the castle very well. Yami shifted and stretched out his senses to the boundaries. Several members of the Order of the Phoenix had crossed over the boundary a little before he had finished setting the spells. Though Yami normally disregarded humans in his plans for protection in this case he knew that these humans were trained to fight Death Eaters, they would have their place. So long as they didn't interfere with anything he had set up.
It was nearly seven O'clock so Yami made his way up to Dumbledore's office. The phoenix was absent and Harry stood in the centre of the room wearing what he called his muggle clothes. His wand was stuffed through a loop on his belt and he had the Invisibility Cloak bundled in his arms. Harry turned as Yami entered the room and his eyes went wide. "Yami?"
Yami drew into human form; he could sense the extra spells Yugi had added to prevent Harry from being harmed by carrying a Shade. "Yugi has decided that you need more protection during this jaunt than he does. I am coming with you." Yami said.
Dumbledore nodded, "At the beginning of the year you said that we couldn't carry you while apparating, has this changed?"
Yami narrowed his eyes, "Yugi's spells will protect Harry and he will carry me."
Dumbledore shook his head. "Harry cannot apparate." He noted.
"Then he had better learn very quickly." Yami snapped, watching Harry flinch violently.
Dumbledore tilted his head in a slight nod. "Very well, Harry please put on your cloak, Yami if you would remain as invisible as you can. I would like it to appear that I am leaving unaccompanied."
Yami dissolved into his shadows and followed the two humans out. Dumbledore was greeted by all the teachers he passed.
Yami followed closely at Harry's side, darkings already patrolled the halls forming small bundles of frisky shadow which moved in an entirely foreign way to everything around them. Harry was so focused on following Dumbledore that he didn't seem to notice the flitting shadows around him. Yami slid out into the open air and followed the two humans down to the village. As he did he reached out a final time for Yugi.
The elf was with Hermione and Ron. Ginny, Neville and Luna were on alert and the House Elves were armed and ready. Despite this Yami was reluctant to leave. Harry needed to be kept safe because Yugi's life depended on it, but Yugi could still be hurt. The promise Yami had made to her resurfaced. He needed to protect Yugi, but this time the only way he could do that was to leave Yugi undefended. Yami turned his attention back to Harry. This had better not take too long.
