I don't really care for this chapter altogether too much but things should get interesting in the next chapter for sure :)
Edit: fixing sentence that wasn't finished.
The chess board was already set up in the Room of Requirement when Ryou stepped inside. On either side of the monochrome splay of tiles spanned armies of delicately carved ebony and ash, all aligned in their proper arrangements and ready to do battle.
Bakura leaned against another table, softly whistling a German death metal song he had picked up somewhere. RyouE sighed and trailed a hand over the back of his chair.
A few restless nights of sleep fearing the worst had done just barely enough to keep the red out of Ryou's eyes. His reflection when he passed the mirror looked more like a corpse than something alive.
Bakura clucked his tongue as Ryou sat down. "You're not sleeping still, are you?"
"You would know. I don't want the dreams to come back. This isn't like when I'd black out. This is… So much worse," Ryou said, wrapping his arms around himself. "Is there anything the shadows can do? Surely you can think of something."
"The shadows aren't a wish factory. They don't just give you what you want for nothing," Bakura said, snapping his fingers and holding up an open palm.
Darkness sparked to life in his hand, swelling and roiling like hungry black flames. Ryou's eyes were drawn to it.
"You of all people should know that shadows are… well, an extension of will. It is, after all, a matter of will and control to send them out in accordance to your bidding. It is what shapes them. But even they have their limits."
Bakura stood and began to pace slowly through the room, twisting his fingers through fluid motions that gave life to trails of shadows. They fluttered behind him like rotten, frayed ribbons. Ryou followed the black mottling of violet and blue without daring to blink.
"The shadows have their uses. They can drag us to the shadow realm, as well as anything else we want. They can shield us from physical attacks, summon monsters to this realm, even attack others if necessary. The ring also grants us additional, unique powers inaccessible to some of the other other item users, and I'm sure you know these well enough. Locating people, places, and things. Banishing souls."
Bakura paused and he looked back at Ryou with a severe expression.
"But you can never forget. The shadows are not like fire or wild beasts. The shadows are worse."
His wandering fingers clenched into a fist, extinguishing all of the shadows there.
"It is as indiscriminately consuming as a fire and as quick to burn. It's also as fickle and prone to lashing back at its master, and it thinks like a starving animal. Using shadow magic doesn't just make you a shadow mage. You are a food source and a target and the ultimate puppet master all in one.
"They'll give you power beyond your wildest dreams," Bakura said. "If they don't kill you first. If you don't know what you're dealing with, they'll consume every drop of vitality in your body and leave behind a lifeless husk."
"You're saying this to scare me more?" Ryou asked. He wasn't shaking anymore. His gaze was steadier than it had been all night.
Bakura's expression twitched once with amusement. "Maybe. But only so that you know what you're asking for. You want a force of destruction, something that does nothing but hunger and consume and destroy, to guard you from itself."
"Are the dreams because of the shadows?" Ryou asked. Bakura's lips tightened. Ryou narrowed his eyes at his darker half. "They are, aren't they?"
Bakura gestured vaguely at nothing. "In as many words… You could say that. There's a bit more to it, of course…"
"But you do know why they're happening?" Ryou asked. His lower lip jutted out. "Please, Bakura. If you know, I want you to tell me. I can handle the truth. You know I can."
"No. Learning his name only makes it easier to let him in." Bakura snarled. "And stop looking at me like that! I know I don't give you enough credit sometimes, but this time, you really don't want to know."
Ryou blinked. "What?"
"You heard me. I'm not saying it again." Bakura turned away and crossed his arms over his chest.
Ryou glanced at Uraeus, whose open-mouthed stare meant he'd heard the same thing Ryou had. Ryou hesitated, then smiled. "Bakura." Bakura didn't turn around. He said it again, "Bakura," but slower. Softer.
Bakura glared.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you're sulking over there. Do you really think that? That you don't give me enough credit sometimes?"
"Well, you aren't the worst host I've ever had. But you're still helpless without me," Bakura said.
Ryou let out a tiny laugh. His smile was warm and, for the first time in weeks, reached all the way up to his eyes.
"Oh, quit laughing. Let's just play the bloody game," Bakura huffed, flopping into the chair. He moved a pawn with a bit more force than was necessary and almost knocked his king over. Ryou couldn't stop laughing.
"Uraeus," Bakura whispered. He leaned over a sleeping Ryou to nab the snake and lift it up and away from the bed. They vanished and appeared in the empty astronomy tower.
"What's wrong?"
Bakura's lips twisted. "Hikari's comment got me thinking…"
Uraeus chuckled. "What, finally coming to terms with how much you care for him?"
"Shut it," Bakura snarled. "About the shadows, not the… the rest of it." He looked around the room once, shifting his weight to the other foot.
"... And?" Uraeus said. "You're stalling."
"There might be something I can do. But it'd be tricky. The biggest issue with using the shadows is the cost of it. Draining him to get rid of the dreams won't solve anything. He'll be just as exhausted."
"But you think you've found a way to work it so that it doesn't take a lot of energy from him?"
"Perhaps. But it would require my entire focus. It works like this. Hikari's mind is full of little places to slip into. Breaking down the wall between us helped by patching over some of those places with my own consciousness. Less surface area to defend. But many more still exist. Building walls to defend every patch, which was my first idea back when the dreams started, would take massive amounts of resources we can't afford to expend.
"But it is possible to patrol all of the places and only build tiny walls whenever and wherever necessary. I would have to devote all of my attentions for the entire duration of his sleep, even if no attack comes, and I would have to work with very finely detailed shadow magics to make it work, but… it's a possible solution."
"Are you sure you can do it every night?" Uraeus asked.
Bakura sighed. "I'm going to keep an eye on him and see if it'll stop without going this far. I really hope I don't have to. I'm powerful, but not that powerful."
He let out a cold, unhappy laugh.
"Look at me. I used to be a monster seeking only revenge. I'd kill anyone and anything without a second thought, and it didn't even matter if it furthered my own ends or not. Now I'm considering outright defying an all-powerful Egyptian God, and for what?"
"For your light," Uraeus said.
"For my light," Bakura agreed.
A few days passed, and Ryou was dizzy. His body ached like a cold had settled in his bones. He was still pale, and a persistent cough had started up in the last day or two.
Malfoy had taken one look at him that evening and told him that he looked like death warmed over. Ryou felt about as good.
"Are you sure you're doing alright?" Draco asked.
"Fine, fine," Ryou said dismissively, before coughing into his shirtsleeve. "Where are you going so late?"
"Meeting up with a few others," Malfoy said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You should go to the hospital wing. It wouldn't do to die of a cold. And I certainly don't want to catch it."
"I might," Ryou said, nodding. It wouldn't be fair to his cousin to get the rest of them sick for something as silly as pride. He waved to Malfoy. "Have fun."
Malfoy grinned a smile rather like Bakura's before a hunt. "Don't worry. I will."
Ryou watched him go with a sigh. Harry and the others were having another DA meeting tonight, but Ryou wasn't feeling up to going. He wished he could have gone. They would be working on some new fascinating spell, and Ryou would be falling behind.
He dragged himself shakily to his feet. The hospital wing had to have something to help.
He made it there through a faint haze and the shortness of breath. "M-Madame Pomfrey," he managed, leaning heavily against the oak doors that stood open.
The matronly woman glanced up from her work wearing a disapproving expression.
"Oh, come on in, dear," she clucked, ushering him to a bed. He laid down, and his whole body sank into the bed with a strange feeling of relief.
Her wand waved through the air, traveling up and down the general direction of his prone self, the way a metal detector baton would. Her frown grew a bit more pronounced.
"How much sleep are you getting?" she asked.
Ryou smiled sheepishly. "Not enough."
"Like I thought," she said. She turned and reached for a bottle off of a cart, pouring a generous measure of it into the cup in the cap. "You're overworked and need sleep. You've run yourself down and your immune system can't keep up. A nap now will help, but beyond that, you'll need to take better care of yourself. Get more sleep."
Ryou nodded. "Yes, of course. Will that help me sleep?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yes. It'll also help with the coughing and the fatigue. Drink it up." She held out the filled cup. He took it with a weak smile.
"Yes, of course. Thanks."
He held it in his hands as she shuffled away. The sludge inside had an unpleasant color and consistency.
/Don't tell me you're just going to drink something she hands to you/
/I'm sick. This will help. What I really need is sleep, but that clearly isn't happening/
Ryou sighed and studied the greenish-brown potion with a bit of a frown.
Bakura appeared, translucent, on the edge of the bed. He made a face at the little cup. "Yadonushi…"
/Hmmm?/
"Don't get your hopes up, but… Uraeus and I have come across a possible… potential solution," Bakura said slowly.
Ryou perked up. /Really? What is it?/
"It's a little tough to explain. But it might be the only thing that works. If that thing really puts you to sleep… just… I'm going to try it out. Let me know if you have that dream again."
Ryou pushed himself up into an awkward, half-upright position. /Couldn't you just watch yourself?/
"I won't be able to watch them myself if I do this, so… no." Bakura's lips twisted further downward. "Drink up, Hikari."
Ryou hesitated for just a moment, then downed the cup in one go. He gagged on the bitter taste.
His body grew warm and his head felt suddenly light.
"Hikari," Bakura said.
Ryou blinked slowly. "Hmmmm…?" His speech was slurring.
Bakura sighed. "Just… don't dream."
He fell into a deep, dreamless, medicated slumber, and awoke the next morning to a school rife with chaos.
Madam Pomfrey was fussing over someone tucked behind a curtain at the far end of the room. Ryou could hear their voices as he sat up, one frantic and sobbing, the other soothing. Something about blemishes, as far as he could tell. They weren't paying any attention to Ryou.
He yawned and stretched, feeling better than he had in weeks. Nothing had troubled his dreams or plagued his sleep, not even the feelings of fear and unease.
He'd slept deeply and soundly and even his health seemed in the upswing already, thanks to whatever it was that Madam Pomfrey had made him drink.
He smiled widely at Bakura. "It worked!" he whispered. He half-tackled Bakura, hugging him fiercely. Bakura's eyes were a bit red around the edges.
"Good," Bakura said, hesitating before returning the embrace. "That's very good."
"Is everything alright? You look tired," Ryou said. He poked Bakura's cheek, right underneath the purple bag that ringed the underside of his eye.
Bakura scowled. "I'm fine," he said, batting the hand away.
Ryou beamed. "Good. What time is it?" he asked, casting his gaze across the room. It was daytime, if the light streaming through the curtains was any indication.
"Before class, at the very least. You should have time for breakfast if you hurry."
Ryou nodded.
They used the shadows to pop into the dorm long enough to change and then headed down to the great hall.
Furious mutters greeted him. Every table was packed with heads bowed conspiratorially towards one another, discussing something with great fervor.
Ryou slid into his seat at the Slytherin table with a frown. "What's going on?"
Draco was positively preening. "You haven't heard by now? It's all over the school, the common room even has a new notice. Dumbledore's been sacked!"
"What? How?" Ryou exclaimed.
"Well you see…" Zambini started, and he began to tell a highly implausible story of how the Headmaster had brutally assaulted the Minister and his Aurors before fleeing the scene. Listening to other stories around him, few seemed to agree on much of anything at all, and all of them seemed to have varying levels of plausibility.
What little Ryou could glean seemed to sum up to one thing which all stories agreed on: Dumbledore was gone, and now Umbridge was in charge.
As he picked at a plate of eggs and toast, a sick feeling started to rise in the back of his throat, and it wasn't the illness this time.
/Does… Does this change what I should be doing? What am I supposed to do?/
/What does this even change in the grand scheme of things? Is that woman going to do anything that she hasn't already?/
Ryou shivered. /I don't know. Dumbledore was the reason I got to go here. Will Umbridge kick me out?/
/Likely not unless you give her a reason to/ Bakura said with a shrug. /I don't think this means as much to you as you think it does. People are still trying to use you either way you slice it/
Ryou hummed noncommittally. /I suppose so. I wonder what might have happened to make Dumbledore leave, though/
/As if it matters much/ Bakura said crisply. /And give Uraeus some of that bacon if you aren't going to eat it/
Ryou rolled his eyes and fed a slice of bacon into his sleeve, where the crystalline serpent snapped it up eagerly.
"I think I'm going to head to potions a bit early," he said. Draco nodded, then called for Ryou to wait. He looked as though he'd just remembered something rather important.
"Headmaster Umbridge wanted to speak with you in her office today," he said, before resuming discussion about what his father had to say about the situation.
Ryou nodded and pushed himself up from the table. As he wandered to class, his mind circled emptily through the same tired worries. Bakura couldn't be right about this.
If Ryou knew anything, it was that Umbridge wouldn't take long at all to flex her new powers. And it looked like she'd be getting started right away.
Hermione hummed, brushing back a curl from her face. "Looks like Ryou is doing better finally."
"If he's possessed, it isn't gonna kill him," Ron said. "Wouldn't it want him alive?"
"That wasn't what I was getting at, but you are right," Hermione said.
They kept to the edges of the busy hallway, walking just a bit slower than everyone else. Harry watched as people's stares lingered on him a moment too long. A few of them plucked up the nerve to approach him, but the rest simply contented themselves with watching, despite the brazen conversations they were having about him only feet away.
"Does the name still follow him everywhere?" Hermione asked, lowering her voice. Harry nodded. He'd been taking occasional peeks at the map, but it had just been more of the same: Ryou's name followed by the two other names, which trailed his like pennant banners.
Uraeus spent about half his time between the Slytherin Common Room and following Ryou, and the other name, Bakura, seemed content to wander the entirety of the school when he wasn't beside Ryou, which he often was.
"Why do you ask?" Harry said.
Hermione looked this way and that, and then dragged the boys into a deserted corridor. Harry understood soon enough and pulled out his map, checking it quickly. All three names were picking their way down to the potions corridor.
"I saw the ring the other day," Hermione said quietly. "At least, I think I did."
"And you didn't say anything before?" Ron accused.
Hermione glared. "I wanted to make sure. But after doing some research, I thought it was time to say something."
"What did you find? And how?" Harry asked.
"I was in the library the other day-" Hermione started, and Ron muttered a quick 'of course'. She glared and continued. "Ryou was asleep at one of the tables…"
"You didn't," Harry said. Hermione's face pinched slightly. "You did?" Hermione nodded slowly.
"He was right there, Harry, and the leather string was already hanging out if his shirt. I just had to… Pull it a bit.
"And?" Ron said.
"Well," Hermione said. "It's definitely Egyptian. Just like the runes. But there is nothing about it in any of the books I could find. It's barely a ring. At least, not in the way we were thinking. But…"
"But what?"
Hermione frowned. "I didn't touch it. But… Just being near it, it felt dark. Almost… Cold. Do you remember the necklace the evil-Ryou was wearing during the boggart incident? It looked exactly like that."
"So Ryou definitely knows what's going on, is definitely frightened, and he doesn't want us to know," Harry summarized.
Hermione nodded. "My thoughts exactly. Now if I could just figure out what the runes meant… And what they have to do with Egypt in the first place. I just want to know if Ryou is to be trusted."
"The order trusts him," Harry said, then paused. "But they also trust Snape." His eyes narrowed as he considered this.
"We could just ask the bloke outright," Ron said. "You know, 'Why does your brother seem totally not like your brother at all and more like an evil spirit possessing you?' Should work, right?"
"Because he was so truthful the last time we asked him about Bakura," Hermione said. She dragged her fingers through her hair with a sigh.
"Still, though, I'm kinda curious about one thing," Ron said.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Maybe Ryou really was sick or something, I mean, he looked pretty bad. But how did he manage to miss the exact DA meeting that Umbridge broke up?"
"You don't think he knew, do you?" Hermione mused. "We know he didn't tell her himself. Marietta did that for him," she added with a touch of satisfaction. Harry remembered the grotesque boils that covered her face, spelling out SNEAK.
"I heard he was in the hospital wing," Harry suggested, but he was frowning. He hadn't made that connection between Ryou's absence and Umbridge's assault before now.
"Could it have been deliberate? Giving himself an alibi for the time so he wouldn't get into trouble? He lives with Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins. It's not that long of a shot to guess that he might have overheard something."
Harry sighed, then jumped as he heard the chiming of massive bells. "Come on, let's get moving. If we don't hurry, we'll be late for potions."
They hurried down to class, grabbing seats in the back just before the late bells could ring. Snape kept them busy the entire class period, heads down and cauldrons bubbling for the entire period. Even Malfoy found no time for mischief.
They started to leave, when a slight tugging on Harry's sleeve caught his attention. It was Ryou, who had slipped away from Malfoy.
"H-Harry," he stuttered, looking a bit ill at ease. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but none of the stories really agree about much of anything. What… What happened last night? Did Dumbledore say anything? Why did he leave?"
"You don't know?" Harry said incredulously. He exchanged a look with Ron and Hermione.
Ryou for his part looked genuinely confused. "Should I? That's why I wanted to ask you. I don't much care for rumors. They never get things right."
"Harry, if we don't hurry, we're going to be late," Hermione said, and Harry nodded.
"Sorry, Ryou. We'll talk later," he said. Hermione dragged him away, eyes flashing with some sort of warning. "What?"
"If he doesn't know, then that means Malfoy didn't tell him. If Ryou's going to leave us in the dark about what his secret is, then we can keep this to ourselves as well. We'll find it soon enough if we just keep an eye on him."
"I don't think this will work out like you think," Ron said. Hermione shut him up with another look. "Fine, fine," he said. "We'll go with your plan for now."
"Good. By the way, Harry, do you have your invisibility cloak?" Hermione asked with a tiny half-smile.
As much as Harry didn't care for Hermione's strategy, he had to admit that it got results.
It wasn't more than a few hours later that watching and waiting bore fruit.
After a frustrating midday involving Slytherins docking points (something new called the inquisitorial squad) and Umbridge's same old mischief, Harry just wanted to hurry down to lunch to grab something to eat.
But as he started on his way out of Umbridge's office, he noticed Ryou coming this way, and he ducked quickly out of sight. It might have been his own curiosity, or maybe Hermione's comment earlier. He wasn't sure what impulse convinced him to pull out his cloak, but it was irresistible.
He swept it over his shoulders and slipped into the garish pink room just before Ryou could, narrowly making it inside before the door closed behind them.
"You wanted to see me?" Ryou said in a quiet, nervous voice.
"Ahh, yes, Mr. Bakura. Come on in, take a seat. Tea?" Umbridge asked.
A frown flickered briefly over his face. "I suppose," he said. He lowered himself primly into the air chair in front of the desk. "What did you want to speak to me about?"
"In a moment," Umbridge said, sliding the kitten-adorned teacup into its saucer. "Why don't you take a drink. Have a nice break? Go anywhere… Interesting?"
Ryou looked distinctly uncomfortable, and Harry couldn't say he blamed the guy. Umbridge had an edge to her eyes, as though she knew something that Ryou wouldn't like.
He sipped at the tea, but it was simply an act. There was no tea missing. He either suspected the same thing Harry had, or he knew for certain that the tea had something slipped inside. Harry didn't know which was the more unnerving thought.
"Yes, it was very nice. I visited a friend of mine. It was a good holiday." Ryou kept it brief, looking down into his china cup.
"And how was the weather there in… Hmmm… Cairo, was it?" She giggled slightly, but it was not a pleasant sound by any means. Ryou's eyes flashed. His fingers moved to touch a gold bracelet he wore on his wrist.
"Warm enough," he said, voice strangled a few shades more than usual. "I- you'll have to excuse me, but did I do something wrong?"
"No, nothing," Umbridge said sweetly. "Well, as long as you can explain to me… This," she said, holding aloft a sheaf of parchment with Dumbledore's Army emblazoned on it.
Ryou's eyes went wide. "I- well, it was a mistake," he started to babble.
"There there, we all make mistakes. But this one is… well… Quite grievous, isn't it? Draco Malfoy tells me you were in the hospital wing last night. Feeling ill?"
"Yes, ma'am," Ryou said with a nod. "I haven't been sleeping well, and my health suffered for it. I'm doing much better today, though," he added with a guarded smile. Then the smile slipped away. "You… You aren't going to kick me out for signing that, are you?"
He looked genuinely scared now.
"No, no, of course not," Umbridge said, in a tone which seemed to make it very clear that she was considering it. "Now, Draco tells me that you're quite a stickler for the rules. I can't say your record is looking good with having signed this, but I could be willing to look the other way."
"What do you have in mind?"
"I want a guarantee that you won't cause any more problems for me or the Ministry of Magic. Don't give me a reason to… ahem… look deeper into your curious situation."
"What do you mean by that?" Ryou asked, eyes going wide.
Umbridge grinned. "Oh, you thought I wouldn't find out. But it couldn't stay a secret for long, oh no. I know all about what happened to your fellow students. The mysterious comas they fell into. Your magic isn't under control, is it? And that's why Dumbledore wanted you under his wing, so to speak. He didn't want to give Cornelius that power, but that's his mistake now. You were to be his weapon, weren't you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ryou said, panic flaring. He looked left and right, but took a deep breath. He quickly calmed, but there was still a slightly frazzled edge. "What do you mean? Dumbledore wants to use me as… as a weapon?"
"So you don't know…" Umbridge said. She paused to consider this new information. Her hands clasped suddenly together, making Ryou flinch. "The decision is yours, Mr. Bakura. Give me your word, or else…" She paused, smiling tightly. "Well, I doubt you'll want to find that out."
His lips pressed into a thin line. "I… I guess it wouldn't be too difficult… I just have to promise to follow the rules, correct?"
Umbridge nodded, smiling her toady smile. "Exactly right."
Ryou looked like a cornered animal, scared and trapped.
"I guess there's no reason not to." Ryou sounded defeated, and he sighed deeply. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" he asked dully.
"Not at all, Mr. Bakura. You're dismissed. And your cousin Draco Malfoy should help keep you in line. Listen to him, if you would." Ryou nodded and stood up. His shoulders were slouched down in defeat. His lips moved slightly, mouthing silent words.
Harry hurried to slip out of the room before the door closed behind him.
Umbridge was curious about Ryou as well. That much was undeniable, and she had the resources to do more searching than even Hermione.
But what had she meant about the comas?
Harry allowed Ryou to keep several steps' lead to keep from being discovered. He planned on ducking away as soon as there was a convenient place to remove the cloak. There were a few well-placed, rarely travelled corridors which would do nicely.
As he started down one of these, he noticed a rush of black and crimson shove Ryou into another of the corridors. He moved forward, noticing a vaguely familiar Gryffindor whom Harry only recognized from the DA. Cormac Mclaggen, Harry thought his name was.
He pushed Ryou roughly into a wall, Ryou letting out a surprised yelp as he suddenly found his back flush with stone. "It's all your fault, snake!"
"What?" Ryou asked. His eyes were open wide with fear, dark and brown and staring.
"The DA! Dumbledore! You tipped Umbridge off, didn't you? That why you weren't there when she and the rest of your kind attacked," Mclaggen said.
"I didn't!" Ryou cried out. "I never knew, I- I was ill- I wouldn't- I enjoyed-" he babbled as Cormac's expression grew furious.
"You're the reason we won't meet anymore! How dare you-" Cormac started, and Harry started toward the pair before he even thought it through. A wand was coming up, a threat, and Harry thought for one horrible second that if he didn't throw off the cloak and intercede, Mclaggen would jinx Ryou. But as his hands went to the hem of the cloak, a flicker of shadows just behind them both caught Harry's eyes.
He paused. A small bit of smoke rose up, thick and inky black like burning oil, but somehow darker, as though the shadows themselves were drawing out from the darkened corners and gathering there.
The shape of an arm came first, grabbing Mclaggen's arm just before the spell could be cast. There was an instant as brief as the blink of an eye where there wasn't, and then suddenly there was a tall, gaunt-looking figure standing there beside them both.
As Ryou's eyes paled to green, the figure snarled. Harry recognized him immediately. The one who joked and cajoled in Ryou's bed back in Grimmauld Place, the haunting specter from the boggart's nightmare, and the man from the Ministry of Magic dream. A pale face inset with crimson eyes ringed by shadows, and a shock of messy white hair spiking halfway down his back.
There was no mistake. This was the one called Bakura.
Bakura jerked the arm he held back, pinning it brutally behind Mclaggen's shoulder blades. "Don't even think about it," he growled as Mclaggen yelped. "If I see you attacking Hikari one more time, you won't live to regret it."
"Let him go," Ryou ground out.
"He was attacking you with this," Bakura said, yanking the wand from Cormac's scrabbling fingers. The boy's face was contorted in pain. Bakura held the wand up like a prize.
Ryou shook his head. "It doesn't matter, I told you I could handle this. Let him go," he said firmly.
Bakura looked down his nose at the boy, his glare three parts disdain and one part pure, unadulterated hatred.
"Bakura," Ryou warned, crossing his arms over his chest. Bakura narrowed his eyes.
Shadows crackled and stirred behind him, distorting reality itself around them. The three flickered in and out of sight for a brief second before the shadows fell back.
"Don't bother Hikari again," he said. He released Cormac, who stumbled and dropped to the floor. Bakura threw the wand at him.
Cormac's lips gaped like a fish.
Bakura cackled and leered. "By the way, no one will believe you," he added. Cormac scrambled to his feet and ran, sprinting away at top speed. He almost brushed against Harry as he passed, but Harry managed to dodge out of the way.
Meanwhile, Bakura leaned closer to Ryou, gripping Ryou's chin in his fingers and turning his head this way and that. Inspecting for damage?
Ryou pulled back, his cheeks turning faintly red.
"You went too far with this. I'm fine, and I told you I could handle this. I know you don't think I can handle myself, but I survived you for ten years. One little jinx won't be the death of me, if it sets the others at ease."
"It shouldn't have to come to that," Bakura snapped.
Ryou sighed, shoulders sagging downwards before rolling his head around his shoulders. "Well..." A patient smile grew on Ryou's face. "It's fine. I'll be okay. I'm not that fragile." He patted Bakura on the shoulder.
Bakura glared. Harry was under the distinct impression that Bakura believed Ryou was full of shit.
Finally, Bakura sighed. "Whatever. Go get some food with that monstrous cousin of yours." He ruffled Ryou's hair and vanished in a wisp of shadow.
Ryou smiled to himself, his eyes darkening back to brown once more. As Harry watched, the Marauder's Map showed Bakura's name flicker out of existence and then reappear attached to Ryou's.
The color of Ryou's eyes had something to do with his possession. It was unheard of, something that Harry hadn't thought was possible. Hermione was sure to know more, and he would have to ask her to be sure, but Harry was beginning to suspect that their situation was not quite what they thought.
Ryou was definitely possessed, but the nature of the possession was radically different from the type which they had seen in previous years. Maybe it related to the Egyptian ties which seemed to be everywhere now that Harry looked for them.
And Ryou wasn't frightened. Not at all, from the looks of things. In fact, the two had seemed very close.
Harry still doubted the brother comparison, but he couldn't think of what other title to give to it. The protectiveness was there, almost overbearingly so. There was something dark and hungry in the way that Bakura had looked at Ryou, something unnerving to see. It was too serious for normal people. Too possessive for siblings.
Bakura seemed to think he owned Ryou. But Ryou seemed to have some degree of control over Bakura as well, something more subtle than the outward display of power which Harry had witnessed. Why else would Bakura step down when there was such obvious murder in his eyes? It was a curious thing.
Harry hurried back to the Great Hall. Bakura had called Ryou 'Hikari'. Just like how 'Koe' and 'Yadonushi' had given them insight into how this worked, perhaps so too would this new nickname. It was a good thing Hermione had brought the Japanese dictionary back with her.
I started this chapter immediately after posting the previous chapter, but I got pretty stuck in one place for a long time. Unsticking myself involved playing with another idea bouncing around in my head, so looks like you guys broke even. Long wait for an update, but…
Another story! Yes, that's right. If any of you are interested in an AU involving a teenaged Bakura turning to the dark side, black magic, demons, modern Domino, and a secret organization watching the shadows, then look no further than Dark Magic in the Yu-Gi-Oh fanfiction section. I'd link it here but there's no way to copy it, and it isn't on my profile because, for some reason, I'm incapable of publishing new stories. I can only update those that are already posted. Strange.
But, either way, it's a new account, so it isn't getting a lot of attention down there. Feel free to check it out if you have the time. I favorited both it and my new profile so you should be able to find it on this profile. This story is still my priority of course, but the other is good for writer's block relief.
