To refer to someone with their surname is still something I find weird. I don't reflect over the fact that Kaiba, Jonouchi and Honda all are surnames, I think I have them listed under first names somewhere in my head. I even call my teachers and the principal by their first name, that's simply the way it is here. We even have a teacher with a nickname openly used.
Ah well, we have a teacher just like Yugi, just like Yugi when it comes to the relation to the school, students and teachers (not possessed). She's forced to quit … I call that reality.
Things really had changed overnight Rebecca noticed as she joined the students again sometime before lunch. Parents had throughout the day been coming to take their kids home, Rebecca had spent some time in the Entrance Hall watching it all happen. She made sure that none of the students saw her as she watched parents talk with hushed but upset voices to McGonagall. Amongst those being taken away where a first year Hufflepuff named Rose Zeller, Romilda Vane, a first year Gryffindor called Euan Abercrombie, a Hufflepuff named Heather, two Ravenclaw second years called Orla Quirke and Stewart Ackerly and three Slytherins. And those were only the ones Rebecca noticed, no doubt that there were more being forced away from Hogwarts by their parents.
It didn't take long before she found out about the Inquisitorial Squad either, who were docking points from everyone. Rebecca moved through the school like a ghost, doing her best not to be seen and mostly succeeding as long as she made sure to hide between classes.
It was during lunch that Rebecca saw Fred and George walk down the marble staircase towards Ernie, Ron, Hermione and Harry who just had been docked a large amount of points by Malfoy. Rebecca had never cared about her house points but she understood that it was a great insult to the four left standing in the Entrance Hall. Although she couldn't say that Draco Malfoy had done it wholeheartedly.
"Noticed, have you?" Fred asked as he and his twin joined the four.
"Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points", Harry said, clearly furious. Rebecca rolled her eyes, that they didn't have larger worries than the points?
"Yeah", George said subdued. "Montague tried to do us during break."
"What do you mean 'tried'?" Ron asked wary.
"He never managed to get all the words out due to the fact that we forced him head-first into the Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor", Fred said and the way he said it made Rebecca smile. She was pleased that she could count herself, if not on their side, at least not opposite them.
Hermione at the other hand wasn't pleased. "But you'll get into terrible trouble!"
"Not until Montague reappears, and that could take weeks, I dunno where we sent him", Fred said coolly. The twins could be surprisingly coldhearted if they wanted and Rebecca shook her head. "Anyway … we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."
"Have you ever?" Hermione asked skeptically.
"Course we have", George said. "Never been expelled, have we?"
"We've always known where to draw the line", Fred added.
"We might have put a toe across it occasionally", George continued.
"But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem", Fred finished with a smile.
"But now?" Ron asked tentatively.
"Well now …", George said.
" … what with Dumbledore gone …"
" … we reckon a bit of mayhem … "
" … is exactly what our dear new Head deserves", Fred finished
"You mustn't!" Hermione whispered. "You really mustn't! She'd love a reason to expel you!"
"You don't get it, Hermione, do you?" Fred asked and shook his head disappointed. "We don't care about staying anymore. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first."
"I don't care for Dumbledore", Rebecca said and stepped forward from her hiding place underneath the staircase. "But Umbridge deserves all the bad that can happen to her and I've never liked this place. I want to help."
Fred and George just stared at her.
"Rebecca! You can't do that!" Hermione said and took a couple of steps backwards when she saw the fire in the blonde's eyes.
"Umbridge was happy to inform everyone that one of my best friends is going to suffer pain beyond our imagination while being exterminated", Rebecca spat and took some steps towards Hermione. "I have better things to do than learn some lousy spells. The DA is no more anyway, the only thing I have left to do here is make Umbridge pay for what she did. I'm not going to allow the Ministry to do such a thing and watch Yugi waste away because his Aibou met such a horrible fate!"
Fred raised an eyebrow. "You don't need our help."
"We're not saying we wouldn't have let you help, we really would have", George continued.
"It's just that phase one is already about to begin", Fred finished.
Then George smiled. "But give Umbridge all hell you can and greet her from us."
Rebecca was disappointed but she didn't show it.
"I suggest you go find Tracey", Ron said. "I think you and her have your mind set on the same thing right now."
"Rebecca, I'm sorry", Hermione whispered.
Rebecca understood and her eyes narrowed. "Don't be. He is not gone yet." With those words she turned around and left the Entrance Hall before too many students saw her.
Snape wasn't too surprised that Tracey was late. He had seen her talking and leaving the Great Hall with Potter and his gang. She didn't seem to be too happy when she finally entered Snape's office for the days lectures.
"You're late", Snape stated and looked up. He didn't show it but he was startled when he saw the look in the young Slytherin's eyes. They blazed with fury and determination that seemed misplaced in her dark face. She had clearly already made up her mind and whatever it was she had made her mind up about, nothing and no one was going to talk her out of it now.
"I'm not going to apologize, Professor, since I'm not sorry", she said, her eyes cast to the ground but still with something defying over her posture. "Can I ask you a question, sir?"
Snape was surprised but amused and decided to see how things were going to turn out. Perhaps he could learn some more about the History teacher, after all, Tracey got along well with Rebecca. "I can't see why not."
"Sir, what do you know about last night?" she asked with a frown.
Snape was surprised by that question, he had expected something different. "Nothing more than what was in the Daily Prophet."
Tracey looked visibly disappointed. "You didn't know, sir?"
Snape shook his head slowly. "Dumbledore told me that there was more to him then meets the eye. I had however not expected something like this. I assume you were part of the 'army of students'?"
Tracey nodded, knowing that there was no point in denying it. She wondered why Umbridge hadn't put them all in some sort of horrible detention yet. She assumed they would be hearing more about it after dinner or something like that. Tracey waited for Snape to say something about it, but he didn't say a word, so she asked: "Professor, what do you think about what happened last night?"
Snape looked at Tracey but refrained from answering. The fact was that he wasn't quite sure, like most people he had a deeply rooted fear for possessions and that kind of spirits and his first reaction when he had seen the paper was relief. The thing that made Snape wonder was Professor Muto's reaction, people freed from possessing spirits tended to feel a certain relief and hope, they definitely weren't devastated. "I belief you have a more informed point of view on it", he said eventually and stood up.
"What do you mean, sir?" Tracey asked curiously.
"You hold more information about this than I do", Snape said. "It's after all the fifth years who have suffered most damage by Professor Muto." Snape was quiet a while and then spoke: "I believe that Professor Muto won't be in the school much longer."
Tracey sighed deeply but didn't push the subject further although Snape could tell she wanted to ask a lot more. He was disappointed, he had hoped to learn more but Tracey chose the right moment to stop. "Do you disagree on the actions of the Ministry?" Snape wondered.
Tracey's gaze was just as intense as that of her mother Snape noticed but unfortunately for Tracey her eyes also showed exactly how she felt. Fury was the only word Snape could find to describe the expression. He had already gotten his answer.
"Yes, I think what they did was despicable!" Tracey answered honestly, somewhat to Snape's surprise.
"I can't imagine why", Snape said, sounding as bored as usual, although intrigued by the subject. "A malevolent spirit was removed from the school, they only did as they were supposed to. It would hardly be the first spirit they captured and destroyed." Snape had set a trap.
Tracey didn't fall for it. She didn't defend the spirit as Snape had expected, instead she thought through her words before speaking. Snape didn't know if he should be amused or not, most students would have fallen for that and although Snape really wanted to know more he was pleased that the werewolf at least could think twice before opening her mouth.
"But no one should need to suffer for it. Couldn't they have been gentler on Professor Muto?"
"Removing a spirit is a troublesome task. It is a surprise that they were able to remove him here, usually the progress can take up to a week. They were gentle on him", Snape said. "Although none the less shocking, I suppose."
Tracey shook her head. "Why does everything that happens, whatever it is, hurt. I understand that they want to destroy the spirit, but why does he need to suffer?"
Snape frowned. Tracey was trying to get information from him in the same way he was trying to get information from her. She too probably knew what they were doing. It was a cat and mouse game, the first one to make a mistake was the one who had to give the information. The only difference was that Snape's information was his to give and he doubted that Tracey felt free to share whatever she knew. They could continue to play this game but Snape didn't feel like it.
"They once asked me for help when they first succeeded in removing a spirit from a person. They had tried to destroy the spirit in many different ways, most of these ways can't be spoken of since they were practiced in the Department of Mysteries. I made an Unbreakable Vow not to ever speak of what happened down in the Department of Mysteries. However when they noticed that those ways didn't work they moved into an empty room in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, turned it into a laboratory and asked my help", Snape told Tracey who looked slightly confused.
Tracey did however not say a thing and just sat quiet and listened. Snape appreciated it.
"It took all of us a lot of research and patience before we were able to destroy the spirit. The spirit in question was truly malevolent, more than you can imagine and he killed about a dozen of us before we found a way to restrain him. Possessing spirits need something to possess, that's very important to know. It was however hard to make hims stick to one and the same thing and he just jumped from one person on the team to the other, killing them all after driving them insane. When we found a way to restrain him we could focus on destroying him instead."
Tracey looked disappointed, but still remained silent. She knew that she needed to know that one piece of information Snape kept from her. When Snape had figured out what she wanted to know he also knew what she had made her mind up about. She was planning to free the spirit, he just didn't know why.
"That was a hard task, we couldn't kill him since he was already dead and destroying the object he was possessing would just make him shift to something or someone different. He always preferred someone, usually that person would not survive. The spirit suffered a lot throughout the experiments and when we finally managed to destroy him he went screaming."
Tracey's eyes narrowed. She was still waiting for his point.
"I was the one who finally found out how to get rid of him", Snape said and couldn't help but sound slightly proud. "The subject of possessing spirits is one which people preferably avoid, but I've always found it intriguing. I am one of the few persons in the Wizarding world who have bothered to learn about them. I know how they restrain the spirits and I know how they destroy them. If they manage to destroy him before July I'll be impressed. If you are going to free him you are going to need my help, but before I'll give you any of that I want to know who I'm saving and why you want to do that."
Tracey gawked at him. She was too surprised to react any more than that. This Snape collided with everything she knew about him, she hadn't really expected him to care. Least of all had she expected him to see right through her. "How did you know?" she whispered eventually.
Snape chuckled. "With Umbridge as Headmistress you won't be able to remain in the school much longer. She despises werewolves, you know that. You don't really have anything to loose when it comes to this school, the worst thing anyone can do is kicking you out and you don't care about that because you will be anyway. Everyone can see that you are far more determined than usual and why else would you ask about last night and listen so carefully to whatever I can tell you about the extermination of spirits. Unless you intend to destroy a spirit yourself, which I doubt."
Tracey looked at the floor and shuffled a bit with her feet. "Who are you?"
Snape was taken aback by that question. "What do you mean?"
"We see you as a former Death Eater, although there are those who think that former is incorrect, who teaches at Hogwarts, who is unfair towards the students and always cranky. You are not liked amongst us. Or us … You're a great teacher, sir, but I'm the only one who has experienced that. Why?" Tracey asked confused and dejected. "And now you do something like this? Who are you really?"
Snape looked her in the eyes and Tracey could literally see him grow as he straightened his back and suddenly she felt as if she was shrinking. "I asked you who I am saving."
Tracey would feel sorry for whoever didn't get that hint. He did not want to talk about it.
Snape sighed and became his usual length again, just by returning to his normal posture. "Professor Muto and I have something in common. Depending on what you are going to tell me I'm willing to break my promise and tell you what happens when they destroy a spirit and how you can save him. Who is he?"
"But that's not up to me to tell!" Tracey called out. "I don't have that right!"
"In addition to that", Snape continued as if Tracey hadn't said a thing. "No one can know that I was involved if you against all odds would manage to do anything for him. One doesn't simply walk into the Ministry and walk out with a spirit on death row."
Tracey walked towards the desk and sat down uninvited, but she didn't care. "Fine. But no one can know. If he's destroyed he won't care anyway."
"Professor Yugi Muto and the spirit possessing him … what kind of relation did they have?" Snape asked. This question was crucial, he wasn't going to help save a malevolent torturer, like most spirits were.
Tracey pointed at the newspaper. "That is not Stockholm Syndrome … See for yourself."
Snape nodded. "Okay then. I tell you what you need to know to save him and from there you'll have to do it on your own and you don't tell anyone I gave you any of this information and I don't say a word about the things you are going to tell me."
Tracey smiled and held out a hand. "Deal", she said.
Snape raised an eyebrow, then shrugged slightly. This was slightly odd, he'd never done anything like this before, especially not with a student, but it didn't feel that bad. "Deal", he said and took Tracey's hand.
BOOM!
Rebecca had found the world's best spot to enjoy the fireworks. They were beautiful, not only because of how they looked, but also because of what they were doing to Umbridge. She was sitting in the very hallway where Fred and George had set of the fireworks, just a floor underneath Umbridge's office.
Rebecca sat in a windowsill, pressed against the window to make sure that none of the pyrotechnic wonders would hit her. It were rockets, dragons, firecrackers and Catherine wheels, in screaming colors with sparks that wrote inappropriate words in the air by own device. Rebecca smirked as she saw that they were only getting stronger, rather than fading away. She had to applaud Fred and George for their efforts, they were quite the geniuses in their area of expertise.
Rebecca saw Umbridge come running into the hallway, but she stopped halfway down the staircase and stared in utter horror. She was followed by Filch, who shared the same astounded expression. Rebecca pointed her wand at a Catherine wheel discreetly and whispered a spell with menace in her voice. The Catherine wheel, one of the largest, changed direction and headed for Umbridge. Umbridge and Filch stood transfixed before they, to Rebecca's disappointment, ducked just in time. The Catherine wheel left the building through the window and took advantage of the larger space it had in the grounds to grow even larger.
"Hurry, Filch, hurry!" Umbridge shrieked. "They'll be all over the school unless we do something – stupefy!"
Rebecca laughed out loud, but wasn't heard due to the noise of the fireworks, as Umbridge's spell hit one of the rockets. The effect was awesome, at least Rebecca thought so. The rocket exploded, burning a hole in one of the paintings, the witch in it ran just in time to the painting next to hers.
The explosion gave Rebecca an idea. She pointed at one of the dragons, the one closest to Umbridge, which reminded Rebecca of Solar Flare Dragon, and whispered: "Evanesco!" Suddenly ten additional dragons appeared and Umbridge took a run for it.
When only a firey butterfly was left in the hallway she jumped down from the windowsill. She didn't laugh anymore, she had had her little moment of malevolence, but she was far from satisfied. Not even when a soot-blackened Umbridge passed Rebecca who was sneaking her way to her dorm could Rebecca find enough glee to satisfy her need for vengeance. She had to think of something better.
Rebecca, who hadn't spoken to anyone else but Fred and George that day, had in all the uproar caused by the fireworks forgotten that it wasn't Umbridge she was hiding from but the students. So when the statue asked her: "What work can you never finish?" Rebecca answered somewhat sarcastic: "An autobiography."
The eagle knocker opened the door for her and everyone in the common room went absolutely silent and stared at her. Rebecca considered turning around and just walking out again, but she didn't even get that chance. Peter, who had been sitting near the fire, jumped up and ran towards her, giving her a tight hug. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been?"
"Increasing fireworks", Rebecca said dryly and pushed Peter away. "Now I'm going to bed." Her tone allowed no protests and besides, no one of the Ravenclaws with all their questions dared asking her. Umbridge had made her point very clear.
"Rebecca", Luna said as she walked down the stairs from the girls dormitory. "You can't pretend it never happened."
"Of course I can't", Rebecca hissed venomously. "I wish I could. But I can't. There is enough here that reminds me time after time again of what happened. I've never liked this place, I don't like this world. I was right, wasn't I? The only thing it has brought me, or Yugi for that matter, is suffering!"
Peter looked hurt, but Rebecca actually didn't care. Without looking at any of them she walked up to the dormitory, passing Luna who didn't look all too happy. It took a while before Rebecca noticed that it weren't only her own footsteps which she heard walking up the stairs. She turned around to see that Luna was following her.
"Not everything is as it appears", Luna said while she looked Rebecca in the eyes. "Some things can't be understood!"
Rebecca stood there a minute or so, then she turned away again and entered the dormitory. Luna stayed put, crestfallen. She, more even than most others, wanted to know the truth behind the spirit which had so harshly been removed from Hogwarts.
The morning after Rebecca was snatched away by Tracey. Rebecca had been on her way to the Great Hall to get herself some breakfast before most of the students woke up, but she didn't even make it that far. Tracey grabbed Rebecca by the arm and without saying a word she dragged her to the Room of Requirement. She didn't let go until Rebecca sat on the bed.
"Sit down and listen", Tracey said.
Rebecca who already sat down just looked at Tracey. The girl looked furious, to say the least, Rebecca was glad that fury at least wasn't turned towards her.
"Please, please tell me that the Pharaoh possessing Professor Muto was different from all the others", Tracey pleaded and Rebecca noted that she was shaking. "Please."
"What?" was Rebecca's ingenious reply to that unexpected plea.
"Is he like a normal spirit? Or is he indeed attached to the Millennium Puzzle? Or is it something different?" Tracey asked and paced through the room. Then she stopped dead in her tracks. "Please, at least tell me Professor Muto is still here!" Tracey put both hands on her head at the thought and fell to her knees. "You've seen him, right?"
Rebecca had no idea what had just happened, but she didn't particularly like it. "Tracey, calm down. Yes, Yugi is in the castle. I was going there after breakfast. I saw him just yesterday."
Tracey seemed to calm slightly at this. "Good. Good."
"But Tracey, why? What's going on?" Rebecca asked and stood up, grabbing the Slytherin to make her stand still.
"How much do you know about possessions?" Tracey wondered and didn't bother waiting for a reply. "A spirit who possesses a person or an object does preferably not leave since they see the thing they possess as their property. That's why a possessing spirit will only leave his host when under torture, very real, very horrible torture. Because the spirit feels everything his host feels he eventually has to leave or risk going insane."
The blood drained from Rebecca's face. "How do you know this?"
Tracey shook her head. "I know. That will have to do."
"At least tell me how you know about the Pharaoh", Rebecca demanded with a hostile tone. She didn't like that Tracey knew this much, she didn't like it at all.
"Bill Weasley worked in Egypt as Curse-Breaker and when a family of tomb-keepers died they broke their way into their living space and entered a hidden tomb of a nameless Pharaoh. There was enough information there and then there are the things Professor Muto told us himself and the fact that he's the King of Games made that we could gather information from everywhere and combine it until we found the solution, the spirit was the final clue." Tracey said. Then she turned around and pointed at the red bag around Rebecca's waist. "You were a duelist too. I suppose those are your cards?"
Rebecca chuckled darkly and nodded. "Actually, I still count myself as a duelist. This school just won't allow it. Now tell me more"
"He's damn lucky they were able to take the Pharaoh without having to take him along. Otherwise …" Tracey shuddered. "The way to destroy a spirit requires that a spirit doesn't have anything to posses. There are spells to protect from possession, but they only work on inanimate objects. So in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures there is a room, actually a torture chamber with walls made out of pure concrete, the spells against possession in this room are the strongest which exist. In addition to that, the walls are jinxed so that nothing, not even a spirit, can pass through them."
"Is that what they meant that he at the moment is harmless?" Rebecca asked and wondered how much the shadows could affect that. Not that Atem would be able to use them when locked away in the puzzle.
Tracey nodded. "Yes. But the Pharaoh wasn't tied to Professor Muto, right? He sealed his soul in the puzzle. That's how they were able to take him without having to put Professor Muto through such medieval methods. The Pharaoh is different from most spirits, that's why it'll take them so long to destroy him … unless …"
"Unless what?" Rebecca wondered carefully.
"Normally, possessing spirits are wandering souls, stripped from their bodies before they died, that's why they are so rare. Most of them are regular people who over the course of their nonexistence go insane and become cruel and highly dangerous creatures, that's also when they start possessing people. They aren't bound to anything, that's why you can't kill them, they'll just move on to the next person or, if they really have to, to an object", Tracey explained. "Are you getting all of this?"
Rebecca understood, more than she wanted really. It bugged her however that Tracey hadn't told her how they destroyed spirits yet. The unknown progress left her with an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach and she just wanted to get it over with. "Yes, I understand. But the Pharaoh was bound to the puzzle with ancient magic, the only reason he could possess Yugi was because the Millennium puzzle gave him that opportunity. Others have worn the Millennium puzzle without the Pharaoh having access to their souls."
"Exactly, the Pharaoh's soul is in the Millennium puzzle. If they want a spirit to leave an object, they have to destroy it. But since the Pharaoh is bound to the puzzle, is it possible that his soul will be destroyed with it?" Tracey asked to Rebecca's surprise.
Rebecca made a frustrated gesture and blew a stray hair out of her eyes. "How am I supposed to know that? You are the one who turned an expert overnight!"
"I don't know! They've never had anything like this before!" Tracey made the same frustrated gesture and sat down on the floor. "I'm not sure if it is possible to destroy a spirit, a soul, like that. But from what you are telling me I can assume the Pharaoh isn't able to possess whatever or whomever he wants."
"He isn't even able to leave the puzzle", Rebecca sighed. "Even if they don't destroy him if they destroy the puzzle, they'll most certainly harm him. I don't think they can, however." Rebecca said. "There are those protecting the Pharaoh, I'd be surprised if they just let him be destroyed. What troubles me is that the Ministry was able to steal the Pharaoh away without them doing anything about it."
"Protected by what?" Tracey asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The same thing that protected me when you transformed in the Hospital wing", Rebecca said, somewhat insensitive. "Only mightier."
Tracey pressed her lips together and looked away. She was still ashamed over what had happened that night, regardless of the fact that Rebecca had told her a hundred times that she shouldn't. "Would I have harmed you otherwise?" she asked.
Rebecca nodded. "Most definitely."
Tracey laughed, humorless. "I suppose it's just my luck I attacked the girl protected by mysterious powers."
Rebecca ignored the comment. "We need to get the puzzle back. There is no telling what happens if it is destroyed, if it can be destroyed. It holds immense powers, darker than you can imagine", she stated and looked at the ground.
"The power of stolen souls", Tracey whispered and Rebecca nodded. "Yes, indeed. What surprises me is that those souls didn't interfere. All by all, most of them are quiet fond of Yugi and the Pharaoh."
"Are all those monsters really souls? Dean told me about them, but it all seems so weird and unbelievable", Tracey stated.
"Says the girl going to The School of Witchcraft and Wizardry", Rebecca replied somewhat dryly. "Yes, they are all part of souls, but only part. They show the true nature of a person but have no power without the Ba. Some of them were stolen and these stolen souls consist out of the Ka only and need the shadows to do anything. Than the Ka of people who die move to the Dominion of the Beasts and get power there."
"That's freaky. So I turn into a beast when I die?" Tracey wondered, trying to understand.
Rebecca shook her head. "That's not how it works. When a Ka gets sealed in the shadows they rip a persons soul in two. When you die your soul goes two different ways. Your Ba goes to the spirit realm and your Ka to the Dominion, but they are still connected. It doesn't affect you that your Ka is in a different dimension when you die."
"I wonder what my Ka is", Tracey wondered absentmindedly, but then gathered herself. "Regardless of all that. We need to save the Pharaoh!"
"Hold it right there", Rebecca interrupted the Slytherin. "Why are you so determined to save the Pharaoh?"
"I owe the Pharaoh my life, Rebecca", Tracey said and gazed at her intensely. "I have to do whatever I can to save him. It is the only right thing to do!"
Rebecca wasn't going to argue with Tracey about what was right and wrong. They didn't have time. Besides that, Rebecca was rather grateful for Tracey's knowledge, wherever she had retrieved it from.
"Let's just say the Pharaoh is a regular spirit", Rebecca stated, really wanting to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling. "How do they destroy them?"
"Basilisks", Tracey answered. "To begin with."
"Like the one which was loose in the school three years ago?" Rebecca wondered skeptically.
"A basilisk kills whoever looks them in the eyes. That's the general rule for basilisks. Look them in the eyes and die. But when you see the eyes without looking directly into them you get petrified. However when the basilisk was loose in the school Nearly Headless Nick looked him directly into the eyes, but since he was already dead he just got turned to stone.! It is the only was for a ghost to get a solid form of their own. This same things works on spirits when they are unable to possess anything and basilisk have a natural defense against possession. Are you with me?"
Rebecca merely nodded.
"Possessing spirits can only be seen when possessing someone and by the person he is currently possessing. Otherwise he is invisible. There are however a selected few creatures who can see spirits, those are cats, house-elfs and basilisks. There is a window in these concrete walls, there are always two elves behind the glass who keep a watching eye over the spirit locked up in the room. When the basilisk has turned a spirit without vessel to stone, a process which can take a while, he can't possess anymore. It's the only known method in the Wizarding world to bind a spirit."
"Then?" Rebecca asked.
"Then they smash him", Tracey said. "Literally use a spell to smash the petrified spirit into small bits. The shadows rip a persons soul once, that process rips the soul a million of times. They are destroyed. And it hurts, to the spirit it really hurts, what's worse, he keeps hurting for all eternity", Tracey added darkly.
"Why?" Rebecca asked, disappointed to notice that the feeling in her stomach had become worse rather than better.
"You can destroy a soul but you can't turn it into nonexistence, it's not possible. These pieces of the spirit will still be able to feel the pain of being torn, each and every one of them, but not a single one of them has the power to do anything at all. These millions and millions of pieces are swept together and than scattered over the ocean. They become nothing more but tortured particles of dust."
"How will they destroy the puzzle?" Rebecca asked when she received a sudden brainwave.
"Smash it, I think, and if that doesn't suffice melt it", Tracey said. "I'm not sure."
"How much can the house-elfs see?" she asked, laying the puzzle in her head.
"They can see the spirit at all times and recognize him for who he is even when possessing a person or object", Tracey answered confused. "Rebecca, why does it matter?"
"The Pharaoh's spirit is only free when the puzzle is solved, and that is free with a lot of restrictions since he remains bound to the puzzle. If they smash the puzzle he'll just disappear into it, his pure soul will be bound in the darkest corners of his soul room, unable to act or feel. Naturally there is no saying what will happen if they melt the puzzle, but if I had to guess; he'll just be stuck in eternal darkness. You see, smashing or melting the puzzle isn't really destroying it, it is reforming it, unfortunately to the point where it can never be brought back together again, but that's something different."
"That's still a cruel faith", Tracey whispered.
Rebecca nodded. "Yeah, he's been there for five-thousand years already, I think that is more than his fair share of imprisonment in darkness. We have to get the puzzle back before they melt it, otherwise it will be darn hard to solve it again." She stood up and held out a hand to help Tracey from the ground. Tracey took it and Rebecca pulled the Slytherin up. "But right now we are going to talk to Yugi. He's going to tell us what happened, then I'm going to write Raphael a letter. Then we'll see."
"Rebecca, wait, one more thing", Tracey said hastily.
"What?"
"Not everyone in the Ministry is trustworthy", Tracey said with a sound to her voice that urged Rebecca to understand.
But Rebecca didn't get it. "I know that the Ministry isn't trustworthy", she stated confused.
"That's not what I mean Rebecca, there are people on the team responsible for destroying spirits who don't find destroying spirits the most important of things. In fact, they value something else a lot more", Tracey said and looked at Rebecca intensely.
"Do you think we can buy the puzzle back?" Rebecca asked incredulous.
"If that's not possible, we should at least be able to delay the extermination. But … even the weak link amongst them won't accept a bribe from two Hogwarts students, besides that we can't afford that. We will need someone with great experience of these things", Tracey said. "We need someone who can and is willing to strive this thing on, perhaps to the point were we can get the puzzle back undamaged."
"Let's hurry!" Rebecca said and grabbed Tracey's arm. Dragging the Slytherin behind her Rebecca ran out the Room of Requirement and together they fought their way through the stream of students heading for their first lesson. Rebecca completely ignored their stares as she pushed them aside, still holding on to Tracey who did her best to keep up.
"Do you know someone like that?" Tracey asked while running when they reached a calmer part of the castle.
Rebecca nodded without stopping. "Yes, my guardian. He worked for an unusual company once and he can work with something like this. He rents an apartment in London so we only have to contact him, one way or another. First we have to talk to Yugi though."
This time Rebecca knocked first before she entered closely followed by Tracey. Yugi was sitting on the windowsill, staring into nothingness. He turned around when he heard Rebecca knock and raised an eyebrow when Tracey followed the blonde Ravenclaw.
"Yugi", Rebecca said silently. "We're going to save Atem."
Yugi just stared at them, his eyes were empty and they scared Rebecca somewhat, but she didn't show it. Then Yugi nodded. "I assumed you'd say that. What are you planning?"
I looked up torture methods to find inspiration for this chapter. People are very imaginative when hurting others, I must say. Yuck, I found some disgusting stuff. I mean, does anyone know what Chinese Water Torture is? It seems hard to believe, really. Horrible! Horrible! Horrible!
Please review, or I'll tickle you. (That actually is classified as torture too, although we never think of that)
