A/N: And so. It's been almost a year...I'm sorry! Every time I saw a new review, I felt guilty. XD (But of course happy, too, lol. In a twisted way.) I feel like this is due more to laziness than anything else...I just don't think about Yugioh and Harry Potter as much now that both series are over. But, I'm still planning to finish. Someday. X3

Chapter 36: Unwelcome

Yugi sat up in bed. However, having moved too quickly, he swooned a bit and had to press a hand to his forehead. The world swirled around him for a moment in a blur of colors before everything went normal again.

"Ohh," he moaned to himself. Before he laid back down again, he took notice of his unfamiliar surroundings. The room was neatly kept, though a thin layer of dust covered everything as though the room hadn't been stayed in for some time.

"Where am I?" he wondered aloud. He rubbed his forehead as it started to throb again.

/I think we passed out,-/ came the pharaoh's voice. /The fight with that tiara really took its toll. These are just the aftereffects now—Do you want me to switch places with you, partner?-/

/Oh, that's right,-/ said Yugi, the scene of the fight coming back to him. /No, I'll be fine. What do you think that thing was?-/

/I couldn't say,-/ said the pharaoh. /But the spirit seemed to think that that tiara was something Harry was looking for./

/Maybe he was just trying to throw us off,-/ Yugi answered. /I mean, Harry didn't notice the tiara at all while we were there./

/Yes, but.../ The pharaoh hesitated, and something Harry said came back to him.

"You don't know what power a cursed object has...It could kill you." Did Harry's words suggest that he knew the danger of the tiara at the time? Of course, with the way the tiara acted, anyone would have been able to guess as much.

However, either way, the spirit must have known about the tiara's dangers. He might have even cursed it himself in a plan to get rid of them, though the pharaoh was at a loss as how to explain how the spirit would have gotten such extensive knowledge about wizard curses in such a relatively short length of time. "The darker side of this world as extended its hand to me"... The spirit's words from back then made the pharaoh hesitant to be too quick to judge what the spirit was and wasn't capable of now, though.

/Other self?-/ Yugi spoke up tentatively.

/What is it, Partner?-/ asked the pharaoh, coming out of his thoughts.

/Didn't the spirit say something like, 'one of the things Harry's looking for'? So could there be other things as dangerous as that tiara?-/

The pharaoh didn't answer right away. When he finally spoke, his tone was grave. /Unfortunately, that may be a real possibility, Yugi./

/What are we going to do?-/ Yugi asked softly, alarmed as he began to sense the deep worry of his normally confident other self. /The spirit is dangerous—we shouldn't get them involved. We can't let Harry and the others just go around, messing with something the spirit made. I mean, if they'd been the ones fighting the tiara they'd have been killed, wouldn't they?-/

/Don't worry,-/ said the pharaoh, his voice suddenly more calm and steadying, as though he'd just realized for the first time how much he must be worrying his partner. /If we just follow them wherever they go, we can be sure to protect them./

/I hope you're right.../

The pharaoh decided not tell Yugi just how close that thing had come to actually killing them. If it hadn't been for the combined protection of his Millennium Puzzle and the Egyptian gods, then they wouldn't have gotten away as easily as they did, with only this drained feeling and a bit of a headache. They'd been lucky, there was no doubt about it.

The more he thought about it, the more uncertain the pharaoh became of whether he could really protect all of them or not if the next object tried to kill them the same way the tiara had.

/So we're just going to the leave the spirit to do whatever he wants while we follow Harry to try and protect him and the others,-/ said Yugi. /Are you sure that's a good idea? Maybe that's what the spirit wanted us to do all along./

/Yes, I know. But what other choice do we have?-/ The pharaoh hated the idea of giving up on his search for the spirit, especially if even that was part of the spirit's schemes, but he had to admit that he once again had no idea where to begin looking. If the spirit really had created the cursed tiara, then perhaps searching for the other things would lead back to the spirit. The spirit probably wanted that, but the pharaoh knew that he would have to walk into the spirit's trap to some extent in order to catch him.

/No, we don't have much of a choice about this,-/ said the pharaoh again with finality. /I think the spirit will arrange to have some kind of showdown with me sooner or later; that seems to be his way. I'm more worried about what he decides to do with himself before then. If he has, or does join up with the wizarding tyrant Voldemort, a lot of people may be killed and there will be utter chaos./

/You're right,-/ said Yugi, frowning in thought. /If the spirit helps Voldemort kill people or whatever Voldemort does, then maybe Voldemort will help the spirit kill us./

Again, the pharaoh didn't answer for a long moment. Just as Yugi began to feel as though he'd said something he shouldn't have, the pharaoh said softly, his calm voice somewhat at odds with the look on his translucent face, /Or perhaps a partnership has already taken place—The cursed objects may be Voldemort's idea./

Yugi drew in a sharp breath.

/But let's not worry about it now in any case. It would make more sense that Harry and the others would be wanting to do something with them if they had something to do with Voldemort; however, we can't really know that he and the spirit are working together at all, so it doesn't do us any good to dwell on it. Besides, I don't really think it changes things that much: we still have to make sure we're there for Harry and the others, and we don't know where the spirit is anyway to try and stop whatever he's doing./

/Yeah.../ Yugi agreed reluctantly.

But all the same, the pharaoh wracked his brain for some clue in something the spirit had said to him or done that pointed to his not working alone. For some reason, he found himself going back to that time in the entrance hall of Hogwarts where he'd fought the spirit. He could see the spirit holding up the small gyroscope and saying, 'Oh, it's not for me...' The pharaoh knitted his eyebrows. He'd almost forgotten about that, but now he realized that there could be no doubt.

Suddenly he frowned, remembering something else from yesterday. /Hey.../

/What is it, other?-/ Yugi asked.

/Why that...He left with the object, and I was the one who won our fight./

Yugi had no idea what the pharaoh was talking about for a moment, but then he smiled, though he tried not to look too amused. /Well, you know you have to stand your ground a little on these things. If even you forget what you wanted, villains almost feel obligated to cheat you blind, other self./

The pharaoh grunted, but didn't answer, still annoyed.

Yugi was quite for a minute, then he sat up again, this time more slowly, and carefully eased himself out of bed. /But I can't help but wonder,-/ he continued, /Where does Harry fit into all of this? Why would he be going after the objects if the spirit—or Voldemort, whoever it is—made them?-/

The pharaoh glanced back at him. /Well, as I said, it makes more sense for Harry to be involved if Voldemort is involved. For one thing, we know that Harry and this Voldemort have some kind of past history, based on the things we heard while we were at the school. Wasn't it Voldemort who killed Harry's parents?-/

/Yeah.../ said Yugi. /And they said Harry had run-ins with Voldemort after that, too. I wasn't sure I believed everything they said at the time, but if those things are even partly true, Harry might be trying to go after Voldemort himself. To stop him. Harry is that kind of person./

/Perhaps, but I still don't know how Harry would know about the objects at all. Could the spirit have been the one to tell Harry about the objects as well?-/

/Maybe,-/ said Yugi, rubbing his cheek tiredly. /But that means we're still back where we started. We don't know anything for certain, so our best option is to stick with Harry and the others no matter what and just see what happens. That's the most important thing./

Going over to the window, Yugi looked out over the backyard garden below and saw the blanket of darkness that had covered the area since yesterday evening. It was a natural darkness, since the sun had not yet risen yet, but it still made Yugi feel a little uneasy.

/Let's not talk about this anymore,-/ said Yugi, shivering a little as he drew his rumpled dress clothes closer around him and glanced around at the neatly kept room, wishing he'd brought a change of clothes with him, but he hadn't thought he'd be spending more than a day at the wedding.

/All right, Yugi,-/ the pharaoh agreed. Attempting to think things through was just turning out to make him worry more, and worrying had to be about the most taxing thing a person could do. /Should we go downstairs and see if any of the others are up yet?-/

/Might as well,-/ said Yugi, /Though I don't think they would be. It's probably not even six o'clock yet./

Yugi climbed slowly down the narrow staircase and found that he was right, and no one in the house was up and about yet.

/Let's wait awhile,-/ the pharaoh suggested and Yugi agreed.

Sighing a little to himself, Yugi leaned against the table as he scanned the dark kitchen. He debated with himself whether to turn the lights on, but he was afraid of disturbing someone by being up so early, though he was sure that most of their bedrooms were upstairs. Without turning on the light, he nervously started to scan the walls for a clock to tell him what time it was and hoped that someone would be getting up soon.

It wasn't long before he spotted a large grandfather clock against the far wall, but as he tried to figure out the time, he saw that it had far too many hands to be an ordinary clock. Upon closer inspection, he saw that each hand had a name on it and that all the hands were pointed at an inscription that described some particular action or location, rather than a number. All pointed to 'mortal peril' except the hand labeled 'Ron' was pointed to 'traveling.' Yugi wondered if this was some sort of private joke among the Weasleys or if the threat of Voldemort really reached all the way out here. He supposed it did, but was at a loss as to how a clock could know that. He hesitated as he saw a piece of paper on the kitchen table, illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through the windows and, curious, he had just started over toward it when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

He spun around quickly and, to his surprise, saw several dark figures moving outside the house. He went to the window to get a better look and mumbled to himself, "Hey...that's Harry." Without thinking, he started to the door.

Clutching his chest, Malik fell hard to one knee as his life point counter struck zero.

"I might have known," said a gloating voice from the opposite side of the warehouse. "Have your skills deteriorated since you threw away your duel disk after Battle City? Or perhaps, as I rather suspected when I never witnessed one of your duels, you were always this weak..."

"Shut up," said Malik through gritted teeth and, forcing himself to climb painfully back to his feet, he pulled his fist away from his chest to hold it clenched at his side.

Carefully ignoring Malik's glare, the spirit said casually as he began to remove the cards from where'd they'd been played on his duel disk, "So, what did you think of my new deck?"

"Killing your own monsters wasn't cruel enough for you, so you drain their souls as well now." He took a deep, unsteady breath and continued, "It fits you better than I could describe."

The spirit reshuffled his cards into his deck and replaced it in the deck slot. Lifting his gaze, he grinned broadly at Malik. "Why, thank you, but you shouldn't flatter me so. I daresay, it'll go straight to my head. Well...you should know what happens now."

Malik looked at the spirit defiantly. "I'm not afraid of you."

Without speaking, the spirit reached into his pocket and pulled out something small, and Malik thought it looked like a doll, though he couldn't see very clearly from that far across the warehouse. "Not afraid of me, even knowing I hold your life in my hands?" the spirit asked softly, slowly walking toward him. "You should know, I can do worse than take your soul."

"Huh," said Malik in an unimpressed tone.

The spirit's smirk didn't falter as he continued to advance on Malik, like a stealthy hunter savoring its advance on cornered prey. "I could let you live, if I wanted..." He suddenly re-pocketed the doll-like object and reached into an inside pocket of his trench coat instead.

What the spirit extracted made Malik's stomach twist and his mouth went dry.

"Something wrong?" asked the spirit, but Malik wasn't listening, his mind only filled with images of a burning couch and a murderous green light.

"Where did you get that?" Malik whispered.

The spirit slowly directed the end of the wooden stick at Malik and said, his eye burning with anticipation, "Don't worry, I wouldn't kill you with this. I just want to show you something I'd think you'd find fun...Imperios!"

Malik didn't have time to think or dodge as he was struck with something from the stick. However, there was no fire and he didn't die. He only felt a wave of pleasantness wash over him and he found himself forgetting that there was such a thing as pain or unhappiness in the world.

Words were coming out of the spirit's mouth, but they were so quiet and far away that they didn't break the new peace in his mind.

"Hand over your duel disk..."

Malik reached down and hit a latch that loosened the band attaching the disk to his arm. Sliding the device off, he handed it to the spirit.

The spirit proceeded to examine it, looking over all the different parts, but Malik made no reaction, even when the spirit began to remove the cards from the playing field and tossed them unceremoniously on the ground. Malik still made no protest, nor had any desire to, as the spirit pulled out his deck and looked through it as though seeing if there were any cards he might want before tossing that on the ground as well.

The spirit pulled back his trench coat and attached the duel disk to his belt. Moving the trench coat back over to conceal the bulky disk, the spirit finally turned his attention back to Malik. The spirit smirked and Malik could hear the voice again, speaking to him in his head.

How would you like to kill your beloved pharaoh? Or no, better yet, that sister and step brother of yours?

Yes...that would be fine...

Malik might have run off right that second if the spirit had let him. However, the spirit was holding his wand up again, and he suddenly jerked it backward in a violent severing motion.

In a moment, everything came back. Malik remembered why he was there and what the spirit was, and the things he would and would never do. He stared at his hands, which were shaking in horror.

"So, what do you think?" asked the spirit, grinning broadly, but Malik, still shivering, took a quick step backward. With his wet shoes, he slipped on one of his own cards and fell backwards, but his gaze didn't once move from the spirit.

"You're a fiend," he said hoarsely, his eyes wide.

"Come now," said the spirit, looking exceedingly pleased. "It wasn't that impressive."

The spirit began to advance on Malik again, and Malik pushed himself backward, edging as fast as he could away from the spirit.

"Not anymore impressive than what you've already done, right Malik?" the spirit continued, his voice lowering until it wasn't much more than a murmur.

Malik continued to back away, not taking his eyes off the spirit, until he hit a barrier. He glanced behind him and saw that he'd come to the wall of the warehouse. Unlike the center of the warehouse which was lit by the dim light that came though the high broken windows that were tilted at the same angle as the angled ceiling high above them, the very edge of the building was cast in a line of shadow.

The spirit loomed over him, his face completely obscured for a moment in the darkness, save his single eye gleaming crimson.

A trickle of sweat slid down Malik's face as he stared up into that eye. He wondered, was this how his followers had felt upon hearing his own voice, just after they'd lost a duel?

Gritting his teeth, Malik reached up and wiped the sweat away. He glared up at the spirit.

"You can do whatever you want with me, but it won't change the fact that the pharaoh will still defeat you," said Malik coldly.

As Malik's eyes finished adjusting to the dimmer light, he could see the spirit smirking. The spirit reached up and casually touched his black scarf. "Let's let the final outcome determine that, shall we?" he said softly and, turning around, he walked to the center of the warehouse where the dim, rain-strained light from the windows above him combined to be the brightest.

The spirit was pleased with how this had gone. Of course the chance that the tombkeeper would actually find the pharaoh if he did go to England was almost zero. This had been a nice distraction, but he would let all the tomb keepers live for now, at least long enough for them to see the fall of their beloved pharaoh.

'Yes, Malik Ishtar...wander the whole country of England until you despair and not even your heart can make your body move anymore, and may you never reunite with your king.'

The spirit turned his head to look at Malik over his shoulder and made eye contact for a split second. Then, a moment later, there was a loud 'crack' and the spirit was gone.

Outside the Weasleys' home, Harry was talking to Ron and Hermione in a low voice.

"Hermione, you put together some provisions for us, right?"

"Yes," said Hermione, holding up a deceptively small-looking bag.

"And Ron, you wrote a note to your mum giving our excuses for why we have to leave?"

"Done," said Ron.

Harry nodded. "Right. Good, then let's get going—" He stopped mid-sentence as he caught sight of a short someone coming out of the house toward them.

"Harry—Hermione—Ron," Yugi called as he jogged up to them. "Where are you going this early in the morning?"

"Er," Harry said uncomfortably, but Hermione took over.

"You should be in bed now, Yugi," she said with a stern look not unlike McGonagall's. "You were in pretty bad shape when we brought you here."

"I'm fine," Yugi began, but cut himself off as he glanced around at the area around him and commented in surprise, "Hey, this is the same place the wedding was at."

"Uh, yeah," said Ron with a note of suppressed sarcasm. "It's my house."

"Oh," said Yugi, sheepish. "Right. I guess that would make sense."

"Anyway," said Hermione with a small exasperated sigh, "don't try to change the subject. You should be resting; if you you push yourself too hard, you won't recover."

"But, like I said, I'm perfectly fine now," Yugi insisted. "Where are you going?"

"It's not important," said Harry quietly. "You'd better just go back to bed, Yugi."

"I'm fine," Yugi repeated lightly, as though he weren't actually listening to them or he didn't think they were serious. He began, a slightly nervous tremor to his tone, "Uh, anyway. Do you think—Do you think I...I was wondering if could go with you. Wherever you're going."

"Um," said Hermione uncertainly, frowning a little and Ron looked uncomfortable.

"No," said Harry firmly. He didn't want to hurt Yugi's feelings or make him feel unwanted, but the boy had to understand the truth. They couldn't just let him come along with them because he thought it would be fun, or because he thought he could be a hero if he got to fight more objects like the tiara.

The three didn't notice the sharpening of the shorter Gryffindor's eyes, or the subtle way his posture straightened into that of someone with an assured air, rather than the shy, timid one of a moment before.

"Why not? Because it's dangerous?" he asked softly, the cheerful friendliness absent from his tone.

Hermione reacted slightly, noticing the change once he spoke, and Harry hesitated, so surprised he was at a temporary loss for words.

"You can't come," Harry repeated finally. "That's all there is to it."

"But why not?" The pharaoh's voice was soft and calm.

Harry opened his mouth to repeat himself, but Ron spoke up instead, seemingly oblivious to any change in Yugi.

"Why do you want to come with us so much anyway?"

Yugi seemed to consider something before he said, "That tiara from before—from yesterday—was quite dangerous, as you have probably figured out by now. I have reason to believe, that is, I have it from a certain source, that you have plans to search for more things like this tiara. I just want to accompany you."

Hermione's eyes widened and a small sound of surprise escaped Ron at these words; however, Yugi continued to keep his eyes on Harry and Harry didn't betray any of his own surprise.

"Well, I don't know who would've told you something like that, but I'll tell you right now that we aren't doing anything like that," Harry said, not blinking once.

"Then, by all means, tell me where you're going."

"We're going to Godric's Hollow, to visit my parents' graves," Harry answered swiftly. It was partly true, anyway.

"Let me go with you and I'll pay my respects as well," said Yugi, showing no signs of giving up.

"It's a personal trip." Harry was starting to get irritated now and he balled his hands into fists at his side, wondering just when Yugi had become so stubborn.

Yugi made no reply to this, instead taking a step closer to them with a determined look on his face.

"Harry," Hermione whispered, and gestured at the line of red light that had appeared just over the horizon. "Ron's family will be up soon—"

"I know," said Harry, frowning at Yugi. "Listen Yugi, we need to go now so—" He started to move back away from Yugi, but Yugi boldly stepped closer to them a second time.

"I'm coming with you," Yugi said with that authority of tone he'd never once had a fraction of, at least not before this afternoon.

When Hermione, Ron and Harry only continued to edge away from him, Yugi took on a reasoning tone and touched Harry's arm, though more as though to put himself in a position to be able to grab hold of someone if Harry made a move to Disapparate than as a friendly gesture.

"Listen—I won't ask any questions about what you're doing," said Yugi. "And I promise not to be a liability to you. I just need..."

"You can't—" Harry started, but Hermione was looking at the line of light on the horizon again, which was steadily growing wider.

"Harry," she warned and Harry cast a glance back at the Burrow.

Harry took a quick step back from Yugi and made to Apparate, but this time, Yugi really did seize hold of him, small hand clamping down on his wrist.

"Let go," Harry said coldly.

"No."

"Let go," Harry repeated, attempting to wrestle his arm free from Yugi's grip, but the vertically-challenged Gryffindor was surprisingly strong.

"Harry!" said Hermione and as Harry glanced back toward the house, he heard the murmur of voices within.

"They'll find my note," whispered Ron worriedly. "Mum'll try to stop us from going, I'm sure of it—"

"You can't come," Harry told Yugi, his tone annoyed, but now with a note of urgency as well, as he attempted yet again to get Yugi to let go of his arm. "I'm telling you, you'll just get hurt—"

"You can't stop my coming," said Yugi, staring up into Harry's face without the hint of fear. "I'm going to stop that fiend no matter what—" Then he added, this last sentence seeming like a final, desperate attempt at convincing them to take him willingly, "You didn't resent my help when I took care of that tiara."

Harry was so startled that Yugi would ever make such a suggestion, as though he was hinting that it was too dangerous for them, but not for himself, that he stopped struggling for a moment and just started at Yugi. Harry thought he finally understood: Yugi didn't want to go with them because in his ignorance he thought it would be exciting or because he stupidly wanted to be a hero with them, but because he wanted to protect them.

It was a kind thought, but it was the sort of thought that the teachers at Hogwarts or any number of the adults Harry had met would have. Wanting to keep him in the dark or keep him from fighting the enemy because it was too dangerous, and always just assuming that he, because he was a child, shouldn't be part of a mission. Like a teacher Yugi saw him, Hermione and Ron—he saw them as people who needed protection, rather than four people on the same team, working for the same cause.

Harry's eyes narrowed and he replied icily, "'That 'fiend' is too much for you, Yugi." He opened his mouth to say more, but Hermione interrupted.

"Forget it, let's go Harry! We'll worry about him later—"

Harry closed his mouth again, only continuing to glare down at Yugi, as the thought of his discovery continued to turn itself over in his mind. As Yugi stared back, his expression was determined, yet calm, even as his ruby eyes reflected the angry red of the morning light back at him.

Then, a loud 'crack' pierced the silence and the four figures standing in the yard vanished.

"What is 'evil'? If I'm loyal to what you say is right, is that all it takes to make me 'good'?"

A/N: [Warning, spoilers for HP book 7]

That 'deceptively small-looking bag' comment was, ironically, there before I actually read book 7. (It's even in my original rough draft in my notebook, which I wrote a LONG time ago.) It seemed natural, I guess. But I definitely hadn't imagined it out to the extent JKR had, carrying around a tent and a year's supply of food (or however long it was). Haha! I really need to read the HP series again. JKR's writing is just so phenomenal, she's probably one of the authors whose work I respect most.

Well, if I'd posted this chapter before book 7 had come out like I'd planned, I would have put a note here saying how I didn't know if someone could force someone else to take them somewhere via side-along apparition by grabbing them, adding that I thought it probably, in fact, wasn't possible because I had a vague memory of Mundungus disapparating while Harry had his hands around his throat (although... I looked it up and that's not really what happens; Mundungus uses a spell to make Harry let go of his throat before he goes), but I was happy to see that question was answered in book 7, and in favor of what I already had too. (: Forcing side-along apparition is the only way to follow someone or even know where they're going.

Posted 4/29/2008, revised 9/10/11