Notes: Ok, I apologize if this took a while. But it's extra-long to make up for my VERY VERY short chapter last time. I was going to split this chapter up into two…but decided against it. (^_^) Oh yes, and in this fanfic, Kaiba actually acts civil toward Yami. Er, make that nice.
Thanks to my reviewers, Mystic Queen, Rosz of the Angel, Silver Angel, Alaena Flame Dragonstar, Blackbird, and Unintentional Nightmare.
Review Alert: I need to know which houses Yugi, Joey, Mai, Ryou, Kaiba, Malik, and Tea should go into. If you'd just send your opinion in a review, I'd take the most popular houses for each of them. Thanks!
Kisaru: How do you feel about this chapter, DMG?
DarkMagicianGirl: It's long, and not bad.
Kisaru: *consults scripts and lists of opinions* That means the readers will….will….
DarkMagicianGirl: *taps foot impatiently* Yes?
Kisaru: Um…*sweatdrops* Er…I don't really KNOW what they'll do!
DarkMagicianGirl: I know! I know! *raises hand up into the air and waves it around frantically*
Kisaru: What?
DarkMagicianGirl: They will- *pauses for effect* REVIEW!!!!!!!!
Kisaru: Oy. Review freak. But anyway, on with her fanfic.
DarkMagicianGirl: That's MY line, you're my guest fanfic writer today so YOU say the disclaimer!
Kisaru: I suppose I'll STAY your guest fanfic writer for all eternity?
DarkMagicianGirl: *nods* Now SAY THE DISCLAIMER!
Kisaru: NEVER!
DarkMagicianGirl: *pulls out hair dryer and brandishes it threateningly* Oh yes you will!
Kisaru: EEP! OK! OK! The disclaimer is as follows- DarkMagicianGirl owns NOTHING! NADA! Er…ZERO! And she also apologizes for all those other times that she missed the disclaimer on her other chapters!
DarkMagicianGirl: Thanks, Kisaru! And now, on with the fic!
New Author's Notes: Again, not many changes. Rewording, added quotes, and a few other additions seem to be the extent of the editing. I also fixed the "ghost" thing that a lot of people commented on (most of them laughing hysterically…@.@) so it actually makes sense now…I don't know what was going on through my head when I wrote that…
Chapter 5
Platform Nine and Three-Quarters
Yami stormed through the crowded streets, his fury practically forging him a path through the crowds thronging the cobbled paths in Diagon Alley. Why did I let Yugi convince me to come here in the first place? he silently fumed. WHY?
He was so mad he rammed into someone coming out of an old, dusty-looking store. "Hey!" the person snapped. "Watch where you're going, you-" He stopped.
"Is it my hair again?" Yami snarled. "I don't want to hear any comments about it!"
"Yugi?"
"What?" Yami practically shrieked. "How'd you know my name? And I-" He fell silent seeing who it was. "Kaiba?"
The teenage CEO of KaibaCorp was standing in front of him, looking a bit disgruntled and ruffled, with his ever-present silver briefcase in his hand, and a big, bulky bag in the other.
"Er…Yugi? You seem a bit…angry today."
"That was the understatement of the millennia," Yami grumbled. "And believe me, I would know. And it's Yami, not Yugi. Yugi's off with some so-called famous wizard named Harry Potter. Personally, I think he's a no-good, nosy, stupid, b-" Kaiba cut him off.
"Harry Potter?" he asked in a fairy interested tone.
"What's with you?" Yami asked, annoyed. "He's just some nosy kid that knows too much for his own good."
"He's got some weird past," Kaiba frowned. "Although personally I don't believe a single word of it."
"What?" Yami asked, leaning against the wall of the shop.
"There's this weirdo so-called Dark wizard named Voldemort," Kaiba said matter-of-factly. "He went around killing lots of people with a weird spell and…yeah…"
"Yeah?" Yami asked.
Kaiba shrugged. "He survived the attack. No one else did. And all the other times Voldemort's attacked Harry at school, well, he's escaped and survived those too."
Yami raised an eyebrow. "These people sure can come up with stories!"
"What are you talking about, coming up with stories?" a know-it-all voice snapped over the crowd.
They both whirled around to face a girl with auburn hair, who also looked very brown, as if she'd spent too much time out in the sun lately.
"Who are you?" Kaiba demanded.
"Hermione Granger," the girl said. "And that story's real. Any wizard with any brains at all would know that it's true."
That ticked Yami off. "Are you implying that the two of us have no brains?" he accused.
"Of course not!" she scoffed. "I'm just saying."
Yami rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I think this famous Harry Potter and Ron were looking for you," he said. "Why don't you go join those two instead and leave us two idiots to talk?" He said this in a very sarcastic tone.
"You are very rude, you know that?" Hermione said, looking Yami up and down.
"Do you enjoy telling people that they're rude to their face?" Yami snapped.
"For your information, I don't," Hermione said in a lofty tone. "This is just the exception to that rule." And she turned away from the two of them and flounced away.
Kaiba stared after her, and then turned to Yami, saying, "I think you actually were a bit rude there, she was just telling her opinion of the matter."
Yami shrugged indifferently, not really caring until Kaiba told him, "I think you should go back there and apologize."
"Apologize???" he sputtered. "Apologize? I'm not apologizing to her!"
"Think about it, Yami, she didn't do anything wrong, she just ticked you off and you started yelling flat out in her face. Would you just stand there and do nothing while someone insulted you in your face?" Kaiba reasoned.
"Of course not! I would Mind Crush their disrespecting bodies into the Shadow Realm and back!"
Kaiba snorted. "Well, that's not going to work here. I believe you'll have to apologize to her. Making an enemy on the first day is not a good thing."
"But…but…"
"Well then, it's agreed. I'll just follow you. You can lead me back to Yugi and the others." Kaiba fell in step behind him.
"What? Did I say I was going to-" But Kaiba began shoving him back to the ice cream parlor, so Yami fell silent, fuming, and trying to come up with the least embarrassing way to apologize to that brat girl.
They finally found their way back to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, where Hermione was conversing quietly with Ron and Harry, and Yugi and the others were talking and laughing.
"Look! Yami's back!" Yugi piped up suddenly, breaking into a smile.
"Yami! Hey, you're back!" Joey got up, grinning. "Where'd you go off to?"
Yami shrugged. "Nowhere. But I picked up Kaiba on the way back."
Kaiba looked at him. "If you want me to, I'll leave," he hinted. "I still have some packages that I need to retrieve."
"Fine, fine, whatever, you can stay," Yami said, glaring at Hermione with one of his death stares.
Kaiba poked Yami in the back, hard. "Go!" he hissed, and shoved him forward a few steps.
If looks could kill, Kaiba would have been ten feet underground by then, but Yami tapped Hermione on the shoulder and said, "Hey, can we talk?" in a very forced but casual way.
She stared at him pointedly, but he ignored her and she finally nodded. "Fine," she said. "Although I don't know why you'd want to talk with me."
"Don't push it," Yami snapped. "I just wanted to say sorry for earlier." He spun on his heel and was about to march back to Yugi's group, which was laughing and showing each other the Duel Monsters cards that they had acquired over the summer break, but Hermione grabbed his arm.
"What do you want?" he said in an exasperated tone.
"You're not too social, are you?" she asked him.
Yami gave a pained sigh. If this is turning into another one of those interrogation sessions, I am leaving! "Nope," he said simply, hoping to avoid the stream of questions coming his way later.
However, Hermione seemed to understand that some people needed some space, and she backed off. "I understand," she said quickly, and Ron and Harry engaged her in conversation again. Something about a game called Quidditch.
Yami looked at her for a few minutes before heading back to Yugi's group. (A/N: There will be NO ROMANCE! Understood? Yami does NOT like Hermione, and vice versa, and to answer many people's questions…Ryou only likes Bakura in a brotherly way, and vice versa…and the same with Yugi and Yami…sorry for the disappointment!) He sighed, absorbed in his thoughts and not really paying attention to the conversations going on around him, no matter how loud they were.
Ryou noticed Yami's preoccupation. "Hey, Yami, are you feeling all right?" he inquired.
Yami smiled, although it was sort of obvious it was false, and said, "Fine."
Mrs. Weasley suddenly materialized into view from the crowd bustling outside the ice cream parlor. "There you are, Ron, Harry, Ryou," she said briskly. "We've gotten all your stuff and we really need to go if we're going to get home in time for me to get dinner ready." She saw Hermione and greeted her with a smile. "How have you been doing, Hermione? Ron said you went to France again, is that right?"
Hermione nodded. "It was great!"
"Ron, Harry, Ryou," Mrs. Weasley began, but Ron cut her off.
"Coming, mum."
Harry and Ron said goodbye to Hermione, who returned to her shopping after they had left, and Ryou said farewell to his friends.
"So I'll see you at Hogwarts," he said to everyone there. It wasn't a question, but a statement. Everyone nodded.
Yami nodded absently, lost in his own thoughts again.
"Well, 'bye," he said, seeing Mrs. Weasley beckon to him. Everyone waved and said goodbye, and Ryou followed Mrs. Weasley down the cobbled pathway, trying not to lose her in the crowd. Ron and Harry were talking animatedly behind him, and Ryou secretly wished one of his friends was coming along with him as well. It was sort of lonely with only Bakura to converse with, and it wasn't easy talking with him because he'd zone out every time he talked to him. And Ryou couldn't afford to space out with so many people jostling him.
They battled the crowds all the way back to Gringotts. "How are we getting back?" Ryou asked, suddenly realizing that they had no form of transportation.
"Floo Powder!" Mrs. Weasley crowed cheerfully. "How else would we get back?" Harry and Ron both chuckled at the expression on Ryou's face.
"But, er, there's no fireplace," Ryou supplied, trying to get out of it.
Mrs. Weasley pointed happily at Gringotts. "Which is why it's such a useful building!" she said. "It's got several nice, solid fireplaces. People are always using Floo Powder to get in and out of Diagon Alley from there. If you had gotten the traveling right the first time, you would have gotten out at Gringotts."
Ryou groaned again, but didn't complain as they trudged up the marble steps leading to the gigantic doors. The rest of the group, Fred, George, Ginny, and Mr. Weasley, were gathered by the fireplace farthest away from them. They went over, and Mrs. Weasley produced a jar of Floo Powder from her robes pocket. "Ryou goes first," she said, holding out the jar to him.
Ryou groaned.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ryou somehow managed the second journey by Floo Powder better than his first- he did land in the right place, but he landed flat on his face, causing his nose extreme pain as he did so. He managed to stand up and brush the soot and dust off his sweater and pants before the next person appeared. Ron somehow managed to stay upright as he stumbled out of the fireplace as if he'd just started running very fast and was forced to slow down right away. After that came Harry and Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley both Apparated with a pop!
"Well, I'm off to prepare dinner," Mrs. Weasley said, heading toward the kitchen. "Behave yourselves."
Mr. Weasley went to the shed to tinker with more Muggle stuff.
"Hey, Ryou, want to learn some Quidditch?" Harry asked generously.
Ryou suppressed a shudder at the thought of swooping and diving on a broomstick, without a harness of any kind. "No thanks, I'll pass on that one," he said quickly. "I think I'll just go upstairs and find something to do…"
Ron shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, and the rest of them went off to play Quidditch except Ginny who wandered into the living room to apparently finish her Hogwarts summer homework. Ryou ascended their wooden, spiraling, rickety, brightly-colored stairs and shoved the door to his room open.
~~Let me out! Let me OUT!~~
~OK already, just have some patience!~ Ryou quickly let the restless spirit out of the Ring and sat down with him on the bed. Bakura sprawled out on it, forgetting all dignity.
"Ah, that feels good," he said. "That Ring is hospitable, but…"
Ryou nodded.
"It's still getting smaller," Bakura complained.
"Maybe you're getting bigger," Ryou joked. Bakura grinned; they both knew that the spirits couldn't change their appearances naturally.
Bakura looked out the window and snorted. "What is that?' he demanded, pointing at Ron, who was riding a broom so slow a turtle could have beaten it in a race.
"Um…wizard sport called Quidditch. Harry has a better broom, I think," Ryou said, looking at Harry spiral downwards on his sleek and shiny Firebolt.
Bakura rolled his eyes. "I so prefer Duel Monsters better," he complained.
"I brought Kaiba's new holographic duel mats," Ryou suggested. "We could duel each other." But Bakura stomped on this statement, saying that they both had the same decks, and it wasn't any good dueling someone who had memorized your deck already.
"I guess you're right," Ryou said finally. "I wonder when dinner is."
"Hungry?" Bakura asked.
Ryou nodded. "Man, you're lucky you don't need to eat!"
Bakura grinned slightly. "I do save a lot of food bills…"
Ryou bopped Bakura on the head with his fist, and they both laughed. They proceeded to talk about Hogwarts and their friends until Mrs. Weasley called them down to dinner. By this time, Ryou was looking forward to the meal, which was worth the wait. Definitely.
They ate outside. Mr. Weasley had obviously conjured up some tables and had set them up outside. Although they were very sturdy, after Mrs. Weasley had loaded them up with all of her ridiculously complicated but delicious-looking platters of food, they were groaning and shifting under all the weight.
"Have a seat, Ryou," Mr. Weasley said, pulling a seat out next to him. Ryou sat in it and helped himself to mashed potatoes. He was sort of expecting a quiet meal in which the Weasleys and Harry chattered nonstop and he would just sit quietly and eat. That was the setting he was used to at home. But as soon as Mr. Weasley had gotten some food on his plate he started bombarding Ryou with questions about Muggle things like electricity, the post office, and TVs. When Ryou started explaining about plugs and outlets, Mr. Weasley leaned in in a very knowing manner and said, "You know, I collect plugs. I have a very large collection in my workshop." Fred and George snickered, and Ron and Harry seemed to be holding back laughter. Ryou had to admit that it was very funny.
"Um…Mr. Weasley, you're not quite supposed to collect plugs…" Ryou said.
Mr. Weasley nodded energetically. "I know! I take them apart, put charms on them, and make them do different things. I think they're highly amusing."
Ryou stared, and everyone else gave up trying to hold back their laughter and started snickering. Ron laughed so hard that he got the hiccups and Harry had to slap him on the back.
After that incident, Mr. Weasley didn't bring up the subject of plugs again, but halfway through dinner a few came smashing through the garage window and started swooping on the group like a horde of flies. Everybody screamed and Mr. Weasley just chuckled and muttered something about a spell gone wrong. Ryou saw Fred and George conversing in low whispers, probably something about revenge on Mr. Weasley.
After dinner, everyone invited Ryou to join them for a mug of hot cocoa and some fireworks in the kitchen, but Ryou declined the invitation.
~~Fireworks? In the kitchen? These people are mad!~~
~I really hope they don't blow up the house, because I'm staying in here as well.~ Ryou replied and went up the stairs. Behind him, he heard someone trying to strike a match, and couldn't help wondering how long it was going to take them to actually light one.
In the bedroom, Ryou let Bakura out of the Millennium Ring again and they had a rather loud conversation about Duel Monsters, because they were both highly excited about the trip to Hogwarts the next day and the fact that Ryou was rather hyper due to the many strange assortments of candy they had had as dessert. Ryou had fun describing the candy to Bakura in great detail, sometimes even making him jealous that he couldn't have gone down there and stuffed himself as well.
Because Ryou's room coincidentally didn't have a clock, they didn't know that they talked and carried on past midnight. And that wasn't a good thing.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ron's POV
Harry had gone upstairs a few minutes ago, saying that he wanted to get an early start tomorrow so he was going to bed. A few minutes after he left, Mom made me go up as well. Ginny was probably sound asleep by then, however, so she threatened to curse me with her wand if I woke her up or disturbed Harry, and sent me upstairs with a vigorous wave of her wand. All of a sudden, a big batch of sparks exploded out of the tip with a tremendous BANG, and she blushed furiously. Fred and George were snickering.
"Molly, and you were saying not to wake them up? I think everyone will wake up screaming about a bomb dropping or something," Mr. Weasley teased, his eyes twinkling. "Good night, Ron."
I nodded and waved, and went up the stairs. However, halfway up the stairs, some loud voices caught my attention. They seemed to be coming from upstairs. All of a sudden I froze, remembering what had happened to Harry the last time he had started hearing voices.
"Uh-oh," I muttered, and proceeded cautiously up the stairs. I ran over the list of people upstairs in my mind. Ginny, Harry…All of a sudden I realized that Ryou was upstairs as well, but he didn't seem like one to scream. I went upstairs and down the hall to where Ryou was staying in our guest room.
There was a THUD from that room, some giggling, and then a dry voice said, "Ryou…I think you need to take some medications." There were some thumping noises, and then some squealing and laughing, and then a soft THUMP as Ryou probably landed on the bed.
Who's up there with him? I wondered. I tiptoed down the hall to Ginny's room and looked in. She was fast asleep in her bed. Then I went to Harry's room. I heard him muttering to himself in it.
There's a ghost in here! I screamed in my mind, but the logical part of my brain snapped back, Nonsense, there is no such thing as ghosts.
Wait. That must be the stupidest thing I've ever said in my life. Images flashed in my head of all the Hogwarts ghosts, not to mention the ghoul haunting our attic.
Just great, I thought to myself. Now I'm arguing with myself in my head and being an idiot. I think I'm going paranoid. Ryou is the only one in that room…
I went back to the doorway, which was, luckily, open a few inches. I edged over to it and peeked through. What I saw made me almost topple over in surprise.
There were two Ryous in the room. One was giggling excessively on the bed, apparently having eaten too much sugar lately, and the other one looked almost evil.
I took a close look at the Ryou who was standing in the corner and laughing. His eyes were more narrow, his features more evil, but he didn't seem evil. At least, not around Ryou. Because I was sure that the one on the bed was the real Ryou.
"Silly," the evil Ryou said. "I don't even have any medications for you, how could I give them to you?"
Ryou shrugged and grinned. "Hey, Bakura, are you going to go back into the Ring now?" He pointed accusingly at a golden ornament that was somewhat along the lines of a necklace.
Bakura shrugged as well and said, "If you want to go to bed I will."
Ryou nodded. "I am sort of tired, Yami, so…good night!"
Bakura snorted. "If you can manage to get to sleep with all that sugar in your bloodstream." But he gave Ryou a friendly hug and somehow managed to disappear into thin air.
"Ack!" I gasped, and then clapped a hand over my mouth and backed down the hallway towards my room.
"What was that?" a voice snapped. Probably Bakura's.
"I don't know, I heard someone talking out there…" Ryou muttered drowsily.
I dove into my room, panting. If they were going to come looking, they weren't going to find me.
Normal POV
Bakura said, "Oh well, it was probably the wind. Go to sleep, hikari."
Ryou nodded sleepily. "Good night!"
Bakura vanished into the Ring again for the night, still a bit worried over who had seen the two of them together.
In the morning, Ryou woke up a bit early. He went into the hall bathroom, brushed his teeth, took a shower, got dressed, and ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to comb it. He threw everything into his trunk and double-checked its contents. Then he slipped the Ring under his shirt and went down the stairs. Mrs. Weasley was bustling around the kitchen making breakfast, and Mr. Weasley looked very out of place getting socks and robes from the clothesline and going upstairs to deliver them to all the boys and Ginny, and to wake them up.
"Good morning, dear," Mrs. Weasley greeted Ryou. "How did you sleep?"
"Fine, thank you," Ryou said, and perched himself onto a couch leg.
"Have you packed your trunk?" Mrs. Weasley asked him. "We have to leave shortly after breakfast."
Ryou nodded. "I did it after I took a shower," he said.
"Good," she said. "Breakfast will be ready soon." Ryou eyed the sparks dancing about the kitchen. She saw him follow one with his eyes. "Leftovers from yesterday's fireworks," she explained, smiling. "They're not potentially dangerous."
"Ah," Ryou said, a bit lamely, and settled back into the couch to wait.
Well, at least they didn't blow up the house.
In what seemed like no time at all, Mrs. Weasley was ushering him to the table, where Ron, Harry, and Ginny were sitting, looking half-asleep and tousle-haired.
"Morning," Ron greeted Ryou with a huge yawn.
"Good morning," Ryou said softly, and sat down next to Ginny, smiling at her. She grinned.
"Here you go, just speak up if you want more butter or jam," Mrs. Weasley said briskly, sliding four loaded plates in front of them. By this time, Fred and George had joined them in the kitchen, yawning almost simultaneously.
"Good…morning," George mumbled, stifling a yawn in the middle of the sentence.
"Good morning, dears," Mrs. Weasley said. "Breakfast is ready, have you all packed your trunks? We're running late…oh dear…"
Everyone nodded and started shoveling food into their mouths. Ryou finished first and wandered back into the living room to wait for the others. He didn't have to wait long. Soon everyone was dragging trunks down the stairs, bumping into each other on the stairs and dropping socks and things everywhere. Ryou sighed as he tripped over another book. He wondered when everything that had been dropped would be returned to their rightful owners and everything else sorted out.
Mrs. Weasley was right when she said they were late. By the time everyone had gotten everything they needed, it was almost 10:30, and they had to leave right there and then without any more delays or interruptions or they would miss the train.
"It's very punctual," Mrs. Weasley explained to Ryou. "It leaves at 11:00 on the dot." Ryou nodded, understanding, and everyone got into the magic-enlarged car and they started driving to the station.
They arrived at the station with ten minutes left on the clock. By the time they had gotten trolleys and had made their way to the appropriate area, they were left with three minutes. "We made it," Mr. Weasley sighed. "Onto the platform, everyone."
"Er…platform 9 and three-quarters?" Ryou questioned. He looked from his ticket to the platforms. There was one platform with a big white sign that said Platform 9 on it, and a platform with a big white sign that read Platform 10 on it, but there was no platform 9 and three-quarters.
"It, er, keeps Muggles away," Mrs. Weasley explained hastily. "Oh, I don't have time to explain it all…"
"Just head directly towards that barrier," Mr. Weasley said, gesturing towards a big, solid, brick barrier directly ahead of Ryou.
"Um, I don't think I should," Ryou started to say, but was cut off by Mrs. Weasley.
"It's perfectly safe, look, Harry, Ron, you go first and give Ryou an example."
Harry and Ron nodded, wheeled their trolleys towards the barrier, ran, and disappeared somewhere in front of it.
"What just happened?" Ryou questioned.
"They went through the barrier to platform 9 and three-quarters," Mr. Weasley said. "Just run towards it. I promise you won't make a fool out of yourself."
"Um, well, ok…" Ryou said, and braced himself for the impact that was sure to come. Then he took off toward the barrier.
~~RYOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING???~~
~Listening to the Weasleys! Is there something wrong with that?~
~~YES!~~ But too late, for Ryou had already gone too far. He was inches away from the barrier and then-
"Wow…" Ryou breathed.
Was that long enough for your enjoyment? A total of 11 pages on Microsoft Word. Hehe! Please read and review!