Notes: Sorry for the long wait. And now to answer a very popular question. Ok…a lot of you said, "I don't think Yami would have lost to a bunch of duel monsters." That's true…but it's part of the plot. (Yami: Plot? What plot? DMG: *throws him in a closet* Ahem. Yes, plot.) Don't worry, he won't lose to any more duel monsters in the future…*grins* Unless I get on another sugar-high and have no clue what I'm writing…*sweatdrops*

Thanks to my reviewers, Tatsutahime, blue dragon, Whatever, ^_^, Alaena Flame Dragonstar, Phantom, Yami's Girl 3000, Yana, Evergladelord, Arian Starswing, Anya, darkmagic, and Serenia!

Whew, that was quite a list…probably the most reviews I've received for a single chapter…

I'm feeling nice today, so I'll respond to some reviews…

Whatever- Ooh, all capitals. Interesting. Yup, this chapter is the "talk".

^_^- Thanks for the…*counts on fingers* …three reviews. Really encouraging…I updated, see?

Phantom- Yes…very hard to believe. He won't lose to any more Duel Monsters again…I did think of, at one point, about making him summon some Duel Monsters…but I decided against it, it would make the chapter too long. And no, the professor doesn't know about shadow powers…but at the end of this chapter, she'll know!

Yami's Girl 3000- Hilarious review…wow, you've got 15 Dark Elves? *mouth hanging open*

Yana- I hate it when that happens too. It really gets on my nerves…

Evergladelord: Uhh…crystal clear. Don't worry, I wasn't planning on hurting Ryou anyway.

Disclaimer- Don't own YuGiOh.

New Author's Notes: Ended it a bit differently, edited the Shadow Realm scene with the Kuriboh, and added a few lines. Generally more humor than before.

Chapter 7

Explanations

In the other compartment, Ryou was busy trying to fend off many questions that he couldn't answer or he'd end up spilling everything. One of the questions Ron had was, "What the hell just happened in there?"

That, of course, was very unexplainable, and he knew that he and Yugi would both be interrogated by the teachers at Hogwarts, as soon as they got off the blasted train…which didn't even remotely resemble a train anymore.

Train?

"Hey, how are we going to get to the school?" Ryou asked, cutting off the stream of questions. "The train's broken down, hasn't it?"

Kaiba shrugged, Harry and Ron both exchanged confused looks, and Joey muttered an "I don't know". But Hermione, in a superior know-it-all voice, started explaining about transportation spells and a lot of other random spells that even Ryou knew did not have anything to do with his question. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yami glaring venomously at Hermione.

Ron noticed this as well, and tapped Hermione on the shoulder.

"What?" she snapped, annoying at him cutting off her speech.

Ron simply pointed at Yami, who was looking really ticked off at her, and she shut her mouth. But then she buried her nose in a book again, apparently searching for the spell that Yami had used to send the monsters back to the Shadow Realm.

Ryou went over to her and snatched the book out her of hands. In response to her glare, he said, "You're not going to find that spell in any book of yours. I think."

Hermione stared. "But the library's never let me down before…"

Ron said, "Well, maybe not, except for that time last year when there was absolutely nothing in any of the books on how to survive for an hour underwater…"

Before the two could get into a fight, Harry intervened. "Knock it off, you two," he said. "And…" he said, just realizing what was missing. "Where's Yugi?"

"Uh…" Yami said, at a loss of words.

Ryou groaned. Then he thought of something. "I'm sure Yugi just got on another compartment…he can't be far from here! Me and Yami will go look, okay?"

Harry eyed them suspiciously. Something's not right here…

The two hurried out to the next compartment, which was, fortunately, empty. All of the others had rushed as far away as possible from the loud BOOMS coming from the last compartment.

"Yami, you're going to have to be a little more careful from now on if you don't want to be caught," Ryou scolded him.

"I know, I know…"

"Just get Yugi and let's get back!" Ryou said.

Yami and Yugi split, and they both went back into the compartment.

Everyone was surprised. "That was fast," Ron commented. "Where were you, Yugi?"

"Um…running away with everyone else," he lied.

Someone would have said something eventually, but all of a sudden a voice blared from somewhere around the ceiling. Ryou squinted at the compartment roof, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.

"We have arrived at Hogwarts, please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

They all made their way to the front of the train where Professor McGonagall immediately swooped down upon Yugi and Ryou.

"You two are going to have a little talk with the headmaster…" she told them. Then, noticing Yami, she blinked.

//Aibou, what do I do?? Go back into the Puzzle?//

/Uh…./ Yugi racked his brains desperately for a plan, but none came to mind. He looked at Ryou, who shrugged helplessly.

"Who is this?" she demanded of Yugi. "He looks almost exactly like you."

"Umm…he's…my twin brother," Yugi suddenly blurted out. Ryou raised an eyebrow at him.

~~Twin brother?? Those two are in a lot of trouble…I can tell that already.~~

Professor McGonagall frowned. "Well…then I suppose he'd better come with both of you. The rest of you may proceed to Hogwarts- just follow the crowd. You three, follow me."

Ryou inwardly groaned. ~How long is it going to be before our whole secret is revealed?~

~~I don't know. Count the minutes.~~

Ryou, Yugi, and Yami followed Professor McGonagall into the castle. Ryou gasped at the size of the entrance hall- he couldn't even begin to wonder how many houses could fit in it. To the right was a cheery, brightly-lit room that was filled with dozens of robe-wearing students all laughing and talking happily with one another. There was a staircase leading upward to the right of that doorway, which the professor went up.

After a lot of counting of minutes, and a lot of walking, they finally reached a rather ugly gargoyle statue.

"Jelly Slugs," Professor McGonagall barked at the statue. It must've been a password, because it jumped aside- well, more like inched aside, revealing a spiraling staircase. She ushered them up it until they were face-to-face with a door, no doubt leading into the headmaster's office. Ryou gulped.

~~Nervous, are we?~~

~You would be too if you were in this kind of situation.~

~~Would you be willing to place a bet on that?~~

~Sorry, I don't have any money on me at the minute, it's all in that trunk.~

~~The professor wants you, Ryou…~~ Bakura warned, and cut the connection.

Professor McGonagall was staring at him pointedly, holding open the door.

"Whoops," he muttered softly, and entered. Yugi and Yami were already seated. The headmaster had a long, crooked nose and a beard. Ryou sat in the last remaining chair, hoping that what was coming wouldn't be too bad.

"My name is Professor Dumbledore," he said. "And Professor McGonagall has informed me that the two, er, three of you have, ah…unusual magic."

The three of them remained silent.

"Would you please elaborate on this magic?" Dumbledore asked.

The three looked at each other. Yami immediately said, "Don't look at me." Yugi didn't really look too enthusiastic about it. So, once again, it was Ryou who was explaining the whole thing to the professors.

He started with explaining the history of the Millennium Items. (A/N: I'm lazy. I don't want to write all of that.) When he finished with that, they looked fairly interested. "Continue," Dumbledore said.

Ryou pulled the Millennium Ring from underneath his sweater where he kept it so it wouldn't attract attention. "This is one of the Millennium Items, called the Millennium Ring," he explained. "Yugi's is called the Millennium Puzzle."

"Wait," Professor McGonagall interrupted. "I thought you said these Millennium Items were one of a kind. If that's true, then why do those two have the same item?" she asked, pointing at Yugi and Yami.

"I was getting to that," Ryou said. "Not all of the Millennium Items house a spirit within them. However, these two items in particular do. These spirits used to live in Ancient Egypt before the ceremony that created the Millennium Items."

"And who are these spirits?" Dumbledore inquired.

"Well…you've already met one of them," Ryou admitted.

"Who is it?"

"Him," Ryou said, pointing at Yami.

"You said spirits, correct?" Dumbledore asked, peering at Yami from half-moon spectacles.

"Yes," Ryou said.

"Well, if he's supposed to be a spirit, then why is he solid?" Professor McGonagall burst out.

"Well, these spirits can split from the host's bodies when they want to, and take on a solid form," Ryou explained. "My yami doesn't particularly like going around outside. Besides, if he ever went outside, I'd be hard pressed to keep him from stealing something. When he was back in Ancient Egypt, he was a tomb robber," he explained, seeing the confusion on their faces.

Yami snorted, and Yugi grinned.

Yugi picked off where Ryou left off. "And, well…my yami just likes going around outside," he said. "But that usually complicates things with people who don't know about the Millennium Items."

"And what was he when he was back in Ancient Egypt?" Professor McGonagall asked, pointing at Yami.

"He was the Pharaoh, which explains the stuck-up attitude that he displays all the time," Bakura jumped in, splitting from Ryou.

"Stuck-up??" Yami said hotly. "Excuse me?"

"It's an inappropriate characteristic for someone who can't even defeat a few Duel Monsters," Bakura teased.

Yami growled. He'd hit a sensitive point.

"Yami, stop it!" both Ryou and Yugi shouted at the same time.

"Who, me?" Bakura turned and asked, trying to look innocent, or at least put on a straight face. "What did I ever do?"

"Only insulted me straight to my face," Yami muttered, and within seconds they were throwing insults at one another again.

"Uh…are they always like that?" Professor McGonagall asked, watching them scream at each other at the top of their lungs.

"Well…it doesn't usually get this loud," Yugi admitted. "I supposed Bakura really got to Yami there…"

"So that's his name," Dumbledore muttered. "All right, about this magic," he said, raising his voice to be heard over the fighting. "What kind of things can you do?"

"Well, uh…" Ryou thought. "The Ring can locate other Millennium Items and summon Duel Monsters as well as a few other things that don't really have any connection to each other but are very helpful. Oh yes, and it can help us walk through walls…" (A/N: What DOES the Millennium Ring really do?? I never quite figured it out except for the locating and summoning things…)

"The Puzzle can summon Duel Monsters too, and it can also banish people to the Shadow Realm with an attack called Mind Crush," Yugi said.

"Shadow Realm?"

"Uh…" Ryou started, not really knowing how to explain.

"We sort of have to show you for you to get the idea," Yugi explained.

"All right then," Dumbledore said.

"But it might hurt a little," Ryou said. ~~Bakura, can you-~~

Without warning, however, Bakura threw out a hand and sent them all to the Shadow Realm.

"Yami!" Ryou cried indignantly. "I didn't finish explaining yet!"

Bakura shrugged, then yelped as something brown and fuzzy rammed into him. "Ouch!" he shrieked.

He glared at Yami to see a Kuriboh floating around next to him, apparently getting on Yami's nerves as well. It was bouncing all over him, making weird noises.

"Don't make me do something drastic," Yami growled at it, but it ignored him and kept making funny sounds.

"Oh, so the great and almighty pharaoh has a Kuriboh getting on his nerves?" Bakura snickered.

"You watch it," Yami retorted. Then a sweet smile that did not bode well for Bakura appeared on his face. "Kuriboh, do me a favor and bring me back some of that tomb robber's lovely white hair, will you?"

Bakura shrieked. Of course, he loved his hair, and it had taken him a while to fix it "just right" so he could look evil. He was not going to have some Kuriboh rip half of it off his head because the Pharaoh had told him to!

Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were staring around the place. Well, more at the fuzzy brown creature that was the source of irritation for both Bakura and Yami. Irritation as the understatement of the century.

"What's that?" Professor McGonagall asked, pointing at the Kuriboh that was chasing Bakura around.

"Oh, it's a Kuriboh," Ryou explained.

"It's a duel monster," Yugi said. "From the card game Duel Monsters." He held out his deck to the professors, who examined it and handed it back.

Ryou tapped Bakura on the shoulder. "Now can we please go back?" he asked.

"Anything to get away from that stupid fuzzball!" Bakura grumbled, swatting it away. "OW!" The Kuriboh had bitten him. But before the Kuriboh could do anything else, he flung out a hand and brought them all back.

"Well, is there anything else that needs explaining?" Ryou asked.

"Yes, well, are these two dangerous?" Dumbledore asked, pointing at the two yamis who were still fighting, now over the Kuriboh.

"You set that thing on me!" Bakura roared.

"Well, excuse me for thinking it was amusing."

"The next time I see a Kuriboh, I'll tell it to bite your wonderful crimson spike in half, and then we'll see what you do."

"If you dare even think that, I'll Mind Crush you," Yami threatened.

"But I can always find my way back. You do know that, right? Not once have you succeeded in keeping me there for all eternity like everyone else you've sent there."

"Then don't make me render you incapable of escaping," Yami snarled.

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Yami, stop that," Yugi snapped at Yami. "Not most of the time," he added to Dumbledore. "But if they get mad, then you'd better watch out."

"What should you do if they get mad?" Professor McGonagall asked, looking a little worried.

"Well, there's nothing much you can do except hide somewhere safe, preferably where they can't find you, and either wait for them to calm down, or call us so we can convince them to settle down." Ryou grinned.

"Well, all right then," Dumbledore said. "I think I've heard enough, now I just need to process all this information…"

"Uh, Professor?" Ryou asked Dumbledore.

"Yes?"

"Well, I was thinking. I never got an acceptance letter, and I was thinking that maybe it was a mistake for us to come here? After all, the only magic that I know of is the shadow magic that we just showed you."

Dumbledore smiled at him. "We would not have told Harry to bring you here if we were not sure of your wizarding capabilities," he informed Ryou. "And the same goes for you, Yugi. And now I suggest that you go down to the feast, which should be ending, and try on the Sorting Hat. It won't be done publicly, seeing as how that discussion took quite a while, but you still need to be Sorted into the appropriate Houses."

Ryou's head was spinning. What? We need to be Sorted into what???

"Professor McGonagall will escort you downstairs," Dumbledore said.

"Follow me," Professor McGonagall said to Yugi and Ryou. "And for heaven's sakes, please get those two to be quiet!"

/Yami, shut up./

~Yami, shut up.~

//Why should I?//

~~Is there a reason?~~

/The reason is that we're LEAVING, and unless you want to be locked in here, without food, for ages and ages, or at least until term starts next year…/

//Wait for me!!!//

~Oh, come on…I'll let you terrorize some first years if you do.~

~~Really? You mean it, right? No other terms?~~

~None.~

~~YES!! I'm coming!~~

Next chapter is obviously the mini-Sorting. Please review! Oh yeah, and this is the last chance to tell me what houses you think they should be in. Next time we'll find out which Houses the rest of them got into, and we'll see which ones Ryou and Yugi get into.