Notes: This is a long, long, long chapter. Well, maybe not that long. But still, this is one of my longer chapters. Enjoy!

I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT 70 REVIEWS!!! *glomps reviewers* You're the best! Thanks! I never even expected to get this many reviews -_- *hands out Ryou and Bakura plushies to everyone*

Yami: A little too late for that. You were supposed to do it when you had 50 reviews.

DMG: So?? I'm special, so I do it this way!!

Bakura: Special? Ha!

DMG: *drops Yami and Bakura off the edge of the Empire State Building* Ahem. Anyway, thanks again! *winks*

~*~Thanks to my reviewers, Silver Angel, Alaena Flame Dragonstar, Jessica, Jase Shadowstar, axis, anonymous, kassy, Evergladelord, Arian Starswing, gr, casey, Sarah, Krystie, FireSenshi, and yeshiv@*@k@*m@liklover!~*~ And, uh…if I missed you, sorry, I can't find anybody in this mass of reviews.

Review Responses:

Alaena Flame Dragonstar: ^_^ Kuriboh explode on contact with the enemy. Yami isn't an enemy, so it doesn't explode. Well, that's my very strange explanation for it, anyway.

Jessica: Uhh…that's the point of a fanfic. I know Harry said that he had no relatives that he knew of. But, he didn't know that Ryou was his relative until his fifth year, and he said that in the first book. Besides, in a fanfic, you can make up your own plot. (Sorry if I sounded a little snappy there.)

Tatsutahime: Whoa…thanks! How much research did you have to do to get all that? And…*sweatdrop* Yami Bakura likes raw, bloody meat? *shudder* Thanks again! ^_^

yeshiv@*@k@*m@liklover: Awww. Well, Malik's in this chapter, so you don't need to worry ^_^ I think I missed that episode though…don't remember seeing it. -_- I hope it replays soon, it sounds more interesting than all the other episodes I've seen before.

Evergladelord:

Yami: NOOOOOOO!!! NOT THE EVIL KURIBOHS OF DOOM!

Bakura: *doesn't bother to say anything because he is running as fast as he can away from the fuzzballs*

Yugi: THEY'RE SO CUTE!!! *snuggles Kuribohs*

Everyone but Yugi and DMG: *is staring*

Yami: Cute? You mean annoying.

DMG: Uhhh…whatever you say Yami. I think they're cute.

Yami: AAGH!!! NOOO!!! COME BACK TO OUR SIDE!!! *makes frantic beckoning motions*

DMG: Uhh…whatever.

Kuribohs: *go on chasing Yami and Bakura*

DMG: Uh, thanks for the review…*sweatdrop* Hey, cut it out! Do you know how much hair gel it must have taken Yami to get his hair like that? *swats away Kuribohs*

Yami: -_- I don't use hair gel. It's natural.

DMG: Yeah right. Hair doesn't just grow like that.

Yami: Yes it does!

DMG: -_- No it doesn't. And what I say goes, because I'M the authoress!

Yami: Bah.

New Author's Notes: Definitely not many changes here. The bucket scene is more humorous though, I think. And again, I took out all mentions of Tea and Mai.

Chapter 8

The Sorting

Professor McGonagall led the two of them down to the Great Hall where there were a few remnants of the previous feast. There were lots of golden dishes and goblets, which were, amazingly, sparkling clean with no traces of food or dust. The walls were decorated with banners and tapestries. One had a badger on it, one had a lion, one had a serpent, and one had an eagle. A tapestry that hung above the largest table showed the Hogwarts crest. There was also a man, probably a professor, about to carry out a frayed, ragged hat. Ryou's first impression was, Whoa, he's tiny!

"Wait a minute please!" Professor McGonagall called out to him.

The man turned around. "Ah, Minerva, the new students, I suppose," he said cheerily. "My name is Professor Flitwick. I teach Charms here at Hogwarts." He beamed at both of them. Then, to Professor McGonagall, "Where did they come from again?"

"Domino City, Japan," she said. To the two of them, she said, "All you do is try on the hat, and you will be Sorted into one of our four houses."

Ryou and Yugi both stared at the hat. "We just try it on??" Ryou questioned.

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Come on, we don't have all day."

"You can go first, Ryou," Yugi said nervously.

"Hey, it's not like it's going to bite you or anything," Ryou joked, and put on the hat, sitting on the stool.

He nearly jumped three feet into the air when a small voice awoke in the back of his mind.

"Ah, so there are two of you in here?" it asked.

Ryou, surprised, was speechless. Bakura, however, got mad.

~~And is there something wrong with having two of us in here? It makes it all the easier to crush your mind to pieces if you say one wrong word,~~ he demanded.

The voice chuckled. "No, there isn't. But let's see here…a very strange personality combination, one side dark, one side light. I've never seen it before." The voice went silent until Bakura got impatient.

~~And so…?~~

"So you belong in GRYFFINDOR!"

Ryou winced, took off the hat, and hopped off the stool.

"Gryffindor?" he inquired.

"One of the four houses," Professor McGonagall said promptly. "Mr. Motou, if you would try on the hat please?"

Yugi nodded and went over to the hat while Ryou continued asking questions.

"What are the four houses?"

"Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin," Professor Flitwick said.

"And how are you chosen for these houses?" Ryou asked.

"Well, the hat takes a look inside your mind and decides where you should go…"

"The hat judges your personality?" Ryou asked, surprised. "How?"

"Well, the founder of Gryffindor, Godric Gryffindor, took the hat from his head and put a spell on it to ensure that all the students would get put in the proper house when they were dead and gone," Professor McGonagall said.

All of a sudden, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" and Yugi got off the stool, putting the hat back on it.

"Yami got a little annoyed at the hat," Yugi chuckled.

Ryou grinned. "Bakura did too."

"I wonder which houses Kaiba and Joey got into," Yugi said.

"Well, we'll find out tomorrow."

"All right then, you're in my house," Professor McGonagall said. "I'll show you there."

Ryou and Yugi nodded, and followed her out of the Great Hall. Ryou's stomach suddenly rumbled.

"Er," he said meekly. "I don't think we had dinner yet."

Professor McGonagall said, "We have it all arranged. You missed the feast because of your talk with Professor Dumbledore, so we're bringing your food up to the common room."

"Umm…okay," Ryou said, and continued on their way.

They got their first shock when they encountered a floating bucket.

"Peeves!" Professor McGonagall barked. "Get down from there now!"

A ghost with wicked-looking eyes and a wide mouth appeared out of thin air, holding the bucket of water, which he proceeded to dump all over Yugi.

Bakura snickered.

~Yami, that's not nice.~

~~So?~~

Ryou sighed mentally and turned back to Yugi, who was trying to get himself dry. His hair had lost its spikiness, instead trailing down his back like a girl's. Ryou had to admit, it looked hilarious.

"Peeves!" Professor McGonagall yelled. "Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"

The poltergeist stuck his tongue out at the four of them and dropped the bucket, which landed on Yugi's head. Then he zoomed away.

"Ouch," Yugi said in a muffled tone, pulling the bucket off his head.

"That was Peeves, a poltergeist. The Bloody Baron, which is the Slytherin ghost, is the only one who can control him." Professor McGonagall added to Yugi, "You can get yourself dry in the dormitory. Your trunks have arrived."

Yugi nodded, and, still trying to wring out his shirt and fix his hair at the same time, continued to follow them.

The second shock came when what appeared to be an empty picture frame turned into a brightly illustrated drawing of a fairy sitting on a mushroom.

Yugi and Ryou stared.

The fairy noticed and said in a cross tone, "What? Why are you staring at me?"

They both jumped.

Professor McGonagall was completely unaffected. "The pictures move around and visit each other sometimes," she said.

"Oh," was all Ryou managed to say.

They finally arrived at a painting of a fat lady.

"This is called the Fat Lady," Professor McGonagall said.

Yugi giggled. "She sure looks like one," Yugi muttered to Ryou. He nodded.

"You have to have a password to verify that you're a Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall continued.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked.

"Dark Magician," Professor McGonagall said, and the painting swung open.

Yugi's mouth dropped open. "Dark Magician? Well, that'll certainly be easy to remember…"

~~Yes, it will. Because the Pharaoh has crushed me with that card too many times to count.~~

"Well," Professor McGonagall said. "Your food's on the table, and when you want to go to bed you just go up the staircase and go in the door marked Boys' Dormitory for the fifth years."

"Okay then," Ryou said, and they clambered into the common room.

"Bye," Yugi called to Professor McGonagall, and they found the table with the food and began to eat.

"Wow, the food's pretty good," Yugi commented.

Ryou nodded. All of a sudden a blue blur shot past him, spinning him around in a circle. "Yugi!"

"Joey! You got into Gryffindor too?" Yugi asked cheerfully. Joey nodded and said hi to Ryou, who asked him where Kaiba was.

"Kaiba's in Gryffindor too, to my utter hatred," Joey said. "He's probably moping over the fact that none of his precious electronics will work near here."

Bakura laughed.

"Excuse me? Moping?" Kaiba asked, coming over from a table where he had been reading a book. Then he raised an eyebrow at the mess that was Yugi's hair.

Yugi groaned, running a hand through it and trying vainly to get it up to its original shape. "Peeves dropped a bucket of water on me, bucket and all," he explained. "It'll be back to normal by tomorrow morning, when it dries out."

"Well, look at that!" Joey said. "He's actually not moping!" And within seconds they were in another one of their fights, insults flying.

There was a thumping on the stairs and Harry, Ron, and Hermione came down from the dormitories. "What is going on here?" Hermione demanded.

"Uhh, well," Ryou began.

They saw. "Well, you'll lose house points for fighting," Ron said.

"House points?" Yugi asked.

"Well, there's a contest between all four houses. At the end of the year, all the points are added up and whichever house has the most points wins the house cup."

"And I happen to be a prefect," Hermione said. "Harry is too."

"Ah," Ryou said, and sweatdropped. "Unfortunately, once those two start, you can't stop them until they stop themselves, prefect or not."

Yugi grinned and asked, "Has Gryffindor won before?"

"Not before Harry came," Ron grinned. "After that we won every single year so far, except last year. We did win that one, but Cedric died, so we didn't have the usual celebrations."

"Cedric?"

"He was a student from Hufflepuff," Hermione said. "You-Know-Who killed him."

"Uhh…I don't know who. Who?" Yugi asked.

"Voldemort," Harry said, as if this would explain everything.

"Who?" Ryou asked.

"You don't know who You-Know-Who is?" Ron asked in amazement.

Harry nudged Ron. "Remember, I didn't know who he was either when I first started."

"Oh yeah…" Ron said.

"Well…there once was a wizard, who became, well…evil. And he started looking for followers…and he got them, because they wanted power, and that's what he had," Ron began.

"Why don't you say the name?" Harry demanded.

"Because I'm scared! Anyway, those were the dark ages, you didn't know who to trust, who was acting of their own free will, and who was acting under the Imperius Curse."

"Imperius?" Yugi asked.

"It's a controlling spell," Hermione quickly put in. "It's one of the three Unforgivable Curses- Avada Kedavra, Crucio, and Imperius."

"Sounds like Malik's Millennium Rod," Yugi whispered to Ryou.

"Yeah, except for they use a wand instead of a rod."

"Well, this wizard started to go around killing some very powerful wizards with the Avada Kedavra spell- The Killing Curse," Ron said.

"When I was around one, he came to my house," Harry said. "He used the curse on my parents and killed him. And the reason that I'm famous-"

"You're famous?" Yugi cut in.

"Well, yeah," Harry said sheepishly. "The reason is because it killed everyone, except me. And after he tried to kill me and failed, he fled and some people came out of trances…"

"Ah," Yugi and Ryou both said at the same time, not really understanding.

~~Sounds like a whole bunch of made-up junk to me.~~

~Yami, do you think they'd believe the stuff about ancient Egyptian pharaohs and tomb robbers living inside Millennium Items if we just dumped it on them right here and now?~

~~Well, I suppose not, but-~~

Ryou simply cut off the connection and turned back to the group, which was staring at him oddly with the exception of Yugi who gave him a questioning look. Ryou nodded slightly towards him.

"Does he often do that?" Ron demanded of Yugi, who shrugged.

"Sometimes," was all he said.

This answer intrigued Harry, but he decided not to ask any questions. With his luck, he'd find out soon enough.

"Well, it's time for bed," Hermione finally said after an awkward silence. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

Everyone waved to her and she disappeared up the steps. Yugi and Ryou went right after her, declining Harry and Ron's invitation to play a game of wizard chess before bed. Joey and Kaiba decided to stay and watch, though they sat as far away as possible from each other.

//Wizard chess?//

/I suppose it's like chess, with a few different rules./

//Let's play!//

/No, I'm tired, and we have to have an early start tomorrow anyway. Maybe later./

//Oh, all right…//

Yugi and Ryou went up the stairs and into the dormitory where they found their trunks waiting at the foot of the beds.

"Nice service," Yugi commented, and Ryou grinned before they both got ready for bed and climbed into bed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ansatsu approached Voldemort tentatively. This did not seem like a person who would take a defeat lightly. He was most likely a person who dished out heavy punishments for failure.

Without turning, Voldemort said, "I trust that you have good news?"

Ansatsu gulped. "Well, not exactly…we ran into some…resistance on the train."

"Resistance?" Voldemort chuckled lightly. "Who would dare stand up to you? Who could stand up to you? I presume that you are nearly immune to spells, are you not?"

"Well, yes…"

"So how did they resist you? I find this very interesting."

"Well, long ago in Ancient Egypt, we were not trapped into cards like we are today. We roamed the lands freely, until evil sorcerers arose and began to use us for evil. So the Pharaoh decided to seal us into stone tablets, which worked for a while until the sorcerers figured out how to summon us from the tablets. These tablets were used for shadow games, and many people played simply for power. After a while, the Pharaoh decided to seal the monsters away permanently to prevent any more disasters. He sealed away the spirits of seven people into the Millennium Items, including himself. The people we encountered on the train were the hosts of two of the original seven spirits- the pharaoh himself, and another who used to be a tomb robber in Ancient Egypt."

"I see…" A pause. "Well, this is all very interesting. You may return to the Shadow Realm now, while I research some more on these Millennium Items. I will call you when you are needed."

Ansatsu bowed and disappeared into the Shadow Realm.

"Wormtail!" Voldemort barked. "Do some research on these…Millennium Items…and report to me with the information you find."

"Yes, Master," Wormtail squeaked, and fled to the bookshelves.

"I will eliminate this resistance, and then my path to the defeat of Harry Potter will no longer be blocked. He may have put up a struggle, but this time all his efforts will be in vain."

Then a long, cruel laugh pierced through the air.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ryou awoke the next day to vigorous shaking and almost fell off the bed. "What time is it?" he muttered sleepily.

"It's almost time for breakfast, hurry up!" Harry said, peering at him. Ryou could hear Ron doing the same thing to Yugi.

"Agh…" Yugi muttered and tried to get out of bed. Instead, he toppled over because he was tangled in the sheets and fell off the bed with a loud THUMP. But at least his hair was back to its tri-colored spikes.

Everyone laughed. Bakura managed to snicker before apparently going back to sleep.

~Lucky, you get to sleep.~

~~Was it my idea to go to this crazy school in the first place?~~

~Well, it wasn't mine either!~

~~Yes it was. And now you have to pay the price- loss of sleep.~~ With a final snicker, Bakura dropped back off to sleep.

Ryou got out of bed and put on his robes over his T-shirt and jeans. Yugi did the same, and they all went down the spiral staircase together. Hermione was waiting impatiently by the portrait hole.

"Well, finally," she said.

"These two wouldn't get up," Ron said. "I guess they haven't adjusted to having to wake up at a set time."

"Well…" Yugi said. "Maybe that's it."

"Anyway, we'll show you down to the Great Hall. Hogwarts is so big that you'd get lost in it," Ron said.

"Thanks," Ryou said.

"Hey, where's Yami?" Harry questioned.

"Ummm…" Yugi seemed at a loss for words. "I guess he went off somewhere." It was a very inadequate answer, and Harry resolved to find out more. But for now, they had responsibilities to the new students.

On the way to breakfast they were stopped by three students. One had pale skin and white-blond hair. The other two were just big and ugly, and it was apparent that they unofficially served as the first one's bodyguards.

"Well, well, Potter, looks like you've found yourself some new friends," he drawled.

"Back off, Malfoy," Harry said. To Ryou and Yugi he whispered, "That's Malfoy, and the two behind him are Crabbe and Goyle. As you can tell, we don't really get along." Ryou grinned, and Yugi nodded.

"Are they Mudbloods too?" Malfoy asked. "I suggest you don't befriend this riffraff because with Voldemort on the loose, he'll come after the Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first!"

"Shut up," Ron snapped.

//Oh I'm going to teach him a lesson…// Yami was angered by the apparent insult to his aibou.

/Yami-/

Yugi tried to protest, but Yami seized control of the body. Harry noticed the change. Yugi's eyes got sharper and turned a shade of crimson, and his hair flared up more. Who does that remind me of?? he wondered. I know I've seen him before somewhere…

/Yami!!!/

Meanwhile, Ryou was having his own problems.

~~That boy is going to…to…~~ Bakura couldn't think of anything to say. That probably meant that Malfoy was going to be worse than dead when Bakura was done with him.

~Yami, no!~

Just then he noticed Yami take control of Yugi's body. ~~There's no way I'm letting him have all the fun.~~ Bakura said. And then he took over.

Harry also noticed that change, although it was more subtle. Ryou's hair suddenly became messier and his eyes became more evil-looking.

Ron gasped. He muttered to Harry, "That's the one that was talking with Ryou the night before we left for Hogwarts."

"But that's not possible," Harry said to him. "You can't take over someone's body. Besides, where did he come from?"

Ron shrugged. "But there's something not right about him." He suddenly noticed that the other Ryou was staring at him, a look of understanding crossing his face before turning into a scowl. Uh-oh, he thought.

"What's a Mudblood?" Yami asked, drawing Bakura's attention away from Ron.

Hermione said, "It's a really foul name for a Muggle."

Yami and Bakura's eyes both narrowed.

"Oh really?" Bakura asked dangerously. His hands began to glow a light purple. It was barely visible, but it was there. Malfoy, Ron, and Hermione apparently didn't notice. Harry did, though. And Yugi and Ryou both knew it.

Uh-oh, both Ryou and Yugi thought at the same time.

~YAMI! STOP THAT!~

Ryou managed to get back control first. A couple seconds later, Yugi managed to persuade Yami to give up control. All of them were staring, including Malfoy. And even he seemed at a loss of words.

"Weird," Ron muttered to Harry and Hermione. "It was like they were a whole other person…did you see how much their personality changed?" Hermione nodded.

"Definitely."

Harry was staring at Ryou's hands. He could have sworn that they were glowing purple earlier…

"Uh…sorry about that," was the only thing Yugi could say, and that didn't explain anything.

/Yami, you're getting us in trouble. I told you you should have stayed inside the Puzzle that day./

//Was I supposed to know that some little detective would come along and discover our secret?//

/Yes! You were the pharaoh you know!/

//And that means…?//

Yugi was spared the response by Ron's hand waving around in his face. "Hello! Earth to Yugi!"

"Oh, sorry, I was sort of spacing out there," he said sheepishly. "Let's go."

They left a very confused Malfoy standing there watching them go.

Ron chortled. "The expression on his face when you two did that was priceless! He looked like a clueless ape!"

Hermione snorted. "Clueless ape?"

"Or something like that."

They were so busy talking that they ran into someone near the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Sorry," Harry said.

But the stranger didn't listen to him, he was staring at Ryou with lavender eyes. "Bakura?"

"Malik?"

I'm very evil, aren't I? I leave you off just as they meet Malik… Sorry I didn't introduce him until this far into the story. I sort of didn't know what to do with him. But now he's here! *grins*

This is an important note: School's almost over, so finals are coming up -_-. And I have a piano competition in less than 2 weeks, so I have to practice for that and won't have time to write out the next chapter. I can't promise regular updates until school gets out around June 20th (when I can start writing to my heart's content). But I'll try to get out another chapter before then. But it's not likely -_-. Thanks for your patience! ^_^