Yu-Gi-Oh!
A New Generation of Priests
CHAPTER FOUR – THE VOICE FROM NOWHERE
After a grueling Transfiguration class that morning, Yugi, Marik, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went down with the rest of the school for lunch. Ron kept tapping on his wand, the tip of which was hastily taped on with spell-o-tape. Sparks flew out from the obvious crack in it, and after awhile, he just gave up on it, stuffing it into his bag. He explained to Marik, Hermione, and Yugi that the wand had snapped in half when they crashed into Whomping Willow as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"So why don't you just write home for another one?" Yugi suggested.
"Oh, yeah, and get another Howler," Ron replied. "It's your own fault your wand broke…"
Harry made a face. "Good point," he said. "Anyway, what do we have next?"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione answered immediately, as Marik took her schedule to look over. After a moment, he face literally turned green with jealously.
"Why in the name of Ra do you have all of Lockhart's classes outlined with hearts!" he demanded.
She turned bright red before snatching her schedule back from him. Harry laughed out loud as Marik started on what sounded like extensive swearing in Japanese (little did he know that the Egyptian was really questioning Lockhart's preferences) when a blinding flash of light went off almost directly in his face. He blinked, colors swimming before his eyes, as a mousy-haired boy holding an old fashioned Muggle camera came into focus.
"All right there, Harry?" he asked. "I'm Colin Creevey. I'm in Gryffindor too. It's so wonderful to finally get to meet you! You think you could sign my photo when I get it developed?"
All of this came out of the little boy's mouth in a rush, and it took Harry a moment to grasp what he said. When he finally did, he was about to stammer out a reply when someone beat him to it.
"Oy, what's this now, Potter?" Malfoy sneered from behind him, standing there with his hands on his hips and his bodyguards on either side. "Are you handing out signed photos now?"
Marik glared up at the pale blonde boy. "I thought I smelled something foul coming this way."
Malfoy smirked. "Are you sure it wasn't your own body odor coming back to your nose?"
Marik stood up threateningly, grabbing his wand from his robe pocket. Before he could do anything, however, Hermione grabbed him and pulled him back down into his seat as everyone's "favorite" bishounen approached.
"What's all this now? What's all this?" Lockhart asked. "Who's giving out signed photos?"
Harry tried to duck under the table, but it was no use. The flashy professor grabbed him and hauled him up out of his seat.
"Tsk, tsk. Harry Potter! I should have known!" he exclaimed, before crushing Harry to his side. "Take a picture of us, Mr. Creevey, and we'll both sign it for you."
Colin started taking rapid-fire pictures as Harry turned beet red, trying to wriggle his way out of Lockhart's iron grasp. After what seemed like an eternity, the bell signaling the start of afternoon classes rang, and Colin took off. Unfortunately, Lockhart kept Harry crushed to his side, dragging him along down the hallway to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and leaving his friends running to catch up.
"Now, Harry, I understand you want to further your career," he said almost paternally, ignoring Harry's stammers, "but signing autographs at this stage isn't sensible. Don't worry, once you get to my level, you'll have to carry a whole stack of them around with you, but until that time, patience, Harry, patience."
He let go of him then, entering his classroom and allowing Harry to get his bearings as the others surrounded him.
"What career was he talking about?" Yugi asked, frowning at the door to the classroom.
"He thinks I want to be famous!" Harry exclaimed, brushing off the arm that had been pinned against Lockhart, as if he were afraid some of him was still left over.
"Don't be silly, Harry," Hermione said. "He was just offering you some advice."
Marik rolled his eyes. "Get the stars out of your eyes, Hermi-chan. That guy's a menace."
She pouted as Ron chuckled. "Still, though, Harry. You could have fried an egg on your face," he said. "You better hope Colin doesn't get with Ginny, or they'll be starting a Harry Potter fan club."
"Oh, please, let Lockhart hear you say that," Harry growled.
Marik smirked, looking down to Yugi. "Aw, c'mon, it can't be nearly as bad as the Yugi Mutou fan club."
Yugi turned the same color red as the raspberry tips of his hair. "That is just embarrassing," he stressed, looking up at the others. "Picture a bunch of people – girls even – with Styrofoam replicas of my hair on their heads. I nearly died when I saw them."
"We found out he had a following over the summer," Marik explained as they entered the classroom and took seats in the back (literally dragging Hermione with them). "Seto-kun hosted another Battle City tournament – I think he's making it an annual thing. Anyway, we went out to register, when we came up on a group of them. One kid even replicated Yugi's deck, with the exception of Osiris of course. Ended up failing spectacularly with it too."
The rest of the class filed into the room, and Lockhart waited until everyone was settled before holding up a copy of one of his books and pointing to his own smiling face on the cover.
"Me," he announced. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award… but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"
He chuckled heartily, winking at the class the same time as the picture on the book. Hermione sighed dreamily, getting a scowl out of Marik. The other boys just shook their heads sadly. Lockhart set the book down and took up an armful of papers.
"Now, these are just simple quizzes to see how much you've read of my books," he announced, passing them out. "You have thirty minutes to complete it."
Yugi looked down at his paper as soon as he got it, a disbelieving look on his face as he read through the questions.
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?
2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
I do not believe this, Yami Yugi muttered. Then, it was like a light bulb went off, and Yugi could almost picture his other half smiling devilishly. Aibou, let me take over.
You're not going to do anything, are you? Yugi asked warily.
Oh, no… nothing much anyway, his other half replied, chuckling slightly.
Yugi was worried, but he let him take over anyway, trusting in the fact that his darker half would not do anything to risk getting expelled. The transformation was brief and without fanfare, so as not to draw attention to themselves. Yami Yugi stretched a bit once he was in control, tossing the others a wink. The boys smirked and Hermione frowned disapprovingly, wondering what he was up to as he started on the paper with a self assured smile on his face.
A half hour later, Lockhart ordered them to pass in their papers. Yami Yugi relinquished control back to his hikari at that time, and Yugi was able to get a good look at his paper before passing it in. He bit down hard on his lower lip, fighting desperately not to laugh out loud. Though he could not understand the majority of it, he did recognize some of what his other half had wrote.
Not only had Yami Yugi managed to thoroughly insult Lockhart on every answer, but he wrote it all with Egyptian hieroglyphs.
"Tut, tut," Lockhart said once he had all the papers, shaking his head. "Hardly any of you remembered that my favorite color is lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully – I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples. Dear me, who wrote this?"
The professor had finally come upon Yugi's paper, who at that point had bent over his desk, head buried in his arms, his whole body shaking with silent laughter. Lockhart flipped through the pages, a thoroughly befuddled look on his face.
"Ah, I see we have a prankster in our class," he said finally. "Well, no matter. This looks a bit Egyptian, and I hear Professor McGonagall knows a little of that dead language."
Yugi stopped laughing at that, his face draining of all color.
Oh no… Yami Yugi muttered, his voice filled with dread. Aibou, I'm so sorry! We've got to get that paper back!
Don't worry about it, Yugi said, a bit uneasy. McGonagall-sensei has got to have a bit of a sense of humor somewhere.
Hikari, for once I wish you weren't so optimistic, Yami Yugi replied sourly as Lockhart went on about how Hermione had answered all the questions on the exam correctly, and awarded Gryffindor ten points.
"Now, to business!" he exclaimed, reaching behind his desk and pulling out a fairly large covered cage. "Keep in mind, it is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures and spells known to wizard kind. You may be confronting your darkest fears in this room…"
In spite of himself, Marik leaned forward in his seat, interested, as Lockhart reached for the cover of the cage.
"I only ask," he said in a deep, haunting voice, "that you do not scream. It might provoke them!"
With that, he flipped the cover off… and even Hermione sweatdropped at the sight of what was underneath. In the cage were what only could be described as pixies; they were electric blue with elfish faces and fluttering wings. As soon as the cover was off, they started rattling against the cage frantically, jabbering in their own odd language. Seamus snorted out a laugh.
"Cornish Pixies!" he exclaimed, hardly believing the professor was being serious.
"Freshly caught Cornish Pixies," Lockhart corrected. Yugi's eyes went wide as he reached for the door to the cage. He wasn't going to do what he was thinking, right? No one was that stupid.
Unfortunately, Lockhart proved him wrong, pulling open the cage door. Utter pandemonium followed, as the pixies sprung free of the cage and zoomed about the room, wrecking havoc. A few of them shot through the window, forcing Harry and the others to duck under the table as glass showered down on them. Neville was grabbed by the ears, and soon found himself hanging from the iron chandelier above.
"Come, come now!" Lockhart exclaimed. "They're only pixies!" He frowned, before pulling out his wand and waving it about flamboyantly. "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"
Nothing happened. One of the pixies grabbed the wand and tossed it out the window. By this time, most of the rest of the class had already vacated the room and Lockhart was quick to do the same as the bell rang. He paused at the stairs leading up to his office, looking down at the five friends, who were still hiding under their table.
"I'll just ask you five to clean up the lot of them," he said before bolting out of the room.
"Can you believe that guy!" Ron exclaimed, swatting away a pixie that tried to bite his ear as they emerged from under the desk.
"He just wants to give us some hands-on experience," Hermione said, standing back to back with Marik, both of them zapping the pixies that came close with a Freezing Charm before tossing them into their cage.
"Hands on!" Harry exclaimed, him and Yugi trying to grab a pixie that was just out of range.
"Admit it, Hermione," Yugi said, "he didn't have a clue as to what he was doing."
"Nonsense," she replied, "you've read his books. Look at all the amazing things he's done."
"He says he's done," Marik grumbled.
-.oOOo.-
The week went by fast, and that Saturday morning found Yugi walking with a rather cheery spring to his step to the Great Hall. Ron, Hermione, and himself were going to visit Hagrid after watching Harry and Marik's Quidditch practice session. He was just about to start whistling his favorite song, when he nearly collided with a rather moody Professor McGonagall. She fixed him with a cold look before reaching into a pocket a pulling out a piece of paper: the exam that Yami Yugi had written on. Yugi fought back a nervous gulp.
"Mr. Mutou," she began, "did you or your other self write this?"
Yugi was about to stutter out an explanation, when Yami Yugi appeared next to him. He was faded and washed out as he always was when he appeared outside of his body, and he had a half-frantic, half-pleading look on his face.
"Professor, please, don't blame my hikari!" he exclaimed, standing before him protectively (never mind the fact that she could see right through him). "It wasn't his fault. It was all my idea. Don't –"
McGonagall held up a hand, cutting him off. "Thank you," she said wearily. "It was the best laugh I had in quite a long time, but don't do it again. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have detentions to hand out."
Yugi and Yami Yugi stared at her, shocked, as she continued on her way to the Great Hall. After a moment, they turned to each other, exchanging dumbfounded expressions, before they collapsed on top of one another, back to back, letting out a sigh of relief as they sunk to the floor.
"That was too close," Yugi muttered. "I never want to get that close to a detention again."
"Sorry about that, aibou," Yami Yugi said, but his other half waved the apology away as a Ravenclaw girl walked by. His hikari said something, but he was too busy looking.
"Are you listening?" Yugi asked.
"I like the view down here," Yami Yugi mused. Yugi rolled his eyes, standing up and grabbing his darker half by the ear.
"Hentai," he mumbled, pulling the protesting pharaoh to the Great Hall.
-.oOOo.-
Harry rubbed his eyes tiredly, scribbling the address for Veronica Smethley while fighting back a yawn. It was a futile effort though, considering he had had to get up at the crack of dawn for Quidditch practice, and now had to listen to Lockhart ramble on and on. He and Ron had received their detentions for flying the Anglia into the Whomping Willow at the beginning of the week, and he unfortunately had to help Lockhart answer his fan mail, while Ron only had to help Filch polish the trophies in the Trophy Room.
Though, now that he thought about it, Ron probably ended up with the greater of the two evils. He had tried to cast a spell on Malfoy earlier, but his wand backfired on him, and he ended up burping out slugs.
Harry reluctantly went to grab another envelope, when a cold, chilling voice reached his ears over Lockhart's annoying prattle.
Come… come to me… Let me rip you… Let me tear you… Let me kill you…
He looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the voice. Even Lockhart noticed the terrified look on his face.
"My good boy, what's troubling you?" he asked.
"Can't you hear that?" he asked.
Lockhart frowned. "I think you've been working with me too long, Harry," he said. "Why don't you go up to your common room and get some sleep."
Confused, and straining to hear the voice again, Harry got up and left. He kept an ear near the walls as he made his way back to the common room, still listening for any word from the voice. He was so preoccupied with his strange activity, that he did not notice Malfoy coming down the other way until he crashed into him.
"Bloody hell, Potter!" he snapped, steadying himself. "Watch where you're going!"
Harry was about shout back at him, when the voice came again.
…rip… tear… kill…
What little color was in Malfoy's face quickly disappeared. "W-w-w-what is that!" he exclaimed.
Harry blinked in surprised. "You can hear it too?"
"Of course I can hear it!" Malfoy snapped.
…so hungry… for so long…
The two boys spun around, trying to find a source for the voice.
"Where the devil is it coming from?" Malfoy demanded.
"Shush!" Harry snapped as the voice came again.
…kill… time to kill…
"Kill?" Malfoy squeaked.
Harry ignored him, taking off the hallway, following the hissing voice as it chanted "…kill…kill…" over and over again. Debating a moment, Malfoy kicked at the ground before following him, deciding that if Harry humiliated himself over this, at least he would be the first one to see it. The two of them stopped dead as the chanting suddenly changed.
…I smell blood… I SMELL BLOOD!
The two of them exchanged glances, before bolting off again, flying up a nearby staircase and coming around a corner where they stopped once again. On the wall before them, foot-high words had been painted with what looked eerily like blood.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN
OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
Draco was about to let loose a scathing remark, when Harry suddenly slapped a hand over his mouth, staring up at something above the words. Annoyed, Malfoy pushed him. He slipped – there was a large puddle of water on the floor – and grabbed the other boy by the robes, trying to steady himself. They both splashed to the ground, and Malfoy glared at Harry as he turned his focus back to the something above the words.
"What is your problem!" he demanded. Harry barely acknowledged him, he just pointed up to where he was staring. Malfoy looked up… and let out a shout of horror and surprise.
There, hanging from a torch bracket by her tail, was Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat. She was stiff as a board, and her creepy red eyes looked like they were bugging out of her head.
"We-we better get out of here," Malfoy stammered.
"No way," Harry replied. "I'm staying to help."
"Fine, get in trouble," he snapped, shakily getting to his feet. "I'm out of –"
Malfoy was in the middle of turning around to leave, when he nearly smacked into Argus Filch. He let out a squeak of surprise before backing up and tripping over Harry, tumbling to the wet floor again. Filch was hardly paying him any heed; he had seen what was left of Mrs. Norris.
"My cat!" he exclaimed suddenly. "You brats murdered my cat!"
