Yu-Gi-Oh!
A New Generation of Priests

CHAPTER SEVEN – LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR

The first Saturday of December, Professor McGonagall passed around a sign-up sheet for those who would be staying at the school for Christmas. Yugi, Marik, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all signed it before finishing their breakfast and heading to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. A few minutes later, Seto and Bakura joined them, the latter of which was still finishing off a biscuit.

"How's the potion going?" Seto asked Hermione, who had manned the cauldron the concoction was stewing in.

"The potion itself is going well, but…" she trailed off, biting her lip.

Marik frowned. "What's wrong, Hermi-chan?" he asked, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and smiled slightly before answering.

"I don't know if any of you have noticed," she began, "but Malfoy hasn't been hanging out with Crabbe or Goyle since the Quidditch match."

Yugi frowned; that was so very true. Malfoy was usually always found in the company of the thickheaded bodyguards; Crabbe and Goyle did the physical work anytime they would pick on a student. Lately, though, Malfoy was often found wandering around the halls alone. He did not speak to anyone; did not so much as even glare at Ron the one time he accidentally bumped into him.

"That's true," Seto added. "Even in class, he doesn't sit anywhere near them."

"You mean we may be brewing this potion for nothing?" Bakura asked. He paled then. "I allowed Yami Bakura-kun to steal for no reason?"

Get over it, hikari.

Oh, shut up!

"Perhaps," Hermione answered, unaware of the brief mental exchange. "But, I think we should keep it going, just in case we need it."

Yugi bit his lip; he did not want his friends going off into danger when the outcome would not be useful to finding out who was behind the Chamber of Secrets. After a moment of debating, he took off out of the bathroom, ignoring the others as they shouted for him to come back. He could only think of one thing: find Malfoy.

Maybe luck was on his side, or maybe he had invoked some power of the Millennium Puzzle he was not aware of; either way, it only took Yugi a few moments to find Draco Malfoy. The pale blonde boy was walking down a hallway that led to the library, his nose buried in a book.

"Malfoy!" he shouted, catching his attention. He turned, an eyebrow raised, but his face otherwise emotionless.

"What the devil do you want?" Malfoy asked, his voice a bit of a monotone.

Yugi paused a moment to catch his breath, before he asked, "What do you know about the Chamber of Secrets?"

That got a response out of him. Malfoy's thin lips turned down into a scowl. "Is it because I'm in Slytherin that you feel you can just waltz up to me and demand to know about the Chamber of Secrets, as if I even know?"

Yugi winced as Malfoy spun around. "Iie, iie, it's not that –"

"Look," the pale boy interrupted, looking at him slightly over his shoulder, "all I know is that the last time the Chamber was open was before my father's time, and that while it was open, a mudblood died. Now stop bothering me."

With that, Malfoy stalked down the hall, leaving a confused Yugi in his wake. It took a moment for him to process what he had heard, and then he was off back to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to tell the others.

-.oOOo.-

A week later, Bakura was still complaining that he had let his other half steal from Professor Snape for no reason, and everyone else was excited about an announcement of a new Dueling Club that had started. Often dangerous, Wizard's Duels were obviously competitions in magic; a grand test to see who controlled superior power. Seto was all for it, of course – that cocky gleam appeared in his eyes at the mention of it, the same look he always had on his face when he played Duel Monsters. The others wanted to participate for more practical reasons. After all, who knew when they were going to go up against the 'horror within' the Chamber of Secrets, as well as the person who was letting it loose.

At eight 'o clock, the group of seven friends joined others from different houses in the Great Hall. The long tables they normally ate at had been pushed to the side, and only a large stage stretched from one end of the hall to the other.

"I wonder who it is that will be instructing us?" Hermione asked as they pushed their way closer to the stage. "I heard Professor Flitwick was a Dueling Champion when he was younger."

Marik smirked, trying to picture the old man – that was somehow shorter than Yugi – in a magic duel.

"I don't care who it is," he said. "Just as long as it isn't— oh, shimata…"

Professor Snape had walked up onto the stage, a mighty scowl on his face that the seven of them had not seen since they first started school last year. That was not what had drawn the curse out of Marik, however. On the other end of the stage, grinning cheekily as always, was none other than Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he announced. "Dumbledore has given me special permission to start this dueling club, in case you ever have need to defend yourself, like I myself have so many times in the past. For full details, see my published works." He waved a hand flamboyantly in the direction of Professor Snape. "Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape, who was sporting enough to offer to aid me in this endeavor."

Judging from the scowl on Snape's face, his assistance was not voluntary. Seto leaned down, whispering in Yugi's ear in Japanese so Hermione would not pitch a fit.

"If we're lucky," he said, "Snape will disable him so he can't do that thing he calls 'teaching' anymore."

"And if we're really lucky," Yugi returned, also in Japanese, "he'll kill him, and save the whole world a lot of grief."

Snape had apparently heard them, for he tossed them a half attempt at a humored smirk before he resumed glaring at Lockhart. The demonstration duel followed almost immediately, with the two professors bowing to one another. Well, Lockhart did with a great amount of twirling of his hands; Snape just jerked his head irritably. They walked away from one another then, looking like something out of a bad American Western film. Once they were far enough apart, they spun around and faced one another again, brandishing their wands before them like swords.

"On the count of three, we will cast our first spells," Lockhart announced to the crowd of students. "We won't be aiming to kill, of course."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Marik commented, eyeing Snape. He could not understand how Lockhart could still be smiling; if Snape were glaring at him like that, he would be running in the opposite direction.

"One… two… three…"

"Expelliarmus!"

A burst of red sparks burst forth from Snape's wand. It hit Lockhart square in the chest, sending him flying into the far wall. He smacked against it, sliding down until his rump hit the ground. Several people started cheering (mostly Slytherins), while Hermione was dancing about, trying to see above the crowd.

"Is he all right?" she asked.

"Who cares?" the boys responded dryly.

Meanwhile, Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet, his wavy hair nearly standing on end. He chuckled, much to Snape's obvious displeasure, as he walked back to his previous position.

"Ah, yes, excellent idea to show them that first, Professor Snape," he said. "That was a Disarming Charm, and as you can see, I've lost my wand. Well, now, why don't we have two students try it out for themselves while I go look for it. Mr. Mutou, Mr. Kaiba, if you please?"

Seto and Yugi exchanged looks before they shrugged and climbed up on the stage (Yugi needing a hand up, of course). They mimicked what Snape and Lockhart had demonstrated, as the latter professor urged them to only use the Disarming Charm. Seto smirked as they both brought their wands at ready.

"Shall we make this more interesting?" he asked in Japanese, making it seem like he was insulting the smaller boy.

"Do you want to get a detention?" Yugi returned in the same language. "Oh, yeah, by the way, Snape knows Japanese."

Seto looked over his shoulder at the professor, who had another one of his smirks on his face. The young CEO rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to Yugi.

"Oh well," he replied, in English, then announced, "We're ready!"

"On the count of three then," Snape said for Lockhart, as the other professor was still looking for his wand. "One… two… three."

"Expelliarmus!"

The name of the spells was shouted out at the same time, but because Seto moved his wand faster than Yugi did, the smaller boy was sent flailing backward first. He managed to grab the edge of the stage, preventing himself from hitting the wall like Lockhart had. Seto, heavier than him and not as easy to send flying, landed near the edge of the stage with a thud that nearly knocked the wind out of him.

"Ah, excellent! Very excellent!" Lockhart exclaimed, finally recovering his wand. "Five points apiece to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Now, how about another student example before pairing off everyone? Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley?"

Harry clambered onto the stage, and Ron was about to follow, when Snape stood in front of him, blocking him off as he said to Lockhart, "In case you haven't noticed, Mr. Weasley's wand causes devastation with even the simplest of spells."

Ron backed off, shrugging to Harry sheepishly. The sad part was, Snape was right; his Spell-o-taped wand had not worked properly since it had broken.

"May I suggest a student from my own house?" the Potions Master continued. "Mr. Malfoy, perhaps?"

Draco climbed up onto the stage, looking like he would rather be anywhere else. Harry could not help but agree with that look.

"Remember, disarm only," Lockhart reminded them. "One… two –"

Despite Malfoy's difference in attitude over the past few weeks, Harry had expected him to try and pull something off. Good thing Malfoy never disappointed him; the pale boy's wand had already started moving on "two".

"Tarantallegra!"

Harry was hit full on with the curse, and it took all the self-control he could muster to prevent his legs from breaking out into some kind of dance. Squeezing his knees together, he pointed his wand at Malfoy.

"Rictusempra!"

A jet of silver shot out of his wand, hitting Malfoy in the chest while Lockhart started panicking.

"I said disarm only!" he stressed.

Everyone else ignored him, too caught up in the duel. Malfoy, wheezing from the Tickling Charm Harry had cast on him, held up his wand shakily.

"Serpensortia!"

It was like the end of Malfoy's wand had exploded. A long, black snake shot out of the wand, rearing up and hissing furiously. Some students screamed, and the crowd as a whole backed off. Even Harry took a step back, surprised. Apparently, that spell had been Snape's limit; he stepped forward, pulling out his wand.

"Don't move, you two," he warned.

"Allow me, Professor Snape!" Lockhart declared. A worried look crossed Snape's face before he backed off – along with both Harry and Malfoy.

After much apparently useless twirling, Lockhart pointed his wand at the snake. However, instead of disappearing, the snake flew up in the air and plopped down on the stage again. It reared up once more, still hissing; all that Lockhart's spell had accomplished was to make it angrier than it was before. The snake slithered toward a Hufflepuff boy, Justin Finch-Fletchley, looking like it was going to lash out at the paling boy any minute. Harry did the only thing he could think of: he stalked threateningly toward the snake, drawing its attention to him.

"Get away from him!" he shouted.

To his surprise, the snake became docile, slithering away from Justin and curling up in the center of the stage. Harry sighed in relief, and then smiled as he turned to the Hufflepuff boy. He expected him to maybe be a little confused, but grateful that he had called off the snake. He did not expect him to be standing there, shaking, looking like he was going to pass out.

"What are you playing at!" he demanded, before whirling around and stalking out of the room. Bakura gave Harry a worried look before running after him.

Harry looked around in confusion. All of the students were giving him strange, frightened looks. Malfoy was paler than he normally was, and looked like he was just shy of fainting. Snape just stared at him, an unusual look of utter disbelief on his face, before he made the snake vanish. Suddenly, Ron grabbed the sleeve of his robe and tugged him off the stage.

"C'mon!" he hissed. "Move!"

Ron, Hermione, Marik, Yugi, and Seto pulled him along through the Great Hall. The going was easy, as the students quickly parted to let them through. Harry could only stare at their frightened faces; what had he done to get such a reaction out of them?

The six of them did not stop until they reached the empty Gryffindor common room (they let Seto come in as well, even though he was in Ravenclaw). Ron practically threw the still utterly confused Harry into a seat.

"You're a Parselmouth!" he exclaimed. "How come you never told us!"

"I'm a what?" Harry asked, getting more confused by the minute.

"A Parselmouth," Yugi repeated for Ron, who looked like he was going to have a fit. "Someone who can talk to snakes."

"Oh," Harry replied. "Oh, yeah, I know. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin once… Long story," he added, noticing their looks of horror. "It was before I found out I was a wizard. The snake told me it had never seen Brazil."

"The snake told you?" Seto asked, his face paling.

"So what?" Harry demanded, starting to get angry. "If I hadn't told that snake to get away from Justin –"

"Oh, is that what you said to it?" Ron asked, sarcastically.

Harry stood up from his seat, very annoyed now. "You were there! You heard me!"

"We heard you speaking Parseltongue, Harry-kun," Marik replied. "You know, snake language."

Harry paled at that, sitting back down again. "I spoke a different language?" he asked, shocked. "Wait a minute! How do you guys know about this!"

The three foreign boys pointed to Hermione. She screwed up her courage, looking like she was going to regret what she was going to tell him.

"Harry, there's a reason why Slytherin House's animal is a snake," she began. "Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth."

Harry's mouth practically hit the floor at that.

"Exactly," Ron added. "Now everyone's going to think you're his great-great-great-great grandson or something."

Harry shook his head emphatically. "There's no way," he declared. "I'm in Gryffindor, remember?"

"That doesn't matter, Harry-kun," Marik pointed out. "Salazar Slytherin lived over a thousand years ago. For all we know… you could be."

Harry leaned back in his seat, a look of absolute dread on his face. One thing he had never told any of his friends, was that when he had put on the Sorting Hat what seemed like ages ago, the Hat was originally going to put him in Slytherin. He had urged it not to, and so it put him in Gryffindor instead. Now, with everything happening, he could not help but wonder if the Hat was right the first time…

-.oOOo.-

As soon as he left the Great Hall, Draco Malfoy broke out into a nervous run, the last bits of the Tickling Charm Harry had cast on him quickly wearing off. He did not stop his mad dash until he was in the boy's bathroom, and safely locked behind one of the stales. Gasping for air, he doubled over, shaking so bad he was afraid he was going to knock down the wooden stales.

Harry had talked to that damn snake, and it actually listened to him! That could only mean one thing; that he was a Parselmouth, a trait passed down to the heirs of Slytherin. There was only one problem: Draco understood what he had said! He knew that Harry had told the snake to back off.

He was a Parselmouth too.

Draco slid down the wall, curling up with his knees against his chest. What was he going to do…?

-.oOOo.-

Harry had planned on explaining to Justin what he had really been trying to do at the dueling club during Herbology the next morning, but a sudden, severe snowstorm had canceled the last lesson of the term. So, instead of freezing in the greenhouses, he was freezing in the library with his friends, trying to use the free time to get some much needed studying. He just could not think straight, however; thoughts of him possibly being Slytherin's heir were running rampant in his mind.

"Harry-kun," Yugi said suddenly, sensing that something was bothering his friend, "why don't we go look for Justin?"

"He usually hangs out in the Great Hall when he has breaks," Bakura offered as Harry and Yugi got up from their seats.

The two of them set off toward the Great Hall, ignoring the stares that were directed toward Harry. The younger boy scoffed at everyone's over-reactions, rolling his eyes. They were about to descend a staircase, when they almost bumped into something very tall and very hairy.

"Hello, Hagrid," Harry greeted.

A snow-covered balaclava hid most of Hagrid's face, but it could not have been anyone else. There was no other person in the school who could take up half the hallway like the giant of a man did.

"All righ' there, Harry, Yugi?" he asked, pulling up the balaclava with his free hand so he could speak. His other hand had a dead rooster hanging from it. "Why aren't yeh in class?"

"Cancelled," Yugi explained. "What are you doing with that?"

He pointed to the dead rooster. Hagrid held it up a bit.

"Second one killed this term," he explained. "Prob'ly foxes or a Blood-Suckin' Bugbear. I need Dumbledore's permission ter put a charm around the hen coop."

Harry checked his watch and frowned. "Sorry, Hagrid, we've got to go," he said. "It's Transfiguration next and we still need to get our books."

Hagrid peered down at him. "Are yeh sure yeh're all right?" he asked. "Yeh look all hot an' bothered…"

Harry smiled slightly, grateful for his concern. "I'm okay," he said. "Just a lot of things going on lately."

The two of them said good-bye to Hagrid before heading up to their common room. Yugi looked up to Harry, who still had a bit of a sour look on his face. He raced up in front of him and spun around, making him stop in mid-step.

"Harry-kun, let me tell you something," he began, "when I had to tell you guys about Yami Yugi-kun, I was worried – very worried."

"About what?" Harry asked, wondering where this came from all of a sudden.

"That you and Ron and Hermione would not be my friends anymore," he replied. He held up a hand. "I don't mean to make a 'power of friendship' speech – my friend Anzu in Japan has a habit of making too many of those – but I will say this much. The seven of us are true friends, and no matter what happens to us, or whoever our ancestors might be, we'll always have that bond."

Harry blinked, caught off guard. After a moment, he smiled his first true smile in a long time. "Thanks, Yugi," he said. "I guess I really needed to hear that."

They resumed the walk to the common room then, taking a short cut down a dark corridor. The torches must have been blown out by a cold draft from somewhere, though the hallway was a bit warm. Yugi pulled out his golden wand.

"Lumos!"

The tip of the wand lit up with a light powerful enough to illuminate a good portion of the hallway. The sight that lay out before them, however, nearly made the older boy drop the wand in shock. Justin Finch-Fletchley was lying on the floor, perfectly still, a look of shock frozen on his face. Hovering slightly above him was the Gryffindor House ghost, Nearly Headless Nick. Instead of being pale and silvery like all the other ghosts were, however, he was gray and smoky, floating motionlessly parallel to the ground.

Harry fell to his knees in shock, his breathing coming out in shallow gasps. Yugi himself looked like he was going to faint.

Just then, to add insult to injury, the school's resident poltergeist, Peeves, floated out of an empty classroom. He was on his back, looking like he was doing the backstroke in midair. The ghost flipped around when he saw them, a sneer on his face.

"Why, it's potty wee Potter!" he cackled, bouncing around him. "What's Potter up to this time, eh? Why's Potter lurking –"

Peeve cut himself off in mid bounce, a look of abject horror on his normally wicked little face. His beady little eyes were focused on Nearly Headless Nick.

"ATTACK!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE!"