Yu-Gi-Oh!
Balance

CHAPTER SEVEN – SIRIUS TROUBLES AT HOGWARTS

The start of October brought the one thing that Harry, Marik, and Draco had been looking forward to since school let out last year: Quidditch. In the beginning of the year, Oliver Wood – the seventh year captain of their team – had approached Draco, asking him what he could contribute to the team and if there would ever be a conflict of interest when going up against his old house. He responded by taking up his Nimbus 2001 and demonstrating all the positions like a pro. After Oliver picked his mouth off the floor, he decided to sign him on as a "universal replacement".

The first Thursday of the month found all seven of the Gryffindor players and the two replacements gathered in the common room. Oliver kept pacing back and forth, his nervousness obvious.

"Yes, we won our first Quidditch Cup in five years, two year ago, but I'm greedy," he admitted. "So far, we've had the worst luck: injuries, the tournament getting cancelled. This is our last chance – my last chance – to win another one, and I know that this year we'll do it, because we have the best ruddy team in the school!"

There was an odd, maniac glint in his eyes. Draco gave Harry and Marik a worried look, but they did not really seem to be concerned. Apparently, this was typical.

"The point is," Wood continued, the glint fading almost right away, "we would have gotten the Cup last year if it hadn't been cancelled. Ever since Harry and Marik joined the team, we've had this thing in the bag, but…"

He sounded so pathetic, even the Weasley twins felt sorry for him.

"We'll knock 'em off their brooms this year, Oliver," Fred declared.

"We'll do it, Oliver!" chaser Angelina Johnson exclaimed.

"Most definitely," Marik replied with a cocky grin.

The team started training sessions right away, getting to the point where they were practicing three evenings a week. That, coupled with their new classes, meant that Harry, Draco, and Marik only had enough time for homework and practice. It provided a good distraction for Draco at least; every now and then, he would run into Professor Shadi in the hallways, no matter how much he tried to avoid him, and he would keep asking him the same question: "Do you know what that feather is?" He did not know if the professor was entirely sane, and considered going to Dumbledore, but eventually decided against it – it would not be the first time a weird teacher had taught at the school.

More excitement came later in the month, when the Gryffindor team came up from practice into a common room buzzing with activity.

"What's going on?" Marik asked.

"First Hogsmeade trip!" Yugi exclaimed, pointing to a post up on the house bulletin board. "Right on Halloween! Isn't that awesome?"

"Wonderful," Harry replied dryly, plopping down in a chair.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Ron asked.

Harry frowned. "I couldn't get my permission form signed," he explained. "I didn't get the chance. I doubt they'd let me out anyway, with Black still on the loose and all."

Draco bit his lip, but did not say anything. He noticed, but Hermione spoke up before he could ask what was wrong.

"Black wouldn't do anything so close to Hogsmeade," she pointed out. "And, hey, maybe you could get Seto to sign your permission form. He's his own guardian, after all."

Unfortunately, that did not get them very far. Harry approached Seto with the idea the next day during their study session at the library. The elder boy just shook his head.

"I couldn't sign my own permission form," he replied sourly. "I had to get my secretary to do it."

Yami Bakura took over his hikari at that, the only evidence of this being an uncharacteristic snicker coming out of his mouth.

"Oh, I could just picture that," the tomb robber sneered. He started to mimic Seto as he continued, "Here; file these papers, fill out this form, and sign my permission slip."

WHACK! Yami Seto appeared suddenly and clocked the tomb robber over the head with the Millennium Rod, only…

"Ow!" Ryou Bakura complained. "What'd you do that for?"

-.oOOo.-

Halloween morning dawned bright and chilly, and unfortunately Harry still had not found a way to get into Hogsmeade. Yugi offered that he would stay at the school with him, but he insisted that they all go. They were a bit reluctant to leave him behind – especially Yugi – but Harry all but shoved them out the door and into the invisible horse drawn carriages.

Yugi waited until they were past the gates of the school and the horrifying dementors, before he looked out the window of the carriage he shared with Marik, Bakura, and Seto. Marik had his Gameboy Advance in hand and was playing some game on it, while Bakura had a distant look on his face, more than likely talking with his other half.

"Yugi-kun," Seto began, drawing his attention away from outside. "Has anything strange happened to you yet?"

Yugi blinked. "No, why?"

He shook his head. "Professor Trelawney really freaked me out that first day," he explained. "I can't help but wonder if some of the things she said were – or would be – true."

Yugi scrunched up his face in thought. He could have sworn she saw Lavender Brown crying on the sixteenth of that month, but he did not know what it was about. Though, he did understand what Seto was so worried about: Professor Trelawney had predicted that someone in their class would have to return home to tend to a younger muggle brother. Even he hoped nothing bad would happen to Mokuba.

"I'm sure Mokuba-kun will be all right," Yugi assured him. "He's just as healthy as you are. The most he's likely to get is a head cold."

Seto smirked slightly. "Yeah, I hope you're right."

"Whoa!" Marik suddenly exclaimed, poking his head out the carriage window.

The sight of the wizard's village before them instantly dashed whatever regrets they had about leaving Harry behind. It looked like something out of an old storybook, with thatched roof houses dotting about a long dirt road. Old country-style signs daggled outside some of the buildings, advertising places like the Three Broomsticks and Zonko's Joke Shop. There were no muggles in sight; only wizards and witches in typical – and not so typical – colored robes wandered about, talking to each other or hurrying past the Hogwarts carriages to get to the various shops and bars they had already passed.

The carriages came to a gradual halt, and Yugi and the others threw themselves out of their ride and onto the dirt street. They looked about, wide eyes and mouths open, as Hermione, Ron, Draco, and the Weasley twins joined them.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Fred asked. "Even fifth years like us never get tired of this place."

"You're only saying that because the joke shop keeps you two supplied," Ron replied sourly.

"Nothing wrong with that," George replied a little too innocently. Draco sighed.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to find something in my bed again tonight?" he asked.

Fred just smiled, getting another sigh out of him. Suddenly, Yami Seto appeared next to his hikari, and before he knew what was going on, Seto found himself in a playful little chokehold, courtesy of his other half. He gagged a bit, even though the dark spirit did not have that tight of a hold on him.

"Do you mind?" he demanded.

"Not at all," Yami Seto replied, a huge grin on his face. "Do you think anyone will panic too much if they see a couple of students walking around with us crazy Egyptian spirits? I wouldn't mind stretching my legs, y'know."

"I don't see the harm in it," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I'd imagine they've seen stranger things…"

With that said, the other Egyptian spirits appeared next to their respective hikaris. Yami Bakura stretched his arms above his head, letting out a loud yawn. He rubbed his stomach, looking about.

"Hum… I could use some food," he said. Bakura put his hands on his hips, a frown on his face.

"I just had breakfast!" he exclaimed. "How can you be hungry?"

Yami Bakura frowned. "Because you never eat anything good!" he returned. "Rare meat, a tall mug of ale; now that's a meal! C'mon!"

Bakura let out a yelp of surprise as the tomb robber grabbed his robe sleeve and started dragging him off toward one of the taverns they had passed. Everyone stared after them, a couple sweatdrops among them. Aishisu sighed, rubbing her forehead tiredly.

"He does realize that he's not going to get away with that, does he?" she asked. "His light is underage; there's no way anyone would serve him alcohol."

Yami Seto sighed. "That's the only disadvantage of the modern world."

Seto pushed his other half off of him. "What are you complaining about?" he asked.

Marik raised an eyebrow. "You drink already, Seto? Geeze, I know running a company is tough, but really…"

All of a sudden, the twins plowed past them, each of them looping an arm around one of Yami Yugi's arms and dragging the pharaoh along with them. He let out a yelp of surprise, caught off guard and trying to break away from them.

"C'mon! We've stalled enough!" Fred exclaimed.

"Let's go, pharaoh!" George cried good-naturedly. "We'll introduce you to Zonko's Joke Shop. Yami Bakura can't be the only spirit that makes fun of his other half."

Yami Yugi looked over his shoulder, an uncharacteristically worried look on his face. "Aibou…!"

Yugi could not help himself. He smiled innocently and waved after him. "Have fun, mou hitori no boku!"

The spirit of the pharaoh groaned as the twins continued to drag him along. After a moment, Draco ran after them.

"Hey, wait up!" he called. "Just because you play pranks on me doesn't mean I can't fight back!"

The disappeared down the street. Hermione suddenly grabbed Marik around the arms and started tugging him off.

"C'mon," she urged. "There are a couple places I want to check out."

Both Marik and Aishisu were dragged off before either of them could protest. That left Yugi, Ron, Seto, and Yami Seto as the only ones left not heading off anywhere yet.

"Do you want to go to the candy shop?" Ron asked. "They've got a lot of great stuff there."

"Sure!" Yugi exclaimed. "Seto?"

Seto shook his head. "Maybe later," he said. "I need something to drink."

"Try the Three Broomsticks," Ron suggested. "They've got wonderful butterbeer. Warms you right up too."

The four of them split up, with Seto and his other half heading back to the Three Broomsticks and Yugi and Ron going off to Honeydukes, the candy shop.

Yugi was in heaven as soon as they entered the shop. Creamy fudge, various colored toffees, several neat rows of Every Flavor Beans dotted the place, along with Chocolate Frogs, Fizzing Whizbees, Droobels Best Blowing Gum, Toothflossing Stringmints, Pepper Imps, Ice Mice, and so many others. They wandered about the crowded store, going through all the aisles and picking up things they wanted for both themselves and Harry until they made it back to the "Unusual Tastes" section. Back there were strange things like cockroach clusters and bloodpops ("I should pick up one for Yami Bakura," Yugi joked), which did not appeal to either of their tastes.

The two of them ended up coming out of the candy shop an hour later, both of them loaded down with enough sweets to last them the rest of the school year. Ron raced off, having seen his brothers across the street, while Yugi went hunting for his other half. The spirit of the pharaoh was so much like a real person now, maybe he would be able to share in the candy he had picked up. He passed the joke shop and the post office, and was about to call out his darker half's name, when he heard a shout of triumph coming from a small alleyway next to the office. Pressing his back up against the wall of the place, he strained to hear what was going on.

"So! It's about time you admitted it to yourself! I thought the tomb robber would win an award for world peace by the time you said anything."

Yugi frowned. That sounded like Aishisu.

"Yes, yes. Now that you've finished gloating, how am I going to tell him?"

Yugi felt himself turn green; that was definitely Yami Yugi. There was no mistaking that voice.

"He's your light," Aishisu pointed out. "You should know the best way to approach him."

"Do you mind on giving me something other than the standard, 'I don't know, figure it out for yourself,' BS answer?" Yami Yugi replied, sounding like he was on his last thread of patience. "This is something that affects how we look at each other for the rest of our lives. Your opinion is important in all this."

Yugi felt his heart starting to break away into little, bitty pieces. No, no… it could not be true. Yami Yugi promised him that he would not leave him. He had to know that if he liked Aishisu, the two of them could not be with each other anymore, not unless Hermione dumped Marik, and that would not be happening any time in the next millennium.

He clutched at his chest, trying to keep his emotions under control. His optimism was failing him at the moment, and it was starting to hurt him deep inside. It was a horrible piercing feeling, penetrating deep into his soul; a feeling of deep sadness, deep depression, deep despair… he could not quite describe it.

"Pharaoh, you've had all the training of an inspiring speaker," Aishisu assured him. "I don't think you'll need much help, but I'll at least give you an angle of approach. Just… start by talking to him, lead him along into it, and then… just tell him."

"'Just tell him'?" Yami Yugi repeated, obviously confused. "Tell him how?"

Aishisu sighed, obviously starting to get annoyed. "Do I have to take you step by step? Sorry, sorry," she said almost immediately. "All right. You might want to try something like: 'Yugi, you mean so much to me, but I hope you'll understand when I say –'"

Yugi did not stay around to find out the rest of the coaching session. He took off down the street, leaving the pieces of his heart behind.

-.oOOo.-

"—'I love you'," Aishisu finished. "Now, is that so hard?"

Yami Yugi sighed, running a hand through his bangs. He had been doing a lot of thinking since the night he had comforted his hikari after his nightmare. It was hard to admit, particularly to himself, that he felt so strongly toward another guy, but it was even harder trying to ignore how he felt too. What worried him the most, above everything else, was that Yugi would not feel the same way and distance himself from him. Being pushed away from him was something that the pharaoh feared above everything else. That was why he asked Hermione to let Aishisu take over, so he could talk to her.

He was about to reply to the priestess' question, when he felt an arm resting on the top of his head. He glared upward, recognizing the silver armband.

"That's not an armrest, you know," he snapped.

Yami Seto leaned over slightly so he could see him. "Oh, but it's the perfect height for one!"

"Knock it off," Seto's voice came from behind him. The High Priest let out a shout of surprise as his lighter half grabbed the hood of his robes and pulled him off. Yami Yugi turned to them in time to see Yami Seto grab his hikari around the neck and give him a brief nuggie.

"We were wondering if you managed to break away from the Weasley twins yet," Yami Seto said, serious now, as Seto attempted to straighten out his hair, grumbling the whole time. "You want to head to the candy shop now? Yugi said he was going that way."

"Let me see if he's still there," Yami Yugi offered, before reaching to the mind link he shared with his hikari. There was a brief moment where he had a distant look on his face, before… "That's odd. He's… blocking me?"

He did not even try to hide the bewildered look on his face. Why would Yugi ever want to block contact with him?

"This doesn't sound good," Yami Seto stated, concerned. "We should split up and look for him."

Seto and Yami Seto were the first to head out of the small alleyway, with the two of them trying to go two different ways. The High Priest did not notice that they split up, and ended up falling to the ground when the limit he could travel away from his other half was reached. Seto either did not see him, or did not care, as he kept on walking, dragging Yami Seto behind him ("Okay, we'll go your way then"). Yami Yugi and Aishisu sighed and shook their heads, before splitting up themselves. The priestess headed for Honeydukes, while the pharaoh went in the direction of a rickety old shack atop a hill…

-.oOOo.-

Bakura followed his other half around the gate that surrounded the Shrieking Shack, the supposedly most haunted house in the world. He could not see what was so special about it – it just looked like a rickety old shack to him – but Yami Bakura seemed anxious to try and get inside. It was bad enough that his darker half had taken over earlier and downed a couple of rare steaks. His stomach was still doing flip-flops, and he knew he would have one heck of a case of indigestion later on that day.

"Can we go now?" Bakura insisted. "This is boring."

Yami Bakura glared back at him. "C'mon, hikari, what happened to that sense of adventure you displayed in Care of Magical Creatures that day?"

"I left it with the hippogriff."

The tomb robber rolled his eyes. "You have absolutely no –"

He stopped in mid-sentence when the two of them caught the sound of rushing footsteps. Yami Bakura grabbed his hikari and pulled him along into a nearby brush. They crouched down, just as Yugi came up the path, tears streaming down his face. Suddenly, he tripped over something and fell, landing on the ground with a painful sounding "thud". Instead of trying to get up, he stayed on the ground, covering his face with his arms, still crying his eyes out. Bakura got up to go to him, but the tomb robber kept him down.

"Shhh!" he insisted before his hikari could protest. "The pharaoh's coming."

"So what should we do?" Bakura whispered.

A sly smile appeared on Yami Bakura's face. "You've got your camera on you, right?"

Moments later, Yami Yugi stumbled up the path. Seeing his hikari on the ground, he rushed over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Aibou, are you okay?" he asked, concern obvious in his voice. "Did Ecillia say something? 'Cause if she did I'll –"

"Get away from me!" Yugi exclaimed, somehow getting up enough strength to push him off and get back up to his feet. He whirled on his darker half, his tear stained face twisted in despair. Yami Yugi looked up at him in surprise. Never in all the years he had known him had he ever see him like this.

"A…aibou… what is it?" he asked, stunned.

"What do you care?" Yugi demanded between sobs. "Your love for Aishisu obviously means more to you than our bond."

Yami Yugi blinked. "Where did you get that from?"

Yugi just glared. "I heard you," he sobbed. "I heard you two just now, talking about how you were supposed to tell me how much you two love each other. Well, you know what? You can have your love!"

Before the pharaoh knew what was happening, Yugi had taken off the Puzzle and thrown it to the ground. Yami Yugi dived for it, but missed. Thankfully, none of the pieces came loose, getting a sigh of relief out of him. Yugi made to take off toward the village, but his other self jumped him before he could get the chance. He struggled for a moment against his grasp, but eventually gave up, melting into a fit of uncontrollable sobs. His darker half buried his face into his hair, waiting until he calmed down a little.

"Yugi."

Yugi started, looking up from his sobs. His other half almost never called him by his name; he always called him "aibou".

"I… I'm sorry, you thought that's what we were talking about," Yami Yugi began, deciding it best to start from the beginning. "Other than Seto, Aishisu was my most trusted advisor and council back in the days of my reign. When it came to insights on the way people thought and the possible outcomes of people's actions, it was her I always turned to. She was the one person I could turn to if I needed to share some of my deepest, darkest secrets with someone, as she would never reveal them to anyone. That was, until I met you. But, there was… something… I couldn't really share with you. Not right away at least."

He paused a moment, bracing himself. It was coming: the difficult words. Somewhere off to the distance, something was clicking – probably some kind of bird or insect. He did not really focus on it; he needed to choose what he was going to say next very carefully.

"Ever since we gained our 'complete bond', I've been wondering what we're supposed to be to each other," he continued slowly, trying to gauge his hikari's reactions. "Friends? Partners? Brothers? It doesn't describe what we are to one another accurately enough. At times, it would seem like we were one person, and at other times – like last year when Riddle controlled you – it would be a reality check; a realization that we were two people." He paused again, biting his lip. "No, let me rephrase that: the reality check would be whenever you're taken from me. It's then that I realize that… that I…"

Yami Yugi's throat suddenly felt dry. Gods above, this was harder than Aishisu made it out to be, and that clicking noise was not helping any. He wished that bird or insect or whatever would move on already.

He felt Yugi stirring a bit restlessly, waiting for him to finish. Yami Yugi squeezed his eyes shut and fought back a gulp; he was not used to bearing his soul like this. Regardless though, he had to say it now; he could not let anything else distract him.

"Aishteru, Yugi."

His hikari visibly stiffened. Oh no; he should have known Yugi would react that way. He rushed to explain himself.

"I don't… normally feel this way toward men," he explained, trying not to sound so lame. "It's just you. It's just us." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Please understand…"

There was a long moment where Yugi did not move, and Yami Yugi felt himself holding his breath. The clicking had finally stopped, not that it really mattered now, after he said what he wanted to say. He released his grip slightly, waiting for his hikari to run off and not look back, but the small boy did no such thing. Instead, Yugi turned around in his arms, looking up at him with his sad, wide eyes. The pharaoh saw a glint of happiness and understanding in those eyes, and he felt his heart soar up to the heavens. He pulled his hikari into a warm embrace, and Yugi stood up on his tiptoes, reaching up to wrap his arms around his neck. Yami Yugi felt like he was on cloud nine; it was such a relief off his chest that he had been able to tell his hikari how he felt, and that he understood those feelings.

Click, click, click.

Yami Yugi grimaced; that clicking thing was back. It sure did pick the lousiest times. Yugi stiffened at the sound of it.

"Doesn't that sound like a camera to you?"

Yami Yugi stiffened as well, listening intently at the clicking noise. There was one last click, which was quickly by a loud whirring sound. A dark, angry look suddenly appeared on his face. He only knew two people who owned a camera. One of them was in their second year, and still at the school. The other…

"That tomb robber is so dead," he hissed.

Over in their hiding place in the brush, Yami Bakura was fighting back a snicker while watching the dial on his hikari's camera as it spun back to "zero". Bakura sweatdropped at his other half's actions, wishing the tomb robber would act his age every now and then. The camera finished rewinding the film inside with a click, and Yami Bakura turned to his hikari.

"Okay," he whispered, "we've got enough incriminating photos to last us the rest of the school year. Let's get out of here."

"You really shouldn't have done that," Bakura interjected. "That was a really private moment. If we get caught, Yami Yugi-kun will be furious."

"Baka hikari, haven't I told you before?" Yami Bakura replied, still whispering. "A king of thieves such as myself does not get caught."

As soon as he said this, someone grabbed him by his shirt and hauled him upward, and Yami Bakura found himself staring face to face with a highly pissed off Yami Yugi. Behind him, Yugi had his arms crossed, the recovered Millennium Puzzle dangling from one hand, and had an annoyed look on his face. The tomb robber sweatdropped as he laughed nervously, trying to figure out how he was going to get out of this one.

"P-problem Ph-Pharaoh?" he asked, trying to sound totally innocent. The Millennium Puzzle around Yami Yugi's neck started to glow in response, getting a groan out of the tomb robber. "No…! Not the graveyard! Anything but the graveyard again!"

Whatever Yami Yugi was going to do, he did not get the chance to do it as he suddenly erupted in flames. Yugi let out a shout of surprise, and took out his wand to cool him off, when the flames died off on their own, leaving a charred and burnt – and very surprised – pharaoh behind.

"Yami Bakura-kun!" Yugi accused. The tomb robber just shrugged sheepishly, a huge grin on his face.

"Don't look at me."

Yugi turned accusingly to Bakura, who was standing a bit away, fingering his wand nervously. He looked up at him, anxious and apologetic all at once.

"Well, I couldn't exactly let him send Yami Bakura-kun to the graveyard, you know," he said, trying to defend himself. "He's literally a part of me now. I think if he got sent to the graveyard, I'd end up there too, and I didn't even do anything."

"It was your camera," Yami Yugi coughed, trying to sound threatening, but the "Kentucky-fried or extra crispy?" look was not helping him any. Yami Bakura sniggered, prying the pharaoh's hand off of his robes.

"C'mon, pharaoh, let's find a place that will clean you up," he suggested. Yami Yugi glared.

"You better promise that you wont tell anyone until we're ready to say something," he snarled.

Yami Bakura held up his hand. "I swear on my honor as the king of thieves that no utterance of this shall escape my lips."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Translation: the whole school will know by next week."

-.oOOo.-

A few minutes passed after Yugi, Bakura, and their yamis left the vicinity of the Shrieking Shack. After that time, three people approached where the scuffle had been between the tomb robber and the pharaoh. The girl of the group bent down slightly, pushing around some dried up leaves with her good arm, looking for something. Finally, a silvery camera with the brand name "Olympus" emblazoned on the front was revealed, and the girl picked it up, a feral grin on her face.

"This could be… useful…" she sneered. Her two companions laughed rather stupidly as she got back to her feet. She tossed the camera to the shorter of the two, ordering, "Crabbe, make sure that gets developed as soon as possible. Muggle way, wizard way; I don't care which.

"I'm going to have a lot of fun with this…"

-.oOOo.-

The trip back to Hogwarts was rather uneventful, the only thing happening that was worthy of note was Bakura realizing his camera was missing. For their part, Marik and Seto could not understand why Yugi thought this was a good thing. Speaking of which, the short boy looked happier than they had seen him in months, as if he had just gotten some huge burden off of his chest. Any questions to that effect ended with Marik and Seto even more in the dark.

Everyone who went on the Hogsmeade trip instantly went to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. The rest of the school was already there, and Yugi, Marik, Draco, Hermione, and Ron joined up with Harry at the Gryffindor table. Ron and Yugi handed the young wizard the bags of candy they had gotten him, as he filled them all in on what he had been doing when he was gone.

"Okay, lemme get this straight," Marik began. "You were talking with Lupin, Snape came in, gave him a potion, and… he drank it? Willingly? Is he an idiot?"

Yugi elbowed him. "Lower it, Marik-kun!"

"I've got to agree with him, though," Draco cut in. "I mean, everyone knows that Professor Snape wants to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"Yeah," Ron agreed, "I bet he would do anything to get it, too!"

"Oh, you're all blowing this out of proportion," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Professor Lupin said he had not been feeling well, right? Maybe it was just a potion to help him feel better. Honestly you guys!"

All too soon, the feast ended. Tired from the day of fun they had, and content with the food they had eaten, the six Gryffindor friends made their way back up the stairs and through the hallways of the school to get back to their common room and get some well deserved sleep. When they got up to the portrait of the Fat Lady, however, there was a large crowd of students in the hall. They looked about, trying to see what the holdup was, when Percy Weasley pushed his way past them.

"Honestly, you couldn't all have forgotten the pass –"

He stopped as soon as he got to the front of the crowd, and silence fell over all of them. Yugi jumped up and down, trying to see over everyone, but not getting any luck. Suddenly, he heard Percy's voice again.

"Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick!"

Someone in the crowd scrambled off. After a moment, Dumbledore came back with that student, and the assembled Gryffindors squeezed together to let him get through to the front. The six friends pushed their way closer, trying to see what it was that had everyone so concerned.

Hermione gasped and grabbed Marik's arm out of reflex.

"Oh no…" the Egyptian muttered.

What had once been the portrait of the Fat Lady had been slashed viciously, leaving strips of canvas as well as whole chunks on the floor. Fortunately, the Lady herself had not been harmed, but she was no longer in her own painting. Dumbledore took one look at the ruined painting before turning his attention to the sound of rushing footsteps. Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape appeared from around the bend, all of them looking rather distraught.

"We have to find her," Dumbledore stated, not bothering with explanations. "Professor McGonagall, please have Mr. Filch search all the paintings in the school for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!"

Everyone turned and looked up to seen Peeves floating into the corridor, bobbing with delight.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked. Peeves' smile faltered a bit; there were two people that he never dared to mess with, and Professor Dumbledore was one of them.

"Ashamed she is, Your Headship," Peeves explained in an oily voice. "Saw her running through the landscape on the fourth floor, crying something dreadful."

"Did she say who did this?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Oh, yes, Professorhead," Peeves replied. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in." The poltergeist grinned devilishly. "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."