Yu-Gi-Oh!
Balance

CHAPTER NINE – UNSETTLING REVELATIONS

Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping Harry in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend. Bakura and his other half only wished she had allowed them to do so as well. Although the magical nurse managed to free his body of the full body bind and his sealed lips, there was nothing she could do about his hair. So, Bakura was forced to walk around the school sporting hot pink hair with lime green speckles until the effects wore off (thankfully, hot showers helped a bit). Add to that Ecillia's almost insane glee over his predicament and the fact that Gryffindor lost, and it was safe to say that things were getting to the point of unbearable.

At one point, Seto had caught Bakura in the hallway, pounding his head against a wall. Normally he would have just shaken his head and walked on, but something made him stop.

"Why are you doing that?" he asked.

THUD! "I'm thinking that–" THUD! "—if I hit my head hard enough–" THUD! "—Yami Bakura-kun—" THUD! "—will come flying out." THUD!

Seto had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing. "Been there, done that, didn't work."

Bakura sighed, turning away from the wall to lean against it. "Yami Yugi-kun suggested that the other me take lessons on being a priest from Yami Seto. Do you think that will help?"

Seto shrugged. "I don't see the harm in it."

The high priest fidgeted a bit within his mind. Oh, no… he muttered. Baka hikari… baka, baka, baka…

Thus began Yami Seto's Sunday night, weekly torture sessions with the tomb robber.

As for Yugi and Yami Yugi, their peers took the news of them being together better than either of them expected. The only looks of revulsion they got were from the Slytherins, but who cared about their opinion, anyway? What really mattered were the opinions of their friends, and they – for the most part – did not even seem to find it that big of a deal.

"I honestly thought it was inevitable," Marik stated.

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked, blushing a bit.

"C'mon, don't tell me you never even noticed!" the Egyptian returned, exasperated. "You two were almost always holding hands during the first Battle City. Not to mention the fact that before we came here, Yami Yugi-kun would not even appear outside of your body unless the two of you were alone… or thought you were alone."

Marik grinned maliciously at that, getting several sweatdrops out of the shorter boy.

The coming of December raised everyone's spirits a bit. Harry told the others that he was going to be getting anti-dementor lessons from Professor Lupin starting next term. At that announcement, Yami Bakura took over his hikari's body and all but pleaded with Harry to ask if he could get those lessons as well. The younger wizard seemed a bit reluctant at the thought of sharing private classes with the tomb robber, but eventually he did ask the professor, and Lupin agreed.

In addition to that, Hufflepuff had been totally creamed by Ravenclaw in their end of November match. Wood was back up to his usual spirits and training schedule, as now Gryffindor was back in the running for the Quidditch cup. Marik was subbing for Harry until he got a new broom. Draco kept encouraging him to get a Nimbus 2001, but that was another thing that made Harry reluctant. He had loved his first broom very much, and would give anything to have it back.

As Christmas neared, so too did another trip to Hogsmeade. Harry was once again left behind as Yugi, Draco, Seto, Hermione, Marik, Ron, and Bakura were brought with the rest of those who could go to the wizard town on the same invisible horse-drawn carriages.

"I'm telling you, there's something there," Marik argued with Seto as Yugi disembarked from the carriage, followed closely by Bakura. He was pointing to where on a normal carriage, the horse would be. "I know I'm not loosing my mind. There is definitely something there!"

"And I'll say it again," Seto replied. "You're mental."

"Forget it, Marik-kun," Yugi cut in before the Egyptian could retort. "I guess some people can see those… creatures and others just can't."

Marik pointed to Yugi, not taking his eyes off Seto. "See! He can see them too! I told you I'm not crazy."

Seto smirked. "I never said you were crazy. I said you were mental. There's a difference."

Everyone's respective yamis appeared then, and Yami Seto stepped in-between his hikari and Marik before the Egyptian could inflict bodily harm. Or, at least, try to anyway; he knew better than anyone that his hikari could hold his own in a fight.

"Fight nice, please?" the high priest asked. "We're here to have fun, remember?"

Marik grumbled something under his breath before wrapping an arm around Hermione's shoulders and walking off. Ron shook his head.

"Ego clash?" he asked, a bemused smile on his face. Yami Seto just sighed as the younger wizard continued, "Anyway, who wants to come to the candy shop with me?"

"Me!" Yami Seto automatically exclaimed, perking up as he raised a hand. He took a moment to glance at his hikari, who sighed and nodded his head in submission.

"I'll go too," Yami Yugi said, giving Yugi's hand a slight squeeze before going off with the three of them, leaving him, Draco, Bakura, and Yami Bakura behind. Draco turned to the others, folding his hands behind his head.

"So, where do you guys want to go?" he asked. "Personally, I could go for some butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks."

Yugi twitched nervously, looking down at his hands. "Erm… actually, I was hoping you guys could help me out first."

Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Why do I feel a nightmare coming on?" he asked, only to get elbowed by his hikari.

Yugi shuffled his feet. "Well, you don't have to if you don't want to… but… uh… I was wondering if you could help me pick out a present for Panseru-kun."

Sweatdrops went all around at that, and Yugi quickly went to explain himself, "I mean, it's only right, you know. Besides, I don't think he really has a good idea of the concept of Christmas."

Draco sighed. "This is going to be an interesting trip…"

Meanwhile, at Honeydukes, Yami Yugi was going through a similar situation with Ron, Yami Seto, and Seto. The pharaoh sighed at their blank expressions when he asked them for help, wondering if it would have been easier to just ask Yugi himself. After a long moment, the high priest shook off his surprise at the question first. His mouth worked slightly, trying to find the right words.

"Well… pharaoh… he is your hikari… with the added bonus that he loves you very deeply," he said, before looking to Seto for some help.

"I think what he's trying to say is," Seto began, no better at this sort of thing than his other half was, "no matter what you get Yugi, he'll love it and you just the same."

Seto glanced down to Ron to see if he could add anything. He just shook his head emphatically. "Don't look at me!" he exclaimed. "I don't know a thing about stuff like this!"

Yami Yugi sighed; at least Ron was honest when he said he did not have a clue. He made a motion indicating them to just drop it for now, and he did not miss it when all three of them visibly relaxed. Smirking slightly, he followed them to the back of the store, where the unusual tastes section was. Ron poked around, amused, until he spotted the blood pops.

"Hey, you think Harry would like those?" he joked, picking one up. Seto made a face.

"I don't think so," he replied dryly. "I'd imagine they're meant for vampires."

"If that's the case, the tomb robber would love them," Yami Yugi joked, before picking up a jar with cockroach clusters in it. "What about these things?"

"No, definitely not."

Surprised, the spirit of the pharaoh dropped the jar, and Yami Seto barely managed to grab it before it shattered on the floor. Yami Yugi did not notice, however, as he spun around to see Harry behind him.

"Harry!" he exclaimed. "How… how did you…?"

"Wow!" Ron exclaimed. "You've learned how to Apparate!"

"Of course I haven't," Harry replied, before dropping his voice down to a whisper. "Fred and George gave me this map – the Marauder's Map – that's a layout of the entire school, including the hidden passages. It also keeps track of who might be where on it. It's like a miniature, two-D version of the castle."

Ron's eyes grew wide. "How come they never gave it to me?" he asked, a little hurt. "I'm their brother!"

"But he's not going to keep it," Seto objected. "He's going to hand it in to Professor McGonagall right away."

"Who says?" Harry asked.

"Are you nuts?" Yami Seto demanded of his hikari. "Hand in something that useful?"

"Useful?" Seto returned, bristling slightly. "Yeah, useful in getting us in trouble. And what about Black? What if he's using one of the passages to sneak into the school?"

"He can't be," Harry objected. "Fred and George told me there are seven passages leading into the school. Filch knows about four of them, and one of them is caved in. One has the Whomping Willow growing over it, so there's no way anyone could get out of it. And the one I just came out of… well, unless you know where it is, it's near impossible to see."

Seto still did not look convinced. Ron, however, pointed out a post up on the inside of the sweetshop door.

-BY ORDER OF-
THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

Customers are reminded that until further notice,
dementors will be patrolling the streets of
Hogsmeade every night after sundown. This measure
has been put in place for the safety of Hogsmeade
residents and will be lifted upon the recapture of
Sirius Black. It is therefore advisable that you
complete your shopping well before nightfall.
Merry Christmas!

"I'd like to see Black break in with dementors swarming the streets," Ron said rather importantly.

Seto looked like he was trying to find another excuse to argue. "Harry, you still shouldn't be here," he decided on. "You haven't got a permission form. You'll be in serious trouble if you get caught; possibly even expelled. And what if Black were to turn up right now?"

"He'd be a complete idiot," Yami Seto replied dryly. "Why would a wanted criminal show up in broad daylight? That's asking to get arrested."

"Seto, it's Christmas," Yami Yugi added. "Give the boy a break."

Seto scrunched his face up, not liking this. Harry folded his hands behind his head, a smile on his face.

"Are you going to report me?" he asked innocently.

Seto crossed his arms. "Of course not, but –"

"Seen the Fizzing Whizbees, Harry?" Ron interrupted, grabbing him and leading him away, much to Seto's frustration. "And the Jelly Slugs? And the Acid Pops? Fred gave me one of those when I was seven. Burnt a hole right through my tongue." He gazed at the shelf of Acid Pops with dislike. "Reckon Fred would take a bit of a Cockroach Cluster if I told him they were peanuts?"

"Nah," Yami Yugi cut in. "He's already tried that trick on Draco." He winced at the memory. "I thought he was going to kill him after he finished spitting it out." He paused a moment, thinking. "Hey, Harry, since you're here, maybe you could help me with something…"

-.oOOo.-

Yugi licked his lips, feeling the warmth from his butterbeer run through him as he swallowed. He glanced over at a bag full of packages next to him, silently hoping that Panseru would like the gift he had gotten for him. True, he had tried to take Yami Bakura, Bakura, and Draco's advice, but… well, he was kind of sorry that he asked for it. They ended up pointing out things to him that just did not suit his other half at all. In the end, he had ended up ditching the three of them to go shopping on his own.

Just then, he caught sight of Yami Yugi entering the tavern from his table in the back. Standing up, Yugi waved to him as Seto and Yami Seto filed in, followed by…

"Harry!" Yugi exclaimed quietly, as the four of them approached. "What are you doing here?"

"Long story," Harry said, sitting down opposite of him as Yami Yugi plopped down next to his hikari. The spirit looked around him to see the large bag, and he poked at it with his hand.

"What's in here?" he asked, curious. Yugi slapped his hand lightly before snapping the bag shut. Yami Yugi looked at him, eyebrow raised in amusement. "What was that for?"

"No touchy," Yugi replied, looking up at him with his cute, large eyes as a curvy sort of woman with a pretty face passed by them. Yami Seto blushed bright red, his eyes following the woman.

"Uh… c'mon, hikari," he said, tugging at Seto's sleeve. "Let's go order the drinks."

Seto rolled his eyes before following his other self, who was in turn following the woman. Harry looked to Yugi and Yami Yugi, confused.

"What was that about?" he asked.

Yami Yugi sighed dramatically, leaning back in his seat and putting an arm around Yugi, who blushed.

"That was Madam Rosmerta," the spirit explained. "She was flirting with Yami Seto the last time we were here. I've never seen him blush so often."

Seto and Yami Seto returned soon after, holding a tray filled with five tankards of butterbeer between them. The former set the tray down while the spirit of the high priest jumped over Harry to sit on the other side of him. He took up his tankard, a huge grin on his face.

"Merry Christmas!"

The five of them clicked their tankards together, before drinking deeply from them. Harry chuckled as Yami Yugi sighed contentedly.

"I didn't think spirits could eat or drink," he said.

Yami Seto sighed. "We can't," he said, reaching through himself and pulling a towel out from under him, wringing it out a little. "At least if it passes through my mouth, I can get a memory of the taste from my hikari."

Yami Yugi fingered his tankard, suddenly nervous. "You can't," he said. "I can… or at least I've been able to… recently. Just little things though; a piece of candy here, a drink there. Don't ask me where it goes. But, it's just like you said, Seto. Any taste is a memory… just like any touch."

Yugi looked up at him with sad eyes. Before anyone could say anything, the door to the tavern opened once more, and Harry nearly choked. In walked Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, shortly followed by Hagrid and then a man in a lime-green bowler hat – Cornelius Fudge. In the next instant, Seto and Yami Seto put their hands on Harry's head and forced him under the table.

Yugi quickly took out his wand and whispered, "Mobiliarbus!"

A Christmas tree near them rose a few inches off the ground, drifting sideways, and settled down again with a dull thud in front of their table. The five of them listened in – four in their seats, one under the table – as the teachers and the Minister of Magic started conversing back and forth. Madam Rosmerta joined them, and at first they were just having small talk, and Harry was wondering when the heck they were going to leave. Suddenly, Professor McGonagall said something that caught everyone's attention.

"You say you remember Black at Hogwarts, Rosmerta," she murmured. "Do you remember who his best friend was?"

"Naturally," Rosmerta replied with a small laugh. "Never saw one with out the other, did you? Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter."

Harry dropped his tankard, only to get kicked by Yami Seto. His father had been a friend to Sirius Black?

"You'd have thought Black and Potter were brothers," Professor Flitwick chimed in. "Inseparable!"

"Of course they were," Fudge said. "Potter trusted Black more than anyone else. He was best man at James and Lily's wedding, and they named him godfather to Harry. 'Course, Harry doesn't know. It would probably torment him."

"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" Rosmerta asked.

"Not just that," Fudge said, dropping his voice down to a whisper. "Not many people know that the Potters knew that You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore had several spies working for him; one of them tipped him off, and he altered Lily and James at once, insisting that they go into hiding. A Fidelius Charm was performed; it was their best bet."

"How does that work?" Rosmerta asked.

"It's an immensely complex spell," Flitwick explained, "where the magical concealment of a secret is hidden in a single, living soul; a Secret-Keeper."

"And Potter insisted on using Black as his Secret-Keeper," Rosmerta concluded.

"He did," Fudge said heavily, "and then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed…"

The Minister of Magic trailed off. There was a long honking sound; Hagrid had blown his nose.

"And then, Peter Pettigrew confronted Black the next day," McGonagall continued. "Pettigrew was a lot like Neville Longbottom is now; never quiet as adept as the others. He was also a friend of the Potters, and…" Her voice suddenly sounded thick. "He did not stand a chance against Black. After the smoke cleared, all that was left of him was a finger…"

She trailed off, before she too blew her nose.

"Well, anyway, Cornelius, if you're dining with the headmaster, we'd better head back up to the castle," she finished.

One by one, the professors and the Minister of Magic left, and Madam Rosmerta returned to her duties.

"Harry?"

Seto, Yami Seto, Yugi and Yami Yugi poked their heads under the table, at a loss for words.

-.oOOo.-

Harry did not know how he managed to get back into the secret entrance he had used to get to the cellar of Honeydukes. Somehow, he made his way through the school and back up to the common room, where he sat and waited for his friends to arrive. When Ron, Draco, Hermione, Marik, and Yugi finally did emerge from the portrait hole, they went over to him immediately.

"Harry," Ron began. "Yugi told us what happened at the Three Broomsticks."

"Really, Harry," Hermione began, concern evident in her voice. "Please, please don't do anything stupid."

"Like what?" he asked.

"Like trying to go after Black by yourself," Ron replied sharply. "It's not worth it."

"Is it really?" Harry asked, his voice cold. "You don't hear your mum screaming for Voldemort to show mercy every time you get too close to a dementor."

Ron gulped, having nothing to say to that. Harry stood up from his seat, turning his focus to Draco, who was looking down at his feet.

"You knew, didn't you?" he accused.

Draco sighed heavily, before looking up at him. "I knew."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged helplessly. "How could I, Harry?" he asked. "How could I just come out of the blue and say, 'By the way, now that we're friends, let me tell you why your parents died'?"

Harry was silent, his face an emotionless mask.

"Look, you know what Pettigrew's mother got back?" Draco continued. "The Order of Merlin, First Class and Pettigrew's finger in a box. It was the biggest bit of him they could find. Black betrayed your parents, Harry, and he would not hesitate to kill you, especially if you wandered willingly into his grasp. Honestly, I don't think they would be able to find even a toenail of you left after he was through with you."