Egyptian Sorcery

By AlantisB

Chapter Four

"Longbottom, if brains were gold then you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something." - Draco Malfoy

In the span of two days, letters from all over the world came in by Owl Post. Yugi received invitations from schools in America, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, and England. For three days after receiving the letters, Meioh, Yami, and Yugi dived deep into each school's description, curriculum, and history.

Several schools had caught Meioh's attention. He was attracted mostly to the curriculum standards of the schools he liked. Yami liked the history of the different schools, although he said that Hogwarts had a far more interesting history than most of the schools and it was the closest school near the house. Yugi however, loved reading the descriptions of the schools, what the grounds looked like and how the school buildings were structured, he found them fascinating.

But what ultimately made them choose a school was when Yugi noticed how all three of them were in a stalemate between three schools. He thought that since everyone in the little family had a handle in choosing the school he and Yami would go to, Rags should be the one to break the stalemate.

Don't be ridiculous aibou! How can a dog pick the school we are to attend?

Yugi pouted to his other. Yami, we're just going to argue and fight. We can't make a decision. Rags' the only one that hasn't had any input to the situation and he's a smart dog—sort of. Please?

A feeling of a great big sigh settled on Yugi's consciousness. Alright aibou. Rags will break the tie.

Smiling cheerfully, Yugi placed three applications in front of Rags and scratched him behind the ear. "Okay Rags, we need your input now. You have to break the tie. Which will it be? This one," he pointed to a yellow parchment with black ink. "This one," he pointed to a parchment with green ink. "Or that one," he pointed to a parchment with blue ink.

Rags sniffed each paper, seeming to give each one an examination of sorts. He snorted at the blue inked one, and wrinkled his nose. Yugi took that as a sign that this one the dog didn't like so he took it and folded it back up, handing it to Meioh to throw away. Rags sniffed at the last two closely for a few more minutes before he snorted at the parchment with black ink and put his paw down on the green inked one and barked once in agreement.

Meioh raised an eyebrow but took the parchment from under the dog's large paw. "Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Not a bad school. And it is the closest one to the house." He smirked and patted the dog on the head, giving one quick scratch behind the ear. "Rags, you made a fine choice for a school, if I ever saw one. Good boy."

Yugi smiled. Told you!

How interesting.

*

Dear Mr. Mouto,


We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Attached to this letter are the requirements for your classes this year. Also be aware that there are two elective classes you can take. With your reply to this letter, check the box of the two classes you would like to attend.

We also would like you to take the 11:00AM Hogwarts Express train on August 31st so that we may sort you into your house and give you a tour around the school. The train leaves exactly on 11, do not be late!

Congratulations and welcome to Hogwarts.

Minvera McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

P.S: We have been informed that since you do not have the usual awareness of the Magical community, the Headmaster has seen fit to link your fireplace to the Floo Network. Another owl will arrive soon with a bag of Floo power. Instructions will be attached.

Yugi grinned at the letter in his hands and handed it to Meioh. "Let's get ready! I can't wait to go get this stuff. It seems like it would be interesting to check out."

The former Dark Magician chuckled. "Alright Master Yugi, get dressed and we will leave in the afternoon using this 'Floo Network' connection to get to the places we need to be." He carefully folded the list and put it in the protected pocket under his shirt, keeping it safe while his charges ran up to their room to figure out what to wear.

Around ten o'clock, an hour after the first letter had arrived, a second owl flew in the window and dropped off its package on the kitchen table. Meioh handed the owl the response letter and it clutched it tightly in its beak before it flew off again. As soon as the owl was gone, Yugi tore open the package in his excitement and inside the box was a pouch full of powder and a folded note next to it. He picked up the note and opened it.

The pouch in the box is called Floo powder.

To use the Floo Network, take a handful of the powder and step into the fireplace. To get your school supplies you must go to Diagon Alley. Therefore, yell loudly and clearly, "DIAGON ALLEY" and throw the powder at your feet. Make sure to keep your arms tucked close to your body to avoid jumping out of the wrong fireplace.

-Albus Dumbledore

It sounds easy enough, aibou.

Yugi nodded. Yeah. I just hope we don't end up in the wrong place. That could be bad.

I am sure if we follow the instructions, we will not.

I guess you're right Yami.

Meioh slipped a cloak over his shoulders and clasped the broach to hold the cloak in place. "Masters, if you want to go shopping today, you better get your cloak on so that we can leave now."

Yugi nodded and went to the closet to get the traveling cloak Meioh had 'made' for him. It was a dark blue-black that slipped over his shoulders, held over his left shoulder by an Egyptian broach with the symbol of Ra. He liked it, but had never had a chance to wear it out of the house.

Under the cloak he wore his knee high bitch-boots with his black leather pants. He wore a black belt decorated with metal squares covering almost every space on the belt. His right wrist had a choker bracelet of the same design and his neck was covered by the same black belt choker he wore all the time now. Around his neck hung the puzzle, Yugi made sure the cloak didn't get caught on the puzzle so it was open from the chest down.

Yugi wore a dark blue silk shirt open over the collar. The sleeves puffed up by the wrists and the open part by the neck was crisscrossed with string that Yugi hadn't bothered to tighten. Yami had seen the shirt in their closet and told his other he was going to have to wear that shirt because it looked so good on him. Yugi didn't bother to argue, he liked the shirt too.

Meioh handed the pouch to his charge. "Do as the note said and I'll be right behind you."

"Okay." Yugi took a handful of the powder in the bag and stepped into the fireplace. He glanced down then back up at the former Dark Magician, "DIAGON ALLEY!" He stated loudly and threw the powder at his feet. Green flames erupted from under him and swallowed him whole.

The next thing he was aware of was going through high speeds in some kind of tunnel that smelled strongly of soot and Yugi remembered to keep his arms tucked close to his body. Suddenly something pushed him from behind and he was sucked out of the tunnel and went flying out of a fireplace.

Dust and soot clouded around him as he coughed and waved his hand around to try and disperse it. He stood up and started to dust himself off. Suddenly something came flying out of the fireplace behind up, knocking him over as more soot ended up in the air.

Meioh coughed and stood up shakily. "Ugh. What a horrible way to travel." He noticed Yugi lying down on the ground looking a bit dazed. "Oh! Masters, I am so sorry. Here let me help you up."

Yugi took the offered hand and pulled himself up. "It's okay Meioh. I know you didn't mean to knock me over. Let's try and not use that way of traveling a lot okay?"

"Agreed," the magician glanced around and spotted a person behind a store counter. "Excuse me, could you tell us where we are exactly?"

The old man with silver hair and silvery eyes smiled crookedly. "Diagon Alley. You are in the store called Oliver Wands; Fine maker of wands since 328 BC. Did you arrive at the place you wanted to? Floo Powder sometimes is unpredictable in traveling."

"Oh, yes. Well we did make it to the area we wanted to be in. Thank you." Meioh nodded to the old man and turned to his charges. "Come Masters, let us go find the bank so that we can exchange our money, then we will shop."

The two walked out of the shop without another backward glance to the shopkeeper. As soon as they reached the outside, Yugi stopped dead in his tracks and gapped his first glimpse of Diagon Alley.

Small little shops crammed together on a crooked street. Witches and wizards in robes walking up and down the street with shopping bags and mutterings over the prices, children pressing their faces to a window talking in awed voices about the latest broom, it was a wonderful, old fashioned place. Yugi liked the feel of his first look at the wizard world already.

Meioh tugged on his sleeve to remind him they couldn't gap at the scenery for long. They walked down the street as a big columned building that was squished between to other buildings and was leaning sideways. "Gringotts, the wizard bank," Meioh stated to him softly, "Its run by goblins from what I have gathered."

Meioh went inside to exchange their 'muggle money' for the wizard money while Yugi waited outside the bank looking bored.

Yami?

Yes aibou?

What do you want to do? I'm bored.

Yami was silent for a few moments, thinking quietly. Perhaps we should investigate as to why there is such a large crowd to the left of the bank?

Yugi looked over to the left and spotted the large crowd of witches and wizards, along with some children. Every once in a while the crowd cheered or booed. It looked like something was going on and maybe they could check it out while waiting for Meioh to come out of the bank.

Sure! I wonder why there's such a big crowd. It must be some kind of contest or something.

Maybe. Let's go check it out.

They walked over to the crowd. But because Yugi was so short, he couldn't see anything over the crowd's heads. He pouted for a moment then he pushed his way through, not caring if he knocked a couple people off balance. He wanted to see what was going on and no one was going to stop him just because he was short.

Aibou, let me take over. We aren't getting anywhere.

Yugi sighed. You're right.

The change was quick, and Yami made sure no one was looking in his direction while he was doing it, least they notice how he suddenly got much taller in the span of seconds. He finally made his way to the front of the crowd and stopped to stare.

"Checkmate. I win." A boy with silvery-blonde hair folded his arms across his chest looking smugly at the adult wizard that looked on at the chess board with disbelief. The adult got up and walked away embarrassed that he lost to a kid. The boy picked up a piece of chalk and made another line on a chalk board that showed how many wins he had so far. Yami counted them and came up with the number of 49. That meant the boy had one more win before he reached 50.

"Anyone else think they can go against me? Any challenger, I'll play anyone. Let's see if you can defeat me." The boy stated calmly with a hint of challenge as his eyes met Yami's. "You there, I haven't seen you before. Do you want to play a game?"

Yami stared at the boy and felt a smirk curving his lips. He liked this boy, he was arrogant but he could back up his words. Already his blood was boiling for a good game, and this boy just challenged him to chess. How interesting. A good game would help pass the time until Meioh came out of the bank.

Yami strolled over to the chair opposite of the boy and sat down calmly. "I will play a game. What do I get if I win?"

The boy raised an eyebrow. "If you win, you can claim you beat Draco Malfoy, the best chess player in Slytherin House, in a chess match. When I win, I will have fifty wins and no losses. A record in this annual tournament," Draco Malfoy waved a hand and the chess board automatically set itself up. "Let's begin. What did you say your name was?"

"Yugi Mouto," Yami stated. "Good luck in the match."

Okay Yami, this looks like chess. You know chess right?

That is what they call it now? I knew it as the Game of Kings. It was a game about war. One side of the board, the white side, the defenders of their land, the black side as the attackers; an interesting game from there on would be about what land conquers which land.

The pawns are the soldiers, the Knights the generals, the bishops the high priests. The Rooks are the flags of which you mark your territory. The King and Queen are obvious players, as the royals that direct the battle from the rear.

That does sound like war! I never thought of it that way. So do you think we can beat this guy?

It depends aibou. He did not win 49 times for nothing. He is an excellent strategist---for that alone, I will be most cautious. I know that this will be an interesting game because of it.

The game was as interesting as Yami expected it to be. The match was long, longer than any other Draco had played before. He knew that although he expected a somewhat easy match because of the way Yami had looked, a wizard with punk hair dyed different colors, but now he knew better. Behind the wild hair was a brilliant mind for strategy. He hadn't expected anyone to really beat him. That was why he joined the tournament in the first place. But now that he was playing against a worthy opponent he found he enjoyed the match much more when he had to work to win.

Yami was surprised that the pieces moved themselves and that you had to direction them by telling them where to go. It was like a real war where the pieces actually fight and smashed each other to pieces. It was Wizard chess, it was a true game of war, and Yami was having fun.

Yugi cheered him on inside his head and when Yami got stuck for a move, Yugi would tell him suggestions that would allow the young pharaoh to think up a move and be able to counter the one that had originally stumped him.

The crowd surrounding the two players was getting larger and larger as more people walked over to see what was going on. The crowd was split between Draco and Yami, one half would boo the other half would cheer whenever one of the boys made a move. It was thrilling, the audience was giving the two players the need to keep the game going, to push each other to the highest potential they could go.

Each move was neck and neck, neither player ready to give up a square to the other player. It was more than a game now. They wanted to win to prove to themselves that they were the best and they were the one worthy to be crowned king of the castle. Eventually Meioh and Lucius Malfoy spotted the crowd and wandered over to see what the commotion was about.

Meioh sighed. "Yugi when will you stop challenging people to a game whenever you're bored? I swear you do this on purpose."

Mr. Malfoy raised an eyebrow hearing that comment and turned to the other. "That boy with the spiked hair is your son?"

"What? No, of course not," Meioh shook his head with a small smile. "I am his guardian. By the looks of it, that other boy with the blonde hair must be your son?"

"Hm. Yes, Draco is my son. He is quite remarkable, don't you think?" Mr. Malfoy smirked and held out a gloved hand. "Lucius Malfoy."

Meioh grasped the hand and shook firmly. "Meioh Mouto. I suppose. The boys are having an excellent match if this crowd is to attest for it. When this is over, perhaps they will have a new respect for each other."

"Mmm, I suppose. I haven't seen you or your charge around here before, have you just moved into the area?"

"Yes. I decided I wanted to have Yugi to be trained in magic at a school rather than home schooling, so we moved to England. He's going to Hogwarts." Meioh turned to watch the match while talking to the man.

"Ah. Draco goes to Hogwarts. Slytherin House. Any idea as to which house your charge will be?" Mr. Malfoy said with a calculating glance at the other man.

"I am not sure. But I do not care as to which house he ends up in as long as it will train him to be the best wizard he can be."

The two men went back to watching the chess match.

Yami's eyes glanced over the chess board before he nodded to himself. "This has been a good game, I have enjoyed it immensely." He looked up to the other boy's ice blue eyes. "You are a worthy opponent."

Draco smirked and nodded. "It has been a good game. I'm sorry to see it end so soon."

Yami motioned to his queen. The crowd was silent, holding its breath as Yami folded his arms and looked Draco in the eyes. "Checkmate."

It was so quiet. The crowd could hear Draco's king drop his sword signing its defeat.

Draco glanced down at the board for a few moments. He took a deep breath and nodded. He held out his hand and Yami shook it with a small grin. Draco gave a small grin of his own, "How about a rematch sometime?"

"Sounds good, you pick the time and place. I'll be there." The crowd cheered at the sight of a new champion. Soon Diagon Alley went back to business as usual leaving the two boys to sit by themselves, ignoring their respective guardians for the moment.

"Next time, you can come to my manor and we will play using my chess board." Draco stated before standing up and brushing out the wrinkles in his robe.

Yami stood up and nodded in acceptance. "Sounds like a good idea. Owl me when you want the match."

"I will. It has been an interesting time meeting you, Yugi Mouto."

"Same here, Draco Malfoy."

The two boys walked over to their caretakers. "Did you have a fun time Master Yami?" Yami nodded with a smirk at Meioh and glanced at Draco and his father for a moment.

"Yes. We plan to have another match. He has invited me over to his manor. He's going to owl me when we are to have the match." He nodded. "I look forward to it."

He watched the Malfoys walk away to go about their business and looked up at Meioh. "Let's go shopping for my school supplies now. Shall we?"

Meioh nodded with a smile. It seemed his charges have gained a friend in the wizard world, one that liked to play games just as much as they did. He had a feeling that at Hogwarts, the two boys would become best friends. If not, they would become worthy adversaries. Either way, they were both going to learn that not everything was just a game.

TBC