Quatre: No one guessed the cameo?!
Yami Quatre: *looks at reviews* Nope.
Quatre: Aww… So no prize cameos in this chapter.
Yami Quatre: But Farfarello makes another appearance!
Quatre: Anyway, whoever gets this chapter's cameo gets the usual: a cameo!
Yami Quatre: *rolls eyes* We don't own anything but the plot.
"What was that?"
"Looks like Trelawney finally went nuts."
"I dunno, it sounded like a prophecy to me!"
The common room buzzed with conversation. Ron listened to the surrounding students and snorted. "Trelawney's fake," he proclaimed.
"Not really," Harry said quietly. "Remember our third year?"
"Dumb luck," Ron said dismissively.
Harry, come upstairs with us.
Harry looked over to where the quartet was conversing quietly in Japanese. "I'm going upstairs," he told Hermione. Ron had gone over to play Duel Monsters with Fred and George. He made his way unnoticed to the stairwell and climbed to his room.
He flopped down on the bed and lay still for a few minutes. Finally, though, he sat up.
"Five guardians," he murmured. "There were five eggs outside Hagrid's house. You think…Nah. Maybe not."
He frowned. "But what if they are?"
The door opened, admitting the quartet. They all gathered on Harry's bed.
"What do you want to talk about?" Harry asked.
"We think this has something to do with Bakura's reading in Divination," Yami answered. "Both of them mentioned 'guardians.'"
"I see." Harry frowned. "You should know that Trelawney is often wrong."
"She mentioned 'hope's sprits' also," Ryou said.
"She might have meant you guys," Yugi suggested. "I mean, you are spirits, after all. Or were."
" 'Ancient powers,'" Bakura murmured. "It could be referring to Shadow Magic."
"And reinforcing Yugi's theory," Harry added.
"Who could this child of darkness and light be?" Yami wondered.
"Someone connected to both good and dark magic," Harry suggested.
"Makes sense," Bakura agreed.
"Apparently, the five chosen and the guardians will appear during an attack under a 'plague star,'" Yugi said. "Just one question: What's a plague star?"
"I believe you would call them shooting stars today," Yami answered.
"So when a meteor passes by we'll be attacked," Harry said. He jumped up. "We've got to tell Dumbledore!"
"We're not supposed to go out, though," Ryou pointed out. "How are we supposed to go? Besides, we don't even know where his office is!"
Harry jumped up and pulled Ryou to his feet. "One, I know where it is. Two, nobody has to see us." He dove into his trunk and pulled out the invisibility cloak.
He threw it on and grinned at their reactions.
"Come on! This can cover three of us. Who'll it be?"
A quick game of rock, paper, scissors later and Harry, Yami, and Ryou were creeping downstairs behind Yugi and an irate Bakura.
Half an hour later they'd stopped outside a stone gargoyle.
"Pop tarts," Harry whispered. Ryou looked at him strangely. The gargoyle stepped aside.
"How do you know the password?" Ryou asked him as they climbed the stairs.
"Dumbledore told me. I've had to go see him every year, so he figured I might as well know it."
They stopped outside a door at the top of the stairs. Harry pulled the cloak off them and knocked.
"Come in," Dumbledore called.
Harry pushed open the door and entered along with Yami and Ryou.
"Harry! What a pleasant surprise!" Dumbledore set his quill down. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"We've got a theory about Professor Trelawney's prophecy," Harry explained. He relayed his and the quartet's thoughts to the headmaster.
Dumbledore steepled his fingers and listened attentively. "An excellent theory. I shall have to ask the astronomy professor when the next shooting star is."
"There's something else," Harry said. "I've been able to talk to Yugi and Yami through their special link. The same with Ryou and Bakura."
"And the four of us have discovered that our links have extended to each other as well," Yami said. "Before, only Yugi could hear my thoughts, and vice versa. Now Ryou and Bakura, as well as Harry, have been able to. It is unusual."
Dumbledore frowned. "I don't understand how Harry would be able to. He is not connected with the Millennium Items."
His destiny may be, though, Bakura mused. Yami relayed the thought.
"I shall have to give it some thought. Until then, return to the dormitory."
The three nodded and pulled the cloak back over themselves. They left Dumbledore deep in his thoughts.
Dumbledore smiled. "Perhaps I shall have a talk with an old friend. He may have something to say on this."
At midnight they trudged up to the Astronomy tower. The quartet was given some first year work to do while Harry, Ron, and Hermione began to document the changes in the position of the stars since the end of term the year before.
"Where did you go, Harry? We were looking for you earlier," Ron said. "I got my butt kicked at Duel Monsters so I wanted to play chess."
Hermione giggled. "He played Yugi and lost miserably."
"He's known as the King of Games, you know," Dean told them. "He beat the creators of Duel Monsters and Dungeon Dice Monsters, and he's beat Seto Kaiba. He's the only person to have successfully summoned Exodia, too."
The entire class stared at Dean. Yugi blushed. Bakura smirked. Yami glowered at Bakura. Ryou was oblivious; he was enjoying his work.
"Get back to work," the professor sighed.
They did.
Bakura peered through his telescope. "Ryou, would that qualify as a shooting star?" he asked suddenly.
Ryou looked up. "Where?"
Bakura dragged Ryou over to his telescope. The light sighed and took a look.
A few minutes of silence, then…
"Yup, that's a shooting star, all right."
The teacher walked over. "Where is this alleged shooting star?"
Ryou stepped back and allowed the teacher access to Bakura's telescope. The teacher stepped up and squinted into the eyepiece.
"That's definitely a shooting star. Good work, Bakura. Ten points to Gryffindor."
Bakura simply went back to stargazing. The professor sweatdropped and turned back to teaching.
"We've found a plague star. The Astronomy professor is working out when it will pass by."
Dumbledore steepled his fingers and gazed expectantly at the Egyptian man before him.
"There is nothing for me to say on that. It is not what I am here for."
Dumbledore nodded. "Quite right, Shadi. I'm concerned about one of my students. It has come to my attention that Harry has fallen into favor with the Pharaoh and his light. Also, it appears that the ceremony Voldermort used to bring the spirits back to life has connected them somehow. This connection includes Harry."
Shadi frowned. "That should not have happened. While it was expected of the Item Holders to be drawn to one another, unless Harry has some connection with the Millennium Items, he should not have been included."
"Could Harry be an Item Holder, like Yugi and Ryou?"
Shadi shook his head. "No. All of the Items have chosen their Holders. Unless one dies, it is impossible."
The two men lapsed into silence.
"Is there another item? One that has been forgotten over the millennia?" Dumbledore asked suddenly.
"No."
Dumbledore frowned and pursed his lips in thought.
"Unless…"
Dumbledore looked up at the Egyptian.
"There is a legend. It states that in a time of great need, another Item will be needed. I do not see how another Item can be created, however, not without one hundred human sacrifices and another Item holder to oversee it."
"One hundred…" Dumbledore said softly.
"Any country in the world would notice one hundred people gone missing," Shadi said.
"Besides, we have gone through many dark times and another Item has not emerged. I cannot explain Harry's connection to the Pharaoh, but it probably has nothing to do with an eighth Millennium Item."
"I see," Dumbledore said wearily. "Very well, Shadi. Thank you for your time."
The Egyptian stood.
"Be cautious, Professor Dumbledore. Wherever the Pharaoh goes, trouble follows. Harry would do well to distance himself from the Item Holders lest he get injured or killed."
With those words, Shadi sunk into the floor and vanished.
Dumbledore sighed. With a wave of his wand, his Pensieve floated out of its cupboard and onto his desk.
"Where are you taking us?" Bakura demanded as Harry led them from the Great Hall out onto the grounds.
"You guys need to learn to fly on brooms," Harry said. "I'm going to teach you!"
"Are you allowed?" Ryou asked nervously.
Harry shrugged. "The brooms are for public use. I'll use mine, you use the school brooms. Simple."
Yugi and Yami were happily conversing in Japanese. To Harry's great surprise, he was actually beginning to understand them. He'd quizzed Bakura about it. The tomb robber thought it was because of the mental link.
They made it to the broom shed and out onto the Quidditch field without mishap. Harry began instructing them, and soon the five of them were happily zooming around the field.
Well, four, anyway. Bakura stuck close to the ground, grumbling under his breath in Egyptian (which Harry was also beginning to understand).
"What's wrong with him?" Harry wondered, stopping near Ryou.
Ryou giggled. "Bakura's afraid of heights!"
They could feel the Tomb Robber's glare even from a distance.
Yugi laughed. Yami just chuckled.
"That explains why he never stole from the fifth floor of my palace."
Shaddup, Bakura muttered. Don't remind me.
I think it's cute! Yugi said.
"I don't think he does," Harry commented.
He was too right.
Just wait until later, hikari, Bakura grumbled, landing in the stands and glaring at them. Everyone laughed.
"Hey Harry!"
Harry looked down to see Fred and George Weasley leading the Gryffindor team onto the field.
"Hey Fred! Whatcha doing?"
"We're going to practice! Of course, we need a Keeper, but tryouts are in two weeks and I'm sure that one of us will be a fine practice Keeper," Fred called up. "What're you doing?"
"Teaching the transfers to fly," Harry replied. "They're doing pretty well, actually."
"Where's Bakura, then?" George asked.
Harry pointed. The twins looked, sniggered, then dropped the case of Quidditch balls and let them loose.
"You guys might want to go sit down," Harry said. "With Quidditch you never know what's going to happen. I broke my arm in my second year, you know." He zoomed off, leaving Yugi, Ryou, and Yami to stare.
"We might as well go do homework," Yami said. "We haven't got much else to do."
They agreed and went back to the Gryffindor common room.
Harry dodged the cat-woman again (she kept insisting he was Van) and made his way down to the Great Hall. He was exhausted from practice. The twins were almost as bad as Wood.
He stopped short when he saw Farfarello in the hallway. Everyone avoided the Slytherin if they could help it.
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…"
Harry just shrugged and was about to move on when he heard another voice.
"Leave me alone, Farfarello. I'm busy."
"Aww, is pretty blonde kitty too tired to play?"
"No, but I'm busy! Didn't Crawford tell you to leave me alone?"
"Pretty blonde Gryffindor kitty mean," Farfarello grumbled, kicking the floor.
There was an exasperated sigh, and Harry saw a blonde boy's head poke out of a hidden alcove.
"I'm not mean, I'm sensible. Aren't there some giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest?"
Farfarello grinned before dancing away. Harry made his way slowly to the hidden alcove.
"You know he's insane, right?"
The blonde looked up. "I believe the correct term is 'stark raving mad,' according to your friend Ron."
Harry grinned. "So why are you hiding?"
"Peeves likes to torment me. Something about having a cat breed name for a nickname."
That explained Farfarello's behavior. "I see. Well, have fun."
"I will. Later, Harry."
"Later."
Harry shook his head and continued on to the Great Hall.
"Who is this kitty?" Bakura asked, an evil grin spreading across his face.
Ryou paled. "Do NOT do anything to him!"
"Why not? It could be fun!"
Yami glared at the Tomb Robber. Bakura glared back but dropped the subject. Harry made a small note to warn Farfarello's friend about Bakura.
Farfarello walked in just then, dragging a dead giant spider behind him. Ron looked sick.
"Mr. Farfarello, what are you doing with that?" McGonagall snapped.
Farfarello grinned. "Why, dinner, of course!"
Many students pushed their plates away. Ron clapped his hand to his mouth and looked very green. Hermione led him out of the hall, giving the giant spider a wide berth.
All in all, the quartet was having a fine time in classes the first few weeks. Fred, George, and Lee Jordan officially adopted Bakura into their gang (mainly because Bakura was good at sneaking around). Filch was pissed because he never could find any evidence of who was behind all of the pranks (also Bakura's handiwork.).
It was quite common to see Yugi and Ryou in a corner working with Hermione on the homework. They were able to master spells within a few hours (or in some cases minutes) after learning them. Flitwick soon had them working with the class.
Yami was also a good student, though he worked at a much slower pace. It was no surprise when he dropped his quill and pulled out his Duel Monsters deck. Students soon grew wary of dueling him, for he hardly ever lost.
"I'm bored," Bakura complained, lounging around the common room and staring absently into the fire.
"Do your homework," Ryou advised. He transfigured Hedwig into a hawk and back. The owl puffed up her feathers and glared at him.
It was Halloween, and there was no class. Yugi and Ryou were practicing their Transfiguration homework, Yami and Ron were dueling (Ron was by then the only person who would challenge Yami, aside from Yugi), Harry was finishing up a History of Magic essay, and Hermione was in the library (where else?).
"Did you hear?" Fred and George asked excitedly, bursting into the common room.
All eyes turned to them.
"There's going to be a Halloween party tonight!" George exclaimed, grinning. "There're boxes of stuff in the Great Hall for costumes and such, and the best costume gets points for its house!"
Grins broke out across the room. Students dropped their books and darted for the portrait hole.
"Are you going to participate?" Ryou asked Harry.
He shook his head. "I haven't the faintest idea as to what I should be."
"Yami should go as a pharaoh!" Yugi suggested. Yami stared at him. "What? Why not? It'll be fun!"
"What are you going as?" Harry asked him.
"I dunno."
Harry grinned.
"I just had a wicked idea," he said.
All eyes turned to him as he hastily explained his idea.
People were taking great care to avoid Fred and George Weasley. The snack table was going noticeably untouched.
That didn't bother the twins, however. There were too busy having fun.
"Oi, Bakura, where're the other transfers?!" they hollered at the just-arriving teen.
"You'll see them shortly," Bakura said irritably.
Fred studied the other intently. He was wearing robes of some kind, with golden armbands adorning his wrists and a golden ring displayed prominently around his neck. "What're you supposed to be?"
"An Egyptian thief."
George grinned. "It suits you."
Bakura threaded his way through the packed Great hall towards the refreshment stand. Fred caught his wrist.
"Eh, you might want to stay away from those."
Bakura raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Don't ask. Just trust us."
Bakura nodded and settled against the wall.
George leaned forward and studied the ring around Bakura's neck intently. "Where'd you get that?"
"I've had it all year. I just never wear it."
"Why wear it now?" Fred wondered.
Bakura didn't answer.
"Where's Ron and Harry?" George asked.
"With my friends. Like I said, you'll see them shortly."
Fred and George exchanged a look, shrugged, and went back to their favorite pastime: torturing Malfoy.
The double doors banging open silenced everyone in the hall. Four people entered, dressed in fine robes that would rival anything the Malfoys ever wore. The style was unfamiliar, but the people wearing them weren't.
"It's them! And Ron and Harry are with them too!" Fred whispered.
Indeed, the four were Ron, Harry, Yugi, and Ryou. What stood out the most, though, was the jewelry that adorned them. Harry had even forsaken his glasses for the night, probably wearing the Muggle contacts that Fred and George had gotten him to celebrate their first Quidditch win of the season.
They filed slowly into the hall in pairs. The other students drew back, some beginning to whisper to each other.
That was not the last of the surprises, however. After Ron, Harry, Yugi, and Ryou had entered and moved aside, a fifth figure entered, striding into the hall for all the world like a king into his throne room.
Yami was, by far, the best dressed of the group. He was shirtless, aside from the chestplate swinging gently as he moved. There was a wristband glinting golden in the candlelight on his left arm, and an armband glittered around his right upper arm. The entire school was treated to the sight of well-toned abs, and they did not go unappreciated. He was wearing a pair of loose pants the color of sand, held up by a belt made of a flat golden chain. In his spiky hair lay a golden circlet with the eye of Ra on the front. A golden, inverted pyramid rested lightly against his chest, with a different Egyptian eye on the front.
It wasn't so much the clothes as the way he carried himself that clued the twins in on what he was supposed to be.
"Well I'll be," George said loudly, breaking the silence. "A real Egyptian Pharaoh!"
"All hail the Pharaoh Yami!" Fred cheered.
"And his priests!" George added on an impulse.
Bakura rolled his eyes and walked up to the pharaoh. "So, Yami, are you having fun?"
Yami glared at him.
Dumbledore walked up. "I see that you have joined us, Pharaoh. Would you like something to drink?"
"Yes, Professor," Yami answered.
"Then I'm afraid you'll be left wanting. Our resident twins appear to have been at work again," Dumbledore said solemnly.
Yami blinked. Yugi giggled. Ron snorted.
That broke the ice. Everyone laughed.
"Shall we let the party continue?" Dumbledore called, sweeping back over to the cluster of teachers.
Everyone got over the shock of Yami's grand entrance and soon went back to partying.
Draco Malfoy stood in a group of his friends, glaring in the general direction of Yami and his "priests." Trust those filthy mudbloods to outdo him. He'd dressed as Death's angel, with moving wings and everything.
He sauntered over to Yami. "How on earth did you manage to get all that gold?" he drawled. "You must have sold Potter's broom, because there's no way you could have afforded it all otherwise."
Yami glared back coolly. "It all belongs to me, thank you very much."
"Really now?" Draco stepped closer and peered at the jewelry. "You could have fooled me. This obviously falls outside your price range."
"They are his," Yugi piped up. "They were… heirlooms!"
"Yeah!" Harry said. "Dumbledore went with us to Gringotts earlier today. He watched us take everything out of his vault!"
Draco smirked. "Oh really? If he has so much of it, then he wouldn't mind this!"
His hand shot out and grasped the puzzle.
Just then, a loud crash rang out through the hall, and all eyes turned to the bloody, disheveled figure standing in the doorway.
Quatre: I seem to like cliffies WAY too much.
Yami Quatre: I agree. Are you really that mean?
Quatre: The chapter is ten pages long!
Yami Quatre: But having Yami dress as the pharaoh was… unexpected.
Quatre: But you liked it, didn't you?
Yami Quatre: Yeah…
Quatre: Anyway, reviews appreciated!
Yami Quatre: *spots dust bunnies* Whee! *goes and chases them with Yami Kenshin's katana*
Yami Kenshin: Hey! *chases Yami Quatre*
Quatre: *shakes head* what did I do to deserve this? *chases everyone*