Chapter 6

First Move

As the monsters faded away into violet fog and the shadows receded, they all stared at each other in awe as the mist swirled around their feet.

Mr. Ollivander raised an eyebrow. "A rather…extravagant reaction, but a positive reaction all the same. I suppose these five wands are linked in some way or another, but we will never really know for sure, will we? After all, the wand chooses the wizard, no matter what other way it looks. Very well, that will be seven Galleons for each wand." As they were paying, they began to talk about the unusual event.

"What the hell was that?" Kaiba asked rather frostily.

"I'm not sure, really," Yugi and Ryou said at the same time.

"Exactly what it looked like, Kaiba," Joey shrugged. "A lot of light and a bunch of Duel Monsters popping up out of nowhere."

Kaiba snorted. "Wheeler, I don't think they have a small enough unit of measurement to measure how much IQ you have."

"Watch it, K-"

That was when the glass display window shattered, putting a hole in the wall across from them. Everyone instinctively ducked and then looked in that direction, where people were frantically dashing every which way.

"What's going on out there?" Bakura asked, switching with Ryou. "Did someone beat us to blowing up the Apothecary?"

Malik groaned. "I don't think so," he told him.

"Aww…"

They stepped out of the rather peaceful shop to see that the sun was rapidly setting and people were screaming and running about, tripping over each other and crowding into any stores they could find. The streets were quickly being emptied, and experienced-looking wizards were heading down different alleys with varying degrees of stress showing on their faces.

"What's going on?" Yugi asked a nearby man who was shoving his way past them into the restaurant bordering Ollivanders. The incident with the wands was temporarily pushed away to deal with this new crisis.

The man pointed into the air and leapt into the building, slamming the door after him.

"Well, excuse you," Joey said, staring after the man. "I wonder what was wrong with him."

"Guys, look!" Yugi cried.

"What…exactly…is that?" Joey asked, looking at the twinkling green sign.

"The Dark Mark!" someone screamed off in the distance, causing another wave of panic as the crowds swarmed towards Flourish and Blotts, one of the largest stores around. Red sparks were flying all through the air.

"That answers your question, Wheeler," Kaiba said.

"I wonder what's so bad about it. It's just floating in the sky, it's not like it's hurting anyone," Ryou wondered.

"Ow!" Joey cried as one of the wizards running by knocked him over by accident. "Hey, watch where you're going!"

The wizard glared at him. "What are you doing just standing around, anyway? Get into one of the shops!" With that, there was a crack and he disappeared.

Yugi helped Joey get up. "That was…odd," he said, staring at the place where the man had been standing before.

"Damn-" Joey muttered something very inappropriate under his breath, but Yugi chose not to comment as a familiar voice pierced the air from behind them.

"Yugi! Ryou! Joey! Kaiba! Malik!"

They turned at the sound of their names being called. Mrs. Weasley was running towards them, looking anxious and frightened. "What are you doing just standing here in the middle of an attack? Move!"

They moved. They had no time to ask what was going on as Mrs. Weasley practically shoved them down the streets to the imposing-looking bank. After they had found the rest of the group in Gringotts, the five began to question them.

"What was that thing? Why was everyone freaking out?" Joey asked.

"It's Voldemort's sign. Back when he was in complete and total control, the thing would be up all over the place, put up by Death Eaters or possibly even by Voldemort himself. And the last time it was seen was last year at the Quidditch World Cup, the year he regained a solid body."

"So this could mean that he's returning to power?" Ryou asked.

"…I guess." Mrs. Weasley was wringing her hands in utter panic, so they decided not to interrogate her any further. She didn't much look like she wanted to talk about it anyway.

"Hmm…" Retreating into a corner, the five began to talk amongst themselves until they were cut off by the ground shaking and a loud thud.

"What was that?" Yugi asked, alarmed.

"It sounds…"

Thud.

Thump.

"…like it's getting closer."

With a deafening crack, the whole right wall toppled with a mighty crash. There stood a gigantic skeleton mammoth with long tusks. Familiar wisps of violet-black swirled around its legs, dissipating even as they stared at it in consternation.

"No way!" Joey cried, eyes widening.

"Is that the Mammoth Graveyard?" Malik stared.

"That isn't funny, guys," Yugi said, alarmed. "Call it back."

"But we're not doing it!" Ryou and Malik protested at the same time, holding up their hands.

Yugi shot nervous looks behind him to where Harry and his friends were staring in awe. "Then send it back anyway…"

Ryou raised a hand and concentrated, but received only a bolt of energy for his trouble. He barely managed to remain standing. Malik went over to support him.

"What happened?" Kaiba and Malik demanded.

"Something's suspending the monster in this dimension. I can't send it back without further revealing my powers."

"It's what?" Yugi asked.

/Yami, have you ever heard of something like this before?/

I believe it might have been done before, but I have never witnessed it myself. Our enemy is not one to be trifled with, Yugi. Watch yourself.

/I will./ Yugi turned his attention back to the crisis at hand.

"Well, we have to get rid of it somehow," Joey reasoned. "That thing looks like it could run down the whole of Diagon Alley without even breaking out a sweat."

Kaiba looked at Joey, animosity forgotten for the time being. "We could banish this monster back to the Shadow Realm where it belongs, except…"

"Except what? This had better be something really really small, or we're toast."

Kaiba glanced back at the crowd of people huddled in the destroyed bank. "It's not something that you wouldn't be able to do, actually…" He held up a hand, curbing Joey's protests. "If we moved some of these people, then…"

Ryou realized what he was saying. "Right, then we'd have free reign to fix this situation. Joey, would you mind getting these people to Flourish and Blotts?"

Joey nodded. "Sure." He turned around and began urging people to stand up and move. "C'mon, go already! You don't want to be killed, do you?"

"But what about Yugi and the others?" Hermione cried desperately as they were swept along with the crowd. "Why aren't they going?"

"They'll be fine," a familiar voice with a heavy accent assured her.

"Joey!" Ron cried. "But they don't even know any spells yet, it's their first year, right?"

"Like I said, they'll be fine." The conviction in those chocolate-brown eyes was enough to convince Harry, Ron, and Hermione that he was telling the truth. "For now, though, you need to get out of here."

"But we could be of some use," Harry protested, suspicion of the group temporarily gone. "We know some spells that could help-"

"Yeah, we got enough training last year, what with the Triwizard Tournament and all-"

"I'm sure you guys would be a big help but…" Joey looked back at where Yugi and Malik were attempting to divert the monster's attention away from the fleeing wizards and witches. "…you'll find that the normal rules don't apply to this situation."

"What does that-"

Harry never got to finish his sentence. "Can I trust you guys to keep them moving? I need to go pick up some stragglers."

Hermione and Ron nodded. "Sure." They immediately took charge and encouraged everyone to pick up the pace, knowing that the faster they were gone, the faster the monster would be annihilated.

They could always come back later. But Joey didn't have to know that.

Meanwhile, the person in question headed back towards the ruins to make sure everyone was gone.

Kaiba was looking at Joey very oddly. He met his gaze defiantly. Then he saw Kaiba nod slowly. "Good work, Wheeler."

Joey was very taken aback. "Well, thanks, I guess." He spotted a streak of silver amidst the rubble. "I think there's still someone here though."

"Caught me, did you?" a familiar drawl came from within the rocks.

"You!" Joey cried, hauling aside some stones to reveal Draco Malfoy. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you to go with the crowd!"

"Malfoys aren't followers," he said simply.

"I'd advise that you follow for once," Yami advised from where he was gazing up at the Mammoth. "Unless you truly want to lose your life."

Bakura had to admit that the pharaoh was actually fairly skilled at making empty threats, but then quickly reminded himself that he would have had plenty of assassination attempts to practice with. He instead turned his attention to his Millennium Ring.

Draco narrowed his eyes. "What is that thing?" he demanded, pointing at the monster.

"Malfoy, move!" Joey said, frustrated. He was just short of shoving the other boy in the direction of the store.

"Give it up, Wheeler," Kaiba sighed at last, after a whole minute of waiting. "We don't have time for this, and Bakura's losing its attention, fast. We'll just have to risk it. Unless you want to resort to bodily harm."

"But he-" Yami looked rather reluctant as well, but Malik and Bakura were completely focused on getting rid of the monster. They were already riffling through their decks for a card that might be able to help them out.

"Yugi, just try to get rid of it already," Bakura grunted. "It's obvious that the kid's not leaving."

"I'll make him leave," Joey said dangerously, cracking his knuckles.

Draco pulled out his wand. "Oh no you won't."

"Don't make things worse than they already are, Joey," Yami advised, stepping up towards the beast. The Mammoth Graveyard swung its head around to face what it probably considered the inferior human being and lowered its tusks to charge.

"Yugi, what are you doing?" Bakura demanded. As much as he'd like to see the pharaoh's demise, now was not the best time.

"I think I have his plan figured out," Malik said. "A normal duelist wouldn't fall for this kind of trick, see, but there is no duelist controlling this monster. I'm guessing he has a card ready to play that'll wipe it out."

"Sounds overly simple," Bakura commented. "I doubt it'll work that easily."

"True," Kaiba cut in. "But if what Malik says is true – that there is no duelist – then the monster will have to fall for it. It's not like Yugi has the card down on the field or something."

The Mammoth began to charge. Everyone held their breath despite what they had just been saying seconds ago. Just as they thought they had given Yami too much credit and it was about to impale him with its tusks, they felt a flare of power from the Millennium Puzzle.

"Mirror Force," Yami stated firmly. "Activate."

The result was inevitable. The Mammoth charged straight into the reflective amethyst wall and gave a loud bellow of pain before it shattered into many pieces. The telltale mist of the Shadow Realm erupted up again before lazily slipping back into the air and ground from where it had seemingly appeared.

As the dust settled, they heard applause ring through the otherwise now silent walkway.

"Very good, very good. You managed to destroy my first monster."

"Who's that?" Joey whispered to Yami, who could only shrug.

Footsteps echoed around the dismal and destroyed alley as the person continued. "Of course, I would expect no less from you. Any less would indeed have been a waste of time and power."

"What-?"

"I must admit that I am very impressed…"

"Who are you?" Kaiba demanded, fed up with the cryptic messages.

"Ah, and here we have Seto Kaiba, CEO of KaibaCorp, am I not right?"

"…"

"How do you know this?" Joey challenged. "I bet you've never seen money-bags before in your life!"

"I have…sources," the man said simply, not looking at him.

"Who are you?" Malik demanded.

The figure still did not turn. "I don't feel the need to tell you quite yet," he said nonchalantly. "I doubt that you will not hear my name very soon. Do not worry, I will make sure proper introductions are made later on down the road."

"How did you do it? How did you bend the monster's will to your own, and how did you suspend them in this realm?"

A cold chuckle as the cloaked man swung around to face Yami. "And here we have…" He shook his head.

"What?" Yami demanded.

"Nothing, nothing. Quite interesting, your past. Now, to answer your question. The spell was contained in an old Egyptian book that my servant found in a library. The spell is basic, so most of the monsters only last as long as they need to do their job. I'd advise you to watch your back at Hogwarts this year though…"

"…Pharaoh."

And he vanished.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to FF.Net's new rule about the proper writing in author's notes too, I can't respond to my reviews anymore or give credit to those who did. One particular person that I want to thank – manga-nut for spoilers and other interesting tidbits on YuGiOh. To answer ultimate-animefan25's question about OCs and romance – no. There will be no pairings and no OCs in this story except maybe one or two Hogwarts students that don't play main roles. And to Maruken, in the last chapter I told you that Mariku is still around. But after reading manga-nut's last spoiler about the ending of Battle City, I think it might be kind of…awkward…if Yami banished Mariku and all of a sudden he's back in Malik's Rod?

Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix that?

And also to Blood Aura: You might be right. I don't want to go running off on a wild search for the second book right now so you'll get your answer in the next chapter. I just want to get this up for people to read.

I'm sorry for the delay. I hope the next chapter will come up sooner (not anytime in the next two weeks though. You know how it is with finals. If not, you are EXTREMELY lucky.)

Review please.