(Lilo: Ok, here is the next chapter. I hope the story isn't dragged out but when you really think about it, there is a lot of things happening 'before' Harry goes to school in the actual books. I just want to give you a look at how 'abnormal' his life outside abnormal school is … confused? Ya, me too … lol, no, just kidding! Lol, ya, anyways, that's all I gotta say ^_^
Marikue: *sigh* …. *holding up a tablet that says 'Lilo doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Harry Potter'* … *walks off stage*)
~Chapter 17
~Better Not Knowing~
This morning or afternoon as some might've referred it to, was pretty 'interesting' for Ryou. He woke by being pulled out of his bed, hurled all the way through Shadow Realm to be dropped unceremoniously onto very hard and cold floor. But to top it all, somebody fell onto him, somebody who probably weighted a ton, if not more.
"Urgh" Harry emitted a hiss through tightly clenched teeth as he fell off his bed onto something that was very uncomfortable and then that very something threw him off and all the way across the room. There was a loud 'thump' as Harry's head collided with the wall. Great, just great.
"What the … " Ryou trailed off as he grasped his surroundings. He was in a very dark room … actually, it used to be a very dark room but right now, it was full of light as Harry lit up whatever lights were installed in it. Ryou glared at Harry, Harry glared at Ryou. Yugi was confused, Marik was pissed and Hermione was just staring at the ceiling, not really seeing anything …
"Afternoon" she said and turned to observe the starring match between Ryou and Harry. In truth, she hardly slept at all, just a small nap after everything that had happened … they slept well … probably, because of the trip they took previously. Sighing, she got off the bed and broke the staring match by suggesting dinner.
"Really?" that was Yugi. To say the truth, he was hungry, very hungry, and the early 'breakfast' didn't help. Stretching, the hikari got out of bed.
"Ya" Hermione said, trying to sound cheerful. "Mrs. Weasley is a wonderful cook!" she said as she took out her wand and straightened the crumpled sheets on the bed she slept/lay in.
"Ah" Marik said, forgetting his grudge against Ryou and Harry for being woken up. "Normal food…"
"Ya" Ryou smirked and pointedly looked at Yugi who gave him a 'What-Did-I-Do?' look.
"What??" Yugi finally snapped.
"Bakura says that Yami is a pro at cooking, especially school districts." Ryou smiled as Yugi pouted and crossed his arms over his chest.
"It was Bakura!" Yugi tried to defend his yami who was very quiet.
"Ya-" Ryou began but then, suddenly, Bakura was controlling his body and gave Yugi a look. "Time is up shrimp" Bakura said and raised six fingers.
"What?" Yugi asked, bewildered. What the hell was Bakura trying to say? … Did he just call him shrimp???!!!
"It's six o'clock" Marik said with a shake of his head as realization dawned onto Yugi's face and almost instantly, Yami switched with his hikari, celebrating his 'freedom' as long as it lasted. Harry and Hermione just stared at them, as if seeing them for the first time.
"Call my hikari 'shrimp' again and you will loose your ring!" Yami threatened the tomb robber. "And tell Ryou that you were the one to fry our hikari's school, not me. I was simply observing the procedure" Yami added, nose high in the air. Bakura simply shook his head
"Ryou says that you were the one who gave us the idea" Bakura said with a smirk
"Marik started it" Yami defended his dignity.
"By saying that I wished that the school would burn down so that we wouldn't have to go?" Marik exclaimed, faking innocence. "I don't see anything in that sentence that would've suggested 'School Fire'!" he said and yamis just stared at him pointedly.
"This is just too weird" Harry said as he got up from the floor. They burned their own school? Wow, maybe they would burn the Potion's Dungeon … with Snape in it … ah, that was a tempting possibility!
"I think my head is going to burst" Hermione whined lightly, as she scratched the back of her head. "and I am hungry" she added as an afterthought.
"Are you pregnant then?" Marik asked, effectively changing the subject and also knowing that this remark would always make Isis blush and say something about his perverted mind … but this time, he got a entirely different reaction.
"Why you?!" Hermione said in a low voice as she slowly made her way to where he stood. Before Marik could react, she grabbed nearest lamp that stood lonely on the table and hit him on the head. Hard… Very hard …
"I see stars" Marik muttered, starring into nothingness as the two yamis and Harry burst out laughing as Marik silently reminded himself that Hermione was not Isis for sure! Hermione, on the other hand, glared at them and then stormed off, probably going to the kitchens. Marik touched his head, afraid that it will crack any minute now.
"You have a way with ladies…" Yami remarked dryly.
"Ouch" was all that Marik could say once he regained his senses. Being whacked on the head wasn't on his agenda today …
"She differs from Isis" Bakura noted and once he noticed Harry's bewildered look, he added. "The girl you saw around us … he asked her that as well"
"Oh" was all that Harry could say. He should've warned them that Hermione was on the 'violent' side when she was pissed, mad, or sad. Now, however, Harry knew that he didn't have to tell them anymore since they already had their hands-on experience… well, at least Marik did…
"I am never asking that question again" Marik muttered darkly, glaring at the offensive object: evil lamp. He will send it shadow realm when no one will be looking.
"Are we going to go and eat or not?" Yami said as he shook his head in disapproval of Marik's behavior. Some people never learned …
"Whatever, I am going" Bakura said and dragged Yami and Marik out of the room, not even waiting for Harry to follow. Harry ran after them, catching up pretty quickly only to realize that they were going the wrong way.
"Isn't it that way?" Harry commented as he pointed to the other direction. Bakura simply shrugged and continued on his way.
"He knows his way around" Yami reassured their new friend. However, Harry still had his doubts when Bakura whirled around the corner and guess what? They were in the kitchen …
"How…?" Mrs. Weasley spun around, staring at the four in disbelieve.
"Um, I guess he does know his way around" Harry commented as he stared at Bakura, awestruck. This was probably some secret passage or something …
"Good A-" Hermione trailed off as she entered the kitchen for the first time today, her eyes wide as saucepans. How the hell did they manage to overtake her? And she was walking pretty fast too …
"It must've been a secret door!" Mrs. Weasley squealed happily but instead of investigating, she went back to cooking dinner/ breakfast depending on whose point of view you were talking from.
"Oh, smells so nice" Yami commented, moving so that he could sit at the table. A small note was taken about the fact that there wasn't a knife in sight.
"Why thank you" Mrs. Weasley smiled at him and waved her wand around, chopping, cutting and steering things at the same time. The three new students stared at her in awe.
"That's awesome" Marik said as he too sat down at the table. Ah, if only Isis knew about this …
"Hope it's not poisoned" Bakura commented dryly as he crossed his arms over his chest, his evil glare intact. Mrs. Weasley ignored the white-haired teen, secretly thinking that he was more like a maniac than anything else …
"Nah, don't worry, unless the vengeful spirit of Kretcher decides to drown himself in our soup, we should be fine" Harry commented with a shrug of shoulders and a quick smile to Hermione who, obviously, disapproved his theory.
"Very reassuring" Mrs. Weasley gave a forced laugh, obviously not over the fact that Harry actually killed a living thing. She pitied him, she really did. He broke up with his friends, isolated himself from everybody and now 'this'. The only good part was that he was on the friendly terms with Hermione again … even though it wasn't Ron, it was still good. And the other three students … well, she didn't want to judge from first impressions but all that she could say right now was that they were 'trouble'
"No, really, vengeful spirits are nasty things. They make traps and when a living being tangles up in it, they eat out their soul, sucking it out of their mouths." Bakura offered. He had a lot of experience with them in Kuru Eruma, a lot. Suddenly, he noticed the pale look on the women's face and decided to keep his mouth shut. Maybe after they eat …
"Sounds like Dementors to me" Harry said as he waved his fork around. Coming to think of it, the description fit even though Harry couldn't be 100% sure that it wasn't farfetched … then again, from what he had gathered Bakura was a spirit, sort of …
"Stop talking such nonsense!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as she gave a nervous laugh. These teens were freaking her out!
"Not nonsense young lady" Yami said with his nose high in the air. It was then that he realized that right now, she didn't look exactly young in comparison to him … gah!
"Teenagers" Mrs. Weasley muttered under her breath as she shook her head. While she went back to making whatever is that she was making, Harry managed to catch a few of her thoughts.
So informed … must tell Dumbledore … restricted information!
"So, how are the others?" Harry tried to keep the conversation going. Besides, what he got from her didn't make much sense … he had to start practicing more…
"As usual." She said as she ordered the plates to fill themselves up with food. "Percy is working for the ministry, Bill is working with Charlie in Egypt on some ancient dragons …" she trailed off as she noticed the three newcomers tense ever so slightly. "… Fred and George are succeeding with their 'Joke Store' idea … they are actually doing pretty well … Ginny is fine as always and Ron …" here she trailed off, looking at the wall. "… I think you know" she finished, giving Harry a knowing look and a wink.
"So, how did you manage to find that 'secret' passage which isn't so secret anymore?" Hermione finally asked her question. The others look at her and then burst laughing.
"Bakura has a very good sense of direction" Marik managed to force out between chuckles.
"For some reason he found some secret passage way or a shortcut…" Mrs. Weasley put her index finger onto her check in thought. How did he know something that Dumbledore didn't? Maybe it was just beginners luck or something … she would have to talk to Dumbledore about that later.
"What about our food?" Bakura asked, changing the subject effectively.
"Of course!" the woman exclaimed and at her command the plates that were full appeared right in from of them, as well as forks … no knifes …
"So, please do tell us about those who work in Egypt, Bill and Charlie if my memory doesn't fail me?" Yami asked politely after some time. Mrs. Weasley looked thoughtful but then probably decided that there was no harm in telling them.
"Ah, yes, Bill works for Gringotts, the bank you went into earlier" she began but paused to take a drink.
"…With goblins working in it?" Bakura asked, seeming uninterested on the outside while on the inside, he was forming a plan … that Ryou disapproved. Typical.
"Yes," Mrs. Weasley continued. "Anyways, they sent Bill to Egypt to research on some dragon types that were unique and lived in Egypt and Egypt only… and since it was something to do with dragons, Charlie couldn't resist and went with him. Though I worry every day because there are tombs and traps and … oh god, so many evil things!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, seemingly oblivious to the world around her. Harry, however, noticed the side glances that Bakura, Yami and Marik were giving each other. They knew something that the others didn't …
"What kind of dragons" Marik asked, bringing Mrs. Weasley back to the real world.
"I am not sure, its top secret …." She trailed off.
"If they find something, where are they going to place it?" Bakura suddenly asked.
"Gringotts" was Mrs. Weasley's automatic answer.
"I see" Bakura said and something in his tone made Mrs. Weasley realize her mistake.
"Why do you need to know?" Hermione beat her to the question.
"Simply curious" Bakura said as he twirled the fork in his hand, catching the light and directing the ray that the silver reflected into Yami's eyes. Even though Yami didn't do anything to show that he noticed, he received the message that was sent with that simple move.
"Ok" Mrs. Weasley bought it but Hermione didn't. Catching Bakura's eye and looking at him sternly told him that she didn't buy a word he said. It was amazing, all the things you can tell silently with a simple movement of your eyes ..
"Hey, Bakura, show Mrs. Weasley your 'blade' skills" Harry suddenly said, once again changing the subject. He didn't believe the 'simply curious' answers, especially since he knew that Bakura used to be a tomb robber … gah, the possibilities!
"Ok" Bakura said with a shrug and froze in his seat. Mrs. Weasley stared form Harry to Bakura and back to Harry.
"No one dies …" Was the first thing that came out of her mouth. She heard Moody talk about knife throwing in the kitchen earlier this morning …
"No one gets hurt" Bakura reassured her and his eyes became slits. Mrs. Weasley had to bite back a gasp that almost escaped her lips. Bakura's eyes were red!!! Dark crimson to be more precise, more of blood-like color …
There was a pause, nobody moved, some holding their breath …
"Morning" Ron said as he entered the kitchen. Everybody stared at him, Bakura glared, Hermione turned away. "What, did I walk in on something?" he asked as he leaned against the doorframe. It was then that it happened and it happened so quickly that Ron had no time to react. One thing he knows was that he was leaning against a doorframe, minding his own business when Bakura's left hand suddenly went behind his head and the next thing that Ron knew was that there was a very cool blade being pressed tightly against the top of his skull. What the-??
"You've got yourself a free haircut!" Marik exclaimed suddenly, knowing that the knife that Bakura pulled out from behind his back shaved the top of the kid's head off. Mrs. Weasley came out of her shock and stared at Bakura with fearful eyes, Hermione's jaws hit the floor, Yami huffed in annoyance, and Harry giggled … yes, giggled!!!!! The world obviously came to an end …
"How-? Ron!! Ron, are you alright dear?" the woman exclaimed, jumping to her feet and wrenching the knife out of the door frame, breaking it in the process.
"I-" was all that Ron was able to say as he felt around the top of his head. The hair that used to grow there before was, well, shaved off …
"Awwwww, my knife broke!" Bakura made an act, looking as if he was about to cry. Hermione glared at him and then stabbed the nearest potato to her with her fork.
"Too bad" Marik smirked, ignoring the red haired woman who was now yelling at them …. Ron kid ran away …
"I'll have to buy a new one!" Bakura said and then began looking thoughtful. "I saw this one shiny dagger in Diagon Alley …" Bakura trailed off, a murderous glint returning to his 'Ryou' eyes.
"Isis won't give you any money so unless…" Marik trailed off as Bakura let out a low but dangerous chuckle. Marik shivered, knowing what his friend was up to.
"Don't even think" suddenly everyone's attention snapped to Hermione who sat in the same spot, though her arms were crossed now.
"Why not? Is it not allowed to think in the kitchen?" Bakura mocked her but she remained impassive.
"They have dragons and various types of monsters and the only one who came out clean was Voldemort" she said in as if it was an everyday conversation. Mrs. Weasley flinched at the mention of Dark Lord's name but she still couldn't understand what Hermione was talking about.
"She is smart" Harry replied with a shrug of his shoulders when Yami gave him a confused look. "She is good at riddles so I am not even trying right now, I'll ask her later" Harry said.
"Oh, I see … so, who will you tell?" Marik asked cautiously, still aware of the fact that there was an 'outsider' present in the room that they were in, this outsider being Mrs. Weasley.
"Come on Harry." Hermione said as she got up from her chair and walked out of the kitchen with Harry having no choice but to follow her. Mrs. Weasley was, to say the least, was shocked at their behavior.
"What is going on?" she demanded. "Why are you throwing knifes at my son? Is this some kind of sick joke?" she crossed her arms, giving the three boys that were left a very evil glare that would even send the twins into hiding but it didn't work this time, not with those who faced death and lived to tell the tale.
"Stay out of our way" Bakura sneered, his 'mask' slipping off and leaving Mrs. Weasley face to face with a thief and a murderer and justice holder.
"Who are you people!?" she panicked. They surrounded her, all of them looking like a hunter at his prey.
"Stay out of our way and we will let you live" Marik said slowly, making the blood freeze in Mrs. Weasley's veins. Oh, how she wished that Moody was here! No, Dumbledore! Heck, even Snape would've been welcome!
"What are you planning to do? I'll tell Dumbledore!" she tried to threaten them but all she got was a small chuckle and amusement in 'Yugi's' voice as he spoke.
"You will tell no one." Yami said, his ruby eyes glittering with mirth.
"I-" Mrs. Weasley was about to protest when she felt something or someone talking to her in her head!
'Stay out of our way …' it was Marik, the kid with blond hair … it must've been him, she recognized his voice.
"Are you working for the Dark Lord? Are you here to kill Harry?" she asked, trying to tell her self that psychic powers were a part of everyday life …
"No" was the reply that she heard. She was scared, she wanted to scream but no words would come out. They were lying! They were murderers! She knew it! She tried to grab her wand but the instant her hand moved everything turned black.
"Should've known not to try and be brave" Marik said, lips curling into a smirk.
"Poor thing was terrified" Yami imitated her voice, one for one.
"Won't remember anything" Bakura said sharply as he moved around the kitchen to pick up his broken knife. With a sigh, he sent what was left of it to the shadow realm.
"Are you going to go?" Yami asked as Bakura dusted his pants.
"Ya … those goblin things sensed us … so I'd say that it'll be more fun" Bakura commented, seemingly cheerful.
"Nobody ever got out … or so they say …" Marik commented and then got weird looks from the other two. "What?" he asked, blinking a couple of times.
"Egyptian tombs are far worse" Bakura commented and Yami smirked.
"Ah … well then, just see what they have on Egypt so far … if you see anything that they shouldn't have, bring it over and then …" Marik trailed off. Of course, at first, he wanted to say '…ship them to Isis through Shadow Realm' but then, she didn't have an item anymore …
"Just bring it here, doesn't matter" Yami dismissed the problem.
"Ya, but that Hermione kid … she knows" Bakura put an emphasis on his last word.
"We'll talk to her …" Yami began but stopped.
"We have a visitor" Marik whispered in ancient Egyptian.
"Kuso" Bakura said through gritted teeth.
"You, go" Yami commanded and no matter how much Bakura hated to listen to the 'pharaoh's' commands, this time, he had no choice. He gave one last emotionless look at the other two as he silently slipped off through one of the walls, dissolving into it and leaving no trace.
"Gotta love that trick" Marik commented as he and Yami raced out of the kitchen. "Ah, the world is great as long as Millennium Items are in it"
"Isis should've taken her item back" Yami said, his face darkening. "And Millennium Items are not great. No, they are cursed."
"Huh? What? Why?" Marik asked, amused. It was then that Yami slipped into shadow realm and Marik caught the hint and followed. Once they were in the realm of shadows, Yami spoke again.
"Remember me offering you the Millennium Key when I got my memories back? Instead of the rod" Yami questioned his friend.
"Yes, but why …?" Marik began but was interrupted again.
"Let's face it… Rod is not what you spiritually wield." Yami told him seriously.
"Where are you heading with this?" Marik asked as he took a step back, left hand securely wrapped around the said golden object.
"Look, do you want to stay with your sister, even if it meant immortality?" Yami asked but flinched when he mentioned immortality. Marik, however, was totally confused.
"She ain't going anywhere without me and what the hell is this all about?" Marik demanded. This was so confusing … what the hell was Yami talking about?
"I- I will tell you later, this is not the time" Yami's face looked grave.
"And why the hell not? At least tell me something!" Marik exclaimed, trying to bring Yami out of his stupor. Maybe the guy had too much to drink today …
"It will happen on the eclipse" Yami said a dissolved into shadows, effectively ending their conversation.
"Whaaa?" Marik said in utter confusion. What the hell was this whole conversation about? Why did it take place in the first place? When he realized that Yami was not coming back, he returned to the house that they were in and leaned against a nearby wall. With a sigh of defeat and frustration at the same time, he threw his hands up in the air and walked to his room. Now that he thought about it, Bakura was acting strange as well, communicating with Ryou and all when a couple of months ago he would've most likely killed the kid if he was allowed to… no, something happened, something happened when Yami and Bakura were in Yami's memory chambers … something that changed them and to make him, Marik, feel worse, Isis knew about that as well … damn it!
"He is going to break into Gringotts, is he not?" was the first thing that Marik heard as he opened the door to where he currently resided. The sight that met him wasn't interesting at all. Harry was sitting on his bed and Hermione was sitting on the other bed that magically appeared in the corner of the room. Nothing interesting, not really …
"Ummhum" Marik murmured as he hit the bed,
"What was that?" Harry asked as he raised his right eyebrow.
"Probably" Marik replied louder and buried his head into his pillow. He had so much to think about that it was making his brain hurt.
"Doesn't he realize that it is dangerous?" Hermione questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"To him, the word 'danger' means entertainment." Marik mumbled as he turned to face them. Bakura was right, the girl did know …
"Going to Gringotts is like committing a suicide" Harry mused, blinking a couple of times and looking at Marik curiously. He didn't look good.
"Hey, can you pass me that bottle?" Marik asked Hermione since she was the closest one.
"What bottle?" she asked, confused.
"The Tylenol one …" Marik said, his head hurting like hell. For some reason it began right after he exited Shadow Real … why?
"Sure." Hermione grabbed the bottle and tossed it to him. Marik caught it, even if it was slightly difficult in his current form, and swallowed a couple of tablets.
"You are addicted" Harry pointed out as he watched the blond gulp four tablets down without the need of water.
"May be" Marik muttered as he gently lowered his head back to the pillow. "No sudden movements" he told himself as he closed his eyes. He could already feel the effect of the pills and the pain was slowly fading away. The others obviously understood his state and sat there in silence, waiting for him to get better. When after five whole minutes Marik didn't feel any better, he was about to pop another couple but Hermione stopped him.
"You had enough" she told him sternly.
"It's either that or a huge crack in my skull." He told her hoarsely.
"You are hopeless" she told him and took out her wand. Marik was introduced with the tip of it and while he stared at it, Hermione muttered a small incantation and woala! The pain was gone, as if it was never there to begin with.
"What the ..?" Marik asked, awestruck.
"Magic" Harry said with a smile. Hermione must've been fed up with going to the Hospital wing every time she had a headache and probably taught herself the spell. Interesting, he should ask her to teach him as well, because his head wasn't on friendly terms with his every now and then … and the stupid scar hurt sometimes… hell, sometimes, blood leaked out of it!
"You have to teach me that!" Marik sat up straight, looking at her with pleading eyes.
"Yes, eventually I will teach you that, but now, you have to learn the basics first!" she told him as she went over to her trunk(which was transported here by her and Harry after they left the kitchen) and began looking through it, pulling out first year books and other things. Marik stared at her, flabbergasted.
"Why basics?" he practically wailed.
"Can you turn a match into a needle?" she suddenly asked as she fixed him with a glare. He sweatdropped.
"No" Marik replied, wondering why the hell somebody would want to turn a match into a needle. With a match, you could possibly lit something on fire … unless, you needed a needle to stab somebody's eyes out ... that must've been the reason for that spell! However, he didn't share his theories with the other two.
"Where is Yami?" Harry suddenly asked.
"Dunno, he left me in the Sha- aa- probably went after Bakura" Marik caught himself before he said 'Shadow Realm'. No matter how much Harry knew, he didn't need to know about Shadow Realm … not yet anyways, and not before they confirmed that yes, these wizards had a portal to it.
"Interesting" Hermione said, but decided not to try and find what he was talking about because 'Shaaa' didn't make any sense. "Well then, you will be ahead of them then" she said and Marik's 'torture hour' as he would call it later on began.
(Lilo: did I make up for the delay? Hope it is long enough … well, actually, I wanted to add 'Bakura and Yami robbing Gringotts' into this chapter as well, but then it was getting too long … heehee, anyways, ya, hope you liked this chapter … I tried to make it somewhat funny … nothing too dark, angsty or anything else. Lol, anyways, thank you all for your wonderful reviews and Merry Be-Late Christmas and a Happy New Year! ^___^ (also, I am sorry but I want to keep the title in it's 'correct' form because the misspelled one is … well … misspelled …. )
Marikue: Ya, and 'Safe' holidays … don't want to see something like Yami, Marik and Bakura did (hint hint) lol, yya, anywyas, R&R)