Chapter 8: The Item Holders

After Yugi made Hermione promise to wait for them outside the common room, as he didn't know the password, and Malik did the same with one of the Slytherin first years he'd actually made friends with, Dumbledore led the group down hallway after hallway until they reached a stone gargoyle. He gave it the password ("Cream Puff") and the statue jumped aside to reveal a set of steps spiraling upward like an escalator. The wall closed behind them as they stepped onto the staircase, and they climbed up and up and up until Yugi felt they were on top of the world. Soon, the staircase stopped and the professor led them through an oak door into his office.

As soon as they entered, there was a flurry of movement as previous headmasters and headmistresses turned in their paintings to see whom it was. A number of silver gadgets and gizmos ticked softly on tables around the room. Right in front of them was a large, claw-footed desk, which Dumbledore sat behind, and behind that was a perch with a brilliant crimson bird sitting upon it.

"Now," Dumbledore began, "I wanted to speak with you five over a very serious matter–"

"Th-that's a phoenix," Yugi stuttered, interrupting the professor.

"Yes, it is."

"May I...?" Yugi trailed off but Dumbledore knew what he meant.

"Go ahead, if he'll let you. His name is Fawkes, Yugi."

"Thank you, Professor." Yugi walked forward to the scarlet bird, and, to everyone's surprise, he began to stroke its feathers. Dumbledore cleared his throat and turned back to the others, a serious expression on his face.

"I'd like–"

"Uh, Professor," Malik interrupted. Dumbledore stared mildly at him, and he continued, "I think there's been a mistake with my house."

"Oh?"

"I'm not like them, just ask Yugi. We have nothing in common. Especially that Malfoy…"

"Mr. Malfoy is a very difficult student to get along with. The Sorting Hat does not make mistakes, Mr. Ishtal. You probably have more in common with the rest of your house than you give yourself credit for."

"But–"

"You'll have to make the most of it, Mr. Ishtal." The finality in Dumbledore's voice told Malik there was nothing he could do. The Egyptian shrank into the background and sulked. "Now, as I was saying–Mr. Mutou, I'd like you to listen to this too–these are very unstable times in the wizarding world. A powerful dark wizard by the name of Lord Voldemort has been trying to regain the power he had fifteen years ago. He has already recruited the dementors surrounding Azkaban, the wizard prison, as well as several tribes of giants. This is a crisis. However, Voldemort isn't content with his former power. One of my spies has informed me that he is looking for seven specific items that when combined produce enormous magical power."

He stared at each of them in turn with is piercing blue eyes, noticing the impact the statement had made on their expressions. Ryou knew exactly what the professor was talking about, since only a short time ago it had been Bakura that had been trying to collect the seven Items. Yugi and Yami had been the main obstacles trying to protect them, even though Yami was supposed to collect them himself. Malik had trying to help Bakura in collecting six of the Items, but their plan failed. Shadi made sure all of the Items were safe and with the right people, and Isis was just caught in the middle of everything. Dumbledore continued.

"My informant has given me a set of pictures showing what these items may look like." He held up a picture of a sarcophagus that had spot for every Millennium Item to fit into it. Then another photograph showing the Tablet of the Nameless Pharaoh, the drawing of Yami very apparent. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Well? Is there anything you would like to tell me?"

Yugi and Ryou glanced nervously at each other; they'd agreed not to say anything about the Items, or even Malik's other self, but if Dumbledore already knew about it… Yugi glanced once at Shadi and then sighed and pulled the glowing Millennium Puzzle out from under his robes.

"I believe this 'Voldemort' is wasting his time," Yami said calmly. "We have the Millennium Items."

"I thought as much," Dumbledore remarked. "Do all of you own these 'Millennium Items'?"

Ryou glanced at Yami, who calmly nodded, and sighed; might as well get this over with now and not have it haunt him later. Ryou placed his hands to his chest in a broken circle type arrangement and began to hum softly (Yami rolled his eyes when he saw this); within seconds the Millennium Ring had appeared through his robes and now glittered prominently on his chest.

"Yes, we all do. This is the Millennium Ring. Yugi has the Puzzle, Isis has the Tauk, or Necklace, Malik has the Rod, and Shadi has the Ankh."

"That is only five. Am I to believe there are two more people out there with these Items?"

Ryou glanced at Yami again, then pulled the Eye out of his pocket. "I also have the Eye. I can't use it though."

Yami stared pointedly at Shadi, but the other spirit wasn't looking at him, so he cleared his throat loudly and said, "Shadi, your other Item please."

Shadi looked over at him, saw it was the Pharaoh and not someone he wanted to mess with, a suddenly there was a set of scales in his hand. He didn't say anything though.

"Right, those are the Millennium Scales. I believe that's seven, Professor."

"Yes, your math is correct. I have a feeling your magic comes from these Items, yes?" Dumbledore cast his eyes over each of them in turn, returning to Yami, who nodded.

"It's the only magic I know of that I possess," Yami answered. "No doubt you already knew most of this."

"I suspected. It was one reason I invited you to this school. Hogwarts is one of the safest places in the wizarding world. Voldemort would have to have a great deal more power to even attempt coming here."

"So are you trying to recruit us for some army?" Malik asked. "'Cause I'd have to refuse. I've had enough of that kind of thing."

"I have only brought you here for your own safety," Dumbledore answered. "And so you can learn how to properly use your magic to its fullest potential."

"I'm not sure having all of us in the same place is a very good idea, Professor," Ryou muttered uncomfortably. Dumbledore regarded him with a curious expression.

"Why is that, Mr. Bakura?"

"Well, things have been known to...happen when all of the Items are brought together. Sometimes it's for the good...and sometimes it isn't." Ryou looked straight into Dumbledore's eyes with a furious intensity. "No matter what others might say, Professor, the Millennium Items have always been instruments of evil. There is nothing good about how they were made or the power within them."

"They can only be used properly by the ones destined to have them," Shadi continued, speaking for the first time. "If this Voldemort plans to use the Items, he'd better figure out how to remain sane forever, because as soon as he tries, his mind and soul will be destroyed."

"Unless he wins them from us first in a Shadow Game," Yami finished. "But I highly doubt he knows how to play Duel Monsters or Shadow Games."

"Then why haven't you been consumed by this power?" Dumbledore asked. He already knew the answer; he just wanted to hear from the item holders themselves to make sure.

"We're the ones destined have the Millennium Items," Yami answered. Then had got a thoughtful look on his face and continued, "Well, the first ones we got anyway. A man by the name of Pegasus was destined to have the Eye, but he lost it to Ryou." Ryou glared at Yami; no, Pegasus hadn't lost the Eye to him, he'd lost it to Bakura. "And Shadi just hasn't given the Scales to anyone else yet."

"I see. Well, I would like to know what powers these Items possess, if you don't mind."

Ryou glanced nevously at Yami; this was going against everything he and Yugi had agreed to, and the only thing they hadn't really revealed yet was the existence of the yamis, and the Pharaoh wasn't doing a very good job. Yami, sensing he knew what Ryou was thinking about, shook his head, meaning they weren't going to say anything about that yet.

"Hey Ryou, why don't you start?" Malik called from across the room.

"You mean, with the...?" Ryou waved his arms around his head suggestively. Malik nodded. "But, I've never done that before!"

"I seem to remember an occasion or two when you did."

"No, I didn't! How about you, Malik? You're experienced in that area. Why don't you do it?"

"No, you're going to do it. Even if I have to help you."

"Fine," Ryou said. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the Ring, while Malik reached into his pocket for the Rod. Darkness began to creep along the walls and billowed around them until they were completely surrounded. Dumbledore jumped to his feet.

"What happened?"

"Well, you wanted to know what the Millennium Items can do, didn't you?" Ryou asked in a harsher tone of voice. "So Malik and I brought you to the Shadow Realm for a demonstration. Every Item gives us the power to travel here. This is where we get the power for Shadow Games and other things. If I were to list how many ways I can use the Ring, you would get bored, so we'll just leave it at locating other Items."

Bakura took his deck out of his pocket and continued. "The Eye allows the owner to read people's minds, but it has to be in your head to be able to use it. The Tauk entitles the owner to see the past and the future; however, if something happens to change the predicted future, it's practically rendered useless. The Rod permits the owner to brainwash people or possess their thoughts, but the power can be broken by the will of the victim or another Item. As to the Puzzle, we're not sure what that does. Shadi will have to fill you in on what his Items do."

Shadi glared at him since he didn't like Bakura anyway, so Yami cut in. "The Key allows the owner to look in a person's mind to see what his personality is like. The Scales are like the Scale of Ma'at in the Book of the Dead; they weigh a person's soul and heart to see how untrustworthy that person is."

"And a couple of Items seem to have secondary effects, but those aren't important at the moment," Malik said.

"What is important is that we can handle ourselves if Voldemort comes after us," Yami said.

"Ph–uh, Yugi, do you mind if I demonstrate a bit more?" Bakura asked, still shuffling his deck. Yami shook his head, so Bakura drew a card from the top and said, "Ah, good one. I summon The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams!"

A bed with a small boy in it appeared next to him and out of the little boy's mouth burst a green spirit that looked like a banshee. Yami rolled his eyes again and said, "Did you have to summon that one?"

"Would you rather I summon Earl of Demise or something like that?"

"Just get on with it," Yami answered, his eyes glittering mischievously. When Bakura had his back to him, he pulled out his own deck.

"An Item holder usually summons monsters like this when he is playing a Shadow Game. Here, the monsters are as real as you are, and it can really hurt if you lose a game. Shadow Games were the ancient means of determining fate. Back then, the only way to use a monster that was not a part of your soul was to seal them in tablets and use an Item to summon them. Recently, Pegasus found out about the tablets and revived the monsters as cards, like I just used. Since the monsters are the same, we can use the Items on the cards."

"Black Magician, attack his Ghost!"

A monster appeared out of the shadows, attacked the Ghost, and Bakura's monster disappeared. The Black Magician hovered back to his master while Bakura seethed.

"What the hell did you do that for?!"

"I thought we were demonstrating. Your monster was weaker than mine, so I couldn't resist."

"I'll bet you could," Bakura muttered. He was suddenly hit by a wave of pain like what would have happened if they were really playing a Shadow Game. "This isn't a Shadow Game!" he yelled angrily at the shadows behind him.

"But we're in the Shadow Realm, Ryou, so the same rules apply, don't they?" Yami sneered. Bakura gave him a look that plainly said "shut up or you won't leave here", but Yami just shrugged it off. "I believe the professor's probably seen enough, you two. Let's go back. Bye, Nassir," he said to the Black Magician, who then disappeared. Bakura and Malik stared incredulously at him.

"You named your Black Magician?" Bakura asked, laughter sneaking into his tone. Yami blushed but remained firm.

"He wanted me to name him, thank you."

"What, do you come here and talk to your monsters in your spare time?"

"No. One, that would drain too much energy, and two, I've never come here on my own in my life. I don't know how."

"Perhaps we should leave," Dumbledore interrupted. Malik and Bakura nodded and the shadows around them disintegrated, and they were back in Dumbledore's office. "That was certainly enlightening."

"Is there anything else you would like to know, Professor?" Yami asked.

"Maybe in time," answered Dumbledore. "However, I am going to have to prohibit you three from using your Items. I must think about the safety of the rest of my students as well as yours." He pointed to the students, leaving Isis and Shadi out. "Since you are teachers, Miss Ishtal, Shadi, I have no control over your use."

Bakura was about to protest, but Yami clapped a hand over the other spirit's mouth and said, "We'll abide by your rules, Professor. I understand your situation."

"But you don't have ways of tracking our magic, do you?" Malik asked nervously.

"If it required very little magic, like possession–" Yami and Bakura glanced at each other– "I would have no way of tracking you. But if it was one of the main powers of your Items, like summoning that Shadow Realm for instance, I would. There is very little that goes on in this school that I do not know about." Dumbledore stood up, walked over to the fireplace, and, to everyone's astonishment, stuck his head into the fire and called for someone named 'Dobby' and another named 'Winky' to come up. A few moments later there was a small poof! and two diminutive creatures with large pointy ears and huge eyes appeared next to Bakura. The spirit jumped slightly when they appeared, and Yami looked fascinated.

"These are house-elves, Mr. Mutou," Dumbledore said as he noticed Yami's expression. "Dobby, I would like you to lead Miss Ishtal and Shadi to their rooms. Winky, please lead the other three to the Gryffindor and Slytherin dormitories."

The teary-eyed house elf attempted to take Bakura's hand, failed, then led them down the stairs and out into the hallway. She led them down hallway after hallway, up stairs, then back down stairs again, and down more hallways until they reached a painting of a large lady in a pink silk dress. Hermione was dozing under the painting and leaning on the wall, and she jumped when they appraoched.

"Oh, Yugi, you're here," she said. "Thanks, Winky."

"Yes, thank you, Winky," Yami echoed. The elf smiled slightly then led Malik away to where his dorms must be. Hermione gave the Fat Lady the password ("Lemon tarts") and they entered the warm, scarlet and gold Gryffindor common room to find Harry and Ron deep in a chess game. Harry was losing pitifully and most of his pieces were out, but not his queen. Yami's eyes lit up when he saw their game, but Bakura quickly steered him away.

"Harry! Queen to C4!" Yami called as he was led up the stairs. Harry tried the move and found that he had just checkmated Ron's king. They stared at the board in surprise, and then glanced back at the stairs where Yami and Bakura had just disappeared. The was something strange about that new student.