Chapter 10: Possession and Prophesy

…When Ryou regained consciousness he wasn't in the Hospital Wing, and he wasn't in the doorway to Snape's classroom either. Nor were his friends standing worriedly about him, waiting for him to wake up. No, when he regained consciousness, he was walking next to Malik entering the Great Hall. Malik was talking animatedly, saying exactly why he thought they should leave the school immediately and why he thought Snape was such a big git. Ryou stopped and looked around, confused; there were a lot of people here in the Great Hall, and there was food on the tables. Did that mean it was time for lunch? He was pretty sure that he had Ancient Runes before lunch and he was pretty sure he hadn't been there yet. Malik caught Ryou's sudden stop and turned to stare at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Aren't we supposed to be going to Ancient Runes now?" Ryou asked cautiously in case this was some kind of prank.

"That's where we just came from." Malik stared with concern at his friend. "Are you all right? Don't you remember that?"

Ryou shook his head and screwed up his eyes. How could he have been out for an hour and not remember anything? "The last thing I remember was right outside Professor Snape's class."

"You sure? 'Cause you were at Ancient Runes."

"Yeah, and you were really amazing, Ryou," said Hermione as she came up behind them.

"I...I was?"

"Yeah, you seemed to know everything before we got there," Malik answered, his face contorted like he was remembering something really amazing. "You answered all of the questions right, even ones Hermione didn't know."

"What?!"

"Mmm-hmm, and Professor Carver gave you one of the more advanced tests because you were doing so well," Hermione continued, "and you just whizzed right though it like you knew everything, and all the answers were right."

Ryou sank unhappily into his seat by Yugi and stared glumly at the food on the table, not noticing when Malik said good-bye and left to sit at his own table. He should be pleased that he was good at another class without trying, but he couldn't remember being good at it. Plus, Bakura was still asleep in his soul room, unchanged from the end of Potions, so he couldn't have been responsible. Yugi, who's class had gotten out early, also stared worriedly at Ryou.

"Is something wrong, Ryou?"

"I just blacked out for the last hour and I can't remember a thing, but apparently my body was walking around being perfect in Ancient Runes," Ryou answered quietly. Yugi's expression changed from worry to shock.

"You what?!"

"And you-know-who is still asleep from when he dozed off in the middle of Potions," he whispered, glancing tentatively at Harry.

"So it couldn't have been him," Yugi concluded.

"That's the thing. He's a really good actor; sometimes even I can't tell when he's acting or not. What if he's just pretending?"

"Why would he do that? He doesn't know that much about the past, does he?"

"He hasn't told me anything. Not like he would if I asked, either. He still doesn't quite think me 'worthy' enough for that much courtesy."

"Did you try waking him up?"

"No. He always yells or punishes me whenever I do that..."

Harry caught most of this conversation and it really intrigued him; anytime someone in the magical world said 'You-Know-Who', they usually meant Voldemort. But these students seemed to be new to the magical world, so they couldn't be in league with Voldemort, could they? When Ron sat down, Harry ran this theory past him and Hermione. Hermione agreed that it wasn't likely that they were in with Voldemort; Ron disagreed.

"Didn't you say that Ryou was really good at Ancient Runes?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, he's been good at everything so far," answered Hermione.

"See, I'll bet You-Know-Who sent them here to get close to Harry. That's why he knows so much."

"But Yugi doesn't seem to be so adept," Hermione argued.

"Yeah, and Malik would have failed in Potions this morning if we hadn't been paired up," Harry went on. Ron frowned at his food.

"Then why did you bring it up?" Ron asked irritatedly.

"'Cause I thought you'd be concerned."

"Well, you two keep shooting down my theories–"

"Hey Harry," Yugi interrupted from the other side of the table, "do you think you could tell me how to play Quidditch?"

They spent the rest of lunch talking about the wizards' sport, but Ryou didn't join in. He was too worried about his own sanity. Bakura had finally woken up and claimed he hadn't possessed Ryou at all that day, but he was very concerned nonetheless. No matter what most others thought, Bakura did care for his host, and he got worried when something happened like this. But after a quick search through both their minds, he declared that nothing seemed to be wrong except that there really were no memories of the last hour.

When lunch was almost over, Isis came by and asked Ryou to bring Phantom with him to class, saying that the cat might help increase the psychic energies of the class. Ryou hurried to his dorm, found the cat, who was fighting with Crookshanks again, and then was lost. He had no idea where Isis's class was going to be. He wandered back to the Great Hall, and Yugi informed him that they were supposed to go to a room by a statue of Bolik the Braggart on the third floor.

The door to the classroom was open when they got there and the sign by the door read: Miss Isis Ishtal, Sixth and Seventh Divination. No doubt the right place. But as soon as they entered the rather large room they felt they had just entered the Shadow Realm. The walls and ceiling were painted pitch black with dark purple gauze draped in different places. The floor was covered in very fluffy black carpet that seemed to reach up and grab at their feet, and a dark pink fog was drifting about the room. The torches on the walls were covered with the same purple gauze as was on the walls, so the teens could see but the light didn't draw attention away from the rest of the room. All in all, Isis did a very good job of recreating the Shadow Realm without actually taking them there.

Since there weren't any chairs, the students sat on the floor to wait for class to begin and talked amongst themselves. The atmosphere of the classroom was tense and several people jumped when the door shut be hind them. Ryou spotted Parvati sitting next to her friend and dragged Yugi over to sit next to them; he figured if he had friends in his class that already knew things, he might as well sit near them. Parvati introduced them to her friend, Lavender Brown, and then sat quietly. The two girls seemed to be very anxious for class to start.

"Good morning," said a soft voice from a corner of the room, startling a lot of the students, Yugi included. Isis stepped out of the shadows to the front of the classroom, dressed in the same outfit as in Battle City, the white making a stark contrast to the black wall behind her.

"Welcome to the realm of shadows," Isis continued, glancing briefly at Ryou and Yugi. "I am Miss Ishtal, your Divination teacher for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, an event at the end of this year will prevent me from coming back next year to teach you."

Parvati's hand shot into the air, nearly hitting Ryou's arm. Isis turned to her. "Yes, Miss...?"

"Patil," Parvati answered dropping her hand. "Can you make a prediction right now, just so we know you're a good teacher?"

Whispers of agreement spread through the room, and Isis nodded and closed her eyes. "In exactly five minutes time, a Slytherin by the name of Malik Ishtal will run out of greenhouse four where his Herbology lesson is taking place, and he will run into Mr. Hagrid five feet from his hut," Isis declared. "In five minutes, you may personally check this at the window, Miss Patil," she went on, pointing to a dark spot on the wall that had light poking out underneath. "Now, today we are going discuss natural divination, or the divining of events in nature, like how clouds form in the sky or from which direction the wind blows. Very often, this type of divination is controversial because many do not believe that the wind blowing or what shape the clouds are at a certain time has any effect over the future. Usually, these opinions are from people who do not want to admit the existence of the supernatural. Today I would have liked to begin outside, but the sky is clear so that wouldn't have made a very good–"

"AGHHHHH!!!"

The shout came from outside on the grounds. Isis walked over to the window, lifted the blinds, and beckoned for Parvati to come over. Outside, Malik dashed out of greenhouse four, screaming bloody murder, and ran halfway across the grounds until he collided with Hagrid about five feet from the giant's hut. It was just like Isis had said.

"Wow, Miss Ishtal, that was exactly like you said it would be," Parvati said as she walked back to her seat.

"See? I told you Isis was good," Ryou said when she sat down. Parvati merely nodded and turned her attention back to Isis. Isis began to explain what the different wind directions meant, like how west had the element of fire and usually meant a quick burst of chaos that would cause long-term damage. East was the element of wind and was relatively good, as it meant a windfall of unexpected happiness and fortunate events. North, the element of water, proposed good luck for some time that would then be followed by a very influential even that could be good or bad. South, an earth element, was the opposite of the North element.

Cloud formations had to be studied a lot like tea leaves. They were read at sunrise, sunset, and noon, and one always started north of the sun and moved in a counter-clockwise direction. At noon, there were twelve sections of the sky, called houses, and depending on where the cloud formation was in the sky, it had a different meaning than in another house. It was actually a lot like astrology, which they'd already studied. At sunrise and sunset since there were only six houses around the sun, the clouds were usually used to predict the rest of the day; noon observations were used for more long-term predictions.

About halfway through the lesson, Isis snapped her fingers and they were suddenly outside with the sun up above, or so it seemed. They were really still inside the classroom, but the environment had been changed to provide a sample lesson. Isis used a wand to draw out the twelve houses in the sky and simple shapes in the clouds that were easy to see.

"Can anyone see any shapes I have not outlined?"

Everyone looked carefully at the clouds until they noticed that Ryou had his hand raised already. "I can Is– I mean, Miss Ishtal," he said quietly. He pointed to a formation in the twelfth house. "Right there. To me it looks a dragon with its mouth open. Usually this is a good sign, showing courage and well being, but it's in the house of losses and enemies, showing that there may be more pain than well-being in the future."

Isis smiled and nodded. "That's right, Mr. Bakura. And that is the one I hadn't expected anyone to find. Anyone else?"

This time Parvati raised her hand. "The one in the eleventh house. It looks like an arrow, which means separation, and since it's in the house of friends it means something will happen that will pit friends against each other. We just don't know who, but that can be determined by the other houses."

"Correct, Miss Patil."

Yugi was soon left behind in the class by Ryou, Parvati, and Lavender; he just wasn't a Seer. Besides which, he'd seen Isis's magic enough times that it didn't seem so amazing anymore. So for most of the class, Yugi concentrated on what Ryou had told him during lunch. It sounded like Bakura had possessed him, but Ryou claimed Bakura had been asleep. What he'd said about the spirit being a good actor was right though; Bakura had tricked everyone more times than they could count. So what if the spirit was acting again? Yugi would have to ask once class was out.

[[That thief can't be trusted, Yugi. He might be lying even if he tells us.]]

[But Ryou asked me for help, and I can't just back out of it now. He's my friend.]

[[No offense, but you're going to get yourself killed looking out for your friends someday.]]

"Oy, mini-pharaoh, class is over," said a harsh voice in his ear. "Let's go, I'm hungry."

Bakura was standing before him in an almost empty room with Isis behind the spirit and Parvati and Lavender waiting for them in the doorway. Yugi got to his feet and was about to follow the girls out in to the hallway when Isis stopped him with the statement: "Beware the spirits, Yugi."

Yugi turned and regarded her with a confused and almost shocked expression. "What?"

"Not all spirits are your friend, Yugi. You and Ryou need to be alert to the activity of certain spirits, and have them tell you when they want to be with you before they barge in. Then you may discover what happened earlier." Isis turned to the window and sighed. "I cannot tell you anymore at the present time. Goodbye Yugi."

Yugi was slightly dazed after this, but he couldn't ask Bakura anything with the two girls following them. The message Isis had given him said they should be more alert about Bakura and Yami, but did it also mean there was another spirit? How could that be possible?

"I don't think that's possible," he heard Bakura mutter. Yugi glanced questioningly at him and noticed the girls weren't following anymore.

"Are you sure Ryou was in control before lunch, Bakura?" Yugi asked quietly.

"Do you doubt–wait, that's a stupid question. Even if you didn't doubt my word, the Pharaoh would. Trust me, I was asleep the whole time."

[[I don't believe him.]]

[What would he gain by lying?]

[[The satisfaction that he tricked us...again.]]

[...Well, I'm going to take Isis's warning seriously, Yami. I would appreciate it if you'd warn me every time you take over from now on. Hopefully Ryou will ask Bakura to do the same thing.]

[[Very well. I understand where you're coming from.]]

Bakura suddenly turned away from Yugi down another corridor and not in the direction of the Great Hall. Yugi watch him, confused.

"Idiot. Do you really think Phantom will be allowed in the Great Hall?" Bakura commented when he noticed Yugi's stares, gesturing to the sleeping cat in his arms. Under his arms, there was a golden glow, in just the right place for the Millennium Ring. Yugi looked accusingly at the thief.

"Bakura, why is the Ring glowing?"

"Because I don't know how to get back to the Gryffindor common room from here. Surely Dumbledore will understand that if he asks."

"That's really edging on the line, Bakura. You could get Ryou into major trouble. Professor Dumbledore doesn't know about you and Yami yet, remember?"

"Stop worrying your spiky little head, Yugi. I know what I'm doing. I'm using a different method of finding the common room with the Ring than usual." Bakura turned his back on them and walked off in the direction he'd turned to.

[[Taking over.]]

"Thief, I don't think your method of finding the common room is a very good one. Couldn't we just ask somebody?"

"Pharaoh, I know what I'm doing. Damn, why can't you and Yugi learn to trust me in these things?" Bakura turned down another hall and they spotted a set of armor they'd passed on the way to Gryffindor Tower the previous night. Yami caught up with and regarded him with a tinge of red in his cheeks.

"Maybe if you hadn't tricked us so much in the past, we wouldn't have reason not to trust you."

"I don't hold your past against you. But maybe I shouldn't let Ryou hang out with you since you used to drive people insane with your 'penalty games'." They saw a large painting on the wall ahead of them and Bakura's mouth twisted to a smirk. "And see, I haven't gotten you lost, have I? Lemon tart," he said to the painting. The Fat Lady nodded and her picture frame swung forward. The common room beyond was relatively empty, save a few fourth and seventh years studying at opposite sides of the fireplace. Bakura released Phantom and then sat down in one of the chairs to think. It wasn't quiet time for dinner yet, and he didn't really feel like doing any of Ryou's homework. Yami got a thoughtful look in his eye as he stared at the thief.

"Hey tomb robber," he started, trying to sound causal, "you didn't happen to modify your deck yet, did you?"

Bakura raised and eyebrow and stared at the other spirit. "Why?"

"Well, you look kind of bored, and I'm also bored and, well–"

"Why don't you just say you want to duel me instead of explaining why? If you really wanted to duel, you'd come right out and say it instead of wasting time."

"Is that a yes?" Yami asked eagerly. Bakura responded by taking his new cards out of his bag and his deck out of his pocket.

"It's your funeral, Pharaoh."

Calai'di–HAPPY BIRTHDAY YUGI MUTOU!!!

I had to do that since I wrote most of this on his birthday, and everyone should know that his birthday is June 4. Anyway, the form of divination in this chapter I made up myself (aren't I brilliant?), so I wouldn't suggest trying it. Forms in the clouds seem to work a little, but looking up at the sun at noon to determine the houses in the sky is not advisable.