Chapter 19: He Already Knows
"Wait, back up. Why would You-Know-Who be looking for some antiques?" Ron asked incredulously. Harry shook his head trying to clear it; the pain in his scar was darkening his vision.
"He called them 'Millennium Items' or something. He was really happy when Malfoy's dad led him to where one of them was. It looked like a scale I think, but then it disappeared and he got really mad." He squeezed his eyes shut to try and remember the details of the dream.
Ryou appeared in the doorway. "What's going on, Yugi?" he asked tiredly.
"Apparently, that Voldemort person is coming after us," Yugi answered quietly.
"Oh, okay. We'll deal with it. Though I think now we have other problems." He gestured languidly at the Ring.
"He got woken up, huh?"
Ryou nodded. "And now Harry's probably good as dead." He failed to mention the fact that they'd been sleeping together again, since Ryou wasn't at all mad at Bakura for blocking him out earlier, so getting woken up wasn't the only reason the spirit was cranky.
"Mr. Potter, is everything all right?" asked a new, stern voice. "Longbottom told me you were screaming in your sleep."
"Professor McGonagall, I had a dream again," Harry answered, sounding slightly embarrassed. The professor's face half contorted to a fearful look as she remembered the dreams from the previous year. "I think I need to see Professor Dumbledore," he continued, the tone of fear showing in his voice again.
"Would you mind telling me what this dream was about first," she asked calmly, or at least she tried to sound calm.
Harry groaned inwardly, though he had been expecting this, and said, "I was Voldemort, and his Death Eaters led him–me–to some underground chamber with hieroglyphics all over the walls. And there was a big stone in the middle of the floor that had carvings in it of different things–two of them looked like Yugi and Ryou's pendants–" the boys in question gasped and glanced at each other; they recognized the description of that stone– "and there was a set of gold scales in one of the carvings. And then–"
"All right, Potter, you've convinced me." Professor McGonagall sighed and for once actually looked her apparent age, though it was only for a second. "I guess we'll have to see the headmaster after all." She turned to leave and suddenly noticed Yugi and Ryou standing next to her. "Mr. Mutou, Mr. Bakura, perhaps…yes, you should come, too."
About ten minutes later, Harry, Yugi, Ryou, and Professor McGonagall entered a deathly quiet headmaster's office. Most of the paintings around the wall were either sleeping of daydreaming, so only one or two actually looked up as the four entered. And amazingly, Dumbledore was in the office…sleeping with his head on the desk. Professor McGonagall stepped forward and lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
"Albus, wake up," she whispered. It seemed to work as Dumbledore groaned and slowly sat up, looking slightly disoriented.
"Hello Minerva, bit late for you to be up, don't you think?" he said sleepily. His gaze finally settled on the three students and he no longer seemed sleepy. "Harry, Yugi, Ryou, why are you here?"
"Um, Professor, I had a dream…about Voldemort," Harry said. This was the first time he'd talked to the headmaster since the previous school year, and he was relieved to see that Dumbledore was staring right at him instead of constantly looking at something else when they were in the same room. He also saw that though the old man had replaced some of his possessions, many of the objects Harry had broken the previous year were not there.
Dumbledore remained calm as he stared at Harry. "And what did you see in this dream, Harry?"
Harry took a big breath and started telling his story from the beginning, about how Mr. Malfoy had led Voldemort into some underground chamber, about the carved stone and the hieroglyphics on the walls, about the golden scales (at which point Dumbledore noticeably tensed), and about the Egyptian boy that had gotten tortured. Dumbledore stared grimly at him for a moment then called Fawkes over to him.
"Fawkes, could you please inform Shadi that his presence is needed here?" Dumbledore mumbled. In a flash of fire, the phoenix had disappeared. Then, the headmaster turned to stare at Yugi and Ryou and said, "Do you two know anything about this?"
Yugi thought for a bit and nodded. "Yes, that stone sounds familiar. I think it–" He suddenly glanced at Harry and stopped speaking, wincing a little at something only he could hear. "Sorry, I should wait for Shadi to get here."
"Professor, does this mean Voldemort will come here?" Harry asked, frowning slightly at Yugi.
"Even if Lord Voldemort traced the Items to Hogwarts, he would not be able to get in…unless someone invited him in," answered Dumbledore. He glanced accusingly at Ryou for a second before returning his gaze back to Harry. "However, I do not believe that would happen."
"Professor, I believe you wished for me to come here," Shadi said as he appeared beside Yugi. Fawkes, who had appeared with him, flew back to its perch and stared intently at Ryou.
Dumbledore nodded. "I think you should hear Harry's dream, Shadi."
Harry sighed and ran through his dream again, wondering what the new teacher had to do with it. When he finished, Shadi nodded and spoke to Dumbledore. "I have the Scale safe in with me. Though I am concerned that this Voldemort has found the Stone of the Seven (AN: Does anyone know what the tablet's actually called?) for now he knows what each Item looks like and will know what to look for. He may also be able to trace them here."
"Voldemort will not be able to find them if they are here," Dumbledore said.
"Shadi, do you know who the teen was?" Yugi asked quietly.
"Yes. That was probably Ammon Ishtal, Malik's cousin. They're about the same age, though Ammon was never condemned to carry the Scriptures for the rest of his life."
"I expect Malik will be getting a letter tomorrow from Rishid about this," Yami said as he took over. He glanced at Harry and saw that Harry had noticed the change, but he didn't say anything.
"Great, I can't wait to see how this'll affect his mood," Bakura agreed. "Isn't there anything we can do to make sure this Voldemort doesn't find the Items? You know quite well that if he finds one, he'll find all of them, Dumbledore."
"And now he probably knows exactly what each one does," Yami added, his fingers running nervously over the Puzzle. "The writing on the walls in that room tells that." He shrugged when he saw Bakura and Harry's astonished faces. "Shadi told me about it."
"Professor, Hogwarts will be safe, won't it. I mean, Voldemort's probably not too happy with me, but he won't be able to come here, right?" Harry asked.
"No, not while I'm here, Harry. Nor should the other five of you worry. The Items will be safe at Hogwarts."
Yami and Bakura glanced at each other, both wondering if the headmaster was referring to the Item holders, or to the five that were standing in the room. Harry, apparently, was thinking along the same lines and he glanced back at the two spirits.
"I am glad you came to tell me about this dream, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Now, you three should probably go back to bed."
"Dumbledore, there's something I need to tell you," Bakura said loudly, forgetting his dignity for a moment, "in private." He nodded his head slightly at Harry and Dumbledore understood what 'private' meant in this case.
"Very well. Harry, could you please wait outside the door for a moment?"
Harry frowned and glanced at Bakura, more sure than ever that something was wrong, but nevertheless he complied and turned toward the door. "Don't take too long, Bakura. I'm kind of tired now," he said as he closed the door. The white-haired spirit glared at the closed door as though he could see Harry through it and finally turned back to Dumbledore.
"That boy is way too intuitive," he growled. Then he held the locket up and went on: "That stupid other spirit showed up again today after two weeks. I couldn't stop it and Ryou was hurt again."
A look of concern appeared in the headmaster's eyes. "Is he all right now?"
"Yes. The idiot was trying to find my weapons, but Ryou doesn't know where they are so neither does he."
"Bakura! Why didn't you get me or Malik?" Yami demanded.
"Because I decided I needed some time alone to think. Of course, Malik had to go and interrupt it. Didn't he tell you that?"
"No. Some friend he is."
[Yami! That's not nice!]
[[I was kidding, aibou.]]
"I believe we need to go back to the matter at hand," Dumbledore said sternly. "Bakura, come here." Bakura stared skeptically at him as he complied, and the headmaster pulled a silver string out of his desk. "I made this Sealer after you told me about the other spirit. It will keep Ryou from being possessed."
Dumbledore was about to tie the thread around the chain of the locket above the other one when Bakura put his hand up, blocking. "What about me? I have every right to possess my host."
Yami snickered at this. "Yeah, right, that's a good one."
"Ryou and I have an understanding now, Pharaoh. He doesn't mind when I possess him any more," Bakura growled back.
"This Sealer is only for stopping the other spirit from possessing Ryou," Dumbledore explained calmly. "It will not affect you in the slightest." With that, he tied the Sealer above the locket. And then there was what looked like a small explosion as the new Sealer blew up, taking the other one with it. Bakura stared fearfully at the unprotected locket, expecting it to open any second; his fear was echoed by Ryou from his soul room.
"Why did it do that?" Yami asked, fear apparent in his voice as well.
"I bet that son-of-a-bitch put some spell on this thing to keep you from doing exactly what you tried to do," Bakura answered angrily, glaring at the headmaster. "And now this thing can open anytime."
"I'm sure he's sorry, Bakura. Maybe we should leave now," Yami said, pulling on Bakura's arm. The thief wrenched his arm out of the pharaoh's grip and glared at Dumbledore.
"I'll just leave you with the thought that you've just killed my hikari," he growled at the headmaster. Without a second look back, he walked out the door and slammed it behind him. Dumbledore stared sadly after him and sighed.
"I am sorry. I did not know it would do that. I would be grateful if you told him that," the headmaster said somberly. "Minerva, you should escort you're students back to Gryffindor tower."
Professor McGonagall nodded and led Yami out of the room, where they met Harry and Bakura and headed back to the dormitories. Dumbledore sighed, pulled his out Pensive, and gazed into it. No one noticed that Shadi had disappeared.
"Now, I know you're not saying what I think you're saying," Malik said, waving his fork around. He was sitting with the Gryffindors again so he could hear about the previous night. "Because I think you're saying Voldemort found the Stone of the Seven which isn't possible because only Shadi and the members of my family know where it is. So you can't be saying that."
"I'm saying it, idiot," Bakura answered. "And you'd better read that letter before I have to tell you the rest of what happened." He pointed to an owl that was bouncing on top of Malik's hair. Malik swatted at the owl, grabbed the letter it was carrying, and ripped it open. The eyes that scanned the paper grew narrower as he read until he finally threw the paper down and looked like he was about to cry and scream in rage at the same time.
"Ihatethatdamnfuckingbastardofawizardhewillpayforthiswithhisverysoulifhehasone," he muttered in one breath. Yugi held him down as he tried to jump up from the table.
"Malik, calm down! I know you're mad; I would be too! But right now isn't a good time to lose you're head!"
"What happened?" Bakura asked. Even he hadn't seen Malik get so mad.
"Ammon's dead! That damn wizard tortured him until he died!" Malik moved his plate out of the way and buried his head on the table. "Why do things like this happen to me?!"
Bakura picked up the fallen letter and scanned it. He eyes narrowed with annoyance and he handed the letter to Yugi.
"They took the Stone of the Seven?!" Yugi exclaimed once he read through a little bit.
"And half of the hieroglyphics on the walls," Malik mumbled into the table.
"And he's probably going to try to use it to get the Items," Bakura growled. "I think I'll be joining Malik in this 'killing' thing he speaks of."
"Let's start with Malfoy," Malik said, glancing back at the Slytherin table, his eyes gleaming psychotically. "I know he or his family has something to do with this."
"And killing him would stop him from blabbing, too," Bakura added, also staring at Malfoy psychopathically.
"There's an added bonus."
"How about right after breakfast–"
"–In the library–"
"–With a knife–"
"No!" Yugi scolded. The two Egyptians turned to see that everyone near enough to hear them was staring fearfully at them, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "You can't go around killing people just because they may or may not be involved in your affairs," Yugi went on.
"But we do know he's involved," Bakura argued, ignoring his host's protests in his mind. "Harry said Malfoy's dad was there, and therefor, Malfoy must know about it. He's involved as far as I'm concerned."
"And since Bakura can always hid the weapon where his others are, no one will know it was us," Malik continued, his voice surprisingly calm.
Yugi shook his head with disbelief. "I'll know. Harry and the others will know. In fact, everyone who's looking at you guys right now would know simply because you're threatening it."
They looked around and saw that quite a few people were staring back at them. Malik sighed and lowered his head to the table again, and Bakura looked like someone had just canceled Christmas.
"Drat, and I haven't killed anyone in so long, too," Bakura muttered almost inaudibly. Then he saw his Harry&co's horrified faces and he smiled apologetically, just so they wouldn't get too suspicious. "I'm just kidding, guys. The only time I've killed anyone was on computer games."
Ron still looked confused, as he didn't know what a 'computer game' was, but at least he didn't look horrified. The other students turned away back to their own affairs, leaving the six students to settle the problem. Harry stared knowingly at Bakura, quite aware that it was Bakura and not Ryou; to tell the truth, he was a little disappointed Bakura and Malik weren't going to go though with their quickly concocted plans of killing Malfoy; he wouldn't have minded.
"So Bakura, if you're not going to kill Malfoy after breakfast, what are you going to do?" he asked, much like a news reporter.
Bakura glared at him. "I've asked you to stop calling me that, Harry."
"It is your name, isn't it?"
"But here in England you usually call your peers by their first names, don't you? Or should I start calling you 'Potter'?"
"You'd sound like Malfoy if you did that," Malik whispered.
"Oh yeah, I would wouldn't I?" Bakura glanced at the black-haired boy and answered, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do today. I already finished my homework."
"Hey, I'm all for the killing Malfoy thing," Ron said enthusiastically, as if to give him ideas.
Bakura smiled and shook his head. "No, it's too late now. Now everyone would suspect Malik and me if we did kill him. Though the idea does sound fun. Maybe Crabbe and Goyle," he mused. Then his eyes lit up and he stared at Yugi with an almost hungry expression, though when he spoke, it was directed at all of them. "I just got an idea. Why don't I kill Yugi instead?"
"What?!" they all exclaimed, even Ryou and Yami. Yugi looked rather afraid as he stared at the yami, hoping it was joke.
"Ryou, I'm your friend, remember?" he said shakily.
Bakura growled in annoyance. "I mean in a duel, idiot. You didn't really think I'd kill you for real, did you?"
"Could have fooled me."
"But I want to duel you." He emphasized the word so Yugi would know what he was talking about. "No help."
Yugi frowned and shook his head. "You know I'm not allowed, especially against you."
"Hey, I've got a better idea," Malik said. "How about you challenge Malfoy to a duel? He'd lose for sure, and then you could kill him in the penalty game. I mean, if you agree on that first," he added when he saw his English friends' shocked faces.
"What's a penalty game?" Ron asked curiously, since he was the one more into games.
Malik fidgeted nervously. "It's nothing. Forget I mentioned it."
"You wouldn't want to know anyway," Bakura said. He suddenly smiled and didn't seem the same as he turned to Yugi. "Don't worry. You don't have to duel me if you don't want," Ryou said. "Why don't we fly around a bit instead?"
"Or…" Yugi looked more relaxed now that he didn't have a psychopath on his tail, "did you see the bulletin board last night?" Ryou shook his head and Yugi sighed knowingly. "It said we can go to Hogsmeade this weekend. You know, the wizard village. I didn't notice it yesterday, but I think it means we can still go…it applies to today, too, right Harry?" he asked, turning his gaze on the other sixth year.
"If you have a signed form," Hermione answered. "There's lot's of stuff to do in Hogsmeade."
"And there's a Quidditch supplies shop," Harry said. "You and Yugi could get your own brooms, Ryou. You don't want to be using the Hogwarts brooms during Quidditch matches, trust me."
"And there's Zonko's and the Three Broomsticks and Honeydukes…" Ron trailed off still counting the various shops on his fingers. Yugi, Ryou, and Malik glanced at each other; it would be a welcome change to get out of the castle, and if they had fun at the same time, where could the harm in it be?
"Let's go," they said together.
