Problems with magic

"So that was your friend Harry?" Yugi asked Ron curiously. "He didn't act at all like I thought he would." Yugi was still reeling over Bakura's return and the fact that the wizards actually seemed to like him. Yami also seemed to accept his return as a good thing rather than the return of an ancient evil. Yugi knew that Bakura would not have been given his own body if there wasn't some good in him, but he was still having a hard time reconciling that with his view of Bakura as a no-good sadistic bastard.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Harry was acting sort of weird. But you have to meet Hermione. We should see her on the train." He was smiling enthusiastically as he dragged Yugi to the station. "I can't wait to see her again."

Yugi grinned. Ron was acting just like Joey had when he thought they were going to meet Mai. Of course, once they had found her Joey had suddenly gone uber-casual and pretended not to care; Yugi wouldn't have done that but then, he had always been different. It made it so obvious though. How could they possibly think they were hiding anything? No one would really be that casual about meeting a friend, and all their attitude did was call attention to the fact.

"Hey what are you doing?" Yugi protested in alarm. They were going to go crashing into the barrier if Ron didn't slow down. He shut his eyes, waiting for the imminent casualty... and waited, and waited, and, as Ron continued to drag him along, kept waiting. Finally he opened his eyes. They were on a platform heading towards the train with their baggage in tow. The huge red train dominated the platform, and Yugi found himself staring at the letters proclaiming it the 'Hogwarts Express'. He didn't understand how they got here but he didn't understand a lot of things about magic and he had always just accepted it. Now, it seemed, he was going to have to learn about it.

He had been putting off thinking about the school by talking to Ron or thinking about what his friends would be doing back in Domino, but he couldn't do that any more. Now that the decision was irreversible he couldn't stop thinking that it was all a big mistake. He knew that the Millennium Puzzle had an extraordinary amount of magical power, but he had never had anything strange happen to him before he got it, and he couldn't help but think that this was all a big mistake. What if he didn't actually have any magic and it had been the Puzzle's magic that they sensed?

He didn't have it now, and he had carefully avoided having to try any spells so he was still unsure of himself. The demonstration his wand had given when it chose him still hadn't served to convince him that he really had magic of his own. Kaiba was a more likely candidate for going to a wizard's school than he was. After all, Kaiba had been the high priest in Egypt, and had wielded the powers of the Millennium Rod, so even if he didn't have his own magic he might still have lingering traces of the Rod's influence.

Yugi sighed and let his head fall into his hands. He really shouldn't be worrying about this. If all else failed, Yami was going to the school too, and he could help Yugi by making it look as if he were doing magic. It would be really nice if it were true though. Magic was fascinating, and the possibility of having it was enough to allow him to bring his head up and force a smile on his face as Ron looked back at him.

Now that they had gotten on the train Ron couldn't drag him along at the same breakneck speed he had been going, and so he had let Yugi go and was simply walking along, looking into all the compartments for his friends. Yugi was looking forward to finding them too. Yami was with Harry, so if they found Harry they would probably find Yami too.

"Aha!" Ron exclaimed, and darted into the next compartment. Sure enough, there was Harry and Yami with a girl Yugi didn't recognize and...

"Ryou!"