[Kitty: I'M BAAAAAAAAACK!
Bakura: How is that a good thing?
Kitty: (whacks Bakura with her Whack-a-Mole mallet) Shut up. (smiles) I liked writing this. It was really fun.
Yugi: Yeah, it was pretty cool-looking from what I could see you're your shoulder… (sweatdrop) R&R!]
Chapter Eleven:
New Discoveries
November came quite quickly, and froze the Hogwarts grounds almost immediately. The mountains turned to a icy gray that mirrored the gray sky above the school, and the frozen lake next to it.
Diana felt Artemis scratch her way out early that month, and now her healing black eye from October was now mirrored with a fresh one, making her look like she'd put on way too much eyeliner and had not been able to get it off.
Luckily, Diana was distracted by the new responsibility as a Gryffindor Chaser to notice her two black eyes.
Harry ended up being a great Seeker, but no one but Yugi, Ron, Hermione and the Gryffindor team had seen him play. Wood wanted Harry to be their secret weapon, and that would obviously make his being the Seeker secret, but somehow, the news of Harry being the Seeker still leaked out.
Marik was the first one to approach them about it.
"Well, I can't really say, 'Good luck' to ya since Gryffindor VS. Slytherin is the first game," said Marik, "But that gives me a loss of things to say, so good luck anyway."
Years and years after this, Diana and Harry would wonder how they could've possibly gotten through their homework around Quidditch without Hermione as their friend. Diana had actually borrowed the book Hermione had been reading flying tips from, Quidditch Through the Ages, and found it quite interesting.
It could easily be assumed that Hermione had become more relaxed with breaking rules after becoming their friend, and she was a lot nicer too. But that didn't mean she didn't surprise them.
Hermione and Diana became very good friends considering that they were almost complete opposites. One day, they both found an odd connection in their favorite music.
"Back up," Diana said, "You like Josh Groban too? I love his music!"
Hermione grinned. "He's the best! And cute too!"
Diana stuck her tongue out. "You know I don't think he's cute, but I will agree with you on him being the best!"
Hermione stuck her tongue out too as they looked at each other's CDs.
"ANNIE LENNOX?" Diana squeaked.
"SHERYL CROW?" Hermione squealed.
"SUZANNE VEGA?"
"CARLY SIMON?"
"AHHH!!!" the two girls screamed excitedly, which was quite an instinct for the both of them.
"DARE, MIONE, SHUT UP!" Ron's voice yelled down the hall.
Hermione also surprised everyone with the useful spells she knew. When it turned cold, she was able to warm her friends up by conjuring a bright blue fire that could be carried around in a jam jar.
"Nice," said Ryou to the others as he put his gloved hands in front of the fire, "At least Mione-kun knows something to warm us up."
-What a relief,- thought Bakura, who felt frozen in the weather his Hikari was in, -Man, what I wouldn't give to be back in Egypt now…-
/Aw, stop complaining,/ Ryou snapped.
-Look at the thermometer on the side of the building! 35 degrees! That's almost freezing!-
/In Fahrenheit degrees, maybe,/ Ryou agreed, /But I measure in Celsius./
-Too bad for you, then, CAUSE I'M FREEZING MY ASS OFF!-
Yugi shivered next to Ryou, his Yami acting around the same way.
-Yugi…- Atem said, his teeth chattering, -Is there…brr…anyway t-to g-get this fire…b-b-bigger?-
/No clue,/ said Yugi, /But if it's much bigger, anyone will be able to see it./
-WHO CARES ABOUT THAT?-
Yugi rolled his eyes. /Obviously, you aren't thinking straight. We're at a magic school with RULES, smart ass./
He turned back to the letter he was writing to Kitty, his fingers almost frozen and his Yami muttering in his ear about the Millennium Puzzle needing the abilities to control the weather:
Konnichiwa, Neko-chan!
It was really nice to hear from you. Sorry I didn't write earlier, I've been having trouble with classes…particularly Potions, Snape-sensei is a complete nightmare.
Anyway, I've made some new friends already: Diana Randall (but she's known as Dare), Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. And recently, all four of us saved a Gryffindor girl that was kind of like you with intelligence, but so snobby it wasn't even funny. She even gave Kaiba-kun a run for his money, if you know what I mean. Her name's Hermione (or Mione, as Dare-kun's been calling her), but after we saved her from a troll, she became our friend.
Basically, someone let in a troll, and Mione-kun was in the Girls' Bathroom and got cornered by it. I was stupid enough to throw a pipe at its head, and so it went after me instead of Mione-kun. Sure, it helped her, but the troll was probably going to whack my head off if Dare-kun hadn't knocked it out with it's own club first.
And I do know more about that robbery that the newspaper printed or maybe even knew. My friends and I have figured out that the thing that was stolen is under a trapdoor on a forbidden corridor at Hogwarts. Don't tell anyone, though…we still don't know what it is, and the Dark wizards might still be looking for it.
Yami-kun wanted me to tell you to tell Tea that he thinks she's a good-for-nothing bitch and he wants her to stop stalking him, or else he'll send him to the Shadow Realm. That would be quite intriguing, don't you think?
Aishiteru,
YugiDiana was the only one in the group not shivering, but that was only because the places she had to stay in when Artemis was let out were always cold.
She looked around the grounds over Quidditch Through the Ages as her friends stayed near the fire to get warm, and when Snape came across the grounds, she quickly came next to her friends so that the miniature fire, which, like Yugi hinted, was almost surely against the rules, was blocked from sight.
It was smart, but not smart enough.
Their guilty faces must have caught Snape's eye, and although he didn't see the fire, he seemed to be looking for a reason to get them into trouble, so he limped over anyway.
"What's that you've got there, Randall?"
His eyes were on her book, so she showed him.
"Library books are not supposed to be taken outside of the school," Snape growled, "Five points from Gryffindor, and I should expect it back inside the building within fifteen minutes, or it'll be twenty."
Diana's eyes flashed red with fury as the professor limped away.
"He made that rule up," Ron growled, "Wonder what's wrong with his leg, though?"
Diana's ears pricked up at the mention of Snape's leg. She, of course, knew from saving Hermione's life, but had forgotten about it until that moment.
"I dunno," said Marik, glaring after his Head of House, "But I really hope it's hurting him, that stupid bakayrou."
"You don't know," Diana said quietly, "But I think I do."
The others looked at her in curiosity.
"The day the troll was let in and Ron, Harry, Yugi and I saved Mione, I saw Snape's leg," Diana continued softly, "His pants were ripped near his ankle, and there was a very bloody cut that resembled a bite."
"A bite?" repeated Seto, frowning, "Was it a big bite?"
"Quite," Diana said, smirking as she made her friends play a guessing game.
"Was it like a tiger's?" asked Yugi.
"Nuh-uh," Diana replied, "Bigger."
"Was it like a dragon's?" asked Ron, knowing a little bit about them from his brother Charlie.
"Nuh-uh," Diana repeated, "Fluffier."
No one said anything at first, and then Marik smirked.
"Was it like a dog's?" he asked slyly.
Diana smirked too. "So close I can smell it, and oh boy, does it stink."
"That big dog on the third floor?" asked Hermione, "But why would Snape be down there?"
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Harry said, "He tried to get past it on Halloween! That's where he was going when we saw him on the way to save Mione…"
Yugi's eyes widened. "He must be after what it's guarding…if he is, it would make perfect sense if he let in the troll as a diversion!"
Hermione frowned. "No way…he wouldn't. I know he's not very nice and all, but he wouldn't try to steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe…"
"Honestly, Mione, you think all the teachers are saints or something," snapped Ron, "Snape must have every reason to. It must be important if Dumbledore is keeping it safe, and if Dark wizards are after it."
"I wouldn't put anything past Snape," Marik growled, "Snape might even be helping the Dark wizards."
"That is true," said Seto, his eyes and voice becoming very cold, "I wouldn't be surprised if the bastard did that and more…"
"Why's that, Seto?" asked Hermione reproachfully.
Ryou laughed. "It's because of our first Potions class. When Snape first called his name, he called for a 'Miss Seto Kaiba.'"
Diana and Hermione snorted with laughter.
"It's not funny!" Seto growled, "Besides Ryou-kun, he thought you were a girl at first too…with that hair."
Ron and Harry snorted too as Ryou tried to retaliate.
(-!--!--!--!-)
The next day was the first Quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor VS. Slytherin. Diana awoke that morning feeling quite cheerful, since she was going to be able to wipe the usual, arrogant smirk off Malfoy's face.
"Okay, men," Oliver Wood stated in his usual pep talk before the match.
"And women," Angelina Johnson corrected him.
"And women," Oliver agreed, before continuing, "This is it."
"The big one," said Fred.
"The one we've all been waiting for," added George.
"We know Oliver's speech by heart," Fred told Diana and Harry, "We were on the team last year."
"Shut up, you two," Oliver snapped as Diana snickered, "This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We're going to win. I know it."
He glared at them as if to say, "Or else," but instead said, "Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you."
"We don't need luck, Oliver," Diana reassured him, "We've got skill…and enough of it to kick their rotten asses off the Quidditch field and then some!"
Oliver smiled at her proudly. "Now that's what I call a two-for-one deal. A cheerleader and a Chaser in one. Nice."
Diana smiled back, though she'd rather be a Chaser than a cheerleader any day. They all left the locker rooms in a single-file line, mounted their brooms, and took off.
Three-fourths of the stands cheered as the Gryffindors flew onto the field, and waved banners that read things like, "Potter for President!", "Let the Lions Roar!" and "Go Get 'em, Gryffindor!"
Diana grinned as she flew around the stands, high-fiving Hermione and Yugi (who were holding a large banner that said, "Today's Special: Roast Slytherins") before taking her position with the other Chasers.
"Now, I want a nice, fair game…from all of you," Madame Hooch said, glaring at the Slytherin Captain, Marcus Flint, in particular, before letting out the Bludgers and the Quaffle.
Diana immediately grabbed the Quaffle, and headed toward the hoops, barely hearing Lee Jordan commentate over the cheers of the crowd.
"And the Quaffle is immediately taken by Diana Randall, the newest Chaser on the Gryffindor team, and she flies directly for the hoops…Randall stubbornness, she's not letting anything get in her way! She dodges Pucey…dodges a Bludger…C'mon, Dare, you're almost there-
And as Diana was about to throw the Quaffle toward the hoops…
"AH!"
Something whammed her from behind, making the Quaffle fly out of her hands…but it still made it past Keeper Bletchley.
"SCORE! TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Diana flew her broom away from the goal hoops and back toward Wood as Madame Hooch yelled, "Foal! Gryffindor penalty!"
"You alright?" Wood asked.
Diana nodded, rubbing where her head was hit. "What happened?"
"Flint," Wood growled, "He used his wand to shoot a stunning charm at you. Luckily, it missed you, and only caused you to drop the Quaffle. Using magic on your opponent team is against the rules."
"Does he always do that?"
"No," Wood replied, "But he'll do anything to get the other Chasers out of his way. Just be lucky we still scored."
/No wonder Hooch was talking to him about being fair…/ Diana thought sourly.
Alicia took the penalty, and just a second after she threw it past the hoops…
"SCORE! TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!"
The match went on, and the Slytherins began to play really dirty.
First, they knocked Oliver out cold with a Bludger to the head. Then two of the Slytherin Chasers took Angelina on both sides, grabbed the Quaffle, and made her get tangled in a Gryffindor banner. But it was when Flint slammed into Harry when he was trying to get the Snitch that made Diana lose her temper.
Diana zoomed after Flint, who had the Quaffle, and flew right below him. She then grabbed the tail of his broom, and jerked it downward.
Flint almost lost his balance, but he had to grip his broom with both hands, which caused him to drop the Quaffle. Diana grabbed it, and headed toward the goalposts.
"Chaser Randall is burning up the field…dodges the other two Chasers…dodges a Bludger…C'MON DARE!"
The Gryffindors were cheering as loud as they could as Diana zoomed toward Bletchley, and shot the Quaffle on the left-most hoop as hard as she could.
"SCORE!" Lee yelled, "TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!"
They were tied 30 to 30. If only Harry could catch the Snitch…
Speaking of Harry…
Seto looked up through his binoculars to look at Harry, who seemed to be doing some of the strangest Quidditch moves he'd ever seen…
Seto moved past some of the Ravenclaws, and alerted Hermione, Yugi and Ron, who were still watching Diana.
"What do you think Harry-kun's doing?" Seto asked Ron, who knew the most about Quidditch.
Ron looked through Seto's binoculars to look at Harry, and his jaw dropped.
"It's like…he's lost control of his broomstick…" he muttered.
"But only Dark Magic on its highest level could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand," Hermione whispered, sounding terrified.
People were then starting to notice Harry, and started pointing at him and screaming in fear. Diana, Fred and George tried flying over to Harry so they could help him onto one of their brooms, but his Nimbus kept pulling him away from them.
Seto had grabbed back his binoculars, and was now looking through the crowd.
"Seto, what are you doing?" hissed Hermione.
"I knew it," Seto muttered, letting her look through his binoculars, "Check out Snape."
Hermione looked to see Snape staring at Harry, muttering something under his breath.
"He's jinxing the broom," she said in shock, looking back at Ron and Yugi.
"Jinxing the broom?" repeated Ron, "What'll we do?"
Yugi had grabbed Seto's binoculars, and continued to look around the stands. When he pulled away, Atem was in his place.
"For once," he whispered to Seto, "I think the tomb robber has it under control."
How right he was.
Bakura had gone under the stands, and went up the steps almost exactly next to where Snape was sitting.
/Yami, what are you going to do?/ Ryou asked him nervously.
Bakura smirked, but didn't reply except to draw a card from his Duel deck.
"Man Eater Bug," he whispered, "Time to feed…go for the greasy, black-haired asshole."
After summoning it, Bakura ran quickly back to the Hufflepuff part of the stands. He'd done his job…
Atem looked through Seto's binoculars as a Man Eater Bug suddenly appeared, scaring the hell out of Snape and causing him to knock a few people in back of him off their seats as he tried to get rid of it.
The past Pharaoh smirked.
-Good job, tomb robber.-
Harry got back on his broom, and immediately saw the Snitch. He zoomed after it, with Slytherin Seeker Higgs right behind him.
The two Seekers went into a dive, Harry's specialty, to catch it, and Higgs decided to forget diving and try to go around to catch it.
Harry, however, kept diving, until he was right in front of it, and fell off his broom and onto the field, looking ready to gag. And the Snitch was nowhere in sight…
Diana stopped and looked at Harry in fear. What was wrong…?
Then Harry spat something small and gold into his palm, and stared at it in shock.
"I GOT THE SNITCH! I GOT THE SNITCH!"
The Gryffindor team cheered as they were announced as the winners, and Diana jumped off her own Nimbus next to Harry and gave him a big hug.
"YEAH!" she whooped, shaking her fist in the air and jumping up and down, "WE WON! WE WON!"
The others were a lot like that later, but then they all got together back at Hagrid's hut.
Seto, Hermione, Bakura, Ron and Atem were explaining everything, while Hagrid was making tea and Harry and Marik listened to them carefully and attentively.
Diana was listening too, but she watched them carefully as they spoke, feeling like Yugi and Ryou were both acting very strangely…
She'd seen Yugi acting strangely before, when she, Marik, Hermione and he were in the trophy room and they met Fluffy. But she hadn't ever seen Ryou act this way. Was it just her that he was acting more mature…bolder…than was usual?
"It was Snape," Seto explained, "Yugi-kun, Mione-kun and I saw him."
"He was muttering to himself," said Atem, "And wouldn't take his eyes off you, Harry-kun. It was obviously a jinx of some sort. Luckily, Ryou-kun," he concentrated on the Hikari's name when he really meant Bakura, "was able to distract Snape and break his eye contact."
"Nice one, Ryou," Diana said, grinning at him, "What'd you do?"
"Oh, I just sent him one or two spells of my own," Bakura replied casually.
Diana smirked. /Whatever is wrong with Ryou…I like it./
"Geez, Ryou, I thought I'd never see anything like that coming from you…"
That comment made Bakura smirk too.
-Oh, I like her,- he thought mischievously.
/Yami, don't even think about it,/ Ryou snapped, /Dare-kun's off-limits./
-Why, because you like her?- Bakura mocked, even though he knew it wasn't true.
He felt his Hikari blush in anger.
/Because it's you!/ Ryou retorted, /Dare-kun is mischievous enough without you making it worse!/
Harry smiled too. "Well, whatever you did, I definitely owe you one, Ryou."
Immediately, Bakura shut the mind-link.
"No sweat," he said dismissively.
"That's rubbish," Hagrid said suddenly, who had been there in the stands but not heard a word, "Why would Snape do a thing like that?"
The friends looked at each other. Diana spoke up first.
"We found out something about him," she told Hagrid bluntly, "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween, and it bit him. We think he's after what it's guarding."
Hagrid dropped his teapot. "Who told yeh 'bout Fluffy?"
The students gawked at him.
"FLUFFY?" Marik squeaked.
"That thing had a name?" Atem said, in a similar tone to Marik.
"Yeah, he's mine," Hagrid replied, "Bought 'im off a Greek chappie I met in the pub last year…I lent 'im to Dumbledore to guard the-"
"Yes?" Harry asked eagerly.
"Now, don't ask me no more," Hagrid said gruffly, "That stuff's top secret, that is."
"But Hagrid-san," Bakura argued, "Whatever that dog is guarding, Snape's trying to steal it, we can't just sit back and watch!"
"Rubbish," Hagrid repeated, "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, Ryou. He'd do nothin' of the sort."
"So why he just try and buck Harry-kun off his Nimbus?" Atem demanded.
"Yeah," Hermione agreed, sounding as if her mind was changed about Snape, "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them. You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"
"I'm tellin' yeh, you're wrong!" Hagrid said hotly, "I don't know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn't try and kill a student"
"How do you know that?" Marik inquired, "Snape obviously doesn't like Harry-kun judging by his attitude toward him in Potions class."
"He probably has some kind of grudge against him," Seto noted, "Something that would make Snape want to get rid of him…"
"Wait," Ron said, "The thing was almost stolen by Dark wizards, right? And the most recent Dark wizards were supporters of-"
"Voldemort," Harry finished in understanding, only to make Hagrid, Hermione and Ron flinch.
But Diana gave him a subtle nod and then turned to the Japanese boys, who were looking confused.
"Lord Voldemort…but most wizards know him as 'You-Know-Who' because they're too afraid to say his name…was a Dark wizard who killed everyone who were or were friends with Muggle-borns ten years ago."
"It seemed like no one could stop him until he tried to kill the Potters," Hermione continued, "They died, yes, but somehow, as a baby, Harry survived his encounter with You-Know-Who, and only got a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, instead of being killed."
Harry lifted his bangs up to reveal his scar, letting the Japanese boys see what Hermione meant.
"No one knows how or why," Ron pressed on, "All we know is that that night, You-Know-Who vanished. Some say he died, others say he's just waiting to come back. We still don't know to this day what really happened."
"And now Harry has his own little title too," Diana finished lightly, "'The Boy Who Lived.' How cheesy is that?"
Hermione glared at Diana reproachfully. The Japanese boys were silent for a minute, and then Atem spoke up.
"It makes a lot of sense," the past Pharaoh said quietly, "If I didn't trust Dumbledore-sama as much as I do, I'd say Snape was one of Voldemort's supporters back then, too."
"You never know, though," Marik argued, "You saw what he tried to do to Harry-kun. Maybe Snape tricked Dumbledore-sensei into giving him a job."
"Now, see here-" Hagrid started.
But Seto cut him off.
"If Voldemort is as evil as Dare-kun made out, he obviously had many supporters, and he may still have some. And knowing them, they'd want to kill Harry for making their master vanish."
"Seto, I think yeh-"
But Hagrid was again interrupted, this time by Bakura.
"There's no doubt about that. And we can't really forget about what that dog might be guarding. It's obviously important to the Dark wizards…who knows what it might be able to do-"
Hagrid then lost his temper.
"Now, you listen to me, all of yeh," he snarled, "You're meddling in dangerous things that aren't to be meddled in. You forget 'bout that dog, you forget 'bout what it's guardin' and you forget your theories about Snape… that's between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel, and-"
"Aha!" Diana cut in, "So there's a Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"
Hagrid looked furious with himself.
Diana, Bakura and Marik smirked at each other. They were all thinking the same thing, and a few minutes later, Yugi would start his postscript to Kitty with the same thought.
/We've just hit the jackpot…/
[Kitty: That's it!
Yugi: (grins) Kewl.
Lina: And the Quidditch match wasn't crappy, hallelujah!
Kitty: (glares) What, you thought it would be?
Lina: Uh… heh, heh. (hides in Kitty's file cabinet)
Kitty: (sighs) Reviews, Yugi?
Yugi: (types) Let's see…four. First is from Avemtilla. She says, "Sorry Yugi. But I had to tell the truth. And everyone was being mean. Bakura! Be nice! And Atem, don't kill him, just scare him a bit. He is one of my fav people as well. Ryou, I'm sorry you were scared, lots of people would be. And Yugi, that was very brave of you to distract the smelly, giant troll. It was very brave of all of you to take on the troll. But Malik wasn't in it! Darn, I can say how brave he would of been. Oh well, great chapter! Bye! (kisses the guys on the cheek and hugs them all, shakes authors' hands) Adios Amigos!" (grins)
Kitty: C'mon, they're in Gryffindor, of course they'd be brave enough to take on a troll…AND MY YUGIKINS WAS THE BRAVEST! (glomps him)
Yugi: (pecks her on the cheek) Thank you, my pretty kitty.
Atem: (rolls his eyes) Yet another pet-name for Kitty…
Kitty: (ahem) No, Atem didn't kill him. (smiles) But now, Bakura won't come down from my chandelier. (looks up at the tomb robber, shivering up on her chandelier, and sweatdrops)
Ryou: I had every right to be scared. (shivers) And this fic would've been scarier if Malik was in it… (shivers again)
Yugi: (types on Kitty's computer) Next is from Kani. She says, "Yay! you updated! Harry's so kawaii! Great chappie! Update soon!"
Kitty: (grins) Thankies so much!
Harry: (blows Kani a kiss)
Yugi: (rolls his eyes and types some more) Next is from someone called, "hey." He or she says, "this one is so cool never read it before lol."
Kitty: (blinks) Obviously you haven't read it before, or I would've seen a review…unless there are a lot of people who read and don't review… (tears well up in her eyes) But thanks. (smiles)
Yugi: The last is from someone called, "smabhf clashfjk". He or she says, "I know I'm a tad bit slow on your story but JAMES WAS A SEEKER! I HATE TO BURST YOUR BUBBLE BUT HE WAS A SEEKER, NOT A CHASER!"
Kitty: (looks ready to kill) Hate to burst your bubble, but James WAS A CHASER. J.K. said so herself. The movie got it wrong. GET THAT THROUGH YOUR HEAD. If you still have any doubt, review again with your email address, and I'll send you a link so you can see what the hell I'm talking about.
Yugi: (looks very scared, and inches the computer chair away from Kitty)
Kitty: (ahem) Anyway… YU-GI-OH MOVIE, YU-GI-OH MOVIE!
Lina: I can't WAIT to see that!
Kitty: I KNOW! (glomps Yugi)
Yugi: (grins) R&R!]