Chapter 14
Yami smiled at the girl next to him. He'd taken the others' advice and started asking Hermione to do things with him. His latest idea had been to ask if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him. The two of them were currently seated at one of the tables at the Three Broomsticks just talking about anything that happened to come to mind.
Hermione had impressed him with her wide knowledge of things magical. Apparently she'd studied more than just the required textbooks. Her knowledge of Hogwarts history had proved useful on several occasions, most especially getting his Duel Disk and Bakura's CD player to work.
More importantly to him though, she hadn't resisted any of his tentative advances so he felt secure in reaching out and wrapping a casual arm across her shoulders. She smiled and snuggled into him happily, shivering slightly as he got to an especially interesting part in the story he was telling her. Actually he was merely relating what had happened to him 5000 years ago but he was making sure to tell it in such a way that it seemed like a story and to alter it so that the story had a happy ending where he didn't get sealed inside the millennium puzzle for 5000 years.
"But as the tomb robber readied the final attack that would crush the pharaoh and gain him the ultimate power one of the priests bravely gave his power to the pharaoh, who was able to use that power to summon the sun god Ra. Ra's bright rays broke through the curtain of darkness surrounding the evil thief and exposed his monstrous servant. With a single blow the pharaoh destroyed him, thus ensuring the continued peace of his kingdom and giving them all time to recover from this grievous battle. And they lived in peace for a hundred years time, until the time when the pharaoh's son had become ruler and stirred up trouble with the gods. But that's another story for another time."
"Wow," Hermione breathed as Yami finished his story, only then noticing that he had gained a crowd of eager listeners. "That was amazing."
Yami flushed and smiled at her again. "It's no big deal," he said modestly. "The others could do much better. And it's an old story, one of thousands of legends that Isis made us memorize."
"You are amazing." she repeated. "And I believe that everyone here agrees with me." There were nods around the room as people drifted off back to their seats now that the story was over. "You just don't appreciate yourself enough." Suddenly, with no warning at all, Hermione threw her arms around him and kissed him quickly.
Yami was too stunned to do anything, and just stared at her dazedly for a moment before grabbing her and kissing her back fervently. With a small part of his mind he wondered what her friends would think of this but the majority of his mind was concentrated on her and her reaction.
Hermione seemed thrilled by his eager response and the two of them spent the rest of the evening wandering around Hogsmeade, his arm around her waist and her head on his shoulders. They didn't notice the triumphant Bakura give Marik a high five or Ron's stunned reaction. They didn't even notice the comments on what a cute couple they made together. They were far too engrossed in each other to notice anything else.
"How dare you." Ron hissed at Yami that night in their common rooms.
"How dare I what?" Yami replied, amusing filling his voice. "I don't believe that I've done anything to you. What are you going on about?"
"You know very well what I'm talking about." Ron yelled. The entire common room looked over at him and he lowered his voice, still glowering at Yami, "Hermione is my girl. You have no right to her. I demand that you step back and leave her alone."
Yami blinked at him and then smirked. "Tell you what, we'll play for it. Name a game, any game. If I lose you get a week during which I'll stand back and let you try to make her like you. If you lose then you'll stay out of this and leave her with me. Okay?" He looked over at Hermione for approval. She nodded at him, pride showing in her face at his, relatively, mature handling of the situation.
Ron looked at him speculatively and then shook his head. "This is too important to be settled by a single game. We'll play three games and the best two out of three wins. That suit you?"
"One more thing." Yami asserted, "We'll play three games, one chosen by you, one by me, and one by someone else, you chose who, who will determine who is the winner and who the loser in each game and will decide any other rules that become necessary."
"No," Marik put in, "Not just one other person. We want this to be fair. How about Harry and Bakura arbitrate together? That way they'll balance each other out."
"I can agree to that." Ron replied, "It's up to them though."
"Fine," Harry agreed. "I don't really care who wins though. The way you've made the rules Hermione's choice will still win out over all no matter which one of you wins this so it doesn't really matter."
"Well duh, that was sort of the whole point." Bakura looked at him as though he was crazy. "Why else put in all the rules to make it fair and everything? If you fight over a lady's hand then it's always the lady who has the final decision. It wouldn't make sense otherwise."
"All right." Said Ron decisively. "I pick Quidditch."
"I pick Duel Monsters." Yami retorted.
Harry and Bakura went into a huddle and came out both smirking. "We," Harry said, "have decided that these games will be played out over three days, one game a day. First will come Ron's game, Quidditch, then Yami's game, Duel monsters, and finally the game that we've picked. The contests will start tomorrow."
"Wait a second." Ron protested. "You haven't told us what game you choose."
"Exactly," Bakura agreed. "In these next two games each of you has an advantage over the other because of your familiarity with the game. You've been given time to study strategy and practice the game of the other's choosing to even out this gap. However it still isn't completely fair so the final game has been chosen by us and will not be told to you until the time comes for you to play it. Understand?"
"Yeah, sounds fair." Ron said reluctantly. "And mark my words Yami, I will beat you." Marik rolled his eyes but didn't comment as the two adversaries headed off, Ron to the library to study, and Yami to the Quidditch grounds.
"They're crazy," Harry muttered.
"I think it's sweet," Hermione had abandoned propriety for once to agree with this decidedly unconventional approach to wooing. Apparently she liked being fought over.
"Sweet?" Marik repeated, in disbelief. "Them? Are you crazy?"
"No we are, remember?" Bakura replied sarcastically. "Of course she's crazy. She's fallen in love with Yami. If that's not proof of insanity then I don't know what is."
"True," Marik agreed, smirking.
"And what would you say if it was you someone had fallen for?" Hermione stood up, knocking her chair over, to confront Bakura. "Would you say that they were crazy too? I doubt it. You're just jealous that he has someone and you don't."
"Jealous," Bakura repeated blankly. "Of... Yami? I think not. I've had plenty of girls following me around and all they do is get in the way. Besides I'd rather kiss Dumbledore than you."
Stunned silence. Stare. Stare. Finally someone said, "Why Dumbledore?"
"Huh?" Bakura asked, slightly confused, "Oh, I picked Dumbledore because he's the least appealing person I can think of in terms of having a relationship."
"Well why not pick Marik then?" Hermione asked him belligerently. "He should be in the same grouping."
Marik's eyes widened, a slight mist covering them at her harsh words. "You think?" Bakura asked her mockingly, "Didn't it occur to you that if he had been in that category he would have been a much better example than Dumbledore?"
"Uhh," She stared at him as he stepped closer to his friend, glaring at her.
"You are so stupid." He hissed finally, when it became obvious that she wasn't going to say anything else. He gave her a final searing glance before turning and stalking out the door.
Marik stared after him, cheeks red, a silly smile flickering over his face, before quickly squashing the emotion and smirking. "Obviously. I look much better than that old fart. Are you blind or something?" And he stalked out after the spirit.