Fear not, for I have not died… yet. Although the evil orange plot bunnies dancing around in my head and pelting me with Mary Sue plotlines are driving me quite insane - not to mention the writers block the size of Antarctica that seems to swallow my little Seto muse ever time he surfaces in my mind…
Anyway, on Sept. 2nd I'm starting High School (my freshman year, yay!) and I'm in a few sophomore and honor classes, which will take some getting used too… Expect a chapter every week or every other week. Also, I apologize if I don't review a story you suggest, I have a limited amount of time in my day and it's either type or read. I'm sure you all want me to continue with the fic… so, in that case, it would be: type.
As for a question the keeps popping up in reviews:
Will there be yaoi/shounen-ai parings? (Guy+Guy love.) Or pairings at all?
Not gonna happen in this fic, although there area few other HP crossover that contains shounen-ai. (Sorry, their names escape me.) Anyway, I could never write a decent romance… But I have a plan for the Yule Ball. ^_~
*sigh* I've been out of my Seto-ish writing style from chapters 4 to 6 (yes, defiantly 6…). Fortunately I think I'm over it… hopefully…
Well, here's an extra long chapter for all my lovely reviewers! ^_~ Thanks all of you, I love the response! Enjoy!
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Turmoil
By Kaitourei
Chapter Seven: Welcome To Gryffindor
"There's a rumor the Hufflepuffs were growing something illegal in the herbology greenhouses but the teachers confiscated it and at night they would take it up to Dumbledore's office. There would be this sweet smoke and… What? Don't you see? The Sorting Hat is in Dumbledore's office, it could have bee exposed to that… what was it called, Harry? Marinara? Well anyway, that's how Seto got into Gryffindor! It does make sense to me…"
- Ron Weasley
"What do you mean 'so'?" Ron said shocked. Next to him Hermione shook her head, while Harry sighed, looking a little relieved that Kaiba wouldn't be all over him for an autograph or asking to see his scar. Although he never dubbed the CEO as the groupie type… come to think of it, that was a little scarier than normal Kaiba.
"Alright Ron…" Harry said, as his friend curelessly pointed at him wildly, causing Harry to flush with embracement. "Ron…?"
"Where have you been all century? This is Harry Potter! The Boy Who Lived!"
Neville and Hermione exchanged glances. "He's muggle born, isn't he?" Neville mutter to Harry and Hermione.
Hearing the comment, Ron stopped and blinked. "Oh. Alright then." A red flush spread across his face. "Sorry 'bout that Seto. Kinda slipped my mind…"
"Whatever," the brunette said coldly. "I don't care if you're friend's with the pharaoh of Egypt," Kaiba smirked at his own response. "You, him, and the nearest vagrant are all the same to me. All I care about at the moment is whether you'll get this cow of a woman to let me in or not."
"That wasn't very nice," Hermione scowled. "Especially since she's the one you'll be talking to all year to get in to the common room."
Kaiba brushed Hermione's scolding off quickly. "My pervious promise still holds and I don't think she'll want to loose what looks she has left," he glanced back at the painting – which huffed and fanned herself, watching Kaiba through narrow eyes.
"Planning on getting yourself expelled?" Harry asked, scowling back at the taller boy. Kaiba only smirked, so there was someone with enough backbone to meet his steel gaze.
The brunette pushed the question aside, "The sooner I leave this place the better."
"Here, here," Ron muttered. Causing Hermione to elbow him roughly and scowl.
"Trust me, Weasley. I dislike you just as much, or even more, than you dislike me," Kaiba said, his voice cool and calm as usual, letting the redhead know his comment had not gone unheard. "Now, are we going in or is standing out here for obscenely long amounts of time some tradition at this school?"
"The nerve…" Hermione inhaled deeply, her fists clenched.
"Let's just get in," Harry added quickly. Turning toward the painting he called; "*Ferocia Cor!"
"Yes, yes…" The painting began to swing open as the Fat Lady ranted on. "Children these days… First that young blonde man, now you!" She shot a glare at Kaiba but it was in vain. "At least he had some manners!"
The five entered, Kaiba taking up the rear. They trooped down the stone passage way lit by torches that seemed to burn infinitely with the aid of wood or oil. Magic, Kaiba noted mentally. Everything seemed to be.
"Wonder who the other boy was," Neville pondered, a hand scratching his light brown hair.
Harry shrugged unknowingly, "Probably a first year."
Stepping out of the dim torch lit corridor, Seto Kaiba was met with a wave of scarlet and gold. Blinking back the light, his eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness. Inside, the common room had a homely look. Large cushy chairs were stridden here and there, occupied by students. Bright banners hung from the ceiling while more torches illuminated the whole room.
"You're Seto Kaiba!" a dark skinned boy looked up from his chair, an exited look flashing across his face.
"Seto?"
"Who's he?"
"Kaiba!"
"Welcome to Gryffindor, mate!"
Harry, Ron and Neville groaned in simultaneously, exchanging glances, while Hermione crossed her arms, anticipating the CEO's response as few of the friendlier students approached. They looked exuberant, while Kaiba looked disgusted and slightly disturbed. A mousy boy – who Kaiba would soon know as the infamous *Colin Creevey - with a large camera around his neck reached the CEO first.
"Can I take you're picture?" Kaiba's right eyebrow twitched. "I mean my brother and me duel too, you know. 'Course we never could be as good as you. Did I mention I love you're hologram systems, I mean they're so real. Dad said he'd buy me one for Christmas and save it for Dennis and me until we got back from school… seeing as they're really expensive now. And…"
Kaiba cleared his throat.
"Let's get a few things straightened out, so we're all on the same page," the CEO said calmly, addressing the whole room. "If you want to speak to me, you will address me as Kaiba, not Seto. As for you who know me from the real world: I don't do pictures. I don't do autographs. I'm here to learn this 'magic', just like you… If I have a problem with any of you I won't hesitate to correct it, because, unlike you, I don't give a shit if I'm expelled."
Deathly stillness filled the room.
"And if someone would point me in the directing of my dorm room I'll leave you to whatever pathetic source of enjoyment you're undersized brains find enjoyable," a think smirk spread across Kaiba's lips. He turned toward Colin.
"It's that way," Colin muttered, slightly dazed. He pointed to a set of staircases leading upward.
The first dark-skinned boy added, "To the left." The CEO never missed the tone of malice in his voice, nevertheless Kaiba nodded and turned to leave, although a few students would rather have seen him head for the nearest exit.
"You got some nerve coming in here like you own the place Kaiba," Lee Jordan called, one finger raised in the air saluting the CEO.
"Yeah, who died an made you king!" Angela Johnson shouted, Katie Bell and a few other Gryffindor girls behind her nodded angrily.
Kaiba couldn't help but sneer at the satire. "I'm not a king, and I never intend to be… but I am faster, stronger, and smarter than any of you will ever be, because I'm Seto fucking Kaiba. That, and that alone, is all that matters."
Turning on his heel, the CEO left the surprised teens behind him and headed up the flight of stairs, his cloak in flurry of black behind him. There was an unusual silence in the common room as a few of the students blinked and shook their heads, while others burned with rage.
"That's it!" Jordan shouted. "I say we kill him right now!" A few snickers broke the dwindling stillness.
"Some 'saint'," Seamus muttered turning back to his conversation with Neville – who was eagerly telling a small group of students his first encounter with the brown haired "Malfoy".
"No worries," Dean Thomas said smartly. "I've just pointed him the direction of the girls dorm!" A few of the female students gasped and giggled.
Harry sighed and looked over at his closest friends. "How did he get into Gryffindor anyway?"
"I know," Ron said confidentially. "There's a rumor the Hufflepuffs were growing something illegal in the herbology greenhouses but the teachers confiscated it and at night they would take it up to Dumbledore's office. There would be this sweet smoke and… What?" Ron looked from his friends. "Don't you see? The Sorting Hat is in Dumbledore's office, it could have been exposed to that… what was it called, Harry? Marinara? Well anyway, that's how Seto got into Gryffindor! It does make sense to me…"
Jordan grinned, "I knew they didn't call 'em 'Huff-el-puff' without a reason."
"This is insanity…" Hermione rolled her eyes as she turned away. "And Ron, it's marijuana, not marinara. You don't know one thing about muggle drugs, anyway."
Harry chuckled. "Sorry Ron, but I'm with Hermione on this. Where did you get that crazy idea anyway?"
"Ginny dropped something on her way out last night," he grinned. The redhead held up a crumpled magazine, the words "Magical Realities" could be read in bold black print on the cover.
"I told you there was more in here!" Ron said enthusiastically. "You wont believe all the stuff they have against you Harry – not that I believe that. But there are also some articles on the Egyptian murder mysteries; the specialist's think its some kind of rogue marsupial with wings that swallows the victims with its pouch… wicked, huh?"
"Now that," Hermione heaved out a long sigh. "Is preposterous."
Harry grinned and sighed, "I think the only mystery is what those specialists were exposed when they decided to write that."
---
His blue eyes were clouded in deep thought. Something was amiss… He was Seto Kaiba, the cold, the calculating… the man who could stay calm even if he was hanging over a pit of lava on a tattered thread… actually he'd come very close to that situation once in his own virtual world, but that didn't matter. There was something wrong, deep down in his bones he knew it. It couldn't be explained, he just knew.
With every footstep the CEO cursed himself silently for his lack of control in front of that boy? What was his name? Oh yes, Neville. Anger couldn't be let out in the workplace, or school for that matter; people didn't respect short tempers. Kaiba grimaced at his own mistake, wondering what was wrong with him and why he seemed to be loosing his edge. It wouldn't happen again.
Kaiba listened to his footsteps chime through the torch lit stairway, shadows dancing around him, illuminated by the torches. Watching the imaginary figures, the multibillionaire frowned. Ironic how they seemed to be dancing, chanting… bowing? He shook his head.
Kaiba had acknowledged to himself long ago that he was paranoid, but only to an extent. After all, he knew with wealth came danger and he knew he needed to be aware, for his own safety but more importantly Mokuba's. His brow furrowed even more. It seemed odd to the elder Kaiba that his emails hadn't been answered – all seven in fact. But Mokuba had school, the company, and friends (which was one trait the Kaibas didn't share).
The shadows disappeared as Kaiba rounded the corner.
Facing two doors, the CEO stepped forward, pulled the door to the right open, stepped in, and smirked. The room was a soft blue hue, contrasting the Gryffindor common room greatly. There was set of about twelve beds. On the farthest bed from the door sat a silver suitcase. Another pathetic attempt, Kaiba snorted mentally. He had entered the correct room.
Kaiba walked calmly over to the bedside and pulled the drapes closed around his cubicle sized bed– thankful for some form of privacy. The CEO slipped quickly out of his shoes and robes – reveling the standard uniform underneath. He then sat cross-legged with his back to the headboard as he picked up the suitcase. Instinctively glowering at the large fingerprints and smudges left on the metallic surface.
"For God's sake," Kaiba muttered to himself. "Can't these people even carry a suitcase right?"
Silently he smirked at the idea of the great mountain of a man caring the case by its handle with his thumb and index finger. Atleast there wouldn't be any blemishes. He opened it.
Inside the case were his standard laptop, his dueling disk, and deck, for the sake of comfort. The CEO sighed, no cell phone and to make things worse the dueling system didn't even work – apparently Dumbledore had found it was one of the "unnecessary" items he brought. Kaiba still had the upper hand, the laptop worked.
It was some kind of "bubble charm" Dumbledore had said briefly. The headmaster wasn't willing to reveal the entire process to the genius youth, for obvious reasons. But he had explained the spell allowed the laptop to function inside the castle, even with the anti-technology charm. And as Kaiba had herd, the laptop could repel any of the said charms with a one-inch vicinity. That meant, if some other form of technology was close enough it could work also, or so the CEO had theorized.
With the laptop balanced neatly in his lap, Kaiba ran his fingers over the cool silver keys, watching the screen lit up. There was no email from Mokuba… again. Sighing the CEO leaned his head back against the headboard and closed his eyes…
It was dark.
"… Have done it!" a voice, the first speaker.
"What? This can't be… it's almost impossible!" familiar, he knew him somehow.
"My lord, The Book has been translated!" first again…
"By Ra! Send word to the Sorcerers immediately!" familiar… wait, sorcerers?
"Yes, my lord… but if I may, the armies will be here in a moon or so…"
"Do you think I'm unaware, servant? There must be war for victory, blood for peace, a kingdom for my son… I am willing to risk it." …A familiar snort, chuckle, laugh.
"For your son? I'm sorry my lord, you have no son."
A twisting, screaming, cracking… like bones… "Don't ever say I don't have a son…"
Surprised blue eyes snapped open, blinking back the fatigue of sleep. Slowly Seto Kaiba sat up from the fetal position he had awoken in. Pushing his tired body into a sitting position Kaiba yawned. Slightly dazed the CEO stretched… realization flowing through him; he had fallen asleep.
Quickly he checked his laptop, which, to his great relief, was perfectly unharmed as it lay on its side. (Although the battery wouldn't be doing so well.) But Kaiba wasn't dense and he most definitely wasn't unprepared.
He glanced quickly at the black and silver watch cutting a red mark into his pale skin, it read; 5:23 a.m. He could almost hear Mokuba's voice scolding him about unearthly hours for weeks on end. Kaiba pushed the voice away; it only reminded him of the unanswered email and the pit of concern growing in his stomach. He groaned; over twelve hours of sleep… maybe the late nights were getting to him, but he'd never admit it.
He pulled the curtains back, only to find the other beds around him fully occupied and covered with the same pale blue or white drapes. Atleast the showers would be open. Kaiba sighed, the vignettes of his dream fading with the clearing of his mind as they usually did.
---
The Gryffindors were avoiding him. But that was exactly what the CEO expected of them. Taking his class schedule from one of the prefects, the CEO studied the scheme: Charms first, followed by Potions, History of Magic, Transfiguration, *Arithmancy [1], Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, and lastly Defense Against the Dark Arts [2] – almost all with the Slytherin class. Interesting names, he noted, but on the minus side he had no idea which fit his interests. Time would tell, but the CEO wished he knew forehand… unpredictability annoyed him.
After a brief breakfast of toast and eggs (Kaiba found the all to popular pumpkin juice hard to swallow) he was gone again. Not that many people noticed or cared, he knew he had left an unpleasant impression on them. Not that he cared what they were murmuring about as he passed their whispering cliques. His social skills left much to be desired, as Mokuba had once said, but they were enough the get what he wanted and needed.
When the Gryffindors (and inconveniently; Slytherins) next saw Kaiba, he was seated in the Charms classroom, his attention fully drawn to 'The Standard Book of Spells'. Glaring back and forth the students seated themselves and awaited the cheery professor's arrival. Not they needed to wait long; Professor Flitwick strode into the classroom and smiled brightly at the students.
Clearing his tiny throat, the professor began; "Well, let me say I'm very thankful for all of you returning and new" (He nodded toward Kaiba) "students for attending this year. After the tragedies of last year I was quite afraid that I would lose some of you." The last statement seemed to catch Kaiba's attention.
"At any rate," the professor said in his small yet jovial voice. "Let's start off with something basic, shall we?" He turned toward Hermione, "would you be kind enough to place a feather on everyone's desk, my dear?" Hermione nodded and stood up to do as she was told, picking up a small box of familiar white feathers.
"Thank you," the professor continued. "Now, we are going to try a different spell this time. Much like the fundamental 'Wingardium Leviosa' charm, but this time the 'swish and flick' motion will be repeated backwards." He demonstrated with his own wand.
Once Hermione had placed a feather on a desk in front of him the began; "*Lumenardere!"
Slowly and surely the feather lifted an inch off the wooden table. It suddenly began to shimmer and shine with the luminosity of a small electric light bulb. But as soon as he had conjured it the professor made a swift jerk with his wand and the charm was lifted, the feather falling softly to the desk.
"Now," Flitwick proclaimed in his unnaturally high voice. "Why don't you demonstrate for us, Mr. Kaiba? Think of it a welcoming-in ceremony… C'mon, c'mon. It's much easier than it seems. Just pronounce: Lumenardere."
The student in question didn't seem to enjoy being the first to try, for reason soon to be revealed. Still he complied. With poise, Kaiba gripped the wand and followed the example, muttering the charm under his breath; "Lumenardere."
The feather began to rise, just as the example had. Most students seemed surprised at the newcomer's skill but that shock was broken, as the warmth seemed to drain from the room. Kaiba's wand shuttered slightly and the CEO dropped his head, his shocked eyes unseen behind his bangs.
Flitwick's eyebrows rose as he watched the small white plume float above him. The feather had begun to rise, twist violently, jerking and dancing in erratic bouts of movement until it reached the middle of the room. In the stillness, it unexpectedly stopped and hung in the air before bursting apart in a wave of color. The sharply contrasting hues of indigo and royal purple radiated through the room, spreading out like a giant heliotrope ripple.
Hermione dropped the box of feathers, while the students sat, almost as if paralyzed by fear. It was all over before any of them could react.
Then with a monstrous screech it stopped. The color reversed its motion, flying twice as fast backwards, toward the origin. The ripple came together with a burst of blinding light, causing the class to look away. And all that remained after the anomaly was silence. The room Kaiba resided in was deathly quiet for the second time in twenty-four hours. They could almost hear the frazzled particles of the feather falling to the ground. It was as if no one dared to breath the air in which Kaiba had cast his charm.
The CEO raised his head, an unreadable expression on his paler-than-usual face. Slowly, his blue eyes scanned the room, stopping on every face. Ever other student stared back, their eyes boring into him with the same nagging question, which he couldn't and wouldn't answer.
It had happed again, and this time there were more than two witnesses and mass murder wasn't on his to-do list.
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*Ferocia Cor = Latin, translated as "daring soul". I just thought it would be appropriate for the Gryffindor theme.
*Colin Creevey = a fourth year (one year under Harry) muggle born, hero-worships The Boy Who Lived. He also is known to take a lot of pictures.
*Arithmancy = Arithmancy is a branch of magic that is concerned with the magical properties of numbers; someone who practices Arithmancy is called an Arithmancer. Proffessor Vector teaches the arithmancy class at Hogwarts. In her class, students are expected to write essays and to create, and be able to understand, complicated number charts.
(Translation above compliments of the Harry Potter Lexicon, aka my Bible while writing to fic.)
* Lumenardere = Latin, translated to "light" + "glow".
[1] I chose to swing away from the traditional Divination theme; Seto-kun's not really into fortunes now is he? Plus, Seto's good at math, which Arithmancy is most like. But that doesn't mean Ron and Harry will escape Trelawney's wrath. ^_^;
[2] To many classes you say? I disagree, you see in the HP series the class layout makes it seem there are one to three classes each day, depending on how long each class is (some are "double" and have the written work and the hands on, while some are all hands on.) Get my drift? No… well, anyway, just follow the story - it works.
Next chapter: Purebloods and Potions
Yugi-tachi discovers Kaiba's disappearance in a most unusual way, thanks to Jounouchi. While Kaiba, being the newest gossip subject, meets everyone's favorite Slytherin, Draco Malfoy, and the sour potions master… not necessarily in that order.
