HELLO OUT THERE!!!

Heh, well, I guess this is the fourth chapter. I just want you people out there to know that come Wednesday, 1/19/05, I won't be updating regularly or even often, anymore. That's when classes begin, and I'm taking quite a few this semester. Updates will be few and far between, but I'll try to get up as many as I possibly can.

And to the person who suggested in a review that I write a bit of when Ryou was a young agent, I think I will. I'll write about when he first got the Ring. BUT DON'T EXPECT IT UNTIL THIS STORY IS COMPLETE!!

Also, I can't write Hagrid Speech very well, so you'll all just have to live with it!!

DISCLAIMER: Kyo-kun is a pretty kitty!

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The four of us found an empty cabin easily enough and put our things away in the overhead compartments.

We hadn't been seated for very long when a boy I had met at Diagon Alley, one of Harry's friends, entered the cabin and asked, "Is there room for one more?"

"Sure, Neville," Harry said as he got up to help Neville put his trunk in the overhead compartment with the rest of the luggage.

Neville sat down in one of the empty seats and glanced nervously at Harry while he reclaimed his seat. "Are you alright, Harry?" he asked tentatively.

Harry looked as if he had been struck in the face with a two-by-four as he said, "Yeah, I'm fine, Neville."

I could see that he really wasn't, but of course, as the polite boy I am, I decided not to mention it. Neville also decided to drop it, although I don't think it was just him being polite.

"Hey, Hermione, who do you think the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is going to be?" asked Neville.

"I don't know," she answered. "With recent events, it would be nice to have someone who knew what they were doing, for a change."

"Hey, Lupin knew what he was doing," Ron protested.

"Well, yes, he did, but how many others have we had who didn't? Let's see, we had Quirrel, Lockhart, the fake Moody, and Umbridge. While it's true we learned a lot from the fake Moody, we didn't learn anything from the others," she pointed out.

"That's true," Neville said. "I think the best teacher we've had, other than Lupin was Harry."

"Neville, I'm not a teacher," Harry stated flatly.

"You were the teacher of the DA," Ron teased.

It seemed as if the other students in the cabin had forgotten I was even there as they continued to talk about things I knew nothing about.

"That's it," I said to Bakura. "As soon as I see Dumbledore again, I'm requesting a full description of what this boy has done in the past five years. Hell, I'll request the entire past for this boy."

"Easy, Ry," Bakura said in an amused tone. "Don't you want the boy to tell you himself? I thought you said you wouldn't pry."

"And I won't pry," I said. "I am going to demand the information from a different source. It's only prying if I demand the information from Harry."

He laughed. "Maybe I should talk to Dumbledore when we get to the school. That way, you won't have to sneak away from your new buddies," he teased.

I mentally glared and then muttered, "Thanks, 'Kura."

As the train continued to pass the beautiful countryside, a large owl flew to the window and started to tap it. I was the first one to notice it and pointed it out to Harry who opened the window, letting the bird in.

The owl flew to me and dropped a letter in my lap before it flew out the window again.

With a confused look on my face I opened the letter and saw in neat Kanji:

Ryou,

I'm sorry, but it appears that I have forgotten to mention how and when you will be sorted.

When Hagrid asks for the first-year students, you will go along with him. He won't single you out until you get to the boats. You will be sorted after the first-years, and I have already instructed the Sorting Hat to place you in Gryffindor.

I need you to be in a position to where you can protect Harry at all times, and if I have you in Gryffindor, not only will he trust you more, but you will also have all of your classes with him and share a dorm room with him.

I believe it would be obvious, but you are not to tell anyone who you are or what the purpose of your presence in Hogwarts is. If the students were to find out that we have hired someone of your skills, there would undoubtedly be a sudden surge of no confidence in the safety of Hogwarts or the leadership of the Ministry.

I hope that all is well,

Albus Dumbledore

I read it over a few more times, just to be sure it said what I thought it said, and then I folded it up again and put it back into the envelope.

None of the others asked me about the contents of the letter, even though it was plainly obvious that they were curious. I think it was my glare that discouraged the questions.

"I can't believe that old-"

"Ryou!" Bakura exclaimed. "That is no way to talk to or of an elderly person!" It was painfully obvious that Bakura was teasing me.

"Shut up, Bakura," I said venomously. "That old conceited jack ass just tried to tell me how to do my job!"

"Ryou, I know you hate-"

"Damn right I hate it when people tell me how to do my job. I am the best damn agent for a REASON!" I mentally yelled.

Bakura, regardless of the fact that he's a dark spirit, is always afraid of me when I get angry. I never show more anger than a deadly glare, but Bakura is in my head and knows what I'm thinking. He also knows that I have the skills to fully carry out my VERY violent imaginings.

"Calm down, Ryou. Ripping off his head and sticking it right there isn't going to help you with this case any," he calmly tried to reason. "I'll talk to him and tell him the error of his ways when we get to the school. And hey, he did give you a bit of information, if you just read the first two paragraphs of the letter."

Still mentally grumbling, I crumpled the letter into as small a ball I possibly could and seriously thought about setting it on fire. In stead, I said, "Take this with you, and set it on fire in front of him, and I'll let him live."

He silently agreed and I put it into my pocket and let up my glare and smiled, even though I was still seething with rage

Ron was the first person to ask, "What was that?"

"Oh," I said, quickly thinking of a cover story to hide my reactions to the letter. "It was a letter from my father. It seems he'll be staying in Japan and not moving back to London like he promised."

They were all convinced that this was the truth, but how, I couldn't say. Maybe my glare wasn't as bad as I thought it was?

Now, I thought that the rest of this train ride was going to be smooth and nothing else would bother me. But I don't think fate or good fortune like me today.

"It's Potty's friends and the new girl!" Malfoy said from the door of the cabin. I looked at him and saw that two humongous mountains of bodyguards flanked him.

Oh, how joyful.

"I could take 'em," Bakura muttered, trying to cheer me up.

"Get lost, Malfoy," Harry said without looking up. "You're not wanted here."

"Oh? And just how do you suppose to get rid of me?" he asked and pointedly took a seat next to me.

I'm in a good mood, have you noticed?

"Excuse me," I said in my Talking To Idiots voice, "but I don't think you have permission to sit next to me."

This got a laugh from the people in the cabin with me, even though I would have just preferred to slit the git's throat. "Don't blow our cover just because you're angry," Bakura warned.

In any other situation I would have told him to shove it, but in this case, he was right. I was on the verge of homicide.

I mentally took a deep breath and said, "But since I'm in such a good mood, I'll let you sit here if you do one thing."

Everyone looked at me as if I had grown a second head, but Harry and Ron had remembered my 'quick wit' from the bookstore in Diagon Alley and were actually looking forward to whatever it was I had to say.

Unfortunately for them, Malfoy got up and said, "You really need to stop angering people in Slytherin, new girl. Things could get ugly." While still in a huff, he left the cabin with his two henchmen at his heels.

"Not as ugly as his face," Ron muttered darkly, earning him a few laughs.

After that, the rest of the trip was more-or-less peaceful. Nothing else happened. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville continued to talk, this time about things I knew and could participate in the conversations.

However, no matter how cheerful I was acting, I was still simmering in quiet fury.

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"First years! First years this way!" a very large man yelled loudly. Well, okay, I don't think he was really yelling, but his voice was loud and carried to all of the students.

"Well, that's my sign," I said to the others. "Pray for me."

"Good luck, Ryou," Hermione said. "I hope you're in Gryffindor!" The others all said similar things to me as I walked over to Hagrid.

Even though I'm not all that tall, I'm still taller than ten and eleven year old children, so naturally, I towered over them.

"You must be Ryou," Hagrid said. "Professor Dumbledore said that you're an exchange student. Well, just stick with me and you'll get to the Sorting just fine."

Hagrid led us to the edge of the lake, which was quite huge. I haven't seen a lake that large since I was in America and saw the Great Lakes. Now those were some huge lakes. This one wasn't as large, but still pretty big.

The first years, at Hagrid's orders, got into the boats that were lining the shore. I got into the same boat as Hagrid.

As the boats took off for what I presumed was the school, I quietly pondered with Bakura about what it was that made Hagrid so big.

"Maybe it was a spell gone bad?" Bakura guessed.

"A spell would have been reversed by now," I pointed out. "Maybe it's something else . . ."

"But what else could it be?" Bakura asked.

"I don't know," I said. "When you go see Dumbledore, maybe it wouldn't be so bad an idea to get a life history on all of the professors."

"Ryou, you usually don't like to get extra information," Bakura said pointedly. "Why start now?"

"Mainly to ease my curiosity, but it might help me to know more about the staff. Plus," I stated, "if I can get Dumbledore even slightly annoyed, I'll be happy."

"Ahh, so that's the reason you want extra information," he teased. "You're still pissed about that letter on the train."

"Shove it," I glared.

A few moments later Bakura said, "Maybe he's got giant blood?"

I thought about it a bit. "Well, that would explain it. And that would explain why they haven't fixed it."

As it happened, at just that moment the boats came into the perfect view of Hogwarts and the entire fleet of first year students let out various mutterings of awe. "Wow," I whispered obediently.

"Yeah, Hogwarts is beautiful at night," Hagrid said, not realizing that I really couldn't care less about the view. I was still too angry about the letter earlier to be impressed.

Not too long after the initial viewing of the castle, the boats came to a stop at the shore. In the pandemonium of the children getting off the boats, I said to Bakura, "When no one's looking, and I mean NO ONE, I want you to take the letter and find Dumbledore's office and wait there. He no doubt had living paintings in there, so I'm going to trust you to find a way to get in and unnoticed yourself. Can you do it?"

He took a moment to think it over. Getting into an office would be simple. Getting in and not being noticed by paintings that were alive would be a different thing entirely. "I'll try, but no guarantees. If I can't, I'll just wait in the hall outside his office."

"Good enough," I consented. "Take your chance and go."

He's so good at getting away unnoticed, that I didn't even notice when he left.

"All right, students, this is where I leave you, but Professor McGonagall will be here shortly to bring you into the Great Hall." He stopped by me and said, "You'll stick to the end of the group, and she'll call your name last. It'll be a bit embarrassing, I'm sure, but don't worry any."

"O-okay," I said, turning the embarrassed act on again.

"Hey, you don't have to worry about that 'till you get there. Just take a deep breath and relax," he said and walked into the school, leaving all the students right there.

The first years were all nervous and chatty and all around annoying, but I knew that I had to keep up my nervous act. Slapping a student wouldn't be something a nervous sixteen-year-old boy would do.

It only took a few minutes for the door to the Great Hall to open and a rather stern-looking woman walked out. "I am Professor McGonagall. I will lead you into the Great Hall and read your names off of a list. When your name is called, I want you to sit on the stool and put the hat on your head. The Sorting Hat will sort you into your houses. The four houses are Gryffindor, Huffelpuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Once the Hat has made its decision, you will sit at the table with the rest of your new housemates." She then turned around and said, "Follow me."

The students lined up single file and followed her into the Great Hall.

I noticed the stool she had mentioned and also saw a hat resting on the stool. A fold in the hat opened up and the hat started to sing. I only halfway listened to the song while I looked around at the Hall.

There were a total of five tables, four with students seated at it, and one with teachers. I only recognized two of them, though: Dumbledore and Hagrid.

The teacher's table wasn't very interesting, so I shifted my attention to the tables that held students and instantly saw that the Gryffindors were on the other side of the room from the Slytherins, with the Huffelpuffs and Ravenclaws in-between; the Ravenclaws were on the Slytherin side while the Huffelpuffs were next to the Gryffindors.

While this wouldn't tell most people much, it told me quite a bit.

I could see that the Gryffindors didn't like the Slytherins, but most of that knowledge came from knowing Harry's group. But with the Huffelpuffs and Ravenclaws, well, the Ravenclaw table didn't look too bothered by having to sit so close to the Slytherins, and I could see that some of the Ravenclaws were even talking to a few of the Slytherin students, while some of the Huffelpuffs openly talked with Gryffindors.

This was interesting. The Gryffindors were at the top of the social ladder at this school, but the Slytherins were their main rival.

'I'm just thinking about this too much,' I thought to myself as the hat finished its song.

McGonagall stepped forward and pulled out a scroll and started to read off the names. One by one the students walked to the stool and were sorted. As the number of students thinned out, those remaining started to get more and more nervous.

As per my act, I was no exception. By the time the last first year student had been placed into Ravenclaw, McGonagall said, "And for the last student, who will be joining us in the sixth year, Bakura, Ryou."

I nervously walked forward and placed the hat on my head.

"Well, isn't this interesting," the hat said in my mind. The way it talked was just as different from how Bakura talked as it was the same. I can't explain it, but I could hear the voice in both my mind and my ears. "Dumbledore told me to put you in Gryffindor, so I shall, but you would do much better in Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Not to say you don't have Gryffindor qualities, you do, but Slytherin would fit your personality better."

"Well, I believe you have a job to do, hat."

"Yes, I do. GRYFFINDOR!"

The last word was shouted for the entire Hall to hear and I pulled it off and started for the Gryffindor table. I was Harry waving at me and went to sit next to him as he made room for me.

Once everyone had settled down, Dumbledore got to his feet and smiled.

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I think 2824 words are enough to keep you happy. If not, well, that's too bad. I don't feel like writing anymore right now.

Have fun doing whatever it is you do, and even though I didn't mention it in the last chapter, I still need the names of cards in Bakura's deck. And please, I don't need anyone else to say Dark Necrofear.

Ja bye bye!