The slowing down of the car let Harry know that they were back into the residential area of Surrey and that Uncle Vernon was slowing down. He had not said anything on the trip back home but it was painfully obvious that Uncle Vernon was upset at the thinly veiled threats of the Order of the Phoenix.

When the car had come to a stop and the engine killed, Vernon said gruffly, "Well boy, you're home for another summer."

Harry didn't deem to say anything but headed into the house, carrying trunk and Hedwig's cage, still debating on how he would pass the summer. Hopefully better, considering how Mad-eye managed to scare Vernon into a state of undeniable fear.

Same old plain blue decor. Same old mantle with the newly repaired fireplace. Same old stairs that creaked when someone walked on them. And same old room... that was arguably different.

Harry looked around the room in complete shock. Gone were the broken toys and discarded playthings of Dudley Dursley. Gone was the ratty mattress and the broken lamp and the dull brown, almost black paint.

New were the small twin sized bed. The desk at the side of the room. The cleaned up bookshelves and the new paint job that made the room look bigger than it really was. Eyes were nearly falling out of their sockets as Harry turned to the pair of Dursleys, disbelieving their actions. It was almost too good to be true.

"Now, boy," said Vernon, clearly uncomfortable. "Those.. people of yours gave us a bit of a shock at the station. This was all your Aunt Petunia's doing so don't go telling me thank you." With that, Vernon stomped out the door and Petunia stood there, tight lipped.

"Aunt Petunia, why?" asked Harry. He had never felt this kind of thing before, especially from the woman who made his life difficult for the last sixteen years.

"I made a promise," said Petunia. "And I was reminded at the beginning of your school term that I had to do it. Vernon was adamant of throwing you out."

No big surprise there. Vernon distrusted anything unnatural.

"This is your room, cleaned up now." said Petunia. "I don't expect you to thank us for what we did to you. But keep in mind that if you intend to live in our house any longer, you will abide by our rules as a guest."

Harry felt staggered. This was as close as Petunia Dursley got to apologizing. The horse-faced woman turned and strode out of the room, closing the door. And Harry was surprised not to hear the clicks of several locks and deadbolts.

Harry set down his trunk at the foot of the bed and hung up Hedwig's cage. The owl looked around the room and chirped appreciatively. Sitting down on the bed and wrinkling new covers, he found that it still smelled like a new product. The bed, while still hard was not completely uncomfortable. It was more comfortable than what he had slept on for the last sixteen years at the house. Harry flopped down on the bed and sighed.

The door flew open once again and Harry was upright on his bed in a jolt. Petunia stood there holding a strange contraption and a bundled deck of playing cards. Putting them on his desk instead of tossing them at him, she said, "If you're going to live in this house, you had best learn some normal games." And then she was gone once more.

Harry got up from the bed and looked the device over. It had a metallic bracelet that attached the strange device to his left wrist. The deck of the cards were al pristine condition, something that his own deck of Exploding Snap was not, considering the cards exploded on a frequent basis.

They were strange cards, orange swirls on the back and coloured on the front in either yellow, orange, green, red or purple. Next to them was a small instruction manual that read "Magic and Wizards - Duellist's Handbook".

Picking up the manual, he opened to the first page.

Greetings new Duellist,

Welcome to the world of Magic and Wizards, the most popular game in the world. I am the creator of the game, Pegasus J. Crawford and I bid you welcome to my game.

Magic and Wizards is a game of skill, intellect and cunning. A multitude of monsters, traps and magic cards are available to the duellist and are widely played in Duels all over the world. It is a game filled with mysticism, strength and courage. It is a game of wonder that will be known for years to come.

I would love to see the owner of this manual play to their very best. Remember that the game can create a new world for you, and I hope to see you very soon when I host my very own tournament.

Pegasus J. Crawford

December 14, 1992

Authors Note : Note that Pegasus J. Crawford is now deceased due to heart failure and will not be hosting another tournament. His company is now run by Mutou Yugi of Domino City.

January 21, 1996

Intrigued by the forward, Harry started to read through the cards and manual well into the night.

Shuffle

written by Shaun Garin

Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters and Duel Monsters GX are owned by Kazuki Takahashi. JK Rowling owns Harry Potter.

Turn 01 : Learning

"Good morning, Aunt Petunia," said Harry in his customary manner. Petunia tended to get upset if he didn't show the proper respect.

Dudley Dursley was back home by the evidence of the fat blob walking around the house. If anything else, he looked horrible, more wide than tall. There was talk around the dinner table that Dudley could be in serious medical problems from what his professors said and thus breakfast was a diet-oriented affair.

After breakfast, Petunia handed Harry a list of chores. "They're light today," she said in a manner that seemed like she was being nice.

As Harry dug in the garden, pulling out weeds, he admitted to himself that at least the Dursleys' were trying their best to be civilized. He saw Dudley sneaking off with his friends to avoid work, passing around a package of cigarettes amidst them. Shaking his head, Harry continued to work into the afternoon.

When four o'clock rolled around, Petunia finally let Harry take a break. "Go and do something outside," she said, handing him a crisp 5 pound note. Harry was astounded but a glare from Vernon made him pocket the note and he ran upstairs to fetch some new clothing.

While dressing in some of Dudley's old hand-me-downs, Harry looked over at the deck that sat on the desk. After a moments deliberation, he picked up the deck, pocketed it and put the machine under his arm. Making sure to keep his wand concealed in his back pocket, Harry headed out of the house.

Wandering around Little Whinging was a new experience for Harry as he was not allowed to do so. Some people pointed and hurried their children inside but that was because of Harry's supposed attendance at St. Brutus, a correctional facility for the young criminals. But some nodded to him. Old Mrs. Figg, a squib that looked in on his well being waved from her house and Harry waved back, feeling a little more cheery that there was at least some friendly people about.

The sunlight was warm and good on his face as he turned the corner. He then was surprised to see two kids at about age fourteen standing in the middle of the road. What surprised him was that they wore similar devices on their wrists compared to the one tucked under his arm. And standing in the middle of a road was a large pair of creatures.

One was dressed in blue and gold armour and seemed almost heroic in nature as it crackled with electricity. The other had a monster with blue and gold armour but it held a huge sword in his hands.

"Activate magic card!" cried one of the teenagers. "Megamorph!"

Coming over to watch the pair as many other people were doing, a green card revealed itself from a face down position on the field and the monster with a sword grew to twice its size. "I have 1400 Life Points while you have 2000!" said the teenager. "That makes my Buster Blader grow from 2600 to 5100 Attack Points! Go Buster Blader, attack his Elemental Hero Sparkman!"

The other teenager smirked at his opponent. "Activate trap card, Negate Attack!"

"What's going on?" asked Harry of a bystander.

"They're having a duel," said the man who stood watching them. "A duel is a game played by most of today's youth and many of today's adults. Are you a Duellist?"

"Me? Well, I just started learning," said Harry.

The man looked over his disk and said, "That's an old Type 2 Duel Disk. Those kids are using a Type 3."

Comparing the two disks, Harry had to appreciate the fine curved lines of the machines. A bit more compact than his machine.

"Draw!" exclaimed the teenager with the more slender smaller monster. "This is it! Activate magic card, Spark Gun!"

A gun materialized on the Sparkman's outstretched hand and it gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. "The Spark Gun's effect is that I can force one opponents monster into defence position!"

A blast of light and the Buster Blader was forced into defence, kneeling down and crossing its sword in front of itself protectively. "Next, I activate the magic card, Shield Crush!"

"Crap!" exclaimed his opponent.

"Shield Crush's effect, destroy 1 monster in face up defence position!"

The magic card materialized on the field and shot a burst of yellow light at the Blader. It crumpled and exploded into nothing. "Go, Sparkman! Direct Attack!"

In a flash of light, the game was over and people applauded at the spectacle. The pair of duellists shook hands after the end of the game.

Harry was amazed. He had never seen a game so realistic. Was this what Pegasus' forward meant when it was a game of wonder? One of the teenagers looked up and called out, "Hey, do you duel?"

Harry looked around and pointed to himself. "Me?"

He jogged up easily and nodded. "Yeah. You must be new around here. I'm Tyler Stevens. Say, aren't you that kid who goes to St. Brutus?"

Harry felt embarrassed. "Um, yes."

"Heh, you don't LOOK criminally insane," said Tyler with a smile. "C'mon, let's have a go."

"I haven't really played before," said Harry.

"It's easy. C'mon, I'll walk you through a duel. First, shake hands." They did so. "Next, shuffle each others cards. Politeness is a key factor in this game, although some people are too arrogant to dispense with the pleasantries."

Tyler took a look through his deck and whistled. "This is some deck. And you said you never played before?"

"Nope, never. Just read through the cards and the booklet today and last night," said Harry, feeling like he should know this stuff already.

"It's okay, everyone starts out like this. You know the rules?" Harry nodded, having read the booklet cover to cover. "Okay, your deck is a classic magician-type deck. Classic meaning that it can work with the new rules but there's nothing from the latest expansions in here. If I were you, I'd add more cards to this but it's rather solid from what I can tell."

Harry nodded as he finished shuffling Tyler's deck. "Okay, now what?"

"Put your disk on and turn it on." Harry did so and was surprised as two winged panels ejected itself outwards and landed. It then folded into a flat playing space. "Aw, that's normal for Type 2 disks."

Tyler slotted in his deck and walked a good distance away. His own disk popped out and two more slots slid out of the machine to make the playing field. Harry did so and a number of 4000 appeared. "Okay, since I'm teaching, I'll show you how to play. Just follow my lead. Draw!"

Tyler then placed two cards into the card. One of them appeared on the ground face down and the other appeared on the field in the form of his Elemental Hero Sparkman. "Placing magic and trap cards, the red and green ones on the field goes in the small slots on the back of the panels. Monsters go face up or face down on the top. And then you call out your play. I set one card on the field and summon Elemental hero Sparkman in attack position. Attack position is vertical while defence is horizontal. Got that?"

"I got it," said Harry.

"All right, end turn! Now you draw."

Harry drew his card and looked at his options. The rulebook said level four and down can be summoned normally. Level five or six needed one sacrifice and level seven or higher said two. Currently, he had a few cards he could play as he read all of the cards in his hand.

"I summon Mystical Elf in defence position," said Harry, placing one card horizontally. A willowy blue skinned woman appeared, hands clasped. "And then I place one card face down on the field. End of Turn."

"Draw!" Tyler nodded to Harry. "Good move. That'll keep me off your back for a little bit. But that moments all that's going to happen. Activate magic card, Shield Crush!"

Harry flinched as the power sped out from the flipped up magic card and destroyed the Mystical Elf. He then felt a crackling sensation build as Tyler cried, "Direct Attack!"

The light stung a little bit but it wasn't bad. Just a little hit to let him know that he had been hit. But the attack was still surprising and he cried out in shock. A stray thought nagged at him and made him wonder if Voldemort felt that. The illuminated white digital numbers dropped from a solid 4000 to 2400.

"That is a direct attack," said Tyler as Harry stood back up from his crouched position. "Okay, I'll end my turn."

"Draw." Harry drew and placed a face down monster on his side of the field in defence. "I set one monster and then place three cards face down. I then activate Mirage of Nightmare."

A green card flipped up and it sparkled for a moment. "Mirage's effect is that during your standby phase, I can draw until my hand has four cards. Then, I discard as many as I have drawn in the standby phase."

Tyler nodded as he drew. "Right. You're getting the hang of this then."

Harry drew three cards and smiled. "Thanks. The game is pretty fun. Oh, by the way, I'm activating this magic card." Another one of his face down cards flipped upwards and both it and Mirage of Nightmare vanished into pixels. "Emergency Provisions activates and destroys my Mirage of Nightmare. And I gain 1000 life points."

Tyler whistled as Harry's life points counted itself back up to 3400. "A nice combo. Most people would be content to let the Mirage run it's course."

Harry nodded as he had read some of the basic combos in the rulebook and one of them outlined the Mirage of Nightmare and Emergency Provisions combo. "It's still your move."

Tyler chuckled. "I'm getting there. Go Sparkman, attack his face down monster!"

The Sparkman shot the card and it flipped up, revealing itself to be a metallic pod which self destructed, taking it and Sparkman with it. Tyler grimaced. "Damn, Cyber Jar!"

Drawing five cards, Harry placed three of them onto the field in face down defence position and added the rest to his hand while Tyler summoned one in defence position. "Go ahead."

Tyler grimaced at his new hand and summoned a Exiled Force in attack position. He then immediately sacrificed it and the troops rid the field of a face down Night Assailant. "Go."

Harry drew and looked at his field for a moment. Then, he flipped a card to face up position. "I activate Skelengel which allows me to draw one card."

Adding the new card to his hand, Harry briefly wondered how in the world he was fairing so well. It was almost eerie, but then again, his opponent was taking it easy on him.

"Then I'll activate Graceful Charity, allowing me to draw three cards," said Harry, drawing his cards and then discarding two from his hand. "Next, I activate the magic card Premature Burial to revive the Dark Magician Girl from my graveyard." A burst of light erupted from his graveyard and the wizard woman appeared in an array of pink sparkles. "And then I reveal one of my face down cards. Soul Taker. Gives you 1000 life points but I get to sacrifice one of your monsters to do anything with it."

Tyler made a face as his Exiled Force vanished. Harry held up a card and placed it onto the field vertically. "I summon my Preumbrial Soldier Lady in attack position. Now Dark Magician Girl, attack directly!"

A ball of pink light coalesced in the girl's wand tip as she loosed it with a cry.

"Not so fast! Activate Magic Cylinder!"

The attack impacted violently, sending up dust and debris everywhere. Harry winced as the attack rebounded and hit him for a solid 2000 points of damage. Tyler though barely had time to uncover his face before Harry's cry of "Go, Preumbrial Soldier Lady! Direct Attack!" startled him.

Tyler was knocked backwards and skidded to a halt as his life points dropped to 900 in comparison to Harry's 3400. Harry nodded at Tyler and the teenager grinned. "End turn."

"DRAW!" exclaimed Tyler with some force. "I summon Mechanical Chaser in attack position!"

A large machine with a sharp pendulum appeared on his side of the field. "And I activate Limiter Removal which doubles all of my machines attack power!"

The Mechanical Chaser grew to twice its size as it's attack boosted itself from 1900 to 3800. "Attack the Dark Magician Girl!"

Harry punched a button on his disk. "Reveal face down! Sakuretsu Armor! It halts an attack and destroys the opponents monster!"

The machine's attack was halted and then it exploded into dust. "Oh great," groused Tyler. "Here it comes."

Harry grinned, in spite of himself. "Draw! Now, attack directly!"

"Aunt Petunia?" asked Harry as he served the Dursley's their evening meal. "Who's deck was this?"

Petunia looked at Harry and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask that?"

"I played against a local boy today," said Harry, earning a look from Vernon and no comment from Dudley. "And I won."

Petunia folded her hands in front of herself, considering his words.

"I need to know. Who's deck was this?"

Petunia was silent for a moment and then said, "It was mine. That is my deck."

"Oh," said Harry. He felt crestfallen for a moment. Brief thoughts of Lily Evans playing this same deck flickered in his mind. No doubt that if he had yet another memento of his family, it would feel better. Like Lily would have enchanted it to respond to the thoughts of the player.

"Harry," said Petunia after a moment of silence, "It is my deck. But Lily and I built it together." At his surprised look at the announcement, Petunia continued. "We had to share everything as children. Being sisters and all that. Lily chose the cards, I put the deck together. We played together, helping each other. When she left for Hogwarts, she gave her deck to me."

"So my mum did own this deck." Harry looked at the cards silently as they stared back at him.

"We both did..."

Harry decided not to push the issue and got to work cooking the rest of the meal while Petunia retreated into the living room.

Dear Hermione,

I don't know if you've heard about this game before but I just wanted to know if you did. It's called Magic and Wizards and it is a muggle game. You play the game with monster cards, magic cards and trap cards for a start.

I also found out that it was my mum's deck I was playing with. Aunt Petunia gave it to me in an effort to be nice. Do you think that she could have enchanted the deck so that it came to me?

Look up Magic and Wizards on the internet. I'm sure there's some resources somewhere that you could read up on. The maker of the game is Industrial Illusions.

Write back!


Harry

"Come back when you have an answer," said Harry. Hedwig hooted and flew off into the night.