All right, took me long enough, but I finally am getting around to starting
my next chapter of Millennium Magic.
^_^U
I've been working on a lot of my stories lately, trying to finish up chapters and such... Hopefully this chapter will be up before... *checks date that she started* hopefully up before November... If it wasn't up by then, you all have my full permission to pummel me with rotten bananas.
Not tomatoes, mind you. Bananas. Only bananas. ^_^
Malik: Well folks, say goodbye to her sanity. School has made her lose her mind.
Daricio: I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell! I know, right now you can't tell! But stay awhile, maybe then you'll see a different side of me!
Malik: Quit stealing lyrics from Matchbox20...
Daricio: ^_^U But I LIKE that song!!! (It's called "Unwell" BTW, and I obviously don't own it. But I like it.)
Malik: Whatever. Are you going to start the chappie???
Daricio: Oh, right. Of course. ^_^ But first, I have to do something.
Malik: what now?
Daricio: A few reviewers have put forth some very interesting points about the story that I just thought I should share with you. I'm not necessarily putting up only the ones that lead you away from who it really is, or putting up only ones that lead you TO who it really is either. I'm not commenting on anything, or trying to lead you astray, or ANYTHING! I'm simply going to show you what other readers thought. (I'm also not actually showing you the whole review as well...) Ok?
Malik: *half nod* I... Think so... You need to talk in shorter sentances.
Daricio: *blink* I show you other people's reviews. I not being biased. I not trying to trick you or anything. I just showing you. Ok?
Malik: Much better. Now, what did they say?
Daricio: ^_^ This:
~~~
Evil Neptune: "I'm going to stick with Yugi, because it sounds like un- clearing Kaiba was a bit of an afterthought."
Perpetually Hyper One: "I still think that Malik and Yami Bakura are at least involved, and I wouldn't be surprised if Kaiba plays a small part."
Kate Ryou: "Kate: I think Bakura/Yami Bakura still... You know how evil he is. ~ Kathy: But it could have been Yugi/Yami Yugi now. By the way he's been acting. ~ Kate: well, at least it could be Kaiba. He doesn't believe in stuff like that."
Vegetaz-girl: "Kay, I think it could be KAIBA STILL!!!... Or Joey or Yugi... I've narrowed down my suspects, that I have... =^_^= Kay, how's this idea? Harry, Hermione and Ron go to the match thing, (no duh) and Joey tells about whatever he wants to tell about (no duh again) and they figure out that Yugi has a whole nother soul type thing. Then maybe they could find out that Y. Bakura put that dark evil puzzle piece into his puzzle and it possesed Yugi even though he doesn't know it, and they don't know Bakura did it and I am probably way off base because Bakura probably didn't do it wow this is a long sentance."
NekoPlushie: "And when Hermione said it's very apparent that Kaiba had never made potions himself? What if she was wrong, he HAD, but didn't WANT them to have enough for more than one person?"
~~~
Daricio: Great ideas everybody! Note: I didn't put everybody's reviews in here, just the bits of reviews that I thought might help (or not help) people. So don't take offense if I didn't show yours, ok? ok. ^_^
Malik: *sarcastic* You're being really helpful in helping everybody figure out who it is...
Daricio: That would be the point.... Hey, wait... Do you not know who it is?
Malik: -_- *shakes head* You never told ME....
Daricio: ^_^ I'm not going to either! You have to guess like everybody else!
Malik: -_-U Gee, thanks... You don't like making this easy for anybody, do you?
Daricio: Nope! ^_^
Malik: Oh, weren't you going to say something about the Kaiba thing and do a short response to MagicPerson14's review?
Daricio: Oh yeah! I have decided that because all of you object so much about me calling him Seto (for some reason) I'll commence with calling him Kaiba.... ^_^U And don't worry, I WILL actually clear somebody this chappie! Really!
Malik: okay...
Daricio: ^_^ and as for MagicPerson14, you'll have to wait till I get the next chappie of where's Yugi up for the full response to this, because I don't feel like repeating myself and I wrote these author notes after writing the author notes for Where's Yugi... ^_^U
Malik: that's not very nice, making people wait... It's almost as evil as making me wait to see who did it! ...... One question though.. Did I do it???
Daricio: Not saying! *eeeevil grin*
Malik: -_- Dern...
Daricio: OK! Now that the author notes are longer than the chappie will probably be, let's start it!
************************************************************************
It only took the three of them about five minutes to put away most of the potions stuff, separate the potion they had into three stoppable vials, and head down the stairs and over to Yugi's shop, but it was still packed by the time they got there.
They learned from a group of kids standing by the doorway that because Yugi's house was a card shop, whenever he had matches there, Duel Monsters lovers from school would come to do small side duels, talk, trade, eat the refreshments that were served, and buy new cards.
This ensured that Yugi's Grandpa, who ran the shop, would let them do the matches there in the first place, as the large crowd attracted a lot of business.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron squeezed their way into the shop. It was hard to navigate through the room, as there were groups of kids standing in random places, and some sitting or lieing on the floor dueling and trading, like those kids had said.
Harry couldn't see Yugi or Joey anywhere, though.
The trio decided to watch a few of the duels and see if they could figure out the concept of the game while they waited to spot either of them.
As it turned out, they didn't have to wait for very long, because Yugi soon came bounding down the stairs, almost running into somebody at the bottom, with a small grin on his face.
"All right, my room is cleaned, and we can also use the upstairs hall. Everybody, move towards the back of the house so that we're not all crowded in the entryways, ok?" He called.
The crowd soon complied to his order and it was soon much easier to get around.
"Hey, Yugi!" Harry called out to Yugi, who was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, talking to a few people.
Yugi looked up. His smile faltered momentarily, then he grinned again, gesturing for the three of them to come over.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron did so as best they could, trying not to knock over anybody's decks as they walked, or step on anybody.
When they finally got there, and after a very brief greeting, Yugi led them up the stairs. He poked his head into his room for a moment and called Joey away from a duel, then led the now semi-large group down the hall to an unlit room on the left and at the end.
When everyone was inside the room, Yugi flipped on the lights and closed the door.
Harry blinked at the room. "Hey, Yugi... Mind explaining why we're all in the bathroom?"
Joey looked confused. "I was wonderin that as well, Yuge'..."
Yugi frowned, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub. "Well, you said you wanted a private place to discuss this, and the rest of the rooms in the house are filled with duelists!"
"Even your grandpa's bedroom, Yugi?" Joey asked.
"Well, no, but Grandpa doesn't like people in there while he's trying to mind the shop."
"Not even you?"
Ron cleared his throat.
Yugi blinked. "Oh, right. So what exactly was it you were wanting to talk about?"
"Huh? Oh, right. Harry wanted to know about yer Millennium Puzzle, Yugi..." Joey said.
Yugi blinked. "okay..." he turned to Harry instead. "What about it?"
Harry, now put on the spot somewhat, suddenly felt somewhat uncomfortable. "Well.. I was talking to Kaiba, and he said that it had some sort of powers having to do with a "Shadow Realm", and I was talking to Joey, and he said that it was tied into the game of Duel Monsters. How?"
Yugi brightened somewhat and he grinned. "That it? Well that's easy. Duel Monsters is an ancient game that was played by the Egyptians a long time ago. They played it with special shadow powers, from the Shadow Realm. Though, after awhile, those powers began to get out of hand and the monsters of the game became involved in a sort of a war between the Pharaoh and a bunch of rouges. I don't know the exact details, but basically, the Pharaoh decided that in order to save the land from destruction because of the powers, he would lock away the shadow powers into seven Millennium Items."
Harry nodded, thinking. "Kaiba showed us pictures of those...Puzzle, Eye, Necklace, Ring, Rod, Scale, and Key... I didn't know that they had that much magic in them, though..."
Ron looked somewhat surprised at the mention of magic from Egypt, which was the place where his brother worked, studying the stuff, and also where he had visited only about two summers previously. Joey noticed the surprise and he grinned.
"What, you don't believe in magic?" he asked Ron. Ron ducked his head slightly to hide a sudden grin at the irony of this question.
"Kaiba doesn't, that's for sure. That's probably why he didn't tell you about it." Yugi said.
Harry smiled, knowing one of the reasons why Kaiba really didn't like anything related to magic. "So, that's it? That's all there is to the Millennium Items? They have ancient magic?"
"Actually, no. There is more to them. For my puzzle, at any rate. Let me show you." Yugi said, closing his eyes.
Hermione and Ron both looked interested.
Suddenly, the puzzle grew very bright, enveloping the room in light for a few brief seconds before growing dimmer gradually until it was back to its normal brightness.
Harry blinked away the spots from his eyes. He was a bit shocked to see that because the sudden light had startled them, he had impulsively reached for his wand, which was safely tucked away, and that he had brought it out halfway. He quickly stuffed it back out of sight.
Only then did he look around the bathroom, trying to see what changes had been made to the room.
What he saw was even more shocking than the realization that he had pulled out his wand! Where Yugi had been sitting on the edge of the bathtub, there were now TWO Yugi's sitting there!
(DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN!!!!)
One of the Yugi's was taller than the other, and Harry could tell which one was the one he had been talking to before, but it was still very strange. "Whoa." he gasped. "Where'd you come from?"
Ron stared at the taller, more regal looking one for a moment, his mind racing. Suddenly, something in his head clicked and he grinned. "Bloody hell..." he breathed. "You're the Pharaoh, Yami, aren't you?"
Yami looked faintly surprised at the recognision, but gave a half nod. "Yes. How did you know?"
"My brother works up in Egypt, studying the anceint culture, and he told me about you. Well, it was in a letter, so it was kinda breif... But he did mention that you sealed your soul into an item... I had no idea that that story of his was connected to the Millennium Items!" Ron said, sounding excited.
Yugi smiled. "So your brother's an archeologist? Like Grandpa?"
Ron paused. "Well... Not quite... But sort of, I suppose..."
"Well, still, that's cool." Yugi said. "That takes out a whole lot of explaining for us to do."
Yami nodded. "So, why is it you were interested in the Millennium Items, anyway?" he asked calmly.
After a moment's hesitation, Hermione spoke up, "Well, you see, we all really admire our older brother, the one in Egypt, and... Well, Kaiba told us about the items, and we wanted to see if we could get more information about them than he would be able to."
Yugi nodded. "That makes sence. Sibling rivalry, huh?"
"Yup." Harry said.
"So... is that all you wanted to know?" Yami asked.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry all looked at each other for a moment, before deciding that since there was no way to get them to take any truth serums right then, they'd just ask later. "Yeah, that's about it. Thanks a ton!" Hermione said for them.
"No problem." Yugi said. He went over to open the door and let them all out of the stuffy bathroom, and Yami quickly disappeared back into the puzzle.
The moment Yugi stepped out of the door, a kid from his school saw him and told him that it was time for his duel to begin and that people were looking for him.
They hurried down the hall and Joey followed after them, grinning to himself.
Ron, Hermione, and Harry went off into a corner to discuss what they had just found out.
"So, what do you think?" Harry asked.
"Well, I'm not sure whether he's using the powers of the puzzle for good or for bad, but now we know what Kaiba was talking about when he said that the Items had power." Ron shrugged. "That's about all the information we got out of that."
Hermione shook her head. "This is frustrating. It's hard to figure out who did or didn't make Hogwarts disappear. There's just nothing to ask anybody that would work!"
Harry sighed. "We'll just have to see if we can sneak some of that truth serum into anybody's punch... Only a few people are actually drinking the stuff Yugi has set out, though..."
"Probably worried that somebody spiked it." Hermione mumbled.
"That somebody whated it?"
"Never mind, Ron."
"Hey, look over there!" Harry said, suddenly noticing a group of people standing somewhat close to the duel, all three of them drinking punch. "It's Tea, Tristan, and Bakura!"
"You're right! Let's see if we can talk to them." Hermione said.
"All right!" Ron grinned. "Maybe we'll actually get some real information out of this!"
"How about only one of us go over there this time?" Hermione suggested suddenly. "I mean, it's kind of... I dunno... If three kids all suddenly advanced on me wanting answers to some questions, I'd be either nervous or very annoyed..."
Ron thought about this. "Good idea. How about Harry go?"
"Why me?"
"Because you're the one who dragged us into this when the Ministry of Magic could have taken care of it all themselves!" Ron said importantly.
"The Ministry of Magic is made up of a huge load of idiots, Ron.... Besides your dad, but he doesn't count. Personally, I wouldn't trust them to take care of a flubberworm for me, much less the survival of our school and possibly of the whole wizarding world!" Harry said hotly.
"You're still the one who suggested we come here." Ron pouted.
"Come on you two, act your age." Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes. "If you wanna act like a bunch of PMS-y, whiney, five year old girls, that's fine with me, but do it AFTER we finish up here, and NOT in front of me!"
Harry and Ron glanced at each other, then grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Hermione."
"I still think Harry should go." Ron put in.
Hermione rolled her eyes at them again. "Honestly..."
Harry grinned. "Fine, I'll go."
He took the truth serum from Hermione and grabbed himself a punch from the snack table, then jogged over to Tea, Tristan, and Bakura.
"Hey guys." he said. "What's up? Besides the duel, that is..."
Tea smiled. "Yugi's winning!"
Tristan rolled his eyes. "Duh, Tea. He ALWAYS wins."
"He does?" Harry asked. "How come?"
"He's the best, that's why." Tea said.
"Also, Yami helps him alot." Bakura put in. About a second after he said it, he realized what it was he said. "Um, I mean..."
All three of them got a look on their faces that said, "Pleeeeease don't ask me to explain that to you..."
"I know who Yami is." Harry said quickly. "Yugi told me. How does he help?"
He was mostly just making semi-idle chatter, trying to steer the conversation in such a way that would be helpful in asking them the right questions.
"Oh, this and that." Tristan said. "Mostly by giving him advice during a duel."
"And sometimes..." Bakura added softly. "Yami merges with Yugi so they're both dueling at the same time... Like now, for instance. If you look at him, you can see that it's actually Yami that's up there rather than Yugi."
Harry looked. Bakura was right. It was Yami that was up there. "I see... Isn't that sort of like taking over him? Sorta possessing him?"
"Sort of..." Tristan said, wrinkling his nose. "It's not a very pleasent way of putting it, though..."
"Definitely not pleasant." Bakura added, giving a small involuntary shudder at the thought.
"I suppose so." Harry said, nodding. "It's still weird to think about."
"It sure is." Tea said. "But it's kind of cool, too."
"So," Harry ventured slowly. "Has anything weird like that been happening... recently?"
During the conversation, he had sneaked the truth serum into their drinks, so if anything had been happening with any of these three, it would come out now.
"Not weird like that, really." Tristan said, shrugging. "Weird like, Yugi being all quiet ever since you an your brother an sister got here... and weird like Malik coming to Domino about a week ago and starting school with us..."
"And you three being here, of course. That could count as weird." Tea added, blinking slowly at what she just said. "Not that that's bad or anything, but... Sorry..."
"No, that's ok." Harry grinned. "We're all pretty weird people..."
He glanced at Bakura, who was mildly listening to the conversation, but who was mostly staring downward in the general direction of his drink, although it was obvious that his mind was on other things. Something that was mentioned in the conversation, maybe.
But he wasn't saying anything... Had he taken a drink since he had slipped in the serum? He'd have to make sure...
"So... You like the punch, Bakura?" he said, smiling at Bakura.
Hearing his name shook Bakura out of his slight daze and he looked up. He blinked, realized what Harry had said, then drained his cup. "Yeah, it's ok." he said quietly, like he usually did. "I think it's a little watered down, though."
Harry grinned. "Yeah? I thought so too. So do you think anything weird has been happening lately?"
Bakura shrugged. "Not really, no. Nothing that's too out of the ordinary."
Harry nodded slowly. "Hmmm." he looked around at the group of three around him, who were now giving him curious looks.
"So, why do you want to know about weird things, anyway, Harry?" Tristan asked somewhat suspiciously.
Harry shrugged. "No particular reason. I just like weird things. It's fun trying to figure out what causes weird things. What makes them happen, and such."
Harry felt kind of dumb, knowing that he was way overusing the words "weird" and "thing," but he wanted to remain as specific as possible, at least until he got some answers...
"Ah. I see." Tea said, the look on her face saying that she really didn't see, but she didn't want to be rude.
"Why were you so interested in Bakura's drink?" Tristan asked.
"I was just commenting on the punch." Harry said somewhat defensively, shrugging his shoulders.
They were becoming suspicious of his questions, plus, judging by the way Tea had told him that she got what he was saying even though she didn't, the truth serums were wearing off. Strange... Harry had thought that truth serums would last a lot longer than that short amount of time...
Thankfully, Hermione must have seen that he was looking somewhat nervous, because she suddenly called out across the room, "Hey Harry! Come see this!"
Harry grinned somewhat sheepishly at Tea, Tristan, and Bakura, and gave them all a quick, "see ya later," and hurried quickly over to Hermione.
"What is it?" he asked. "and thanks." he muttered to her a little more quietly.
"No problem. You looked like you needed help." she murmered back. Then she spoke normally again, "Ron and I have been watching duels, and I think we've got the basic idea down of how to play..."
"It sounds like fun." Ron added. "Especially with the whole Shadow Magic thing to go with it. I might just see go Yugi's grandpa about gettin me a deck of my own."
"Except that you don't have any money..." Harry reminded him.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "How much does a deck cost, usually?" she asked a kid near her.
"Uhhh... It's usually about $10 for a starter deck, and then $3.99 per booster pack." The kid answered her, turning back to his duel. "Yugi's grandpa has prices for that kind of stuff downstairs in the shop, if you wanna go down and look."
Hermione nodded. She then promptly led her two "brothers" downstairs to look at prices for the Duel Monster cards.
She obviously had some way of getting money... Harry grinned, wondering if she had enough to buy him a deck, too. Ron was right, Duel Monsters sounded like fun...
****************************************************************************
Daricio: Ha! I figured out a way to work in Harry getting a deck! ^.^
Malik: Daricio, what exactly are you wearing???
Daricio: *is wearing a purple fuzzy bathrobe over jeans and a sweatshirt with dark blue eyeshadow painted under her eyes and bobby pins in her hair making it look really really messed up* ^_^U It's my Halloween costume...
Malik: o.O What are you supposed to be?
Daricio: The scariest beast in the world.... Me in the morning!!!! ^_^
Malik: Very nice...
Random Reviewers: *suddenly appear and begin hucking rotten bananas at Daricio*
Bananas: *splat*
Daricio: *covered with rotten bananas* -_-UUUU Now I'm "Me in the morning ala rotten banana."
Malik: Well, you DID give them permisson...
Random Reviewers: *evil grins* *tossing more rotten bananas at Daricio*
Daricio: ^_^U Ok, ok, enough with the bananas allready! Sorry for not updating until after November started... ^_^UUU
Random Reviewers: *spot Malik* *evil grin* *huck rotten bananas at him, too*
Malik: O.O Ack!!! *brandishes shield given to him by Flaed in a review of Where's Yugi*
RR: -_- Dern.
Malik: whew!
Daricio: *shoos RR out of author room* ^_^UUUUUU Alrightly then... Reviews are very welcome! Ideas are welcome! Heck, even flames are welcome!
Malik: Translation: *acts like zombie in imitation of Daricio* uuuuuuuuggggghhhh....... Must.................. have............... reviews...............
Daricio: That's very funny, Malik.
Malik: ^_^ Isn't it, though?
Daricio: ^_^U Anyhows, byez until next time, everyone! Review!!
--Daricio
^_^U
I've been working on a lot of my stories lately, trying to finish up chapters and such... Hopefully this chapter will be up before... *checks date that she started* hopefully up before November... If it wasn't up by then, you all have my full permission to pummel me with rotten bananas.
Not tomatoes, mind you. Bananas. Only bananas. ^_^
Malik: Well folks, say goodbye to her sanity. School has made her lose her mind.
Daricio: I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell! I know, right now you can't tell! But stay awhile, maybe then you'll see a different side of me!
Malik: Quit stealing lyrics from Matchbox20...
Daricio: ^_^U But I LIKE that song!!! (It's called "Unwell" BTW, and I obviously don't own it. But I like it.)
Malik: Whatever. Are you going to start the chappie???
Daricio: Oh, right. Of course. ^_^ But first, I have to do something.
Malik: what now?
Daricio: A few reviewers have put forth some very interesting points about the story that I just thought I should share with you. I'm not necessarily putting up only the ones that lead you away from who it really is, or putting up only ones that lead you TO who it really is either. I'm not commenting on anything, or trying to lead you astray, or ANYTHING! I'm simply going to show you what other readers thought. (I'm also not actually showing you the whole review as well...) Ok?
Malik: *half nod* I... Think so... You need to talk in shorter sentances.
Daricio: *blink* I show you other people's reviews. I not being biased. I not trying to trick you or anything. I just showing you. Ok?
Malik: Much better. Now, what did they say?
Daricio: ^_^ This:
~~~
Evil Neptune: "I'm going to stick with Yugi, because it sounds like un- clearing Kaiba was a bit of an afterthought."
Perpetually Hyper One: "I still think that Malik and Yami Bakura are at least involved, and I wouldn't be surprised if Kaiba plays a small part."
Kate Ryou: "Kate: I think Bakura/Yami Bakura still... You know how evil he is. ~ Kathy: But it could have been Yugi/Yami Yugi now. By the way he's been acting. ~ Kate: well, at least it could be Kaiba. He doesn't believe in stuff like that."
Vegetaz-girl: "Kay, I think it could be KAIBA STILL!!!... Or Joey or Yugi... I've narrowed down my suspects, that I have... =^_^= Kay, how's this idea? Harry, Hermione and Ron go to the match thing, (no duh) and Joey tells about whatever he wants to tell about (no duh again) and they figure out that Yugi has a whole nother soul type thing. Then maybe they could find out that Y. Bakura put that dark evil puzzle piece into his puzzle and it possesed Yugi even though he doesn't know it, and they don't know Bakura did it and I am probably way off base because Bakura probably didn't do it wow this is a long sentance."
NekoPlushie: "And when Hermione said it's very apparent that Kaiba had never made potions himself? What if she was wrong, he HAD, but didn't WANT them to have enough for more than one person?"
~~~
Daricio: Great ideas everybody! Note: I didn't put everybody's reviews in here, just the bits of reviews that I thought might help (or not help) people. So don't take offense if I didn't show yours, ok? ok. ^_^
Malik: *sarcastic* You're being really helpful in helping everybody figure out who it is...
Daricio: That would be the point.... Hey, wait... Do you not know who it is?
Malik: -_- *shakes head* You never told ME....
Daricio: ^_^ I'm not going to either! You have to guess like everybody else!
Malik: -_-U Gee, thanks... You don't like making this easy for anybody, do you?
Daricio: Nope! ^_^
Malik: Oh, weren't you going to say something about the Kaiba thing and do a short response to MagicPerson14's review?
Daricio: Oh yeah! I have decided that because all of you object so much about me calling him Seto (for some reason) I'll commence with calling him Kaiba.... ^_^U And don't worry, I WILL actually clear somebody this chappie! Really!
Malik: okay...
Daricio: ^_^ and as for MagicPerson14, you'll have to wait till I get the next chappie of where's Yugi up for the full response to this, because I don't feel like repeating myself and I wrote these author notes after writing the author notes for Where's Yugi... ^_^U
Malik: that's not very nice, making people wait... It's almost as evil as making me wait to see who did it! ...... One question though.. Did I do it???
Daricio: Not saying! *eeeevil grin*
Malik: -_- Dern...
Daricio: OK! Now that the author notes are longer than the chappie will probably be, let's start it!
************************************************************************
It only took the three of them about five minutes to put away most of the potions stuff, separate the potion they had into three stoppable vials, and head down the stairs and over to Yugi's shop, but it was still packed by the time they got there.
They learned from a group of kids standing by the doorway that because Yugi's house was a card shop, whenever he had matches there, Duel Monsters lovers from school would come to do small side duels, talk, trade, eat the refreshments that were served, and buy new cards.
This ensured that Yugi's Grandpa, who ran the shop, would let them do the matches there in the first place, as the large crowd attracted a lot of business.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron squeezed their way into the shop. It was hard to navigate through the room, as there were groups of kids standing in random places, and some sitting or lieing on the floor dueling and trading, like those kids had said.
Harry couldn't see Yugi or Joey anywhere, though.
The trio decided to watch a few of the duels and see if they could figure out the concept of the game while they waited to spot either of them.
As it turned out, they didn't have to wait for very long, because Yugi soon came bounding down the stairs, almost running into somebody at the bottom, with a small grin on his face.
"All right, my room is cleaned, and we can also use the upstairs hall. Everybody, move towards the back of the house so that we're not all crowded in the entryways, ok?" He called.
The crowd soon complied to his order and it was soon much easier to get around.
"Hey, Yugi!" Harry called out to Yugi, who was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, talking to a few people.
Yugi looked up. His smile faltered momentarily, then he grinned again, gesturing for the three of them to come over.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron did so as best they could, trying not to knock over anybody's decks as they walked, or step on anybody.
When they finally got there, and after a very brief greeting, Yugi led them up the stairs. He poked his head into his room for a moment and called Joey away from a duel, then led the now semi-large group down the hall to an unlit room on the left and at the end.
When everyone was inside the room, Yugi flipped on the lights and closed the door.
Harry blinked at the room. "Hey, Yugi... Mind explaining why we're all in the bathroom?"
Joey looked confused. "I was wonderin that as well, Yuge'..."
Yugi frowned, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub. "Well, you said you wanted a private place to discuss this, and the rest of the rooms in the house are filled with duelists!"
"Even your grandpa's bedroom, Yugi?" Joey asked.
"Well, no, but Grandpa doesn't like people in there while he's trying to mind the shop."
"Not even you?"
Ron cleared his throat.
Yugi blinked. "Oh, right. So what exactly was it you were wanting to talk about?"
"Huh? Oh, right. Harry wanted to know about yer Millennium Puzzle, Yugi..." Joey said.
Yugi blinked. "okay..." he turned to Harry instead. "What about it?"
Harry, now put on the spot somewhat, suddenly felt somewhat uncomfortable. "Well.. I was talking to Kaiba, and he said that it had some sort of powers having to do with a "Shadow Realm", and I was talking to Joey, and he said that it was tied into the game of Duel Monsters. How?"
Yugi brightened somewhat and he grinned. "That it? Well that's easy. Duel Monsters is an ancient game that was played by the Egyptians a long time ago. They played it with special shadow powers, from the Shadow Realm. Though, after awhile, those powers began to get out of hand and the monsters of the game became involved in a sort of a war between the Pharaoh and a bunch of rouges. I don't know the exact details, but basically, the Pharaoh decided that in order to save the land from destruction because of the powers, he would lock away the shadow powers into seven Millennium Items."
Harry nodded, thinking. "Kaiba showed us pictures of those...Puzzle, Eye, Necklace, Ring, Rod, Scale, and Key... I didn't know that they had that much magic in them, though..."
Ron looked somewhat surprised at the mention of magic from Egypt, which was the place where his brother worked, studying the stuff, and also where he had visited only about two summers previously. Joey noticed the surprise and he grinned.
"What, you don't believe in magic?" he asked Ron. Ron ducked his head slightly to hide a sudden grin at the irony of this question.
"Kaiba doesn't, that's for sure. That's probably why he didn't tell you about it." Yugi said.
Harry smiled, knowing one of the reasons why Kaiba really didn't like anything related to magic. "So, that's it? That's all there is to the Millennium Items? They have ancient magic?"
"Actually, no. There is more to them. For my puzzle, at any rate. Let me show you." Yugi said, closing his eyes.
Hermione and Ron both looked interested.
Suddenly, the puzzle grew very bright, enveloping the room in light for a few brief seconds before growing dimmer gradually until it was back to its normal brightness.
Harry blinked away the spots from his eyes. He was a bit shocked to see that because the sudden light had startled them, he had impulsively reached for his wand, which was safely tucked away, and that he had brought it out halfway. He quickly stuffed it back out of sight.
Only then did he look around the bathroom, trying to see what changes had been made to the room.
What he saw was even more shocking than the realization that he had pulled out his wand! Where Yugi had been sitting on the edge of the bathtub, there were now TWO Yugi's sitting there!
(DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN!!!!)
One of the Yugi's was taller than the other, and Harry could tell which one was the one he had been talking to before, but it was still very strange. "Whoa." he gasped. "Where'd you come from?"
Ron stared at the taller, more regal looking one for a moment, his mind racing. Suddenly, something in his head clicked and he grinned. "Bloody hell..." he breathed. "You're the Pharaoh, Yami, aren't you?"
Yami looked faintly surprised at the recognision, but gave a half nod. "Yes. How did you know?"
"My brother works up in Egypt, studying the anceint culture, and he told me about you. Well, it was in a letter, so it was kinda breif... But he did mention that you sealed your soul into an item... I had no idea that that story of his was connected to the Millennium Items!" Ron said, sounding excited.
Yugi smiled. "So your brother's an archeologist? Like Grandpa?"
Ron paused. "Well... Not quite... But sort of, I suppose..."
"Well, still, that's cool." Yugi said. "That takes out a whole lot of explaining for us to do."
Yami nodded. "So, why is it you were interested in the Millennium Items, anyway?" he asked calmly.
After a moment's hesitation, Hermione spoke up, "Well, you see, we all really admire our older brother, the one in Egypt, and... Well, Kaiba told us about the items, and we wanted to see if we could get more information about them than he would be able to."
Yugi nodded. "That makes sence. Sibling rivalry, huh?"
"Yup." Harry said.
"So... is that all you wanted to know?" Yami asked.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry all looked at each other for a moment, before deciding that since there was no way to get them to take any truth serums right then, they'd just ask later. "Yeah, that's about it. Thanks a ton!" Hermione said for them.
"No problem." Yugi said. He went over to open the door and let them all out of the stuffy bathroom, and Yami quickly disappeared back into the puzzle.
The moment Yugi stepped out of the door, a kid from his school saw him and told him that it was time for his duel to begin and that people were looking for him.
They hurried down the hall and Joey followed after them, grinning to himself.
Ron, Hermione, and Harry went off into a corner to discuss what they had just found out.
"So, what do you think?" Harry asked.
"Well, I'm not sure whether he's using the powers of the puzzle for good or for bad, but now we know what Kaiba was talking about when he said that the Items had power." Ron shrugged. "That's about all the information we got out of that."
Hermione shook her head. "This is frustrating. It's hard to figure out who did or didn't make Hogwarts disappear. There's just nothing to ask anybody that would work!"
Harry sighed. "We'll just have to see if we can sneak some of that truth serum into anybody's punch... Only a few people are actually drinking the stuff Yugi has set out, though..."
"Probably worried that somebody spiked it." Hermione mumbled.
"That somebody whated it?"
"Never mind, Ron."
"Hey, look over there!" Harry said, suddenly noticing a group of people standing somewhat close to the duel, all three of them drinking punch. "It's Tea, Tristan, and Bakura!"
"You're right! Let's see if we can talk to them." Hermione said.
"All right!" Ron grinned. "Maybe we'll actually get some real information out of this!"
"How about only one of us go over there this time?" Hermione suggested suddenly. "I mean, it's kind of... I dunno... If three kids all suddenly advanced on me wanting answers to some questions, I'd be either nervous or very annoyed..."
Ron thought about this. "Good idea. How about Harry go?"
"Why me?"
"Because you're the one who dragged us into this when the Ministry of Magic could have taken care of it all themselves!" Ron said importantly.
"The Ministry of Magic is made up of a huge load of idiots, Ron.... Besides your dad, but he doesn't count. Personally, I wouldn't trust them to take care of a flubberworm for me, much less the survival of our school and possibly of the whole wizarding world!" Harry said hotly.
"You're still the one who suggested we come here." Ron pouted.
"Come on you two, act your age." Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes. "If you wanna act like a bunch of PMS-y, whiney, five year old girls, that's fine with me, but do it AFTER we finish up here, and NOT in front of me!"
Harry and Ron glanced at each other, then grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Hermione."
"I still think Harry should go." Ron put in.
Hermione rolled her eyes at them again. "Honestly..."
Harry grinned. "Fine, I'll go."
He took the truth serum from Hermione and grabbed himself a punch from the snack table, then jogged over to Tea, Tristan, and Bakura.
"Hey guys." he said. "What's up? Besides the duel, that is..."
Tea smiled. "Yugi's winning!"
Tristan rolled his eyes. "Duh, Tea. He ALWAYS wins."
"He does?" Harry asked. "How come?"
"He's the best, that's why." Tea said.
"Also, Yami helps him alot." Bakura put in. About a second after he said it, he realized what it was he said. "Um, I mean..."
All three of them got a look on their faces that said, "Pleeeeease don't ask me to explain that to you..."
"I know who Yami is." Harry said quickly. "Yugi told me. How does he help?"
He was mostly just making semi-idle chatter, trying to steer the conversation in such a way that would be helpful in asking them the right questions.
"Oh, this and that." Tristan said. "Mostly by giving him advice during a duel."
"And sometimes..." Bakura added softly. "Yami merges with Yugi so they're both dueling at the same time... Like now, for instance. If you look at him, you can see that it's actually Yami that's up there rather than Yugi."
Harry looked. Bakura was right. It was Yami that was up there. "I see... Isn't that sort of like taking over him? Sorta possessing him?"
"Sort of..." Tristan said, wrinkling his nose. "It's not a very pleasent way of putting it, though..."
"Definitely not pleasant." Bakura added, giving a small involuntary shudder at the thought.
"I suppose so." Harry said, nodding. "It's still weird to think about."
"It sure is." Tea said. "But it's kind of cool, too."
"So," Harry ventured slowly. "Has anything weird like that been happening... recently?"
During the conversation, he had sneaked the truth serum into their drinks, so if anything had been happening with any of these three, it would come out now.
"Not weird like that, really." Tristan said, shrugging. "Weird like, Yugi being all quiet ever since you an your brother an sister got here... and weird like Malik coming to Domino about a week ago and starting school with us..."
"And you three being here, of course. That could count as weird." Tea added, blinking slowly at what she just said. "Not that that's bad or anything, but... Sorry..."
"No, that's ok." Harry grinned. "We're all pretty weird people..."
He glanced at Bakura, who was mildly listening to the conversation, but who was mostly staring downward in the general direction of his drink, although it was obvious that his mind was on other things. Something that was mentioned in the conversation, maybe.
But he wasn't saying anything... Had he taken a drink since he had slipped in the serum? He'd have to make sure...
"So... You like the punch, Bakura?" he said, smiling at Bakura.
Hearing his name shook Bakura out of his slight daze and he looked up. He blinked, realized what Harry had said, then drained his cup. "Yeah, it's ok." he said quietly, like he usually did. "I think it's a little watered down, though."
Harry grinned. "Yeah? I thought so too. So do you think anything weird has been happening lately?"
Bakura shrugged. "Not really, no. Nothing that's too out of the ordinary."
Harry nodded slowly. "Hmmm." he looked around at the group of three around him, who were now giving him curious looks.
"So, why do you want to know about weird things, anyway, Harry?" Tristan asked somewhat suspiciously.
Harry shrugged. "No particular reason. I just like weird things. It's fun trying to figure out what causes weird things. What makes them happen, and such."
Harry felt kind of dumb, knowing that he was way overusing the words "weird" and "thing," but he wanted to remain as specific as possible, at least until he got some answers...
"Ah. I see." Tea said, the look on her face saying that she really didn't see, but she didn't want to be rude.
"Why were you so interested in Bakura's drink?" Tristan asked.
"I was just commenting on the punch." Harry said somewhat defensively, shrugging his shoulders.
They were becoming suspicious of his questions, plus, judging by the way Tea had told him that she got what he was saying even though she didn't, the truth serums were wearing off. Strange... Harry had thought that truth serums would last a lot longer than that short amount of time...
Thankfully, Hermione must have seen that he was looking somewhat nervous, because she suddenly called out across the room, "Hey Harry! Come see this!"
Harry grinned somewhat sheepishly at Tea, Tristan, and Bakura, and gave them all a quick, "see ya later," and hurried quickly over to Hermione.
"What is it?" he asked. "and thanks." he muttered to her a little more quietly.
"No problem. You looked like you needed help." she murmered back. Then she spoke normally again, "Ron and I have been watching duels, and I think we've got the basic idea down of how to play..."
"It sounds like fun." Ron added. "Especially with the whole Shadow Magic thing to go with it. I might just see go Yugi's grandpa about gettin me a deck of my own."
"Except that you don't have any money..." Harry reminded him.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "How much does a deck cost, usually?" she asked a kid near her.
"Uhhh... It's usually about $10 for a starter deck, and then $3.99 per booster pack." The kid answered her, turning back to his duel. "Yugi's grandpa has prices for that kind of stuff downstairs in the shop, if you wanna go down and look."
Hermione nodded. She then promptly led her two "brothers" downstairs to look at prices for the Duel Monster cards.
She obviously had some way of getting money... Harry grinned, wondering if she had enough to buy him a deck, too. Ron was right, Duel Monsters sounded like fun...
****************************************************************************
Daricio: Ha! I figured out a way to work in Harry getting a deck! ^.^
Malik: Daricio, what exactly are you wearing???
Daricio: *is wearing a purple fuzzy bathrobe over jeans and a sweatshirt with dark blue eyeshadow painted under her eyes and bobby pins in her hair making it look really really messed up* ^_^U It's my Halloween costume...
Malik: o.O What are you supposed to be?
Daricio: The scariest beast in the world.... Me in the morning!!!! ^_^
Malik: Very nice...
Random Reviewers: *suddenly appear and begin hucking rotten bananas at Daricio*
Bananas: *splat*
Daricio: *covered with rotten bananas* -_-UUUU Now I'm "Me in the morning ala rotten banana."
Malik: Well, you DID give them permisson...
Random Reviewers: *evil grins* *tossing more rotten bananas at Daricio*
Daricio: ^_^U Ok, ok, enough with the bananas allready! Sorry for not updating until after November started... ^_^UUU
Random Reviewers: *spot Malik* *evil grin* *huck rotten bananas at him, too*
Malik: O.O Ack!!! *brandishes shield given to him by Flaed in a review of Where's Yugi*
RR: -_- Dern.
Malik: whew!
Daricio: *shoos RR out of author room* ^_^UUUUUU Alrightly then... Reviews are very welcome! Ideas are welcome! Heck, even flames are welcome!
Malik: Translation: *acts like zombie in imitation of Daricio* uuuuuuuuggggghhhh....... Must.................. have............... reviews...............
Daricio: That's very funny, Malik.
Malik: ^_^ Isn't it, though?
Daricio: ^_^U Anyhows, byez until next time, everyone! Review!!
--Daricio