Daricio: Ok, this ish my new chapter... I'm actually typing this while I'm on vacation. (I'm on my laptop) As I start the chapter, I am in Montana, in our camp site, 4th day of the trip.
Malik: That's nice, nobody cares.
Daricio: Roo cares.
Malik: He does? Since when?
Daricio: (points to where Roo is brooding in the corner) On this trip, I learned that he's afraid of heights.
Roo: (sticks tongue out at Daricio)
Daricio:
Malik: Uh huh...
Daricio: Anyways, no other notes, except that this chapter is probably going to end up getting posted right after the last one I did, mostly because there's no internet connection out here. So, let's start the chapter!
(----Divider----)
Another long boring school day later, Harry, Hermione, and Ron made sure to look for Yugi as they exited the building so that they could talk to him before he went off anywhere else.
As Harry caught up to him, he called out, "Hey, Yugi! Wait up!"
Yugi turned, grinning when he saw who it was. "Hi Harry! Hi Ron and Hermione!"
Hermione and Ron said their hellos. Hermione opened her mouth to ask Yugi over.
"Hey, can I come over to your guys' house today? Since you're still pretty new around here, maybe I can give you a tour of the town." Yugi asked brightly.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron all exchanged glances. Something was wrong here...
"Sure, that'd be cool." Ron finally answered. "You wanna come straight over, or you wanna go ask your Grandpa first?"
"Oh, I asked permission today before school, so that if you said sure that I'd be able to go. Let's drop our stuff off at your house, and then we can go tour!" Yugi suggested.
"Yes, that would work all right." Hermione answered. "Let's go!"
Together, with the rest of their group of friends, the foursome walked to the rented house, chatting amiably all the way.
Throughout the entire day, Yugi was extremely bright and cheerful, very unlike how he had been while they first got here. It was almost night time by the time they started back towards their 'home' again.
They decided to take a small short cut through some of the alleyways to get back home, and as they walked, the last fading light of the sunset sifted through to lightly touch the ground.
Hermione sighed. "This town is so pretty."
Yugi nodded. "Yeah, I've always enjoyed living here, even if some strange things happen around here sometimes..."
Harry looked at him interestedly. "Strange things like what, Yugi?"
Yugi shrugged. "Well, different things, really. We've had duelist tournaments like Battle City that always end up being really dangerous, we've got the normal thieving and things like that around here... Once we even had a drug ring that had to be arrested. Other than that, though, the other strange stuff is pretty harmless."
Ron grinned. "You mean like practical jokes, right?"
"Well, that and some other stuff..."
"Like what?"
DVD185: (doinks by)
DVD: (chases after him) GET BACK HERE, YOU!
Daricio: (chases both of them) GET OUT OF MY STORY!!!
Yugi, Hermione, Ron, and Harry stared after the strange looking people as they disappeared into another side alley.
"... Shall we continue on and pretend that we didn't just see that?"
"Good idea, Yugi."
They continued on to the house with no further comment on the insane whackos.
(----Divider----)
(A/n: The random appearances here, as well as the slight reference to LuckyLadybug66's mystery stories, are for purely odd reasons. Pay no attention to them, they have nothing to do with the story. )
Hermione closed the door to the house and started to put some of the school stuff, which had been dumped in the main entryway when they all first came in, away in a better spot. Yugi grabbed his and turned to the rest of them.
Suddenly, he looked very serious. The puzzle glowed, and Yami came out in a temporary physical form, then Yugi opened his bag.
"I bet you're wondering why I asked to come over in the first place, huh?" Yugi said as he began looking through things.
"Especially as you were just about to ask us the same thing, if I'm correct." Yami added.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry glanced at each other, then nodded slowly at Yami.
Yugi pulled out what he was looking for: a photograph and a piece of paper. Then he handed them to Harry.
It was a picture of the group of Ministry workers.
Harry looked up at Yugi. "What's this?"
"Well, when you were over for that dueling thing two days ago, those robed guys came in and you guys all ran off to hide in the bathroom, right?"
"yeah..." Ron said quietly.
Yugi looked a little embarrassed. "Well, I wanted to figure out why you didn't want them to see you here, and Yami agreed that it was rather strange. Me and him have been sensing some power buildups lately. You know, magic buildups... And because you were acting so weird, we thought it might have been you."
"So we followed those men to try and figure out what you guys were up to, if anything." Yami explained.
Hermione laughed. "That's funny! We've been following a mystery of our own concerning certain things and places disappearing lately by magic, and we had suspected you of doing it! We had wanted to invite you over so we could figure out if you were up to anything!"
There was silence, then everyone laughed for a while, mostly in relief that their newfound friends weren't the people they were looking for.
"So, what did you find out about us from the Ministry?" Harry asked after a while.
"Oh, is that what they're called? Interesting..." Yami said...
"We actually didn't find out much yesterday, except that they could all do magic. It's really strange, actually, because I've always assumed that the only magic around was magic that came from the Millennium Items..." Yugi admitted.
Harry nodded. "Yeah, there's other magic in the world. Lots of it."
Hermione looked at him. "Harry, we're not supposed to tell people-"
"I think we can tell him, Hermione." Ron said. "After all, he'll find out eventually even if we don't tell him."
Yugi grinned impishly.
Hermione sighed. "Fine. Many people in this world can do magic, and there are special schools of magic all around the world. The best of the best, though, is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's the one we go to, and it's in London."
"Or it used to be in London." Harry added, looking down. "It's one of the main places that have disappeared."
Ron nodded. "The Ministry of Magic, those robed guys who are running around, sent everybody home. The huge amount of magic that was necessary to make the school go poof was enough for them to track it, and they tracked it to here in Domino."
"Harry somehow found out where the Ministry was going, and so we went here to see if we could solve the mystery before they could." Hermione said.
"Because the Ministry is a bunch of Dolts." Harry added. Ron gave him a look. "Except Ron's dad."
"Ah..." Yugi said, pondering this information.
"So you're not brothers and sisters, are you?" Yami asked, looking amused.
Hermione grinned sheepishly. "No, we're not. We're just friends from school."
Yami nodded. "I had thought so. Especially when Ron was talking about his brother in Egypt. Speaking of which..."
"Yeah, he works with Ancient Egyptian curses on the tombs and stuff like that." Ron said, grinning. "I got to travel there at one point. It was rather fun. Everybody in my family is involved with magic."
"Mine aren't. My parents can't do magic, but I can."
"My parents were able to do magic before they died."
"Yeah. You get lots of different types of families in the magic world." Ron said. "Some muggle, or non-magic families, have kids that can do magic. Some magic families have kids that can't do magic. Those kinds of people are called squibs."
Yugi's brow furrowed. "I've heard that word before... I think maybe Mokuba said it at one point, but I can't remember where."
Ron laughed. "Oh, yeah, Kaiba's little brother. You ever wonder why Kaiba doesn't like magic type of things? Well, he caught us talking about magic type of things, told us to go talk to him over at KaibaCorp. Turns out, there's magic in his family too."
Yugi blinked. "Really? He and Mokuba go to these magic schools?"
Ron grinned. "Well, Mokuba was going to go to Hogwarts this year, but... you know...... But Kaiba? He's a squib. He's got plenty of magical potion ingredients there, but he can't do a lick of magic himself."
Yami laughed. "Oh, that just figures."
Yugi grinned. "Uh oh, you've just given Yami a new thing to tease him about."
Hermione frowned. "No, you guys. Sorry, but we're taking enough of a risk just telling you two about all this. You can't tell anybody else. You can help us try and solve our mystery, since the power build-up that you've been sensing is probably the same thing we're looking for, but not a word about our magic!"
Yugi nodded solemnly. "I understand."
"As do I." Yami agreed. "And we'll do all we can to aid you in your search."
Yugi nodded, his cheerful smile returning very quickly.
"Hey, Yugi?" Harry asked after a moment, suddenly remembering something. "We were talking to Tea, Tristan, and Joey, and they all said that you've been really quiet lately. And we noticed that ourselves as well. You seem to be back to normal, as far as we can tell, so can you tell us what was up?"
Yami looked interested too. "Yes, I had sensed this from you as well, Yugi."
Yugi shifted uncomfortably. "Well... I... Oh, it was stupid, really..."
"What was it?" Hermione asked, trying to be comforting.
Yugi looked away. "I... A bunch of bullies caught me in the alleys about a week ago. Before I could even think of what I was doing, or think to call to Yami for help... I sort of inadvertently activated the puzzle. All four bullies were out cold, and I was running home before I realized what happened... I hadn't meant to hurt anybody... It's simply taken me this long before I could recover from that enough to be my old cheerful self again..." he gave a weak laugh. "I think it was the dueling that finally snapped me out of it."
Harry gave Yugi a pat on the back. "It's ok, Yugi. It was self defense. I'm glad you're back to your old cheerful self."
"Yeah, you really are a fun person to hang out with." Ron added with a smile.
Yugi grinned. "Thanks."
The five of them chatted about different things, mostly magic and the different things that each kind could do, until late. Finally, Yugi looked at his watch and realized what time it was.
"Oh, sorry guys! We have to go, Grandpa will be wondering where I am."
Harry laughed, then pointed out the window. One of the lower windows of the Game Shop was open, and Yugi's grandpa was leaning out of it, his fingers tapping on the sill in an impatient fashion, watching them all talk with a bemused expression on his face.
When he saw Yugi looking at him, he pointed at his watch, and Yugi grinned sheepishly.
"Ok, so he's not wondering where I am, but still... I have to go."
They all laughed, and Yugi and Yami left, Yami disappearing back into the puzzle, and Yugi waving goodbye then skipping home.
This had been a very productive few days. Only two suspects left, Kaiba and Malik, and they had been able to get to know Yugi better. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were able to get to sleep much more easily than they had for quite a while.
(----Divider----)
Daricio: There's ANOTHER chapter finished... (sweatdrop) I wrote out this whole thing in just one day.... ... and now my laptop is flashing at me that I have low battery power... Meaning we need to get back to our campsite soon so I can recharge it...
Malik: I'm STILL not cleared...
Daricio: But that should make you happy, right? That means that you're still a potential criminal!
Malik: ... I'd be happier if you'd just tell me who it is that did it....
Daricio: Not right now.
Malik: Oh come on! Just tell me what their name begins with!
Daricio: There's only two suspects left, Malik! Can't you wait one more chapter?
Malik: NO.
Daricio: (sweatdrop) I see... Sucks to be you. Chapter ends now. (cheesy grin)
Review everyone!