Chapter Two: The Letter
Harry Potter stared out of his bedroom window, his heart heavy. The dark shadows of his room began to grow as the sun started to shrink, casting heavenly golden-pink rays above and into Harry's room. Too soon, the beauty of the sun disappeared, replaced with the now cold darkness of the night.
Harry casted his eyes down, looking at the the little mirror in his hands. It was no bigger than a paperback book, and taped behind it, was a note left by his godfather.
The young boy, now on his 16th birthday, did not enjoy the perks of sweet sixteen. True, the Dursley never had celebrated his birthday, and never would, but this time, Harry's heart was weighed down by the loss of his godfather...his father's best friend...his own guardian and pratically a brother...Sirius Black.
It hurt Harry to remember the look on Sirius's face when he soared through the air and into the dark archway. It angered Harry more than his pain to hear Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream as Sirius disappeared through the ancient doorway. And it numbed Harry when he thought, over and over, that it was his fault, and that if he had never gotten so angry this year, never gotten so side-tracked, never had fallen for Voldemort's trap when blinded by his anger...Sirius would never had died.
A hate had started to blossom in Harry's heart...against Bellatrix, and against Voldemort. He had started to hate Voldemort with a passion; the evil Dark Lord had taken away his parents, forced him through such torture of years with the Dursleys, and now he had, indirectly, taken Sirius too. And for that, Harry swore he would get back at the Dark Lord.
He had only recently heard everything about his past, and was now still brooding about his destiny that was described in a prophecy made by his very own, ever-so-fake-looking Divination professor.
Harry slowly placed the mirror that Sirius had give him at Christmas, along with everything that Sirius had ever given him, into his trunk. He flipped through the photo album of his parents and stared longingly at the picture of his mother and father on their wedding day. There, waving and smiling broadly, with the same active and mischievous, handsome face, was Sirius, waving and winking as though nothing else in life could possibly had ruined that day.
After Harry replaced the book back into the trunk, he locked the trunk and headed towards the downstairs door. His best friend, Ron Weasley, was going to come pick him up with Fred and George, to bring him to spend the rest of the summer, at Grimmauld Place, once Sirius's own home. As he waited, Harry stared up into the skies, and among the twinkly stars, saw a small helicopter flying by.
Yugi Moto stared happily out of the little copter window in his room; as he saw the depths of the darkness the night possessed, whisking by underneath him, his darker side extracted himself into a ghostly from to sit in a calm demeanor on the bed.
/Isn't it great?/ asked Yugi, his heart soaring at the thought of returning home.
Oh yesreplied Yami from the bed. The future of the world is no longer at stake, and you will meet your grandfather again very soon.
/That's such a relief/ said Yugi, as he sat down next to Yami /Marik's okay, and we don't need to have this nightmare around us anymore!/
Yami merely nodded.
/Are you okay?/ inquired Yugi, his eyes wide and concerned.
Yami stared blankly at nothing. Yes, aibou...I'm alright.A sudden tapping noise jostled Yami out of his string of thought; he and Yugi perked their heads towards the source of the sound. A large, tawny brown owl was pecking impatiently at the window.
Yugi hurried to open the window. The owl swooped into the room majestically, baring a large, yellow envelope in his claws. As Yugi reached up for it, the owl seemed to realize the height of the young boy, and fluttered gracefully towards Yugi. As soon as the young boy took the letter from the owls' grasp, the bird huffed up its' chest with dignity and swooped back though the open window.
Yami peered over Yugi's shoulder. What is it?
Yugi stared at the ink on the envelope. The envelope was heavy, boring a crest with an intricate design of a lion, a raven, a badger and a snake. Yugi squinted his eyes in attempt to read the English written on the envelope, but failed.
/Maybe Tea can help us read this/ suggested Yugi. And without further ado, he rushed out the door.
As it turned out, Ryou and Marik were already with Tea, each of them also staring at the same envelope that Yugi got. Ryou was staring perplexedly at the letters that were inside, his dark eyes wide and quizzical. Marik was looking at the sheets of parchment paper as though it were a joke that he did not have time for. Tea looked up at Yugi.
"Yugi!" said Tea. "Did you get a letter too?"
"Yeah!" nodded Yugi, holding out the envelope. "Did you guys get it too?" he asked Marik and Ryou
"I believe it's some sort of a joke," said Marik "As only you, Bakura and I received it."
"It says the same thing as Ryou's and Marik's, Yugi," answered Tea, scanning the letters in the envelope. "It says that it also wishes you to attend a magical school in England!"
"England?" repeated Yugi, his eyes wide.
Ryou nodded. "I believe that someone named Professor Dumbledore has noticed that we've done magic lately. He wishes us to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry so we can develop our magic skills."
"Magic?" asked Yugi. "But we don't ...oh..." he stared down at his Millennium Puzzle. "Do you think he knows about the items?"
"I doubt it," said Marik. "They haven't been activated until very recently. The last time shadow magic was used were a few thousand years ago."
"Are you going?" asked Yugi. He found this entire thing slightly overwhelming at the point.
"Ishizu says I should go," said Marik, his eyes darkening. He had hoped to return to Egypt soon so he could have a fresh start with his family again. "She thought this way I could learn to control the shadows ...and my anger...better." Marik shifted his eyes towards the windows. "She said that she and Odion would wait until I got back."
Ryou was still looking at the letters. His heart had leapt when he found out it was a boarding school; surely this was a good way to have a fresh start and establish some good friendships without the knowledge of his sadistic dark side.
"I'm still not sure," answered Ryou. "I sure wouldn't want to go alone."
Marik suddenly turned towards the door and headed out, obviously returning to his room to contemplate. Ryou suggested that he do the same thing, and left Tea and Yugi alone.
"Would you really go?" asked Tea. "I would miss you here."
Yugi took back the letter and skimmed through everything. "I think so," answered Yugi. "I still have to talk about it with Yami, but I think I would want to go. It could give me a chance to learn more about the Millennium Items."
Tea was quiet for some time.
"I'll write to you!" said Yugi. "Of course I would. We can still keep in touch with each other even though I'd be in England."
Tea looked back up at Yugi, then nodded. "Hn. We will be friends together no matter what," she said, smiling. "Good luck, Yugi." Yugi smiled at his childhood friend and left the room.
As the helicopter was supposed to land, Yugi stared out of the window. He was soon joined by Ryou, who was eating a rather large dinner.
"Hungry?" asked Yugi, smiling at his friend.
"Very," replied Ryou through mouthfuls. "There's not much to eat in the shadow realm."
Suddenly, Ryou's eyes glazed a little, as though remembering something.
"What ...was it...like, in the shadow realm?" asked Yugi tentatively. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
Ryou slowly chewed and swallowed his mouthful of food, then stared at Yugi.
"It was...lonely," said Ryou finally. "We couldn't talk to anybody, except for this man, who stayed with me until you've brought me back."
"Who was he?" inquired Yugi.
"A man named Sirius Black," said Ryou. "We haven't talked since I've returned from the Shadow Realm; he was very very nice."
Ryou looked into Yugi's eyes, with a serious expression. "Yugi, he was my friend. He didn't turn his back on me when he found out about my dark side."
"Nor would we," said Yugi, understanding completely.
"I know. He was the first stranger to be entirely alright with my dark side. He helped me." He had a far-away look in his eyes as he looked out the window. "He told me he was in a duel with someone, that he was a wizard, and that he had no memory of how he managed to get into the shadow realm. He was my friend." Ryou looked back at Yugi, with an intense look on his face.
"Yugi, will you help me release him from the Shadow Realm?" asked Ryou seriously.
Yugi stared for a moment into Ryou's eyes and then nodded, with a determined smile on his face. "Yes, Bakura. I'll help you. We'll get your friend out as soon as we can." Yami then took control of Yugi's body and laid a hand on Ryou's shoulder.
"I promise you, we will do whatever we can to retrieve your friend out of the Shadow Realm," vowed the ancient Pharaoh, in his low assuring voice. He then switched with Yugi again.
Ryou smiled. "Thank you, Yugi."