Peter Kim: Despite the fact that I don't know much about the monsters no matter how hard I try (XD, I always look at the monsters everytime when there's a re-run I've watched, but I can never seem to remember them, because the bishies controlling those monsters are always distracting me), I do know quite a lot about the Egyptian Arc and about YGO in general. I do not think that the Millennium Items are capable of granting immortaliy; that was not one of the powers described if they were united, in the manga or in the anime. When united, the Millennium Items are capable of opening the gateway to the Memory World, or the Dark Gate, as Bakura would want, and they can give a person world domination. Immortality, no. Items cannot give immortality to their owners or otherwise Atemu's father would've most likely not have died. There are no traces that indicate that the Items can grant immortality.

Mokuba WILL NOT be making an appearance in this fic. The kid annoys me somehow. I'm not sure why. I just dont like adding him in my fics. Maybe it's because I've been hanging out with my Seto-crazy friend too long...

In general, this fic will have a lot of mix between manga and anime, for the sake of well alliances with the plot of HP. Such as Bakura's age. I know he's supposedly 3022 or something like that, (XD) but I made it 5022 just to make hiim sound much more older. Technically, that wouldn't fit very well in reality, since 5000 years ago there wasn't much of a thriving Egyptian world. In the anime Marik banishes his father to the shadow realm. In the manga, he...er, kills him...really. (for those of you who have read it; it is rather a gory image is it not? I cried almost when I saw Malik hug his dead father.) So with changes like that...er, if they dont' seem familiar to you, it could be just that it's from the manga or the anime. Iono. XD

Er, yeah, the Egyptian Ka thing...er, I couldn't find an actual card that could've represented Yugi other than Maha Vailo, but that was an actual monster, not an animal, so I decided to give the hikaris the privilige of being normal and having animal kas, wheras the darker sides Kas are much more extreme because they actually possess Shadow Magic.

That was long, but one more thing:

I'm terribly sorry that I made this chapter...not as good as the others. Generally, school is on, and that requires either more mental, vocal or artistic talent than writitng, and more time. Also, it was hard to continue this chapter after so long...with Bakura's voice in my head. No, not the dubbed Bakura ( wish his voice was in my head now though...). Have any of you guys seen the Mandarin/Chinese version of Yu-Gi-Oh? In order for me to improve my Mandarin speaking skills, mum was forced to get me these cheaper VCDS from like, China or Taiwan or something, and it's all Mandarin. XD Er...for those of you who may have heard Bakura's voice in the Mandarin version, it's awfully accurate to say that it's NOTHING like the dubbed version. He's not voiced by a girl or anything, but his voice is so high-pitched with a mocking sneer along every sentence he speaks. Plus, the only emotion he really seems to show properly is fear; and teasing Marik. Bakura does not fear things! I generally liked his Mandarin voice though; it gave him a bit more of a sneering, teetering insane edge. Sadly, it tends to get annoying after too long a period. (runs away to watch the dubbed Bakura.)

Gaahahh....get that stupid voice out of my head....!! (runs away from Mandarin Bakura's voice which is basically laughing manically at her; runs to the dubbed Bakura who merely banishes me to the Shadow Realm on contact)

Ahh...no more voices...XD

Chapter Thirteen

Marik was frustrated. Yes, frustrated. He couldn't get any sleep, and now, as he was sitting on his bed, hunched over uncomfortably against the headboard, surrounded by the privacy of his four-poster, he began to stare.

He was not sure what he was staring at; his eyes seem to glaze and unfocus. They weren't concentrating on anything, and yet they didn't move.

Marik now knew what was bothering him, as his distractive lavender irises fell against the shadow of Harry Potter next to him.

Marik frowned deeply. He knew the boy still remembered the incident with the monsters...why couldn't he erase his memory?

The tomb keeper leaned back, raising his arms, slipping his hands behind his head in a relaxing, lazy position.He took a deep breath, his frown deepening. He had tried to brainwash Potter, but somehow he couldn't penetrate. Why was that so? It was so easy first...he had seen flashes of Potter's memories, (he was snickering slightly at the image of a young Harry up a tree with a little bulldog snapping at the base of the trunk), but then, there was a sudden barrier. In truth, Marik had sensed a pulse of Shadow magic throbbing subtly somewhere among Harry's presence, though he wasn't sure why. It was weak and feeble, as though indirectly related to the boy, like floating debris. When he had tried to use the Rod on Harry, the boy seemed to backfire it with a wizarding spell of his own.

Ra-dammit, thought Marik, slightly worried. He didn't want Harry to question him about those monsters...

I'd better just think up another lie, grumbled Marik mentally as he distractedly pushed his fair hair out of his eyes. But what lie could he make up? He didn't know enough about the wizarding world in order to blame it properly...

I'll think of something, he assured himself. He always did. Shrugging, he remorsefully slipped under the covers, wrapping them closely around his shoulders. He sighed. He was beginning to miss his sister and his brother...there was a slight pull against his heart, as though something was weighing him down. He couldn't understand why he still felt so bitter. Perhaps it was because coming to Hogwarts seemed to be another solitary confinement...its stone walls and depression dungeon classrooms would do that. He hated being in Professor Snape's class. Those chains hanging off the ceiling and those oil-lit lamps...it reminded him of the tomb he grew up in, except much more gray and rough. He was going to have a better life. He was going to spend time with his sister and brother and forget the entire nightmare. So why was it all coming back?

He shuddered. He really didn't want to be so dark, but somehow, being in Hogwarts seemed to do that to him. His heart started steadily beating faster at the thought of his own darker side...that is, if he came back...

Marik shut his eyes tight, determined for sleep. However, it was only until the night had passed, and the morning sun peaked slightly on the Monday morning, did he fell comfortably asleep.

He woke up groaning, trying to blink the eyes out of his eyes. He smacked his lips in an overly innocent gesture, heard a small, refined snort, turned his bleary lavender eyes towards it, and jumped back in agitated surprise.

"PHAROAH!" he yelled, almost frantic. "Don't DO that..."

"Hmph. You are not in any position to tell me what to do, tomb keeper. Where were you all night?"

Yami was sitting at the edge of Marik's bed, his legs and arms crossed, his face in its most sternest and penetrating glare. His crimson eyes were flashing flames that seem to radiate with irritance as he slowly turned his face to Marik. The tomb keeper had awakened to the dark silouhette of his comrade, and seeing nothing but those rich eyes in that intimidating dark shadow certainly startled his half-awake conciousness.

"Wha---what?" Marik shook his head redeemly, trying his best to regain himself. Ryou stirred from his bed, squinted happily in the sunlight and rubbed his eyes.

"What's going on?" Compared to Yami and Marik, who were both wearing foreboding looks, Ryou looked postitively delightful.

"Where were you last night as well?" asked Yami, though a lot more kindly at Ryou. Ryou blinked and sat up.

"In my soul room," he answered, scratching his head. "Why?"

There was a sudden dawn of comprehension on his face, and Yami's eyes widened the teeniest bit as Ryou began to blush sheepishly.

"Er..." He laughed nervously. "Ah...would this have something to do with my yami?"
"I have felt your disappearances during the night," said Yami. "Since you all possess the aura of Shadow magic, it is quite hard to ignore the sudden absences during one's half-conciousness."

"Er...ah...well, don't get mad, Yami Yugi, but, er..." Yami cynically raised an eyebrow at Ryou's guilty pink face.

"You weren't out all night, were you?" he asked.

"Er...no...," admitted Ryou, still looking horribly guilty. "Except the small fact that I..er, needed to talk to Sirius, I performed the spell in my soul room. I needed Bakura to take over my body while I performed the spell, and in return....I guess I kinda gave him my approval to use my body freely for the night." He said the last part very hurriedly.

Yami's narrow eyes widened. "You...what?"

Ryou guilty put on a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry," he said timidly. "He didn't do anything bad, did he?"

"I'm not sure," admitted the pharaoh. "I only wish to confront him as well to acknowledge his whereabouts. You didn't ask him, by any chance, did you?"

"No," replied Ryou , now regretting the chance.

"Let me speak to him."

There was a brilliant flash of light underneath Ryou's robes and his hair began to flare slightly. His eyes narrowed and his figure grew; there was a silence when the light died away...the transformation was complete.

"Hullo, pharaoh," said Bakura sullenly, unlike his usual harsh attitude.

Yami gave him a piercing look.

"What, do you want me to bow now?" asked Bakura, sarcastically exasperate. "Well, sorry, Pharaoh, I'm not quite that comfortable grovelling at your feet for a reply. Never had for five thousand years and never will, you got that?"

Yami's eyes narrowed before he stood, his arms still crossed. He looked at Marik and Bakura straight in the eye before purging on.

"Where were you last night?"

Marik mumbled something as he dressed. Bakura rolled his eyes.

"Nothing, pharaoh. I did nothing. That should recieve some recognition, should it not?"

Marik snickered despite his frustration.

"Oh, nothing?" said Bakura, looking disappointed.

"You are trying to distract me, theif," said Yami sternly. "It won't work. Now, do tell me what you were doing last night, or I might have to oblige to worser methods of interrogation."

"Touchy," grumbled Bakura.

"You'd never do that, pharaoh," cut in Marik assuringly. Yami's face, depsite its stern commanding demeanor, seemed to reluctantly soften with the truth.

"Marik..."
Marik sighed, finally catching the fires that were now slowly flickering in the pharaoh's eyes. Rather wanting to live a longer life than risk a shortened one, he reluctantly recountered his duel with Malfoy on the Quidditch Pitch. Yami looked rather apprehensive.

"Did you wipe their memories?"

"Of course I did..."

"Oh? Then how is it that Harry Potter was able to come to me with an image of a certain Ouija board on his mind?"

Marik frowned, throughouly irritated at Harry. "Alright, alright. I didn't memory wipe him, it was too hard. I don't know why, but when I was going through his head, there was a pulse of shadow magic there, and it stopped me."

"A pulse of shadow magic?" Yami's eyes narrowed. "That's not possible. The boy does not possess any shadow magic at all. He is not of any Egyptian heritage, less likely one of royalty."

"Thank you for considering me as royalty, pharaoh," interrupted Bakura sardonically. "King of Theives...so finally, you've admitted it."

Yami glowered at the theif for his interruption and returned back to Marik.

"You're sure the boy possess shadow magic?"

"A slight bit," said Marik, frowning. "I'm not sure why. It's not as powerful as ours, but it seems to be a little bit. It wouldn't let me mind-wipe him."

"That might be a problem," said Yami lowly. "I don't want him interrogating us for our magic, Marik. Why had you not listened to me when I asked you not to make yourself noticeable?"

"I've always had a knack for disobeying, haven't you seen that already, pharaoh?" said Marik smoothly.

Yami shook his head, now slighlty concerned. "What are we to do?"

"The pharaoh doesn't know?" interrupted Bakura dryly. "Interesting. That is a start."

Yami's usually controlled calmed face was now hinting a slight scowl. "This situation is delicate, tomb robber. If Harry were to find out about us---"

"What harm would it do?" asked Bakura, now changing into his robes. "Personally, I'd feel quite pleased if he feared me, and his little friends."

"They wouldn't fear you, Bakura," said Yami. "They would instead claim you to be a possible follower of Voldemort and destroy you with their foreign magic."

"There is no magic more supreme than the Shadows," said Marik boldly. "There's nothing."

"All the same, the two of you must refrain from more incidents that would draw attention to us!" said Yami, now slightly infuriated. "Do you understand? I will not tolerate any more of your reckless behaviours."

"Lighten up, pharaoh," growled Bakura, who looked exactly the opposite. "What's done's been done."

"You must never do that again," said Yami lowly. Marik could see that the ancient pharaoh was rather agitated now. "Never. If that thought passes your minds again be sure to notify me at least so I can make sure nothing gets out of hand."

"We will refrain, then," sighed Marik resentfully as he headed out the door. on, baka," he said suddenly as he grabbed Bakura's ear painfully, who was about to open his mouth at the pharaoh. "Come on."

"You have no authority to manhandle me as a mutt!!" growled Bakura indignantly, supressing a sqawk as Marik then decided to pull on his white locks instead. "Okay, okay, I'm coming. At least next time, maim me in a more dignified manner, Marik!"

"Blood dripping down from places I never knew there were would not qualify as a 'dignified manner', Bakura," floated Marik's voice from the stairs. Bakura smirked as he disappeared; Yami heard the distinct harsh voice echo, "Care to make it ugly then, Marik-sama...?" before Yugi suddenly popped up behind him.

"I think we should get down," he said.

"Yes," nodded Yami. "I suppose we should..."

Yugi sighed. "Those two will never learn, will they? How do you think we're going to keep this from Harry?"

"Bakura has never learned since five thousand years," replied Yami as he gathered up his books into his bookbag. "And as for Harry...he is a friend of ours, and we must trust that. We can only hope that since he is a friend, he will trust our instinctives and forget what he saw."

"That's a lot to hope for," said Yugi sadly.

"We must have faith," said Yami as he then threw the book bag over his shoulder. He looked at Yugi. "Do you want to start off the day today, Yugi?"

"Sure," shrugged the little boy as they exchanged places; now Yugi was comfortably in the body he belonged and the spirit of the Puzzle was floating next to him transparently.

"I plan to think about this," said Yami seriously. "You enjoy yourself, aibou. I need to think of something that might prevent another incident like last night." Yugi nodded, smiling.

"Good luck."

"Thank you."

Indeed, as Yugi happily skipped after Bakura, Yami would need all the luck he could get.

During breakfast, the Daily Prophet was delivered again; they huddled around Hermione to see any more news about the Death Eaters and the Dementors. Everyone shivered when Hermione read out a few devastating muggle deaths; however, the thing that caught Ryou's eye was the little paragraph at the bottom, where it depicted that there were omnious, consuming clouds of black abyss slowly engulfing the Ministry of Magic. When Ryou returned with Yugi and Marik to their kippers, Hermione leaned over to Harry.

"Harry," she whispered, pointing at the same article. "Look." She gave him a knowing glance, he peered down and blinked in surprise.

"Blimey," said Ron softly. "That's in the Department of Mysteries...where we were before..."

"Do you think it has something to do with the archway?" whispered Hermione. "The one that Sirius fell through?"

"Can it?" asked Harry. "They don't mention anything like that...do you really think so?"

"I'm not sure," said Hermione, but she looked slightly nervous. "Let's hope it's not Voldemort's doing."

"Are you nuts, Hermione?" asked Ron incredulously. "Anything suspicious is Voldemort's fault. This has got to be one of them. He's probably going to take over the Ministry of Magic first like that..."

"I heard Lupin talk about them," said Harry lowly. "Something about...shadows, or something..."

He gave Hermione a look.

"Do you think--?"

"I can try," answered Hermione, looking slightly doubtful. "I can try to find out anything about 'shadows,' but....I mean, that's awfully vague, Harry. Are you sure Lupin would want us getting into this?"

"I suppose not," admitted Harry. "Maybe we ought to just stay clear for a while?"

"It's getting awfully suspicious," commented Ron, frowning. "Blimey...do you think that's..." Ron's eyes lit up suddenly.

"What?" asked Harry.

"No..no...," Ron lowered his voice darkly. "Maybe...maybe that's the real weapon Voldemort is after..."

There was a silence in which Hermione and Harry stared at Ron.

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione finally.

"I mean," said Ron, "that maybe it wasn't just the prophecy that Voldemort was after. Maybe the prophecy was a distraction, and when he was there, he created or...maybe, tried to find these 'shadows.' I mean, think about it. They're pretty dangerous, don't you think? Eating up the Ministry from the inside and what not? Maybe that's what You-Know-Who was really looking for."

There was a pondering silence until Harry broke it.

"I don't think so," he said, frowning. "Voldemort would never have time to find it anyways...they were there in that room with the glass spheres, waiting for us....I don't think they wanted to."

"But it is a reasonable strategy, if it really is You-Know-Who's doing," said Hermione softly. "It could be...possible. It's not very likely, but it's possible."

"May I see it, please?" inquired a voice politely. The three of them jerked up, startled slightly from their intense conversation. Ryou was smiling pleasantly at them with his hand hesitantly outreached towards the Daily Prophet.

"Oh! Er...sure," stammered Harry, shaking himself as he handed the newspaper to Ryou. He couldn't help but stare at the article, even though it was a foot and half away from him across the table. Harry frowned at the Prophet before hastily returning to his bacon.

Ryou was staring at the exact same article too. He stared down at the paragraph, cocking his head in wonder.

"Omnious black clouds in the Ministry....feels as though an army of Dementors...an ancient archway...."

Ryou made a mental note to tell Sirius soon.

Yugi arrived in Transfiguration soon after breakfast; there had been no mental conversations at all from his darker side, and he naturally took this as a sign that Yami did not want to be bothered. However, the class the sixth-years were attempting intrigued him enough to abandon his current train of thought and to concentrate on their newest tasks. Since Professor McGonagall had been exceptionally stern with them, they were now at a sixth-year level among the other students, though their marking criteria was altered slightly.

The topic of this day's class was most interesting.

"You are all now in part of my NEWT classes," started Professor McGonagall, looking sternly at everyone. "However, it will require you to put your utmost attention and concentration and effort into this new topic. Throughout yoru years so far you have learned to do transfiguration by the means of excess objects...however, there is the subject of Human Transfiguration that we need to look deeply into." She stared about the excited class; Hermione sat up straighter in her chair. "This class takes hard effort and is extremely dangerous. I hope you are all up to it. Now, please copy these notes."

The notes appeared on the board; it wasn't until half an hour later were they allowed to perfom human transfiguration.

"The easiest way to a human transfiguration," said McGonagall crisply, "is to find the representative animal for which the person's soul is identical too. Such as mine, for example, is a cat. You must find an animal in which is most like you and that will be the animal most easiest for you to transform into."

"Aren't you supposed to be an animagus, Professor?" asked Dean Thomas.

"Animagus are those who can transfigure into a animal for quite some time," replied Professor McGonagall. "However, these are only temporary tranfigures; the easiest way to find the animal you represent is to perform the Patronus charm. I trust you all know how to do that?" she gave the smallest of winks to Harry. Everyone exchanged a smirk before attempting their Patronuses and discovering their animals...except, those who were new.

"Er...I don't know how to do a Patronus charm," admitted Yugi as he looked around.

"Just think of something happy, and say 'Expecto Patronum'," explained Harry. "Mine's a stag."

"Can anyone tell me where the aspect of transfiguring into your Patronuses originated from?" asked McGonagall's voice, ringing clearly through the room. Hermione's hand shot in the air, almost knocking Ryou's head along the way.

"They originated from the beliefs and magic of the Ancient Egyptians," reported Hermione. "In such a way, their version of Patronuses also originated from their belief of Kas, but that is only a mere legend."

"Correct," said McGonagall crisply, but giving Hermione a rare smile all the same. "Take ten points for Gryffindor, Ms. Granger. Continue!"

/Egyptian Kas...?/ thought Yami. /That's the second time they've mentioned the sort.../

/Do you think....?/ thought Yugi.

/I could try first, aibou../

/No, I'm fine. Do you think they could relate to what Ishizu said?/

/They might, but I am not sure. I don't believe they use Patronuses to duel in Egypt, but I'm not too sure./

Harry was watching Yugi curiously. "Aren't you going to try?"

Yugi scrunched up his face and pointed. "Expecto Patronum!"

His voice was yet accompanied by Ryou's; a slivery deer blossomed out of his wand. From Ryou's wand blossomed a large, gentle, silvery owl that reminded Harry highly of a male version of his Hedwig. The deer from Yugi's wand was not yet a stag, like Harry's, but younger and more innocent, young antlers trailing slightly from its head.

"Wow," said Yugi as his Patronus nuzzled him and disappeared.

The rest of the week was as peaceful as follows; Bakura had rarely emerged at all and Marik was in higher spirits, nearly forgetting the incident with Harry. Yugi and Yami were both rather caught up with their own issues to keep too wary an eye on the Egyptian trouble makers, but Bakura and Marik seemed to be behaving themselves anyway. On the rare occasion that the tomb theif did appear, he spoke very civially towards Yami and Marik, decreasing disputes. Yami at some point was suspicious of the tomb robber's attitude, but thought nothing of it. He only merely hoped that Ryou had properly kept him in check.

On the Thursday of that week, however, turned the casual air around, twisting it into the most gruesome demeanor that the rest of Hogwarts surrendered too.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Marik, Ryou and Yugi were entering through the oak doors of the Entrance Hallway that night (Yugi smiled in awe at the full moon above him shining brightly in contrast with the glittering stars) and seated themselves as usual. Their plates were filled magically again with portions of their favourite foods and everyone stuffed themselves silly. Bakura had taken over and was attacking the rarest steak nearest to him and devouring it with the most disturbing fashion. As Harry chewed on his own well-cooked steak, he couldn't prevent himself from grimacing with disgust at the tomb robber's eating habits as Bakura sat there blankly chewing his too-soft meat. Marik next to him was stuffing himself with quite the precarious speed; his mouth was wide open and his hands were pratical blurs as he darted to stuff more morsels into his mouth. Ryou soon regained his own sense and, mid-way through Bakura's gruesome attack on the meat with his teeth, promptly dropped the half-bitten morsel and began picking up the knife and fork. Even the hikari, however, couldn't stand the temptation to eat to his heart's desire, and was soon mimicing a more pleasureful version of Marik's attempts with food.

Yugi smiled broadly and patted his stomach. He aimlessly stared around as he sipped at his goblet ( they made awfully good Japanese tea! ) he noticed that one of the seats at the staff table was missing an occupant. He stared around for a moment, searching for the missing professor when Ryou leaned over him.

"Where's Professor Lupin?" he asked, his cheeks adorably full. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand when he realized that he had accidently sprayed the young tri-colored boy with food.

"I don't know," said Yugi, looking curious as he wiped the flecked rice off his face.

"What? Lupin's not there?" asked Harry, Ron and Marik in unison.

"No," replied Ryou, frowning as he also skimmed the staff table. "I wonder where he is....?"

Harry was looking very worried when suddenly Hermione kicked him under the table.

"Ow! Hermione...what was that for...?"
Hermione pointed almost boredly (but pointedly) at the full move above him. Harry suddenly realized what she meant and sheepishly returned to his food.

"Is it true that Professor Lupin is a werewolf?" asked Marik's voice. "Or is it just a rumor?"
"It's not," replied Harry. "It's not. He's actually a werewolf..."

"And it's the full moon," prompted the Egyptian boy, gesturing the the full sphere above them. "But that's never stopped him before, if he really is a werewolf. Every month he still comes to clases and whatnot, doesn't he?"

"He's probably just resting," cut in Hermione. "He can't be here for everything, Marik."

Marik merely shrugged.

Harry also followed suit and was about to get seconds on the sheperd's pie when the front doors opened with a creak.

The entire hallway was now cranking its neck towards the entrance; in the light of the Grand Hallway, there stood a short, stubby female, with a frog-like face and pasty skin....

There was an audible gasp of hatred and surprise ripling around the hallway. Professor Dumbledore stood up and greeted the person calmly.

"Students," he said clearly. "For now, Professor Lupin is currently tending issues that are of personal means to himself, and for the time being, this particular professor with fill in for him."
"No," whispered Harry angrily. "Not her..."

Ron swore under his breath as he dropped his fork. They could here him cursing much more loudly as he bent out of sight to retrieve it.

"What?" asked Marik softly, his voice deadly. "Professor Lupin won't be here for a period of time...?"

Hermione leaned over to Harry, her face contorted in supressed rage.

"What do you propose we do?" she whispered.

"I'd say," muttered Harry through gritted teeth. "That the DA has a comeback."

As the woman turned towards the sea of students, (many of which were audibly cursing at her presence and making rather snide but rude signs) the woman slowly slipped off her hood, revealing large, bulging eyes and a wide, toad-resembling face. Even Ryou was looking slightly disapproving; Yami quirked an eyebrow and Bakura commented loudly in his soul room about the woman's resemblance. There was only one person in the world who had a face like that.

The High Inquistor was now in Hogwarts.

Umbridge was back.

Sorry to make this so crappy.....I just needed to get this up and out of the way..there will be more action, I promise! It's just..been...so busy lately......T.T I'm sorry I gave you guys such a horrible chapter.

BETA READER NEEDED!