SORRY FOR GETTING THIS SO LATE!

Ugh…do you know how much I hate writing with dubbed names now? Especially now that I have Yami Marik coming back? I knew I should've stayed with "Malik" as a hikari name, instead of "Marik". I like "Marik" as a yami name. T.T I had to write out this entire chapter with "Malik", and then use the replace function to replace it with "Marik." T.T (Sobs)

Chapter Twenty-Four: He Is Here

"Not again…"

"Sorry, Madame Pomfrey," Harry apologized, grimacing weakly when Madame Pomfrey made a skeptical look towards the white-haired boy in the bed.

"First you, now him…" she muttered under her breath, turning Ryou's face from side to side in her hand. "I swear, maybe the old coot was right about putting Trelawney on probation…"

Not even Hermione argued upon the behalf of Trelawney.

Sighing, the three of them watched as Yugi sat on the chair next to the comatose Ryou, looking quite unhappy and very tired. His wide, large eyes were sagging slightly, and their purple, innocent shade looked dreary and afraid. Harry, Hermione, and Ron sighed.

After the commotion had died down a bit, and Trelawney had realized that one of her students had lost consciousness, Harry and Ron were then sent to the Hospital Wing (with Trelawney's big green eyes lingering inquiringly on Harry's scar). His scar did indeed hurt quite a bit, but nothing looked too serious. After all, he hadn't gotten any images from Voldemort's mind, so that must've been a good sign.

However, poor Ryou was not good, and nor was Yugi. With worry and secret unease, Ron and Harry had quickly gotten both of them to the Hospital Wing, glancing at each other now and then. After all, it was not everyday that Harry's scar could react so violently with two other students simultaneously.

"Looked as though they were almost having seizures," Ron had whispered uneasily, when he was still carrying Ryou on his back.

As soon had Harry and Ryou had both been admitted and checked over by Madame Pomfrey, Hermione had burst in into the Hospital Wing with worry, her brown hair a mess and a strand straggling over her eyes. She was shortly followed by Marik, whom had been clutching at his sweating forehead, looking quite tired and exhausted and literally pissed.

Now, while waiting for Ryou to awaken, Marik was put under the examination of Madame Pomfrey, his hand still clutched at his forehead.

"What the hell is going on here?" Marik demanded testily, his blond hair flopping over his flashing lavender eyes. His eyes then flashed to Harry, and then to Ron, then to Yugi, who was still staring at the floor next to Ryou's bed.

"Dunno," Harry admitted quietly. He looked over at Yugi, and, upon seeing the troubled look in the younger boy's eyes, decided not to be the one to explain to Marik what had occurred.

"Take your hand away from your head!" Madame Pomfrey scolded, straining her head from side to side in effort to see what was beneath Marik's hand.

"It's nothing," Marik snapped heatedly. "I'm perfectly fine!"

"Obviously you're not," Madame Pomfrey chastised, circling around him like a preying hawk. "Sweating profusely, pale, twitching occasionally---don't tell me that you're perfectly fine!"

"Spasms," Marik said flatly. "Get them often. Look at Potter. Got these every year, didn't he? And he's perfectly fine!"

"But Mr. Ishtar…"

"I'm FINE!" Marik snapped loudly, his hand still covering his forehead, and a large majority of his left eye. "FINE."

Huffing, the hospital patron glared at him for a moment, before she turned on her heel and walked briskly into her office. Marik exhaled loudly, his breaths tinting a note of aggravation as he swirled around to face the others.

"Alright," he said lowly. "What the hell happened?"

To Marik's obvious agitation, none of them spoke. He then whirled onto Yugi.

"Yugi!" he demanded. "What the hell happened?"

Finally, for the first time since they had entered the Hospital Wing, Yugi raised his head, his golden bangs framing his clouded, worried violet eyes. Without even speaking, his eyes flickered to the Harry, Ron and Hermione, and Marik instantly knew that it was not something to be discussing about in front of them.

"Harry," Ron spoke up. "Your head alright?"

Taking a deep breath, Harry nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. Perfectly fine."

"It's not something…you know…serious, is it?" Ron asked, putting emphasis on the word 'serious'. Hermione instantly snapped her attention towards the other two boys, and Harry shook his head.

"No, no," Harry replied. "I'm fine. Nothing serious, promise."

"You sure?" Hermione asked sternly, her eyes narrowed in worry. "You sure?"

Harry sighed deeply. "Fine," he said firmly. "Just fine."

"Well, Ryou's not," Marik hissed lowly, his voice slow and deadly. "So if want to stay fine, Potter, I suggest you and your friends leave. Got that?"

Harry blinked, a little taken aback at Marik's sudden threat. Then again, Marik had always been this touchy…too bad Harry was never sure when Marik would be. Harry narrowed his eyes.

"Fine," he snapped back, not feeling in the mood to be arguing with Marik. "We're leaving." Glaring at Marik a bit, Harry turned on his heel, and promptly left the Hospital Wing. Glancing back at Marik quizzically, both Ron and Hermione quickly shuffled out after Harry, the Wing's door shutting softly behind them. With a heavy sigh, Marik plopped onto the bed near Ryou's still feet, and hid his face in his hands.

Yugi, finally coming out of his frightened reverie, stood up quietly.

"Marik?" he whispered. "Is something the matter?"

There was a soft silence between them, accompanied by Ryou's quiet, even breathing. Voice even, Marik finally broke the silence, though he would not turn to face Yugi.

"What happened to you guys first?" he asked, his voice slightly cool and even. Yugi swallowed, a heavy tugging of worry and fret at his heart as he sat down next to Marik. The Egyptian was looking at him with one eye, his right one, while his hand still covered a majority of his left and his forehead.

Grimacing, Yugi sighed again, before looking down at his feet.

"Well…Ryou and I …we were in Divination class…"

Word after word poured through Yugi's mouth, each phrase painting a vivid image before them. The spinning ouija board, the copper letters, the fate which waited them all…everything was spilled through Yugi's lips, told in his wavering, cracking voice and lined with fear. Eventually, he even broke down crying, his head in his hands tiredly and his golden bangs hanging limp with exhaustion.

When he had finally finished, Marik's silence greeted him. Exhaling and sniffing, Yugi wiped the tears furiously with the back of his hand, looking up at the Egyptian. His worry increased slightly when Marik's one unconcealed eye dulled a bit, as though unseeing and unclear. Slowly, the lavender orb found its way to the floor, and finally, with a loud and frustrated and angry roar, Marik lurched forward, clutching his head in his hands.

"DAMN IT!"

"Marik!" Yugi cried. "What's wrong?"

"Damn it!" Marik repeated again, his hands clutching at his hair. "Damn it damn it damn it!"

"Marik!" Yugi yelled. "What's wrong?"

Gritting his teeth, Marik looked up at Yugi, his one revealed eye glaring at him. "I don't think you want to know," Marik whispered, his teeth clenched shut.

"Of course I want to know!" Yugi said, slightly indignantly. "Marik, what's wrong? Let me see!"

"You won't like it," Marik warned, his voice a whisper.

Yugi sighed, his eyes wide and soft. "I don't care," he said. "What's wrong?"

Swallowing deeply, Marik took a deep breath. Eyes averting from Yugi's, his hand slowly removed itself from his forehead, revealing his other eye for all to see.

Gasping with horror, Yugi jumped back.

"I knew you wouldn't like it," Marik said lowly.

What was once Marik's large, lavender eye was now a narrow, fiendish amethyst one. Its narrow cat-like pupils flashed with insanity and madness upon its own, and the whites around it were webbed and lined with pencil-thin red vessels. The smooth, tanned skin that once surrounded the eye now looked tattered and shredded; as though someone had ripped a circle around Marik's eye and cheeks and had replaced it when their own.

And upon his forehead, as dreaded, was the glowing Eye of Ra.

Blearily opening his eyes, Ryou groaned lightly. His head was thick and woozy, and his vision was poor and blurred at the edges. Above him, someone snorted.

Squinting at the noise, Ryou gingerly sat up, moaning lightly at the wave of dizziness that assaulted his poor, throbbing head. A pair of hands held his arms from behind, and helped him up. Another snort was heard, before a familiar, canine growl.

"Shut up, Bakura."

"Make me," Bakura hissed, as Ryou opened his eyes fully. The Darkness was standing upright, his stance cocky and arrogant, his arms folded across his chest.

"Don't push me," Sirius snarled back from behind Ryou. Bakura gave the other man a sneering smirk.

"Aw, did little itty Black have a mid-life crisis?" Bakura cooed. Sirius narrowed his eyes hatefully. Deep blue eyes met blood-brown ones, evenly and coolly.

"Did little itty Bakura have a seizure?" Sirius mocked back. "Pity. I had hoped that maybe you could've died from it... I could've spat on your grave."

"Quiet, both of you," Ryou groaned, holding his head with one hand, the other grasping on Sirius's for support. Bakura glared at his host, but said nothing. Sirius also remained silent, though his eyes were averted to the ground, rather than at Ryou's eyes. Grimacing, the white-haired boy straightened, glancing around. White walls met him, complete with a bed and his miniatures upon desks. He sighed. He was in his soul room again.

"Alright then," Bakura said lowly, striding forwards. Immediately, Ryou noticed the wince in Bakura's stride, as the tomb raider made his way towards the taller man behind Ryou.

As he approached, Sirius merely raised one eyebrow coolly, his face locked in his usual bitter position. He was not even fazed when Bakura strode up so close to him, that his menacingly intimidating glare was merely a few inches away from his own eyes.

"Alright, Black," Bakura whispered. "Where is he?"

"Make. It. Stop," Marik hissed, his teeth clenched. "Make it stop!"

At a loss for what to do despite Marik's desperate plea, Yugi merely stood there, staring in horror at the glowing, golden Eye, and the distorted amethyst one. He didn't know what to do. His darker half hadn't even awakened yet from his experience with the ouija board!

"I…don't know how!" Yugi breathed, his eyes widening still. "I…don't know how, Marik!"

"Call your yami!" Marik yelled. "Call him! Tell him to make it stop!"

"He's not awake yet!" Yugi said hurriedly. He quickly prodded against the link, but to his horror, there was no avail. "Wait! Wait! I'll try!" He closed his eyes, concentrating deeply.

/Yami/

At first, there was merely silence at the end of the link. However, as time ticked by, a groan was finally reached to Yugi's end, and he reacted quickly.

/Yami/

Another groan at the end of the line, and, worried beyond his wits, Yugi forced himself into his soul room. Ignoring the golden walls and jumping over the small, sprawled toys upon the floor, he launched himself at the door and wrenched it open. He then quickly pelted into the other door on the other side of the hall.

"Yami!" Yugi yelled. "Yami! Yami, please! Where are you?"

Silence met Yugi's plea, and without further ado, he wrenched open the door to his darker half's soul room, and pelted into the maze that awaited there.

"Who?" Sirius asked coolly.

Bakura's gaze was just as cool. "You know who." Sirius gave him in sudden, incredulous look.

"What, Voldemort?" he asked incredulously.

"No, idiot!" Bakura yelled, exasperate. "Him! Yami no Marik! Dark Marik! The evil Darkness with golden porcupine hair and a damned, yellow Eye on his head! THAT You-Know-Who!"

"What about him?" Sirius asked, his voice rising. "What about him?"

Bakura's eye twitched, and when he spoke again, his voice was low and deadly, punctuating every word with a slow emphasis upon them.

"Where. Is. He?"

"How should I know?" Sirius retorted back. "Bloody hell, you two are so alike. What is it with you and Ryou demanding me of where he is?"

"Because if he were let loose in the world Black," said Bakura through gritted teeth, "we'd have trouble on our hands. In fact, if he does come back into the world, we might all die."

"Wait, does that mean that that includes you?" Sirius asked coolly. "Good joy."

Bakura's eyes flashed, and in another instant, he had Sirius pinned into the wall. His pale hands were clutching Sirius's robes in their tight grasp, his face narrowed and twitching with rage.

"WHERE THE HELL IS HE?"

"Bakura!" Ryou cried, leaping forward between them. "Bakura, stop!"

With a growl, Sirius managed to grab hold of Bakura's wrist. Another instant later, the prisoner of Azkaban had wrenched the tomb robber's grip off of him, twisting Bakura's arm and throwing him away. Cursing under his breath, Bakura stepped back, rubbing his sore wrist, though his eyes were still narrow and sharp and hateful.

"Sirius, please," Ryou pleaded. "Where is Yami no Marik?"

The prisoner of Azkaban turned, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Ryou. Giving up, he sighed, though his voice was brusque.

"If you must know," Sirius said crisply, "I haven't seen him for a while. I managed to get away by doing a Patronus charm on him, but I have absolutely no idea where he is now."

"Idiot," Bakura breathed, his eyes flashing. "Idiot! Do you realize that he may be slipping out into the Ministry as we speak? Do you realize that he might be already out in the world, walking through the streets?"

"He can't do that without a body though," Ryou interrupted.

"I'm sure the world has tons of bodies to supply Yami no Marik with," Bakura said lowly. "Which makes it all the harder to find out which one he may be occupying."

"What's this all about?" Sirius cut in, his voice hard. "What, are you telling me that he may already have escaped? Why the sudden interest about where he is?"

"He almost found the leak already once," Bakura said lowly. "Who's to say that he hasn't found it again?"

"We were learning about ouija boards, remember?" Ryou explained, looking up at Sirius, slightly thankful that his friend had returned. "Well, there was this one spirit…and…" at this, Ryou paled. "…well…I think maybe…the spirit might be…"

"Of course it's him," Bakura hissed. "Of course it must be Yami Marik. Who else could it be?"

"Well, I don't know," Ryou said, his eyes pained. "I have no idea!"

"No…" Sirius said quietly. "No…I don't think so."

"Yami!" Yugi breathed, running towards the figure of his darker half. "Yami!" Quickly, Yugi slid himself beneath Yami's open arms, and hoisted the ex-pharaoh off the ground. Blinking his eyes open, Yami groaned again, before finding Yugi. He blinked.

"Yugi!" he breathed. "What on earth…?"

"Are you alright?" Yugi asked desperately. Wincing slightly, Yami nodded. "Good. Marik really needs a desperate favour."

Yami blinked again. "What?"

A flash of light twinkled from the Eye upon the Millennium Puzzle, and after what felt like eons to Marik, Yami opened his eyes and was regarding him intently.

"I gather that Yugi told you?" Marik asked shortly. Yami nodded.

"Let me see," he commanded, walking towards him. Sighing, Marik reluctantly lowered his hand from his eye, and Yami narrowed his own. Intently, he stared at the crazed, amethyst eye, his own gaze sharp and analyzing. Finally, he straightened, and contemplated thoughtfully.

"Well?" asked Marik heatedly. "Can you make it go away?"

"No…" Yami said quietly. He looked at Marik again, his ruby eyes deepening with thought. "…not yet. When did this happen?"

"Supposedly when you and Bakura had seizures over an ouija board," Marik said. Yami fought to suppress a grimace. It was as he had expected. Something was surely afoot; there had been no playing around in that Divination class. Something…someone…was after them.

"How do you feel?" Yami asked. "Angry? Rage? Venomous?"

"Pissed, but that's as far as it goes," Marik admitted. "Why? What do you think? Do you really think that whatever was controlling that ouija board could've been my darker half?"

Sighing deeply, Yami closed his eyes. "I certainly hope not," he said quietly, "but it certainly seems that way. It was a Darkness, and at the same time that Bakura and I felt that strange presence, apparently, so did you."

"My Rod glowed," Marik said worriedly. "It flashed like mad, and my forehead started to hurt."

Lips pressed together, Yami nodded, his ruby eyes finally clouding with concern. Marik grabbed his wrist.

"Listen, Yami," he whispered. "We can't go on pretending that nothing's after us anymore. Something is after us. Something's in Hogwarts that's threatening us. Maybe the best thing we should do is go back to Domino, where we can actually live decently."

"But if we return to Domino," Yami countered softly, easing Marik's grip from him, "then we will not be able to find out more about why our Items are acting this way. Furthermore, we will be far easier targets to whatever is trying to find us."

"Whatever is trying to hurt us…those Death Eaters…" Marik replied angrily, "are right here on top of us! Snape is one, Yami! And there are probably more! I swear, maybe even that person who asked Bakura to steal the files from the Ministry of Magic probably was one! We're better off fending for ourselves than be here!"

"No," Yami said sternly. He shook his head, angular bangs swaying slowly. "We can't do that, Marik. Returning to Domino will only make things worse. This is why Dumbledore told us to come here first, was it not?"

"For all we know, Dumbledore could be against us!" Marik yelled. "Come on, Pharaoh, think! These occurrences are getting worse and worse! They're happening more often! Ever since we've been to the Ministry, things like this have been slipping too much! Something in Hogwarts must be letting us slip!"

"No," Yami said again, his low voice more stern and firm. "No. It is not something at Hogwarts that is causing us to act this way. It is the increasing amount of the Shadows that is slowly developing through the Ministry of Magic. That is why our Items are getting harder and harder to suppress! That is why your darker half is coming back more frequently! That is why we must stay here at Hogwarts, so we can fight off the Shadows and return them to where they were!"

"Who gives a damn about the Shadows?" Marik bellowed. "Our lives are at stake here! Any more of these happenings and people here will find out! Our covers will be blown!"

"More lives are at stake here than our own, Marik Ishtar!" Yami countered harshly. "We leave here, and all of England will be destroyed, engulfed by the Shadows! And if Voldemort ever finds out about the Shadows and their power and possesses them, then the entire world is finished!"

"And if Hogwarts finds out the powers we have, we're finished!" Marik yelled back. "Pharaoh, think! You told us we should stay undercover! You told us we should stay low, not draw attention to ourselves! And for what? Because you fear that people will find out for what we are, and that they will use us against whatever they need!"

"Exactly," Yami said lowly. "But remember, Marik, that perhaps they might use our powers for the side of Good. We came here for a reason, Marik. That reason must be something important, something necessary. Voldemort may already have two of the Items, Marik! We must stop him!"

"And what about lying low?" Marik hissed. "What about making sure that no one notices us? That no one thinks we're weird?"

Ruby eyes met lavender ones evenly, and silence wove between them. Finally, Yami spoke, his words quiet and wise.

"Then we cannot help it," he said quietly. "We will have to do our best to pretend that we are just like them. The secret that we must hide is our Items, and their powers, and the spirits that they hold. Or in your case, the spirit that you hold." Here, Yami's eyes narrowed. "While I am concerned that we may be revealed as who we are, something tells me that maybe the person we're hiding from already knows."

"Voldemort?" Marik asked.

A slow, graceful nod as an answer. "Yes," Yami said quietly. "I suspect that he knows that we exist, but he does not know where. When we were at the Ministry, his followers still believed me to be living in the Puzzle. Therefore, I believe he is after our Items, and the power that they bestow."

"Obviously," Marik snarled, looking away. "He's already got some, hasn't he? What Shadi told me…he's already got the Scales and the Key!"

"And that is why we must stay here and stop him," Yami said quietly. "Those are our Items, Marik. We must stay here and retrieve them. We must remain here, at Hogwarts, until they are returned to us."

Exhaling loudly, Marik nodded his head, his golden bangs shaking over his eyes. "And this, then?" he asked crudely, pointing to the glowing Eye on his forehead. "Can't you banish it?"

Nodding his head, Yami strode forwards. Gently, he laid his outstretched middle and forefinger upon Marik's forehead, extracting another exhale from the Keeper.

"Yet, despite that it may seem like your darker half was controlling the ouija board," Yami said quietly, as he closed his eyes in concentration. "I fear it is not so. Something is off. Your darker half was not a spirit in Ancient Egypt, and he had no connection to the Shadows Games five thousand years ago. That conflict had been created by the strife between Bakura and I."

"Your point?" asked Marik, as he felt the Eye slowly dissolving.

"My point is," Yami said calmly, his eyes still closed as he began to push at the Eye slowly, feeling its presence slowly disappearing into the Shadows, "that it could not have been your darker half controlling that ouija board. Something from the Ancient Past is in our Items, and it has a mind of its own."

"Great," Marik scoffed, as he felt Eye dissolve completely, and his skin prickling. "So the Items are fighting us? That's just great."

"The Items are not fighting us," Yami said calmly, now opening his eyes. He smiled. The Eye had completely disappeared, and what was once Yami Marik's eye was now slowly easing into Marik's own. "They are being controlled by the dark force within them, and what I believe is the dark force that I sealed away five thousand years ago."

"Then we should ask Bakura about it," Marik said, finally regaining his composure. The skin around his eye finally smoothed out, returning to its once unblemished condition. The narrowed eye slowly grew larger and bigger, and the sharp amethyst shade slowly dulled and became Marik's pastel lavender. "After all, it was he who conjured up whatever you needed to seal away, right?"

The ex-pharaoh nodded solemnly. "Yes. But we must not make it sound as though we are accusing him," he warned. Marik nodded.

"I know, I know. We have to trust him and stay together as a group, or we'll all fail," he said, rolling his eyes and making it sound as though it was recited. To Marik's surprise, however, Yami shook his head.

"While being united is strong," Yami said quietly, finally retrieving his fingers from Marik's forehead, "it is not the only thing at stake here." He tilted his head to the side, giving Marik a look. The Keeper merely blinked, bewildered.

"What?"

Yami sighed. "You know what has been troubling Bakura lately, don't you? You are his comrade, and as much as he hates it, you once occupied his body. You know what he's afraid of, don't you?"

At first, Marik merely blinked, but slowly, his eyes grew wide with comprehension.

"You mean…"

"Yes," Yami nodded. "I fear that if we accuse him of being anything disastrous or destructive, he might return to his old ways in attempt to show himself off. And hence, if he thinks that he is betrayed in his phase of adjusting, as he is now, he might destroy the one thing that keeps him sane."

Marik nodded understandingly, his face determined.

"If he ever gets the idea that we might be against him," Marik said softly and slowly, "he might break up the friendship and unity between us…"

"And Ryou himself," Yami concluded grimly.

"Touchy," Sirius growled lowly, as he watched the spirit exit out of Ryou's soul room door. The white-haired hikari merely sighed, sitting back on his bed. The prisoner of Azkaban and the Thief King had the loudest and most violent rows they had had in all their existence in Ryou's head, and it was giving Ryou a headache.

"Just leave him be," Ryou said tiredly, waving a hand. "He'll get over it soon."

Shooting the door one last, spiteful look, Sirius sat down on the bed next to Ryou. Immediately he noticed how Ryou was looking the other way, and was not meeting him eye-to-eye. Sirius cleared his throat.

"Umn…well…sorry for…" he cleared his throat again. "You know…leaving you. I didn't mean what I said. I just tend to be really moody at times, that's all."

A smile found its way on Ryou's face, and he turned to face his British friend.

"It's fine," he said. "I understand. You're going through a lot now, and I really wish I could help you. Living in the Shadows is terrible, especially when you're so needed in the outside world."

The Animagus let out a groan. "Tell me about it. The only nice thing about the Shadows is that you don't have some motherly redhead yelling at you all the time."

"Motherly redhead?" Ryou repeated slowly, giving Sirius a wry look. The refugee looked confused for a moment, before he suddenly jumped and shook his head furiously.

"Mrs. Weasley," he explained. "Mother of what…six…I think…? She took in my godson a couple of years ago, before I finally escaped out of Azkaban. To put it simply, she's against a lot of my parenting methods, so to speak."

"But I'm sure you're a wonderful godfather!" Ryou exclaimed.

There was silence for a moment, as Sirius gave Ryou a good, even look, before he burst out in laughter. Ryou gave him a puzzled look.

"Pass me judgment again once you meet him," Sirius chuckled. "I swear, he's Hogwarts' biggest trouble-maker even though he doesn't intend it. I must say that's on the behalf of me."

"No one can outstand troublemaking than Bakura and Marik," Ryou groaned, flopping onto his back on the bed. "Believe me, no one can."

"Speak of the devil," Marik grinned, watching as the Ring glowed and Bakura resumed his place in Ryou's body. Grumbling, he ignored the potion that had been set out for him, and promptly swept his legs over the side of the bed, getting up.

"Stupid…damned…mad…idiot…baka…yaro…" Bakura cursed under his breath. Yami arched an eyebrow.

"Trouble with the neighbor again, Bakura?" the pharaoh asked.

"He's not a neighbor!" Bakura snapped. "He's this living parasite that's housing in my host's body, feeding upon Ryou's time and spirit, and controlling him! By the gods, the man DESERVED the Shadow Realm! Mirthless, ugly, skeletal, old DOG!" Bakura bellowed. Both Marik and Yami winced slightly.

"I'm sure Ryou doesn't mind," Yami said carefully. Bakura shot him a deadly look.

"I'm sure Ryou doesn't mind," Bakura agreed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "But Ra-dammit, Pharaoh, I DO MIND. I'M HIS DARKER HALF, FOR RA'S SAKE!"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Marik ushered, sighing as he stretched his back. "I'm sure he hates living in Ryou's body too." Looking up, Marik's face fell into a far more serious demeanor, his lavender eyes narrowing slightly. "Listen," he said sternly, "we have something to discuss."

"And what must we discuss?" Bakura snapped coldly. Yami stepped forward.

"The ouija board, naturally," the pharaoh said, his voice a bit more contemplative than usual. The thief merely gave him a cool glare.

"And what about it?" Bakura asked. "You saw it. There's a spirit in Hogwarts that wants to kill us, and it's housing in our Items. So does the oh-so-great Pharaoh have something to suggest?"

"What about Harry Potter?" Yami asked loudly and calmly, diverting the conversation around altogether. "When our Items illuminated, they found refuge in his scar. That must mean something in Hogwarts must be affecting our Items."

"Maybe it's not Shadow Magic at all," Marik spoke up seriously, "or even Wizarding Magic." They were all silent for a moment, both Bakura and Yami deeply in thought. Marik blinked. "What? Did I hit a point?"

"You may be right," Yami said slowly, his ruby eyes drifting to the floor in thought, on finger perched on his lips. "The ouija board did say that there were three kinds of magic at Hogwarts." Frowning in thought, Yami began to pace about, still staring at the floor. Three kinds of Magic. Shadow Magic, Wizarding Magic…but what was the third?

Slowly detaching himself from his darker half in spirit form, Yugi slowly looked up. His transparent appearance was met with Marik's stern eyes and Bakura's sharper glare.

"Looks like the shrimp has something to say," Bakura snorted. Yami stopped pacing for a moment, straightening and looking behind him at his other half. The semi-transparent form of Yugi waved. Yami smiled and nodded.

"Suggestions, aibou?" he asked.

"Maybe one," Yugi said. He looked at all of them. "You guys are the expert at Shadow and ancient Magic, right?"

The three other ones nodded slowly, at a loss at what Yugi was getting to.

"Well…I read somewhere here…or maybe Hermione told me…or maybe even Ryou…" Yugi said, looking very thoughtful. "…that magic develops over time. Like Wizarding Magic. It wasn't always like this. They had wizards like Merlin in the Middle Ages, and he conducted Magic differently than they conduct it now."

"And your point?" Marik asked, nodding impatiently.

"What if," the shorter boy said, "what if something's using Ancient Shadow Magic here at Hogwarts? I mean, you guys all know how to control it really well now…but maybe someone doesn't know how to use Shadow Magic properly, and is using the old ways."

"The only thing that would've needed Shadow Magic in Ancient Egypt would be to summon our Kas," Bakura said, his narrow eyes becoming almost slits in his thoughts. "That's mostly what the Items were for."

"You mean you didn't put people's souls in dolls in Ancient Egypt?" Marik joked, looking back at Bakura and smirking. The thief merely spat out his tongue at the other. Yami sighed.

"I would highly doubt that whatever priest was in charge of the Ring would've done that," he said, sighing again. "But you might be right, Yugi. Perhaps someone inexperienced is using Shadow Magic to do something, without knowing that there are more modern methods to do so."

"Like Pegasus," Bakura suddenly interrupted, his eyes lighting slightly. "He had no idea how to conjure the Shadows my his Item…or at least, not very well. I saw him one time using old tablets to summon monsters from the Shadow Realm."

"Yes…" Yami said slowly. "Yes…I remember Tea and Tristan telling me about that room. He was using tablets and doing rituals that would otherwise be pointless if he knew the full potential of his Item."

"So it is possible then," Yugi asked, "to have someone using a different form of Shadow Magic here at Hogwarts?"

"Yes," Yami nodded. His eyes suddenly flashed. "And I think I have a good idea who."

Everyone nodded solemnly.

"Voldemort is here at Hogwarts," Yami said softly.

Terribly sorry for the late delay; working on the next chapter. For those who like to see more Yami spotlight and see Yami whop Malfoy's ass when Malfoy corners him, stay tuned! I was going to make the next chapter action-packed, but I thought that he next chapter should be more subtle, considering these last few ones.

Btw, I hoped this satisfied some of the Yami fans out there. I finally got his regalness down to a point. (Big breath) WHEW! Man, he's HARD to write! T.T

AGAIN! SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY! I know this is only eight pages long, but believe me, I'll try to make the next one longer! And I will get the next one updated before July is over! I PROMISE!

Thank you again!

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