Lina: Hey, all! (sweatdrop) Been a long time, eh?

Yugi: (nods) Most definitely.

Noa: Kitty's been really busy with the upcoming show at her school even if she's only in the singing Chorus, so I suppose that's an okay excuse.

Kitty: Not for me! (sigh) R&R!

Chapter Thirteen:

An Ill Favored Holiday

Hermione remained in the Hospital Wing for the next few days. Most of the students thought she'd been attacked, and were trying to get a glimpse of her through the Hospital Wing window, but Madame Pomfrey kept the curtains shut so she could save Hermione the humiliation of being seen with a furry face.

Diana had now been made Hermione's official homework flunky, as she had to pass on every single assignment or unit learned for the day to Hermione so she could keep up. Luckily, Seto helped her with History of Magic so Diana wouldn't have to tape her eyes open to stay awake.

-Honestly,- Bakura said one day in a better-sounding mood that he had in days, -Even Ryou would've gladly given up one or two days of work...Mione's completely mad.-

About a week after the Polyjuice incident, when the students were still getting used to adding the new year on top of their assignments, Diana was walking down to the Hospital Wing with Marik to give Hermione her assignments. When the two walked in, they found Harry, Ron and Seto already there with Hermione.

"What's going on?" Diana asked, "Why aren't all of you in class?"

"Ron and I found something," replied Harry as he held up a little black book.

Diana blinked. "Okay…is it a late Christmas present for Kitty or something? She likes writing best out of all of us, Harry."

Ron shook his head. "We found it in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."

"The name on the back was 'T.M. Riddle,' and that was the name of a Hogwarts student who won a Special Award to the school fifty years ago," Seto explained, "Ron saw it in the trophy room, and said there was no description of what Riddle did to get the award."

Diana's eyes widened in excitement. "I see…so you're saying T. M. Riddle might have gotten the award for catching the Heir of Slytherin?"

Hermione nodded, her nose still partnered with cat-like whiskers. "There's only one problem…there's nothing written in it. Even if Riddle had caught the Heir of Slytherin, he left us nothing to find him ourselves…"

Marik had not said a word since the conversation began, but right then, he spoke up. "Do you mind if I hold onto it? I might want to examine it for ancient magic."

"Good idea, Marik," Harry nodded as he handed Marik the book.

But Diana couldn't help but notice how pale Marik's face was as his fingers closed around the book's cover…

Lockhart, according to some of his words to Professor McGonagall, had ideas to lighten up the dark mood of the school, but it was obvious he didn't have a very clear idea of what "lightening up" was for most people.

Diana came down to the Great Hall on Valentine's Day a little bit later than usual thanks to having Artemis come out the night before, and when she saw the inside of the Hall, she felt like she was going to be ill.

Sickly pink flowers covered the walls and heart shaped confetti fell from the ceiling, forcing the students to wipe confetti out of their food every so often before eating it.

Diana joined Harry, Ron and a completely defurred Hermione at the Gryffindor table as Seto and Marik came over also.

All of Diana's boy friends were as disgusted as she was, but Hermione, like most girls, was overcome with giggles.

"What the hell is going on here?" Diana said as she shook some confetti out of her hair.

Ron pointed to the professor's table, apparently too disgusted to speak, and when Diana looked, she could see why he was so disgusted.

Lockhart was standing in lurid pink robes that matched the flowers and grinning his usual white grin as he waved for silence.

The professors around him, like most of the students, looked like they were going to be sick. A vein was popping in McGonagall's cheek, and Snape looked ready to kill.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart exclaimed cheerfully. "And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all, but the fun doesn't end here!"

-If that Lockhart nimrod calls this surprise fun,- Atem thought in Harry's direction, disgust apparent, -Then it's all downhill from here.-

Harry nodded inwardly. /I've been nervous of what Dudley calls fun before…but I'm more so in this case than I ever was with him./

Lockhart clapped his hands, and about a dozen dwarfs marched into the Great Hall and lined up in front of the professor's table. They were not just any dwarfs, however; Lockhart had them wearing golden wings and carrying harps.

"My lovely, card-carrying cupids!" he exclaimed. "They will be roving the school today, delivering everyone's Valentines! And I'm sure my fellow teachers will want to get into the festivities as well…"

"Dwarfs aren't the friendliest of creatures, mind you," Diana muttered without listening to the rest of Lockhart's stupid speech, "But anything that has to dress up like that I can't help but feel sorry for."

"Amen," Seto and Harry said together.

Ron, not paying attention to Diana or the others, turned to Hermione. "Mione, please tell me you weren't one of the forty-six."

But Hermione suddenly started searching her bag for her schedule and did not reply.

Diana scowled as she and her friends left the Great Hall.

"Really," she said, "I don't know how I can go through the whole rest of the day without throwing up…"

"Diana Randall!"

Diana turned to see one of the golden-winged and harp-carrying dwarfs.

"I've got a musical Valentine to deliver to Diana Randall in person," the dwarf said, plucking his harp threateningly.

Diana went white.

"C-can't you just give me the Valentine and not sing?" she asked.

"No," the dwarf said stubbornly.

"Then send it back," Diana said, before trying to run.

But the dwarf grabbed her ankle, causing her to trip and fall onto the floor. Diana quickly scrambled to her feet, but the dwarf seized her bag and held her back.

"Get off!" Diana yelled, trying to get her bag of the dwarf's grip, but with no cigar.

"Hey! What's the hold-up?"

It was Malfoy.

"What's going on?"

And Percy.

Diana doubled her escape attempts from the dwarf, trying to get away from the crowd before they heard her singing valentine.

Marik suddenly ran out and tried to get the dwarf away. The two of them fought trying to pull the bag out of the dwarf's hands, until Diana's bag ripped in half and two of her ink bottles crashed onto the ground, showering Marik, Diana, their clothes and their stuff in black ink.

Finally, the dwarf whammed the harp into Marik's wrist to get him away and stood on top of Diana's feet painfully pressing them down on the floor.

"Here's your singing Valentine," the dwarf said,

"You walk past me, yes you do,
I wish you could see me as I do,
You're so sweet, c'est magnifique,
The way I feel about you.

You're so right, I'm so wrong,
But does that mean I'm wrong
For loving you as I do,
To send you this song?

And still I ask, can I change the past,
To make you see me a little differently?
But no, you see, I'm still me,
And we're too wrong for this song…"

Some of the boys were laughing.

Some of the girls were sighing and saying, "How romantic!"

Diana, on the other hand, threw the dwarf off of her ankle, shoved the survivor of her ink-stained supplies back into her bag and ran to the nearest bathroom.

She put her bag on the sink, before going into one of the stalls and shutting the door behind her.

Diana came out a little while later, looking as ill as she had back at the Burrow, as she repeated the lyrics in her head:

"And still I ask, can I change the past,
To make you see me a little differently?
But no, you see, I'm still me,
And we're too wrong for this song…"

Diana shook her head as she left the bathroom.

/Why did someone have to send me that stupid song anyway? I was doing just fine until…/

-Dare-chan? -

Diana suddenly found herself in her soul room, and on the newly-appeared bed next to her was Bakura.

/Hey, Bakura/ she thought.

-You've been making yourself sick, haven't you? -Bakura whispered as he brought up his hand to touch her face.

Though it seemed like he was asking a question, it seemed to Diana like he already knew the answer.

-You'll be bulimic before you know it, Dare-chan,- Bakura said, -You shouldn't do this to yourself…-

/What's it to you, anyway/ Diana snapped.

-You're my current host and Hikari,- Bakura replied, -Why wouldn't I care?-

/Ryou's your Hikari, Bakura, not me/ the redhead growled, /And you rarely care about anything or anyone…/

-You're my friend- Bakura's voice remained patient, -Dare-chan…just illuminate this for me: why are you doing this to yourself? -

/It's not for my weight, if that's what you're thinking/ Diana muttered, /I'm doing it…for stress, you could say…I've been doing it for a while, but no one's ever seen me./

-You have no reason to be stressed,- Bakura reproached.

/Yes, I do./

-Someone's in love with you, what's so wrong with that? -

/Do you know what happened to my mum because of love/ Diana snapped, /No you don't! My dad left her to die/

Diana felt Bakura's shock. -What…? -

/My dad let Voldemort kill her, after telling her he loved her! After making her pregnant with me! After asking her to marry him! Do you think I want to die that way too, and leave my descendants to live the way I am now/

-Of course I don't!- Bakura was about to apologize, but Diana cut him off.

/You don't know what it's like to have someone control you every month to drink blood and hurt you! Hell, you were the one who hurt Ryou, not vice-versa! You don't know what it's like when this thing takes control of you and kills someone, only to get blamed yourself! YOU KNOW NOTHING/

Diana finally took a break from her mental yelling. She looked down at the soul-room floor, and tried not to blink so she wouldn't cry.

Bakura looked at Diana for a minute, before scooting over to her and putting his arms around her.

Diana breathed harshly as Bakura held her, but couldn't help but feel calmer.

-No, I don't know how you feel,- Bakura whispered into her ear, -And no, I don't know how your mother would've felt when she was betrayed. But I can tell you something…-

Diana felt her chin being brought up to look into Bakura's dark brown eyes.

-…I don't want you to be in pain, my little Aibou. You may not be Ryou, my other half, but you're part of me all the same, and I will always be there for you.-

Diana looked at Bakura for a minute without saying a word…and for one of the first times in her life, she felt like she didn't need to.

Whether or not Diana even felt Bakura move closer and kiss her cheek, she actually could bury her face into his shoulder and, after a lifetime of pain and sadness, was able to cry.

Kitty: (eyes shining with tears)Awwwww...

Yugi: (mirroring Kitty's expression) Real sweet, Bakura-san.

Lina: (grumbling to herself)

Kitty: (sigh) Reviews?

Kara: (checks the review box) First is from Claire!

Kitty: Like I told you in my email, I could never be sick of you. (smiles) And long reviews from friends are ALWAYS nice.

Yugi: Much Malfoy and Lochart bashing will be in the Bash-a-Thon, fortunately. Hee hee...what fun I shall have...

Kitty: The reviewers will be the ones deciding how to torture him, Yugi-chan.

Yugi: I'll just have to take their ideas and "modify" them a bit for my own tastes. (smirks evilly)

Atem: (sweatdrop) Hikari, you can be quite scary when you talk like that.

Diana: Next is Rayne Saijeuz.

Lina: AUTHORING CLOSET! I luv it!

Kitty: (sticks her tongue out too) Shows what you know! Cats are just as good as wolves! Then again, I love any animal that is furry and small enough to glomp. (grins)

Kara: And...Kyte!

Kitty: Spring Break is the bomb. I was tempted to do something with Dare hurting Malfoy, but hey, it might've blown their cover. (frowns) I actually don't like Tom Felton as much in the third movie; I've always liked him best in the first.

Yugi: (glares) I like him never.

Kitty: We know, Yugi-chan, we know...you don't like any guy you find a threat.

Yugi: (glomps Kitty possessively and growls like a dog)

Everyone Else: (sweatdrop)

Lina: Onward to aNiMe-AzN-aNgEl.

Kitty: Well, I didn't exactly update this time around much quicker... (sweatdrop) Sorry.

Diana: Yeah, poor me, poor me...

Kara: Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Dare...next is your near-twin, Engie!

Diana: (waves) Hi!

Kitty: Like I said, don't worry about it! Tons of people only review once and then leave. And I could never get mad at a friend. (hugs her friend)

Yugi: Meh, I liked ToG too...even if I had to kiss both my Yami and my best friend...

Kitty: (glares) Thanks for giving it away!

Yugi: (smirks) I didn't say in which circumstances I kissed them, did I?

Kitty: (huffs)

Lina: Now presenting...ANAYAS-CREATOR.

Kitty: (small voice) I'm sorry...

Noa: She really is. She rarely gets this small with reviewers.

Diana: (grins) And you know we're always excited to read any new updates on the Demon Witch.

Kara: The next review is from ZeldaAlly.

Kitty: Getting up early sucks ass. Particularly to an alarm. BAMP BAMP BAMP BAMP... (sigh)

Noa: (cleaning his ears out) It does get annoying after a while...

Kitty: (smiles) I usually like kids too...too bad my neighbors moved away, they had the CUTEST little kids...and I'd sometimes look after them while their mom went out shopping or something...

Lina: And...dark sorceress of Egypt.

Atem: I totally agree with you on the plot bunny. And thank you; it's my prime weapon of choice, and when I find the plot bunny, he will get it. (winks)

Ryou: (his hair ruffled and cheek slightly pink) Eep.

Noa: We all miss Ryou and Yugi not being in the fic...

Kitty: But the worst is yet to come... (wails)

Yugi: (gives Kitty a hug to make her feel better)

Kara: Next review is from Rainbow Guardian Angel!

Atem: Sand! Sun! Man, I miss that. (pouts)

Kitty: You know my mom doesn't have the money for a trip to Florida, Atem, no matter how much I agree with you and want to glomp Mickey Mouse again. (ahem) I had a sunburn once. In Fort Lauderdale. And it was as painful as yours, Mizumi. I couldn't put on a shirt for two days.

Hermione: (hugs Rainbow back)

Lina: And finally...Silver and Set.

Kitty: Thanks, you two, I do get the point. (grins) Nice to know you like it.

Lina: Kitty has a new obsession.

Kitty: WICKED! I just got the soundtrack and I LUV IT! I wish we could do THAT instead of the Wiz... (grumbles) The Wiz sucks.

Yugi: And you're in the Chorus! That's so not fair.

Noa: (nods) R&R!