Anaya's Creator: Sorry about the long wait. I had school work, editing, and such that I needed to do before updating again.
Kaiba: Don't you have a math test you should be studying for so you don't get a C again?
Anaya's Creator: (grumbles)
Zuko's 1 and Only:
Eventually...
Arrathar:
Thanks for reviewing again
Onyx Rose:
Yep, that admirer is still in the story. Feel free to boggle your brains out over it...
Adele S:
So I've been told. I've never gotten one though, never had a boyfriend.
Kaiba: What boy would want a girl like you, karate-kicking smart chick whosucks at math?
Anaya's Creator: (bonks him) I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Inu-Yasha, or Harry Potter.
Chapter 13: The Abducted Tablets
The few remaining days of winter break passed by in what seemed like seconds to those in the Kaiba mansion and in a matter of moments, it seemed, they were back to Hogwarts.
Seto Kaiba was leaning against the wall next to the statue of a griffin. Many minutes ago, Sakura had gone up the staircase hidden behind it to tell her adoptive uncle what had happened over winter break in Japan. She's been up there forsome time, he thought. What's taking her so long?
Suddenly, the griffin came to life and jumped to one side as someone came down the moving staircase. It was Sakura with what looked like a newspaper clenched in her hand. "Sorry I took so long. Thanks for waiting," she said, kissing his neck.
Seto reached for the paper in her hand and unrolled it. "The London Times?" he asked. "This is muggle news. I thought wizards didn't read it."
"Uncle does, along with ours. He says it helps him keep an eye on Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters."
"So what caught his attention?"
"An odd break-in; I'll explain once we get with the others. Dumbledore says we have to find them all and bring them to his office. He needs to speak to us all."
"Someone broke into the London museum and took some huge tablets?" Ron asked.
It was late in the evening and Sakura, her two best friends, the Japanese students except for Mokuba, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gathered in Dumbledore's office. Apparently, someone had broken into the London Museumand stolen some really huge artifacts. Also, there was also no evidence of someone forcing his or her way in, which made the situation all the more suspicious.
"Yeah weird, eh?" Sakura replied. "And listen to this:
Mysterious Artifacts from Ancient Egypt Stolen in a Puff of Smoke from London Museum
Last night while all wizard kind was asleep in their beds, one was not. He/she was at the London Museum, the target: huge untranslatable tablets from ancient Egypt brought to England by the Egyptian Historical Society representative, Ishizu Ishtar. "I am confused as to why someone would take these precious artifacts," she told a Daily Prophet reporter, disguised as a muggle. "No one has been able to translate what has been carved on the stone so they are truly of no use to anyone. And I don't see why they would bring anyone a large profit on the black market."
This reporter was also told that the perpetrator was caught on camera by a museum security tape. He/she killed the guards and as the security alarms sounded, disappeared with the artifacts in a puff of purple smoke. Ministry of Magic officials from the Department of Mysteries are on the scene as we speak.
"It was Lord Voldemort," Harry declared. "He must want to know what's on the tablets."
"Harry, he can't even read them so of what use are they?" Sakura asked.
"Wait, let's not jump to conclusions," Hermione objected. "We don't even really know what's on that tape. This article only gives us a vague idea of that. Maybe it wasn't a Death Eater."
"And what, pray tell, are the chances of that?" Lara asked sarcastically.
"But why steal the tablets to get the information?" Britts questioned. "Why not just go to the library? Or visit the museum during the day?"
"I don't think anyone knows enough about the Millennium Items to publish a book about them," Sakura pointed out. "Besides, if it was a Death Eater, I doubt they would know how to translate the stones on the spot. So they need to take the time to translate the hieroglyphics."
"We have to get a look at that tape," Bakura said, having appeared beside his hikari along with Yami.
"But how?" Ron asked.
"Ishizu knows us from Kaiba's tournament. Maybe we could send her an owl and she'd send it to us," Yugi suggested.
"Then we'd have the tape, but how would we view it? Muggle devices don't work inside Hogwarts," Ryou said.
"Except my laptop and cell phone," Seto reminded them.
Sakura snapped her fingers as an idea popped into her head. "Wait a minute, what about Noah?"
"What about him?" Kaiba inquired
"Who is 'Noah'?" Dumbledore asked, finally speaking up. During the whole conversation, he had basically sat back, thinking his own thoughts, and let the group of teens talk the situation out since the majority of them were planning to be Aurors when they left school and needed to get used to stuff like this.
"He's Seto's stepbrother," Sakura answered.
"Why wasn't he brought here? I thought there were only two Kaiba brothers,"
"Well, he's not really a person, per say. His mind kind of lives in a computer so, technically speaking, he's not really human or alive... I guess," his niece explained rather awkwardly. Feeling rather stupid, she turned to her boyfriend. "Could I have a little help clarifying here, please?"
The C.E.O. rolled his eyes, "You're horrible at explaining things," he murmured. He got out his computer and logged on. Soon a familiar pale face with green hair and blue eyes had appeared on the screen.
"Hey people, what'd I miss?" he greeted.
"Hello Noah, there's someone who would like to meet you," Sakura said.
Seto picked up his laptop, placed it on Dumbledore's desk, and turned it around so the old wizard could see the screen. "Noah, meet Professor Dumbledore, our headmaster and Sakura's uncle. Professor, meet Noah, my stepbrother."
"This is absolutely fascinating," Dumbledore exclaimed excitedly. "How is life in cyberspace?"
"Boring! I've been stuck in the virtual world for so long; I've run out of things to do. Though I do know a few good porn sites that..."
"Ah! My virgin ears!" Britts interrupted, slamming her hands over her ears. (1)
"Anyways!" Sakura growled, turning the laptop back around and trying to get everyone back on track. "Noah, we need a favor. The London museum was broken into last night and we need to see that security tape. Can you hack into their system and e-mail the tape to us?"
"Can I? After hacking into the computer mainframe on Seto's blimp, a museum should be a piece of cake. I'm on it," and in a flash he disappeared.
"Professor, what happens if a Death Eater was behind this?" Hermione asked.
"First, we must find out if it was a Death Eater, then we take it from there," the headmaster answered.
"Okay, I got the tape, Seto," Noah's voice said. "It's loading up to your computer as we speak."
"Good," Kaiba grunted, and soon the media had finished loading. "Here we go," he murmured, clicking on the play button.
The room they were watching was silent and very dark, spare for a set of security lights that allowed them to make out two guards standing vigil over two very large, stone tablets. Suddenly a beam of bright green light lit up the screen and for a moment they couldn't see a thing. When it had faded, redish lights had begun to flash and a ear-piercing siren had filled the room. One of the guards was lying motionless on the ground and the other had his gun out.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" he demanded in a gruff voice. He wasn't very old, only in his mid-forties or so, with dark hair and a straight nose that curved up at the very tip. His shirt was light blue and didn't hide the obtrusive beer belly he had. Dark formal looking pants covered his thick legs.
Then another burst of light blinded them and he met the same fate as his partner.
"They were killed by the Aveda Kedavera curse," Sakura muttered. "There's no doubt of it. I can't think of any weapon in the muggle world that kills that causes that big of a lightshow and kills that silently."
"Because no weapon can do that," Seto told her. "My stepfather's corporation was up to date on all war technologies before I took over the company. No normal weapon could be that destructive and not make a sound."
Next, a hooded figure came on the screen, after silencing the alarms and passing over the guards and running towards the tablets. It stood in front of the two stones and for a little bit seemed to be pondering what to do. Thenthe personconjured puffs of purple colored smoke, engulfing the artifacts . When the haze had cleared, there was a loud cracking sound and the mysterious human had disappeared.
"That had to have been a Death Eater," Harry said. "There's no way a muggle could have done that, absolutely none."
"What do we do now, Professor?" Hermione asked.
"I will present this happening to our Minister of Magic, Rufus Scimgeour, but we must find out what is written on that tablet so we can figure out what information Lord Voldemort has gotten his hands on," Dumbledore explained.
Lara turned to Yugi and Ryou. "You guys mentioned that you know the woman who brought those slabshere. Did she ever tell you what was on them?"
"The one with the pictures that look like Kaiba and myself tells of the last great battle between us in ancient Egypt," Yami began.
Seto groaned, "Here we go again."
"And I'm not sure what the other one says; never got a chance to read it."
"If we zoomed in on the screen to get a better view other tablets, think you could decipher it?" Sakura inquired.
"Kaiba could," Bakura said shortly.
Seto clicked on the zoom button a few times, but as they got closer to the tablets, the image became more distorted.
"Okay, time for a new plan," Sakura sighed.
"Noah, hack back into the museum mainframe and see if you can get us into a camera closer to those tablets," Seto demanded.
"Always barking orders, aren't you, dear brother?" Noah spat mockingly. "Why don't you try saying please for once in your life? It wouldn't kill you."
"Noah, we don't have time for this," Kaiba snarled back.
Sakura rolled her eyes. Men, she thought exasperatedly. "And we don't have time for your stubborn belligerence."
Britts turned to Noah. "Noah, please stop bickering pointlessly with Kaiba and zoom in on those tablets."
Noah grinned. "Now that's much better. You could learn a few things from these guys, Seto." The aqua-haired teen disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later with a clearer and brighter view of the stones.
"Zoom in more on the left tablet," Kaiba requested.
Noah complied.
"A little bit more, it's almost readable... perfect." Seto stared at the screen for a while before he told them what was on the slabs. "This one tells about shadow magic being used to summon the actual monsters to life and how the sorcerers controlled them."
"But the only ones who can do that are the ones with Millennium Items, right?" Britts asked.
"We've never met anyone without one who could." Yami assured her.
"So even if Voldemort translates this, we only have to worry about him using the magic if he gets his hands on one of the Items," Hermione mused.
"Right," Bakura confirmed. "And even if he does, only ones with a connection to our past in Egypt can use their power; and I highly doubt that this dark lord fits that category."
Dumbledore pulled out his pocket watch and looked at the time. "Oh my goodness is it that late already?" he murmured. "Splendid work everyone, but for now, I would like you all to retire to the Gryffindor Tower and get some sleep. I will contact the minister about this in the morning and in the meantime, I'd like you all to attend to your normal day to day activities as you usually would.Harry, we'll have another one of those meetingstomorrow night, be here at eight o'clock. Good night, everyone."
Everyone nodded and began to leave the office.
As she left, Sakura turned back and saw the headmaster's head bowed forward to the floor as he shut his eyes and begin to slowly rub his temples. "Uncle, what's wrong?" she asked, worry visible on her face as she watched him.
"I'm alright, my dear, just go to bed," he told her, looking up
"Are you sure?" she insisted, walking over to him. Even though this man wasn't her real uncle, she had to admit that she had grown attached to him. After all, it was his roof she had been living under for the past six years.
"I'm fine, Sakura. I'll just go down to the kitchens and get myself a nice cup of tea."
"Do you want me to fetch it for you?"
"That would be lovely, now that you mention it." Dumbledore gave her a strained smile as she bowed to him and left his office. When she had gone, he walked over to his cabinet and pulled out a stone bowl with ancient writings carved around the edges. Inside it was a silvery substance that seemed like air turned to liquid. He placed it on his desk, sat in his chair, took out his wand, and lightly tapped the surface.
Instantly, the substance began to swirl and swirl inside its container until a picture of a lush green and sun-filled meadow formed in its depths. He leaned forward and allowed himself to become lost in the memory as it began to play itself out.
-8-Flashback-8-
It was a bright, sunny day and he had decided to take Sakura around the grounds of Hogwarts before school started once again. She had only just turned eleven. They were in a field near their home outside of Hogwarts filled with overgrown grass and other assorted plants. He was walking with a large mahogany staff in hand and she was running around smiling and laughing, her then short braid gently hitting the back of her neck. Occasionally she would stop to roll in the grass and pieces of it would get in her white hair, but she didn't really seem to care. It was as if she had forgotten the grief brought on by her recent loss, but he knew that back then she still cried in her sleep, yearning to see her parents alive once more.
-8-End Flashback-8-
"I remember this day. It was a week before I was going to attend Hogwarts," said a voice from behind him.
Dumbledore turned and saw Sakura. He had been so engrossed in the scene unfolding before him that he had not noticed his niece appear behind him. "Indeed, it was."
"So should I go back and leave your tea on the desk?"
"That would be wonderful. Thank you, dear."
His niece smiled, to him bowed once more, and left him.
"And now you are a woman," he murmured as he gazed back at the eleven year old Sakura. He then got himself out of the memory and found himself back in his office.
There was a loud cry from the side of the room and a bird with vibrant orange and red plumage flew over and landed on the desk beside him.
"She grew up so fast, didn't she, Fawkes?" Dumbledore sighed as he stroked the phoenix's crown feathers. Quaking slightly, he reached for the steaming mug on the tray in front of him. What are you plotting, Tom? he pondered as he took a drink, but immediately spat it back out. "I think I burned my tongue," he remarked to no one in particular.
-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-
(1) This is a little tribute to my friend, Britts, whom this character is based on. This struck me as something she would say if we brought up something really dirty during a conversation. Love ya, Britts, my goddess of innocence incarnate!
Anaya's Creator: REVIEW STUPID PEOPLE OR I WON'T LIKE YOU NO MORE!