Anaya's Creator: Guess what, Seto proposed to me! (shows off new silver ring on left ring finger)
Kaiba: (jumps out of his chair) What! No I didn't!
Anaya's Creator: Just kidding, I just found a cool ring in Biology. Here the reviews:
Adele S:
Yep, I am evil aren't I? And just to prove it, there's another cliff hanger in this chapter.
Setoglomper:
I still love your username. It rocks my fuzzy socks.
Anaya's Creator: (gives reviewers cookies) I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Inu-Yasha or Harry Potter. If I did, I would be more influential because I would actually have something called money.
Chapter 17:
"My blood?" Sakura asked. "Why?"
"His blood needs replenishing," Snape answered.
"Then why can't he just take a Blood Replenishing Potion?"
"We're missing an ingredient, but your blood will compensate for that."
Hesitantly, Sakura rolled up her sleeve and held out her arm.
"Sakura, you're offering life to the spawn of your mortal enemy, know that?" Seto told her.
"I know, but enough people have lost their lives to Lord Voldemort. Even though he is my enemy, the more life that can be preserved the better."
Snape grasped her arm firmly, found the vein he wanted, and slashed it with a sharp knife. Sakura tried her best to muffle a groan as the metal pierced her skin, but Seto, who had his arms around her, still heard it and tightened his hold on her to soothe her. Snape held the goblet of potion underneath the gash he had made and squeezed the cut, forcing some blood into the goblet. After stirring it a few times, he went over to Malfloy, held him up, and helped him swallow it until Draco had drowned all of it.
"Miss Yasha, what have you done to your arm?" demanded the voice of Madam Pomfrey as she came out of her office. "You were just in here a few days ago!" Without any further questions, the nurse took Sakura's arm and pointed her wand at it. Sakura winced slightly as she felt the familiar prickling sensation of her skin sewing itself back together.
As Madam Pomfrey attended to the albino, Seto saw, out of the corner of his eye, Snape's wand aimed at Sakura's neck, exactly where the Jewel of Four Souls rested. His hand left his girlfriend's middle as he whirled around, knocking the professor's wand to the floor with a rattle and cast his infamous glare directly into Snape's dark eyes.
"Seto, what is it?" Sakura asked, trying to see why Kaiba had let go of her and where the sound had come from.
Snape's now empty hand landedon Sakura's shoulder, a soft expression formed acrossSnape's face. "Thank you, Miss Yasha," he crooned as if this had been his plan the entire time. "That was a noble thing you did just now, helping me save Mr. Malfloy."
Thrown off by this sudden air of formality, "Sure," was all she could think of to say.
Seto laced his arm tightly around her waist, pulled her away from Snape, and began forcing her out of the infirmary.
"Seto, what was that?" Sakura asked angrily.
"When Madam Pomfrey was fixing your arm, Snape was trying to steal the Jewel."
"Seto, please, how long are you going to keep this up? Snape isn't trying to take the Jewel. He would have done it long ago; he's had myriads of opportunities since my first year."
"He was just waiting for the proper moment. Harry told me that Malfloy was looking very pale in Potions class while the rest of us were doing Apparition, with the exception of you and Yugi. Whatever Malfloy's up to, Sakura--whether he's doing it for Lord Voldemort or not--it's going wrong. And if he is doing it for Lord Voldemort, this would be the perfect time for Snape to take the Jewel."
"Voldmort came back two years ago, Seto. If Snape is working for Voldemort, he had all last year to take it."
"I wasn't here last year, so I can't tell you why he didn't take it then. But what matters is that he's trying to take it from you now and, Sakura, I..." Seto gently grabbed her upper arms and pushed her against the wall of the corridor they were in, his sapphire irises pouring deeply into hers. He bent down so that they were almost nose to nose. "I love you," he confessed. There he had said it, but for some reason it didn't seem enough to leave it at that. "I love you, and I don't want to lose you or see you hurt."
"Seto," Sakura began, but she couldn't seem to say anything. It seemed that they would ruin this one moment. So she reached up and kissed him fiercely with all the passion and love she could muster, anything to let him know she felt the same way. Nothing could ruin this moment for her, that is, until she realized the toes on her right foot were tingling as if they were being poked at with several needles at once.
"Seto," she murmured, interrupting their kiss.
Seto let out a "hmm" to let her know he was listening as his lips moved to her cheeks and hairline.
"You're standing on my toes," she told him.
"I won't say 'I told you so'," Hermione said, an hour later in the common room.
"Leave it, Hermione," Ron pressed angrily.
"I was afraid that book would bring us bad news sooner or later," Lara murmured. Strangely, after Harry had told the Quidditch team he couldn't play in the match on Saturday, she hadn't given him a broken nose or anything of that nature like he had expected her to since she, like the rest of the team, had been furious that he could no longer play in the match on Saturday. Luckily, Ginny could take his place as seeker and Dean would cover for her as Chaser. "All the relatively harmless curses and the cheats for potions in it were pretty cool, but a spell that nearly kills your victim... that's going too far."
"Snape used that spell once," Sakura added coldly. "When he rescued me from that wolf that was the spell he used to kill it."
"Oh, so it's all right for Snape to cast it, but it's not all right for me," Harry growled.
"I didn't say that. Snape used it on an animal," Sakura retorted, her tone not changing. "You used it on a human; big difference."
"It wasn't on purpose," Harry pleaded. "It just came out. I wish it had never happened and not because of the detentions. You guys know I wouldn't have used that spell if I had known what it could do. It's not my fault, but it isn'tthe book's either."
"Harry, how can you still defend that book?" Hermione asked irritably.
"From the sound of things," Yami interjected, tired of listening to the conversation through Yugi's ears and not having any input of his own. "Malfloy was about to use one of the unforgivable curses. It was lucky that Harry had a good curse ready to pull out of his wand."
"You call a curse that practically kills its victim good, Yami?" Seto snarled.
"You know a lot about killing people, don't you, Kaiba?" Yami replied heatedly (1).
"Will all of you just shut-up?" Britts exclaimed throwing the book she had been trying to read for the past few minutes to the floor with a loud SLAM! "Enough about that stupid book! It had a spell in it that Harry used, but he didn't know what effect it would have on Malfloy when he used it, end of story! Now please shut-up about it!"
Aware that the whole common room was now staring at them, thanks to Britts' out-of-character outburst, Ryou dared to try and change the subject to a less controversial one.
"Sakura, why did Snape suddenly pull you off to the hospital wing?"
"Malfloy," Sakura answered. "An essential ingredient was missing for his Blood Replenishing Potion so my blood had to cover for it."
"That's not right," Hermione pointed out. "What ingredient could your blood possibly replace?"
"I don't know. That's what troubles me."
The day of the match, the Gryffindor Quidditch team put on their game robes in silence. The absence of their captain had caused a strange hush to settle over them. (Harry was downs in the dungeons with Snape, rewriting Filch's records of mischief-making.) Sakura noticed that the usual adrenalin rush she always had before a match seemed to have switched places with an anxiety rush, giving her hands an awkward feeling of numbness that made it difficult for her to put on her uniform. She doubted she would have enough control to hold on to her broomstick, much less pelt the Bludgers around the field.
"Come on everyone, pull yourselves together!" Ginny shouted when she noticed the team members' expressions. "This is the last match of the season; we can still win this thing!"
"She's right. We came up from being the underdog team last year. I can't see why we can't do it again," Lara pointed out.
"Now let's win this," Dean said vehemently, putting out his hand.
Everyone put their hands on top of his.
"Remember, we have to win by three hundred points," Katie reminded them.
"And best of luck to us all," Dezmelza Cassy told them. The team broke the pact and walked out to the field.
Sadly, Luna Lovegood was not commentating on this match nor was Zacharias Smith; it was some kid they didn't know. "And there's the Gryffindor team: WEASLY, CASSY, THOMAS, BELL, CAROLE, YASHA, AND WEASLY! Unfortunately they had to bring back their substitute chaser, Dean Thomas, so Ginny could replace their seeker. We know last year Gryffindor came up from behind when they lost some of their best players, can they do it again?"
(A/N: ALL CAPS equal the commentator.)
There were the predictable cheers from the Gryffindor section and loud boos from the Ravenclaws. As Madam Hooch released the Snitch and Bludger, then she picked up the Quaffle and threw it into the air.
"AND THE GAME BEGINS!" the commentator shouted.
The players instantly scattered across the field, buzzing off in different directions like an army of bumblebees fleeing a can of aerosol.
"CASSY HAS THE QUAFFLE. SHE'S SPEEDING TOWARDS THE GOALPOSTS USING HER USUAL LIGHTER THAN AIR, UNPREDICTABLE AGILITY. SHE THROWS THE QUAFFLE AND—OH, TOO BAD, CAUGHT BY THE RAVENCLAW KEEPER. BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME GRYFFINDOR."
The Ravenclaw keeper threw out the Quaffle and this time one of the Ravenclaw Chasers caught it. He passed it to one of the other Chasers, who passed it to the third, and she passed it back to the original. Together, the three Chasers flew close together passing the red ball between them, flying to the Gryffindor goalposts in an arrow's head formation. Seeing this, Sakura motioned to Dean who nodded.
He flew between all three Chasers who scattered, dropping the Quaffle. Katie Bell caught it and raced to the goalposts. Seeing a Bludger coming at her, she passed it to Dezmelza and Dezmelza scored.
"GRYFFINDOR SCORES! TEN TO ZERO!" The crowd erupted into a mixture of hisses and roars of approval.
Finally, after what seemed like hours of fouls, scores, and intercepted plays, Gryffindor was almost above Ravenclaw by one hundred and fifty points. Ginny spotted the snitch out of the corner of her eye and prayed that Cho did not spot it until Gryffindor had scored again. One more goal, plus the catch of the snitch would win Gryffindor the match by the three hundred points required to win the cup.
Seeing a flash of blue in pursuit of the tiny golden ball with wings, Ginny knew her prayers had been in vain and joined the chase. Gryffindor's victory was almost in their grasp; she couldn't let Cho snatch it away. She was thirty feet away… twenty… it was no use, Cho was still miles closer to the snitch than she was. Suddenly, a Bludger came out of nowhere, causing both girls to swerve their brooms to avoid it. Ginny looked around for the snitch once more, but it had vanished.
"Foul to Gryffindor!" Madam Hooch declared.
"CHASER KATIE BELL LINES UP TO TAKE THE FOUL" the commentator began, but instead of watching the foul to play out, Ginny kept her eyes peeled for the snitch, so she would be ready to chase after it if Katie scored. Bell had never let the team down on a foul that she could remember.
"KATIE BELL SCORES!"
Hastily, Ginny scanned the field for the golden ball. Where was that flying walnut with wings when you needed to find it in a hurry? There it was, roughly ten feet above the Gryffindor goalposts. Ginny raced towards it, zigzagging across the field to throw off Cho who was following her. She ducked as someone flew above her, her eyes not leaving the snitch for a moment. Reaching out, she caught it.
"GINNY WEASLY CATCHES THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
Several of the Gryffindor fans leapt to their feet, applauding, screaming, and pounding on their seats. Once again, Gryffindor had pulled themselves from underdog to Quidditch champions!
When the Gryffindor team reached the common room, there was an explosion of cheers and celebration as they walked into the throng. People were constantly giving them handshakes and handing them bottles of butterbeer or handfuls of crisps or peanuts. Sakura spied Seto sauntering towards her and she ran in his direction and jumped into his arms, her feet leaving the floor. Their lips crashing together as she kissed him forcefully.
"Good job at the match today," he complimented as he put her down.
"Wow, a compliment, that's rare," Sakura retorted as her boyfriend laced his hand around her waist.
Kaiba said nothing and led her over to a pair of abandoned armchairs near the fire. As he sat down he pulled her onto his lap, groaning as her ass made contact with his thighs. "Did you know you have a really bony ass?" he asked, putting his free hand on her thighs.
"You're the one who wanted me to sit here," Sakura reminded him unsympathetically. "Butterbeer?" she offered, holding out her unopened bottle someone had handed to her.
Kaiba reached out to accept it, but she pulled it out of his reach, opened it, and took a long gulp. "Get your own," she told him once she had swallowed.
When Harry returned the common room from his detention with Snape, he received the same warm uproar as the team did. Both Lara and Ginny ran over and gave him huge hugs (no, he and Ginny did not kiss).
"A toast," Sakura proposed, lifting her half-empty bottle of butterbeer. "To one of the best teams Gryffindor's ever had!"
"Hear, hear," the throng echoed.
"I found Prince!" Hermione announced days later while every one was in the common room, relaxing. She pulled out a piece of very old newsprint out of her pocket and placed it in front of Harry.
He picked up the crumbling article and looked at the yellowed picture.
"Read the caption," Hermione instructed.
"Eileen Prince, Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Team," Harry read aloud. He stared at Hermione for a moment and burst out laughing.
"What is so funny?" she demanded.
"You think she was the Half-Blood?" Harry asked through his laughter. "Be serious, Hermione."
"She is being serious, Harry. There are no princes in the Wizarding world," Lara said.
"So it'd have to be a nickname, a made up title like Tom Riddle's new title: Lord Voldemort, or someone's actual name," Hermione finished. "If her father was a wizard whose surname was Prince, and her mother was a Muggle, then that would make her a 'half-blood Prince'!"
"Or vice versa, the mother could have surname Prince and decided to keep her last name," Sakura added.
"Listen Hermione, it's not a girl," Harry argued. "I can just tell."
"Oh, so you don't think a girl would have been clever enough?" Hermione pressed angrily.
"How could I have hung out with you, Lara, Britts, and Sakura for five years and think girls aren't clever?" Harry retorted, stung by her harsh words. "It just isn't a girl."
"Well, I'm going to look up more on Eileen Prince if I can," Hermione said irritably.
"Good luck with that," Sakura told her.
Unfortunately for Harry, there was glorious weather outside of the dungeons and several people spent their time out on the grounds, soaking up the sun's rays as they studied for upcoming exams, teasing the giant squid, or just moseying around doing nothing in the fresh sun-warmed grass.
One late afternoon such as this just before dinner, Sakura was standing by the edge of the lake, skipping rocks. Seto and Mokuba were sitting about five feet away, studying.
"You're the one who should really be studying over here, Miss I-forget-everything-as-soon-as-I-see-the-word-test," Seto said.
"Seto, if I have to memorize one more step to a transfiguration method or one more potion ingredient today, my head is going to explode!" she retorted, sending one of her rocks for four jumps.
After skipping her tenth rock across the surface of the lake (three long jumps) she heard someone walking over to her.
"I bet I can skip a rock for more jumps than you," Mokuba challenged.
"I'd like to see that," Sakura said, egging the kid on.
Mokuba bend down to the sand and fiddled with the rocks until he found one that he was satisfied with. After running his fingers over the smooth surface one last time, Mokuba flung the rock. It skipped not once, not three times, but SEVEN times until it dropped into the middle of the lake.
Sakura blinked several times to make sure her eyes were still working. She did not just see that.
"Seven skips, let's see you beat that, Sakura," the eleven year old jeered.
Sakura picked up a stone and threw it. It skipped only four times, but it went much farther than Mokuba's did.
"Ha! Only four, I win! You owe me another one of your bags of jelly beans."
"Excuse me! That wasn't part of the challenge," Sakura retorted. "Besides, mine went farther."
"But that wasn't the challenge. It was who could get the most skips."
"Come on children," Seto told them, picking up his bag. "Come get your bags; we should go up for dinner."
Laden with their bags, the trio headed up the castle, not knowing the huge adventure they would go through that night.
That evening, Harry raced past Hermione and Ron who were seated together in the common room. "What does Dumbledore want?" Hermione asked, but he didn't answer. He just went right up to the boy's dormitory.
Upstairs, Harry saw Yugi lying on his bed, writing a letter. "What's the rush, Harry?" he asked as he watched the other boy dive into his trunk, pulling out his invisibility cloak.
Harry didn't answer and as he sped back down the stairwell, Yugi followed him.
"I've got to be quick," Harry told Yugi, Ron and Hermione when he got back downstairs. "Dumbledore thinks I'm getting my Invisibility cloak so listen up." He explained to them what was going on, not pausing for Hermione's gasps of horror or Ron and Yugi's hasty questions.
"So Malfloy is going to have a perfect opportunity to go through with whatever he's up to. Hermione, Ron, round up all the D.A. members and Yugi you tell Ryou and Seto. See you lot when I get back."
Harry raced through the portrait hole and towards the entrance hall.
"All right, let's round up the troops," Hermione said.
"Everyone, drink this," Lara instructed, passing around small cups of a glimmering golden liquid, barely a spoonful in each. After Harry had left, Hermione, Yugi, and Ron had managed to round up Ginny, Neville, Luna, Sakura, Lara, and Britts along with Seto and Ryou and they all met in a deserted classroom, talking in hushed voices.
"Wait a minute Lara, what is this stuff?" Sakura asked, nervously eyeing her cup as Stitch, whoclung to her shoulder, took a sniff of the potion.
Recognizing it immediately, Hermione spoke up," Lara, how did you get your hands on it?"
"Won it, from an old bloke down in Hogshead ages ago. The senile old fool had no idea what kind of card player he was up against."
Sakura still looked perplexed.
"It's Felix Fleicis," Seto explained. "It will make us lucky. This should just be just enough to keep any of us from getting killed if one doesn't do anything stupid."
"Just a little ray of sunshine, aren't you, Kaiba?" Ginny commented.
"Cheers," Britts said, and everyone drank.
"He's right actually," Lara said, smacking her lips. "In a worst case scenario, we're going to be facing Death Eaters here. We need all the luck we can get."
"We should all split up," Ron suggested.
"Seto and I will go to the Room of Requirement and if anything happens there, we'll let the nearest Auror or teacher know," Sakura said.
"Or just raise a big ruckus that's sure to attract attention," Ginny pointed out.
"The rest of us will patrol the corridors," Luna said in her dreamlike voice.
"All right, let's go," Lara exclaimed. "When you feel the heat of your coin, the Death Eaters are here, be on your guard."
-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-
(1) This is refering to the manga, particularly during the Duelist Kingdom series. In I think book 4 or 5, Kaiba forces the men who were in his helicopter w/him to jump into the sea. He also takes Croquet for a hostage.
Anaya's Creator: Mwa, ha, ha, ha, ha, evil cliff hanger! I'll update a.s.a.p. Review and I'll try harder.