Yuugiou!
Episode Nine and Three Quarters
There might be another update sometime today (or tomorrow, depending on what timezone you're in). I'm not exactly in the best of moods today, and working on this is keeping me from any... destructive thoughts.
Lots of changes in this chapter; I hope you enjoy it. I was compairing it in length to the original, and it's already a few pages longer. It might even break 100 pages in Word by the time I'm done.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN – THROUGH THE TRAP DOOR
Yuugi would never know how he had made it through to finals, especially with the thought of an evil dark lord lurking out there somewhere, after a mystical stone that could make said dark lord insanely powerful. On top of that, it was exceptionally hot that June, especially in the room where they had to take their written exams. Hundreds of first year students crammed in one large room, scribbling furiously away on their written exams with their anti-cheating quills, coupled with the fact that they had to wear their black robes despite the heat and you had a group of very hot, very brain fried children.
There were practical exams too, of course. Ryou had quite a bit of fun making a pineapple tap dance across Professor Flitwick's desk. Yuugi managed to come away with the most points in the Transfiguration exam, turning a mouse into a snuffbox that had a similar appearance to the box the Millennium Puzzle had been contained in. Unfortunately, when Malik attempted to do something similar, he was so focused on trying to make it look nice that his still had whiskers.
"At least it doesn't have a tail!" he had protested, but McGonagall still took points off.
He made up for it though in Potions, where he and Ron made a Forgetfulness Potion that, according to Snape, was potent enough to make a full grown adult forget right up to their child years. If Malik had not made a comment about Snape testing it to make sure, they would have come away with the highest marks in the class. Both Seto and Hermione shined in History of Magic, where the two of them zipped through their exams twice over before handing them in long before everyone else was done.
After the exams, the seven of them left the castle and walked about the grounds, basking in the warmth of the sun.
"Thank god that's over!" Ron exclaimed, taking his robe off and slinging it over his shoulder. "That was pure torture!"
"What are you complaining about?" Seto drawled, bored. "That was hardly difficult."
"Speak for yourself…" Ryou grumbled, massaging the side of his head.
"Hey, Harry, you could look a little more cheerful," Malik said, looking over his shoulder at the younger boy. "We've got a whole week before we find out how we did."
Harry shook his head, rubbing his forehead where a thunderbolt shaped scar stared out from under his messy bangs.
"It's not that, Malik," he said, wincing. "It's my scar. It's been hurting often since that time in the forest."
"Maybe you should go to Madam Pomfrey?" Yuugi suggested.
Harry sighed, shaking his head. "No, I… I think it's a warning. A warning about Voldemort."
Ron winced at the mention of the dreaded dark wizard, as the sound of a flute of some kind reached their ears, and they all turned to see Hagrid sitting outside of his hut. He was playing a wooden instrument that he had obviously whittled himself. Harry stared at the giant of a man, his face suddenly lighting up with an idea.
"Oh no…" he muttered.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Don't you think it's rather odd, that what Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon," Harry began, "and a stranger just happens to show up with one in his pocket?"
Harry took off toward Hagrid, Hermione and Ron running after him. Yugi, Seto, Ryou, and Malik just stared after them, caught off guard, before following. Hagrid looked up as they approached, smiling warmly.
"Hullo; done with yer exams, are yeh?" he asked. "Care for a drink?"
"Yes," Ron said.
"No," Harry corrected a second later. "Hagrid, when you got Norbert… what did the guy look like?"
"Well, I dunno," Hagrid replied. "He never took off his cloak."
Everyone's eyes widened in response.
"What? Yeh get a lot 'o funny folk in the Hog's Head. That's the bar in the village, mind."
"Hagrid, did you ever talk about Hogwarts with him?" Ryou asked, starting to fear where this was going.
"Mighta come up…" Hagrid replied, frowning as he tried to remember. "I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks… Ah, yeah; he said he had a dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted… but he had ter be sure I could handle it. So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy."
"Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Seto asked grimly.
"Well… yeah; how many three-headed dogs d'yeh see, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece 'o cake once yeh know how to calm him. Jus' play him a bit 'o music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep—"
Hagrid cut himself off, eyes widening. "I shouldn'ta told yet that! Forget I said it! Hey, where're yeh goin'?"
Their group was already taking off, barreling back toward the school as fast as they could. This was bad… no, disastrous.
"We've got to go to Dumbledore," Harry began as they burst through the castle doors. "Where's his office?"
The others shrugged helplessly; none of them had ever even spotted something that could resemble the headmaster's office, not to mention actually go there.
"We just have to—" Yuugi began, before getting cut off.
"What are you doing indoors?" came Professor McGonagall's voice. They turned, seeing her standing behind them with an armful of books.
"We need to see Professor Dumbledore," Ryou said immediately, getting a suspicious look from her.
"The headmaster isn't here," she replied. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and has left for London."
"He's not here!" Ron exclaimed.
"Mr. Weasley, Professor Dumbledore is a very important man," McGonagall replied, starting to look annoyed. "Now what is so important that you have to see him?"
"Oh, not much," Seto replied dully, waving his hand in mock dismissive manner, throwing caution to the wind. "Just that someone's going to steal the Philosopher's Stone tonight now that the headmaster isn't here."
The others winced at Seto's blunt manner, as McGonagall dropped her books in shock.
"H-how do you…?"
"We know," Harry insisted. "We know that Sn—that someone is going to steal that Stone tonight for Voldemort!"
The professor still looked shock, though the stern look was slowly returning to her face. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but I assure you it's quite well protected. And… and You-Know-Who is gone; you know that better than anyone, Mr. Potter."
"But, professor…!"
"But nothing, Mr. Mutou," McGonagall cut him off. "Now, go outside with the rest of the students and enjoy the sunshine."
They did not go back outside however; they wandered the halls a bit to get away from her, before they stopped, Yuugi speaking up first.
"We need to split up; we can't let Snape get anywhere near that Stone!"
"How?" Seto demanded, crossing his arms in his usual stern manner. "If McGonagall sees us again, she's likely to hand out detentions."
"We just can't get caught then," Ryou replied.
Ra, you're starting to sound like me… Bakura murmured in his mind, making him blush, and getting a few raised eyebrows.
"Right then," Yuugi began. "Malik, Hermione; you two keep an eye on Snape. He's probably in the staff room right now with the other teachers. You'll have to wait for him there and tail him when he leaves."
"Eh?" Malik asked. "How exactly are we supposed to do that?"
"Easy," Ron replied, grinning, before his voice became high pitched, mimicking Hermione. "'Oh, Professor Flitwick, I think I got question fourteen b wrong…'."
"Oh, shut up," Hermione grumbled as Malik slugged his arm. They started off a moment later as Yuugi turned to the others.
"We'll have to watch the forbidden corridor in shifts," he said, before looking up to Seto. "Kaiba-kun, can you take the first shift? If anyone objects to you being there, you can just use the Rod to make them forget."
Seto did not look to happy at that (or happy about being told what to do), but nodded, starting off for the corridor. Harry bit his lip, before speaking up.
"Someone gave me back the Invisibility Cloak," he said softly. "It was on my pillow when we got back from detention that time. Ron and I could use it to watch the corridor at night."
"And after supper, me and Yuugi-kun can watch it," Ryou said. "We could grab our decks; it'll just look like we decided to duel there."
They broke off then, with Yuugi following Ryou off to the Hufflepuff common room to get his deck (Yuugi always kept his close by out of habit). They were about to turn around a corner when they ran into Professor Quirrell, Ryou bumping into his arm hard. The professor hissed in pain, clutching to it as the white-haired boy quickly bowed, apologizing quickly…
Something's not right… Bakura muttered as Ryou came up.
Almost like Yuugi was the one that heard him, he spoke up, eyeing Quirrell's arm. "Something wrong, professor?"
"N-n-no," the professor stuttered, smiling assuredly. "J-j-j-just h-hurt m-myself h-handling an a-animal. Y-you k-kn-know h-how it is, M-M-M-Mr. Mu-Mutou."
Yuugi and Ryou exchanged looks… before Yuugi's hand shot out, grabbing Professor Quirrell's arm and quickly pulling back his robe sleeve…
…to reveal a bloodied bandage…
Dear Ra, it can't be… Atemu murmured in his mind as Yuugi looked up at the professor, giving him an accusing look.
"This animal wouldn't happen to have knife-like talons, would it?" he asked.
Quirrell's usual expression – that of someone that looked like they were going to bolt at the least little thing out of place – darkened considerably, his lips twisting up into a bit of a sneer.
"I hate children as perceptive as you are," he snapped, no hint of the stutter in his voice.
His arm snapped up a moment later, throwing Yuugi against a wall before he could react. Ryou reached in his robe to pull out his wand, but Quirrell was faster, and a blast from his wand hit him in the chest, causing him to crumple to the ground. Yuugi struggled to get up, trying to go over to Ryou, but Quirrell was standing above him before he could get the chance, wand pointing down at him.
"I believe you two will make an excellent sacrifice to the dark lord once he's restored to power…" he sneered, before Yuugi's world turned black…
-.oOOo.-
As sound as their plan was, there were of course several hitches. Harry and Ron had gone up to the Gryffindor common room once they had separated. Not long after, Malik and Hermione arrived, the latter looking rather distraught, wringing her hands.
"Sorry, Harry," Malik began. "Snape came out and asked why we were there. We told him we were looking for Flitwick, and he went to get him. We just barely got away."
"I do hope Seto's having better luck…" Hermione murmured.
They did not get to find out how much luck he was having until supper, when he came into the Great Hall looking rather disgruntled. The four of them hurried to talk to him, standing just outside the hall.
"Quirrell caught me outside the forbidden corridor," he grumbled. "I tried to use the Rod, but it didn't work. I had to leave."
"Weird…" Malik murmured, scratching his nose.
"Have you seen Ryou and Yuugi?" Hermione asked, noticing their absence for the rest of the day, but Seto just shook his head.
"This doesn't sound good…" Ron murmured.
Harry bit his lip… before announcing, "We have to go then. Tonight. We have to go and get the Stone before Snape does."
"Oh, yes, that's a sure way to get expelled," Seto replied dryly. "And even still, what we going to do against Snape, hm? We're only in our first year. He's a professor."
"Kaiba's right," Malik said. "We're sorely outmatched."
"We still have to try," Harry murmured. "If we don't, Voldemort's going to come back. He… he killed my parents. I can't let him return without putting up a fight."
-.oOOo.-
Harry, Ron, Malik, and Hermione sat by themselves in the common room that night, waiting for the other students to leave before they could set out on their dangerous mission. Seto promised he would be waiting for them at the entrance to the forbidden corridor, confident he would make it, even if he had to let the high priest take over. Harry was sitting on the Invisibility Cloak, waiting with strained patience… and worried too… for what they were about to do… because Yuugi and Ryou had not come back… worried of the consequences of failing…
Finally, the last of the students went off to bed, allowing them to make their escape out. The four of them slipped out of the common room, making their way along as quickly as they could all crammed under the cloak as they were, Harry leading the way. It did not take them long to find the door that led to the forbidden corridor; it was already ajar and they could hear faint music coming from within.
"Taiko drums…?" Malik asked as they slipped out from under the cloak, pushing the door to the corridor open… to see a sleeping Fluffy, and Seto standing with an open and working laptop. Winamp was up on the screen, playing a music file on repeat.
"Someone finally got their computer back," the Egyptian muttered as Kaiba smirked.
"I finally convinced Flitwick to put the charm on it, seeing as I'm such a good student," he said, looking insufferably prideful, before his expression turned serious. "The door was already opened when I got here. Looks like Snape beat us here."
Malik bit his lip at that, as Ron and Harry went over to the trap door near one of the dog's mouths, grabbing at it and pulling at the ring attached. After a moment, the door came open, much to Ron's apparent relief, as he looked like he was going to gag from the Fluffy's smelly breath. Under the door, however, was nothing but darkness with no ground that they could see.
"I'll go first," Harry announced, sitting down at the lip of the hole before slipping down inside. There was a thud, and he shouted up, "It's all right! There's something soft to land on!"
Ron jumped in next, followed by Hermione. Seto went over last, keeping the laptop open as he approached. As soon as he was close enough, he snapped the computer closed, the music cutting off as the device went into automatic sleep mode, before jumping through the opening. His feet just cleared the lip of it when Fluffy came awake again, snarling angrily. The trap door snapped close as he hit the "soft" landing spot, rolling off onto the hard stone ground.
"We're probably a good mile under the school," Harry observed as Seto stood, trying to get his bearings.
"Lucky this plant thing was here," Malik said as he looked back to them.
"Lucky?" Seto exclaimed. "Look at yourselves!"
Harry looked down, eyes widening as he saw tendrils from the plant had already wrapped around their legs without their noticing, pinning them firmly to the thing. Malik yelped, both him and Ron trying to get away from it, but the harder they struggled, the tighter the hold it seemed to get on them. Hermione shouted at them, ordering them to stay calm.
"This is a Devil's Snare," she informed them.
"And this means what to us?" Malik demanded, trying to keep the plant from getting a hold of his neck.
"Devil's Snare likes the dark and damp…" Hermione began, biting her lip as she tried to remember.
"So light a fire! Seto!" Harry gasped, fighting for air as the plant wrapped itself around his chest.
Seto looked around, squashing the small bit of panic threatening his mind. "There's no wood."
"BAKA MONEY BAGS!" Malik shouted. "Are you training to be a wizard or not!"
Seto probably would have taken a moment to snap at the Egyptian if they were not going to die if he did not do anything. With a wave of the wand and a murmured incantation, a jet of flames shot out at the Devil's Snare. The plant let out a squeaking sound as it retreated, loosening itself enough for Harry, Ron, Malik, and Hermione to tumble away from it. Malik got to his feet first, glaring at the taller boy.
"'There's no wood'," he mimicked. "I'm telling Mokuba that."
"Shut it, Ishtar," Seto snarled, bristling. It did not help he could hear the high priest in his head, in near tears from laughing.
"Guys, enough," Harry said, brushing himself off. "We've got to keep moving; no telling how far ahead Snape could be…"