Alias of Chaos

Yuugi sat on the edge of the particularly musty bed, feeling unusually moody that morning. Granted, getting dumped in a strange dimension where one's homeland doesn't exist, it tends to not settle very well. He also had the overwhelming urge to toy with someone's head today. Of course, that had always been his yami's specialty, but still, it was always fun being nauseatingly difficult. Especially if the person he was being difficult with had no power over him whatsoever.

His stomach growled, letting him know that he was very, very hungry. Summoning shadow powers worked up an appetite. Not to mention eating enough food to sustain the energy levels of two people on top of that. Yami wasn't feeding off the puzzle anymore for energy. The stronger he grew, the more he relied on Yuugi. It was no wonder he could form outside of the puzzle now.

Heh. And his grandfather always wondered how he could eat so much.

The door creaked open, and Yuugi saw a head of curly red hair poke through. "Hello, dear. You must be famished. Dumbledore asked me to fix you up a spot of breakfast."

The woman that came in with the tray of food was kindly looking, slightly chubby and glowing with maternal affections. His mother would probably have described her as 'plump with love.' There wasn't a trace of ill-will in her aura.

Funny. Yuugi had never been able to actually see the energy fields of people before. He could simply feel it around people. Some sort of strong sixth sense. Yami said that he was an empath, or in other words, someone who was heightened in the sense of empathy to an extreme.

Now, however, he could actually see the energy floating around this woman. He wondered for a flittering moment if he could see his own if he looked in a mirror.

Not that there were any mirrors in this room at the moment.

"Yes, I am hungry," he tried to pronounce. Simply because he could read and write English didn't mean that he could pronounce it terribly well.

The woman smiled warmly, tottering in and setting the plate down on the dresser that was next to the bed. Yuugi looked over at the plate, cautious. "Um…gomen ma'am, but…what on earth is this?"

"Oh, don't you fret," she smiled. "It's meat pasties, pumpkin juice, fresh oatmeal and bagels with blackberry jam."

Yuugi frowned. "Seems kind of heavy. You don't have any fruit or rice balls, do you?"

The woman frowned. "Rice balls?"

The teenager's face fell. "Never mind."

-Looks like we're going to have to adjust to the menu, aibou.-

:Not if I can help it. I'll get into the kitchen as soon as they let me out of this infernal room. I'm not that bad of a cook.: He heard his darkness chuckle within him.

"If you need anything else, deary, my name is Mrs. Weasely. You can find me just about anywhere in the house."

"Arigatou," Yuugi replied, skeptically picking up a bagel. "Motou Yuugi."

The woman stopped before turning back around. "What was that?" She asked confusedly.

"Oh, uh, thank you. My name is Motou Yuugi."

"Motou," she mused. "Unusual first name to have…"

Yuugi shook his head. "No, it's my last name. My first name is Yuugi."

"Oh! Well, that's a little better, I suppose. Still highly unusual."

-I suppose people here do not introduce themselves last name first,- Yami observed.

:Guess I'll have to get in the habit of telling them my first name before my last, then.:

"Goodbye, dear," the woman replied as she left.

"Goodbye, Mrs. Weasely," Yuugi said, taking a small bite of the bagel still in his hand.

Yuugi sat in silence for a little while, slowly chewing on the food that had been brought up for him. The flavor was highly off, and he wasn't sure if he could get used to the way if felt like a lead weight in his stomach. :Think they'll have sake here,: he asked hopefully.

Yami mentally snorted. -Not likely. And if they did, I doubt they'd let you have any.-

Yuugi visibly pouted. No way of escaping reality this time. :Hopefully I'll wake up soon.:

Yami didn't have a response. Not a verbal one, at least. He knew that Yuugi was feeling quite alone at the moment, and would otherwise feel abandoned were his darkness not with him. Fanning his presence to a slightly larger size, it gave Yuugi the impression that his yami was trying to hug him from the inside, and always gave the younger teen a large form of comfort. One of those warm and fuzzy feelings that spanned from his toes to his finger tips.

Suddenly, there was a brief knock at the front door, and Yuugi glanced up quickly to see another figure entering, this one different than the woman that had brought up his food for him.

It was a tall man, dressed in billowing black robes and donning a head of greasy black hair. His aura was strange. It still carried that vile green hue that the Voldemort character wreaked of, but it was slightly faint in this person. The dominant color about him was a strange purple hue, dimmed and rather stagnant.

Very unlike the living shadows that were undoubtedly wafting about the pharaoh at the moment.

Yuugi and Yami realized at the same moment that this person was indeed trustworthy, but still carried with him the dirty remnants of his past.

"Well," he drawled, lip slightly turned up in a snarl. Yuugi knew that no matter what he said at this point in time, this person was not going to trust him in the least. "Dumbledore as informed me that your name is Motou. Pleasure to meet you. My name is Professor Snape."

Yuugi rubbed his head. "Motou is my last name," he replied exasperated. "My first name is Yuugi."

"I am well aware of that fact," he snarled back. "I reply to all of my pupils by their last name. I will not make an exception for you."

:Well, he sure sounds cheery.: Did Yuugi just hear the sound of knuckles cracking inside of his head?

-I'll make him happy real quick…-

:Behave,: Yuugi chided. He suppressed a grin when he felt Yami pout.

"Are you listening?!" Snape shouted at him.

Yuugi looked up, blinking owlishly. "No, what was that you said?"

The black-haired man growled loudly, not liking the disrespect he was being shown. "I said that I need to find out if you have any magical abilities whatsoever. If you know that you do, please demonstrate for me."

It looked like Yuugi was going to get his chance to be difficult. Besides, who could he really trust here, anyway? Just who were these people? Did they know of Shadow magic?

"Why?"

Snape looked at a loss for words at the moment. "Fine," he finally said. "So we'll do this the hard way." He walked up closer to Yuugi, pulling out a piece of wood that was finely polished and pointing it at Yuugi directly.

The teenager blinked, looking at the small point in front of him. He raised an eyebrow. "A stick? You've got to be kidding."

The man muttered something under his breath, then waved the wand around in a quick fashion.

-Quick!- his yami shouted. -Erect shields! He's going to try to break down our defenses!-

:Not bloody likely!: Yuugi felt his soul merge with his darkness, his body's arms moving outwards to better control the shadows that were ever flowing about him these days.

Snape looked on in utter confusion when his activation charm bounced harmlessly off an invisible barrier around the small boy on the bed, a new red hue in his large purple eyes. All that he was going to do was apply a charm that would turn a silver color if the boy had magical abilities-any at all- or a light blue if he did not. But the boy somehow deflected it.

Of course, in order for the spell to work, he would have to open the boy up to show the energies around him, as most wizards closely guarded what abilities they possessed.

But this boy, a boy, had evaded every component of the charm without trouble.

"So," Snape swallowed, "you do have some magic." Powerful magic, too.

"You might be thinking me rather adept at the moment," Yami commented, a strange look his eyes. "But you are mistaken in your judgement by what you've just seen. I have noticed that you people have very few shields around yourselves. You are so open to any kind of attack it's scary. I, on the other hand, have been trained to shield myself against any onslaught that my enemy could possible use. That was but a simple shield that I had to erect to block you out. You're going to have to work harder than that to break me down, professor."

Snape wasn't sure what to make of this boy before him. Was he a threat at all? Had Voldemort left him there in that cemetery, knowing that he would be found, only to have him destroy all that he came in contact with? "Who are you," he hissed.

"I have already told you," Yami stated, now in full control of Yuugi's body. "Yuugi Motou." He was silent for a moment, looking over the professor with a steely eye.

Why did it feel like judgement was being passed on his very soul?

"You have the same slime about you as that Voldemort I've been hearing so much about." He gave a knowing grin. "You hate it, don't you? You resent what you were in the past, and have an absolute loathing for others who align themselves with that same slime you used to be apart of. But even further, you resent those who were never apart of that same bile from whence you emerged…"

"Silence!" Snape ordered. Yami was striking a nerve deep down inside. How could he possibly know? Did those piercing crimson eyes-since when did they become so bloodied?- look inside of him somehow and witness what no other was ever supposed to know? How much more could he find out?

"You think I'm a product of that slime, as well, don't you? Wondering if I'm a threat or not to your safety." Yami gave a sinisterly dark chuckle.

"Silencio!" Snape cried, waving his wand again. And again, his attack bounced harmlessly away.

"I can tell you this now: The only way I'm a threat is if you in any way threaten my safety yourself. May the gods have mercy upon the soul who thinks that they can cross me and live to tell the tale."

"Why…why can't I detect your powers? It's almost like…like…"

"Trying to trace a shadow?" Yami supplied.

Snape took a step back. Perhaps he was imagining the dark shadows that were flowing about this boy in front of him. Perhaps he was even hallucinating? "What are you," he whispered.

Yami smirked, red eyes flashing menacingly. "Wouldn't you like to know…"

The tall man fled the room in a blind fury.

:You know, Yami, you probably shouldn't have scared him like that. Now what is everyone going to think of us?:

-He'll be alright, aibou. He's been pretty vicious to a lot of people before that didn't deserve it. Maybe now he'll think twice before he thinks himself superior to the next person in line.-

Yuugi merely made a mental frown, not liking where this could be going one bit. :Wonder what he's going to tell everyone.:

-And what everyone will do with that information once they have it.-

~ * ~

Professor Severus Snape stormed down the stairs two steps at a time, making a mad dash towards the council room. Wary eyes shifted in his direction as he passed, wondering what he uncovered about the mysterious boy that was currently in the spare room upstairs.

The doors flew open with a hearty bang, revealing an old wizard in dark green robes, going through a bag of lemon drops with a witch with pink hair.

"Headmaster," Snape greeted.

Albus looked up, then nodded to the witch who left quickly. His sparkling blue eyes twinkled as they gazed upon the potions master. It always seemed like he was looking right through the person, already expecting them to say what he already knew. "Yes, Severus? I trust everything went well?"

"I can tell you this," Snape spoke matter-of-factly. "That boy up there is, by no means, related to the Dark Lord in any fashion. He does, however, have strong magical abilities. So much so that it was nearly impossible for me to find out their extent. You see, he shielded them from me."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Shielded?"

Snape nodded slowly. "Although he is not affiliated with Voldemort, he still needs to be watched very, very closely. I have a feeling that he will be a threat until we win his trust."

Dumbledore looked down for a moment, contemplating. "Well, I think that I have just the trick for that. In the mean time, I need you to concentrate on finding out if Voldemort has been spotted anywhere since last night, and keep up with your prior obligations."

Severus nodded, turned sharply around then left the room.

Dumbledore took another lemon drop from his bag, placing it gently in his mouth. So the boy was not a product of Voldemort at all. Still, though. What was he doing here? What was this 'Japan' that he spoke of?

…Why did he seem so dark at times? What was he hiding?

And what was more…exactly how far could he get the boy to open up?

So many questions.

~ * ~

Harry looked back to Ron, squinting in the dim light to see him. "See. I told you. No way related to Voldemort."

Ron hissed with the name. "Stop saying that name!" he whispered sharply. He heard Hermione sigh behind him.

"Oh, please Ron! You should be over that by now!"

Harry continued. "Voldemort's underlings-oh Ron, stop wincing!-only show a reverence to him. Everyone else fears him. But that boy that they found…I'm telling you Ron, he wasn't afraid. He sneered when Voldemort was mentioned!"

"What ever happened to that Mad-Eye-Moody fake? What about him?" Ron questioned pessimistically.

"Not even he could bring himself to actually talk badly about Voldemort," Hermione pointed out. "What was it you said had been mentioned Harry? Something about slime?"

"He called Voldemort a slimy parasite," Harry replied, grateful that at least Hermione was understanding.

The three friends had found a secret compartment inside of the wall of the council room, giving them just enough ear space and peeking room to view all of what transpired inside. They had heard the entire conversation between the potions master and Professor Dumbledore.

"What do you suppose he meant by 'prior obligations?'" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. "Could be anything."

"I wonder how Dumbledore is going to try to win the boy's trust," Hermione pondered out loud.

"I've got a stinking suspicion that I'm going to be right in the middle of all of it," Harry muttered.

"What makes you say that," Hermione questioned.

Ron looked exasperated. "Isn't he always?"

~ * ~

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