Alias of Chaos

Yuugi went back upstairs with his mind all abuzz with the story that the Headmaster had recited to him. Poor Harry. Yuugi had thought that his life was hard, but Harry Potter had a lot to live up to in this world. At least no one knew about Yuugi except by his duelist persona. He had a game to live up to. Harry had an image that had been carved out for him by the minds of nearly every wizard in the world. What would happen if he screwed up? Who would have the courage to stop a mad, bloodthirsty killer? It seemed Voldemort had nothing that he held near and dear to him. At least Bakura could have some sense talked into him when Ryou's life was in true danger. Malik loved his sister and Rishid like there was no tomorrow. A man who's lost everything has nothing to lose, and everything to gain. A dangerous adversary indeed.

Perhaps he could even reveal to Harry who Yami was. Maybe even to Ron and Hermione too? Besides, Harry and Hermione had time traveled before, so one would have to conclude that they were smart and trustworthy.

All in all, Yuugi felt a bit refreshed after his visit. Tired and dazzled, yes, but still refreshed. At least the whole of the new universe they were in didn't feel so desolate and dangerous anymore.

-Get some sleep, love. You're going to have to get up early tomorrow for classes.-

:Oh, my, I almost forgot. I'm in school. Good gods, Yami, this is going to be the most hectic year I think we've ever had before. Ra and Osiris help us all.:

Laughter rumbled in his head. His darkness agreed with completely and entirely.

Yuugi got to the top of the bottom and wound his way around the lengthy halls, finally finding, much to his own relief, the portrait of the Fat Lady that he had heard so much about. Yuugi stood there starring at her as she appeared to be sleeping. Pictures that sleep? I can even hear her snore! Yuugi cleared his throat, and the woman woke up with a start.

"Ah!" she exclaimed. "Out a bit late, aren't we?"

"Um...sorry?" He asked. It felt odd to be apologizing to moving paint on a canvas.

"Password?"

"Heffalump."

"And so it is," she replied, and the portrait swung open to reveal a hole for Yuugi to crawl through. The common room was empty except for Harry and Hermione. He took a deep breath. There was, after all, no better time than the present.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked. "Students aren't allowed out of their dormitories after hours."

"I had an appointment with Dumbledore." He walked over to a huge maroon chair stuffed to the point of bursting that was placed next to the fireplace and sank into it, welcoming the warmth of the glowing fire. He took a deep sigh, being able to allow his muscles to all go lax for the first time in days. "Well, I suppose you've both been a bit curious about me."

Harry and Hermione both looked at him, their curiosity now rising. "Well," Hermione started. "You are a bit...well..."

"Odd?" Yuugi finished. He chuckled. "Don't worry. I'm odd even where I come from."

"Then who are you?" Harry asked him.

"A good question. Something I'm still attempting to figure out."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's something like this. Have either of you ever consider the possibility of other dimensions?"

Harry looked a bit confused, but, as always, Hermione took a stab at answering his question. "Another dimension is an altered state of reality, different from the one that we are in. Spirits live on a different 'plane' or dimension than we do."

"Precisely," Yuugi replied. "Now, just take that a step further. I, as I am coming to realize, am from a different dimension. A 'parallel universe' if you will. I don't belong here."

"Then how did you get here?" Harry asked, thoroughly intrigued.

"A spirit, no matter how powerful, is subject to being summoned. This is extremely important to remember. Just because it's summoned, however, it does not mean that it can be controlled. In my world, three thousand years ago, there was an Egyptian pharaoh that sacrificed himself to stop a terrible evil from a dark dimension that we call 'the Shadow Realm.' In doing so, however, he split his soul in half. One half became locked inside of this." At this, Yuugi held up his puzzle. "The other half went on to be reborn. That other half is me."

Hermione's eyes looked as though they were going to bug out of her head. Harry too, looked extremely surprised. "Magic like that," Hermione started, "not only is it dangerous and powerful, but..."

"Highly unstable. Yes, I know. Trust me, I live in it every day. It was an accident, really. It wasn't supposed to happen like that. However, that's beside the point. The point is, that the other half of my spirit is still very much alive inside of my puzzle. Dimensions have duplicates as well. My past self here dabbled in other dimensions, and found records of me and my darker self. Voldemort, your Dark Lord here, found those records, and summoned the other half of my spirit, hoping to control him, and bring destruction to the world."

"Voldemort summoned you?" Harry exclaimed. "So you did see him in that cemetery!"

"Yes," Yuugi conceded. "I wish I could remember what happened."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. "Did he wipe out your memory?"

Yuugi chuckled. "No, he never had a chance. My darkness became angry. So angry, in fact, even he can't remember what he did."

The two students starred at Yuugi as though he had grown another head. "What do you mean?" Harry inquired.

Yuugi took a deep breath, stealing himself for what was to come. "I would like it, very much, if you two would meet my darkness, and the other half of my soul, Yami."

A brilliant flash of light bathed the common room in gold, and suddenly, standing next to Yuugi's chair, was an exact replica of him, aside from the fact that his skin was darker, and his eyes were a bloody red. The two sixth year's mouths dropped open.

"That's bloody brilliant!"

Every head in the room turned to see Ron standing on the steps, looking bewildered and dazzled.

"Ron!" Hermione cried out. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Pretty much the whole time. I forgot my bag down here, and I didn't want to interrupt you. But, wow, does he talk Yuugi? Can he do stuff for you, like your homework?"

"Yes, mortal, I can talk. And no, it is not my job to do homework. It is my job to keep danger at bay, and I am seriously considering feeding you to my pet dragons."

The color of Ron's face turned white as the blood drained from his cheeks. Yuugi merely laughed, however, knowing the threat was idle.

"Yami..." Hermione said to herself. "Yuugi, what does that mean?"

"Darkness. For he is my darker half."

"What was his real name?

"My real name as a pharaoh was Atemu."

"Hey, wait, I know that name," Ron spoke up. "We toured your palace on our family's trip to Egypt. Bill was always saying how much of a bugger you were, because your palace and tomb had more curses on it than any other place in Egypt!"

Yami chuckled. "That wasn't my palace, Ron. You have to remember, I'm not from this dimension. The Atemu of this world was the bugger you're thinking of."

"Why can't you go home?" Harry asked suddenly.

Yuugi frowned hard. "We would, but we can't seem to figure out how to get back. Portals to other dimensions are complicated, tricky, dangerous, and unstable. Voldemort literally pulled us through, we didn't simply walk in. We believe the way to get back is through the Shadow Realm, but we don't know for sure. It's too hard to tell."

Hermione's face suddenly brightened up. "If the pharaoh from here dabbled in dimensions, have you've said, I'm sure I can find something on him. I'll start looking in the library right away."

Yuugi sat up a bit straighter. "You'll help?"

"Anyone that's an enemy of Voldemort's is a friend of ours," Harry replied.

Yuugi smiled brightly. "I should also warn you," he began, "that there are more than me and Yami here from our dimension."

"Who else?" Hermione questioned.

"Isis, for starters."

"You mean the new D.A.D.A. Professor?"

"That's the one. She also has a brother here."

"Are there any others?"

Yami frowned hard. "I'm afraid so, and this one is not going to be easy to catch."

"I'll help," Harry offered. "Who are they? What are they like?"

"A thief, for starters," Yuugi said. "Not to mention he's killed a fair number of, as Ron has so called them, buggers before."

"He's a killer?"

"Afraid so," Yami said, "but then again, I don't want to call myself a hypocrite by criticizing him."

The other three in the room tensed.

"We come from a dangerous world," Yuugi said. "Many want to kill us for our power. It's either die, or defend yourself."

"Surely there was another way?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Is there another way to eat? To breath? To laugh? I haven't found one yet. We do our best to open the eyes of our enemies, but, at times, there is nothing even the powers of Shadow can do."

"Why do you keep saying 'shadow?'" Harry asked him. "Isn't darkness bad?"

"No," Yami said. "Not all things that are dark are evil. Evil simply clings to darkness, because it is easiest for them to hold on to, but they always crave the light. Light and dark are a part of a balance, nothing more, and nothing less. It is not, and I repeat, not evil."

"We have to find Bakura," Yuugi said to no one in particular. "I dread to find out what has happened if anyone went after Ryou."

"You and me both, aibou."

Yuugi woke up the next morning feeling as though a giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Now he could go down to breakfast and not have a guarded conversation with someone. After he got dressed he noticed that there were very few people in the common room. He knew that it wasn't late. Yuugi rarely slept in. In fact, he suddenly realized that he was much more of a morning person that most of the other people, at least in his House. He climbed through the portrait hole and headed down a flight of stairs, eager to get breakfast. He gazed at a lot of the portraits that were hanging on the walls, enjoying himself as he watched the characters go about their morning, or, in most cases, still sleeping. Suddenly, he felt his right foot fall out from underneath of him, and went tumbling down the stairs. He landed at the bottom with an ungraceful yelp, growling at whatever had happened.

"Better be careful next time," a voice next to him chided. Looking up, he saw that it was Nearly Headless Nick.

"What happened?"

"It's a false step. The stairways around here can get rather tricky."

Yuugi growled as he stood up, marched over to the main hall, and plopped himself in the chair he had been in the night before, elated to see food lined up on the table. He wasn't quite sure what much of it was, but at least it smelled good. He dished himself up.

He had nearly finished his meal when Hermione joined him at the table, her eyes looking at him in a funny was as she sat down. "I see you're up early."

"Sometimes I'm a bit of a morning person."

Hermione shook her head. "People like you are few and far between."

Yuugi laughed. "You don't know the half of it."

Hermione was already part way through her meal when Ron and Harry stumbled their way into the Main Hall, Ron looking a bit sleepy, but ravenously hungry nonetheless. They both sat down and dished themselves up healthy breakfast plates. "What classes are you taking this year," Ron asked Harry, downing some pumpkin juice.

"Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Herbology."

"Everything that's required to be an Auror," Hermione noted.

"What's an Auror?" Yuugi asked.

"A person that fights Death Eaters for the Ministry of Magic," Harry responded.

"And what's a Death Eater?"

"Someone who works for Voldemort."

Yuugi noticed Ron hiss at the name. "Is there something wrong?"

"We, ah, we don't speak his name," Ron replied.

Yuugi snorted, and felt Yami push to control. "What an absolutely ridiculous thing to do. Scum may not deserve a name, but they don't deserve the fear or reverence of never saying the one they have," Yami stated.

Hermione looked at him oddly. "You're eyes are red. Is it...you know...you?"

"Me as in Yami, yes. You may see me now and again." And with that, those blood red eyes sank back down to violet.

Before the conversation could continue, however, Professor McGonagall had walked over and started passing out papers. Yuugi figured that they were schedules. She stopped, however, once she got to him. "Mr. Motou," she started in her crisp voice, "here is your schedule. All of the instructors have been informed that you are to take an aptitude test before the start of class. I suggest that you get there early. However far behind you fall, you will spend part of the year catching up. Dumbledore seems confident that you will even exceed in some of these areas. Good luck, Motou. I'll see you in Transfiguration soon." With that, she trotted off.

Yuugi looked down at the piece of parchment, noticing the classes that were listed. "Ye Gods, they've got me doing everything. Those classes I can't make today I'll be doing tomorrow."

"Wow," Harry and Ron said together. "Make Snape's life hell for us, won't you?" Ron asked.

Yuugi chuckled, and allowed Yami to reply. "With glee."

Hermione shot him a quick glare. Apparently, she was the only voice of reason in the group.

Yuugi stood up, ready to head off to Transfiguration. This ought to be interesting. Change one thing into another entirely. Wonder what on earth will happen...