Yuugiou!
A New Generation of Priests

CHAPTER NINE – SPY GAMES

The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick sent a shockwave through the school. Most students who had signed up to stay at the school during Christmas quickly took their names off the list, afraid of staying at the school with whom the students had labeled as the prime suspect: Harry Potter. Thankfully for Harry, the teachers knew better, especially Dumbledore, who had seen the young wizard after the attack and assured him that he was not truly a suspect.

The common rooms were exceptionally empty that night, especially the Slytherin room, as Draco was the only occupant. Everyone had been surprised by his choice, but he ignored them, not interested in their opinion. Besides, he was worried that if he had gone home, his father would find out not only about the Millennium Scale, but that he was a Parselmouth, and he knew that would not end well.

It was no secret that his father had been a Death Eater – a loyal follower of Lord Voldemort when he was at the height of his power – despite his claim that he had been controlled, and forced to do the things he had done (complete rubbish of course). If his father found out that he had a trait that only Voldemort had ever displayed in recent history, he knew that he would be forced to go through the ceremony that all Death Eaters went through, even though the dark lord's whereabouts were as of yet unknown. Before, he would have been elated to have such an honor so early in his life, but now…

Malfoy gripped the sides of his head, shaking it furiously. He needed to get out of the stuffy common room, and he did so, wandering the halls of the school until he found himself at the large double doors of the front entrance to the school. He pushed them open and went out into the cold winter daylight. Freshly fallen snow crunched under his feet as he made his way to the nearly frozen shore where he had arrived and departed from the school for the first time last year.

He sat down in the snow and sand mix, staring out vacantly at the semi-frozen water before him. A moment past, before he pulled out the Scales from its hiding place in his robes, the golden object glinting innocently in the sunlight. Damn thing… the year started bad when he stole the thing. He wanted to throw it off into the lake and forget it ever existed, but he knew he would not be able to get away with that.

With a sigh, Draco set the Scales down in the sand beside him before curling himself up, resting his chin on his knees. He wanted to understand why he was chosen for this; why did he have some Item from Ancient Egypt? What did it mean for him, and how was he supposed to even make use of it?

He blew out a frustrated sigh. How the heck was he supposed to balance his feelings, now that they had been sent totally askew?

Draco did not know why, but something made him look up to the pale blue sky above. Something strange was floating up there. At first, he thought it was just a cloud, but then he realized it was something else as it gently drifted toward him. He held out a hand, and a feather, the likes of which he had never seen, came to a soft rest in it. It was not an owl's feather that was for sure. Owl feathers were large and rounded off at the end, but this was small, about the length of his hand, and came up to a sharp point. It's coloring was odd as well: pure white, with a small hint of gold highlighting it.

He found himself staring at it mindlessly, like he could not tear his eyes away…

My bloodline has guarded the tombs for three thousand years. I am a servant of Anubis… Because of your greed, another tomb in the Valley of the Kings has been defiled. You have trespassed in the territory of the Gods. For that, you will go on trail… You know the scene of the Final Judgment in the one hundred, twenty-fifth chapter of what you call the book of the dead. This is the Scales of Truth… We now begin the game. The Shadow Game…

"Gha…!" Draco exclaimed, dropping the feather out of reflex, his other hand coming up to his head. That was not like the other visions… He had seen someone, a fat Japanese man, looking shocked and alarmed… and then a horrible monster, looming up behind him…

He put a hand over his mouth, tying not to be sick at the memory. Dear god, that was gross…

Hesitantly, he looked back down at the feather that had fallen. He had seen it in that vision… Gingerly, he picked it up again, looking it over; it just seemed like a normal feather, aside from the fact that it had come out of nowhere.

Draco hesitated again, looking down at the Millennium Scales still resting innocently beside him. Maybe this feather…

Before he could stop himself, the hand holding the feather drifted over to the Scales, hovering over one of the baskets, before letting the feather drop. It landed lightly in the basket, the Item remaining balanced, even though it should have tipped, if only a little. After a moment, Draco let out a breath he did not realize he had been holding; now he was just being silly, what did he expect would happen? Weird glowy stuff or someth—

The thought was cut off, as the Scales did indeed suddenly start to glow. He sore under his breath, before he felt something burning on his forehead, marking him somehow…

It started again. The memories from the past… they suddenly flooded into his consciousness, completely clear and coherent, unlike the past few months. He shuddered, feeling horrified and sick all at once… overwhelmed…

-.oOOo.-

"Last one to the lake is a rotten Dragon Egger!"

Malik's declaration rang through the cold landscape as he bolted out of the double doors of the school, Seto hot on his heels due to the fact that the Gravekeeper had his laptop tightly clutched in his hands. He raced off as fast as he could, trying to keep one step ahead of the boy businessman's long legs. The others were not that far behind them, Bakura near busting a gut laughing at the infuriated look on Kaiba's face.

The Gravekeeper raced all the way down to the lake, turning around as he approached to taunt Kaiba… only…

"WHAO!" he exclaimed suddenly, the laptop flying out of his hands as he fell backwards, tumbling right into the ice cold lake. Seto caught his precious computer, letting out a breath of relief at having it back in his possession as Malik resurfaced… in the arms of the creature that lived in the lake.

"Tentacle rape!" he exclaimed, flailing. The monster seemed to let out an annoyed noise, tossing the struggling Gravekeeper back onto the shore before disappearing back underwater.

No one else paid attention at Malik's antics, however; all eyes were drawn to what he had tripped on…

"Draco!" Yuugi exclaimed, darting forward with Harry. The young wizard was curled up around the Millennium Scale, and even paler than normal, lips tinted blue from the cold. Yuugi grabbed him, shaking him slightly, encouraging him to wake up.

Draco moaned softly, eyes cracking open weakly to look up at him. "Yuugi…" he murmured. "These Items… they're scary…"

Seto suddenly strode forward, handing off his laptop to Hermione first, before kneeling beside Draco to pick him up. He weakly reached out, grabbing the Scales and clutching it close to his chest as he was lifted up and raced back to the castle.

-.oOOo.-

Like last year, Christmas morning dawned bright and cold, but no one remaining in the Gryffindor common room really noticed. They had all gotten up early to get a head start at unwrapping their gifts.

"Any idea what the professors are planning for the Christmas party this year?" Harry asked, melting the treacle fudge he had gotten from Hagrid over the fire before even trying to eat it.

"No idea," Fred said, popping an Every Flavor Bean in his mouth, which quickly got spit out again. "Ruddy cauliflower… Anyway, they usually do something different every year, and they've never disappointed us."

Malik had been in the middle of opening his present from Hermione when he looked up at the Weasley twin, an amused look on his face. "Like anything could ever disappoint you.

Though Fred had definitely been right about one thing: when it came to a Christmas party, the Hogwarts professors never managed to disappoint. After presents, they all went down to the Great Hall, to find it had been decorated with at least a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees, each one twinkling with a magical light. Thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossed high above them, and enchanted snow, warm and dry to the touch, fell from the ceiling. Then of course, there was the wonderful food: roast turkeys, honeyed ham, and even some traditional Japanese dishes.

Yuugi was in the middle of piling food on his plate when he caught sight of Draco out of the corner of his eye. He was sitting alone at the Slytherin table, picking at the food on his plate, apparently lost in thought and still looking a little sick from his encounter at the start of the break. Yuugi bit his lip, debating, before he took his plate in hand and – much to everyone's surprise – went over and set the plate down across from Draco. He reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a small, wrapped box. He held it out to the younger boy.

"Here," he said. Draco stared at the present, raising an eyebrow, as Yuugi continued, "I got this for you, in the event that you'd willingly accept a muggle present from a mudblood."

Draco blinked, trying and failing not to look surprised. He had never really gotten presents from anyone other than his parents, not to mention something from someone on the complete opposite side of the tracks he stood on.

"Muggle born," he corrected after a long pause, taking the present from Yuugi. "Mudblood is just really rude."

Yuugi smiled as Draco opened up the present, revealing the Duel Monsters starter deck and two booster packs he had gotten for him. He sat down as the others started to slowly drift over to join them at the Slytherin table.

-.oOOo.-

Eventually the holidays passed, and things more or less returned to normal at the school, with a few exceptions. The most notable of those changes of course, was that Draco was, for lack of a better term, playing spy for them.

"Weasley," he said one day as he approached them in the library during a study session, tossing a paper at Ron. The redhead gave him a weird look, before looking at the article that Draco had circled. He slammed it down again a moment later, and infuriated look on his face.

INQUIRY AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle
Artifacts Office, was today fined fifty Galleons
for bewitching a Muggle car.

Mr. Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the
enchanted car crashed earlier this year, called
today for Mr. Weasley's resignation.

"Weasley has brought the Ministry into disrepute,"
Mr. Malfoy told our reporter. "He is clearly unfit
to draw up our laws and his ridiculous Muggle
Protection Act should be scrapped immediately."

Mr. Weasley was unavailable for comment,
although his wife told reporters to clear off or
she'd set the family ghoul on them.

"What the hell?" Malik asked after he read it. "Damn bastard… no offense Draco."

"None taken," Draco replied stiffly, before pulling a note out of his pocket and handing it to Ron. "I said nothing."

Ron looked over it real fast, before his eyes lit up. He excused himself, before dashing off to the Owlery.

-.oOOo.-

Harry, Ron, Yuugi, Malik, Hermione, and Draco were heading toward the dungeons for double Potions, when a shout suddenly came from the staircase above them. The five of them jumped as a flood of water came pouring down on them. Filch came running down the steps soon after, his pants soaked and shaking his fist angrily.

"Damned ghost!" he shouted. "This is the last straw! I'm going straight to Dumbledore!"

He stalked past them, ignoring them entirely. The five of them exchanged glances, before running up the stairs, to find themselves standing just outside the girl's bathroom, near where Mrs. Norris had been attacked what seemed like ages ago.

"Oh, dear…" Hermione murmured as she stepped inside. "Not Moaning Myrtle's bathroom…"

"Moaning Myrtle?" Harry asked. "Isn't that the ghost that Peeves was making fun of at the Death Day party?"

"The same," she said, ushering them inside. "It's okay, no one ever goes in here."

The boys exchanged looks, before looking around a moment, making sure no one would spot them, and heading into the bathroom. The room was just like the boys bathroom – minus the urinals of course – and was nearly drowned in water. A pathetic wailing sound was coming from one of the toilets, something that was supposed to pass off for crying.

"What's up, Myrtle?" Harry called.

"Who's there?" Myrtle gurgled from the toilet. "Come to throw something at me again?"

"Why would we throw something at you?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Myrtle said, emerging from her toilet, splashing more water on the already sopping wet floor. "I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me."

"But it's not like it would hurt you," Draco pointed out. "I mean, you're already dead."

That was the wrong thing to say. Myrtle flew up to him, a snarl on her pale face. "Oh, sure!" she shrieked. "Let's throw stuff at Myrtle because she can't feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach!" She punched him in the stomach, the burst of cold that went through him making him jump. "Fifty points if you can get it through her head!"

She punched Draco through the head, sending a shiver through him as she soared up into the air before diving into her toilet once more. The pale boy turned to Harry, a look of utter confusion on his face.

"How do you people put up with this?" he asked, as Yuugi went over to a stall on the far side. He picked up a black book, its pages soaked from the outpouring from the toilet. He ran his hands over the damp cover, feeling out a year that dated the book back fifty years, before opening up the book and finding the name "T.M. Riddle" written in smudged ink on the first page. The others crowded around him as he flipped through the book, only to find it was blank.

"Odd," Hermione mused. "Why would someone want to flush away a blank book?"

Yuugi flipped the book over, revealing the place of publication. Harry frowned. "Vauxhall Road?" he asked. "He must have been muggle born."

"Well, I don't think we'll need it," Draco declared, before dropping his voice. "Fifty points if you can get it through Myrtle's nose."

Yuugi rolled his eyes before stuffing the book into his robe.

-.oOOo.-

The snow finally stopped some time in the middle of February, and the sun poked out of the clouds for the first time since November. Even better than that, was that there had not been any attacks since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, and that had everyone in high spirits. Lockhart apparently had ideas to increase moral, though, which was painfully obvious when Yuugi and Malik entered the Great Hall on the morning of February fourteenth.

They thought they were seeing things. Gigantic pink flowers covered the walls, and worse yet, heart shaped confetti was falling from the clear blue ceiling. The two of them joined Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Atemu at the Gryffindor table. The pharaoh was busily trying to brush the confetti from their bacon while trying not to be sick at the sight of it all. Malik and Yuugi sat down just as Seto and Ryou came into the hall. They looked around in horror before going over to their table.

"What the heck is going on here!" Seto demanded.

Harry and Ron pointed to the professor's table, too disgusted to speak. At the table, Lockhart was standing, showing off his robes the same shade of pink as the flowers and smiling jovially as always. The professors around him looked like they were going to be sick. A muscle was twitching in McGonagall's cheek, and Snape looked like he was just shy of killing someone.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" he exclaimed. "And may I thank the forty-six people who sent me Valentine's Day cards so far. I have taken the liberty of arranging a little surprise for you all."

He clapped his hands together, and a group of about a dozen dwarfs marched into the Great Hall and lined up in front of the professor's table. They were not just any dwarfs, however; Lockhart had them wearing golden wings and carrying harps.

"Meet my lovely card carrying cupids!" he exclaimed. "They will be roving the school today, delivering everyone's Valentines!"

Ryou just stared, his lip twitching. "I knew he was gay…" he muttered.

Malik, in the meantime, had focused Hermione with an unreadable look. "Please tell me you weren't one of the forty-six."

Hermione suddenly found her food interesting, and Malik's whole face turned green in response. The other boys sweatdropped at his reaction. Harry shook his head sadly.

Atemu glanced over to Ryou, and upon asking why he was giving him such a look, the pharaoh replied, "If the tomb robber even thinks of giving me a Valentine, I'm cracking my half of the Puzzle over his head."

-.oOOo.-

Later that night found Yuugi in the library, trying to get in some last minute studying for a test he had the next day, but he just could not concentrate. His mind kept drifting from Draco and the danger he was undoubtingly putting himself in by helping them the way he was, to the book he had found in Myrtle's bathroom. He sighed, and started to gather up his books so he could head back to the common room, when he paused, looking down at the little black book. Well… if Riddle had not used it, he supposed it would not be bad for him to write in it. Besides, it might help clear his head.

He flopped back down, reaching for his quill and dipping it into his ink, but he had unfortunately dipped it in too much, for a drop fell off the tip and splashed on the page. Muttering under his breath, he looked down, reaching into his robes for his wand. He was in for a shock when he looked back up, however.

The ink stain was gone.

Yuugi blinked, flipping some of the pages, trying to find any trace of the splash of ink. He returned it to the first page and, frowning slightly, let another drop of ink fall onto the page. After a moment, the ink was sucked into the page, and he yelped reflexively. Feeling reckless, he wrote quickly on the page:

My name is Yuugi Mutou.

There was a pause, and the words also sunk into the page. Then, to Yuugi's surprise, he got a response!

Hello, Yuugi Mutou. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come about my diary?

Those words also disappeared back into the page. Yuugi hesitated a moment, before writing his answer, silently wishing his English writing was not so horrible.

Someone tried to flush it down a toilet.

Yuugi sat back and waited for Riddle's answer.

Good thing I decided to keep my memories in something more lasting than ink. Though, I'd imagine some people would want to prevent my past from being revealed.

Yuugi frowned at that, hoping he was not digging himself his own grave as he asked:

What do you mean?

This diary chronicles events that are quite unspeakable – events that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Yuugi paused a moment, trying to remember something. Draco said that the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, right?

Are you talking about the Chamber of Secrets?

Tom's response came quickly, as if he were excited about being able to talk about it with someone.

Yes! The Chamber of Secrets was opened when I went to school. The professors told us it was just a myth, but they lied. In my fifth year, the monster was released and attacked several students, killing one. I caught the person who opened the Chamber and he was expelled. However, the headmaster at the time, Professor Dippet, was ashamed that such a thing had happened, and forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given that the girl had died in a freak accident, and they gave me a medal just to shut me up. I knew it was going to happen again, though. After all, the person who let it loose had not been imprisoned.

Yuugi bit his lip, worried about the implication. He wrote his answer back quickly.

You're right, it is happening again, right now. There've been two people, a cat, and a ghost that's been petrified, and no one's been able to figure out who is doing it. Who was it the last time?

I can show you if you'd like…

Yuugi hesitated, worried. It was bad enough that he was writing to a book, but how was he supposed to be able to "see" whatever it was that Riddle wanted to show him? He glanced nervously around the library, making sure there was not anyone around, before he wrote down his answer.

OK

The pages suddenly started flipping by on their own, coming to a rest on a page marked "June Thirteenth". Yuugi lifted the book, still trying to figure out how he was supposed to see Riddle's memory, when the binding started to glow. Yuugi, too scared to even yelp, could only stare in horror as the glow from the book expanded, seemingly reaching out and grabbing him with luminous hands.

When the glow finally faded a moment later, the only sign that Yuugi had even been there was Riddle's diary resting innocently on the table, with his half of the Millennium Puzzle lying on its side next to it…