Yuugiou!
A New Generation of Priests
I know there hasn't been many changes lately compaired to the older version of the story, and for that I appologize. The major changes in the next chapter will make up for it though. I promise.
CHAPTER ELEVEN – REVELATIONS
It was a solemn gathering that night in the Gryffindor common room. Somehow, Ryou and Draco had managed to slip out of their respective dorms, joining the others before the fireplace. Those that were still out barely gave their group a second glance, too caught up with the worry that had plagued them all since the match was cancelled. Now, Harry and the others knew they did not have a choice: after the attacks on Hermione and Seto, they had to ask Hagrid about what happened fifty years ago.
They waited in silence, Bakura taking over Ryou's body to sit cuddled with Atemu, until their other dorm mates were sound asleep. Harry went upstairs then, taking his invisibility cloak from its hiding space in his trunk before rejoining them.
"So, who's going to go?" Yuugi asked. "It'll be too suspect if we all go."
"I'm definitely going," Harry declared quietly.
"I want to go too," Draco said. "I need to; I know my father's behind this somehow, I just don't know how."
The other five boys looked at each other a moment, before Malik finally stepped forward. "I'm going too," he said. "I have to."
"Malik …" Atemu muttered, worried. Malik turned and gave him a thumbs up, though.
"No worries, pharaoh," he said.
"Don't do anything stupid," Bakura murmured softly, before Malik, Harry, and Draco disappeared under the invisibility cloak. Those left behind stood watching in silence as there was a swift patter of footsteps, and the portrait of the fat lady in the pink dress swung open.
"Good luck, guys," Ron murmured as the portrait was gently shut once again.
-.oOOo.-
Harry thought they would never reach the double doors that led to the grounds outside. The corridors of the school – which normally only had Filch stalking through them – were jam-packed with professors and prefects. The cloak did not prevent them from being heard, and there was a particularly tense moment when Draco bumped into a suit of armor a few feet from where Snape was standing guard. Fortunately, the Potions Master sneezed at the same time the armor squeaked in protest.
It was with relief that the three of them emerged from the castle and into the clear, starry night outside. They raced across the grounds, not stopping until they were safely at Hagrid's lighted hut near the forbidden forest. Harry tossed off the invincibility cloak before reaching up and knocking on the door. It flew open a few seconds later, and they found themselves staring down the shaft of a crossbow. Draco let out a squeak of surprised as Hagrid lowered the weapon.
"Oh," he said, sounding relieved and distracted all at once. "What're you three doin' here? An' with him," he added, motioning toward Draco.
"Isn't that obvious?" Malik asked, as Draco pointed a trembling hand to the crossbow still clutched in Hagrid's hand.
"What the bloody hell is that for?"
"Nothin', nothin'," the giant man replied, giving him a distrustful look. "I've just bin expectin'… Doesn' matter. Sit down, I'll make tea…"
Hagrid was obviously anxious about something. He nearly extinguished the fire when he put the teakettle in, as his hand was shaking so badly that water sloshed all over the place.
"Are you all right?" Harry asked. "Did you hear about Hermione and Seto?"
"Oh, I heard, all righ'," Hagrid replied, a slight break in his voice.
He poured them hot water from the teapot – as he had forgotten to add teabags – and was about to cut each of them a thick slice of fruitcake when there came a knocking on the door. He literally dropped the fruitcake as the three boys exchanged worried looks. They rushed over to the corner, throwing the invisibility cloak over themselves as Hagrid went for the door. He made sure they were safely out of sight before opening it. Dumbledore was revealed on the other side, a serious and grave look on his face. Behind him was another elderly man, dressed in an odd combination of a muggle suit and a wizard's cloak.
"That's Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic," Draco breathed. Malik elbowed him to keep quiet.
"Good evening, Hagrid," Dumbledore said, trying to calm the giant man with his voice, but it was not working. Hagrid was practically sweating buckets as he dropped into a chair.
"Bad business, Hagrid," Fudge announced in a clipped tone. "Very bad business indeed. Four attacks on muggle borns; things have gone far enough. The Ministry's got to act."
"But I never…" Hagrid protested, looking imploringly to Dumbledore. "Professor Dumbledore, sir, you know I never…!"
"I want it understood, Fudge," Dumbledore said, his normally gentle eyes full of a determined fire, "that Hagrid has my full confidence. Taking him from this school will do no good."
Hagrid's eyes darted between the two men at that. "Take me? Take me where?" he demanded. Then a horrified look dawned on his face. "Not Azkaban!"
"Azkaban?" Harry mouthed to the other two, only drawing a shudder and a look of loathing from Draco.
Fudge was about to stutter out an explanation, when a sharp rap came on the door. Dumbledore answered it, and Draco had to be elbowed again. Mr. Lucius Malfoy strode into the room, a black traveling cloak swathed over his shoulders.
"Already here, Fudge?" he asked. "Good, good…"
"What're you doin' here?" Hagrid demanded. "Get outta my house!"
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Believe me, my dear man, I have no pleasure in being in your… did you call this a house?" he sneered, looking around the small cabin. "I simply called at the school and was told the headmaster was out here."
"And what exactly do you want of me, Mr. Malfoy?" Dumbledore asked, a deadpan look about his face.
"Dreadful thing, Dumbledore," Malfoy said lazily, pulling out a roll of parchment from his cloak, "but the governors feel it's time for you to step down. This is an Order of Suspension. You'll find that all twelve signatures are on it."
"No!" Hagrid shouted, thundering to his feet as Malik and Draco had to grab Harry to keep him from bolting out from under the cloak. "Yeh can' take, Dumbledore! Take him away, an' the muggle borns won' stand a chance! There'll be killin's next!"
"Oh, is that a confession?" Malfoy replied, smirking at him. Hagrid looked like he was going to snap the man in half.
"Calm yourself, Hagrid," Dumbledore said, looking sharply at that gamekeeper before turning back to Malfoy. "If the governors want my suspension, then they shall have it –"
"But…!" Fudge protested.
"Yeh can'!" Hagrid exclaimed.
"However," Dumbledore continued, "you will find that I have only truly left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given here at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."
Harry got the distinct impression that the headmaster was looking directly at him as he said that. Malfoy did not notice. He just rolled his eyes, un-amused.
"Admirable sentiments," he said dryly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I must speak with that son of mine about recent… events."
Malfoy bowed Dumbledore out, before following himself. Harry and Malik were not paying attention to that, however; they had their eyes on Draco, who looked even paler than normal. Fudge, in the meantime, was waiting for Hagrid to leave, but the giant had paused a moment, looking around.
"If anyone wanted ter find out some stuff," he began, speaking slowly, "all they'd have ter do would be ter follow the spiders. That'd lead 'em righ'! That's all I'm sayin'!"
Fudge stared up at him, confused.
"All right, I'm comin'," Hagrid grumbled, grabbing his moleskin coat and shrugging it on. He was about halfway out the door when he shouted over his shoulder, "And someone'll need ter feed Fang while I'm gone."
The door banged shut behind Fudge, and the three boys waited a moment before pulling the invisibility cloak off. Draco collapsed into a chair, breathing heavily.
"Good thing I came along," he muttered. "If I didn't, I might be dead by now."
"You're going to have to confront your father one of these days, Draco," Malik pointed out, plopping down in a chair across from him. As if it were possible, Draco's face paled even more, as if he did not have any blood flowing through his veins.
"Let's deal with one thing at a time, okay?" he asked. "Right now we're in a bad situation. Without Dumbledore, there'll be an attack a day. They may as well just close the school tonight."
"C'mon," Harry said, heading for the door. "Let's go back and tell the others what we've found out."
In all the time that he had had it, Malik had never really figured out how the Millennium Ring was supposed to work. He knew, of course, how it worked, but actually getting it to do so had been a rather frustrating challenge. So, when the three of them stepped outside and were about to don on the invisibility cloak once more, Malik was shocked when two points on the left side of the Ring suddenly came to life, glowing brightly and pointing off to the forbidden forest.
"Hey, look!" he exclaimed, holding up the Ring while turning to face the forest. All five points came to life at the change of direction, all of them pointing toward the forest. He raced to the outskirts and looked around a moment before taking out his wand and shouting, "Lumos!"
The tip of the wand started to glow and he swept it about the ground. "Look, guys, c'mere!"
Harry and Draco raced up on either side of him, and Malik held the wand in one position so they could see. Spiders – small, jet black, and almost impossible to see – were scuttling about the ground, trying to get away from the light.
"Didn't Hagrid say, 'follow the spiders'?" Harry asked.
"I thought he was just ranting," Draco replied.
"There's only one way to find out," Malik stated, holding up the Ring once more. The points of the Millennium Item were still pointed directly at the forbidden forest. "We should be able to follow them easily enough with this."
Draco grabbed his arm. "We can't go in there!" he hissed. "Ask Harry! He knows what happened in there last year!"
Harry fought to hide the smile on his face. "Don't worry, Draco; Bakura's back at the castle. He can't hurt you."
Draco gave him a withering glare in response.
Huddling close together with Malik in the lead, they headed into the forest. The points of the Millennium Ring glowed brightly in the surrounding darkness, only changing direction once or twice but more or less leading them straight into the heart of the dreary place. Malik was so focused on keeping the Item working, that he did not notice much of anything, but Harry and Draco were practically jumping every time an owl hooted or a distant werewolf howled.
Draco let out a yelp of horror suddenly, grabbing a hold of the hood of Malik's belly shirt and nearly strangling him. He glared at the younger boy out of the corner of his eye.
"What the heck is your problem?" he demanded.
"Shh!" Harry snapped. "There's something coming this way. Listen."
The three of them listened in hushed silence. Somewhere off to their right, something was crashing through the trees, carving a path toward them. Malik's eyes grew wide, his imagination coming up with several horrifying possibilities.
"Oh no…" he muttered. "Oh no, oh no, oh no…"
"Quiet, it'll hear you," Harry hissed.
"Hear me!" Malik exclaimed, pointing to Draco. "It's already heard him!"
There was an odd rumbling sound, and then total silence. The three boys stood absolutely still, huddled so close to one another it was like they were joined together.
"What do you think it's doing?" Harry asked.
"Probably getting ready to pounce," Malik answered with a gulp.
There was a very pregnant pause.
"Do you think it's gone?" Draco whispered.
"Dunno –"
Suddenly, a bright light flared to life from the direction the sounds had come from, making all of them shield their eyes. Draco tried to run for cover, but his legs got tangled in a tree root, and he ended up falling flat on his face. When after a moment of nothing happening, Malik squinted past the light, trying to see what it was.
"What the… hell is a Ford Anglia doing here?" he asked, disbelieving.
"What!" Harry exclaimed, walking toward the light.
Sure enough, there was the Weasley's Ford Anglia that he and Ron had flown to school what felt like a lifetime ago staring right back at them, like a domestic dog that had been let loose in the wild for a few weeks. Draco weakly got to his feet, looking embarrassed that he had panicked over a simple car. Malik looked around a moment, frowning, before turning back to the Millennium Ring. In all the excitement over the car, he had lost his concentration, and the points had gone dead.
"Darn," he muttered. "I've lost the trail. Harry, do you think you could—"
He cut himself off when he saw the refreshed look of horror on Draco's face. The young English boy's lip was trembling, his gaze focused on something at least ten feet above him. Harry was also staring, wide-eyed, his mouth working but no sound coming out of it.
"Oh what is with—?"
The words were barely out of Malik's mouth when something long, hairy, and sticky grabbed him around the waist and hauled him up into the air. He heard a clicking noise coming from somewhere, and saw Harry's feet leave the ground. Judging from the girlish scream a few seconds later, Draco was also captured by the big things.
The creatures holding them took off at a rapid pace through the forest as Malik looked down, trying to determine who or what their captors were. All he was able to see, however, was a bunch of long, hairy legs. He gulped; Hagrid had said to follow the spiders, but he had failed to mention just how big those spiders were!
After what seemed like hours, they came to a halt in a small clearing. Branches above had been purposefully snapped back, allowing the moonlight to flood in on a sight that made Malik blanch. There were hundreds of spiders, and not just small ones that he was used to working with in Potions. Some of these spiders ranged from the size of a large dog to an American SUV, and all of them were black, hairy, had eight legs, eight eyes, and a set of pincers that were clicking rapidly at the sight of the three humans.
Malik was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, and Harry and Draco followed soon after. The latter boy looked like he felt; his mouth was open in a silent scream of horror.
"Aragog! Aragog!"
The Egyptian boy looked around as the spiders started chanting, getting up to his knees. What was going to happen now? Were they going to be sacrificed to some grand high "god" spider? Unfortunately, that was looking like the case, as a gargantuan spider the size of a small elephant hauled itself out of a collection of webbing in the center of the clearing. There were some graying patches in the hair that covered its body, and its eyes were a milky white, indicating that it was blind.
"What is it?" Aragog the spider clicked.
"Men," answered the spider that captured Harry.
"Is it Hagrid?" Aragog asked.
"We're friends of Hagrid's," Malik said, somehow finding his voice. Several of the spiders started clicking furiously.
"Friends of Hagrid's?" Aragog repeated, sounding like he did not trust them. "Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before."
"He's in trouble," Malik explained, trying to sound trustworthy, though it was hard with his voice wavering all over the place. "People are saying he let a… something loose in the school. He's been taken to Azkaban."
Aragog clicked furiously. "But that was years ago!" the spider exclaimed. "They believed that I was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets."
"So… so you don't come from the Chamber?" Harry asked, shakily.
"I!" Aragog scoffed. "I was not even born in this land. I came to Hagrid as an egg, thanks to a traveler, and he has taken care of me and mine ever since."
"So, you never attacked anyone?" Malik asked.
"Though it is in my nature, for Hagrid's sake, I did not," the elderly spider replied. "The girl that died fifty years ago was found in a bathroom. I never left the safety of the chest that Hagrid kept me in."
"Do you know what did kill that girl?" Malik asked. "Because whatever it is, it's attacking agai—"
The rest of what he said was drowned out by the angry clicking coming from all the spiders.
"We do not speak of it!" Aragog thundered. "We do not name it! The thing that lives in the castle is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others!"
Malik wanted to ask another question, but he stopped as he became aware of something pulling on his sleeve. Draco was tugging at him, pointing around frantically. The spiders were getting closer… dangerously closer…
"Uh… well… we'll just go then," he said instead, trying to scramble to his feet.
"Go?" Aragog asked, a bit of a humored note in his voice. "I think not. Though my children do not harm Hagrid on my command, I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Goodbye, friends of Hagrid."
Malik and Harry pulled out their wands – Draco was too numb with fright to even get to his feet, opting to cling to the Gravekeeper's leg instead – as the spiders advanced ever closer. They did not think they would be able to do much good, however; any of the spells they knew seemed rather worthless in a situation like this. Suddenly, a long, loud note rang through the clearing as it was flooded with a bright light. The Anglia came roaring in, scattering spiders as it skidded to a halt in front of the boys.
"Grab Draco!" Malik shouted, shaking him off before diving into the driver's seat.
The hope of escape managed to melt away some of Draco's fear, and soon him and Harry were secured in the front seat. Malik's foot hit the floor as soon as the door had slammed shut, running over some spiders as he swerved the car around to face forward. They soon found themselves crashing through the trees, swerving in and out of the giant ones and running over the little ones. Harry winced when they hit a fairly large rock, almost flipping the car over.
"Where did you learn to drive?" he asked, holding onto the seat. Malik shot him a sour glance.
"Hey, cut me a break," he replied, squeezing the Anglia in-between two giant oaks. "I'm used to desert driving; the kind of driving where there is no road and you post your own speed limit."
Harry stared at him as the trees started to thin. "You mean you have your driver's license?"
Malik let out a bark of laughter. "You forget: I'm older than you guys; I just turned eighteen this year. I've had both my driver's license and my motorcycle license since I was thirteen." His expression soured then. "I just haven't been licensed to drive in Japan yet. Their test is impossible."
They finally emerged from the forbidden forest then, coming to a gentle stop in front of Hagrid's house before Harry and Malik turned their attention to Draco. He was frozen in his seat, his eyes wide with lingering fright.
"Go get the cloak," Malik ordered. "I'll deal with the stiff here."
Harry got out of the car and went up to Hagrid's porch where he had left his invisibility cloak. As soon as he recovered it, however, he caught sight of Draco running for the pumpkin patch in the back of the house. The sound of retching soon followed as Malik went to help him. The Anglia, with no drivers present, closed its doors and retreated back into the forest.
Harry walked around back, to find that Draco had already finished being sick. He was standing up slowly, with Malik helping him and asking if he was all right.
"Follow the spiders," the pale boy muttered irritably. "Follow the spiders! I don't care how much you all love that crazy oaf! When Hagrid gets out of Azkaban, I'll kill him!"
Harry and Malik exchanged amused looks as he started ranting about how he had never been so scared in his life.
"I mean," he continued, "what was the point of all that! What did we learn tonight that we did not already know?"
Harry's expression suddenly turned serious. "Well, we do know one thing for sure. Hagrid's been innocent these past fifty years; he really didn't set that monster loose on the school."
-.oOOo.-
Other than Hagrid's innocence, however, they had not learned much else from their trip into the forest. Weeks later, Ryou, Yuugi, Atemu, and Ron were still pressing them for more details, trying to find out what it was like down in that clearing. Draco threatened to throw them into the forest to find out for themselves what it was like. That threat, coupled with the fact that final exams were looming on the horizon of a school gripped with fear from Dumbledore's absence stopped anymore questioning about the forest trip.
Sometime in the beginning of June found Malik in the hospital wing, sitting next to Hermione's bed. He was worried, even though he had no reason to be. The mandrakes were going to be fully mature in at least a week, and there had not been any more attacks. Still, the nagging feeling of doom in the back of his mind refused to go away, and prevented him from focusing long enough to study in the library with his friends like he usually did on breaks.
"Why don't you visit Hermione, Malik?" Yuugi had suggested. "We all know you miss her. We may all be friends here, but we know despite how much you argue, you and Hermione are more than friends."
So he went to Hermione's side, despite Madam Pomfrey's protests. After a moment, he rested his hands on her frozen arm, and gentle smile on his face.
"It's hard without you around, you know?" he asked. "We're so lost right now, it isn't funny. You always have the answers to everything. We really miss you."
His voice cracked at that. He rested his forehead on her arm, trying to keep tears back.
"I miss you so much," he muttered, his voice shaking.
He reached up, clutching one of her frozen hands… when he paused. He let go and leaned down a bit, peering inside the one he had been holding. Some sort of paper was crumpled up inside her stony grasp. With a bit of tugging, he was able to pull it free without tearing it. He smoothed the paper out and began to read, his eyes widening with each word. He looked down to her in shock, before reaching over and giving her forehead a kiss.
"Hermi-chan, you're the best!" he exclaimed. "There'll be more where that came from when you wake up, I promise. Right now I gotta tell Harry and the others about this."
With that said, Malik took off like a shot, hoping to make it to the library in record time.
-.oOOo.-
Yuugi let out a mighty yawn as he made his way back to the Gryffindor common room alone. Though he never told anyone, like Malik, he too felt a nagging sense of doom tugging at the back of his mind, one that bothered him so much that studying was impossible. His feeling, however, had been harassing him since he had opened Riddle's diary. He did not know why, but something had tugged at his heart ever since, as if some unknown voice was calling to him…
Going past the stairs that led to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom made Yuugi stop in his tracks. He looked up the small flight. Was that Ginny up there?
"Hey, Ginny!" he called, running up the stairs. "Are you all right? What are you doing outside of the common room?"
The youngest Weasley did not answer him. She just stood there, staring vacantly at the wall that held the words that had been left after Mrs. Norris was attacked. Yuugi took a couple more steps closer to her, concern etched on his face.
"Ginny, are you okay?" he asked. "C'mon, lets go. I'll take you back to the common room."
Ginny turned to him then, and Yuugi took a reflexive step backward. She had an empty and vacant look to her eyes, a look that he was all too familiar with. It was the same look he used to see on GHOULS Rare Hunters, back when Malik had wanted to kill him and the pharaoh, and even went so far as to brainwash Jounouchi and Anzu.
"Ginny, what's going on?" Yuugi demanded. "Who's controlling you! Who is it!"
Again, she did not answer; she just reached into her pocket and pulled out a thin, black leather covered book.
Riddle's diary!
Yuugi was about to demand that she give him the book, when she opened it to the center, showing off a glowing spine. He was about to tackle her, to take the book by force, to do something; but somehow he could not. When he tried to move his legs, they were sluggish, as if he were walking though knee-deep water. He became dimly aware of his consciousness drifting, as if his Soul Door was being forced closed, cutting him off from his own body.
Ginny suddenly reached over and removed the Millennium Puzzle half from around his neck. Yuugi's mind screamed in protest, but it was a futile effort. Something… something was making him lose control of himself, mocking him in the back of his mind…
Ginny dropped his half of the Millennium Puzzle, and Yuugi did not even flinch as it clattered to the ground, a few of the pieces falling loose. The two of them walked off mindlessly, following the voice of an unheard master…