Since I was so dissatisfied with my last chapter, I started this one almost right away and I have to say that it's sitting a lot better with me than the last.
Also, before you guys dive into this one, I just wanted to let you guys know how I effed up on my last chapter. I uploaded the unedited version, most likely because I forgot to save the edited copy. Arrrrrgh. So, if you noticed an abundance of mistakes, that is why. I went back and fixed it, but unfortunately since I already had uploaded it I couldn't make the changes that I really wanted to. (Therefore I dislike that chapter even more now xD ) But you guys certainly do not have to reread that chapter. I didn't make any significant changes, it was basically rewording poorly worded sentences and fixing my many spelling mistakes. Rookie mistake. I'm so sorry though!
One more chapter dedicated to the fabulous Amber Raven, for toughing out her surgery like a true man. Feel better!
I don't own a thing!
Enjoy!
Chapter 17
"Does he think that he'll turn into a nutter if he stays in the same room with me for too long?" Harry's irritated voice woke Ryou up, and he sat up to see Seamus whip out of the door at top speed. He was shocked at their fight last night, although he and the other transfers stayed well out of it. Their best defense was to try and stay under the radar, granted with the reaction to their arrival last night, it was kind of useless, as Malik pointed out as they walked down the stairs to the common room.
"I mean, half the school knew realized who we were when you were being sorted, Ryou. So there's no point." He said, peeking at his reflection in the window they were currently passing. Ryou could tell that he was proudly checking out the red and gold Gryffindor Crest pinned to his robes.
Yugi laughed. "There is so a point! We don't need any more enemies."
"I don't think that Seamus is enemy material, he's just an ass."
Ryou agreed with both of them. The last thing that they wanted was to have even more people to have to constantly be looking over their shoulders for, but Seamus didn't seem dangerous at all.
They all laughed, and their discussion promptly ended as they entered the common room to find Ellie, Hermione, Ron and Harry gathered around a message board.
"Hey guys!" Yugi called from the stairs, earning them stares from every occupant in the room.
Hermione laughed. "Good morning, Yugi." Hermione said as they approached. "Hey Ryou, Malik."
They all exchanged pleasantries, and a few minutes later they were all walking down to breakfast together. Ellie, Ryou noticed, was very tired looking and wasn't saying much this morning. He was about to ask what was wrong, but was interrupted by Hermione asking Harry the very same question.
"You look really angry about something."
Harry didn't respond, so Ron did for him. "Seamus reckons Harry's lying about You-Know-Who."
Ellie's head perked up interestedly at this, but Hermione just sighed. "Yes, Lavender thinks so too." Ryou remembered Lavender as one of the giggling girls that approached them at the feast last night.
"Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not I'm a lying, attention-seeking prat, have you?" Harry asked angrily.
"No," Hermione replied calmly. "I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about you, actually. And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down our throats, Harry, because in case you haven't noticed, we're on your side."
Harry looked embarrassed. "Sorry."
"That's quite alright." Hermione replied, and there was an awkward silence for a few more minutes where Ryou decided that he really was not liking Harry's attitude at all. But he then remembered his promise to Ellie about looking past his temper, and decided to try to forget about it.
Ellie finally spoke up, asking the transfers about their classes.
"Well, McGonagall checked our review packs and told us that since we had covered the basics, we can join the fifth years as long as we keep our grades high enough." Yugi replied.
"We're all taking the basic classes, but I'm taking Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures as electives." Ryou said.
"I'm taking Ancient Runes, Divination, and Care of Magical Creatures." Malik said happily. Ryou knew that he would excel at Ancient Runes, as he was raised in a tomb that was covered in Runes.
"I'm taking Ancient Runes, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures too." Yugi said. Which were obvious choices, as he held the Millennium Necklace, and had a natural talent with creatures of all shapes and sizes.
"Wow, you guys are taking almost as many courses as Hermione," Ron gaped.
"Just because you two slack off doesn't mean-"
"That's not what I meant, Hermione!"
The pair continued to bicker all the way down to the great hall, where the group took their seats and gratefully helped themselves to breakfast. Seamus, Ryou noticed, did not look in their direction once. Lavender, however, seemed to be attempting to catch his eye. He determinedly kept his gaze on his plate, trying his damnedest not to blush.
"Hey Ryou," Malik elbowed him. "That girl over there is checking you out, buddy." He winked.
But, as everyone knows, when you are trying hard not to blush, it only brings it on with a vengeance. Ryou felt his face heat up. "No she's not." He had hoped that nobody would notice that.
He also very much wanted to see the look on Ellie's face at this, but he didn't have the gall to look at her right now. He instead settled on stuffing his face with eggs.
"Yes she is! Look, Ryou!"
"Malik, leave him alone," Yugi said, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"That's the girl that Hermione had a row with last night," Ellie said, a hint of resentment in her voice. Ryou finally worked up the courage to look at her, and saw her glaring daggers down at Lavender, who was now obliviously fixing her hair in the reflection of a spoon.
The thought of Ellie being jealous hopefully floated through his mind, but then it burst. Of course Ellie wouldn't like Lavender, Ryou told himself, she insulted her best friend just last night. This had nothing to do with him. He bitterly stabbed the yoke of his egg with his fork, causing it to squirt Malik in the eye.
"Damnit, Ryou!" He cursed, rubbing it out.
"Mr. Ishtar! That kind of language will not be tolerated now that you are a member of my house!" Professor McGonagall came striding down the table at precisely the wrong moment. "This is your first and final warning. Next time there will be detention, Ishtar."
Malik grumbled something unintelligible.
Luckily, McGonagall didn't notice, as she was too busy handing out schedules.
"History of Magic, double Potions, Divination, and double Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Yugi said excitedly. "That sounds fantastic!"
"No, it sounds like the worst Monday ever," Ron groaned, checking his own schedule. "Binns, Snape, Trelawney and that Umbridge woman all in the same day!"
"Is that bad?" Ryou asked, glad that the focus had switched from him.
Harry nodded. "Binns will bore you to tears, Snape is a righteous git, Trelawney is a fraud, and Umbridge is . . . Well, you know."
Ryou didn't know, but he didn't say so. He was just glad that Ron and Harry weren't acting as though they hated him. He nodded silently and stood. "Well, we'd better head off to class then."
Harry was certainly right about Professor Binns. Ryou instantly felt himself falling asleep as soon as he got over the shock of their teacher being a ghost. Bakura, on the other hand, seemed to be intensely fascinated with the subject, and kept mentally prodding Ryou to pay attention so he could hear.
-Sit a little closer next time, I can barely hear him from back here.-
-He assigned seats!-
-Let me take over so I can listen to him properly.-
-No! I think Ellie and Hermione know about you, it's too dangerous.-
-Well, if they already know then there's no point hiding me.-
-I'll pay attention then, okay Koe?-
Bakura certainly was being a lot nicer to Ryou these days, but he still drove him insane.
When the bell finally rang to signal the end of History of Magic, Ryou's head was buzzing with magical names and dates. He had already learned much of this from the review pack, but it was different this time because Bakura kept running everything over and over again through their mind.
The group hurried down to the dungeons where their potions class was to be held, and they lined up outside a foreboding looking door. The atmosphere among the Gryffindors was tense, especially when the Slytherins arrived.
Malfoy was obviously looking for a fight, and since he was flanked by almost a dozen members of his house, he had the courage to call out insults to Neville.
"Just ignore him, Neville." Yugi told him, standing tall.
Malfoy laughed and did an unkind imitation of Yugi's Japanese accent. Neither Yami or Yugi rose to the bait, they instead turned their back to him.
Malik, however, wasn't having it. "Awful brave now that you've got witnesses, aren't you Malfoy?" His face betrayed his anger, and Ryou was glad that there were witnesses around to prevent him from doing anything stupid.
"You're one to talk, Ishtar. I didn't see any of your fangirls around when you-"
Luckily, he didn't get to finish that sentence as the door to their classroom banged open. Silence immediately reigned, and Professor Snape stood in the doorway. "Enter." When Malik passed, he grabbed his shoulder. "Do not think that because you are new that you will be granted any special treatment, boy." He sneered unpleasantly. "Nor because you are famous. Not Potter, not you." He released his, what looked to Ryou, very painful grip on Malik's shoulder, and let him in.
What followed was a very unpleasant class for Ryou and every other Gryffindor. Apparently being famous was not grounds for special treatment in Snape's eyes, but being in Slytherin was.
The class had the period to brew the Draught of Peace. With the threat of Snape hovering over them, many (Ryou included) brewed concoctions that were not even close to what they should have been.
Both Ellie and Hermione's potions looked exactly how the instructions on the blackboard described, and Ryou looked wistfully over at theirs, then eyed his own white sludge unhappily. When he was practicing brewing potions at Grimmauld Place, he had no problem. In fact, he excelled at potion making. Ryou suspected that the intimidating atmosphere that Snape and the other Slytherins provided had something to do with his sudden lack of skill.
When the bell rang signaling the end of class, Ryou sighed unhappily and bottled his potion. He brought it up to Snape's desk, and luckily the potions master didn't make a comment and he left without further issue.
The group made their way to the Great Hall for lunch, and they all bonded over abusing Snape for the hour. At least the transfers had found something that they could agree on with Harry and Ron, Ryou thought. They left the Great Hall feeling slightly more positive about each other.
Hermione bade them goodbye as they all headed up to Divination. Ryou was excited, he didn't care what Harry said about the teacher. The prospect of predicting the future excited him to no end.
Ryou was so excited that he climbed the many flights of stairs to the divination classroom without a single complaint, and even offered to hold Harry's books while he climbed the ladder.
The transfers settled down in cushy chaises at a table with Ellie, Harry and Ron, and tried not to fall asleep from the strong odor of incense that was wafting throughout the room.
"Good-day," said a woman wearing a shawl and had so many beads wrapped around her neck that she looked as though she were selling them at a festival. She had glasses that made her eyes seem 4 times their actual size, and she stood hunched over as though she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. This must be Trelawney, Ryou thought.
He listened to her spacey voice drawl through an introduction to their fifth year course, and set them to read the introduction of their textbooks.
Of course the reading took nearly all of the period, and in the last dregs of class she instructed them to partner up and interpret each others dreams. Harry and Ron, obviously of the same opinion that this class was a waste of their time, immediately began complaining about their assignment.
Ellie, who happened to be sitting in the middle of Ryou and Harry, turned to him and smiled. "Partner?" He nodded, happily scooting his chair closer to her so that they could share a book.
"So, do you want to go first or should I?" Ryou asked her awkwardly.
Ellie looked nervous, and told him that he could go first. "I never remember my dreams anyways," She explained, avoiding his gaze.
Ryou was no stranger to nightmares, but he certainly wasn't going to share that with Ellie. He decided to go with a seemingly pointless dream that he had had a few nights ago instead. "Well, I dreamt that I walked into my old school and everybody had new haircuts . . . What do you think that means?"
They spent the remainder of the class torturously trying to decide the subject of his dream (hair or school?) and then looking for the meaning in the Dream Oracle. Ryou was beginning to agree with Harry and Ron's opinion on the subject, as it seemed completely useless.
They met up with Hermione on the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ron complaining the whole time about the stupid dream diary that they were set.
The class went horribly. Umbridge had pretty well told them that her class was going to consist of theory, and nothing else. Ryou and the other transfers sat back and watched as Harry rowed with Umbridge. Ryou could tell that Malik wanted to jump in, not to defend Harry, but just to anger the teacher. But the look on Hermione's face clearly told the three of them to keep their mouths shut.
In the end Ryou was glad that they did, as Harry was assigned a week's worth of detention.
By the end of that day, Ryou was certainly beginning to change his mind about Hogwarts. It had seemed so exciting at first, but in the end it was still only a school that assigned a lot of homework.
XXX
After dinner that night, Harry had detention and Ron had blushed and ran off without an explanation, so the girls had taken the transfers to the library to start on their homework.
"How do you guys know your way around this place?" Yugi asked amazedly, as they led them through a series of corridors and staircases that moved. Ryou agreed completely, he knew that if the girls had left them alone for five seconds they would have gotten lost.
"Oh, Yugi, don't-"
CRUNCH.
Too late.
Bakura exploded with laughter inside Ryou's head.
"Are you alright?" Ellie gasped. "They're trick stairs. You've got to remember to jump those ones. I'm so sorry, I forgot to tell you guys!"
Yugi laughed. "I'm fine. But, can you help me out?" He was knee deep in a fake stair, Ryou observed, trying not to laugh along with his yami. It was usually him that got caught in those situations. He and Malik each grabbed an arm and heaved. Yugi was light, so he came out easily.
"Anything else that we should watch out for?" Malik asked, grinning.
Ellie and Hermione shared a concerned glance, and looked up for some reason. Ryou looked up too, but didn't see a thing.
"Peeves," Hermione whispered. "He's the school's poltergeist."
Her explanation of the menace that was Peeves lasted them throughout the rest of the walk to the library. But then the librarian began throwing them nasty looks and hovering over their shoulders, so conversation was minimal throughout the rest of their stay.
Bakura, Ryou noticed, was listening in on every hushed word, and was reading every passage along with Ryou. He was being even more attentive than usual. He seemed restless, as though he were eager to be let out.
-Yes, Ryou. I haven't been let out for days.-
Ryou ignored him, and continued his work.
By the time the library closed and they were kicked out, Ryou was indeed very pleased with the amount of homework that he had accomplished. It seemed that all of his hard work at Grimmauld Place had paid off, because he was almost on par with the rest of the fifth years. He had understood mostly everything in his homework tonight, and only needed to ask Ellie and Hermione to verify a few things.
As the five of them walked back to Gryffindor Tower, Ryou realized that since it was almost curfew, the corridors were empty.
"So how did you boys like your first day?" Ellie asked them conversationally.
"The day was okay, it was the classes that can be improved upon." Malik said. "And the Slytherins could have, too."
"I don't know why you hate Slytherin so much, Malik!" Hermione shook her head, sounding a little bit angry to Ryou's ears. "You almost got put in there."
"It's what they represent."
Hermione stopped walking, and her face definitely turned angry. "What do they represent, then?"
"Hermione. . ." Ellie warned uselessly.
"You're kidding, right?" Malik asked.
Bakura instantly sniffed a fight, and started straining to be let out to join in.
"Of course not! Why do you hate Slytherin so much, Malik?"
"How do you not hate them?" Malik replied, seemingly getting angry at Hermione too. "Malfoy had you two cornered on the train. Him and his . . . His gang. You should be grateful that we saved you." He shook his head incredulously.
"You're judging the entire house on his actions! And I don't need to be grateful, we could have handled-"
"Could have and would have are two very different things." Uh-oh. Bakura had taken over. This wasn't good.
Hermione's expression instantly turned to one of fear, and she frantically looked over at Ellie, whose expression mirrored her own.
-Bakura! You're scaring them.-
-They'll live. I just want to teach them a lesson.-
-No, you can't!-
-Shush.-
"I-I'm sorry?" Hermione asked, taking a small step back that did not go unnoticed by Bakura.
"You two keep running around sticking your noses where they don't belong. You were waiting for us to come along, so you could see what we would do. I am sick of it. Someone is going to get hurt."
XXX
"Someone is going to get hurt." Ryou's mouth was moving, but Ellie knew that it wasn't Ryou that was speaking these words. She was a little nervous to see his double come out, but she remembered when they had protected her and Hermione. Ellie didn't believe that he would hurt them.
"Bakura!" Yugi reprimanded, "Stop it." Once again, Yugi was the one speaking, but it was obvious from the deep voice that it was somebody else entirely behind the mask.
Ellie felt Hermione move a little bit closer to her, and they nervously watched to see what would happen next.
Malik, apparently forgetting his anger at Hermione, stepped in between the girls and Yugi and Ryou. "Come on, you two. We should go."
"I don't think so," Said Ryou's voice. He pushed Malik aside and stepped closer to the girls. "I have something to say."
"Then say it." Hermione's voice was steady and confident. Ellie was proud of her friend for sounding so collected when she knew she was terrified.
Yugi and Malik hung back threateningly, not stopping Ryou, but watching him in case he did try and hurt them. The knowledge that they were needed to keep Ryou in line wavered Ellie's confidence a little bit. Maybe Ryou's double had his own agenda, and they should be worried after all.
"You should be thankful to your saviors." He smiled menacingly. "And Ishtar is right, you have good reason to hate Slytherin." He rounded on Hermione. "So why don't you?"
"I hate Malfoy, not the whole house." She told him, head still held high and the fear in her eyes was long gone.
"And what about you, Blondie?" He stepped close to Ellie, thoroughly invading her personal space. She was tempted to step back, but felt that if she showed him weakness he would only take advantage of it.
"What about me?" She stuck her chin out, standing as straight as she could to hopefully make up some of the difference in height.
"Where do your allegiances lie?"
"With my friends." She told him, hopefully sounding more confident than she felt.
"That is quite enough, Bakura." Yugi once again commanded in his deep voice. "These girls are our friends, remember?"
"I do not serve you," Ryou snapped at Yugi, whirling around on him instead.
"Anymore," Malik told him, eyes glinting meaningfully. What did that mean? "Stop it, you two. They know enough, and you're not helping." He gestured to the girls.
"We don't know enough!" Hermione protested.
"We barely know anything," Ellie prompted, her eyes darting from one transfer to another.
Yugi chuckled. "You know more than enough."
Her and Hermione shared a confused glance.
Ryou whirled on them once again. "Keep your noses where they belong, and your mouths shut. Or else."
Or else what?
"You can't threaten them, idiot, they're your friends." Malik told him, actually slapping him upside the head.
"Keep your hands off of my host!" Ryou snapped, punching Malik in the stomach. Malik gasped for air, and then raised his fist as though he were going to retaliate, but Ellie interrupted him.
"Host? So it's true then? You really aren't Ryou?" She asked. Malik froze mid-punch.
"And that's not really Yugi." Hermione pointed at Yugi, who had moved forwards to shield the girls from Malik and Ryou's fight.
"Shit." Malik said, straightening up.
"And are you really Malik? I haven't really noticed much of a difference in you." Hermione continued on, ignoring the shocked looks on all of their faces.
"Well?" Ellie prompted when none of them answered.
"I thought I made it clear," Ryou eventually said, threateningly stepping towards them. "To keep your noses where they belong."
"Well, to be fair Tomb Robber, you were the one who said it."
"Shut up Ishtar!"
Tomb Robber?
"You won't hurt us." Ellie told the 'Tomb Robber' confidently. "Ryou won't let you."
Malik burst out laughing. Ryou looked livid, but he didn't retaliate.
"You know what, El? I think you're right. He's gone soft lately." Malik told her.
Yugi shook his head. "I would not count on that. Bakura is fighting it, but it still has a hold on him, I believe."
"What has a hold on me?"
Yugi just shook his head, leaving every person present confused (or in Ellie and Hermione's cases, more confused).
"Pharaoh!" Ryou snapped, stepping towards him and reaching down the neck of his shirt. "Tell me, now."
The items! Ellie thought. They were going to use the items that Ellie and Hermione had seen, the ones with the symbol that Ellie had been dreaming of every night.
Yugi stretched out his arms and actually pushed Ellie and Hermione back, trying to get them away from Ryou. Ellie prayed that he wouldn't send them back to that place again. Malik reached inside his robes, presumably to pull out his own golden item.
But before he could pull out the odd ring Ellie knew that he was reaching for, His face changed. It went back to normal.
It was Ryou.
"Ryou!" She called, darting out from behind Yugi's protective stature and rushing towards her friend. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Ellie. I am so so sorry." He looked over at Hermione, who was inching out from behind Yugi. "You too, Hermione. I'm sorry." He looked down at his shoes.
Ellie threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "It's okay, Ryou." She told him. He stiffened under her grasp, and then relaxed slightly. But he did not hug her back.
When she awkwardly pulled back, Ellie noticed that Yugi had gone back to normal, but she almost jumped out of her skin when she saw his twin standing next to him. No, not his twin, his double. He had a translucent appearance. He looked to be the same consistency as a ghost, but he had color and was not floating in the air.
"You're getting stronger, Ryou." He was looking at Ryou, ignoring Ellie and Hermione's gapes.
"Wh-what. . . How do you do that? Who are you?" Hermione stuttered, looking at him.
Yugi frowned. "We can't tell you that, Hermione."
His double nodded grimly. "But you may call me Yami. I am a spirit."
"A spirit of what?" Hermione asked. But Yami merely shook his head, signifying that he couldn't tell her.
"Is that what controls you, Ryou? A spirit?" Ellie asked him.
Ryou nodded sadly. "Yeah. We call him Bakura. He isn't as . . . nice as Yami."
"Malik?" Hermione asked.
"I don't have one." Anymore.
"So that means that your powers don't come from these spirits, then." Hermione said.
Yami smiled and nodded. "You are very perceptive, Hermione." He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then frowned. "You do know too much though."
"We won't tell anybody!" Ellie said.
"At this point, we're not worried about you telling people." Yugi said, smiling. "We do trust you."
"Then why won't you tell us?" Hermione asked.
"Because it will put you in danger." Ryou replied darkly, almost placing a hand on Ellie's shoulder, but then thinking better of it and pulling away.
"If you're talking about Voldemort, we can handle -"
"No, we're not." Malik said. "There are other enemies out there. Trust me, you are better off not knowing."
"If you think that we're going to be satisfied with only knowing half of the story, then you are sorely mistaken." Hermione told them.
They all looked amused, but not worried. "You may do research if you like, Hermione. But I doubt that you will find anything that will answer your questions." Yami told her.
"You'd be surprised," she muttered.
But a familiar shadow of a cat hit the wall around the corner, and Mrs. Norris trotted in, mewing loudly and darting off to find her master.
"Uh-oh, it's past curfew now. We'd better get back to Gryffindor Tower before Filch gets here."
That ended the discussion, but neither Hermione intended to let the issue go.
XXX
-What did you do that for?- Ryou demanded his yami later that night, whilst pretending to be asleep.
-I wanted to be let out.-
-But now they know so much. It's too dangerous for them!-
-So what?-
-I don't want them getting hurt because of me, Koe!-
The spirit grunted, but did not answer.
-Why can't you just be nice to them?- The question was childish, but it was for that very reason that Ryou was answered.
-Being nice makes you weak, Ryou.-
-Then why have you been being nice to me?- Ryou had asked that question once before and had been rejected, but he decided to try again.
Bakura was silent for a moment, and then answered slowly, thoughtfully. -I have come to realize that in order for us to function properly, I must have your best interests at heart.-
-What do you mean, function properly?-
-I cannot exist without you, Ryou.-
Ryou was silent as he digested this simple, yet obvious bit of information.
-Oh.- He thought for a bit longer. -Was there a reason for this revelation?-
-Yes.-
-Are you going to tell me?-
-No.-
-Does this mean that you'll be nice to Yugi and the Pharaoh now? And Malik?-
-No.-
-What about Ellie?-
-Absolutely not.-
-Why?-
-Because I do not approve of your feelings towards her.-
Ryou didn't dignify that with a response.
-Ryou?- The spirit asked a few minutes later.
-Yes, Koe?-
-I'm sorry.-
-For what?-
-For everything. For ruining your life.-
More silence in which Ryou didn't answer.
-Happy birthday.-
-You remembered? Thank you, Koe.-
Ryou didn't know what else to say, but he rolled over and fell asleep with a small smile on his face.
XXX
When Bakura returned to his soul room a few minutes later, it was even lighter still.
He realized that he liked the way that he could see everything, and the way his shadow appeared to be smaller than he was.
XXX
So happy with all the events of this chapter. I really really hope that you guys enjoyed it.
Also, I would love to thank Locondra Timbernova for reminding me of Ryou's birthday. I am truely indebted to you. You guys won't even believe how stupid I felt when she pointed out the connection between the first day of classes and September 2nd.
Please review and tell me what you think!