Hey guys! I want to thank you all, because with all of your help, I've actually managed to hit the 100th review for this story! You can't even believe how happy and accomplished that made me feel. Makes me feel like I'm not just writing this story for me anymore. So that gave me a lot of motivation to even think up a few more plot points for you, and I am so excited to post this chapter!

Disclaimer: Honestly, people, if I owned Yu-Gi-Oh or Harry Potter do you think that I would be sitting here writing this? No! I would be using my billions of dollars to create a clone of Malik to have all to myself. *drools*

Enjoy!

Chapter 20

As the weeks went by, Malik and the other two transfers found themselves settling into the rhythm at Hogwarts. They made more friends, and were even asked out by no less than a dozen girls. Malik took great pleasure in watching sweet Ryou and Yugi try to reject these girls without hurting their feelings. But Malik was incredibly annoyed by them, and made no such attempt to spare their feelings. They only wanted to date them because they were famous, and that pissed him off to no end. He left more than a few girls in tears.

They were keeping well up with their classes, and somehow Ryou had even surpassed a lot of the students in some. The exception, of course, was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Obviously, none of the other students were progressing either, but since the transfers had never even seen any of this stuff before, they were lagging way behind.

"This is pointless!" Ryou groaned in a rare show of annoyance, slamming his textbook onto the table. "We're the ones that need to defend ourselves, but that god-awful woman won't even let us try." Bakura must have been bitching at him in his head for a long time about Umbridge for Ryou to complain like that.

"Well it's not like we can't defend ourselves anyways," Malik rolled his eyes. The three of them were perched in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room, and the only person that was within earshot was Hermione, so they could speak freely.

Hermione didn't seem to be listening anyways, as she was deeply immersed in a book, and was taking notes.

The book, Malik was annoyed to see, was about Ancient Egypt. It had an eye on the front that was eerily similar to the Eye of Horus.

"Why are you reading that, Hermione?" He asked exasperatedly.

She narrowed her eyes. "Because you won't tell me what I want to know!" She snapped. Lately, Hermione had been very touchy about the subject. Most likely because she couldn't find any information, but even Malik didn't have the balls to say so out loud. "And Ellie's at Quidditch practice, so it's up to me to figure it out." The way she said Quidditch made it sound like a dirty word.

Yugi calmly set down his own homework. Unlike Malik, he and Hermione got on very well. "Hermione, we're not keeping this from you for the fun of it. We're trying to protect you." Voldemort had undoubtedly already figured out who Ryou was, and made the connection between the boy who had taken out so many death eaters and the new transfers at Hogwarts. That just added another danger to the list that the Shadow Mage's friends had to cope with.

Hermione sighed. "I'm not going to stop looking." She scowled a bit, "And neither will Ellie." She muttered something that sounded vaguely like 'whether she likes it or not'.

"Can you at least take a break and help us with this Defense?" Ryou asked hopefully.

Defeated, and unable to resist the infamous hikari puppy dog eyes, Hermione smiled. "Sure, Ryou." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know, Harry isn't going to like this. But we're thinking of starting a club to learn real defense. You know, practical wand work. Not any of this theoretical nonsense." She suddenly looked eager. "Secretly, of course. Are you interested?"

Of course he was interested. This was Malik's cup of tea. He couldn't agree fast enough. And neither could Yugi and Ryou.

"Why do you reckon Harry won't like it?" Yugi asked. He was picking up on English figures of speech quickly.

"Well, he's kind of going to be teaching it," Hermione said sheepishly. "He's had a lot of experience, especially with the Triwizard Tournament last year. And he's good. Really good."

Perfect, Malik thought. The three transfers had mostly won over Ron, but things with Harry were still quite strained. He was even more cranky than Malik. The relationship between him and the transfers was too polite. Malik, ever the people person, had forced himself to not start a fight with him on countless occasions for the sakes of Ellie and Hermione.

He wondered if Harry would take the opportunity to hex them.

He then wondered if he could take the opportunity to hex Harry.

"Sounds like fun," Ryou said. Malik wondered if Hermione heard the strain in his voice.

Hermione told them to meet up in some pub called the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade that weekend after Ellie showed them around, and they all returned to their work.

Malik tried to stay focused, but he found his mind wandering. He had a hard time staying focused on anything recently. It seemed as though thoughts of Marik were constantly plaguing his mind whenever he tried to do anything else. Could it be that his other personality was getting strong enough to actually influence his decisions again? Malik hoped not. It was bad enough that he was always in a bad mood, lashing out at anyone who pissed him off in the slightest.

Malik wondered if Ellie and Hermione would trust him as much if they knew what he really was.

But he didn't want his mind to wander in that particular direction at the moment. He didn't like thinking about Battle City if he could help it. Because a lot of what happened there was his own fault, and he couldn't blame it on Marik.

Thoroughly pissed off from his own thoughts, Malik stood up and announced he was going to bed. It was still quite early, but he knew that Quidditch practice would end soon and he didn't want to have to deal with Harry tonight.

Ignoring curious and worried glances from the three he was leaving behind, Malik gathered his things and made a show of trudging up the stairs so erase any suspicions he knew they all had about his retiring so early. As soon as he was out of view, however, he picked up his pace and hurried into his dorm.

He had just had a sudden idea. The scales. Sure, he wasn't the true wielder of them, he just happened to own them. There was no substitute for his Millennium Rod, but Malik wanted something that the Rod couldn't give him.

He wanted to weigh his soul.

He didn't even know if he could weigh his own soul without factoring in the evil of his darker half. But he had to try.

He just hoped that since he wasn't the true wielder of the Scales, that if his soul didn't measure up to the Feather of Ma'at it wouldn't get eaten by Ammit.

Relieved to find that the dormitory was empty when he arrived, Malik eagerly began rummaging through his trunk to find the Scales. It was amazing he could find anything in the mess that was his space. Both his bed and the area surrounding it was littered with everything one would come to expect from a teenage wizard.

"Ugh," He said, throwing aside particularly dirty set of robes from the time he had exploded his 'potion' in potions. It was covered in a sticky green substance and smelled like rotten bananas. He came to the decision that he really needed to clean.

He then moved on to his closet. Nothing. After another fruitless search of his bed and the area surrounding it, Malik began to panic.

"What the fuck?!" He exclaimed to the empty room, ripping the sheets off of his bed in order to check under them.

But after a few more minutes of searching, there was no denying it.

The scales were gone.

"YUGI !" He bellowed, tearing down the stairs and into the common room, earning himself quite a few stares from his housemates. Quidditch practice, it seems, had just let out, as Ron, Harry and Ellie had joined the group around the fire in their flaming scarlet robes.

Malik, oblivious to the stares, bolted over to Yugi and Ryou. "What's your problem?" Ryou asked meanly, but Malik knew it was Bakura behind those words.

"I - you - need - uuh," He panted, trying to catch his breath. He had indeed made quite good time coming down the stairs. "I need to talk to you guys." He indicated Yugi and Ryou, who instantly looked worried. They ignored the curious stares of the others, stood up and followed a frantic Malik up the stairs.

They finally reached the boys dormitory, which was completely torn up from Malik's search.

"What the hell did you do, Ishtar?" Bakura asked, phasing out and surveying the mess.

Malik, seized by yet another sudden fit of anger, punched the stone wall with everything he had. Blood trickled down his fist, and he scowled. "They're gone." He turned around to face his friends. Yami had phased out as well. "The scales are gone."

"You lost the scales?" Bakura asked in his low, scary voice.

"I didn't lose them!" Malik snapped, pulling out his rod and squeezing it threateningly. Not that he could harm a corporeal being, but the thought still comforted him.

"What happened, Malik?" Yami asked.

"I don't fucking know! I was looking for them, to, you know," He blushed, "To weigh my soul. And they weren't there." He finished angrily, kicking some of his possessions around in the hopes that the scales would turn up.

"You can't weigh your own soul, idiot," Bakura scoffed.

Oh.

"So they were stolen," Yugi said, ignoring Bakura. He bagan rummaging through his own trunk and emerged with the Millennium Necklace.

Ryou opened up his bedside drawer, and beside his box filled with Amane's things, he pulled out a little bag that he tipped upside-down to reveal the Millennium Eye.

Of course, it went without saying that the two boys kept the Puzzle and Ring safely around their necks.

"Where were the Scales, Malik?" Ryou asked.

"They were in my trunk," He said, nursing his bleeding hand and now regretting his fit of rage. He was still mad, but not unreasonably so.

"So whoever took them must have only wanted the Scales." Yugi shook his head speculatively. "It's not like the Eye and the Necklace were particularly difficult to get to."

"So you definitely think that they were stolen, then." Ryou stated.

Both Yugi and Yami nodded at exactly the same time. It was actually kind of unnerving.

Bakura angrily paced the room. "I bet it was the imbecile with scar on his forehead."

"Harry?" Yugi asked.

"How many other imbeciles with a scar on their foreheads do you know, you undersized abomination?!" He asked irritably.

"Look!" Ryou interrupted angrily before Yami could jump in to defend his hikari. "We need to find the thief! You guys need to stop this petty fighting and work together!"

There was silence for a moment. Nobody expected Ryou, of all people, to jump in between the two yamis. In spite of his anger, Malik couldn't help but let out a low whistle. "You tell 'em, Ryou."

He blushed and made a show of putting the golden eye back into it's little velvet bag and carefully setting it back into his drawer.

Yami phased back into Yugi's body, and took control. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his deck, rifling through it until he found what he was looking for.

"I summon the Dark Magician!"

Malik hurried over to lock the door. It was still early yet, but he didn't want to explain the 10 foot tall purple magician with a pointy hat in their dorm if one of their roommates retired early.

The three Millennium Item holders could not sense magic the same way that their Duel Monsters could, and Yami evidently believed that the Dark Magician could help them in their search.

"Will you be able to tell us anything about the thief who stole the Millennium Scales, Dark Magician?" Yami asked his monster.

The Dark Magician bowed, and nodded. "Yes, my Pharaoh. I can sense many Shadows in this room, from a thief who came only this morning. There are still traces of the thief in this castle."

Malik started. Still traces of the thief in the castle? Malik would kill him.

"But it must have been a Gryffindor, though!" Ryou said. "Only we have access to this tower."

"I still think that it was scarhead." Bakura said moodily. "He has unlimited access to this room, and could use the Scales in his fight against Voldemort."

Yami shook his head. "But the Dark Magician said that the thief left a trace of Shadows. It couldn't have been Harry, he hasn't got an ounce of the power required to manipulate the Shadows."

Malik pulled out his own deck, and rifled through the cards until he found his personal favorite, the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys*. He quickly summoned the gargantuan flaming beast, which gave an almighty roar the second he was released.

Even Bakura flinched at the noise. Malik sheepishly grinned at the dirty looks he was being given. "Hey, we're the only ones that can actually hear him, you know."

"You had better hope so," Ryou said darkly, shaking his head. He fanned his face, as the temperature in the room had gone up considerably with the fire that the Phoenix was emitting. He then turned to his Yami expectantly. "She responds better to you, Koe."

Bakura phased into Ryou's body without a word, and quickly took over. Malik didn't see his hand slip into his pocket, but a second later Bakura was holding a card as well.

"Rise, Dark Necrofear!" He called, summoning up his favorite card.

Although he would never admit it to the Thief King, Malik had a particular aversion to his monster. It was partially because any monster that the evil spirit felt such an attachment too could not be good for anybody that opposed him, but it was mostly because Dark Necrofear was honestly the creepiest thing that he had ever seen.

Sensing his master's unease, Malik's Phoenix roared again and spread his wings threateningly.

Malik once again really hoped that none of their roommates would walk in.

"We have a job for you to do," Bakura told his monster.

"As you wish, master," Dark Necrofear bowed low.

"You too, Nephthys," Malik told his monster, who cocked her head, awaiting instructions.

"We seem to have a thief in our midst," Malik told the monsters. "Your job is to find anyone who has a trace of Shadows on them."

"Don't get caught," Bakura added, eyeing the girth of Malik's flaming phoenix.

"As you wish," Dark Necrofear and the Dark Magician both bowed, and Nephthys roared once more, before they all dissolved into the ground, seemingly on the trail of the thief.

The Yami's once again relinquished control to their hikaris, and phased out themselves.

"What if they can't find him?" Ryou asked anxiously, perching on the end of his bed. "I mean, it could be anyone. We need to know!"

But before anybody could answer, Dark Necrofear rose once again from the floor.

"We have found the one with the Shadows, Master," She bowed to both Ryou and Bakura.

"Now that was fast." Malik nodded, impressed. He felt the release of his magic that signified that Nephthys had returned to his card.

"We did not need to go far. The one we were looking for was just down below."

So it was a Gryffindor. Malik edged closer, eager to hear who the thief was.

"Show us, Dark Necrofear," Bakura commanded.

"As you wish, Master." She waved her hands, and as if a hole had opened in the floor.

They could see the Gryffindor common room on full display. They all crowded round as their view began zooming in towards the fire.

When the zooming finally stopped, they all stared.

No.

It couldn't be.

But there was no denying it. Dark Necrofear was showing them a pretty blonde girl with glasses, laughing and talking with her friends.

It was Ellie.

"No. There must be some mistake." Ryou said, shaking his head.

"She has the trace, master."

"It could just be a result from hanging out with us, right Bakura?" Ryou frantically asked his yami. "I mean, we're all dripping in Shadows."

"She has the same trace as the one that resides in this very room," Dark Necrofear said.

Malik stared at the illusion. As usual, Ellie looked the picture of innocence, with a smile on her face and Ryou's kitten, Shu, on her lap. She was completely unaware of what was going on a few floors above her right at that very moment. Of course Ryou wanted to protect her.

Malik felt bad for him.

"It doesn't necessarily mean that it's her, Ryou," Yugi said gently.

Ryou didn't acknowledge him at all. "That will do, Dark Necrofear." He summoned his monster back into her card, the illusion disappearing with her.

"It doesn't mean that it isn't her, either," Bakura said to Yugi harshly. "We cannot trust anyone here."

Malik had to agree. They had no reason to trust Ellie and her friends, yet they somehow did anyways. He was beginning to rethink his earlier opinion on her.

The trace on Ellie didn't necessarily mean that she was the thief, but it did tell the Shadow Mages one thing for sure. Ellie was involved in their world somehow. And that made her dangerous. Very dangerous.

"We can't trust her." Malik said.

XXX

Ellie found herself running through a dark, cavernous room. It seemed endless, she'd been running for as long as she could remember. But she needed to reach her goal. At the end of this room there were answers, and she needed to find them.

She was surrounded by a small ball of light that only stretched far enough to illuminate a few feet in front of her, but she kept running anyways.

She had to.

It was silly, she was wearing a white sleeveless sundress that offered no protection from the dank chill of the room she was in. She felt so cold and vulnerable in the dress, and longed for the secure feeling she got when she wore her Hogwarts robes.

She didn't even have her wand.

The only think that she could hear was the sounds of her own feet slapping the damp stone floor, her dress swishing around her knees, and her shallow, labored breathing.

That's why she instantly noticed a hissing coming from her right.

Ellie stopped dead in her tracks. There was something moving, something huge.

She thought that maybe if she stayed still, then it wouldn't notice her . . .

Ellie closed her eyes and prayed that the thing wouldn't see her.

Please, please, please . . .

The hissing stopped, and so did the movement. In a way, it was even more terrifying, because Ellie couldn't pinpoint where the thing was anymore.

She must have just been a beacon for the thing, her white dress standing out in the dark room.

Please, please, please . . .

The small light surrounding Ellie suddenly expanded, revealing everything.

Hovering inches above Ellie's head was a massive set of fangs, that were attached to the mouth of a giant snake.

Unarmed and completely terrified, Ellie couldn't move. She was frozen on the spot. A chill that had absolutely nothing to do with her bare arms and legs swept through her body, leaving her trembling.

Her mouth opened in a silent scream, knowing that this snake was going to attack her at any second.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

The snake hissed again, it's forked tongue reaching out and sliding over Ellie's neck. She whimpered, completely defenseless.

It reared it's head back, about to attack, and Ellie braced herself and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't watch.

But the attack never came. There was a huge roar and a crash that made Ellie's ears ring, but the attack never came.

Ellie took a step backwards and dared to open her eyes.

The snake was gone.

In it's place was the strangest, yet most terrifying creature that Ellie had ever seen in her life. It was even bigger that the snake was. It had the head of a crocodile, the body of a lion, and it's hind legs and behind looked as though it belonged to a hippopotamus. The mismatch of body parts could be mistaken for silly by a third party observer, but to one standing directly in front of it like Ellie, it was horrifying.

It was licking it's jaws, as if it had just enjoyed a hearty meal.

With a jolt, Ellie realized that that's exactly what it had done. It had eaten the snake.

She whimpered again. She was spared from being eaten from the snake, only to be devoured by this even more terrifying creature.

And it slowly turned it's attention to her, and cocked it's head. The creature opened it's jaws and let out a roar that seemed impossible to have come from the mouth of a crocodile.

When it roared, her section of the cavern finally lit up. Torches lined the walls, and Ellie was standing in the middle of the room, with water on either side of the stone path she was standing on. It was huge, and familiar.

But Ellie still couldn't see what she had been running towards.

But she felt that she knew this place, and had she only seen her destination she would remember where she was in an instant.

Ellie turned back to the creature, questions in her eyes. She didn't even know if it could speak to answer them.

But it was gone. The gargantuan monster that she had just seen eat a giant snake had simply disappeared.

"Come back!" Ellie called, her voice echoing off the walls. "Please!"

But her pleas for the monster that had just saved her life instantly turned into screams as the floor dissolved from beneath her feet, and she began falling. . .

. . . Falling, falling, falling through an endless abyss of black, with millions of eyes staring at her, watching her, unblinking, seeing everything. The eyes watched as she screamed helplessly, groping in the darkness for anything to slow her descent. . .

Oh no. The dream again. Ellie wished this knowledge would comfort her, knowing that in a few minutes time she would wake up completely unharmed, but she still couldn't seem to shake the fear that had consumed her.

Helplessly, she again played her part well, screaming and screaming as loud as she could.

Her descent didn't last nearly as long as it usually did. After a few minutes she saw the golden eye, and Ellie was heading straight for it.

Ellie sat bolt upright with a scream, clapping a hand over her mouth as not to wake her roommates.

But her efforts to remain quiet were in vain, as her three roommates rushed over to see what was the matter. It seemed that she had actually slept later than the rest of the girls, which was something the never happened.

"What's wrong, El?"

Trembling, Ellie self-consciously clutched the sheets to her chest and surveyed her friends with wide eyes. "N-nothing. Just a dream."

She's been having the same dream for weeks, and she had never woken up screaming.

But then again, she had never been faced with those monsters before either.

Even Lavender, who hadn't spoken to Ellie in weeks, looked worried.

Pavarti climbed into bed next to the still shaking Ellie and wrapped her arms around her. "It's okay, Ellie! You can tell us."

Ellie leaned into Pavarti and locked eyes with Hermione, who had yet to say anything. "I just dreamt that a monster was trying to eat me." She said. Hey, it was kind of true. "Stupid, huh?" Ellie gave a nervous laugh.

"Oh, it's okay! Dreams can seem like, so real. I had this nightmare once. . ." Pavarti prattled. Ellie, however, wasn't listening to a word. She was too busy wondering exactly what had prompted her reoccurring dream to change.

After Pavarti's spiel, Ellie quickly got up and began to try to wrestle her hair into something that resembled a neat bun, trying to ignore the worried looks that Hermione kept shooting her.

"Oh, and don't worry, El! We won't tell anybody!" Pavarti called from the door as she and Lavender left. "Will we, Lavender?" She gave her friend a meaningful nudge, and Lavender half-heartedly nodded.

Ellie could almost hear them talking about her as soon as they were out the door.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaah," She groaned to Hermione as soon as they were gone. "Did they have to see that?"

"I suppose so." Hermione said simply. "Are you okay?"

Ellie was no longer shaking, but she was still quite rattled, and actually feeling a little nauseous. "I'm fine." She forced a smile, and the look on Hermione's face told her that she wasn't buying it one bit.

"Well, you'd better hope so. We've got that meeting today in the Hog's Head."

"That's today?!"

She groaned again.

When the notice had first gone up announcing a trip to Hogsmeade, Ellie had promised the transfers that she would show them the sights before Hermione's defense meeting. Up until the day before she had been looking forwards to it.

But yesterday the transfers had acted strangely aloof towards her. They only spoke when spoken to, and Malik had been a righteous git in Ellie's opinion.

To Ellie's knowledge, she had done nothing to spur such behavior.

The worst part was that they had still treated Hermione the same as they always had. They were even nicer to Harry and Ron. Because of this, Hermione had completely brushed her off when she had told her about it. She thought that Ellie was just being moody and getting upset over no reason.

But a promise was a promise, and Ellie was going to keep it and show the transfers around beforehand. She wished that Hermione didn't have the meeting to tend to so she could come along to alleviate some of the tension.

"Hurry up and get dressed! I want to go to breakfast," Hermione said, breaking Ellie's train of thought.

Ellie was still nauseous, and the idea of food made her feel even more sick. "No, thank you. I'm really not feeling well."

Of course Hermione protested, but in the end Ellie convinced her that she was fine and would meet up with her in the Hog's Head later on.

Ellie took the precious minutes alone to sit on her bed and gather her wits for the trying day she knew she was going to have.

Sighing, she finally stood up and pulled on one of Mrs. Weasley's famous knitted sweaters, a pair of jeans and boots. Grabbing her bottomless purse, she walked out of the dorm to go.

She walked into the Entrance Hall to meet Ryou, Yugi and Malik. The had agreed to meet at 10, and, true to their word, there they were. They were dressed in jeans and t-shirts, and Ellie thought it was weird seeing them out of their Hogwarts robes for the first time in so long.

Ellie had decided to try and act as thought nothing was amiss.

"Hey, guys. You ready to go?" She forced a smile.

Ryou and Yugi nodded silently. Malik however, smirked. "Nice sweater," He said gesturing to it. It was a typical comment from him, but it lacked the teasing nature he usually had that signified that it was all in good fun.

The smile melted from her face. Ellie was offended. There was nothing wrong with her sweater. It was brown, a little loose, and was very comfy and warm. Mrs. Weasley had made it for her for Christmas last year.

"It was a gift," She replied, slightly defensively. Malik looked as though he almost wanted to apologize and take the comment back, but Ellie turned tail and said "Let's go," before he could.

The walk to Hogsmeade was very awkward. Ellie had made a few stabs at conversation, but the boys all seemed to want to continue the walk in stony silence.

Hurt, Ellie crossed her arms over her chest and gave up. She was very glad to have worn her sweater, no matter what Malik said. It was chilly out, and had she not been so angry at the boys she would have felt bad for them in only their t-shirts. She could see that goose bumps had erupted on all of their arms.

They had actually made it all the way to Hogsmeade without any true conversation. Ryou finally broke the silence by speaking to Ellie for the first time that day.

"Ellie?" He asked timidly. He blushed when she looked over at him and avoided her gaze.

"Yeah, Ryou?" She felt a small spark of hope. Maybe he was going to apologize and explain what had come over them!

"Can you show us the Shrieking Shack?" Ellie's heart sank. It was a start, but she would have certainly preferred a decent apology.

She couldn't hide the frown on her face. "Sure."

Ryou opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but his eyes flashed and Bakura took over. He looked angry, and closed his mouth.

Oh. It was Bakura and Yami that had them acting like that.

But what about Malik?

Ellie wished that Genevieve had already returned with Bill's response. Maybe if she knew who Ryou, Malik and Yugi really were, then she could understand why they were acting like this.

Ellie led them all up the hill towards the Shrieking Shack. It was empty, as it was still early and most students were at Honeydukes trying to get the good candy before it was all gone.

She walked forwards, and leant against the fence, picking at a lint ball on her sweater. Maybe it was getting a little shabby. But it was still very comfy.

Ellie didn't want to look at the boys, and wasn't particularly in the mood to explain the history of the Shrieking Shack. There was a sign.

And she certainly wasn't in the mood to recount what she, Harry, Hermione and Ron had uncovered about it in their third year.

Yes, they could read the sign.

Ellie scowled at the Shrieking Shack.

She could hear the boys whispering behind her back, and that only spurred her on to get even more angry. But, Ellie being Ellie, didn't say anything. She didn't want to make things any worse.

She remained with her back to them, and continued to vent her anger by scowling at the completely innocent Shrieking Shack.

"Okay, Blondie, fess up!" Bakura shouted at her. Ellie finally turned around, and was shocked to see the both Bakura and Yami had phased out.

They were that alone.

Ellie gulped.

"I'm sorry?" She asked. "Fess up to what?"

"Oh, don't play stupid," Malik snarled intimidatingly, and Ellie took a step back until her back was pressed up against the fence. "Where did you put them?"

She had never been the target of Malik's anger, and Ellie found that it was quite scary being on this end. She reached down into her boot and pulled out her wand.

"Malik, stop," Ryou said, eyes on Ellie's wand. It was hanging loosely by her side, but the message was still clear. "You don't know that she took them. You're scaring her."

Took what?

"Of course she took them, Ryou. She's covered in Shadow Magic. Even I can sense it now, it's stronger than before." Bakura said, walking right up to her and waving his hand over her, as if to demonstrate something. She flinched.

Ellie didn't see what the transfers saw, but they all gasped as though something significant had just happened.

"What are you talking about?" Ellie asked Bakura, who was now standing directly in front of her. She was hoping her voice sounded braver to them than it did to her. "I didn't take anything."

Even though Bakura was just a spirit who couldn't touch her, she was still intimidated by his presence.

"Bakura, back off," Yami said firmly. Hey, at least someone was still on her side. "Ellie, you're covered in our magic. We have to assume that you're the enemy right now." Yami said. Maybe he wasn't on her side after all.

Bakura growled at Yami's order, but he backed off nonetheless. Ellie breathed sigh of relief and took a few steps away from the fence. She was actually preparing herself to bolt if needed. Yugi, Yami and Ryou still looked pretty reasonable, but Bakura and Malik both looked like they would rip her to shreds at any given moment.

She had no doubt in her mind that they could, too.

"I don't understand." She whispered, fixing her eyes on Ryou.

Could this have something to do with her dream?

"We had a very powerful item stolen from us," Yugi explained. "The trace of magic leftover in our dorm is all over you."

"I didn't steal anything," Ellie pleaded.

"Like hell you didn't," Malik said, coming up and grabbing her wand arm roughly. "Where are they?"

Ellie tried to pull out of his grasp, but the harder she pulled, the harder he squeezed. And he was strong. She gasped from the pain. That was definitely going to bruise.

"Let go of her!" Ryou shouted at Malik, making a move towards them only to be held back by Yami, who had returned to Yugi's body.

Ellie fought tooth and nail against Malik, who was now holding her other arm as well.

She had a horrible flashback of Dudley's gang holding her back on Private Drive, right before the dementors attacked.

At that point, Ellie remembered the fear that the dementors induced, and she kind of panicked. "Relashio!" She cried.

Red sparks flew out of Ellie's wand, and they were aimed straight at Malik, who flew back into the fence, and landed in what looked like a very painful position. This was not the same Malik that she had come to know and become friends with. Ellie wondered if he really did have a darker half like Yugi and Ryou.

But it was still Malik, and Ellie had just attacked him.

Ellie clapped her hand over her mouth, with her eyes wide. "I'm so sorry!" She said, rushing to his side. "Are you okay?"

Malik glared at Ellie. "You attacked me," He stated. "You actually attacked me."

"I didn't mean to! I just . . . Panicked." Ellie sighed. Malik shoved her proffered hand away and got to his feet by himself as the other transfers rushed over. "I'm sorry." She whispered. Malik looked like he was about to hit her.

Ryou grabbed Ellie a lot gentler than Malik had just done and pulled her away from him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ryou." She shook her head. "Thanks, though."

Bakura let out a loud laugh. "She kicked your ass, Tomb Keeper!"

Malik scowled angrily, and rubbed the burn on the side of his face from the sparks that had flown out of Ellie's wand. Bakura must have very strong mood swings, Ellie thought. Thirty seconds ago he was in her face threatening her, and now he was practically giving her a high five for sending Malik flying.

But Ellie didn't think it was funny. She was terrified when she had attacked him, and she was still slightly scared. She drew great comfort from Ryou, who was standing between her and the still seething Malik.

"Malik, are you okay?" Yugi asked. Ellie didn't notice when he had taken back over from Yami, or when Yami had phased out.

Malik took a moment to answer, and in that moment it was as if all the anger had drained away from his face and fear had taken it's place. "He's getting stronger." He said. "Much stronger."

Was Ellie right? Did Malik have a darker half?

"I'm sorry that I hurt you, Ellie. I really am," Malik sighed, cautiously stepping towards her. "I deserved what you did."

Ryou stiffened a bit at Malik's incoming form, but he must have decided that he was no longer a threat because he stepped aside to let Malik at Ellie, who was still a little bit wary of him.

"You have a dark side, too?" Ellie asked him.

"I do. He's . . . different from Yami and Bakura though. I can't really explain it. He's supposed to be locked away, but he's been getting stronger." He suddenly grinned. "And I don't have a problem with your sweater, either. I'm sorry I insulted it."

Ellie grinned back, and ran forwards to give him a hug. "It's okay!" She laughed into a very shocked Malik's chest. He laughed good-naturedly and hugged her back tightly.

Ellie never noticed how Malik stuck his tongue out at Ryou over his head, and how Ryou scowled right back at Malik.

"I can fix that burn on your face," Ellie said, pulling back, and pointing her wand at his face. He looked confused and slightly scared. Ellie laughed. "Episkey," She said, and the burns instantly disappeared.

Malik touched his face, and smiled. "Wow. Thanks."

Bakura came over, and waved his transparent hand through Ellie's head, practically giving her a heart attack. "You never told us why you're covered in Shadows, Blondie."

Ryou frowned. "Don't call her that, Koe."

"I'll call her whatever I damned well please! She's lying to us."

"I'm not lying to anyone!" Ellie snapped. She was shocked at her own outburst. She had had it with Bakura, and couldn't deal with his accusations anymore. "I didn't take anything from you guys. And I don't know why I'm all of a sudden covered with shadows."

She actually had a vague idea that her being covered in shadows had something to do with her following them into that place in Diagon Alley, and the dreams that she's been having. But since she wasn't 100% sure, she technically was telling the truth.

Bakura growled at her, but could do nothing in his corporeal state.

"I am sorry that we suspected you, Ellie." Yami said, interrupting whatever insult that Bakura was surely about to throw at Ellie.

"We'll find whatever's causing you to be covered in these shadows. Don't worry," Yugi told her, smiling encouragingly.

Ellie ducked her head, and blushed. "Thanks, guys." After a minute of comfortable silence, she looked at Ryou and smiled. "Did you actually want to hear about the Shrieking Shack?"

Ryou's face lit up in a beautiful smile. "Oh, yes please."

XXX

*Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys - I took in upon myself to give Malik a 'statement' card. He doesn't really have a favorite monster in the series that can run around and do his bidding like the Dark Magician and Dark Necrofear can for Yami and Bakura. Face it guys, Revival Jam just doesn't give off the same message. You guys can Google the card if you like, since we all know how well links work on this site.

But, since (I don't think) this card was actually featured in the series, and I know that I hate being given the runaround, I'll give you the basic info on it. The Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys is a fire attributed monster. It has an attack of 2400, and a defense of 1600. It looks like a flaming golden phoenix. But none of that should really matter because, like I said, I'm not going to include much dueling. (If any)

Any guesses where Ellie's dream took place? I'm trying to make it obvious without actually making it obvious. It's obvious to me, but that's only to be expected.

Now that I'm finished with this behemoth of an AN, I wanted to remind you all not to forget to shout me some love! It would make me very happy to hit 200 reviews! And a happy author = happy readers!