Hey guys!

So, the first matter of business I want to address is a mistake that I've been making this entire story and haven't noticed. Thanks a million to The Amber Raven for pointing it out to me! I've been spelling yadunoshi 'yano doushi' this whole time. Oops. Sorry Ryou. :C Anyways, I'll start doing it right in this chapter and will eventually go back and fix it throughout the story. However that is a long and grueling task, and I am the world's biggest procrastinator, so I will not be doing it today. I apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.

I've had a few of you asking whether or not Ellie is a reincarnation of someone from Ancient Egypt. The answer is no, she is not. I suck at foreshadowing, because I'm mean and don't want to give anything away. All will be explained soon enough, most likely within the next 5 chapters, so please bear with me, faithful readers!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, yada yada yada, you know the drill. If anybody hears of the rights to YGO or HP going up for sale lemme know ASAP.

Enjoy!

Chapter 21

Ryou couldn't sleep. His mind was too plagued with what had happened today.

Ellie was in danger.

Before they had gone to bed, the three transfers and their yamis had discussed the issue without the curious ears of their roommates listening in. They had eventually come to the conclusion that the thief must have found some interest in Ellie, doing something to her that resulted in her being covered in Shadows.

Ryou didn't like the idea of her being unprotected in her dorm room.

He wondered what the thief had done to her. Yugi had asked her if she had noticed anything out of the ordinary, but she said that she hadn't. But Ryou thought that she was lying. She had avoided Yugi's eyes, and clenched her hands together. She was easier to read than a book, but Ryou didn't push it. He knew that Malik could read her mind and find out what she was thinking of, but he didn't like the idea of him doing that to her in his recently unstable state.

He reached over to his bedside table and pulled the Millennium Ring towards him. Examining it in the dim moonlight that shone through the curtains surrounding his bed, Ryou thought back to that morning. He felt so guilty for how they had treated Ellie. Bakura had influenced a lot of his actions. He had restrained Ryou from jumping in and defending Ellie when Malik insulted her, and from apologizing to her for their behavior whenever she took on that hurt expression that broke Ryou's heart.

He just couldn't shake that look on Ellie's face from his mind, and the knowledge that he had caused that only made him feel worse.

Asking her to show them to the Shrieking Shack had been Bakura's doing, as he had figured that that would be a secluded enough place to corner her.

Bakura had demanded where she had the scales, no doubt terrifying Ellie out of her wits. Ryou wished that he could protect her from his other self, but he could hardly protect himself from Bakura. And then Malik had lost all sense and grabbed her, as if she were trying to fight them, when in fact she had done nothing wrong.

That had been the last straw for Ryou, who had blindly tried to interfere. He didn't care whether or not Ellie was the thief, he just knew that Malik was hurting her and needed to be stopped.

Ryou knew that Yami holding him back was for the best, as Malik would have only gotten even more angry and could have hurt Ellie more had Ryou jumped in. But he couldn't help himself, he had only wanted to protect her.

He was actually quite impressed that Ellie had managed to throw Malik off. Of course, Malik's judgment had been clouded by his rage and he hadn't been in the proper mindset to defend himself, but nonetheless Ellie had used her magic to throw off the much much bigger boy. He couldn't help but smile when he thought about it, a small tinge of pride nagging in his chest.

Ryou then began to wonder if Ellie was impressed that he had pulled her away from Malik and stood in between them. Sure he and Malik were about the same height, but Ryou was still a lot smaller than him. Did she think him brave?

His thoughts then began to stray to the sight of Ellie today. Her hair had been pulled back into a messy bun, and he couldn't help but smile to himself in the dark. He thought that her hair was adorable, and wished that she wore it down more often. It constantly got in her face that way, and Ryou was always looking for an opportunity to brush it away for her.

Ryou blushed to himself, and rolled over onto his stomach. He couldn't get her off of his mind. Especially her outfit today. He was pleased when she had joined them in the entrance hall. It had been awhile since he had seen her outside of the loose fitting Hogwarts robes, and he was certainly glad to be given a reminder of her shape. Not that her ensemble was anything but modest, but he still loved it nonetheless.

The image of her standing in front of them, facing the Shrieking Shack, floated into his mind. Yes, Ryou certainly liked seeing Ellie in formfitting jeans for a change. He eagerly wondered when the next Hogsmeade trip would be. Maybe they could go back to the Shrieking Shack. If he was brave enough, he could even ask her to take him in. Alone.

-Ryou. Stop it.-

-Huh?- Ryou was preoccupied, and was annoyed when his yami pulled him out of his musings.

-Stop. It.- Bakura sounded mad, as though he were speaking through his metaphorical teeth.

Ryou was confused. He had done nothing wrong, and didn't understand why Bakura was upset. He pulled his consciousness out of his body, and materialized in the hallway between their soul rooms. His yami was standing there waiting for him, looking every bit as angry as he had sounded.

"Are you okay, Koe?" Ryou was having trouble taking his mind off of the image of Ellie's backside and focusing on the matter at hand. He shook his head in a vain attempt to clear it.

Bakura narrowed his eyes. "Stop it!" He snapped, and ran a frustrated hand through his long white hair.

"Stop what?" Ryou didn't understand what he was doing to piss his yami off so much.

"Stop thinking about her like that," Bakura answered irritably.

Ryou was confused for a moment more, and then he understood. He blushed crimson. "Oh." The knowledge that his yami could hear his thoughts quelled his imagination, and he instantly focused on the matter at hand. "Sorry."

Groaning, Bakura threw his hands up in frustration and began pacing. Ryou began feeling confused once again. He had never seen Bakura so ill-composed, and instantly felt a little bit annoyed.

"You didn't have to listen, you know." Ryou mumbled, still mortified.

"I had to listen, you were practically throwing your thoughts at me." Bakura complained, stopping his pacing and facing Ryou.

His embarrassment quickly turned to anger. "Well then next time I'll be sure to be quiet." He snapped, surprising the both of them.

"Oh, no, yadunoshi. There will not be a next time." Bakura crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes menacingly.

"Why do you hate her so much?" Ryou demanded. He was aware that he was being immature, but he couldn't help it. His pride was already damaged enough, so there really was no turning back.

"I do not hate the girl." He shook his head. Ryou was, once again, confused. If Bakura didn't hate Ellie, then why was he so angry?

"Then why are you so against me liking her?" Ryou asked, blushing again. He knew that there were no secrets between himself and his yami, and they both knew that he liked Ellie quite a bit more than a friend. But neither of them had ever actually directly confronted the issue.

"Seriously, yadunoshi?" He scoffed. "Do I have to spell it out for you?"

Ryou felt very stupid indeed, but he nodded nonetheless.

"We share the same body, Ryou."

Ryou still didn't get it. Bakura wasn't telling him anything that he didn't already know. His confusion must have been etched on his face, because his yami groaned again.

"I've told you this before. I want what you want." He elaborated.

Ryou's frown was getting deeper. He was beginning to see where his yami was coming from. But he didn't see the problem if Bakura liked Ellie as well. Sure, it was a little weird, and he found himself actually feeling jealous, but it's not like anything could become of it.

"You're still not getting this, yadunoshi." Bakura shook his head exasperatedly. He was beginning to look uncomfortable, which was yet another emotion that Ryou had never seen in his Yami. "I am a 3000 year old spirit. Your little girlfriend is a 15 year old girl."

Ryou shook his head. "I don't see the big deal, Koe."

"These thoughts you're having? These images going through your head? You're making me have them," Bakura snarled. And then his patience suddenly broke. "I don't want to want a little girl!" He snapped, whirling around and punching the stone wall of the corridor they were standing in.

Oh.

Once again mortified, Ryou remembered his thoughts from a few minutes ago. He hadn't intended for them to seep over into his yami's mind, but he was right. They did share the same body, and it seemed that Ryou wasn't respecting their boundaries.

And the more he thought about it, the more he didn't want Bakura anywhere near Ellie if that was the case. He suddenly remembered what his yami had told him the night he had first met Ellie: 'Don't get too attached to the girl, yadunoshi, I want what you want, remember? And I always get what I want.' Ryou didn't know if Bakura just said this at the time to scare Ryou, or if he was serious. But it seemed that he had experienced a change of heart, considering he was so angry about Ryou causing him to feel like that about Ellie now.

"You're too naïve for your own good, yadunoshi," Bakura rolled his eyes. Ryou could tell that he was still very angry and dangerous, but that didn't stop Ryou from getting angry too.

"I am not naïve, Koe." Ryou snapped. He was so sick of people mistaking his kindness for naivety. "I had only assumed that you were strong enough to resist these kinds of desires." Ryou blushed through his anger at his own words. Sure, he was innocent, but certainly not naïve. "Clearly, you are weaker than I thought."

Ryou didn't even have time to regret his words. The next thing he knew was the murderous look on Bakura's face as he lashed out with his Shadows, and Ryou got hit.

Hard.

XXX

Bakura didn't even regret attacking Ryou. All he felt was rage at his stupid hikari for calling him weak.

Bakura was not weak. He was anything but.

He stared down at the crumpled form of his hikari. Unconscious, no doubt. Bakura had hit him hard with the shadows. He had wanted to demonstrate exactly how strong he really was to his naïve hikari.

He felt like a murderer as he picked Ryou up and dragged his body into his soul room. Unceremoniously, he dumped him onto the floor and stalked out. He was eager to get into his own soul room so he wouldn't have to deal with Ryou if he woke up.

Walking across the hall, Bakura's mind was plagued with the reason for their fight in the first place. That stupid little girl. Bakura had had no interest in her until his host had developed his little crush, and now she seemed to be constantly on his mind. He considered just taking the girl to serve his hikari right. It would certainly appease the body's ridiculous desires.

He suddenly didn't care that she was 3000 years his junior. He couldn't believe that five minutes ago he had cared so much. He just wanted the stupid girl off of his mind, and he wanted to hurt his host. There was really only one way to kill two birds with one stone, and Bakura decided that he was just going to go and take her. It really wouldn't be hard. She was smaller than the Shrimp.

He cackled. She was the weak one.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on shifting his consciousness to the body.

But he couldn't. It was as if the body wasn't there at all.

Enraged and confused, Bakura phased out to see for himself what the problem was. Only, there didn't seem to be one. As his corporeal form regarded the dorm room and his sleeping roommates, the body slept on.

Bakura tried once again to take control of it, but to no avail.

He was confused, because he usually had no trouble waking the body up from the deepest of slumbers to carry out his nighttime errands, but this was different.

Thoroughly pissed off, Bakura gave up and phased back into his mind. He ended up where he had phased out from, in front of his soul room's door.

He opened it and stepped through.

The room was darker than it had been in months, and strangely foreboding. Bakura almost took a step back, as he was no longer used to living in the shadows.

The air was heavy, and it pressed in around him as he cautiously entered. He felt as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

He didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit.

XXX

Yugi woke up to the bright sunlight hitting his face. He groaned, and covered his face with his blankets in the hopes of achieving a few more moments of precious sleep.

-Get up, Yugi. You have class.- Came the amused voice of Yami.

-Shh. I'm sleeping.- He groggily replied, determinedly squinting his eyes shut.

But after a few more minutes of arguing with Yami, Yugi eventually got up and dressed.

It only took him about 5 minutes to realize that it was Sunday, and nobody else was up yet.

Yami laughed once more in his head. -Took you long enough, aibou.-

Yugi scowled, and promptly flopped back in bed, fully dressed. He fell back asleep almost instantly, and didn't wake up until Yami mentally prodded him awake.

-Wake up, Yugi.-

-I'm not falling for that again!- He complained.

-No. It is Ryou.-

-Ryou?-

Yugi got up as quickly as his groggy body would allow, and stumbled over to his friend's bed. It seemed as though everyone else in the dorm had cleared out, and it was just Yugi, Yami, Bakura, and Malik.

"What's wrong?" He asked, rushing over to Ryou, who appeared, for all the world, to be sleeping.

"He will not wake up." Yami replied, glaring daggers at Bakura. "What did you do?"

Bakura did not take his eyes off of Ryou. "Nothing," He paused for a moment. "He just couldn't sleep. He was up all night thinking about Blondie."

Malik laughed and punched the air. "Go, Ryou!"

Yami didn't buy this explanation, however. His doubts flowed over to Yugi, and their eyes met. They both knew Bakura well enough to know that once he lied, he would not willingly give up any information. So they would have to wait for Ryou to wake up to see what had really happened.

If he woke up.

Yugi frowned. "Maybe we should go get Ellie to show us to the hospital wing. Just in case something's really wrong." He didn't want to take any chances.

Yami nodded, and Malik jumped up to go find her.

"No!" Bakura cried. When Yugi looked over at him, he was astounded to see something that resembled fear in the evil spirit's eyes. "No. She needn't come up here. My hikari will be fine. He just needs sleep."

"Okaaay," Malik said, cocking an eyebrow. "You up to go get some breakfast then, Yug?"

Yugi nodded slowly, keeping his eyes on Bakura, who refused to meet his.

-Why is he so afraid to see Ellie, Yami?-

-I do not know, aibou.-

XXX

"Mail's here!" Yugi chirped excitedly as the owls swooped into the Great Hall that morning at breakfast. He watched them eagerly, hoping to spot a swatch of brown that signified Akil had arrived with his friend's long awaited reply.

Ellie smiled. She was certainly glad to have the old Yugi back. He was only acting aloof for a day and a half, but she found that she had missed his spirit a lot.

Akil did land in front of Yugi, looking very tired but very much pleased with herself. She was carrying a fat envelope that was undoubtedly packed with Yugi's friend's letters.

"Wow, Yug, your friends must really like you." Ron mused, pulling the envelope off of the owl's leg and testing it's weight. "This thing weighs a ton."

Everyone laughed, and Yugi eagerly snatched the envelope away from Ron and tore into it, rifling through the different letters until he came to one that Ellie suspected was from the famous Anzu.

"There's a letter for you, Malik. From Isis and Rishid," Yugi tossed Malik a hefty letter of his own. Both of their faces settled into peaceful smiles as they read the letters from their loved ones back home.

"It's Genevieve!" Ellie cried excitedly, pointing to her own owl swooping down towards her. Hermione's face broke into an excited smile as Ellie caught the letter and tucked it into her bag. They certainly weren't going to read Bill's response in front of Yugi and Malik.

Speaking of which, where was Ryou? Ellie frowned. He was usually an early riser. She had only sat down moments before the mail had arrived, so she never had the chance to notice his absence.

"Where's Ryou?" Ellie asked Malik, who had appeared to be finished reading his letter.

He smirked knowingly. "He's still in bed."

Ellie wondered why he had smirked like that, but she didn't question it any further as at that very moment Ron had leant forwards to reach the bacon, and had bumped her bruised arm quite hard.

Ellie sucked in air through her teeth, and apparently caught the attention of those around her. She avoided Malik's gaze.

"What's wrong with your arm?" Harry asked her from his seat next to her.

"Yeah, I noticed that you were favoring it this morning," Hermione added from her perch in between Yugi and Malik across the table. Hermione was too observant for her own good, Ellie thought.

"Nothing." Ellie said, slowly letting out the air she had just inhaled. "I just bumped it the other day."

Ellie kept her gaze on her plate, and jokingly brushed away Ron's apology by saying that she bruised easily. She didn't want to see Malik's face. She in fact had gained quite a few bruises on both arms from Malik the day before in Hogsmeade. She hadn't wanted him to find out, because she knew that he would feel bad.

She also hadn't told Hermione a thing about yesterday's confrontation, because she knew that her friend would immediately draw the connection from her being covered in the transfer's strange magic to her waking up screaming the day before. She had painstakingly covered her bruises in their dormitory while changing last night and this morning. No, Ellie wanted to keep the dreams a secret until she knew exactly what they meant.

But a few minutes later, when Ellie finally believed it safe to look up, Malik was still staring at her intently. Guilt was clearly written all over his face, and he mouthed the words 'I'm sorry.'

Ellie smiled at him, and leaned forward to refill his pumpkin juice in her way of accepting his apology. She didn't blame him. It wasn't his fault that he had lashed out.

But she still knew that she had to be wary of him. He could still be very dangerous if what he said about his darker half becoming stronger was true.

Twenty minutes later the group split to do different things. Harry and Ron headed up to the library to work on all the homework they were behind on, Malik and Yugi went to Gryffindor Tower to check on Ryou and play a round of duel monsters, and Hermione and Ellie rushed to their favorite tree outside to read Bill's letter.

"This is it," Ellie squealed excitedly, drawing her cloak tighter against the cold autumn wind and opening Bill's letter. She began to read aloud:

Dear Ellie,

What class if this for? I don't seem to remember going into this sort of depth when I was in Hogwarts.

No matter, I've looked into the Eye and I found a little bit of information on it, but it does seem to remain a mystery. You were right, it is Egyptian. The Eye itself is called the Eye of Horus. While it resembles many other eyes that are associated with Ancient Egypt, this one is indeed quite different.

What I found out is that 3000 years ago, an unknown Pharaoh ordered that seven items be forged. They were made out of gold, and all have the Eye of Horus stamped onto them. We don't know much about the items, only that they are very powerful. They are of unknown origin, shape, and size.

However, there are unconfirmed reports of these items that have been popping up in muggle Japan over the past couple of years. A rich man by the name of Pegasus Crawford claims that he owned a golden eye that allowed him to see into people's minds, but it was stolen from him by a white haired thief. The muggles deemed this man to be mad, and promptly forgot about him, but we kept the report because the golden eye reportedly had an Egyptian looking eye stamped into the side.'

Hermione gasped. "Bakura!" She said. But Ellie ignored her and kept reading. She didn't have the patience to stop now.

'The other one was from a gang in Domino. They were wanted for many counts of thievery and assault. Every single member that was caught by muggle authorities said that they were being controlled by a man with a golden rod. The rod was also reported to have an Egyptian eye stamped into it. Once again, the muggle authorities assumed that this gang was a cult, and deemed every member insane.'

Ellie had to stop this time. "Malik. He's got that rod." But it couldn't have been Malik behind that gang, could've it? She bit her lip, remembering what he told her yesterday. He had a dark side too. Ellie nodded to herself, and returned to the letter.

'I hope that this really is information for a class, Ellie. These items are very powerful, and seem very dangerous. I would not hesitate for a second to tell the Order if I believed that you were somehow involved in this. Do be careful.

Mum gives her love to everyone, and says that she hopes you're all focused on your studies! I think she wants you to pass that on to Fred and George, who I hear are not doing too well in their NEWT year.

Wishing you the best,

Bill'

"Wow." Hermione said, pulling the letter out of Ellie's hand and reading it for herself. This indeed was a lot of information, and it gave them an incredible lead in their research. But it painstakingly did not reveal where Ellie had seen the eye before. She couldn't help but feel disappointed, and tried to cover it up with a joke.

"I don't suppose this means that we can stop all that research?" She asked sheepishly.

"Of course not! Do you know what this means, El?" Hermione breathed excitedly. "This is a lead! We have something to go on." She carefully folded the letter and jumped up. "I'm going to write my parents and ask them if they can get copies of old Japanese newspapers so we can follow those stories!"

"You don't speak Japanese, Hermione." Ellie said bluntly.

"No matter, I'm sure I read something about a translation spell in The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 6." Hermione frantically knelt down again and began rummaging through her bag. "Ooh, where did I put it?"

"What are you doing with the Standard Book of Spells: Grade 6?" Ellie asked suspiciously, a trace of amusement on her features.

"I'm reading it, of course. I need something to do in my spare time when you are off playing Quidditch."

Ellie couldn't help but laugh. "Let's just sit on this information for a bit, shall we? I think that we'll be better off trying to find somewhere to hold Harry's Defense meetings."

The mention of the defense meetings was always a surefire way to change the subject with Hermione. She immediately stopped digging through her bag and launched into her ideas.

"Oh, I was thinking we could use this empty classroom on the fourth floor . . ."

Ellie smiled.

XXX

I'm sure you all have already figured out the deal with Bakura, but I wanted to explain it further here just so there are no misunderstandings. We all know that Zorc's controlling his actions. The boggart a few chapters back showing him Ryou's death was the starting point for Bakura to begin to push Zorc away, signified by his soul room getting lighter. But circumstances as of late (Marik getting stronger, the Scales disappearing, etc.) have been causing Bakura to be a tad touchy, therefore making him more susceptible to Zorc, which is why he lashed out at Ryou, and wanted to rape Ellie. It sounds terrible, but I need to give him motivation to push Zorc away later on in the story, so I was really trying to make Bakura as harsh as he could be while Zorc was so prominently influencing him.

"The room was darker than it had been in months, and strangely foreboding. Bakura almost took a step back, as he was no longer used to living in the shadows. The air was heavy, and it pressed in around him as he cautiously entered. He felt as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit." - A quote from the Amber Raven, who I would, once again, love to thank for her patience and advice from pretty much day 1 of this story. Check her out, guys!

Oh, and one more thing! Nobody has correctly guessed the mystery location of Ellie's dream yet! Once again, I suck at foreshadowing though, so that's probably to be expected. Here's a hint: The room has nothing to do with YGO. (Well, it will when I'm done with it) It's something that Ellie's seen before her 5th year (assuming she tagged along with the trio on all of their adventures). Oh, and yes it is in the books.

Pretty review box is down there. C: Hit me up, I love hearing your opinions and criticism!