Ok, so I lied (again), because, like an idiot, I forgot that I was not in the vicinity of my laptop tomorrow for some dissertation research that may or may not have been planned for many weeks... I totally forgot. But, since I have actually prepared for this situation beforehand in the last couple of weeks for just such an occasion, you may have this chapter up early!

Anyhow, my forgetfulness aside, I hope you enjoy and as always the notes will be below!

To avoid confusion:

Words Yami speaking mentally

Words Yugi speaking mentally

"Words" Characters speaking Japanese

"Words" Characters speaking Ancient Egyptian

"Words" Characters speaking Arabic

"Words" Characters speaking Akkadian

Are you sure you're alright? Yugi asked the Pharaoh once again as he yawned his way down to the Great Hall. He was following Harry and Ron, who looked just as sleepy as he felt, although they knew the castle like the back of their hands since they had been here far longer. They were pretty good for company, especially since the only other person to have joined him in Gryffindor House had ditched them for the other dorm. Yugi didn't know how to feel about them claiming his friends were evil, purely by being in Slytherin House, and had been grateful to Hermione when she had stated that they couldn't make assumptions based on the Sorting Hat.

I'm fine, really the Spirit reassured him as they entered the Great Hall but Yugi could sense that Yami wasn't feeling completely recovered from the night before.

Must have been some nightmare he said back, before dropping into a seat next to Harry. The food on offer was typical British fare: a mix of eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, cereal and some kind of large black sausage cut into slices. Yugi decided that he didn't want to try that and opted for some cereal and toast. He would much rather have had his grandfather's miso soup, but it was unlikely he was going to find any of his usual favourite foods on a British boarding school's menus. Yami might have been up for trying the odd sausage, but Yugi would admit that he was rather less adventurous than the teenaged Pharaoh.

"So, Yugi, how was your first night?" Hermione asked, half hidden behind a book that was balanced on a milk jug. Yugi blinked, distracted from his conversation with Yami and then smiled at her.

"Oh, it was fine, thanks! It's still a bit strange being so far from home though," he said, glancing around and wondering where the others were. As if the thought had conjured them, the doors to the Great Hall opened and in came the others minus Ryou, all of which made a beeline for the food on their table. Yugi, was slightly blindsided though, when Ron suddenly glared at Marik and Kaiba as they sat next to and opposite Yugi.

"This isn't your table," he growled at them, only to get an eyeroll from Kaiba.

"There is nothing in the school rules that states that outside of certain important feasts, students must sit at the House designated tables," he said as he swiped some bacon and toast for himself. Marik had only grabbed toast and was busy spreading jam on it. Ron looked about to say something when he was cut off by Atem, who somehow still looked tired.

"Does it truly matter? They've all been friends since far before coming to this school, why should they be spilt up now by your constricting system?" he asked, nibbling around some toast. Akhefia seemed far too engrossed in the pile of eggs, bacon and hash browns on his plate to be bothered to add in his own thoughts. It was probably a good thing too, from the glare he was sending Ron's way.

Atem's words seemed to cut off the conversation as the other three turned back to discuss the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and, from the sounds of it, complain and belittle a different teacher who taught Potions. In the meantime, Ryou arrived and Marik shuffled up to make room for him. The other Gryffindors were still staring at them but seemed less offended by Ryou's presence than the others.

"How's Hufflepuff?" Yugi asked as Ryou reached for his own breakfast. The white-haired youth smiled as he buttered a slice of toast.

"Oh, it's fine. Everyone is super friendly, and," here he paused before quickly switching to Japanese, "and he didn't decide to make any appearances."

"Maybe he thinks it's boring?" Marik suggested, already finished with his own breakfast. They were however, surprised when a new voice chimed in.

"I wouldn't rely on that assumption." Yugi blinked and turned to look at Atem, who seemed just as concerned with the world around him as he had been a minute before. Akhefia, however, was giving him an odd look over the table as he fed his snake bits of bacon. It took him a moment to realise that everyone was looking at him. "What?"

"Since when did you speak Japanese?" Akhefia asked, eyebrow cocked. Atem suddenly flushed, and bit into a slice of toast he was finishing, mumbling something that became unintelligible. It was only then that Akhefia started to snigger at him, which left Yugi just as lost as he had been a moment earlier. Kaiba was giving his cousin a long considering look, before deciding that it wasn't worth it, returning to his laptop that he had pulled out and was presumably working on Kaiba Corp. business. Before any of them could inquire any further, Atem was saved by the arrival of Professor McGonnagal with timetables.

"For the Gryffindors," she said, eyeing the others but saying nothing about their seating arrangements. She handed out Yugi and Atem's that were identical, before moving down to Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Professor is it true that students can sit anywhere when it isn't a specified feast?" Yugi heard Hermione ask and could practically feel the distaste coming from Kaiba.

"Yes, it is Miss Granger." The other two had their mouths hanging open and Yugi found that the red-head looked particularly gormless. He got the feeling that they were really not going to get along with Kaiba. Especially since they had yet to notice Kaiba's continued use of technology. The black-haired professor from the night before arrived with Kaiba, Akhefia and Marik's timetables, showing that they shared Potions, Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes with the Slytherins and that was it. Yugi wondered what he was supposed to do with his free slot after History of Magic that morning. Ryou's timetable was structured even further away from their own.

"Well, most of us share a free period last thing on a Tuesday and we share a free with Ryou last thing on a Friday," Marik noted. "Anyone up for joining us in our common room? The elf this morning assured us we can make it as big as we want, and the castle gave us an extra room for duelling!"

"Really?" Yugi asked excitedly. He hadn't seen the separate dormitory that had been set aside for them if they wanted it, but Yugi had decided that Atem looked as if he needed the space. Besides, he had been curious about the Gryffindor dorm and he had been assured that, if it was ever needed, he could always move. Marik was nodding while Akhefia looked as if he could think of far better things to do with his time.

"That sounds like a good idea," Atem said, glancing over his own timetable. He shared a look with Akhefia who just seemed to sigh and leant back in his seat, looking mildly unhappy with how this was turning out.

"Fine. Now, if you don't mind, I have some idiots to put in order," he growled as he stood from the table. Then, almost as if the air had just swallowed him, he was gone, reappearing on the other side of the hall behind Malfoy. Marik looked simultaneously alarmed and intrigued as Malfoy jumped about a foot off the bench, face white as a sheet.

"Um… what just happened?" Yugi asked but never got an answer as Hermione had suddenly spotted Kaiba's laptop.

"Excuse me, how did you get that to work?" she asked, sounding alarmed.

"I reversed the charm that stops modern electrical components from working," Atem said simply, not paying much attention, eyes watching Akhefia.

"But that's impossible! The amount of magic here should cause them to overload!" she exclaimed. That did seem to distract Atem, as he turned to her with a frown.

"Where did you hear that?" he asked, sounding confused. Yami too, seemed intrigued by this concept. "If that were true, nothing would work at home either. But it does, and I have been to the wizarding section of Cairo, where they are quite capable of using electronics on either side of the wards." Hermione looked surprised while Ron was looking confused.

"But… if that's true, why does nothing work in the magical world in Britain?" Harry asked, eyebrows drawn together. "It would be really handy to be able to use a phone instead of having to keep writing letters by hand." Well, at least one of them would admit that no technology was somewhat ridiculous.

"There is a spell that was placed around wizarding Britain, preventing this," Atem said with a shrug. "I'm not sure how long it has been in place."

Can you tell? Yugi asked as Yami seemed to experimentally (with more delicacy than he had on the train) poked at the wards.

I would have to know which particular spell was cast. And there are multiple spells here, not all of them this modern magic either. Yugi could hear the frown on the spirit's face. It would be unwise to appear in spirit form here. Anyone even mildly sensitive to the Spirit World would be able to sense us. So that was why Yami had yet to appear next to him. And perhaps why Atem didn't consider Yami Bakura's silence to be a good thing.

He really hoped that he was wrong though.

Harry found himself watching the transfers throughout History of Magic that morning, even if it was something just to not have to listen to whatever it was that Professor Binns was going on about. Kaiba, like Hermione, was making notes except on his laptop rather than on parchment, while simultaneously doing something with his business that seemed to involve many emails. Harry was still confused as to how he had internet service this far from any server, although he supposed if he owned all of Kaiba Corporation, he was most likely using his own satellites and service. Yugi seemed to have given up and was playing with his phone under the desk while Atem, for all intents and purposes, looked to be asleep.

It was actually rather impressive how the older boy managed to look like he was making notes while unconscious.

Harry wasn't sure how to feel about the two Tomb Keepers that had joined them since only a couple of days before. Akhefia seemed constantly angry at the world, while Atem just got more confusing the longer he spent any time with him. He was polite enough but was secretive in a way that had his instincts screaming that he knew something they didn't. It didn't help that Bill also seemed to be keeping secrets if his behaviour at Diagon Alley had been any indication. In fact, they still didn't know what had happened that day.

Hermione had told him off for wanting to say something, but Ron had agreed that something was off with them. Even after meeting Atem's sisters, the kleptomaniacal one notwithstanding, it was hard to pin down what it was that made them so confusing. They had seemed afraid of something but assured them that it was fine. They seemed alert to any attack, which he understood if they were being attacked as often as they were, but about what he couldn't grasp. Sirius had mentioned that Voldemort was looking for a weapon, that they thought that he might be trying to find it in Egypt, but Bill had been adamant that there was nothing there to find.

It was clear that that had been a lie.

Hermione elbowed him in the side, a sharp look indicating she wanted him to pay some modicum of attention to what they were doing. Sighing he reluctantly returned to making the barest minimum of notes- really Harry learnt more History of Magic from his textbook than he ever did in the actual lessons. It didn't help that Professor Binns kept picking the most boring and obscure topics for them to study. After all who cared about the Goblin Rebellions from god alone knows when, while things were peaceful between them now?

Eventually, both Yugi and Kaiba seemed to get bored enough that the usually stoic teen started up some kind of virtual Duel Monsters game with Yugi across both their laptops, and Harry got to see firsthand the pairs duelling tactics. He was surprised that they seemed to be running off of Duelist Kingdom rules- both only had 2000 Life Points, were able to summon monsters of every level and required no sacrifices to summon them unless otherwise specified. And was it Harry's imagination, or was Yugi suddenly sitting up straighter in his seat? Yugi was saved from being questioned only by the ringing of the bell, that seemed to wake Atem with a start. He and Ron were halfway to the North Tower for Divination when a quiet voice spoke from behind them.

"Um, excuse me? Could you tell me the way to Divination?" Harry turned to see Bakura, books held in one hand and bag slung over his shoulder. He seemed to have shrunk into himself as he usually did when feeling particularly shy.

"Er, sure. We're on our way there now," he said gesturing for the other boy to follow them. Bakura blinked and then offered them a soft smile, no evidence of the near violent personality that appeared at times. Harry wondered if he had some kind of condition- Multiple Personality Disorder or something like that. He never seemed to be aware that he was acting any differently at the time but sometimes, there were moments when Bakura was more awkward around them, usually after one of these episodes. So perhaps he was aware that he switched personas?

The Divination classroom was just as stuffy as usual and Harry settled down at his and Ron's usual table, ready for another nap. He had resigned to failing this class already and was merely waiting for Professor Trwelany to once again tell him how he was going to die painfully. Bakura had slipped away to sit with a fellow Hufflepuff at a different table after thanking them for their help in getting to the classroom. It was odd that he didn't seem to be trying to make friends in his own house- sticking primarily with the friends he came with and keeping everyone else at an arm's length.

It was telling enough.

Professor Trewlany swept in then, beads jangling softly amongst her shawl, eyes just as wide as they had been last year. Her gaze swept over them all and she launched into one of her many long speeches about the 'Far Seeing Eye' or whatever it was that she talked about. That was, until her gaze fell on Bakura, at which point she cut off mid-sentence and her face paled.

"My boy… a great darkness follows you," she stammered, backing away minutely. Bakura's face, too, was pale. "A great darkness indeed, an evil that has almost taken this world before-!" She was cut off as she stumbled over a stray pillow, almost crashing into Harry and Ron's table. Harry jumped up, alarmed, to steady her. Like many, he knew that most of what Professor Trewlany said was fake at best and drivel at worst. Unlike others though, Harry also knew that Trewlany did in fact, give some accurate prophecies that sometimes overtook her. This was neither- it was as if she was enthralled in something, terrified and yet captivated. For a moment, Harry almost thought he could see some kind of form behind Bakura- a shadow that was almost but not quite the same as that of the other boy.

"Professor?" he asked, looking away from that shadow, a sense of dread falling over him. It was the first day of classes- it usually took his bad luck longer to strike. As if broken from a trance, Trwelany turned to look at him, blinking owlishly, the effect amplified by her huge glasses.

"Ah, yes my boy?" she asked, seemingly confused. A hush had fallen over the class, all of them wondering what had just happened. Harry glanced back over to Bakura, who didn't look any different and that odd shadow was gone. It didn't even seem that he had changed into the other persona.

"A-Are you alright?" Harry stammered, baffled by this change. Ron looked alarmed, having never seen this side of their Divination teacher. Trewlany gave him a wobbly smile.

"Oh, yes," she said, patting his hand where it was on her arm. "Yes, perfectly alright. Now, back to our lesson…" It was as if nothing had happened at all. Harry sank back into his seat, wondering what on earth that had been about. There seemed to be a lot of odd occurrences happening around them for the past few weeks. New students. Voldemort looking for secrets in places that seemed to unearth new branches of magic. The odd personality changes between Bakura and Yugi and the appearance of these Tomb Keepers. It was like there some great secret that they were all hiding from them.

And Harry was determined to get to the bottom of it.

This school was incredible for all that it wasn't meant to be. Yami wandered the corridors, using this hour that Yugi had to explore the school as he did the many corridors of his labyrinthine soul room. It was strange- usually the further away from the Puzzle he got, the more the connection between himself and Yugi felt strained but here, the bond was just as strong as if he had been stood next to him. If he concentrated hard enough, he could follow along with the game of Senet that the young Tomb Keeper was in the midst of teaching Yugi. It was a game that Yami himself knew how to play, in that way that he understood Coptic and could read hieroglyphs.

After the dismally boring lesson, that both he and Yugi had given up on and instead agreed to a game of Duel Monsters on the laptops with Kaiba, they had been invited back to the other boy's common room. Since it wasn't technically a House common room, and since Yugi could move there whenever he wished, there was nothing that their teachers could say. An interesting loophole Yami found. He hadn't had much interaction with his doppelganger, but he seemed just as wary as them as they were of him. It made Yami wonder what his life must have been like, living under the thumb of the Tomb Keepers.

Yami was no fool. He knew that there were other ways in which to fulfil the prophecy. Ishizu had shown him one way, but there were more than likely many others that he could have taken over the years. It just so happened that he had chosen to save Solomon Mutou that fateful day, had allowed the pure soul that was Yugi's to put his Puzzle together. It was a conscious choice, one of few that he had been able to make in those days, not one made at random. But Yami had only ever met the Ishtars, who were estranged from the rest of the Tomb Keepers and could only wonder at what trials the other boy had been put through.

What punishment he had been given for his choice.

The young Pharoah shook off those thoughts and returned to what he had been doing. This way, Yugi wouldn't have to rely on the two teens to show him around the castle. They were nice enough, he supposed, but also too curious for their own good. Unlike Yami Bakura, he had more sense than to erupt at them, but it had taken all of his self-control not to do the same to the young girl when she was harassing Yugi. At some point, she must have gotten the message, and had left them in relative peace for the last couple of days, although that might have been because more interesting characters had appeared in this odd play the old man was putting on.

The castle was full of odd and interesting magic. There was earth magic, shamanistic magic, this odd modern magic, even a bit of Shadow magic. There was a part of him that was curious how it had gotten here, but then he was slightly blindsided by a strange questioning part of him that wondered where a different type of magic was. He shook off those thoughts- it didn't do to dwell on forgotten memories. It was happening more often of late, feeling that things were familiar and being unable to pin down why. It was far more interesting to poke around with the different types of magic here, to see who could and couldn't see him. He had already passed several older students and a couple of teachers, along with the man he presumed was the caretaker. None of them had noticed him but, when passing through the dungeons and the classroom there, a dreamy eyed girl with blonde hair had smiled and waved at him to the bewilderment of the others at her table. The greasy haired teacher from the evening before had given him a long look out of the corner of his eye, but made no motion to acknowledge that he was there.

And now he was at a spot somewhere on the seventh floor, staring at a rather odd painting of a rather deranged wizard attempting to teach trolls to dance. Outlined beside it, was the shimmery outline of a door covered in a multitude of spells. We'll have to keep the Shade away from this place he thought to himself, poking at the wards. The Shadow magic was strong here, used to conceal this room while the earth magic was capable to shift the room into whatever the user wanted it to be. He had noted at least three different forms the room could change into and was about to nosy into another when the ghostly form of Professor Binns drifted around the corner.

"Mr Menes do you not have a class to attend?" the man asked, peering at him over ghostly spectacles. Yami blinked, staring at the man for a moment, taken aback. He was used to being mistaken for Yugi- by Anubis, his friends had thought he was Yugi for a while! To be mistaken for a completely different person was… odd.

"I…" Yami was at a loss for words, not least because he couldn't quite wrap his head around English. He had used it often enough in Yugi's body, but he had all the knowledge that Yugi possessed along with his own few scraps of knowledge. It didn't mean that he didn't get caught out sometimes. "No, I don't. At least, not at the moment." It had been a long time since he had stuttered. Binns blinked at him a moment before nodding. He then turned to the door that Yami had been inspecting.

"Found the Room of Requirement, have you? A very useful room if I don't say so myself," the Professor intoned, sounding just as interested as he had in the subject of his lessons.

"Is that what is it called?" he asked, curious. So, someone did know this room was here.

"Yes. I believe it was put in place by the Founders although it is debated as to which one it was. Most hypothesise it was either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, although there is one lowly debate that Slytherin put it here."

"The Founders? They are the ones the Houses are named after?" he asked carefully. The ghost nodded.

"Yes, the four Founders, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin. The Houses still live up to the values they taught even to this day. However, I don't believe anyone has sat at other House tables since the Founder's days." Binns sounded almost wistful. "It is a nice change to see."

"Hm," Yami hummed. "It must be." Binns nodded once more and turned to go. It was then that the ghost almost seemed to do a double take before floating away.

"Ah, Mr Menes I am glad you feel pride in your people, but please remember that it is school rules to wear robes at all times." Yami stared as the other ghost floated away and through a wall, wondering what he looked like to all those that had seen him that day. For the first time in five thousand years, he felt cold outside of a mortal form.

You know, it's really hard for me to write Ryou Bakura, because we know so little about him from the Dub. So, my apologies to any of you manga readers out there if my characterisation of him gets a bit iffy at times. I know it hasn't been brought up yet (and may never will), but I thought I would cover that base before we got to it. It may also cover why he has so little time spent on him in this fic, but I will admit that that's a failing on me because when I have more than x amount of characters to work with (usually about 4) I get a bit flustered in trying to remember each character, their quirks, their respective points of view etc. And just to make it harder for myself, I usually don't have a plan either (hence the inevitable writer's block), only bits a pieces I know I want to put in and then suss out later where they will go.

Anyway, my rubbish planning skills aside, I do find it interesting that nowhere in any of the Harry Potter books does it say that it is against the school rules to sit at any other House table. In fact, going off of the films, this is even more likely since Luna (who is in Ravenclaw) spends most of the time sitting at the Gryffindor table. Although, that might be because the filmmakers forgot that she was in a different house. And knowing the cast of Yugioh, they are really not going to care about House prejudices over their own close ties. It's also way more fun that way.

In regards to the timetables, past about Third Year, it's really hard to tell how long, which days and when each class supposedly is. In fact, free periods aren't actually mentioned until after OWL's, but that doesn't really make a lot of sense considering the fact that Hogwarts only has a limited number of teachers, hours and students. So, if the timetables seem a bit odd, my apologies. I sort of Googled the Fifth Year timetables a lot and then, combining a few of the ones I saw, made my own timetables for each student (and almost made the mistake of giving both Atem and Akhefia identical timetables before remembering that, no, despite what the films think, the Gryffindors don't spend all their lessons with the Slytherins).

Now, onto a slightly more serious topic. Harry's views in this, and potentially other chapters, may cause a bit of... uneasiness for some people. Now, I don't mean this as in, these are my opinions I'm sticking on Harry, just that I'm writing this on the basis that Harry spends three quarters of every year since he was eleven in the Wizarding World, which doesn't seem to believe in psychology or mental illness (hello, 'Mad-Eye Moody'). So, when I write Harry calling MPD a 'condition', which sounds mildly callous to me, that isn't my way of thinking. While I don't personally suffer with MPD, I have had my own fair share of brushes with mental illnesses, usually depression and anxiety, hence my writing this little paragraph. So, my apologies if this, or any future unintentional callousness on Harry's part, cause offence. They are not my ideas or feelings on the subject, it is simply a teenager's uninformed opinion on the matter- and we know that Harry has many of those.

On, a lighter note, if anyone was wondering what the change in image was (if anyone actually noticed, the icons are so darn small), it's actually a drawing done by me of a more realistic version of Atem aka sort of what I imagine he would look like in the real world. It's not finished (now or in the photo), but I thought it was the best out of all my attempts, even with my incredibly rusty art skills (3 years at university and an art teacher that destroyed my confidence will do that to you). I know I changed it ages ago, I just forgot to say- I'm really good at that.

Fireking492: Well then, you shall enjoy many future parts of this story, where I shall be bashing charcters not just from the Harry Potter universe! But that would be spoilers ;) And I'm glad one of us is keeping up on following what's going on because, as you can probably tell, I am so scatterbrained that many have said I would lose my head if it wasn't attached! XD

Nozomi Higurashi: Thank you for the follow and I hope that this chapter is just as interesting as the last few!