Right so we are finally back to normal updating times, although as a warning I am now back at uni so updates may be slower and if I find I am struggling I may change the updates to once every other week rather than weekly. We shall see. But other than that, no new news from this end so I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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

The week following the incident at breakfast was minor chaos, both inside and outside of the school. No amount of sweeping under the rug could deny that an attack had occurred. Bill found it slightly fascinating that the Ministry tried- first they attempted to pin it on Sirius and, when that failed for obvious reasons, attempted the pass it off as some barbaric custom. It was truly unsettling how truly chauvinistic even someone as relatively harmless as Fudge could be, giving into the bigoted purists and letting himself get paid off. Umbridge, too, was looking unhappy and had been doubly so when Atem was pulled out of classes for a couple of days. The first to recover, the second to straighten things out back home.

The Tomb Keepers, however, were a mess. Not only had their ruler lost his soul within the temple- sacrilege all of its own- but his body had been desecrated in a truly gruesome fashion. All for one man's sadistic message. Bill had spent most of that day with Atem, studying the remnants of the game played and lending a helping hand whenever needed. It had been why he had been assigned here- Haphiri had needed someone on the inside to keep on eye on her adoptive 'little brother'.

Bill had never gotten out of her why she wasn't allowed in the underground city and stopped asking after being dumped in several different tombs. Finding one's way out of the Nameless Pharaoh's tomb had nearly killed him and he decided that the answer wasn't worth it in the long run. Not when he had come to care for Atem like his own brothers, not when he could see that his own people's attitude towards him kept him isolated from real human contact. It was one of the reasons he had befriended Akhefia- the other boy just didn't care about social standing, or links to the past. And as time crept ever onwards, Atem grew weaker by the day, the inevitable end foretold by a prophecy that Bill hadn't put much stock in until the evidence started to creep up on them, meant that time was rapidly running out and stunts like this were not helping.

Eventually, after returning to the school and seeing Atem back to lessons with strict instructions to go to Snape should he start feeling too off, he made his way back to the place that this had all started. He hadn't been expecting to be met with an argument.

"What was the meaning of that?" came a young male voice from up ahead, unusually angry from the person it belonged to. "How did he get through the barriers?"

"I believe that is your department, Magician," Haphiri hissed back, and Bill could see how angry she was. Shadows were creeping along the ceiling, engulfing the room slowly while they licked at her form. "You know as well as I, that I have no access to the Sacred City."

"And I wonder why that is?" Mahad's voice was sarcastic, furious. Mana was sat on the steps at the far end, holding a terrified looking Nofret, her green eyes hard. It was rare to see the two magicians like this, angry and silent rather than calm and bubbly. But the attack had them all on edge and Bill knew that he had to put a stop to this, whatever it was. A rivalry that stretched back five thousand years between a foreign princess and the Royal Magician and ex-wielder of the Millennium Ring was the least of their problems right now with Voldemort breathing down their necks, Atem's wavering strength and now, the appearance of the Serpent King. He had thought he had given his disciples enough warning a few days ago, when they had been scouting Diagon Alley.

Clearly, he had been wrong.

"Don't you dare, you lowly-"

"Enough!" Bill shouted, causing the two arguing to jump. "We don't have time for petty rivalries." Mahad bristled, about to add something but Bill cut him off, knowing he was playing a dangerous game with two people who were not only quite capable of wiping the floor with him but, given enough incentive, would. "The magic that was used wasn't Shadow magic. There was no Shadow game instigated on the temple grounds." That caused the room to still and Nofret let out a whimper. There was a reason that he hadn't been told anything about this stranger and Bill had worked out for himself that it had something to do with Nofret. Whatever had happened five thousand years ago had revolved around her. And the implications that came with that were unpleasant at best.

"So it was the Stranger," Mana whispered, holding the princess tighter. How she was able to, Bill didn't know although he supposed it had something to do with the fact that they were both dead.

"We don't know for sure, but there are remnants of Orichalcum in the area." He paused, seeing Haphiri's eyes narrow even further, turning them into burning slits.

"A threat then. He wants the soul of the Nameless Pharaoh and doesn't care which side he gets." Bill blinked, wondering what she meant. A split soul couldn't survive-not without dark magic- most likely it would shrivel up and… It felt like water had just been dumped down Bill's back. He had known that Atem had some link to the past, had known that it had something to do with why he was sick. Knew that most wouldn't be able to tell but wondered why no one who did, did anything about it. Except… except Snape had given him books on soul magic, had shown him that not only was it Dark magic, but could have vile and dire consequences for the uninitiated.

"He wants Atem," he whispered. Mana flinched and Mahad looked as if he was grinding his teeth with how frustrated he looked.

"He will not have him. Not Atem, nor Set, nor the boy with the Puzzle," Mahad vowed. "I will not fail my King again." It was said with a finality, one that could not be taken lightly. Mana looked simultaneously sad and resolute, her face set in grim determination. Bill blinked but decided it would be better for his health (and sanity) to not ask what they were on about. Haphiri had been involved in whatever had happened with the Nameless Pharaoh all those years ago, as had Mana and Mahad but none of them had explained the how or why. Bill got the foreign princess stuck in a foreign land under attack- where the two magicians came in he wasn't sure but figured that they had worked under the House of Life, serving the Pharaoh. Must have been a good one for them to be loyal to him so long, no matter how young he was Bill had thought many times in the past. Haphiri currently looked as if she was sucking on a lemon, clearly frustrated that there wasn't anything she could do; grand proclamations were against her nature.

Bill sighed internally. It was going to be a long week.

The arrival of the weekend could not come sooner for Harry. Not only had all the drama with Atem and the severed hand been circling the school, the whispers about his supposed lies were still following him. He felt bad for the other teen, even if he hadn't seen much of him this week. He had disappeared throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, then had skipped half of his lessons throughout the last two days. Not to mention Harry's own detentions, which Atem was supposed to join him in for skipping DADA the rest of the week. Akhefia, too, apparently had been given detention for swearing at her over the suggestion that the incident at breakfast had been some barbaric custom of their culture but had never turned up for them, much to Umbridge's fury. Even Kaiba had been grinding his teeth at that and Yugi had looked downright offended.

"How could they just write it off as a custom? That's not just offensive, it's borderline racist!" he had fumed, much to wide agreement around the table. It hadn't stopped the rumours though, many of which were now throwing Atem under the bus with him, which Harry just could not wrap his head around.

"It's because if they admit that the Prophet is wrong about this, they're scared that it's wrong about you too," Hermione said gently, that Saturday morning at breakfast when Harry voiced this concern to her. He frowned, unhappy about that but supposed that she was right. The Ministry was so far in denial about Voldemort, accepting that this attack had been done by him was impossible for them without admitting that they were wrong, and he and Dumbledore were right, was tantamount to political suicide. Hermione was biting her lip and glancing down the table to where Atem and Akhefia were sat. Atem seemed to be picking at his food as he had been doing so since Tuesday. "I hope he's ok."

"Yeah…" Harry agreed, suddenly no longer interested in his cereal. "At least I don't remember what Voldemort did to my parents." Well, mostly, and he didn't think that Voldemort had desecrated their bodies. At that moment, Snape swept down from the main table and paused by them. Harry frowned in confusion as they spoke quietly between each other and then Snape swept away again, looking as much like an overgrown bat as ever. "What was that about?" Hermione shrugged.

"Maybe he wants him to make up for those missed Potions lessons?" she suggested but Harry was already shaking his head.

"Snape can't stand Gryffindors. Why's he being so reasonable to Atem?" Harry didn't want to be suspicious of the other boy- his father had just been attacked and he had received a piece of him on top of that. But Snape was a Death Eater- spy for Dumbledore or not. He had no reason to speak to the other boy except to gloat. So why was he being so tolerant of him when he picked on every other Gryffindor? It was obvious why he would do so for Akhefia- if the other boy got more conniving he would practically be running every other house in the school. And Snape loved to gloat about his Slytherins to anyone. Ron was nodding to Harry's reasoning but Hermione was having none of it.

"Because he's a teacher?" she snapped. "What does it matter whether he's being reasonable or not? If you want to swing it that way Harry, then why would he ostracise someone that's obviously close to one of his Slytherins? And we don't even know that it was Voldemort!"

"Who else would it be?" Ron asked, mouth still fill of bacon. Hermione sighed and shrugged.

"I don't know but… I've done some research in the library and it just doesn't match anything the Death Eaters have done. They've never bothered to mutilate the corpse or send parts to family members. The only person who was rumoured to have done anything like that was Sirius and even then, it was only supposedly found on the crime scene. And we know the truth about that one." She was frowning, confusion written all over her face. "And… well, they haven't actually said he's dead." Harry stared at her.

"You think he's still alive? After that?" he asked, slightly disbelieving.

"Maybe. He's most definitely incapacitated, and we know that the Tomb Keepers have been fending off the Death Eaters, so I don't understand why they were infiltrated now unless…" she trailed off suddenly gaining that look that meant she had just caught onto something.

"Unless?" Ron asked.

"Unless the reason they weren't attacking was because someone was stopping them," she murmured, eyes narrowing as she glanced down the table. "And if that person was removed…" Harry swallowed, realising where Hermione was going with this.

"Then it would open a perfect opportunity for Voldemort to get what he wants." He paused and waited as Atem suddenly got up and swept past them, face blank. He had been looking like that all week and he very nearly barrelled Yugi over in his rush to get out of the Great Hall. "You think Atem's the reason why the Death Eaters weren't able to get whatever Voldemort wants?"

"It makes sense. After all, they were late when we went to Diagon Alley due to another attack and it's only now that he's here that they've been able to get through," Hermione said. "Although, I suppose it could just be coincidence."

"Hey guys," Yugi said, sitting down next to Ron. His smile was slightly dulled, probably due to the fact that his fellow foreign Gryffindor was avoiding them. He had learnt that Yugi didn't like conflict at the best of times. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Harry said quickly, shooting Ron and Hermione looks to go along with what he said. There was no reason to get Yugi involved, even if he was also on Voldemort's radar. The boy might have been older than them, but it was obvious that he couldn't deal with the constant threat of being targeted. Harry knew what a bullied person looked like- he, himself, had been a victim of his cousin's bullying and he was going to spare Yugi from the reality of this war as much as he could. There was just something about the other boy's constant optimism that made Harry want to protect him.

"Oh," Yugi said, sounding very much like he didn't believe him. He went quiet and Harry very briefly caught the movement of something behind him. But, like the many times before, he couldn't quite catch sight of what it was. When he brought this up to Hermione she had simply given him an odd look and stated that she had never seen anything, and Harry had been quite ready to agree with her, right up until Luna had started waving at things that weren't there. Even Ginny had commented on how it was odd, even for how eccentric Luna could be. He took her opinion on that- it wasn't like Harry knew her all that well himself, but if she was acting even stranger than usual, then maybe he too wasn't going mad. After all, she could see those odd skeletal horses too that Akhefia had named as Thestrals. "So, what are you guys up to today then?" Yugi asked suddenly, jerking Harry out of his thoughts.

"Library," Hermione stated. "I've got some personal research to be getting on with."

"Me and Ron were thinking of going out to the Quidditch pitch and practising," Harry said and Yugi blinked.

"The big pitch with the funny hoops?" he said. "I think Kaiba wants to use it to set up some duels. He's already booked it."

"What?" Ron sputtered, resurfacing from him breakfast again. "He can't do that!" Yugi shrugged, digging into his own breakfast.

"Professor McGonnagal didn't mind and Professor Dumbledore said that there probably wasn't anywhere else we'd be able to play, not counting the mini stadium in the dorm." There was an odd spark in Yugi's eyes and Harry was suddenly reminded that this boy had not been sorted into Hufflepuff. He had wondered about that for a while, since Yugi seemed too meek to be a proper Gryffindor and had figured at first that he was more like Neville and brave in some other way. Right up until, after eavesdropping on their conversation a couple of days ago, Marik had laughed right in their faces and stated that anyone who was crazy enough to agree to duel on crumbling piers had the supposed 'right' kind of stupid bravery that Gryffindors apparently valued. Kaiba had then stated that they were all idiots for assuming that everyone in their house was brave just for being brash and stupid.

Sometimes, Harry really couldn't stand the business tycoon.

"What do you mean, nowhere else to play? It's just a card game," Hermione asked, slightly rudely. She didn't sound all that impressed. Yugi blinked and stared at her a moment before he suddenly grinned.

"Oh, that's right! You don't really have hologram stadiums in Britain do you?" he said and then laughed slightly. "Sorry, it's just been so long since I played it on a table." Yugi was rubbing the back of his neck bashfully, the perfect picture of mild embarrassment. "It's just that, I agreed to face Kaiba again and since his deck involves a lot of dragons, there isn't really the space in the dorm. And Atem and Akhefia have agreed to come down." He paused then, eyes going to the table. "Actually, I think Kaiba's dragging Atem down. But you're all welcome to come watch if you'd like!"

"Er, why does it matter if Kaiba's deck has a lot of dragons?" Harry asked, feeling a bit apprehensive. Yugi gave them a fiendish grin that could have rivalled the twins.

"Well, why don't you come and see?"

"So… how's he doing?" Mokuba asked on the other end of the phone, blurring slightly as the terrible service was disrupted, not by magic, but the rolling hills around them. Kaiba mentally growled, vowing to work on that before Christmas so that it would be able to be fixed before he returned to this ridiculous place. Or perhaps, even before that. Instead, he sighed out loud and looked up at the ceiling. Mokuba had already known about their cousin, had understood why Kaiba had cut them off from him, but it wouldn't stop him from caring.

It somehow, didn't stop himself from caring, no matter how much he tried to cut himself off.

The ridiculous allegations by the government here was ridiculous, the views of the students fluctuating between sympathy, apathy and outright disgust and incomprehension and even the teachers were starting to get into it. McGonnagal kept attempting to talk to Atem, something that was clearly not appreciated as his cousin had taken to avoiding her, Sprout was apparently trying to get him to sit down to tea and Snape had simply issued some mild orders to come and catch up on his Potions lessons because 'I won't have you become just another dunderheaded Gryffindor'. According to Akhefia, that one had actually garnered a smile. Overall, though, Kaiba could see that Atem really just wanted to be left alone. It was something he could understand- at the loss of his and Mokuba's parents, all he had wanted to do was get on with life and push those feelings down until he wasn't around anyone anymore. It had been something that had only gotten worse after their abandonment at the orphanage followed swiftly by the hell that had been adoption by Kaiba Gozaburo. In hindsight, it may not have been the healthiest choice, but it had gotten them to where they were now, and Kaiba couldn't regret it even if he wanted to.

"As well as anyone who was sent the severed hand of their now soulless father," Kaiba muttered sourly. He didn't like this caring part of him for Atem. Over the past week, he had stuck by his cousin, ditching certain classes to keep him company here in the dorm under the guise of working on his company and occasionally challenging his cousin to rounds of whatever games he wanted to play. So far, he had yet to persuade him into Duel Monsters but they had played a lightening round of Capsule Monsters which was close enough. But, belatedly, Kaiba had realised that putting that kind of attention into his cousin meant that he cared for him in some way- the kind of way he had tried to force himself to forget all those years ago. Maybe it was trying to make up for disappointing him then, maybe it was something else. Kaiba just wished it would stop.

Mokuba made a soft sound of empathy and Kaiba wished once again that his brother was here. Mokuba had always been better at feelings than he was. Hell, he even got along better with the Geek Squad than he ever had- Yugi so far was the only one he could tolerate and that was only because of the Spirit of the Puzzle. He had already decided that he was going to challenge the runt to a game later that day and ban him from switching for this match. That darn spirit made Atem uncomfortable. What the hell are you thinking? Kaiba spat at himself, shaking off that thought. Mokuba had been talking about something and he had completely missed it.

"It's ok big bro," Mokuba said when he had (slightly embarrassedly) admitted he had missed what was said. "You've got a lot going on. Between me and Roland, we've got this covered and we'll keep sending you all the important emails, reports and stocks." Kaiba allowed himself a small smile- it was good to know that even after all they had been through, Mokuba could still read him like a book. In a way, this experience was good for him but Kaiba still felt guilty for suddenly dumping the majority of the responsibility for Kaiba Corporation on his young brother's shoulders, especially at such short notice. But as soon as he had heard Atem's name, he just couldn't stop himself. Some inbred sympathetic mentality that had been buried for years had reared its ugly head and he found himself doing things he wouldn't normally do.

It was rather like how he kept getting caught up with Yugi's lame friends. Speaking of which…

"I'm going to have to go. I promised to face Yugi later and this time I'm going to crush him," Kaiba stated. Mokuba perked up, grinning. A few words later and Kaiba was logging off the chat and leaving his room. He stretched out the kinks in his back caused by long hours sat in a chair, feeling refreshed. It always made him feel better talking to Mokuba, although now he had to deal with figuring out time-zones which was a pain. But he wouldn't disturb Mokuba's sleep. Kaiba paused outside of Atem's door, thinking. It was silent in the dorm and most other people would have assumed that it was empty but, if Kaiba pressed his ear to the door and concentrated hard enough, he could just about hear faint whispers, indicating that his cousin was indeed in his room and apparently talking to someone. He wondered if Bill had returned but shook off that thought. The red-haired imbecile was hardly someone to be worried about- after all, he had been doing a better job of looking out for his cousin than he had.

Kaiba rapped on the door quickly, before he could talk himself out of the stupid notion that the empathetic part of him wanted. He immediately cursed in his head, but it was too late now. The door slowly opened, and he was greeted by a rather worn out Atem, dressed in comfortable sweats and a red shirt, hair messy, most likely from lying on his bed.

"Yes?" Atem asked, sounding confused to find someone at his door.

"I booked the Quidditch pitch for Duel Monsters," Kaiba started, feeling awkward for the first time since he had been eleven. How did one ask without outright demanding something? It had been a long time since he had attempted something like this. He paused trying to work out what to say next. What would the runt say? "Are you… Do you want to come with me?" Kaiba shuddered at how uncertain he sounded but Atem merely blinked, not saying anything about it.

"I…" he paused and Kaiba thought he heard someone else speak from within the room. Atem bit his lip and looked down before taking a deep breath. When he looked up, his eyes were more determined than they had been in a while. "Let me get dressed." Kaiba nodded, relieved that nothing had been said about his incredibly awkward invitation. A few minuets later and Atem opened the door once again, this time dressed in dark jeans, a blue t-shirt and sleeveless hoodie, hair pulled back into a small bun just above the back of his neck, blonde bangs left in front of his face. He also had a duel disk strapped to his arm. Kaiba raised an eyebrow, turning to go.

"So you do play Duel Monsters," he commented. Atem gave a short laugh, pushing the door open.

"Of course. I think Father would have been more surprised if I didn't." He paused and Kaiba realised that was the first time he had spoken of his father since the incident and the first halfway fond thought he heard about the man. It was… interesting. Then his cousin seemed to shake himself off and shrugged. "Although, I haven't played in a while. It gets a bit boring when your only opponent is Akhefia and you always beat him."

"Well, excuse me for not being able to beat the current Egyptian Duel Monsters Champion," Akhefia stated, appearing from… somewhere. Kaiba hated it when the thief would just appear- he was usually better at spotting such tricks of sleight of hand, even if the other boy did have Shadow magic to help him.

"I believe Marik is the new champion," Atem said conversationally. "I haven't gone to any official tournaments in a while."

"Jee, I wonder why," Akhefia said, rolling his eyes. Kaiba felt slightly lost but didn't press. This was the most animated Atem had been all week. If being around the thief and the small amount of the Geek Squad that were here would help him feel better, who was he to go against that? After all, he allowed Mokuba to hang out with them occasionally.

When they finally reached the Quidditch pitch, Kaiba found three extra spectators than he had expected. He had been keeping the fact that he had booked the pitch to only those in the know. He hadn't wanted any of the (surprisingly) many Duel Monsters fans in the school to get wind of another rematch between him and Yugi. However, he had forgotten about how friendly Yugi could be to others. Clearly, he had invited Harry, Ron and Hermione, although the girl had her nose stuck in one of several books stacked on the seat next to her. It was obvious that she had no wish to be there and had simply been dragged along by her friends.

"Let's get this started," Kaiba stated, glad to be back in his usual clothing. Even Yugi was dressed in his normal school uniform and many belts and buckles. "I'm facing you first, Yugi." The shrimp made a face and Kaiba lowered his voice right before they could switch. "And I want to face you not your unwelcome resident." Yugi blinked and stared at him, mouth slightly open in surprise.

"Um, ok?" he said, obviously put off by Kaiba's demand. It was time to see what the shrimp was made of. He knew that Yugi had faced opponents without the Spirit's help before, but he had never been witness to any of them and wanted to take a measure of what he was capable of now. Kaiba was about to turn to take up his position when Atem suddenly cut in.

"Actually… I was wondering if I could face you first," he stated. Kaiba turned to stare at him. He had never seen Atem's deck and he was certain that he had never seen his. His cousin smirked and raised his duel disk, his deck facing out towards Kaiba. "After all, neither of us have seen the others deck. Should be interesting." Akhefia muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'rather you than me'. Kaiba shrugged intrigued.

"Sure. Then I can wipe the floor with both of you." Atem seemed to grin even wider and turned to face the other end of the pitch.

"You can try," he threw over his shoulder, already walking away. Kaiba growled and ejected the holographic projectors as the others cleared the field. The three spectators waved the others up from the stands and then there was no one except him and his cousin left on the pitch. Well, this was one way to face his cousin in a match.

"Ready to lose?" he taunted Atem, drawing five cards at the same time his cousin did. Atem simply grinned and gestured for Kaiba to draw first.

"I believe it's time to duel, cousin," he shot right back and Kaiba smirked, drawing his first card. His cousin had no idea what he was getting into. And he would crush him just as he had done to all his other opponents except Yugi. This would be an interesting duel.

Ah, Bill don't worry, I'm surprised how bigoted the world can be too. And I mean this for the Harry Potter universe- the Wizarding World treats everything outside of it's own culture with, at the very least, demeaning attitude and at worst outright contempt and, yes even that dreaded word, racism. And yes, that is correct since the dictionary definition for racism is 'prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior' and immediately, hello Lucius Malfoy, Umbridge, Voldemort and a great helping of other characters in the Harry Potter universe ( also, Oxford dictionary, please find a less uncomfortable way of phrasing that.) Even the Weasleys, nice as they are, can arguably fall into this category. Some of the first things we hear Mrs Weasley say, are wondering at the obliviousness/abilities of non-magical people, without considering that her own culture happens to be at least a hundred years behind that of the culture she is belittling- this would be a case in indirect bigotry though since she isn't outright trying to be condescending. And quite honestly, it a bit frightening to think to what lengths they could push that in the Fifth book, the epitamy of fearmongering and denial of the HP canon.

But let's put real world politics to this side and not consider its applications to our childhoods and focus on this chapter. Ahem.

Oh, Harry, why do you have to spend the last two years you (technically) spend at Hogwarts being such a suspicious and paranoid ball of angst? Blame it on Voldemort, or the clear PTSD and survivor's guilt he's suffering (again, Dumbledore/wizarding world, you suck at psychology- send this poor boy to a therapist!), but Harry very obviously has issues throughout OotP and HBP. Honestly, I'm surprised that Harry came out the other side as any kind of functional human being... wait, hand focus on this story. Sorry, apparently, today is the day of tangents. Anyway, since Harry still hasn't got the message that Snape isn't out to kill him despite saving him at least twice and protecting him on multiple occasions, let alone is risking his life to spy on Voldemort for Dumbledore, we must have him be constant alertness Harry. And Harry tends to have a problem with separating Snape the person, from Snape the Death Eater and horrible teacher. So, anyone Snape likes, instantly gets dumped into the bin with all the other Slytherins because Harry's view is currently very black and white. We have good, we have bad. Black or white. Which, when faced with the Yugioh gang, is not going to hold up for very long and especially not around Atem, Akhefia or Kaiba.

Sorry, I really can't help the Snape rants. It's frustrating when even the author, who wrote this character in such a way that all of the pros outweigh the cons which, even when put in context actually write themselves out anyhow, is pretty lukewarm towards him. JK Rowling, if you wanted to base Snape on your own chemistry teacher and not have him end up universally liked by the majority of your fanbase, do NOT write his entire backstory to be: abused by parents, abused at school, neglected by those higher up, used by a Dark Lord during his lowest moments, ditched for only half a good reason by his only friend (Lily, we will need to talk about not letting anyone explain themselves and cutting them off- this is why your ex-best-friend ended up a Death Eater!), then used the rest of his life and forced to live under a façade and teach in the very same school he despised, full of all those lovely traumatic memories and, then, to top it all off, force him to teach the son of his ex-bully who already hates you because of all the stories about him and is the epitome of 'rubbing it in your face that you didn't get the girl'. So, yes, I will use Snape as I please because he honestly deserves better treatment.

Ahem. Tangent over.

So, one last thing. I am not going to be writing out duels in the usual format aka explaining them to the enth degree. This is for two major reasons: one, unless you're really into the game and mechanics then you'll probs skip them and I have a hard time keeping track of that and two, it would take me far too long to plan out a duel, write it, check it and then write the rest of the content for that chapter. Also, there will come a time when I will abandon the game mechanics completely because, this is a magic school and Atem and Akhefia are more used to the traditional way of duelling, why the heck would they be content with cards? So there's that and I will also be liberally making up cards because I do not have an encyclopedia of every card in existence and since the writer's of Yugioh were able to give Dartz an OP deck then I will take the liberty to add in my own cards thanks. Also, it's way more interesting that way ;)

Anyhow, my apologies for the tangents, rants and rather depressing start to these notes and I hope you enjoyed this weeks chapter!

Nozomi Higurashi: Well, here's some lore for you, and more of my tangent notes that you needed to be a good swimmer for! XD I promise, I shall try to be less dark next chapter, it's just depressing writing these types of people and then thinking 'oh dear god there's actually people in real life who think this way and it's literally only hidden in a children's book by the thin veneer of this is a different world'. So, er, hope this hasn't put you off.

Fireking492: Thank you and I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as the last chapter.