My apologies that this took an extra week, but I'm afraid that things got a bit busy this past week. It's been my first week back at uni so things have been a bit hectic coupled with a few maintenance issues and... well, let's just say that time for writing went out of the window. So, in an attempt to prevent this, I'm going to say that I will be updating every other week, making the next update 18th October. Don't worry, I will be making a note in each chapter from now on when the next chapter will be up or if it will be delayed for any reason.

Anyhow, please enjoy!

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

Harry had heard of Duel Monsters before. In fact, he had tried out the few cards that Dudley had left on his floor a couple of times but without a handbook, or other players, he had never quite grasped the game. Nor had it captured his interest that way that Quidditch had. This however… this went against anything he had ever seen in the Muggle world. At some point, Bill had joined them and looked just as amused as Yugi, Ryou and Marik looked.

The creatures were huge and so realistic that, had he not known they were projections beforehand, would have thought that they were actually in the stadium with him. He could see why Yugi had stated that they wouldn't have had room indoors- Kaiba's deck seemed to be full of, if not dragons, then particularly large beasts. So far though, he had yet to summon his signature monster according to Yugi, who was attempting to explain the game to them. Ron had his mouth hanging open since the game began and even Hermione had put her books to one side to watch. Harry briefly wondered what anyone up at the school thought if they could see the holograms but was soon distracted as Atem summoned a monster that was some kind of magician. Yugi sucked in a breath in surprise.

"Looks like the Dark Magician has more than one master," Marik said jokingly, an odd glint in his eyes. Harry frowned wondering what he meant.

"The Dark Magician is known to be Yugi's signature monster," Ryou explained quietly, just as the monster wiped out Kaiba's XYZ Dragon Cannon through the use of some spell card that either increased Atem's monster or decreased Kaiba's- Harry was lost trying to follow the hard and fast moves the cousins threw at each other. It seemed to him that most of what endeared people to this game was the spectacle- and from what he was seeing, he could hardly blame them. From the dramatics of the players, the quick tactics and the huge explosions generated by the technology Kaiba had developed, there were plenty of Muggle children that would be drawn to the game, along with quite a few teenagers too. He hadn't been blind to the number of fans Yugi and Kaiba had amongst the muggleborns after all.

"I take it that it is a rare card?" Hermione asked. Yugi shrugged.

"Oh, well, it's not that rare. It's just… weird seeing someone else use it," he explained. "Even weirder than the fact that Atem seems to have quite a few cards in common with me." Akhefia made a derivative noise.

"Don't worry, His Royal Highness has been a part of the duelling circuit since before anyone ever heard of Yugi Mutou," he stated. "Besides, he has quite a few cards that I know you don't." Harry blinked at the nickname but, if Marik and Bill's reactions were anything to go by, it was a common one. Atem had never struck him as particularly arrogant, even if his duelling personality seemed to exude that. "In fact," Akhefia continued, turning towards Marik, "I'm surprised you never heard of him during your Rare Hunter days." Marik immediately cringed and Yugi stared at the other Slytherin, seemingly confused.

"Why?" he asked, right as there was a sudden roar that split through the air and a massive burst of light. On Kaiba's side of the field, an immense dragon had just been summoned that was such a pale blue it was almost white. Akhefia made another odd noise, one that was a lot less obvious in whatever he was trying to convey.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Ron asked, cutting through Harry's question and derailing their thoughts.

"Kaiba's signature monster, the Blue Eyes White Dragon," Yugi stated. "He has three out of the only four ever made." This was furthered by the fact that Kaiba had just done something that enabled him to summon two more of the massive beasts. If Atem was fazed by this, he wasn't showing it. In fact, he appeared to be grinning, as if this had been the plan all along. "And I think Kaiba may have just fallen into a trap."

"Yeah, no kidding," Akhefia muttered. "I'm going to guess he's got either the King's Seal as a face-down card or maybe even the Ritual of Light and Dark, but he doesn't have any of the right cards on the field for that."

"The what now?" Harry asked, lost once more. Even Ron, normally the tactician of the trio, looked lost.

"They're two very rare spell cards," Marik said, eyebrows raised almost into his hairline. "At least, I know the King's Seal is… I've never heard of the other one but the King's Seal can only be used on the Dark Magician or Dark Magician Girl." As he was explaining this, Kaiba launched an attack on the Dark Magician. Atem's grin only seemed to grow ever bigger and one of the three face down cards suddenly flipped up, showing the purple of what Harry had come to know as a Trap, along with an image of what looked like some sort of mirrored wall.

"I activate Mirror Force, and deflect your attack right back at you!" Atem shouted and Kaiba cursed. Hermione was frowning.

"Wait, he's had that card on the field a while now. Why not use it earlier?" she asked.

"Tactics," Ron answered, eyes wide. "If he knew Kaiba had those dragons in his deck, then he's probably just been stalling until he summoned them and was waiting for an opportunity to face them." Yugi nodded his agreement on this, watching the match avidly now. Kaiba reluctantly ended his turn, looking particularly sour about it, despite having done something to stop his monsters from being blasted from the field. It appeared he had noticed this too by the way his eyes had narrowed. Atem smirked at the card he drew, smile smug.

"I believe that this is the end, cousin," he said, for once confident in the way he pronounced that English. Clearly, it was the language used within duelling circles, if it was as international as Yugi had made it out to be. "I activate the Spell Card Cost Down to summon my Dark Magician Girl!" Akhefia made an odd chocking noise and muttered something that sounded like "He's toast," under his breath. "I then activate King's Seal!" Even Kaiba seemed surprised by this as one of the cards on the field flipped up. "By sacrificing my Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl, this allows me to summon my Master Magician and Magician's Apprentice!" Yugi was leaning forwards so much, Harry wondered how he was yet to topple off the stands. The odd purple robed magician and busty blonde girl that had just been summoned were suddenly enveloped in light and out of this appeared a man in golden armour over white robes and a girl, also dressed in golden armour over a short white dress and black tights appeared. Both had the same facial features as the two monsters before with slight differences- both had the same tan skin as Atem and Akhefia, and both had brown hair, although the Magician's was hidden underneath a white headdress. "I then place two cards face down and activate Mage Power! This raises my Master Magician's attack from 3000 to 4000." Marik whistled and Harry blinked.

"So… does that make his monster more powerful than Kaiba's?" he asked. Marik jumped and then seemed to remember that they had no knowledge of the game.

"Oh yeah. Blue Eyes has 3000 attack points, so it's capable of destroying Magician's Apprentice since she only has 2500, but now the only card Kaiba has capable of beating that Master Magician is his Blue Eyes Ultmiate Dragon, but that can only be summoned if he has Polymerization in his next turn. Which is not going to save one of his dragons right now," he stated as the Master Magician blasted one of them from the field in a beam of golden light. "And that's Kaiba now down to 800 Life Points. Best he can hope for is that he can find something this turn to at least stop an attack, or Polymerization. And by the looks of things…" Marik said, watching as Kaiba seemed to gnash his teeth together. "I would say that that hasn't happened."

"But why couldn't he just attack Magician's Apprentice?" Ron asked. "She's got less attack points and it'll mean that Atem will have less Life Points than Kaiba at that point."

"Yeah, but you don't know what his face down cards are. So, you would either have to be confident enough that you have a card to negate that card's effect, that none of the card's face down are traps or just incredibly desperate," Akhefia stated, almost condescendingly. "The only duellist I know who takes the third route is Joey Wheeler, who only survives because he's lucky. And even then, it's usually with at least some form of back up."

"This is also Kaiba we're talking about," Marik noted, right as Kaiba seemed to take the bait at last and, after laying down one face down card, attacked Magician's Apprentice. For some odd reason, Harry could have sworn the dragon looked almost apologetic as it did, if dragons even could look in such a way. It was odd that it had been programmed that way, since he hadn't seen it do so before. "He hates his dragons being destroyed."

"I activate Magical Cylinder!" Atem shouted and another trap was revealed. Harry watched as the blast of white lightening shot into one purple cylinder and then right out of the other- in Kaiba's direction. Kaiba violently swore as the blast took out another dragon and suddenly, the holograms lowered, Atem's Magicians turning to give him a bow before disappearing too.

"Wait, I'm confused, what just happened?" Harry asked, startled.

"Atem won," Bill suddenly chimed in. "Magical Cylinder negates the attack and then inflicts damage equal to the monster's attack back at your opponent." Ron turned to stare at his brother who shrugged. "What? He was still the reigning Egyptian Duel Monsters Champion when I first started working with him. I had to learn quick to understand what was going on in the tournaments." Harry supposed that was true, although he still didn't really know what Bill did out in Egypt. It had first been explained to him as a correspondent for Gringott's, although Bill had later stated he mostly worked with the Tomb Keepers. It hadn't escaped his notice that Kaiba seemed to know him too, although he supposed that that was probably something more to do with Atem and him being cousins than Bill's job. Yugi, who had been quiet ever since Atem's final monsters had appeared on the field, suddenly jumped up, eyes alight.

"I have got to duel him now," he stated, voice surprisingly excited. "I've been dying to see Master Magician! There's only three of those cards in the world and Pegasus doesn't have them anymore!" Marik suddenly seemed to cringe again.

"Er, yeah… about that. There's actually only two now." Yugi turned to stare at his friend who seemed to have the decency to blush red in embarrassment. "Arcana may have destroyed one, so you couldn't use it against him. I may have… told him it was the only one in existence."

"Marik!" Yugi stated, aghast. The idea of destroying a card seemed to be some sort of blasphemy in his book. "At least tell me you know what happened to the other one?" Marik just shrugged, looking at his feet.

"Not really. I knew Egypt's Champion had one and we had another… but I don't know what happened to the third. Lost probably."

"More like hidden," Akhefia muttered. "That card doesn't just work for anyone. Same reason why no one else can work with the Dark Magician so well in tournaments." Harry stared at him wondering what that meant. It wasn't as if the cards were alive, was it? Before he could voice that thought, Akhefia, seeming to realise he had something too much, stretched and grinned towards Bakura. "Well, now that that's over with, what about you? Care for a duel? I heard you were fifth in the KC Battle City tournament." Ryou seemed to simultaneously pale and blush red at the same time.

"I-I-I r-really c-couldn't," Ryou stammered. "Um, I sort of… l-lost my deck." Akhefia raised an eyebrow, seemingly in disbelief and Ryou flushed further. "I don't have it on me." Akhefia just shrugged and glanced at Marik who happily took up the silent request and both disappeared just as Kaiba stormed up, followed by an amused Atem.

Well, it seemed that at least Atem was feeling better after that.

For the first time since he had been sent his father's hand, Atem felt at peace. It had been so long since he had had such a challenging and fulfilling duel, that it had been nice to fall back into old habits. The new duel disk was interesting and it felt almost like they were playing real Shadow duels, rather than the new version of the game made by a heartbroken millionaire. He had never met Pegasus in person, although from what he had heard from the elusive ghost that was Shadi, he didn't particularly want to.

Then again, he had never wanted to meet the ghost either.

The rest of the weekend had passed in an odd blur of playing Duel Monsters and placating Mahad in having to face off against Yugi and, occasionally, the ghost that followed him about. The magician had been on the fence already about facing Kaiba, right up until Atem had pointed out that it had been his idea to face him to begin with, let alone facing the man who used to be his king. Mahad's face had taken on an odd expression when he had said that, but Atem refused to hear anymore. The past had had enough influence on his life.

He was wandering the halls of the school, absentmindedly poking at the different magics he felt between classes, when he felt more than saw the disturbance at the end of the hall. It was coming up to lunchtime during his free period, after having escaped from Yugi's efforts to coerce him into another game and had just turned the corner to face what appeared to be a toad dressed in pink harassing a rather terrified-looking First Year from Hufflepuff.

"I promise Professor! I was just taking Chloe to the Hospital Wing!" the girl was sobbing, clutching a note to her chest as the toad leered down at her. It took Atem more than a few moments to realise that the toad was actually the persistent DADA Professor that he had been avoiding after her less than savoury remarks on his people and their way of life. He scowled mentally but kept his face blank as he approached. It had been a long time since he had seen such evil than he had in the last few weeks, and this was just another example of it.

"Is there a problem, Professor?" he asked out loud, most likely seeming to appear from nowhere to their eyes. It was somewhat handy to have a theif as a friend- they taught you all the ways to make yourself invisible to the naked eye. Umbridge- if he remembered her name correctly- jumped, clearly startled by his appearance. She then rearranged her features into what was supposed to be a reassuring expression, but was ruined by the curl of her lip that marked her disgust at his presence.

"Mr Menes," she simpered. "This is none of your concern, as you are neither a Prefect nor a consistent student." Atem raised an eyebrow.

"Actions of injustice are always a concern of mine, Professor," he stated and gave her a small smirk. "It comes with being a Tomb Keeper." He saw the tick under her eye before she could give him a smile, but he ignored whatever she was about to say next. He didn't give time to those who didn't deserve it. Instead he gave the girl a softer smile, kneeling to be on her level. "Can you tell me what the matter is?" he asked her gently and the girl gave him a wobbly smile in return, nodding.

"Professor Snape sent me to take Chloe up to see Madam Pomfrey, because her cauldron exploded, and she got hurt. He gave me a note, see!" She held out the slip of paper in her hand that clearly held the definitive spidery scrawl that he had seen before on a couple of notes between the Potions Professor and Bill on occasion. He gave her a reassuring smile and stood, taking the proffered note.

"There, you see. I believe that Miss…" he paused and the girl piped in, stating, "Amelia Carthage." He smiled. "Miss Carthage has a valid reason to be out of classes." He held out the note to the toad but not close enough that she could put her stubby fingers on it. He would not allow her to harass students, and certainly not children. It didn't help that Amelia was so close in age to Nofret- he could only imagine the carnage if Umbridge spotted her. Umbridge frowned at him and made an attempt to snatch the note but was cut short by the bell.

"Nevertheless, you had no business interrupting something you did not understand," she snapped, making another attempt to grab the note, him moving it a little further away. It was rather entertaining to watch her face go red.

"I understood perfectly, Professor. Miss Carthage was excused to see her friend to the hospital wing after an unfortunate accident. You cornered her on her way back to class, so that you could interrogate her for your corrupt Minister and your own sick pleasure." He moved the note a little further away from her third desperate grab and Umbridge's face turned from red to near purple in frustration and now anger.

"How dare-!"

"Not only that, I believe that your attempt will also have put her in trouble with the one Professor the school hates and will most likely take off points from any other House other than Slytherin, allowing your corruption with the Malfoys to get ever closer," he continued, not allowing her to get one word in. This caused her to totter slightly, overbalanced by another unsuccessful lunge and the shock of what he had just said. She turned bulging eyes to stare at him, practically inflating with rage. "I shall take Miss Carthage back to the dungeons to collect her things, I think."

"No, you will not!" Umbridge half shrieked. "How dare you speak to a teacher in such a manner! Do they not teach you manners in that barbaric backwards tomb?" Atem stiffened, but simply took Amelia's arm gently and began to steer her away. "You will turn back this instant! I am the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic and I am the one in control here!" Ignoring her still, he began to walk away. "Detention Mr Menes! Another two weeks!" Nothing. He would not give in to her, but he could hear her trotting behind them, following them down the corridor. Other students were starting to stare, watching the enraged Professor follow the foreigner through the halls, screeching like a banshee. "That is it! Stu-" Atem stopped, hearing the shriek from the flash of light from behind him. Surely, she wouldn't be so idiotic…

"How dare you raise a weapon against my Pharaoh!" Mahad shouted, staff raised and eyes hard in anger. He sighed- there would be no explaining this away with holograms. They had just entered the Entrance Hall and were approaching the stairs for the Dungeons when Umbridge had finally snapped. He could see many of the students staring at the man who had seemingly appeared from nowhere, but most of all, he had spotted the trio who had just met up once again in the entrance to the Great Hall, eyes wide and staring. They would know Mahad from the weekend and know that he was meant to be nothing more than a hologram.

"What on earth…?" Umbridge stammered, having taken a few steps backwards, before straightening. "And who are you? How did you get in here? I am the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic and in his name, I demand an answer!" She had her wand held high but Atem could see the fear in her eyes. Could see that she knew that the man in front of her would not hesitate to strike her down. He sighed.

"Mahad… leave the toad alone. She is less than the sand beneath your feet," he said, tired already of this. The bigotry here was something he had never faced before, and it was tiring, being around it all the time. She was simply one more example of why they avoided the Wizarding World in Britain.

"She raised a hand to hurt you," Mahad stated, not moving from his position. "To harm innocents." The Magician had not turned but Atem knew he was talking about poor Amelia, who was shaking now. More students had piled into the Hall to see what was going on and now the others were there, Marik holding Akhefia back from doing something stupid no doubt. Even the ghost was watching the spectacle with an air of interest, layered with disgust at the disgrace of a woman parading as a teacher.

"Leave her Mahad. If it will ease your mind, you may stay and escort us to see Snape," Atem acquiesced. Mahad paused and then nodded, lowering the staff and turning to kneel, left foot forward in the ways of old.

"As you wish, my Pharaoh." Atem nodded and turned, ignoring the squeaks of the woman behind him, aware of his new shadow. This would change things now, but he couldn't begin to regret his friend's actions. Mahad was a constant in his life- one of the few he had left here. And he had been present too, all those millennia ago when Egypt had been threatened, giving up his life for a king who had been shattered before his very eyes, much like the Pendent used to cast the spell. He could hardly begrudge him for trying to fulfil a vow five thousand years old and to protect his new friends at the same time.

Snape did not look happy when they finally reached the dungeons, but a quick explanation had everything smoothed out and soon, Amelia was gone along with her things, skipping off to lunch without any House points lost. Atem stayed behind, not yet ready to face what had just happened.

"You'll have made an enemy of her," Snape commented, waving his wand to clear away the remaining mess. Atem sighed and nodded.

"I know, but I couldn't let her attack the children," he stated, staring at the door where she had left. Snape made a non-commital sound.

"Dumbledore would have us let her have her way. To allow Voldemort to grow arrogant," he stated, almost as if commenting on the weather. Atem narrowed his eyes, turning to face the man, frowning.

"So he's going to sacrifice the children of this school, allow her to take what she wants, just to lure out the mad man you are all so afraid of?" He couldn't keep the disgust out of his voice, even if he had wanted to.

"I believe the Headmaster sees it as a justifiable action," Snape said coolly, but Atem could see that the man felt as disgusted as he did.

"Your Headmaster is a fool. It was no work of the Death Eaters that took my father," he snapped, and Snape merely blinked. He swallowed back the lump in his throat- no matter their issues, he had been his father and not a terrible one most of the time. Atem had felt pressured and smothered, but never unsafe. Never unloved. And now…

"There are some books in the restricted section you may find useful," Snape said, pulling out a slip of paper from his robe. "Give this to Madam Pince." Atem blinked and then took the paper, noting it was a permission slip for the restricted section in the library with Snape's signature on it. He gave the man a grateful smile in thanks and nodded. "Now I believe that it is time for lunch," Snape said, one dark brow raised. Atem nodded.

"Yes, I believe it is. Shall we Mahad?" The Magician stepped out from the corner of the classroom in which he had been standing and nodded.

"Yes, my Pharaoh."

Oh Marik, whatever am I going to do with you? Writing the beginning of this chapter was a lot of fun and then I got stuck, because the second half suddenly nose-dived once again so I hope you all enjoyed the brief lighter moments of this story! To be honest, we're starting to get into the heavy stuff and we are only one week into the school year- hence why Umbridge has yet to make it to High Inquisitor, which if I remember the timeline correctly, she doesn't get until October/November time.

For those who think Umbridge might be a bit off character in this chapter, I wrote it this way for two reasons. One: even this early int he year she is already trying to influence the minds around her and, considering the Ministry is currently living in the Malfoy's pockets and therefore Voldemort's, it isn't outside the realms of possibility that Umbridge would start picking on students she suspects might have sympathy for Harry, no matter the house. And two: Umbridge lives for attention. She has to be paid attention to, and become threatened by those who are obviously more powerful than her- hence her actions towards Harry and Dumbledore. Atem, however, can see straight through this and would know that the easiest thing to do in this situation is simply to ignore her. Not going to detentions (because, you know, she legally can't drag you there), ignoring her bigotry towards you, not paying attention to words obviously meant to rile you up. The only reason Harry gets the best of her in the book is because he leads her out to people that are neither afraid of her or intimidated by the Ministry- considering how they treat centaurs, this isn't surprising (and one stroke of genius from Hermione). So her going to attack Atem isn't outside plausibility since she is desperate to show this person she can't control that she is supposedly in 'charge'. And immediately gets punished for it.

As for Mahad… he's kind of hard to write and kind of not. It's hard because I'm trying to write the reactions of a spirit so old he can remember everything that happened to his best friend, now currently not in a single piece, and is under pressure by others but most importantly himself, to prevent this from happening again. So hence his impulsive move to reveal himself to Umbridge. After all, we already have one player making threats towards Atem, how can he be sure that this crazy woman will not do the same considering she was just about to attack his king? That aside, I find it hard to write Mahad because of how gods damned calm he always is the Dub. So writing him riled up seems out of character, even if he does have moments of emotionality in this show as well. So, my apologies for that if you don't like the way I have written him so far.

Well, a bit shorter this week, but I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I will see you all on the 18th!

misakigirl: Thank you and I hope you continue to enjoy it!

Fireking492: Thank you and I hope this chapter lived up to the wait! And good luck with your crossover, I'm sure it will be great! Xx

Nozomi Higurashi: Well, I'm glad that I'm inspiring some people with this! I know I promised that this chapter would be lighter but er… yeah that went out the window pretty quick XD. Never mind, at the very least I wish you luck with your muses (I know how complicated that can get) and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter too!