And I'm back when promised! Next update will be 1st November. I'm sorry if every other week is annoying for some people, but I have been so busy these past few days that I'm glad this chapter got finished last week despite a short bout of writer's block. Between lectures, assignments and dissertation writing, it's sort of been manic. But don't worry- I'm doing my best to stick to the two weeks updates and if there will be a delay, I'll post a short note telling you what's going on and when the next chapter should hopefully be out by.

Other than that, please 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

Yami carefully watched as Atem returned to the hall followed by the figure of Master Magician. The man was the very same as the supposed hologram from the weekend and now his suspicions were confirmed. He had sensed some shift of power from the last few cards Atem had used but had refrained from commenting. It was common here that the odd piece of wayward magic wasn't that unusual, however it had felt more deliberate than a random act and now he had proof. Unlike normal though, he stayed in the shadows rather than simply standing behind Yugi- there was no knowing who could and couldn't see him in Spirit form here. And just as he had suspected, the Magician's eyes briefly met his before diverting away and down in respect.

Yami? He jumped at the quiet query from Yugi.

Yes, Yugi? He asked. There was a long pause as they both watched Atem join Akhefia at the end of the Slytherin table. The other students there were giving him a wide berth as the boy appeared to be near vibrating in anger, the flickers of shadows curling around him. Was it the mind playing tricks or was the snake bigger than it had been? Kaiba, too, was sat at the Slytherin table for once, now sat next to his cousin for the first time since the beginning of the year. It was odd, seeing them together after Kaiba's clear animosity towards him since they met.

How did Atem summon a Duel Monster? I didn't think you could do that outside of a Shadow Game his young partner queried and Yami could hear the worry in his tone. They had been manipulated into coming here and since arriving had discovered nothing but more secrets and some mysterious malevolent force that had attacked the Tomb Keepers and mutilated Atem's father. He had indulged Yugi's curiosity and now he wondered what would have happened if he had not. They had been so close to figuring out what to do about his past but now… now they were stuck in a place far away from the Tablet and embroiled in an entirely new crazy scheme.

I'm not sure he was summoned Yami mused, considering the pair. The Magician, who he had heard named Mahad, was stood a single pace behind Atem, slightly to the left, staff always at the ready. He was surveying the hall with eyes that missed nothing. I felt nothing before he appeared, and nothing from Atem. I think he came of his own volition.

You mean that monsters can just summon themselves? Yugi asked, alarmed. Yami shook his head at him from his corner.

No. There's something different about him to our previous games Yami observed, turning to meet his partner's eyes. It's possible that some of the more powerful monsters have personas of their own. Yugi gave a short nod and then turned to join in the conversation with Marik and his three new friends, who were looking rather confused. Yami sighed and turned, moving to leave the packed hall and very nearly walked right into the form of Atem's elder sister. Except, now, she was dressed not in the cream robes he had seen her in before, but a dress made of such fine silk it was near translucent. Over her hair she wore a golden headdress, the band of which held the Sennen Eye, much like the crown that rested upon his own brow. She was watching him keenly, dark eyes narrowed, considering. She then turned and beckoned for him to follow.

Yami paused, and turned to glance over his shoulder, wondering if anyone else had noticed her. There was something odd about this- how had she gotten in and why did no one else see her? Atem wasn't looking in their direction, Yugi was distracted and Kaiba was eyeing up the rest of their table with some form of consideration. The only pair of eyes that was watching them came from the Magician, who didn't look pleased but made no move to alert his master. Yami didn't know anything about this woman but he decided that it wouldn't hurt to find out what she wanted. After all, she was related to their ally after all, and Atem had so far proved himself trustworthy to a point.

Haphiri led him through the Entrance Hall and out through the front doors. It was currently sunny outside, a rare last moment of Ra's giving light before he would disappear for the Winter here. Yugi had tried to tell him about the concept of snow, but he had always avoided emerging at the sight of frozen water- it was an unnatural state for the element to be in. As soon as the sun's rays hit her though, Yami noticed that she too wasn't quite there. Much like himself, it was possible to see what was behind her through her. He blinked a moment and stopped, staring a moment. The only other spirits that he had met were Yami Bakura and Shadi- neither of which were exemplary examples of his past.

"Are you coming?" He jumped at her voice, noticing that she too, had stopped and was waiting for him, one eyebrow raised expectantly.

"Who are you?" he asked, deciding to move no further until she had explained herself. He was not going to risk Yugi's life by moving too far when it was obvious that they were surrounded by enemies here, and he was certainly not leaving him to the mercy of that dung beetle of a woman. Haphiri tilted her head ever so slightly, considering.

"In life, a Princess of a foreign kingdom, no longer in existence today. In death, merely a woman trying to look out for the remains of her people." Yami narrowed his eyes, waiting for more. That was hardly an answer. She blew out an exasperated sigh, turning away. "I was named Haphiri Enheduanna, for the gods An, of the sky, and Hapi, of the Nile River, Princess of the Akkadian Empire and a High Priestess of Isis under the Pharaoh Akhnankhamun."

"I wasn't aware that a princess of such a kingdom would be named for foreign gods." She gave him a sly smile but nothing else. He sighed and tentatively descended the stairs. If she had been a Priestess of the goddess Isis, then he supposed that his people must have trusted her but there was just something… off about this whole situation. Why would a princess of a foreign kingdom carry an Egyptian name and worship Egyptian gods? Perhaps one of her parents had been from his homeland but then, surely, they would know? Then again, there was barely any evidence of his own reign left on the earth, merely three tablets and his own tomb to his knowledge. Yugi had attempted research into his reign but without a name, age range and with only the barest idea of where and when they were looking, it had been next to impossible, even with Ishizu's help.

"What is it you wanted?" Yami asked carefully as they reached the edge of the lake. Haphiri didn't answer at first, instead kneeling down at the water's edge, dipping her hands into the water. It was then, that once again, Yami noticed the small dagger at her side. It was ornate enough to be in the possession of a noble or royalty, but the design was of Egyptian origin, not Akkadian. He wasn't sure exactly how he knew that, but he did in the same way that he could speak and understand Coptic and duel so well. It was just ingrained somewhere in his amnesiac mind.

"I see that Mahad has decided to join you at last," she commented, distracting him from his thoughts. Yami blinked, wondering what that meant. She turned to look up at him, a sad smile on her face as she patted the ground next to her. Yami shook his head minutely- it was clear that she had already lied about who she was to them, there was no knowing what else she was holding back. She blew out a soft sigh. "I know what you're thinking. How can someone like me be related to Atem if I am already dead?"

"I was wondering how I can trust someone who has already lied to us," Yami snapped. Haphiri merely blinked and turned back to the river.

"It was not to you I was lying." Her voice was hard as she seemed to be staring at something only she could see. "There is a dark and evil force approaching. One that would happily strip all of their souls and rewrite the world to his own ends. His desciples were in the Alley that day, if you remember?" Yami did remember, the strange warning she had given that had put Atem, Akhefia and Bill Weasley on high alert. So she had simply been hiding? But why would she continue to hide it elsewhere? Unless they were constantly being watched… "They are not watching you here," she supplied, as if she could hear what he was thinking. "The magic of the Orichalcos cannot give it's user the ability to use any other magic, let alone attend a foreign school. The most they can do is lie in wait in the village and watch from afar."

"So, you know who they are?"

"Not their names," she stated. "But their faces… yes, I could tell you that. Then again, they do not blend in well here. You should be able to spot them for yourself."

"Then why bring me out here?" Yami asked, frustrated at how little she was giving him. He needed to know! If this could be dangerous for Yugi, then he needed to warn him so that they could inform their friends back in Japan. But, if Haphiri heard his frustration, she didn't act on it. Instead she simply looked down into the lake, tickling at the tentacle of the squid that lived there.

"Is a girl no longer allowed to catch up with an old friend?"

"What?" Yami asked alarmed, ever more so at the foreign word that suddenly left his own mouth, clapping a hand over his mouth as if that would stop his lips from forming anymore. How could he know her? How could she know him? She had named a Pharaoh, but that didn't mean anything to him. It could have been at any time, truly. And he had never spoken this language before, of that much he was certain, and yet the words left his mouth as easily and simply as Coptic. He had understood Haphiri just as much as if they had been speaking Coptic or Japanese.

But there would be no more asking questions, because as soon as the word left his mouth she was gone. Vanished into thin air, almost as if she had never been there, leaving him alone on the shores of the lake.

For the first time since they had arrived, Nofret actually felt far more like a thirteen year old than she had in… well, many thousand of years. Hogwarts was wonderful! There was no limit to what she couldn't do here and, even better, no one around who had enough time to tell her no. It wasn't exactly something that a Princess ought to be doing- her grandmother in life had shrieked it at her often enough- but Nofret had never exactly been left around many people that particularly cared what she did. As a child, she had been shipped off to live with her grandmother as something of a political hostage, only returned when Haphiri had agreed to place herself as the exchange, but then to be thrust into a world where she was equally as ignored (the exceptions being so few and far between they hardly mattered too much) and barely able to speak the language of what was purported to be her home country. By Tiamat, she didn't even know what their mother looked like!

Nofret's relationship with their father was equally as fraught. He was far more interested in their brother- the heir to his kingdom- than he ever was with his daughters, and even less so with the spare that hadn't been born as boy. Her brother had attempted to spend as much time around her as he possibly could, but the age gap of three years was immense all those years ago and she had barely remembered him at first. Let alone, that she got his name wrong for a good three years before anyone had cared to correct her! But she had never minded. She could be as childish or mischievous as she wanted, since no one could tell a Princess no, and never see any consequences until either one of the Palace priests or one the Millennium wielders- usually Akhnadin- caught up with her.

She shivered at the remembrance of that man. Even five thousand years removed, the memory still brought her chills. Oh, she knew what he had done. Could remember with clarity the moment the knife had stabbed through her heart, thankfully in the wrong target. And even now, death seemed too good for the man who had betrayed his own family throughout the years and plotted to put his rather unwilling son on the throne instead. The bitter irony being, that had he simply done nothing, his son would have ended up Pharaoh anyway.

That spell had never been designed for the wielder to survive.

Shuddering off that thought, Nofret happily skipped her way down the corridor, blissfully aware that it was something no self-respecting thirteen-year-old would normally be caught doing. It helped that she looked a lot younger than she actually was- a trait that ran something chronic in their family, a relic from a mother she couldn't remember. Haphiri liked to tell her she had inherited their mother's eyes and somewhat her hair colour- perhaps the reason their father had avoided her like the plague that had ravaged throughout Egypt's outer villages in her youth. She liked being acting childish though. It helped people to underestimate her and sometimes even forget that she was in the room while discussing something important. Rather like the young blonde girl the students called 'Loony Lovegood'. She simply smiled and acted in a daze, all the while collecting information around her and perfectly aware of the image she was putting across.

Seers were like that sometimes.

Nofret wasn't sure how she knew that as she ran down another corridor, aimlessly following the slightly dark trail of magic that would inevitably lead her either to Baba or Severus Snape, but it was some ingrained sense that was screaming it to her. It was a natural talent of hers, to guess the abilities of those around her. It had been helpful while stuck in the Akkadian court, and ever more so once returned and the old Pharaoh died. Not that he had been that old but… well, poison had never been ruled out. Personally, she wouldn't have put it past the complete witch that their grandmother had been to have not have had a hand in Akhnamkhamun's death. And after that… she swallowed heavily at the reminder of him, the Minoan, the Serpent King. A man with odd-coloured eyes and cursed by the gods of the skies, by Anuand Enlil and Enki of the Northern and Southern Skies, to walk the lands, ever-ageless. And he had wanted to marry her, to rip her away from her family and live with him in some great mansion granted to him by the crumbling royalty of the Akkadian Empire. She didn't know how he had managed it considering she was certain he had drained several of the court members there of their souls and harassed Haphiri to near half-madness, but he had not only done that, but also ingratiated himself with Grandmother.

Don't think about it. Just think on where you're going she whispered to herself, and continued her swift dance down the corridor, passing Akhefia, the blonde Tomb Keeper and Set on her way past. Only Akhefia returned her wave, before Set broke off from their group, hanging back for a moment, and they disappeared into the Great Hall for lunch. Humming, she slipped through the crowd of students, waving again to Baba and the irate form of Mahad as she passed and slid down the stairs and into the dungeons. She was glad that Haphiri was currently distracting the Spirit. She wasn't quite sure she was ready to face Pharaoh just yet.

The corridors down here were far less crammed with bodies, since this was the end of a teaching period for Potions, people getting as far away from the 'bat of the dungeons' as fast as they could. Perfect. She would have a whole hour of him all to herself, a thought that made her so happy she continued skipping all the way to the door to the classroom, bypassing it and right to the painting that covered the Potion Master's private quarters. She raised a hand to knock and then paused, concentrating. Corporeality was Haphiri's speciality- she loved scaring people by walking through walls after touching them- but it was something that Nofret had never been very good at on her own. She had far too much fun as a ghost and being invisible was a natural state for her anyhow. She liked being able to make herself visible and such, but actually solid? Far more difficult.

It seemed it was an ability that eluded Pharaoh too though, much to her amusement.

After a few moments of intense concentration, including one indulging moment of sticking her tongue out of the side of her mouth and screwing up her face in a way that had had her brother in stiches and infuriated Grandmother to no end, she was finally able to make at least her fist solid enough to produce a single knock. There was a long moment of silence before the painting, depicting an old man with shoulder length white hair and fading red robes snoozing at his desk and surrounded by vials of potions and a small cauldron, swung open to reveal one Severus Snape. She was greeted with a raised eyebrow.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure, Princess?" he asked slowly, no doubt mentally checking that the coast was clear. She could have told him that, but she didn't begrudge him for being thorough. There was a reason Haphiri liked him after all.

"I just wanted to ask a few questions," she said, giving him her best disarming smile. Severus simply opened the door a little wider, a clear gesture that she was welcome in despite it being completely asinine to a ghost.

"Take care not to fall through the chairs," Severus stated dryly, moving back to where he had presumably been sitting before, on a comfortable looking armchair by the fire, a cup of tea and book resting on the small coffee table beside it. She pulled a silly face at him before moving her concentration to attempting to sit on the sofa. It didn't work the first time but, a few curses and three attempts later, she manged to settled quite comfortably, cross-legged, on the sofa. Severus was silent all throughout the mini drama occurring in front of him, although Nofret could swear that there was a glimmer of a smile on his lips and there was definitely amusement in his eyes.

"Finished?" he asked mildly. She sighed and then gave him a smile- it was fun to undercut people's expectations of her. Severus liked to give quick, witty and dry responses made to annoy the other person, so she simply grinned right on through them, making them compliments rather than slights on her imperfections. It was boring being perfect after all.

"Yes, very much so!" she beamed and then readied herself for the next question. "I was wondering how far you had gotten with our little project?" she asked. It had been a quiet idea, something slipped between the three of them out of Bill's ears- he would never have approved. Severus had been slightly more intrigued and had been working on it in all the spare time he had- what little he had between the two other masters that demanded all of his time. It had her wondering when he had time to sleep- considering the dark circles under his eyes that he must have been hiding somehow, the answer was not much. It had her tempted to force some of his dreamless sleep on him herself. That, or make a visit to Dumbledore's office later today. Hmm, that's not a bad idea.

"A little. I find it intriguing the things one can do by mixing magicks. However, I wouldn't want to craft too many spells that way," Snape stated, glancing towards the book next to him. It was written in what must have been some ancient language of this island since she wasn't sure what it said and was rather worn. There also appeared to be several notes made in some of the margins. "It would be hazardous to one's health."

"What magicks have you been working with?" Nofret asked, curious.

"Several. There is little point in attempting to work with Latinised magic as is taught here- it is far weaker and younger to be able to contend with the magic of Orichalcum. I have been attempting to work with some older runic magicks, more specifically Druidic and Shamanistic magicks. It is something I have something of a… natural talent for outside of Potions." Nofret nodded. It made sense- the man was a natural Legilimens, so working with those older magicks would come far easier than if someone naturally gifted with Latin magic attempted it. "Your sister has been working on a few of her own mixed spells, although I am certain only fools or the desperate would think to use a mix of Akkadian and Egyptian magick." Severus looked rather perturbed at the idea and Nofret pressed her lips together to hide a laugh. If only he knew.

"Bill's been looking into earth magic, although if he wanted to do that I think he would be better off speaking to the elves, if there are any left here?" she asked carefully. She had heard of the House-Elves, but had yet to meet a true elf. It had been something she was looking forward to, but rumour had it that they had died out. Severus gave her a sharp look, calculating mixed with something else. She wondered if he had an idea of the heritage that ran through his veins.

"There are no elves left. He would have better luck looking for the fey than elves," Severus sniffed, voice careful. Oooh, that must mean there are pure-blooded elves somewhere Nofret thought with a smirk and Severus' face immediately clammed up.

"Ok! I'll pass the message on!" she said brightly, jumping to her feet. "Anything else?"

"Yes. You might want to give this book to your brother. Dumbledore was… borrowing it from the library," Severus stated, pulling a book out from… somewhere. It was a trick of Druidic magic to hide something in plain sight and have another magic user completely unaware of it until it was brought to their attention. It had been how they hid their sacred sites from those who hunted them throughout the years and even she was susceptible to it. And, by the looks of things, Severus had made sure the wards were set so that even someone of her brother's abilities would be unable to tell where he had picked up the object, even if some guesswork would give him the basic idea.

The fact that Dumbledore had a hold of this was rather disturbing though.

"What else does he have up there?" Nofret wondered out loud, tucking the book carefully under her arm, concentrating on not dropping corporeality so as to keep hold of the thing.

"Other than several tomes on Horcruxes and a fair few ancient amulets? Nothing of interest to nimble fingers," Severus said mildly, before standing himself. "Now, I believe lessons start soon, and if you wish to be out of sight, you'll want to run that somewhere Dumbledore won't be able to get his hands on it." She grinned at him and nodded, turning and skipping out of the door.

Now she most definitely had to visit the old coot's office.

Akhefia slipped out of Potions as quietly as he could, nodding to Snape on his way out. The professor was currently needling into one of the Slytherins- one of Malfoys minions by the looks of things- for, not only exploding his cauldron, but causing his skin to turn green in the process due to whatever chemicals the moron had dumped into the cauldron. He made a mental note to rib them for being too patriotic to their House later, but he had something more important to do right now that couldn't wait for later. And, loathe as he was to admit it, it was something that had been made as a vow to Akhnamkhamun before he had been unceremoniously shoved out the door as an extremely reluctant guard to his precious Prince.

Running down the corridors was rather fun though. This castle was a marvel for the average student, but to a thief? It was the perfect playground, full of traps, moving parts and hidden corridors. He was aware that most liked it for it's magical quality but he loved it for all the little nooks and crannies that one could hide something away in. That Room on the Seventh floor was a rather obvious one (and hadn't there been an interesting number of things that he had made several mental notes to check out later, including that one fragmented-soul-holding-diadem), but there were oh so many more subtle ones. For every broom cupboard, there were a few loose bricks, so carefully placed that if one didn't know what they were looking at, would be missed. And Akhefia always knew what he was looking for.

Which made this run nothing less than child's play. Slipping round the caretaker? Easy as strolling down the corridors of his home. Avoiding the cat? A few well-placed treats and a small fuss took care of any resentment she might hold against rulebreakers. Didn't any of these children respect Bastet's creatures? Perhaps he ought to introduce some of the more loathesome Slytherins to some of Sekhmet's followers. They would learn humility very quickly. That thought allowed him a grin as he reached his destination- namely one door to a horrific pink office covered in fake versions of Bastet's faithful minions.

At this point in the day, it was Umbridge's planning session- meaning she was currently not teaching classes. He only had half an hour to do this: to avoid suspicion he needed to be able to get down to Herbology on time. Snape would cover for his absence should she try anything. After all, Professor Severus Snape was not known for suffering those who pissed him off. Akhefia reined in the anger that wanted to spring up, and schooled his face into a mirthless grin.

This was going to be fun.

Umbridge looked up at the intrusion into her office, startled at the presence of a student. When she registered who he was her face twisted into something strangely uglier than it already was.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped, eyes narrowed. "What are you doing out of class?" Her voice was just as grating up close as it was in the Halls or classrooms and Akhefia gritted his teeth against the instinct to snarl at her. Instead he allowed the grin to grow wider and Diabound to slide, ever so silently, up and out of his robes and around his shoulders.

"I came to have a little… chat about some earlier behaviours of yours," Akhefia said playfully, slowly stroking Diabound's head. Umbridge stiffened, her face contorting somewhere between horror and outrage.

"You would dare to threaten me?" she half-shrieked.

"Of course. After all, you and your Ministry have already threatened the Tomb Keepers," Akhefia said, still pleasantly. "After all, it was your own Minitser of Magic who said, and I quote, 'these people live in barbaric circumstances and rarely understand civilised methods of punishment'. A rather uninformed opinion, unfortunately for him." Akhefia paused and then allowed the grin to fall into a dark smirk. "And for you."

"Oh really?" Umbridge threatened, puffing up. "And how is the Minister so uninformed?"

"Well, from the reports that Mr Weasley and another correspondant of ours have been collecting, I rather imagine they are already in a meeting with Fudge already. The Tomb Keepers are rather angry that you would think so low of their Pharaoh after all." Umbridge sniffed and then, as if only just processing the words, frowned.

"You think that Cornelius will be bothered by some savages being made aware of your vulger practices?" she snapped derisively.

"Oh, he will be. After all, his Senior Undersecretary attacked their Prince and current acting head of the Nekhen and all other Tomb Keeper Clans, in his name." Akhefia resisted the urge to laugh as her expression morphed right back to horror. "And both His Highness, Prince Atem of the Nekhen Clan and High Priest Mahad of the House of Life, have given me express permission, should Fudge fail to, and I am most assured he will, punish you, to do that which he won't." He finally allowed the Shadows to spread, fingering one of the knives in his sleeve.

"W-What is this?" Umbridge spluttered, jumping to her feet as the Shadows enveloped them. "What do you think you are doing?!"

"This," Akhefia said slowly, feeling his Ka rise from his shoulders, no doubt seemingly to triple in size to Umbridge, "is a Shadow Game. And this is how you will find your punishment."

Half an hour later, Akhefia was strolling into Greenhouse 3 and taking his place next to Kaiba who glanced to the side, Marik looking rather nervous next to him.

"Where the hell have you been?" Kaiba snapped, under his breath in only the way one who has absolute control of the pitch of their voice could.

"Just taking care of a few loose strings. Also, Atem has invited us all to his room later. He's probably up there with Yugi already- apparently Umbridge has just recently taken ill," Akhefia said lightly. He felt, more than saw, Marik stiffen on Kaiba's other side and grinned.

It had truly been fun.

You know at some point I'm going to write a part for Yami that is not explicitly confusing and/or shocking but until then... er, sorry Yami. It gets better eventually, I promise. Ahem.

So, the plot dump that was Nofret. I found it very interesting writing from her perspective, although it did require a whole bunch of research into Ancient Mesopotamian gods, which may or may not have been around in the Akkadian Era and were actually worshipped by them. Considering these deities were used by, but not limited to: Sumerians, Assyrians, Akkadian etc. it can get really confusing. But, we managed somehow and if I got a couple wrong, my apologies.

As for the discussion of different magics, considering we are using Shadow magic in this (and some Merlin may have inadvertently crept in until I forced myself to stop- but you're welcome to look for it ;) ), and we know that House-Elves and Goblins have their own kinds of magic, it stands to reason that one would be able to use some form of them. It's also interesting that no one seems to think to mix any of them together, and it would be in Snape's character to do so- doubly so considering we know he's quite capable of making his own spells (which begs the question how this man was never acknowledged for his skills- so far we have: youngest Potions Master, spell creator and Legilimens/Occlumens. What was the wizarding world doing in the sixties?). It's also fun to think of what magical creatures are not mentioned in HP, why that may be and what kind/how powerful their own magic would be.

It would also not surprise me if Dumbledore was keeping all the books on the subject, since we know he removed all books that even gave Horcruxes a passing mention.

As for Umbridge... well, you have to have some comeuppance for attacking a member of royalty. More about that in the next chapter I promise.

Anyway, notes over and I'll see you all on 1st!

FireKing492: Well, it's not quite all guns out just yet, but she'll get more in the near and far future, don't worry ;). As will some other characters. And thank you for your review ! Xxx