So, I realised that with my mountain of uni work just waiting to be done, that it would benefit me (and you) to update this now. So to make up for the lag last time, here is a chapter a day early! And hopefully, I will have the next written up in time for the update on 13th December!

I've also noticed that for some reason, FF has decided to delete the line under words, so my apologies if the differentiation between English, Arabic and Akkadian has just gone out the window. I will at some point try to go back and fix that but I'm a bit too busy at the moment.

Hope you 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

"Words" Characters speaking Old English

There was something going on with the transfer students. Harry couldn't pinpoint the moment his suspicions started screaming at him, although he was certain it had something to do with Umbridge's absence. She had been gone for nearly two weeks now and in all that time, Yugi and Marik had been sequestered away, muttering between each other. Occasionally they were joined by Ryou but the albino haired boy usually spent much of his time alone in the library. Atem had taken to eating with Kaiba and Akhefia at the Slytherin table, barely speaking a word to his fellow Gryffindors which gained him some dirty looks, usually quickly averted once the culprits were spotted by his near constant guard of the Master Magician. Ever since the day Umbridge had tried to attack him, the monster had been there, constantly on guard of his master, much to Atem's bemusement. He appeared to have attempted to dismiss him several times to no avail so had simply rolled his eyes and accepted it.

Kaiba was just as cold as ever, although he did appear to have warmed up to his cousin and friend more than he had to those he had arrived with. It was odd- Yugi had frowned in their direction several times, appearing confused as to what had caused this sudden closeness of the three, besides the obvious attachment between Kaiba and Atem. Marik didn't appear so confused but he was wary of most others and tended to avoid the Gryffindor table when Atem neglected to join them. He usually spent those meals with Ryou at the Hufflepuff table, playing some trick or other with what Yugi had referred to as Ryou's 'alter ego' as Harry had come to know it. Hermione had looked surprised at hearing that and then sympathetic. It wasn't as if Hogwarts had any sort of psychiatric help if Ryou needed it- Harry had wondered himself sometimes and Hermione had been horrified to learn that he hadn't gone to see anyone for help with his own problems from confronting Voldemort and witnessing Cedric's death.

On the upside, Umbridge's absence did mean that Harry was able to get back on top of his homework, catch up with all of the Quidditch practices he had missed and was finally able to take breaks that actually were breaks, rather than frantic catch-up sessions due to the long hours Umbridge had him carving I must not tell lies into the back of his hand. It also meant he no longer had to listen to Umbridge mutter under her breath about the utter disrespect of the three Tomb Keepers, plus Kaiba, who continued to refuse to turn up to either her lessons or detentions. Atem hadn't returned to DADA since the incident with his father even if he had returned to all his other classes, including History of Magic.

Harry had seriously considered following his example until Hermione had snapped that it wasn't such a good example to take and he hardly had the political backing that Atem had to get away with it. After all, persecuting Atem and Akhefia was not working out so well for the Ministry. Apparently, the Tomb Keepers had fought back in outrage at their comments and were demanding the sacking of Rita Skeeter, along with the right to read all prospective articles. Along with that, Malfoy was looking particularly sour- it turned out someone had gotten hold of the information that Lucius Malfoy had been… 'donating' money to Fudge and he was currently under fire for fraud and bribery. According to Ron, Mr Weasley was ecstatic at the opportunity to finally thoroughly raid the Malfoy Manor to find out how deep the corruption went and Kaiba had already offered the services of some of his own personal detectives to help.

"You'd never believe where sleazy aristocrats think they can hide all their dirty secrets," was all he'd said to that from behind his laptop when asked. Akhefia had been sniggering into his work, ink splattering the page.

And so, Harry came down the morning of the first Hogsmeade weekend, finally free of homework for the first time since term started, feeling pleasantly happy and looking forward to getting away from Hogwarts for a while. As amazing as the castle was, it had started to lose its charm when cooped up for hours on end, pouring over all the work he had been behind on. Even his Potions work had improved, despite Snape consistent antagonising of him. He slid down into the seat next to Yugi who was already thoughtfully munching on some toast and reading through a magazine one of his friends in Japan had sent him. Ron had been fascinated with them- the lack of moving pictures was bizarre to his magical friend, despite the fact that he couldn't read Japanese.

"Morning," Harry greeted, reaching for the bacon. Yugi murmured back his own greeting, seemingly in a better mood as they were joined by Hermione and Ron, who was practically bouncing in his seat.

"I can't wait to get to Hogsmeade. No more prefect duties for the day!" he exclaimed, piling his own plate high. Hermione rolled her eyes and cracked open her latest research book. She had taken to researching the Tomb Keepers in her spare time, or at least, what she had of it between studying. If Yugi had noticed, he hadn't said anything, and she usually only had time within the Common Room, so the others were still thankfully oblivious. Harry wasn't sure he wanted to know what their reaction would be.

"Hogsmeade?" Yugi asked, glancing up from his magazine.

"Yeah, it's Hogsmeade weekend," Harry confirmed, "Didn't you get a permission slip?" Yugi blinked and then nodded.

"I think so. I know Kaiba just signed his since he's emancipated and so his own legal guardian and I had to translate it for Grandpa. He's not so good at reading English than speaking it," Yugi said. "I just didn't realise it was today." He paused and glanced over towards the Hufflepuff table. "I wonder if Ryou's father ever signed his?" he mused out loud.

"Huh?" Ron asked round a mouthful of food. "Why wouldn't he have?" Yugi winced, closing his magazine.

"Um… Ryou's father is not usually around. He does a lot of digging in Egypt."

"Oh," Harry said, feeling sorry for the other boy. Ryou seemed nice enough- he was fairly quiet and rarely, if ever, joined them at the Gryffindor table, preferring to keep to himself. He supposed it was probably hard for him to make friends with his personality issues. "So, are you coming with us?" Changing topic seemed the best thing to do. Yugi thought for a moment before nodding his head, eyes bright.

"Yes, I'd love to!" he said. "It's not as if I have anything else to do." There was a slight note of sadness in his voice and Harry wondered if the others had ditched him or something. It had seemed more like Yugi was avoiding Atem, rather than the other way around, but he wasn't sure. And it was sort of hard to ask the other boy without being glared at by his constant bodyguard.

A couple of hours later and they were all ready to go, lined up and being checked out by an unusually grumpy Filch. Marik wandered up behind them, with Ryou who confirmed his father had eventually signed the slip, sniggering.

"He's grumpy because Akhefia's won over his cat," the blonde said, grinning wickedly. Harry stared, mouth agape. Even Fred and George were in awe of the other boy's skill.

"Wicked!" the pair stated, eyes alight and clearly in desperate need to talk to him now.

"We've never been able to get around Mrs Norris," Fred said, beaming.

"We just have to know how," George followed up. Marik just shrugged but Harry got the feeling he knew how Akhefia had managed to get the fickle cat to like him. It wasn't long until they were through and out to the carriages, ready to take them down to the little village. Marik had wrapped up well, despite the fact that it wasn't even cold enough for snow, but Harry supposed that the weather here was probably very different to what he was used to in Egypt. Both he, Yugi and Ryou had opted to dress in their muggle clothing and Yugi was garnering some odd looks for his punk style choices. That or it was the thick buckle and chain he wore round his neck constantly. He didn't think people were used to that yet.

Marik's excitement at Hogsmeade was infectious and Harry found himself remembering his own first time here, despite that it had been under the Invisibility Cloak. Yugi was very interested to hear that story while Marik made huge gestures and at one point even smacked his hands over Ryou's ears, who went from bemused to murderously angry in a near split second and the ensuing shouting match had them missing out on the entire story. When Ryou demanded a retelling, Marik dragged him into Zonko's.

"You get the feeling he doesn't want Bakura to know about the cloak?" Ron asked, staring at the metaphorical dust the pair had left behind them. Yugi shrugged.

"Would you want Akhefia to have an invisibility cloak?" he asked. "Ryou wouldn't steal your things but his… alter ego…" Yugi trailed off and shrugged once more. Harry swallowed at that thought- Akhefia already had the creepy enough habit of appearing in places you least expected him. He didn't want to imagine the other boy with access to his father's cloak.

When the troublesome twosome had finished in Zonko's, curiously absent of any sign of the aforementioned thief, the six of them ended up meandering towards the Three Broomsticks. They had mentioned the Shrieking Shack but Marik couldn't stop giggling at the thought of a 'haunted' house and Yugi had just buried his head in his hands at his friend's antics, so they had skipped that part. Marik had also made it known that he was currently very cold so Hermione had suggested butterbeer as a way to warm up. It was on the way there, that they came across what appeared to be a very loud argument between the two cousins.

"The hell do you mean that's normal!" Kaiba was shouting and even Yugi looked startled at the raised tone of voice. Rounding the corner, they could see that Kaiba was looming over his cousin, using all of his six-foot-two height while Akhefia was sat on the low wall outside the pub, looking bored. Master Magician, unlike the others, was still dressed in his usual robes and golden armour, leaving Harry to wonder if the Monster could feel the temperature. The other two Tomb Keepers were wrapped up as much as Marik and even Kaiba had swapped his intimidating trench coat for a form fitting, yet still completely Muggle, overcoat. He also looked none too pleased with whatever he had just found out.

"It's nothing," Atem said firmly, voice raised no louder than normal speaking level, frowning just as fiercely back. It was one of those rare occasions that Harry noticed how truly short Atem was- his presence usually made him seem taller and the jewellery somehow made him seem older than sixteen. Compared to Kaiba though, his diminutive height was all the more noticeable.

"That's not-" Kaiba appeared to realise he had an audience as he scowled and suddenly switched languages as well as lowering his voice. Atem merely blinked, scowled and then, very deliberately, turned on his heel and walked away, swinging the door of the Three Broomsticks only slightly too hard. The resulting bang sounded very much like a rejection of whatever Kaiba had been angry about. The business mogul turned to Akhefia who lightly jumped off the wall and shrugged.

"Don't look at me," he said, turning to follow his friend. "His Highness doesn't listen to me either." There was something odd in his tone, something Harry just couldn't quiet grasp and he got the feeling that they were being left out. He glanced sideways towards Hermione, whose attention had been caught by something on the floor. When Harry turned back towards the argument, the other two had disappeared and suddenly, returning to Hogwarts felt like a much better option than entering the usually welcoming pub.

"Come on, don't let Kaiba ruin today," Marik said, although even he seemed more concerned than before. He, Yugi and Ryou shared a look, before they turned to drag them all into the pub. But Harry couldn't help but turn back towards the spot where Kaiba and Atem had been standing.

There, splattered almost innocently on the ground and near invisible in the brown dirt, were several spots of what looked suspiciously like blood.

The tight feeling in his chest hadn't dissipated after a week. It was right there, a constant nagging pain right under his ribcage, feeling very much like someone was wiggling a knife around under there. It made Atem rather glad he was boycotting certain lessons now. It didn't help that Seto had been there for that rather unpleasant coughing fit in the middle of Hogsmeade, but he couldn't complain. He had known that this moment was coming for sixteen years. Freaking out now was not going to help in the long run.

But he could see how it had affected the others. Even Akhefia was sticking a little closer than usual, making that tight feeling turn into guilt very quickly.

They had known that it was getting worse, that it would most likely be exacerbated with the new close proximity to the Spirit and his chosen. For a moment, if he closed his eyes, he could still hear the Clan leaders raving about the audacity of some foreigner solving the Puzzle, while Atem had been quietly relieved. He knew his history and his nightmares told him enough that he wanted nothing to do with their prophecy. He could have hugged the Ishtars for practically giving him a double way out. It was just that this was the price.

The pain wasn't so bad that he couldn't function- it had hurt worse breaking his arm falling from his horse at age six. It was also fading, albeit slowly, aided somewhat with potions from Snape. The Potions Master had raised an eyebrow when Seto had half dragged him into his office and demanded something to help once the entire situation had been laid out to him, the odd annoyed twitch at the mention of destiny and Pharaohs aside. Nofret had also been hanging around far more often, spending an inordinate amount of time in the Palace Dorm with them, tearing through the books Atem had gotten from the Restricted Section and those that she had filched from Dumbledore. So far, all they had been able to discover was that Dumbledore suspected that Voldemort had several Horcruxes and had recently helped himself to a heavily revised history of the Nameless Pharaoh. Nofret had laughed herself silly at some of the ideas put forward by the book and even Haphiri had gotten a smile or two.

Really, anyone who was fooled into thinking that he was nothing more than a creationist myth ought not to be writing books.

Atem quietly stifled a rising cough and glanced back down at the essay he was supposed to be writing. Both he and Akhefia were currently sat in the library. Supposedly, he was meant to be in Transfiguration but Atem had never seen much point in changing one thing into another. It was just a little too convenient and enabled the wizards and witches to get away with not advancing as far or as fast as the world outside of theirs. As a caveat to this however, he was currently working on a Transfiguration essay and he knew that he could just get Mahad to ask Yugi for the next assignment. He wasn't blind to the fact that the young duelist was currently avoiding him, most likely at the Spirit's behest. The knowledge that they had all known that he was there and could see him had come as something of a shock. Akhefia shot him a look across the table, his messy hieratic only getting all the more smudged.

"You know, you're going to have to tell the shrimp at some point?" he said, eyes narrowed. Atem sighed and placed the quill down, eyeing his essay with a critical eye. It wouldn't get him any top marks, but it would do.

"I know." There was a beat of silence before Akhefia threw his own quill down with a huff.

"Umbridge woke up from her Penalty Game," the thief stated, sounding annoyed. "It would seem that she's learnt nothing except not to mess with us." Atem frowned and Akhefia scowled harder. "Dumbledore insisted that we had to have her back, otherwise the Ministry would interfere further. Kheftan stated that Fudge has been sticking his nose where it doesn't belong and has been withholding some of Skeeter's articles." Atem rolled his eyes. It came as no surprise- the idiot still hadn't given up the reporter. While he had been handing over articles, there were still a select few 'reports' slandering the Tomb Keepers. He had noticed that Haphiri had also been noticeably absent.

"I don't think Haphiri will allow that to carry on for long." Akhefia snorted just as Marik, followed by a scowling Kaiba arrived. Neither had skipped Charms like Akhefia had- it would seem that they had all agreed to some kind of 'Atem-watch' to go along with Mahad. It was rather frustrating at times, but he appreciated the support. At least until Kaiba had made a snide comment about not wanting to have to stop him from fainting like a girl.

Considering the times Atem had passed out, he was still to figure out what was so girlish about it. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience.

"What are you two talking about?" Marik asked as the pair joined them, Kaiba immediately booting up his computer.

"The Ministry being idiots again," Atem said, returning to his essay and flicking through the core text, still wondering what the point of turning inanimate objects into food was. It wasn't as if it would taste better than organically growing it oneself. Marik snorted at his answer and Kaiba rolled his eyes. "And that they're threatening further action if Umbridge isn't returned to her station." Kaiba did pause at that.

"That sounds more like Dumbledore than Fudge," he said, clearly unaware of the switch in languages.

"That would be because it is. Apparently having her out of the count isn't good enough for our illustrious Headmaster. He's using Fudge as a scapegoat," Akhefia sneered, disgusted. Atem couldn't help but quietly agree with him. If Umbridge was allowed to get her grubby fingers on the entire school, with Fudge's permission, then the resulting backlash when the wizarding world truly discovered that Voldemort was back, would fall on their heads rather than Dumbledore's. It made Atem wonder how much of this scheme was crafted by the old man and how much was the Ministry burying their heads in the sand. From Kaiba's scowl, he had come to the same conclusion.

"That old man is asking for a death sentence," he muttered and something cold slipped down Atem's spine. A death sentence… but if he were to die by any other means than old age, he would choose the way he would go out… Surreptitiously, he glanced towards Mahad who nodded, slipping away. It was useful that his old friend could read him so well. As, it had to be said, could Akhefia, who caught on just as quick.

"He's going to ask Snape." It wasn't a question. Marik glanced up at that, eyes wide and Kaiba stopped work once more. Atem just sighed and nodded.

"It makes sense. It is not as if Dumbledore would let himself be taken down by just anyone." He paused, fiddling with the quill in his hands. "I don't think it will be anytime soon but just in case…"

"He should be prepared," Marik said, voice determined. Atem nodded and jumped as he felt a small ghostly cold hand slip over his. He turned to find Nofret curled up next to him, magenta eyes wide.

"I don't want him to be used anymore," she said quietly and Atem got the feeling she didn't just mean Snape. But there wasn't much he could do to help the man other than warn him and, hopefully, manage to prevent as many of the old man's plans before time eventually caught up with him.

Akhefia could sense that something was wrong the moment he opened the door to the Palace Dorm later that night. A thief always knew when his things had been disturbed and, while whoever had been through their stuff had tried to be discreet, Atem's constant shai mugs were in a different order than that morning. An ordinary person may not have noticed, but Akhefia certainly did. He paused in the doorway, listening.

Nothing. Silence. If he concentrated with the Shadows long enough, he could feel the three pulses of life that were his dormmates- Kaiba's defiance, Marik's determination and a dying golden glow that was always Atem. Thankfully, it was somewhat brighter than it had been since the previous weekend. Other than them, no one else. A slight disturbance that was Mahad but there was an echo of magic here that was distinctly not Shadow Magic.

Akhefia growled and stalked through the room, carefully placing the filched books from the library on the desk and eyed everything once again with a fine-tooth comb. Mugs in a different order. Kaiba's office chair just slightly too far to the left. A pile of books that was distinctly three books too short. And a crackle of magic that echoed that of the servants who came to clean…

"Dobby!" he half whispered half growled and there was a crack as the elf appeared, bulbous eyes somehow wider.

"Yes, Thief King sir?" the elf squeaked.

"Which of you was here?" he asked, and Dobby blinked.

"N-No-one sir. The House Elves be too scared to clean your dorm sir!" Akhefia frowned. It was not Dobby's signature that he could sense- he had gotten to know the elf pretty well in the little over a month that they had been in this blasted place.

"Funny. Because it's not you I can sense that took our books," Akhefia stated, making sure that it was just the books that were missing. He would ask the others in the morning if they were missing anything personal as well. There would be no good in Dumbledore learning anything pertaining to the Shadow Era. Dobby squeaked again, one of his many misshapen hats threatening to come off as his head whipped around to look round the room.

"I don't know who was here, sir!" Dobby wimpered, frightened. "But Dobby will do his best to find out!" And with another crack the elf was gone and Akhefia was free to see which books had been stolen. It didn't take all that long.

It would appear that Dumbledore had stolen back the book on the Shadow Era- that one didn't matter too much since it was full of rubbish anyway- and two tomes on outside magic. Namely, that the ones on Druidic and Akkadian magic. The Druidic magic didn't concern Akhefia too much- the only person he knew that would be able to use it was Snape- but the missing book on Akkadian magic was… troubling. The Akkadian Empire had truly fallen some 4500 years ago and with it, all spellcasters capable of practising it. To mix it in with other magics was volatile. Akhefia would know- he had seen what it could do and the thought that someone five thousand years ago had been desperate enough to mix it with Shadow Magic was scary enough. While Latin magic had nothing on that of the Shadows, he didn't want to see the fallout of a single botched experiment with it, mixed or not.

From experience, he knew that it would most certainly not be pleasant.

Hi, Harry it's been a while. And look, I managed to skip forward several weeks! In theory, this and the next chapter are now somewhere around Halloween to the beginning of November. I'm not really going to mention Halloween- it's not really a large part of this story and it's not really celebrated like it is in America or the UK in Japan, so it didn't have a place here. But, just thought I would mention it in case anyone was lost as to where exactly we were in the year. Fun fact- in Egypt Halloween isn't celebrated at all except in Cairo and again, not like it is in America. By the end of next chapter, it's the beginning of November. Don't worry, cross cultural festivities will be addressed but Halloween was not one of them!

And we're also back to Dumbledore bashing. Honestly, it kind of is an obvious step for someone as devious as Dumbledore to plan his own way out as he does. At this point in HP canon, we don't know that by next year Dumbledore will have gotten himself cursed and basically force Snape to kill him off but it does still make sense that he would use the only dubious teacher in the castle to do it. After all, what better way to confuse your following than using the ex Death Eater? I actually had a conversation with my brother about Dumbledore and how, in recent years, I have had a 'falling out' with the dodgy old man who plays people like puppets for his own gain. And, since many of the Yugioh characters have some political experience- namely Kaiba, Yami and Marik- it would make sense that they would be having none of it.

Well, I hope you liked this week's chapter and, yes, I did delete the author's note! See you on 13th December!