Ok, so technically five hours early, but I have WAY too much to do in the next few days, so I decided to post this now. Expect the next chapter on 21st. I know that's not technically a Thursday (it's the Friday), but I have a whole load of stuff coming up with uni, my family and working right up until Christmas, so I'm deciding to extend it an extra day just to give myself a bit of breathing space. I'm already pulling all nighters for uni work, so please forgive me for the extra day.

Anyway, 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

"Words" Characters speaking Old English

It had been a rather strange week for Yami and his partner. Since the week before, they had been joined once again, briefly, at the Gryffindor table by the Tomb Keepers and Kaiba, Nofret appeared to be spending more time around the Hogwarts grounds while her sister was nowhere to be seen and a new teacher had been appointed. Then, Monday morning, Yugi had been apprehended by Marik on his way down to the Great Hall and dragged off to spend breakfast and subsequent meals in the separate dorm in what could only be a thinly veiled move by his fellow Tomb Keepers to get Yugi to move out of the Gryffindor Tower. Yami wasn't fooled by the dark thoughts of Yugi's fellow dormmates- it was obvious this had nothing to do with House rivalries and all to do with the arrival of this new staff member.

Curiously, all four of them were skipping out on even more lessons. He had learnt, by listening in at the library during one of his many wanderings of the school, that both Akhefia and Marik had walked out on the first History of Magic lesson taught by this Professor Schiavone and not returned since and the cousins, too, were noticeably absent from their morning session. Yugi had been confused by the lessons that Raphael had been giving. It was apparent the Slytherins were dubious from Akhefia's reaction towards this man's teachings and Yami felt inclined to join them. How this man could claim to know more than people who had spent their lives around two ghosts who had been around during that time period and remembered it was baffling to him. It was a ploy towards something, but whatever it was, Yami had no idea. But he could guess.

The other Tomb Keepers had been tight lipped about their new findings about this Dartz persona but Yami could tell that he put them on edge. If he were to hazard a guess, this would be the man that stole the Prince's father's soul and sent him his hand as a twisted gift. And with the appearance of this new teacher the night after one of Snape's meetings with the so-called 'Lord Voldemort' there was no longer any doubt that their new enemy was working with the wizard. But why, Yami couldn't figure out.

He had studied this magic that Yugi was learning and there was nothing more to it than he had sensed when facing those Death Eaters back during the Summer. He would have asked Bakura but the other spirit was currently avoiding him, far more interested in using his host to explore all the forbidden corridors and areas of Hogwarts, no doubt soon to take a wander through the Forbidden Forest too. But the magic Yami could sense around the new Professor's neck was… darker. Older. Older perhaps, than even him. And that was troubling in its own right- why ally with someone so much weaker than you unless you were simply using them? It wasn't implausible. Voldemort might think himself a threat, but, in reality, compared to the power of the Shadows he was nothing more than a child screaming that the world wasn't fair. It would be nothing for Yami to manipulate him, given the right tools and mind-frame, let alone someone who had something against the world. And most people didn't have someone like Yugi to stop them from taking advantage of that fact.

Yami jumped when a small hand suddenly slipped into his. He had been hovering by the fence during Yugi's Care of Magical Creature's class, watching them interact with whatever small animal the teacher had brought in that day. Yugi was happily playing with the little stick-like creatures, joined in a group with Atem and his new friends from Gryffindor, watched over as always by Mahad. Akhefia was off to one side of the group, sending his own condescending smirks right back to the pale blonde boy that kept appearing to torment the Gryffindors, although he also seemed to have lost a lot of support since the beginning of the year. His own group consisted of his two lackeys and a girl right now.

Looking down, Yami was surprised to find the small form of Nofret clinging to his arm, not really looking at him. It was a strange sensation: he had never been able to touch anything in Spirit form but then again, he also had very few interactions with other spirits. Bakura was rarely around whenever he wasn't using poor Ryou and even in this castle, the ghosts tended to stay away from him. It was really only Nofret that had shown any interest and even then, it usually left Yami confused. She seemed to be aware that she had startled him as she looked up, grinning.

"Hello," she said, eyes twinkling, in that strange language her sister had used before. Yami still didn't know what it was, but after some consideration he had decided that it must be their native Akkadian. And somewhere, buried within his lost memories, he too had once spoken the language, lending weight to their claim to having known him.

"Hello?" Yami said, unsure what to say. It was odd, being acknowledged by someone other than Yugi when not in control of his partner's body. Nofret giggled, swinging a little and tugging lightly on his arm.

"Have you seen the lake?" Yami blinked, cocking his head to the side, curious.

"Yes. Your sister spoke to me there once before. Haven't you?" Nofret shook her head vehemently.

"I haven't had time. This place is just soooo big!" This was followed by another giggle and Yami raised an eyebrow, allowing himself to be pulled away.

"I would have thought one used to palaces would be used to navigating large buildings, let alone when one is capable of going through walls," Yami said, finding himself amused by her antics. There was a definite gleam of mischief in her eyes and he let her drag him away from the lesson. If Yugi got into trouble, he was able to return to him in an instant and besides, they were in a lesson and surrounded by allies. He trusted Mahad would protect Yugi along with his master. Nofret just shrugged and, just like that, he found himself on a merry jaunt around the castle.

Once they had visited the lake and Yami had mentioned the Room of Requirement, Nofret had demanded to be shown. He was fairly certain she already knew about these places- he wasn't blind to her nefarious ways, most likely bloomed from a lack of discipline in life- but indulged her. Unlike her sister, Nofret was easier and less confusing to be around. She wasn't demanding, she didn't throw out confusing new information that now appeared to be wrong and she didn't ask for more than he was willing to give. He was, however, aware that she was quite capable of wiggling her way around his stoicism and get him to do things that he hadn't even done with Yugi's gang, like helping her hide from the Bloody Baron. Yami wasn't sure exactly what she had done while the ghost's back was turned, an odd flick of Akkadian magic, but it had certainly annoyed the formidable ghost and he found himself laughing quietly along with her.

It was… odd. Different. And strangely familiar.

In the blink of an eye the hour had passed, and they were wandering down towards the dungeons to meet with Yugi and the others for his upcoming Potions class. Only then did Nofret skip away, waving as she went to join Atem and Akhefia at their table as Snape started the lesson, not even blinking twice at her presence.

Where did you go? Yugi asked once he had gathered his ingredients for the day some time later. Yami found himself blushing slightly, looking down.

Ah, my apologies. We were… around. Yami found himself unable to explain his actions for the past hour, not truly understanding them himself. It was out of character and nothing like a Pharaoh ought to have been seen doing. For a brief moment, he thought he could almost hear a berating voice, lecturing on that very subject, but, as usual, before he could probe that fragment of memory too thoroughly, it was gone. Confusion bled down his link with Yugi and Yami truly had no answer for him. There was just no explanation for what had just happened.

Harry kept one eye towards Yugi's corner, eyes narrowed, wondering what it was he had just seen. The strange ghost girl that had claimed to be Atem's sister had just wandered in with a… shadow. There was no other way to describe it, a shadow with what appeared to be red eyes every so often. He had been noticing a flicker around Yugi since the beginning of term, more frequently around Ryou, but he had played it off as nothing more than a trick of the light in the dungeons right up until the week before when Nofret had been sat halfway in Snape's desk. Then, he had thought harder on those odd flickers and, now that he had decided to pay attention, could see that they were much more than figments of his imagination.

It made him wonder how no one else had seen them.

Carefully, so as not to catch Snape's attention, he nudged Ron gently, one eye towards the Gryffindor-Slytherin pairing of Akhefia and Atem in front of them. Ron jumped and swore as he sliced his caterpillers into several mismatched chunks, but thankfully not loudly. Neither of the pair in front made any motion to indicate they were curious about this and Harry was silently thankful that Ron swore often in Potions.

"Have you noticed anything strange about Yugi?" he whispered to his friend as Ron set about trying to salvage the mess he had just made. Ron blinked at him and then glanced back towards where Yugi was working alone as usual. He was looking confused about something.

"No," Ron said and then frowned. "Why, you think he's up to something?" Ron had been sceptical about the transfers considering so many of them ended up in Slytherin and sporadically turned up at their table. Add to that, that many of the lower year Slytherins were no longer cowering in fear of Malfoy and some could even be seen in study groups with Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs, and Harry could see why his friend was worried. It would seem that Akhefia and Marik were having more of an impact than was comfortable on the most hated House in Hogwarts.

"I'll explain later," Harry muttered as Snape swept over, inspecting their cauldrons. He sneered at Harry's, the concoction a putrid yellow rather than the desired green but Harry had given up caring about Potions a long time ago. It wasn't too far off the colour it was meant to be anyway. He turned to Atem's but said nothing, merely raising an eyebrow and stalked away, off to pester Hermione and Kaiba. The business mogul looked particularly aggrieved to be sharing space with her- Hermione appeared to be questioning how he had gotten his Potion to the perfect shade of green while hers was still a shade or two off. This wasn't an uncommon occurrence: Hermione was annoyed that she had finally met her match as the smartest student in Hogwarts. It probably annoyed her more that Kaiba simply didn't care rather than he was better than her.

The next forty-five-minuets were excruciating but, persevering, Harry managed to make it through and was for once one of the first out of the door. Which was the only reason why he heard the quick whispered conversation from the shadows, from behind a convenient suit of armour.

"I don't know how long she can last. The orichalcum is corrupting her more every day," Akhefia was saying, for once in English rather than in their annoying habit of speaking in one of the various languages they employed to keep Harry and his friends out of the loop.

"But he must have been working for Dartz for years if he trusts him here," Atem replied, sounding confused by whatever Akhefia was talking about.

"I know. I can only think that he has been resisting it somehow. It would appear that he's capable of seeing her, but not the corruption." This elicited some ferocious cursing in their native tongue from Atem.

"He stole a Mage from us!" Harry recoiled from the dark anger in Atem's voice, cut off by a harsh cough and Harry was reminded of Hogsmeade and the blood on the ground. Akhefia cursed and then, the reason why they were speaking English became apparent as a soft silken voice interrupted.

"Perhaps this would be a conversation best left for behind closed doors. You never know who might be listening in." Snape's voice was flat, but Harry recoiled away from it as if he had been shouting. How long had the Potion's Master been there and why? The lesson had just ended and Harry swore that Snape had still been sweeping between the tables like the overgrown bat that he was. Another harsh cough that sounded decidedly… wet and Akhefia made a startled noise.

"Might be in need of your Potions." For once, Akhefia sounded… scared. Before he could be spotted Harry rushed away, wondering what it was that he had just overheard. He didn't stop until he reached the Gryffindor Common Room, forgoing dinner completely in his haste to see the Marauder's Map. He was going to need to know where all the transfers were and whether there were any eavesdropping ghosts if he was going to have this discussion with Ron and Hermione. It took only a moment to unravel the map, but what he saw made no sense. Harry frowned, bending over the map, at a loss over what was in front of him.

There was a knock at the door to the dormitory and the door swung open, revealing Ron and Hermione as if summoned. In his confusion over the transfers, Harry had missed them on the map. Not that it mattered- he needed a second opinion on this.

"Harry?" Hermione asked, sounding concerned. "What's going on?"

"I…" Harry paused and shook his head, holding out the map. "I think something is going on with Yugi. And I think it has to do with the Tomb Keepers." Hermione frowned, taking the map and sitting next to Harry on his bed. Surprise crossed her face when she spotted what Harry had seen.

"Are you sure the map is…?"

"It hasn't been wrong before," Harry said firmly, and Hermione stared, glancing back at the parchment in her hands.

"What?" Ron asked. "What's going on?"

"It's Yugi. I keep seeing a shadow following him, except up until recently I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me," not to mention neither of you would have believed me Harry thought a little uncharitably. "But on the map… it doesn't have a name."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, frowning and glancing at the map over Hermione's shoulder, blinking when he saw it.

"I mean that the map can't name it," Harry said, glancing down at the little label, following the pair of shoes labelled 'Yugi', that had nothing but a jumble of letters and a question mark. It was like the map was confused.

"But you can't Confound the map," Hermione said. "And Yugi doesn't even know that spell!" Harry paused, thinking and not liking where his thoughts were going.

"What if he didn't have to?" Hermione glanced up, disapproving, mouth open about to disagree with him, but Harry cut her off, talking over whatever she was about to say. "Look, we know that he, Ryou and Marik got attacked over the summer, right? But they never said how they defeated the Death Eaters and I'm starting to think that maybe it has something to do with the magic Atem and Akhefia use." Hermione closed her mouth at that, considering. Yugi hadn't said anything and the others all spoke in either Japanese or Arabic whenever they were anywhere in their vicinity, but it was obvious that he knew what type of magic they used. "And we all agree that the only reason the Death Eaters couldn't get into the Tomb Keeper's stronghold was because of Atem right?"

"Who's Necrophades?" Ron suddenly interjected. Harry blinked, cut off from musing and glancing down at the map.

"What?" Ron pointed to a label a step behind Ryou's label. It read Zorc but then suddenly switched to Necrophades as if frightened to stay on that name for too long. He had never seen the map do that before.

"Necrophades?" Hermione sounded surprised, lifting the map to look at it. She suddenly looked frightened. "I've heard that name. It was in one of the books about the Tomb Keepers. It said…" she trailed off, eyes wide. "It said that it was a great evil that was defeated years ago." Harry swallowed.

"How long ago?" he asked. Hermione but her lip, glancing down.

"The Shadow Era," she whispered. "It was in the Shadow Era."

"So we ask Bill," Ron said and Harry shook his head.

"Bill's been working with them. I don't think he can help us." And that was scary- Harry had always seen the Weasleys as reliable. That one of them couldn't had tilted Harry's world to the side and he didn't want to think what that would mean for Ron and his family. What if this secret was dangerous? What if it joined with Voldemort? Ryou wasn't dangerous but his split personality was unpredictable and if Necrophades was following him then… "We can't let it join the Slytherins," Harry said firmly. Hermione was already shaking her head.

"Harry, we don't know anything about Necrophades other than it's connotations with a period of history we don't know much about."

"But our History of Magic teacher is teaching us about it," Ron pointed out. "Why don't we just ask him?" Harry blinked, realising he was right. It was strange- for once the most useless subject in the school might actually be of use. Hermione looked unconvinced but just nodded. Harry thought that she was probably thinking about the rumours of Akhefia arguing with the teacher. But they needed to know- perhaps this Necrophades had something to do with the evil kings of this era?

"It's worth a try," Harry said, and Hermione just nodded, seemingly resigned to go through with this plan.

This castle was full of nothing but liars and hypocirtes, enough so that it almost made Raphael sick. Looking at these children, all of an age that Sonia and Max would have been had they survived, it was incredible how corrupted they were by the world around them already. Were he Gurimo or Valon, he would quite happily be scything away at their souls. But Gurimo was soulless and Valon was chasing after an impossibility again. Alistair was unstable when it came to anything named Kaiba and so, Rapheal had been trusted with the task to cleanse the school, garner those who would be capable of wielding the Orichalcos alongside Snape and destroy those who stood in their way, unable to be saved. Those would be better served as food for the Leviathan.

He glanced down towards the Gryffindor table, the rare appearance of Yugi Mutou sat next to his white-haired friend made him scowl. He yearned to release the innocent from that detestable tainted shadow of a former Pharaoh, perverting the natural order of life and death. Raphael was one of few who could see him, lurking at the edges of the hall, eyes fixed on the form of his host like the parasite he was. Oh, how Raphael wished that he could make his move now but knew that was not his mission. The Nameless Pharaoh's time would come.

And Raphael was known to be patient.

The meal was soon ending, and Raphael thanked God for that. It was exquisite torture to sit so close to the one he wanted to end the most- even Snape, who had yet to use the Orichalcos gifted to him, chafed against the orders of the Headmaster to not touch the witch. Soon, when Dartz had finished using the idiot touting himself as some 'Dark Lord' and fed whatever was left of his soul to the Leviathan, Raphael planned to personally turn this one in too. Wanting to get away as soon as possible, he rose from the table ignoring the questioning looks and comments thrown in his direction. The teachers kept trying to get close to him and Raphael made it known that he was not interested. He only had to get through this year and that was it.

Wandering down a nondescript corridor, Raphael allowed himself to breath and glanced behind him to where he knew he would find Eatos. She gave him a warm, encouraging smile as always, but then her eyes widened in surprise. Before Raphael could react, a hand gripped his arm, throwing him bodily into the wall. Shocked and breathless, Raphael glanced up from his position on the floor to find a woman, dressed in traditional Egyptian robes glaring down at him. Her features were fine but her narrow brown eyes were hard, face framed by midnight black hair streaked with red, oddly not covered by the headdress that was draped around her shoulders. In one hand she carried a golden dagger.

"So," she said quietly, voice filled with venom. "You are the disciple of Dartz." Raphael blinked, glancing behind her to find Eatos was gone. Not cowering, not captured just gone. It was the first time since the wave that tore his life apart that she was nowhere to be found.

"Who are you?" Raphael asked, staggering to his feet, trying to figure out how a woman as slender and small as she was had thrown him with such force. Unlike others, who once noticing his bulk backed away, she simply glared harder, face like ice.

"Perhaps you ought to ask your master," she hissed. "Outside of this building."

"As if you know anything about Dartz," Raphael began and then found the dagger at his throat, surprisingly sharp. Once again, he found himself on the back foot.

"Do not speak that foul serpent's name in my presence. I know all about him. I wonder if you do." Raphael swallowed, feeling the dagger bite into his neck and those brown eyes narrowed, watching the blood snake down his neck. "Do you know it is he plans, or do you just follow blindly, like sheep?"

"Do you?" Raphael shot back, wondering where she was going with this. The woman rolled her eyes, the dagger not moving an inch. It was no idle threat- he had faced many morons with knives before in the employ of Dartz and he knew when one was serious. Her hand didn't shake, she did not faulter, she did not appear to even pay too much attention to it. But there was a deliberate force behind it, once that promised his death if he moved even a millimetre in any direction.

"He plans to raise a behemoth from the sea and destroy the world," she snapped.

"Cleanse," Raphael corrected, and she huffed.

"Destroy. I've heard his rhetoric before. My grandmother bought it just as you did, right up until she lost her soul to him. My uncle gave him an estate and paid for it with his soul and his empire. My son…" She stopped, and Raphael was alarmed to see tears in her eyes. Her son? She looked barely twenty. For a brief moment, her form flickered, and Raphael twitched, almost into the knife, drawing more blood. But if she isn't corporeal how is the dagger? "Do not try to tell me what you were told his plan is."

"You still haven't told me your name," Raphael stated, wanting out of this situation. Silence. Time stretched on as hard eyes stared at him, judging him and that made Raphael mad. What did she know? What could she know about loss and evil in this world? If her family had been taken by the Orichalcos, it meant they were cruel and corrupted, not worthy to be in the new world Dartz was building, where pain and loss would never be felt again. His master, who had lost all of his own family too. He pulled up a hand, gripping her wrist, forgetting for a moment that she was dead and therefore his hand would go right through it. What surprised him the most though was that even in that moment of incorporeality, the dagger did not drop. "Harm me, and you will join them," Raphael spat, hiding his alarm. Fury burnt through ice and the dagger suddenly slashed and Raphael gripped his face, blood dripping between his fingers from the cut on his cheek.

"Perhaps I ought to let you join yours." Raphael froze, staring at her, a chill creeping down his spine. "Be glad that it is the grace of the Prince of Nekhen and future ruler of Khamet that is the only thing between you and your death." She fingered the dagger, oddly clean despite drawing blood only moments before. "It will not stop me from causing you pain however."

"Revenge won't make anything better," a voice chimed in and Raphael turned to find Kheti leaning against the wall, snake coiled around his shoulders. Behind him hovered Eatos and Raphael wondered why she would have gone to him for help. "Take it from someone who knows." The woman made a noise of discontent and suddenly, the dagger was sheathed.

"Sometimes you test my patience thief." Kheti grinned but his eyes were still grim.

"I try." The woman huffed and was suddenly gone in a swirl of robes, disappearing down the hallway. A moment later, Kheti was in front of him, looming over him, an odd expression on his face. "I told you that you were spouting bullshit history. Perhaps I should have shouted it louder." Raphael blinked, confused.

"What are you on about?"

"You have no idea who she is do you?" Kheti's head was tilted, bemused. "And yet you claim to know all about the Shadow Era?" Raphael glared, scowling. Kheti just shrugged. "If you can't recognise Haphiri, how can you claim to have any grasp on what happened back then?" Raphael recoiled and then glanced down where she had disappeared.

"Haphiri? Enheduanna?" Kheti sniggered as an answer and Raphael frowned at him. If there was one person that he had been tasked to recruit, he had just messed it up. How was he supposed to recruit someone who hated his master? "You know her?"

"She pops in from time to time." He was dismissed with a wave of his hand. "The other Tomb Keepers aren't exactly a fan of her." Raphael blinked.

"Of course they wouldn't be. She murdered their precious Pharaoh." Kheti actually froze then, blinking rapidly, processing that. And then, almost as if in slow motion, the teen threw his head back and burst into peals of laughter.

Aw, look Yami, I managed to write a fluffy scene for you after all. My apologies if he seems a bit OOC in this bit, but we so rarely see him act like the teenager he is. Canonically he dies at 16 but we never see him act like a teen. I get that in those days, 16 was middle aged but biologically the body is not fully developed yet. So, I made him act like a teen and gave him some breathing space in this story. I was feeling bad that every time we get round to Yami, I'm just confusing the hell out of him.

Harry, one day you shall not stick your nose in other people's business. Unfortunately for you, that day is not today. We will return to this I promise, because unlike Dumbledore (and JK Rowling I'm sorry I know he does at the end of OotP but we haven't reached that point yet!), I plan on holding Harry accountable for his mistakes. And er, yeah, he doesn't actually see any consequences in getting involved in areas he ought not to until the fifth book where Harry's mistake gets Sirius killed (amongst other things).

I hope I didn't make Raphael too OOC. he's a really hard character to write because he's just kinda… bland in the anime. His main motivation being Dartz killed his family but doesn't know it (actually, his motivation makes less sense than Alistair's, since his family got killed by a wave. Admittedly made by Dartz, but still. A wave. And he blames the world... I can't be the only one confused) and that's about it. His most interesting moment is when he 'sacrifices' himself to throw Yami to safety when the building is falling down around them and then goes after them for revenge for his fallen comrades. Before that though... annoying hypocrite that is hard to characterise. So, er, I did my best to make him somewhat interesting.

Anyhow, I shall see you again on 21st and I hope you liked this chapter!

Fireking492: I'm hoping it's not too close to stuff from before! It was always my plan to have the orichalcos in this story, hence my mentioning of Dartz from chapter 1. But I was trying to make the build up slow because I needed to establish the group in Hogwarts before throwing Dartz in there. I think Dartz being in these stories, or at least the Orichalcos being popular here is because, like fifth year, it's the most 'political' and the only season that attempts (badly) to make you question the main character which was a plot thread I did actually like and wish they had done slightly better (why does no one talk about the fact that Dartz murdered his daughter? Are we never going to address that? yami why are you listening to this guy?). Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one as much too!