Gotc: Howdy everyone! Well, to some of authors out there 8 reviews may not be much, but I must say that all of us here at Disclaimers Inc. are absolutely thrilled!

Ace: -blows on a party horn- Yay.

Gotc: You're a real spot of sunshine aren't you?

Ace: I try. Don't you have a chapter to write or something?

Gotc: -Gasp- You're right! -punts Ace into the fic- PLACES EVERYONE! SQUEAKY!

Squeaky: Squeak! (Nope sorry, the takeover is still in the planning stages. You'll have to content yourselves with Ace for now!)

Gotc: Shhush! No one must know about my takeover plans to rule the world! And now to distract you, THE NEXT CHAPPIE!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Rising Dragon

CHAPTER 3: Back Alley Fairytales

Yugi was till staring out the window, when his grandfather's voice spoke on the other side of his door.

"Yugi?" He said, poking his grey head into the room, "Are you up already?"

"Yeah Grandpa," Yugi said glancing out the window for just one more moment before bringing himself back to the real world, "I'm ok, but I think I still have a problem."

"Oh?" His grandfather joked, coming in and sitting down on Yugi's bed, "Another evil villain after the Puzzle?"

Yugi's hand unconsciously drifted to rest on the puzzle. He'd had enough memories of some lunatic bent on world domination come after him and his friends and family to last him a lifetime. Even joking about it was hard to do.

"Not quite," Yugi said managing a small grin, before he picked up the letter, "An owl delivered a letter this morning saying I had been accepted to some school for wizards in England. Do you think it could be because of the Millennium Items?"

"Could I see that letter?" His grandpa asked holding out his hand.

Yugi watched as Solomon's brow furrowed in a mix of confusion and deep thought while he read through the letter. There was no hint of surprise anywhere on his grandpa's face at all, since this kind of thing just seemed to happen to Yugi almost on a regular basis. After all, how normal could someone expect their life to be when they shared a body with a 3000 year old Egyptian spirit?

"I thought at first it was just some kind of hoax," Yugi said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence, "But Yami said he felt some kind of magic in the letter. He thought it might not be a bad idea to go to maybe learn how to control the Puzzle better…"

"You know, I think I agree with him," Solomon said at last, "It certainly couldn't hurt to learn a thing or two!"

A small wave of relief swept over Yugi, although he wasn't entirely sure why. It wasn't that he never expected him to say no. Ever since he'd solved the Puzzle, his grandfather had actually been encouraging him to do more things like this, as if Yugi would crawl back into his shell again. There was a small chuckle somewhere in his head, and Yugi agreed with it. There was no chance he would ever go back to those days now.

The phone rang, snapping him abruptly out of his thoughts. He reached over to his desk and picked it up, before whoever was on the other line hung up.

"Game Shop," Yugi said, stifling a yawn.

"Yugi, it's Ryou," Came the familiar voice of his friend through the reciever, "You haven't received any….strange mail lately have you?"

"Would getting a letter delivered by an owl count?" Yugi asked.

"So you got one too?" Ryou's voice almost sounded relieved, "I don't know if this is some kind of joke, do you?"

"Yami doesn't seem think so," Yugi said, "And it seems a little elaborate to all just be some kind of joke."

"That's what Bakura said," Ryou mused, "Could it have something to do with the Items?"

"It seems like too much of a coincidence not to be related," Yugi sighed, "Have you heard from Malik?"

"No, it's still pretty early there in Egypt," Ryou admitted, "I'll try to call him though and see if he got one of these too, then I'll head over to your place."

"Sounds good," Yugi said, hanging up, "I'll see you then."

/So the Tomb Robber got one too…/

/What are you thinking?/

/…./

/Yami?/

/Nothing Aibou./

/I'll find out eventually./

/Heh. Don't I know…/

Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang, as Yugi was finishing up a piece of toast. Yugi was just about to unlatch the door, when he heard an angry voice yell on the other side.

"YUGI! OPEN THIS DOOR!"

/It would seem our good friend Kaiba has received an invitation as well./

/Be nice Yami./

/Trust me. That is being nice…/

Yugi shook his head, and unlatched the door, allowing a furious Kaiba to come barging through, clutching a crumpled piece of parchment in one fist. Yugi could just make out through the creases, the same school crest that had adorned his own letter. Behind him, Ryou peeked past the door with an apologetic look on his face.

/An interesting hue of red he's discovered./ Yami chuckled, observing Kaiba as he continued to rant to no one in particular.

Yugi ignored his darker half, and shut the door behind his two guests. Ryou was rubbing his ear, as he must have caught a part of Kaiba's wrath on his way over.

"I'm sorry Yugi," Ryou apologized, "I didn't mean to drag him along too."

"It's alright," Yugi laughed, quietly "If he got a letter too, then I guess it's better that we all talk now. Did you get a hold of Malik?"

"No I-"

"YUGI!" Kaiba roared, "WHICH ONE OF YOU LITTLE GROUP FOR LOST CAUSES SET THIS UP?!"

"Kaiba, I don't think it was-"

"WAS IT WHEELER? OR WAS IT ONE OF YOUR OTHER SCHIZO FRIENDS?!"

"KAIBA!" Yugi yelled to get the raving CEO's attention, "We all got the same letters too. Both me and Ryou."

Kaiba turned his cold eyes on the two, glaring at them fiercely as if he didn't believe them. Yugi pulled out his own letter and showed him as proof. Kaiba looked it over a few times and compared it to his own letter. After a moment he seemed to decide that it at least wasn't anyone they knew behind the letters and calmed down a bit.

"Alright, so let's assume for the sake of argument, that this isn't a joke. Would someone like to explain to me why I woke up to an owl on my bed this morning?" He asked rubbing the bridge of his nose, "And why it was carrying this letter?"

Yugi opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, he felt a tingle run up his spine. He was all too familiar with the feeling, and wasn't surprised to hear the rough voice of the Thief King speak, rather than his friend.

"It must have something to do with your past connections to the Items, Priest," Bakura said, folding his arms, "The Tomb Keeper may have the Rod now, but some of your spells used to be a real pain in my-"

"How many times do I have to explain this to you?!" Kaiba barked, trying to keep some semblance of his composure, "There. Is. No. Such. Thing. As. Magic."

The words were hardly out of the CEO's mouth, when a deafening "CRACK" interrupted their conversation. Yugi tripped over a footstool and landed on his back, while Bakura fell onto the couch. Kaiba, however hardly batted an eye, as he looked at their new visitor.

She was wearing a set of emerald green robes, and a pair of thin looking glasses. Her hair was drawn up into a tight bun, while a tall hat the same color as her robes sat perched atop her head. She observed the three quietly for a moment, even locking eyes with Kaiba, scrutinizing him while he assaulted her with his patented glare.

"Oooohhh….My stomach…" Moaned a familiar voice from beside the woman.

"Malik!" Yugi yelled in surprise and rushed over to help his friend to his feet.

The Egyptian looked awful, his normally tanned face was nearly the color of Bakura's hair, and he looked like he was about to be violently ill. Yugi grabbed the nearest garbage can and offered it to his friend moments before he emptied the contents of his stomach into it.

"Who the hell are you?!" Bakura demanded angrily of the woman, over the sound of Malik's distress, "And what did you do to him?!"

Yugi stole a glance at the yami next to him. Bakura looked like he was about to call something from the Shadow Realm, or send her to meet it. Although she didn't exactly seem like the type to be intimidated, by something like that. He had to bite back a laugh, as a certain Pharaoh's thought drifted through his mind about her and Kaiba being related.

"Oh you're friend will be just fine," She said in a completely no-nonsense tone, "Side-Along Apparation doesn't tend to agree well with first-timers."

"That still doesn't tell us who you are," Kaiba pointed out with a grumble, "And just what gave you the right to come barging in here."

"Like you did?" Bakura scoffed, earning him his own glare.

"My name is Minerva McGonagall," The woman said straightening her robes and hat with a quick tug on each, "Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. I've come to help you all understand just what's going on with your acceptance to our school."

"You're the one who sent us these letters," Yugi said recognizing the name.

"Indeed I am," McGonagall said actually taking a good look at the others in the room. When she had gone to fetch Malik Ishtar, she had been slightly taken aback by the wild nature of his pale blonde hair. She had simply dismissed it as an effect of the harsh Egyptian sun, but now she was left with no explanation for the two in front of her now.

The one that was glaring at her had hair so white, it could have belonged to one of the ghosts that haunted the halls of the school, and the other…There was really no comparing it. Red, black, and yellow? Perhaps he had a Metamorphmagus in the family and wasn't aware of it. At any rate, that hair could certainly give Tonks a run for her money…

"Yes," Yugi replied before she could ask the obvious question, "It's natural. I do use some gel on the bangs to keep then out of my face though."

"Some?" Bakura scoff under his breath.

"If you two idiots are through," Kaiba interrupted, "I for one would like to find out what she has to say about this fairytale school of hers."

"I can assure you Mr. Kaiba," McGonagall said icily, "That our school is very real, and could hardly be considered a 'fairytale'."

"Don't be offended," Malik said finally regaining some control over his stomach, "If Kaiba's involved and it has to do with magic, it's a fairytale."

Kaiba's eyes flashed dangerously as he shot a glare in Malik's direction. The gesture didn't go unseen by Yugi, and he quickly piped up, hoping to diffuse the situation before someone found themselves in the Shadow Realm.

"You said you came to explain about your school," Yugi said trying to relive some tension.

"That I did," McGonagall agreed, "The letters you received earlier today, explained most of it, that our Ministry recognizes you four as potential magic users, and would request that you attend our school to learn how to control your ability."

"Why England though?" Bakura huffed, "I mean, I can see Malik here going, but isn't there a school for this sort of thing here in Japan?"

"There is," McGonagall admitted, "However, Hogwarts is one of the best in the world at training young wizards…Of course, there is another reason we've asked you to join our school. This summer, we had been alerted to the return of one of our history's most notorious Dark Wizards. We have ample reason to believe that he may be after you four for some unknown reason."

Yugi and the others exchanged the briefest of glances. It wasn't the first time they'd heard something like this.

"Hogwarts could provide you all with security, as well as help you to learn more about your abilities," She continued without pause, "As well as extend that same protection to the rest of your families."

"So why now?" Malik asked.

"Why now what?"

"Why are we just getting these letters now?" Malik clarified, "It said that we were going to be in our fifth year at this school. Why didn't we get these letters before?"

"Unfortunately," the Headmistress sighed, "We were not alerted to your presence until very recently. We aren't quite sure why, but there seems to be something about the four of you that kept you from our detection for so long."

"So much for your 'magic' then," Kaiba snorted.

McGonagall turned on her heel, and felt a small smile cross her tightly pursed lips, as she pulled out her wand and pointed it at the cell phone on Kaiba's belt. The young CEO never even flinched, but she could have sworn she'd detected the tiniest trace of concern flash through his cold blue eyes.

"Res Rei Verto!" She snapped, and Kaiba suddenly jumped, as he felt something move where his phone should have been.

A thin green lizard looked up at him with coal black eyes, before scurrying down his pants leg, and across the floor. Satisfied with her demonstration, McGonagall pointed her wand back at the lizard, as it reached the center of the room.

"Finite Incantatum!" She said with a flick of her wrist, and the tiny creature abruptly turned black, before curling up into a tight ball and reformed into the familiar shape of a phone.

The four teens stared at the now still phone with gaping mouths, unable to grasp all of what had just taken place in a short fifteen seconds. In the end, it was Bakura who managed to find his tongue first.

"Well Kaiba," He said slowly, "How's that for pulling a rabbit out of a hat?"

Gotc: Sorry for the wait on this chapter folks! I hope you all enjoyed it though!

Ace: Of course I did! I wasn't in it!

Gotc: And you wonder why I take such delight in making your existence miserable….Anyway, R&R for me so I know how I'm doing! And I'll be sure to catch you all in my next chappie!