A/N: Thank you all for reviewing and adding this story to your mailing list! I was happy to see that everyone was excited with the first chapter. Just wondering if I should have Harry play Duel Monsters or not. I don't think it would fit him. He will understand the game but because he's seen the Ka creatures used in combat he will never be able to simply play the game. So if Teddy were to play Duel Monsters, what sort of deck would he have? (Still not sure if any of them fit into the Duel Monsters world) Anyway, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter 2
Ishizu Ishtar, Bearer of the Tauk

The resemblance was uncanny and it made Harry slightly uncomfortable. The reincarnation of the Palace Healer and bearer of the Golden Tauk didn't seem to notice his discomfort and smiled kindly at him. "Mr Potter I presume?" she said in a kind but no-nonsense tone. "I am Ishizu Ishtar and I understand that you were looking for information on my Neckless."

Harry blinked and quickly tried to compose himself. He straightened slightly and held out his hand, confident smile back in place. "It is an honour Miss Ishtar," the raven head said with all the charm he could muster, bending to kiss the back of the hand she had given him to shake. "I do believe you saw me coming."

Miss Ishtar hid her surprise well, though it could be that she was still in a slight daze from the formality of the greeting. Harry smiled as he watched the Egyptian collect her thoughts. "I'm not sure what my colleague has told you," the Wizard continued, his eyes sparkling in amusement. "But I can assure you I know a lot more about how the Items came to be than you could ever have found out. Tell me Miss Ishtar," he continued a little more sternly when she started to protest. "Who was the original bearer of the Golden Tauk you so proudly show off to the world?"

The Egyptian gaped at him, no longer being able to hide her surprise which quickly turned to a serene kind of anger. "You had better choose your words carefully Mr Potter or you can be sure never to work for this museum ever again."

The Wizard raised an amused eyebrow. "Does that mean that you do not know? That is quite surprising. I would have thought that you would have at least bothered to find out before you show off such a precious artefact to the world. And such a powerful one at that. Tell me, Miss Ishtar, have you figured out what it does yet?"

"Of course I have," Ishizu said, straightening slightly in her chair. The action reminded Harry a little of Hermione when she knew an answer to a difficult question. "It foretells the future and allows me to see the past."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Does it now?"

"It does," the Egyptian said with a serene voice as if she was trying to sound mystical. "It foretold your arrival here."

"Then why are you showing surprise and anger at my questions and statements?" Harry asked with a knowing smile. "How is it that you, who can see the future, know nothing about what I am about to tell you?"

"And what, pray tell, is it you are about to tell me Mr Potter?" Ishizu asked, clearly annoyed.

"You tell me Miss Ishtar." Harry was trying his best not to grin like a Cheshire Cat. A small tick was forming at the Egyptian's brow and she seemed to be trying her hardest not to growl at him. Her appearance wasn't nearly as frightening as Isis on a warpath when he had escaped her clutches again. The Wizard would never be arrogant about this though. It was important that Miss Ishtar knew about the Tauk. That it would only be able to show her possibilities, especially since the Dark Powers had disappeared with Zorc. Not that Harry was too sure about that last bit. He would need to hold it to make sure that the Dark Powers had been completely absorbed when Zorc was resurrected.

Ishizu took a position which Harry had seen Isis use quite a few times when she had tried to summon an image from the future. He frowned slightly at the resemblance. Miss Ishtar seemed to hold a lot of faith in those images of the 'future' the Tauk showed her. Maybe it was a side effect or it was naivety.

The Power hummed through the room as Ishizu tried to summon images of the future or maybe even the present. She frowned slightly. Ishizu was either not being shown what she wanted or nothing at all. Isis sometimes had that problem. It was like that time she hadn't been able to predict Bakura's moves or see Harry's future. The frown was more one of discomfort rather than annoyance and when she snapped open her eyes to stare at him, a slight look of horror was visible in those deep, sea blue eyes.

"Impossible." The word crossed her lips before she could even sort out her thoughts, so Harry waited patiently for the new bearer of the Tauk. She stared at him, seemingly making up her mind, before closing her eyes again. Harry remained patient as Ishizu tried and tried again to make sense of whatever she was seeing. His patience ran out when she closed her eyes for the sixth time. "If I may, Miss Ishtar?"

Harry held out a calm hand and stared at her almost impassively. Ishizu blinked before placing a possessive hand on the Tauk. "What are you…? No, absolutely not!"

The Wizard sighed and rolled his eyes before standing. "Very well, keep it on if you must. I simply need to touch in anyway." And he reached out with his hand. Ishizu leaned away from his hand and Harry halted his action. "Either give it to me or keep it on so I can touch it. I just wish to show you something that you have yet to understand."

The Egyptian hesitated before finally lowering her hand and letting Harry reach for the Tauk. The moment he touched the Golden Item the Wizard was sure something had changed. The overbearing Darkness had made way for something much more subtle. It was like a drug, once you tried it you would be hooked forever. Only permanently removing yourself from the Item would guarantee rehabilitation. Of course there would be side effects and without resolve you would most likely fall back into using again. Ishizu had already started using the Tauk, relying heavily on its ability to predict possible futures. She would need to be shown that wearing it everyday could possibly create unhealthy side effects.

The image of Isis flashed through Harry's mind again and he could recall the conversation he had with the Palace Healer about the Dark Powers stored inside. Even if he could remember the conversation, the images flashing through his mind were muted, as if he had turned the sound of the television off. The feeling that someone was watching the same memory flowed through him and opened his eyes again, withdrawing his hand from the Tauk. Ishizu stared at him, her blue eyes slightly frightened. "But…"

Harry lowered his hand and patted the Egyptian's arm in a comforting gesture. "It's alright if you don't understand. It is why I am here. Let me tell you a little about myself and the reason why I tried to find you now and not before." The Wizard proceeded to tell the new bearer of the Tauk a little about what happened when he was in the past. He didn't tell her about magic or of him being a Wizard even if she might know a little about magic. "I awoke the day after you spoke with Jack, Mr Harper."

Ishizu remained silent, her expression almost blank but a look of horror stuck in her eyes. For a moment Harry feared that she would never snap out of it, but her mouth opened suddenly to utter a single word which she seemed quite fond of. "Impossible."

"Ah, but it is not Miss Ishtar," Harry replied and although his tone was teasing his expression was far from it. It was important that she would understand. The moment Ishizu understood that this was out of her control was the moment she would accept him as a… well someone who would follow her. The Items attract each other so it would be logical that she would try to find the others. "There are some things in this world which are entirely possible. The magic within your Tauk is but a small portion of the magic which flows trough this world."

Ishizu fixed her sharp blue eyes on the raven head, suddenly a lot less horror struck. "How is it you got to the past Mr Potter? What are you hiding from me?"

Harry shook his head. "Nothing you need to know Miss Ishtar. There are some secrets which must remain hidden," he added quickly when it seemed that Ishizu wanted to retort again. "Unless you wish to forget everything and loose your pretty necklace to me, I would suggest you don't dig any further. If you wish to keep it, then let me accompany you on your journey."

The Egyptian placed a possessive hand on the Tauk again. "And what makes you think I am going anywhere, let alone ask you to accompany me?"

"It is, what some people describe as, your fate," the Wizard said with a small smile. "The Items belong together as they were forged that way. Apart they are quite useless. Sure they might give their bearers certain gifts like seeing possible futures, but always so the current owner can find another Item. It is one of the reasons why you could not see my future. Its power belongs to the past and is weakened by being so far apart from the others."

The bearer of the Tauk frowned slightly. "But my brother…" she whispered and Harry looked at her in worry. "What about him?" the Wizard asked sharply.

Ishizu hesitated. "I have a brother who also holds one of the Millennium Items." She started to rummage through a desk draw, the frown intensifying as she took a picture from it and gave it to Harry. Two young children were standing uncertainly next to each other, a much older child standing right behind them. "The oldest is Rashid, our adopted brother. Marik is my younger brother. These days he holds the Millennium Rod and has recently acquired two God Cards."

Harry frowned, staring at the child who was looking at the camera in uncertainty. Those pale blonde hairs which were almost white reminded Harry strongly of the bastard Thief Bakura. His blue eyes, so like his sister's, were expressing a great deal of fear with hidden anger. The markings around his eyes showed that they were all part of an Egyptian clan and the amount of gold they were all wearing showed their status to the world. These two children were part of the head family, where as the older one, Rashid, was clearly a nobody in the clan. "The Rod does not belong to your brother."

Ishizu shook her head. "We were only meant to be the protectors of the Items until the Pharaoh showed himself once more. We of the Ishtar are keepers of the secret, but long ago when we were children my brother became obsessed with the outside world. He developed another persona, one who was very interested in the Millennium Items. When Marik was given the secret of the Pharaoh, the other persona gained a great deal of influence. You see, the secret is carved into the skin of the oldest male when he comes of age." Harry fought not to flinch, but Ishizu didn't seem to notice. "Rashid, who is very loyal to my brother, fought with our father about who was to carry the secret. He was supposed to receive it until Marik was born you see. Rashid was nearly killed by our father when he swore loyalty to Marik by carving it into his face. Marik, enraged by our father's desire to kill Rashid, lost himself and the other persona took control, killing our father. Without Rashid the other persona of Marik will roam this world, killing everyone in it. Even me."

Harry remained silent, absorbing the information given to him. This Marik sounded like Tom Riddle when he was still young, locked inside his room at the Orphanage because of the powers which stirred deep inside of him. No wonder the child had snapped when he saw his adoptive brother nearly killed by his own father. "You said he stole something?"

The Egyptian nodded. "I don't know if you've heard of a game called Duel Monsters?" Harry shook his head negative. "It is based on ancient Egyptian beasts depicted in one of the old ritual rooms which were discovered a few years ago. The young Pegasus Crawford led the expedition and returned with pictures of great mythical beasts. Inspired by these pictures he created a card game, each card depicting an image he had once seen. He also created cards of the Great Beasts known as the Egyptian Gods."

Harry choked in his tea, staring wide eyed at the woman in front of him. "You've got to be joking!"

"I assure you I am not," Ishizu said heavily, relaxing into her chair again after placing a stack of cards in front of the Wizard. Harry's hand shook slightly as he inspected them, recognizing the figures depicted on the individual Monster cards. "Mr Crawford seemed to realise the danger of creating those cards and gave them to the Ishtar family for protection. I am sorry to say that my brother got wind of it and stole two of the cards before I could lock them away properly."

Harry nodded his head, this time it was his turn to get stuck in a daze. "I can understand the temptation," he whispered, his finger's tingling at the underlying magic which had created a link between existing Monster and card. "How do you summon them? I take it that everyone can summon them whether they have magic or not?"

"Kaiba Corporation has created something called Duel Arena's," Ishizu said with a slight frown, taking a sip from her own drink. "It's a stadium based field which uses holograms to project the card data to certain areas of a larger field. I do believe that Mr Kaiba was working on a smaller, more portable, version so he could make the game more exciting and excisable to the public."

"How convenient," Harry muttered, his eyes flashing dangerously. "This is a dangerous 'card' game Miss Ishtar. When I was in Ancient Egypt we had these creatures as well. They were not carved into walls and tablets for worship or decoration. These creatures are the souls of the dead and criminals. Most of them were highly dangerous, locked inside the dungeons never to be used. Others might have been used to fight our enemies. Ka creatures were mostly dangerous, trained into submission only to be used by the Pharaoh's court. Only they had the power to wield the Golden Items and the Ka creatures."

"I understand your concern Mr Potter," Ishizu began but she was interrupted when Harry barked a laugh. "I highly doubt that Miss Ishtar. Do not worry, I'm not that concerned. I find this interesting. I willingly gave my Ka to my Pharaoh so let's see shall we? This could be a lot of fun. Miss Ishtar, you're not getting rid of me now."

Ishizu shuddered slightly at the insane but determent look in those green eyes. "I do not…" but she seemed to rethink her situation. "Very well Mr Potter," she said with an equal determent look in her eyes. "If you wish to join me, then you will work for me. You told me you were a guard for the Palace, so you will become a guard for me."

Harry looked at the Egyptian woman before him, eyebrows raised at the bold statement before a wide grin spread across his face. "Very well Miss Ishtar." He couldn't help himself, he laughed.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Yup," Harry said cheerfully as he continued to pack his belongings.

"But what about your contract with the Goblins?"

The raven head dodged around the oldest Weasley who was seething for some unknown reason. Harry waved the question away in a careless manner. "Don't worry too much about it," the Hero of the Wizarding World said with a smile. "This might actually turn into a clue for a new sort of magic. I'm sure the Goblins won't mind. Besides all I have to do is grovel a little and find a way for the Goblins to use this type of magic and I'll be in their good books again. Besides I would have been a liability here if I continued to work on the tombs. I already collapsed once and was in a coma for seven days. I probably lost them a lot of money."

"And what about Teddy?" Bill asked, seeing no real fault in Harry's plans on dealing with the Goblins. The raven head was no longer the insecure fourteen year old he had met ten, nearly eleven, years ago.

Harry halted in his actions, turning to face Bill fully. "What about my Godson?" the raven head asked softly.

Bill nearly flinched. "I thought you wanted to spend more time with Teddy, especially since the incident."

The raven head sighed and took a seat on the bed, thoughtful expression in place. "I don't want him dragged into this Bill," he whispered softly, a distant look in his eyes. "This could possibly be dangerous. If Teddy get's hurt I don't know what I'd do." Harry sighed softly. "Besides Andromeda would kill me if I got her grandson hurt, whether unintentionally or not."

The oldest Weasley sibling nodded with a knowing smile. "That she would. Grandma's are like that. So are mothers for that matter," he added with a grimace. They fell into a thoughtful silence. "Anyway, summer holidays are around the corner and we wanted to get to celebrate your birthday this time."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry said innocently. "I've stopped getting older when I turned twenty-one, which is the legal age to do anything anywhere."

The red head snorted, rolling his eyes. "Yes, the fact still is that you are turning twenty-…"

"La, la, la, can't hear you," Harry said childishly, covering his ears and turning away.

Bill stepped forward and ruffled through those raven locks, earning a glare from the owner. "We are going to celebrate your birthday Harry wherever you are. Where are you going anyway?"

"Japan," he replied before face palming. "Damn you Weasley."

The Curse Breaker chuckled. "You did it yourself. Don't you have a house there or something?" Harry nodded, pouting slightly before sighing. It would be nice to see everyone again and he figured he could do with a break at some point. He just didn't want to put everyone in danger again, especially his Godson. "As long as everyone promises to stay away when I say it's too dangerous then it's fine."

"Awesome," a voice cried from outside, before both Gringotts employees heard a cry of pain. Harry stared up at Bill with a raised eyebrow and the red head shook his head. The tent opened and Ron and Hermione entered it, Ron limping slightly. "I like Japan," Ron said, letting himself drop next to Harry on the bed. The raven head was looking at his best friend in surprise. "The Sushi there is awesome even if their language is weird and the cartoons they come up with…"

"Anyway," Hermione said with a pointed glare at her husband who instantly turned silent. Bill chuckled, quickly turning away to hide it. "I can't believe you are planning another expedition, a dangerous one at that, and not even bothered to pass it by us before you went off in a hurry. I understand that you want to do things by yourself but we are still your family Harry. We want to know what goes on in your life so we don't worry all the time. You just woke up from a coma for Merlin's sake! How can you be so irresponsible?"

Harry held up his hand, an understanding look in his eyes. "Because I was in a coma Hermione. I'm doing this because I lost that time. I told you about what happened in Ancient Egypt Hermione, but what if it had been you or Ron who was stuck somewhere and needed my help. You know I can't just sit on the side lines. I love you and Ron because you are my family, just like I love Teddy and everyone else in my life. But the man I shared an incredible seven months with, who I swore my loyalty and heart too, he needs me now. How can I protect a loved one if he's on the other side of the world?"

Green eyes stared into brown, willing Hermione to understand just how much the Pharaoh meant to him. "Miss Ishtar is my way into that world and playing as her guard guarantees me that I will meet the Pharaoh at some point. Besides, I need to keep an eye on her Millennium Item. Once they are all collected again I might be able to destroy them. They should never have been created," he added softly, feeling his back itch slightly.

A silence fell between the four of them, all troubled looks on their faces. "Well," Ron said, breaking the silence and clapping his best friend on the shoulder. "If you need our help then give us a shout. We're here for you Harry, so don't lock us out."

Harry smiled back, relief washing over him. "Thanks mate."

Bill rolled his eyes. "It's not like we would have left you to fend for yourself. Bloody hell Harry we fought a war with you, we trusted you with our lives then. Nothing has changes in that aspect. Not for anyone in our family and I'm sure not for anyone in most of Wizarding Britain."

The raven head blushed, pushing his two index fingers together in a gesture of discomfort. Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes. "I would have thought this would no longer be necessary. You're my little brother Harry, I thought you knew. How many more times do I have to tell you this?" The bushy haired ex-Gryffindor suddenly hugged her oldest friend, letting him relax in her arms. "You're so troublesome sometimes."

Harry huffed indignantly and Ron chuckled cheerfully. Hermione and Harry broke apart and she petted his cheek in a motherly fashion. Harry wiggled his eyebrows at his female friend. "Is there something you two want to tell me?"

Hermione blushed scarlet and punched him on the arm. "No!" she said while Bill chuckled and Ron gaped at Harry.

A sudden idea struck Harry. "Could you two do me a favour?"

"Depends on what it is," Ron said, looking at his best friend suspiciously. "It's not anything weird is it?"

The raven head raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Ron shrugged. "I dunno, smuggling dragons or treasure. Break into the Ministry or Hogwarts or Gringotts." He dodged a punch by his wife, cheeky grin in place.

Harry chuckled. "I swear it's nothing weird," he promised, crossing with his finger over his heart. "I just wondered if you could find out something about two people before mailing me the information."

"Who?" Hermione asked, finally succeeding in flicking Ron on his forehead.

"Pegasus J. Crawford and Seto Kaiba."