III. The Heroes Unite!

There was a knock on the door.

"Enter." Headmistress McGonagall called; Yugi entered.

"I was told to come here?" Yugi said uncertainly.

"Yes." McGonagall replied, "Please, come in. I may as well explain things to you while you wait."

Yugi approached the desk and stood there, as McGonagall cleared her throat.

"As you know, you got a letter telling you to go to King's Cross station and board the—"

"Platform Nine and Three-Quarters." Yugi finished bitterly; he didn't want to remember the security officer's condescending look when he asked for directions.

"Yes." McGonagall said, "Kingsley Shacklebolt, the…leader, of our world, instructed me to assemble the Team here."

Yugi's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Team?"

Just then, as if on cue, the door opened and in strode none other than Seto Kaiba.

"I'm terribly sorry I'm late, Professor." Kaiba said, closing the door behind him, "I got held up at—" He stopped dead in his tracks, and looked at Yugi. "You!" Kaiba said in pure surprise; he looked at McGonagall. "Minerva! Explain yourself!"

"I told you you would have colleagues." McGonagall stated simply with a shrug.

"Yes but I wasn't expecting…I mean why would…what the hell is going on here?"

"I'm just as confused as you are, Kaiba." Yugi told him, "Long time no see, by the way. Holy crap…you don't even look a day older."

Kaiba straightened his collar as he stood next to Yugi and shook his hand. "I heard about the Mutt. I admit I'm impressed. Lucky I'm retired, though." He gave Yugi a smirk, before turning his attention to McGonagall. "All right. We're here. You may as well tell us why, out of all people, you chose us two."

McGonagall looked up at the two men before her. "The answer is simpler than you think: you're wizards."

"Oh please!" Kaiba said with a roll of his eyes, "I've heard and seen a lot of preposterous things, some if which are actually frickin real, but I know for a fact, that all that magic shit is past. Ask Yugi here; all of that magic that turned out to be real: no more. It's gone. History. Doesn't exist anymore."

"That magic is no more." McGonagall told Kaiba, "But that was only one of many different forms and disciplines of magic. The fact remains: both your ancestors were users of that ancient magic that is no more. The fact that the magic is extinct does not change the fact that your ancestors were users of it; they were wizards, just as you are."

"I'm sorry." Yugi said, "But I have to agree with Kaiba on this: all the magic I did was not done by me; it was done by a spirit who shared a body with me."

"Atem, Pharaoh of Egypt." McGonagall said, "Your ancestor; he was a good friend of your—" she looked at Kaiba—"ancestor: Seto, High Priest of the Royal Family: also a wizard. You have the power inside you both. Now is the time for you to awaken it. Awaken it, and use it to save your world once more, as you did ten years ago."

"This is insane." Kaiba said, turning around. "I was told my skills were needed for a secret mission to protect international security. I did not know it involved this…bullshit."

He approached the door, but before he could open it, it swung open and two men: one with black hair, glasses and scar, and one with red hair, entered; the one with black hair looked at Kaiba.

"Seto Kaiba?" Harry asked, surprised. "Seto Kaiba of Kaiba Corporation?" he looked at McGonagall. "Professor—"

"Yes it is." McGonagall told him. "Mr. Kaiba, please come back. We weren't lying when we said it was a matter of international security.

"Listen: three days ago, there was a break-in at Azkaban prison; that's the prison where criminals in our world go. An unknown persons entered the prison, and freed every single Death Eater, and left the others behind."

"Death Eater?" Yugi asked.

"Followers of Lord Voldemort." Harry told him; that didn't help Yugi one bit. "Professor, maybe you should…"

McGonagall nodded, and looked at Yugi and Kaiba, who had come back. "In 1970, our world was plunged into a state or emergency and fear. A dark wizard named Lord Voldemort was spreading terror throughout both worlds. His terror spree was ended in Halloween of 1981, when he was physically killed while trying to commit a murder. Voldemort was presumed dead by most of the community. Then, fourteen years later, he returned and resumed his activities, until he was killed, this time permanently, in 1999. All of his followers, the Death Eaters, were sentenced to life in Azkaban; those who weren't killed, of course."

"And how did this…Voldemort, die?" Kaiba asked.

"Same way he did in 1981." McGonagall said, "He was killed by his own curse while trying to murder that man next to you."

Yugi and Kaiba looked at Harry, who, even after sixteen years still felt awkward when people stared at him.

"Harry Potter." Harry introduced himself, "And this is Ronald Weasley." Ron nodded at Yugi and Kaiba.

Then, the door to the office opened a fourth time, and Link entered. He saw the others, nodded in acknowledgement, then looked at McGonagall.

"Perfect timing, Link." McGonagall said, "I was just giving them the situation." She looked at the five before her. "So as I said; this person freed all the Death Eaters from Azkaban, and now we've got servants of the greatest dark lord of our time roaming freely all over the wizarding world."

"Do we have any idea who is behind it?" Yugi asked; Harry chuckled.

"Well, actually, you were one of the early suspects. But—" he continued, seeing Yugi's shocked face, "They soon concluded that you couldn't have. No, our primary suspect, whom we believe almost 100 to be behind it…is Malik Ishtar."

Yugi and Kaiba looked at each other, shocked. "Ishtar!" Kaiba snarled, "I knew we should've finished him off when we had the chance! Damn terrorist…he almost became the death of us back in 1997!"

"If Marik has returned…" Yugi said gravely, "Then we will have a great challenge in our hands. Ten years ago, I had to fight Marik. I thought I had vanquished the evil that lay in Malik's mind. Apparently I just weakened it for Marik to take back control."

"What's he after now?" Kaiba asked, exaspearated.

"The Deathly Hallows." Link said out of nowhere. Everyone turned to look at him; Harry and Ron looked most shocked.

"That can't be, can it?" Ron asked Harry, "No one's touched them since you, mate."

"It's true." Harry told Link, "I am only one of three people alive who can attest to the existence of the Hallows. Others may believe in it, but only me, Ron, and another friend of ours have actually seen them. Who told you this? Who told you this Marik bloke is after the Deathly Hallows?"

"A ghost." Link replied, "Some man named Grindelwald."

Harry's face paled. "Were you in a large prison tower when this happened?"

"Nurmengard Prison." Link told him, "'For the Greater Good.'"

Ron swore, and looked at Harry. "I believe him."

"I don't." Harry said, taking out his Invisibility Cloak. "This..." he said, showing it to Link, "is one of the Deathly Hallows. Watch." He draped the cloak around himself, and vanished on the spot.

Hit him with a spell. Rauru told Link from inside his mind, I want to test something out.

Link took out his wand, pointed it at the spot where Harry vanished, and cried, "Incendio!" He shot a fireball at the seemingly empty area; the fire seemed to float in midair, then began spreading, as if it were burning an invisible tent.

"Aguamenti!" Ron cried, extinguishing the fire, as Harry emerged from under the Cloak. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

The Cloak was affected by your spell! Rauru exclaimed.

"Your Cloak was affected by my spell!" Link repeated.

"NO, YOU BLOODY THINK?!" Harry said angrily.

The Cloak of Invisibility is supposed to be immune to all spells and enchantments!

"The Cloak of Invisibility is supposed to be immune to all spells and enchantments!" Link said.

Harry stopped; good lord, he was right. "Ron…" he said numbly, "He's right." He looked at his friend. "Remember, ten years ago when we were using it to hunt Horcruxes? Snatchers and Death Eaters would shoot stunners in air, thinking we were hiding under the cloak, and even if they hit us, we weren't affected! That was one of the things that made the cloak special; it was an invisibility cloak by its nature, not because of a spell cast on it! But…if it can be affected now…does that mean…that it's no longer…"

"You must find the Hallows, Potter!" McGonagall said urgently, "I don't know what is going on here, but you must find the Hallows, and see about their condition!"

"We'll do that." Harry told her; McGonagall, however, was now looking at Link.

"I believe, that you have a friend with you right now?" she asked Link.

Release me. Rauru told Link; Link closed his eyes. Next to him, Rauru appeared. The other four jumped in surprise.

"This shit just keeps getting better and better." Kaiba snarled.

"My name is Rauru." the Sage introduced himself, "I am from the same realm as Link here, and I can vouch for Link. You see, it was Grindelwald who guided me to this realm. He had been trapped in his own tower, weighted down by his sins in life. He told me as he led me here that he would lead me to this castle, and in return he was promised freedom at last."

"Who promised him freedom?" Harry asked.

"I did not bother to ask him." Rauru answered.

"What about you?" Ron asked Link, "Did Grindelwald guide you here?"

Link shook his head. "No. I was lured to this realm by…something. I don't even know what it was.

McGonagall looked at the six individuals before her. "You are the ones." she said, "You have been chosen to get to the bottom of this whole crisis. For the sake of your respective worlds, you'd best not fail."

"Why us?" Yugi asked her, "Who recommended us?"

"The Minister told me that it would be you six." McGonagall said, "I actually asked that same question. He just said 'I only do what he tells me to do.', and he left it at that."

"But that isn't important." she said, "What is important is that you find the Deathly Hallows, before Marik Ishtar does. If he gets to them first, then…I don't even want to tell you."

All six of them nodded; Harry turned to them.

"I know where they're at. I'll lead the way."

And with that, the six heroes left McGonagall's office to begin their mission.