Author's Note: Squee! I'm so glad that so many people really like this fic! I'm working really hard on it but I'm trying to find a job and finish my school work at the same so its kinda difficult. Anyway, I plan on trying really, really hard to update at least once a month so hopefully that will be able to tide you guys over. I really like my plans for the next few chapters. I hope you enjoy them. Thank you all so much for your kind words! Keep reviewing please, I read them over lots cause it always gives me a confidence boost knowing that you all liked the chapter/entire fic. Well, enjoy this latest bit!

Yuugi frowned as the puzzle pulled him through the Shadow Realm. It wasn't leading him deeper into the realm like he thought it would, instead it was pulling him along the outskirts which meant that Yami was in the physical world. The spell he used in combination with the potion would take him the shortest route to his target. The deafening silence was broken suddenly, when Snape stumbled and growled.

"Where are we?" Snape asked, finally speaking up as he regained his composure. Yuugi turned to back to look at Snape. He had been so focused on finding Yami that he had forgotten about Snape. He felt terrible as he looked Snape over. The man was paler than usual and looked almost faint. The Shadow Realm was not meant for normal mortals.

"I'm so sorry Snape-sensei! I was so focused on finding Yami that I forgot about you" Yuugi apologized as he took Snape's hand into his own before the man could protest. Snape pulled his hand away despite that something about holding Yuugi's hand had pushed back the heaviness that had been closing in since he had stepped into this darkness.

"You spoke English" Snape said with a frown and a blink as Yuugi scowled at him for pulling away.

"The Shadow Realm is beyond such petty things as language. It is a place unto itself and it holds a great deal of secrets. It pulls on humans and tries to drain them. You will not last long unless you take my hand. Please Snape-sensei, I don't want you to get hurt." Yuugi explained as he extended his arm out to Snape to take. Snape reluctantly took hold of Yuugi's much smaller hand. Yuugi smiled softly at Snape before gently pulling them in the direction that the Millennium Puzzle was taking them.

They ploughed ob for another minute or so before the Millennium Puzzle seemed to hit an invisible wall. The Puzzle flashed silver and dropped back down to hang serenely around Yuugi's neck. Yuugi's eye's were unreadable, but there was a small frown marring his face.

"I presume that was not supposed to happen?" Snape queried, still holding Yuugi's hand. The boy may have been right about the hand thing didn't mean that Snape had to like it. He still had to squash the urge to sneer at the young man.

"Well sort of. You see that was the spell finishing, it flashes silver when the target is found safe, and red if there is something wrong with the target. That means Yami is behind whatever this is." Yuugi explained as he pressed his free hand against whatever the Millennium Puzzle had run in to.

It felt like he was touching a cool wall made of glass. He pushed at it with his magic and found it to be just as ungiving. When he touched it again, with his magic and his hand, it felt like a solid brick wall. But there was something else to it…..something not of the Shadow Realm….Aha! It felt like the magic that Snape and his people used! But what was it doing in the Shadow Realm? And why was it blocking him from Yami?

"Well?" Snape demanded impatiently. Just because he didn't feel that crushing weight all around anymore, didn't mean that he wasn't still anxious to leave this God-awful place.

"There's something in the way. Yami is behind what ever this is." Yuugi said, his lips pursed as he rapped his knuckles against whatever the wall was. Snape frowned and moved forward to assess the block in front of them. He pulled out his wand to perform a simple identifying spell. He didn't dare touch anything in this strange place. When the boy didn't do anything to stop him, Snape cast his spell. The spot where the spell hit sparkled prettily before fading away. Snape cursed silently, mindful of the young ears beside him and tried again with the same results. Snape cursed aloud this time.

"What is it Snape-sensei?" Yuugi asked worriedly.

"It would seem that this is a part of the spell that brought you here. What it is doing in this place is beyond me, but there is nothing you nor I can do." Snape ground out. He was not at all pleased about having been dragged into this Shadow Realm on a goose chase.

"I see." Yuugi said quietly while internally he was screaming and pitching a fit to put any two-year old to shame. It wasn't fair! What the hell had Yami and he done to deserve this?

"There is nothing we can do here" Snape reaffirmed gently. Yuugi sighed and brushed his fingers forlornly against the wall that separated him from the other half of his soul. He would come back later and without Snape. Then he would really let loose and see just what the stupid thing was made out of. Let's see it stand up to a pissed off and desperate reincarnated pharaoh!

"Lets go Snape-sensei, you shouldn't be here." Yuugi said in a subdued manner. He had to get Yami back, he just had to.

"And you should?" Snape retorted as he allowed himself to be dragged in what he hoped was the right direction.

"Not really, but its magic and being is a part of me so it sees me as one of its own." Yuugi explained as he quickly moved his way through the Shadow Realm. He wanted to get Snape out, you never knew what was lurking in the Shadow Realm. Or what might find the idea of a 'helpless' mortal enticing. And Yuugi wasn't keen on fighting at the moment, he wanted to save his energy for what he was beginning to call 'The Wall'.

"Hn." Snape grunted, this place despite its creeping feeling of despair was intriguing…perhaps it could be used to defeat the Dark Lord. The boy could be of some use after all.

"Snape-sensei…um…I don't want to be a burden…but…" Yuugi stammered, he was unsure of how to approach the subject. He didn't want to trouble Snape, and he hardly knew the man…but if he was going to be staying a while it was probably a good idea to learn the native lingo.

"Well what is it? Out with it!" Snape snapped in a 'very strict teacher' sort of way.

"Could you teach me English?" Yuugi blurted out in a rushed, hopeful sort of manner. Snape glared at the back of Yuugi's head. He had been expecting the question for a little while now, but that was not why he was glaring. He was glaring because he was going to end up teaching the ungrateful brat whether he wanted to or not.

"Very well. I sincerely hope for your sake that you are a fast learner Mouto, because I am not a lax teacher." Snape remarked.

'Noooooooooooo! Now we're never going to have any free time! How will we find out what happens to Arthur Dent? Will they get there in time!(1)' Inner Snape wailed pathetically.

They continued on in silence for a good twenty minutes before Yuugi paused a moment and the air in front of them seemed to almost shimmer. Yuugi then walked into the shimmer and pulled Snape with him.

Snape trembled as he and Yuugi exited the Shadow Realm. He swayed and found his feet failing him. Yuugi steadied the dark haired man and lead him to sit down upon the big chair in Snape's sitting room.

"Go over to the large cabinet, open it and you while see a small vial containing a purple liquid" Snape said unthinkingly in English, gesturing to where he wanted the boy to go. Yuugi just blinked at him., then shook his head.

Yuugi pressed something towards him, and waited for Snape to take it.

"This will help" Yuugi explained and Snape raised an eyebrow but looked at what the boy had put into his hand. It looked like some sort of potion, but it wasn't one he could identify. Snape looked at Yuugi suspiciously, what was the boy up to?

"Maaa, you're so suspicious Snape-sensei! I swear to you, it's only something to help. I used to have to have it when I came out of the Shadow Realm because I wasn't used to it." Yuugi coaxed, trying to get Snape to drink it before the proud man passed out. If Snape passed out it would be a looong time before the man awoke as his body would be recuperating itself from the strain that had been put on it.

Snape cast an uneasy look at Yuugi but downed the potion anyways. He grimaced, it was sickeningly sweet, like pure liquid sugar. He felt better though...and now that he did he was even more curious as to what was in the potion. He eyed the vial and saw to his satisfaction that there was several drops left in the bottom. Excellent, he could decipher it later. He pocketed the vial and rose from his seat.

"An eventful morning, perhaps it is time that we had breakfast" Snape said and opened the door to the hallway. Yuugi took this as his cue to follow Snape and hurried after the tall dark haired man. Snape walked swiftly and more than once Yuugi had to run to catch up, but that was only because he kept pausing to look at something that he had never seen before. The castle was absolutely fascinating!

Yami's Soul Room

Yami had a lot of patience, and right now the Gods were certainly trying his patience. It had to be some sort of joke because every time he thought he was nearly free something else seemed to be in his way. It was going to drive him insane. Again. And he really didn't want to go crazy again, it wasn't at all pleasant.

He had managed to free his right arm and shoulder and his left foot but now he wasn't sure if he could get the rest of himself free. He felt like throwing his arms up in disgust and screaming, but he didn't have that option. If he dared do that the chains would tighten and move, making all of his hard work useless.

Ever so slowly he turned his head and assessed his situation. Perhaps if he moved his hip and then lifted his left foot...

Yami froze as he caught sight of something that should definitely not be. There was a rather plain and ugly door in the middle of his soul room. What was it? Why was it in his soul room? And when had it gotten there? It certainly wasn't something from his mind or Yuugi's...Yami's eyes narrowed.

He silently summoned the guardian of his mind. The Dark Magician appeared, confused but ready to to assist in any way he could.

The Dark Magician's eyes widened and then narrowed in fury when he saw the strange door in his Master's mind. How dare someone intrude upon his Master's sanctuary!

Yami watched with satisfaction as the Dark Magician began to glow with power and used his Dark Magic attack to obliterate the door. He and the Dark Magician both frowned as they realized that the door was completely fine.

Uh oh.

That could be something of a problem.

Dark Magician was at a loss. There had to be something he could do. His eyes narrowed to slits and glowed with his inner power. Whatever dared trespass would be destroyed...one way or another...

(1) For the greater crowd of people who have no clue what that was, it was a reference from the FANTASTIC muggle book, Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. DO NOT PANIC! /giggles/