Summary: After Harry's fourth year, Dumbledore realizes that his blood protections won't work, and so sends him to live with his second cousin who happens to live in Japan, by the name of Ryou Bakura.
Disclaimer: Don't own. Sorry, there won't be any funny ones here.
A/N: Btw, this AUs the Potterverse at the end of Harry's fourth year. Fifth year happens as it does in the books, though, except where I go into detail about it.
"English" "-Japanese-" Thoughts "Telephone or other such communication device" (A/N)
Last Time:
"Oi! Green-eyes! Ryou! Let's get going, here!" Bakura had Harry's trunk on one shoulder and was carrying Hedwig's cage in the other.
"Coming, Yami!" Ryou called, grabbing Harry's sleeve and running after his twin. Harry only barely managed a good-bye wave before he was through the barrier.
Chapter 2: Evil Happenings or Shadi, WTF?
Voldemort was thinking in front of the fire again, staring into it as though it held the answers to life, the universe, and everything. (IWA: 42. (cracks up) Sorry, I couldn't resist.) He twirled the wine glass between his fingers. He was plotting how to possibly kill the Potter brat. In other words, life as usual. Discounting raids and such, of course.
He blinked as he became aware of a shadow that hadn't been there before. Perhaps not 'life as usual', then.
"Show yourself," he commanded. "Who are you?"
The shadow detached itself from its corner and revealed itself to be a figure dressed in a sand-colored cloak and turban. The man was dark-skinned, with kohl around his eyes and a golden ankh resting on his chest. Egyptian, then.
The figure spoke. "My name is unimportant. However, I do believe I have something of interest to you."
Voldemort gazed levelly at him. "Oh? And what is it?"
A hand emerged from the depths of the cloak and displayed a gold sphere with a stylized Egyptian eye in relief on one side.
"This is the Millennium Eye. I am here to see if you are its true wielder."
Voldemort smirked. "Now, now, let's not jump to conclusions. What makes you think I might be interested?"
The Egyptian's face did not lose its expressionless quality. "This Eye is extremely powerful. It is one of a set of seven Millennium Items."
Voldemort considered this. "You say it's powerful. In what way?"
"The Millennium Items are conduits to the Shadow Realm. By using this Eye, you would not only be able to read the minds of anyone you wished, but also to draw on the Shadows to aid you."
The Dark Lord looked thoughtful. "And just how, exactly, would you be able to tell if it's mine?"
The intruder didn't move. "You would need to install it."
Voldemort looked sharply at him. "Install it? Explain."
The Egyptian inclined his head. "Replace your left eye with this Eye," he replied.
Voldemort stared. "You expect me to what?!"
The other didn't move, just looked at him emotionlessly.
Voldemort transferred his gaze to the golden eye the Egyptian still held out.
"…How powerful are these Shadows, exactly? What can they do?"
"They can do nearly anything you want them to," the dark-skinned man told him. "You will be able to use Shadow Magic. One ability common to all the Items is the ability to summon and control monsters from the Shadow Realm."
Voldemort set the wine glass down and walked over to the motionless Egyptian. "One more question. How did you get in here without anyone noticing you? The anti-Apparition wards are still up."
"My Millennium Key," the Egyptian replied, somehow managing to indicate the ankh on his chest (which, now that Voldemort was closer, he could see had an odd key-like protrusion at one side of the base) without moving. "I can use it to teleport."
The Dark Lord thought a bit more, then reached out and took the Eye. The Egyptian's hand disappeared once more into the folds of his cloak.
"And all I have to do is put it in?"
A nod.
An answering smirk.
"Alright then."
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The Death Eaters were nervous. It was the middle of the summer, and they had been called without warning. Also, there was no sign of their Master anywhere.
Suddenly, the doors at the back of the hall they were in opened, and Voldemort strode in. The Death Eaters fell to their knees on instinct, but more than one of them noticed the gleam of gold in their leader's left eye.
The Dark Lord strode to the front of the room and settled himself into the throne set up there for this purpose. His familiar, Nagini, coiled herself up at his feet. "Look at me," he commanded.
As one, the Death Eaters lifted their heads. There was more than one stifled gasp. Voldemort's left eye had been replaced by a golden one, and there were still traces of blood on his face. The evil smirk he was wearing wasn't helping.
"I seem to have acquired a powerful magical artifact, and I would like to test out its power. In three days, I will take a select group of you to Number Four Privet Drive."
"Isn't that where Harry Potter lives?" one foolhardy Death Eater whispered a little too loudly.
Voldemort's red eye immediately focused on him. "Be grateful I'm in a good mood today. Yes, it is where the Potter brat lives." The smirk widened. The Death Eaters near the front tried to edge away unobtrusively. "I believe I would like to test my new abilities on him before I take over the world."
Snape scowled. This isn't good.
"Lucius."
"Yes, my Lord?"
"Choose five or so others to accompany us. We will meet again in three days time."
"Of course, my Lord."
"Dismissed."
Snape's scowl deepened. I have to inform Dumbledore about this.
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Dumbledore looked up when Snape swept into his office. "Yes, Severus?" he inquired.
"We have a problem," was Snape's curt response.
"Oh?" The Headmaster put his quill down and gave the Potions Master his undivided attention.
"The Dark Lord has acquired a 'powerful magical artifact' and intends to test its power in three days."
Dumbledore paled. "Where?"
Snape sneered. "Potter's residence. We'll have to get the brat out of there."
Dumbledore smiled wanly. "Don't worry, my boy, that's already been taken care of."
Snape stared at him. "What?"
Dumbledore sighed. "I realized that since Voldemort used Harry's blood to return to life that the blood protections his mother gave him aren't effective anymore, so I sent him to live with a different relative."
Snape blinked. "A different relative? He has other relatives?"
The old wizard nodded. "Mm-hmm. A second cousin on his father's side. Probably non-magical, though. Lemon drop?"
Snape sneered. "No thank you."
Dumbledore popped one into his mouth. "Now, back to the matter at hand. What is this artifact?"
"He didn't say, but I believe it's his eye."
Dumbledore blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"
Snape smirked. It wasn't often Dumbledore was caught off-guard. "His left eye was artificial at the meeting tonight. I believe it was gold."
Dumbledore stared. "His eye, you say?"
Snape nodded. "Yes. I also believe it was Egyptian, as the relief on the front was of a stylized Egyptian eye."
Dumbledore sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Thank you, Severus."
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Three days later, Voldemort stood with six of his most faithful Death Eaters in front of number four, Privet Drive. He raised his wand, then paused and lowered it. "No," he murmured to himself, "I think I'll use the Eye for this…"
The Death Eaters exchanged nervous glances.
Shadows coalesced and swirled around him for a moment, then leapt forward and slammed into the outermost ward, instantly setting off alarms. After a few seconds, they broke through the barrier and surged forward, only to run into another wall. Just then, Order members started Apparating in. Voldemort didn't even seem to notice.
The Death Eaters exchanged another look, then turned and started attacking as the shadows broke through the second barrier.
Voldemort didn't so much as twitch when a stunning spell missed his head by an inch.
The Death Eaters gave each other panicked looks and redoubled their attacks.
The shadows shattered the third ward, leapt forward, and struck the front door, smashing it to pieces.
Voldemort laughed, a high, evil cackle. He strode forward purposely.
"No!" yelled one of the Order members. He sent a stunning spell at Voldemort's back.
At the last second, Voldemort's wand twitched and the spell hit a shield which absorbed the spell and vanished. The Dark Lord stopped walking and turned to face the fighting wizards with an evil grin on his face. The Order members gasped at the sight of the Eye.
Voldemort chuckled. "Yes, it is a rather disturbing sight, isn't it? This Eye gives me so many new powers, though…" As he spoke, the shadows moved again and encircled him, slowly twisting around him.
Suddenly, they shot out to form a solid wall between the Death Eaters and the Order.
Voldemort cackled again. "Wonderful, isn't it?" he crowed.
The Death Eaters retreated close to their leader, looking at each other apprehensively.
Voldemort abruptly spun and started for the house again, trailed by his rather fearful minions. The spells the Order members sent were easily absorbed by the writhing wall of Shadows.
Voldemort strode into the building and looked around, sneering. This house was so obviously Muggle it hurt his eyes to look at it. Eye, rather. His Millennium Eye was busy looking around for people. He found three Muggles in the living room, but no trace of a wizard besides residual influences obviously created by living here for some time. He snarled.
The Death Eaters flinched.
The Dark Lord stormed into the living room. "Where is the Potter brat?" he demanded.
The horse-faced woman shrieked, the boy who resembled a pig more than a human nearly wet himself in fright, and the giant walrus of a man turned red in anger. "Who do you think you are, breaking into someone's—"
Voldemort cut him off by wrapping shadows around his neck. "Where is he?" he hissed.
The walrus turned purple and started stuttering. "H-h-he went to—to—to—said h-he—s-second c-cous-sin—"
Voldemort screamed in fury. The shadows, feeling his pure rage, reacted, blanketing the room in Shadows. Tendrils detached themselves and swirled around everyone there, caressing (Voldemort), exploring (the Death Eaters), or slicing (the Muggles).
By the time Voldemort stopped howling, the family of Muggles had been cut to ribbons. The Shadows dissipated, dropping them to the floor to splash in their own blood while the Death Eaters looked on in horror. Voldemort took a deep breath, wrapping the remaining shadows around himself protectively.
"We're leaving."
The Death Eaters Apparated away.
When the swirling cocoon of shadows dissolved, to the astonishment of the Order members who'd gotten through the wall of Shadows (which had dissipated when the Shadows in the house had), Voldemort was nowhere to be seen.
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IWA: Review? Please? (puppy eyes) I don't update until someone I don't know has reviewed. I might write for my own amusement, but I won't post until I get a response so I know someone's reading this blasted thing. (deep breath) Sorry, just had to get that out of my system. I had problems with my previous fics. And no, I haven't forgotten them. I need massive help with Spirit Gate and I need to find the piece of Know Your Place that I probably left at home… And once I do, I WILL UPDATE! I promise!