The Darkest Magic

Tifa Strifeheart

Chapter Eight

This had to be the driest neighborhood in the world and that fact had nothing to do with the amount of water in it. Ryou sighed as soon as the door to the house behind them shut. Through the link he could feel Bakuras frustration but for the life of him he couldn't be bothered to care too much, Besides, it had been his fault that they were out here in the first place. Putting his hands in his pockets with another sigh, Ryou began to walk away from the house and down the walkway. The most interesting part of the neighborhood so far had to be the seemingly crazy old cat woman that they had met earlier. She seemed to always want to say something but forgot it at the last moment. There was something about her that Bakura didn't like but couldn't place. Ryou himself just found the woman nice, quirky, but nice. They had just walked to the foot of the next drive way when there was a shriek that had both him at Bakura at attention. He noticed how Bakura slid in front of him but was distracted when the front door to number four Privet drive opened up and out came the teenager that Ryou remembered seeing earlier that day.

The two of them watched in silence as the teenager sat up from where he had been thrown on the lawn. One hand reached up and took off his glasses and he began to inspect them for damages. The boy seemed to be occupied with the conditioned of his glasses and, when Ryou deemed it was safe, he stepped out from behind his yami and approached the younger male. Bakura silently called to him to come back; Ryou just smiled at him over his shoulder and kept going. A second later Bakura brought up the rear not worried about letting Ryou know his opinion over their mind link who just rolled his eyes. Only where they were about a foot away from the boy did he finally realize that they were there. He watched in silence as Ryou tool the last few steps towards him. He stopped before the other boy and extended his hand after a moment the boy accepted his offer and allowed himself to be helped up.

"Thanks." The boy replaced his glasses and dusted his pants off.

"Are you alright?" The boy looked up and gave a start - probably at the sight of Bakura who had come up from behind him. He shook his head distractedly, his brown hair swinging with the movement.

"Umm… I'm fine. It's no big deal." He stared from himself to Bakura and back. Ryou smiled with amusement. "Oh, I'm Harry by the way. Harry Potter." he extended his hand and Ryou took it.

"I'm Ryou and," He gestured over his shoulder. "That's Bakura."//Finally, this stupid place starts to get interesting and our main character: the domestically abused Harry Potter!/ Ryou shut out Bakuras obnoxious commentary just in time to miss the young boys question. He shook his head "Sorry about that Harry, what was that?" The teen gave him a curious look but repeated himself anyways.

"I asked if you guys were twins." Ryou felt more then saw Bakuras feral look and even he couldn't help a small smile of amusement.

"No, were not related in any way. We both just happen to look alike." He should of anticipated the arm that snaked around his waist but soon after it did, Bakuras face was resting on one of his shoulders.

"We could hardly be considered brothers, kid." Ryou beat his other half away while Harry stared between the two of them. With Bakura suitably beaten down, Ryou shook his head at the look on the teenagers face.

"Sorry?" Ryou shook his head.

"Ignore him Harry." Ryou gestured to the house behind the boy. "We were introducing ourselves to the neighbors but in the case of that particular house I don't think it's such a great idea." the dark haired teen shook his head, Ryou smiled. "I didn't think so." He moved to turn. "How would you like to come over for some tea?" He watched the boy ponder the offer before nodding.

"Sure."

Slowly he blinked… and immediately had to close his eyes because of the glare. He wanted to groan but couldn't find the energy within him to do so. After a moment he frown mentally. That wasn't right. He had energy, loads of it, the only thing was that he didn't feel like using it. Like someone that had lost a limb years before and knew there was no point in applying energy to move what was no longer there. He felt like sighing but he didn't. He didn't feel the need to. Now he knew that something was wrong - that something was missing, he waited for whatever it was to come to him.

He needed to remember but he wasn't sure what it was that he needed to recall or why he needed to recall it. Something in him wanted to just fall back in to the oblivion of sleep that he had woken up from but another part of him, at the moment smaller but much more persistent urged him to get up and find what was missing. Once again he opened his eyes, this time expecting the glare and not getting blinded by it. It took longer then usual for his eyes to adjust but he waited patiently wondering where he was and how he had got here. He blinked as he stared up at the ceiling. He frowned up at the ceiling, 'Wait a minute, why is the ceiling made out of stones? Where am I?' Slowly, he pulled himself into a sitting position.

Dizziness hit him and forced his eyes shut again. Something was very wrong - something was wrong with the world. Once again he opened his eyes and took in his surrounding. He knew there was something. It was like everything was dimmer… like there was a layer of detail had been ripped out of the world. This couldn't be right; he shook his head and something caught his eye. There, on the table beside him was a folded pile of clothing but it wasn't that which had caught his eye, rather the golden ornament sitting on top of the lack leather. It was so bright and otherworldly and at the same time so familiar. Before he knew it he had reached for it.

The golden surface was warm against his fingers and for some reason the warmth caused his lids to fall and his consciousness to slip away.

Yugi sat up with a gasp. For a few moments he sat gripping the white sheets of the bed that he had been lying on and panting as it all came back to him. He hadn't been able to remember. He had woken up in a strange place and hadn't been able to remember a thing. Not about himself, or where he was or anything. He'd been too drained to think - if such a thing was even possible. As his heart rate began to drop, Yugi began to take in his surroundings. He smiled at the familiar walls of his soul room. It had been quite a while since he had been here. Always having to be on alert on the road, he barely got a chance to be in here and even rarer was coming here with his other half. With his Yami.

Yugi turned sharply to the closed door of his most inner room. Why hadn't he thought of Atemu all this time? He frowned. Why hadn't Atemu said anything to him all this time? Anxiousness bloomed in his chest. Why hadn't he felt Atemu all this time? He walked towards the door, a sense of dread rising up within him. From the moment that he had awoken something had felt wrong and now the wished that he had no woken up at all. Before he knew it the door to the hallway of his soul was right in front of him. He ignored the fact that his hand was shaking and pulled open the large white door.

The light from his room spilled into the hallway lighting up the portion of the floor in front of him. Yugi didn't bother to look at the floor, his eyes were fastened to the door across the mall hall and was shocked at how much relief the sight brought him. There, was the large metal door, veins of black and gold all leading to or leading away from the bold golden Eye of Horus in the middle of the door. Just looking at the door had a calming effect on him and a small smile tugged at his lips as he took a step forward. Everything was alright, his yami was here. He'd gotten to the middle of the hall when suddenly there was someone in front of him blocking his way.

Yugi stopped walking before he hit the larger person, backing away and going onto the defensive automatically. He blinked when he took in who it was he was looking at exactly. His purple robes hung elegantly around the lithe man's body and his dark hair was spread out around his back and shoulders. The dark magician just stood and stared back down at him. Frowning, Yugi straightened.

"Dark Magician?" The Duel monster nodded and Yugi frowned even more. "What are you doing here?" The magician shook his head.

-I'm sorry Master, but I cannot allow you pass.- Yugi took a moment to get used to the sound of the Magicians mind speech and then frowned when he realized what it was that he was hearing.

"What do you mean? Why can't I go into Yami's room?" The stoic magician shook his head.

-He requires the time to recover. Even if you could enter you would not find him. The Dark master is returning to himself.- Yugi's face paled. If Yami couldn't be found in his soul room then where was he? Where could he possibly be?

"What happened?" The Dark Magicians expression changed for an instant and even though Yugi wasn't able to tell what that expression was he knew that it couldn't mean anything good.

-When he returns, he will tell you.- He could only stare. Where was his partner?

"When?" The duel monster finally moved; he slowly shook his head.

-I do not know.- Yugi felt his knees give out and couldn't care any less about looking weak here. Just behind the Dark Magician's leg he could see the entrance to the darker half of his soul. So close and yet so far away. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so alone. Even without his will he recalled the time that he was sealed up in the Orichalcos. He was sure he hated this more than that; at least then he had known that Yami was coming for him, now he had nothing. The Dark Magician knelt on one knee beside him and, for a moment, Yugi considered fighting through the barrier and getting to his yami but instantly dismissed it. He would never intentionally harm the Dark Magician; besides, their duel monster would never lie to him. The idea that it was their monster made his chest hurt.

-Master. Your attention is required.- Yugi looked up in to blue eyes and at the moment the sound of someone calling out to him finally reached his ears. The magician stared into his eyes before nodded. -Go Master, he will come to you when he can. Believe.- Yugi nodded, reassured by his most trusted monsters words before he let himself fade back into reality.

"What's wrong with you boy?" Yugi blinked dumbly a few times before his gaze focused on the puzzle in his hands. It took a moment but after a while he realized a woman was standing at his side and lightly shaking him. He figured that the voice was most likely coming from her and she wouldn't stop until he gave her some sort of response; even after he realized it still took his befuddled brain a moment to translate the english. He let his hands, and the puzzle, drop to his lap and turned to look at the woman who took the opportunity to stare into his eyes. "Well, are you alright?" She snapped after finding whatever it was that she had been looking for in his eyes. He took a moment to make sure that when he opened his mouth English would be the language that came out of it.

"I'm-" His voice was dull and scratchy. Yugi frowned and rubbed his throat with a hand. "I'm fine." Stronger this time but not much better. Suddenly a glass of water was thrust at him. He followed the arm holding the glass up to the stern face of the woman who was apparently taking care of him.

"Here. Drink this." He took the water but didn't drink it. Instead he watched the woman wonder around the room fiddling with things. His memory was slowly beginning to return. They had been fighting then everything had gone black for him. His eyes narrowed at the portly woman. She looked innocent enough but was she with them too? At that moment she caught him looking and just glared right back startling Yugi out of his. She shook her head then glanced at the still full glass in his hands. "Will you drink already?" She nodded at something beside him. "There's some chocolate on the table beside your cloths - have some, it'll make you feel better. I have something to take care of, you stay put." With that she turned round and blew out of the room surprisingly light for all the bulk that she had on.

As soon as the door shut behind her, Yugi was off the bed leaving the glass of water beside the chocolate and his cloths on the bed side table. He moved around the room taking in his surroundings as he went. He realized why the world looked so dull and flat now. Without his yami's perception he was like a person walking around with one eye. Until Yami came back he would have to get used to seeing only half the world. For a moment he stopped, eyes squeezed shut and fists clenched as a wave of sorrow and longing crashed into him; he wanted his yami - here - with him. With an effort, he shook his head and along with it shook off the desperation that was creeping up on him. He had to be strong and figure out what was going on here. Yami would come back when he was ready and he would give him an earful. Until then he would have to watch out for himself.

The room that he had awoken in was somewhat smallish. There was the bed that he had awoken on, the table that his cloths and other things were sitting on. There was a table on the wall opposite the bed and on it there was a verity of different bottles that he couldn't begin to start labeling, even those with labels said things that he couldn't decipher. There was a chair beside the bed and another beside the door. The one by the bed gave him shivers at the idea of some stranger sitting over him while he was defenseless. He clenched a fist as he reached closer to his source to the shadows. He wouldn't allow himself to be put in a position like that ever again. He wandered around the room till he was sure that he had the room layout in his head and was sure that there was no one else in it. The strangest thing about this room was that not only were there no windows - something that shouldn't have been a surprise considering his position - there were no lights; instead the room was lit up by lit touches along the walls.

Before he was able to grasp the door knob, voices froze his arm in mid-air. For a moment he considered grasping the power of the shadow realm and blasting his was out but he quickly dismissed the idea. He didn't know how many people would be out there and the last thing he wanted was to be surprised. Again. "Enough with the tests Madam; how is he?" It was a man's voice and that was all Yugi could tell about him. Though the voice sounded somewhat familiar for some reason. He backed away from the door and back to the bed. They must not know that he could hear them.

"If everything that you told me about him is true then I would have to say that he's great; In startlingly excellent condition." There was a pause then a long sigh. "He's fine; A bit shaky but completely healthy." There was another brief silence. All the time the voices had been getting closer to him. Yugi looked around and considering if he should hide or not. He decided not to, he wouldn't hide from these people. If they were the type of people that he thought that they were, then he was sure that he could take them.

"That's good."

"I never said that the boy was not hurt. But whatever it is that's hurting him is far beyond the reach of my hands." Yugi was sure that more would have been said if the door handle hadn't begun to move signalling the entrance of the two people. The woman - who had been called Madam - was the same woman he had seen earlier. Now that he took the time to look at her, she had to be nurse of some sort. Bringing up the rear was a much taller, much older man. He had a long beard and matching gray hair that was almost long enough to touch the hem of the long violet robe that he was wearing. Yugi looked up into the man's withered face and into blue eyes that were behind a pair of thin wired glasses. The man looked like someone's kindly grandfather and he could tell that this one would be harder to deal with than the others he had encountered. He didn't seem particularly threatening, but then, Yugi never did either.

The man stared down at him with a look that wasn't quite stern but wasn't all that serene either. If Yugi didn't know better he would have thought that the older man was wary of him. Inwardly he frowned - what the hell had happened after he had blacked out? There was a long moment of silence that seemed to stretch; Yugi didn't let any of his thought onto his face as he continued to stare at the other man. After what seemed like forever the man moved, reaching up to adjust his glasses. Slowly he walked forward, Yugi kept his eyes on him taking in his every movement but nothing in his poise spoke of any sort of threat. He walked towards the bed palms facing Yugi in a sign of surrender and taking slow measured steps; even though he didn't seem to be much threat, Yugi still kept the shadows in reach. The man stopped a few feet away from the bed and gave him a small smile.

"How are you feeling?" Yugi looked from the man to the nurse and back again keeping on his guard even though he was fully aware that he couldn't do anything if they did try anything.

"Who are you people?" The man looked surprised for a moment before chuckling.

"Imagine me, forgetting my manners." he offered Yugi a hand. "My name is Professor Albus Dumbledore; and you are?" Yugi didn't take the offered hand and after a moment Dumbledore dropped it to his side again. "Well we've been taking care of you for some time now. This lovely lady," He gestured to the woman that had woken him. "This is Madam Pomphy, the doctor that had been taking care of you all this time. Are you sure that you are alright?" Slowly Yugi nodded the response seemed to please the old man because he smiled at him and clapped his hands together. "Excellent."

"Why am I here?" Dumbledore placed a hand on his chin.

"Didn't I say so already? You were hurt and we brought you here. It doesn't get any simpler than that I fear." Yugi had to keep himself from growling.

"Where is this place and how did I get here?" Dumbledore's face seemed to get suddenly serious.

"As for where - it really shouldn't be of much concern to you." He raised a hand to stop Yugis protest. "But if you must know, we are in a location that is away from any major cities." Yugi's frown intensified. "As to how…" The Professor straightened his spectacles again. "That is something I like for you to tell us."

Harry glanced back at the house that he had just left. Those two were kind of weird. Ryou seemed to be okay if not a bit too… insightful while Bakura just freaked him out. Turning back he felt his mood drop as he stared at the house that he took shelter in - that was no kind of home to him. Thinking about his 'family' had his mind flashing back to the time that they had gone to the zoo. He shook his head. He couldn't understand why he could talk to a snake, or better yet, where the glass had gone. Snidely he hoped that the snake had some how gotten home. He sighed as he got closer to the house that he had lived in all of his life, he hoped that his relatives had calmed down now that all this time had passed.

He sighed and shook his head. Knowing his relatives there was no way. They were probably just waiting for him to get back so that they could hang him up by his toe nails. He sighed again as he headed for the front door; might as well go and face the music. Without thinking about it, Harry cringed.

To be honest, I have had this chapter done for a while now. But there were a number of things that kept it from coming out; First was the fact that I didn't like Dumbledore's (Hah! His name is in my spell checker) voice in this – I still don't but without reading all the books over again I will make due with what I have. Then – before I could get to revising The Wheel Of Time book 14 came in the mail and that was that. Then FINALS. I still have an exam in a few weeks but ah well… I really need to learn more about time management – that I think is a skill I could really benefit from lol.

Ah well that's it from me for now. Ciao