Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Harry Potter.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The next day, only a few students showed up for each class, and the Infirmary was full of patients claiming that they had almost been killed. Some were still unconscious.
Early in the morning, Yami Bakura had snuck up there and cast a weak memory spell on all of them. They would only remember a little of the duel that had occurred.
"You know some of the stronger minded students will remember a bit more, right?" asked Malik, surveying a sleeping Ryou. The magic that Yami Bakura had used had worn both of them out.
"Yeah, I suppose they'll all remember, in time," Yugi replied. "And the teachers will remember everything. But we've done as much as we can. Come on, we'll be late to class."
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were some of the few who were still "sane". They were currently standing out in the courtyard, in their favorite corner, talking about the duel. And how strange the newcomers were.
"It's like they're different people sometimes," Harry said.
"Yeah, one minute they're all nice, and then they're all creepy," added Ron.
"Why, though?" asked Hermione quietly. "I've done some research in the library on the topic. Do you think that they're being possessed, or something? What if they're working for Voldemort?"
"Come off it, 'Mione," Ron said, even though he looked a bit unnerved. "How could they be possessed? Dumbledore wouldn't have taken them in if they're being possessed and working for You-Know-Who."
"But what if he didn't know?"
"What's with the 'pharaoh' thing with Yugi?" asked Harry hastily, changing the subject. Surely Dumbledore wouldn't have admitted them to Hogwarts if they were working for Voldemort.
"Yeah, they've called him that several times. And remember how Ryou was acting at breakfast the other day?"
"Maybe it's just a game," said Ron hopefully. The others looked doubtful.
"Hermione," Harry suddenly said, remembering something from the previous day, "do you know what a 'yami' is?"
"No, but I'll look it up later, it sounds like something from a different language."
Ron checked his watch. "Well, we're almost late, we'd better get to Charms if we don't want Professor Flitwick on us."
*~*~*~*~*~*
Many of the professors were also still out of it. During most of their classes, the students-the ones that were still "alive"-had just sat around and talked.
Seto, Yugi, and Malik acted normally enough, and when Ryou turned up, they started another game of Duel Monsters, this time the old fashioned way, on the table, and without electronics. Ron immediately took interest in it, and pretty soon, the four were teaching Harry, Ron, and Hermione how to actually play. They remembered very little from the lecture that Mokuba had [given] them, but would occasionally remember a card when it was shown to them.
And as they didn't have anything to do in their lessons, this was an ideal opportunity to learn. When they entered the Transfiguration classroom, however, they soon realized that they weren't going to get that a free class. Professor McGonagall promptly assigned them ten more inches on Vanishing Spells, "To refresh your memories," as she put it, and then made them pair up and practice on animals again.
Harry paired up with Ron, and they soon realized that their minds were completely empty. They didn't have the slightest clue on how to vanish anything. It seemed that they had forgotten everything that they had learned the previous year.
Yugi, along with Ryou and Malik (after serious begging to Professor McGonagall), were the only group of three in the class. Ryou was the only one that looked like he knew what was going on, but he was looking dazed after a minute or so of trying to vanish their second animal, and Yugi looked like he was spacing out most of the time. Malik was darting from Yugi to Ryou, trying to wake them up. Harry did not understand why they were acting in such a peculiar fashion, but Seto seemed amused by Malik's antics.
Seto's partner was Hermione. They made quite the team, to say the very least. Each of them took turns vanishing whatever animal was on the table. Every time one disappeared, a larger animal took its place. It was almost as if they were having a contest. Professor McGonagall was watching them with a vague smile on her face.
Seto seemed almost bored by the lesson, and vanished a German Shepherd with minimal effort. Hermione, on the other hand, looked like she had to concentrate with all her might to vanish the next one, a Great Dane.
At last she failed to succeed. The whole class was watching now. Could it be? Somebody who was actually better than Hermione Granger? The tiger on the ground growled menacingly. Seto pointed his wand at it, said the correct spell, and it vanished.
"I see you're still excelling in the arts, Seto," Malik said, still trying to bang Yugi on the head with the Millennium Rod. Yugi seemed to be automatically ducking every time Malik swung the rod around. "So can you help me with these two?" He then tried to whack Ryou instead, but a hand caught the Millennium Rod in midair.
Ryou's eyes came back into focus and became sharper. Harry shivered. There was a coldness in his eyes that wasn't there before. The brown orbs had become completely emotionless, and there was a sneer that had replaced Ryou's usual soft smile. Harry didn't know how, but Ryou just felt different. It was the same aura that had surrounded him at breakfast the other day. Hermione's words echoed in his head.
Were they true? Could the new students possibly be possessed? They seemed so different at times...
"About time-" Malik had started to say, but then gave a yelp as the Millennium Rod was yanked out of his hands. "Hey!" he cried indignantly. "Give that back!"
Yami Bakura just laughed and flew out of his reach, his feet hovering a few inches off the ground. Harry blinked. Wait a minute. Flew? He looked back at Ryou's feet. He was standing on the ground, now holding the Millennium Puzzle, too. He'd swiped it from Yugi without anybody really seeing it.
"Four items once again, hm, Bakura?" said Seto, vanishing even more animals just for fun. He vanished an elk, a bison, and then a giraffe, which only managed to fit in the classroom because of its high ceiling.
Yugi sprang back into life, his crimson eyes flashing-crimson? Since when did Yugi have crimson eyes? Harry looked again. Yugi had grabbed his puzzle back and was placing it back around his neck. His eyes were definitely violet. 'Am I seeing things?' Harry wondered. He rubbed his eyes. Malik was now trying to get his Millennium Rod back. Ryou apologized and handed it to him without any hesitation. He seemed a bit surprised to see himself standing on a desk in the middle of the classroom and turned a slight shade of pink as he stepped down.
Thoughts raced through Harry's mind. What was going on? Hadn't Ryou wanted taken the Millennium Rod just moments ago? Maybe Hermione was right. The new students had very strange split personalities or were being possessed. Either would explain the sudden changes.
"Uh, Harry? Harry?" Ron was waving a hand in front of his face. "Class is over, if you haven't noticed yet." Harry frowned.
"Did you just see what happened?" he asked.
"See what happen, mate?" Ron replied. "You mean how Seto totally kicked Hermione's butt in class?"
"No, no, the thing with Yugi and Ryou," Harry said. He tried to remember what had really happened, but found that he couldn't. All that he knew was that it involved three of the new students.
"Nothing happened with Yugi and Ryou. Are you sure you're alright? You've been spacing out way more than usual."
And now there was absolutely nothing he could remember, besides how Seto had vanished the tiger when Hermione couldn't. He told Ron not to worry about it, and then looked up at the front of the classroom. Professor McGonagall was now talking with Yugi, Malik, Ryou, and Seto. When Harry looked at them again, he could see a glimpse of two other figures, almost transparent. They looked identical to Ryou and Yugi. He froze. They were gone.
He rubbed his eyes vigorously as he, Ron and Hermione walked down to lunch. Was he starting to have hallucinations?
*~*~*~*~*~*
"It's all *your* fault, Tomb Robber," Malik said grumpily, as the three made their way to the headmaster's office.
At the end of lesson, Professor McGonagall had called them to the front and asked them to explain what had happened during the Transfiguration class. It was a bit... difficult, and they only managed to escape after Seto talked to her. He did have a special way with words, after all.
All the same, they had to go see Dumbledore now. Professor McGonagall had given them instructions to his office. Strange instructions.
"What?" snapped Yami Bakura. "I was the one who had to cast all those memory spells on them. It wasted even more of my strength!"
"Yeah, and forget to do the teacher? Who, might I remind you, is second-in- command at this school? Yup, very smart," Malik retorted sarcastically. "And if you hadn't been trying to steal out Millennium items AGAIN, we wouldn't be in this mess. How're we going to worm our way out of this one?"
He glared and then said, in a falsely high-pitched voice, "Oh, yes, Professor, we just forgot to mention that Yugi, Ryou, and Malik have evil darker sides who try to cause chaos everywhere. Don't worry, they won't be much trouble. All they've done so far is land half of the school in the Hospital Wing and try to kill each other with their Shadow powers, not to mention traumatize Madam Pomfrey with their stupid-and did I mention bloody?-stunts!"
He finally drew breath, and then glared expectantly at them.
"We'll just have to tell him the truth," Yugi decided. "He seems like the kind of person that we can trust. Oh, no! Bakura, are you okay?" Yami Bakura had stopped and leaned on a banister for support. His breathing was slightly more labored that usual, and beads of sweat were shining on his forehead in his effort to stay conscious.
"This is the second time today you've had to cast memory spells-you must be really weak after using all of that Shadow energy!" Yugi was trying his best to give some support to Yami Bakura. "Hey! Somebody help me with Yami Bakura!"
Meanwhile, Yami Bakura was trying to push Yugi away, mumbling something about not needing the stupid Pharaoh's hikari to help him. He was doing a very good job of slowing them all down on their way to Dumbledore.
Seto rolled his eyes, muttered, "I can't believe I'm going to do this- again," and then backtracked to Yami Bakura. "Okay, your host's body is weaker than the rest of ours, and your Shadow powers are blocked somewhat by the modern magical atmosphere at this school, so it's going to be a little harder to use your type of magic here. It'll drain you of more energy than usual if you use your Shadow powers in such great amounts like this, or in any amount, for that matter." He turned around. "And that goes for the rest of you, too."
Yami Bakura was doing his best to keep his evil look about him, but the glare and narrowed eyes were faltering. Just as he started to collapse, Seto steadied him again.
"Hold out your hand, Bakura," he instructed. He placed one of his own hands a fraction of a centimeter from Yami Bakura's, much to the other's dislike. But as he had no choice (it was either get help, or pass out), he didn't object. Oh well, at least he wasn't touching him or anything.
Since they were all experienced with magic to an extent, they could vaguely feel the transfer of energy from Seto to Yami Bakura. They could just make out two skinny, faint blue beams of light connecting their hands together, running from Seto's hand to Yami Bakura's.
All of the other students were at lunch. If they weren't, they would have seen an almost opaque sphere in the middle of the hallway that blended in perfectly with the background. Okay, they wouldn't have seen it if they just glanced at it, but if they'd looked closely around the area, they probably would've spotted it. The sphere vanished once Seto had finished transferring sufficient power for Yami Bakura to stand on his own and walk independently.
"Where'd you learn that?" asked Malik in awe, their predicament temporarily forgotten. It was only a low level of ancient magic being used, but as Seto didn't even have his memories from the past back, it was practically impossible for him to have mastered the technique.
"That wasn't the kind of magic that they teach at this school," agreed Yami. "It was magic from the old days, ancient Egypt. I remember the High Priest using that on me a few times."
He could still recall the warm feeling that had spread throughout his body when the energy transfer magic had been used on him. It truly felt wonderful when that happened, like his very soul was getting renewed. The warmth had spread to every section of his body, and had even targeted small wounds, healing muscle cramps and aches, and mending cuts. But then again, he remembered, it was coming from the best-the High Priest of the whole empire, possibly the world. He knew that if a common mage were doing it, there wouldn't be any feeling at all.
Yugi sensed his emotions, and asked worriedly, /Yami, are you feeling all right? There seems to be a lot on your mind. You were remembering something from your past, weren't you?/
His dark mentally smiled. Yugi was getting really good at reading mind currents, but still never intruded upon his privacy.
"Thoughts and memories are private and sacred!" Yugi had said indignantly. "I would never read them unless I had permission. It's your choice whether you want to share them with me or not."
//I'm fine,// he replied. //But we'd better get going if we don't want to miss lunch altogether.//
Yami Bakura was staring in bewilderment at Seto. Why had he helped him again? And what did he do to make him feel the best he'd ever felt in his life? The feeling that had enveloped him had been indescribable. It had been breath-taking-the heat that had rushed from his hand to every other square inch of his body had left him fully refreshed.
Well, it was easy to see that he had never gotten that kind of treatment in his past.
Seto just sighed, and then said, "We'd better get going. At this rate, he'll think that we've been attacked or killed or something." All that staring from the others was getting unsettling. Sure, they were friends now, but they weren't really THAT close.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Five minutes later they were standing in front of a stone gargoyle.
"Er..." Malik started, then turned and looked at the rest of them. "What did McGonagall say the password was again?"
"Pocky," Seto enunciated clearly. The gargoyle sprang to life, and a winding staircase started moving slowly upward.
"Well?" growled Yami Bakura. They stepped onto the stone escalator and were soon facing the door to the headmaster's office. It suddenly opened, and they saw the golden half-moon spectacles of Albus Dumbledore winking at them.
"Come on in!" the headmaster said heartily. "Would you like some tea? Pumpkin juice?"
Once they had all received drinks and found seats (actually, he literally drew chairs for them), Dumbledore brought up the subject that they had came for.
"Professor McGonagall told me that something very peculiar happened in her Transfiguration class today. Would you care to tell me about it?"
Yugi, Malik, and Ryou (he'd changed back right before) shifted uncomfortably.
"Um," Yugi said, looking up at Dumbledore, and then deciding to plunge straight ahead, said, "As you know, we have these artifacts from ancient Egypt-the Millennium items. Bakura has the Millennium Ring and the Millennium Eye, Malik has the Millennium Rod, and I have the Millennium Puzzle." At this point, he ran a hand along the golden pieces of the puzzle around his neck.
/Yami! Help me!/
//Just tell him the truth. We can trust him.//
/Just a little, then. The basic facts should be enough./
Yugi's eyes shifted out of focus for a few seconds during this conversation, and Dumbledore noticed the faraway look in his eyes. He said nothing about it.
"Uh, anyway, there are... spirits in many of the items. They got trapped there a about 5000 years ago, we think, in Egypt. There're seven in total, and we still don't know for sure if there are spirits in all of the items, but Shadi-he's the guy who has the Millennium Ankh (Millennium Key) and the Millennium Scales-said that once the right person possessed the right item, the spirit would be released. They're kind of like companions."
When Dumbledore made no comment, he went on.
Or rather, he tried to go on.
Somebody had suddenly burst in through the door.
"Professor Dumbledore, sir- oh, am I interrupting something?" Severus Snape was standing in the doorway, looking paler than usual. He was clutching his left forearm again, and was breathing hard. He had obviously just run a great distance.
"Severus! Do sit down I was just talking to the new transfer students -"
"Yes, but Professor, this is urgent," Snape continued, never breaking eye contact with Dumbledore. They exchanged a significant look, and then Dumbledore turned to the others.
"I'm very sorry. Could you four come later tonight? Say... around eight or so? That'd be great, thanks!" And then he all but shoved them out the door and down the stairs.
"Sheesh!" Malik grumbled, looking back at the now immobile gargoyle. He rubbed his arm where he had knocked it when Dumbledore had "escorted" them out of his office.
"Well, on the bright side, we still have a few more hours before we have to spill the beans," Yugi said, looking like he didn't even believe himself.
"That's supposed to be a bright side?" asked Yami Bakura, his eyebrow raised. Yup, he was very unconvinced.
"Umm, we can rehearse what to tell him... or not..." he trailed off as he watched them walk off, completely ignoring him. "Ugh." He hit himself on the forehead for actually thinking that they'd listen to him, and then rushed to catch up.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"There you are!" Ron greeted them as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. "We were getting worried that you wouldn't show up." Well, that was only half of the truth. They had been talking about the four until Yugi, Ryou, and Malik had entered the Great Hall.
Hermione frowned. "Where's Seto?" she asked. Yugi looked around. He seemed to have vanished. Again.
Malik brushed the question away with a "somewhere in the world" reply.
Harry, on the other hand, was looking at Ryou-or who he thought was Ryou. He had somehow acquired an almost raw steak, and was looking at it hungrily.
"Er, Ryou?" Harry ventured.
"What?" snapped Yami Bakura without looking away from his precious steak.
"You're not going to, uh, eat that, are you?" The piece of meat was practically drowning in blood.
"Of course I am, what kind of question was that?"
Malik, Ron, and Hermione's attentions had also been diverted to Yami Bakura.
Their reactions were all quite different.
"Cool! Where'd you get that?" asked Malik. He was peering up and down the long table, looking for where the platter for raw meat was.
"You know, you might get sick if you eat that, Ryou," warned Ron. He had turned a little green upon seeing the way Yami Bakura was looking at the steak.
And of course, Yami Bakura just ignored Ron's little 'fact'.
Hermione just looked as if she was going to be sick.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"What did Bakura eat at lunch, anyway?" asked Ryou in a whisper as they walked back to the Gryffindor common room after their final class. He was clutching his stomach, and looked like he was about to be sick.
"Er, he kinda ate a whole steak," Malik said nervously.
"Let me guess. Was it raw?" he managed to get out.
Malik plastered on a huge fake smile and nodded.
"I knew I shouldn't have let him go to lunch for me..." He suddenly froze in his tracks. "Please excuse me." He made a mad dash for the nearest bathroom.
"You know, I don't know why everyone thinks that Ryou's all that innocent. He's probably going to kill the Tomb Robber later," Malik mused, watching him shove a bunch of girls aside on the way to the bathroom.
"Maybe it's because they've never seen him really lose his temper," Yugi suggested, pulling out a planner full of their homework assignments.
"Why do you do that anyway?" asked Malik, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
"Let's see. I think we can finish Snape's essay and maybe fit in a few inches of Professor McGonagall's," Yugi said loudly, ignoring the other teen.
"Or we could just copy Seto's," Malik said, flashing a bright smile at him.
"We'll see," he replied.
"Yes! You know, there's hope for you yet, Priest!"
*~*~*~*~*~*
"See?" Hermione hissed at Ron and Harry. They were currently hiding behind a pillar, watching Yugi, Seto, and Malik return to the common room. They'd also caught Ryou's little incident. And were very confused.
"Ryou didn't even know what he had eaten for lunch!" Hermione pointed out.
"It's because he has a really short term memory!" Ron retorted.
"Or because he was being possessed at the time!"
"Stop it, you two, I'm trying to think," Harry said angrily, running his fingers through his hair. Ryou had said, 'What did Bakura eat at lunch?' But Ryou WAS Bakura. It just didn't make sense, unless he liked talking in third person. It was also very uncharacteristic of him to eat a whole raw steak, but then again, they didn't really know them well.
He ran all of this by Ron and Hermione.
"He's being possessed, there's no other explanation!" Hermione said stubbornly.
"How're you so sure?"
"I looked up 'yami' in the library. You were right, Harry, it was something in Japanese. It means 'dark' or 'darkness'. Ryou could have a dark side that possesses him!"
"You don't know for sure if that's right, though."
Harry shut his eyes tight. If only they would stop bickering for once!
"Listen, both of you might be right. We just don't know yet. The only way we'll know for sure is if they decide to tell us. There's definitely something up with Yugi and Ryou. Malik seems like his personality's just that way. We're pretty good friends, right? They'll tell us."~
He sighed. He_hoped_that they would tell them. The new students seemed pretty unpredictable now that they were at Hogwarts. Then again, they weren't really close in Diagon Alley. They would have to spend more time with them if they wanted to know the truth.
And what was with Malfoy, anyway? Draco, not Dracilla. He hadn't bothered them at all so far.
What about the intense pain that had come from his scar after the duel? Voldemort hadn't bothered him with such anger since the previous year.~
He shut his eyes tight. There was way too much going on in his head. What he needed to do was clear his mind. He needed to just wipe it clean. Just take some thoughts away for a while.
"Harry? Are you okay?"
He opened his eyes. Ron was peering into his face. Hermione was looking worried.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I think I'm going to go to bed early today, bye." He walked away, rubbing his scar.
They distinctly heard him mutter, "...Need to get a Pensieve... maybe could borrow... Dumbledore...."
"What's up with him?" asked Ron.
"I don't know-sounds like he's pretty preoccupied right now. I guess there's no use in pestering him with homework tonight. He probably needs to get some rest."
*~*~*~*~*~*
"Yes, yes yes yes!" Malik was running around the Gryffindor common room, holding all of Seto's homework triumphantly above his head.
Seto, for his part, looked pretty bored. His expression (one of many that were very easy to read) said, "Whatever. See if I care, you idiot."
Yugi was still writing his Transfiguration essay, a cute confused pout on his face. He was kind of confused by the theory of Vanishing Spells. Nobody had agreed to "rehearse" with him, so he'd decided to wing it at Dumbledore's office. Actually, he'd completely forgotten about it.
Ryou was... somewhere. They'd all decided to meet in front of the Fat Lady at ten to eight anyway.
*~*~*~*~*~*
So there they were, standing in front of the stone gargoyle again.
"Wait! Listen, I know the password!" Malik said excitedly. "Pocky!"
"Wow. We are so impressed," Seto said dully, stepping onto the rotating staircase after him.
They were once again greeted by Dumbledore, and five minutes later, Yugi was regretting not going over what he was going to say.
"Right. We have Millennium Items, what Voldemort's after, and they have spirits inside them," he started lamely. "That might be why everyone's been after them, because they have a lot of knowledge about ancient magic. The items themselves contain magic, as well. For example, my Millennium Puzzle houses a pharaoh-"
"Former pharaoh," Malik cut in.
"Well, yes. He was the pharaoh 5,000 years ago. He was released when I finished the puzzle a few years ago. His memories from a long time ago might be valuable information to some, like Voldemort."
"Malik hasn't let out the spirit of the Millennium Rod yet. He inherited it, so we don't know if he's the chosen one that can release the spirit, if there is one. There are certain people-like him-that can use a little of an item's power without being the right person."
Then he thought of something else. The true reason to why Voldemort was after the items.
/Of course! I've got to tell him./
"It is said that when all seven items are obtained by one person, that person will have control over the world. It is only a legend, but I'll bet that Voldemort believed it. That's why he's after us! It's not our magic that he wants -"
/Oops.../
"What was that?" asked Dumbledore curiously.
"Well, we can use Shadow magic." Yugi looked apologetically at Malik, and then Yami Bakura (who gave control back to Ryou right after) before continuing.
Dumbledore leaned forward. He had read of these powers somewhere...
'You're an idiot, Yugi,' Malik thought silently, cursing him at the same time.
"It's a very ancient form of magic, from Egypt. Only a few people can harness the full power of the Shadow Realm. Uh, maybe my yami can explain better." There was a slight flash of light, and Yami appeared in Yugi's place.
Dumbledore took note of the slightly crimson eyes, the height difference, spikier hair, and the sudden change of clothes. It seemed that the spirit preferred leather... and buckles.
"The Shadow Realm is a realm that was created over 5,000 years ago by one of the most powerful sorcerers alive. He was my High Priest, but I still can't remember his name. Anyway, the Shadow Realm still exists today. There are monsters - shadows, to be more precise - that feed on your very thoughts and memories. Our Millennium items allow us to use basic spells, and send people's minds to the Shadow Realm. There are several other things that we can do with our Shadow powers. Like-"
"Modifying memories?" asked Dumbledore, with a hint of a twinkle in his eyes.
"Uh, yeah," Yami replied off-handedly. "You must have noticed the slight change in the magical atmosphere. I can sense that you're very powerful."
"Yes, I did notice a tiny bit of change in the air. I believe you performed that spell twice today, am I not correct?"
"Actually, Ryou's yami is the one who did it. One of the Ring's special powers is that. We can also summon and control monsters from the Shadow Realm. There are many magical powers contained within our items. They are the key to many things. This is probably the reason why Voldemort wants them."
"May I see a demonstration?" Dumbledore inquired lightly.
"Um, sure," said Yami, giving Ryou a look with raised eyebrows.
Yami Bakura changed reluctantly.
"I'm me," he said dully.
"That's Yami Bakura. And this," Yami added, looking at Yami Bakura and Malik, "is the Shadow Realm." The room was suddenly immersed in a blackish- bluish-purplish cloudy substance that seemed to have no end. Dumbledore could feel, or sense, rather, things moving everywhere. Around them, between them, all around. But he couldn't see anything.
"Summon a monster, Tomb Robber."
"Man Eater Bug," Yami Bakura said in a bored voice, holding up a card. Dumbledore recognized it to be part of the card game that they were playing the day before. It was called Duel Monsters, or something.
There was a flash of light from the card, and the insect-like creature was suddenly rearing up in front of them, gnashing its teeth and emitting low growls and snarls. It's red eyes flashed menacingly.
"And back," announced Malik, and the office came into view again, as the dark void dematerialized. The Man Eater Bug disappeared along with it.
"It's a bit harder to maintain in this school, because of the new magic," Malik said. "They kind of cancel out each other, I think."
"Can you summon anything you want?" Dumbledore asked. He wasn't sure if the card game was just an example or not.
"Um, basically just the stuff on Duel Monsters cards, because somehow, they're linked with Ancient Egypt," Yugi replied. The others were looking bored now. It was clear that they didn't wish to participate in the conversation anymore.
"Well, I thank you for being truthful with me," said Dumbledore, smiling. "But do try not to harm the students at the school with your powers. I don't think their parents would appreciate it."
"Some of them might," muttered Malik, thinking of most of the Slytherins.
Dumbledore gave them another one of his slight smiles, and then said, "Well, I think that you'd better get back to the Gryffindor common room."
::Do notice that he didn't say Slytherin common room at all.::
As they put their cups of tea down, and stood up to leave, Dumbledore added, "And may I ask you to stay just a bit longer, Mr. Kaiba?"
Seto remained seated while Yugi, Yami Bakura, and Malik made their way to the door.
Yami Bakura was almost at the door, when he turned and his lips curled up in a smirk.
"Oh, I almost forgot," he said casually. "You might be needing this." He tossed Dumbledore's wand back to him. Malik was trying to stifle his laughter, but ended up failing miserably. Instead, he made odd choking noises as they went back down the spiraling staircase.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"I wonder what he wants with Seto," said Yugi, looking back at the entrance to Dumbledore's office. The gargoyle had already frozen into place again.
"Who knows," Malik replied nastily. He was glaring at Yugi, all mirth from Yami Bakura's stunt forgotten. "Smart move back there. Now he knows about our Shadow powers."
"Hey, I made it as short as I could-I didn't tell him EVERYTHING. You should be glad I didn't tell him about your powers. He would've banned controlling minds completely. And we can trust him! Yami told me so!"
"Your stupid yami's been wrong on more things than I can count! How do we know that that Dumby-dore isn't just trying to get a hold of our items?"
"Hey! At least we didn't get in trouble for the duel yesterday!"
"Well now we can't use our powers on any of the students, mind controlling or not, so what does that matter?"
"He said to TRY not to HARM the pathetic mortals, Malik," Yami Bakura said loudly.
"What d'you mean by that?" demanded Malik.
"Well, what if we can't control our own actions? We'd still be trying. And he doesn't really know our definition of harm, does he?" He fingered his Ring with a sinister look on his face.
Yugi did not like the grins on their faces.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Finally! I'm so sorry I didn't get this chapter out earlier! I could never find the time to finish it! Actually, I was preparing for the SAT. I'm only a seventh grader, peoples! I'm sneaking on the computer right now just to upload it onto FF.net.
Seto: You still made me sound really stupid...
Silver Saire: Be quiet, that's totally off topic!
Well I hope you enjoyed it-I'm going to try to type the next chapter faster. Thank you t.a.g.0, my beta-reader. She caught a lot of mistakes and made this chapter a whole lot better.
So, reviews are welcomed, as are suggestions and comments. Thank you, people who've been supporting this story since the beginning. I really appreciate all the encouragement!
Now...to...the next...chapter...
By the way, it's probably going to come out in another two weeks. Don't hurt me!
*~*~*~*~*~*
1/26 Woohoo! It was snowing on Sunday and now all the roads and driveways and other stuffs in Raleigh are covered in this cool layer of ice. You can just slide all around on it and then fall on your butt! School's been cancelled for two whole days, and I'm happy!
1/28 The snow/ice on the grass is so hard it can support your weight! How cool is that?
1/29 Noooo!!!!! The ice is melting! No school for four days, but the ice is going away!!!!
*~*~*~*~*~*
The next day, only a few students showed up for each class, and the Infirmary was full of patients claiming that they had almost been killed. Some were still unconscious.
Early in the morning, Yami Bakura had snuck up there and cast a weak memory spell on all of them. They would only remember a little of the duel that had occurred.
"You know some of the stronger minded students will remember a bit more, right?" asked Malik, surveying a sleeping Ryou. The magic that Yami Bakura had used had worn both of them out.
"Yeah, I suppose they'll all remember, in time," Yugi replied. "And the teachers will remember everything. But we've done as much as we can. Come on, we'll be late to class."
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were some of the few who were still "sane". They were currently standing out in the courtyard, in their favorite corner, talking about the duel. And how strange the newcomers were.
"It's like they're different people sometimes," Harry said.
"Yeah, one minute they're all nice, and then they're all creepy," added Ron.
"Why, though?" asked Hermione quietly. "I've done some research in the library on the topic. Do you think that they're being possessed, or something? What if they're working for Voldemort?"
"Come off it, 'Mione," Ron said, even though he looked a bit unnerved. "How could they be possessed? Dumbledore wouldn't have taken them in if they're being possessed and working for You-Know-Who."
"But what if he didn't know?"
"What's with the 'pharaoh' thing with Yugi?" asked Harry hastily, changing the subject. Surely Dumbledore wouldn't have admitted them to Hogwarts if they were working for Voldemort.
"Yeah, they've called him that several times. And remember how Ryou was acting at breakfast the other day?"
"Maybe it's just a game," said Ron hopefully. The others looked doubtful.
"Hermione," Harry suddenly said, remembering something from the previous day, "do you know what a 'yami' is?"
"No, but I'll look it up later, it sounds like something from a different language."
Ron checked his watch. "Well, we're almost late, we'd better get to Charms if we don't want Professor Flitwick on us."
*~*~*~*~*~*
Many of the professors were also still out of it. During most of their classes, the students-the ones that were still "alive"-had just sat around and talked.
Seto, Yugi, and Malik acted normally enough, and when Ryou turned up, they started another game of Duel Monsters, this time the old fashioned way, on the table, and without electronics. Ron immediately took interest in it, and pretty soon, the four were teaching Harry, Ron, and Hermione how to actually play. They remembered very little from the lecture that Mokuba had [given] them, but would occasionally remember a card when it was shown to them.
And as they didn't have anything to do in their lessons, this was an ideal opportunity to learn. When they entered the Transfiguration classroom, however, they soon realized that they weren't going to get that a free class. Professor McGonagall promptly assigned them ten more inches on Vanishing Spells, "To refresh your memories," as she put it, and then made them pair up and practice on animals again.
Harry paired up with Ron, and they soon realized that their minds were completely empty. They didn't have the slightest clue on how to vanish anything. It seemed that they had forgotten everything that they had learned the previous year.
Yugi, along with Ryou and Malik (after serious begging to Professor McGonagall), were the only group of three in the class. Ryou was the only one that looked like he knew what was going on, but he was looking dazed after a minute or so of trying to vanish their second animal, and Yugi looked like he was spacing out most of the time. Malik was darting from Yugi to Ryou, trying to wake them up. Harry did not understand why they were acting in such a peculiar fashion, but Seto seemed amused by Malik's antics.
Seto's partner was Hermione. They made quite the team, to say the very least. Each of them took turns vanishing whatever animal was on the table. Every time one disappeared, a larger animal took its place. It was almost as if they were having a contest. Professor McGonagall was watching them with a vague smile on her face.
Seto seemed almost bored by the lesson, and vanished a German Shepherd with minimal effort. Hermione, on the other hand, looked like she had to concentrate with all her might to vanish the next one, a Great Dane.
At last she failed to succeed. The whole class was watching now. Could it be? Somebody who was actually better than Hermione Granger? The tiger on the ground growled menacingly. Seto pointed his wand at it, said the correct spell, and it vanished.
"I see you're still excelling in the arts, Seto," Malik said, still trying to bang Yugi on the head with the Millennium Rod. Yugi seemed to be automatically ducking every time Malik swung the rod around. "So can you help me with these two?" He then tried to whack Ryou instead, but a hand caught the Millennium Rod in midair.
Ryou's eyes came back into focus and became sharper. Harry shivered. There was a coldness in his eyes that wasn't there before. The brown orbs had become completely emotionless, and there was a sneer that had replaced Ryou's usual soft smile. Harry didn't know how, but Ryou just felt different. It was the same aura that had surrounded him at breakfast the other day. Hermione's words echoed in his head.
Were they true? Could the new students possibly be possessed? They seemed so different at times...
"About time-" Malik had started to say, but then gave a yelp as the Millennium Rod was yanked out of his hands. "Hey!" he cried indignantly. "Give that back!"
Yami Bakura just laughed and flew out of his reach, his feet hovering a few inches off the ground. Harry blinked. Wait a minute. Flew? He looked back at Ryou's feet. He was standing on the ground, now holding the Millennium Puzzle, too. He'd swiped it from Yugi without anybody really seeing it.
"Four items once again, hm, Bakura?" said Seto, vanishing even more animals just for fun. He vanished an elk, a bison, and then a giraffe, which only managed to fit in the classroom because of its high ceiling.
Yugi sprang back into life, his crimson eyes flashing-crimson? Since when did Yugi have crimson eyes? Harry looked again. Yugi had grabbed his puzzle back and was placing it back around his neck. His eyes were definitely violet. 'Am I seeing things?' Harry wondered. He rubbed his eyes. Malik was now trying to get his Millennium Rod back. Ryou apologized and handed it to him without any hesitation. He seemed a bit surprised to see himself standing on a desk in the middle of the classroom and turned a slight shade of pink as he stepped down.
Thoughts raced through Harry's mind. What was going on? Hadn't Ryou wanted taken the Millennium Rod just moments ago? Maybe Hermione was right. The new students had very strange split personalities or were being possessed. Either would explain the sudden changes.
"Uh, Harry? Harry?" Ron was waving a hand in front of his face. "Class is over, if you haven't noticed yet." Harry frowned.
"Did you just see what happened?" he asked.
"See what happen, mate?" Ron replied. "You mean how Seto totally kicked Hermione's butt in class?"
"No, no, the thing with Yugi and Ryou," Harry said. He tried to remember what had really happened, but found that he couldn't. All that he knew was that it involved three of the new students.
"Nothing happened with Yugi and Ryou. Are you sure you're alright? You've been spacing out way more than usual."
And now there was absolutely nothing he could remember, besides how Seto had vanished the tiger when Hermione couldn't. He told Ron not to worry about it, and then looked up at the front of the classroom. Professor McGonagall was now talking with Yugi, Malik, Ryou, and Seto. When Harry looked at them again, he could see a glimpse of two other figures, almost transparent. They looked identical to Ryou and Yugi. He froze. They were gone.
He rubbed his eyes vigorously as he, Ron and Hermione walked down to lunch. Was he starting to have hallucinations?
*~*~*~*~*~*
"It's all *your* fault, Tomb Robber," Malik said grumpily, as the three made their way to the headmaster's office.
At the end of lesson, Professor McGonagall had called them to the front and asked them to explain what had happened during the Transfiguration class. It was a bit... difficult, and they only managed to escape after Seto talked to her. He did have a special way with words, after all.
All the same, they had to go see Dumbledore now. Professor McGonagall had given them instructions to his office. Strange instructions.
"What?" snapped Yami Bakura. "I was the one who had to cast all those memory spells on them. It wasted even more of my strength!"
"Yeah, and forget to do the teacher? Who, might I remind you, is second-in- command at this school? Yup, very smart," Malik retorted sarcastically. "And if you hadn't been trying to steal out Millennium items AGAIN, we wouldn't be in this mess. How're we going to worm our way out of this one?"
He glared and then said, in a falsely high-pitched voice, "Oh, yes, Professor, we just forgot to mention that Yugi, Ryou, and Malik have evil darker sides who try to cause chaos everywhere. Don't worry, they won't be much trouble. All they've done so far is land half of the school in the Hospital Wing and try to kill each other with their Shadow powers, not to mention traumatize Madam Pomfrey with their stupid-and did I mention bloody?-stunts!"
He finally drew breath, and then glared expectantly at them.
"We'll just have to tell him the truth," Yugi decided. "He seems like the kind of person that we can trust. Oh, no! Bakura, are you okay?" Yami Bakura had stopped and leaned on a banister for support. His breathing was slightly more labored that usual, and beads of sweat were shining on his forehead in his effort to stay conscious.
"This is the second time today you've had to cast memory spells-you must be really weak after using all of that Shadow energy!" Yugi was trying his best to give some support to Yami Bakura. "Hey! Somebody help me with Yami Bakura!"
Meanwhile, Yami Bakura was trying to push Yugi away, mumbling something about not needing the stupid Pharaoh's hikari to help him. He was doing a very good job of slowing them all down on their way to Dumbledore.
Seto rolled his eyes, muttered, "I can't believe I'm going to do this- again," and then backtracked to Yami Bakura. "Okay, your host's body is weaker than the rest of ours, and your Shadow powers are blocked somewhat by the modern magical atmosphere at this school, so it's going to be a little harder to use your type of magic here. It'll drain you of more energy than usual if you use your Shadow powers in such great amounts like this, or in any amount, for that matter." He turned around. "And that goes for the rest of you, too."
Yami Bakura was doing his best to keep his evil look about him, but the glare and narrowed eyes were faltering. Just as he started to collapse, Seto steadied him again.
"Hold out your hand, Bakura," he instructed. He placed one of his own hands a fraction of a centimeter from Yami Bakura's, much to the other's dislike. But as he had no choice (it was either get help, or pass out), he didn't object. Oh well, at least he wasn't touching him or anything.
Since they were all experienced with magic to an extent, they could vaguely feel the transfer of energy from Seto to Yami Bakura. They could just make out two skinny, faint blue beams of light connecting their hands together, running from Seto's hand to Yami Bakura's.
All of the other students were at lunch. If they weren't, they would have seen an almost opaque sphere in the middle of the hallway that blended in perfectly with the background. Okay, they wouldn't have seen it if they just glanced at it, but if they'd looked closely around the area, they probably would've spotted it. The sphere vanished once Seto had finished transferring sufficient power for Yami Bakura to stand on his own and walk independently.
"Where'd you learn that?" asked Malik in awe, their predicament temporarily forgotten. It was only a low level of ancient magic being used, but as Seto didn't even have his memories from the past back, it was practically impossible for him to have mastered the technique.
"That wasn't the kind of magic that they teach at this school," agreed Yami. "It was magic from the old days, ancient Egypt. I remember the High Priest using that on me a few times."
He could still recall the warm feeling that had spread throughout his body when the energy transfer magic had been used on him. It truly felt wonderful when that happened, like his very soul was getting renewed. The warmth had spread to every section of his body, and had even targeted small wounds, healing muscle cramps and aches, and mending cuts. But then again, he remembered, it was coming from the best-the High Priest of the whole empire, possibly the world. He knew that if a common mage were doing it, there wouldn't be any feeling at all.
Yugi sensed his emotions, and asked worriedly, /Yami, are you feeling all right? There seems to be a lot on your mind. You were remembering something from your past, weren't you?/
His dark mentally smiled. Yugi was getting really good at reading mind currents, but still never intruded upon his privacy.
"Thoughts and memories are private and sacred!" Yugi had said indignantly. "I would never read them unless I had permission. It's your choice whether you want to share them with me or not."
//I'm fine,// he replied. //But we'd better get going if we don't want to miss lunch altogether.//
Yami Bakura was staring in bewilderment at Seto. Why had he helped him again? And what did he do to make him feel the best he'd ever felt in his life? The feeling that had enveloped him had been indescribable. It had been breath-taking-the heat that had rushed from his hand to every other square inch of his body had left him fully refreshed.
Well, it was easy to see that he had never gotten that kind of treatment in his past.
Seto just sighed, and then said, "We'd better get going. At this rate, he'll think that we've been attacked or killed or something." All that staring from the others was getting unsettling. Sure, they were friends now, but they weren't really THAT close.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Five minutes later they were standing in front of a stone gargoyle.
"Er..." Malik started, then turned and looked at the rest of them. "What did McGonagall say the password was again?"
"Pocky," Seto enunciated clearly. The gargoyle sprang to life, and a winding staircase started moving slowly upward.
"Well?" growled Yami Bakura. They stepped onto the stone escalator and were soon facing the door to the headmaster's office. It suddenly opened, and they saw the golden half-moon spectacles of Albus Dumbledore winking at them.
"Come on in!" the headmaster said heartily. "Would you like some tea? Pumpkin juice?"
Once they had all received drinks and found seats (actually, he literally drew chairs for them), Dumbledore brought up the subject that they had came for.
"Professor McGonagall told me that something very peculiar happened in her Transfiguration class today. Would you care to tell me about it?"
Yugi, Malik, and Ryou (he'd changed back right before) shifted uncomfortably.
"Um," Yugi said, looking up at Dumbledore, and then deciding to plunge straight ahead, said, "As you know, we have these artifacts from ancient Egypt-the Millennium items. Bakura has the Millennium Ring and the Millennium Eye, Malik has the Millennium Rod, and I have the Millennium Puzzle." At this point, he ran a hand along the golden pieces of the puzzle around his neck.
/Yami! Help me!/
//Just tell him the truth. We can trust him.//
/Just a little, then. The basic facts should be enough./
Yugi's eyes shifted out of focus for a few seconds during this conversation, and Dumbledore noticed the faraway look in his eyes. He said nothing about it.
"Uh, anyway, there are... spirits in many of the items. They got trapped there a about 5000 years ago, we think, in Egypt. There're seven in total, and we still don't know for sure if there are spirits in all of the items, but Shadi-he's the guy who has the Millennium Ankh (Millennium Key) and the Millennium Scales-said that once the right person possessed the right item, the spirit would be released. They're kind of like companions."
When Dumbledore made no comment, he went on.
Or rather, he tried to go on.
Somebody had suddenly burst in through the door.
"Professor Dumbledore, sir- oh, am I interrupting something?" Severus Snape was standing in the doorway, looking paler than usual. He was clutching his left forearm again, and was breathing hard. He had obviously just run a great distance.
"Severus! Do sit down I was just talking to the new transfer students -"
"Yes, but Professor, this is urgent," Snape continued, never breaking eye contact with Dumbledore. They exchanged a significant look, and then Dumbledore turned to the others.
"I'm very sorry. Could you four come later tonight? Say... around eight or so? That'd be great, thanks!" And then he all but shoved them out the door and down the stairs.
"Sheesh!" Malik grumbled, looking back at the now immobile gargoyle. He rubbed his arm where he had knocked it when Dumbledore had "escorted" them out of his office.
"Well, on the bright side, we still have a few more hours before we have to spill the beans," Yugi said, looking like he didn't even believe himself.
"That's supposed to be a bright side?" asked Yami Bakura, his eyebrow raised. Yup, he was very unconvinced.
"Umm, we can rehearse what to tell him... or not..." he trailed off as he watched them walk off, completely ignoring him. "Ugh." He hit himself on the forehead for actually thinking that they'd listen to him, and then rushed to catch up.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"There you are!" Ron greeted them as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. "We were getting worried that you wouldn't show up." Well, that was only half of the truth. They had been talking about the four until Yugi, Ryou, and Malik had entered the Great Hall.
Hermione frowned. "Where's Seto?" she asked. Yugi looked around. He seemed to have vanished. Again.
Malik brushed the question away with a "somewhere in the world" reply.
Harry, on the other hand, was looking at Ryou-or who he thought was Ryou. He had somehow acquired an almost raw steak, and was looking at it hungrily.
"Er, Ryou?" Harry ventured.
"What?" snapped Yami Bakura without looking away from his precious steak.
"You're not going to, uh, eat that, are you?" The piece of meat was practically drowning in blood.
"Of course I am, what kind of question was that?"
Malik, Ron, and Hermione's attentions had also been diverted to Yami Bakura.
Their reactions were all quite different.
"Cool! Where'd you get that?" asked Malik. He was peering up and down the long table, looking for where the platter for raw meat was.
"You know, you might get sick if you eat that, Ryou," warned Ron. He had turned a little green upon seeing the way Yami Bakura was looking at the steak.
And of course, Yami Bakura just ignored Ron's little 'fact'.
Hermione just looked as if she was going to be sick.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"What did Bakura eat at lunch, anyway?" asked Ryou in a whisper as they walked back to the Gryffindor common room after their final class. He was clutching his stomach, and looked like he was about to be sick.
"Er, he kinda ate a whole steak," Malik said nervously.
"Let me guess. Was it raw?" he managed to get out.
Malik plastered on a huge fake smile and nodded.
"I knew I shouldn't have let him go to lunch for me..." He suddenly froze in his tracks. "Please excuse me." He made a mad dash for the nearest bathroom.
"You know, I don't know why everyone thinks that Ryou's all that innocent. He's probably going to kill the Tomb Robber later," Malik mused, watching him shove a bunch of girls aside on the way to the bathroom.
"Maybe it's because they've never seen him really lose his temper," Yugi suggested, pulling out a planner full of their homework assignments.
"Why do you do that anyway?" asked Malik, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
"Let's see. I think we can finish Snape's essay and maybe fit in a few inches of Professor McGonagall's," Yugi said loudly, ignoring the other teen.
"Or we could just copy Seto's," Malik said, flashing a bright smile at him.
"We'll see," he replied.
"Yes! You know, there's hope for you yet, Priest!"
*~*~*~*~*~*
"See?" Hermione hissed at Ron and Harry. They were currently hiding behind a pillar, watching Yugi, Seto, and Malik return to the common room. They'd also caught Ryou's little incident. And were very confused.
"Ryou didn't even know what he had eaten for lunch!" Hermione pointed out.
"It's because he has a really short term memory!" Ron retorted.
"Or because he was being possessed at the time!"
"Stop it, you two, I'm trying to think," Harry said angrily, running his fingers through his hair. Ryou had said, 'What did Bakura eat at lunch?' But Ryou WAS Bakura. It just didn't make sense, unless he liked talking in third person. It was also very uncharacteristic of him to eat a whole raw steak, but then again, they didn't really know them well.
He ran all of this by Ron and Hermione.
"He's being possessed, there's no other explanation!" Hermione said stubbornly.
"How're you so sure?"
"I looked up 'yami' in the library. You were right, Harry, it was something in Japanese. It means 'dark' or 'darkness'. Ryou could have a dark side that possesses him!"
"You don't know for sure if that's right, though."
Harry shut his eyes tight. If only they would stop bickering for once!
"Listen, both of you might be right. We just don't know yet. The only way we'll know for sure is if they decide to tell us. There's definitely something up with Yugi and Ryou. Malik seems like his personality's just that way. We're pretty good friends, right? They'll tell us."~
He sighed. He_hoped_that they would tell them. The new students seemed pretty unpredictable now that they were at Hogwarts. Then again, they weren't really close in Diagon Alley. They would have to spend more time with them if they wanted to know the truth.
And what was with Malfoy, anyway? Draco, not Dracilla. He hadn't bothered them at all so far.
What about the intense pain that had come from his scar after the duel? Voldemort hadn't bothered him with such anger since the previous year.~
He shut his eyes tight. There was way too much going on in his head. What he needed to do was clear his mind. He needed to just wipe it clean. Just take some thoughts away for a while.
"Harry? Are you okay?"
He opened his eyes. Ron was peering into his face. Hermione was looking worried.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I think I'm going to go to bed early today, bye." He walked away, rubbing his scar.
They distinctly heard him mutter, "...Need to get a Pensieve... maybe could borrow... Dumbledore...."
"What's up with him?" asked Ron.
"I don't know-sounds like he's pretty preoccupied right now. I guess there's no use in pestering him with homework tonight. He probably needs to get some rest."
*~*~*~*~*~*
"Yes, yes yes yes!" Malik was running around the Gryffindor common room, holding all of Seto's homework triumphantly above his head.
Seto, for his part, looked pretty bored. His expression (one of many that were very easy to read) said, "Whatever. See if I care, you idiot."
Yugi was still writing his Transfiguration essay, a cute confused pout on his face. He was kind of confused by the theory of Vanishing Spells. Nobody had agreed to "rehearse" with him, so he'd decided to wing it at Dumbledore's office. Actually, he'd completely forgotten about it.
Ryou was... somewhere. They'd all decided to meet in front of the Fat Lady at ten to eight anyway.
*~*~*~*~*~*
So there they were, standing in front of the stone gargoyle again.
"Wait! Listen, I know the password!" Malik said excitedly. "Pocky!"
"Wow. We are so impressed," Seto said dully, stepping onto the rotating staircase after him.
They were once again greeted by Dumbledore, and five minutes later, Yugi was regretting not going over what he was going to say.
"Right. We have Millennium Items, what Voldemort's after, and they have spirits inside them," he started lamely. "That might be why everyone's been after them, because they have a lot of knowledge about ancient magic. The items themselves contain magic, as well. For example, my Millennium Puzzle houses a pharaoh-"
"Former pharaoh," Malik cut in.
"Well, yes. He was the pharaoh 5,000 years ago. He was released when I finished the puzzle a few years ago. His memories from a long time ago might be valuable information to some, like Voldemort."
"Malik hasn't let out the spirit of the Millennium Rod yet. He inherited it, so we don't know if he's the chosen one that can release the spirit, if there is one. There are certain people-like him-that can use a little of an item's power without being the right person."
Then he thought of something else. The true reason to why Voldemort was after the items.
/Of course! I've got to tell him./
"It is said that when all seven items are obtained by one person, that person will have control over the world. It is only a legend, but I'll bet that Voldemort believed it. That's why he's after us! It's not our magic that he wants -"
/Oops.../
"What was that?" asked Dumbledore curiously.
"Well, we can use Shadow magic." Yugi looked apologetically at Malik, and then Yami Bakura (who gave control back to Ryou right after) before continuing.
Dumbledore leaned forward. He had read of these powers somewhere...
'You're an idiot, Yugi,' Malik thought silently, cursing him at the same time.
"It's a very ancient form of magic, from Egypt. Only a few people can harness the full power of the Shadow Realm. Uh, maybe my yami can explain better." There was a slight flash of light, and Yami appeared in Yugi's place.
Dumbledore took note of the slightly crimson eyes, the height difference, spikier hair, and the sudden change of clothes. It seemed that the spirit preferred leather... and buckles.
"The Shadow Realm is a realm that was created over 5,000 years ago by one of the most powerful sorcerers alive. He was my High Priest, but I still can't remember his name. Anyway, the Shadow Realm still exists today. There are monsters - shadows, to be more precise - that feed on your very thoughts and memories. Our Millennium items allow us to use basic spells, and send people's minds to the Shadow Realm. There are several other things that we can do with our Shadow powers. Like-"
"Modifying memories?" asked Dumbledore, with a hint of a twinkle in his eyes.
"Uh, yeah," Yami replied off-handedly. "You must have noticed the slight change in the magical atmosphere. I can sense that you're very powerful."
"Yes, I did notice a tiny bit of change in the air. I believe you performed that spell twice today, am I not correct?"
"Actually, Ryou's yami is the one who did it. One of the Ring's special powers is that. We can also summon and control monsters from the Shadow Realm. There are many magical powers contained within our items. They are the key to many things. This is probably the reason why Voldemort wants them."
"May I see a demonstration?" Dumbledore inquired lightly.
"Um, sure," said Yami, giving Ryou a look with raised eyebrows.
Yami Bakura changed reluctantly.
"I'm me," he said dully.
"That's Yami Bakura. And this," Yami added, looking at Yami Bakura and Malik, "is the Shadow Realm." The room was suddenly immersed in a blackish- bluish-purplish cloudy substance that seemed to have no end. Dumbledore could feel, or sense, rather, things moving everywhere. Around them, between them, all around. But he couldn't see anything.
"Summon a monster, Tomb Robber."
"Man Eater Bug," Yami Bakura said in a bored voice, holding up a card. Dumbledore recognized it to be part of the card game that they were playing the day before. It was called Duel Monsters, or something.
There was a flash of light from the card, and the insect-like creature was suddenly rearing up in front of them, gnashing its teeth and emitting low growls and snarls. It's red eyes flashed menacingly.
"And back," announced Malik, and the office came into view again, as the dark void dematerialized. The Man Eater Bug disappeared along with it.
"It's a bit harder to maintain in this school, because of the new magic," Malik said. "They kind of cancel out each other, I think."
"Can you summon anything you want?" Dumbledore asked. He wasn't sure if the card game was just an example or not.
"Um, basically just the stuff on Duel Monsters cards, because somehow, they're linked with Ancient Egypt," Yugi replied. The others were looking bored now. It was clear that they didn't wish to participate in the conversation anymore.
"Well, I thank you for being truthful with me," said Dumbledore, smiling. "But do try not to harm the students at the school with your powers. I don't think their parents would appreciate it."
"Some of them might," muttered Malik, thinking of most of the Slytherins.
Dumbledore gave them another one of his slight smiles, and then said, "Well, I think that you'd better get back to the Gryffindor common room."
::Do notice that he didn't say Slytherin common room at all.::
As they put their cups of tea down, and stood up to leave, Dumbledore added, "And may I ask you to stay just a bit longer, Mr. Kaiba?"
Seto remained seated while Yugi, Yami Bakura, and Malik made their way to the door.
Yami Bakura was almost at the door, when he turned and his lips curled up in a smirk.
"Oh, I almost forgot," he said casually. "You might be needing this." He tossed Dumbledore's wand back to him. Malik was trying to stifle his laughter, but ended up failing miserably. Instead, he made odd choking noises as they went back down the spiraling staircase.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"I wonder what he wants with Seto," said Yugi, looking back at the entrance to Dumbledore's office. The gargoyle had already frozen into place again.
"Who knows," Malik replied nastily. He was glaring at Yugi, all mirth from Yami Bakura's stunt forgotten. "Smart move back there. Now he knows about our Shadow powers."
"Hey, I made it as short as I could-I didn't tell him EVERYTHING. You should be glad I didn't tell him about your powers. He would've banned controlling minds completely. And we can trust him! Yami told me so!"
"Your stupid yami's been wrong on more things than I can count! How do we know that that Dumby-dore isn't just trying to get a hold of our items?"
"Hey! At least we didn't get in trouble for the duel yesterday!"
"Well now we can't use our powers on any of the students, mind controlling or not, so what does that matter?"
"He said to TRY not to HARM the pathetic mortals, Malik," Yami Bakura said loudly.
"What d'you mean by that?" demanded Malik.
"Well, what if we can't control our own actions? We'd still be trying. And he doesn't really know our definition of harm, does he?" He fingered his Ring with a sinister look on his face.
Yugi did not like the grins on their faces.
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Finally! I'm so sorry I didn't get this chapter out earlier! I could never find the time to finish it! Actually, I was preparing for the SAT. I'm only a seventh grader, peoples! I'm sneaking on the computer right now just to upload it onto FF.net.
Seto: You still made me sound really stupid...
Silver Saire: Be quiet, that's totally off topic!
Well I hope you enjoyed it-I'm going to try to type the next chapter faster. Thank you t.a.g.0, my beta-reader. She caught a lot of mistakes and made this chapter a whole lot better.
So, reviews are welcomed, as are suggestions and comments. Thank you, people who've been supporting this story since the beginning. I really appreciate all the encouragement!
Now...to...the next...chapter...
By the way, it's probably going to come out in another two weeks. Don't hurt me!
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1/26 Woohoo! It was snowing on Sunday and now all the roads and driveways and other stuffs in Raleigh are covered in this cool layer of ice. You can just slide all around on it and then fall on your butt! School's been cancelled for two whole days, and I'm happy!
1/28 The snow/ice on the grass is so hard it can support your weight! How cool is that?
1/29 Noooo!!!!! The ice is melting! No school for four days, but the ice is going away!!!!