I'm sorry it took so long! And... I'm sorry for being so childish. Don't
forget, I'm only 13! (turned thirteen February 27 () But here's the next
chapter!
Everyone who reviewed, even though there wasn't a real chapter/reviewed for every chapter — thank you so much! I think I'll do a Reply to Reviewers thingy sometime. But if you don't like them, just tell me, and I won't. I'll probably just list all of the special people who decided to review. Uh, enough talking. On to... er... which chapter is this?
Uh, on to Chapter Ten!
*~*~*~*~*~*
"Okay. This is Draco-kun, you guys. Draco, this is Harry, Ron, and Hermione." Silence. "Um, aren't you going to shake hands or anything? What's the matter with you?"
Yugi and Ryou walked into the Great Hall. They spotted the group just standing around and came towards them.
"Oh, hello. You must be Draco-kun. I'm Ryou. It's nice to meet you," said Ryou immediately, offering a smile. After all, he was the nice polite one, right?
Draco nodded, shaking Ryou's hand. "Likewise." He smiled back. Sincerely.
"Hi Draco. I'm Yugi," said Yugi, slightly bowing. "Oh, yeah. We're supposed to shake hands here, aren't we? Sorry." He laughed sheepishly, and then shook Draco's hand.
"See? They're being nice, why can't you?" Malik turned and asked the three still standing and gaping.
"Uh, hey Malfoy," Harry said tentatively.
"Don't call him that! It's Draco, not Malfoy. How impolite!"
"How are you doing, Draco?" asked Hermione.
"I'm fine, how're you?" he replied without a moment's hesitation.
Malik turned to Ron expectantly. He mumbled hello and then turned away.
"Well, I suppose that's got to do for now. Can't really expect him to warm up to him that fast," Malik sighed, but then brightened up. He spun around to look at Draco again.
"You can meet Seto later, Draco – I'm sure you'll like him too! You know, I would prefer to go outside and talk, but I think we're going to be late for McGonagall. See you later, Draco!"
"I don't get it," said Harry, once they were out of earshot. "How did he change? It's like he's a totally different person."
"Yeah, it's great, isn't it? He's really nice and polite and everything — and he's actually acting on his own free will now!" Malik said happily.
/Wait. Do you know what that means, Yami?/
//That he was being controlled by someone somehow? Probably. But you never know.//
"It's actually quite strange, you know," said Malik. "He's nice and all, but almost nobody seems to like him. He was all alone until I came."
'All alone, just like me....' Came a voice inside his head for a fleeting moment. He quickly brushed it away.
"What's wrong, Malik?" asked Ryou. He had seen the brief look of pain on Malik's face.
"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Malik said cheerily, putting a big smile on and striding forward.
He missed his yami. He needed him. There was nothing else to it. Mariku was his dark, he the light. It just wasn't right for darkness and light to be apart from each other.
*~*~*~*
"You're right," Malik admitted a little while later. Yami Bakura and Yami had pulled him into a spare classroom and demanded answers. He glared at them. "Somebody has been controlling him for... oh, let's say, the past 10 fucking years! Don't you understand? Someone's been taking away his thoughts and replacing them! His heart, his memories, his dreams... they haven't been his true feelings ever since he could think for himself!"
Malik looked down. "The way he acts, his very personality, has been tampered with. It wasn't right. He didn't deserve it — his soul is pure. I had to sever the connection."
"So...?" questioned Yami.
"I'm working on it," Malik mumbled. "He hasn't forgotten the individuals that he's met in the past. The only problem is getting them to actually like him. He's trying to change their feelings towards him, but he can't just say, 'Oh, yeah. I wasn't acting on my own free will for the past five years I've known you. I was being controlled by the Imperius Curse, but that's all gone. Want to be friends now?,' can he? You saw how those Gryffindors acted when they met him again."
"Well, who was doing it then?" Yami Bakura asked, folding his arms. "Who could hate a child that much to take total control over his life?"
"His... father."
*~*~*~*
"Let me get this straight. Draco-kun's father was controlling him with a wizard spell, the Imperius Curse. It was just a weak incantation, but altered his thoughts and feelings and actions." Yugi was looking disbelievingly at Malik, who was leaning on a bedpost. They'd moved their conversation up to the Gryffindor dormitories, as Harry and Ron were visiting Hagrid.
"Imagine how he must have felt when he was released," said Ryou softly. "Having people hate him for things that he didn't want to do. Having even done those very tasks, and having even more expectations." He looked up. "I trust his father doesn't know that his control has been disconnected?"
"No, he hasn't realized yet. This was how the spell worked. It was only a modified version of the Imperius Curse. Lighter, I expect. Draco-kun was controlled by his own father's wishes for him."
"But why? He's his own child!" cried Yugi. "I can't imagine anybody being so cruel."
"Trust me, there are people out there like that," said a weak voice from the bed next to him. Seto was sitting up, rubbing his head and looking slightly disoriented. He looked around as he remembered.
"Oh yeah." He flopped back down.
"Um, are you okay, Seto-kun?" asked Yugi carefully.
"Yes. What happened to me after that anyway?"
"Dumbledore happened to you," said Yami Bakura, smirking.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Seto's recovery was faster than expected. He insisted on going to all of his classes the next day. Dumbledore said that his will was very powerful, and that might have been what had overcome his illness. Mokuba was, thankfully, not too aware of what had happened or Seto's weakness. This might have been because of all the sugar that Malik gave him, though....
"Harry!"
Harry sighed again, and then asked, "Yes, what is it?" even though he already knew what it was going to be about.
Over the following days, Harry had been bombarded with questions about the DA.
"Are you going to start it up again, mate?"
"Can new people join?"
"Hey, Harry, d'you think now that Dumbledore's back we can actually hold the sessions somewhere a bit bigger?"
"Has he given his approval yet?"
These did bring up more things to do. The first thing was to get Dumbledore to say yes, which he probably would. Next was to recruit new members. Then they had to find another place to meet. All of this wouldn't happen until after the O.W.L.s, though, as Harry already told them.
"What is the DA, anywho?" asked Malik during lunch that day, munching on a celery stick.
"It stands for Dumbledore's Army," said Hermione. "We started it secretly last year to fight against Voldemort. Our DADA professor wasn't too instructive, so we learned all sorts of spells on our own. Harry was our teacher, in a sense. That's why –"
"Everyone's stalking me?" finished Harry as he sat down next to her.
"Precisely. You could probably recruit a few assistants this year, Harry, to lighten the load." She scanned through the index of the heavy looking book she had been reading, marking many with her wand. "I've already found tons of new jinxes that we can use."
"Yeah, okay, whatever," said Harry distractedly. His attention was on Seto, who was trying to pry off several fan girls without avail. He finally took out his wand and froze all of them with the Full Body Bind.
"You should have killed them," commented Malik. "That way they never would have bothered you again. Say, where are Yugi and Ryou?"
"I think you already know," said Seto, collapsing onto the bench beside Mokuba.
"Oh, you mean they're still upstairs f—"
"Just shut up already," the other snapped. "Don't use such language in front of my little brother."
"'Kay," said Malik weakly, looking at the sparking wand still in Seto's hand. He didn't want to get blown up by an annoyed CEO.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Malik decided to spend the night in Gryffindor tower that night. The truth was, he was being crushed by grief. There was almost no way to communicate with his yami because of the distance separating them. He felt incomplete, not whole — which was, in theory, true.
He snuck up there at around midnight and just sat in front of the dying embers, staring at the flickering flames.
Harry was going down to the common room to get something that he'd left there when he heard low voices.
"What's wrong?"
"I... I miss him."
He peeked around the corner to see Malik curled up on the couch hugging his legs to his chest, gazing deep into the fire. There were silent tears running down his face. He looked like a five year old. Yami Bakura was standing beside him. Slowly, almost hesitantly, he put a hand on Malik's shoulder.
"He'll be here soon."
Malik started to nod, but then lost control completely. With a sob, he launched himself at Yami Bakura, clutching at his shirt and crying into his shoulder.
"I feel like a big chunk of me is missing," he cried. "I can't do anything anymore." He looked up at Yami Bakura, who was looking stunned. "He's my darkness — you understand, don't you? Like you and Ryou. Light and dark, inseparable."
Yami Bakura's look softened. "You're exactly right," he said gently, pulling Malik into a comforting hold. "You are incomplete without him, as he is without you. Without each other, you won't be able to exist. You shouldn't be apart, for if you are, it's like a part of you has died." Yami Bakura rested his chin on the light blond tresses and Malik quieted, sniffing occasionally. He relaxed into Yami Bakura's chest. He was warm, just like Mariku always was.
"He'll be back soon," Yami Bakura promised again.
Harry quietly snuck back up, all intentions of retrieving his bag forgotten. After a while of lying awake in bed, he decided that some things were best left alone. He wouldn't mention what he saw to anybody.
Malik was back to normal the next week. But Harry knew that it was all a façade. This person that he had been talking about was very important to him. He had described him as his dark, like a part of him. Harry stopped wondering about it. Like he'd decided before, there were some things that he didn't have to meddle in. He'd learned that much from the previous years.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The next few weeks passed without any incident, unless you count Yami Bakura and Malik blowing up six classrooms, erasing McGonagall's memory fourteen times (the other teachers' memories were modified over twelve times), and scaring half of the student body by routinely trying to kill each other for fun and doing other... stuff. But that was just normal, wasn't it?
Two weeks before the fifth years were to take their O.W.L.s again, people started freaking out. The teachers were giving more reviews and assigning piles of homework. The only ones who seemed to be unfazed were Seto, Malik, Yugi, and Ryou.
Lupin was bringing in more dark creatures to Defense Against the Dark Arts classes and requiring the students to battle them.
"Now, today, I thought that we should review on boggarts," he said one day. "I have one in this suitcase," at this, he gestured towards a battered looking suitcase on the desk beside him, "for you to practice on. Please move around, that's it. Okay, do you all remember what to do? Neville, will you please demonstrate so that our new students can see?"
Neville walked up. Harry had to admit, Neville had changed a lot over the past year. He was getting a lot better at magic, and had grown more confident with himself.
Lupin undid the clasps on the suitcase, and someone stepped out. It was not Snape, as it was in his third year, but a woman with heavily lidded eyes. Bellatrix Lestrange stood before the class, glowering at everybody. Lupin's eyes widened in surprise. The rest of the class was perplexed. Then, Bellatrix raised her wand, and shrieked, "Cru—"
But Neville was ready for her. "Riddikulus!" he cried. Bellatrix suddenly clutched at her throat. Her voice was gone. Her wand had snapped in half, and then she toppled onto the floor, under the Full Body Bind.
Neville glared at her some more, and then...
"Dean!" Lupin shouted, and Dean stepped forward.
And then, the door creaked open. It was Ryou. He started apologizing for being late but stopped as he caught sight of the boggart. It had begun to move towards Ryou, distracted by the newcomer.
The boggart had turned into somebody with white hair that stuck out; somebody with slanted cold brown eyes; somebody also with the Millennium Ring around his neck. The class was confused once more. Who was this person? Malik, Seto, and Yugi were looking on worriedly.
The Yami Bakura boggart advanced on Ryou, a look of malice on his face.
"How are you doing, weakling hikari?" he asked in a sinister voice. Shivers ran up Harry's spine. This was that other Ryou, he was sure of it. The same, cold, red-brown eyes, the same creepy voice.
The boggart drew out a dagger with a shining silver blade and continued to step closer to Ryou.
Ryou whimpered and backed up against the wall. His books lay on the floor, forgotten, as he was cornered.
"No," he whispered. "You said that you wouldn't, you promised!"
:Bakura!: he mentally cried. He didn't know what made him do it, it was more like instinct. Bakura was right in front of him, yet he could feel him in his soul room. All of it happened so suddenly that he didn't have time to register in his brain that the creature was a boggart. Yami Bakura, who had been taking a nap in his soul room, awoke with a start. He felt fear and confusion through their link, and... hurt?
::Ryou, Ryou! RYOU! What's happening?:: Ryou didn't answer.
::That's not me, Ryou! I would never do that again, stop it Ryou!:: Ryou was still silent. Fear was overpowering everything else. He was numb, he couldn't think.
Yami Bakura threw caution to the winds, and materialized in front of Ryou. Ryou was looking at Yami Bakura as if he didn't trust him either. All the happy memories with his yami were forgotten as he remembered all the bad memories.
"No...." he whispered again. "Not again...."
Yami Bakura took his chances, and crushed his mouth against Ryou's in a desperate attempt to bring him back to reality.
It worked, as Ryou started responding to the familiar touch. His eyes closed as he submitted himself to Yami Bakura, relaxing into his touch.
::It's okay, Ryou. I'm here now.::
He remembered. Everything came flooding back to him as the initial shock wore off. Nothing mattered except that they were together again.
:Bakura...: he sighed happily.
Yami Bakura wove a spell of deep, dreamless sleep with peace and calm, and cast it over Ryou. He was instantly asleep, not to awaken until the spell caster wished him to.
The boggart was very confused during the two minutes that this all happened. He growled to get their attention. Yami Bakura, with Ryou still in his arms, turned. He swore as he saw himself again, set Ryou down, and threw the Ring to Malik. Malik caught it and looked questioningly at Yami Bakura.
"I need you to erase their memories of this after I deal with this thing," he instructed him.
"I'll help," said Seto, jumping forward with his wand raised.
Yami Bakura nodded his thanks, and raised his hands to form a ball of dark energy. The boggart was a creature of mediocre power, but his own skills were a bit rusty. He glanced at it, half expecting to see himself again, but with a sharp crack, the boggart transformed into something that made him recoil just a little.
Ryou was lying before him, dead, or almost dying. He was chalk white and covered in blood, with huge gashes all over his frail body. The dark liquid contrasted horribly well with his pale skin, and his hair was stained red. Even so, his face still looked angelic. His clothes were slashed open on some parts, and it looked like several of his bones were broken.
//Not real, this isn't real.//
There were gasps, but he did not know where they were from, the group of people behind him, the rest of the class, or even himself. All of his attention was focused to banishing this creature, which dug out his worst fear and turned it into reality. Although some little part of his mind was thinking how grateful he was that Ryou wasn't seeing it, most of his energy and will was used to power the sphere of dark light.
He was frustrated at how much of his power was blocked again, until he felt someone – no, two people — helping. More of this told him that both Yami and Seto were giving power to him. Their energy signatures were unmistakable. The glowing sphere of energy pulsed with power, and Yami Bakura took aim.
He shut his eyes and flung the mass of black at the creature on the floor. It shrieked once, and then disappeared as the darkness enveloped it.
He heard someone snap his fingers, and then there was mass unconsciousness all around. They walked out together and headed for the Gryffindor common room. It was a good thing that DADA was the last class that they had that day — nobody would discover them skipping more classes.
Yami Bakura placed Ryou gently on his four-poster and sat next to him, deep in thought. Sanura jumped up on his lap and mewed, and he absently started stroking her. The others watched him carefully. He was looking down at Ryou with an unreadable expression on his face. He finally closed his eyes with a sigh, and started to fade out, leaving Sanura curled up next to Ryou. She licked his face and pawed his nose gently. He stirred, and then brown eyes blinked open. He sat up with a gasp and clutched his Millennium Ring.
"'Kura! Where is he?"
"He just vanished into his soul room, didn't he?" asked Yugi.
"The door's locked!" said Ryou, distressed.
"You should give him some time alone, I think," said Yami softly. Yugi's transparent form, standing beside him, nodded. Malik still held the Ring in his hand, watching him from the doorway, and Seto looked lost in thought.
"You're right," Ryou agreed. Then, as if he needed to explain, he said, "About the boggart —"
"Later," said Yami firmly. "You need to rest." He thought he already knew the story behind the Yami Bakura boggart, though. He decided not to tell Ryou what the boggart had turned into when it had faced Yami Bakura. Not yet, anyway.
*~*~*~*~*~*
They soon learned that memory spells weren't always great. Lupin, having forgotten what had happened with the boggart, had managed to find a traggob, which was the opposite of a boggart. This creature showed your greatest desire, and then went in for the kill while you were distracted. Quite a dangerous technique. And somehow, Malik had gotten chosen to go first, in the next Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"Uh, okay," said Malik, as the rest of the class backed away. He glanced up at Lupin again. "What do I do again?"
"You must concentrate on thinking that the traggob is not real. It is still a dark creature that can do sufficient damage. Then, when you feel that you can banish it completely, use this incantation, 'Reiddikalis!' Be sure not to say 'Riddikulus, or the spell will backfire. If you do it right, the traggob will be weakened, and the next person can step up."
"Alright," said Malik nervously. He hoped that it wouldn't show what he thought it would. But since when had his life ever been too great?
Lupin released the traggob, and his yami was suddenly standing in front of him and smiling at him.
Malik's eyes widened in shock, but then he shut his eyes tight. Mariku was in Egypt. This was a creature trying to hurt him. He must use the spell. But he just couldn't bring himself to do it.
Ha, that was a joke. He was the former leader of the Rare Hunters. He'd controlled and banished so many people he couldn't even count now. He chided himself for turning weak and opened his eyes, ready to use the spell.
But he waited just a moment too long. Mariku was now grinning evilly at him, less than a foot away. A gleaming dagger was out and he struck. It drove into Malik's left arm, leaving a freely bleeding gash, making his arm almost completely useless.
Lupin was stunned. He watched, as if in a trance, as the blood splattered all over the ground. Never before had a traggob hurt anyone more than just a few bruises. After all, most of the people in the world had deepest desires that weren't so dangerous, right? The traggob could only use weapons or tools that its current form carried. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Who was this traggob resembling? Lupin made as if to rush in and stop the creature, but found himself held back by Yami.
"It's his battle," he said. "Let's see what he does."
Malik had grown enraged. The attack had brought him back to his senses. Ignoring the dull pain in his arm and the steady dripping of his blood, he said angrily, "How dare you use Mariku's form! I'll make you pay!"
The Mariku traggob slashed again, but Malik was faster. He threw his wand aside (Seto caught it), drew his own dagger, which was almost identical to Mariku's, and Shadow Magic immediately flowed into the blade. The silver- gold point was bathed in what looked like black and purple fire. He quickly blocked the attack. For a moment they crossed blades, then came out in a stalemate. Oh well, he wouldn't expect less from his darker side. Too bad the traggob represented his strength and skills as well. This would actually be a bit of a challenge.
Malik smirked as he thought of one thing the traggob didn't have access to. Mariku's magic. The flames grew larger as his feelings grew and the monster recoiled. It growled, and some of Mariku's features shifted. He drew a second dagger. Malik couldn't, as his left arm was hanging uselessly at his side, but he courageously prepared himself for the attack, just shielding himself with one weapon. He knew that he was at a severe disadvantage. He concentrated on the monster's weakness and quickly devised a plan. Blades flashed as they fought, and Malik managed to slice the creature more than twice.
The wounds split open for just a second, and then healed at once, spilling no blood, but he knew that its energy was decreasing. He could sense it in the sloppy way that it'd dodged the previous attack. The daggers flashed once more, and Malik pushed with more magic. The flames were flowing down the blade and onto the traggob. The creature was set aflame and shrieked as the magic consumed it. Then the false set of daggers fell to the floor. There were two rubies set into the hilts, exactly like Mariku's.
Malik's gaze was averted to his own pair, which had been made along with Mariku's. There were two amethysts glittering in the hilt. Mariku had chosen them. He'd said that they reminded him of Malik's eyes. Malik looked back down. The twin weapons were also burning. Nothing remained of the troggab now.
"And that's what you get if you get Malik pissed," finished Seto. He was looking at Malik's wounds critically, and Malik reluctantly trudged back to let Seto heal him, shoving his daggers back into where ever he was hiding them and trailing a mass of blood as he went.
There was stunned and awed silence, and then the Gryffindors all broke into applause, even though it was for a Slytherin. They'd never seen such a display and were all very impressed.
Malik grinned, and then looked up at Seto. He was chanting some indistinguishable words under his breath, and then raised his hand above Malik's head, waving it around once. His eyes flashed and eerie light blue, just once, and a wave of pale cerulean light started spreading down from the top, targeting all of Malik's cuts and especially that one gaping wound. Eventually, the light faded, and Malik was left unmarred, save for the bloody and cut up clothes.
Malik raised his eyebrows. "Cool. Thanks, I feel better than ever. But you should really work on repairing clothes as well."
Seto smirked, tossing Malik's wand back to him. "Sorry, it only works on living objects."
"Right," Lupin said shakily. "Class is dismissed for today. Go to Gryffindor tower for the remaining fifteen minutes, please." He took one look at the pool of blood still on the floor and the scorch mark where the traggob had burned to its doom, and headed straight for Dumbledore's office.
"That was bloody amazing!" exclaimed Ron. "Where'd you learn how to fight like that?"
"Oh, one can just pick it up in random places," Malik shrugged, pocketing his wand.
"You know, we could use you in the DA," said Harry thoughtfully. "And all of you guys, as well. Ryou, you're pretty good at fighting, right?"
"Er... yeah."
"Seto's great at healing," Hermione added. "It's really neat where you use all that blue energy and nothing's left after."
They continued discussing plans for the DA while walking to Gryffindor tower. But Ryou's mind was somewhere else. What was he going to do about his yami?
*~*~*~*~*~*
The days whizzed by, and they soon didn't have any time to think about anything else. All they were doing was studying once more. Well, Seto and Malik weren't studying at all, but that was different. It wasn't like Seto needed to, and Malik... let's just say that he still needed to get everything organized and his priorities set straight.
Even Ryou was studying hard, partly to take his mind off things, and partly because he actually wanted to get good grades.
Yami Bakura hadn't spoken to him ever since the day they faced the boggart in Defense Against the Dark Arts, mentally or physically. In fact, he hadn't even seen him at all since that day. Ryou pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. Normal school or not, he still had to get satisfactory grades.
The day of their first written tests came so suddenly that people were beginning to panic again. Hermione was to be found whacking people with books more now, and even Harry was scanning over his notes whenever he found the time.
Once again, the Great Hall was organized with little tables in neat row. The four house tables were nowhere to be seen, and in the front of the hall stood Professor McGonagall and the hourglass that clocked them.
"You may begin." The hourglass was turned, and they were soon scratching out answers to Potions questions like:
What would you add to remedy an Animalius potion gone wrong?
a) Name the most powerful truth potion there is, and b) tell the properties it has, as well as c) the effects it will have on the subject.
45 minutes into the exam they saw Seto flip back to the very first page and start rereading his answers.
'But we've still got an hour and fifteen minutes to go!' Harry thought frantically. Was Seto done already? He himself was only on the third page out of eight, and he'd skipped a number of questions.
"Well, that wasn't too bad," commented Yugi afterwards. He had finished within the second hour and given up checking the thing, deciding to chat with his yami afterwards. A conversation that had ended up as something that probably shouldn't be mentioned here.
"Yes, it's just too bad that we had the Potions exam first," said Hermione, hurriedly flipping through a thick Ancient Runes textbook. She looked up.
"Aren't you guys going to study for our next test?"
"Well, Hermione, we have a free period, since you are taking one more class that we are," Ron explained, trying to suppress a grin.
"And we don't feel like studying," yawned Malik. He gestured at Yugi, Seto, who were engaged in another duel, and then at Ryou, who had dozed off.
Harry was amused at how little the exchange students cared for their grades, but had to admit, it was fun torturing Hermione.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Seto and Hermione came out of the Arithmancy O.W.L. to find Malik, Yugi, Ryou, Harry, and Ron just exiting the classroom where the written part of their Divination testing took place.
"I'm alright on the theory, but I just can't do the practical," said Ron. "I think I might've scraped an Acceptable on that. Ah, well, it's not like I'll need it in the future."
Hermione was repeatedly bonking herself on the head. "I did number fifty- seven wrong! I forgot to simplify the numerical systic power into an irrapational decimit!"
Harry, who didn't understand a word of her rant, said, "Relax, 'Mione. One wrong answer's not going to hurt your final score!"
She glared at him.
"Well, at least you don't have a practical for Arithmancy," he said, retreating a little.
They headed for their Astronomy theory test.
*~*~*~*~*~*
On Wednesday, their practical exams began.
Harry made sure he didn't mess up too badly on Charms or Transfiguration this time, as he would need to get into those N.E.W.T. classes to become an Auror.
A notice had been posted up. There would be a ball on Friday, the day that the O.W.L. examinations ended, which also happened to be Halloween. Students in fourth year and up were allowed to attend. Everyone was talking about what they would wear, and who to ask to dance. Girls were giggling every time they passed.
"Ugh. I can't concentrate," Ryou muttered. This was too much. Yami Bakura not talking to him, the O.W.L.s that were right after the other, and now the noise level. His head throbbed painfully. It was all finally taking a toll on him, both physically and emotionally.
He suddenly stopped in his tracks, clutching his head. His bag fell and the books dropped and fell open on the ground. Several inkbottles hit the stone as well, and mercifully some of them stayed intact. There were gasps and many girls rushed to help him.
"No." He was surprised at the shakiness in his own voice. "Stay away," he mumbled, leaning against the wall for support, his eyes shut, taking steadying breaths.
Somebody approached him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Warmth spread from that single spot. It was Seto. Nefertari alighted on his other shoulder, and warmth started to radiate from that spot as well. Ryou didn't move. He let the feeling wash over him and then took a deep breath.
"Shh. This will help." His hair was brushed aside, exposing the back of his neck. The hand lifted off his shoulder to touch two fingertips to the bare skin there. Ryou's eyes flashed open after a second. The headache was gone.
Seto moved away from him to retrieve Ryou's books, placing them in his bag. He cleaned up the broken shards of glass and the ink on the floor with a wave of his hand. New bottles of ink appeared in his other outstretched palm. He also put them in Ryou's bag.
"Are you okay?" he asked, handing Ryou his things.
"Yeah. Thanks," Ryou said gratefully, accepting the bag.
"You should go rest," Seto said, frowning, and looking at Ryou's pale face.
"We only have one more examination today. I think I can handle it," he said in his soft voice, looking up at Seto. "Thanks again." A slender hand touched Seto's own for a moment, and then moved away.
The taller teen sighed, shaking his head and watching the other walk to his final exam of the day.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Funnily enough, the theme of the dance was 'The Muggle World.' The Slytherins didn't really like it, but everyone else enjoyed dressing up for it, so it was okay.
Ryou had been reluctant to go. In the end, Malik had forced him.
"You need to have some fun, Ryou! You look like crap!"
"Thanks for the observation," said Ryou dryly.
Even so, he let Malik pick out an outfit for him to wear. He wasn't going with anyone, same with Malik, although according to Malik's statistics, over 20 percent of the female population had asked Ryou, same for Malik. More than 50 percent asked Seto (he declined every single girl, so he was also going as a bachelor), and the rest asked Yugi. After he made sure that everyone knew that he was already taken, they laid off him for a while. Seto, Ryou, and Malik weren't so lucky.
"Are you guys done yet?" Hermione asked, stepping in the boy's dormitories. She was wearing a loose, flowing ball gown made out of a periwinkle blue silky material and had her hair swept up in some kind of fancy style. She wasn't going with anyone, either.
"Dancing just isn't my thing," she'd told them. She was over Viktor Krum, as well. "We're just good friends, nothing more."
"I'll bet most of the stupid 'purebloods,' a.k.a. the Slytherins, won't even know what to wear," Ron said.
"Look who's talking," Harry snorted. Ron's hair was slicked down, but he was wearing jeans and cowboy boots, along with an old black T-shirt. He'd also managed to acquire a bright blue bowtie and fixed it loosely around his neck. It hung in front of a orange and green striped tie that he had tucked into his belt.
"Dumbledore was a bit vague," said Hermione, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "I think any type of Muggle wear will be okay. It doesn't have to be anything dressy. Oh, you look nice, Harry."
Harry'd left his hair as it was, knowing that it wouldn't do any good to try and comb it. He had on a checked dress shirt, and khaki dress pants, with some regular black shoes. He'd gotten the outfit from Seto, who had somehow materialized it out of nowhere. He had to admit that he did like the way he looked, though.
"No, Malik, I will NOT wear these!" Ryou's voice drifted loudly from the bathroom.
"Why not?"
Malik's voice dropped, and they heard quiet murmuring, and then...
"Fine."
A few minutes later the door opened, and Ryou and Malik stepped out. Harry, Ron, and Hermione gaped at them. There was black leather everywhere. Malik had a satisfied smirk on his face. There was a bad boy attitude about him as he leaned against the doorway, crossing his legs, putting a hand on his hips, which were tilted suggestively. His lavender orbs twinkled mischievously.
"So what do you think?"
He was clad in a tight, leather tank top that showed his flawless form, and a bit of golden-tan skin was showing where the top ended. His pants were riding so low on his hips it should be made illegal, and also clung tightly to his frame. Several golden bands decorated his arms, those golden earrings were on again, and a single belt was slung casually on, not doing so well in the holding up pants department, as it was hanging diagonally across his hips. When he tossed his hair back, there were golden glimmers.
Ryou was dressed similarly, standing awkwardly beside Malik, and although he had refused the gold, Malik had come up with something silver for him. There were silver sparkles in his hair, a few silver bands on his arms, but no belts or earrings. The leather accented his thin frame and contrasted with his very pale skin. He was fidgeting, trying to pull his pants up more on his narrow hips. Um, because, well... I think you know why. He was suddenly aware of the silence around him, and looked up nervously.
Their eyes widened. Ryou's eyes were an icy blue. They looked so natural and fit so perfectly with his attire that it surprised them. Also, his eyes had been outlined in black.
"He wouldn't let me do any more," said Malik. "Still, it looks great, doesn't it?"
"Uh, you guys," Harry said weakly. "Is this how muggles dress?"
"Yup!" Malik said happily. "Well, we do, anyway."
Ryou threw a dirty look at Malik. "You mean, you and Yami do."
"Well now you do, too!"
Yugi, who had been sitting on his bed, said, "Wow, Ryou. You should try that look more often!"
/I definitely did not expect that./
//Let me see.// Ryou was subjected to Yami's glare a split second later. He gulped uneasily as the crimson eyes surveyed him.
//... he's... different...//
/Yeah./
"You know, the fan girls are going to go crazy when you go out," Seto said, coming in. He had a black silk dress shirt on (with the top button left unbuttoned) and black dress pants and shoes.
"Mokuba tried to make me wear a tuxedo," he said, collapsing onto his own bed. "I told him that this wasn't *that* formal of a ball." He grinned at Ryou. "I guess I should be glad he didn't make me wear *that*."
"What did you do?" Yugi asked Seto, trying to pry Harry, Hermione, and Ron's gazes off of Ryou. He was looking very uncomfortable now.
"Told him I'd wear it at the next dance," Seto replied, catching on. It worked. The three finally turned around.
"There's probably not going to be a next one," said Ron. "There's not even a dance every year. The last one was two years ago, and that was because of the Triwizard Tournament."
"Exactly."
Actually, none of them had asked anybody. They thought it best to avoid having to dance at all. They were only going because... well, they didn't have anything else to do. The only couple present were Yugi and Yami, and almost nobody knew about them.
Malik had Mariku, and Ryou — well, he was still loyal to Yami Bakura. Seto just wasn't interested in anyone, and Harry and Ron decided not to go into all the trouble to get partners after what happened last time. They hadn't gotten much dancing in at the Yule Ball.
"Ready to get mobbed by insane fans?" asked Yugi, grinning. He was wearing leather as well, with even more chains, bracelets, buckles, chokers, and belts than usual. They didn't even know where he'd gotten more. He couldn't possibly have fitted it all into his trunk with his other possessions. The Millennium Puzzle hung around his neck, as usual.
"Wait," Ryou said quietly. He walked over to his bedside table and took out the Millennium Ring, holding it and looking at it, as if deciding to wear it or not.
"It won't go well with your outfit," Malik warned. He had looped his Millennium Rod into his belt, but Ryou... he was a different case.
"I don't care," Ryou said firmly, placing the leather strap around his neck. It just felt right there. The familiar weight calmed him down a little.
"Whatever floats your boat," Malik said. He'd caught the look on Ryou's face. He'd been thinking about his yami.
"I think we're late," Hermione said, glancing at a watch. She was right. The ball had started at eight. It was almost half past eight already.
"It's okay," Harry assured her. "We can be fashionably late. They won't mind."
They made their way to the Great Hall. From what they could hear through the doors, it was strangely quiet.
"Well, expect the worst," said Malik cheerfully, pushing open the doors. They stepped inside.
*~*~*~*~*~*
What will happen to them? Will they get attacked by crazy fan girls? (Yes.) Will they survive? (Maybe. Possibly. ... or not.) What'll happen between Ryou, Malik, and their yamis? (I dunno. But it's just heartbreaking, isn't it?) Find out in the next chapter!
There you have it. Sorry it took incredibly long to update, but I just couldn't find any time at all. At least it's longer than usual. Sorry if it's awful, because I'm kinda running out of ideas at the moment. I guess the pets have been almost non-existent. I've been way too lazy. Actually, I'd forgotten about them. Tell me if you want the pets to go bye bye or not, 'kay? Any ideas on what'll happen to the bishies at the ball?
Also, please send in your opinions on HP romance. What pairings? And no, it will not become a RyouxSeto thingy. There is absolutely NOTHING going on in between them. I'm probably not going to do any HP/YGO pairings, but if lotsa people want it, I might have to... Gotta please the fans!
More Seto will come soon! For now, I've been concentrating on the RyouxBakura pairing. I don't have any ideas on YugixYami romance, and MalikxMariku will come later on. The mysterious Setox? pairing will be here soon. If you like it, great. If you don't, too bad.
Uh, sorry if I've been a bit strange. *Looks at all the text above* Did I really write all of that? Wow. I wonder what I ate this morning.
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT THAT'S HAD ME HYPER ALL WEEK! You know about the All- State orchestra thing/contest/thingy (oh, I already mentioned that, didn't I)? Well, some of you do, and some of you don't. And you know how I play the violin? The nice people who read my author bio do, anyway. Well, I auditioned, and I got concertmaster! That basically means that I'm in first place! Of the whole state! (Actually, of all the middle schoolers who tried out, but it's still really impressive, isn't it? I mean, I'm only a puny little seventh grader, right?) I got 389 points out of 400, so go me!
Sorry (again) if I was just raving on to you about nothing important. I'm having to say sorry a lot, aren't I? Look, there is again.
Sapphire: Must I always be the sophisticated one?
Silver: What're you talking about?
Sapphire: Review, please! Silver wants to thank all of the wonderful reviewers who've supported her! Remember, more reviews gets the next chapter out faster!
Silver: No it doesn't! It just depends on how lazy I am! Well, review anyway. I might get started on the next chapter in May if you don't! (Just kidding!)
Now I'll get out of your face and let you do all of the other stuff that you normally do.
Everyone who reviewed, even though there wasn't a real chapter/reviewed for every chapter — thank you so much! I think I'll do a Reply to Reviewers thingy sometime. But if you don't like them, just tell me, and I won't. I'll probably just list all of the special people who decided to review. Uh, enough talking. On to... er... which chapter is this?
Uh, on to Chapter Ten!
*~*~*~*~*~*
"Okay. This is Draco-kun, you guys. Draco, this is Harry, Ron, and Hermione." Silence. "Um, aren't you going to shake hands or anything? What's the matter with you?"
Yugi and Ryou walked into the Great Hall. They spotted the group just standing around and came towards them.
"Oh, hello. You must be Draco-kun. I'm Ryou. It's nice to meet you," said Ryou immediately, offering a smile. After all, he was the nice polite one, right?
Draco nodded, shaking Ryou's hand. "Likewise." He smiled back. Sincerely.
"Hi Draco. I'm Yugi," said Yugi, slightly bowing. "Oh, yeah. We're supposed to shake hands here, aren't we? Sorry." He laughed sheepishly, and then shook Draco's hand.
"See? They're being nice, why can't you?" Malik turned and asked the three still standing and gaping.
"Uh, hey Malfoy," Harry said tentatively.
"Don't call him that! It's Draco, not Malfoy. How impolite!"
"How are you doing, Draco?" asked Hermione.
"I'm fine, how're you?" he replied without a moment's hesitation.
Malik turned to Ron expectantly. He mumbled hello and then turned away.
"Well, I suppose that's got to do for now. Can't really expect him to warm up to him that fast," Malik sighed, but then brightened up. He spun around to look at Draco again.
"You can meet Seto later, Draco – I'm sure you'll like him too! You know, I would prefer to go outside and talk, but I think we're going to be late for McGonagall. See you later, Draco!"
"I don't get it," said Harry, once they were out of earshot. "How did he change? It's like he's a totally different person."
"Yeah, it's great, isn't it? He's really nice and polite and everything — and he's actually acting on his own free will now!" Malik said happily.
/Wait. Do you know what that means, Yami?/
//That he was being controlled by someone somehow? Probably. But you never know.//
"It's actually quite strange, you know," said Malik. "He's nice and all, but almost nobody seems to like him. He was all alone until I came."
'All alone, just like me....' Came a voice inside his head for a fleeting moment. He quickly brushed it away.
"What's wrong, Malik?" asked Ryou. He had seen the brief look of pain on Malik's face.
"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Malik said cheerily, putting a big smile on and striding forward.
He missed his yami. He needed him. There was nothing else to it. Mariku was his dark, he the light. It just wasn't right for darkness and light to be apart from each other.
*~*~*~*
"You're right," Malik admitted a little while later. Yami Bakura and Yami had pulled him into a spare classroom and demanded answers. He glared at them. "Somebody has been controlling him for... oh, let's say, the past 10 fucking years! Don't you understand? Someone's been taking away his thoughts and replacing them! His heart, his memories, his dreams... they haven't been his true feelings ever since he could think for himself!"
Malik looked down. "The way he acts, his very personality, has been tampered with. It wasn't right. He didn't deserve it — his soul is pure. I had to sever the connection."
"So...?" questioned Yami.
"I'm working on it," Malik mumbled. "He hasn't forgotten the individuals that he's met in the past. The only problem is getting them to actually like him. He's trying to change their feelings towards him, but he can't just say, 'Oh, yeah. I wasn't acting on my own free will for the past five years I've known you. I was being controlled by the Imperius Curse, but that's all gone. Want to be friends now?,' can he? You saw how those Gryffindors acted when they met him again."
"Well, who was doing it then?" Yami Bakura asked, folding his arms. "Who could hate a child that much to take total control over his life?"
"His... father."
*~*~*~*
"Let me get this straight. Draco-kun's father was controlling him with a wizard spell, the Imperius Curse. It was just a weak incantation, but altered his thoughts and feelings and actions." Yugi was looking disbelievingly at Malik, who was leaning on a bedpost. They'd moved their conversation up to the Gryffindor dormitories, as Harry and Ron were visiting Hagrid.
"Imagine how he must have felt when he was released," said Ryou softly. "Having people hate him for things that he didn't want to do. Having even done those very tasks, and having even more expectations." He looked up. "I trust his father doesn't know that his control has been disconnected?"
"No, he hasn't realized yet. This was how the spell worked. It was only a modified version of the Imperius Curse. Lighter, I expect. Draco-kun was controlled by his own father's wishes for him."
"But why? He's his own child!" cried Yugi. "I can't imagine anybody being so cruel."
"Trust me, there are people out there like that," said a weak voice from the bed next to him. Seto was sitting up, rubbing his head and looking slightly disoriented. He looked around as he remembered.
"Oh yeah." He flopped back down.
"Um, are you okay, Seto-kun?" asked Yugi carefully.
"Yes. What happened to me after that anyway?"
"Dumbledore happened to you," said Yami Bakura, smirking.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Seto's recovery was faster than expected. He insisted on going to all of his classes the next day. Dumbledore said that his will was very powerful, and that might have been what had overcome his illness. Mokuba was, thankfully, not too aware of what had happened or Seto's weakness. This might have been because of all the sugar that Malik gave him, though....
"Harry!"
Harry sighed again, and then asked, "Yes, what is it?" even though he already knew what it was going to be about.
Over the following days, Harry had been bombarded with questions about the DA.
"Are you going to start it up again, mate?"
"Can new people join?"
"Hey, Harry, d'you think now that Dumbledore's back we can actually hold the sessions somewhere a bit bigger?"
"Has he given his approval yet?"
These did bring up more things to do. The first thing was to get Dumbledore to say yes, which he probably would. Next was to recruit new members. Then they had to find another place to meet. All of this wouldn't happen until after the O.W.L.s, though, as Harry already told them.
"What is the DA, anywho?" asked Malik during lunch that day, munching on a celery stick.
"It stands for Dumbledore's Army," said Hermione. "We started it secretly last year to fight against Voldemort. Our DADA professor wasn't too instructive, so we learned all sorts of spells on our own. Harry was our teacher, in a sense. That's why –"
"Everyone's stalking me?" finished Harry as he sat down next to her.
"Precisely. You could probably recruit a few assistants this year, Harry, to lighten the load." She scanned through the index of the heavy looking book she had been reading, marking many with her wand. "I've already found tons of new jinxes that we can use."
"Yeah, okay, whatever," said Harry distractedly. His attention was on Seto, who was trying to pry off several fan girls without avail. He finally took out his wand and froze all of them with the Full Body Bind.
"You should have killed them," commented Malik. "That way they never would have bothered you again. Say, where are Yugi and Ryou?"
"I think you already know," said Seto, collapsing onto the bench beside Mokuba.
"Oh, you mean they're still upstairs f—"
"Just shut up already," the other snapped. "Don't use such language in front of my little brother."
"'Kay," said Malik weakly, looking at the sparking wand still in Seto's hand. He didn't want to get blown up by an annoyed CEO.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Malik decided to spend the night in Gryffindor tower that night. The truth was, he was being crushed by grief. There was almost no way to communicate with his yami because of the distance separating them. He felt incomplete, not whole — which was, in theory, true.
He snuck up there at around midnight and just sat in front of the dying embers, staring at the flickering flames.
Harry was going down to the common room to get something that he'd left there when he heard low voices.
"What's wrong?"
"I... I miss him."
He peeked around the corner to see Malik curled up on the couch hugging his legs to his chest, gazing deep into the fire. There were silent tears running down his face. He looked like a five year old. Yami Bakura was standing beside him. Slowly, almost hesitantly, he put a hand on Malik's shoulder.
"He'll be here soon."
Malik started to nod, but then lost control completely. With a sob, he launched himself at Yami Bakura, clutching at his shirt and crying into his shoulder.
"I feel like a big chunk of me is missing," he cried. "I can't do anything anymore." He looked up at Yami Bakura, who was looking stunned. "He's my darkness — you understand, don't you? Like you and Ryou. Light and dark, inseparable."
Yami Bakura's look softened. "You're exactly right," he said gently, pulling Malik into a comforting hold. "You are incomplete without him, as he is without you. Without each other, you won't be able to exist. You shouldn't be apart, for if you are, it's like a part of you has died." Yami Bakura rested his chin on the light blond tresses and Malik quieted, sniffing occasionally. He relaxed into Yami Bakura's chest. He was warm, just like Mariku always was.
"He'll be back soon," Yami Bakura promised again.
Harry quietly snuck back up, all intentions of retrieving his bag forgotten. After a while of lying awake in bed, he decided that some things were best left alone. He wouldn't mention what he saw to anybody.
Malik was back to normal the next week. But Harry knew that it was all a façade. This person that he had been talking about was very important to him. He had described him as his dark, like a part of him. Harry stopped wondering about it. Like he'd decided before, there were some things that he didn't have to meddle in. He'd learned that much from the previous years.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The next few weeks passed without any incident, unless you count Yami Bakura and Malik blowing up six classrooms, erasing McGonagall's memory fourteen times (the other teachers' memories were modified over twelve times), and scaring half of the student body by routinely trying to kill each other for fun and doing other... stuff. But that was just normal, wasn't it?
Two weeks before the fifth years were to take their O.W.L.s again, people started freaking out. The teachers were giving more reviews and assigning piles of homework. The only ones who seemed to be unfazed were Seto, Malik, Yugi, and Ryou.
Lupin was bringing in more dark creatures to Defense Against the Dark Arts classes and requiring the students to battle them.
"Now, today, I thought that we should review on boggarts," he said one day. "I have one in this suitcase," at this, he gestured towards a battered looking suitcase on the desk beside him, "for you to practice on. Please move around, that's it. Okay, do you all remember what to do? Neville, will you please demonstrate so that our new students can see?"
Neville walked up. Harry had to admit, Neville had changed a lot over the past year. He was getting a lot better at magic, and had grown more confident with himself.
Lupin undid the clasps on the suitcase, and someone stepped out. It was not Snape, as it was in his third year, but a woman with heavily lidded eyes. Bellatrix Lestrange stood before the class, glowering at everybody. Lupin's eyes widened in surprise. The rest of the class was perplexed. Then, Bellatrix raised her wand, and shrieked, "Cru—"
But Neville was ready for her. "Riddikulus!" he cried. Bellatrix suddenly clutched at her throat. Her voice was gone. Her wand had snapped in half, and then she toppled onto the floor, under the Full Body Bind.
Neville glared at her some more, and then...
"Dean!" Lupin shouted, and Dean stepped forward.
And then, the door creaked open. It was Ryou. He started apologizing for being late but stopped as he caught sight of the boggart. It had begun to move towards Ryou, distracted by the newcomer.
The boggart had turned into somebody with white hair that stuck out; somebody with slanted cold brown eyes; somebody also with the Millennium Ring around his neck. The class was confused once more. Who was this person? Malik, Seto, and Yugi were looking on worriedly.
The Yami Bakura boggart advanced on Ryou, a look of malice on his face.
"How are you doing, weakling hikari?" he asked in a sinister voice. Shivers ran up Harry's spine. This was that other Ryou, he was sure of it. The same, cold, red-brown eyes, the same creepy voice.
The boggart drew out a dagger with a shining silver blade and continued to step closer to Ryou.
Ryou whimpered and backed up against the wall. His books lay on the floor, forgotten, as he was cornered.
"No," he whispered. "You said that you wouldn't, you promised!"
:Bakura!: he mentally cried. He didn't know what made him do it, it was more like instinct. Bakura was right in front of him, yet he could feel him in his soul room. All of it happened so suddenly that he didn't have time to register in his brain that the creature was a boggart. Yami Bakura, who had been taking a nap in his soul room, awoke with a start. He felt fear and confusion through their link, and... hurt?
::Ryou, Ryou! RYOU! What's happening?:: Ryou didn't answer.
::That's not me, Ryou! I would never do that again, stop it Ryou!:: Ryou was still silent. Fear was overpowering everything else. He was numb, he couldn't think.
Yami Bakura threw caution to the winds, and materialized in front of Ryou. Ryou was looking at Yami Bakura as if he didn't trust him either. All the happy memories with his yami were forgotten as he remembered all the bad memories.
"No...." he whispered again. "Not again...."
Yami Bakura took his chances, and crushed his mouth against Ryou's in a desperate attempt to bring him back to reality.
It worked, as Ryou started responding to the familiar touch. His eyes closed as he submitted himself to Yami Bakura, relaxing into his touch.
::It's okay, Ryou. I'm here now.::
He remembered. Everything came flooding back to him as the initial shock wore off. Nothing mattered except that they were together again.
:Bakura...: he sighed happily.
Yami Bakura wove a spell of deep, dreamless sleep with peace and calm, and cast it over Ryou. He was instantly asleep, not to awaken until the spell caster wished him to.
The boggart was very confused during the two minutes that this all happened. He growled to get their attention. Yami Bakura, with Ryou still in his arms, turned. He swore as he saw himself again, set Ryou down, and threw the Ring to Malik. Malik caught it and looked questioningly at Yami Bakura.
"I need you to erase their memories of this after I deal with this thing," he instructed him.
"I'll help," said Seto, jumping forward with his wand raised.
Yami Bakura nodded his thanks, and raised his hands to form a ball of dark energy. The boggart was a creature of mediocre power, but his own skills were a bit rusty. He glanced at it, half expecting to see himself again, but with a sharp crack, the boggart transformed into something that made him recoil just a little.
Ryou was lying before him, dead, or almost dying. He was chalk white and covered in blood, with huge gashes all over his frail body. The dark liquid contrasted horribly well with his pale skin, and his hair was stained red. Even so, his face still looked angelic. His clothes were slashed open on some parts, and it looked like several of his bones were broken.
//Not real, this isn't real.//
There were gasps, but he did not know where they were from, the group of people behind him, the rest of the class, or even himself. All of his attention was focused to banishing this creature, which dug out his worst fear and turned it into reality. Although some little part of his mind was thinking how grateful he was that Ryou wasn't seeing it, most of his energy and will was used to power the sphere of dark light.
He was frustrated at how much of his power was blocked again, until he felt someone – no, two people — helping. More of this told him that both Yami and Seto were giving power to him. Their energy signatures were unmistakable. The glowing sphere of energy pulsed with power, and Yami Bakura took aim.
He shut his eyes and flung the mass of black at the creature on the floor. It shrieked once, and then disappeared as the darkness enveloped it.
He heard someone snap his fingers, and then there was mass unconsciousness all around. They walked out together and headed for the Gryffindor common room. It was a good thing that DADA was the last class that they had that day — nobody would discover them skipping more classes.
Yami Bakura placed Ryou gently on his four-poster and sat next to him, deep in thought. Sanura jumped up on his lap and mewed, and he absently started stroking her. The others watched him carefully. He was looking down at Ryou with an unreadable expression on his face. He finally closed his eyes with a sigh, and started to fade out, leaving Sanura curled up next to Ryou. She licked his face and pawed his nose gently. He stirred, and then brown eyes blinked open. He sat up with a gasp and clutched his Millennium Ring.
"'Kura! Where is he?"
"He just vanished into his soul room, didn't he?" asked Yugi.
"The door's locked!" said Ryou, distressed.
"You should give him some time alone, I think," said Yami softly. Yugi's transparent form, standing beside him, nodded. Malik still held the Ring in his hand, watching him from the doorway, and Seto looked lost in thought.
"You're right," Ryou agreed. Then, as if he needed to explain, he said, "About the boggart —"
"Later," said Yami firmly. "You need to rest." He thought he already knew the story behind the Yami Bakura boggart, though. He decided not to tell Ryou what the boggart had turned into when it had faced Yami Bakura. Not yet, anyway.
*~*~*~*~*~*
They soon learned that memory spells weren't always great. Lupin, having forgotten what had happened with the boggart, had managed to find a traggob, which was the opposite of a boggart. This creature showed your greatest desire, and then went in for the kill while you were distracted. Quite a dangerous technique. And somehow, Malik had gotten chosen to go first, in the next Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"Uh, okay," said Malik, as the rest of the class backed away. He glanced up at Lupin again. "What do I do again?"
"You must concentrate on thinking that the traggob is not real. It is still a dark creature that can do sufficient damage. Then, when you feel that you can banish it completely, use this incantation, 'Reiddikalis!' Be sure not to say 'Riddikulus, or the spell will backfire. If you do it right, the traggob will be weakened, and the next person can step up."
"Alright," said Malik nervously. He hoped that it wouldn't show what he thought it would. But since when had his life ever been too great?
Lupin released the traggob, and his yami was suddenly standing in front of him and smiling at him.
Malik's eyes widened in shock, but then he shut his eyes tight. Mariku was in Egypt. This was a creature trying to hurt him. He must use the spell. But he just couldn't bring himself to do it.
Ha, that was a joke. He was the former leader of the Rare Hunters. He'd controlled and banished so many people he couldn't even count now. He chided himself for turning weak and opened his eyes, ready to use the spell.
But he waited just a moment too long. Mariku was now grinning evilly at him, less than a foot away. A gleaming dagger was out and he struck. It drove into Malik's left arm, leaving a freely bleeding gash, making his arm almost completely useless.
Lupin was stunned. He watched, as if in a trance, as the blood splattered all over the ground. Never before had a traggob hurt anyone more than just a few bruises. After all, most of the people in the world had deepest desires that weren't so dangerous, right? The traggob could only use weapons or tools that its current form carried. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Who was this traggob resembling? Lupin made as if to rush in and stop the creature, but found himself held back by Yami.
"It's his battle," he said. "Let's see what he does."
Malik had grown enraged. The attack had brought him back to his senses. Ignoring the dull pain in his arm and the steady dripping of his blood, he said angrily, "How dare you use Mariku's form! I'll make you pay!"
The Mariku traggob slashed again, but Malik was faster. He threw his wand aside (Seto caught it), drew his own dagger, which was almost identical to Mariku's, and Shadow Magic immediately flowed into the blade. The silver- gold point was bathed in what looked like black and purple fire. He quickly blocked the attack. For a moment they crossed blades, then came out in a stalemate. Oh well, he wouldn't expect less from his darker side. Too bad the traggob represented his strength and skills as well. This would actually be a bit of a challenge.
Malik smirked as he thought of one thing the traggob didn't have access to. Mariku's magic. The flames grew larger as his feelings grew and the monster recoiled. It growled, and some of Mariku's features shifted. He drew a second dagger. Malik couldn't, as his left arm was hanging uselessly at his side, but he courageously prepared himself for the attack, just shielding himself with one weapon. He knew that he was at a severe disadvantage. He concentrated on the monster's weakness and quickly devised a plan. Blades flashed as they fought, and Malik managed to slice the creature more than twice.
The wounds split open for just a second, and then healed at once, spilling no blood, but he knew that its energy was decreasing. He could sense it in the sloppy way that it'd dodged the previous attack. The daggers flashed once more, and Malik pushed with more magic. The flames were flowing down the blade and onto the traggob. The creature was set aflame and shrieked as the magic consumed it. Then the false set of daggers fell to the floor. There were two rubies set into the hilts, exactly like Mariku's.
Malik's gaze was averted to his own pair, which had been made along with Mariku's. There were two amethysts glittering in the hilt. Mariku had chosen them. He'd said that they reminded him of Malik's eyes. Malik looked back down. The twin weapons were also burning. Nothing remained of the troggab now.
"And that's what you get if you get Malik pissed," finished Seto. He was looking at Malik's wounds critically, and Malik reluctantly trudged back to let Seto heal him, shoving his daggers back into where ever he was hiding them and trailing a mass of blood as he went.
There was stunned and awed silence, and then the Gryffindors all broke into applause, even though it was for a Slytherin. They'd never seen such a display and were all very impressed.
Malik grinned, and then looked up at Seto. He was chanting some indistinguishable words under his breath, and then raised his hand above Malik's head, waving it around once. His eyes flashed and eerie light blue, just once, and a wave of pale cerulean light started spreading down from the top, targeting all of Malik's cuts and especially that one gaping wound. Eventually, the light faded, and Malik was left unmarred, save for the bloody and cut up clothes.
Malik raised his eyebrows. "Cool. Thanks, I feel better than ever. But you should really work on repairing clothes as well."
Seto smirked, tossing Malik's wand back to him. "Sorry, it only works on living objects."
"Right," Lupin said shakily. "Class is dismissed for today. Go to Gryffindor tower for the remaining fifteen minutes, please." He took one look at the pool of blood still on the floor and the scorch mark where the traggob had burned to its doom, and headed straight for Dumbledore's office.
"That was bloody amazing!" exclaimed Ron. "Where'd you learn how to fight like that?"
"Oh, one can just pick it up in random places," Malik shrugged, pocketing his wand.
"You know, we could use you in the DA," said Harry thoughtfully. "And all of you guys, as well. Ryou, you're pretty good at fighting, right?"
"Er... yeah."
"Seto's great at healing," Hermione added. "It's really neat where you use all that blue energy and nothing's left after."
They continued discussing plans for the DA while walking to Gryffindor tower. But Ryou's mind was somewhere else. What was he going to do about his yami?
*~*~*~*~*~*
The days whizzed by, and they soon didn't have any time to think about anything else. All they were doing was studying once more. Well, Seto and Malik weren't studying at all, but that was different. It wasn't like Seto needed to, and Malik... let's just say that he still needed to get everything organized and his priorities set straight.
Even Ryou was studying hard, partly to take his mind off things, and partly because he actually wanted to get good grades.
Yami Bakura hadn't spoken to him ever since the day they faced the boggart in Defense Against the Dark Arts, mentally or physically. In fact, he hadn't even seen him at all since that day. Ryou pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. Normal school or not, he still had to get satisfactory grades.
The day of their first written tests came so suddenly that people were beginning to panic again. Hermione was to be found whacking people with books more now, and even Harry was scanning over his notes whenever he found the time.
Once again, the Great Hall was organized with little tables in neat row. The four house tables were nowhere to be seen, and in the front of the hall stood Professor McGonagall and the hourglass that clocked them.
"You may begin." The hourglass was turned, and they were soon scratching out answers to Potions questions like:
What would you add to remedy an Animalius potion gone wrong?
a) Name the most powerful truth potion there is, and b) tell the properties it has, as well as c) the effects it will have on the subject.
45 minutes into the exam they saw Seto flip back to the very first page and start rereading his answers.
'But we've still got an hour and fifteen minutes to go!' Harry thought frantically. Was Seto done already? He himself was only on the third page out of eight, and he'd skipped a number of questions.
"Well, that wasn't too bad," commented Yugi afterwards. He had finished within the second hour and given up checking the thing, deciding to chat with his yami afterwards. A conversation that had ended up as something that probably shouldn't be mentioned here.
"Yes, it's just too bad that we had the Potions exam first," said Hermione, hurriedly flipping through a thick Ancient Runes textbook. She looked up.
"Aren't you guys going to study for our next test?"
"Well, Hermione, we have a free period, since you are taking one more class that we are," Ron explained, trying to suppress a grin.
"And we don't feel like studying," yawned Malik. He gestured at Yugi, Seto, who were engaged in another duel, and then at Ryou, who had dozed off.
Harry was amused at how little the exchange students cared for their grades, but had to admit, it was fun torturing Hermione.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Seto and Hermione came out of the Arithmancy O.W.L. to find Malik, Yugi, Ryou, Harry, and Ron just exiting the classroom where the written part of their Divination testing took place.
"I'm alright on the theory, but I just can't do the practical," said Ron. "I think I might've scraped an Acceptable on that. Ah, well, it's not like I'll need it in the future."
Hermione was repeatedly bonking herself on the head. "I did number fifty- seven wrong! I forgot to simplify the numerical systic power into an irrapational decimit!"
Harry, who didn't understand a word of her rant, said, "Relax, 'Mione. One wrong answer's not going to hurt your final score!"
She glared at him.
"Well, at least you don't have a practical for Arithmancy," he said, retreating a little.
They headed for their Astronomy theory test.
*~*~*~*~*~*
On Wednesday, their practical exams began.
Harry made sure he didn't mess up too badly on Charms or Transfiguration this time, as he would need to get into those N.E.W.T. classes to become an Auror.
A notice had been posted up. There would be a ball on Friday, the day that the O.W.L. examinations ended, which also happened to be Halloween. Students in fourth year and up were allowed to attend. Everyone was talking about what they would wear, and who to ask to dance. Girls were giggling every time they passed.
"Ugh. I can't concentrate," Ryou muttered. This was too much. Yami Bakura not talking to him, the O.W.L.s that were right after the other, and now the noise level. His head throbbed painfully. It was all finally taking a toll on him, both physically and emotionally.
He suddenly stopped in his tracks, clutching his head. His bag fell and the books dropped and fell open on the ground. Several inkbottles hit the stone as well, and mercifully some of them stayed intact. There were gasps and many girls rushed to help him.
"No." He was surprised at the shakiness in his own voice. "Stay away," he mumbled, leaning against the wall for support, his eyes shut, taking steadying breaths.
Somebody approached him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Warmth spread from that single spot. It was Seto. Nefertari alighted on his other shoulder, and warmth started to radiate from that spot as well. Ryou didn't move. He let the feeling wash over him and then took a deep breath.
"Shh. This will help." His hair was brushed aside, exposing the back of his neck. The hand lifted off his shoulder to touch two fingertips to the bare skin there. Ryou's eyes flashed open after a second. The headache was gone.
Seto moved away from him to retrieve Ryou's books, placing them in his bag. He cleaned up the broken shards of glass and the ink on the floor with a wave of his hand. New bottles of ink appeared in his other outstretched palm. He also put them in Ryou's bag.
"Are you okay?" he asked, handing Ryou his things.
"Yeah. Thanks," Ryou said gratefully, accepting the bag.
"You should go rest," Seto said, frowning, and looking at Ryou's pale face.
"We only have one more examination today. I think I can handle it," he said in his soft voice, looking up at Seto. "Thanks again." A slender hand touched Seto's own for a moment, and then moved away.
The taller teen sighed, shaking his head and watching the other walk to his final exam of the day.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Funnily enough, the theme of the dance was 'The Muggle World.' The Slytherins didn't really like it, but everyone else enjoyed dressing up for it, so it was okay.
Ryou had been reluctant to go. In the end, Malik had forced him.
"You need to have some fun, Ryou! You look like crap!"
"Thanks for the observation," said Ryou dryly.
Even so, he let Malik pick out an outfit for him to wear. He wasn't going with anyone, same with Malik, although according to Malik's statistics, over 20 percent of the female population had asked Ryou, same for Malik. More than 50 percent asked Seto (he declined every single girl, so he was also going as a bachelor), and the rest asked Yugi. After he made sure that everyone knew that he was already taken, they laid off him for a while. Seto, Ryou, and Malik weren't so lucky.
"Are you guys done yet?" Hermione asked, stepping in the boy's dormitories. She was wearing a loose, flowing ball gown made out of a periwinkle blue silky material and had her hair swept up in some kind of fancy style. She wasn't going with anyone, either.
"Dancing just isn't my thing," she'd told them. She was over Viktor Krum, as well. "We're just good friends, nothing more."
"I'll bet most of the stupid 'purebloods,' a.k.a. the Slytherins, won't even know what to wear," Ron said.
"Look who's talking," Harry snorted. Ron's hair was slicked down, but he was wearing jeans and cowboy boots, along with an old black T-shirt. He'd also managed to acquire a bright blue bowtie and fixed it loosely around his neck. It hung in front of a orange and green striped tie that he had tucked into his belt.
"Dumbledore was a bit vague," said Hermione, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "I think any type of Muggle wear will be okay. It doesn't have to be anything dressy. Oh, you look nice, Harry."
Harry'd left his hair as it was, knowing that it wouldn't do any good to try and comb it. He had on a checked dress shirt, and khaki dress pants, with some regular black shoes. He'd gotten the outfit from Seto, who had somehow materialized it out of nowhere. He had to admit that he did like the way he looked, though.
"No, Malik, I will NOT wear these!" Ryou's voice drifted loudly from the bathroom.
"Why not?"
Malik's voice dropped, and they heard quiet murmuring, and then...
"Fine."
A few minutes later the door opened, and Ryou and Malik stepped out. Harry, Ron, and Hermione gaped at them. There was black leather everywhere. Malik had a satisfied smirk on his face. There was a bad boy attitude about him as he leaned against the doorway, crossing his legs, putting a hand on his hips, which were tilted suggestively. His lavender orbs twinkled mischievously.
"So what do you think?"
He was clad in a tight, leather tank top that showed his flawless form, and a bit of golden-tan skin was showing where the top ended. His pants were riding so low on his hips it should be made illegal, and also clung tightly to his frame. Several golden bands decorated his arms, those golden earrings were on again, and a single belt was slung casually on, not doing so well in the holding up pants department, as it was hanging diagonally across his hips. When he tossed his hair back, there were golden glimmers.
Ryou was dressed similarly, standing awkwardly beside Malik, and although he had refused the gold, Malik had come up with something silver for him. There were silver sparkles in his hair, a few silver bands on his arms, but no belts or earrings. The leather accented his thin frame and contrasted with his very pale skin. He was fidgeting, trying to pull his pants up more on his narrow hips. Um, because, well... I think you know why. He was suddenly aware of the silence around him, and looked up nervously.
Their eyes widened. Ryou's eyes were an icy blue. They looked so natural and fit so perfectly with his attire that it surprised them. Also, his eyes had been outlined in black.
"He wouldn't let me do any more," said Malik. "Still, it looks great, doesn't it?"
"Uh, you guys," Harry said weakly. "Is this how muggles dress?"
"Yup!" Malik said happily. "Well, we do, anyway."
Ryou threw a dirty look at Malik. "You mean, you and Yami do."
"Well now you do, too!"
Yugi, who had been sitting on his bed, said, "Wow, Ryou. You should try that look more often!"
/I definitely did not expect that./
//Let me see.// Ryou was subjected to Yami's glare a split second later. He gulped uneasily as the crimson eyes surveyed him.
//... he's... different...//
/Yeah./
"You know, the fan girls are going to go crazy when you go out," Seto said, coming in. He had a black silk dress shirt on (with the top button left unbuttoned) and black dress pants and shoes.
"Mokuba tried to make me wear a tuxedo," he said, collapsing onto his own bed. "I told him that this wasn't *that* formal of a ball." He grinned at Ryou. "I guess I should be glad he didn't make me wear *that*."
"What did you do?" Yugi asked Seto, trying to pry Harry, Hermione, and Ron's gazes off of Ryou. He was looking very uncomfortable now.
"Told him I'd wear it at the next dance," Seto replied, catching on. It worked. The three finally turned around.
"There's probably not going to be a next one," said Ron. "There's not even a dance every year. The last one was two years ago, and that was because of the Triwizard Tournament."
"Exactly."
Actually, none of them had asked anybody. They thought it best to avoid having to dance at all. They were only going because... well, they didn't have anything else to do. The only couple present were Yugi and Yami, and almost nobody knew about them.
Malik had Mariku, and Ryou — well, he was still loyal to Yami Bakura. Seto just wasn't interested in anyone, and Harry and Ron decided not to go into all the trouble to get partners after what happened last time. They hadn't gotten much dancing in at the Yule Ball.
"Ready to get mobbed by insane fans?" asked Yugi, grinning. He was wearing leather as well, with even more chains, bracelets, buckles, chokers, and belts than usual. They didn't even know where he'd gotten more. He couldn't possibly have fitted it all into his trunk with his other possessions. The Millennium Puzzle hung around his neck, as usual.
"Wait," Ryou said quietly. He walked over to his bedside table and took out the Millennium Ring, holding it and looking at it, as if deciding to wear it or not.
"It won't go well with your outfit," Malik warned. He had looped his Millennium Rod into his belt, but Ryou... he was a different case.
"I don't care," Ryou said firmly, placing the leather strap around his neck. It just felt right there. The familiar weight calmed him down a little.
"Whatever floats your boat," Malik said. He'd caught the look on Ryou's face. He'd been thinking about his yami.
"I think we're late," Hermione said, glancing at a watch. She was right. The ball had started at eight. It was almost half past eight already.
"It's okay," Harry assured her. "We can be fashionably late. They won't mind."
They made their way to the Great Hall. From what they could hear through the doors, it was strangely quiet.
"Well, expect the worst," said Malik cheerfully, pushing open the doors. They stepped inside.
*~*~*~*~*~*
What will happen to them? Will they get attacked by crazy fan girls? (Yes.) Will they survive? (Maybe. Possibly. ... or not.) What'll happen between Ryou, Malik, and their yamis? (I dunno. But it's just heartbreaking, isn't it?) Find out in the next chapter!
There you have it. Sorry it took incredibly long to update, but I just couldn't find any time at all. At least it's longer than usual. Sorry if it's awful, because I'm kinda running out of ideas at the moment. I guess the pets have been almost non-existent. I've been way too lazy. Actually, I'd forgotten about them. Tell me if you want the pets to go bye bye or not, 'kay? Any ideas on what'll happen to the bishies at the ball?
Also, please send in your opinions on HP romance. What pairings? And no, it will not become a RyouxSeto thingy. There is absolutely NOTHING going on in between them. I'm probably not going to do any HP/YGO pairings, but if lotsa people want it, I might have to... Gotta please the fans!
More Seto will come soon! For now, I've been concentrating on the RyouxBakura pairing. I don't have any ideas on YugixYami romance, and MalikxMariku will come later on. The mysterious Setox? pairing will be here soon. If you like it, great. If you don't, too bad.
Uh, sorry if I've been a bit strange. *Looks at all the text above* Did I really write all of that? Wow. I wonder what I ate this morning.
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT THAT'S HAD ME HYPER ALL WEEK! You know about the All- State orchestra thing/contest/thingy (oh, I already mentioned that, didn't I)? Well, some of you do, and some of you don't. And you know how I play the violin? The nice people who read my author bio do, anyway. Well, I auditioned, and I got concertmaster! That basically means that I'm in first place! Of the whole state! (Actually, of all the middle schoolers who tried out, but it's still really impressive, isn't it? I mean, I'm only a puny little seventh grader, right?) I got 389 points out of 400, so go me!
Sorry (again) if I was just raving on to you about nothing important. I'm having to say sorry a lot, aren't I? Look, there is again.
Sapphire: Must I always be the sophisticated one?
Silver: What're you talking about?
Sapphire: Review, please! Silver wants to thank all of the wonderful reviewers who've supported her! Remember, more reviews gets the next chapter out faster!
Silver: No it doesn't! It just depends on how lazy I am! Well, review anyway. I might get started on the next chapter in May if you don't! (Just kidding!)
Now I'll get out of your face and let you do all of the other stuff that you normally do.