First of all I'd like to thank all the readers and most especially those who reviewed. I repeat again that this will not be a yaoi. I do hope everyone is enjoying this story. School shouldn't start for another maybe 2.5 to 3 weeks, but just remember that I probably won't be able to update as much anymore. I still have books to read for AP English and papers to write, tennis just started, and I need to teach my friend trombone in 2.5 weeks! Very busy, so here it is!

Reminders:

/Ryou to Bakura/

/Bakura to Ryou/

'These contain the thoughts that the people think.'

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Yugioh.

Weeks passed and Ryou's health was deteriorating. Dreams haunted his nights and every time he snapped at someone they would ask what was wrong. Throughout most of his free periods he would either go to the library or sit by the lake. He had done this so much that everyone grew more worried as the days went on.

"Would people just leave me alone for once," snapped Ryou quietly and sharply as he walked to divination. Ron had been right in saying that Divination would become a one man class. After the first couple days of the school year people began to drop like flies from the class.

/Why are they bothering you now, Ryou/ Bakura asked from within the ring.

"I don't know, just because I look tired. Yes, I know I've been tossing in my sleep. No, nothing is wrong with me. Why else would I be snapping, I can't sleep at night?" Ryou hissed through his teeth as though having a conversation with Harry and Ron. "They're just adding more stress to my life. I don't need stress right now!"

Bakura appeared next to Ryou and walked with him in spirit form to divination.

"They just care about you, Ryou."

"Then why am I alone every time we have a class together?" Ryou stopped under the ladder. "I normally want them to notice me, but lately all I want is to be left alone."

"You're tired," said Bakura. "If you don't get any sleep the next couple of nights, I'm taking control of your body and marching you straight to the headmaster, got it?"

Ryou blinked and stared at his Yami. It had been a long time since the spirit had taken control of his body forcefully and it surprised him.

"Look, Ryou, everyone is worried about you. I'm worried about you! You need to stop these dreams," Bakura whispered forcefully.

Ryou sighed. "I know…but I don't think anyone can stop visions in their dreams. If I don't get any sleep in the next two or three nights I'll talk to Dumbledore."

"Good," Bakura said before he disappeared from sight and Ryou climbed the ladder.

"Hello, Ryou," Professor Trelawney greeted him when he arrived at the top.

"Hello, Professor," he replied as he took the seat she indicated he should take.

"You're a little later than usual today. Is anything the matter that you wish to share?" she watched him as he took out his supplies.

"Just friend issues, nothing much," said Ryou. "What are we going to work on today?"

"Today, we will be trying the art of understanding a person's future through images in a crystal ball," she pulled the cloth off of the ball in the center of the table.

"The key to seeing these images are to have the person place their hands on the ball," she held her hands out as Ryou placed them close to the ball. Showing him where to put his hands, she opened a book. "The person needs to be relaxed for it to work and lots of seers use incense or other perfumes to relax them. Now breathe slowly and I will gaze at your future."

Ryou took slow, deep breathes as the Professor looked into the ball.

"I see a forest clearing," she began. "The image has a red tint and it looks to be dark outside. Wait, there's a change of scenery. I see snakes surrounding you in darkness full of blue fire." The professor looked towards Ryou. "That's all I can see, should we interpret these visions?"

Ryou nodded as he wrote down everything she had said. "So the forest would be the place, correct? Or maybe it means that this will happen in secret." Trelawney nodded as he continued to look through his book and she hers. "It will happen at night and…what does the red mean?"

"It can mean many things. Either you will experience pain or suffering or you will be almost killed by a wound. This death could be physical or emotional and we don't know the time that any of this will occur. The pain could happen a few times and it probably will since the whole image was in red."
Ryou nodded. "So there are snakes…and snakes could be considered evil. Does that mean that evil is pursuing me or I will do an evil dead?"

"That too can be either one. It can also tell us the identity of your enemy."

"Okay…" Ryou said as he thought about the fire. "The blue fire would mean more of a rebirth experience, wouldn't it?" The professor nodded. "So this thing that might happen with cause a revelation or insight as to who I am."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes as Ryou let everything sink in. He could understand the forest and the snakes, but everything else was confusing him. It was obvious by his dreams that someone evil was after him. 'I'll have to think of this later,' he thought as he and Professor Trelawney started to put their things away.

When Ryou finished climbing down the ladder he began the long walk to the great hall. On his way through the hall towards the stairwell he ran into someone.

"Oh, sorry about that," he said as he moved over to allow them to pass.

"Watch where you're going, freak," said the voice of Draco Malfoy as he pushed passed. Ryou fell onto the railing from the force and glared daggers at the back of the boy's head.

"Some people never change," Ryou muttered and walked down the stairs.

He took his now becoming usual seat next to Hermione and looked at the food. He thought about what to eat for awhile and grabbed a roll.

"Aren't you going to eat anything else, Ryou?" asked Ron who quickly shoveled more food into his mouth. Ryou shook his head.

"I'm not really hungry right now," he said buttering the bread.

"You haven't eaten much at all lately," Joey whispered under his breath.

"At least try to eat something, you need to keep up your strength," Harry said concerned.

"Would you rather me throw it up later?" asked Ryou monotonously.

"Well, no…I just…"

Ryou picked up his things and left. "See you guys later." He wasn't in the mood for their lectures. 'Just because I'm not hungry doesn't mean you should force me to eat,' he thought as he entered the library.

Throwing his bag on the table as quietly, yet forcefully, as he could, Ryou caught a glimpse of light. "What the…"

He picked it up and saw that his crystal ball had fallen out of his bag. "You shouldn't be out of your bag," he said as he cleared a smudge off of it.

The fog cleared and Ryou's eyes widened. 'I don't need this right now,' he thought and reluctantly looked at the image.

'A snake, that's it,' he looked again, but all he saw was fog.

LALALA

"I'm really worried about Ryou, you guys," said Harry after dinner. They hadn't seen the boy except for in class.

"Me too, do you have any idea what's wrong with him?" Hermione asked as she lightly bit her lip.

"No idea. Every time I wake up during the night he seems to be in a nightmare. It's obvious by the circles under his eyes that he's not sleeping well. The thing that bothers me most is that he won't talk about it. What could he be dreaming about?"

"Maybe he just doesn't trust us with this sort of thing yet, give him time and he'll probably come around," Hermione said as they approached the picture of the fat lady.

"If he gets any worse we'll report him to Madam Pomphrey and Dumbledore, okay?" The boys nodded and Hermione said the password.

When they entered the common room they all looked around.

"I don't see Ryou," said Ron. "He can't be hiding; it's kind of hard to hide with his hair color."

Harry nodded as they found a table to do their homework. "Hopefully he'll be back later."

LALALA

"No matter how many times they try I don't talk, yet they keep trying," said Ryou. "I don't see how they can't get the hint!"

"Have you tried telling them, nicely, to just leave you alone," asked Remus.

"I can't, every time they talk to me I get so angry and know that if I try I'll just snap."

"Hm," Remus nodded. "Well, why don't you try to confront them about it? That way they won't be bothering you."

Ryou thought for a bit. "That might actually work. I'll try, but there are no guarantees that it will go as planned."

Remus smiled. "Good luck, Ryou."

"Thank you for listening, Remus, talk to you later," Ryou said as he left the room.

Ryou walked down the hall in a much better mood than he had been before the conversation. He had talked to Remus about his divination class and his friend issue. Overall the end of his day was much brighter than the beginning.

Arriving at the fat lady's portrait he said the password and entered the common room. He saw his friends sitting at a table, but a feeling of uneasiness washed over him. He had barely spoken to them and wasn't sure if they'd want to see him. Noticing an empty chair, he sat down and pulled out some paper to start his homework.

LALALA

Joey groaned as he sat up in bed. He had been hearing small whimpers all night and they were keeping him awake. 'Who on earth would be up at this time,' he thought. He was about to go back to sleep when a loud scream made him jump in shock. He quickly got out of bed and found the source of the scream.

Pushing back the curtains of Ryou's bed, he found his friend in the middle of a nightmare, or so he thought.

"Bakura," shouted the boy as he thrashed around. His eyes snapped open and he sat up quickly breathing in sharp gasps of breathe.

"Ryou, what is the matter?" asked Joey concerned.

"Joey…" Ryou looked at him with horror in his eyes.

Joey looked around the room surprised and relieved to find out none of the other boys had woken up. "Let's go to the common room," he said and stood up.

Ryou nodded and followed him down the stairs. They each sat down across from each other and sat for a moment in silence. "So what were you dreaming about?" Joey asked in Japanese (This whole conversation is in Japanese in case of eavesdroppers and so Joey doesn't have to struggle with English from this point forward).

Ryou jumped at the sound and his hand grasp the cord of his ring. "I…" Bakura appeared next to him in spirit form surprising both the boys.

"What are you two doing up at this time?" Bakura hissed having heard everything from before and finally voicing his annoyance. "It's two in the morning and you're up having a talk?"

"Bakura…I was dreaming…" The spirit looked at his tired hikari and sighed.

"So why are you two down here then?"

"I woke up when I heard sounds and Ryou screamed. I checked and he woke up not too long later," said Joey in reply.

"It was the vision again, right?" Ryou nodded and bit his lip.

"It seemed worse this time," he began. Looking at his Yami and Joey he said, "Do you think it's time for it to occur?"

"Only time can tell," said Bakura.

"Wait a minute," Joey blinked. "What's this dream and vision you guys are talking about?"

"Oh, you don't know…sorry I forgot," said Ryou who looked down. "I've been having this dream for a while now. I'm chasing a guy in a cloak and he says this spell when Bakura takes control of my body. After he finished the chant, I feel like I'm being split in two and then I wake up," Joey nodded in understanding. "Bakura, Remus, and I don't think it's just a dream, but a vision."

"Remus?" asked Joey.

"Professor Lupin," Bakura informed. "Ryou has spoken to him many times about this dream and other issues."

"So that's where you've been on breaks," Joey exclaimed. "Do you know how worried everyone else is when you just disappear?"

Ryou looked down and shrugged. "I don't want to talk to them about anything." Joey sighed and nodded his head.

"I get it," he said. "Thanks for finally telling me."

"Sorry I didn't talk sooner," Ryou began. "I didn't want to worry anyone and they've all been bothering me. I've been so tired that all I can do is snap at them. I don't know what's going on right now."

"You know," Joey thought for a second. "If you want to figure out this dream you could always ask Hermione. I've noticed she's doesn't want to force you as much as Harry and Ron do. She's also very clever, I'm sure she could help."

"Won't she tell the others, though," Bakura added. "They've been best friends for years."

"I think she could keep a secret," Joey said. "But it is up to you, Ryou."

Ryou shrugged. "I'll think about it…but we do need some sleep, there are classes tomorrow."

Joey and Bakura nodded. "Ah, sweet slumber in my soul room," Bakura said like it was the greatest thing in the world. "See you two in the morning…though you won't see me," he cackled silently as he disappeared.

"That was…dramatic," Joey blinked in confusion.

"He does that occasionally, I think he's trying to convince me that he's still evil," Ryou cringed at the voice that replied. "He doesn't sound much tired anymore," he smirked. Ryou and Joey headed back to bed and tried to get as much sleep as possible which was hard on Ryou's part. (End of Japanese)

That's it for now! I'm having a bit of "what to do now!" block so…like I said, it'll take me a bit of time before I can get another chapter up.

Tell me what you think.

-Maki-sama-