I'm going to try to keep the author's notes to a bare minimum. So all I have to say is enjoy!

zZZz

Harry was sitting in his office, wrapping up his affairs as head auror. He had three days left, unless something came up. Luckily, the likelihood of anything doing so was very low, as most of the Death Eaters had been rounded up by now, and other dark wizards were in short supply.

His reply to Professor McGonagall – who had insisted he call her Minerva – had made her quite happy. She was apparently afraid that she'd have to turn the school over to her deputy headmistress, a bit of a ditz, very loyal, but not who'd you want running the school.

It was in the middle of this contemplation of his that Ron had burst in, brandishing a letter. "Bad timing, Harry. A British wizard working in Egypt with some muggles saw some pretty disturbing stuff. You and I need to go down there and sort it out ourselves."

Harry sighed. Bad timing indeed. He had to get an emergency portkey to Egypt, now, too. "Why can't the Egyptian council take care of it?"

Ron shook his head. "Egypt refuses to touch it. First of all, it has to do with a tomb, which the Egyptian council has repeatedly refused to work with. And second of all, it's a British wizard and a Japanese muggle. The only reason they have to help is because we asked, and we're not too popular in the rest of the wizarding world right now."

Harry knew Ron was right. Ever since Neville's speech, the delegate to the International Confederation of Wizards had been busy as hell trying to keep other wizarding countries from going ballistic. America's Department of Magic was having meetings every day. The other day the Secretary of Magic and the Minister of Magic had a top-secret meeting which had royally pissed off the Secretary. Neville had been both amused and slightly angry, and revealed to Harry that the Secretary had tried to convince him not to reveal about the wizarding world.

So Harry jotted a note to the minister explaining the portkey and sent it in paper-airplane form to his office. He then grabbed a quill off his desk, only to replace his favorite writing instrument and grab one that was less precious. He stepped out of his private office and announced that he was leaving on a mission he had to take care of himself. After persuading Tonks that just he and Ron were just as good, in fact better, for this mission than a larger group.1

Harry stepped back in his office and changed into muggle clothes. It was now standard that all aurors had training in muggle studies and could pass as a muggle without even trying. So muggle clothes were standard issue in the auror office. Ron had already change, and was now wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a white t-shirt, with a khaki vests. He looked just the part of the amateur archaeologist. Harry changed into a pair of shorts and a polo shirt. He put on a baseball cap touting the Liverpool football team and looked like an English tourist. They both touched the quill-turned portkey and felt the familiar tug behind their navel.

They arrived near the tourist's entrance to the valley of the kings, and joined quickly with a large tour group. Harry opened the letter and scanned it until he found where he was supposed to meet the British wizard. It was in Tutankhamen's tomb, next to the western wall, by the entrance. There would be so many people here that it would be hard to tell that they were meeting here. Harry liked the guy's mind. He checked his name. Aldous. A good British name, there. He looked forward to meeting the guy.

There was the tomb. Harry elbowed his friend and went to the west wall. The Liverpool cap turned out to set them apart from the crowd, who were almost all very American. So when a voice with a British accent asked them if they were the ones here to meet him about his problem, Harry knew this was the guy.2

Aldous was obviously more accustomed to the heat than almost anyone here, looking close to Ron in dress. Aldous's long hair was kept in a ponytail, and he had a floppy brimmed hat on his head. He motioned them away. "Come on, we need to talk, and I know just the place."

An Egyptian with platinum blond hair watched them as they left with lavender eyes. He followed them shortly thereafter to the small bar they had entered, which was thankfully air-conditioned. Malik listened to the conversation long enough to know who these people were, aurors from Britain. And not just any aurors, but the head auror, the Boy Who Lived, the Man who defeated Voldemort, Harry Potter himself, and his second-in-command and best friend, Ron Weasley.

Malik sat with them, and they all turned their gazes to him, obviously annoyed about his intrusion. Malik asked the barkeeper, Shelid, for the usual, and asked them if they were the ones with the dark wizard problem.

The reaction was immediate. The aurors, who had their hands on their wands the whole time, drew them, as did Aldous, although a second of fumbling later. Shelid drew his wand on those that seemed to be attacking one of his favorite customers, but put it down when Malik waived at him. "Now, now, Shelid, one should not go around hexing our foreign guests. That would be bad practice.

Harry and Ron did not even begin to back down, although Aldous did. "Who are you?" asked the black-haired savior of the magical world.

Malik grinned and straightened his spine. "I'm Malik, auror extraordinaire and representative of the Egyptian Council of Magic Users in this affair."

Ron's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "The Council said they refused to work with a Japanese muggle and a British wizard."

Malik nodded. "That we did. Until we found out that Britain would send in two aurors into our territory. We need to keep tabs on you. And I wanted to help from the beginning, so don't hate me," He frowned. "That was just the only way I could convince my superiors to let me come."

Malik then produced his letter of commission, and his orders to prove who he was. Harry and Ron did the same, then Harry showed him the letter Aldous had written to prove that he was coming to investigate a possible threat to a British citizen and not just invading Egypt. Malik nodded. "Now that it's all official, can we get to business? I want to hear about this."

Aldous waited until the drinks came, four cold Stella beers around. Neither of the newly-arrived Brits thought it was as good as English ale, but it sure was good in the heat. Over the beers, Aldous described what happened. The three officials were all dubious of the experience, but it was obvious that Aldous was certain that what he saw was real.3

"Ever since, I have tried to keep Yuugi away from town, because he might stumble on this place. I don't know if his magic would let him see this bar, but I wanted to be sure."

Harry expressed his doubts to the group and the other two officials agreed. Aldous shook his head. "He showed me his magic several times. It's completely different then our magic. He doesn't use a wand, he plays games. And the loser is penalized or the winner is rewarded. Or both. This is real. You have to believe me."

Ron and Harry looked at each other. "We'll check it out," agreed Harry.

Malik nodded. "I have to go wherever they do. And I'm intrigued."

"I just have one more question. How did he demonstrate his power to you. It seems dangerous." That was the redhead.

"He set up a game between the two of us to be safe. He just got to learn a secret about me when he won. And he always won. I told him how I keep my hair clean in the desert." And he laughed.

Ron nodded, satisfied. Aldous threw some money to Shelid, who waved them out. Aldous then led the way to the camp, which he told the aurors to wait at the edge of. "I don't want to cause more of a scene then I have to around the muggles."

Malik's eyebrows rose. "Do you keep up with the wizarding world at all?"
Aldous shook his head. "I used to subscribe to the Daily Prophet and listen to the Wizarding Wireless, but not any more. To suspicious around muggles."

Harry didn't doubt it. He had lived with muggles for his first seventeen years of life, after all. Malik gave him a look. "Your Minister of Magic is about to spill the beans. It was an election promise, apparently."

Aldous's eyes widened. "Really? I have a hard time believing it. My services might be useful in the wizarding world after all. I'm a muggle expert." He added the last part after the others had given him a confused look. "Either way, let's try to hide it for now, all right?"

The three wizards watched as he went to go look for Yuugi. Ron turned to Harry. "He's probably going to be gone for a while. Want to play a game of wizard's chess?"

Malik looked on in surprise as the other two aurors pulled out a chessboard and begin to play with pieces that moved around the board and attacked each other. "Do you always carry a board on you?"

Harry laughed, and after a moment, Ron did too. "It's mostly paperwork these days, especially for the two of us. We play quite often. It just made sense to carry it along when I changed into muggle clothes."

It took Malik a while to remember that in England, muggles and wizards wore two distinctly different styles of clothing. In Egypt, it wizards wore traditional clothing, which was not uncommon for muggles either. 4

The game was almost over, with a win from Ron, when a voice none of them recognized piped up. "Is that chess?"

A tricolored head of hair was coming, escorted by the pony-tailed Aldous. Ron ordered the final move and checkmated Harry, and Harry cleaned up the game. "Yeah, always love a game of chess."

Malik smiled. "You must be Yuugi."

Yuugi nodded. "Yeah. Aldous said you guys wanted to see me. What is this all about?"

"These are some friends of mine, Yuugi. They want to talk to you about your new power. They're sort of experts in this field."

Yuugi's eyes narrowed. Now he felt betrayed. He had asked Aldous not to tell anybody, except his Grandfather, who they told after they came out of the tomb. He didn't want anyone to think he was a freak. And besides that, there was another problem.

"What sort of experts?"

Harry pulled out his wand. "We're wizards." And with that he created an ice cold Kirin for Yuugi, an ale for himself and the other two Brits (with an "I thought you'd appreciate this" to Aldous), and a Stella for Malik. Now he had proven himself hospitable, gotten himself a nice English drink, and proved their claim to Yuugi. "And now you have proof."5

Yuugi took his Kirin wide-eyed. "It's been so long since I've had one of these. Thanks."

"These men are from the wizarding government. I wrote to them after that night in the crypt, and they want to make sure your power isn't..."

"Evil. And I would like to say that only I am from the government. These two are from the British Ministry of Magic and have no jurisdiction here."

Harry turned to the offending Egyptian. "Except that one of our citizens was involved and you refused to touch it."6

"True."

"Wait, wait, wait. You think that Shadow magic is evil? No, it's just a different form of magic. Your type of magic is blood related, while mine is possible for anybody. Though anyone with my magic should be able to preform your white magic. Shadow magic is soul-based."

Yuugi looked at the three new wizards more closely now. They seemed to be normal people, except for the flow of white magic around him that the shadows had taught him to see. But the Egyptian... there was something different about him, and Yuugi could not put his finger on it.

Harry convinced Yuugi to show him how the shadow magic worked in a harmless game of Wizard's chess with Ron. It was a close match, but the little shadow magician won against Britain's wizard's chess champion. Afterwards, Ron felt compelled to tell him about his upcoming promotion.

"But where's Harry going?"

Harry answered, as Ron was too busy being red in the face after he had succumbed to the unusual magic. Harry wasn't as surprised, as he had not expected his friend's training against truth serums to protect him against this other form of magic. "I'm going to be headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's not official until later this week. But both the Minister and Minerva – that's the current headmistress – know. But this doesn't seem to be evil."

Harry produced a letter for Aldous. "We recommend you getting out of Egypt. We are asking all British wizards and witches living abroad to return to England soon. The rest of the world is not happy with us right now, and will become less so soon. And bring him with you, bring him to Hogwarts. I'd like to find out more about this."

Yuugi spoke up. "Would you... consider letting me teach Shadow magic to your students? It's sort of my... mission in life to teach shadow magic again. It used to be the most respected magic in the world. Now all the people who know about it are right here. That is, unless Aldous told someone else."

Harry cocked his head to one side. "I don't know. We'll talk about it when you get there."

The wizards got ready to depart, and Malik pulled Harry aside. "You do realize that I will have to report the change in British leadership to my superiors."

Harry smiled. "It's fine. I hope you get promoted for it."

Then he and Ron disapperated, Malik quickly following suit.

A white-haired man with pale skin walked down Charing Cross road, looking at the shops. He needed a place to stay, and somewhere to practice his art. He had recently lost his establishment, since he had no income to speak of. In his art, there was such a thing as being too good.

But none of the places here looked like they would be good. He frowned, as he was sure that Charing Cross road was where he was supposed to be. He supposed he would continue until the next block, then he would give up. However, walking down, he only saw more of the same. Bookstores, and nothing more. But, just as he was about to turn away in search of somewhere else, he saw something that looked interesting.

It was an old building. It was not modernized like the many other old buildings on Charing Cross, but it still looked loved and well cared for. He looked at the old-fashioned sign in front proclaiming its name. The Leaky Cauldron. Interesting. He opened the door and stepped inside.

When he did, every head turned towards him. There seemed to be a dress code here that everyone else knew, and he did not fit in at all. He could not help but wonder how all these people and robes did not attract the attention of the people on the street.

The towhead turned his attention to the counter. Standing behind it was a woman with long brown hair. But of more interest was the man standing behind and to the side of her, like a bodyguard. She seemed to be of more importance than a mere pub landlady.

He walked up to the counter. "Excuse me, madame, is it okay if I get a drink here. I thought it was just a pub, but everyone looks like they're doing something I don't understand. Everybody seems to be dressed in robes.

Hannah Longbottom looked at the strange man. He looked to be in his mid twenties, not nearly young enough to be a muggle-born wizard that had yet to receive his Hogwarts letter. And yet here he was, in a building that only wizards could see. "What's your name?"

"Ryou Bakura."

That name sounded Asian. Hannah thought that he looked strange. He had a different look around his eyes. Maybe he was a foreign wizard where the customs were different. "Your English is quite good."

Ryou smiled at her. "Thank you. My mother was English, but after my sister and she died in a car wreck, I lived in Japan with my father. So I learned English and Japanese both as my first language. Although I dare say I have more practice in Japanese."

Hannah smiled. "So do all wizards in Japan wear muggle clothes."

Ryou looked at the woman quizzically. "Pardon me?"

Hannah was aghast. He really had no idea about magic. Well, she had no choice. She could either modify his memory or figure out how he could see the place. She decided, in the face of the unprecedented event, on the latter. "Look, deary, why don't I set you up with a room upstairs. Free of charge. Tonight you and I can have a little talk. I'll explain it all to you."

The other patrons of the pub had long since gone back to their drinks and conversations among themselves, deciding that he must have just been an auror disguised as a muggle. So when they noticed the landlady leading him upstairs, they made no comment.

Hannah shuffled Ryou to the last room on the floor. She gave him a room with the window facing Charing Cross rather than the alley behind, which he was thankful for. "Just make yourself comfortable here. I'll be back in a couple of hours with dinner. Then we could talk.

Ryou went and sat on the bed. It was surprisingly comfortable. He pulled a swath of silk wrapped around something out of his pocket. He unwrapped the object, revealing it to be a deck of slightly-over sized cards. He shuffled through them before pulling out a single card and setting it down. He then shuffled and cut the deck several times, before laying them out in a particular fashion. He covered the card he had originally put down with another, crossed that with another, put cards on the sides of the cross he had made, then four more in a vertical line to the right of the cross and directions. He pulled a small notebook out of the other pocket and wrote down the reading.

Ryou used a Ukiyoe tarot deck. This reading was to ask what he should do now that he seemed to be in the place the cards had told him to go. He had used the magician as his indicator card, symbolizing his art and lack of funds. The cards basically told him to wait. He sighed, writing down his summary and a more detailed explanation of the reading. He was just cleaning up the cards when Hannah walked in holding a warm sandwich for him and the same for her.

"Here you go. Would you like something to drink?"

"Some tea would be great, if you have some, madam."

Hannah beamed at him. It was refreshing to see someone not get tidily the first chance they had. "The kettle's on downstairs. I'll go fetch some." She returned moments later with two cups of the hot beverage.

"So what was that I saw you doing earlier?"

Ryou blushed. "That was tarot. I am an occultist by profession." He looked down. "It doesn't pay very well, which is why the cards led me here."

Hannah figured that this would be a good direction to head down. She continued to talk to him about his art, and learned a bit about him.

He and his sister had been close. They were fraternal twins, and when they were young his mother and his sister had died in a terrible car crash. He and his father had moved to his father's original country of Japan. However, his father was not home most of the time, and Ryou had had to find comfort in other ways. 7

It wasn't long before the young Mr. Bakura discovered the occult. He found the practice comforting, and found that mysteries tended to open up for him in ways they wouldn't for anyone else. Anything that he set his mind to came easily to him, but he found the Tarot the easiest, and the most comforting.

He had made his way in the world as a occultist, giving readings to those who could pay or who needed them. However, he was good, and told the truth, which is the last thing these people wanted. So he had a lack of customers. He had moved to London to be near his mother's and sister's grave, but the rent of his apartment/workplace was expensive, and he ran out of money. He had consulted the cards, and they had told him to come here.

It was all very interesting, and Hannah took pity on the boy. But it did not help her figure out how he could see the Leaky Cauldron. She decided to talk to her husband and figure out what to do.

She explained about the world the unfortunate man had stumbled upon. She told him about magic, and how only wizards and witches could see certain locations – like the Leaky Cauldron. "Don't worry dear, my husband's a very powerful man in the wizarding world. He'll get you all sorted out right and proper. You just wait here until then. Free of charge. But I'm afraid you can't go deeper in the wizarding world right now. Sorry."

Ryou smiled at her. "That's fine, and thank you for your kind hospitality, Mrs. Longbottom."

She smiled at the nice boy. "Well, it's getting late. You should get some sleep. Maybe I'll send some customers up for readings tomorrow."

Ryou smiled. "That would be fine."

Ryou laid on his back, but before he fell asleep, he wondered why she had a framed gold coin on the wall downstairs.

Harry and Ron walked into the room where there was a large table, with people they recognize seated around them, and, for the first time, Nevile Longbottom at the head of the table. He was more resolute than Harry could have ever imagined him thinking, until he remembered in their first year at Hogwarts Nevile blocking Harry, Ron, and Hermione from going out at night. He laughed, which drew strange looks, until he described his remembrances. Then Ron and the Minister laughed as well.

A couple of more people shuffled in, including the head of the Department of Mysteries, looking slightly disappointed with smoking hair. Obviously an experiment had gone wrong.

Harry listened as business as usual went on, mostly just keeping his ears perked for anything that affected him. It was not long before Nevile got to the Head Auror.

"Harry Potter will soon not be meeting us as the Head Auror. He is leaving to become headmaster at Hogwarts. He will be joining us from time to time, however, as an education council. I look forward to continuing to work with my old friend. Ronald Weasley will be taking his place as head Auror. In light of these events, I will be saving my speech for the muggles until September the third, so that Harry can safely join us as the full-fledged Headmaster of Hogwarts."

Not long afterwards, the meeting ended. Before the minister could run off, Harry caught up with him. "Look, Nevile, I need to talk with you sometime. Hogwarts business.

Nevile nodded. "I'll come see you and Ginny tonight. Mind if I bring Hannah as well?"

"The more the merrier."

"Good. See you there."

Ron, who had heard the conversation, inquired as to the nature of the business.

"Come on by. Bring Hermione. You two could probably help, too."

Harry and Ron walked to the aurors' office, and Harry finished putting his personal office into boxes. "It's ready for you, Ron. Tomorrow I'm just going to make the announcement and head for Hogwarts."

Ron smiled and wished his best friend good luck. Harry then took off for the ministry disapperation area in the foyer.

Later that night, Ginny and Harry were sitting in their drawing room. Once again, Harry was sipping scotch, while Ginny was drinking sherry. This time, however, Neville and Hannah Longbottom and Ron and Hermione Weasley were there. After saying hi to "Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione", Lily went out with some friends of hers from Hogwarts.

After the house-elves served everyone drinks, Harry brought out a piece of parchment with a letterhead from Hogwarts on it. "This is a letter I got from Minerva. She announced my imminent position at the school to the teachers when I accepted. Several of the teachers quit when they heard about the break in tradition. Seven of them, in fact. If I can't find teachers to replace them, we can't open this year."

All present looked horrified. The idea of Hogwarts not being able to open was positively stupefying. There had been only two threats of it, and both had been because of Voldemort attacking the school. "Well, what teachers do you need? I'll see if we can't dig someone up."

"There's a list attached."

The letter came with another piece of parchment. It had a list of offices that still needed to be filled.

Divination

Defense Against the Dark Arts

Ancient Runes

Muggle Studies

Charms

Transfiguration

Potions

The guests all studied the list. "I know that Luna is good at potions. She could take over there." His wife nodded. "And I think I've found someone for Divination."

Everybody looked at her. "A muggle boy came into the pub today. It turned out that he was one of the best divination masters I have ever met."

All eyes stared at her. She was more then a little nervous. "Yes, he had no clue of the wizarding world. Had only moved to England from Japan last year. He speaks English quite well," She assured. "He's half English. Grew up in Japan, though."

Harry frowned thoughtfully. "Send him to the castle. I'll give him an interview."

Ron snapped his fingers. "What about those guys we met in Egypt – Aldous and Yuugi. Aldous is a muggle expert, and Yuugi wanted to teach anyway. Maybe we can find something for him to teach."

"Well, that just leaves us with Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Ancient Runes."

Nevile shook his head. "That's still quite a feat."

Hermione piped up. "I've been looking for a new job. The ministry is starting to bore me. No offense."

"None taken."

"Anyhow, I can teach Charms. I'm quite good at it."

Ron shot her a glance. "You're quite good at any subject, Hermione." His wife blushed, but didn't argue.

Ginny said, "I wanted to come to the castle anyway. I'll quit the Prophet and teach Transfiguration. I'm not bad."

Harry gave her a squeeze. "You're really good. That means we only have two left."

Nevile glanced at the clock. "I have to go. Ministry business. But if I find anyone, I'll write you immediately, and send them along."

Ron and Hermione stayed a little longer, chatting about old times. All in all, it was an enjoyable night. Lily came in just as they were leaving. She went up to her room barely pausing to say good night, and Harry sat down to write an letter to Aldous, advising him of the situation, and asking that he come to the school and get interviewed. Yuugi needed a guide to the castle anyway.

zZZz

1 After all, they are going to into another country without express permission and all that. Better to keep a low profile.

2 I'm assuming this. I don't actually know the statistics pertaining to who visits Egypt. For all I know, British people are more common there.

3 Stella is apparently the most popular Egyptian beer. Props to Wikipedia yet again.

4 Again, I'm assuming. I've never been to Egypt, myself.

5 Kirin is a popular Japanese beer.

6 I think there is some sort of clause in international law about that. If not, then there is in wizard international law. After all, there isn't a British Wizarding embassy.

7 This is mostly true of Ryou's biography.

zZZz

By the way, if anyone has title ideas for this story, please tell me. Also, any suggestions or creative criticisms would be nice.