Well, I'm back. Sorry about the wait. Enjoy, and don't forget to review!

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Harry sat at his desk an sighed. This was so stressful. Luckily, the students would be coming soon, and he had all his teachers. Sure, a couple had to double up, so he'd have to be on the lookout for new teachers, but he'd make do. And the foreign teachers were interesting. He liked the all. But one creeped him out. 'That Ryou kid..' Harry thought back to the interview with him.

There was a knock on Harry's door, and it opened when he requested that whoever was there come in. In came the Minister's wife, Hannah, and a white-haired kid, apparently the one he had heard about. He offered a seat to the two, but Hannah had insisted that she had to get back to the pub, and besides, wouldn't it be better for Ryou to have his interview without an escort? So she left.

Harry smiled at the boy. He did look vaguely Asian, but still retained that British look. "So, I understand that you are not a wizard, that right?"

Ryou nodded. "I've never even known that there were wizards until I walked into the Leaky Cauldron. I'm just an occultist."

"So you tell fortunes, is that right? Mrs. Longbottom seems to think that you're quite good."

Ryou glared at him, a surprisingly spiteful look coming from the innocent-looking boy. "I do not tell fortunes. I read the vibrations of the universe through occult teachings. This allows me to see something of the future, but not much. But saying that I 'tell fortunes' is a deep insult to my craft, so please avoid doing so in the future."

Harry was blown away. So he had more sides of his personality than he did at first glance. Then again, so do most people. "I apologize. Now, would you mind doing a reading for me?"

Ryou nodded. "Sure." He pulled out a deck of cards, handling them reverently. He spread out the silk they were wrapped in, and pulled a card out. "The magician. That represents you." He put the card down then shuffled and cut the deck, then dealt the cards.

"You have overcome great trials – but we already know that. They took much of your strength, but you have begun to regain it. Which is good, it looks like you're going to need it. I see a great evil rearing it's head. You can defeat it, but not on your own. There's someone, or some group of people from your past. They will help you, if you ask. With them you have a chance of winning. But still, it looks dangerous.

"I also see something else. A new discovery, one that peaks your curiosity. It could either help you or harm you, like any weapon. It gets fuzzy at that point. You seem to have already had some experience with it, though..."

Ryou looked up, the only time that he had looked Harry in the eyes besides when he was glaring. His eyes were haunting, and gave off the look of having seen something forbidden. Not bad, exactly, just forbidden. "That's all."

Harry sank back into his chair, folding his hands together. The reading was surprisingly precise, and it scared him. It was certainly different from his other experiences with divination, not counting the prophecies. If he had not heard this, he would have happily continued to believe that they were the only real forms of divination. But he had to believe this boy.

Harry sat up again. "Alright. You're hired. Here's your contract." He placed the standard contract in front of the boy, whose eyes had drifted back to the floor. He signed it, still not looking Harry in the eye. Harry had sent another of his notes to Yuugi to show him to his room. "I'm having another newcomer I think you'll like show you to your room in the north tower."

Indeed, Yuugi came, and Ryou's eyes lit up.

Harry stood. "Ryou, this is..."

Ryou interrupted him. "Yuugi Mutou!"

Harry was puzzled. "You know each other?"

Yuugi embraced the young man. "Ryou Bakura, I haven't seen you in years!" He turned to Harry. "Ryou was one of my best friends in high school, back in Japan. Good old Domino, right, Ryou?"

Ryou nodded. "Yep. Yuugi-kun, genki desu ka."

Yuugi smiled. "Un."

Their voices faded as they left together, jabbering in Japanese.

That experience had been one of the most creepy he had ever had. Of course, it still didn't come close to that night in the Department of Mysteries... But he shouldn't go there. He had only a few days left until the students got here.

-

Indeed, that day came all too soon. Harry had been scrambling all day, along with the other teachers, to get the school ready. The House-elves had also been working overtime, preparing the great feast. Exhausted, Harry was relieved when he heard the sounds of the Hogwarts Express coming into Hogsmead.

When the students came filing into the room, they all looked at the staff table in surprise. They had heard the rumors of teacher changes this year, but the staff was almost all new. And two of the new teachers looked foreign!

Ginny brought in the first years, all scared and most nervous about which house they would be in. She placed the old stool with the sorting hat on it down and stepped back. As per usual, the hat sprang up and began to sing.

To Harry's surprise, the hat didn't sing, as it usually did, about how the houses should put aside their differences and work together. It didn't sing about the houses at all. It instead talked about international unity and the wizarding world. It didn't like how England was ignoring the international wizarding community in it's upcoming announcement, it seemed. Harry decided to have a talk with the hat about making political statements, especially against the position of the school, later.

When the students were sorted, Harry stood. "I'm sure some of you have noticed that the majority of the staff has changed this year. And I'm sure even those of you that didn't are now wondering about it. I will tell you about it. But, first, let's eat!"

He clapped his hands, and the food appeared on the tables. Harry sat and joined the students and other teachers in eating.

It had been years since Harry had enjoyed a Hogwarts feast, and he now realized just how much he had missed it. Those that had come to Hogwarts were enjoying it just as much, obviously their thoughts were much the same as Harry's. Malik made some comments about how the food here was so different than Egyptian food. It was a moot point, however, because the house-elves had made Egyptian and Japanese foods for the foreigners, and the other teachers seemed to enjoy them too. From what Harry could see of the students, they gobbled them down as well.

When the consumption of food had come to a near standstill, the plates magically cleaned themselves. Of course, this was actually all the house-elves doing, and they were now carrying the student's bags up to their rooms. Amazing creatures, house-elves.

Harry stood and spread his arms. This caused quite the murmur. The students were all wondering about the changes, and they didn't yet have the respect for Harry that students in Harry's days at Hogwarts had had for Dumbledore.

"Well, now that we're all fed, I'm sure that you want to know about the changes here this year. I, as I'm sure you have guessed, am your new Headmaster. My name is Harry Potter."

That caused quite a stir among the pupils. All of those of wizarding birth knew of Harry Potter, as did most of the muggle-borns. But he had disappeared into obscurity long before most of them were born, so they hadn't realized who he was. Harry did notice, however, a particular group of Gryffindor seventh years who did not look surprised at all. His daughter sat in the middle of them, and Harry recognized most of them as friends of hers. Ginny did look at her disapprovingly, however, when she noticed Lily sitting in a guy's lap.

Harry continued. "My wife, Ginny, will be taking over the post of Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. If you are at all worried about her qualifications, she fought Voldemort's army here in her sixth year."

There was a general outbreak of noise at that point. Fought Voldemort's army? In her sixth year? It was an amazing feat. Harry raised his hand, and eventually he got the quiet he asked for.

"One of my best friends from my time here, Hermione Granger, will be taking over the post of Charms teacher and Head of Gryffindor house."

Ginny and Hermione had decided among themselves that Hermione was to be the head of house. Harry had had next to no choice in the matter.

"Another of my good friends, Luna Lovegood, will be taking over as the Herbology and the Potions masters, as well as being the head of Ravenclaw. She is one of two of our teachers to be teaching two courses.

"Aldous Sterling will be teaching Muggle Studies, and will be the Head of Hufflepuff."

Aldous had agreed to be head of Hufflepuff, even though he had been a Ravenclaw himself. All he had to say was that it was 'better than Slytherin'.

"And that leaves out foreign teachers. This is Malik Ishtar. I met him in Egypt, were he served as a auror. He has agreed to join us as Ancient Runes teacher, as well as Head of Slytherin."

That announcement caused quite a commotion among Slytherin. Not one of them was happy that they got a foreigner as their head of house. Harry spoke up.

"Sorry, Slytherin, I know that it is unusual, but you may have noticed that we have staffing shortages this year.

"Ryou Bakura has agreed to join us as Divination teacher. He is very skilled, I hope that you respect him.

"Finally, Yuugi Mutou is going to be replacing Professor Binns as History of Magic Professor, and he is also going to teach a new class, required for all students, Ancient Magic. Please hold all questions about his class for his class, please.

"As you can see, Professor Mutou is Japanese, while Professor Bakura is half-Japanese."

The muttering throughout the great hall had now gotten to a roar. He waited for it to die out, as it eventually did.

"Just a reminder for older students, and a message to new students: The forest on the edge of the school grounds is strictly forbidden. And for good reason. Also, the list of objects forbidden on school grounds can be found in the caretaker's office.

"Now, I think that we are all tired and ready for a good sleep. If prefects will please escort first years to the common rooms, I believe we can start classes in the morning."

The dull roar picked up again as the students filed out of the rooms. Harry and Ginny headed to Harry's office.

They were just about to enter Harry's bedroom, which was behind his office, when there was a knock on the door. Ginny went into the room, and Harry opened the door.

"Hi, dad."

Lily was standing there. Harry opened the door the rest of the way.

"How can I help you, honey?"

Lily shrugged. "I wanted to congratulate you on all that. You were really good."

Harry smiled. "Thank you, honey. Now, shouldn't you be off to bed?"

Lilly hugged her father. "Okay. Goodnight. And don't expect this to be a regular thing!" With that, she was out the door.

-

The day that Neville was planning to give his speech to the Muggle world was there. The speech was to be given that evening, so that the prime-time news shows could broadcast it live. Before that, however, there was a meeting for all those involved in the inner workings of the wizard government. Harry showed up, with Aldous there as an expert witness. Before heading into the meeting room, Harry stopped by his old office. Ron would be there, and they would breakfast before they walked up together.

Harry's predictions were correct. Ron was there. Harry did have a bit of an advantage, though, as Harry and Ron had agreed to meet before the meeting in advance. Ron looked up when Harry walked into the head auror's office. "Hello, Harry. And your name is... Albert, right?"

"Aldous. But it's fine, we only met the one time, Ron."

They went to the cafeteria in the Ministry building. But it was a much nicer cafeteria than the ones in most government buildings, even. House-elves were much to thank for that. Harry, Ron, and Aldous got all the food they wanted and sat down. It wasn't even all that expensive.

When they had sat, conversation quickly turned toward the meeting they were having that morning. There was nothing that people outside the meeting couldn't know that they knew of, so it why it was being held behind closed doors was a mystery to the high-rollers and the teacher. But eventually, Ron wanted answers to the mystery that was sitting across the table from him.

"So, Aldous, why are you here anyway? The ministry muggle expert'll be there, so why did Harry bring you along?"

Aldous turned to Harry, not sure how much he should say. Harry smiled. "Aldous my be heading up a new project for the Minster connected to the announcement."

Ron looked puzzled. "I didn't hear about any new project."As the head auror, Ron knew about all the projects the ministry was currently running outside of the Department of Mysteries. Ron thought it was pretty obvious that Aldous was an unspeakable.

"It's being proposed to the minister at the meeting."

Not long after words, the trio had finished breakfast and gone up to the meeting room, where they were seated according to department. The meeting started as normal, and it appeared that it would continue that way. They had decided to repeal the great majority of laws that were directed at muggles, and had instituted a few new ones. It was illegal, now, to start a duel with a muggle. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was there as well, and he promised that no wizard as such will ever be coerced into doing work for the muggle government.

At a lull in the meeting, Harry spoke up. "If I may, I think there is something that we need to address."

Neville smiled, but the Prime Minister glared at him. "If it's not on the agenda, we can't get to it. I'm sorry, Mr. ..."

Most of the wizards in the room were now shooting angry looks at Harry, who had to admit some anger at the tone and disrespect that the Prime Minister had used. Neville intervened. "That is Harry Potter. He is one of the most respected member of our community, so it would probably be in your best interest to avoid treating him with disrespect, Prime Minster. Now, please continue, Harry."

The look in Harry's eyes thanked Neville. He had just adverted a probably destructive hitch in the attempt they were making at full peace between Wizard and Muggle. "One of the things that scares muggles most about magic is the fact that they know nothing about it. We know much more about them then they do about us, and we can't even attempt to dress like muggles without men in nightgowns walking about."

There was a mutter around the room. Harry waited, he had gotten used to muttering whenever he had spoke when he was 12 and everybody that he knew seemed to think he was the heir to Salazar Slytherin and was killing muggle-borns. Except this time, it wasn't a distrustful muttering, but everyone realizing that they had forgotten about that. Even the Prime Minister and the official muggle expert were baffled as to why they hadn't thought of it.

"There's a rather simple solution. We will offer, free of charge, weekend workshops for muggles that want to learn more about us. And our Ancient Magic teacher assures us that some muggles will be able to perform his magic.'

This time, the mutterings were a little more unfriendly. The wizards were all well aware that there was no Ancient Magic class at Hogwarts before this term. They were also more than a little skeptical that muggles learning magic would work, much less be a good idea. Harry just politely turned the floor to Aldous, who gave a breakdown of the workshop that the wizards would give.

At the end, all the wizards in the meeting agreed to give the workshops. They would be given in government buildings in the three regional capitals of the United Kingdom: London, Dublin, and Edinburgh.

Later, the Prime Minister became the first person to sign up for a workshop.

-

Students all filed into the classroom, nervous about their first class. Yuugi sat on his desk as the seventh year students sat in the desks of his classroom. They glanced nervously at the strange decorations. Half the class had been in here earlier in that day for History of Magic, and they were surprised by how much the room had changed.

The room was now lined with pictures of the Egyptian gods. The shelves, which had previously held books, now held games. But the scariest change was that of their teacher.

He had been dressed in black robes before, the same as all the teachers. But now, he was dressed in a white cloak and had a golden collar on. On his arms were golden ankhs, and on his head sat a ringlet of gold. This scared the students that had been in here earlier. The History of Magic teacher was an unimposing man who would rather read a book at home than be on anyone's bad side. But standing here now, he was a powerful magician who had control over one of the most powerful forces in history. Or prehistory, for that matter.

Most of the students had pulled out their wands. "Put those contraptions away." He had pointed to the wand of a Ravenclaw boy at the front of the room. The pupils were all surprised. "Aren't we going to be doing magic?" The Ravenclaw boy had spoken up.

Yuugi smiled down at him. Even as the Shadow Magician, he could not be completely cold. "Yes, we are. However," at this point he looked at the whole class, as cold as before, "when you are in this class, you are not here as wizards and witches. You are magicians and sorceresses."

The class slowly put away their wands, confused. "This type of magic is not about your blood. Your ability to manipulate white magic does mean that you can use some shadow magic. However, the shadows will respond naturally to some of you, while some of you will have to force the shadows to do your bidding with your white magic."

Some members of the class, mostly the Ravenclaws, scribbled what he was saying down. Yuugi ignored this. He did, notice, however, when Ryou came into his classroom.

"Shadow magic works in a completely different way then white magic. We summon the magic directly through our souls, and not through man made contraptions like wands. The magic exists in a realm where only shadows are. We draw it out to create illusions, or summon monsters, or to do what we need.

"Shadow magic is directly linked to games. Many of the games that are played as shadow games are more contests than games, but in almost every one there is a distinct winner and a distinct loser. But then again, any time there is a loser and a winner, then it can be a shadow game."

The scribbling had stopped. All the students were staring at their teacher now. Ryou's expression remained inscrutable. Yuugi smiled. "Are you ready to begin your exploration of shadow magic?"

When no one had said anything in protest. "Alright, then I think that it's time that I summon the shadow realm here."

The students became understandably excited. When the shadows around the room began to dance, however, several of the Hufflepuff girls began to cower together. The Ravenclaws took a while longer, but some of them seemed more curious than afraid all the way through.

The ones the shadows had chosen were immediately apparent. The shadows swirled around Yuugi more than anyone else, though they never touched them. The Ravenclaw boy who Yuugi had singled out earlier was also attractive to the shadows, although they did not give him the respect that they gave their master, Yuugi, and not nearly as many swarmed to him. Several others were surrounded, but none quite as much as the Ravenclaw boy. And then, in the back of the class, was Yuugi's old classmate.

Ryou had felt oddly at peace with the shadow realm. When Yuugi had closed his eyes and the eye of Horus had appeared on his forehead, there was a good part of him that felt like that should have seemed normal to him.

The shadows swirled around him nearly as much as they did Yuugi. Ryou had a sudden vision of a door, with a swirling pattern that left one with the feeling of falling, opening, and the Shadows pooring through. Then, he collapsed.

When his friend fell, Yuugi returned the shadows to their realm and rushed over to Ryou. "I need to take him to the hospital wing. I will be back soon. Don't do anything I wouldn't."

After assuring Madam Pomfery that Ryou only needed rest and to be looked after for a few hours, Yuugi hurried back to class.

"I apologize for that. I will check and see what happened to him later. In the meantime, did anyone have the shadows react to them in a particular way?"

A little while later, Yuugi had made a note of who had attracted the shadows and who had seemed to almost repel them. He assured them that next time they would start on shadow games before sending them on their way to their next class. Yuugi took off his jewelry and his white cloak and put them away in his office. When he returned, the classroom was ready for a History of Magic class with the first year Gryffindors. When the day was over, he was going to need to have a chat with his old friend.

-

Anzu flopped on her hotel room bed. She loved all the traveling she got to do in her job. She had succeded in her dream and went to New York to study dance. She quickly became considered one of the top dancers on Broadway. To now have a gig that allowed her to travel the world was amazing. She had convinced them to travel to Domino along with Okinawa and Tokyo during the winter.

Bored, Anzu flipped on the telly. The news on BBC1 came on, and she was about to change it, until she saw something that made her curious. The Prime minister was behind a podium, but he was only introducing a man dressed in robes. And he wasn't the only one. There was a group of people in robes, including the friend of Yuugi's that he had sent her a picture of. Aldous something. The reporter said that it was a formerly secret government building. The Prime Minister introduced the man in robes standing beside him as the Minister of... Magic? What in the world?

The man, a round-faced man in his 40s, stepped to the podium. He began to say the most fantastic things. He spoke of wizardry, witchcraft. Of a world hidden under the nose of most people, who he called 'muggles', explaining that it was the polite word for non-magical people. He then proceeded to pull out a stick and mutter something. Soon, There were boquets of flowers raining from the sky.

Another man, a dark-haired one, dressed in black robes, was introduced as the headmaster of the most popular school for magic in the world. He announced that there would be workshops available for muggles to learn about wizards. This was available from the government free of charge. He then introduced Aldous Sterling, who would run these workshops.

Anzu's jaw hit the floor. He had lived for years as a muggle. He was Yuugi's British friend! She wrote a letter to Yuugi to ask him what he knew about this. As she wrote, a sample of the concurrent announcement made by the American president and his Secretary of Magic was shown.

Weeks later, in Amsterdam, Anzu found a letter sealed with wax on her bedside table. In it was a note from Yuugi telling her to let him explain in person, in Scotland, and included were plane tickets and a ticket to the Edinburgh workshop.

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This is so wonderfully formatted here. But not after I give it to Fanfiction. Oh, well. I hope you liked it. Reviews will make me write faster!