Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Yugioh

Chapter Six

He left the shop and reached his senses out, awakening the power of his item to lead him to the one he was feeling. He could tell he was getting closer with every step...
"Bakura!" A voice screamed out.
The spirit whirled around to see a blond haired Egyptian running towards him.
"Malik!"

"Malik!" The Thief exclaimed in surprise. The last he knew the Egyptian boy had been under close watch by his brother and sister. In Egypt. "What are you doing here?"

The blond boy shrugged. "Isis dragged us to London for some museum thing. I snuck off while she was talking to some old man, and this place seemed interesting. Reminds me of my time with the Ghouls."

The spirit growled. "You idiot, you're going to ruin everything!" He glanced over his shoulder, "We have to move. I'm sure the brats have noticed that Landlord's gone missing, and I don't wish to be found yet."

Malik grinned, but chose not to comment as he followed his ex-partner through the dank streets, keeping out of sight from the others that prowled the streets. They ducked into a shabby pub, that the old spirit knew his Hikari wouldn't want to be caught dead in. Guilt nagged at his conscious, but he brutally forced it down.

"Why are you here, Ishtar? Why not stay with your sister?" The Yami demanded again.

The blond shrugged. "I saw you, and figured you must've gotten yourself into something interesting. Besides, I haven't seen Ryou since the end of Battle City."

The spirit found himself shrugging. "Some old man showed up at Landlord's house, demanding that we go to some magic school or something. He's planning something, and I was curious, so I decided to go along."

"Can I go, too?" the Egyptian eagerly asked. "I've been so bored. Isis hasn't let me do anything fun since I've been grounded. And I've been good, so I'm sure she'd go for it. It's a good social experience!"

The spirit sighed heavily. "I don't care, I don't want to deal with you."

And promptly switch spots with Ryou, who had been dozing in his soulroom from lack of anything better to do.

"Malik?" the British boy questioned in confusion, "What are you doing here?"

Malik rolled his eyes. "I just told the Thief. Ask him later. Instead, tell me about this school you're going to go to..."

…

It was several hours later that Ryou finally left his friends company, and discovered he had no idea how to get back to the others. /Yami, how do I get back?/

/Baka. Just follow the main road./The spirit muttered irritably, before returning to whatever he was doing.

Ryou shook his head, and obeyed. It was better not to know what held the ancient spirit's attention, because it was very likely that it was illegal. Or plotting something illegal. Or evil. Or... sometimes it was better just not to know.

He couldn't help but glance around curiously as he walked. The Alley he was in was remarkably different from the one Sirius had taken him to. It was darker, more shady, and the people who walked the streets had auras around them that screamed experience in fighting. The sounds that filled the air weren't cheerful or busy, or even scared, but mutterings of secretive dealings, calls for bets, the sounds of romps from the alleys between buildings that all had good thick layers of dust coating cracked windows. An occasional scream of pain rose above the crowds, but no one even glanced around to located where it came from.

The white haired boy stared at the ground to avoid eye contact, and hastened his steps. This was definitely a place he knew his spirit would fit in, but he did not like it. Shivers were running up and down his spine, and the longer he stayed in the miserable alley, the more desperate to leave be became. He had to forcibly restrain his urge to call out for Sirius, knowing that the spirit would have left the man far behind and such an action would only call attention to himself, attention he didn't want or need.

To be honest, he had been starting to doubt his agreement to go to this wizarding school. From what he had gleaned from Sirius, the Wizarding World was rapidly approaching civil war. He was miles from his little home, and only friend, miles from the little niche he had created for himself. He would be years behind his classmates, and his Yami was sure that Dumbledore was up to something when he forced them to come.

All in all, Ryou was positive that this year was going to be eventful, and probably wouldn't end well.

…

It was hours later that Ryou finally managed to get back to the correct alley, and that was only because he had run into Harry and his friends by accident. He couldn't help but notice the looks the three gave him when they found him in the dirty streets, and knew that they were suspicious of him. He was well familiar with the look. He received it often from Yugi's friends.

However, he was pretty sure that they bought his story of getting lost. Even if they were somewhat wary, and understandably so with the state of things, it was logical that Ryou would feel out of place at Harry and Sirius's reunion and had slipped out to give the four some privacy.

/You're getting rather good at excuses, Landlord./The spirit muttered suddenly. Ryou jumped.

/When did you start listening?/

The ancient spirit laughed in his reincarnation's head. /I never stopped. I just didn't want to hear your whining./

/You didn't have to leave me there!/

/No, I didn't. I wanted to though. It's amusing to see you squirm./

/Yami!/

The ancient spirit laughed again, but ignored the rant his hikari had gone into. Instead, he looked through the boy's eyes, and measured the three teens they had met up with.

To be honest, he really wasn't impressed with what he saw. All three of them were too thin, too unaware, and too nosey. They were still green, and hadn't seen anythingyet. He knew. He was one of those who grew up early, and the hope of the wizarding world just wasn't standing up to his expectations. A frowned marred his translucent forehead, as he forcefully kicked Ryou out of control, ignoring the nagging guilt that popped up so often now.

"Harry Potter." he demanded, "You're supposed to be the one who kills this dark lord of yours, correct?"

The black haired boy stiffened. "Yes."

The spirit snorted, causing the red head to snarl, "What did that mean? Harry's faced You-Know-Who and beat him. I bet you wouldn't last a minute facing the darkest wizard ever!"

The spirit's face darkened. "Don't speak of what you don't know, Brat. From what I've heard, your "evil" wizard is only killing people. There are fates worse than death. There are things worse than a murderer and his followers."

Blood rushed into the red haired boy's face as he swelled with anger. "And I'm sure you'd know. You only just found out about our world. What are you, a secret death eater?"

The Spirit of the Ring cackled. "What do you know, boy? You haven't done anything. All you do is cling to The-Boy-Who-Lived side. You don't know anything about me. What do you think, that they only war that's ever happened is here? Gods, you must be stupid if you think that."

The red head spluttered, but the spirit kept talking, "Not every country is as attention seeking as your own. Somethings are actually meant to be kept secret, and some people can hold their tongues."

The three stared at the white haired boy, speechless. Hermione's mouth was opening and closing as though she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words, and Harry was thrown into a bout of self-pity that he was only subconsciously aware had been happening since his fourth year.

The Spirit shook its head pityingly. "Your world is doomed if this is your best hope. Where's the convict?"

Harry snapped out of his depression. "Don't call Sirius that! He's innocent!"

"That doesn't mean that he isn't a convict. Good people are scapegoats all the time. Your godfather's no different. Where is he?"

Harry pouted and didn't answer. The spirit rolled his eyes, and started to stalk out of the alley. "If you want to sulk, that's fine. I can find the idiot by myself. After all, your precious godfather's responsible for me under the old man's orders. I'm sure he wouldn't be pleased to hear how the convict failed."

Harry growled at the barely concealed threat. "Fine. Come with me, then."

The black haired boy's friends looked at him worriedly, but neither protested. They did huddle together to quickly consult, and make sure the boy was fine, but the spirit couldn't really care. He let them keep their secrets, instead turning inward.

/Landlord?/ He called through the door that was closed firmly shut. /Landlord, open this door./
It was silent for a moment before the door slowly cracked open and a pair of brown eyes peeked through the crack.

/Yes, Yami?/ his hikari's voice came through. /What do you need?/

The spirit hesitated. /Are you okay? Would you like to take control of our body?/

Ryou's door opened a little wider, and the ancient spirit could see the sweet face of his light fully. He thought sadly that this is what he might have looked like if the Incident had never happened. If he hadn't become who he was. Who he was..

/Never mind!/ the spirit suddenly snapped, whirling around, and intending to return to the outside world. However, he froze when a pale hand gripped the bottom of his shirt.

/I'm find, Yami,/ Ryou smiled. /I understand./

Understand what? The spirit wanted to scream, but he remained silent, only nodding his head sharply. Ryou smiled again, his eyes full of knowledge as he retreated back into his soul room. The spirit resisted the urge to hiss out of irritation, but pulled himself suddenly out of his mind.

The Trio had finally stopped their whispering, the thief king was pleased to note, when he focused his full attention to the outside. The bushy haired girl that Ryou had liked turned to him. "Are you going to come?" she asked huffily.

The spirit smirked. "Of course. I am the one who asked, am I not?"

The girl blushed, but didn't reply. The three stalked off moodily, refusing to look behind to see if the other followed them or not. The spirit shook his head at their childish display, and thanked the gods that his host wasn't so immature. Ra forbid that Ryou was like them, or even worse the Pharaoh's brat.

Speaking of which, the spirit thought, Ryou is probably ready to be back in control, and I am getting a headache from dealing with the brats. Besides, the convict would be suspicious if I showed up...

...

Ryou stumbled as he suddenly regained his footing. He wasn't sure what had caused the spirit to switch places so suddenly, but he found that he didn't really care. The spirit had been much nicer to him the farther he was from the pharaoh. He had checked up on him... he was changing.

A smile passed briefly over his face, as he glanced around, to see where he was.

/Fool. Follow the brats./

Brats? Ryou thought, before he recognized the bushy hair bobbing through the crowd. He started running after trio, trying to close the distance that lengthened while the spirit had been in thought and he had been bewildered.

The Trio never looked back.

A/N: Well that's it for this chapter. Sorry it took so long to get out. I really have no good excuse that I was distracted by reading and original fiction. :(

Please review! or flame! Feedback! I haven't written and fanfiction in months so I'd like to know how I did!

Thanks for everyone sticking with me, and for moonlightskymist for beta-ing!