Disclaimer: I do not own HP or YGO

Chapter Eight

Why am I here? Ryou blinked, looking around the familiar settings of his soul room. Nostalgically, he ran his fingers over the old, dusty pictures of his mother and sister sitting next to the bed, smiling softly. He didn't have any pictures of them in the real world. How he missed them...

A knock came from his door. He looked over at it, calling as he did so, "Come in."

The spirit strode in confidently, wearing the same form as Ryou as per usual. "Landlord." the spirit greeted brusquely, "I'm glad you could make it. It's time that we had a talk."

The gentle boy shivered. "Did I do something wrong?" he found himself asking, more out of habit than any real worry. The spirit had been much nicer lately, ever since he had been 'permanently' banished to the Shadows.

The Thief King shook his head. "No... but it appears that there is more to our arrival here than what the old man told us. I'm going to take our body out to look for what he is hiding once we get into the school."

Ryou nodded slowly, frowning. "...Are you sure?" he asked, desperate for some sign of doubt that what the spirit had said wasn't true.

The ancient spirit heaved a heavy sigh. "I'm sure about the old man. I felt his magic try to break into mine several times when we were with him. But the children... they may not know."

A smile lit the Japanese boy's face, and he flung himself at his ex-tormentor. "Thank you! Thank you. I know you don't believe in their trustworthiness, but would you please give them a chance?"

"It might do well to have access to what they're planning." was all the cryptic spirit would say on the matter.

…
Ryou awoke into the real world with the weak rays of morning sunlight shining in his face. He blinked away the bright spots in his vision before looking around, feeling confused.

Abruptly, he remembered - he was in England... again. To learn magic, no less. He sighed slowly, getting up and stumbling over to his bags to grab his things -he'd need to get ready before he was able to do anything-and set off to find the bathroom.

When he was done getting ready for the new day, he made his way into the kitchen. If he remembered correctly, Harry and the twins had said that they would teach him how to fly, regardless of any other plans, and Bill had said that he would start to help Ryou catch up on all of his missed school work. Hermione had also offered to help, and from the looks of the two bodies passed out on the bed when he left, it seemed he had a couple hours to study before he had to learn about the sport known as quidditch.

/Maybe you should do the quidditch./ Ryou thought to his yami, and felt a wave a of pleasure surging from the other, despite the melodramatic 'Hmm' he had received in response.

Maybe if his yami knew these people a little better he'd see what Ryou saw. Despite the fact that the spirit had agreed to allow him to spend time with the young Gryffindors, Ryou still wanted his yami to know that everyone wasn't out to get them; that not everyone wanted them dead, or wanted their ring...

/Yami,/ Ryou asked, his 'voice' subdued, /could Dumbledore be after the Ring?/

The spirit hissed, /Probably, but if he is, that means the baka pharaoh and I have missed something! I could have sworn that we had all the documents that mentioned the items by name/

/Did you check the magical books?/ The hikari pushed. /Because you seemed very surprised when Mr. Dumbledore showed up on our doorstep./

The Spirit of the Ring growled, and Ryou was pleased to note that this time, he didn't flinch. /Of course we didn't, you fool... but we didn't think that anyone outside of the tomb keepers knew./

/Maybe no one did. It's possible that at some point one of the Tomb Keepers became a traitor and sold the information to a wizard, or maybe the information was tortured out of him. The fact remains though, that it is very likely the Headmaster knows about the Ring. You said it yourself./

The spirit didn't respond to what he said. /Tell me when you start learning to fly the broom./

Ryou sighed as he was left alone in his head again. There was a time, he thought wryly, when I would be happy about it. How ironic...

"Dear, are you alright?" Mrs. Weasley's anxious, motherly tone pulled him out of his thoughts, "You seem to be dazing out quite a bit. Are you sure you don't want to stop by the hospital? They might know of something I missed..."

Ryou nodded. "I'm positive, Mrs. Weasley," he replied, "I've done it since I was young. It's not that big of a deal."

The matronly woman shook her head, but didn't question it. "If you're sure..." she trailed doubtfully; placing a plate full of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of him. "Eat up. You're still too thin."

Ryou rolled his eyes, but tucked into breakfast nonetheless. He was almost finished when he noted Hermione making her way downstairs. Smiling politely, he greeted her. "Hello, Hermione. Is the offer to study still open? I would love the chance to begin to catch up. Ra only knows I've had enough practice."

Hermione frowned, noting the use of the Egyptian god, but was more interested in what he meant about catching up. "Do you move often?"

Ryou smiled wryly. "It seems so. Strange things just happen around me, and Father used to worry that someone might notice."

"Used to?" Hermione questioned.

Ryou nodded. "I've made some friends in Japan, and they usually help out if something odd happens."

Yugi does, at least, he thought with regret, and half the time it's my fault. I don't think I should have left.

His flinch was instinctive when Hermione gripped his hand, and he snapped his head up so fast that it looked painful. "Well," she said, a sparkle in her eye, "We'll just have to do our best to make sure you feel welcome then, don't we?"

Ryou's smile stretched into a grin. "I'm demanding," he warned, "and sometimes a little strange..."

Hermione scoffed. "We're around Harry all the time. We're used to strange. And demanding... I think you'll find we're a fair bit of stubborn too."

"Your friends won't like it..."

"They'll learn to live with it." the intelligent brunette assured.

Ryou shook his head again. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, then."

"I'm glad you're catching on."

A/N: I finished it! I just sent Chapter nine off to my new beta Cadens Stella, who is also to thank for beta-ing this one. So chapter Nine should be up soon.

Please review! I would love to hear some feedback and criticism. And feel free to flame... I don't think I've been flamed yet. Hm...

Thanks for reading!