Disclaimer: I do not own HP or YGO. :P

Chapter Nine

Ryou rested his head in his hands. Two years of magic were now jumbled in his head, and hours upon hours of studying had left his head aching. By the afternoon, he was almost wishing that the other boys would wake up and drag him out for quidditch. Even if the spirit wasthe one inhabiting his body, at the very least he wouldn't be studying. He wasn't sure if he could fit anymore into his brain...

He sighed. "I am so tired..."He murmured in Japanese. Hermione glanced up from the ancient tome that she had buried herself into.

"Did you say something?" she asked.

Ryou shook his head. "No, nothing."

From upstairs came a rumble of boxes being knocked over, and then the the sound of clumping footsteps coming down the stairs in a hurry. Ryou perked up, "That must be Harry and the others." he chirped, relieved.

Hermione gazed at him speculatively. "You must be ready for a break." she sighed. "You weren't half so excited about going outside earlier."

Ryou found himself blushing. He nodded. "My head's beginning to hurt." he admitted.

Hermione shook her head. "You should have saidsomething!" she admonished, "We're about due for a break anyway..."

Ryou smiled. "Thank you."

A few minutes later, he found himself dragged out into the yard behind an excited group of teens. He took a breath. /Yami?/ he sent along their mental connection, /Do you want to take over now?/

There was a grumble from the spirit before he felt himself losing control. It always felt strange when he switched out with the Spirit. It was almost like falling, but from a much greater scale. Maybe jumping from the top of Kaiba Corp...

The spirit stretched the bodies muscles. They were stiff from the hours of studying his hikari had put in, he supposed. He turned and faced the two magical teenage boys. He didn't have to scare them too much, at least not before they taught him to fly...

So all he had to do was command the broom 'up!'? It made sense, in a simple way...

"Up." he growled and the broom twitched on the ground. The spirits faced darkened, and the shadows that naturally gathered nearby twisted ominously.

"Up, you pile of firewood, or you will discover just how evil I can be." he growled, lapsing into the Ancient Egyptian of his childhood. The broom leaped into his hand, smacking the palm, before his fingers clasped instinctively into an iron hold.

He tightened his grip further, "If you do anything else other than being a perfectly normal broom, I will peel each layer of bark off of you before sending you to the Shadow Realm." he hissed darkly at the inanimate object, not caring about how crazy he sounded.

He felt his Hikari's amusement in the back of his head and growled, slamming a wall down on their connection. He felt only a flare of pain before it was completely blocked off. He felt a twinge of something in his heart, but he brutally pushed the odd feeling away. It didn't matter.

He wouldn't allow it to matter.

He then straddled the broom and looked over at the wizard teens. It looked like he was doing it right. The black haired one was speaking, but he ignored him.

His legs bent and with a push, and whoosh, he was in the air. Looking down at the people far below, he felt a cackle of glee rise in his throat. The adrenaline, the rush... it was exhilarating . The feeling of power and freedom was simply addicting.And what he could do with this kind of power...

A ball abruptly whizzed passed his head, and he twirled through the air, acting only on raw instinct. He dodged, ducked, and threw. The other boys stopped briefly to give the ancient spirit inhabiting the Japanese boy's body a brief explanation of the rules of the game that he was playing, the bat a comfortable weight in his pale, steady hand.

And for the first time in millennia, there was a smile on the Spirit's face. Not one exulting in pain or humiliation, but an honest smile of pure joy.

From the inside of his soul room, Ryou grinned.

It was hours later that the spirit finally left the sky, but Ryou couldn't bring himself to care. He was happy his other half had found something innocent that he enjoyed, something that he wouldn't have to be looking over his shoulder with every minute, or that added to his ever growing list of mortal enemies.

Who ever had to solve his murder when he was finally killed would have a hell of a job singling someone out from the list. If they could even find the list... The stupid spirit kept destroying his copies...

Ryou shook his head and tried to concentrate on the book in front of him. It is important to note that when using darker spells the emotion behind...he glanced up when he felt someone sit down beside him, frowning.

"You're Bill, right? What are you doing over here?"

The Weasley's eldest child gave a him strained smile. "I suppose that after our conversation yesterday, you're not a huge fan of me..."

Ryou stayed silent, his eyes calm and focused on the elder man.

"Right..." Bill trailed, "What are you studying now?"

Ryou sighed. It would appear that the redhead wouldn't leave, no matter how much he tried to ignore him. "Defense Against the Dark Arts, Volume Four." (1)

Bill nodded. "Hmm... I remember that book. How are you enjoying it so far?"

Ryou shrugged. "As well as any text, I suppose, when you've been studying for hours."

Bill thought for a moment. "I can help you practice." He finally offered, his voice hesitant.

Ryou's eyes lit up momentarily in excitement. "Really!" he paused, the joy leaving his visage as soon as it had arrived, "...but Hermione said that we aren't allowed to practice magic outside of school..."

Bill nodded. "That's true, but there's a room in Gringotts that's warded from Ministry tracers. I can take you to practice. At the very least, you'll have some idea on how to actually cast spells, even if you don't have time catch up on everything your peers have learned."

Ryou thought about it. It might increase the antagonism against him from Ron, what with his brother being willing to help him practice magic, but...

/Yami?/ Ryou asked mentally, /The goblins won't know that you stole anything, right?/

The spirit huffed. /Of course not. What do you take me for, an amateur?/

Ryou grinned, snapping out of his mental conversation. "I would love too."

(1) I don't know if this is a real book or not but it doesn't really matter. I just need him to be studying.

A/N: So I got the new chapter out! Many thanks to my beta Stella Cadens for looking it over. Please review!