Sirius and Remus were rather accepting of the fact that not only did their godson/cub used to live five thousand years in the past, but had apparently fathered a long line of Tomb Keepers. The irony was that Bill Weasly, one of their best Order members, used to be in regular contact with the Ishtar clan thanks to his job and he never knew they were descendants of the Potters!
The only problem Seth had with the two was the fact that Marik got along with Sirius a little too well. It had all started with the fact that they both loved motorcycles and then things went downhill from there.
Seth was quite sure Isis would have his head the minute she learned he had introduced her rather insane younger brother to a man known for his rather cruel pranks towards people he didn't like. Marik and Sirius could often be found in dark corners huddled together and plotting dark pranks.
It was only the fact that Seth could manhandle them both with ease that kept him from worrying. Poor Remus looked like he was gaining a few more gray hairs at the idea of Sirius with a willing accomplice.
Seth earned his sixth locator card (Kaiba's tournament required six locator cards to find the place where the finals were) and debated whether to join the finals. In the end he decided against it for the sole reason that he had no intention of allowing the Pharaoh to regain his memories. The second the remembered that blasted crush on him, he knew the man would turn into a bloody fan boy!
True to his word, he hadn't tried to harm or even look at the Pharaoh. However he knew for a fact that the minute the Pharaoh tried to regain his memories, it would start the countdown to the moment Yugi had to duel him for control. And Yugi wasn't ready for that to happen yet. So Seth decided to join the others on the blimp as Mokuba's bodyguard, which made it impossible for the Pharaoh to try and duel him for Slifer.
Sirius decided to join Remus at the buffet, where he ran into the blond from earlier. It didn't take long for them to bond over siblings, when the boy learned that Sirius took family very...well, seriously.
"Where did you disappear to Seth?" asked Kaiba.
"Long story short, people with magic have annoying as hell rituals that can drag people against their will halfway across the world for no reason. Some old geezer in England keeps using them to drag me there so I can fight in some war they are too chicken to fight in themselves. It's getting really old, really fast," said Seth annoyed.
"And those two?"
"Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. According to them they were friends with my birth father, not that I remember either parent. They jumped into the portal I was using to get back before it closed, so I let them tag along. They agreed to help me teach Mokuba and the others magic," shrugged Seth.
"Isn't Black an escaped convict?"
"Is he? I don't think he's that dangerous actually. Just look at how Mokuba acts around him. If anyone can tell us if we can trust Sirius, it's him."
"What?"
"Your brother is a natural Empath. He can sense emotions and can read people faster than even I can. If Black were actually dangerous, he would have mentioned it after I introduced him and the werewolf before I started their last lesson," said Seth.
"What's an Empath?"
"An Empath is someone who can read minds, emotions and auras naturally. They're extremely rare and are considered royalty in magical communities. They're so prized that most would never dare harm one," answered Remus.
"Which means they are a better judge of character than most, right?"
"Quite true. Anyway, while Sirius did break out of a magical prison, he was never actually convicted of a crime, hence the term Convict doesn't actually apply to him. Not to mention the fact that someone we once trusted was the one to set him up to take the fall for something Sirius never would have done," said Remus.
"So which of you is the werewolf?"
"Ah...that would be me."
"Is there anything I should know about the condition itself?"
Remus explained how it turned him into a monster three nights a month, and how his senses grew stronger depending on what phase of the moon it was. Kaiba wasn't that bothered by the condition. Remus clearly took precautions to avoid harming others, and Mokuba seemed to like him like an uncle, which spoke loads about his character. So long as he never hurt anyone on the full moon, he could care less that Remus was a magical creature.
Kaiba did break off to speak with Black, and returned later with Sirius completely unharmed. Sirius did look rather shell shocked, but those who knew Kaiba decided to chock that up to the fact that he had been in a room alone with the dragon obsessed duelist. He tended to have that kind of effect on people.
"So...what's the verdict?"
"Remus is willing to help you teach Mokuba magic. While I don't like the idea of something so...unscientific, I am willing to tolerate it's existence so long as Mokuba is happy. Sirius, while somewhat behind on technology is a surprising treasure trove of how to use what he calls runes to get some of the most basic electronics to work. He's agreed to try and work with the research department to see if we can't exploit the rather small market of magically powered items," said Kaiba.
Seth chuckled. So Kaiba had adopted the 'magic may be real but I don't have to like it' approach. He could work with that.
"So have the Pharaoh's cheering squad tried to convince you about magic yet?"
Kaiba snorted in derision.
"I can see why you dislike him so much. His holier-than-thou attitude is grating on all but the most patient people. It's a miracle the midget hasn't told him to shove it," said Kaiba.
"That's mostly the reason."
"The only one who's been trying to convince me I have magic and a destiny is that pest Isis. I don't believe in prophecy, and I barely tolerate the idea of past lives," said Kaiba.
Seth frowned. He had told Isis repeatedly his views on human made prophecies. Unless it was confirmed by a god he was familiar with, he dismissed them as pure rubbish. Not to mention the fact that while the Tauk did improve chances to gain actual visions, those who used it could create fake ones just as easily.
And he knew for a fact that Isis didn't have a drop of Seer blood in her. One of the things he got from the goblins was a list of powers that came with his family bloodline. As Marik had demonstrated, the ability to speak to snakes was one of them.
Isis had been very put out when she found out that most of her visions were only figments of her imagination combined with the Tauk's power. Marik had laughed like a hyena when he found out.
Little Miss Seer was a fraud and didn't know it!
Seth watch bored, as the duels commenced. While actually participating was fun, these card games bored him to tears. It wasn't until the blond kid beat Rashid, thereby breaking one of the only chains to bind Malik from taking over Marik by force, that he actually took an interest.
The second Malik went to attack the blond woman Mai with a full powered blast by Ra, he intervened.
"Slifer, come forth!"
A long red dragon with two mouth and the power of Osiris came out and blocked the attack. Seth wasn't stupid enough to try and stop it without the aid of another god, and none of the ones that favored him were in the mood to deal with the watered down version of the Sun god.
Slifer not only stopped the attack, he curled around Seth. It was very clear where his loyalties lay, and it wasn't with the Pharaoh to the surprise of Isis.
"Come on Seth, let me play with the bint," said Malik with a whine.
"Malik, if you don't want me to perform a repeat of my reaction to you kidnapping the younger Kaiba brother, back off. Shadow rules clearly state that you can't declare a shadow game unless the other participant has an Item, has agreed to it before the match, or has magic to begin with. Ms. Kujaku doesn't have a hint of magic, hence your punishment is null and void," said Seth levelly.
"And why should I care about the rules?" sneered Malik.
Seth sighed. He had hoped to reason with Malik. When reason failed, there was only one other solution.
He summoned the bat he used last time, and leaned on it pointedly.
"Your choice Malik. Either I brain you into another concussion and string you up the side of this fast moving blimp, or you leave her be," said Seth annoyed.
Malik sneered at him again, but allowed Mai to be left alone. Seth kept the bat out anyway.
The next one up was Seto and Isis, and Seth made it very clear who he was siding with. Isis had a bigger ego problem than the Pharaoh did, and she needed to be knocked down a few pegs. What better way than for someone who barely tolerated magic beating her visions and proving once and for all that they weren't entirely accurate?
Isis gave him a glare, and grimaced when Seto Kaiba trounced her easily.
Seth decided to enjoy the view for a while longer, and spotted something Ryou dropped after he was beaten by Yugi.
He picked up the Ring, and sensed his brother next to him. Seth pushed enough shadow magic into the thing that Bakura could walk around for a little while. He would return to Ryou's side, since Ryou had some trouble handling the shadow duel.
Fortunately the Pharaoh wasn't fully aware of the rules of such things, since he didn't claim the Ring.
"So when are you going to teach the kids how to make a shadow bat?"
Seth chuckled.
"Right around the time we figure out where the rest of those damn Items are."
"Well the midget has the Puzzle, I have the Ring, Marik has the Rod, Isis the Tauk, that blasted Tomb Keeper has the Scales and Key last time I heard..."
"I have the Key. I killed the previous owner right as I was being dragged back to this time, so I reclaimed it to keep Shaadi from using it against us."
"Right, and Pegasus had the Eye, which I now have in the apartment."
"So we know the location of the seven. Now our only issue is finding a way to convince the midget and the others to part with them so that they can be sealed."
"Bah. The runt isn't nearly ready to handle being alone just yet, let alone being able to duel His Royal Pain-in-the-ass. Which reminds me...how the fuck did that old man nab you in the first place?"
"Some random magic ritual with a piece of hair before the blood adoption to your clan. You should have seen the look on his face when he first realized I wasn't the age I was supposed to be and was fully trained to steal, kill and blast my way out of that house!" he said gleefully.
Bakura smirked.
"You got a memory viewer?"
Seth cackled.
An old man was standing in front of a pentacle inside a circle made of blood. Beside him were twelve others, some a bit pale for donating the blood to the circle. He was the only one who had been present at the previous summoning, since Fawkes refused to collect the errant Potter boy.
He began to chant in Ancient Egyptian, following the same spell Bill had found quite by accident in one of the goblin archives. When they learned why he wanted to use it, they had given him an odd look but had agreed to let him make a single copy.
A week later they attempted to summon Harry from wherever he was. No letters could find him, and even with a lock of his baby hair, blood spells couldn't even touch him. For some reason the attempt had left them all drained beyond belief, so much so that it took a month before they could even remotely consider a second attempt.
Because there was no doubt it had done something. They had felt the magic drain, and if he had been dead it wouldn't have been so great. They had nearly summoned something into the circle, but they were blocked at the last second by an outside force.
That was more than enough reason for a second attempt.
This time the drain wasn't nearly as great, and someone began to appear. He was tall, about a few inches taller than Dumbledore himself. And he had black hair that was tied in a rough ponytail. He was wearing what appeared to be an Arabic cloak, and his skin was very tan.
But it was the eyes that held Dumbledore's attention. They were as green as Lily's, and just as intelligent.
He took one look at them and said something in a language they didn't understand. Bill did, but his Egyptian was passable at best. He winced when he heard the man's words.
"He wants to know if we're the ones who dragged him here."
The man looked at him sharply and said something else...Bill winced even more.
"Correction: Are you the dumb asses who dragged me through that side realm? It fucking hurt," said Bill.
The man appeared satisfied by the fact Bill had repeated what he had said without paraphrasing.
Dumbledore was having difficulty believing this was the same child they were looking for, because he appeared to be in his twenties, not his teens.
Harry was supposed to be fifteen.
"We are looking for Harry Potter. He's a fifteen year old boy with a lightning scar on his forehead."
Bill translated the request, and the man looked very annoyed.
"I don't know any Harry Potter, and even if I did why the hell would I help you when you just dragged me here in a fucking painful way?" Bill translated.
"We need to find him. He is in danger from a man who seeks to kill him."
The man laughed when Bill translated that and gave him a look that spoke volumes. Clearly he didn't think they were capable of protecting a single knut, let alone a child.
"You wizards are all alike. You think the world revolves around your petty struggles and you're too full of shit to think about fighting for yourselves. I bet this kid is one of your precious pawns that have escaped, and you just want him back to fight your battles for you," said Bill, who winced.
Dumbledore's eyes gleamed. And then he asked if the man would be willing to come to their aid. The man didn't even hide his snort of derision. What he did next shocked them.
"Fuck off, Wizard."
It was said in perfect, if heavily accented, English. The man waved his hand and vanished before they could ask him anything else.
"Well that could have gone better," said Bill.
Bakura couldn't help his reaction, he was howling. The old goat had summoned his pawn, only to find out that he wanted nothing to do with him! The look on his face was priceless!
Ryou looked amused as well, though he did have one question.
"Why didn't he just have his phoenix grab you?"
Seth snorted.
"Those who follow Bastet and the immortal children of Ra do not like each other. That phoenix knew I was protected by the goddess, and he wanted nothing to do with an attempt at kidnapping me. Had he tried he would have pissed Her off."
"So how many summonings did it take for him to figure out you were in fact his missing pawn?" snorted Bakura.
"Five, and that was after I had erased his memories of the previous rituals twice and stolen the only copy they had of the spell. They keep finding a new way to drag me there and I keep telling them to go to hell."
"Then why did you bring Sirius and Remus with you?"
"They were the only ones who looked like they weren't interested in forcing me to join their ridiculous fight, and from what I understand they mostly just wanted to get to know me since I happen to be the only remaining relative of their dead friend. The fact I'm half their age didn't really factor into it. Besides, they don't agree with the Ministry at all, and can teach you lot magic."
"I'll admit that Black had some good ones," said Bakura.
"Have I ever steered you wrong brother?"
Bakura looked at him.
"What about that time with the camel?"
"I didn't know you were drunk enough to try it!"
"And the time with what we thought was oil and ended up being ink?"
"We were both hard up and there wasn't anything better nearby!"
"Or the time you thought we could slip past the guards dressed as women and ended up being..."
"Like I was supposed to know they were that horny! We killed them after anyway!"
"Or..."
Poor Ryou was beet red at this point.
"You two used to...? But aren't you brothers?"
"Bastet took me from my home, and so we weren't blood related. Besides, it was either that or the camels, and we weren't that desperate," said Seth flatly.
"Besides, don't you have a crush on Marik?" Bakura pointed out.
"Eep!"
"Don't worry Ryou, we'll give you a list of really good positions and what not to use as lube," said Seth grinning like a cat.
Ryou was flaming red at this point and it was a miracle he hadn't fainted from embarrassment.