"I can't believe that old goat was the one to ruin your life," said Kaiba a week after Dumbledore finally bought it. Though in his defense, it took two battalions of Anubis' third best jackal warriors and nearly a quarter of Seth's pet bugs to actually get him to bite the dust.

Unlike Voldemort, Seth hadn't bothered to seal Dumbledore's magic, thinking he wouldn't be nearly as big of a pain in the ass to kill without both of his wands. A simple stunner and the one that gave Seth a bad vibe was his.

He hadn't known Dumbledore was almost at the same level as a proper mage from Ancient Egypt. Despite the fact he was senile, colorblind and power hungry, Dumbledore wasn't someone Seth should have taken lightly.

Voldemort...well Amemit actually got a stomach ache from eating him, and they had finally collected the rest of his soul pieces.

Bast and the other gods had taken it upon themselves to destroy all records of the foul rituals to make them since it was too difficult for even Seth to track them all down, let alone steal them. Not to mention it would take far too long anyway.

So now it all boiled down to one thing.

The Ceremonial Duel.

Because he had gotten rid of Zorc early, they wouldn't be forced to deal with the whole Memory World bit Shadi had set up. And frankly after he managed to get Marik locked in Azkaban for nearly an entire day, he could care less how pissed Shadi would be when he found out the duel was happening too early for the magic of the Pharaoh's memories replaying themselves to take full effect.

Besides, thanks to his coaching, Yugi had the best damn poker face he had ever seen and he knew how to block the Pharaoh from reading his mind. Which meant the Pharaoh wouldn't be able to learn his name from the midget unless he let him know at a critical time as a distraction.

And, after nearly fifty straight duels with Kaiba, Yugi knew which card he drew half the time from his own personal deck by the feel of the magic in the card. It was similar to Mai Kujaku's perfume trick, only this doubled as magic training and wasn't easy to catch.

Much to the surprise of everyone who knew him, Yugi didn't have an updated version of his Grandfather's original deck, but one made of a bunch of spares that he had to remove since Yami didn't like the 'feel' of them while he dueled.

Where Yami/Pharaoh was an arrogant ass who liked to play his opponents and relied on luck half the time to beat them, Yugi was a silent assassin that most people overlooked because of the Pharaoh. He didn't like overpowering people right off the bat, or relying on the god card when things didn't go his way like Yami.

Instead he took quick pot shots followed by attacks from behind, much like an assassin would.

The second Bakura realized what type of fighter Yugi actually was, he had cackled so much that it gave Kaiba chills...right before he dragged the runt off for some real training in fighting.

If the Pharaoh did get a body, it was highly unlikely he would help his hikari like he was supposed to. Bakura sometimes took over for Ryou and dealt with people who tried to kidnap the boy in order to get at him or Seth.

Plus there were the cards Seth gave Yugi that would give him an advantage over the Pharaoh.

In a sign of trust, Seth gave Yugi two copies of his Ka beast, Maha Vailo, two Magician's Valkeria, and a different set of gods which the Pharaoh had no idea about, but Yugi was actually familiar with, being Japanese.

Not to mention the card Seto Kaiba gave Yugi that had him gaping, since even though he had heard of it, he had never seen it in person.

Satellite Cannon. A card that grew stronger each turn it was on the field, but couldn't be taken out by anything lower than a Blue Eyes White Dragon. If he got that on the field early enough and left it there while keeping Yami from summoning a god card, he could easily kill Obelisk or Ra with it. The attack power grew by a thousand each turn it was on the field. And the best part was that it only took a single sacrifice to bring it out.

(FYI, this is an ACTUAL card. I got it once out of some crappy tournament pack when I still played the game, and a lot of people flipped out over it. I still have it too. It can't be destroyed by anything with a level lower than a BEWD, and after it attacks it's attack power drops back to zero.)

Needless to say Yugi was rather pleased to have it in his deck, since Kaiba said that as long as he kept the Pharaoh far from Seth (who would strangle him the second the Ceremonial Duel was over if Ra managed to get him his old body back like he feared) Yugi could have it. He already had three copies of it anyway.

Yugi had already been a competent duelist, but in order to beat the Pharaoh, he couldn't rely on any of his usual luck, or the god's since there was roughly an even split between both.

Bast, Horus, Osiris, Anubis, Seth and Hathor were on Yugi's side. Ra, Nephthys, Isis, Ma'at, Thoth, Nut on Yami's side.

Since he planned to use his own deck and let Yami use the one that most people associated with when they thought of Yugi.

Which meant a lot of practice and getting the 'feel' of his deck right. Since Yugi was essentially making his own deck from scratch, he wanted to make sure it felt right before he used it against Yami.

He would need his A-game when he went against the King of Games and his grandfather's former deck.

As such, Seth, Bakura and Malik had all been dueling Yugi repeatedly for weeks just so he could hammer out the kinks of his deck.

So far he had most of his deck ready to go, but there were a few errant cards that simply wouldn't work out, despite the fact that they felt right.

Which was why Yugi took to surfing the internet for cards that caught his attention or snagged at his magic. Seth had promised to buy them for the runt, since the sooner he beat the Pharaoh, the sooner they would be rid of him.

And frankly his arrogance was getting on their nerves.

Yugi paused from surfing the internet and marked down another card. Soon. Soon they would be rid of...him. Sometimes Yugi wondered what it would have been like to be alone in his head, since it was obvious to anyone who had experience in Egyptian history or saw the pieces Yami wore that he was a former Pharaoh.

Yami was arrogant, annoying, and believed everyone should worship him and follow his every order. Yugi would have been hard pressed to defend the spirit if it wasn't for the fact that he was still pissed about the way he was sealed in that damn bubble for a full week because Yami's ego was so out of control.

Most people would claim Yugi was a mouse who needed Yami in order to survive on his own.

This was not the case at all. Seth had, when Yugi once brought the Puzzle over by accident without wearing it, looked it over.

He found several spells woven into the gold he hadn't noticed before. Spells that downplayed Yugi's personality when he was in contact with the cursed Item and made Yami's personality more dominant.

Bakura had been very surprised when he not only got along with Yugi, but practically considered him a friend so long as the Puzzle was no where near the boy. When you stop and consider that Yugi was the Pharaoh's reincarnation who had a healthy dose of humility and treated others with respect, this was quite shocking indeed.

Seth found that while Yugi had low confidence before Yami's appearance (mostly due to bullying and few actual friends), his self esteem had shot up because he was a good duelist and Bakura's lessons in self defense.

In fact Bakura was so impressed with Yugi's progress with the practice knife that he gave the teen one of his own.

His grandfather hadn't been happy, but when Seth pointed out why they were giving the boy a knife of all things (which in all honestly was safer than teaching someone as young and impressionable as Yugi how to shoot a gun), he had let it go. It didn't hurt that because of the knife (which Yugi rarely carried in plain sight) he wasn't bullied nearly as much.

"Yugi, I am concerned about you spending so much time around Ryou. I know you like him and Marik, but being around Bakura and Malik can't possibly be healthy for you."

'This coming from the hypocrite who LOST a duel when the hostage had been released before it had even started, and then didn't listen to me when I tried to remind him that the seal was a fucking stupid idea to use?!' snapped Yugi, trying to finish his High School homework...and the essay the professor from the Egyptian Collage he applied to sent. Thanks to Seth, they had agreed to send him the work early so they could see how good he was.

"For the last time, I'm SORRY! When are you ever going to let that go!?"

'When your ego isn't so large that it dwarfs Kaiba's Blue Eyes,' said Yugi flatly.

"Yugi, exactly HOW much time have you been spending with them?"

Yugi had been leaving his Puzzle at home behind several security wards lately, and it had bugged the hell out of him because that meant if the need to duel arose he wouldn't be allowed to show his skill. And games were pretty much the only thing he was good at. Because he had been a king in his previous life, he didn't have any real world skills in which he could earn his living.

'Yami, if I let you take over my body for the weekend will you drop it? Seth showed me that trick Bakura uses to become corporeal' said Yugi. That aught to shut him up so he could get his homework done.

"Are you sure? Hikari normally can't handle shadow magic that well."

'The most I plan to do is my homework. It's not like I plan to go into the Shadow Realm for a few hours,' said Yugi with a snarky tone.

"Alright, but if you need me to help you, just tell me and I'll be there as fast as I can."

Yugi snorted, but in a way that the Pharaoh didn't hear it.

Bakura laughed when he heard how Yugi ditched the Pharaoh. He was going to be working on his homework...but he never said where he was going to be doing it.

Yugi's form was a bit rough, but considering he wasn't the one made of shadow magic it was still better than most could pull off.

The tri-colored teen got into a stance, and Bakura got him started on the next set of moves. Two hours later, he was sitting down relaxing by dueling Seth, who was better than Bakura or Malik. Not to mention Kaiba, to the teen's annoyance.

Suddenly Yugi looked up from the computer (where he had been parked for the last fifteen minutes) and when he looked through his deck list, he stared.

Three months of planning...and it was finally complete. Sure, he had to get used to it first, but he could finally duel with his deck.

He made a note of the final card and didn't notice Seth was behind him.

"You finally finish it?" asked Seth.

Yugi squeaked in surprise, but nodded. Seth looked over the deck with a critical eye before he asked "Where are you going to get another Dark Magician?"

"The dumbass won a second one during the first Battle City Tournament and it has been in my spares ever since. It looks a little different from Grandpa's, but it still works."

"You mean the blond one with red armor?" said Seth in surprise. He hadn't know Yugi had that one.

"Yeah. He won it off this weirdo and it looked kinda odd. But I never put it in my deck because I could feel that the Dark Magician Grandpa had didn't like him."

"I wonder why. Hell, I want to know why there's a different colored one when the original was formed from the sacrifice of one of HIS most loyal priests!"

"Why don't we just go and ask him directly?" said Yugi.

"Now that is an excellent idea," said Seth approvingly. He grabbed Yugi's shadow magic (which wasn't nearly as potent as his) and then opened a portal straight to his treasure room. Shaadi couldn't do a damn thing about it, because it was made from his magic even if it did lay in the Shadow Realm. Just like he couldn't interfere with the little game that Seth had going on with the Death Eaters.

He just set his little realm to open up on anyone stupid enough to have the mark, and they were snatched without him doing a thing. He was about to go to the Realm of the Beasts, when he noticed something odd.

There were patches of glass in his side realm where his pets were. And last he checked, there wasn't anything in there that used fire hot enough to create glass. Pausing long enough to let Yugi look through the treasure out of boredom, Seth looked for the cause.

And found it rather quickly as he saw a greasy haired man running for his life while throwing what appeared to be vials of liquid fire at the jackal-headed guards.

He was actually putting up a decent fight.

"Yugi, would you stay here for a moment while I go check on something? And don't read from the books that have the scarab locks on them. They might react badly to the shadow magic you're currently using," said Seth.

"Sure. I'll read some of these training scrolls instead."

Seth dropped into his little desert and went up to one of the guards who had dropped back.

"What is going on here?"

"The little wizard came prepared. He's been giving us trouble for three days straight and he hasn't figured out that the oasis gives him a two day break yet. Those potions are annoying," replied the guard. Seth handed him some water which got him a bark in thanks.

"Hold on while I see what the hell is going on here," said Seth.

This was highly unusual. Most wizards started to panic when they were snatched and their magic sealed partially without their wand. This man came prepared to fight his way out of the desert through potions.

He whistled sharply, and the jackals parted. The scarabs noticed their Master's presence, and vanished deeper into the sand dunes.

The man was breathing heavily, but he still had some fight in him.

"Now this is curious. I've been snatching those idiots for months now and you're the first one to actually fight back without magic."

The man snorted.

"Did you really think that someone like me wouldn't show up eventually? I knew my turn was coming up, so I prepared for it. I don't know what you did to Draco, Vincent and Gregory, but you won't kill me so easily."

"Who exactly are you?" asked Seth, curious.

"I am Severus Snape, head of Slytherin. Since you aren't being attacked and they actually listen to you, you must be the mysterious Horus."

"Snape? As in the same Snape who was tormented by James Potter and Sirius Black Snape?"

"...How did you know about that?"

"The idiot dog told me. Frankly I think they were idiots. Antagonizing a natural potions master is a fool's move, when they should have converted you to their little group to make their pranks far more potent. Now what shall I do with you, Snape? I have no quarrel with you and it's only a matter of time before you run out of potions. They (he nods to the guards) aren't particularly pleased by the attacks."

"Don't expect me to thank the spawn of Potter," he spat.

Horus smirked coldly.

"Oh Snape, whoever said I gave a damn about my father? Because of the old bastard, I never knew my real parents and what little I've heard of James Potter does not endear me to him. As for Draco, Gregory and Vincent... Well, they no longer have to worry about the Ministry or anyone else from England bothering them for that matter."

"What did you do to them?" snarled Snape. They were his snakes dammit, and he wouldn't allow their deaths to go unavenged. Not when the cause was right in front of him.

"I removed them from Europe. Draco passed the test, and he requested I go easy on his friends who were too stupid to do any real harm. Right now they are learning how to use magic without wands with my other students."

"They're alive?"

"Sirius asked that I test Draco to insure that Lucius Malfoy's stupidity was not inherited like he feared. Draco passed the test, and he didn't want to go back to Dumbledore. Once England is out of the Dark Ages, he'll go back. Last I saw him, he was rather enjoying mundane high school."

Snape looked him in the eye. As far as he could tell, Horus was telling him the truth.

Horus looked at Snape who, from what he could tell, wasn't a total loss like the rest. And at the rate he was going, he would piss off the guards and get killed.

Horus looked up and saw the hawk.

"Hey Horus! Is he cleared from this test or should he finish it like the rest of them?" he yelled.

The hawk dive bombed the two, before turning into a man with a hawk's face.

"He can leave early. At the rate he's going, Anubis' army will kill him the second he runs out of vials."

"Just checking. In that case, I'll take you to Sirius where he'll clear you with the rest of the group. If he pisses you off, you can hit or kick him, but no magic."

"...Can I give him a black eye?"

"Go for it."