N/A: Ahaha...I'm definitely procrastinating. Also, what the hell. Why not? Work, baaah. Bah baaah.

Chapter 3 - Deeper, Lower, Closer

"We're sleeping where?!"

Yuugi looked back and forth between his darker self walking next to him and the black robed professor leading them. The head of Slytherin did not turn to look at the duo and instead continued to walk deeper into Hogwarts' dungeons.

"As I said before, Mr. Mutou, the Slytherin common room and dormitories are located in the north-west corner of the dungeons, just a few steps past the Potions classroom. You may wish to write down the location rather than ask me again where your temporary living courters are." Yami came to a halt, seizing Yuugi's hand in own and pulling his aibou behind him.

"Is that a threat, professor?"

"Oh, Mr. Atemu, while the Headmaster sympathies for your current situation, I hold no such regard. I did not agree to this arrangement, and despite my best efforts to remedy the situation before any damage could be done—" Professor Snape stopped his movements and turned his head to meet the pair of coals burning into the back of his head, "—the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall believe it wise for a cub to sleep with snakes. I made it clear that I would personally be unable to prevent any damage—"

"Damage?" Yuugi felt the hand holding his tighten just as the hallways started to feel darker and look more frigid.

Mou hitori no boku, please don't…

He will NOT threaten you. If he dares to lay one finger on you—

"I'll remind you that threatening a professor is against the rules, Mr. Atemu. That includes any aggressive magic. Ten points from Slytherin, as well as twenty points from Gryffindor since Mr. Mutou goaded this behavior."

"Don't you dare." The only thing left in the hallway that Yuugi could sense was the heavy hand clutching his own. The greasy professor in front of him disappeared, and Yuugi felt an overwhelming sense of raw energy pulsing from Yami's fingers and through his entire body.

Yami! Stop! NOW!

Aibou—

No! You cannot! If anything happens to him, you will be expelled! Or worse, you could be put in jail! And they would separate us! Forever!

…

The shadows on the walls of the hallways started to flicker as the lights reappeared along with a frozen Professor Snape several feet away from the two. The teacher whipped around and approached Yami with his wand pointed square at his chest.

"Mr. Atemu, make sure I do not have to remind you of the rules again. The next time I feel even a flicker of…magic from you that seems at all dangerous, I will make sure you are on the first train to Azkaban. Are we clear?"

A slight tremor in the professor's arm made his wand waiver. Yami glowed, giving the man a slow nod with a grin.

"Very."

Severus dropped his hand and whirled with his robes bellowing behind him as he continued down the dungeons. Yami relaxed his hand and turned to look at his light behind his shoulder just as Yuugi pushed past him to trail after the teacher.

I cannot believe you did that! To a teacher! On our first day! Are you crazy?!

Very.

Oh—damn it, Yami! You can't act this way! How can I get that through your thick head!

Pushing his pace, Yami quickly caught up to his aibou and tried to take his hand again only to have Yuugi shake off his hold.

Aibou, I'm only trying to protect you.

And you're willing to hurt others to protect me? To even kill?

Professor Snape stopped in front of a door made of stone that scaled the entire wall. The door had no knob and no gap from the floor—the only aspect that differentiated the entrance from the rest of the walls included a carving of a snake biting its tail in a perfect circle.

"Completed."

The snake's eyes turned a sickly green before the door started to sink into the floor to reveal a large, dim room barely lit by the same, pale green lights.

"You're expected to remember the password. You will not receive help from the other students if you forget. Your room is to the left, all the way down the hall. The Headmaster seemed to believe you two should be allowed personal corridors—I plan on convincing him otherwise. But until then, don't get too comfortable." The teacher turned and walked back down the hallway until he disappeared into the shadows. Yuugi collected himself and drew a deep breath before taking a step into the Slytherin common room with Yami just behind him.

"Why is there a Gryffindor here?"

A lanky girl with jet-black hair that fell straight to her shoulders gave Yuugi a scowl. Draco, who was standing next to her, put a hand on her arm and pushed her into the nearby chair, causing her to shriek.

"Draco! Why did you—?"

"Parkinson, where are your manners?" Draco moved, crossing the room suddenly and appearing directly in front of Yuugi. Two pale fingers traced one of the spikes of Yuugi's hair just before Yami, once again, stole his light's hand and swung him behind him.

"Need something?" Draco looked past Yami, catching Yuugi's stare. Yuugi couldn't identify the look that the platinum blonde was giving him, but he started to tense up as he dropped the gaze and concealed himself behind Yami.

"Why didn't you let us know to expect company!" Draco sneered, turning to face the rest of the staring Slytherins, "Why don't we all welcome little Yuugi here to our humble abode! Greengrass—" Draco pointed to the girl sitting close to the eerie green fireplace that watched him with similar hazy eyes, "—do you still have that teddy bear you used to sleep with during first year? If so, you should offer our friend Mr. Huggles so he can feel more at home."

Before Yami could advance on the prowling Malfoy, Yuugi pulled him out of the common room and down the left corridor, with the rolling sound of laughter echoing behind them.

"Aibou, you should have let me take care of them. Or at least take care of him."

"This is exactly my point. You cannot go around mind crushing everyone that addresses me. Sure, our last few encounters have been rather edgy…" Yuugi looked at his replicated darkness, still holding his hand and leaning his head to rest on his shoulder, "…but we need to adapt. You won't always necessarily be there to protect me, so I need to learn to deal with my own problems. I have a feeling that both of us will have our fair share here."

"I am sorry Yuugi. But you are wrong about one thing…"

I will always be here to protect you. Without a second thought, Yami placed a kiss on the top of Yuugi's head. The shorter boy squeaked, giving Yami a wide stare with flushed cheeks.

"Mou hitori no boku!"

"What?"

"You—you can't just—you know, do that!"

"Do what?" Yami gave Yuugi a blank look. Yuugi sighed and focused on the door they had just reached at the very end of the corridor. He grabbed the knob and twisted it open, revealing two identical canopy beds on opposite sides of the room. The trunk he had brought with him was at the foot of one of the beds, and Yuugi chose that bed to fall face first on with a groan.

"This is going to be a long year."

"Then we better get some sleep to start this year right." Yami approached the bed Yuugi fell on, pulling off his robes to reveal his leather attire beneath. He sat down and started taking off his shoes, his socks, then his shirt—

"Y-Yami! This is my bed! Y-you should sleep on the other bed…" Yuugi had darted up and crawled to the head of the bed with his knees pulled to his chest. Yami gave his light another perplexed look before taking off the golden pyramid necklace hanging from his neck.

"But aibou, we've never slept apart before. Why would now be any different?" After taking off his own puzzle, he reached over to Yuugi and took off the identical trinket, placing both of them on the nightstand.

"It is different, mou hitori no boku…"

"I disagree." And with that, Yami pulled the covers up and crawled underneath, pulling Yuugi down to lie next to him. Once his aibou was resituated, he draped one of his tan arms around the boy's waist and pulled him close to him, earning him another high-pitched protest.

"Yaaaamiiiiii!"

"Shush. Sleep."

"But—!"

Aibou, it's been a long day. Don't resist. Just sleep.

Yuugi opened his mouth to retort, but then snapped his lips back shut. Ignoring the heat on the back of his neck, Yuugi pushed his face deep into his pillow and sighed.

You win. But only because today was crazy. And I'm exhausted.

Yuugi didn't hear Yami respond before he felt his mind begin to swirl into sleep. Yami looked down at his light as he fell into slumber. His petite body relaxed completely in his arms with a series of light breaths. Yami exhaled slowly before closing his own heavy eyes and laying his head down.

"This is going to be a difficult year."

N/A: This is a bit slower than what I wanted. But next chapter will start getting interesting. Oh, of COURSE my favorite Voldemort will be making an appearance! Why you ask? Because he's the best? Also, being the hungry crazed man he is, he'll no doubt want some of Yami's Egyptian voodoo. Especially since Yami's dead...but alive. Yuugi is really going to try and grow a backbone, but let's face it-he's Yami's greatest weakness. And evil Dark Lords love exploiting weaknesses!

So, hope the writing style is alright. I haven't written in a long while, and what I wrote last a year ago was some of my original fiction...which is what I really should be writing now...but blah!

If you want more, you should consider reviewing. I like reviews. So, simple mathematics. You like story = Review = Happy Abby = More Chapters.

And the actuary has started to talk nonsense again.

Shush, Basil. That's my muse. He's just glad I'm writing something and not just spitting up formulas.

About time.

Well! Review! Hope you liked! Let me know what you think! :)