/Text/ Spirit to host

/Text/ Host to spirit

Chapter 8: Adjustment

Harry walked downstairs the next morning to find Yugi sitting in the corner of the living room, talking on what looked like a custom-built phone. He had seen the latest models, as it was all Dudley talked about getting until he was picked up for the summer, and it looked nothing like the gleaming silver device in his hand.

Not wanting to intrude on his conversation, Harry moved into the kitchen and grabbed a roll from the basket on the table. Mrs. Weasley was directing the extra dishes from last night back into their cupboards.

"Oh, good morning, Harry. You're certainly up early today. Ron still asleep?"

He nodded.

"I think Ryou is too. Yugi was up before even me today, on his…oh, dear, I forget what it's called…"

"The cell phone?"

"Yes, that's it. He wanted to get a call in to his grandfather before it was too late in the day, to make sure everything was alright back home."

"How long has he been there? I thought I was up early today."

Mrs. Weasley looked him over carefully, "Are you feeling alright, Harry? You normally aren't up this soon. Sleep alright?"

Harry shrugged. "I think so."

"Hm. Well, he had a small bite about ten minutes or so ago, and has been on his call since. Poor dear must be homesick already."

Harry frowned. He felt for Yugi, and Ryou. Leaving home for a strange place couldn't be easy, but he would never really know the feeling of homesickness, since he never had enough good memories of Privet Drive to really miss it there. Each summer he looked forward to the date he would end up either at the Burrow or even the Leaky Cauldron.

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry began, "Do…do you know why Dumbledore invited them to Hogwarts this year? I didn't think Hogwarts ever invited foreign exchange students before."

Mrs. Weasley frowned, and then shook her head, nudging a basket into his hands and off towards the chicken coop. "Never you mind, Harry. Now, come. You can help me get breakfast ready for the others."

Harry numbly followed her outside. She didn't deny it. Mrs. Weasley did know something, but her silence really didn't surprise him. She was leery to let him, or even Ron and Hermione, to listen in on Order business. He knew she was just trying to protect him, but this was getting a little old.

Wait. He stopped at one of the trees. If Yugi and Ryou's admission to Hogwarts was considered Order business, then somehow, Voldemort must be involved. But why would Voldemort gain interest in a few Japanese teenagers? What could they possibly have that would interest him? As far as he could tell, neither Yugi nor Ryou had attended a magical school before. Unless their magic was undetected, they were basically Muggles. Voldemort and the Death Eaters shouldn't have spared them a second glance.

Although, the terrorized looks that they got when asked about their admittance to Hogwarts was rather suspicious. They wouldn't have been so scared if the reasoning was something as simple as being overlooked for their own country's magical academy. If they were traditional wizards, and just didn't get into their own school, getting them into Hogwarts shouldn't be considered Order business. Wouldn't that fall between the British and Japanese Ministries of Magic?

No, Harry shook his head. There was something about them that made them stand out enough to get Voldemort's attention from across the globe. They must have something that Voldemort wanted. Or…they were dangerous themselves. But that didn't make much sense either. Dumbledore wouldn't purposely bring something dangerous into the school…would he?

There wasn't a way for him to know. Not unless one of them spoke up. Or…he thought grimly, we'll just have to spy –

"Harry? Are you okay?"

Harry broke out of his thoughts to see Yugi standing in front of him. "Sorry, just thinking. How long were you standing there?"

Yugi shrugged. "I just got off the phone, and followed you outside. It was only maybe a minute or so."

Harry held out the basket for Mrs. Weasley so she can collect any eggs. "I uh…wanted to apologize."

"Apologize?" Yugi asked, blinking owlishly up at him. "For what?"

"Yesterday," said Harry, "We came on you kind of strong, and I think it made you guys uncomfortable."

"Oh," Yugi laughed, "That's okay. I guess…that's something you're used to, isn't it? People probably make a big deal about you when they meet you for the first time, don't they?"

Harry blinked. "How did you know?"

Yugi ran a hand through his spiky hair. "Professor Dumbledore told us a little about you, that you survived the killing curse when you were a baby. Since that's apparently never happened before, I can imagine it turned you into kind of a celebrity."

Harry exhaled loudly. "You have no idea."

Yugi put a hand on the top of his strange necklace and looked down at it for a moment before speaking again. "I'm…kind of the same way. In just one Duel Monsters match I had unseated the reigning World Champion, and then everyone was whispering about me. I got invited to an upcoming tournament, and all of a sudden, I was known as 'that guy who beat Seto Kaiba'."

"How was that?"

"Weird. The next thing I knew, I was being challenged left and right for my Pu-uh, dueling title."

They slowly followed Mrs. Weasley back into the kitchen. Hermione and Ryou were up, sitting in the living room and looking through one of her old textbooks. Neither of them noticed them return to the house.

Harry started to move to join them, but Yugi reached out and grabbed his arm. "Wait."

Harry turned back around. Yugi's gaze was set on his necklace again, but this time his eyes looked a bit unfocused, as if he was either deep in thought or plain up spacing out. It was slightly unnerving. "What's up?"

He watched Yugi shake himself out of his stupor and immediately let go of his arm. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Yugi looked over at Ryou before turning back to Harry. "Professor Dumbledore told us about your fight with Voldemort over the years. Not a lot, I mean, he didn't go into a lot of details or anything, but he's said enough to make it seem like you've been getting in his way plenty of times now."

"You could say that," said Harry. He wished Yugi would come out and say whatever it was he wanted to say.

"How dangerous is he?"

"Very. He's been trying to rebuild his army from the last war. Last year, we thought he was after some kind of weapon that he didn't have the first time around."

"Did he get it?"

"No." Harry shook his head. He had been trying not to think about the Department of Mysteries. It only reminded him of Sirius. "There was a battle at the Ministry of Magic last month. He didn't get what he was looking for." The last thing he needed was to relive that night again in his mind. Sure, Voldemort hadn't gotten the prophecy, but they suffered losses as well. Ron had nearly been suffocated by a brain, Dolohov had nearly killed Hermione, and he put most of the Order in danger. If he had just gone to Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall instead of rushing recklessly to London, Sirius wouldn't have been anywhere near the Department of Mysteries. The whole battle may have been avoided.

…Or would it have been? Voldemort was trying to get at the prophecy. It would probably been only a matter of time before either he made his way to the Ministry to get it himself, or he would have kept putting visions in his head to lead him there.

"Harry?"

"Sorry." Harry rubbed at his arms, "Just a lot of regrets. I…I lost my godfather, Sirius, trying to stop Voldemort. After my parents…he was the only family I had left."

Yugi looked down at his shoes. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories. It's…it's just that we're coming here based on Dumbledore's words alone. We had never heard of Voldemort before…. I left my friends and family behind to help fight an enemy I didn't even know existed."

Harry paused. There was something hidden in Yugi's words. "Are you saying…that Voldemort is after you too?"

Yugi bit his lip. Uh oh. "Uh, yeah. Dumbledore didn't quite tell us why, but he was able to convince us enough of magic to admit us into Hogwarts. He said it would be safe there."

"Hogwarts is considered to be one of the safest places in Britain. But in this war…" Harry sighed. He noticed that Yugi still skirted around the reasoning for Voldemort's sudden interest in them. "No place is truly safe. Don't get me wrong, as long as Dumbledore is headmaster, Hogwarts is safe from Voldemort and the Death Eaters, but if they can find out your weaknesses, they'll exploit them. It doesn't matter if you're at Hogwarts or at home."

Yugi bit his lip. That wasn't very reassuring. But at least he had the feeling that they wouldn't be fighting this battle alone. "Whatever you need, I'm sure we'll find a way to help," said Yugi. "I'm sure that was probably the reason Dumbledore put us in the same year." He laughed awkwardly. "Otherwise it doesn't make much sense. We're not going to know anything, and you've had five years-worth of magic classes already. We're going to be the odd ones out."

"Yeah," Harry ran a hand through his messy hair. "C'mon, let's go rescue Ryou before he gets buried under Hermione's old books."

Yugi sank down under one of the shadier trees in the garden. "Ugh."

Ryou plopped down next to him. "So that's what you meant by de-gnoming the garden. Oooh, I feel like I just ran an Olympic event."

Ron laughed. "It gets easier the longer you do it. Though, Ryou, you must have tossed that one at least a hundred feet!"

Ryou scowled and nursed his finger. "What do you expect? That thing bit me!" Part of that toss was the Spirit's doing...

"Normally, all you have to do is make them dizzy and drop the over the other side of the garden wall," said Ginny. "But apparently when Fred and George were little they made it into a game to see who can chuck them the farthest, and it's pretty much turned into a tradition."

Yugi tucked his hands behind his head and stared up at the cloudless sky. It had been over a week since they had made the journey to the Burrow. In that time, aside from helping Mrs. Weasley with housework (which she kept insisting wasn't necessary, but he and Ryou kept pretending to not hear her), they had learned how to de-gnome the garden (which, they found out, had to be done more often than they would have otherwise assumed – gnomes weren't particularly bright), skimmed through a few of Ron and Hermione's old first-year school books, and watched Ron utterly trounce Harry in chess. Apparently, in the household, Ron was an unofficial champion.

/You wanted to challenge him, didn't you?/

Yami chuckled from their soul corridor. /A bit. Ron is very confident in his playing abilities. I can see why none of his other family members usually offer to play. It would be a joy to battle Ron, but I can sense a feeling of jealousy from him. It's not strong, but it's there./

/Jealousy?/

/From what we've learned over the past week, Ron is the youngest of five sons. He has a lot to live up to. It seems all of his older brothers have had some sort of prestige in their lives, from either school achievements or just being well off in their careers. Even Percy, who had a falling out in the family, managed to find success in their Ministry of Magic./

/That's true…/

/Don't forget that while Harry may be unwanting of his fame, he is still a celebrity himself. I can sense that on more than one occasion, Harry may have unwillingly upstaged him in their successes. While they are very close, probably on par with our relationship with Joey or Téa, I imagine it can and is quite difficult to always be in someone's shadow like that. Chess is one of the few things that Ron can openly excel in. I wouldn't want to take that from him./

/I guess if you're really itching for a game, you can always try to duel Bakura…so long as his spirit doesn't try to summon the Shadow Realm again. We've managed to keep the Millennium Items quiet for now, but I can tell Harry's pushing./

/I know. I can sense it from all of them. They seem to enjoy being nosy, but for now, it is safer to keep them in the dark. If the dark spirit within the Millennium Ring can keep out, dueling Bakura may not be such a terrible idea. The Weasleys have been very hospitable about adapting us to their world so far. We can always return the favor by showing them something from ours./

/You would have to let me duel, Yami. I don't want activating the Puzzle to draw their attention./

/Of course, Yugi. I'm sure Bakura will do the same, although Bakura does have it a bit easier since the Millennium Ring isn't nearly as chunky as the Puzzle. I don't think any of them know that he has a Millennium Item at all./

/That's true. But…um…/

Yami chuckled. /You didn't pack your duel disk, did you?/

Yugi looked ashamed. /I brought my deck. But I didn't really have room in my suitcase for the duel disk. To be honest, I didn't think we would have enough spare time on our hands for a lot of dueling./

/Well, if you're able to get in contact with Kaiba, he might bring it with him. Or…if you catch him on a good day, he might mail it out to us ahead of time. In the meantime, we can still duel traditionally./

Yugi got up and reached into his pocket for his phone. He would have to charge it before calling, though he had to commend his rival. He called home to his grandfather once every day, and yesterday he also spoke to Joey and the others as well for upwards of two hours. It took just over a week for the battery to finally start to need a charge. That was loads better than any traditional cell phone would have lasted. Kaiba certainly doesn't mess around with his technology….

"Where are you going, Yugi?" asked Hermione, looking up from her book.

"I need to call home. Hey Ron, where can I charge my phone?"

Ron blinked. "Charge your what?"

"My phone?" Yugi held it up. "Do you have a power outlet somewhere I can borrow?"

Harry noticed the confused looks Ron and Ginny were giving him. He cleared his throat. "Uh, Yugi, I hate to break this to you, but the Weasleys don't have electricity. No outlets, light switches, or anything like that. I'm surprised your phone even works out here. There aren't any towers nearby."

"…Oh." Yugi and Ryou shared a glance. "Well, Kaiba built the phone for us to run directly through his satellites. It doesn't pass through any traditional phone towers." Yugi looked down at the device in his hand. Would it really be useless after another day or so?

"Maybe Kaiba can send you an extra battery for it?" said Ryou. "You have enough left on it for at least another call, don't you?"

"It's good for a little while longer, so long as I watch how long I'm on it," said Yugi. He headed back towards the house.

Ron called after him. "Oy, Yugi! When you come back, Harry and I were going to shoot some Quidditch hoops before dinner. Want to learn how to play?"

"Uh, sure! I'll be back in a few minutes!"

Yugi jogged back across the garden path and into the house. He could hear Mrs. Weasley in the room around the back of the kitchen doing laundry.

On his way into the living room, he glanced up at the odd clock on the wall. Sitting across from the traditional one on the opposite wall, this one did not have two hands rotating around numbers. Each hand had a face for the members of the Weasley family. Instead of the hours, there were different labels going around the frame. Yugi noticed that while some of the family was home, Mr. Weasley was no doubt at work for the Ministry, and Fred and George at their shop, all nine hands pointed towards 'Mortal Peril'.

Yugi took a seat on the sofa next to Mrs. Weasley's knitting. It was at work again, creating something long and maroon-colored, probably a scarf. He scrolled through his contacts, but before selecting one, glanced behind him at the time-telling clock on the wall. It's going to be late at home.

/I wouldn't call Mokuba. I don't know what kind of hours he keeps over the summer, but it would not do to get on Kaiba's bad side by waking him if he were asleep. Especially if you want him to expedite your disk./

/Kaiba's number isn't in here. I'm both surprised…and not surprised. It's either Mokuba or nothing. Here goes…./

The call rang twice before a voice that was neither Mokuba nor Seto Kaiba picked up. "Mr. Muto, do you realize how late it is?"

Yugi blinked. He certainly wasn't expecting that person to answer the phone. "R-Roland? I thought I dialed Mokuba's phone? I'm sorry, I must have dialed the wrong number. I'm sorry...again; I didn't mean to disturb you..."

/Yugi! You're panicking for no reason. Slow down before no one can understand you on the other end of the line./

"Calm down, Mr. Muto. Mokuba was charging his phone in my office before he forgot it here and went to bed. Is everything alright?"

"Uh, yeah. Things are fine. I didn't mean to call so late, but is Kaiba still up? I was hoping to catch him and, well, when Mokuba gave us this phone, he didn't program his brother's number into it."

"Mr. Kaiba put all the numbers he deemed necessary for you into that phone himself. He's probably still awake. Stay on the line a moment."

Yugi heard shuffling in the background, along with a few muffled voices before the phone was picked up again.

"Mr. Muto, Mr. Kaiba is going to call you directly. I'm going to hang up now."

"Okay, uh, thanks, Roland."

Yami phased out of the Puzzle as Yugi dropped the phone into his lap. "That was weird."

The Pharaoh chuckled. "I don't think you've ever said more than two words to Kaiba's right hand man before. You had more interaction with Croquet in Duelist Kingdom and you spent less time with him."

"Ugh, yeah."

The phone suddenly began to vibrate in his lap, and Yugi quickly swiped over to start the call. He noticed that the caller ID didn't list a name or a number. "Hello?"

"You do realize it's past eleven here, don't you?"

Hello to you too, Kaiba. "I didn't wake anyone up, did I?"

"Mokuba, if he took his phone back to his bedroom, which, lucky for you, he did not. You relieved Roland of five minutes of staring at security cameras, so he said to send his thanks."

Yugi wasn't sure what to make of that, if that was a sense of humor, or not. He didn't bother asking why Kaiba was still awake. As far as he knew, his rival never slept.

"…So what's so important it can't wait?"

"Well…" Yugi looked over at Yami. "I was wondering if you could bring an extra duel disk when you make it over here."

"Bakura didn't think to bring his?"

"Uh…well, no. I didn't bring mine. It didn't fit in my bag, and I didn't want to have to take another one just for that. I have my cards though…I just…miss dueling."

"Considering I'm halfway across the world, Bakura doesn't make for much of a challenge, does he?"

"That's not the point, Kaiba." Yami said, but Yugi knew his rival wouldn't hear him.

"Bakura and I haven't dueled at all," Yugi said, "We've been spending the time doing…other things. The Weasleys have some school-aged kids that are going to be in the year Dumbledore's putting us. They're also friends with Harry Potter. They've been showing us some of their old school books to try and get us acquainted with magic."

"Hn. Well, Mokuba will be over with your friends Sunday afternoon. I'll have him pick up your duel disk, and I'll bring it with me when I arrive next week."

"What day are you arriving?"

"If nothing changes, I'll be flying out July 8th."

Yugi blinked. "You're going to fly? Wizards aren't going to just transport you over like they did with us?"

"I don't trust these people that much, Yugi. Until I'm…adjusted to all this, I will arrange my own transport to and from England. Emmeline Vance tried to convince me of using some Portkey, but unless I'm setting that up myself, I refuse to use it. They could tell me it'll go right to Hogwarts, and for all I know, it'll end up landing me right in the hands of that lunatic Voldemort."

"Kaiba has a point," said Yami.

"Was there anything else you needed?" Yugi could hear him tapping away on a keyboard through the phone. "You haven't decided that those wizards are too much to handle and need a ride home, do you?"

"Very funny," said Yugi. "But I did never get a chance to thank you properly for the phone you made for us. It works great, and it was really generous of you to have one made for Grandpa and my friends."

"It was easier than having you use mine. …Which, I suppose, I can give you the number to. I don't want you calling Mokuba in the middle of the night again."

"Really?"

"Honestly, I didn't expect you to try calling this late at night. It's only for a week or so anyways that you'll ever really have a use for it. Once I'm out there, I don't see you needing to contact my brother, and I could care less if you want to keep Wheeler up at all hours of the night. But let me make this quite clear to you, Yugi. No one in your little circle of friends is to have it."

Yugi nodded. That was fair, he guessed. Kaiba's contact information was not his to share. "Understood. Um, but I did come across something you should know about before coming out here. With the phones…and other things. It's actually the main reason I called."

"And what's that?"

"The phone has lasted really well, but it's been over a week and now it finally needs to charge…"

"Mokuba should have given you the phone charger."

"He did…but this house doesn't run on electricity. It's a wizard home. No outlets, no wires, or Internet – well, the phone runs through your network, so I can get online through that, but you know what I meant."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. The typing had even stopped. For a moment, Yugi thought he had hung up and had to check to make sure the call hadn't dropped. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Nope. I asked the Weasleys. They didn't know what I was talking about when I asked where I could charge the phone."

Yugi and Yami shared a look as it sounded like Seto swore on the other side of the line. "…Alright. That's another thing I need to add to my to-do list before flying out. There's no way I'm going to go an entire year without checking in at Kaiba Corp. The board of directors and the division heads are already throwing fits once they were told I was leaving."

"What did you tell them?"

"I've enrolled in a University Exchange program at some quiet British school for the upcoming year. Not that I need any more education, but it's under the guise of being a good role model to Mokuba, so he doesn't get the idea that because I didn't continue education past high school, that the same would be allowed of him." Seto sighed on the other end of the line. "For now, I'll have to see about sending you a power bank or two for the phone. I'll be in touch."

The line clicked. A few moments later, he saw the phone automatically open the list of contacts and add two new additions without him touching the screen: 'Seto Kaiba' and 'Roland: For Emergencies Only'. Yugi laid the phone in his lap and looked at Yami. "That went surprisingly well."

"Yes," said Yami. "I would have expected him to be much more upset about his technology."

"Well, it all still works, we just can't keep it from dying," said Yugi. "I'm sure he'll think of something."

"Well, in the meantime," said Yami, "I believe your new friends wanted to teach you something called Quidditch?"

Mokuba sat on the edge of Seto's bed, swinging his legs back and forth and twiddling with the 'It's my Birthday!' button that one of the house staff had given him that morning. Seto had followed through with the extremely rare feat of taking the entire day off, and gave his phone to Roland to intercept all the calls so he wouldn't get distracted with any Kaiba Corporation nonsense. He just wished that while Seto had in fact spent the entire day with him and seemed entirely alert while doing so, he had at least slept the night before, and the night before that instead of working in the labs until upwards towards three in the morning. But an entire day of his brother paying attention to only him was not something that came around often (not even on his last birthday), so he took what he could get. He knew Seto was stressed about leaving for England tomorrow, and because of that, the chief officers at Kaiba Corp were definitely not making things easy for him.

"How do you know what you'll need to pack? What would you even need at a magic school, anyways?"

He watched Seto walk in and out of his closet, draping clothes next to him on the bed.

"I haven't a clue. Supposedly Dumbledore was supposed to send out an equipment list, but that'll be after I arrive at wherever Yugi is. Someplace he called 'The Burrow'. The Weasleys live there, and they're hosting us the rest of the summer."

"The Burrow? Sounds like a name for a home an owl would make up in a tree somewhere."

Seto shook his head. "For all I know, maybe it is." He draped a set of slacks onto the pile and walked back into the closet.

Mokuba looked down at his brother's selections. "You don't have any jeans?"

"Mokuba, when have you known me to wear anything that casual?"

Mokuba shrugged. The most laid back he had seen his brother was the tshirt and athletic pants he wore to the gym in the basement. But that barely counted since he didn't wear that out of the house. "Fair enough. Are you taking your trench coats too?"

"Maybe one of them. I haven't decided yet, though they would be more comfortable to wear when dueling. Speaking of, where did you put Yugi's duel disk?"

"It's right here." Mokuba patted the bag next to him. Along with the duel disk, Yugi's friends had made him and Bakura a care package to send along with his brother. He watched Seto reach for the suitcase. "You gonna have enough room in there?"

"It's bigger than it looks, and after that last run of conventions in America, I've mastered packing light."

"Hm." Mokuba looked over to the Millennium Rod on the bedside table. "Is that gonna burn me if I touch it?"

"He knows better," said Seto, without looking up, "And if it turns out he doesn't, possessed magic item be damned, I'll melt it down into a doorknob."

Mokuba reached over and picked up the Rod. "It's heavier than I expected." He looked over across the room. Seto was back in the closet, rifling through the hangers, and draping shirts over his arm as he went. Mokuba looked back at the Millennium Rod. "I know you're out here somewhere, or maybe just in Seto's head right now. I dunno. I can't see you. I know we didn't really have a good first meeting, and I haven't really seen you since that day, but can you promise me something?"

He glanced back. Seto was still in the closet.

"Can you..." Mokuba began softly, "…keep an eye on him for me? He won't show it, but this hard on him too. We've never been willingly apart for this long before. It would make me feel better if he had someone looking out for him, even if you guys are sharing the same body and all. I asked Yugi, but in the end, Seto probably won't listen to him."

He nearly dropped the Millennium Rod as it began to glow, but only for an instant. "Uh…Seto? This just, um…did something?"

Satisfied he had enough in his arms, Seto walked back out and deposited his clothes next to the suitcase. He walked around the side of the bed and stood in front of his brother. "Are you alright, Mokuba?"

"Yeah. Why?" He carefully placed the Rod back where had found it.

"Set is looking concerned. He's sitting right next to you." He gestured to his brother's left.

"Oh," Mokuba ran a hand through his hair, laughing nervously. "I, um, can't see him. Can I talk to him? Just for a minute?"

Seto sighed and picked up the Millennium Rod, letting it activate, and allowing his spirit control of his body.

Set knelt down to be closer to Mokuba's eye level. "I heard you, young one. You have nothing to fear. I will, of course, keep watch over Seto."

"I'm gonna miss him," said Mokuba sadly, "And I'm scared for him."

"Your brother worries about you as well. This will not be easy for him either."

"It's not just that we won't be able to handle being apart for so long," Mokuba sniffed, "It's just that bad things tend to happen when we're separated. People have tried to take over Kaiba Corp, I've gotten kidnapped, Seto got trapped in one of his games…although that doesn't really count since I was there for that, souls were stolen, I got kidnapped again, the list kind of goes on and on."

Set put a hand reassuringly on Mokuba's shoulder. "That may be, but you two are not alone anymore. You have friends to help guide and look after you. Seto places a great deal of trust in his right hand. He will not let anything happen to you."

"Roland is good and all, but are we going to do against magic?"

"He and your brother have put some kind of protocol in place if something should happen, though I do not know the specifics of it. And I will of course be there for Seto. And, if he is in one of those moods and refuses to listen to me, the Pharaoh and his vessel and Bakura will be there to help. In an environment full of strangers, we will all have to look out for each other. Whether we all get along is irrelevant. We are all connected by the Millennium Items and will need to work together in this upcoming fight."

Mokuba sniffed and hopped off the bed, reaching around to hug Set. "Thanks. I know Seto is tough, and you guys will be okay…just make sure he eats and sleeps, okay?"

Set chuckled. "Of course." He paused. "He isn't happy I shoved him into his soul room. I'll be switching back now."

Mokuba drew back and hopped back onto the bed. "Okay."

Seto blinked and looked down at the light fading from the Millennium Rod. "What was that all about?"

Mokuba blinked innocently. "What was what? I just asked him to make sure you remember to eat once you end up over there. And sleep, sleep is important too."

"Hn. Was that all? He hardly needed to lock me out for that."

Once everything was in his suitcase, Seto lifted it off the bed and set it beside the bedroom door. "I think it's time someone headed off to sleep, don't you think?"

"No! It's still my birthday!"

"For all of…" Seto glanced down at his watch, "…ten more minutes."

"That's ten more minutes that I can do what I want to do!"

"Mokuba, you're going to Muto's in the morning. What are Yugi's friends going to think when you show up barely able to keep your eyes open? They're going to start questioning my parenting."

Mokuba snorted. "Like you care what they think anyways. They know this is the last time I'm going to see you for like a month!"

"Three weeks."

"Close enough!"

Roland appeared in the doorway, holding up Seto's phone, and knocked his fist against the door frame to get their attention. "Apologies for the intrusion, but I wanted to give this back to you before retiring for the night."

"Thanks. How much did I miss today?"

"Well - and you're not going to like this - I would plan to spend the day in the office tomorrow. The board of directors had scheduled a last meeting, and the representative for Industrial Illusions will be in to go over the next wave of card releases to be implemented into the duel disks. I think they all knew you weren't flying commercially, and therefore could postpone your flight until they were finished. All of these meetings were penned in this morning. The, ah, representative from Industrial Illusions was adamant you be present for this meeting, and not, as he put it, 'one of the unimaginative lab boys'. That is scheduled in the afternoon."

"Oh goody," said Seto, crossing his arms, "So now not only is my flight going to be delayed, but I get to spend my day listening to the newest complaints from the Board…and Pegasus."

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Look on the bright side, Seto. After tomorrow, you won't have to see any of them for weeks, maybe months at a time! And since you'll still be here, I can stop by and bring you dinner and see you off at the airport!"

"Hn. Not if you don't go to bed, you won't." Seto tapped his watch. "Birthday's over." He knelt down and gave his brother a tight squeeze. "I'll see you in the morning."

Seto closed the door behind them, and sank down on his bed.

Set phased out and sat next to him. "You are worried about tomorrow."

"Not so much worried as I am annoyed. I can't sleep on flights. Never could. The idea was to get up in the morning and immediately fly out, not work an entire day and then sit awake on a plane for over twelve hours."

"You could take Miss Vance's offer for that Portkey. Then you would avoid the trip."

"No thanks."

"Then you ought to get as much rest in now, and then again when we reach the Weasley house. Have you packed everything?"

"Everything that I can here. Tomorrow I'll gather what I need from Kaiba Corp before I leave, and Yugi's duel disk is packed with mine in the briefcase by the door."

"As much as I can sense your irritation at tomorrow's new calendar, at least you will get to spend one last bit of time with Mokuba before you depart."

"The one good thing about it," Seto muttered. He shot off a quick text to Yugi about his arrival time change, and slipped into bed. Set disappeared back into the Millennium Rod as he closed his eyes, attempting to will himself to sleep before finally doing so, far later than he would have liked.