/Text/ Spirit to Host
/Text/ Host to Spirit
Chapter 23: Training
Yugi froze in mid step. "What was that?"
"Sounds like someone is in trouble!" said Ryou, looking around. "I think it came from there." He pointed to one of the other side streets. "The road by the Shrieking Shack?"
"Well, let's go," said Harry. "Whoever it is might need help."
Most of the student traffic had already started moving back towards the school, leaving the main street in Hogsmeade much more maneuverable than before. It hadn't taken long to find the source of the screams.
Hermione gasped and rushed forward. "Look – it's Katie!"
Leanne was sobbing as she ran up to them. "I told her not to touch it," she wailed, "She wouldn't listen to me!"
Katie was spread-eagled and twitching with her mouth wide open as if a scream had been stolen from her lungs. Next to her on the ground was an opal necklace still partially contained in its packaging.
Yugi ran over to her. "Katie?"
Once he got close enough to touch her arm, Katie shot to the side as if dragged by an invisible rope. The screaming continued as she was magically hoisted up and suspended in the air. Both Leanne and Ron tried to reach to pull her back down, but she wouldn't budge an inch.
"Wha's goin' on here?" boomed a loud voice from behind them.
Harry whirled around. "Hagrid! We need help!"
"She touched the necklace," Leanne sobbed, "And all of a sudden she started shaking and screaming!"
As if mentioning what had happened would break the spell, Katie suddenly plummeted to the snow, still screaming, still twitching, until finally she stopped moving altogether.
"Get back to th' castle, the lot o' you," said Hagrid sternly, " 'Specially you, Harry." He scooped Katie up in his arms and stopped Ryou from making another move. "Don't touch it," he said. "D'you understand? Only the wrappings."
Ryou nodded and used his wand to poke it back into its package before he carried the necklace back up to the school. They followed Hagrid quietly up the path towards the castle, the silence broken only by the snow crunching under their feet and Leanne's quiet sniffles. Finally, Hagrid stopped them in the grand staircase chamber.
"Professor McGonagall will be expecting you in her office. I'll be taking Katie up to th' Hospital Wing." He looked down at them. "Go right there, understand?"
Harry nodded. "Okay."
Hagrid moved up a few steps and turned back. "Oh, and Harry?"
"Yes, Hagrid?"
"Try to go one year without getting' yourselves into trouble, yeah?"
Harry chuckled despite the situation they were in. "I'll try."
They hurried down the corridor to McGonagall's office, and Harry was surprised to also find Professor Snape waiting for them.
"Professor Hagrid has sent word that there was an incident," said Professor McGonagall, "But why is it, whenever something happens, it is always you three?"
"Honestly, Professor," said Ron, "Sometimes I wonder the same thing."
Ryou placed the necklace on her desk and took a seat next to his friends.
Snape stepped forward and lifted his wand. The necklace lifted itself from its packaging and slowly spun around, suspended in the air.
McGonagall looked from the necklace to Snape, worriedly. "What do you think, Severus?"
Professor Snape twirled the necklace around again, studying it carefully. He tapped his wand against the opal stone, and a small smoky skull appeared out of it before dissipating into the air. "I think…Miss Bell is lucky to be alive. The necklace is cursed. I imagine if she decided to wear it, it would have killed her."
McGonagall closed her eyes a moment before turning to the students seated before her desk. "Alright…how did this happen?"
Leanne sniffled and took in a deep breath as Hermione put a hand reassuringly on her shoulder. "We were in The Three Broomsticks. I went to get us drinks and a table and Kate said she had to go to the toilet. Harry and his friends were at the next table over and we talked for a bit. I mentioned that Katie was taking a long time…and when we finally spotted her, she was on the other side of the pub. I thought maybe she couldn't find our table so I went off to get her."
Leanne frowned. "But when I got there, she was acting all strange. She kept mumbling how important it was that she delivers this package."
"And then what happened?" asked McGonagall.
"We were going to go to Honeydukes afterwards, but she just took off towards the school and kept going on about the package," said Leanne, and then she suddenly froze in horror. "Oh no – what if she had been Imperiused and I didn't notice? She had never acted this way before until she went to the toilet in the pub. And I didn't know anything about a package she had to deliver. We never went to the post office."
She rubbed at her arms. "…We argued over it a bit, and I tried to take it from her, to see what the fuss was about, you know? When I tried to open it, she grabbed it back, and I suppose that's when she must have touched it…she started screaming and twitching…and…" She looked to Harry and the others. "That's when Harry and the rest found us."
Leanne sniffled loudly again before adding, "If only I didn't try and open it, this never would have happened."
"Did she purchase the necklace in Hogsmeade?" asked McGonagall.
Leanne shook her head.
"Did she have it on her person before going to the village?"
Leanne shook her head again.
"Then someone gave it to her in The Three Broomsticks?" Yugi guessed, looking to his friends. "It could have happened anywhere, anytime we were there. The place was really busy."
Harry frowned. "Professor, I know Katie from on and off the Quidditch Pitch. She wouldn't willingly hurt anyone." He took a deep breath, thinking back to the people he did remember seeing in the bar. "I think Draco Malfoy was behind it."
If it wasn't for the dead seriousness in Harry's voice, the number of reactions going around the room was almost laughable. Yugi and Ryou shared confused looks with each other. Ron sighed, not looking Harry's direction at all, and Hermione slapped a hand to her forehead and mumbled something incoherent under her breath.
McGonagall narrowed her eyes. "That is a very serious accusation, Potter. Do you have any evidence to back up your claim?"
"Indeed," said Snape, looking up from his place next to the desk. The necklace floated back down to its wrappings as he moved to stand next to Professor McGonagall. "Present your proof, Potter."
"I just know." Somehow…calling out Malfoy sounded much more impressive in his head.
Snape sneered. "You just know. Once again you've astonished us with gifts, Potter. Gifts mere mortals can only dream of possessing."
McGonagall ignored the scathing look Harry sent back towards her colleague and turned to Leanne. "That is not proof, Potter. I would refrain from any more soundless accusations towards any other student unless you have sufficient reason to think otherwise. Now…did Katie say as to whom the package was intended?"
Leanne bit her lip. "She said it was for –"
"AHA! I was wondering where this lot had ended up," said Umbridge, striding into the room. "I should have been made aware of the attack the instant these children returned to the school." She looked to the students lined up before McGonagall's desk. "And as usual, it seems Potter is right in the thick of it."
"Mr. Potter and his friends have done nothing wrong, Dolores," said McGonagall, "And you were not immediately summoned because your presence was not required."
"Not required?" Umbridge spluttered. "As Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, I should have been notified straight away!"
"Then by all means," Snape drawled and stepped to the side. "Examine the necklace for yourself. I'm sure we'll be eagerly waiting your conclusions."
Umbridge looked at the cursed necklace on the desk. After a minute, she cleared her throat. "The Ministry will intend to run a full inquiry on what has transpired here today. No doubt all future visits to Hogsmeade should be immediately cancelled for the safety of the students."
"That is not for you to decide, Dolores, "said McGonagall, "But you are correct – the safety and security of the students and staff is a valid concern. Rest assured I will take it under advisement with the Headmaster." She turned back to Leanne. "Now – who was Katie trying to give the package to?"
"Professor Dumbledore."
Hours ago…
Seto was not happy to find both Yami and Bakura standing over him as if he was on his deathbed, even less so to find the spirited silhouettes of Yugi and Ryou right behind them.
They scrambled back as he got regained his bearings and slowed his breathing down to a more normal level, then grabbed his phone and laptop, slipped on a robe over his pajamas, and retreated to the empty common room without a word to any of them.
"They were only trying to help," said Set after a while, as the usual workstation was set up by the slowly dying fire. He sighed as Seto continued to ignore him as he pounded away at the keys, because of course his host would compartmentalize everything that had just transpired and bury himself in the one comfort he was allowed here: his work. "It was only with their help that we were able to banish the demon from your mind."
"Which will only come back," Seto snapped, "If I never let you into my room, what made it okay to send those two?"
"Is that what you're upset about? Because we breached the private sanctuary of your soul room? Would you rather I let that…that thing assault you while your body slept?" Set scowled, "Because that would have been the only alternative."
Seto glared at him before returning his gaze to the computer. "I hope you made the trip worthwhile because you will not be doing that again. Any of you. My mind is my own, and you're not welcome in it."
Set shook his head incredulously. How could his host be so brilliant…yet so stupid at the same time?
"If it wasn't for their involvement (and that dragon's, he said to himself), you would still be held hostage in your own nightmares. Or perhaps that what you would prefer?" he said hotly, "The next time I will let you writhe alone to the demons of your past. What will be the next time, hmm? Will you be forced to watch your brother's soul captured in front of you all over again? That was one of them that you were forced to watch the last time, wasn't it? Perhaps the monster will go back even further to the days of your youth. I understand the memories of your adopted father were always so pleasant. If you're lucky, you can watch your scars born all over again."
"ENOUGH!" Seto shot to his feet and in one fluid motion grabbed the first thing at his disposal (someone's Charms book) and hurled it right at the spirit. It sailed right through him, of course, but it did smash the vase on the other side of the common room. "Get. Out."
Set laughed darkly. "We've bonded, remember? You can't dismiss me like one of your employees. I am just as much a part of you as the Pharaoh and the Thief are to their vessels."
Seto shook his head, and slowly sat back down. He returned to tapping away at the keyboard, even though he truly wasn't typing anything legible on his blank document. His mind was purposefully in their corridor, so he put up an illusion of working for his spirit to see. "So you've reminded me," he said with as much venom in his voice as he could muster, "Over and over again."
"The Pharaoh and the others worry about you," Set continued, completely oblivious to Seto's lack of concentration to his task. "If you would stop being so stubborn all the time, maybe –!"
The spirit suddenly disappeared into the Rod as Seto slammed Set's door shut with enough force to make him visibly wince. The pounding in his head hadn't quite gone away yet, and that didn't help.
Seto sat back down, propped his chin up with his fist and went back to reading through his emails. Finally, some peace.
Unfortunately, the quiet he had wanted so badly allowed him to stew in his thoughts and those were just as distracting as the second voice stuck in his head. Or…even the third, the one that belonged to his attacker.
Despite what Set may have thought, he was in a way grateful that Yugi and the others somehow managed to rouse him from sleep. The intrusions had only gotten worse since the school year began, and he was never able to get himself to wake up on his own.
He was vividly aware of almost everything that had happened, at least up until he had truly blacked out, right as Set (later learning with the other spirits' help) attempted to bust their way inside his mind.
He sighed, and thought back to the events that led to sitting in the empty common room well after hours, attempting to respond to emails he was in no mental state to read…
…The attack had started out as routine as the others: it began with a pounding headache that he assumed came from being around the fumes in Potions class. The common room had been too noisy for him to concentrate on anything, so he had gone up to the dormitory remarkably early.
He normally wouldn't escape to his soul room to try and fall asleep, but it was a slight step better than trying to conk out in the bedroom alone. For one thing, in his soul room, he wouldn't be able to hear Yugi or Bakura when they would eventually come up for bed, but it also kept Set out of his hair.
Additionally, the replica of his office was reminiscent of home, and helped him to relax.
Having been staring out at the facsimile of nighttime Domino, he had seen the reflection of the hulking shadow in the window. It was the first time he had ever seen his intruder before. It didn't seem human, with its bulky form that was even a few heads taller than himself. It didn't make a move since his eyes locked onto it. Maybe it realized it was spotted. If glaring through the glass at it would get it to leave, then fine. This wouldn't be the first staring contest he's had (and won), so he would intimidate this thing as long as it took.
Unfortunately, the shadow being didn't make a move to either come closer or leave. Sighing, he got up from his seat behind the desk. "I don't know who you are," he had said, "But you wore out your welcome after the first one."
The instant he walked around the desk, the shadow vanished.
Seto blinked from his spot in the middle of the room. Unless he was stupid lucky (which only seemed to happen on a consistent basis to Joey Wheeler), there was no way that it would just up and leave because he snapped at it.
Although…during the other attacks, he was actually asleep – physically and mentally. Today, his body may have been at rest, but his mind was still whirring. Perhaps the shadow was caught off guard. Would it come back later, or did he spook it for good?
He didn't have to wait long for an answer, for before he turned to go back to the chair behind the desk, a large claw-like hand appeared out of nowhere, grabbed hold of his throat and shoved him against the nearest wall. Before Seto could begin to fathom how a shadow had a physical presence, the rest of it rematerialized, tightened its remarkably strong trip on his neck, and easily raised him up off the floor so his head was level with the glowing golden eye on its otherwise featureless forehead.
Seto gasped, and raised his arms to try and pry the claw off of him. "I thought I told you to leave."
The shadow gave a raspy chuckle that sent shivers right through him. Your feeble demands mean nothing, boy. It shook him slightly, and Seto felt his feet dangle against the wall. You cannot stop me.
"I beg to differ," Seto snapped. He kicked out, still surprised there was something they made contact with, and the Shadow was forced back, although just a tiny bit. However, it was enough of the opening he needed to pry off the hand on his windpipe. He dropped down and staggered away from the shadow.
You are strong… The dark form disappeared again with an echoing laugh that sounded almost…playful. Was it...having fun?
Seto whirled around looking for any sign of it. It was too hard to place exactly where the laugh was coming from in the room. Now that he had a 'face' to give his attacker, he wasn't going to let it go so easily.
The dark laughter returned. …But I am stronger!
Without warning, Seto was struck from the side of the room. He stumbled backwards, until his ankles hit the edge of the office couch, and he toppled down onto it. Before he could regain any sort of balance or right himself, the shadow reappeared again practically on top of him as its hand clamped down over his mouth and nose, pressing his head roughly backwards into the pillow.
Struggling is pointless, laughed the shadow, pressing Seto's head further into the cushion. If his neck was bent at any more of an odd angle, and if this wasn't just a projection of himself in his own head, Seto was certain it was going to snap.
Ah, ah…I don't think so. It chuckled again, raising its other hand. It glowed a purplish color with a mist that seemed to radiate out towards him, and Seto suddenly found his arms and legs frozen in place from trying to push the shadow monster off of him.
Why do you continue to resist? It asked, in a strangely conversational tone. Even if you could call for help, no one will come to your aid. This is your mind, not the waking world. It moved its glowing hand closer to Seto's forehead.
Between the crushing grip keeping his head in place, and the purple mist somehow keeping his limbs frozen, Seto couldn't move an inch, and could only glare up at it. The only way he could think of fighting back at this point was to mentally 'will' the monster out, but how likely was that to even work?
…Now that I have your attention, It continued, hold nice and still and show me the others.
The purple-misted hand pressed a finger to his forehead. Pain seared behind his eyes as his only vantage point (the office ceiling) disappeared away into more of the mist. Seto wasn't sure who the 'others' were that this shadow wanted to see, but he'd be damned if it got what it wanted without some sort of resistance.
The throbbing in his head intensified as a memory started to take form around them. The shadowy mist faded away, transforming into the dueling arena on top of his blimp. Seto squeezed his eyes shut. Before the scene could complete itself and show the duelists in play, the surroundings suddenly disappeared again. When he finally reopened his eyes, despite being still painfully held down as he was, he reveled that they were back in his soul room office.
The golden eye flared as the grip on his head tightened, and Seto drew in a raspy breath. Avoiding looking at the eye altogether and keeping his mind focused was getting much more difficult, especially since the eye was literally right there in his face. And if the hand squeezed down any further, he was going to have even more trouble breathing…but…that didn't make sense. Wasn't this all in his head? No one was really crushing him in a chokehold, or magically immobilizing his body to his bed. …So why couldn't he get out?
Still you struggle against me. What did I tell you about fighting back? It said darkly, and cackled again. It adjusted its grip and leaned closer. Try as you might, it is a wasted effort. Your thoughts are mine. I would have thought, after all of the different versions you have been in witness, that you would recognize a Shadow Game when you see one.
The Shadow tilted its head, almost thoughtfully. Although, you have never participated in one, have you?
Seto still couldn't speak, so he assumed that was a rhetorical question.
...Then let me share this – in my Shadow Game, pain is real. I warned you to stop your petty struggles. And I can also sense the fear you try to suppress. So let me give you the solace of knowing you will wake from this night, Seto Kaiba. Let the marks you will soon bear serve as a reminder of what happens if you continue to fight on my next visit.
If there is a next visit, Seto said to himself.
Of course, I will be back, It said, humored. We have only so much time to share together in one night's time, and you are wasting it. It tilted Seto's head from the smidge he was able to angle it away from the golden eye, forcing Seto's eyes back on it again. You could make this so much easier on yourself if you show me what I seek. I could have you alone, in peaceful dreams of being home with your brother in an instant. But so long as you continue to resist, I will be forced to continue. Now...let's try this again….
The Shadow growled as once again it was subverted to a memory of 'another day at the office'. You are trying my patience. It pushed down harder on Seto's head. But I can also feel you tiring. It has been quite a time mentally sparring with you, but I think it's time someone went to sleep, don't you?
The glowing hand was brought forward again, and Seto felt the pounding in his head worsen, forcing him to visibly wince again. But it was strange, the pain didn't seem to come from the Shadow's meddling. It felt off in the distance, as if it came from Set's side of his mind.
The Shadow suddenly withdrew its hand back to its side, and the hold on his neck faltered, but only slightly. Something else was also at play, for that painful surge was someone else's doing.
The golden eye turned towards the door. It would appear your other half is trying to barge through the door…and he's enlisted some help. The eye flared and turned back. No matter…
It brought the glowing hand back up. I've already ensured we have our privacy. And their attempts to breach the barrier I've put in place are exhausting your stamina. We both know that you can only fight back so long as you are alert. All I have to do is wait it out; but since my own time here is short, let's expedite things.
Two shadowed fingers were pressed against Seto's forehead. Agonizing pain shot through his head again, taking the rest of the fight from him as his eyes slipped shut, and feeling and seeing nothing else until the sounds of a roaring dragon tossed him back to reality.
After about ten minutes of just staring at the screen, not truly reading the words across it, Seto sighed and leaned back. He stretched, frowning as a sharp ache began to settle in both his neck and jawline. He didn't remember sleeping funny to get his neck to hurt like it was. That only left one explanation.
'Let the marks you will soon bear serve as a reminder of what happens if you continue to fight on my next visit' it had said.
Grabbing his phone off of the table, he switched on and reversed the camera function. Lifting it as if it were a mirror, his eyes widened as the formations of a large bruise already began to appear roughly in the spots where he had been held down.
'In my Shadow Game, pain is real' he remembered the monster saying. Seto scowled and massaged his neck, ignoring the sensitive throb when he touched a tender area. Well, that didn't take long.
Set reappeared, in the middle of the common room, and looked to his host worriedly. "…I felt that too just now. What happened? Are you hurt?"
Seto snapped at him. "What does it look like?" Why couldn't the Priest just stay in his room for a change? He thought slamming the door (literally) on their conversation was enough of a clue that he didn't want to be bothered?
Set gasped. "How – did…did that monster do that to you?"
Seto stared icily at Set before setting the phone back down. "No, I just enjoy asphyxiation. Who else would have done this, Set!?"
"But…" Set stammered, "H-how? This has never happened before…."
"I've never been awake before to see that freak. Apparently I put up too much of a fight for him. It. Whatever that thing was."
Set blinked. "You saw him? Did he say who he was?"
Seto shook his head. "No. He was more or less a shadow. Larger than any normal person." He massaged his jaw. "A lot stronger than one, too."
"He wasn't truly here though," said Set, "You shouldn't have been physically harmed."
Seto sighed, and repeated the words still echoing through his head. "Pain is real in a Shadow Game."
Set's eyes widened. "You were in a Shadow Game? What did he want from you?"
Seto grimaced against the pain in his jaw. "He didn't give much opportunity to chat." At this rate, he wouldn't be surprised if his jaw bruised also or if his neck completely stiffened up by daybreak. "He…it…said it wanted to see the others."
Seto then narrowed his eyes. "You said something similar, come to think of it."
"I was referring to the other Sacred Guardians," said Set.
"You may not be the only one looking for them," said Seto, "…which might be a sign that the three of us aren't the only ones with spirits running around."
Set watched him attempt to focus back on his work. Would he explain what had gone on before he intervened with the Pharaoh? What if there were other Sacred Guardians out there? Did that mean, somewhere deep in his mind, that Seto knew who they all were? …But, did that also mean that the attacker also got away with that information? "What happened exactly?" he asked softly. "Before we broke through the wall it put up?"
Seto barely spared the spirit an annoyed glance, and clicked through to another message in his inbox. "What's to tell? It forced its way in, failed to look at anything useful, and got kicked out by…you, I imagine. I blacked out right around the time you all were trying to force your way inside."
Set froze. The dark shadow saw much more than nothing, but Seto didn't have any recollection of it. "Then you don't know about the visions…or the dragon?"
Seto paused. He remembered hearing what sounded oddly similar to his Blue Eyes' roar, right before he was forced awake, but nothing else. It went right from the gleaming golden eye and the purple shadow mist holding his attention, to the dragon's roar in the darkness, and then he was sitting up in bed, Yugi and the others gathered worriedly around him. He told Set so, and then eyed the spirit suspiciously. "Why? What did he see?"
Set sighed heavily. "Our problems may now go beyond the dangers of having that tomb keeper in Voldemort's clutches. We're going to need to start your lessons earlier than expected. Much earlier."
Seto rolled his eyes. "Like when, tomorrow?" He sighed, and seeing the look on Set's face, rubbed at his temples and closed the laptop. There was no way he was going to get any work done now.
"Seto Kaiba! Seto Kaiba, sir!" squeaked a voice from the end of the table. Set immediately disappeared back into the Millennium Rod.
Seto looked down. Dobby was holding a steaming cup in his hands, which were covered in mismatched mittens, while balancing an array of oddly-shaped wool hats on his head.
"Dobby. What are you doing here?"
"Cleaning, sir!" Dobby said. "The other house elves refuse to clean Gryffindor Tower on account of Harry Potter's friend, for she leaves clothes hiding around the common room for the other house elves to find."
"…I take it they don't like them?"
"'Tis a sign of freedom, sir! The other elves are happy to work and service the school. They don't wish to be free!"
Seto gestured to the stack of hats on Dobby's head. "You obviously don't mind them."
"Dobby is already a free elf, sir!" said Dobby proudly. "Harry Potter helped free Dobby from the Malfoys' servitude, and now Dobby works with the other elves in the kitchens!" He held out the mug. "Does Seto Kaiba need more coffee?"
Seto shook his head. "No, I don't think I'll be up for much longer…but there may be something else you can help me with…"
.
Voldemort was accustomed to seeing the unique purple haze of magic whenever the Dark Priest was around. However, he was not used to seeing it fly like a dart from the window back to the sword fragment with enough force to knock it down from its place on the table.
"You are back early," said Voldemort, waving his wand to send the sword back to the table. Nagini slithered her way across the chair to rest in his lap.
This evening did not go as planned.
Voldemort noted that, unlike the other times he would converse with the mysterious spirit, Aknadin did not summon himself in his shadowed form. Instead, his voice radiated through the room similar to their very first meeting.
I have been cut off from the boy's mind before my power had run out.
Voldemort leaned forward in his chair. "How?" he asked curiously. This had never happened before. Aknadin said on more than one occasion that inserting himself into Seto Kaiba's mind was a relatively simple task.
I did not anticipate him still in a state of alertness. His mental defenses were still quite high, despite my attempts to weaken him ahead of time.
"I see," said Voldemort flatly. "So what happened?"
He put up quite a fight, and it took more power than I would have wanted to finally subdue him. The challenge was quite refreshing, but in the end, the Pharaoh and his Priest found a way to intrude and stop me before I could finish my task.
"I thought breaching the mind after you went into it was impossible."
It should have been, but someone else was there with them. Somehow they managed to get through the Shadows I had placed, and forced me from the boy's memories. To add insult, they managed to summon her."
Voldemort paused. "'Her'?"
The White Dragon. Somehow, the soul of the Priest's guardian dragon managed to cross into Seto Kaiba's mind. I am not certain quiet yet as to how that was accomplished. She banished me from my position, and severely weakened me at the same time. I may not have the ability to travel such a distance and make another attempt in some time.
"The Priest is protected by a dragon?" Voldemort mused. "He sounds more powerful than you originally made him out to be."
The White Dragon has a power grand enough to rival that of the great Egyptian Gods.
Voldemort settled back and resumed petting his snake. "Can we take advantage of this power?"
That is a great undertaking. If the dragon is a part of both of their minds, then controlling him will be difficult. It will take a great deal of effort to break through and subdue their mental defenses, and then keep it that way. It was how I failed the first time.
"Then you must try again."
I cannot. In my weakened position, the travel is far too great. I do not know how the White Dragon was summoned this time and not the others, but she will no doubt be guarding them carefully from this point forward. If I am to return to the boy's mind, in my current state, I will require time to recover my strength. …Or, you will need to bring him to me, which has already been ruled out as a solution.
"No," said Voldemort, "Dumbledore has his hooks in too deep for that. For now, we will focus our efforts in Egypt." He sighed. "Did you at least find out anything of use, or was this night a waste of time and energy?"
As a matter of fact, I did. When I am able to travel next, I believe a change in scenery is in order….
"Are you sure this is the right section of the castle?" asked Set, phasing out of the Rod as Seto turned down another corridor.
"This is where Dobby said it was," said Seto, barely giving the spirit a glance. "And disappear back into the Rod before someone sees you."
Set rolled his eyes. "There's no one around. Everyone is off visiting the village. Quit being so paranoid."
"Says the one who wants to get this started as soon as possible," Seto muttered. "You are just as sure that I'll get attacked the next time I close my eyes as I am about you being seen."
He stopped in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and turned to the opposite wall.
"There's no door," said Set.
"Thanks for that, Captain Obvious. You have to will it to appear, otherwise it won't."
"Ah – that's right. I do remember the elf saying something of that sort last night."
Seto crossed his arms. "So besides the obvious 'no interference' clause, is there anything else I should know before we…summon the room?"
Set shook his head. "I would think not. If you have never experienced a Shadow Game, or the Realm in general firsthand, I can't guarantee the reaction you may have. You might want something to rest on if you have too many adverse effects."
"I've watched Marik's psycho personality summon the Shadow Realm in all of his duels."
Set shook his head. "No – being witness to someone else's Shadow Game is nothing like being a true participant."
Seto sighed. "Alright…" He walked across the stretch of corridor in front of the tapestry, turned on his heel, and walked back. After the third pass, he heard Set gasp and looked to the empty wall.
A door had appeared.
Striding forward, he opened the door and slipped inside. Once it closed behind him, the door vanished.
Turning back around, Seto glanced about. Warm torchlights lined the walls. The only furniture in sight was the two large plush cushion piles on either side of the center of the room. Seto shrugged out of his jacket, pulled the Rod from his belt loop and moved to the middle of the open space.
Set floated beside him, and frowned, looking at the bruises along Seto's neck. "Are you sure you are up to this? I'm worried you haven't rested enough."
Seto leveled him a look of utter disbelief. "You're kidding."
Set held up his hands. "You only slept for two hours, and that was before you were subjected to the Shadows." While his host had eventually made his way back up to bed afterwards, he never did truly fall back to sleep.
"I've managed under less before," Seto said dismissively. "Let's just get this over with."
Set frowned. Their exercises weren't something that could be rushed by any means, but he wasn't about to tell that to him.
"Alright…what do you know about Shadow Games…or the Shadow Realm."
"I know that Bakura's and Marik's crazy other selves used it at every opportunity."
Set nodded. "Anything else?"
"Losing a duel sends your soul to the Shadow Realm for an undetermined period of time…until Yugi plays hero to get you out."
Set chuckled. "Why do you say that?"
Seto looped the Rod back onto his belt and shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks. "Which – that you lose your soul at the end of a Shadow Game, or that Yugi plays savior all the time, because both of them are true."
"The first."
"What else is there? Spirit Bakura apparently has been trying to banish Yugi's Pharaoh since they were reintroduced to each other…sometime around the Duelist Kingdom fiasco. And Marik went after him because of some nonsense about rejecting his family's heritage."
Set tilted his head. "But not all of Marik's victims were sent to the Shadow Realm, were they?"
Seto wasn't amused. "What are you getting at?"
Set held up his transparent Millennium Rod. "Shadow Games aren't just about sending the loser to the Shadow Realm. If you recall, each game that you witnessed was unique in its own right. It is up to the caster of the Realm to dictate the terms of each Game. When he fought against that Valentine woman, taking damage resulted in the loss of her memories. And when the Pharaoh finally faced him, not only was his soul on the line, but so was Yugi's."
Seto thought back. "But he also dueled against Wheeler, and won. But that third-rate duelist didn't end up in the Shadow Realm when he lost."
"From what I remember, being trapped in the Rod at the time," said Set, "Marik invoked physical pain as a penalty to taking damage in that duel. After barely surviving Ra's attack, the boy nearly slipped into a coma. And last night…" He gestured to Seto's neck. "Your punishment for fighting back, I imagine. If you think about it, the two games played similarly to each other, since both inflicted physical punishment."
"I suppose…" said Seto, "Though mine took place in my mind, not the real world. My body shouldn't be reeling from something it wasn't able to feel."
"The intruder clearly wasn't expecting you to be conscious for its visit," said Set, "Hence the severity of its attack versus the other times. It needed to weaken you in order to get what it wanted."
Seto scowled. If the shadow was truly just trying to knock him out so it could go on a rampage through his head, it probably could have done it easily. He was nowhere near strong enough to stop it no matter how hard he tried. No doubt it could have completely incapacitated him before he realized it was even there, so there wasn't a need to toy with him as it did. The thought of knowing the shadow may have been enjoying it made his jaw twitch.
"So what are we doing here, exactly?" Seto finally said, "What exactly are these 'lessons' going to include?"
"I wouldn't consider them lessons. More like exercises," said Set. "I need to see how the Shadow Realm affects you. Yugi could not survive in his first Shadow Game without the Pharaoh's influence, and I fear you are the same."
Seto huffed. "That's because the Pharaoh fights all of Yugi's battles for him." He leveled the spirit a hard look. "I trust you won't be doing that to me."
"Oh, no," Set reassured him, "You fight your own battles. I will not insult you in such a way." …Though there is no shame in asking for help in fights you cannot win alone, Seto.
Seto, nodded, apparently satisfied with that answer. "How is this going to work?"
Set gestured to the Rod at Seto's side. "I'm going to have to take control, for just a moment or two to summon the Shadow Realm, and then we're going to play a Shadow Game. And I assure you – no one will be trapped here by the end of it."
Seto crossed his arms over his chest. "Won't that be difficult if there's only one body between us?" He then had a fleeting memory of Yugi's Shadow Game versus Marik, where both Yugi's were completely visible at the start of the duel, and wondered if Set was planning something similar.
"Don't worry about that," said Set. "Are you ready to begin?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," said Seto, grabbing hold of the Millennium Rod.
Set disappeared from sight, and Seto felt himself gently pushed back into their corridor as control over his body slipped away. He immediately felt a dull ache in his head, similar to the pain he began to have yesterday afternoon, but not nearly as intense, as Set gave his body back.
"How do you feel?"
Seto blinked and looked around. The dark purple shadowy mist had completely consumed the room, and rather than appear before him as a ghostly spirit, Set stood before him completely solid. The Millennium Rod had switched to his hand.
Set studied him closely. "Before you downplay anything, this is not the time to put on a front. I'll need you to be honest with what you are experiencing while here."
"I've got another headache, just started."
"The same sort as the one you had yesterday?" Set waited for the nod. "Okay. So it began its assault well before you went to bed. Interesting."
"So what is this game we're supposed to play?" asked Seto. He understood Set's paranoia about protecting his mind from outside influences, and he agreed with it – a decent night's sleep more than twice a week sounded heavenly (especially since he wasn't solely focused full-time on running the day-to-day at Kaiba Corp), but there were still a good number of things he was hoping to do this weekend. He didn't really want to spend all of it shut away in the Room of Requirement.
Set raised a hand and a large clock appeared out of the shadows. "This is not as much a game as it is a test of endurance. The Shadow Realm is going to weaken your defenses. I need you to see how long you are able to last here."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Be honest with me. I asked the Pharaoh about Yugi's first experiences in the Shadow Realm. I am more or less curious to how you are affected here. If you can make it through the first hour without needing my intervention – and I will know if it gets to the point where I must step in – then you win this pseudo-game. If not, you'll play some sort of penalty."
"I'm just going to stand here for an hour?"
"We can play an actual game, if you prefer," said Set. "But it isn't necessary. Splitting your focus between resisting the Shadows and doing something else may be more of a detriment to your health, but it would be more consistent with a true experience here If that's your wish, I will let you choose the activity."
"I take it if I do choose something, whether I win or lose has no bearing on this overall game?"
"That's right. Your game is merely to pass the time."
Seto tapped his fingers against his opposite elbow. "What happens if I win…or lose your little exercise?"
"If you can successfully remain cognizant for one hour, then the rest of the day is yours. There may still be time to visit the village before everyone else returns to the school, or if you want to hide away in the common room and tend to your company, that is fine. I will not interfere."
"And if I don't?"
"Then we continue again."
Seto blinked. "Doing this all over again is my 'penalty game'?"
Set shrugged. "This isn't meant to be life-threatening dangerous. Keeping you here for another round seems fair enough. We both know you don't really want to be here."
"Alright…" Seto looked down at his left hand for a solid minute. Finally, he exhaled loudly. "I need you to drop the Shadow Realm for a minute. Apparently I can't use the Room to summon a book here."
Set chuckled. "Ah. I didn't think about that. Are you going to do your homework?" That seemed like a weird thing to want do here of all places, but if that's what Seto wanted….
"Something like that. Umbridge's written exam is on Monday, so I might as well get a head start on the next section."
Set laughed and rolled his eyes. "You're seven chapters ahead of the rest of the class already. I'm surprised you haven't finished the book yet."
"Look, are you going to let me read, or not?"
"Alright, alright. But think up anything else you need before I take us back," said Set, dropping the Shadow Realm around them. "Once I re-summon the Realm, we're going to start." He waited for Seto to settle himself down in an armchair summoned by the Room with a heavy book in his lap. "You don't want the seating I prepared for you?" he asked in a mockingly hurt voice. "They were the height of comfort back home."
"I don't care how plush those cushions are," said Seto, "being flopped on the floor is not my idea of comfortable." He opened his book and waved a hand dismissively, "Go ahead."
"Alright…" said Set, "Let me know when this becomes too much for you."
Set watched from his seat on one of the cushions. Occasionally, he would see Seto's hands flex in and out of fists or a twitch in his jaw, but otherwise, he appeared fine.
"How is your head?"
"It hurts."
"About the same as before?"
Seto shook his head and turned the page. "No, it's increasing in intensity. It's nothing I can't handle, although the temperature drop here doesn't help."
Set frowned. "Anything else?"
"Nothing at the moment, but it's only been a few minutes."
"The Pharaoh made it seem that Yugi had a terrible time adjusting to the Shadow Realm."
"Well, I'm not Yugi," Seto said dully, "You could say I've been…conditioned to handle situations like this."
The corner of Set's mouth ticked upwards. "You've been trained to resist the Shadow Realm before? Why didn't you say so? This entire day could have been avoided."
"Very funny. I'm talking about pain. Stress. Difficult people….spirits included."
"Yes, yes, I am sure I annoy you to no end. You're telling me that in your…" he paused. Anything to do with the stepfather was always a sore point. "…youth, you've undergone such a transformation that it's turned you into a machine."
Seto barely looked up. "If that's what you want to believe, then so be it."
After a few more minutes, the pain in his head suddenly worsened. Seto leaned back into the back of the chair and closed his eyes.
"Are you alright?"
"Hnnn…."
Set shifted in his seat. "That doesn't sound very convincing."
"It's getting harder to concentrate."
"From the headache?"
"…Partially. There's also pressure in my chest."
Set made to get up. "That's what Yugi felt before it became too much for him. The stress of their run with the Shadow Realm caused him to black out."
"Yugi was also fighting in a strenuous duel to win back his grandfather's soul," said Seto, wheezing slightly. "I'm sitting here doing nothing. The two are hardly comparable."
"Still…" said Set worriedly, "We can stop if it's too much…"
"NO," Seto snapped, and glared at him ferociously. After a long blink and a sigh, he said, quietly, "No. It's – it's fine. Just…just give me a minute."
"You don't have to prove anything to me," said Set, "It's alright. We're going to work on improving your resistance to the Shadow Realm in case that intruder comes back. But you can't expect it to happen all at once. This will take time."
"I'm fine," Seto repeated, and tried to even out his breathing again. "I felt something push at my mind. It was…similar to what happened last night, but the instant you started panicking, it stopped."
"Ah…" Set looked down. "That was me. The goal of this is to see how long you can resist a mind purge. I am…in a way, controlling the Shadow Realm in this game. And it will adapt when it realizes it cannot get through one way."
Seto flexed his fist, and regarded the spirit with narrowed eyes. "I thought you said this wasn't going to be dangerous. You're essentially doing the same thing as the assailant."
"I'm not doing this to purposefully cause you pain," said Set, "I never said this would be easy. If you don't want to continue this route, I'm sure I can try to come up with some other way to stop the Shadow, but how long are you going to let it rampage through your mind before that happens?"
Seto sighed, propped his elbow up on the arm of the chair and rubbed at his eyes.
"Do you feel like you've repelled anything?"
"I don't know," Seto muttered, "I thought I might have, but that was just you flipping out." He shuddered a bit as it seemed like the temperature dropped another couple of degrees. "Just…keep going. We're over halfway through your allotted hour anyhow."
Set glanced over to the floating clock. "As you wish." He watched Seto lean back against the chair, eyes closed, the book forgotten in his lap. While he tried to distance himself from his connection to Seto while in the Shadow Realm, he could still feel the shadows probe at his host's mind again before they were pushed back, without any influence on his part.
Relieved, Set allowed himself to relax back onto the cushion. Perhaps Seto had more of a handle on his mind than he initially thought. He had pegged him to have needed to return to the Room of Requirement by now.
His concentration was momentarily broken when the Millennium Rod suddenly began to activate in his hand. Set frowned. He didn't do that. And Seto avoided mostly everything that had to do with the Rod's power, but did he tap into it without realizing?
"Seto, are you trying to use the Millennium Rod?"
"…No…" Seto opened his eyes and looked down at it. "What is it doing?" He brought a hand up and tugged at the collar of his shirt. Despite the top two buttons being undone, it felt oddly tight against his throat. Maybe that was just a residual ache from the night before….
"It started on its own," said Set.
Seto scowled. "Are you sure you're not se–"
Set tore his gaze from his Millennium item and looked to his host as he was interrupted. One of his hands was clutching the arm of the chair so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. The other was clutching his forehead. "Seto?" As he started to rise from his cushion again, he barely noticed the Rod flare again.
The pounding in his skull increased again, and Seto pitched forward, clutching the arm of the chair tightly. There was no possible way that Set was going this far with their little exercise. He gasped as a black shadow came seemingly out of nowhere, formed a silhouette similar to the hulking mass that attacked him the previous night, and grabbed at him in the exact same spot as before, hauling him up and dangling him in the air.
WELL, WELL…The golden eye materialized on the shadow and turned to Set. LOOK WHO MADE MY TASK EASIER…
Despite no longer having a physical presence, Set was certain that if able, he would have paced his way through the floor to the rooms below them. The Shadow Realm had long since disappeared, and with it went the shadow monster. The Room of Requirement was silent, save for the ticking of the clock hanging on the far wall. Set frowned. It didn't appear that Seto was going to make it to Hogsmeade with the rest of the students today – assuming he had any intention of even going. He suspected that if there was anything he pulled Seto from today; it was just his company work and his daily conversation with his brother.
Seto stirred, his eyes slowly opening to see the Room of Requirement's ceiling. He propped himself up on an elbow against the cushions he had been sprawled upon and rubbed at his eyes.
"How do you feel?" asked Set.
Seto blinked a few times to get his bearings. "Headache's gone. And…despite nearly being strangled a second time in 24 hours, I feel fine."
Set nodded, smiling slightly. "Good." He gestured to the low table beside him that Seto didn't remember seeing before their trip into the Shadow Realm. On it was a fruit basket, a small plate of sandwiches, and a pitcher of water. "I called upon your elf friend after we returned. You need to get some strength back in you."
"Hn…." Seto stared at the food. "I take it I lost the game."
Set looked down at the floor. "I must apologize. I didn't mean for it to get that…intense."
"Wasn't the whole point to see how long I would last?"
"Well, yes," Set admitted, "But I did not expect the Shadow Realm to warp into that creature. It adapted to its failure to probe into your mind directly by resorting to what it knew had worked before – physical pain. I…I thought the monster was really in the room with us."
"Was it?"
"No," said Set quickly. "It was a facsimile created by the Shadow Realm. At least, I think that's what it was. It did not appear with us until the Millennium Rod seemed to act out on its own, and it resisted my first attempts to banish it. I pulled us from the Realm when you lost consciousness. That was…several hours ago."
Seto frowned and looked down at his watch. Dinner would be ending within the half hour. "Have I been out all afternoon?"
"Mostly," said Set, suddenly looking guilty. "You were not fit enough to return to the Shadow Realm in such a short time. I shouldn't have rushed you. …You'll forgive me that I wanted you to rest."
"I take it we're going back once you force some food into me?"
Set quickly shook his head. "No. Frankly, I have some concerns, but it's nothing for you to worry over. We'll work on something else, but not today." He looked to the fruit basket and then back to Seto, pleadingly. "Please eat."
Seto sighed. He twisted a grape off of the bunch, held it up for the spirit to see, and then popped it into his mouth. "Happy?"
"It's a start." He waited for Seto to make it through half of a sandwich before he continued. "May I ask you something?"
Seto poured himself a glass of water. "You're going to ask it anyway, so I don't see why you're seeking permission."
Set bit his lip. "What is so special about the dragon?"
Set froze with the goblet halfway to his lips. He raised an eyebrow. "What dragon?"
"There is a dragon deep in your mind. Last night it protected you from the shadow monster, and I heard it roar again today, before we left the Shadow Realm. Do you remember any of that?"
Seto shook his head slowly. "No. I don't remember seeing a dragon when I was attacked last night, and I definitely don't remember hearing one today." He had a suspicion he knew what dragon Set was referring to, but asked anyway. "What did it look like?"
"It looked like one of your card dragons."
"My deck has a lot of dragons in it, Set. You're going to have to be more specific."
Set thought back. "Large, white scales, blue eyes."
"The Blue Eyes White Dragon? Are you saying there's a Duel Monster in my head with you too?"
Set drummed his fingers along his arm. "I don't think so. But that is the only monster I ever see. You must have a very strong connection to it for it to appear in your mind with such strength."
Seto rested his hands on the table. "And you don't?"
Set tilted his head. "I don't follow."
Seto swallowed. "I've always been drawn to the Blue Eyes White Dragon cards. But, ever since inheriting that," he eyed the Rod on the table next to the fruit basket. "I assumed it was because it was your monster in the past. Ishizu told me that you were the keeper of the Blue Eyes." There were also the visions he witnessed during Ishizu's duel atop his blimp, where Set had kneeled down before the dragon's stone tablet with a woman in his arms. But he wasn't sure if admitting that to the spirit was wise, considering he didn't seem to remember parts of his past. Would he even remember whoever the woman was?
"My personal guardian spirit is the mighty warrior, Duos. If I became the wielder of such a mighty creature…I certainly don't remember it."
Seto crossed his arms. "Clearly it was a huge event because it's a Blue Eyes White Dragon that's over your caricature on the tablet at the Domino Museum, not a warrior. And the Pharaoh clearly is fighting with a Dark Magician, which is his favorite monster today. Do you really not have any memory of that?"
"I don't."
"It must have been important enough for someone to carve it out on a giant rock," said Seto. "I won't be able to go on the next trip to Domino, but at the next opportunity, we should head to the museum."
Set's jaw dropped. "A-are you serious?"
"I'd rather not have to go there," said Seto, "But I have a feeling that the more we can discover about your past, then it might become clear why you were sealed in the Rod in the first place."
"Ahh, I understand," said Set. "And once that is figured out, I'll be out of your head, and you'll be back to the peace and quiet you've craved for the last six months."
Seto shrugged and got up. "I won't lie. That's part of it. You don't belong here, Set. You lived thousands of years ago. Your soul should be in whatever afterlife you believe in, not some gaudy hunk of gold."
He disappeared back into the Rod as Seto willed the door to appear again. /I think…that is the nicest thing you've said to me since our sous were bonded together./
/Must be from spending most of the last 24 hours unconscious in the Shadow Realm. Don't get used to it./
/Wouldn't dream of it./
The halls were surprisingly empty, even for a weekend where most people spent their time out and about around the grounds. Dinner was ending, so a few straggling students were making their way back to the dormitories after their meals, but for the most part, the castle seemed deserted.
/Did we miss something…?/
/I wouldn't know. We spent the entire day in the Room of Requirement. The only thing that happened today was that Hogsmeade visit./
/Hn. I had promised Mokuba I would send him something./
/I'm sorry I occupied you the entire day…but in my defense, I didn't use my magic to keep you in a sleeping state like some of the other times. Your body needed the time to recover./
/It's fine. I can pick something up for him in London. It's not like he'll know where it came from. And there will be other trips to Hogsmeade./
Yugi and the others were gathered around the fireplace when he made it through the portrait hole. "Kaiba!" the shorter duelist called. "Over here!" He jumped up from his spot in one of the armchairs, giving it up as he joined Ryou and Ron on the sofa.
"Where have you been all day?" asked Ryou. "We didn't see you after…uh…well, last night. You missed the trip to the village."
Seto shrugged. "I'm sure I'll make it the next time."
"I'm not so sure there's going to be another trip," said Harry. Before he could explain what had transpired, Hermione cut him off with a loud gasp.
"Oh my gosh – were you attacked?"
Seto grimaced. He had spent all day away from everyone that he forgot that parts of his neck had turned several shades of purple, and that his shirt wasn't buttoned high enough to cover the marks. "Something like that."
Ron's eyebrows skyrocketed. "Bloody hell, I wonder what the other guy looks like."
Hermione looked scandalized. "Honestly, Ronald." She turned to Seto and her expression softened. "Hang on, I've got something for that." She bolted from the couch she was sharing with Harry and disappeared up the girls' staircase, missing the sulking looks Ron flitted between Seto and herself as she left.
"Are you okay?" asked Yugi. "That looks painful."
"I'll live," Seto muttered. He turned to Harry, "Why won't there be another trip to Hogsmeade?"
He sat back and listened to the stories of the day leading up to the group ending up in Professor McGonagall's office.
"Why would someone want to curse Professor Dumbledore?" asked Ryou.
"Hogwarts is one of the only safe-havens from Voldemort," said Harry, "and Dumbledore is the only wizard Voldemort fears. The world would probably fall to pieces if he fell."
Hermione returned a moment later, with a small jar in her hand that Harry recognized from Fred and George's shop. "It's bruise cream," she said quietly, to not interrupt everyone else's conversation. "The twins gave it to me after one of their joke items left behind at the Burrow gave me a black eye. If you put it on before bed, no one will be any wiser in the morning."
"Do you think they targeted Katie on purpose?" asked Yugi, once Hermione had sat back down.
Ron shook his head. "Without knowing who was behind it ("Don't start, Harry," Hermione warned), it's hard to say."
"What if they just needed to give the necklace to anyone in the bar?" said Yugi, "And then it didn't matter who they used, so long as it would make its way back up to the school?"
"That's frightening," said Ryou, "Because they wouldn't care who got hurt, so long as the necklace got where it needed to go."
"But it wasn't thought out very well," said Seto, "You would think whoever was behind it would choose someone that would have a reason to deliver a package to Dumbledore. If you think about it, how many students really get a chance to walk up to him and strike up a conversation on a daily basis?"
"That's true," said Harry, and he sighed. "It's freaky to think that someone could have offed Dumbledore from right under our noses. Hogsmeade does have secret passages that lead into the school."
"I'm sure those entrances are monitored just like the gates," said Ryou, "I mean, there are Aurors all over the place. It wouldn't make sense to watch the front door and leave the back and side entrances wide open."
"Got a point there," said Ron. "I just hope Katie is okay."
"Me too," said a shaky voice from the table behind them. Ron, Yugi, and Ryou turned around. Lavender Brown was sitting with Parvati Patil. "We tried to visit her in the hospital wing," said Parvati, "But we weren't allowed in. Madame Pomfrey was a right mess with Professor Snape trying to find a counter for whatever curse was on that necklace."
"Snape was there?" Harry asked.
"It makes sense," Hermione shrugged. "Out of all of the teachers, save maybe Dumbledore, he knows the most about the Dark Arts, doesn't he? And it's not like Umbridge would have been any help. You saw how she clammed up once Snape told her to examine the necklace."
Lavender rubbed at her arms. "We overheard them talking about transferring her to St. Mungo's in the morning if they couldn't fix whatever caused it."
"It's so scary," said Parvati, "What if whoever did this is in the school right now? Maybe it was an Auror under the Imperius curse themselves, and they picked Katie at random?"
"I don't want to even think about that," Lavender shuddered, and got up from the table. "I'm gonna head upstairs, so I'll see you all tomorrow." She picked up her things and gave a slight wave, cheeks turning a shade of pink as her eyes locked with Ron's for a moment longer than the others around the fire.
"What's St. Mungo's?" asked Yugi, once they turned back to the rest of the group.
"Wizard hospital," said Ron, "My dad was there last year after he suffered a snake bite. The healers there treat curses and spell damage. Kinda like a Muggle hospital, only they don't cut people up and stitch 'em back together."
Seto's phone gave a quiet buzz from his pocket. He reached for it and began reading the message that popped up in his inbox.
"So…are you going to tell us who tried to throttle you?" said Harry, trying to change the subject. He knew Malfoy had something to do with Katie's attack, he had to have. But without proof, Hermione would only give him another earful, and eventually Yugi and the others would stop listening. There had to be something he was missing to tie him to the necklace. It even looked familiar. So while the gears turned in his head, he'd focus on something else. "Did you get into a fight with another student? We didn't hear any report of one, and no one's lost any house points in a while, so unless you didn't get caught…."
"It wasn't Umbridge again, was it?" asked Hermione, "I mean, she did a number on your hand already, even though you couldn't tell now. Maybe she's moved on from that quill of hers."
Seto snorted but didn't bother to look up from his phone. This really wasn't a conversation he wanted to have with Harry and his friends. His problems with the Shadow were just that – his problem, one that they didn't have any business to. Yugi and Ryou may have decided to be forthcoming about the Millennium Items, their spirits, and the absolute insanity all of it has brought their lives, but that didn't mean he had to. "Don't be ridiculous. She couldn't even reach my neck, let alone get her stubby fingers around it."
"But if you were attacked here in the school, you should tell someone," said Hermione, "Especially now that Katie's been cursed. The two events might be related."
"They aren't," said Set, materializing to the right of Seto's chair. "Unless the perpetrator has been using something similar to a Millennium Item to control your classmate and send them after the Headmaster. The odds of that though are fairly nonexistent."
"What are you talking about?" said Ron.
Set turned to Seto. "Are you going to answer them, or should I?"
Yugi watched Seto lift his eyes up from his phone. The murderous glare sent back towards the spirit would have had the first year students bolting for either the portrait hole or the stairs to the dormitories above, if they were around to witness it. Neither of them said anything or moved – or even blinked – for the next several minutes, and he wondered if they were mentally arguing with each other (with the look on Seto's face, they couldn't be doing anything else). He watched Seto's fist clench around his phone and wondered if his grip was strong enough to crush it. Finally, the hold slackened, and he saw Seto sigh deeply, and stare up at the ceiling. I guess he lost the argument.
"This will only help you in the long run, Seto," said Set encouragingly. That only earned him another gaze of death before the frigid blue eyes returned to looking up at nothing.
"It's the dreams, or lack thereof," Seto said finally.
"They're getting worse," said Yugi, nodding, "We kind of figured that. But it doesn't explain the bruises."
Ron cleared his throat. "You want to fill in the rest of the class, mate?"
"Every so often, Kaiba's been getting these…well, for lack of a better word, nightmares," said Yugi, before Seto could say anything. Although, the CEO was still adamantly staring up, avoiding all of them in the room, so maybe this was Kaiba's way of both being in and then distancing himself from the conversation he knew he didn't want to have. "…It's why he hasn't been sleeping well."
"There are potions for that," said Hermione, "To let you sleep without dreams. I remember seeing it in one of my books. I'm sure I could look it up, or maybe Madame Pomfrey can create a batch for you."
Seto merely sighed, annoyed, and kept up the glaring contest with the ceiling, and began drumming his fingers against the arm of the chair.
"I'm sure he appreciates the offer," said Set, shaking his head, "But I'm afraid this cannot be solved with mere potions. You remember how we explained the powers of the Millennium Items and the Shadow Realm." He didn't wait for them to respond before continuing, "These night terrors are not so much nightmares as they are attacks."
"Is it Voldemort?" said Harry.
"I don't think so," said Yugi, "At least, the Pharaoh and I don't think so. Not unless he learned how to use the Shadow Realm, but he would need a Millennium Item for that, and we're pretty sure he hasn't got one."
"He doesn't," said Bakura, appearing next to Ryou. "I can sense every time an Item changes hands, and unless he acquired it the exact moment Kaiba received the Millennium Rod, someone else is behind it."
"We saw the attacker last night for the first time," said Set, "It looked more or less a shadow, but it had the power to break through Seto's mind using the Shadow Realm. But it didn't anticipate him fighting back this time and…" he gestured to his neck, "it punished him in a Shadow Game until we were able to break him out of it."
"But the shadow – or whoever it was – wasn't really here in the castle," said Harry, "So how did it manage to do that?"
Bakura nodded slowly in understanding. "Because those were the terms of the game. It couldn't mentally subdue him, so it resorted to physical violence instead. And in a Shadow Game, even one that takes place in the mind, the penalties can be quite real."
"Why was it doing this in the first place," asked Hermione, "What was it after?"
"Something related the Millennium Items, no doubt," said Set, "It searched through his memories - though why it chose Seto over the Pharaoh or Bakura, whose vessels both are much more knowledgeable about the Items, is beyond me. But now the attacks are going beyond mere terrors and sleepless nights and are affecting his health."
"Is there anything you can do to stop it?" asked Harry. This all sounded fairly similar to the dreams and visions Voldemort plagued him with last year, and it left a bad feeling in his mind.
"That's what we were doing today," said Set, "The goal was to gauge how long he could resist an attack through the Shadow Realm so we can work on strengthening his mind against it. Hopefully, that would prevent being attacked in the future."
"Wait," said Ron, "You summoned that creepy fog in the school, and Dumbledore and Umbridge didn't get on your heels for it? I thought you guys weren't allowed to do that stuff here in the castle."
"We're not," said Yugi, and looked to Set curiously. "Where did you go?"
"A house elf, Dobby – I think was his name, told us of a room that is summoned based on will," said Set, "We brought it forth with the intention of practicing undetected. It worked, though the exercise didn't go quite as well as I would have liked."
Harry frowned. A room summoned on will?
"Why? What happened?" asked Ryou.
Set felt Seto's eyes boring holes right through him again, and sighed. "We'll just say that I pushed a little too far and leave it there."
"Oh! Of course!" Harry exclaimed suddenly. "The Room of Requirement!"
Yugi could see the metaphorical light bulb blinking excitedly over Harry's head. "What?"
Harry pulled the Marauder's Map from his pocket (did he ever not carry it on him, Ryou thought), and unfold it over his lap. "It makes so much sense now – that's where Malfoy keeps disappearing to!"
Seto lowered his head back down and raised an eyebrow. Thank goodness they finally found something else to talk about. "What are you talking about?"
"I've been tracking Malfoy this entire year so far," said Harry, "And every now and then he just disappears off of it, and I could never figure out why. Due to the nature of the room, the Room of Requirement is unplottable and doesn't show up on the Map. That's why Dumbledore wouldn't ever know about you messing around in the Shadow Realm: if you don't want anyone to barge in on you, the room will keep it from happening."
"But how does that tie Malfoy with the necklace?" asked Yugi.
Harry thought hard. "I'm still working that out. But it explains where he keeps vanishing to. I just need to find out why."
"No, you don't, Harry," said Hermione, "For once, can't you let something be, and stay out of trouble?"
"He's a Death Eater, now, remember? What if Voldemort did this on purpose, huh? Voldemort's been trying to break into the school for ages. Think of how much easier it might be now that he has someone on the inside to do his dirty work for him."
"You don't honestly believe that he would leave something as important as killing Dumbledore to a seventeen year-old, do you?" said Hermione, "Especially after his father butchered the last important mission and got almost the entire lot of them thrown into Azkaban."
"Which they've been broken out from," said Ron.
"Maybe this is punishment," said Bakura, and everyone turned to him. "The father screwed up, so the son is being forced to complete an impossible task, and will probably pay a hefty price if he fails. Maybe they all will."
"Look," said Hermione, "Just because someone has the Dark Mark on their arm, it doesn't mean they're up to something all the time. What could Voldemort really expect out of someone who hasn't even finished school?"
"And still, it doesn't mean he was behind what happened to Katie," said Ryou.
"Well…Malfoy was in the pub with us, and Katie. He could have used the Imperius curse at any time, and with all those witches and wizards around, it would be too difficult to pinpoint down who cast the spell."
Hermione sighed and shook her head. Getting through Harry's thick skull was impossible at this point.
"Alright, let's assume you're right, Harry. Where would he have gotten the necklace in the first place?" asked Ron.
Harry shook his head, unsure. "I've seen the necklace before though, I know it. If I can just remember where…."
"Maybe from one of those creepy peddlers in Diagon Alley that your dad warned us about?"
Diagon Alley? Harry mused, and then shook the notion from his head. The wizards running those little stands were selling much smaller trinkets. The odds of one of them pawning off something as fancy as that opal necklace were pretty slim. While elegant, it seemed to have an air about it that was dark and foreboding. Like something someone would have found in the dregs of –
"Borgin and Burkes!" he exclaimed suddenly. "That's where I remember seeing it!" He turned, excitedly, to Ron. "Remember the first time I used floo powder at your house? I ended up in Knockturn Alley, in Borgin and Burke's shop. The necklace was on display there, and I know the Malfoys have been there before. We saw them there this summer, and when I ended up coming out of the shop's fireplace, Mr. Malfoy was trying to sell some dark artifacts. Malfoy purchased the necklace over the summer, brought it to school with him, and used the crowds in Hogsmeade as a cover so it didn't look like the attack came from someone in the school!"
He looked around at his friends, triumphantly. "What do you say about that, Hermione?"
Hermione closed her eyes, sighing again. "Harry…I don't know. That's a pretty farfetched idea."
"But it is a possibility!"
"Except that it isn't," Seto crossed his arms. "Everything that came off the Hogwarts Express was thoroughly inspected by the Aurors upon entering the grounds. My tech was held in McGonagall's office, remember? That necklace would have been confiscated in a heartbeat."
Harry frowned.
"What about the post office?" asked Ryou.
Harry blinked, and his eyes widened. "Of course! Ryou, you're a genius! If Malfoy had the necklace the entire time, this whole incident could have happened at any time. But it happened today of all days. Malfoy couldn't have the necklace brought into the school, so he had the shop send it to the post office in Hogsmeade. Malfoy could have picked up the necklace there and then jinxed Katie while they were all in the Three Broomsticks."
Hermione scowled. "That's still not direct proof, Harry. It's still just a theory."
"But a sound one!"
"You're really adamant it was Malfoy, aren't you?" said Yugi.
"He's completely broken pattern," said Harry, "If nothing had happened at all, he would still be on the Slytherin Quidditch team, still overreaching his authority as a Slytherin prefect and bullying all the underclassmen, and would be trying to make our lives miserable at any given opportunity." He looked to Ron and Hermione. "How many times has Malfoy said anything antagonistic to either of you this term?"
Ron shrugged. "I don't think he's said two words to us."
"Exactly!" Harry slammed his fist into his opposite palm. "He's been marked, and now is completely withdrawn from everyone except maybe Crabbe and Goyle, and seems to spend his time hiding in the Room of Requirement."
He glanced at Hermione's look of pure disapproval. "I can't prove it was Malfoy in Hogsmeade today, but I trust my gut. Whatever he's up to this year isn't good. He's acting on Voldemort's orders, and something in the Room of Requirement is the key. I just need to find out what it is, and trust me on this – I will figure it out. Whatever Malfoy is planning, he won't get away with it. Not again."