A/N: Apologies for the delay. I've done some minor housekeeping over the last month. Chapter titles have been added, and the overall numbering has been tweaked to match.

/Text/ Spirit to Host

/Text/ Host to Spirit

Chapter 27: Lessons

Ron dropped his quill loudly against the table in the common room, splattering small droplets of ink onto the wood surface. "This is crazy," he whined, "How does Umbridge expect us to write two feet of parchment on the werewolf chapter? I've barely got one and I'm running out of things to say."

Yugi didn't look like he was faring much better with his own essays. "There wasn't a whole lot of information go by in the book," he said, "that's why I checked the library for some more material."

Ron grimaced. "Should have gotten Hermione to grab some books for me last night then. She only spent half her night there buried in the Defense against the Dark Arts section."

Harry flipped through his own book at a snail's pace. "I'm surprised Umbridge didn't barricade that entire section, since it's a better instructor than she is."

Ryou rolled his eyes as he put the finishing touches on his dream diary for Trelawney's class. "Speaking of…has anyone seen Hermione today? I haven't seen her all morning, and she wasn't at breakfast."

"Maybe she's still in the library," said Harry, "If she gets herself a tall enough stack to hide behind, I wouldn't be surprised if Madame Pince closed it up for the night and left her in there." He closed his potions book. "I'm sure she'll meet us later at the Room of Requirement."

Ron grumbled. "Could really use her help with these essays."

"Help writing them or have her just write it for you?" Harry snickered.

"Shut up, Harry. It's not like you never took advantage of that either."

"I thought she cut you off after one of the first assignments of the year," said Ginny as she passed through on her way to the girls' staircase.

Ron shot her a dark look.

"It can't be all that bad – remember Snape assigned us the werewolf essays in third year when he was subbing for Professor Lupin?" said Neville from the next table over. He was sitting with Lavender and Dean, working on what appeared to be Herbology essays.

"Yeah, well Lupin cancelled those essays when he got back to the class, and I hadn't started writing it anyway," said Ron, "I think only Hermione was the only one who actually wrote the thing."

"Is that Umbridge's essay you're working on?" asked Lavender, "I finished that one yesterday."

Ron's eyes widened. "Really? How long did it take you?"

Lavender shrugged. "A few hours, I guess. I wrote it in the library with Parvati."

"And you got all two feet of parchment?"

She nodded. "A little over, I think, but that was more or less just the conclusion anyways." She peered across the table to take a look at Ron's progress. "I'm surprised Hermione isn't with you," she said. "Don't you guys always do homework together?"

"We haven't seen her," said Ryou.

Dean looked around the common room. "You're missing someone else from your usual group, aren't you?"

Yugi turned the page in his book. "Well, Kaiba's not here, but that's no surprise." Spying the section he needed, he dipped his quill back into the inkwell and scribbled down some more notes.

Lavender got up and moved around to sit at the empty seat at their table next to Ron. "Well…would you like some help?"

Ron's eyes widened. She had never offered to do something like this before. In fact, she usually spent time exclusively with the Patil twins and didn't give him the time of day. The offer of assistance was odd, but not unwelcome. Getting a hold of himself, he pushed his half-finished essay over to her. "Please."

When the clock tower finally chimed noon, Yugi put down his quill and leaned back in his seat. "Well…that's half of that assignment. I'm ready for food. Anyone want to grab lunch with me?"

"I'll go," said Harry. He glanced across the table. Ron and Lavender were deep in Umbridge's essay. "Ron?"

It took two mentions of his name to get his attention.

"Huh?" Ron didn't even look up. Lavender had taken his quill and was scribbling through parts of his introduction and writing notes on the side.

"We're going to get food. Are you coming?"

"In a bit," said Ron, missing the shocked expression on his best friend's face. "I'm on a roll here, mate." He looked to Lavender's notes and began writing on a new sheet of parchment. He looked to his newfound tutor. "How'd you make that so easy?"

"It helps that I've already written this," she said, smiling brightly at him, "And your ideas weren't all that bad. You just needed to expand more on them."

Harry blinked and shrugged. "Err…okay; just don't forget we're meeting up with Hermione later. You are gonna join us, right?"

"Oh, yeah," said Ron, distractedly, "I'll be along soon." He still didn't look up, but waved Harry along, fully engrossed in his work.

Ryou turned to Harry as they exited the portrait hole. "Is he okay? I've never seen him put an essay before food before."

"I've never seen him put anything before food," said Harry, "I don't think he's been so into doing his homework all year. …For the last couple of years, even."

"Is that because Hermione won't help him?" asked Yugi.

"Maybe," said Harry, "I think both of us got a little too used to her help over the years."

"Don't you think that maybe it's time you stopped taking advantage of her like that?" asked Ryou, "Otherwise you won't learn your lessons properly if she does all or even half of the work for you."

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, although, even though she helps us out on our stuff, its' not like we get perfect marks or anything. Snape still tries to fail me at every possible opportunity."

They grabbed seats at an empty spot along the long Gryffindor table. Yugi piled some potatoes onto his plate. "Well that's Snape."

They were halfway through their meal when Ron finally made his way through the Great Hall, and dropped down next to Harry with what the group could only describe as a dreamy expression on his face.

Yugi and Ryou exchanged befuddled looks. "Uh…." Ryou began, "Are you okay, Ron?"

"Yeah," said Yugi around a bite of his bread, "You look as if you woke up from a really good dream."

"Am I okay?" Ron grabbed the nearest serving tray and dumped a heap of food onto his plate. "You bet I am! I've seen things in a new light. Lavender really helped me out on that essay, and gave me tips that should give me better grades than when Hermione was helping out. There's no way I'm going to get anything under an 'O' on this essay."

Ginny eyed him suspiciously from where she sat with Luna Lovegood who had joined her from the Ravenclaw table. "Are you sure she didn't slip you something, too? You look like you did two years ago when Fleur and her friends were here."

Ron glared at her before diving in to his lunch. "I'm fine."

Ginny shrugged and turned back to her friends.

"So….where is Hermione, anyway?" said Ron, although it sounded more like mumbles around his mouthful of chicken. "I'm surprised she didn't surface by now. Probably still asleep or something in the library."

Yugi looked around the Great Hall, his eyes stopping on the doorway. "Oh – here she comes now."

Harry raised an eyebrow as she leaned over the table, grabbed an empty plate, and began setting up two sandwiches on it without even bothering to sit down. "You can sit you know…and stay a while."

"Oh, no, I'm heading back to the Room of Requirement," she said, "I'm just grabbing us a quick bite while he's on the phone with his brother."

Ron swallowed and looked at her suspiciously. "Hello to you too. And who's the 'us'?"

Yugi picked up on her words faster than Ron did. "You've been in the Room of Requirement with Kaiba? I didn't know he was doing lessons with Set today. That at least explains where he's been."

Ron looked her over and his face darkened. "Why do you look like you've been in a fight or something?"

Hermione brushed a wild tuft of hair behind her ear, "Oh, sorry, I thought I fixed that."

"What have you guys been doing, wrestling or something?" asked Harry, "I thought we were doing the DA stuff this afternoon."

"Sort of," Hermione said, "I've been helping Set with his defensive lesson this morning."

Ron snorted. "Yeah? What else have you been helping him with? Yugi and Ryou not good enough for the same private lessons you're giving Seto?"

Hermione froze. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

Yugi glanced quickly at Ryou and Harry before turning to Ron. "Ron, that's not –"

Ron cut him off with an ignoring cross of his arms as he stared up at Hermione. "You know exactly what I mean. Just how long have you two been sneaking around like this?"

Hermione's jaw dropped, hurt and disbelief evident on her face. She quickly pulled herself together and reached for the plate she had prepared on the table. "You know, I don't know why I bother. Believe whatever you want, Ronald." Without even sparing a gaze to anyone else at the Gryffindor table, she spun around and stormed from the Great Hall.

Ron angrily tore a hunk from his chicken leg. "You know what she's doing, don't you?"

Yugi sighed. "She's helping with a magic lesson."

Ron rolled his eyes. "No," he snapped, taking a large swig of his pumpkin juice. "She's just doing what all these other people are doing, just a lot sneakier."

Ryou blinked. He wasn't sure he liked where this was going. "I-I don't follow."

Ron leveled him an annoyed look. "Aren't you tired of all of the presents and attention ever since Umbridge announced that stupid ball?"

"Well, yes," said Ryou, "They won't leave me alone. But I fail to see what this has to do with Hermione helping Kaiba with a defensive magic lesson. Isn't that what we're all doing later anyways?"

Ron shook her head. "She's using this as an opportunity to get a date, cuz otherwise she won't get one. I don't get why she'd otherwise volunteer for something like that." He looked between Ryou and Yugi. "Wouldn't it have made more sense to have either of you two help Kaiba with whatever his weird lesson is?"

Yugi exhaled loudly. This was getting tiring. "The Pharaoh and I offered to help with whatever they needed, but Set said we couldn't because of our Millennium Items. …And, to be honest, Ron, this is getting a bit out of hand. Kaiba has said on more than one occasion that he's not going to this ball, and he's said it in Hermione's presence. She doesn't seem the type to hound him like that, and I can assure you, Kaiba wouldn't stand for it if she tried. And even if that wasn't the case, and she was trying to find someone to take her to the dance, I don't see why it's bothering you. It's not like you seemed keen on going. So unless you were planning to ask her, why don't you just do it already or get off her back?"

Ron's face turned as red as his hair. He didn't answer him, but instead became very interested in what remained of his lunch.

They ate the rest of their food in an awkward silence. Harry then led them down the corridor leading to the Room of Requirement, eager to put the latest round of Ron and Hermione's fight behind them and get onto their defensive lesson. "You guys ready?"

"I think so," said Yugi, "What are we going to learn first?"

"Disarming, probably," said Harry, "Depending on how you cast it, it can work both offensively and defensively."

They stopped in front of the proper bit of the hallway, but the door didn't summon itself after Harry paced back and forth the required number of times. "…That is…if we can get inside."

"Is something supposed to happen?" asked Ryou.

"The door always appeared before," said Ron. "I don't get it."

"It's because they're still using the Room," said Harry, "It won't reset while someone's in there, I guess. They have to either leave or let us in." He looked to Yugi and Ryou. "I assume they'll let us in on the hour, since that was when we were supposed to meet, and we are a bit early. Do either of you have a way of contacting them inside?"

Yugi dug into his jacket pocket. "I think I took the phone – yup! Here it is." Tapping the icon on the screen, he raised it to his ear, hearing the dial but no answer.

"Guess we gotta wait," said Ron, "How long do we still have?"

"Twenty minutes," said Harry, glancing down at his watch.

"Let me try again," said Yugi. "Kaiba always has his phone on him. Maybe he didn't hear it before."

It picked up after three rings to his rival sounding oddly out of breath. "I'm kind of in the middle of something, Yugi."

"I was just wondering if you could let us in. We're all outside the door."

"Well, you're going to have to – urgh!"

Yugi blinked. "Kaiba?"

There was no answer, but the door then materialized in front of them. He rushed inside just in time to see the Millennium Rod skid across the floor, and Hermione rush across the room to where Seto lay sprawled, having missed the target cushion pile by a good several feet.

"Woah – what happened in here?"

Seto propped himself up on his elbows and looked for his phone that had fallen out of his hand in the fall, checking it over for damage.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked, and held out an arm to help him up. Seto waved it off and slowly got up on his own.

"Peachy," he muttered. He glared at the new arrivals. "Your timing, as always Yugi, is impeccable."

Yugi cringed. "Sorry. We didn't realize you two were trying to kill each other."

Seto huffed at him, though it didn't contain the level of ire that it usually did, and crossed the room to retrieve the Millennium Rod.

"So…how did it go?"

Hermione moved to join them as Set floated over and began speaking quietly to Seto on the far side across from where the door used to be. "Okay, I think?"

"What were you doing exactly?" asked Harry.

"We were trying to see if our magic could repel…or be repelled by his Millennium Item," Hermione said carefully. Bringing up the original plan for the day seemed like a terrible idea, as did the fight between Seto and Set. "There's still a ways to go, still."

"How successful was he?" asked Yugi, "That doesn't sound like a bad idea, actually, if it works. We could all use that sort of training."

"Well," Hermione frowned, "I will give him this – he has ridiculously quick reflexes, and spent a good deal dodging the spells I was throwing at him. But he was very hesitant to use the Rod at all, at least offensively. He did manage to block one spell, though not completely. We could use another day of it…if he's willing to continue."

"So you were just sparring…all day," said Ron flatly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, Ronald." She turned to look at Seto and winced. "I think I was too hard on him though."

Ryou tilted his head slightly. "Too hard on Kaiba?"

"What makes you say that?" asked Yugi, "Usually, he won't accept anything except for your best shot."

Hermione rubbed at her arms uncomfortably. "Well…then we definitely need more padding in the room next time. I kind of tossed him around quite a bit."

Ron snorted. "Yeah. We saw the aftermath."

Harry looked from Ron to Hermione uncomfortably. "Well…" he began, "let's get started. We've got about four hours or so until dinner." He moved into the middle of the room, summoning some practice dummies and, for all of their benefit, thick floor padding. Any furniture Set had originally summoned into the room had been pushed to the edges, leaving plenty of space to practice spells back and forth.

"Okay, so, uh, I guess we'll start with the disarming charm," said Harry, "It will send the opponent's wand flying, and, depending on how aggressive you are with it, you could also knock someone back a little bit, too. Here, I'll demonstrate. Ron?"

"How did I know he was gonna choose me?" he said, but moved regardless to join his best friend in the middle of the room. "You gonna cast it, or should I?"

"You can, I guess," said Harry, shifting into a fighting stance, wand out. "It really doesn't matter. Go for it."

Ron nodded and pulled out his wand from his jeans pocket. "Expelliarmus!"

The group watched as Harry's wand shot right out of his hand, clattering to the floor a few feet away. Ryou went to retrieve it and passed it back to him.

Harry looked amongst the group, trying to decide the next best course of action. "So….uh…we can either split off into teams or go in turns against…me, I suppose. What do you guys want to do?"

"Well, how did you teach it before?" asked Ryou.

"Well, I had a much larger group last year," said Harry, "So I could split everyone apart and walk the room. But there's only three of you this time."

"We can do turns, I suppose," said Yugi.

"Do you need the spell gone over again?" Harry gestured the wand movement a second time. "I'll let you guys use me as a dummy if you want."

Ryou pointed to the other side of the room. "What about those practice dummies?"

Harry glanced at the Death Eater-looking figures. "Oh, we'll get to those. Don't worry. There are some spells I don't want you using on me." He turned back to his three students. "So…who wants to go first?"

"I will, I suppose," said Ryou, stepping forward. Harry moved back into his fighting stance with his wand at the ready and Ryou followed suit.

"Okay, Ryou, whenever you're ready," said Harry.

Ryou nodded and focused on moving his wand correctly. "Expelliarmus!"

Harry watched his wand fly out of his hand for the second time that afternoon. "Great job!"

/Congratulations. You made a stick fly./

/Don't ruin this for me, Spirit. These lessons are important!/

/These people rely too much on their wands. How difficult would it be to just rush forward and pluck it from their grasp? How powerful can they truly be without it?/

/You would have to get there first./

/Landlord, I am a thief. Sneaking around and making off with other people's treasure is my specialty./

Ryou ignored him after that, returning to the Room in time to see Yugi cast his spell at Harry. His wand again went flying. Hermione waved her own to summon it back with a quickly cast 'Accio!', and did so again after Seto had his turn.

After two more practice rounds, Harry gathered everyone together again. "Okay, that seemed to go pretty well. We're going to expand now and work on the Shield Charm next. It's handy for repelling a basic attack, so for example – against the disarming charm, it would either knock it back to me, or bounce off in a different direction across the room. For this, we'll break off into pairs.

"So, the spell is called 'Protego'." He demonstrated the wand movement for them all to see. "It's like a quick flick of your wand upwards, like so. So for this, I guess that either Ron, Hermione, or myself will try to disarm you with 'Expelliarmus'. You're going to try and defend with the Shield Charm, and hopefully, if all goes well and if we're lucky there won't be a bunch of ricocheting spells going around the room."

"I'll start this one off," said Hermione, stepping into the middle of the room. "Anyone want to go first?"

Seto pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and brushed past Ryou to the center of the room. Once they were in position, Hermione wasted only a second before casting her disarming charm. Seto jerked his wand arm up so quickly that the red light beam ricocheted off and shattered the torch holder along the wall.

Ron's eyes bugged out. "Got some pent up aggressions to let out, mate?"

Yami phased out of the Puzzle to hover near Set, who happened to be directly under the broken torch.

"Why did it seem that was aimed for you?"

Set shrugged and sighed.

"Anything we should know about?" asked Yami. "Did your lesson this morning not go as planned?"

Set watched the teenagers split into three pairs and start bouncing spells back and forth. "That is one way to put it. I seem to have crossed a line, and he is quite bitter with me."

"That last bit seemed a little obvious," said Yami.

"Ooh," Yami Bakura floated over to join them as Ryou successfully squeaked out a 'Protego!' at the last possible second, sending Harry's spell back at him. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself over, Tomb Robber," said Set stiffly.

Bakura shrugged. "Fine. Suit yourself. But don't think I won't shove your reincarnation into the Shadow Realm if he knocks out my host throwing spells around because you pissed him off."

"So what did happen this morning?" asked Yami.

Set sighed. "I wanted Seto to learn to use the Millennium Rod offensively. To put it mildly, he was not into it."

Bakura snorted. "We're talking about the most stubborn individual on the planet, the one who absolutely detested everything to do with the Millennium Items for as long as humanly possible. Of course he wasn't going to be willing to do that."

Another spell whizzed over all of their heads. "You must have really angered Kaiba if he keeps angling his spells this way," said Bakura sourly. If that beam had been any lower, it would have gone right through his head. Although...he wasn't sure why he was acting so put out. They were spirits. Bouncing spells wouldn't do them any damage at all.

Yami looked on at the others fondly. "That was Yugi."

Ryou crashed down onto a cushion pile. "Oh, I'm exhausted."

Yugi dropped down next to him on the floor. "Me too."

"You guys did great!" said Harry. He was practically beaming with pride. "For first time casting, you got those spells down pretty well."

"Thanks," said Ryou, "Although, I could still use some work on the shield one."

"Well, we're definitely going to do this again," said Harry, "There is so much more to show you."

"What's next?" asked Yugi.

"Well, since you've gotten the disarming and shielding down, at least the basics of it, we can move onto more fighting spells the next time. Stunning, freezing, that sort of thing."

"Sounds good to me," said Ryou. "Are we going to do this again next week?"

"Can't," Ron shook his head. "Next week's Quidditch!"

Yugi's eyes widened. "Uh oh."

Harry tilted his head. "What's wrong? Don't you think you're ready? It seemed like you were doing okay ever since you started attending those extra sessions with the team…."

Yugi frowned. "Well…I am a bit nervous. I didn't think that when I became a relief player that I would end up participating in our first game of the season…but that wasn't my real cause for concern."

"Then what's wrong?" asked Hermione.

"I don't have a broom!" Yugi said. "We never got to the shop in Hogsmeade!"

Ron slapped a hand to his forehead. "Oh, that's not good. You can't use a school broom. I mean, you could, don't think that it's not allowed or anything, but even the better school brooms are pretty testy from all the use and abuse they get. The other team would plow all over you!"

Yugi shook his head. "What am I going to do?"

"Why don't you ask Professor McGonagall if it's possible for you to go to Hogsmeade to get one," Hermione suggested. "I don't think it would be that big of an issue."

"But we're not allowed off the grounds," said Ryou.

"It's a one-time circumstance," said Seto, without looking up from his phone screen. "I'm let out every three weeks to go home. I'm sure someone can escort you to the village to buy a broomstick."

"I don't know," said Yugi, "I think if your working arrangement wasn't agreed on before we got here, they wouldn't let you out."

Seto rolled his eyes and pocketed his phone. "This is a school, not a prison. They can't keep us hostage here."

Harry nudged Yugi encouragingly, "Just remind Professor McGonagall that it's in our best interests to get you a broom, unless she wants Slytherin to win the cup again."

Yugi grimaced as they left the Room of Requirement to head down to dinner. "That sounds like a super low blow."

"But…" Ron said, "If it works…."

"You know, Professor McGonagall gifted me my first broomstick when I made it onto the team," said Harry, "Not to say she's going to make a habit of it or anything, but she would probably be more sympathetic about it than say…Snape."

"I guess I can ask her at dinner," said Yugi.

"You're going to go up there during dinner? Why not wait until we have class Monday?"

"I don't want to wait too long," said Yugi, "There's only a week left, and if anyone's going to let me out of the castle, it probably wouldn't be while we're busy with schoolwork. And I want to at least take whatever I'm going to use out for a spin before the game."

Dinner must have only just started not long before they entered the Great Hall. Most of the house tables were still fairly empty – something Yugi was grateful for, since it wasn't every day that students moved all the way to the front of the hall to mingle with their professors at the High Table during mealtime.

Thankfully, Professor McGonagall was already seated at the High Table, speaking quietly with Professor Sprout. As the rest of their group found seats along the Gryffindor table, Yugi made his way up to the front of the hall.

"Is there something I can do for you, Mr. Muto?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Well, Professor, I was wondering if it was possible to be able to go to Hogsmeade this weekend," said Yugi.

"Unfortunately, all Hogsmeade trips have been cancelled until further notice," said Professor McGonagall, "What did you need in the village?"

Yugi rubbed at the back of his neck. "A broom."

Professor Sprout blinked. "A broomstick? I didn't realize you had joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

"I didn't place high enough to make the team originally," said Yugi, "But after Katie Bell was attacked –"

"Hem, hem. Is something wrong, dear?"

Yugi could have sworn he saw Professor McGonagall's eye twitch. He sighed quietly. If Umbridge was going to insert herself into the conversation, there was no way he would be let out of the castle.

"Nothing that concerns you, Dolores," said Professor McGonagall stiffly. "Why did you not procure one in Hogsmeade while you were there?"

"I would have, but we were nearby and rushed to help Katie," said Yugi.

"What have you been using up to this point?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"School brooms," said Yugi, "They're okay, and I'm not going to say I'm an expert flier in the slightest, but every so often they try to throw me off or steer me in the wrong direction. I was hoping to have something a little sturdier for the upcoming game."

"I don't see why the school brooms are not sufficient," said Umbridge, "Especially for a relief player. How many games do you see yourself playing in this year?" Upon seeing Yugi's disappointed look, she added, "Not to mention that if we allowed you to go to the village, it would open up a series of requests from other students to leave the grounds as well. I simply cannot allow it."

"I didn't think the number of games I played mattered very much, Professor," said Yugi, "I just wanted to be able to play without worrying about falling off because of a faulty broomstick. Bludgers will be worrisome enough. Otherwise the Gryffindor team will be at a disadvantage."

"Why did you not bring this up sooner?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"I had other things on my mind, I guess," said Yugi. "I'm sorry for waiting until the last minute."

"It's not up to me, of course," said Professor Sprout, "But I don't see the problem of getting you a better broomstick. In the name of fairness and sportsmanship." And with a glint of mischief in her eye, she added, "If the game had been against Slytherin, we both know Professor Snape would rather you use a school broom."

"Yes, well, Professor Snape got very used to keeping the Quidditch Cup in his office for far too long," said Professor McGonagall. "I don't see the harm in allowing you get a broomstick, Mr. Muto."

"But," Umbridge spluttered, "These privileges were taken away out of concern for the students' safety. It would be unwise to allow him to go just for a broomstick, especially when we have plenty of working ones here in the castle."

Professor McGonagall ignored her and waved him back towards the Gryffindor table. "I will look into the matter after dinner."

Yugi smiled. "Thanks, Professor!"

Professor Sprout smiled, "Although, Mr. Muto…Minerva has told me about the card game match she witnessed on the Pitch, and your gaming reputation back home. I expect nothing but your best during your game against Hufflepuff, no matter the sort of broomstick you end up using."

Yugi nodded. "Yes, Professor." He didn't stop smiling all the way back to the Gryffindor table.

Unlike the earlier half of the day, the remainder of the evening passed surprisingly well. Ron and Hermione had stopped bickering, Ryou was left alone, and Seto retreated up to the dormitory early for some peace and quiet, looking almost as worn out as he did over the summer.

The following morning, Yugi was shocked to find a note dropped off by owl during the daily delivery, thankful that it landed next to his toast and not in Ryou's cereal. The last time he received anything by owl was around two months ago. Any packages his friends sent him ended up being transported through Kaiba when he went to and from Domino.

"It's from Professor McGonagall," said Yugi, as Ryou peered over his shoulder to read the letter. "She wants me to come to her office after breakfast."

"I'm surprised she didn't just come up and say so," said Ron.

"Probably because she's not at the High Table," said Hermione. "And…neither is Professor Dumbledore."

"I haven't seen him for a few days now," said Harry, "I wonder where he's been?"

Ron shrugged. "Maybe doing something official with the Ministry."

"I don't know," Harry frowned, "Just because Fudge isn't in office anymore, doesn't mean that Dumbledore's made peace with everything that happened last year."

Hermione looked up from reading parts of Seto's copy of The Daily Prophet. "You haven't had one of those meetings with him in a long time, either."

Harry nodded. "Yeah. He did say he had some materials to collect for the next one. Maybe that's where he is."

"What sort of stuff do you need?" asked Ron.

Harry didn't have much of an answer for him. The few meetings he had with Dumbledore so far had been fairly cryptic. Sure, it all had to do with fighting Voldemort, but until Dumbledore was able to gather everything he was looking for, they hadn't done a whole lot. It didn't help that Dumbledore seemed to be out of the castle more often than not throughout the last several weeks. Maybe it was a sign that a new meeting would be coming up soon, once he returned for more than a day or so at a time.

They split up at the end of breakfast. As Yugi headed up towards Professor McGonagall's office, Harry turned the opposite direction and made for the Owlery as Ron led Ryou and Hermione back to the common room for a few rounds of Gobstones.

Yugi didn't manage to return until much later in the afternoon, with a long, skinny package over his arm.

"You got a broomstick!" said Ryou, "Did you end up going to Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah," said Yugi, "I didn't expect Professor McGonagall to take me though. I thought she would arrange for Remus or Tonks – or at the very least one of the Aurors here to take me, but she did instead."

"So what kind did you get?" Ron asked, excitedly, "Show us!"

Yugi set it down on the nearest table in the common room and undid the paper wrappings. "It's a Cleansweep, at least that's what I think they called it."

Ron nodded as he examined the broom. "Yep, that's the Seven. I'm surprised you didn't go for the Eleven – that's the latest model. I've got that one."

Yugi shook his head. "I couldn't afford the newest one, and to be honest, I don't need one that fancy. Just something that's better than the school ones, because I swear none of them like me very much."

"I'm sure this will do great," said Harry. "Now, all you need is time to get adjusted to it."

"About that," Yugi beamed, "Professor McGonagall spoke to Professor Sprout, and they agreed that I can skip my catch-up lessons Tuesday and Wednesday night so I can get some more practice time in before the game Saturday!"

"Great!" said Harry, "I'll track down the rest of the team at dinner and see if we can squeeze in a last minute practice together one of those days." He got up from one of the armchairs. "Let me make sure the Pitch is bookable, otherwise we'll go out on the training grounds where the first years have class."

Yugi watched him leave, and took one of the other empty seats. "I can't believe I'm going to be playing in our team's first game of the season."

"You'll be fine," said Ryou.

"I know…but it's really only because Katie got hurt that I got to play at all," Yugi said sadly, "I hope we're able to hear some news about her soon. I'm worried about her."

"Me too," said Hermione, "But I'm sure she's getting the best care she can at St. Mungo's. Hopefully she'll be back soon."

The week passed in a blur, and before any of them knew it, Saturday arrived once again. Despite feeling alright on his new broomstick, Yugi was glad he wasn't the only one nervous at breakfast that morning. Ron was also staring at the eggs on his plate as if they were the most unappetizing thing he had ever seen. He even looked a little green.

/It's just nerves, Yugi. You're going to be fine./

/I know, Pharaoh, but I've never played in front of anyone but the Gryffindor team. The entire school is going to be watching, and I'm still not perfect on a broom./

/But you were well enough that Harry believes you to be an asset for the team. We have faced harder trials than this before, and still came out on top. No matter the stakes, you were able to keep cool during our Duel Monsters matches. Try to channel that confidence here!/

/I'll try, but this isn't anything like Duel Monsters. I think I'd rather fight Kaiba…or even Marik at their worst right now./

"I don't see why you're so nervous," said Hermione, to Ron. "You played on the team last year."

"Yeah?" Ron glared at her, but not with any real bite, "Look how long it took me to not be garbage at it."

"Well, you're not garbage now, or you wouldn't have made the team," said Ryou.

"Look, mate, we both know that the only reason Harry chose me and not Quidditch expert superstar Mclaggen is because he weirdly shot off in the wrong direction during tryouts. His saves were way more impressive. All I have to do is foul up one game, and Harry's gonna have me replaced."

"You know that's not the case," said Harry.

"Good morning, everyone!" said a light, dreamy voice from behind them. Yugi turned and had to do a quick double-take. The girl that sometimes sat at their table from Ravenclaw was standing there, wearing the wildest hat in the shape of a lion's head. He wasn't the only one caught staring at it though – most of the Great Hall had turned heads in their direction.

"Hi, Luna," said Hermione, "Did you make that hat?"

"I did," she said, and sat down beside her, "It even roars too, but after frightening my roommates with it by accident yesterday morning, it wouldn't be wise to turn it on while everyone is trying to eat." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded magazine. "Quibbler?"

"Thanks," said Hermione, accepting and looking it over.

"You're welcome," said Luna. She looked to Ron, and then reached into the other pocket, pulling out a small vial, "Are you alright, Ron?"

"Peachy," Ron choked out, barely swallowing a bite of breakfast.

"Here," said Luna, passing him the bottle, "You may want that."

"What is it?" asked Ryou.

"Tonic, for nerves," said Luna, "I was going to take some myself before the match starts, but it looks like you need it more than I do."

"Why do you need it?" asked Harry, confused. They were playing Hufflepuff, not Ravenclaw, and even so - he was certain that Luna hadn't joined her house team.

"I've been asked to commentate the game today," said Luna, "So I'll be watching from the Professors' box, but wanted to show my support for Gryffindor, even though I'm supposed to be impartial."

"Oh," said Harry, simply. Sure Lee Jordan got very aggressive in the past when commentating the games, especially when it was Gryffindor vs Slytherin, and Zacharias Smith was downright vicious when it came to Gryffindor, but dream-gazed and quiet Luna Lovegood? Whose idea was that?

"Well, I like your hat," said Yugi, breaking himself out of his mini-stupor, "Very original. I'm sure Professor McGonagall will approve of it."

"I hope so," said Luna, dreamily "May I ask what product you use to get your hair to spike like that? I've been meaning to try something new, but I couldn't find the right hair potion to get the results I've wanted."

"It's natural," said Yugi. "I don't put potions or anything in. Sorry."

Luna shrugged. "Oh well," she said distantly, "I'll have to think of something else. Good luck on the game today!"

Ryou watched her return to the Ravenclaw table. "She's….interesting."

"You get used to her," said Ginny, passing by. She looked at her brother and wrinkled her nose. "You better get it together if you plan on saving anything today."

Ron shot her a dirty look and downed the tonic that Luna gave him.

Shrugging, she turned to Yugi. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I think," said Yugi, "I think once I'm out there, I'll feel better. Just a little nervous now."

"Don't be, you're a natural," said Ginny, "Just remember to dodge the Bludgers and you'll be fine."

"Uh…thanks."

They were about to leave the Great Hall and head down to the Pitch when, out of nowhere, Lavender Brown broke off from where she had been sitting with her friends and gave Ron a quick embrace. "I know you'll be brilliant, today, Ron. I'll be cheering for you!" She skipped off just as quickly, leaving a stunned, red-faced Weasley in her wake.

"I can't believe you dragged me out of the common room to watch this," Seto muttered, slipping on gloves and drawing his cloak a little tighter against the cold December temperatures.

"You don't want to cheer them on?" asked Ryou.

"There are a plethora of things I'd like to be doing," said Seto, "Being squashed and deafened in this stadium is not one of them."

"But you've never even seen a Quidditch game before," said Hermione as Madame Hooch blew the whistle, sending the players scattering. "It's something new to experience."

"That is the only reason I'm still here," Seto crossed his arms. "Then I can say I've been there, done that, and next time I can enjoy an empty common room to do my work."

Hermione sighed but turned back in time for Ginny to snatch the Quaffle and zoom off to the other side of the field.

"And the first save goes to Hufflepuff," Luna said calmly over the announcer's podium, "And that's Smith with the Quaffle now. Second-years and up might recall that he did the commentary last year after Lee Jordan left Hogwarts – oh! And Ginny Weasley crashed right into him. Hm, I think it was on purpose after he did quite a bit of Gryffindor bashing once before..."

Ryou lost track of them twice, and wished he asked Hermione to bring him a set of binoculars as well. She was using them to keep track of their friends and kept pointing out where they ended up around the Pitch.

"Oh, he finally dropped the Quaffle, and Ginny picked it up. I do like her, she's a very nice person…."

"Riveting commentary," Seto deadpanned.

"At least she's not insulting anyone. It's a weird break from the norm," said Hermione.

"It's rather hard to keep track of what's going on at times, isn't it?" asked Ryou.

"Sometimes," said Hermione, "But at least the weather's fair today. It would be a lot harder to find Harry and the others if we were fighting rain or snow."

"Oh – there goes Yugi!" said Ryou, pointing towards the Hufflepuff goal posts. Demelza had stolen the Quaffle from one of the other Hufflepuff chasers and had passed it along.

"…And there goes Yugi Muto with the Quaffle. He's one of the new exchange students, and I have to say is very nice, too. And he seems to do fairly well on a broomstick. It looks like he's going to line his shot up and…there's 10 points for Gryffindor. Good for them!"

"Go, Yugi!" Ryou called, "Good job!"

"…And it looks like Smith just stole the Quaffle back from Ginny Weasley, and he's heading towards the Gryffindor posts – oh my. Ron Weasley just saved that with his head. I'm sure that will bruise. Now it seems like Yugi Muto has the Quaffle again, and oh – how lovely, those clouds behind the Slytherin-decorated posts look like Nargles…."

Hermione smiled and clapped enthusiastically with the rest of the Gryffindor supporters at Ron's save, but one screaming voice in particular stood out to them.

"COME ON, RON!"

Ryou peered across the rail to the level below him. "Lavender is being very vocal today."

Hermione grumbled something under her breath, then let out a cheer that got drowned out with the other Gryffindors around them as Yugi scored again.

"…Yugi's doing very well for his first Quidditch game. He's dodging those Bludgers very easily. I wonder what his secret is. Obviously, the Nargles haven't gotten to him…."

"It's almost like he saw that last one without even looking," said Hermione.

"I'll bet anything that Yami is helping him," said Ryou, "At least…I think he's wearing the Puzzle out there?"

Hermione moved her binoculars around. "I can see the shape of it under his robes, but that's dangerous – that could seriously injure him if he fell!"

Ryou tilted his head. "Would that be considered cheating, if Yami is helping him?"

"What are you going to tell Madame Hooch – that a dead pharaoh from 5,000 years ago was telling him how to avoid death hundreds of feet in the air?" Seto rolled his eyes.

Seto felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Sighing, he took it out to see an unfamiliar number, silenced it, and put it back away again. He had already spoken to Mokuba today, so there was no reason for anyone to be calling him, especially on the weekend. Shaking his head slightly, he turned back to the game.

"…Oh wow, one of the Gryffindor beaters managed to hit the Bludger that time. I'm not sure what his target was, but it missed everyone in that direction…."

The phone went off again a few moments later, and like before, was cut off.

"I didn't think you got prank calls. Isn't your number hidden or something?" asked Ryou, after Seto pulled the device out for the third time within the last ten minutes.

"It was supposed to be," Seto muttered.

"Maybe it's someone from home?" Hermione suggested. "Or work?"

"No one at Kaiba Corp would be calling me on a Saturday. I haven't been in the office, so they would go up through proper channels. And Mokuba wouldn't call from an unfamiliar number, because he knows I won't answer it."

"…and that's another score for Hufflepuff, giving them a…thirty point lead over Gryffindor?"

"Twenty," they heard Professor McGonagall say in the background.

"Oh, twenty point lead, which might be a little less with Ginny moving into position to score. I wish I rode a broom as well as she does, she's very agile…."

When the phone rang again, Seto debated throwing it over the stadium wall. Squeezing past the throng of students around him, he disappeared into the stairwell in one of the towers leading back down to the ground and swiped angrily to answer. "WHAT?"

"Gee, hello to you too, Kaiba. 'Bout time you picked up."

Seto felt his eye twitch. "Wheeler, I don't know how you got this number, but hang up."

"Look, man, I don't want to talk to you either, but I haven't been able to get a hold of Yugi all day."

Seto rolled his eyes and heard the roar of the crowd go wild again. Someone must have scored. "Yugi's got his hands full right now."

"Where are you anyways – I can barely make out what you're saying."

"Sporting event," Seto snapped, "Look if you just want to shoot the breeze, I'll have Yugi call you later."

"WAIT!" Joey said quickly. "Don't hang up. This is serious."

Seto huffed. "Then get it over with."

"You're gonna have to go someplace where we can actually talk and be heard. We got ourselves a crisis here."

Seto's eyes narrowed, his mind immediately going to all the worst possible places. Was Mokuba in danger? Is that why Joey Wheeler of all people was trying to get a hold of him? Why wouldn't Roland contact him instead? It left an uneasy feeling in his gut. "What kind of crisis?"

"Ishizu was attacked at the museum."

Seto froze.

"…You still there? Hello?"

Seto closed his eyes and sighed. "…I heard you. Give me ten minutes, I'll call you back." Without waiting to hear a response, he hung up.

/I have a bad feeling about this./

/For once, I agree with you./

/If they have harmed the tablet in any way, everything could be put into jeopardy./

Seto glanced back at the door leading back into the stands before turning and heading downstairs. /If the tablet is important to them, they probably wouldn't risk damaging it. But I'll need to get back to the school and someplace quiet to figure out how much trouble we're all in. It's too noisy here./

/They're going to wonder where you've disappeared to./

/Then let them. I don't have to leave my whereabouts with them./

Set sighed from his soul room. /I guess we won't see the end of the match./

/That depends how long Wheeler decides to talk./

/Incoming Bludger! Duck!/

Yugi dived down a few feet on his chase of the two Hufflepuff chasers passing the Quaffle back and forth to each other. Ron was saving the shots – most of them, at least – but they were harrowing to watch. He was almost certain the two he saved by nearly falling off his broom were not deliberate in the slightest. It wasn't until he heard the Gryffindors cheering and Lavender screaming out his name that his confidence seemed to climb a bit.

/Thanks, Pharaoh! That was a close one…/

Yugi passed Harry while he was on a slow sweep of the Pitch looking for the Golden Snitch. He hadn't paid much attention, being focused on avoiding the Bludgers and keeping track of the Quaffle, but as far as he could hear from Luna's very passive commentary, the Snitch hadn't been spotted yet.

"You're doing great, Yugi," he heard Harry call as he flew by.

Ginny flew alongside him. "Here – Cadwallader has the Quaffle again, flank him with me?"

Yugi nodded and followed her, appearing on his right side and Ginny his left. Ginny knocked into Cadwallader, bumping him into Yugi. He wasn't keen on hurting the Hufflepuff, but he knocked him back towards his teammate with less force than Ginny had used.

"…Oh, looks like Gryffindor is trying to force Hufflepuff to drop the Quaffle. That's not very nice, but I guess that's how Quidditch works…."

Ginny finally wrestled the red ball from Cadwallader's hands and Yugi zoomed after her towards Hufflepuff's end of the Pitch, giving her cover so she could line up her shot at the goal post. The keeper caught the ball at the last second and tossed it off to Smith, who rolled to avoid a random Bludger and then took off again towards the Gryffindor posts.

"…And there's another save by Ron Weasley. It looks like he's much more stable on his broom now, he didn't have to dangle that time. And - oh! It also looks like the Hufflepuff seeker might have seen something. What was his name again? …Stewart, Stimmons?"

"SUMMERBY," Professor McGonagall shouted into the microphone, causing half of the stadium to erupt in laughter.

"Oh, right, Summerby. He's darting around the Pitch rather fast, and it looks like he's going to barrel into one of the Gryffindor chasers."

Yugi had just enough time to turn and quickly climb to avoid Summerby crashing into him, and to his horror, the seeker followed.

/What is he doing!?/

/I don't know. The Snitch must be nearby, but I don't see it anywhere, and I don't dare phase out of the Puzzle where someone might see. For now though, just run…err, fly./

Harry flew forward, trying to figure out what had Summerby after Yugi so intently, when he saw the slightest glint of gold, keeping pace, but staying almost camouflaged near the spikes of Yugi's bangs. I don't believe this – it was hiding near his hair the entire time? How did I not see it? I flew right past him a few minutes ago!

"DIVE, YUGI!" Harry bellowed, as he surged forward on the Firebolt.

"…I think the Snitch was spotted now, Harry Potter's also chasing Summerby…who's chasing the Yugi Muto, who's abandoned trying to score in favor of staying on his broomstick. What a wild game this is!"

Thankfully, Yugi heard him and pressed himself down closer to his broom, sending him into a deep dive. Harry barely had time to give a relieved exhale before taking off after the Snitch, which scampered off towards the Gryffindor posts. At least Yugi could help with scoring again.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Jimmy Peakes smash a bludger towards them and he pulled up to avoid it. Unfortunately, Summerby did too, and the chase continued.

"Gryffindor scores again!"

Harry zoomed past the Slytherin bleachers where he could hear the boos and the jests. Luna didn't announce the score, but from what he was able to keep track, the game was still very close. Their two teams were pretty evenly matched, and it was really going to take catching the Snitch for there to be a clear winner.

They looped around the Gryffindor goals, and Harry had the chance to see Ron stop the Quaffle with his foot, kicked it out towards Demelza, and roar triumphantly with the cheers from the Gryffindor side of the stands.

The Snitch suddenly dived, taking refuge near the wooden planks near the base of the field. Harry weaved back and forth, and was suddenly reminiscent of another chase, four years previous, when he and Malfoy were both pursuing the Snitch and being chased by Dobby's rogue Bludger.

Harry pressed forward, easing past Summerby as the Snitch shifted upwards once again and back towards the middle of the field. He twisted into a barrel roll to avoid a well-timed Bludger from one of the Hufflepuff beaters and threw out his arm to reach for the tiny golden ball….

"…This happened over a week ago? Why are we just learning about this now?" Seto crossed his arms and glared through the laptop screen at Joey Wheeler.

"You think I'm any happier? I live here and we just found out yesterday. Newspapers didn't list anythin' specific, and even still, we found out on a fluke."

"Why didn't Ishizu tell anyone?"

"Somethin' about protectin' you and the Pharaoh, I dunno. You want to yell at her? We're here with her at the wizard's place."

"I want to know what happened, obviously."

Joey shrugged, and picked up the phone where he had it angled towards him on the table. "Okay, but I wouldn't chew her out too much, she still don't look too good."

The footage became shaky as the blond duelist moved through the house. Ishizu was sitting up in bed, atop the blankets, with a phone and a stack of papers alongside her. While she didn't seem to have been physically injured, she looked incredibly exhausted. Before she took the phone from him, Seto could see Téa and a red-haired man sitting off to the side. Remembering back to Ishizu's first letter sent to them at school, Seto guessed that this man was Bill Weasley.

"Hello, Kaiba," Ishizu said tiredly, "I apologize for intruding on your day like this – I had asked Joey not to contact you."

"Don't you think we would have liked to know that someone attacked the museum?"

Ishizu hung her head. "I did not want to worry you. They asked many questions about the tablet's origins. Those are secrets of the highest order."

"People have asked about the tablet before though," said Seto. "Is that why you didn't tell anyone?"

Ishizu looked off to the side, towards where Bill was seated, before turning back to the camera. "No. I was visited by Voldemort himself."

Seto leaned forward. "I thought that the whole point of the wizards there was to keep people like him out of the museum. How did he get in in the first place?"

Bill voice was heard off to the side as he joined in the conversation. "That's what Sturgis and I were trying to find out. We put enchantments up on the museum together, just as he and Hestia and Emmeline did to your homes. By all accounts, he shouldn't have been able to waltz into the museum the way he did."

Seto scowled. If these so-called wards couldn't keep the Death Eaters out, then what good were they in the first place? Just how well protected was Mokuba back home if Voldemort would be able to bypass the shields and arrive at the front door?

"He didn't apparate in," said Bill, "That much we know. Anti-apparation jinxes are still in place because we tested them. He may be the darkest wizard in the last century, but it would still be impossible for him to just pop in like that. Which means he used a different kind of magic."

/Shadow magic…./ Set murmured, /Perhaps he had help from the mysterious shadow./

"What was he after?"

Ishizu rubbed at her arms. "Information. He asked questions about the Pharaoh's tablet, which I refused to answer. But then…he brought out a relic he had, one I think was stolen from a group of artifacts found at the dig site that was attacked. It was a broken sword. He asked about that as well."

Seto paused. A sword? At least it wasn't a Millennium Item. "What kind of sword?"

Ishizu shook her head. "It didn't appear to be one of much importance. At least half of it was missing. He seemed to think it a rare and powerful item, but I told him otherwise. A quick glance could see that it was not saved for any person of high importance departing for the afterlife. It had clearly not stood the test of time. There were many cracks along it, as if it was either being pieced back together again, or ready to continue falling apart."

/Maybe he was looking for the rest of the pieces/ Set mused. /But why? I thought he was after Millennium Items, and that is clearly not one of them./

Seto posed the question to Ishizu, who closed her eyes and sighed. "Because it's no ordinary sword."

He was about to ask her to elaborate when loud, cheering voices could be heard from the other side of the portrait hole. Great, he said to himself, the match is over. "Everyone's going to be back from the game in about two minutes, and privacy is going to go right out the window. We will finish this conversation at another time."

"Of course," said Bill, "After Ishizu has had time to recover."

Ishizu nodded and looked to Bill again. "In person, preferably. I know the three of you will be home for the holidays soon."

"It really shouldn't wait," Seto heard Joey say off in the distance.

"It shouldn't," said Ishizu, "But I do not want any eavesdroppers. Please see me once you get home. I assure you, I will tell the rest of the tale. And do not worry about me, Bill and his friends are keeping careful watch over both myself and the museum. I don't think Voldemort will be back."

They said goodbyes and hung up the instant the Fat Lady's portrait swung open. Yugi entered first with Ryou and Hermione, looking incredibly pleased, as most of the rest of their house followed soon after, hollering and cheering, chanting "WEASLEY! WEASLEY! WEASLEY!" over and over.

"I take it you won," said Seto, getting up from the table and pocketing his phone. The laptop made it back into its bag just in time for Dean and Seamus to cover the tabletop he had been using with a plethora of snacks hauled up from the kitchens.

"We did!" Yugi said happily, "The Snitch blew the points out of the water, but it was the closest game I've ever seen!"

Harry snorted. "It's the only game you've ever seen."

"Ron did some amazing saves towards the end when it seemed like Hufflepuff was taking a bigger lead," said Ryou, watching him and Ginny take the center of attention. "And Ginny got really aggressive in scoring too."

Yugi tilted his head. "Didn't you watch the match?"

Seto shook his head. "I had to take an important call and left early."

Yugi's shoulders slumped. "Really? Couldn't it have waited till after the game?"

"It's not like I wanted to talk to Wheeler, but he couldn't get a hold of you, for obvious reasons."

Yugi gasped. "Joey called you? It must have been very important – what happened?"

Seto shook his head. "Later." The noisy crowd stuffed into the common room was starting to give him a headache. "After this dies off."

Yugi nodded. "Is everything okay, at least?"

Seto shrugged. "For now."

Yugi nodded, pensively. "Okay," he said quietly, and then tried to pull him into the thick of the celebrating mass. "At least celebrate our Quidditch victory with us!"

Seto shook his arm free and hung back towards the edge of the common room. "I prefer to keep my hearing intact."

"Suit yourself," Yugi shrugged, "At least have some fo –"

"WOOOOOOOO!"

They both whirled around to where most of the Gryffindor boys were howling. In the center of the throng of celebrating students was Ron, lip-locked with Lavender Brown.

Yugi's eyes widened as the chorus chanting of 'Weasley!' continued. "…Someone is certainly happy…"

He suddenly knocked into his rival as a brown-haired blur rushed past and down a back staircase in the tower.

Yugi righted himself and looked behind him. "Was that…"

Seto took a quick glance at Ron and Lavender, and then around the room to double-check who was missing. "Mhm."

Yugi started down the stairs when Seto stopped him. "No. I'll go."

Yugi raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I didn't think…well…"

"…that I was capable of feeling?" Seto finished his sentence for him, with an ironic lack of emotion in his voice.

Yugi turned red. "I...uh..."

Seto shook his head dismissively and then gave his rival an odd, almost out of place smirk. "Congratulations on your first Quidditch match. Go revel in your success."

Yugi blinked and looked back down the staircase.

"Go." Seto gave him a half-push towards the crowd. "I'll handle it."

Yugi stared blankly as he watched his rival head down the back steps, and then said to no one in particular, "…did I miss something?"

Hermione was sitting near the bottom of the steps that led into an empty chamber under Gryffindor Tower. Wand in hand, she turned her head slightly to see who was coming down the staircase. Apparently, he wasn't on the jinx list, because she turned back to face forward and placed the wand down next to her. She didn't say anything, just rubbed at her arms, trembling slightly.

Seto descended the last few steps and sat down next to her, eyes darting upwards at the sound of a faint chirp. A small circle of yellow birds fluttered over their heads.

"You almost took out Yugi in your hasty escape," said Seto, stretching his legs out in front of him.

Hermione didn't look at him, just clutched her arms tighter. "I didn't mean to. I just wanted to get out of there." Her voice was shaky, as if she had been crying, but he purposely didn't make a point of staring at her face to look for tear tracks.

Another chirp from above made Hermione look up, and she then sounded almost embarrassed to be caught summoning birds in the middle of an empty room. "I was just…practicing," she said. "I've never been able to get the feathers quite right."

Seto glanced up again. "They look good."

Hermione shook her head sadly, and turned to him with a shy smile. "They're not as good as the ones you made. You summoned them perfectly on the first try."

She didn't expect Seto to pick up and hold out her wand, and turned to him quizzically. "W-what are you doing?"

Seto shrugged and gestured to the circling birds. "You said you were having trouble. Show me."

"You're going to…tutor me? Now?"

Seto moved the wand a little closer to her. "Call it returning a favor."

Hermione sniffled, but took the wand from him, and aimed it out a ways from the birds she had already conjured. "A-avis." Her voice broke mid incantation, and her hand had trembled slightly, so she wasn't surprised when nothing happened. She wasn't quite sure how she was focused enough to get them out the first time.

"I'm afraid I'm not in the right mind for it."

Seto leveled her a look of disbelief. "You seem to have summoned those without too much difficulty."

Hermione sighed. "A fluke, I assure you."

Seto studied her for a moment, before drawing his own wand from his jacket pocket. "Avis."

They watched as a second fluttering of birds erupted out of Seto's wand and joined the first flock above them. "It's not your pronunciation, it's the wand movement."

Hermione watched them circle above her, and rubbed at her arms again. "They're beautiful."

Seto didn't say anything; just simply put his wand away.

They were quiet for a few minutes, the only sounds being the chirping canaries, and the residual noise from their partying house mates above them.

"You must think I'm being silly," she said after a while, sniffling. "Getting so upset like this…."

He turned to look at her.

"…It's not like I should care what he does," she continued, "…or who he chooses to…to…." Hermione suddenly shook her head, trying to clear the image of Ron kissing Lavender from her mind. "I had hoped he would have learned from fourth year, where he acted so ridiculously jealous over a friendship." She wiped a stray tear from her eye. "I should have known better."

Hermione turned to look at Seto. "Can you believe…I was thinking of asking him to the ball?"

Seto raised an eyebrow.

Hermione shrugged, and went back to looking in front of her again. "I…I guess I thought if I asked him, he would get over his stupid funk. …And some of the things that he said…. But then he wouldn't leave me alone about it…and she started fawning over him…."

It didn't matter that she sounded like she was rambling. Seto didn't seem keen on stopping her, so she kept going. "…No one has ever paid any attention to him like that before, not like she was doing now. I-I've been there from the beginning, but no, he doesn't see that at all…. She just started doting on him like three days ago…."

She kept talking quietly, pausing every few seconds to gather herself after a sniffle or her voice breaking, but Seto's concentration was only broken when the sounds of heavy footsteps – more than one set – began heading down the steps on the other side of the chamber.

Ron emerged from the other end, with an extremely giggly Lavender attached to his arm. They stumbled into the center of the room before noticing Hermione and Seto sitting across the way.

Hermione immediately tensed.

Lavender took a look at her distraught roommate, biting her lip before looking up at Ron. "Oops," she said, without an ounce of shame for walking in on them. "I think this room's taken."

Ron had stopped short, eyes darting between Hermione and Seto. Hermione's hand was back around her wand, clutching it so tightly her knuckles were turning white.

Lavender reached for Ron's arm. "There's another spot we could go," she giggled again, trying to tug him back towards the chamber's exit, but Ron pulled his arm back, still focused elsewhere. With a last look at Hermione, Lavender left the room.

Ron only barely heard her, his mind still trying to put together what his eyes were seeing. Once Lavender was out of sight, he gestured between the two sitting in front of him, a look of slight confusion on his face. "So I was right. There was something going on."

Hermione slowly got to her feet. "Go away, Ronald."

He ignored her and looked up. "What's with the birds? More private lessons?"

Seto narrowed his eyes darkly, but when he made to get up, Hermione held out her other hand slightly to stop him. .

"Oppugno!"

The two sets of canaries that Ron had been watching with a mixture of jealousy and awe suddenly stopped circling the air mindlessly above them. They began forming a single file line and darted across the room, aiming right for him.

It took him a moment to realize just what was going on – he had barely noticed Hermione raise her wand arm in the first place – but for just a quick few seconds saw the tear-streaked eyes of his friend before the birds started gunning for him. He quickly threw up his arms to shield his face, backing away towards the chamber's exit as the canaries tried to peck away at any bit of him that they could reach. When he finally reached the door, he dared himself to look back at them one more time to see Hermione staring angrily. The birds made one final dive and he disappeared around the corner just in time for the explosion of yellow feathers as the canaries made contact with the heavy door and vanished.

Hermione let her wand clatter noisily to the floor and she reached for Seto's arm as she nearly collapsed back down on the step. She felt him immediately seize up at her touch, and wondered for the briefest moment if he was going to shake her off like she had seen him do to Yugi previously, but he surprisingly let her cling there.

Seto looked down as she clutched to his arm like a lifeline, and cried into his shoulder. He had dealt with a distraught Mokuba plenty of times in the past, but this wasn't Mokuba. He knew how to make Mokuba feel better. This was…new and very uncomfortable. He forced himself to let out some of the tension running from his neck all the way down his arm before his muscles completely locked up, and did the only thing he could think of in this situation, which was bring his other hand around to awkwardly pat one of her own.

Seto wasn't sure why he decided that he was a better option for comfort over Yugi at this point, but he didn't move, allowing her to curl in a little tighter for as long as she needed. Anything else he could think of to say didn't seem like a proper pep talk – not at this moment, at least – so he stayed quiet and resettled himself against the back of the step knowing he was going to be there for a while, and listened to the odd duality of Hermione's depressed state next to him, and the unassuming revelry upstairs.