Of Lost Swords and Shadow Magic

by Vaasth

In his efforts to find an edge over Albus Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort seeks out a magic only known to Wizards in myth and lost to time. Now, as targets of a madman halfway across the globe, the bearers of the Millennium Items find themselves thrown into a foreign war as an ancient relic brings an unexpected third player to the table.

40. Recovery

A/N: A very Happy Holiday to all!

/Text/ Spirit to Host

/Text/ Host to Spirit

---

Chapter 40: Recovery

By morning there was no indication that anything out of the ordinary had happened the previous evening. Harry and Ron were downstairs in the corner of the common room, peering out the windows, but there was no way of seeing what caused the strange lightshow.

"Did you see what had happened last night?" asked Harry as Hermione stepped off the girls' staircase.

She shook her head and sat down in the armchair by the fireplace. "I heard a boom, but that was it. By the time I looked out the window, I think whatever happened was over. I didn't see any of the lights that Parvati mentioned."

Harry glanced around the common room before lowering his voice down so only Ron and Hermione could hear. "I hope that doesn't interfere with anything. We can't risk them doubling the Aurors around the school if we're going to sneak out tonight."

"I tested the locater spell last night," said Hermione softly. "It works."

Harry's eyes widened. "It pointed out in Seto's direction?"

She shook her head. "No, I tested it on Ginny's sweater."

Ron wrinkled his nose. "Why did you have Ginny's sweater?"

"I didn't feel like sitting around in my room, so I spent time with Ginny," she said, rolling her eyes.

Harry could guess why, and he wondered if she was still mad at Ron – and by extension – Lavender Brown. She couldn't stand to be near either of them before leaving Hogwarts for holiday break, but it seemed once they returned, she hadn't the same level of bite, and seemed to leave the matter alone.

Was Seto's disappearance somehow also a blessing on his friends?

"Don't tell me she wants to go with us," said Ron, "You know that once she's determined, there's no changing her mind. And if you try too hard, you get bat-bogey hexed in return…."

"She offered to help," said Hermione, "And we both know we can use it."

"It's too dangerous," said Ron. He crossed his arms over his chest, "She's not going right into You-Know-Who's lair."

"But it wasn't too dangerous to drop everything and run to the Department of Mysteries?" Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "You're being hypocritical, Ronald."

Ron scowled at her, but before he could retort back, Harry quickly cut in. So much for peace… "C'mon – let's go down to eat. We ought to spend the day going over the plan with Yugi and Ryou, and if all goes right, we should be able to sneak out without too much incident later."

Yugi and Ryou were already in the Great Hall when they arrived, poring over the most recent Daily Prophet left on the table.

"What do you think happened?" asked Ryou, "The Spirit wanted to investigate, but it was after curfew and it took a great deal of convincing to keep him under control."

"I don't know," said Harry, "Whatever it was, it was serious enough that Dumbledore cut our lesson last night short and kicked me out without saying much of anything else."

"I'm sure he had his reasons," said Hermione.

Sighing, Harry let the matter drop and glanced up and down the table before leaning in closer so everyone else around them was out of earshot. "How are things going so far?"

"I'm going to take a walk down to where we first found the Thestrals," said Ryou, "With any luck, they're not in a gated paddock or anything."

"My duel disk is ready to go," said Yugi, "I just hope I don't have to use it."

He was then met with three openly baffled stares.

"What?"

"Yugi, mate," Ron began, putting his fork down, "Why are you bringing your cards?"

"Oh," Yugi laughed awkwardly, "Well, for us, every confrontation with the bad guys usually ends up in some sort of high-stakes Duel Monsters match."

"Somehow, I don't think Voldemort is going to play a card game with you," said Harry.

"No," said Yugi, "Maybe not him, or the Death Eaters, but that Shadow creature might…"

"There's no telling that the Shadow knows how to duel either…"

"But Kaiba can," said Yugi, "I'm preparing for the worst-case scenario here."

Harry shrugged and pulled out the Marauders Map from his hoodie pocket, "Well, if you guys think it'll help, then by all means."

Hermione barely gave the Map a moment's glance before shaking her head and reaching for the discarded newspaper. "Really, Harry? Malfoy is right over there at the Slytherin table."

"I'm not looking for him," said Harry. "…It's for Umbridge. I'm wondering if she left for – what the!"

Yugi and Ryou turned to look at him. Harry was solely focused on one portion of the Map, ignoring all of the other moving dots and labels in the rest of the castle.

"What do you see?" asked Yugi. "Is it Umbridge?"

Harry looked up, eyes wide. "This says Seto Kaiba is in the Hospital Wing!"

"What!?" Yugi lunged across the table to get a better look. "That can't be…can it?"

"Is this thing ever wrong?" asked Ryou.

Harry shook his head. "It never lies."

"Then he has to be here," said Yugi, "But – how?"

"One way or another we'll figure it out, and fast," said Ron, "McGonagall's coming – quick, hide it!"

Harry was so quick to fold the Marauder's Map that he nearly tore it in his haste to stash it back into his pocket.

"Mr. Muto, Mr. Bakura," said Professor McGonagall, stopping just behind Ron between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, "Please see me in my office when you are finished here."

Yugi blinked. "Yes, Professor"

Professor McGonagall nodded, took one step back towards the High Table, and then stopped and turned back. "Oh you three might as well come too. I already know you'll find out what I have to say immediately afterwards."

Ron leaned in across the table once she was out of earshot. "Well. That was awfully convenient."

"Yeah…" Harry's face then fell. "Though, this is probably a weird blessing in disguise."

"What makes you say that?" asked Ryou.

"Umbridge is still here," said Harry, "Not in the Great Hall, but I saw her icon on the Marauders Map. There's a much bigger chance our plan would have failed with her patrolling around at night."

/Doubtful/ Bakura snorted. /I could get past her with ease./

/You maybe/ Ryou reminded him, /Perhaps not the rest of us./

Keeping a discreet eye on the High Table, they waited for Professor McGonagall to leave before making their way out of the Great Hall and towards her office.

"Just to make sure we're on the same page," said Yugi, "If this is about something completely different…should we bring up how Kaiba is back?"

Harry cringed slightly. "Eh…probably not. None of the Professors really know about the Marauders Map, and it'll more than likely be confiscated if they do find out about it."

"We could just blame it on the school ghosts or something," said Ron, "Between the Fat Friar and Nearly Headless Nick, word does travel fast around here…."

/Or I could just stab you again and you'll figure it out firsthand./

Ryou's eyes widened as they looked down at where the Millennium Ring was hiding under his sweater. /SPIRIT!/

"Ryou?" said Harry, "You okay?"

Ryou quickly shook his head, sighing loudly. "N-nothing. The Spirit in the Ring is just being less than helpful."

Professor McGonagall was behind her desk when they crossed her empty classroom and Hermione knocked on the office door.

"Have a seat," she said, and looked to Yugi and Ryou. "Before we get to the matter at hand, I wanted to share an update with you, regarding your additional coursework. Professor Sprout has decided that once the snow has cleared from the paths to the Greenhouses, there should only be two more of her evening classes. Weather permitting, the last will be two weeks from now."

"Oh," said Ryou, "Really? I thought we would still have a way to go still, since we missed out on five years of classes…."

"The remedial courses were designed to streamline and prioritize," said Professor McGonagall, "Professor Snape still has a number of potions to show you, as do both myself and Professor Flitwick with your spells. But before long you should be ready to merely follow the 6th year curriculum."

"Okay," said Yugi, and he gave a slight shrug at Harry, Ron, and Hermione before turning back to Professor McGonagall, "But…you didn't need everyone here for that. So there's something else, right?"

"Yes," she said, "I'm pleased to say that Seto Kaiba has been found and is currently recovering in the Hospital Wing."

For the sake of playing the part, Yugi's jaw dropped. "What? When?"

"Late last night," said Professor McGonagall. "Professor Hagrid located him along the outer edge of the school grounds.

"That's – that's great," said Yugi, looking visibly relieved. "I'm just a little confused. Professor Dumbledore told us there were no leads on Kaiba – so…how did anyone find him?"

"We didn't," said Professor McGonagall, "As far as I was aware, the Ministry had no luck in tracking him down. Professor Dumbledore, however, may have had information of his own."

Yugi furrowed his brow. If no one was sure to where Voldemort was keeping Kaiba, how did he get back? Was there something Dumbledore knew that he didn't share? Perhaps the Ministry was more competent than they initially thought? Or did the Japanese Ministry get involved?

It seemed Professor McGonagall wasn't the person to ask, but unfortunately, the one with the answers wasn't even in the school.

"Where is he, anyway?"

"Professor Dumbledore is in Domino, alerting Mr. Kaiba's family of his return."

"Oh good," Hermione breathed, "Mokuba has been so worried…." She then looked up at her head of house. "Can we see him?"

"I'm afraid not," said Professor McGonagall, and then backpedaled at the downtrodden looks from all of the students before her. "Madam Pomfrey is keeping a close eye on him, and didn't wish for him to be crowded with visitors right away."

"What happened?"

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Aside from whatever he might have endured during the week he was gone? He was found unresponsive nearly frozen in the snow. Whoever set up the Portkey to send him here – unless he did it himself – was unaware that they cannot pass through the protective barrier around the school."

"That was the lightshow we saw?" said Ron, eyes wide.

"We believe so," said Professor McGonagall. "When his condition improves, Madam Pomfrey will allow you to visit the Hospital Wing." She then looked plainly at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Knowing, however, the penchant you three have to disobeying orders, if you truly cannot resist staying off the third floor, at least don't all go at once."

Ron blinked innocently and looked to his friends. "Why's she looking only at us?"

"Need I remind you of all of the rules you lot have broken before the end of your first year?" Professor McGonagall shook her head, smirking slightly. "I am merely relaying the message from Madam Pomfrey. Be considerate of your friend's recovery. He has likely gone through something terribly traumatic, and I expect you all to respect any desire for peace and privacy. Do not hound him for details on what has just happened."

Hermione nodded. "We understand, Professor."

"Good, and before you leave here, I have one more thing for all of you." She glanced quickly to her office door and then back. "Should Mr. Kaiba choose to share in the details of his last week, please show tact on where you discuss it. I'm sure you understand."

"Professor?"

"The Ministry has already tried to interfere once in this event," she said, "Just be wary and remember – even the portraits have ears."

---

He was warm. Uncomfortably so, after the long stretch in the cold mansion. His eyes hadn't even opened yet, and a pained grimace had already formed on his face. Despite feeling warm, a chill wormed its way through his body, and his head wouldn't stop pounding.

But that wasn't the only thing bothering him as his eyes slowly opened.

He couldn't move.

Seto blinked slowly through half-lidded eyes at the ceiling. This wasn't the study Voldemort had dumped him in.

His head turned a bit to the left, towards the only light source in the room – a small candle lamp on the bedside table, surrounded by a number of bottles of various shape and size with labels he couldn't make out in the dark.

His arms felt like lead as he tried to dig them into the mattress and pull his body into a sitting position, but still nothing. His right leg moved, but not his left.

In fact…he couldn't even feel his other leg, and he had to stare down the blankets until his eyes were certain that it was still there, though the peak in the bedcovers at his feet didn't look quite right.

That spell the woman cast at him as the Portkey activated must have hit at just the right moment. But…what did it do?

Something scraped along the floor to his right, and Seto jerked his head to the other side in time to see Joey Wheeler raise his arms in the air in a long stretch.

Oh, just Wheeler. Not one of his masked wardens making sure he didn't escape again. Not the Shadow Magus. Not Voldemort.

So he was back at Hogwarts. Seto resettled his head back against his pillows and stared back up at the ceiling again as his eyelids drooped shut a little more. Somehow, Wheeler snuck out of Gryffindor Tower and no one stopped him from sitting here with him all night. A bit unusual that neither Filch or Professor Umbridge caught him, but perhaps he was just lucky.

That was how Wheeler won all his duels, anyhow.

Seto closed his eyes. In the morning, surely Yugi and the rest of the Friendship Brigade would regale him with all of the things he had missed, and maybe then he could get an answer to why half of his body just stopped working. But for now…he could sleep. The Death Eaters weren't here.

…Wait a minute.

Seto's eyes forced themselves open again as he wrinkled his brow against the hammering in his skull. Joey Wheeler? He wasn't at Hogwarts. Neither were the rest of Wheeler's dorky friends. If anything, Yugi should be sitting there.

What the hell was Joey Wheeler doing here at Hogwarts?

He turned his head back, a bit too fast, and nearly felt the darkened room spin. That was definitely Joey Wheeler sitting across two visitors chairs pushed together to make some sort of makeshift couch. And the dumb blond was staring right at him, and grinning of all things.

Seto blinked. This couldn't be real. Not that he usually pictured what awakening in a hospital would feel or look like, but seeing him of all people at his bedside? Rather than Mokuba? What sort of sick nightmare was this?

Another chill forced itself down Seto's spine. Perhaps he never truly left Voldemort's care. Perhaps this was a complete mind trick. The Shadow Magus never made his appearance before his last escape. What if this was some sick Shadow Realm fantasy while the monster ravaged through his head again?

It certainly would explain the headache…and potentially why his legs weren't moving. It wouldn't be the first time the Shadow Magus immobilized him.

Joey swung his legs back over the side of the chair he was using for a footrest and quickly leaned forward as Seto tried to sit back up again, staring at him completely dumbfounded – a look that he had never seen on Kaiba before.

"Hey," Joey said, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's alright, man. You're safe. None of them masked weirdos are here."

Seto merely blinked at him and dug his arms back into the mattress.

"No don't do that," Joey hissed, and pushed him back down into his pillow. "You'll wake Mokuba! The kid finally checked out a few hours ago…"

Mokuba? He didn't see his brother in any other visitor chair, and swept the area around his bed again, where he could just make out a number of empty seats. Way more than he would have expected to see. How many people had gathered around while he was out?

That left only one place, and Seto stared down along his bed again, looked to the side at the cot next to him, and back. His bed had been widened, and he could make out his brother scrunched up alongside him, resting on a pillow that was wedged against his right hip.

…How did he not see him before?

He watched as Joey got up, walked completely around the bed, and started twisting around the potion bottles to read their labels under the tiny lamp light.

Joey plucked up the fourth bottle, and an empty glass, and poured a small amount out of it. He walked back to where he had set up camp and held the glass out, noting with a frown that even with his eyes half-open, Seto tried to shift away from him, eying the drink with a mostly-there scowl.

Joey frowned at the glass. "It's nuthin' bad," he said, "The nurse lady wanted you to take some o' this if you came aroun' overnight. It's uh…whatsit called…."

He set the glass down on the other nightstand, went back, and returned with both the bottle and the lamp, which he held up, showing the label off in Seto's direction. "See? Pepperup Potion. You sure did a number on yourself. You got a bad fever to knock out. It's just gonna get rid of it, and tucker you out till mornin'."

Seto didn't make a move towards it.

Joey smirked and quietly scooted his chair forward. "Two options, pal. You can drink it yourself, I can feed it to ya, or you can just roast in your skin overnight."

He shrugged and gave Seto a lopsided smirk. " 'Kay that was three options, but whatever. So what's it gonna be, chief?"

---

It was daylight when Seto woke again, feeling drowsy still, but at least more alert than he had the previous night. His head, while still throbbing, at least didn't feel congested. The constant shivers from the previous night were gone. He still felt cold, despite being buried under at least two blankets, but it didn't seem like a fever chill. The Pepperup Potion must have worked after all.

He turned his head to the side. The number of visitors chairs that were scattered around were still there. Some had moved places a bit – or, at least, he thought they had, but all but one were empty.

Roland sat, reading a rather large book. Seto had to stare at it for a good minute to realize that it was a copy of Defensive Magical Theory.

…What was that doing here?

Seto blinked, his mind still incredibly groggy. He…vaguely remembered taking the Pepperup Potion, and recognized it beside the small lantern on the table, alongside the other potion bottles. But…Roland wasn't there…or was he?

Why did his brain insist that the person who sat in that chair when he woke in the middle of the night was Joey Wheeler?

The thought was ludicrous. There was no possible way that Joey Wheeler had come to Hogwarts. After all, he wasn't mixed up in all of this magical nonsense. Not to mention that the two of them were hardly on decent terms. Joey Wheeler would be the last person he would expect to see sitting at his bedside.

There was also something else lingering in the back of his mind – something about Mokuba being here but he was currently nowhere to be found. Perhaps he was elsewhere in the castle? Or maybe – like the probability of seeing Wheeler last night – that it was just all in his head.

Regardless, it at least meant that he was free to move around without waking anyone up, and it wasn't until he already tried sitting up that he remembered his other problem from last night.

His legs still didn't work. Sighing, he let himself flop back into his pillow.

Without looking over, he could hear the book snap shut.

"It's good to see you awake again, Mr. Kaiba."

Seto looked over at him.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I was hit by a truck," Seto muttered, and then furrowed his brow as he stared back up towards the ceiling. …Two trucks probably was more accurate. "I…am awake, right?"

"You certainly look it from here."

"This isn't some…I don't know…a pain-induced hallucination?"

Roland chuckled quietly. "Even if that were the case, your brain would have just told you what you would have wanted to hear anyhow. That being said, you aren't dreaming and you really are back at Hogwarts."

Seto closed his eyes and pinched at the bridge of his nose. "That much I did gather," he said, and after a brief pause, continued on, "…but what are you doing here?"

Roland tilted his head slightly at him, an unreadable expression on his face. "Did you really think Mokuba would have stayed at home?"

Seto sighed. "I didn't want him to get mixed up in all this."

Roland snorted. "A bit late for that. About six months too late, really."

Seto just blinked at him.

"Professor Dumbledore reached out two days ago with news that you had been recovered. Mokuba wanted to come see you, and here we are. He has been more or less glued to this spot since."

"And," he added, sensing the next question on the tip of Seto's tongue, "He's currently at breakfast with Mr. Muto and his friends, and should be back soon."

"You're not there with him?"

"No, I ate already," he said, reached over to lift up the coffee mug from where it was hiding behind the textbook, and watched Seto's gaze linger on it.

"…I think I'm in caffeine withdrawal," Seto said, "Perhaps that's why I have such a headache still."

"Somehow, I doubt that's what it's from," said Roland, "And you're going to have to continue without it – that's the last thing you need."

Seto narrowed his eyes. "And how would you know what I need?"

Roland deadpanned. "You were in the devil's company for a week. You need to be resting."

Seto scowled at him, and then once it was clear that it wasn't going to get him anywhere, huffed and stared up at the ceiling. "Are you going to answer questions that I have, or are you going to rat me out to Madam Pomfrey, who will no doubt knock me out again?"

"She's at breakfast too. I'll do my best, but I admit there are probably some questions you have that I won't have the answers to."

Seto shook his head, waved his arm in the air dismissively and then dropped it with a light thump back on the blanket. "Doesn't matter…" He looked back at his bodyguard. "Mokuba…?"

"Was justifiably a nervous wreck," said Roland, "He hid it as well as he possibly could, but we all knew better. Mr. Muto's friends have done their best to keep his mind elsewhere, but it didn't last long. He was constantly in contact with Yugi Muto in attempts to locate you.

"We were able to track your lapel pin to a field in the middle of England." Roland paused. "I was very adamant that they do the proper thing and tell Professor Dumbledore rather than do something foolish, so I can only assume they did, since here you are…."

Seto shifted a bit in the bed, as much as his legs allowed, and frowned. "When was that?"

"Four days ago, I believe?"

Seto nodded slowly. Knowing the Pharaoh's hero complex – and Harry Potter's as well, he would have honestly been surprised if they sought out Dumbledore or any other member of the Order to mount a rescue. But still – that didn't sound right. He didn't remember seeing anyone in the Order. If Yugi or Harry managed to tell someone where he was (doubtful), they didn't act fast enough to interfere with his own getaway plan.

"They didn't rescue me," said Seto, "I know that much. I escaped."

Roland's eyebrows shot up. "How?"

Seto rolled his eyes and stared up at the ceiling again. "The people Voldemort chooses for company are imbeciles." He laughed at the memory and then winced, his ribs instantly regretting it. "I talked them into a fight. It was like fighting a Kemo in a dress."

"And you weren't hurt at all? They didn't use magic on you?"

"My bodyguard? No," Seto looked down at his legs. "Once I got out though…" he stared down at his feet. "…Why can't I move my leg?"

"You don't remember?"

Seto cringed. "I remember running. Dodging spells. I had to have been hit with something once I got the Portkey to work."

"I'm sure the nurse will give you a more in-depth rundown on what she's done to it, but it was severely broken."

Seto blinked. "I broke my leg? That's all?"

Roland let out a single dry laugh. "That's all, he says. Sir, your leg was ruined. If you were still in the normal world, you would be looking at intensive surgery and at the very least 3-6 months of recovery and rehabilitation."

Seto's eyebrows both raised. That…that would explain why it looked so…off.

"I can't feel anything. Not even my foot."

"Ah. That would have to do with whatever she did to numb the pain, because she was waiting for your fever to break."

"…Oh." He looked to the potion bottles again. The Pepperup potion was near the front, with the lamp. Right where Joey Wheeler had left it.

No! That's wrong. Joey Wheeler wasn't here. It had to have been Roland, or Madam Pomfrey who gave him that potion, because he definitely remembered drinking it. The fever had to be screwing with him.

But he wasn't fevered anymore. Right?

"Is it gone?"

"Is what gone?"

"My fever."

Without hesitating, even for a moment, Roland leaned forward and rested the back of his hand against his boss's forehead. "Still a bit warm, but not nearly what it was. Another dose of that medicine will probably knock it out for good. Why?"

"You said Mokuba is here."

"Yes. I wouldn't have come without him. He's –"

"I know," said Seto, cutting him off, "At breakfast." He looked back at the potions, frowning.

"What's wrong?"

"I…I woke up last night, or, at least I think I did…."

Roland nodded. "Okay…"

"Mokuba was with me…" Seto gestured down next to his hip. "Has he been sleeping here too?"

"He insisted on it."

"But…you weren't here last night."

"No," said Roland. "I was not. Professor Dumbledore set up rooms in the castle, but Mokuba preferred to remain here, with you."

Seto rubbed at his forehead. "I…I remember Wheeler being here when I woke up. Why is that?"

Roland's voice was flat, matter-of-fact. "Because he was."

Seto jerked his head to the side so fast that he was sure he nearly pulled a muscle in his neck. "What?"

"You were still completely unresponsive from being brought into the castle. Mr. Muto's friends more or less banished me to the quarters given to us so I could get some sleep, but you still needed monitoring in case your conditioned worsened overnight."

Seto closed his eyes briefly, shaking his head. The lingering headache made it hurt to think too much. "Yugi's friends. So…Harry Potter and the rest?"

"Ah, no. Mr. Wheeler and his friends. Tristan Taylor and Téa Gardner are also here."

Seto shifted a bit, trying to stretch the stiffness out of his right leg. "Why?"

"They petitioned to visit Mr. Muto. After the week we all had, I wasn't surprised at the request, just that Professor Dumbledore approved of it in the first place."

"O-okay fine," said Seto. "So…what bet did Wheeler have to lose to make him sit here all night long?"

"I was more than prepared to sit with Mokuba overnight for the second day in a row. Mr. Wheeler insisted on staying so I could get a few hours rest."

Seto looked at him as if he had just uttered complete gibberish. "Joey Wheeler volunteered to sit here all night just to make sure I didn't die in my sleep?"

"However serious your condition was, and still is, it was nowhere near that level of severity," said Roland, "But yes. He offered to keep an eye on you and Mokuba so we could both take it easy."

At seeing the still-baffled expression on his face, Roland added. "Regardless of your feelings towards Mr. Muto's friends, and theirs in turn, it was not just myself and Mokuba on edge. Your disappearance rattled everyone, and it is not just the two of us relieved to know you are back and, well, relatively unharmed."

"Hn," Seto murmured and sank back into his pillow. Well…the Nerd Herd being here at Hogwarts certainly would explain all of the extra chairs gathered around.

His gaze lazily trailed back towards Roland in time to see him let out a rather large yawn and reach for the coffee again. "Excuse me," said Roland. "I've been awake for the better part of the last week. The few hours of sleep I got last night really didn't amount to much."

The move must have been contagious, Seto thought, as he let out a small yawn of his own. "…There's clearly not a whole lot happening here. You could go."

Roland shook his head. There was too much to do still. The delegate from the British Ministry had tried to pop in to check up on Mr. Kaiba twice now while he was unconscious. No doubt the man would show up today as well, and he wanted to be sure he was there to intervene if necessary.

"I can't, there is work to complete. Mr. Muto is bringing your laptop down from your dormitory sometime this morning. After not checking in for two days straight, I imagine they think the world is coming to an end."

"Oh, good," Seto breathed out a relieved sigh and added dryly, "I've never been so eager to check my emails before."

"No, sir. For me, not you."

Seto scowled, though the severity of it was nowhere near the norm, due to his eyelids feeling heavy again. "The chain of command is well-engrained by now. Surely Fuguta is able to handle whatever has been going on since you've left Domino."

Roland froze.

"…Sir?"

Seto blinked. Roland looked suddenly like a deer caught in a set of headlights as the color completely drained from his face. Seto glanced in the other direction, towards Madam Pomfrey's office and the general spot Roland was facing, but there was no one there. So he didn't see anything to make him just freeze up…but why? Was it…was it something he said?

Clearly there was some detail he was missing.

Roland closed his eyes, head tilted down at his lap as he took a few deep breaths to steady himself.

"Mr. Kaiba…there's something you should know…."

---

"Poke it, it's weird!"

"Joey!"

"What? It's not like he can feel it!"

"I'm pretty sure he can!"

"The nurse lady did say she numbed it, right?"

"That's beside the point – Seto is trying to sleep, and you're gonna wake him up!"

With a heavy sigh, Seto's eyes slowly opened to see his brother sitting along one side of his bed, and the rest of Yugi's Friendship Brigade on the other. Yugi, however, wasn't anywhere in sight, and neither was Bakura.

Mokuba leaned forward. "Hey, bro. Sorry if we woke you…"

Seto shook his head slightly and tried to pull himself into a sitting position, and Téa immediately jumped up and grabbed the extra pillows sitting idly on the bed next to them, stacking them behind him to lean against.

"How's that?"

Seto nodded and settled back. "…What time is it?"

"Uh…" Mokuba reached over to one of the bedside tables and picked up Seto's watch. "Just after four. Yugi and the others should be on their way up from class any minute now."

"It's good to see you, Kaiba," said Téa, and Seto turned his head to look at her. "We were really worried about you."

Seto raised an eyebrow, looked at Mokuba, and then back at her. "I find that rather hard to believe. Perhaps not so much from you…"

His gaze traveled to Joey and Tristan, who were seated closer to his feet. "…But you two."

"What, we can't be concerned citizens?" Joey asked.

"It's been hard for all of us," said Mokuba softly. "You may not get along great with Yugi's friends, Seto, but…" he looked down at his lap, "We weren't sure if you were gonna make it out of wherever you were. Dumbledore kept coming to see us, but he never had any good news to share until the day he told us you were back here."

"And even then, he didn't tell us that someone tried to snap you like a twig," said Tristan. "Didn't find that out till we got here."

Seto stared down the end of the bed. The end of the blanket around his feet was all rumpled. Madame Pomfrey made mention that she was going to repair his leg overnight, citing that it was an incredibly painful procedure. …Couldn't be worse than having his leg systematically broken in the first place, right?

"How'd you break it so bad anyway?" said Tristan curiously. Footsteps sounded in the corridor along with the garbled echo of voices, and Seto glanced towards toward the door to the Hospital Wing before looking back down towards his foot. Class must have just let out.

Seto shook his head, brow furrowed. "…I remember a weird light…as I was trying to leave…." But even as he said the words, they didn't feel right. But…that was how he remembered it…wasn't it?

"You don't sound too convinced," said Joey, and he glanced over towards the door. "Oi! Come join the party, Yug'!""

"Hey," said Yugi, with Ryou in tow behind him as they took the two empty seats still left.

"I'm glad to see you up and at 'em," said Ryou, "We've been worried!"

"Hn," Seto shifted slightly. He looked around at the group. "It would seem…my memory isn't all there…." He pointed towards the chair Ryou currently sat in. "…Every time I wake up…there's someone else in that chair."

Seto blinked. "Either I've been hallucinating in and out of consciousness, or someone is missing."

Mokuba climbed up on the bed and settled in next to his brother. "Roland's been napping in the guest quarters in the afternoons so he could sit in through the night and into the mornings. It also lines him up better with the time back home so he can check in at Kaiba Corp."

Seto rolled his eyes. "I don't need a babysitter."

"Uh huh," Mokuba said flatly. "Look how nicely that worked out for you before."

Seto turned his head lazily to Mokuba. "You really think someone is going to bother me here?"

"They tried," said Tristan, and that got Seto's attention. "Why do you think we've all been hovering all this time?"

"Have you…"

"Yeah," said Yugi. "The Ministry…well…they've been sticking their nose where it didn't belong."

Seto's jaw twitched and his hands balled into fists against the blankets. "I heard about Domino."

"Not just that," said Ryou, "Professor Umbridge has been trying to bring around this guy in the mornings before classes start, but with you being so sick there was no point in it. But now that you're awake, they might try again."

Seto scowled. Umbridge poking her nose where it didn't belong was to be expected, but who was she bringing along with her?

"Roland kicked 'em out twice already," said Joey, "So he sits around when they usually come 'n visit. Dunno who the other guy was, but I think he was one o' the guys who stopped in Domino…ya know, after the attack…."

Yugi hung his head a moment, then scooted closer to the bed. "This is the first we've been able to really see you," he said, "Since you've been out for so long. How are you feeling?" He paused. "Besides your leg, I mean… I hope it doesn't hurt or anything."

Seto shook his head. "I…don't feel anything. She said she applied some sort of numbing agent all the way down and…" he grimaced, "…something about removing bones."

Joey pulled a face. "Wait. The reason your foot feels all gumby is because there ain't any bones in it?" He reached forward and gave it another poke, and Seto immediately drew his right leg back, despite Joey prodding at his other one. "That's wacky!"

"Get the hell off my foot, Wheeler."

"Whatcha gonna do, kick me?" Joey snickered.

Téa narrowed her eyes and delivered a sharp kick right into his shin. "Joey!"

"Geez, Téa, you tryin' to break my foot too?"

"Quit being a jerk," she said stiffly.

Yugi cleared his throat and turned back to Seto as Yami phased out of the Millennium Puzzle, causing his friends to do wide-eyed double-takes.

Tristan's jaw could have hit the floor. "Two Yugi's! At the same time…without a Shadow Game!"

Yami chuckled. "I forgot, your friends haven't been able to see me before when I'm not in control."

Yugi blinked. "Oh…I forgot all about that too. It's just so normal for us now."

"Was that a lot to get used to?" asked Téa, "Being able to see the Pharaoh like this?"

Yugi shrugged.

"It certainly makes having conversation easier," said Ryou, "The Spirits of the Ring and the Millennium Rod can do the same."

Joey's eyes darted between Yugi, Yami, and Ryou suspiciously. "Ok, back up a sec for us slowpokes. We knew Bakura had some freaky spirit in the Millennium Ring – that goes way back to like, Duelist Kingdom. But…when did Kaiba get one?"

Seto narrowed his eyes at Ryou before leaning his head back into his pillow and started glaring up at the ceiling.

"Oh…" Yugi cringed. "I guess that's new too."

"What else haven't you told us, Yugi?" asked Tristan.

"You remember the Christmas party at Kaiba's place," said Yami, "And that you found the Millennium Rod in Kaiba's office, Joey?"

"Bit hard to forget," Joey mumbled.

"I said there was a reason we had to give the Rod to Kaiba," said Yugi, "The Millennium Rod was calling to him, and for good reason. The priest – the one who is depicted with the Pharaoh on the tablet – was in the Millennium Rod, and he forged a connection with Kaiba."

"But the Millennium Rod did terrible things," said Téa, "And we all saw what it did to Marik. Does…does that mean that the spirit in the Millennium Rod is evil too?"

"No," said Yami, "The darker Marik was born out of a great darkness in his heart, formed in his youth by his father and the strict lifestyle he was forced to follow. But I don't think Priest Set had anything to do with that. He has been a helpful ally so far."

"Priest Set – that's his name?" asked Téa. "That's certainly easy to remember."

"So…can we see him? Now that the cat's out of the bag?" asked Tristan.

"No."

"Oh come on," Joey teased, "What's it gonna hurt?"

"No, Wheeler." Seto gave a long blink up at the ceiling. Mokuba snuggled in closer, looking up at him worriedly. Seto glanced down at him and sighed.

"Why not?"

Seto glared out at Joey. "Because, Wheeler, my link to him is gone."

Yami Bakura suddenly appeared next to Ryou, eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, gone?"

"Gone," Seto repeated, annoyed. "Torn out of my head and shoved back into the Millennium Rod."

Yami Bakura crossed his arms. "Why can't you link back up with him?"

"I thought your oversized compass would have made it obvious to you," Seto snapped at him. "The Rod isn't here."

"Then where is it?" asked Téa.

Yami Bakura scowled. "You left it behind?"

Seto's eyes snapped angrily at him. "I was stuck with Voldemort for company for days. And the first opportunity I had to get out, I took. And I had to make a choice: hunt for that damn hunk of gold and probably get caught in the process, or get out. I chose survival."

He gestured down at his leg, "And clearly, that wasn't even completely successful."

"But you found your wand," Ryou said.

"A lucky break," Seto huffed. "I had only half a second to think up an escape plan once I found it, and if my phone hadn't been there with it, I wouldn't have had anything to create a Portkey."

He then frowned and looked to the small table at his right. His wand sat beside an empty water glass, and a bottle of Pepperup Potion. The table on his left housed a number of other potion bottles. But one item was clearly missing.

"…Where is my phone?"

"Professor Dumbledore has it," said Mokuba, "He said he would return it to you once you were out of the Hospital."

"He has no right to it," said Seto. He clenched his hand into a fist. "I want it back."

"Kaiba, please," Yugi held up his hands. "He told us he needed to be sure that it wasn't rigged to send you right back. Professor Dumbledore is just looking out for your safety."

"How does he think I got back?" Seto shook his head. "I made the Portkey. You really think anything else could have happened? That after going through the trouble of kidnapping me, they would just let me go?"

No one really had an answer for him, and once again, the words left a funny feeling in the back of his mind, and he couldn't quite fathom why.

---

Hermione stepped off of the third-floor landing and continued onwards to the Hospital Wing with a collection of textbooks in her arms. Yugi had offered for his friends to come watch the latest Quidditch practice, leaving her more or less alone in Gryffindor Tower. Though the offer was given to her as well, she was much more eager to take advantage of the peace and quiet and create some headway on Professor Vector's latest essay.

And she had promised Seto a different set of coursework to catch up on. Madam Pomfrey had been very insistent that Seto remain in her care until she was certain that he was healthy enough to return to class, which left him with nothing but reading to do during his times between potions when he was the least drowsy.

Seto, on the other hand, was certain she had put off restoring his leg as long as humanly possible in a conspiracy with Mokuba to get him to essentially just stay in bed and sleep for the better part of a week. It was rather hard to check himself out of the Hospital Wing with only one working leg. And leaving him with nothing but Defensive Magical Theory for the first three days seemed rather cruel, even though he barely touched Umbridge's dry textbook and chose to sleep off his cold for the majority of the time.

She was only a few feet from the door leading into the Hospital Wing, and could hear a number of loud voices coming from the other side.

…Well, she thought that catching Seto up on some of the missed work and writing Vector's essay would be peaceful. Apparently not.

Hermione walked through the doors, and had to raise an eyebrow curiously. Seto was sitting along the side edge of his bed, staring stubbornly up at Madam Pomfrey. From the other end of the Hospital Wing, Hermione couldn't hear exactly what it was that the nurse was saying, but based on Mokuba's pouty expression from his seat right beside his brother, she appeared to be reading him some sort of riot act.

On the flipside, Roland was sitting in his usual spot, a small tray table set up at Seto's bedside, and he was ignoring the spectacle around him, focusing on whatever was displayed on Seto's laptop.

As she got closer, Hermione noticed that for the first time she had seen this week, Seto was dressed in something other than the Hospital Wing's standard pinstripe pajamas. …Was he trying to check himself out again?

Mokuba saw her coming, grinned excitedly, and hopped off the bed. "Oh good, you're here!"

Madam Pomfrey turned to look at her and sighed noisily. "Well, it's better than Potter, at least," she muttered. "Miss Granger, I trust you can get your friend here to see reason."

Hermione blinked, mouth slightly agape as her eyes wandered to everyone clustered around Seto's bed before looking back at the nurse. "I'm sorry…I'm confused. What's going on?"

"I want Seto to give me a tour of the school," said Mokuba, "We're all heading home tomorrow, and this is the last chance that I'll get." He looked pleadingly up at her. "And Madam Pomfrey won't let him."

"Oh…" Hermione frowned. "Well…um…I'm sure she has a perfectly good reason. Seto's been through a lot, Mokuba. He may not be well enough to –"

"I. Feel. Fine," Seto said through gritted teeth.

Madam Pomfrey didn't look convinced. "You haven't eaten enough consistently for me to discharge you. Your body is weak, Mr. Kaiba. If I let you out of my care, you won't come back."

"Of course he will, won't you Seto?" said Mokuba.

Seto leveled him a look that clearly said otherwise, and Mokuba rolled his eyes in response.

Madam Pomfrey snorted. "I know a difficult patient when I see one. He's just like Potter. The answer is no – I can't have you collapsing in some corner of the castle."

"Please?" Mokuba pleaded. "Not even for just a little bit?"

"Didn't Yugi and Ryou give everyone else a tour of the school a few days ago?" said Hermione. "You could have gone with them…."

Mokuba's face fell. "Yeah…." He scuffed the toe of his sneaker against the tile floor. "But…it wouldn't have been the same…."

"You can't keep me here forever," said Seto, crossing his arms, "This is a hospital not a prison. I have two complete legs again, there's nothing stopping me from walking out that door."

"Your bones may have grown back but you haven't used your legs in a week," said Madam Pomfrey, "One of them hasn't even budged in the entirety of that time. They're going to be stiff and weak from being unused. Traipsing all over the grounds is the last thing you should be doing."

"They also won't gain strength unless I use them," Seto shot back.

"Which is part of your recovery regimen," said Madam Pomfrey, gesturing to the potions sitting on the bedside table on the far side of his bed.

"I'm tired of potions," Seto said, "And these same four walls day in and out."

"I'm sorry this is such an inconvenience for you," said Madam Pomfrey flatly. "But until you can prove that you can eat three proper meals a day and sleep the night without aid, you'll stay here."

Seto's eye twitched. "And how am I supposed to do the latter when constantly given sleep aids?"

Madam Pomfrey raised an eyebrow and tilted her head inquisitively. "Oh, would you have preferred to suffer through the night? You had an impressive number of bones to regrow, and Mr. Potter can tell you firsthand how incredibly painful a procedure it is. I was doing you a favor by making sure you went through the night unable to feel the majority of it."

She looked from Hermione to Mokuba. "Miss Granger is a school prefect and an excellent source of knowledge about Hogwarts. She would surely be more than happy to lead you around."

Mokuba sniffed and climbed back onto the bed, leaning into Seto's arm. "I wanted Seto to take me…he's my only family and I never get to see him anymore…and after this mess I don't think Professor Dumbledore is gonna let him come home until school gets out…which means I won't get to see him again for months."

He looked up at Madam Pomfrey with big, watery eyes. "Please?"

Madam Pomfrey glanced briefly behind her to Roland. "I don't hear you stepping in…"

Roland took a sip of his coffee and shrugged lightly. "I'm not his father. I can advise him to stay, but he wouldn't be obligated to listen to me."

Hermione stepped forward. "I think I have a compromise, Madam Pomfrey."

"…Oh?" She didn't sound pleased about it in the slightest.

"If you're worried about Seto being unwell, he just needs someone to go with him and return him here if traveling around becomes too much."

She turned to Madam Pomfrey, "I can go, if you'd like. And I promise to return him when we're done."

"Please?" Mokuba bit his lip.

Madam Pomfrey was silent for a long time. "Well…you're at least more responsible than some other sixth year students I can think of…"

Mokuba's eyes lit up. "Is…is that a yes?"

Madam Pomfrey sighed. "There are rules."

"We'll follow them," Mokuba said, before his brother could get a word in.

The nurse looked to Hermione. "He has to eat. Something from the Kitchens, lunch in the Great Hall with the rest of the school, I don't care. But he has to eat properly, none of these inadequate small bites of nothing nonsense I've been seeing. I expect him back in my care by the time dinner is over in the Great Hall. If he doesn't want dinner there, he'll have it here."

Hermione nodded. "Alright."

"If he gets too tired, bring him back."

"Okay."

Madam Pomfrey patted Mokuba's shoulder. "He hasn't been up and about in a while. Don't run around the school and expect him to keep up with you."

"I'll go slow, I promise," said Mokuba.

Madam Pomfrey locked her eyes on Seto. "As for you, don't overdo it, or you'll spend a lot more time in these same four walls day in and out."

"…Fine."

Madam Pomfrey smirked and pulled her wand from her pocket. "And one more thing…."

---

"Do all the pictures really move around here?" Mokuba asked. He had stopped at least three times at various paintings along the third-floor corridor. Two of the subjects had waved and said hello to him as they passed by, and he had stood and watched the wind rustle the trees and bushes on a landscape.

"Yeah," said Seto.

"Sometimes the people in them visit other portraits," said Hermione, "Once, before Seto even came to Hogwarts, we all got trapped outside Gryffindor Tower because the Fat Lady was off somewhere on the other side of the castle."

"That's so cool!" Mokuba beamed. "Too bad we don't have that…"

"We do, technically," said Seto. "Holograms and video."

Mokuba nodded slowly. "That's true…but still, they weren't real people who can chat with you…" He turned back to Seto. "So where are we going first?"

Seto shrugged. "I'm following you."

"Yeah, but I only know how to get from here to the dining hall and back. That's…not a whole lot of places."

They stopped at the third-floor landing and Mokuba could only watch as the neighboring staircases swung back and forth, taking their occupants to various places in the open chamber. "This is so cool…"

Seto turned and tapped at the stair railing with the walking stick Madam Pomfrey had conjured and then forced on him. "This way."

"What's up there?"

Seto shrugged. "Half the castle. Start at the top, work our way down. You can see most of the grounds from the Astronomy Tower."

"Ooh," Mokuba craned his neck and looked up at the top of the chamber. "How many floors are there?"

"Seven," said Hermione. "Across different towers."

"Alright, let's go!" He grabbed onto the railing excitedly as the staircase broke away from the wall and glided up to towards the seventh-floor landing.

Hermione matched Seto's pace as Mokuba skipped ahead down the corridor towards the base of the Astronomy Tower. She hadn't expected him to actually use the walking stick once they were out of sight from the Hospital Wing. "Does it hurt?"

Seto eyed her briefly before starting up the winding steps to the top of the tower. "Yes."

Hermione frowned. "Does Madam Pomfrey know?"

"No."

"She could have given you something…why didn't you say anything?"

Seto rolled his eyes. "I've been chugging various amounts of who-knows-what for a week. I'd rather feel pain. It's…" he furrowed his brow, trying to come up with the right word. "…grounding. Real."

"Do you plan on bringing it up later?"

"Maybe once you drop me back with the warden," Seto muttered. "If she knew, there was no way she would have let me out."

"About that…" Hermione bit her lip. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interfere with what should have been your time with Mokuba."

"I don't think I would have been let out without your interference," said Seto dismissively and then winced. "Just, don't tell him."

She glanced at his leg worriedly. "It…it has finished healing, right?"

"The Skele-Gro wore off before you got to the Hospital Wing, but well after the numbing agent. With the dosage that she gave me, you would have thought I wrecked both my legs, not one."

"Well that's good, at least," said Hermione. "But…you won't be foolish about it, will you? If we need to stop, we can. He'll understand."

Seto shook his head. "This means too much to him."

Hermione's shoulders slumped. "Listen to Madam Pomfrey, please, Seto. You're right, if you have to stop and go back early, he will be upset, but you know what will probably upset him even more? The guilt of knowing that you pushed yourself too far just to make him happy. But he would rather you not hinder your own recovery."

He huffed quietly as Mokuba sounded from up ahead. "What are you two conspiring about?"

"The best path to take going down, naturally," said Seto smoothly. "You do want to see everything, don't you?"

Mokuba nodded and examined the huge telescope along the edge of the tower. "This is massive…do you really get to see all the stars and planets with it?"

"I wouldn't know. I don't take Astronomy."

"You can," said Hermione, "Though, I also stopped taking the class this year."

Mokuba walked around the telescope and leaned forward along the tower rail. "That's a big forest. Have you been in it?"

"No," said Seto, "It's called the Forbidden Forest for a reason."

"Oh," Mokuba blinked. "Why is that?"

"There are all sorts of dangerous magical creatures in the forest," said Hermione. "Centaurs, Giants, and Acromantulas, just to name a few."

"Centaurs are real?" Mokuba asked, wide-eyed. "Really real?"

"Yeah," said Hermione, "They're not dangerous, not truly. But they don't like humans very much. Our Ministry hasn't treated them well over the years, so they've become very resentful."

"Wow…" He looked from Seto to Hermione and back towards the grounds again. "Can we go around the outside of the castle too?"

"Of course," said Seto, giving Hermione a hard side-eye before she could say anything. He strode forward and pointed off to various places along the grounds. "Over there are the Greenhouses where we have Herbology, that is a tree that I've been told attacks you if you get too close to it, and that path leads to the nearby village."

Seto beckoned him over the other side of the Astronomy Tower. "Over that way is the Black Lake, and that's the Quidditch Stadium."

"Is that where you dueled Yugi?" Mokuba smiled wide. "Can I see it?"

"We can go into the stands, but that's it," said Seto, "There's practice going on in the field."

"That's where everyone else is, anyway," said Hermione, "Though, I don't know if they'll still be practicing by the time we get down there."

"So I won't get to see Yugi on a broomstick?"

"Depends on how long practice is," she said, "They just started, and I know they had to cancel the last team practice because of all the snow, so there's a lot to catch up on before the next big game."

"Hm…" Mokuba looked up at his brother. "Do you usually go and watch them play?"

"Practice? Not normally."

Mokuba pouted. "If we miss it, can you record them playing sometime?"

Seto huffed noisily and started off towards the stairs to go back down. "If I ever get my phone back…"

---

Mokuba plunked down next to his brother on the bench in the Great Hall. "You okay?"

Seto nodded, spinning the walking stick against his palms. "What do you think of the castle so far?"

"It's big," said Mokuba. "I…didn't realize there were so many empty spaces! And it's kinda cold. You would think a magic castle would be able to have better heating."

Seto chuckled. "Modern conveniences haven't quite caught up here."

Mokuba pointed down the corridor towards the staircase going up to the second floor, where he remembered seeing a boys' bathroom. "There's indoor plumbing…"

"Alright, select modern conveniences."

Mokuba leaned against Seto's shoulder and peered behind him. A travel mug full of steaming coffee sat on otherwise empty table. "Okay…so I have to ask - how did you figure out where the Kitchen was?"

"It's in Hogwarts: A History," said Seto. "I read it on the train ride up."

"Huh…" Mokuba mused. "Can I ask you something else?"

Seto raised an eyebrow.

"Why is it that the only elf person who came near us was the one with six hats on his head?"

Seto sighed. "Because I pay him when I visit. The others don't like it. They don't want compensation for their work. It's…a very different way of life."

"But that one does."

"Dobby is a free elf. He's…different."

"But the others don't like Hermione either."

Seto held up his hand. "That's because she tries to knit them clothes, which for them is a symbol of freedom. Dobby is already free, which is why he's the only one wearing the hats and the gloves."

Mokuba wrinkled his nose. "Gloves? Is that what they were?" He laughed. "They could use some work. Why not just magic it all together?"

Seto shrugged. "I suppose you'd have to ask her."

"Maybe I will." Mokuba looked back towards the doorway to the Great Hall. "How long does it take to get here from the dormitory?"

"Gryffindor Tower is on the seventh floor. Depending on how cooperative the stairs are, it could be a bit."

"Oh."

Hermione rushed into the Great Hall minutes later in a coat and gloves, with another draped over her arm that she held out towards them.

"Here," she said. "I thought this would be warmer than your cloak."

Seto nodded and slipped into it while Mokuba buttoned up his jacket. "What are we gonna see outside first?"

Hermione peered out through the windows in the Great Hall. "Well…if we're going to finish at the Quidditch Pitch, we can swing by the Greenhouses and the Owlery first. I don't know if we'll make it to the Black Lake though, it'll depend on how much snow was cleared away. The walking paths are clean, but they mostly stick to the edges of the castle."

Mokuba's eyes lit up. "Can I see what magical plants there are?"

"I suppose," Hermione said slowly, "I'm sure there's something in Greenhouse One that's safe. If Professor Sprout is okay with it, of course. I'm sure she's probably in her office off Greenhouse Two."

"At least we won't have to worry about Mandrakes in Greenhouse One," said Seto dryly, scowling at the memories of his first extra Herbology class.

"Why, what's a Mandrake?"

"They're plants used for medicinal purposes," said Hermione, "Or, at least the roots are. But the cry of the Mandrake root is fatal if you happen to hear it without any sort of protection."

"…Oh…"

"We learned about them in my second year," said Hermione as they left through the front doors of the castle.

"If that was second-year stuff…what things do you plant now?"

"Oh, let's see," Hermione thought back, "We wrestled with Snargaluffs, planted some Fluxweed, and I think next week we're tackling Venomous Tentacula."

"That sounds dangerous."

"Mm, it is," she said mildly.

There was still a fair amount of snow covering the grounds as they traveled the cleared path to the Greenhouses. As Hermione expected, Professor Sprout was in her office and to Mokuba's delight, allowed him into a small part of Greenhouse One and even let him hold a Puffapod.

"What does it do?"

"It produces these beans," said Professor Sprout, trading him the plant for a few of the shining beans.

"What do they do?"

Professor Sprout's eyes twinkled. "Throw them."

Hermione's eyes widened. She remember Sprout had been rather put out with Ron when he accidentally dropped a bowl full of them during their third year. Letting Mokuba toss a couple just for the fun of it was rather generous of her.

Mokuba looked around the Greenhouse. "Nothing's gonna attack me, right?"

"Oh, no," said Professor Sprout. "This is only Greenhouse One. The dangerous plants are in Greenhouse Three." She gently took his hand and positioned him at the entrance to the Greenhouse. "Here, you'll want some air for this. Give 'em a nice toss."

Mokuba nodded and threw the Puffapod beans, which bloomed into large flowers once they hit the ground.

"Wow!"

"Puffapod spores can make one dizzy," said Professor Sprout. "And trolls are allergic to them."

"Trolls?" Mokuba wrinkled his nose and looked up at his brother. "Like storybook trolls? The ones that live under bridges and stuff?"

"More like the ones that live in mountains," said Hermione, "Though one did get into Hogwarts during my first year. Harry and Ron subdued it by throwing broken bathroom pipes at it, knocking it over the head with its own club, and also jamming Harry's wand up its nose."

"Ewww…"

He blinked a few times and then looked up at her. "…If the trolls live in the mountains, how did it get into the castle? There aren't any mountains here."

Hermione started to open her mouth and answer but then stopped, glanced to Professor Sprout a moment and then shrugged. "You know…I really don't have answer to that. Someone smuggled it into the castle in that instance, but considering that same person had been at the school the entire time, I really don't know how they managed to get it inside without anyone noticing."

"Magic, probably," Seto had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

---

The walk towards the Quidditch Pitch was slightly more treacherous. It was clear the path that most people had to take to maneuver down the steep hills towards both Hagrid's Hut, and by extension the Care of Magical Creatures class, and then the Pitch due to the number of tracks in the snow.

"Who lives in that house?" They stood on the upper edge of one of the steeper drop-offs, a close-yet-healthy distance from the Whomping Willow.

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "He's the groundskeeper, and also teaches Care of Magical Creatures a few ways over in that gated enclosure over there. You've probably seen him around the castle before."

Mokuba scrunched up his nose slightly. "Have I? I've only gone to the Great Hall a few times. Otherwise I've been in the Hospital Wing…"

"We'll stop in and say hello for a minute," said Hermione, and she turned to Seto. "He was the one who found you. I'm sure he'll be pleased to know that you're all right now."

Mokuba reached the bottom of the hill first, in time for a large dog to come bounding forward from around the back side of the hut.

"Oi, Fang, wha's got you in a hurry?" Hagrid boomed. Hermione looked around, but she couldn't see him just yet.

Seto barely had time to steady himself before Fang was jumping up at him, trying to lick at his face.

"Is this…normal when you visit Hagrid?" He asked, angling his face away and pushing the dog off of him.

"No, not really…" said Hermione, "Normally, Fang is much more subdued."

"Well, 'ello 'Hermione," said Hagrid. He set down the axe in his hands into the large tree stump next to his hut and brushed his hands against his coat. "I didn' expect to see yeh today."

"Hello Hagrid," Hermione smiled. "We were nearby and I thought we'd stop by and say hello."

"I'm glad yeh did," said Hagrid, "Haven't seen much of yeh, or Harry or Ron this year. Not since you dropped me class and all…."

She smiled meekly and looked down at her shoes. "I wanted to, really, but –"

"No need to get in a rut over it," said Hagrid, "I knew it'd be too hard to fit me in with all yer advanced lessons." He took a few more steps forward and knelt down in front of Mokuba. Even crouched down as he was, he still towered over him. "And who's this?"

"Mokuba Kaiba," said Mokuba, eyes wide. He glanced back at his brother, still attempting to push Fang away. "Seto's my big brother."

"Fang! Get over 'ere and stop slobberin' all over the place!" Hagrid chuckled and then gave Mokuba a faint pat on the shoulder. "Pleased to meet yeh, Mokuba."

"You're uh…very tall."

Hagrid let out a hearty laugh. "'m a half-giant."

"Giants are real too?"

"Well o' course they are," said Hagrid. "Most of 'em don't live around Hogwarts."

Fang finally decided to leave Seto alone and shuffled back towards Hagrid, and Mokuba eagerly started petting him.

"Well now, good to see yeh lookin' almost back to normal sorts, Seto," said Hagrid, "Gave us all a right scare tha' night."

Seto shifted to lean ever so slightly more on the cane. "It wasn't how I would have wanted to get back, but it at least worked."

Hagrid shrugged. "T'was a blessin' in disguise that Portkeys can't get through th' barrier. If you had landed as you did, yeh might not have been found 'till it was too late."

Hermione's face fell.

Seto looked to Hermione, eyebrow raised, before turning back to Hagrid. "What do you mean?"

"Oh," Hagrid blinked. "No one told yeh I suppose. Yer crash into the barrier aroun' the school got us out lookin' for what caused it. Took us a couple o' hours, but we found yeh, along the far edge of the grounds, jus' outside the limits o' the school wards."

Seto nodded slowly.

"I'm surprised no one told yeh," said Hagrid. "Yeh were downrigh' freezin'."

"I've only had a select number of visitors in the Hospital Wing," said Seto, "Apparently people of some official importance have been scared off."

Hagrid shook his head and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. "Oh, yeah. Wouldn' surprise me if she'd be stickin' her nose in things. Was a right mess rushin' yeh back into the school…"

He cleared his throat. "So, what brings yeh all out this way?"

"We were heading to the Quidditch Pitch to watch the practice," said Mokuba, excitedly, "I've never seen anyone play on broomsticks before!"

"Well, now," Hagrid smiled down at him, "Yeh best be off before they're done. An' be careful a way down the path." He pointed towards a manmade path through the snow. "Still slippery in parts."

---

"WOW!" Mokuba gasped as he climbed the last of the steps and walked out into the stands. "This place is huge!" He didn't bother sitting along the benches in the lower stadium seating, and instead went right to the front wall and leaned against it, watching Harry and Ron and Yugi fly around above them. "And you dueled in here?"

"We were interrupted, but yes," said Seto, and he pointed down towards the center of the field. "All the way down there. I'm sure if we scoured the ground closely enough, there still might be shreds of a duel disk under the snow."

"Oh, right. I forgot that woman blew it up. Ought to make her buy you a new one."

Seto snorted. "It's not like I can't just get another whenever I want…." He sank down onto the bench as Yugi passed Ginny the quaffle. "It's probably best to go higher, it would be easier for you to see."

Mokuba craned his neck and looked up at the seats up in the towers. "I don't think I want to climb all that way." After a beat, he added, "And I don't think you want to either…."

"Not particularly," Seto admitted.

"So what do you do?" asked Mokuba, "Like how do you play?"

"There's a red ball that's not magical, called the quaffle," said Hermione, "The Chasers – Yugi's one of them – have to score with it by getting it through the goal hoops."

"That's it? How do you win? Just get a certain number of points?"

"There's another ball, a small golden one with wings that the Seeker – that's Harry – has to catch. It rewards that team 150 points and ends the game. Whoever has the most points wins."

"There are also other balls that fly around and do nothing but try to knock you off your broom," said Seto. "The team Beaters have to knock them at the opposing players."

"This game sounds like it's easy to get hurt," said Mokuba, "I mean…you could just fall off your broom!"

"Can't be any more deadly than some of the nonsense we've experienced before," said Seto, but Mokuba didn't seem to hear him.

After a few minutes, Hermione sat down next to him, wringing her hands in her lap and purposely looking straight ahead. Seto gave her a side-eyed glance before focusing on the match again. Every so often she would sneak a look at his leg and then her eyes would dart away, as if she didn't want to be caught staring at it.

Her mood seemed to have dampened after seeing Hagrid, and he couldn't fathom why. It was her idea to say hello to him on their way to the Pitch.

It wasn't until he caught her looking for the third time that he decided it was time to take a guess. "Yes, it still hurts."

She jumped, startled. "What?"

"You were staring."

"S-sorry," she sighed. "It's not at least worse than before though, right?"

Seto rubbed his thumb along the edge of the walking stick's handle. "Considering that I nearly became my own sled on the way over, it could be better."

She cringed.

Seto turned back to watching Mokuba watch the match. Inquiring about his well-being couldn't have been the only thing on her mind. That much was obvious. Hermione was gifted in many things – hiding her emotions was not one of them.

There looked to be something on the tip of her tongue, but she seemed to be at odds of saying whatever it was, and finally decided to not speak up, so they sat silently on the bench.

Harry finally had the team hold off on drills and now they split off into makeshift teams. Seto didn't bother looking around the rest of the stadium for the rest of Yugi's friends, but they must have been somewhat nearby because after a while, Joey appeared in the front row and whispered something into Mokuba's ear, and the younger Kaiba turned around, looked up for a minute, and then waved wildly into the upper stands.

Joey stayed up at the front wall with Mokuba and every so often would point out something on the field or at one of the players. Seto couldn't hear what he was saying, but he must have been catching Mokuba up on what had happened before they made it to the stands.

Hermione sighed deeply once Ron blocked Yugi's shot at the goalpost and Seto raised an eyebrow. Was it out of relief for Ron for blocking the shot? Or disappointment that Yugi wasn't able to score? He couldn't tell. He hadn't seen her or Ron in the same space together since Christmas. For all he knew, they still weren't speaking to each other.

Harry and Ron didn't visit a whole lot in the Hospital Wing, not as much as Yugi and the others. While he did sleep the majority of the time, both Mokuba and Roland have mentioned that Hermione did stop in and do her homework at his bedside on more than one occasion. And the one time that everyone was sitting around him two days ago, Ron and Hermione were as far apart as possible.

"…You didn't set any canaries on anyone while I was gone, did you?"

She furrowed her brow and tore her eyes from the field, giving him a weird look. "What are you talking about?"

Seto raised his eyebrow and gave her a pointed look.

Hermione felt her face redden slightly and quickly looked away. "It's…no. I haven't sent birds after Cormac."

Now, Seto raised both eyebrows this time. Cormac McLaggen? When did he become topic of conversation again? He hadn't heard that name since the train ride back to London, the morning after the ball.

"He's not still bothering you, is he?"

"Oh, no," said Hermione, "But…I couldn't…I couldn't do that to Ronald again…"

"But you're still mad at him."

She paused. "I-I don't know. But…" she looked down at her lap and then back out towards the field again. ''It's strange, but this mess made me reconsider some things. And I was mad at him. I'm still mad, sort of. But…we were both in the wrong. As awful as he made me feel…I should never have attacked him the way I did. And…."

Hermione looked away. "It took having this whole mess play out for me to see it, I think." She sighed and slumped back in her seat. " Oh, you'll think me silly. It's just been such a wreck without you here."

He snorted. "Somehow, I doubt that. I'm not liked that much."

"No," she insisted, "It really has. I know by now you must be tired of hearing it by now, but we…I was so scared for you. You were in such terrible shape when they first let us sit with you and between the not knowing anything, and then how you came back..."

She stared down at her lap. "It wasn't just your leg. You were unconscious for days, so naturally we were all concerned over that, but also for Mokuba who wouldn't leave your side."

"That's over with," said Seto, "I'm not going to suddenly drop into a four-day coma again."

"I know," said Hermione uncomfortably, "But listening to Hagrid talk about it didn't make it any easier. And then to hear that you were trying to weasel your way out of the Hospital Wing early – more than once – didn't help either."

"I don't need to be mothered to death," said Seto flatly.

"Perhaps you do," said Hermione, and she finally turned to look at him. "You really should be resting."

Seto scowled at her. "I've been resting for the last week."

She let out a single dry laugh. "Hah…no. The four days you spent unconscious don't count. I can't begin to imagine what you've just gone through, but piecing you back together isn't going to make everything return to normal just like that. Too much has changed."

"Nothing has changed."

"That's far from the truth and you know it," she near-hissed at him.

Joey turned around at them, questioningly, saw the look on her face, and frowned.

"Hey, Mokuba," he said, "Let's scoot closer."

Hermione waited for them to shift down the row until they were nearer to the center of the next section. "You obviously weren't there that first night, back in Domino, to see your brother, clutching his phone like a sort of lifeline, waiting hours for the chance that you would return any of his calls, just to say you were alright. Or after, to try and catch Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall for any updates, because news – any news – was better than nothing at all so we could tell him something. And while we weren't there when Professor Dumbledore finally delivered him the report that you were found, I can't imagine his relief lived long once he arrived here. He's your brother, so I'm sure he downplayed just how much this had affected him.

"And that doesn't even begin to go into the rest of us…how even Harry, who had stopped showing a shred of interest in the Daily Prophet, would go through it with Yugi and try to see if there was anything about you in it. Or how angry we were to find out that the Ministry of Magic didn't seem to be very invested in trying to find you, so we had to take matters into our own hands…"

Oh, right, Seto thought to himself. Someone had mentioned that there was some sort of rescue plan, but he couldn't remember who said so.

Hermione turned away from him slightly to wipe at her eye. "I had to teach myself how to produce a long-distance locator charm, which had its own set of problems because we didn't have anything of yours to really test it on, and with all of our classes, and all the worrying, and having to learn that…it's been a right time…."

She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to rant…"

"It's fine," Seto said, before he could even realize just what it was that was coming out of his mouth. "I'd rather listen to you vent than the previous company I kept."

She shivered as Harry blew his whistle from somewhere on the field. "I…I just hadn't had anyone to really talk to much, aside from Ginny. But with her off with Harry and Ron in Quidditch, and Yugi too, or Yugi constantly on the phone with Domino, and Ryou helping to run the new study group for his Divination class…"

"…Well, I'm not missing anymore," said Seto, rising to his feet. "I'm not dead. Not sick. Not broken. You can all stop worrying about me." He took a step down the aisle, towards where Joey had shuffled off with Mokuba and winced, his knee sore and stiff.

Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "What is with you?"

Seto stopped and exhaled noisily. "What?"

"Why do you treat all that's happened like it wasn't some big deal? That we didn't need – or aren't allowed to be concerned for you?"

Seto slowly pivoted on his heel to glare back at her, and despite the front he tried to air, she could see an array of emotions on his face. Annoyance, anger, and…something else that she couldn't quite place.

"I had things under control."

Hermione drew back, brow furrowed. He has to be joking! She gestured wildly at his leg. "Clearly. Good job bringing the Millennium Rod back with you, in your well-managed escape. You know Yugi's been avoiding that topic since it was first brought up. Another crisis to deal with another day, but you know. Nothing has changed."

Seto's icy gaze narrowed on her.

"Is that what you told Mokuba, after he struggled every single day to hold it together? Or to Roland, who ran himself ragged trying to locate you, placate Mokuba, and deal with the fallout in Domino City at the same time? There was no guarantee you would even return alive, but oh, it was no big deal.

"V-Voldemort has only been after you and Yugi since the summer. P-people have gone missing, and were killed over his quest for those Millennium Items. But what – because you're Seto Kaiba, who has contingencies for everything except his own wellbeing, we were all supposed to think you would be perfectly fine, and you would just come back as if you had only gone on holiday for a week?!"

She waved her hand out angrily before folding them across her chest. "What is it that you can't let people just…be people around you?"

He turned back and took another step away from her, his voice sharp, and he was even surprised at the level of bite in it. "I don't need to listen to this."

With his back to her, he missed the slight drop in her jaw, and the step back she took as if his words slapped her right across the face. He got three steps away from her before she swallowed her hurt feelings deep back down, squared up her shoulders and drew her wand from her pocket.

The floor in the stands suddenly became a long strip of ice as the walking stick flew right out of his grip and into Hermione's outstretched hand.

He spun back, a bit too fast and reached out to the edge of the front wall to keep himself from slipping on the floor, the nerves in his leg searing. "What are you doing?"

"The first rule of sparring, Seto," Hermione said icily, "Is to never turn your back on your opponent, remember?"

Seto straightened back up. "Is that what this is?"

"Apparently you only seem to listen to reason if you're in a fight."

Seto reached into his coat pocket and internally groaned. Mokuba was so eager to get out of the Hospital Wing that he left his wand on the bedside table. "Give that back."

Hermione laughed dryly. "Why? You didn't want it. You don't need it. That's what you told Madam Pomfrey, after all. That you felt fine. Now you want it, because you and I both know you won't get out of here without it."

"I'm not an invalid," Seto snapped. "I can walk without it."

"Then go," said Hermione angrily. She turned away from him bitterly to look down at the ground of the Pitch. "You haven't walked before today for a week, but I'm sure your balance is fine. It's not as if you'll fall and break a bone or two, right? And even if you did, what's another dose of Skele-Gro at this point?"

She waved a hand towards the tower leading down to the bottom of the stadium. "Go on. I'll find Mokuba and tell him that you can't spend the rest of the day out with him because you're just too sick to stay out here."

"You'll do no such thing."

"Why?" she demanded, "Because you'll make him worry about you? You don't want that, because he's suffered enough for your sake, hasn't he?"

Hermione sank back down onto the bench. "I don't get it. Why is Mokuba the only one allowed to show any sort of emotion towards you? Why do you close off from everyone else? What is it about the rest of us that it's such taboo?"

Seto shook his head and glared out at the Pitch.

"What?"

"Because it's not real!" Seto snapped.

"What isn't?" said Hermione, "Our feelings? Are we not allowed to worry about our friends when trouble rises?"

"I don't want or need people worrying about me," Seto seethed, "Because outside of maybe two people that aren't my brother, it's nothing more than a bold-faced lie."

"What?!"

"You heard me," Seto hissed. "Of course I knew Mokuba would be a wreck. He's my only family. I expect it from him. But not from anyone else."

"So Joey, and Tristan, and Téa? Their concerns aren't valid?"

"They have never shown any ounce of care or concern for me unless it was directly benefitting them," said Seto. "And I don't expect them to start. Anything they show is more or less just for Mokuba's benefit."

"That can't be true and you know it," said Hermione.

"Oh, no?" Seto crossed his arms. "Mokuba was kidnapped by Pegasus during the Duelist Kingdom fiasco. He escaped and found Yugi's friends, who then let him get recaptured because they were too focused on watching Yugi win a duel. It didn't matter to them that the only reason I was on that island, forced to participate in a tournament I hadn't even entered, was to get him back. But no, to them I was just standing in the way of Yugi trying to rescue his grandfather."

"The situation was tense on both sides, I'm sure," said Hermione, hesitantly, "I'm sure that –"

"No. Did I use underhand tactics to force Yugi's hand? Yeah, I admit it. But I had one shot to save my brother. That was it. And his little cheerleaders, fully well knowing what was at stake for both of us, read me the riot act because I was there just to rematch Yugi for my initial loss. The farthest thing from the truth."

His eyes narrowed. "My reasons for being on that island didn't matter because I was standing in the way of Yugi's mission. Even if I hadn't stood on the edge of the roof, did anyone chastise Yugi? Because his victory would have meant that Mokuba's soul would be lost. Of course not – in their eyes, Yugi the Messiah can do no wrong."

"I'm sure someone said -"

"Said what? 'Yugi, you almost killed Kaiba to save your grandpa, how could you?' Get real, Hermione. They wouldn't dare. All they do is cheer nothing but friendship and rainbows from the sidelines. Until you square off with Yugi over the same cause. Then you're a villain, because Yugi can't lose."

Hermione shook her head. "That was several years ago now. You're going to hold that against them still?"

When he didn't answer her, instead choosing to continue to glare at her, she rolled her eyes. "Things change over time, Seto. Just because you all didn't get along then, doesn't mean they harbor the same animosity towards you now."

When he opened his mouth to argue the point, she held up her hand and continued. "Am I saying that you all should just forget your history and become best friends like Harry and Ron? No, of course not. But you can't just dismiss their feelings as invalid just because you don't like them. Especially when you're being a hypocrite about it."

"I am not–"

"You are, now be quiet," she said, striding forward towards him. "You don't want people worrying about you? Who do you think helped make them this way in the first place? The way I see things…you, not them, were the concerned party. These are people you clearly aren't fond of, yet you made sure that when danger struck, there was a safe place for them…"

"For Yugi's benefit."

She held up her hand, silencing him. "Call it whatever you want. But the point remains. You went out of your way to help, and it had an effect on them. You don't think, that after needing to put all that planning into action, they wouldn't be worried about you just the same? After being around Mokuba day in and out?"

Hermione tilted her head quizzically at him. "Did you really think, if everything was really fine and dandy, that they would come all the way out here just to see you? If they really don't like you as much as you claim they do?"

"I'm not a fool," Seto rolled his eyes. "They're here for Yugi, not me."

"Really?" Behind her smile was a look of complete disbelief. "Then for wanting to see Yugi, they spent a lot of time in the Hospital Wing, when they could have been anywhere else in the school. Professor Dumbledore gave them all rooms. They could have wandered the grounds, or spent time in the Library. But instead, they sat with you. If they really didn't care, as you say they don't, why would they do that?"

Seto huffed and looked away towards the back of the stands.

She reached him, sliding once briefly on the ice she had conjured and leaned against the front wall. "If you ask me…you're not as mad at them as you make it sound."

"And how would you know?" Seto said, his voice still dripping ice.

Hermione froze a moment, not expecting the harshness in his tone. "You're using them as a scapegoat, focusing on a very biased perspective from a single event that was very difficult for everyone involved. Did they really wrong you so much since then? Or are you just deflecting your anger at them rather than someone else?"

She glanced behind her. The team had earlier taken a break on the ground, hanging around by the far wall, but now they were back in the air doing another round of drills, and she spotted Yugi near the opposite goal posts.

When she turned back around to face Seto, she saw that he had followed her gaze, and his eyes were watching Yugi in the air.

"I wasn't there," she said, "And I don't know very much about Duelist Kingdom, aside from what you've told me before. All I know is from your point of view. Not Yugi's, or Téa's, or anyone else's. But if I had to guess…it's easier for you to label them an easy scapegoat because you don't like them, then address the overall problem at hand."

Seto was quiet for a minute, watching Yugi still with his narrow laser-beamed focus. "…Which is?"

Hermione smiled slightly and moved to sit back down on the bench. She reached out with her arm, then hesitated a moment before patting the seat next to her.

"…I think you already know."

She continued to watch him survey the field. Neither of them spoke for several solid minutes. In that time, she saw the team cluster in the air for a quick meeting, and Mokuba with the rest of Yugi's friends a few sections down in the stands.

It wasn't until the team broke apart again, returning to their positions on the field and the quaffle sent off with Ginny did Seto return to the bench. He still didn't say anything to her, instead his left hand kept flexing in and out of a fist, and his exhales noisy. Clearly he was still expelling anger.

"You can talk to me, you know," she said, and when he didn't look at her or even acknowledge that she had spoken, Hermione regretting saying anything. While it would be good for him to get his emotions out, she couldn't force him, and for a moment thought she came on too strong.

This wasn't Yugi or Ryou, who both opened up to her and Harry and Ron rather quickly, secret-keeping aside. Seto always kept himself at a distance, and while he allowed her to hang around him in the library, or the unused classrooms, or even help with his Shadow Realm lessons with Set, he still remained closed off from everyone else.

His recent experience couldn't have helped any, and she didn't want to push him away. But she couldn't let this get any worse either.

She waited for his angry breathing to subside before looking down at her hands, still holding onto Seto's walking stick. Letting out a loud exhale of her own, Hermione extended her arm and held it out to him.

He granted it a quick glance, but didn't make a move to take it, and then went back to staring out at the Pitch.

"I'm sorry," she said, withdrawing her hand back. "For the ice…. Your slip before, are you –"

His interruption was quick, almost blink-and-miss-it, his voice clipped. "I'm fine."

She nearly hung her head and sighed again but then he continued. "…It is easier to convince myself of it than the alternative."

Hermione glanced over. Seto was still looking out at the field, but the rage in his eyes seemed to have left. He sounded almost…resigned.

"What I want is normalcy." His shoulders shrugged once and he shook his head slightly. "As if I've ever had it with him around."

She noted that he was still watching Yugi.

"…It is easier to return to a prior mindset than admit that once again, everything has changed. That having my life return to even this new sense of normal – which ironically consists of having a dead priest sharing headspace – is not possible."

Hermione sat, patiently watching him. She could see the struggle on his face, over what she wasn't sure. Was he trying for the right words to say? Or battling with himself to say anything? The rage had subsided, now there was just something else – the feeling from earlier that she couldn't put her finger on. Whatever it was, it was certainly eating away at him.

He closed his eyes, resigned, in a long blink and then finally opened them again to face her. "…It is easier to throw everything aside and insist that nothing is wrong…that nothing happened…"

He looked away again, his jaw tense.

Hermione pressed her lips into a thin line and looked down at her lap. "It might be easier…but it's not healthy," she said, after a pause to collect her thoughts. "You don't have to go into the details to what happened. But brushing it to the side isn't right either."

Seto huffed. He didn't ask for the Nerd Herd to come here, or to continuously hold vigil. Why would he? They didn't care. They never did.

His gaze caught Mokuba with them, smiling and waving at the players. If things had gone differently, if Yugi had been taken instead, they would have been at Hogwarts in a heartbeat. He wouldn't have been left out of their sight until he was released.

But…they came. For him. Sure, a bit of it might be for Mokuba's behalf, and sure, they probably wanted to see Yugi anyway, but Hermione was right. They spent most of their time with him, even through the periods where he slept the days away. They treated him like a friend.

No, Seto internally scoffed. They were not his friends, and vice versa. But they still made the journey all the way from Japan, just to make sure he was alright. That still…meant something.

…How was he supposed to deal with that? On top of everything else? Sure, he could put up his mask and pretend that everything was fine. He could go back to his classes, and check in at Kaiba Corp, and talk to Mokuba on his lunch breaks and weekends. All the while have his days slowly eat away at him.

He forcibly suppressed his traumas once before. And it took whatever was in that Mind Crush back when he first dueled Yugi for that to get dealt with, and it really didn't sound like something he wanted to go through again.

Hermione shifted Seto's walking stick into her left hand, hesitated for a minute, and then bit the bullet and reached over to rest her free hand overtop his left. She felt his entire arm lock up immediately, and he twisted around to first look down at his hand, and then up at her.

Despite the unreadable expression on his face, his somewhat-sharp gaze almost made her yank her hand back, but she didn't plan on backing down. She lifted her fingers, slightly, but not enough to completely let go. But the room was there, if he wanted to yank his hand out.

"No one can go through what you did and be perfectly fine afterwards. It's impossible..."

Hermione could see his breathing pick up, over what she wasn't sure. He didn't seem angrier than before. He had been looking out, in his own head for a while…did she really startle him that badly?

"…But you don't have to go through this alone. We're here to help, you just have to let us in."

She was certain he was going to snap back, like he did before. Instead, his eyes continued to stare right through her, until he finally closed them and then his head turned away slightly, angled back towards Mokuba.

It wasn't until his breathing slowed down again that his arm relaxed once more, and to her surprise, he didn't move his hand away. Despite him not saying anything back to her, she took that as an acknowledgement, and not a dismissal.

"It's alright," she said softly, and chose to take another small leap and closed her fingers around his, gently squeezing them. "It's alright to not be okay…"

She felt his fingers twitch, and then he let out another long sigh, and went back to watching Mokuba try to sit on Ginny's broom over the safety of the stands while she sat along the front wall.

To her surprise, his fingers squeezed back.