A/N: What's this? Another chapter in a relatively short period of time!? Surely we're all hallucinating, right? - WRONG! Welcome to 2024, where I'm attempting the rather lofty goal of trying to get as close as possible to the end of PART ONE before the year is up.
So without further ado, let's keep going!
/Text/ Spirit to Host
/Text/ Host to Spirit
Chapter 55: Unspeakables
The note mysteriously arrived at breakfast. One moment, Yugi had turned to Ginny seated just a short way down the table to ask for the pumpkin juice that was all clustered in the middle of the house table instead of spread out every so many feet. And when he turned back to his eggs and toast, there it was, sitting innocently next to his fork as if it had been there the entire time.
And it hadn't – he had just used that fork not twenty seconds ago.
Owls flew in and out the high windows delivering mail, but this landed far too neatly parallel to come from one of them.
"Did you see who left this here?" he asked.
Harry glanced up from the copy of the Daily Prophet he stole from under Hermione's arm, after noting a headlining story about a pair of Aurors who vanished under suspicious circumstances. No names he recognized, but they were on the hunt for Fenrir Greyback and several other high-profile werewolves known to associate with Voldemort, and he wondered how long it would take before the news reported of them again, but this time of their deaths.
"It wasn't an owl?"
"I…don't think so?"
The note didn't have his name on it, and there was no mention of who it was from, so he shrugged and pulled the card from the envelope.
"Oh," said Ron, peering over Yugi's shoulder. "That's…hey – Harry! Isn't that Professor Lupin's handwriting?"
Harry took the note and looked it over. "I think so!"
Ryou's eyes widened. "The spirit only delivered our message the other night!"
/If I'd known he was going to have an answer that fast, I'd have waited/ Bakura muttered.
"Well, what does it say?" asked Yugi.
Harry read the note. And then read it a second time, with a frown forming across his face. The rest of them waited patiently for him to read it aloud, but instead, after a third reading, he huffed and held it out to Yugi.
Yugi, Harry, and all –
I am sorry to say that while I did assist with its creation, much of the intricate spellwork cast to make the Map were forged by Padfoot and Prongs. The Map was our golden achievement while at Hogwarts, but – and I say this fondly – most of it came about while the two of them were putting off their coursework.
From so far away, I would be a rather poor instructor on how to go about creating a new one, but there are several texts in the Hogwarts Library that should be of use for your research. I'm afraid after all this time I would not be able to give you exact titles, but anything on the advanced use of locator charms would be an excellent place to start.
That being said, do not jump into this sort of project with the notion it will be done quickly. It took quite a long time to create the original. If time is truly of the essence, you may have to find an alternative solution to the problem at hand.
And while I am no perfect role model when it comes to deviancy around Hogwarts, let me also give you some advice, and a fair word of warning: I know, better than most, how easy it is to wish to break a few school rules to do the right thing. The loss of the Map, I'm sure, is just another tally to the number of unfortunate events that have surrounded you all, and Hogwarts, this year. However – and I cannot stress this enough – it is also very important to keep your noses to the ground and avoid any more adverse attention. This is not the same Umbridge you went up against last year. She may not be in control or even vie for control of Hogwarts again, but remember – she was planted there a second time for a reason. And she will not have forgotten what went about last term.
Be careful, and please try to stay out of trouble.
-Moony
Ron scowled. "That's just great. We don't have an entire term to pull this together. Not even half a term!"
Harry's shoulders sagged. "Then…I suppose all we really can do is just wipe it clean, when we're able to get into her office." That meant no recovery. No way to keep up with what Malfoy was doing in the Room of Requirement.
Damn.
He straightened up in his seat though, and tucked the note under Yugi's plate once he saw Professor McGonagall coming up the aisle and heading right for them.
"Mr. Muto," she said, stopped just behind where Hermione sat and she had to twist around to look up at her. "Please see me in my office following this week's Apparation lesson. You too, Mr. Bakura, and…"
She trailed off, looking amongst the group.
"…Mr. Kaiba, when you locate him."
Yugi gave her a firm nod. "Yes, Professor – and we will."
"What about us?" Ron blurted around a mouthful of toast. "Aren't we in trouble too?"
Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow at him. "No, Mr. Weasley – for once, you and Potter and Miss Granger are not in trouble. But neither are they. And since you three are not taking additional evening lessons, what I have to say will not pertain to you. After your lesson, you may return to Gryffindor Tower."
"Oh!" Ryou said, "Are we finished with our lessons?"
He didn't miss the quickest side-eye glance that Professor McGonagall made back towards the High Table.
"We will discuss that in my office," she said after a small pause, and then continued out of the Great Hall.
Harry watched her go and then turned back to the others. "That seemed rather…cryptic, didn't it?"
"Maybe it's about grades," said Hermione mildly, and gently tugged back the Daily Prophet that Harry snatched up upon his arrival. "I know if I had done poorly, I wouldn't want my scores announced to everyone in earshot. Not that I'm suggesting you've flunked one or more of your lessons, but it's for privacy."
Ron snickered. "Maybe she didn't want to announce to the rest of us that they dethroned you from top of the class." She glared at him in return, even though the stare lacked any true bite.
"If it's about the remedial lessons, it wouldn't matter," she said stiffly, "Those are special classes that we didn't have, so they can't compare."
Ron leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear once she started reading the newspaper again. "I think she's still bitter that Seto edged her out on the last Transfiguration exam."
"I think you're right…"
Hermione closed the paper and pushed it away. "…Have any of you actually seen Seto today?"
Ryou shook his head. "By the time we got up he was already gone."
She sighed, unsurprised. This was typical Saturday morning behavior.
"Did you need something from him?" asked Yugi. "Anything we can help you with?"
Her shoulders slumped. His absence first thing on a Saturday morning may not be surprising, but that didn't make it any less disappointing. "No…I suppose I was just hoping that he wouldn't be…you know…livid."
In the short amount of time since dropping Harry and Ron's grand plan to get Umbridge out of the castle, Seto made only one appearance with them outside of class and that was at dinner last night. She knew she wasn't at the brunt of the anger (or that's what she hoped), but that didn't make sitting next to him in Transfiguration any less awkward. He refused to speak to any of them, and after dinner vanished to some corner of the castle and didn't return to the dormitories until three minutes before curfew.
She looked to Yugi and bit her lip. "Has he said anything?"
"Nope," said Yugi. "Not a word to any of us."
"Oh, that's going to make sitting in Professor McGonagall's office rather awkward, isn't it?" Ryou pouted.
"Probably."
Ryou hung his head.
Yugi tugged Remus's note out from its hiding spot and read it again. "Well…I suppose looking up some of these books in the Library wouldn't be a terrible place to start, right? Even if we can't produce a second Marauders Map before the end of the year, maybe we can rig something else together that at least tells us where Umbridge is? Maybe then, even if she still spies on us, we can at least know when she's coming."
Hermione pursed her lips. "I suppose I can head to the Library…just to see what's available. I doubt Madame Pince would have gotten rid of any of the books, so whatever the Marauders originally used should still be there somewhere."
She swung her legs around and got up from the Gryffindor table. "I suppose I'll see you all at the Apparation lesson?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah."
"And if you, uh, happen to find Kaiba…." Yugi began.
"I'll let him know about the meeting," said Hermione, "though I suspect he won't be in the Library."
There were seven floors full of unused classrooms in Hogwarts, and she didn't anticipate on checking every single one of them for him, especially since the Library was on the first floor – she wouldn't even end up near the Grand Staircases at all. If he wanted to avoid them all like the plague because he was still angry, then so be it.
As she expected, he wasn't in the Library, and it was still early enough in the morning no one else really was either. O. and N.E. were fast approaching for the fifth and seventh-years, and recently it was near impossible to find a table anywhere.
Hermione slowly glanced up and down the aisle headers as she made her way through the stacks until she found the sections dedicated to various charms and enchantments. She ducked down the closest aisle and started checking the spines more closely.
Professor Lupin said that locater charms were a good starting point. The new map would have to be able to pinpoint and identify anyone in the school. But they would still need to create the map itself. Did the Marauders use spellwork to create the huge detailed grid of the castle? Did they simply charm the parchment to act as a trail and did they have to physically walk through each corridor and notate every little crevice and secret passage imaginable?
She paused; her finger hovering over the spine of The Dangers of Locking Charms. No – that couldn't be the case. The original Marauders were all in Gryffindor. There's no way they would have known the exact locations or the ins and outs of the other three common rooms…right? Harry's father had his invisibility cloak, but did he have friends in the other houses to sneak him in and out?
That wouldn't work for them today; even with Harry's cloak they wouldn't be able to get into the Slytherin common room. At least he and Ron knew where it was. That wouldn't help them when it came to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff though….
She continued down the line with a light sigh. That would be a problem to solve another day. First: locator charms.
The aisle ended and she started up the other side. Knockback jinxes, Levitation Charms…oh.
No locator charms. The line jumped right to another set of locking spells and kept on going.
Hermione pressed her lips into a thin line and glanced up and down the bookstacks. Perhaps what she needed wasn't listed under 'locator charm' at all.
"…What about tracking charms...?" she mused out loud, and started off towards the next aisle. Her arm brushed past a book wedged horribly onto a shelf and it fell with a dusty thump onto the floor. She bent down and picked it up.
"Memory Charms: The Dangers of Forgetting." She scowled and glanced at the shelf where it had fallen. "This isn't where you go at all."
Hermione huffed and turned back to the previous aisle. Unlike the elusive locator charm, books on how to recall memories, take them away, and everything in-between were not in short supply. She wedged the book back where it belonged and left the aisle.
On the other side of the library, in direct line of sight through the empty aisle was the Restricted Section, and she briefly abandoned her search for books on locator charms and walked up to the gate. Madam Pince wasn't nearby to monitor the roped-off entrance, but she didn't dare cross the threshold. There was no way of knowing if any of the books kept out of reach would rat her out. And she couldn't risk getting banned from the Library.
She stared at the books beyond the gate, and then pivoted around. The Defense Against the Dark Arts sections were nearby too.
There were thousands of books in the Library. Surely…surely one of them had to have information about Horcruxes? If Professor Dumbledore was correct, and Voldemort really did split his soul, there had to be some book about it. How else did Voldemort discover them while he was here at school?
Hermione turned back to the Restricted Section. Harry only gave them the barest description of a Horcrux, and that alone sounded so dark and dangerous. No doubt if Most Potente Potions was kept out of the regular Potions sections and behind the gate, a book on Horcruxes would be as well. And no professor in the school would give her permission to look for that sort of book.
She started back to the Charms section, mind whirring. I'm going to have to get creative….
"I was so close this time!" Ryou whined, all the way down the corridor. "I think if Ernie hadn't tripped over his hoop and crashed into me, I could have actually gotten it!"
"You did a lot better than me," said Yugi, "I nearly took out Harry and Hermione on my landing."
"There's only a few classes left before the exam," said Ryou, "and I can't always count on the Spirit to be cooperative enough for me to concentrate."
"You'll get there," Yugi said reassuringly, and he turned to Kaiba, who surprisingly kept in step with them all the way from the Great Hall. "What about you, Kaiba? Did you manage to apparate into the hoop?"
"You were standing next to me the entire time," Seto said icily.
That didn't quite answer the question, but Yugi was standing next to him the entire time and he had indeed watched Seto vanish from his marked "X" on the floor and flawlessly appear in the hoop before him. He wasn't after the answer he already knew – he just wanted to know if Seto planned on keeping the bout of silence all the way through Professor McGonagall's meeting.
Perhaps if he was lucky, he'd stick around and not disappear afterwards, but that might be asking too much.
Professor McGonagall was already in her office when they arrived, and Ryou knocked politely on the open door.
"Come in and have a seat," she said, and rose from her spot behind the desk. Ryou glanced back, noting that she seemed to take a long look up and down the corridor before shutting the door.
When she finally sat back down, she pulled her wand from her robes and produced what appeared to be a silver translucent tabby cat.
"Keep watch," she said shortly.
The wispy feline jumped down from the desk and trotted around Yugi's chair. He twisted around to watch it sit by the door, tail swishing back and forth on the floor.
"What is that?"
"A Patronus," said Professor McGonagall.
"I remember something like those…I think," Ryou said, scrunching his brow. "…When we were on the train home for Christmas…and those Dementor things stopped and came looking for us…?"
He looked to Yugi and Seto. "The Aurors used something that looked like them, right? Or am I remembering wrong before…well…the Dementor found us?"
Yugi shrugged. "I didn't see the Aurors. The Dementors found me before I got back to our booth."
"You are remembering correctly," said Professor McGonagall.
Ryou frowned. "I didn't think those looked like animals though…just…wisps of silver?"
"A full-bodied Patronus like that one is very hard to produce," said Professor McGonagall, "a formless one, like the ones you remember, are not as effective but still a reasonable defense against Dementors. Mr. Potter is quite experienced in summoning them."
"Is this something we're going to learn while we're here?" asked Yugi. "I want to know those creatures ever came after us again, that we can fight them."
She shook her head. "This is advanced magic even for the N.E.W.T level curriculums. However, if you are interested in attempting it, I can try to arrange a lesson for you."
"…Well…Harry was showing us some defensive spells earlier in the year," Yugi began, "We haven't picked those lessons up since Christmas…since so much has happened."
Professor McGonagall hmm-ed, and Yugi wasn't sure if that was in approval or not. "He's started his defensive club again, I take it?"
"Just for the three of us," said Ryou. "We've done shield and disarming spells. Last time we did stunners, but that's it."
"I see," she said. "Well, if Potter is willing to show you the basics of a Patronus charm, that is fine so long as he is not in violation of any other school rules. Unfortunately, the best way to test the effectiveness of your Patronus Charm is against a proper Dementor. Obviously, we won't be able to have a real Dementor on the school grounds, but we may be able to work around that."
"I'd like to learn it," said Ryou, and Yugi nodded along with him.
"Very well, I will see what arrangements can be made," said Professor McGonagall. "And speaking of lessons – I have spoken with your other professors, and we have agreed that you have sufficiently completed your streamlined courses. It has not been easy for us to discern which lessons from the first-to-fifth-year curriculums would be the most beneficial for you, as I'm sure it has been just as challenging to learn them on top of staying caught up with the rest of your classes, but you have taken the last seven months surprisingly well."
"It hasn't been easy," Yugi admitted.
"I'm sure it hasn't. Do you have any concerns over any of your coursework thus far?"
Ryou glanced to Yugi and then to Seto on either side of him. Yugi wore a pensive frown, but he didn't offer up anything. Seto…almost looked bored by the whole affair. And…considering that his posted exam scores were higher than theirs…maybe he was.
"I don't think so," Ryou finally said.
"Very good – do not hesitant to see me if you do think of anything," said Professor McGonagall.
"We will," said Yugi, and he glanced back behind him to the Patronus, tucked into a loaf at the door. Their grades hardly warranted a watch cat. "…Was…there anything else?"
"…Yes," Professor McGonagall said slowly. "I've wanted to talk with the three of you about something rather important outside of your lessons." She gave each one a hard look. "I would ask you to keep this conversation in this room…but knowing the company you keep here in the castle, instead I must stress the importance of tact on where you choose to tell Potter, Weasley, and Miss Granger."
Yugi and Ryou glanced at each other.
Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow at them. "I'm quite positive the tale of this afternoon will get out shortly past you three leaving my office. But portraits whisper. Ghosts can't keep secrets. And Peeves can't even comprehend discretion."
Seto huffed. "It'll be in our dorm."
"Better than the Library or the Great Hall at any rate," said Professor McGonagall. She clasped her hands on the desk and sighed. "Let's get right into it. What did Professor Dumbledore tell you the day he first arrived in Japan? About You-Know-Who?"
Yugi drew back in his seat, eyes wide. "P-professor?"
"I know what he told us, as members of the staff, and I know what he told me, also as a member of the Order. I want to know what he told you."
"Uh…" Yugi looked first to Ryou, and then Seto. Ryou just blinked owlishly at him. Seto refused to look at him.
"There is no need to beat around the bush with me," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm not Dolores Umbridge. Before I go any farther, I just want to confirm a suspicion that the stories will not line up."
"I don't know why he wouldn't be truthful," Ryou said slowly. Was she implying that she was having doubts about Dumbledore's motives? And on top of that…how much should they really say to her? Dumbledore told them Voldemort wanted the Millennium Items as a means of living forever, and that seemed to track with all the hush lessons Harry received on the side.
But, like they brought up in evenings huddled in the middle of their dormitory…these strange Horcrux things seemed to do the trick already. And if Dumbledore wanted the topic of these secret meetings kept under wraps, perhaps it was best that they didn't divulge much to her.
…So what was safe to discuss?
Seto glanced over at his two roommates, and when it seemed that they didn't know or didn't want to say anything, huffed, and crossed his arms over his chest. "He told us Voldemort learned about the existence of the Millennium Items and wanted them for a power grab."
Ryou met Yugi's gaze briefly, and Yugi gave him a tiny nod.
"…Voldemort was looking for some kind of edge over…the Ministry, I guess," Yugi added, "so…if I remember properly, that led him into researching other kinds of magic. And that's where he learned of the Millennium Items. His people discovered the museum in Domino City, and I suppose the rest is history because here we are."
"Hmm," she mused, and leaned back in her chair, "I see…."
"Is…there something wrong?" asked Ryou.
She sighed. "That is…without going into the rather unique nature of your Millennium Items, the story Professor Dumbledore presented to the Order, and to a lesser degree – the staff."
Yugi slumped back in his seat, visibly relieved. "Oh, so we're all on the same wavelength then." Minus all the 'wanting to live forever' thing…
"It is, however, not the entire story."
Yami phased out the Puzzle. "…It isn't?"
Professor McGonagall's eyes widened, and she stared from him to Yugi and back.
Yugi frowned. "…Professor?"
"…My apologies, Mr. Muto," she said after a pause, "…but I think this is the first I've seen the both of you…at once. I did not realize how nearly identical you are."
She looked from Ryou to Seto. "Are you both this way as well?"
Ryou glanced down at the Ring. He knew the spirit was listening in, but he was tucked away in his room and didn't seem interested in making an appearance. "Mine is similar, but like Yugi and the Pharaoh, there are noticeable differences if you know what to look for."
"If I recall – it wasn't you but your spirit that came to the faculty booth during the Quidditch Match," she said, "He looked like you, but the demeanor was quite different."
Ryou nodded. He was in control when the Astronomy Tower fight began, but once Harry gave him the order to grab help, the spirit took command once it was time to bring the professors back. And he didn't relinquish that control until they were ushered out of the Room of Requirement and into the Hospital Wing.
"Among the three of us, Kaiba's spirit in the Millennium Rod is the most identical," said Yugi. He had waited to see if Seto planned to offer up any information about Set, but he instead remained quiet. "But, uh…of the three of us, they have the more…strained relationship, so he doesn't come out much at all."
"And…have you always been able to see each other like this? When they're not possessing you?"
"Only here," said Yugi. "I mean, I was always able to see the Pharaoh, but no one else could. We figured it was the magic and the ghosts floating around here that made it possible for everyone else to see the spirits."
"Fascinating," she said, and cleared her throat. "In any case – what I meant to say, is that Professor Dumbledore told you – and by extension, the Order – only half of the story."
"How do you know?" asked Yami. "Wouldn't you have gotten your information from him?"
"Professor Dumbledore is not the only one with eyes and ears around," she said, "I have old friends in the Ministry of Magic too."
She reached into her desk and pulled out what Yugi could only think of as a tiny ring box, and set it on the desk in front of her. "It has always struck me as quite odd that You-Know-Who did not strike against you three over the summer. By the time Professor Dumbledore visited with his offer, his spies had already told him You-Know-Who's own people had been in Japan."
"…I guess maybe he wasn't ready? Maybe he knew about us…but not enough to make a move and then once he was ready, we were already here?"
"It's possible," said Professor McGonagall, and laid a hand over the top of the box. "But he had to get his intelligence from somewhere, and I believe it came much earlier."
She paused. "Are you familiar with the Department of Mysteries, and the Unspeakables?"
"Not Unspeakables," said Ryou, "but I think Harry's told us stories, about a fight they had in that department last year. But that's about it."
"The witches and wizards who work in the Department of Mysteries are called Unspeakables," she explained, "and this is because of the secrecy of the research that they conduct. Some of the greatest mysteries of the world itself are studied there. What they do is highly confidential, and conversation of their work is not meant to leave the department."
Yugi furrowed his brow. "Wait – are there Order members there? When Harry was telling us about the battle, he mentioned there was something in the Department of Mysteries that Voldemort was after. So how would he know about it?"
"It is possible You-Know-Who still has a spy," she said, "and it has happened before, during the first war. There are at least one or two Death Eaters in Azkaban who used to be Unspeakables. But I'm not aware of any Order members working in the department."
"So…what does that have to do with us?" asked Yami, and he looked down at the Puzzle. "…Are you trying to say that the Department of Mysteries was investigating us all along, and that's how Voldemort found out?"
"Is this like a chain?" asked Yugi. "First the Department, and then someone inside told Voldemort, and Dumbledore's spies told him, and now we're here?"
"Is that why Umbridge has been so interested in us all year?" asked Yami.
"Dolore Umbridge is a problem all her own," Professor McGonagall grumbled. "The thing to note about the Department of Mysteries is that they are alone. Unlike every other division, the Unspeakables don't answer to anyone else, and neither the Minister of Magic or the Department of Magical Law Enforcement have any real control over them. With that in mind, she couldn't be using them to gain any intelligence on you three."
Seto straightened up in his seat, finally invested in the conversation. At this time, normally he'd be away in a corner of the castle on his daily call with Mokuba, and if they were only here to talk about grades, he wanted it over and done with so he could get back to it.
At least now, if he was going to miss it entirely and likely not get to call before Mokuba would go off to bed, at least it was for something important.
"She couldn't – but you're saying they were looking into us?"
Voldemort told him something similar over dinner that night – so now stories may be finally starting to align, and he wasn't fed complete lies.
Seto glanced at the box, still tucked under Professor McGonagall's arm. If old puzzle pieces really were clicking together, he had a suspicion to what was in there.
"If the Unspeakables work in such secrecy, and if they were investigating us, then how do you know about this?"
"I have an old friend who works in the Department – at one time she took on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position here at Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. She glanced away towards the wispy tabby cat still curled up near the door, tail casually swishing left and right. "I grew concerned about you boys after holiday break."
Her gaze swept across Yugi and Ryou. "I know what he told you, during those troubling days after you returned to Hogwarts." And then to Seto she sighed. "But with all of his spies and sources – I did not believe he was as invested in finding you as he claimed to be."
Seto's jaw twitched. "What a surprise."
Yugi shot him a quick glance and then looked back at her. "What makes you say that?"
"There have been small instances here and there," said Professor McGonagall, "over the summer, he was adamant that because of the threat from You-Know-Who, that you needed protection, and he was quite assertive to the Ministry that aid should be given here, and not from Japan.
"The other Order members and I assumed that was because his sources would continue to give him tips on what You-Know-Who was up to – and it was easier to help protect you all from a close distance than across the globe, and I'm sure he was right. But I did not believe three Order members stationed abroad would truly be a long-term solution, and he had no interest in involving the Japanese Ministry until there was no other option.
"I inquired with Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt, and they provided a rather bleak outlook on how the search efforts were executed. I realize that ended up moot in the end, but considering how hard Professor Dumbledore pushed for you all in the beginning, and the extent he claimed that the Japanese Ministry were on them to clean up this mess on their end…. Well, I had higher expectations."
"It's alright," Yugi said, "I guess by now, we're kind of used to being disappointed by the Ministry."
Professor McGonagall huffed. "No, Mr. Muto, it was not alright."
She looked to Seto again. "It was also not right to force an interrogation on you immediately following the Astronomy Tower incident. To this day I do not know why Professor Dumbledore allowed the Minister to bully him into it. I do not know if his continued absences from the school are distracting him from his responsibilities here, but I have never seen him so blasé when it came to our students."
Ryou bit his lip. They knew why Dumbledore was away so much, but that would do no good here. "So…you asked your Unspeakable friend…about us?"
"Well, if the Order – of whom many work all around the Ministry – didn't know anything about you until Dumbledore first brought it up out of the blue, then the information had to come from somewhere."
"…And you asked your contact…and she just told you?" said Ryou, "Doesn't that kind of undermine the whole secrecy thing?"
"Oh, no," said Professor McGonagall, "I've had to cash in on a rather large debt that she owed me from years ago – and then offer a few favors – in order for her to speak to me about any of this."
She picked up the box and turned it over in her hands. "I'm afraid I do not have any of their written reports and research – that had to stay behind in the Department of Mysteries. But I can confirm that the Unspeakables started this investigation months before Professor Dumbledore paid any of you a visit. And it was all because of this."
Seto scowled and reached an arm out before Yugi or Ryou could say anything.
Yami looked incredibly uncomfortable. "Is that what I think it is…?"
Yugi leaned in closer as Seto opened the box for exactly two seconds and snapped it shut again with an angry huff. "Yeah…."
"What is it?" asked Ryou.
"An Orichalcos rock," said Yugi grimly.
"It's inactive," said Seto, and he handed it back to her. "Voldemort does have a stooge in the Department of Mysteries because he also showed me one of those rocks, and fed me the same story that it was the Ministry and not him that looked into us first."
"How many of these stones do the Unspeakables have?" Yugi asked warily, "We're lucky that the two that have shown up so far are dead, but any live glowing ones need to be destroyed immediately."
"So you're already aware of these events," Professor McGonagall said curiously. "I hadn't known…."
"Only because Voldemort was trying to make nice with me," Seto said.
"I see…" she said, somewhat caught off-guard. "As for how many of these rocks still exist, I have no idea. She loaned me this one just for this meeting, and I vowed to return it to her. But what do you mean by that it's dead?"
"The live ones were far more vibrant than this," said Yugi, "To make a super long story short, the people who used to wield them used the dark magic inside to steal people's souls. When Kaiba and I stopped the cult behind it all, the stones dulled out. I know Pegasus spearheaded some movement to collect and destroy them all, but apparently some of them survived."
Professor McGonagall nodded slowly. "I…well, I suppose I should be relieved in the end, knowing that you were already at least somewhat aware of all this. What troubles me, however, is not that the Ministry was looking into why wizards and normal people alike were dropping soulless across the world…"
Yugi and Ryou exchanged glances again.
"…It was that she said Professor Dumbledore was already aware of all of this."
"For how long?" asked Ryou.
"Long enough that he probably could have brought the information up any time to us," Seto said, "and chose not to."
"So why is he keeping that information a secret?" asked Yugi. "If he knew about the Orichalcos stones – and if he knew that Voldemort also had one – wouldn't it be wise to let the Order know? What if, worst-case scenario, one of the rocks was live? The war against the Death Eaters is already bleak. The Order doesn't need a whole new problem to have to fight."
"Not to mention, us," Yami said bitterly. "We fought the Orichalcos – it would have been nice to know ahead of time that this could still potentially be a problem."
"I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you," said Professor McGonagall. "There are a lot of things that have not made much sense as of late."
"Professor," Yami began. He still stared down at the Puzzle, and hugged the chain close to his chest. "You know Dumbledore better than we do."
She stared at him expectantly, and he took a deep breath. "…Do you think he has ulterior motives? Regarding us?"
Professor McGonagall was quiet for what felt like a solid minute, and Yugi hung his head. The silence was damning.
"I don't know," she finally said. "Professor Dumbledore is brilliant – he often thinks well ahead of the rest of us. I don't always agree with his decisions, but he has his reasons, and they are usually justified with good intentions. I want to say that he is genuinely looking out for you, but at times I cannot see it. Which is why, after the Astronomy Tower, I went to try and find news and answers of my own."
She pressed her lips into a thin line and looked at all three of them. "I don't care how just the Ministry believes their reasons are – I will not stand by while my students are harassed."
Ryou's eyes widened. "S-so you know?"
"Know what, Mr. Bakura?"
Ryou glanced quickly to Yugi and Seto. "Well…that we've been followed?"
Professor McGonagall's eyes narrowed and she looked from him to Seto and back. "I was referring to prior complaints Mr. Kaiba made to me following the end of his lockdown from the Astronomy Tower incident. …Have there been more instances?"
Seto gritted his teeth. "Everywhere. I. Go."
"I noticed it only once. Well, my spirit did," said Ryou. "I was on my way back to Gryffindor Tower from a study group. The spirit noticed one of the Aurors was following me, and he used the Shadow Realm to take me directly into the dormitory."
He paused. "…Am I going to be in trouble for that?"
"Did you feel unsafe?"
"I mean – I wasn't even aware of the Auror until he said so, and he immediately got me out without any say…so…I don't know?"
Professor McGonagall turned to Yugi. "And you too?"
Yugi shrugged. "I haven't caught anyone…."
She clasped her hands together and stared down at them for several seconds. Then sighed. Finally, she glanced up and swept a long look from Ryou to Yugi to Seto.
"I am aware that Professor Dumbledore forbid the use of your Millennium Items, while you are here at Hogwarts. That rule, in general, I agreed with – those artifacts are unique and mysterious to us and we do not know enough about them to be certain they are used safely without a danger to anyone else on these grounds.
"That being said, first and foremost Hogwarts is a safe place for everyone under its roof. That ranges from the students to the staff, to the Aurors patrolling the grounds and the corridors.
"But that also includes you, and if you do not feel safe in these halls, then I need to know about it. And if it means that for you to be safe, that you must use the shadow magic to escape whatever situation you are in, then I am giving you permission to use them, regardless of what Professor Dumbledore has ordered. But to use your Millennium Items in any act of aggression is still strictly prohibited."
She eyed Ryou, who let out a very audible sigh of relief. "So no, Mr. Bakura, you are not in any trouble."
He sagged back in his seat. "Oh, thank you!"
She pursed her lips. "The matter of being followed around the school for no valid reason is troubling, and I will be bringing this up to Professor Dumbledore upon his return."
Ryou frowned. He's traveling again?
"How long has this gone on?" asked Professor McGonagall.
"Since the Astronomy Tower," said Seto, "and it doesn't matter where I am. They're lousy at being discreet about it; I've caught them tailing me from every corner of the school, and they'll even park themselves in the Library if I'm there and wait for me to leave."
She scowled. "Are they following you from Gryffindor Tower?"
Yugi shook his head. "None of them do. There's never anyone outside the portrait hole. And if we were coming from the Great Hall, we never see them from that direction either."
"…So how do they know where you are?"
Yugi glanced nervously at Ryou, and then to Seto. Neither of them gave him in any indication on whether he should mention the Marauders Map, and she was sitting there staring at him and expecting an answer.
"…We never quite figured that out."
Professor McGonagall studied him for a long moment. Finally, she sighed and stood up, and dismissed her Patronus.
"Very well," she said and gestured towards the door. "If you see any instance of them doing it again, come straight to me. If there is an Auror acting alone and holding some sort of grudge, I will try to see about having him or her reassigned off the grounds. I want to get to the bottom of this before these random instances become a deeper security concern."
Ryou nodded. "Yes, Professor."
Professor McGonagall opened the door for them and took a cursory glance out into the empty corridor. "I will try to see if there is any more information to be dug up…but in the meantime, do try to avoid getting into any more trouble this term."
She leveled Yugi a pointed look. "That means staying inside after curfew, Mr. Muto."
He turned beet red. "Yes, ma'am."
"Should we have said something…about the Map?" Ryou asked as soon as they were far enough from earshot of Professor McGonagall's office.
"I don't know," said Yugi. "Maybe? But I didn't want to step out of turn. I mean, it's not our map, it's Harry's. And I got the impression he didn't want the professors to know he had it."
The corridor ended right into the Grand Staircases, and one set floated down from the sixth floor to meet them at the open landing. Once it broke away and started its ascent towards the seventh floor, Yugi couldn't help but take a good look around the bits of staircases and the landings beneath them.
No sign of any Aurors…but that didn't mean they weren't nearby.
"If she knew what the Map was, she'd confiscate it," Seto said hotly. "It tells you where everyone is in the school, and where all the dormitories are. All someone has to do is stake out near one of the entrances long enough to overhear a password and then an entire house's security is compromised."
Yugi frowned. "With everything else that Umbridge has done so far this year, I'm surprised that's the one thing she didn't do."
Seto glared at an empty portrait as he passed by. "Art eavesdrops. Don't give anyone any ideas."
They rounded the corner and Seto left them behind in long strides to reach the Fat Lady's portrait first, and was halfway through and into the common by the time that Yugi and Ryou caught up.
Harry and Ron were sitting at a small table near the entrance to the girls' staircase and they got up once they saw Seto brush past everyone and up the boys' steps, and to see Yugi and Ryou climb through the portrait hole shortly after.
"So…" Harry began, "how was the meeting?"
Yugi jerked his head upwards towards their dorm. "It was great. We finished all our extra lessons so our evenings are officially free!"
"Awesome!" said Ron, and they followed them up the stairs. "Now Harry can try to squeeze in another Quidditch practice a week until our final match against Slytherin next month!"
"Aaaand so much for my free evenings," Yugi laughed. "So long as it's only one night…right?"
"Yeah," said Harry, "we'd be lucky to even get that extra night anyhow. By now I'm sure Slytherin probably booked out the Pitch at every opportunity."
Ryou pushed open the door to the dormitory. Seto was already stretched out on his bed with his laptop balanced across his legs.
Harry gave a quick glance in his direction before taking his usual seat on Yugi's bedside chair. Seto didn't bother looking up at any of them and stayed focused on whatever was on his screen.
"So….," he began awkwardly. Then he met Yugi's gaze, pointedly looked to Seto and back to Yugi.
Yugi glanced over as well, but to Harry's dismay, didn't seem interested in prodding the dragon in the room. He merely shrugged.
"We can't really dance around this, can we?" Harry whispered.
"Not really."
Ron huffed. The last time, Hermione broke the news as gently as she could, even if it still blew up in all their faces. But she was off somewhere else – probably the Library because where else could she be? – so they were going to have to contend with a cranky Seto alone.
Fun.
Bakura was the first to spirit out of his Millennium Item.
"You lot need to man up," he muttered, "what's the worst he can do – chuck you out the window?"
"I wouldn't put it past him," said Yugi, "but that also sounds like something you would do, given the opportunity."
Bakura snorted. "My host doesn't even have the arm strength to bother trying."
Yami appeared alongside Yugi, scowling. "I suppose we should take that as a comfort?"
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Our hosts have shared the same bedroom since the summer. If I was going to hurl you out a window, I'd have done it by now."
Yugi blinked. "Pharaoh, if nothing else, I will take that as a comfort."
"…Anyway…" Harry said, clearing his throat. "Ron and I were discussing, er, the plan while you guys were gone."
Ryou raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Yeah," said Ron, "dates and things. When we should try to pull this whole thing off. And I think we figured out the best day to do it."
"Okay," Yugi said, and after a deep breath twisted around on his bed to look across the room once more. "Hey, Kaiba – do you want to join us?"
Seto didn't bother looking up from whatever he was reading. "No."
Ron frowned. "You don't want to give any input on the plan?"
"Why should I? You've managed so far without it, so why start now?"
Yugi cringed. "You're right – and we should have. It was wrong to drop it on you the way that we did. I'm sorry."
"You might be," Seto said, unimpressed. "But you don't speak for everyone."
Yugi frowned. "I think in this instance, I do. We made a mistake and we're owning up to it. But this is our chance to stop Umbridge and get her off our backs for a while, and yes, our plan includes you, and we think your opinions matter."
Seto's eye twitched. "You really want to know what I think of all this?"
"Yes!" said Yami.
Seto exhaled sharply, shifted the laptop off him, and swung his legs around over the side of his bed.
"What I think," he said in a low, dangerous voice, as Hermione threw open the door, arms weighed down with books, and entered the dormitory with a frustrated huff, "is that I would rather be tortured by Voldemort again than sit on a plane for twelve hours with only Umbridge for company."
Hermione stopped short two steps into the room, jaw dropped, and darted furrowed looks between Seto and the others.
"It seems my only purpose for being here is to be constantly strong-armed into everyone else's bidding. You all plotted to get Umbridge out of the school on a plan that won't work without me, and yet didn't bother for my opinion. Then you just expected me to go through with it. Now you've determined what day and you still haven't bothered to find out if your imaginary date works with my schedule?"
"We just came up with it," said Harry hotly, "how are we supposed to run it by you when you're not here?"
Seto narrowed his eyes at him. "Let me remind you that you need me for this ridiculous idea more than I need you. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to leave. You think Umbridge has the Map? Let her keep it."
"Don't you want to stop being followed around the school?" asked Ron.
"I've put up with it this long, haven't I?"
Harry stared down at the floor for a few moments. "…So…what will it take for you to help?"
Bakura snorted. "You're asking him a loaded question."
"It's the only way we can have her distracted long enough to get into her office," said Harry, "if Yugi or Ryou wanted to go, an Auror would just use a Portkey or something and it'd be over and done with. But you always used your plane."
Seto crossed his arms. "You want to know my price? Stop plotting behind my back. I'm not a dog that will roll over on command for your amusement."
Yami glided forward, and raised his hand as if to make a solemn oath. "Kaiba – I promise, for myself and on behalf of everyone here, that we will not ask anything like this of you again. Your cooperation should and will be of your volition. We won't expect you to take one for the team anymore."
"This isn't just aggravating her in the corridors, Yugi. You're trying to saddle me with that woman for an entire day."
"What about New York?" Yugi asked. "It's…not as far as Japan, right?"
Harry and Ron both nodded encouragingly.
Having finally picked her jaw up from the floor, Hermione shook her head, pressed her lips into a thin line, and perched herself on the edge of Seto's bedside chair, books balanced precariously on her knees.
Seto scoffed. "An eight-hour flight instead of twelve."
"…Oh."
"Look, we'll make it up to you," Harry said quickly, and Seto turned his glare on him.
"How, because you are already testing the limits of my patience."
"I don't know yet," said Harry, "You name it, we'll do it."
Seto glared at him. "I want to be left alone."
"And we will – regardless of whether or not you do this for us," said Yami, "if we need to, we'll find another way. Even if it takes ten times as long to piece a plan together."
Harry looked from Yami to Seto with a frown – he didn't want to have to come up with another plan. Umbridge had the Map for far too long already. And with every passing day he didn't have it, Malfoy comes closer to…whatever it is he's doing in the Room of Requirement.
"You think he's gonna agree?" Ron whispered to Ryou.
Ryou could only shrug.
Seto finally tore his glower away from them, reached for his phone and started scrolling through whatever was on his screen.
Harry glanced to Ron. The silence in the room grew more awkward with every passing second that Seto seemed to ignore them.
"What date?"
Ron looked up; eyes wide. "Hold on - you'll do it!?"
Angry blue eyes landed on him. "Is that what I said?"
"The next Quidditch Match," Harry blurted out, before Ron could say anything else, "We'll all be out of the school down at the Pitch, and Umbridge hates the games, so it's no big loss that she misses it."
"I need a date."
"It's…uh…two weekends from now?" Yugi asked and looked to Ron. "…Right?"
"I think so, yeah…"
Seto huffed and stared down at his phone again in another round of uneasy silence around the dormitory.
"If I do this," he said, after another unbearably long pause, "it will be on my terms and I don't want to hear about any fallout that occurs here while I'm gone. If Umbridge returns to the school and decides to make all your lives miserable in retaliation, I frankly don't give a damn."
He then leveled a harsh look at Yami. "No more schemes. No more favors. If you want something else from me after this, then you better grovel for it."
Yami blinked, then took a deep breath and nodded. "You have my word, Kaiba."
Seto's jaw twitched and he turned on Harry. "And if I find out after I get to Domino that she didn't have the Map and this entire venture was for nothing, then Voldemort himself will be the least of your worries on my return. You think I'm angry now? Just. Wait."
Harry swallowed hard.
"Do we have an understanding?"
"My oh my, you're up late this evening, aren't you?"
Roland didn't bother looking up from the report on the desk, and reached for the short glass near the edge. "I've been busy."
Pegasus cupped his hands around his wine glass and leaned into the office doorframe, clad in his pajamas, bathrobe, and bunny slippers. "We missed you at dinner for the third night in a row. Avoiding us on purpose now?"
"Like I said," Roland muttered, and turned the page, "I've. Been. Busy."
Throwing boundaries to the wind, Pegasus sauntered into the office and plopped down onto the couch. "You know, little Mokuba was most upset you hadn't returned from Domino and given the table a rousing tale of the current goings on at the company."
Roland snorted and drained the amber liquid from the glass. "If Mokuba really wanted to know how my day at the office was, he would have asked."
"Maybe he would have if you returned while the rest of the household was still awake," said Pegasus flippantly, and waved his hand into the open air. "But that's neither here nor there."
Roland finally leaned back in his seat and glared across the desk. "Are you here for a reason, or do you just need someone to annoy and I am just the sorry substitute for Mr. Kaiba?"
Pegasus shrugged and raised the hand holding the wine glass. "I was just going to settle in for some Funny Bunny before going to sleep myself, and saw the door was open. Everyone else went to bed already. I'm just curious what has you so enthralled that you've ignored the rest of the household for the last few days."
Roland sighed. How easy would it be to shoo him away with an excuse of 'Kaiba Corp business' and then go back to his work. But this wasn't just about Kaiba Corp. The details in the report affected everyone under their roof.
Instead, he tugged at the collar of his shirt and then crossed his arms. "I conducted what I thought was a job interview the day I was at the office. It turned out he wasn't a normal man for hire – he was a wizard."
"A wizard," Pegasus said, "Like…the ones that attacked everyone in the theme park?"
Roland glanced at the time on the bottom corner of the laptop, then got up, peered into the hallway, and then shut the door.
Pegasus raised an eyebrow. "Everyone's asleep."
"The kids like to eavesdrop."
"From all the way upstairs?"
"You'd be surprised how many times I've found Mokuba lurking on the other side of a door."
Pegasus blinked. "Oh."
Roland sat back down, and to Pegasus's surprise, gestured him over to the chair right next to the desk.
"This wizard is Japanese, not British, and supposedly has nothing to do directly with their magical government. Supposedly he's a freelance detective. And in his investigation, he thinks there's a mole in the office, and offered his services to smoke them out."
"I suppose if one snuck in once before, it's not unreasonable to assume there would be others," Pegasus mused. "Are you worried they'll make another hit on Kaiba-boy whenever he comes back?"
"I don't know," said Roland, "the man said I was the next target." He reached under the report for the envelope of photographs and practically tossed it at Pegasus's lap.
"You? A suit in a sea of Kaiba's suits?" Pegasus said, and set the wine glass on the desk to rifle through the envelope. "Oooh, more moving pho—oh. These are of Mokuba…and – oh. Hmm."
"Supposedly they were all taken before Christmas. But that doesn't mean there aren't more."
"So…what did he want?" Pegasus pulled the copy of a November calendar from the pile and glanced through it before moving on to a photo of himself with Roland inside the Kaiba Corp building.
"He offered local protection – if I am still being watched, eventually they'll found us out here, and while it's a decent hiding spot in the middle of nowhere, it's not very defensible. I'm wondering if it's technically safer to return to Domino than stay hidden.
"That doesn't do anything about the mole – and are you sure there is still one? What if their whole purpose was just that one attack. They got Kaiba-boy – wasn't that the plan?"
Roland poured himself another glass. "Who the hell knows. Mr. Kaiba and Yugi Muto are still going to come back once the spring term ends at that school. If the Death Eaters didn't get what they wanted from Mr. Kaiba the first time, why wouldn't they try again?"
"…I suppose."
"They infiltrated our security once, from right under my nose. Now it's been months and I've stepped into the office maybe a handful of times since the attack, so how would I even know if there are more?"
Pegasus wrinkled his nose and handed him back the envelope. "I think I see now. And before – that was just at the amusement park. By now they could have stashed people all over the company. But…why there? Won't they go for Yugi-boy next?"
"I don't know what they want," Roland said, "but, as he said – we're not magical, but we can mobilize quickly and make a huge mess for them."
"Ah. Take out the path of greatest resistance and what's left?"
"Not much," Roland said flatly.
"…Then the man's offer to help find any straggling bad wizards is sound," said Pegasus, "but can you trust him?"
Roland shook his head. "…I don't know. How many times do we have to be burned by them before enough is enough?"
Pegasus got to his feet and reached for his wine. "Well…that's true. But not all wizards are bad eggs, you know. I've heard Mokuba talk kindly about the one woman who could change her face a few times. Some of them were I'm sure genuinely trying to help. But as far as whether to stay here or go…that's not completely up to you, is it?"
He started for the door as Roland's phone started vibrating against the desk. "Well, I think it's high time to turn in for the night – these sorts of big decisions need a good night's rest, a fresh morning cup of coffee, and a vote of the household."
When Roland didn't respond to him, Pegasus turned back. The man was staring at whatever message had just come through, and based on the way his eye twitched and jaw tensed up, it must not have been a good one.
With a quiet sigh, he left the office and shuffled back to his own room.