Chapter 7: - We Fooled You! and Nick's Deathday Party
They reached the Gryffindor Common Room and stopped suddenly, the entire house were out cold, it looked like they'd been hit by a well planned surprise attack, with some people having managed to draw their wands while others had been hit with whatever spell it was that had rendered them unconscious before they'd had a chance to move. Almost everyone was on the floor, or in a chair, except… there was someone missing… Yami looked around wildly, "Where's Yugi?"
Joey shook Kari and the girl came round slowly, "What happened?"
She looked at him groggily, "Someone attacked us without warning, from the Portrait hole."
"Where's Yugi?" Yami asked again, directing it towards Kari. 'Dark Magician! Where's Yugi?'
Kari looked around, "He was here, with us, they must have grabbed him!" Kari groaned, her face creased with pain and she passed back out.
I'm not sure my Pharaoh, Boh can only just sense him. Yami growled. "Joey, ask Red Eyes!"
'Tobias, where have the attackers taken Yugi?' No reply. "I don't know, I can't get an answer from Tobias."
"He can't be too far." Yami growled, "He's still around the castle somewhere." Joey tried to think where someone would have taken Yugi.
"Hadn't we better tell a Professor?"
Yami turned on him, anger glinting dangerously in his eyes. "I don't think whoever did this is coming back anytime soon, while Yugi might be in real danger NOW!" Joey nodded.
"Alright, Gryffindor house will be safe enough here, we'd better find Yugi."
Yami nodded and rushed back out the Common Room, Joey looked around and noticed that there were two others missing, Fred and George Weasley, but they might have gone up to their dorm and missed it. Joey followed Yami out.
Yami stopped running down the stairs as a paper bird flew into his hands and unfolded itself. It was a note, it said, "He's on the roof."
Yami froze. "What's wrong?" Joey asked, as Yami wheeled back round and raced back to the Common Room and up to the dorm, grabbing Yugi's broomstick before heading over to the window. Yami passed him the note and then stared at the evil broomstick. Yami opened to window and refused to look down as he mounted the broomstick. "Are you Ok, man?" Joey asked as Yami was about to take off.
Yami wasn't sure but didn't have time to think about it, Yugi was in trouble and that was all there was too it. "No, but here I go anyway." He took off into the rain and Joey rushed down to the Common Room, to see if he could wake up some of the others.
"Yugi?" Yami called, "Yugi?" He traced Yugi to the tallest tower's roof, and flew up there, he saw two figures mount broomsticks as he came level with the tower and fly off. Yami growled; one of them was holding something gold. Yami chased him and the figure dropped the Puzzle, which Yami dived to catch it, succeeding, and surprising himself in the process, but it meant the figure he was chasing got away.
He turned his attention back to the tower and landed on the roof of it, rushing over to Yugi, who, as Yami had feared, was out cold. Yami put the Puzzle on him, allowing him to open the mind link, though there was no response at the other end. It felt, down the link, like Yugi had been drugged, with some sort of potion. He shook his hikari gently, "Yugi, you're safe now, come on, wake up…"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What do you mean it was a trick?" Joey yelled, as Harry and Ron tried to explain. Yami was still flying out there, trying to find Yugi on one of the roofs.
"The only one who's really out cold is Yugi, since Yami's bond with him would tell him if Yugi was pretending, this was your idea," Kari said, "And it worked didn't it?" Joey nodded, he just wished he'd been in on it.
"You scared me half to death!" He yelled, as Fred and George rushed down from the dorms.
"Yami's found Yugi, it'll take him about ten minutes to wake Yugi, so…" George looked out the window, "They're going to be soaked when they come in."
"Uh oh…" Kari gasped, Mana, the Dark Magician Girl, had just told her something.
"What?"
"Yami's bringing Yugi in while he's still out cold, everyone places!"
Yami flew in through the open Common Room window. Inside Joey, Fred and George were 'waking everyone up.' Yami landed next to the fire, shivering, while holding Yugi tightly so he wouldn't fall off the broom. "Joey! Is everyone ok?" He asked, dismounting and lying Yugi down. Joey smiled and nodded as Yugi's eyes groggily opened, and the last of the Gryffindors 'woke up.' "We still have to find out who did this." Yami said loudly, helping Yugi to his feet.
Everyone looked around guiltily and Yami got suspicious, what didn't help the twins was that a small, ¾ full bottle, labelled 'Sleeping Potion', rolled out from under their robes. Yami glared at them, and they gulped. "But you got to admit it worked!" They said in unison. Yami kept glaring at them, Yugi was shivering from the wet robes and clothes. "And that was the best catch I've seen anyone not a pro do in years, apart from Harry!"
"It was you two on the roof, wasn't it?" He growled, through the praise was welcome.
"He was good?" Wood asked, always eager to talk about Quidditch.
"He caught the Millennium Puzzle, in midair, without it breaking, he was better then Jenny Lumox, sorry Jen…" George said the last to the team's reserve Seeker.
"I am not playing Quidditch!" Yami growled.
"But I heard Kaiba got on the Ravenclaw team, he's playing… what was it?" Harry said, thinking, "Chaser, that was it."
"Well… maybe…" Yami said, still slightly angry.
"Good, we'll try you out tomorrow, and if you're any good, we'll have two reserve Seekers, since you seem to get into as much trouble as Harry." Oliver Wood said.
Yami nodded and turned to Yugi, "Are you really alright?"
Yugi yawned, "I'm fine, really. Just sleepy," He shivered, "And cold." Yami led Yugi upstairs, to their dorm, where they got changed into warm, dry clothes.
By the time they got back down the Common Room was in full party mode, having successfully pulled off the biggest trick ever played on a member of their own house and having gotten Yami to fly.
It continued till early in the morning, when Professor McGonagall came in and demanded to know why they were all out of bed. Since no one wanted to tell her why they were having a party, it quietly dissolved under her watchful gaze until everyone had returned to their dorms.
"You know," Yami said down the mind link to Yugi, who was curled up in bed with his Kuriboh, "You had me really worried, I thought something bad had seriously happened to you, I should have thought it was a trick, after all only teachers and Gryffindor students know the password. I'm just glad you're Ok."
'Sorry Yami, but we couldn't think of a better way, they came up with lots of different ways, Ron said to try throwing you out a window, and then Gred and Forge overheard and they offered to help, and before long the whole of Gryffindor house was in on it. It's probably a good thing because you would have been suspicious if it had just been the group out cold.' Yugi's mental voice was sleepy, and most unusually, slightly difficult understand; the full effects of the potion weren't completely out of Yugi's system.
"Ron said what?" Yami put it down to the potion and assumed he'd heard Yugi wrong, "You're right though, after you lot were talking in the Common Room I wouldn't have trusted it, but I was scared out of my mind when the link went almost completely dead, I know you'd never give up the Puzzle willingly."
'That was their idea, I was asleep by then, taking and dropping the Puzzle was not my idea. Yami?'
"Yes?"
'Are… are you going… going to tell me…' Yugi trailed off and Yami closed his eyes and sensed Yugi had fallen asleep, he smiled and rolled over so his was facing his hikari's bed, he'd tell Yugi what had scared him about flying when Yugi was awake enough to understand him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the time Halloween arrived, Harry was regretting his rash promise to go to the Deathday Party. The rest of the school were anticipating their Halloween feast, and rumours flew around about the entertainment.
"A promise is a promise." Hermione told Harry bossily. "Both you and Yugi said you'd got to the party."
Yami had decided to go with Yugi, but Ombre wasn't too happy about going at all, Kari or no Kari, but didn't want to go to the Halloween feast on her own, so at seven o'clock Ombre followed them down to the dungeons, sulking the entire way. The corridor was lined with black taper candles, casting a dim, ghostly light even over their own living faces. The temperature dropped with every step, and Harry pulled his robes in around him, he heard what sounded like fingernails against a blackboard.
"Is that supposed to be music?" Ron whispered. They turned a corner and saw Nearly Headless Nick, stood by a doorway, hung with black drapes.
"My dear friends, welcome, welcome, so pleased you could come. Yami, Ombre, it is an honer, I wasn't expecting either of you." He swept off his hat and bowed them inside.
It was an incredible sight. The dungeon was full of silver, translucent people, mostly drifting around a crowded dance floor. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Joey made their way over to the food table, where they ended up getting caught up in one of Peeve's cruel jokes. Yami, Yugi, Joey, Kari and Ombre made their way around the room, trying to avoid walking through anyone. The four joined them, "You do not want to eat that!" Joey murmured, "If we ate it, it would probably make us ill."
"Are you having fun?" Nick asked, scaring Joey, as Nick'd come up behind him silently.
"Oh yes." Joey said, sarcasm heavy in his voice.
"I'd better go warn the orchestra that my speech is soon…" in that moment the band stopped playing and a hunting horn sounded. "Oh here we go." Nick said bitterly. Through one of the dungeon walls, burst a dozen ghost horses, each ridden by headless horsemen. The assembly of ghosts clapped and Harry stopped himself from clapping at the look on Nick's face.
Yami and Ombre looked at each other, these were the members of the Headless Hunt that Nick wanted to join? They weren't that impressive. Yugi politely clapped while Joey looked really impressed, though Kari wasn't sure what to make of it.
The horses stopped in the middle of the dance floor, a large ghost at the front, his bearded head held under his arm, blowing the horn. He got down, put his head on his shoulders and seemed to gather his courage before coming over and speaking with Yami. Yami saw this and smiled, apparently seniority was important to ghosts, and not many ghost stayed coherent after five thousand years and the Hunt's Master seemed amazed by him and Ombre.
"Pharaoh." Sir Patrick said, giving a slight nod, probably to stop his head falling off, rather then from a lack of respect.
Yami began his campaign, "You know, Sir Nick is a good friend of mine, I would appreciate it if you reconsidered his application." The Hunt's Master looked flustered.
"While you see, Nick isn't really suitable…" He began but Yami interrupted him.
"I would consider it a favour if you did."
"Well, we'll see, I'm sure there are some activities he could take part in, just as an… umm… auxiliary member, I'm sure of it, but I'll have to put it up for discussion with the rest of the hunt… I'm sure you understand."
Yami nodded, "Yes, I understand, I'm sure it won't be a problem." Sir Patrick made his way across the room, Nearly Headless Nick was looking at Yami, lost for words. "I hope this is enough to repay you for what you did for Yugi a few days ago, I'm sure they won't deny my request."
"More than enough…" Nick said, beaming, "Thank you."
Yugi tugged on Yami's sleeve, his breath coming out as clouds of steam, "Come on, the others are all hungry." Yami nodded, following his hikari out into the hall where the others were waiting. They started walking along the corridor, and about half way along both Harry and Joey jumped, Harry started to run but Joey grabbed him, "Tobias says not to go that way." Ombre's head shot up.
"Shadowfae agrees."
Harry looked at them, panicking slightly, "But it's going to kill someone!" Joey paled and let go.
"Kill?" Yugi said, and the gang came to a mutual decision and ran after the voice, trying to stop an attempted murder. They hurtled down a bunch of corridors and around a corner and Harry stopped, causing Joey and Ron to run into him, sending them sprawling to the floor.
"Ouch!" Joey complained, as he untangled himself.
"Guys…" Yugi said, pointing down the corridor, "Look." Something was shining on the wall ahead, foot high words daubed on the walls between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED!
ENEMIES OF THE HIER, BEWARE!
"What's that thing… hanging underneath?" Ron asked, his voice quivering slightly. Yami pushed Yugi behind him as they made their way forward, towards the large puddle of water on the floor beneath the words. They realised what it was almost immediately, once they could see it, and Yugi and Harry jumped back with a splash.
Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was as stiff as a board and her eyes were wide and staring. For a few seconds they didn't, or couldn't move, then Ron spoke.
"We should get out of here."
"Shouldn't we try to help?" Harry began awkwardly.
"Ron's right, we don't want to be found here." Yami said, turning to lead Yugi away, but it was too late, a distant rumble told them the feast had kicked out and soon the corridor was full of students, who stopped the moment they saw the hanging cat and the words. Then a voice shouted through the crowd.
"Enemies of the heir beware! You'll be next Mudbloods!" It was Draco Malfoy, his cold eyes alive, his usually pale face flushed as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat.
Joey shook Kari and the girl came round slowly, "What happened?"
She looked at him groggily, "Someone attacked us without warning, from the Portrait hole."
"Where's Yugi?" Yami asked again, directing it towards Kari. 'Dark Magician! Where's Yugi?'
Kari looked around, "He was here, with us, they must have grabbed him!" Kari groaned, her face creased with pain and she passed back out.
I'm not sure my Pharaoh, Boh can only just sense him. Yami growled. "Joey, ask Red Eyes!"
'Tobias, where have the attackers taken Yugi?' No reply. "I don't know, I can't get an answer from Tobias."
"He can't be too far." Yami growled, "He's still around the castle somewhere." Joey tried to think where someone would have taken Yugi.
"Hadn't we better tell a Professor?"
Yami turned on him, anger glinting dangerously in his eyes. "I don't think whoever did this is coming back anytime soon, while Yugi might be in real danger NOW!" Joey nodded.
"Alright, Gryffindor house will be safe enough here, we'd better find Yugi."
Yami nodded and rushed back out the Common Room, Joey looked around and noticed that there were two others missing, Fred and George Weasley, but they might have gone up to their dorm and missed it. Joey followed Yami out.
Yami stopped running down the stairs as a paper bird flew into his hands and unfolded itself. It was a note, it said, "He's on the roof."
Yami froze. "What's wrong?" Joey asked, as Yami wheeled back round and raced back to the Common Room and up to the dorm, grabbing Yugi's broomstick before heading over to the window. Yami passed him the note and then stared at the evil broomstick. Yami opened to window and refused to look down as he mounted the broomstick. "Are you Ok, man?" Joey asked as Yami was about to take off.
Yami wasn't sure but didn't have time to think about it, Yugi was in trouble and that was all there was too it. "No, but here I go anyway." He took off into the rain and Joey rushed down to the Common Room, to see if he could wake up some of the others.
"Yugi?" Yami called, "Yugi?" He traced Yugi to the tallest tower's roof, and flew up there, he saw two figures mount broomsticks as he came level with the tower and fly off. Yami growled; one of them was holding something gold. Yami chased him and the figure dropped the Puzzle, which Yami dived to catch it, succeeding, and surprising himself in the process, but it meant the figure he was chasing got away.
He turned his attention back to the tower and landed on the roof of it, rushing over to Yugi, who, as Yami had feared, was out cold. Yami put the Puzzle on him, allowing him to open the mind link, though there was no response at the other end. It felt, down the link, like Yugi had been drugged, with some sort of potion. He shook his hikari gently, "Yugi, you're safe now, come on, wake up…"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What do you mean it was a trick?" Joey yelled, as Harry and Ron tried to explain. Yami was still flying out there, trying to find Yugi on one of the roofs.
"The only one who's really out cold is Yugi, since Yami's bond with him would tell him if Yugi was pretending, this was your idea," Kari said, "And it worked didn't it?" Joey nodded, he just wished he'd been in on it.
"You scared me half to death!" He yelled, as Fred and George rushed down from the dorms.
"Yami's found Yugi, it'll take him about ten minutes to wake Yugi, so…" George looked out the window, "They're going to be soaked when they come in."
"Uh oh…" Kari gasped, Mana, the Dark Magician Girl, had just told her something.
"What?"
"Yami's bringing Yugi in while he's still out cold, everyone places!"
Yami flew in through the open Common Room window. Inside Joey, Fred and George were 'waking everyone up.' Yami landed next to the fire, shivering, while holding Yugi tightly so he wouldn't fall off the broom. "Joey! Is everyone ok?" He asked, dismounting and lying Yugi down. Joey smiled and nodded as Yugi's eyes groggily opened, and the last of the Gryffindors 'woke up.' "We still have to find out who did this." Yami said loudly, helping Yugi to his feet.
Everyone looked around guiltily and Yami got suspicious, what didn't help the twins was that a small, ¾ full bottle, labelled 'Sleeping Potion', rolled out from under their robes. Yami glared at them, and they gulped. "But you got to admit it worked!" They said in unison. Yami kept glaring at them, Yugi was shivering from the wet robes and clothes. "And that was the best catch I've seen anyone not a pro do in years, apart from Harry!"
"It was you two on the roof, wasn't it?" He growled, through the praise was welcome.
"He was good?" Wood asked, always eager to talk about Quidditch.
"He caught the Millennium Puzzle, in midair, without it breaking, he was better then Jenny Lumox, sorry Jen…" George said the last to the team's reserve Seeker.
"I am not playing Quidditch!" Yami growled.
"But I heard Kaiba got on the Ravenclaw team, he's playing… what was it?" Harry said, thinking, "Chaser, that was it."
"Well… maybe…" Yami said, still slightly angry.
"Good, we'll try you out tomorrow, and if you're any good, we'll have two reserve Seekers, since you seem to get into as much trouble as Harry." Oliver Wood said.
Yami nodded and turned to Yugi, "Are you really alright?"
Yugi yawned, "I'm fine, really. Just sleepy," He shivered, "And cold." Yami led Yugi upstairs, to their dorm, where they got changed into warm, dry clothes.
By the time they got back down the Common Room was in full party mode, having successfully pulled off the biggest trick ever played on a member of their own house and having gotten Yami to fly.
It continued till early in the morning, when Professor McGonagall came in and demanded to know why they were all out of bed. Since no one wanted to tell her why they were having a party, it quietly dissolved under her watchful gaze until everyone had returned to their dorms.
"You know," Yami said down the mind link to Yugi, who was curled up in bed with his Kuriboh, "You had me really worried, I thought something bad had seriously happened to you, I should have thought it was a trick, after all only teachers and Gryffindor students know the password. I'm just glad you're Ok."
'Sorry Yami, but we couldn't think of a better way, they came up with lots of different ways, Ron said to try throwing you out a window, and then Gred and Forge overheard and they offered to help, and before long the whole of Gryffindor house was in on it. It's probably a good thing because you would have been suspicious if it had just been the group out cold.' Yugi's mental voice was sleepy, and most unusually, slightly difficult understand; the full effects of the potion weren't completely out of Yugi's system.
"Ron said what?" Yami put it down to the potion and assumed he'd heard Yugi wrong, "You're right though, after you lot were talking in the Common Room I wouldn't have trusted it, but I was scared out of my mind when the link went almost completely dead, I know you'd never give up the Puzzle willingly."
'That was their idea, I was asleep by then, taking and dropping the Puzzle was not my idea. Yami?'
"Yes?"
'Are… are you going… going to tell me…' Yugi trailed off and Yami closed his eyes and sensed Yugi had fallen asleep, he smiled and rolled over so his was facing his hikari's bed, he'd tell Yugi what had scared him about flying when Yugi was awake enough to understand him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the time Halloween arrived, Harry was regretting his rash promise to go to the Deathday Party. The rest of the school were anticipating their Halloween feast, and rumours flew around about the entertainment.
"A promise is a promise." Hermione told Harry bossily. "Both you and Yugi said you'd got to the party."
Yami had decided to go with Yugi, but Ombre wasn't too happy about going at all, Kari or no Kari, but didn't want to go to the Halloween feast on her own, so at seven o'clock Ombre followed them down to the dungeons, sulking the entire way. The corridor was lined with black taper candles, casting a dim, ghostly light even over their own living faces. The temperature dropped with every step, and Harry pulled his robes in around him, he heard what sounded like fingernails against a blackboard.
"Is that supposed to be music?" Ron whispered. They turned a corner and saw Nearly Headless Nick, stood by a doorway, hung with black drapes.
"My dear friends, welcome, welcome, so pleased you could come. Yami, Ombre, it is an honer, I wasn't expecting either of you." He swept off his hat and bowed them inside.
It was an incredible sight. The dungeon was full of silver, translucent people, mostly drifting around a crowded dance floor. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Joey made their way over to the food table, where they ended up getting caught up in one of Peeve's cruel jokes. Yami, Yugi, Joey, Kari and Ombre made their way around the room, trying to avoid walking through anyone. The four joined them, "You do not want to eat that!" Joey murmured, "If we ate it, it would probably make us ill."
"Are you having fun?" Nick asked, scaring Joey, as Nick'd come up behind him silently.
"Oh yes." Joey said, sarcasm heavy in his voice.
"I'd better go warn the orchestra that my speech is soon…" in that moment the band stopped playing and a hunting horn sounded. "Oh here we go." Nick said bitterly. Through one of the dungeon walls, burst a dozen ghost horses, each ridden by headless horsemen. The assembly of ghosts clapped and Harry stopped himself from clapping at the look on Nick's face.
Yami and Ombre looked at each other, these were the members of the Headless Hunt that Nick wanted to join? They weren't that impressive. Yugi politely clapped while Joey looked really impressed, though Kari wasn't sure what to make of it.
The horses stopped in the middle of the dance floor, a large ghost at the front, his bearded head held under his arm, blowing the horn. He got down, put his head on his shoulders and seemed to gather his courage before coming over and speaking with Yami. Yami saw this and smiled, apparently seniority was important to ghosts, and not many ghost stayed coherent after five thousand years and the Hunt's Master seemed amazed by him and Ombre.
"Pharaoh." Sir Patrick said, giving a slight nod, probably to stop his head falling off, rather then from a lack of respect.
Yami began his campaign, "You know, Sir Nick is a good friend of mine, I would appreciate it if you reconsidered his application." The Hunt's Master looked flustered.
"While you see, Nick isn't really suitable…" He began but Yami interrupted him.
"I would consider it a favour if you did."
"Well, we'll see, I'm sure there are some activities he could take part in, just as an… umm… auxiliary member, I'm sure of it, but I'll have to put it up for discussion with the rest of the hunt… I'm sure you understand."
Yami nodded, "Yes, I understand, I'm sure it won't be a problem." Sir Patrick made his way across the room, Nearly Headless Nick was looking at Yami, lost for words. "I hope this is enough to repay you for what you did for Yugi a few days ago, I'm sure they won't deny my request."
"More than enough…" Nick said, beaming, "Thank you."
Yugi tugged on Yami's sleeve, his breath coming out as clouds of steam, "Come on, the others are all hungry." Yami nodded, following his hikari out into the hall where the others were waiting. They started walking along the corridor, and about half way along both Harry and Joey jumped, Harry started to run but Joey grabbed him, "Tobias says not to go that way." Ombre's head shot up.
"Shadowfae agrees."
Harry looked at them, panicking slightly, "But it's going to kill someone!" Joey paled and let go.
"Kill?" Yugi said, and the gang came to a mutual decision and ran after the voice, trying to stop an attempted murder. They hurtled down a bunch of corridors and around a corner and Harry stopped, causing Joey and Ron to run into him, sending them sprawling to the floor.
"Ouch!" Joey complained, as he untangled himself.
"Guys…" Yugi said, pointing down the corridor, "Look." Something was shining on the wall ahead, foot high words daubed on the walls between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED!
ENEMIES OF THE HIER, BEWARE!
"What's that thing… hanging underneath?" Ron asked, his voice quivering slightly. Yami pushed Yugi behind him as they made their way forward, towards the large puddle of water on the floor beneath the words. They realised what it was almost immediately, once they could see it, and Yugi and Harry jumped back with a splash.
Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was as stiff as a board and her eyes were wide and staring. For a few seconds they didn't, or couldn't move, then Ron spoke.
"We should get out of here."
"Shouldn't we try to help?" Harry began awkwardly.
"Ron's right, we don't want to be found here." Yami said, turning to lead Yugi away, but it was too late, a distant rumble told them the feast had kicked out and soon the corridor was full of students, who stopped the moment they saw the hanging cat and the words. Then a voice shouted through the crowd.
"Enemies of the heir beware! You'll be next Mudbloods!" It was Draco Malfoy, his cold eyes alive, his usually pale face flushed as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat.