Chapter 14: - And a Happy New Year
It was New Years Eve and Harry had come here, to the Monster's Wing, to get a few hours of sleep before they were up all night celebrating.
It wasn't that he minded, after all, it was only once a year and New Years was much more important for his friends from Japan then Christmas was, not that you could tell from the way Yugi acted, that he was quite happy to stay up all night. It was just that he hadn't slept very well last night and when Harry had run into Shadowfae earlier, Mahado had passed on the message that the Red Eyes Darkness Dragon had offered her bed, since she was on duty, so Harry had retreated here and attempted to go to sleep.
Of course he hadn't figured on Nakia's crying, Mana's cooing, and some of the Purple Eyes Silver Dragons flying in and settling in the common room and making this much noise.
Rolling over and pulling the pillow over his head, he couldn't believe that even with all this noise, it was still quieter here then it was in the Gryffindor Tower.
They'd been up early, as all ways, and he knew he wasn't the only one to be getting some shut eye this afternoon, or attempting to, since Kari had been up late finishing off a project and Hermione had been finishing up the paperwork on the citizenship forms ready for the Clan spell at the end of the Second Task.
It had been agreed last night, that they would ask Solomon Muto, Yugi's grandfather, if he would join them in the Clan signing, making Muto Grandfather the oldest member of the Clan, and one of the Founders of the Potter Clan.
They'd finally decided on that, naming the Clan for Harry's family, since it was easy to remember, because they didn't want the name of Harry's family to die out and because James and Lily Potter had given their lives to save their son.
With a swooping of wings, the Monster's Wing finally fell silent and Harry finally relaxed.
It wasn't often now, that everything was silent, both outside and in his head, when it wasn't Yugi or Yami, it was Boh passing on something that he thought was interesting or Mahado passing on messages. He had to say that when he'd found he'd become linked to Yami and Yugi, he hadn't realised that he'd become linked to Boh and Mahado too. What had amused him even further was that Boh had mentioned Wolf, who was interested in finding a way through, but hadn't completely bonded to his Duellist yet, and had described a Gold Winged Wolf.
Did this mean that Harry would have his own partner monster soon?
Mana's voice carried through the wall, singing a song in a language that Harry kind of recognised, though it was more from Yami and Yugi's memories that he recognised it then his own. It had to be Ancient Egyptian and whatever she was singing, it was soothing, a lullaby, perhaps?
Harry caught the tune easily enough and hummed along quietly, finally drifting off mid way through the third repetition.
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"Well done." Mahado said, leaning against the wall, and enjoying his partner's singing, "He's finally gone to sleep."
"You like him really." Mana giggled quietly as she put the sleeping baby into her cradle, "You've been stand offish since you came back and found Harry was bound to Yugi and Yami."
"I don't think they realise quite how dangerous this is." Mahado replied, "I don't know how Harry was linked to the past, but he's now bound to the Puzzle as much as Draco is bound to the Ring."
"You felt that?" Mana frowned, "I thought there was something wrong there."
"The Millennium Ring seems to have latched onto Draco as it's third owner, and because of what happened to Harry, Pharaoh gave Harry part of the Puzzle's power, linking Harry's magical core to the Puzzle and giving Harry a little control over it's power. I don't think it'll be long before the Puzzle responds to Harry like it does to Lord Yugi or Pharaoh Yami."
Mana paused to consider the consequences, "I don't think that's going to be a completely bad thing, not if his enemies are getting Millennium Magic. He would at least have some form of protection, though I would not wish the damn things on anyone anymore…"
"Mana…"
"I know that it's only through the mixture of wand and shadow magic that we're here, but…" Mana shuddered, "You feel it. Don't you? The increasing power of the Shadows?"
"Yes." Mahado nodded, "Something or someone is feeding them. I don't doubt that there is a battle coming and that it will decide everything. The Pharaoh may need his new half-hikari."
"They'll win, Mahado."
"They'll have to be stronger then ever before, I don't know if…"
"They'll be ok, they always are." Mana was filled with confidence. Mahado just wished he could be too.
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"You only have 700 life points left, Muto, and I'm going to wipe you out, Blue Flame Swordsman, attack Yugi directly!"
"No you don't, I activate Pick Me!" Kari bellowed, "Meaning that your direct assault will be aimed at me instead!"
The Blue Flame Swordsman wheeled around and Kari braced herself, raising her Duel Disk to shield herself from the coming attack.
The sword hit, the blue flames dancing around them, sparks coming from the contact point of metal on metal. Kari was pushed back into the wall as the Duel Monster attempted to get his attack in, and her bracing arm slipped, taking the Duel Disk with it.
Blue Flame Swordsman's sword went into her right shoulder, causing an agonising scream as it pierced right through to her shoulder bone, cauterising as it went.
"Kari, no!" Joey shouted, afraid for his friend as the Blue Flame Swordsman returned to his Master's side of the field, Kari slipping down the wall she'd been pinned against. He went to go to her.
"Don't move." Blake snarled, highly amused, "You move out of place and you'll all forfeit!"
"Kari!" Yugi bit his bottom lip as she shuddered, left hand clenching right shoulder tightly.
She opened her eyes, pain filled hazel trying to focus. "I'm fine, I have…" She whimpered, "Fifty points left, and…" A gasp and a whimper, "You can do it this turn!"
Yugi nodded, wishing Yami hadn't been outside the gates when the Shadow Game had started, leaving Joey, Kari and Yugi to face Blake and his two goons in the final battle of this screwed up Shadow World Game.
"Well, since your friend screwed up my victory, I'll think I'll end my turn." Blake looked smug and Joey just wanted to punch his face in.
"I've got this Joey, if I may borrow a few things from you and Kari." Yugi growled, at his most Pharaoh like.
"Go for it, Yuge."
"Do it."
"I sacrifice Joey's Flame Swordsman and Alligator Sword, along with Kari's Skilled Dark Magician, in order to summon one of my most powerful beasts. SLIPHER, THE SKY DRAGON!" Yugi had to bellow above the sound of the lightening storm that arrived with the great God.
The huge red dragon god wrapped around Yugi and Joey and hid Kari from the view of Blake.
Arriving with 5000 attack points, Slipher looked pretty pissed.
"Slipher, finish him! Thunder Force Attack!" Yugi called, aiming the attack at Blake's Blue Flame Swordsman, who died in the blast.
"Yes!" Joey cheered.
The smoke cleared.
Blake was still standing.
"Oh come off it!" Joey complained, "You only had five hundred points left, Slipher dealt you 3200!"
"I activated a quick play spell." Blake was laughing at them, "Emergency Provisions."
Yugi's growl told Joey all he needed to know.
"You know it, don't you Muto?" Blake laughed, "I sent three spell cards to the Graveyard, upping my life points by three thousand, so I only took two hundred points of damage." Blake smirked, "You failed, Muto and I have another surprise for you. I activate Reverse-Time, removing your God Card from play, and all of our monsters that were destroyed or sacrificed this turn return to the field." Blake's Blue Flame Swordsman returned to the field, along with Skilled Dark Magician, Flame Swordsman and Alligator Sword, however…
"Slipher stays!" Joey crowed, as Slipher shook off the pull of the other dimension, "Trap cards don't work on Gods, he's stronger then your demon and since we've already taken out your two goons, it's my turn." Joey snarled as Kari, still protected by Slipher, returned to her place on the field.
"Ah, but here comes my last surprise, I sent three continuous spell cards to the Graveyard to activate Emergency Provisions." Blake laughed, "So before you get your turn, I get to summon one of the most terrifying cards in my deck."
"What? It can't work like that!" Kari protested.
"I'm sure you've heard of a special summon, Ironhide and you'll be shocked by this one, come to me, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder!"
Another thunder storm, this time on Blake's side of the field, and from the smoke rose a terrifying sight, a demonic version of the Winged Dragon of Ra, with sharp talons, grey dragonic wings and skeletal form, with four thousand attack and defence points.
"What in the name of the Gods?" Yugi demanded.
"Meet the first of my Legendary Demons, stolen from Pegasus's Island, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder!" The demon roared, "And when he destroys a monster, the owner of the monster he destroys loses one thousand life points."
"No…"
"You will all lose in three turns, and I think I'll start with you." Blake pointed at Kari, who was having trouble staying on her feet.
"You won't win through cheating." Kari promised. "Both me and Joey have to have a turn before your demon gets to attack."
"True, but you're hurting so bad you can barely stay conscious, I'm not worried about you and Wheeler's got nothing in his deck that can take my demon down."
"Joey, I have a plan." Kari said, "We have enough monsters."
Joey frowned, he could only think of one thing that she meant… He drew.
"I play Summon Capture." Joey called, activating his face down spell card. "It allows me to look at your hand and choose a monster to summon from it and it can be any monster." Joey went over, looked, hissed and then made up mind, flipping Blake off as he took the card from the villain's hand, "And I choose this one," Joey said, returning to his part of the field, "Raviel, Lord of Phantasms!" Joey paused when it didn't work. "Uhhh."
"You can't summon that card without sacrificing three fiends." Blake sniggered, "And you don't have any."
"Damn."
"Nice try Joey." Yugi grinned, "You can't summon it, but neither can he."
"I don't need to, my Hamon will destroy your God Card and your life points next turn."
"I switch my monsters into defence mode and end my turn." Joey growled.
Kari drew, "I equip my Skilled Dark Magician with Black Pendant!" The Magician gained an odd necklace with an amethyst in a gold setting, raising the Magician by 500.
"That's still not enough." Blake laughed, "He's only a measly 2400."
"And I play the Amulet of Ambition!" Her Skilled Dark Magician rose by another 3000, "Now he's 5400, which is more then high enough to defeat your demon. Skilled Dark Magician attack!"
The Magician attempted to blast the demon, but his attack bounced off of a shield of some kind and back at the magician and it's Duellist.
"Kari!" Joey bellowed as the attack exploded on contact with the magician.
Kari screamed.
"Kari!"
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Kari sat bolt upright, her hand going to her shoulder in echoed pain for a moment, before she realised where she was.
You ok, Kari?
Oh how she'd missed that voice.
"Just a bad dream, Mana." Well, more like a memory coming to haunt her. If anything she was glad she wasn't Yugi, who sometimes had advance warnings from his dreams, she at least only was haunted by dreams of the past, and her least favourite ghost wasn't haunting her at the moment… "Nothing to worry about."
Okay. If you're sure?
"I'm sure, did Harry get to sleep?"
Mahado says so.
"Cool, see you later." Kari replied, lying back. Life had been so crazy for so long, she'd forgotten the last time life had been completely sane. No magic, no monsters, no wands, or card wielding maniacs, just life as she'd once known it…
She snorted, life had never been normal, and with the Triwizard tournament and the impending fun of the Summer, she was under no illusion that next year would be any better.
Well, at least with just six hours to go, there wasn't much else that could go wrong.
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It was half eight and Yugi was on his way to the Monster's Wing when someone grabbed his arm.
Pulled into a classroom, Yugi had his wand out before the person had shut the door.
"Wait!" The teen yelped, holding up his hands.
Yugi paused, "What do you want Ron?"
Yugi was surprised as sat on his knees and bowed until his head was touching the floor, "I am sorry."
"Ron?"
"I was stupid and should have listened and I should have been more sensitive, I have been an idiot. I'm sorry."
It was very hard to talk to the back of a head and Yugi told Ron so, causing the teen to stand bolt upright, at attention. "What made you change your mind?"
"Christmas." Ron admitted. "Christmas is really lonely when your family are hanging around with your old friends and your old friends aren't talking to you because you've been an idiot and are too stupid to see it."
Ron had known that apologising wouldn't be easy, even apologising to Yugi was going to be hard, but he had to do it. He'd had enough of sitting on the outside, and Ginny had shouted at him for almost the whole day on Boxing Day, when he'd made the mistake of complaining that Ginny had spent the whole of Christmas Day with Mokuba.
"We weren't wrong, to rally around Harry when he needed us." Yugi warned. "We won't apologise."
"I know." Ron nodded, "I was in the wrong."
"You're going to have to be the one to apologise to everyone." Yugi sighed, leaning back onto a table.
`Yugi?`
"Give me a sec."
`Ok.`
"Who were you talking to?" Ron asked, having noted the look Yugi had gotten, the one that looked as if he was listening to something only he could hear.
"Harry wants something." Yugi sighed. "So, are you ready to apologise to the others?"
"I suppose."
"You have to want to, Ron, or it won't be sincere and will just irritate them even further."
"I do."
"Then why doesn't it sound like it."
"Yami's going to eat me."
"Yami doesn't eat people, they don't taste very nice." Yugi pointed out, wondered who had once told him that humans don't taste very nice and shook his head, "Besides, you picked a good night for an apology, New Years and all."
"Uh huh."
"Come on, we're gathering in the Monster's Wing, Kari should have put a silencing spell on Mana's room by now."
"Why?"
"Well you've seen the monsters are back, right?"
Ron nodded.
"Mana's had a child."
"Really?" Ron looked amused.
"Uh huh. Nakia. A little girl."
"I bet she's Mahado's too."
Yugi just grinned, "Come on, lets get this over with." Yugi opened the door and pulled Ron out.
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Midnight was anticipated all over the castle, and in the Monster's Wing, a group of thirteen, if you didn't include the Duel Monsters, was counting down eagerly.
Especially a certain red head, who had made his apologies, and other then a warning that Joey would be catching him up on his training, he'd gotten off pretty lightly. A lot could be said in the heat of the moment, and too much had happened for the anger they'd had to still be burning hot, alright everything wasn't really settled yet, but with Ron's apology, they were willing to start rebuilding bridges.
They were going to need all of the friends they could find in the coming months and just because one of them had been an idiot, didn't mean they should turn him away.
"Ten!" Rebecca timed, giggling.
"Nine!" Ron was just happy to have them talking to him again.
"Eight!" Kaiba had finally put his laptop away an hour ago and was now playing chess with Mokuba.
"Seven!" Joey reminded himself to have a word with Yugi in the morning about the newspaper headlines.
"Six!" Yugi grinned, having planned a surprise along with Kari that he just knew was going to drive Yami up the wall after last year.
"Five!" Kari had put her book down and was looking out the window, wondering about getting fireworks for next year.
"Four!" Luna and Harry cuddled up next to each other on the sofa and counted down together.
"Three!" Yugi put his pen down, having been seven eighths of the way through a letter to Tea.
"Two!" Yami still wasn't sure why they did this every year, but wasn't about to pass up a party.
"One…" Everyone, in unison counted the last second…
"Happy New Year!"
It wasn't that he minded, after all, it was only once a year and New Years was much more important for his friends from Japan then Christmas was, not that you could tell from the way Yugi acted, that he was quite happy to stay up all night. It was just that he hadn't slept very well last night and when Harry had run into Shadowfae earlier, Mahado had passed on the message that the Red Eyes Darkness Dragon had offered her bed, since she was on duty, so Harry had retreated here and attempted to go to sleep.
Of course he hadn't figured on Nakia's crying, Mana's cooing, and some of the Purple Eyes Silver Dragons flying in and settling in the common room and making this much noise.
Rolling over and pulling the pillow over his head, he couldn't believe that even with all this noise, it was still quieter here then it was in the Gryffindor Tower.
They'd been up early, as all ways, and he knew he wasn't the only one to be getting some shut eye this afternoon, or attempting to, since Kari had been up late finishing off a project and Hermione had been finishing up the paperwork on the citizenship forms ready for the Clan spell at the end of the Second Task.
It had been agreed last night, that they would ask Solomon Muto, Yugi's grandfather, if he would join them in the Clan signing, making Muto Grandfather the oldest member of the Clan, and one of the Founders of the Potter Clan.
They'd finally decided on that, naming the Clan for Harry's family, since it was easy to remember, because they didn't want the name of Harry's family to die out and because James and Lily Potter had given their lives to save their son.
With a swooping of wings, the Monster's Wing finally fell silent and Harry finally relaxed.
It wasn't often now, that everything was silent, both outside and in his head, when it wasn't Yugi or Yami, it was Boh passing on something that he thought was interesting or Mahado passing on messages. He had to say that when he'd found he'd become linked to Yami and Yugi, he hadn't realised that he'd become linked to Boh and Mahado too. What had amused him even further was that Boh had mentioned Wolf, who was interested in finding a way through, but hadn't completely bonded to his Duellist yet, and had described a Gold Winged Wolf.
Did this mean that Harry would have his own partner monster soon?
Mana's voice carried through the wall, singing a song in a language that Harry kind of recognised, though it was more from Yami and Yugi's memories that he recognised it then his own. It had to be Ancient Egyptian and whatever she was singing, it was soothing, a lullaby, perhaps?
Harry caught the tune easily enough and hummed along quietly, finally drifting off mid way through the third repetition.
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"Well done." Mahado said, leaning against the wall, and enjoying his partner's singing, "He's finally gone to sleep."
"You like him really." Mana giggled quietly as she put the sleeping baby into her cradle, "You've been stand offish since you came back and found Harry was bound to Yugi and Yami."
"I don't think they realise quite how dangerous this is." Mahado replied, "I don't know how Harry was linked to the past, but he's now bound to the Puzzle as much as Draco is bound to the Ring."
"You felt that?" Mana frowned, "I thought there was something wrong there."
"The Millennium Ring seems to have latched onto Draco as it's third owner, and because of what happened to Harry, Pharaoh gave Harry part of the Puzzle's power, linking Harry's magical core to the Puzzle and giving Harry a little control over it's power. I don't think it'll be long before the Puzzle responds to Harry like it does to Lord Yugi or Pharaoh Yami."
Mana paused to consider the consequences, "I don't think that's going to be a completely bad thing, not if his enemies are getting Millennium Magic. He would at least have some form of protection, though I would not wish the damn things on anyone anymore…"
"Mana…"
"I know that it's only through the mixture of wand and shadow magic that we're here, but…" Mana shuddered, "You feel it. Don't you? The increasing power of the Shadows?"
"Yes." Mahado nodded, "Something or someone is feeding them. I don't doubt that there is a battle coming and that it will decide everything. The Pharaoh may need his new half-hikari."
"They'll win, Mahado."
"They'll have to be stronger then ever before, I don't know if…"
"They'll be ok, they always are." Mana was filled with confidence. Mahado just wished he could be too.
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"You only have 700 life points left, Muto, and I'm going to wipe you out, Blue Flame Swordsman, attack Yugi directly!"
"No you don't, I activate Pick Me!" Kari bellowed, "Meaning that your direct assault will be aimed at me instead!"
The Blue Flame Swordsman wheeled around and Kari braced herself, raising her Duel Disk to shield herself from the coming attack.
The sword hit, the blue flames dancing around them, sparks coming from the contact point of metal on metal. Kari was pushed back into the wall as the Duel Monster attempted to get his attack in, and her bracing arm slipped, taking the Duel Disk with it.
Blue Flame Swordsman's sword went into her right shoulder, causing an agonising scream as it pierced right through to her shoulder bone, cauterising as it went.
"Kari, no!" Joey shouted, afraid for his friend as the Blue Flame Swordsman returned to his Master's side of the field, Kari slipping down the wall she'd been pinned against. He went to go to her.
"Don't move." Blake snarled, highly amused, "You move out of place and you'll all forfeit!"
"Kari!" Yugi bit his bottom lip as she shuddered, left hand clenching right shoulder tightly.
She opened her eyes, pain filled hazel trying to focus. "I'm fine, I have…" She whimpered, "Fifty points left, and…" A gasp and a whimper, "You can do it this turn!"
Yugi nodded, wishing Yami hadn't been outside the gates when the Shadow Game had started, leaving Joey, Kari and Yugi to face Blake and his two goons in the final battle of this screwed up Shadow World Game.
"Well, since your friend screwed up my victory, I'll think I'll end my turn." Blake looked smug and Joey just wanted to punch his face in.
"I've got this Joey, if I may borrow a few things from you and Kari." Yugi growled, at his most Pharaoh like.
"Go for it, Yuge."
"Do it."
"I sacrifice Joey's Flame Swordsman and Alligator Sword, along with Kari's Skilled Dark Magician, in order to summon one of my most powerful beasts. SLIPHER, THE SKY DRAGON!" Yugi had to bellow above the sound of the lightening storm that arrived with the great God.
The huge red dragon god wrapped around Yugi and Joey and hid Kari from the view of Blake.
Arriving with 5000 attack points, Slipher looked pretty pissed.
"Slipher, finish him! Thunder Force Attack!" Yugi called, aiming the attack at Blake's Blue Flame Swordsman, who died in the blast.
"Yes!" Joey cheered.
The smoke cleared.
Blake was still standing.
"Oh come off it!" Joey complained, "You only had five hundred points left, Slipher dealt you 3200!"
"I activated a quick play spell." Blake was laughing at them, "Emergency Provisions."
Yugi's growl told Joey all he needed to know.
"You know it, don't you Muto?" Blake laughed, "I sent three spell cards to the Graveyard, upping my life points by three thousand, so I only took two hundred points of damage." Blake smirked, "You failed, Muto and I have another surprise for you. I activate Reverse-Time, removing your God Card from play, and all of our monsters that were destroyed or sacrificed this turn return to the field." Blake's Blue Flame Swordsman returned to the field, along with Skilled Dark Magician, Flame Swordsman and Alligator Sword, however…
"Slipher stays!" Joey crowed, as Slipher shook off the pull of the other dimension, "Trap cards don't work on Gods, he's stronger then your demon and since we've already taken out your two goons, it's my turn." Joey snarled as Kari, still protected by Slipher, returned to her place on the field.
"Ah, but here comes my last surprise, I sent three continuous spell cards to the Graveyard to activate Emergency Provisions." Blake laughed, "So before you get your turn, I get to summon one of the most terrifying cards in my deck."
"What? It can't work like that!" Kari protested.
"I'm sure you've heard of a special summon, Ironhide and you'll be shocked by this one, come to me, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder!"
Another thunder storm, this time on Blake's side of the field, and from the smoke rose a terrifying sight, a demonic version of the Winged Dragon of Ra, with sharp talons, grey dragonic wings and skeletal form, with four thousand attack and defence points.
"What in the name of the Gods?" Yugi demanded.
"Meet the first of my Legendary Demons, stolen from Pegasus's Island, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder!" The demon roared, "And when he destroys a monster, the owner of the monster he destroys loses one thousand life points."
"No…"
"You will all lose in three turns, and I think I'll start with you." Blake pointed at Kari, who was having trouble staying on her feet.
"You won't win through cheating." Kari promised. "Both me and Joey have to have a turn before your demon gets to attack."
"True, but you're hurting so bad you can barely stay conscious, I'm not worried about you and Wheeler's got nothing in his deck that can take my demon down."
"Joey, I have a plan." Kari said, "We have enough monsters."
Joey frowned, he could only think of one thing that she meant… He drew.
"I play Summon Capture." Joey called, activating his face down spell card. "It allows me to look at your hand and choose a monster to summon from it and it can be any monster." Joey went over, looked, hissed and then made up mind, flipping Blake off as he took the card from the villain's hand, "And I choose this one," Joey said, returning to his part of the field, "Raviel, Lord of Phantasms!" Joey paused when it didn't work. "Uhhh."
"You can't summon that card without sacrificing three fiends." Blake sniggered, "And you don't have any."
"Damn."
"Nice try Joey." Yugi grinned, "You can't summon it, but neither can he."
"I don't need to, my Hamon will destroy your God Card and your life points next turn."
"I switch my monsters into defence mode and end my turn." Joey growled.
Kari drew, "I equip my Skilled Dark Magician with Black Pendant!" The Magician gained an odd necklace with an amethyst in a gold setting, raising the Magician by 500.
"That's still not enough." Blake laughed, "He's only a measly 2400."
"And I play the Amulet of Ambition!" Her Skilled Dark Magician rose by another 3000, "Now he's 5400, which is more then high enough to defeat your demon. Skilled Dark Magician attack!"
The Magician attempted to blast the demon, but his attack bounced off of a shield of some kind and back at the magician and it's Duellist.
"Kari!" Joey bellowed as the attack exploded on contact with the magician.
Kari screamed.
"Kari!"
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Kari sat bolt upright, her hand going to her shoulder in echoed pain for a moment, before she realised where she was.
You ok, Kari?
Oh how she'd missed that voice.
"Just a bad dream, Mana." Well, more like a memory coming to haunt her. If anything she was glad she wasn't Yugi, who sometimes had advance warnings from his dreams, she at least only was haunted by dreams of the past, and her least favourite ghost wasn't haunting her at the moment… "Nothing to worry about."
Okay. If you're sure?
"I'm sure, did Harry get to sleep?"
Mahado says so.
"Cool, see you later." Kari replied, lying back. Life had been so crazy for so long, she'd forgotten the last time life had been completely sane. No magic, no monsters, no wands, or card wielding maniacs, just life as she'd once known it…
She snorted, life had never been normal, and with the Triwizard tournament and the impending fun of the Summer, she was under no illusion that next year would be any better.
Well, at least with just six hours to go, there wasn't much else that could go wrong.
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It was half eight and Yugi was on his way to the Monster's Wing when someone grabbed his arm.
Pulled into a classroom, Yugi had his wand out before the person had shut the door.
"Wait!" The teen yelped, holding up his hands.
Yugi paused, "What do you want Ron?"
Yugi was surprised as sat on his knees and bowed until his head was touching the floor, "I am sorry."
"Ron?"
"I was stupid and should have listened and I should have been more sensitive, I have been an idiot. I'm sorry."
It was very hard to talk to the back of a head and Yugi told Ron so, causing the teen to stand bolt upright, at attention. "What made you change your mind?"
"Christmas." Ron admitted. "Christmas is really lonely when your family are hanging around with your old friends and your old friends aren't talking to you because you've been an idiot and are too stupid to see it."
Ron had known that apologising wouldn't be easy, even apologising to Yugi was going to be hard, but he had to do it. He'd had enough of sitting on the outside, and Ginny had shouted at him for almost the whole day on Boxing Day, when he'd made the mistake of complaining that Ginny had spent the whole of Christmas Day with Mokuba.
"We weren't wrong, to rally around Harry when he needed us." Yugi warned. "We won't apologise."
"I know." Ron nodded, "I was in the wrong."
"You're going to have to be the one to apologise to everyone." Yugi sighed, leaning back onto a table.
`Yugi?`
"Give me a sec."
`Ok.`
"Who were you talking to?" Ron asked, having noted the look Yugi had gotten, the one that looked as if he was listening to something only he could hear.
"Harry wants something." Yugi sighed. "So, are you ready to apologise to the others?"
"I suppose."
"You have to want to, Ron, or it won't be sincere and will just irritate them even further."
"I do."
"Then why doesn't it sound like it."
"Yami's going to eat me."
"Yami doesn't eat people, they don't taste very nice." Yugi pointed out, wondered who had once told him that humans don't taste very nice and shook his head, "Besides, you picked a good night for an apology, New Years and all."
"Uh huh."
"Come on, we're gathering in the Monster's Wing, Kari should have put a silencing spell on Mana's room by now."
"Why?"
"Well you've seen the monsters are back, right?"
Ron nodded.
"Mana's had a child."
"Really?" Ron looked amused.
"Uh huh. Nakia. A little girl."
"I bet she's Mahado's too."
Yugi just grinned, "Come on, lets get this over with." Yugi opened the door and pulled Ron out.
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Midnight was anticipated all over the castle, and in the Monster's Wing, a group of thirteen, if you didn't include the Duel Monsters, was counting down eagerly.
Especially a certain red head, who had made his apologies, and other then a warning that Joey would be catching him up on his training, he'd gotten off pretty lightly. A lot could be said in the heat of the moment, and too much had happened for the anger they'd had to still be burning hot, alright everything wasn't really settled yet, but with Ron's apology, they were willing to start rebuilding bridges.
They were going to need all of the friends they could find in the coming months and just because one of them had been an idiot, didn't mean they should turn him away.
"Ten!" Rebecca timed, giggling.
"Nine!" Ron was just happy to have them talking to him again.
"Eight!" Kaiba had finally put his laptop away an hour ago and was now playing chess with Mokuba.
"Seven!" Joey reminded himself to have a word with Yugi in the morning about the newspaper headlines.
"Six!" Yugi grinned, having planned a surprise along with Kari that he just knew was going to drive Yami up the wall after last year.
"Five!" Kari had put her book down and was looking out the window, wondering about getting fireworks for next year.
"Four!" Luna and Harry cuddled up next to each other on the sofa and counted down together.
"Three!" Yugi put his pen down, having been seven eighths of the way through a letter to Tea.
"Two!" Yami still wasn't sure why they did this every year, but wasn't about to pass up a party.
"One…" Everyone, in unison counted the last second…
"Happy New Year!"